Elly’s Raw Pizza starting from top left: Macademia ricotta with mustard greens, artichoke and zuchini. Caramelized onions, shitake mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes. Red bell peppers, chilli, marinated shitake shrooms and macademia cheese. Pine- nut parmezan with marinara sauce and rocket!
T//F//L reporting from Turtle Island a.k.a. Amerika…! Well what is half of the T//F//L team doing there you ask? Glad you did! Well…we are getting certified, working in the best, most gourmet raw food restaurants in the world and learning from the most amazing raw chefs… plus we are having a ball doing it…jealous? Don’t be! The plan is to return to Greece and show everyone what we learned! This post is a re-cap of our month in Oklahoma City at Mathew Kenney’s 105 degrees Academy. I didn’t have a computer hence the delayed post. Lets see… Oklahoma City… aaaaa, well I’m not gonna lie – we didn’t expect too much from the city of Ok and wondered “why was this incredible raw food school located in the buckle of the bible belt?”…but we were pleasantly surprised. So much so that we can say this: We have been in New York City (city of dreams, city that never sleeps, contradiction there guys? NYC center of the universe, yada yada yada…) for the past month and we actually miss Oklahoma! And of course its the people we miss. Everyone at 105 is hands down lovely. And I mean EVERYONE! Our teacher Haylee is a stupendous instructor: firm yet funny, a real peach I tell ya – with phantasmagorically great dance moves under her karate belt… Megan our gorgeous and inspiring academy director, Casey – the talented and cat-eyed 105 executive-chef, Crystal – the impeccably chic ballerina posing as a hostess, the dude of dudes: the chillest and jolliest dude we have met, Mat Downey not Jr., behind the bar we have expert smoothie maker Britanny – she looks like an old school actress, you think you should be seeing her in black and white, and then she hands you a luscious technicolor smoothie! Damn yummy, still thinking about the blueberry one 🙂 I can’t possibly mention everyone who works there but a couple more words… Pastry chef Kersten the woman behind 105’s Tiramisu, OH MEE GEE, you don’t understand the magic of this dessert… it is absolutely sublime and she invented it! I’m not even kidding when I say this dessert has brought us close to nirvana…
And although 105 seems to be run mostly by a matriarchy (even if it appears otherwise!) just the way we like it…There are a few special guys that are able to stand tall and I don’t even mean that metaphorically I mean literally. Sean and Jamie could have been on a basketball team, but luckily for everyone – they chose a raw kitchen! Both charmin’ and passionate about food – they make everything look cool and easy… Oh! and Will, Wild Wild Will – the Inventor – Will is the mixologist @ 105, magic with sake, sparkling wine and generally anything he gets his hands on. Ok too much writing. Here’s another pizza picture:
This one is mine: What you see here is double cheeze ricotta & parmezan with fresh marinara sauce and roasted heirloom tomatoes, roasted veggies and you can also partially see chanterelles and porcinis. The crust was made out of sprouted buckwheat! Believe me when I say these pizzas rivaled any cooked ones I have had… The only one that comes close was the gorgonzola mushroom and thin crust I had in Torino many many years ago and still remember it fondly…
Cheeze is the last frontier, I think everyone who has given up animal products will agree. Which brings us to the next set of pictures :
What’s so cheezy about peace, love and understanding?
Yup! They taste like cheeze, yup some are creamy and spreadable while others have a rind…yup they are 100% raw, 100% delicious and they are good for you, the animals and the planet!
And where there is cheese there is bread!
And where there is bread and cheese together it leads to an inevitable love affair!
Local Gold :
Oklahoma is famous for its pecans! The Pecan is famous for its richness in omega 6 Fatty acids, protein, manganese, magnesium, zinc and phosphorous!
Kombucha Sorbet! Kombucha is a drink I had never tried before 105. It is absolutely addictive, totally good for you cuz’ its full of probiotics and Haylee (our beloved instructor) makes it by the bucketful. These little gems are her invention: Raspberry Kombucha Sorbet – soooo good…
Obsessed with Kale chips…
A little friend in the wheatgrass… that’s when you know its really organic!
Blueberry Yogurt Crepes with fresh fruit that looks like eyeballs!
And now for something completely different: Things that made Oklahoma memorable…
Our posse! Our crew! Our Raw Class… Britanny is the cute blonde – she is our oklahomie! There will more of her in future posts especially Chapter II of Raw Oklahoma!
Birds rule Oklahoma!
Bike One: Best bicycle place in Oklahoma Check out their Site BIKE ONE…They say it’s dangerous to ride your bike in OKC but don’t believe the hype, especially if you come from a big city and know what it means to bike in traffic. Riding the wide streets and empty parking lots of OKC is exhilarating, you feel the wind in yer hair and freedom is yours. Plus the good people at Bike One will help you find the scenic route to anywhere…We had a little bike gang going… kinda like a Hells Angels type situation…only a bit scarier. This is what we looked like riding the streets of OKC… Pictured here: Me and Bloody Mary – coolest darn gal’ in our Universe… All these pictures on our Raw Oklahoma Post are taken by her infamous Leica… and here is her awesome blog Click here if you don’t believe me, go on I dare ya!
This was in the bathroom of The Earth Natural Cafe & Deli – a great vegan/ vegetarian place in downtown Norman!
Something I’ve never witnessed before: A fresh Horseradish root! Exciting stuff for food geeks…
Dawgs!
Before the roller derby match (more about that in the next post) we found Santa – he was right by the old farmers market… Ok there is a lot more to write but I’m gonna give it to ya in small doses…
vasilike
so much fun….waiting anxiously for the next chapter!!
Sara
I really really enjoyed this post, very interesting developments in TFL. Very interesting and humourous post. Im really looking forward to learning about all the new stuff. xxx