Solar Eclipse, Grand Cross, and New Beginnings by kristin

It’s that time again,  just after mid summer when all kinds of things are happening in the sky, in our world, our solar system, and inside of ourselves. Time for some Virgo Magic. I was reading astrologer Emily Trinkaus’s post on what’s happening right now-a solar eclipse takes place at 1:45 AM PDT tomorrow in Cancer, ruler of “watery deep emotions and the subconscious”.

And that’s not all. The Sun and Moon are uniting in Cancer, which makes squares to Saturn and Uranus, opposing Pluto (our old friend), and catalyzing another Cardinal Grand Cross. Might just throw us a bit off kilter temporarily, and help us realize that we need to be in touch with our emotions and with what we really want in life. One effective way of accomplishing our heart’s desires, is to spend time writing down our dreams. When you believe it you see it, to turn a phrase. And since the world keeps on spinning, we might as well find an attunement that works both for us as individuals and for  planetary good.

If one of your heart’s desires is to become an accomplished raw food chef, July and August are the perfect time to begin. You can sign up for the full Gourmet Raw Food Chef Certification™ series complete with all of our advanced classes, including Ethnic Flavors in Recipe Development™, RawFusion Gourmet Spa Cuisine™, Raw Event Catering and Elegant Entertaining™, and Pastry Arts-Unbaked!™. You can attend the Living Light Chef Showcase, Hot Chefs, Cool Kitchen. AND, right after the showcase, we’ve scheduled all five of the Science of Raw Food Nutrition™ courses and a brand new Raw Culinary Arts Associate Chef and Instructor Training™ series.  P.S. Don’t forget to vote for the next Hot Raw Chef. Voting opens July 2. Living Light can help you make your dreams come true.

Summer’s Here by mary elizabeth

Summer has really arrived. I can tell because here at Living Light we’re gearing up for our Chef Showcase, my daughter is gearing up for her big summer camp adventure and it’s misty outside.  Except for the mist, these things are super exciting, but also require lots of preparation, and include all sorts of deadlines.

I have to get my daughter off to camp in less than a month. As I may have mentioned before, I’m more efficient with a deadline, but for her sake I don’t want to be too last-minutey about it. She’s flying all the way across the country – by herself for the first time – to a music camp for teenaged girls. Super fun, huh? I’m really excited for her but also really need to get her stuff together. She’s going to need stuff there that we don’t need here like sun block and bug spray plus music stuff like extra bass strings and probably other stuff that musicians know about plus stuff to keep her entertained on the plane plus, plus, plus…I should probably make a list.

Speaking of deadlines – tomorrow is the last day to submit videos for the Hot Raw Chef Video Recipe Contest. So finish up and upload it now! I got to take a sneak peek at some of the entries we’ve received so far and I must say you people are so creative! “Five ingredients in five minutes” doesn’t sound like it would give much scope for the imagination, but there are some fabulous submissions. I’m looking forward to watching the rest and you can watch them too from July 2 – 15. And don’t forget to vote and help pick the next hot raw chef!

More Bees by hilloah

Today, Archie spent his time putting a temporary roof on our great room. He is adding a great room  to our cabin and the weather report says that it will rain tonight and tomorrow. Though the roof is on, it is only plywood without any roofing materials and the rain could get in.

Last night he was exhausted after being on the roof all day, but our neighbor came by and said that they had a new swarm of honey bees if we wanted  them. We do want the bees, but Archie’s back was in major “ouch” mode. She said, “Oh don’t worry - my husband and our neighbor will help.” So off he went to get the bees, while I went to bed to read.

They got the bees in the box with only two stings for Archie (luckily no stingers remained after contact). Then this morning he went back to the neighbor’s yard to get the box as the bees had calmed down and he brought them over to our yard. Now we have both Mason and Honey Bees: we should have a great garden!

FUNdamentals on the Road™ in Las Vegas - Have FUN in Vegas -  but don’t gamble with your health! Cherie Soria will be heading to Las Vegas in October to teach FUNdamentals, the first course to take in receiving either your Associate Chef & Instructor or Gourmet Raw Food Chef certifications. If you also sign up for Shine, the Lifemax Annual Conference, scheduled for the following day, you will receive a free copy of the required text, Angel Foods: Healthy Recipes for Heavenly Bodies, by Cherie Soria. Such a deal!

A Summer Place and Time by kristin

I have to admit that summer has never been my favorite season. I’m not saying that to be a curmudgeon, but I’m more of a fall sort of person. You know: crunching leaves, slanting sun, and the promise of a new school year sort of thing (I liked school as a kid). 

Growing up in the city, I would sometimes get bored in summer, and sit in the crook of a tree reading a book.  I remember going to Rooster Rock on the Columbia river. Packing up kids in the hot car, a large expanse of asphalt parking lot, and my grandmother descending the  sandy hill to the beach in her flowered frock and sensible shoes (maybe an open toe since it was summer),  unpacking the big picnic lunch of the day: Potato salad, deviled eggs, watermelon, homemade cookies, and a decidedly non-vegan fried chicken. Even today, when I see all the cars driving along in the summertime, loaded up with gear and people and getting ready to have “fun” in the sun, it feels somewhat stressful to me. Since moving to the Mendocino coast though, it’s been easier in summer. Right now the weather is super nice, and we have lovely beaches that aren’t crowded or hot.  Another fun thing about being here is that we have the Hot Raw Chef Video Recipe Contest at Living Light. And it’s so easy this year. Just 5 ingredients in 5 minutes. Bet you could even film it on the beach if you have one near you–what FUN! Submit by June 30th!

Hot Raw Tips by mary elizabeth

Happy Solstice eveyone! Summer is officially here and believe it or not, it’s actually hot here in Fort Bragg. It’s a rarity, believe me. We’re not used to it and I got a nasty sunburn last Sunday just reading in the backyard for a laundry cycle or two. It felt so good out there with the sun on my skin without any annoying wind to drive me back inside. I guess I overdid it. Oh well – these warm, sunny days probably won’t last too long so I intend to enjoy them while I can.

I’m looking forward to enjoying the videos for Living Light’s upcoming Hot Raw Chef Video Recipe Contest. And, if you’re feeling extra restricted by the five ingredient rule, I learned a tip today, You don’t have to count, say, coconut meat and coconut water as two ingredients as they’re part of the same one ingredient: a coconut. Similarly, you could use a diced tomatoe plus squeeze the juice from the seeds et voila – two ingredients that count as one. I hope that helps some of you hotties out there. Now make those videos and submit them! I’m excited to watch – five ingredients in five minutes is just my style!

PIE! by hilloah

Remember “The Pie Song” from the movie Michael? “Pie, Pie, me oh my! Nothing tastes sweet, wet, salty and dry all at once so well as pie!  Apple! Pumpkin! Minced an’ Wet Bottom. Come to your place everyday if you’ve got em’. Pie! Me o my! I love pie!”

This Father’s Day, the Comptche Fire Department put on a barbecue as they do every year. The neat part is that they have pie – every kind of pie imaginable. So we went and had pie and beer, then went to sample the other veggie fare, then more pie! There was music put on by the locals and dancing. What a day!

My favorite pie,raw or cooked, is pumpkin – can not get enough. Living Light’s  pumpkin pie is so good that our local Harvest Market buys them from us to sell to their customers. Yummmmm, it is good! Hurry and sign up for Pastry Arts – Unbaked! so you, too, can “unbake a pie”!

Dear Old Dads by kristin

It’s almost Father’s Day, and I can’t let the day go by without mention. Both Cherie’s father Fred Soria and my Dad died during the past year.

Cherie’s Dad was more of a saint, and mine more of a sinner (of the omission variety, being absent for most of my life). But no matter what kind of Dad you have had in your life, it’s still touching to me to read about different types of  Dads and what they are like.

Coincidentally, my sister Katey posted an album on Facebook today of more than seventy photos of our blended family.  It was beautiful to see all of the lovely and loving people that came from our two Dads, and I have three wonderful siblings from my own Dad’s second marriage.

Then, I arrived at work and my friend and fellow blogger Hilloah sent a link to a blog by Marshall Carr, who used to work at Living Light and now teaches high school in our community. The blog was about the arrival of his new daughter Zoey Mae. There was a video about his elder daughter, 2-year old Rowan Ellie greeting her new sister for the first time, and I thought of how much I loved my brother and both of my sisters when they were born, and still do! That’s what it is all about really – the circle of life and love, started with a Mom and a Dad. When everything else falls away, only the love remains. 

Viva Las Vegas by mary elizabeth

If there’s one thing I get asked all the time here in the enrollment office of Living Light, it’s, “Are you ever going to have a class closer to where I live?” Well – if you live near Las Vegas, you’re in luck! We’re taking our FUNdamentals class on the road. We will be in Las Vegas on October 20^th and will be able to teach this basic course in gourmet raw living foods to one hundred people! Keep an eye on our website for details, or better yet – subscribe to our newsletter to stay current on all the new and exciting things going on at Living Light. There are all sorts of fun things happening this summer and now some of us will be heading to the city of lights for a day of vibrant living. I wish they needed an enrollment specialist along for the ride!

The last time I was in Vegas it was to see the Grateful Dead. That was a long strange trip. But – super fun!  We stayed at the Flamingo and went to both concerts. I hear the city has changed quite a bit since then. That’s okay – so have I.  Anyway – as you Southwesterners make your summer plans, leave some room for a trip to Las Vegas in the fall to begin your raw food journey with the FUNdamentals of Raw Living Foods, brought to you by Living Light!

Ready, Set, Hot Raw Chefs

Aw, c’mon! Don’t be shy…The Living Light 5 in 5 Hot Raw Chef Video Recipe Contest has got to be one of the easiest Hot Raw Chef contests ever.

5 ingredients, 5 minutes, what’s the big deal? It’s kind of like sticking your head in the refrigerator and pulling out what’s left since your last shopping trip to your favorite farmer’s market. Then what? The creative juices start to flow, and you say to yourself, “why, I could just put this together with the other thing, top with a dollop of that, add a squeeze of lime, and voila! Instant satisfaction. Take it one step further–get out that flip phone, comb your hair, put on a snappy apron or a professional chef coat, and shine. You can do it. And there are so many great prizes, including a chance to take the Food Styling for Photography course with Denise Vivaldo-from amateur to professional in a twinkle. And a chance to work with 11 other professional raw chefs at the Living Light Chef Showcase, Hot Chefs, Cool Kitchen, and see your name among the luminaries. Don’t you see yourself as a star in the raw food constellation? We know you can do it, and we can’t wait to see your video. Last day for submissions is the end of the month. Stir it up!

Short and Sweet by mary elizabeth

My fellow blogger Kristin, my daughter and I all went to see a series of short films last Sunday as part of the Mendocino Film Festival. I love short films – not just because I have a short attention span or anything like that, although that is certainly true on a whole bunch of levels – but because they crystallize their purpose so swiftly and somehow more strongly as a result. The longest of the ten films we watched was eighteen minutes. My favorite was less than five. These films ranged from silly to poignant and all together provided a fabulous afternoon’s entertainment.

Speaking of short films – it’s time for another video recipe contest, hot raw chefs! These have been so fun and so popular, I’m really glad Living Light’s doing it again.  And this time, the videos can’t be longer than five minutes! Pretty constricting, I guess. I’m not much of a chef, hot, raw or otherwise, but I imagine it’s a bit tough to really show off your stuff in such a short time. But I saw some phenomenal stuff crammed into ridiculously short presentations yesterday, and am confident you guys can do it! I’m looking forward to seeing the entries and hope that maybe – just maybe – I can vote on my favorite and have it count this time.