Followers of my blog and social media will know I’ve been camped out in New York doing publicity for the release of the US version of I Quit Sugar. This morning I did a segment with Carson Daly on NBC’s The Today Show and made two of the most popular recipes from the book: Raspberry Ripple … Read more
Hilarious: Rushing to get to Better TV show to chat #iqs AND LOOK WHO I RUN INTO!?!?! The ephemeral Gabby Bernstein (an #iqs convert)!
The funny thing is this: our books –I Quit Sugar and Miracles Now – both came out in the US on exactly the same day (last Tuesday), they both feature 108 recipes and spiritual tricks (respectively), then we randomly met each other on launch day when we appeared on the same TV show here in NY (she heard my voice in the corridor), then we dined that night. And then we shared some more.
I don’t talk “God” or “soul sistas” or about channeling The Light, but I’ve always had an affinity with people who do. I guess it’s because I talk, feel and live this stuff, but from a slightly different slant. Same view, different angle. And there’s nothing I like more than to look at the view while perched alongside someone who evokes it tantalizingly differently to me. It gets me thinking fresh. That’s
This is a straightforward post to complement my longer spiels about my adventure to Skoki Lodge.
Oh Canada…
Both Calgary and Lake Louise are fantastic whole food destinations. So many of the places I checked out during my stay banged on about 100-mile-radius produce, pasture-finished meat and eating nose to tail etc. It was super refreshing. As a base for exploring the region, Calgary is great for 1-2 days and certainly some of the cafes and restaurants are worth checking out before heading off to nearby mountain adventures. I’ve included some Lake Louise information, too. Because it rocks the Rockies!
Just a quick note on Canadian service before we move on: It’s seriously the best in the world. Canadians are notoriously nice and they do hospitality with so much earnest care. Almost worth visiting just for this lovely touch.
And just so you know, half of my stay was hosted by Tourism Alberta, but as always views are all my own and I communicate this clearly to anyone wishing to host me. You’ll find my position on sponsored posts and advertising here.
River Café
This place is magical – a cosy, barn-like place with an open fire and a great bar area located on an island in a river that runs through the centre of town. Big windows look out onto the park (geese frolicking in the snow!) and you lose all sense that you’re in the middle of the city. I walked there from the Kensington Riverside Inn a little further up the river at sunset. I drank anamazing red from a list featuring lots of organics and ate…
Local pasture-finished Angus sirloin on an eggplant caponata with fiddleheads (fern buds that grow nearby at the start of spring) and cod served with cabbage rolls.
Seattle is a slow and whole foodie playground. Let me illustrate just how so with this example: the other night at Sitka and Spruce, a Capital Hill restaurant featuring local produce, I had one of my gut aches. When I have a gut ache I generally take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in some warm water before eating. It settles things. So I tried my luck with the cashmere sweater-wearing waiter and asked if the kitchen might have some ACJ, used for cooking purposes. “I believe we ferment our own…one moment.” He promptly arrived with a mug of the stuff, along with my glass of biodynamic Burgundy. For, while not flagged in neon lights on the menu, the entire wine list is organic, natural or biodynamic.
It would all be tediously “Portlandia”, except I was in Seattle, where this kind of eating is very unpretentious.
I love this Seattle shot… Granny on her iPhone at one of the most Portlandia joints in town (Sitke and Spruce)
Which makes things fun for someone like me. Actually it was food that brought me to Seattle – the city is regarded as the second best restaurant destination outside Manhattan, has the second largest wine industry outside California and it’s a mecca for food bloggers. Like my mates Shauna at Glutenfreegirl, Aran at CannelleVanille and my new mate Mickey at Autoimmune-Paleo. All of us have autoimmune disease, all of us connected online, all of us wanted to meet. Ergo, a jaunt to Seattle.
In addition to a bunch of other amazing wholefood nuts I met while in town, as well as the Visit Seattle team, they helped me put together this Portlandia-without-the-pretence guide. Enjoy.
Paleo eats
* Out of the Box: A Paleo food van that pops up around the place. Fantastic fare, like pork belly with cauliflower rice…you know the kind of thing. The also do meal delivery…good for hotel room service!!
* 50 North (University District): A wonderful American restaurant with plenty of gluten-free options; a great place for dinner. The fish and chips are excellent [I usually opt for sweet potato fries instead of regular ones – Mickey]. The lamb burger and BBQ pulled pork sandwich (without the buns) are also tasty Paleo options.
* Sea Breeze Farm (at the U-district market Saturdays and Ballard market on Sunday, year round): Every week this farm brings their best freshly butchered meats, raw dairy, and prepared goods all raised on their sustainable family farm to the market. Buy some Porchetta for a snack as you walk the market. [They sell the best pork belly I
All this kombucha experimenting has become something of a hobby. This recipe I’m sharing today kinda brings much of the tweaks together – how to make a fructose-free kombucha (using rice malt syrup), and how to pimp things up a treat, using the right quantities of essences and fruits. This combo really does work amazingly … Read more
I’m a wholly neurotic, frenetic A-class example of an A-type. If you’re an A-type too (I know a few of you follow me on this blog) you’ll be with me on this: We know we need to let go, release our grip and chill the fork out, but…it requires clever trickery.
The view over the valley at Gwinganna. (Photo by Jo Foster.)
Indeed, it’s our very A-typeness – our ability to apply clever techniques – that gets us to something approximating “letting go”, usually via our body. And this is fine. So fine.
One of my tricks when I’m due for some letting go is to force myself into lockdown. I’ve escaped to a tin shed in the forest, plunged into remote wilderness on my own for a few weeks, and disappeared to a Hare Krishna camp. The last few days before I left Australia I was locked down in a wellness retreat (for those of you wondering, there’s only one that I recommend. I have done for a number of years, freely and with conviction – Gwinganna in the Gold Coast hinterland. Their principles are sound and their care true).
I don’t like retreats (Groups! Organized activities! Being told what to do! Touchy feelyness! Eek!). But my A-type brain knows when something has to be done about something.
In this case, that something was chronic exhaustion ahead of a six-week book tour in America and UK. I needed boundaries and bush and calm and no internet and, yes, a bit of touchy feeliness.
But none of this is my point. My point is sharing a trick for letting go I came across in a group (!) breathing exercise one
There’s a lot about this recipe that gets me excited. Bones. Marrow. Warm, dense, nutritious custard. And a breakfast food not based on grains. I realise the combined effect could be a little challenging for some, but I invite everyone to think openly and consider the incredible health (and environmental and ethical) benefits of eating like this.
Bone marrow custard, recipe below
I should flag, the recipe comes courtesy of the lovely Jenny at The Nourished Kitchen who recently sent me her new book, by the same title. I’ve been following her blog for years and love her informed and clever approaches to healing foods. If you’ve been enjoying my kombucha recipes and other fermented foods, then you’ll get a wholesome kick from going the next step with her culinary inventions…kombucha vinaigrette, chicken foot broth and stewed beef heart with root veggies and porcini mushrooms!
This cookbook is a compendium of how-our-grandparents-used-to-eat recipes that do the farm to table fan-dangle. It’s very much aligned with my philosophy: whole and real foods, with value placed on quality and nutrient-dense foods, eating local and caring for the environment. It also includes organ meats and raw dairy, and a chapter on salt, time and the art of fermentation – one of my favourites!
Bone marrow can taste a lot like browned butter, which is why you’ll often find it in sweet custards and desserts in older cookbooks. Long leg bones provide delicious, buttery marrow. Purchase them pre-cut, or ask your butcher to cut them 1-3 inches (3-8 cms) thick to make scooping out the marrow a little more manage-able. While you can remove the marrow from the centre of a raw bone, roasting the bones significantly improves the flavour of marrow and makes it a bit easier to remove.
Bone Marrow Custard with black pepper and parsley
Jenny: “Cream and eggs nicely complement roasted marrow in this simple savoury custard, while the fresh flat-leaf parsley adds a clean, bright flavour to balance the richness. I often serve this custard for a late but substantial breakfast
Once the initial fermentation period is done and the SCOBY removed feel free to add fresh or frozen fruit – berries, stone fruit work best – or some lemon or lime juice.
For a kombucha base of about 3 cups, use about 1/3 cup of fruit or juice.
Remember, when fruit is added the sugar feeds the yeast in the second ferment, so again, very little sugar remains.
2. Add herbs and spices and all things nice.
In addition to the fruit, feel free to thrown in some flavourings, like vanilla, almond, lemon and orange extracts or fresh herbs or spices. To flavor kombucha with an extract, brew and ferment according to the basic recipe.
For a kombucha base of about 3 cups, use about ¼-1/2 teaspoon of extract.
For a kombucha base of about 3 cups, use about 3cm fresh ginger cut into matchsticks or grated (you might need to add extra sugar if only using ginger and you’re after fizz).
3. Add apple cider vinegar.
Jenny at Nourished Kitchen shares this: “In my favourite wintertime version of kombucha, I flavour it with sweet spices and a
I start by apologising: I’m about to ask a favour. I don’t normally do this kind of thing and I’ll try not to make a habit of it. But I would love your help on this occasion.
This is the cover of the US edition of I Quit Sugar. Same-same-but-pleasantly-different.
In two weeks I Quit Sugarcomes out in America. In fact, I write this post as I await my flight to Seattle (I then head to Calgary and then New York). But the way things in US Bookland work is this: if a stack of people pre-order the book – buy it before its release on April 8 – then it has fighting chance of becoming a “bestseller” and then (as a result) being stocked across the whole of America. Which is my aim. To get the book to everyone who wants or needs it. No force feeding, of course. Just available as an invitation.
So, to keep it simple (oh, I feel awkward asking – sorry!): I’d truly love it if any of you interested in buying the book could do so via pre-order. Like, today. So…
* You will receive a free mini sugar-free cocktail cookbook. You’ll be able to download it straight after pre-ordering, so you can get playing right away. Click here to learn more.
* Of course you can wait until the book appears in stores April 8. But a pre-order will help me out a stack. You pay the same price for the pre-order, get something for free, plus you’ll get the book ahead of everyone else. No downside.
If you’re Australian…
* I’d love you to share this message with your American mates – alert them to my fumbly favor.
* For your troubles, I’m giving away a few thank you prizes: a Tefal Soup & Co (valued at $299) which blends smoothies and
I recently posted my 1000th blog. I figure this puts me in a good position to share a few ideas that might help you if you’re starting out or want to extend things a little.
Just get into the mosh pit. It doesn’t matter where. Just be in there. It’ll be messy. Everyone will forgive you, though. Then piece things together as you go, build, layers, learn from working out the problems. Don’t panic that you’re getting it wrong. Continue. This is the new frontier.
2. If you’ve been blogging for a while, here’s a podcast I did with Srinivas Rao of Blogcast FM on how to develop your blog voice.
I cover off:
The foundations of traditional journalism
The power of including your personal story in your content
Why the message is more important than the medium
Keys to studying another writer’s style
Developing a message and a voice that’s authoritative
This is a community for bloggers at any level where you can learn directly from some world-renowned full-time bloggers and meet, get advice from and collaborate with other bloggers around the world.
