Fresh Huckleberry Plum Smoothies, and Being Laura Ingalls Wilder in Carmel Valley

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Hannah

With two days in San Francisco under our belts, Jeniqua and I set off on Saturday morning to wend our way, via Caltrain, bus, and private vee-hick-el, to her current place of residence in the mountains. For the sake of Jeniqua’s (and the owner’s) privacy, I shan’t give exact coordinates, but suffice it to say that I’ve spent the past week on a mountain farm in the Monterey/Big Sur/Carmel Valley area, and

was

breath-taking

idyllic

real

above-clouds

warm-earth

sweet

fresh

breath-taking.

When we arrived, I discovered I’d be sleeping in my own private attic-loft, and my heart fell in an instant for this room that made me feel like I was Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Oh, how I adore the words that flew from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s pen, and oh, how I dreamed as a kid of living her life (minus the malaria and periods of near-starvation and farming struggles, but plus an extra-strength Almanzo, if you please).

As I stepped into the attic I felt my heart leap again in my chest, for the farm’s owner and Jeniqua’s friend, Lloyd, had placed not only a fresh bouquet of flowers by my bed, but a little box of chocolate covered cacao nibs on my pillow too.

Thank you, Lloyd. You are magical and made me feel truly welcome.

(I also appreciated honing my mountain goat skills by climbing up and down the near-vertical steps to the attic, particularly at 3am with a head-torch strapped to my head.

Yes, a head-torch. Sometimes I’m so glamorous I can’t even stand it.)

One of the most wonderful parts of my farm visit was the abundance of fresh fruit always readily available, including fruit I’ve never had the chance to try before.

Like huckleberries.

Sweet, tart, tangy, juicy, delicious huckleberries, which I spent two hours sorting and picking over one afternoon, neck burning in the sun as I swatted bugs away from my (mine, all mine!) bounty.

Once the sour green huckleberries and twigs had been removed from the ripe glowing berries, Jeniqua and I called in Lloyd and the WWOOFers with the promise of frosty sweet huckleberry smoothies.

Listen ye well: our smoothies were magnificent. Into one batch went huckleberries, burstingly-ripe yellow plums, almond milk, vanilla, and ice. Into another went peaches, huckleberries, agave, ice, and almond coconut milk.

All sweet, all locally picked or foraged, all refreshing, all perfect.

Fresh Huckleberry Plum Smoothie

Serves 1 (ingredients are estimated; adjust to taste, and add sweetener if needed)

1/2 cup fresh huckleberries
2-3 ridiculously ripe and sweet little plums
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 – 2/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup ice

Blend all to a gloriously thick magenta creation.
Drink in the sun with friends, happy.

Question Time: Have you had huckleberries before? What did you do with them?

Ooh, I finally have something for Ricki’s Wellness Weekend and Healthy Vegan Friday again!

San Francisco Day Two: Glitter, Ice Cream, More Coffee, and Whole Foods

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Hannah

When I awoke in San Francisco last Friday, I looked across to see Jeniqua sitting on her bed, madly tapping at her iPhone with what seemed an incomprehensible – and near demonic – amount of energy and glee for that hour of the morning.

The reason for Jeniqua’s energy quickly became apparent, though, as she admitted to having already walked to Blue Bottle for an early morning coffee. Luckily for me, she was not averse to heading straight back again, this time with me for company.

I have to say this: Blue Bottle Coffee made the best soy cappuccino I’ve ever had in my life. Ever. (And I’ve had my fair share of soy coffees.) It was creamy, thick-frothy, nutty, somehow a little sweet despite having no sugar, and rich in coffee depth without a trace of bitterness. I could’ve sipped that creation forever.

Jeniqua’s espresso and muffin went down a treat too.

Suitable fortified on stupendous caffeine, Jeniqua and I braced ourselves against San Francisco’s chilly (well, chillier than I’ve become used to and have the clothes for) weather and headed out for a day of shopping and exploring.

As my soul was still feeling a little wobbly, I pounced on the opportunity in Sephora to paint every single one of my nails a different colour of glitter polish (the plain colours on the right hand? Jeniqua did those. I would’ve put glitter everywhere. EVERYWHERE.)

For the rest of the day, whenever I felt a bit sad, I’d look down at my hands and watch them sparkle in the sunlight. It helped. (Even though I probably looked like a cross between a five-year-old and a cheap hooker.)

Another aspect of our San Francisco day that created joy and wonderment was finding homemade (store-made?) ice cream on the street corner we’d been unceremoniously dumped by a trolley driver.

Lookee how happy Jeniqua is! Jeniqua, in turn, makes me happy, for heart-friends are a magical thing indeed. Particularly heart-friends who share scoops of coconut and chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

After wandering up, down, and around San Francisco’s hilly streets all day, Jeniqua came up with the magical idea of creating a Whole Foods picnic for dinner in our hostel room. Let’s leave aside the part where we were so delirious with tiredness that our intended fifteen minutes of grocery shopping turned into forty-five minutes of aimless grocery wandering, and also the part where we almost convinced each other to justify getting a taxi rather than walking the twelve minutes back to our hostel (we didn’t, thank heavens for our dignity), and instead focus on my Haul Of Whole Foods Awesomeness.

This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home…

But lo! What is Jeniqua doing?

No, seriously, why is she dismantling the furniture after screeching around the room for ten minutes making banging noises?

S’all good, s’all good. Nothing to see here. A girl simply must find a way to open her cider after nine straight hours of walking around, is all.

I, on the other hand, needed me an entire block of restorative dark chocolate. Gee willies this Chuao Chocolatier Salted Chocolate Crunch was incredible. So, so, so ridiculously good. It was absolutely chockers with tiny crunchy salted panko breadcrumbs and the bar tasted like toffee, like toast, like praline, like heaven, like obsession, like salty-sweet-rich-chocolate-brownie-the-top-of-a-crème-brulee deliciousness.

Please, sir, can I have some more?

And with that, Jeniqua and I fell into our hostel beds with happy tummies and happy hearts, closing out our night with whispers and plans for our trip into the glorious mountains the next day.

Sanraku in San Francisco with the Jazzy Jeniqua

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Hannah

Right now I feel a little bit like my soul has splintered into a hundred thousand glimmering fragments within my chest, and I have to breathe carefully for fear of suffering a myriad tiny cuts for every shining face I left behind in Cedar City yesterday.

My three weeks in that little town of Utah were truly magical, and I made a great many friends whom I hope to find again in new cities in the future. I have more Cedar tales to tell (and another Vegas post, too), but right now it hurts least to skip straight to my first night in San Francisco, where my much-missed-these-past-six-months wild jazzy Jeniqua met me at the airport for our week-long Californian adventure.

First, though, I had to survive three quick-change flights on three hours of sleep and no coffee. After two mad dashes through airports with no time for a caffeine stop, I found myself rummaging through my bag for the candy bar I knew I’d stashed away during our Vegas weekend.

The above Unreal #5 Chocolate Caramel Nougat Bar Unjunked is what I know as a Mars Bar, albeit made without artificial ingredients, hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, GMOs, or preservatives. It’s been a goodly long time since I last had a Mars Bar, but this definitely had the same malty caramel chewy mild-chocolate-y sweetness I remember from childhood.

I was tempted to smoosh this chocolate into the face of the old man seated next to me on the third plane, because he didn’t seem to understand that it’s rude to read what a perfect stranger is typing on her laptop over her shoulder. Ultimately, however, my need for a sugar rush beat my desire to teach a rude old codger some manners.

Jeniqua’s and my first port of call in San Francisco was Blue Bottle Coffee, as our hearts have both been yearning for true, proper, true, proper coffee. My first sip of this long black (or Americano) was like drinking silk.

Jeniqua’s face lit up at the first sip of her latte, and we were both impressed by the sea salt-flecked richness of the double chocolate cookie (though, in truth, I still always prefer my chocolate straight).

With the warmth of coffee in our veins and reaffirmed friendship in our smiles, Jeniqua and I headed off to fulfill our next shared craving: Japanese. At Sanraku, we pored giddily over the menu, knowing we wanted everything.

Jeniqua’s mind was focused on finding any sushi roll covered in sesame seeds, and mine was dedicated to tracking down seaweed salad.

Photo courtesty of Jeniqua

True friends work together to find dining bliss. And what bliss it was!

Sanraku, your Hiyashi Wakame seaweed salad was heaven in my mouth, and your Asari Miso Soup with Manila clams and green onions was a new extravagance in my life.

And edamame is always a winner. Just like Jeniqua, whose sparkling spirit had made me feel happy and at home, here in the city by the bay.

Raw Vegan Pumpkin Cauliflower Rice, Happy Lights, and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Hannah

As many of you have noticed from the tenor of my words, life has been stresspants lately. I’ve been working through weekends and until midnight on weekdays (with evening breaks to make dinner and multiple desserts) and, while I still have to knock out another report by Monday equivalent to the 45-pager I sent through on Friday before dealing with the other deadlines that piled up last week, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thankfully, there have also been little lights in the tunnel. Here are my Happy Lights.

A soy cappuccino at Koko Black, chosen because it comes with real dark chocolate rather than chocolate powder on top.

Do you know what I wish? I wish adult-sized babycinos existed. Then I could order a long black and an entire cup of froth on the side. ALL THE THINGS.

My eponymous-sweet-tooth-sisterfriend Hannah sent me a pouch of black salt all the way from America, simply because I’d never tried it. That lady is all kinds of lovely, and the message she wrote to me on the back of her Christmas card made my heart soar.

Speaking of lovely ladies:

I miss Jeniqua. I miss her greatly. Luckily, the emails we write and the tales she tells of her wild adventures in America and Europe lift me up and inspire me.

Back before Jeniqua abandoned me, we found some old-school advice on how to give a party and enjoy it yourself! No thanks; Jeniqua doesn’t need party advice.

At the bottom of this truly horrendous cheese shortcake (what?!) photo lurked the slogan: “Keep them fit every day – the cheese protein way!”. So there’s that.

Speaking of horrendous [night-time-no-light] photos:

Raw vegan pumpkin cauliflower rice (pulsed in a food processor with miso paste and cashews) topped with zucchini in a tahini-pepper-lemon dressing.

Which I followed with more Trader Joe’s Chocolate Sunflower Seed Drops than I could count, and that’s saying something because I took Maths ALL THE WAY TO YEAR 11.

Before I go any further, hey Mum and Dad! Look behind you! A distraction!

Now that my parents aren’t looking, I can tell you that this photo shows exactly where I am right now, writing this post as I house-sit for them. I have everything a girl could need: Ugg boots scattered on the floor next to a bottle of mineral water, thermal socks on my feet, dogsy beneath my legs on the couch, and my laptop on my lap (oooh, in the photo I’m editing one of the photos in this very post! How very meta of me!).

After I took the above shot, I spent ten minutes snapping photos of my sleeping dog’s face from mere millimetres away. The photos made me laugh so hard I cried a little bit.

I’m so lucky my dog doesn’t read this blog. She’d never forgive me the indignity.

Question Time: What’s one of your Happy Lights this week?

Dorothy Porter, Cold Drip, and Giggles Galore

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Hannah

Free chocolate at Koko Black

When I recently asked for poetry recommendations after showing you a poem by Pablo Neruda, my mother responded by giving me The Bee Hut, a collection of poetry by the late Dorothy Porter. Oh, how it sears into me. I’m only halfway through, but I see echoes of my own thoughts and rhythm in Porter’s free verse, and her words, images, and meanings dance beside the swirling choices currently speeding towards me in life.

Here’s just one of Porter’s poems that I’ve found myself rereading this week:

II. What a Plunge!

After Woolf

This morning the street
stings
like salt in a happily healing
wound.

A memory breaks under
your ribs
and plunges you
in turbulent sweet water.

Life is so dangerous,
but this morning you can take
the wave
right to the sparkling shore.

You can bear knowing
the street will one day dump you.

* * *

Not everything in my life, however, is centred on thoughts and possibilities catching in my throat. I’m spinning from intense conversations to silver moments of peace and solitude to rapid-fire repartee with friends such that we cannot speak for laughing.

There’s been cackling with E.Moonbeams over Upside Down Dogs.

Brunch with Christina at Farmers Daughter, where we were given free samples of the café’s new cold drip. It was beautifully smooth and strong, but the highlight was when Christina picked up her glass of cold drip with its enormous ice cube, took a sip, and screeched “IT’S COLD!”

Oh, Christina.

Chatting with Deb, who never fails to make me laugh while also, somehow, always creating opportunities for me to make incredibly inappropriate jokes that she then quotes me on for her status updates. Mum, if you saw that on Facebook… I apologise. I swear, we were only talking about chlamydia in the context of koalas.

After performing at the Governor General’s Open Day, we got more cream than scones.

And sometimes, when I’m missing Jeniqua with all my heart, I think about all the things that made our friendship as strong as diamonds. Like chocolate.

You see, this is Jeniqua before chocolate.

And this is Jeniqua with chocolate.

This is me without chocolate.

And this is me with chocolate.

I rest my case.

Question Time: What do you think of cold drip coffee? Gimmick, or delicious?

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