Raw Spirit, Year 2

On Saturday, I attended the Raw Spirit Festival East -- This is a very hippiesh affair with a focus on raw and live foods. I went because I went last year in Sedona and had a great time, plus I bought the tickets back in January when the price was the lowest and also because there were some people I wanted to hear speak. The weather was looking iffy, but other than being warm, things worked out well.

I was excited to see that amongst the restaurant-vendors was a booth for Quintessence which hails from NYC and is a place I've wanted to visit for a long time. At least I was able to sample some of their food. In addition, when one chef didn't show for a demonstration, Chef Dan from Quintessence filled in at the last second and I was able to hear some of his story and the philosophy behind the restaurant.

I learned last year to hit the vendor area early as things sell out and was able to snap this pic:

This young man is hacking open young coconuts so that attendees can drink the yummy coconut water inside. This liquid is said to be very pure and is also used as an IV fluid in some developing countries where medical saline is unavailable. The line to get the coconuts was pretty long so I skipped on this -- also, every once in awhile, I go on a young coconut jag at home and I just recently finished up a bunch.

I attended a number of food preparation demonstrations during the day and one very lovely suprise was the demonstration given by a woman named Linda Carter whose name I didn't recognize. In addition, the program reflected that she was demonstrating apple cake. All of that sounded pretty ho-hum, but it was pretty hot and sticky by that time and I wanted to sit in the cool air conditioned area of the food demo room. Linda turned out to be great -- funny and laid back. I got a picture of her doing her thing:


Linda is the gal in the aqua dress and head scarf scraping out the bowl of her food processor. She has lost 100 pounds and is no longer an insulin-dependent diabetic due to her change in diet. Not only was she very entertaining, but the apple cake was pretty good too.

Now, to go off topic for a moment: I love butterflies. At one point during the day, I was walking back to the food demo area, and this guy was hanging out waiting to have his pic taken:

Gorgeous!!!







I'm sure regular readers of this blog can guess how this day ended for me: After enjoying quite a bit of raw vegan food during the day, I went home and ate ribs!

Food & Kisses, GiGi