Dinner on the sand dunes just after dusk

First course 
A creamy deliciously enlightening smoothie
-
soaked and blended brazil nuts (4 hours)
500ml coco juice (organic coconut water)
500ml sunstone and citrine gemwater (made with conduction method, in sunshine for 3 hours)
3 bananas
lime juice
- served in a glass with a handful of whole (unblended) blueberries


Second course
A soft taco spring kebab lettuce roll
-
A nutty omega dip -
organic australian pepitas, soaked for a few hours and then dried in the sunshine
spoon of coconut oil
two spoons of olive oil
fresh coriander roots
half a red capscium
a spoon of genmai miso
7 or so cracked walnuts (cracked and ground in the mortar by my little brother Noah)
-
Avocado, red capsicum, chopped fuji apple, coriander leaves and lemon juice mixture
-
Shredded purple cabbage
-
slices of cucumber and dutch carrots
-
freshly sprouted mung beans
-
all the things were in bowls, the ingredients were wrapped together in leaves from a magnificent head of lettuce. The flavours worked together as a team achieving some kind of balanced zang.


Third course
An apple styled baklava
-
Slices of apple marinated in lemon juice
-
A mixture of soaked plump raisins,
blended with a spoon of Almond, Brazil and Cashew butter
a small handful of chopped brazil nuts (soaked 4 hours)
lime juice
-
The apple was layered with the raisin mixture, and topped with a slice that had the open apple star of departed seed. A piece of loving earth sour cherry raw chocolate was rudimentarily crumbled on top of the baklava in the dark night kitchen of the beach where i prepared the desert. It was really good.

So in love with mustard

'Spring it on' smoothie made by Lucy aka SmoothieGirl. An effervescent high note wonder. I was so in love with this mustard coloured table. And how beautiful was this day with it's warm silky air?

Electrolytes

Electrolytes are salts with electricity conductive properties. Throughout our body tissue, fluid, and blood, electrolytes conduct charges that are essential for muscle contraction, heart beats, fluid regulation, and general nerve function.
-- Brendan Brazier author of The Thrive Diet (from Thrive, the vegan nutrition guide to optimal performance in sports and life, page 286)

Electrolytes consist primarly of the minerals chloride, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. The balance of electrolytes in our bodies is essential for normal function of our cells and our organs.
If the electrolytes in our system are low the absorption of water will be inefficent and will eave us feeling dehydrated, when we drink too much water we can also flush the remaining electrolytes out. So achieving balance is important, drinking adequate (but not too much) pure energised water and replenishing our salts regulary.
A very good source is dulse (purple seaweed), which comes in flakes from your health food shop and can be easily added to your drinking water, it's a bit like a purple confetti party in your drink bottle.
They are also present in other seaweeds, Celtic sea salt, Himalayan Crystal salt, citrus fruits, and homemade 'sports' drinks (which unlike commercial ones don't have unneccesary refined sugar and chemicals).

In Brendan Brazier's book he offers a few delicious and nutritionally considerate recipes for sports drink alternatives. I often just add dulse to my water bottle, or if really dehydrated I drink warm salty water with a squeeze of lemon and a tiny bit of maple syrup (for glucose). Young coconut water (if you can access it) is an incredible source of electrolytes.

--
Electrolyte Sports Drink with Ginger (thrive, p122)
'the young coconut water provides the electrolytes, while the agave nectar delivers an easily digestible form of slow release carbohydrate. The Ginger helps minimise inflammation.
1 lemon
2 cups of water / coconut water
1 tbs agave nectar
1/2 tbs grated fresh Ginger
sea salt to taste
blend
--
Lemon-Lime Sport Drink (thrive, p123)
juice 1/2 lemon
juice 1/4 lime
3 dates
2 cups water
1 tbs agave nectar
1 tsp coconut oil
sea salt to taste
process in a blender until smooth

Garden Love Smoothie

My friend Marlo came over for lunch, we wandered around the garden admiring the gravity defying cabbage bulb growing high above the ground on a long thin stem and a growing world in motion. Marlo picked a bowlful of greens and flowers and we blended it with coconut water (young Thai coconut strikes again, thankyou universe for our fresh coconut present) a banana, an avocado and a tangelo.

Tam's delicious Coconut Cacao Cheesecake

inspiration for my raw cheesecake adventure
from Tamara Lunchbox

Milk thistle coconut smoothie

I haven't been overly into the Thai drinking coconut craze, mostly because of the very high food miles and very low price (indicating non fair trade). I know they are delicious and so so very good for you, but so are lots of things, and this isn't the tropics. But sometimes you do these things, and you buy a coconut from the supermarket for $1.78 and you celebrate and rejoice and really enjoy the choice you've made.
--
Lots of freshly harvested milk thistles
Fresh coconut water and half of the flesh
A banana
And then add more greens - young cos lettuce, parsley and spicy rocket
until flavour is balanced.



To my good fortune Lex turned up and happily drank half of this smoothie, the celebration of mystical far away things is better when sharing