Try BanTry

I went to Bantry for the bank holiday weekend and of course my first task well (pleasure actually) was to check out the local health food store and restaurant. I was pleasently surprized. I thought with Bantry being so far west of Cork that it may not have too much offer regarding fresh fruit and vegetables, but there was lots of fresh organic produce in Organico, the health food store. Most came from local farms, and I got an avocado there, it was one of the nicest I've had in a while, there was a good enough selection of everything else there aswell like organic cosmetics, herbs and honey's.

Then I met my friend in the cafe nextdoor & upstairs also called Organico. It had a nice friendly atmosphere, young people work there, the costumers were all ages. There are health books to read while your there and for sale and other things too for sale like essential oils, eco air freshener, cards and crystals and there are computers for internet access.

The food was fine, its has a typical vege menu, the salads were nice, I had the three salads that were raw and vegan with three types of dressing and that big creamy avocado from the shop. Yummers!

We went to a rather cool alternitive shop called Funky Skunk, they sell nice hand made items, clothes, health & plants books, hemp products, aloe vera plants, various toys, masks, frames and other fun stuff. I got an evening primrose and aloe plant and a funky top. The lady who worked there was lovely and has a huge knowledge of plants, she is giving my friend a Kombucha mushroom and another plant to bring to me .

Wild Ways

Life is great, spring is in full bloom. Today I picked wild nettles from my garden and made pesto. It was yum, it had a lovely almost chewy texture but not quite. I thought about making it for a while but didn't hurry due to their stinging inclination, after looking through recipes on the net I learnt that they need to be blanched for a minute to take out the sting, umm then they wont be 'raw' I thought, but with the knowledge I have absorbed of late on alchemy and herbalism I know it can be very beneficial indeed to heat certain herbs as it changes their mineral structure and inhances and promotes their medicinial qualities.

So I blanched a small saucepan full of nettle leafs in boiling water for a minute then poured the saucepan into a collander held over another pan saving the boil water to drink for its nutrition,
I read it is a good tonic and its described as 'liquid gold'.
I let the nettles cool and drained anymore water, then put them in the food processor until combined with olive oil, hemp-seeds, garlic, fresh ground peppercorns and crystal salt.


I enjoy many varied activities and am in touch with what my bodys needs and wants regarding everything. I knew I needed make some new physical movements. I found Capoeria and went to a 4 hour workshop on saturday, I loved it. Capoeria came to Brazil from Africa in the 1800's, its a combination of fight, martial arts, music, cultural expression, dance, aerobic exercise and much more besides, its such fun its even called 'play' when people 'fight', tho there was no physical contact sticks were used for some of the 'fights'. We made music with some large hand-made instruments, also part of the Capoeria tradition.
It was Wild, I knew when we got started that it was for me because it was vigourous and challenging and yet so expressive, expansive, wild and free.
The beautiful people, dancing, exercise, expression, cartwheels, rhythm, music, fun and play made it enormonously enjoyable.Check it out its so suitable for a raw lifestyle, altho I don't think they were as health conscious as me, maybe I'll teach them a thing or two. The usual classes are for 2 hours, I'm going tonight.

Hey Pesto

Pesto, my favorite food. It has been for a long time, I thought as with anything usually, if you have too much of it you'll be sick of it and wont want anymore, but not for me with pesto. I used to buy basil pesto from y local vegetarian restaurant by the litre before they began to boycott the basil coming from Isreal, which is great for obvious reasons plus it lead me to explore other versions of pesto and encouraged me to grow my own herbs this spring.


I pour pesto all over my salad or guacamole or dip cucumbers into it when its chunky,
I make it with various herbs and greens such as spinach, corriander and rocket sometimes mixed. I use olive, hemp, avacado or flax oils and hemp seeds, pistachios, pine nuts, whatever takes my fancy on the day. Come to think of it, its no wonder I'm never sick of it, with all this variation it always tastes different. I think its the garlic that does it for me.

Here is a basic recipe, put:

2 handfuls of basil
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
handful of pinenuts
pinch of salt

Into the blender or food processor and blend until the ingredients are combined.
Its delicous on its own or blended with avacados and into a soup.

I've been selling these lovely raw organic vegan face care products from raw-gaia in my spare moments. It has been a great way for me to start conversations about the benefits and potency of raw food and products with people, especailly here in Ireland where they're not too open to it just yet. We're getting there.
I've been using the Hemp moisturiser, floral toner and MSM spray and wow they are heavenly. The moisturiser smells chocolately orange, like jaffa cakes. The toner is divine like a falling face first into a fresh flower bed. My skin is even silkier because of them, wow I love it.

Spread the Love

Valentine's Day again, I love it. Of course anything that emphisizes Love and
Happiness I'm a fan of but for me its important to show love and kindness everyday. I'm happiest when I making people happy, thats the way it is in this wonderful world, we prosper most when we are in service of others.
But I have to feel good myself before I can be kind to anyone else, this is a major benefit of eating a raw vegan diet, it makes me feel so good, and everyone benefits.

Today was great, I really felt a love vibe when I was out and about ~ people were happy showing their softer side, helping each other out, giving compliments, smiles and flowers everywhere, nice but pity the love is only openly expressed on occasions. I must reach out to more of my fellow earth siblings about the benefits of this pure diet that I am blessed to enjoy and be adept in.


I made a love~pie, chocolate dipped stRAWberry and heart shaped chocolates. The pie crust is made from 1 cup of goji berries, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 2 cups of mixed ground flax, seasme and pumpkin seeds, and a strawberry all processed together. On top was a chocolate mixture made from coconut oil, honey and raw choc powder, same mix made the choc's and I dipped the strawberrys in.

It's a Wrap

It has been quiet with me lately, I suppose I've been doing some hibernating and reflecting on my life, I've been Wrapping myself around the last of the Winter blanket but now I feel it is getting time to Spring forth with the changing seasons. I'm so looking forward to more day light~ (delight), there is so much I'm going to do this year, cant wait.

It hasn't been challenging at all to continue eating raw foods this weather. I read that it is harder in Winter but I didn't think about it or anticipate it too much, instead I got into the flow and listened to my body, I am blessed that Raw Food is all that my body wants anyway which makes things really easy.
I am doing some detoxing, I am intuitivly eating just two meals per day and one of these is a blended-super-concoction of ground flaxseeds, bee pollen, goji berries, hemp oil, cacao nibs, and spirulina or suma mixed in with a dash of enzymes and a sprinkling of a probiotic tablet, it tastes so rich and sweet it's gorgeous, and knowing how good all the ingredients are makes it even better. It clears me out and nourishes my insides and tastebuds on it's way, yay.
Another staple for me these days is the Nori Wrap, with seed-cheese inside and various other things. Today I had lettuce, onion, and bean-sprouts and a half teaspoon of reishi mushroom powder, last time guacamole. It's nice to put seed-cheese on just lettuce leafs too for a quick snack. I make seed-cheese like this:

I PUT

2 cups of soaked or sprouted sunflower seeds
1 cup soaked cashew nuts
Juice of a lemon
3 or more cloves of garlic
Less than a 1/4 cup of olive oil
Dash of salt and pepper

In the food processor and process for at least 5 minutes.
Then spoon it onto a nori-sheet with other sprouts or veg.
And then it's a Wrap ~ the ultimate fast food.

Brighton-ed Up Janurary

I've just returned from Brighton where I have had the most wonderful time. I stayed for 10 days. I did some Hot Yoga training which is a cool hobby of mine at the moment, its a practice I'm doing until I train as a Yoga Teacher. It involves going to different studio's around Europe for a week or two at a time for intense yoga practice. I get to know the teachers and how they teach, how the studio's are set up and other idea's and interesting stuff.

I searched out some great places to eat and shop, I actually didn't need to search to hard as Brighton's ''free thinking, eco friendly, bohemian hippy culture'' was evident on nearly every street. And a booklet called ''The Green Pages'' had it all layed out nicely for me too. I had lunch a few times at 'The Sanctuary' which was lovely but they're not too up on the whole raw thing, just yet. Same with 'Infinity' the restaurant (Infinity has a health food store on the same street), not much to offer in the raw department but were friendly, vegan and organic. So it's a good job that I Manna~fested a visit to a Raw Cafe called 'Manna'. It was delightful, I met the most wonderful people and ate really beautiful food and enjoyed a lecture by scientist David Ash about the interrelatedness of science and spirituality. Manna is a very important contribution to the planet right now and so much more than a raw cafe. The cuisine~was fit for this Queen, my favorites were nori wraps, sea salad, sprout salad, the raw pizza waz like normal pizza but tastier and the burger . The green juices were to Live for, I had one with kale and garlic it was so nice-soupy and nourishing, the rest were sweet as were the raw chocolate superfood cakes. I also experienced a raw apple pie and ice-cream sensations. I must say that 'Manna' was a true taste of Heaven.






I also did a workshop with Kate Wood who is a raw food coach. The class was advanced food preparation and cake-making . It was a fun way to spend a day. 'Guarana Bar' is a great little place to buy superfoods and herbs and enjoy a juice, acai smoothie or powershot of wheatgrass or something else nice. Brighton is where it's happening especailly for Super Sexy Successful Superbeing like me.

Kissmas Day

Kissmas day was lovely, filled with love & laughter. I spent the day with family and friends, exchanging gifts, entertaining guests, tasting great food, watching movies, dancing, taking pictures, having fun, relaxing and really and enjoying the company.
Now in the house where I spent Christmas Day there aren't any vegetarians never mind vegans or raw food people. So before I left my house I had a huge breakfast of guacamole filled peppers. I took with me a lovely pie that I created the night before, I made the crust with almonds, dessicated coconut and dates, the filling (was so filling!) was walnuts, cranberries and agave blended until creamy and topped then with berries. I also made some little treats called 'snowballs' from cashews, dates, coconut oil and rolled in dessicated coconut. My intention was to fill up on all of this and eat as little cooked food as possible, and it worked a treat! and everybody loved them. I had some, homemade veg soup, roasted vegetables, ratatouille, brussels sprouts and my own stuff and I felt great about it, I didn't miss eating dairy products never mind meat. I have recently had some huge shifts around my eating habits, I already knew I wouldn't eat meat again, now I am at the stage where I don't want or miss dairy.
As my diet evolves through eating raw food I am finding myself in a more peaceful space where I enjoy being present and also look forward to tomorrow. My energy is high and my skin is silky. Am also loving the feeling of hemp clothing against my skin.