"LIKE A COW" - say it like that,

 and stand up!

CACAO that's its real name - not the bastardised Cocoa version - that's for the Englishmen of old who couldn't speak properly while retaining their upper lips stiffened then kindly left us with a confused legacy of cocoa/coco.  It's cuckoo - and it still gets me too.  Coco is for coconut, Cacao is for chocolate (Cocoa is cooked and refined and yes it still has antioxidants and health benefits, providing you select quality) - but!

CACAO IS ALWAYS BETTER - so if I say chocolate - this is what I mean.

 Check out those  fruits growing straight off the trunk!

Cut them in half to reveal the cacao bean inside.  David Wolfe recommends growing Cacao as an indoor plant in Perth - does anyone have any viable seed?

And it's raw - heated under 43* Celsius to retain the nutrients.

There's bucket-loads of info on raw cacao online - I'm about MAKING STUFF - so go googling for info.

All right - I admit, I'm also known to be pedantic with a penchant for pronunciation,  spelling and punctuation but that's completely irrelevant here,

although tangents are fun.

SO

I have a chocolate/raw cacao workshop coming up on April 3rd

and I've been playing a lot in preparation for it

and making silly, impractical things like 

white chocolate zombie skulls with mango jam and walnut brains

and easy and delicious things like cacao mousse, berry pie, brownies, superfood balls and smoothies.

So if you're coming to the Cacao class and have novelty silicone ice trays - bring them!

we'll fill them with things like:

*goji/coconut (better than cherry ripe)

*mango jam

*activated nuts

*crunchy minted buckwheat

*any other delights that pop in between now and then - any requests?

Remember these are all gluten, dairy, cane-sugar and additive free

so you can indulge virtuously,

Naturally!

Pizza and cake - mini class

This was a mini workshop done on request

there were just a few of us and we had a great time.

One of the girls has an almond allergy so we worked around it, and made Pizza, superfood balls (I'm sorry I forgot the photos AGAIN!) and a 'German Chocolate Cake' from "Sweet Gratitude" - what a great book.

Live Pizza

I'm really happy with the base - it's nut-free, flax free and mightily tasty with an oregano/tomato sauce.

It's topped with mushroom, avocado, black olives, baby spinach, fresh basil, sliced tomato and 2 types of nut cheese - one a fermented "cheddar cheeze" - a strong booty flavoured cheese coloured one you can see - and the orange wormy topping is a red capsicum macadamia cheeze.

 (OK I confess, I LOVE pineapple on pizza, the secret's out, some have told me "that's disgusting and shameful" but so what! I have a penchant for pineapple on pizza and I'm proud of it, if that makes me a food bogan, so be it! Some oxymorons are delicious, and this is one of them - especially as it's an acidic, sweet and juicy contrast of flavour and texture, I like that).

  The photo of this  little wedge of German Chocolate Cake doesn't begin to encapsulate the experience of having it and eating it too   - On the right the lovely Cinque is holding a slice of White Chocolate and Berry Pie (because I forgot to photograph the Superfood Balls before they all disappeared!) - but look at that lovely creamy pie with oozy berries on top, mentally steal the berries and put them between the chocolate and coconut cream layers of the cake on the left and - OK you get it - it's the only improvement the German Choc Cake needs - and cut really small pieces - it's impossible to stop eating it once you've started and it's really rich!!

PS every time I say 'chocolate' - i mean 'raw cacao' - the real stuff..  .

Workshops and playtimes

It was so exciting to kick off last month with a few workshops - thank you so much to everyone who came along and made it so much fun see here's Junee enjoying making fresh pasta from Zucchini:

  "Intro to Raw" which includes juicing and smoothies,  is about making the transition to raw food easy and delicious with lots of dips, sauces, salads, snacks, zucchini pasta, apple pie and a few variations and extras.

Cauliflower 'popcorn' snack 

with thanks to Philip McCluskey, an inspiration!

I was too busy being excited about doing my first workshop to get many pictures,

but here it's all being eaten!

and what a fantastic mess we made,

HOORAY!