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As a kid I used to play various versions of ‘tag’.  We called the game ‘It’, as when you were caught you were ‘It’ and you were duly awarded the lurgee (pronounced lerr-gee)!

We also played a very British version called British Bulldog, which involved trying to make it from one end of the playground to the other without someone holding on to you whilst shouting, "British Bulldog 1-2-3".  It usually involved the risk of being brought down on the cold, hard concrete floor and often ended in arguments about whether or not someone had let go before they finished saying the whole sentence.  There was one particular person that springs to mind that had to win everything, and who repeatedly lied about whether he’d been ‘got’.  Guess I’m still bitter about that.  I’ll work through it :-)

Anyway, I never got chased by the girls I wanted to be chased by, but now I’m older, I’ve been tagged by the prettiest girl in the playground! This is a new, more adult version (keep it clean please!) and it’s called ‘Blog Tag’.  The idea is that when you get tagged by another blog owner, you have to reveal 5 things about yourself and then tag 5 other bloggers.

Read on for my 5 ‘secrets’ and to see who I tagged…

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I came across this post on Seth Godin’s blog today.  It’s interesting to see a marketer’s view on how the foods that are presented to us as ‘normal’ can be made so seem that way, and how anything outside that is made to seem extreme and weird.

"How did we get programmed this way? Is it an inevitable part of the human condition to prefer things that are bland, preprocessed and not so good for us? Or did we market ourself into this corner?"

Is this how we went from eating raw food to cooked food?  I suspect that happened before the marketers got involved, but it’s certainly one of those things that makes you go, "hmmmmmmmm".

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I’m very proud to say that this blog has been featured on 2 other blogs in the last month.  The first was on the excellent We Like It Raw , a blog I’m sure most people will be familiar with.  They had some very nice words to say about me so if you’ve come here as a result of seeing me there, welcome to you!

Secondly, I’ve been awarded the Applied Hacking Award from TypePad Hacks , for the work I did a few months ago , when you may have noticed the appearance of this blog change slightly.  This was a surprise for me, albeit a lovely one, as I never really considered myself a ‘hacker’ :-).  It’s surprising how good you can get at something if you enjoy it!

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Inspired by the classic kale & avocado salad, this dish was a hit in NY when I made it, almost on a daily basis, for everyone at The Plant.

[Postscript] The Plant is no longer open.

Chipotle peppers are jalapeno that have been smoked, and so are not raw. However, I love to use them as they have such a great taste and you don’t need to use many! I have provided an alternative combination of ingredients in the recipe as a substitute to using jalapenos that will give a similarly distinctive taste.

This is a real hearty meal with a kick that’s perfect for those cold winter days!

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From Wholefoods to Tesco, the inevitable return to ‘real’ life after my 7 weeks in New York has finally happened.  And I came down with a crash that could be heard for miles!

I had a gap of 1 day between getting back form NYC and going to the Fresh Festival in Somerset to help with the catering for what turned out to be an amazing 6 days in the kitchen.  More on that in a separate blog post though.

So what brought me back down to earth?  I met an old work colleague in Tesco whilst shopping for my kale & Avocado salad ingredients and reluctantly got in a conversation with him.  We started off well enough but things went downhill after he said, "so, you errrrr, still eating kale then?"

"Is that such a big thing?" I thought.  After nearly 2 months around open-minded people in arguably the raw food capital of the world, it’s easy to forget that apparently, in Sussex, it is a big thing!

I miss having brunch at Quintessence!

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Global Warming.  Pollution.  Unrest In The Middle East.  Rising Fuel Prices.

There is an alternative.

Find out more here.

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Americans spend more than $3 billion yearly on nutritional supplements.

Imagine you’re standing in front of the supplement section in a shop, looking for your digestive enzymes, and you hear a lady approach an assistant and ask, "Hi, do you have anything for someone who doesn’t eat very well, eats late at night, is under stress and doesn’t take much excercise?"

What advice would you give?

I’m talking about an experience I had in Wholefoods today, which is why I’ve used the statistic about the US market, but I believe most countries will have similar figures.

This woman was demonstrating the modern way of thinking:  I know what I’m doing wrong, I know it’s not doing me any good and I know I need to do something about it.  Now just give me a pill that will fix it all so I can get on with my day!

Do you think it occured to the assistant to say, "Yes actually, you could go down to the organic produce section and spend your $15 on fruit and veg, don’t eat late at night, get a less stressful job and then go out for a walk."

No, taking a pill sounds much easier to me.

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Ok, I’ve been a bit slack on the posts recently so I’m playing catch up!  Here’s the menu & photos from the 6th October Brazillian Friday Night Dinner at The Plant.

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