Day 61 - Oh. My. Sainted. Aunts.

Delicious does not even come close.

The edited highlights are :

* Boris Lauser is a raw food genius.

* Real raw food is amazing

* I need a job that pays around 6,000 € monthly after tax, so that I can hire Mr. Lauser as my personal chef / raw food instructor.

Damn, that was delicious!

My only criticism - there wasn't enough of it!

.....

To start with, we were served with a welcome drink. Mango and fermented something. Boris kindly told us all about it, I cannot remember anything except that it is very good for you. Admittedly, it tasted a bit gewöhnungsbedürftigt

The first course looked great - a two-colour asparagus creation (something like a mousse) with a side salad and an orangey source (ingredient not colour).

Wonderful. I love asparagus. And the peeling-chopping into small pieces-then eating thing isn't happening.

The second course was an aubergine and Saubohnen quiche. I have no idea what Saubohnen are in English - or England - but they look like broad beans (oh I just checked Leo, they are broad beans). Whatever. When did you ever eat beans and actually enjoy them? Well, on Wednesday night I did! Delicious. The quiche - I would never have guessed that it wasn't cooked - was amazing. And I love aubergine and have been suffering from withdrawal symptoms from them also. But now I have been inspired and I am going to marinade the one I bought today in Alnatura as soon as this blog post is finished... :-)

The third course the selection of nut cheeses and different kinds of bread. Mindblowing.

So, this was my strategy for eating. I tasted a little of each of the four cheeses and three slices of bread (I can no longer remember all of them I had my clear favourites, the rest paled into insignificance - which btw is only testimony to how great my favourites were...) I ranked each of the breads and cheeses very quickly and then ate them in reverse favourite order.

People my word for today is: Olive bread and Cashew Nut Cheese.

Wow.

And then a long time nothing.

Boris if you are reading this - I do not want to learn how to make the cheese myself. I want to be in enough supply of it to be able to bathe in it! I have tried to imitate your olive bread today. Ich bin gespannt....

Finally, the fourth course, an absolutely delicious moussy-type desert. Made by Melanie - another excellent raw food chef. The bits of chocolate sprinkled over the top were particularly mind-blowing.

I got to take another portion of pretty much everything home with me and enjoy the whole experience again the next morning. I can now look the remaining 40 days of my raw food experiment squarely in the eye and with confidence. I know how raw food can taste.

Bring it on.

Thank you Boris for rescuing me from almost certain insanity.

Day 59 - Gourmet Dinner!

Oh joy!

I am going out to dinner today - to a place that caters for raw foodians!

Boris Lauser - apparently some kind of raw food genius - is holding one of his regular private dinner parties tonight. We are already booked in. The timing of this could not have been better.

I am on a bit of a food strike -

I have stopped eating raw bread and green salads - cashew nuts and bananas will also bite the dust soon. Avocados are slowly coming back into favour.

I am so looking forward to Boris working his magic - I desperately need to eat something more inspired than "Feldsalat".

Check out the menu: http://www.balive.org/b-alive/dinner-club-20th-may/

...and watch this space :-)

Day 41 - Energy & Weight Gain

Raw Shaz 2011 (self portrait)

Check it

I was in a restaurant yesterday ordering some food and it was the usual - what do they have that is raw? Hmm looks like salad again.

The way I order salads now is to give a standard intro:

"Please could I have number 7, but without the meat/fish/eggs and no dressing or sweetcorn, but could I have olive oil and vinegar?"

(Varies depending on the exact menu to hand).

Sometimes it requires me to repeat myself a couple of times. At which point I ignore the bit after dressing. Sometimes it goes smooth like a baby's bottom. Then I get adventurous and add:

"Do you have mushrooms? Raw? Could I have a couple of those? But not tinned, and not fried or anything. Just plain raw mushrooms. Thanks!"

But yesterday I went a little too far and I added:

"I am on a raw food diet".

I guess she only heard the word "diet". And she says: "You are on a diet? What more do you want to lose? There will be nothing left of you!"

I joked and said something about how I was proof that the diet worked really well and you should have seen me before I started, and laughed a little.

The truth is, her comment did hurt me a bit.

See, I have always been underweight and I have found it either irrelevant or slightly embarrasing, depending on how many comments I draw from others (always other women).

But it seems, since I have gone raw, I have lost even more weight. And my guess is I am around 53 kilos right now. Seeing as I am 1.76m, this is not very good - even for my standards. So I am on a mission to gain weight. Which is a challenge if you are a raw vegan (ha, especially a reluctant one!).

I have been researching and you know what I came up with?

Mind-blowing really. The most effective way to gain weight is to eat more and eat frequently.

Who would have Adam-n-Eve'd it.

I will also be emphasising:

• Increase my protein intake - Sunflower seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds
• Increase my carbs intake - fresh fruits (and dried fruits), fresh vegetables (esp. leafy greens) & wholegrains (eg raw bread)
• Increase my fat intake - cold pressed oils on sandwiches, salads etc.

If anyone has any other clever tips, please do comment! Thanks...

Day 40 - Meet Jeff

www.jefftherawfoodchef.com