Pretty Plates from Days Seven, Eight, Nine

Cashew Kimchi inside Cilantro Coconut Wrappers with Sesame Foam. Emulating wonton dumplings. If these weren't so labor intensive, I'd make them everyday. Insane.

Cashew Ice Cream. My ice cream looks like mashed potatoes to me. Tasted great though.

Tostadas with cacao mole, pico de gallo, cabbage slaw, gaucamole, and sour cream. The single best entree I made was this. Again, if it weren't so many pieces to this puzzle, I'd eat it every day. When the tostadas were gone, I ate the rest of plate with store-bought nacho chips. Yum-to-the-ee!

Flatbread Pizza topped with avocado, tomato sauce, cilantro and capers. Very rich, crunchy, and crispy. Super good. I want to make more flatbreads once I'm finished with school. They do not have to be complicated. Maybe I'll do a book only on flatbreads :-) They add that taste of bread that people need when they eat raw.

Coconut Parfait with buckwheat, raspberries, and blackberries. I don't love yogurt. so I gave this to Raymond and one of my roommates. They loved it. I was happy my yogurt was smooth, and came out pretty.

Butter Lettuce, avocado, radish with Honey Mustard Dressing. I would take a bath in the dressing. I didn't know how much I liked the crunchiness of butter lettuce (also known as Boston Lettuce or Bibb Lettuce).

love,
A. ◦

Pretty Plates from Days Seven, Eight, Nine

Graduation!

I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So on Day Ten, my computer would not let me upload photos. I got it fixed a few days before I graduated. For that reason, and because I was back-breakingly busy, I stopped posting. As I head into Level 2 on April 6, I will update you all now. I learned a lot, but one thing was: don't kill myself trying to do this. I stayed until midnight or one a.m. many nights. I ran myself into the ground. The other thing: it was totally worth it. The skills I learned will allow me to create original raw food cuisine. And that is worth it's weight in gold. 

Working backward, these are the two dishes I made for my Video Final Presentation. We were to create original recipes. I did a spin on the Standard American Diet. Burgers, fries, and apple pie. I didn't make the fries, as we were to do two dishes, but talk about the third. A jicama slaw was my take on fries. Above is a burger on wheat bread, pineapple salsa, cheese, pickles, mustard, mayo, and ketchup. It came out terrific. I wanted to create a burger that looked like burger and I did.

I was even prouder of this. It's an apple & pear crisp with creme and caramel. I love apple anything. I have made great baked and raw apple crisps which a rustic. An apple crisp is a homey dessert. Presentation is everything at Matthew Kenney Culinary (henceforth known as MKC). I elevated my homey dessert to something elegant. And after I did my video and cleaned my kitchen, you know I ate this sucker. 

Any of you who want to be raw food chefs HAVE TO TAKE THIS COURSE. I messaged Mimi Kirk before I started. She is a seventy-something year old raw foodist who has written at least five books. When I saw she had taken this same class at MKC Santa Monica, I was like, "What? She's a raw food author!" She wrote me back and said that I had to do this. And she was right. 

If you want to go pro, even if you've been making raw food for years, like I did, do it. I lacked knife skills and flavor knowledge and technique. I have all of that now. If you take this class, you will not regret it. I am so glad I made this decision. 

Love,

Althea

◦

Graduation!

Day One

I am pooped. This is absolutely no joke. When you see my plates for Day Two, which I haven't completed, but I know what they are (GORGEOUS!), ya'll will be like, "That's what she made on her second day of school?" Serious business. This is what I did today:

Green herbal juice

Knife Skills...mine suck, by the way. Chiffonade, baton, julienne, brunoise, and small dice cuts. Way harder than I thought it would be. That made me feel like I know nothing. Knife skills are everything so this requires a lot of work on my part.

Cashew herbal cheese on the left. Macadamia cheese on the right. These are for Day Two dishes. 

Also, almonds are in the dehydrator prepping for tomorrow. 

Pooped!!

◦

Day One