Back To Simplicity

Exercise: Up and down escalalators, push ups
Food: 7 very ripe large bananas, smoothie with mango, goji berries, cacao, banana and spinach, salad of baby greens, cucumber and pomodorino tomatoes, coriander dressing. Four Lara bars

I bought the goji half-price on special as a treat to add to my smoothies, gives a glorious colour. I bought the cacao nibs ages ago and decided I need to use them up. So putting in my smoothie. Tasted great for me, but probably wierd to someone else ;0 Like my food simple now, but do enjoy experimenting. Don't know that I'm bothered about the whole raw chocolate thing. I'm not knocking it, I see it being fine for the occasional indulgence but not really the point of eating raw if you know what I mean. Karen Knowler carries an excellent article on this on her blog of the same name, and I have also seen an informative article by raw teacher, Paul Nison. It all comes down to the 'why' we choose to do anything.

No avocado for a while because I'm sure my fat quotient went up at the raw food restaurants (plus am eating Lara bars), as most of the desserts epecially are based on nuts, ground, chopped, or creamed for 'ice cream'. The creativity at these restaurants is quite simply amazing. And they are great for a treat, or even more frequently if you are wise about the meals you choose.

In Pure Food and Wine, I started off with a sea vegetable salad with grated carrot and a sesame vinegrette. It was lovely although a tad vinegary. Just needed a touch. My main was 'ravioli' with a pesto sauce. Very innovative but too rich for me. Before eating I had a 'mighty amazon' smoothie made with acai berries and banana. This tastes chocolaty in the way I think chocolaty should taste. And had another one for dessert. Hmm you heard right another one. The ambience in the restaurant was spot on, very sophisticated and would make a great date space. Pricey though and we didn't have wine.

At caravan of dreams I had a delicious spinach and coconut raw soup. I loved this and hope to recreate it at home. I brought some raw sundried coconut back from Wholefoods. My main was a salad of leaves, avocado, sea vegetables, cucumber, baby tomatoes and a Thai dressing. Very yummy. For dessert I had berry cheese cake which was fab and beautifully presented. And made with fresh fruit and nuts. I had an acai smoothie here too made with coconut water. This was my favourite restaurant. The waiter was extremely helpful. The venue has a hippyish feel in a welcoming earthy way. It also serves cooked vegan fare.

At Qintessence also in the East Village, the atmosphere is very cosy. It is a tiny affair. The waitress was great. My starter was dips and chips, one was raw guacamole with flaxseed chips, and raw salsa with raw corn chips (dehydrated at a low temp to preserve vitality). Had a carob smoothie but tasted powdery. My main was a sea vegetable salad with a sesame sauce. The sea vegetables had been soaked. They were very soft with no trace of salt. No other vegetables involved. For dessert I had pecan pie with nut ice cream but it was rich so I didn't eat any of the crushed walnuts on top.

So to summarise Pure Food and Wine, beautifuly presented raw gourmet cuisine, high end restaurant with prices to match. Very helpful staff. (Flatiron/Gramercy)

Caravan of dreams, fantastic salads, best desserts, great staff, real and earthy, brilliant prices. Would recommend everytime. (East Village)

Qunitessence, cute local restaurant, get a lot of one to one attention, lots of gourmet dishes like Indian Thali and pasta with marinara sauce. (East Village)

Buena Noche