Another Sign of the Fall Season by hilloah

 Another sign of Fall: gnats.  They really are quite beautiful.  Watching them hatch and seeing a swarm of them with their white wings is nice, and then the birds find them and dart amongst them for their dinner.  I do not really want them in my yard, so I am glad the birds can enjoy a meal.  What I do like about the gnats is that they herald the Fall season, my most favorite as it foretells of the holidays. Halloween is close,  then Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year full of promises.

Our upcoming chef series at Living Light will be starting on Saturday and we will be providing for our students some great holiday menus.  You will learn to make Tiramisu and Key Lime Pie for desert, Asian Wild Rice Pilaf, Avocado Salsa, and so many more recipes for your holiday table.

 

FRIENDS OF THE GARDEN by hilloah

Tonight the Friends of the Garden (the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden, that is) are having an auction as a fund raiser. All the members get together and bring food, bouquets or something else of value to be auctioned off. Sometimes there is a bidding war which is always fun. Last year a small chest was up for bid and I wanted it. I was afraid that the man who bid before me would bid up, but he took one look at me and realized I truly wanted it. I got it! It is upstairs in my soon-to-be craft room just waiting for luscious yarns or beautiful fabrics to be placed inside. This year we are donating three bird houses to the event. We like them; however, they are ornamental and are collecting dust in our living room. It is time for them to move on.

The Living Light Marketplace is moving on and getting ready for the next set of students coming this weekend. They make sure there are enough chef coats in all sizes, chef hats, knives, text books and a plethora of snacks. Yummmm! I love going into the Marketplace, not only for all the kitchen “toys”, but the books! Ah, there are so many! My favorite, of course, is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. We also have many books by raw food enthusiasts such as Victoria Boutenko, Gabriel Cousens, John Robbins and many more. The books are incased in wooden shelves and just beg to be looked at – such a joy!

Global Revolution by mary elizabeth

Here at Living Light we’re right in the middle of an Associate Chef and Instructor training and we’ve got students with us from all over the world. The countries represented include Australia, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru, Norway, Sweden and Canada. And of course, we’ve got students from the good, old US of A coming from both coasts, the mid, south and north wests and even some locals!  It’s quite a bunch, indicative of the global aspect of the raw food revolution!

Living Light has been in existence for over twelve years and in that time we’ve had students from over forty-five countries. Our impact on the raw food movement is immeasurable. Our founder, Cherie Soria, had a vision of making the raw food diet compatible with real life. She wanted followers to be able to take it home with them and embrace it as not only a health and planet-friendly way to eat, but a yummy one as well. She wanted them to be able to successfully introduce it to their family and friends. Her dream was to make the raw food lifestyle possible for anyone willing to learn.  She has succeeded –globally – in every sense of the word!

Our Students by hilloah

Well, another culinary Associate Chef & Instructor certification has begun at Living Light. It is so exciting to finally meet the people you have been speaking to on the telephone  for the last several months.

 Some of the students are here for only one or two days to start their culinary adventure, others will be here from FUNdamentals through the Science of Raw Food Nutrition, Level I, a full nine days and come back to finish the Chef program when they get more vacation time. And still others are here for the full three weeks of the Associate Chef and Instructor program. This is one of the reasons our courses are so popular: you can take them as you have the budget of time and money. Once a student has taken the Associate Chef & Instructor course, they then have two years to take the advanced classes and become a Gourmet Raw Food Chef

Soon these very students will be on our website either as a Graduate Success Story or to advertise (for free) as a Raw Empowered Chef. I love going to these sites and seeing that the people I enrolled have become “rawk stars”.

Love What You Do by mary elizabeth

We have a new group of students coming to Living Light on Saturday to begin an Associate Chef and Instructor training. It’s always exciting to meet them and their anticipation of incorporating work with what they love is infectious. I’m so grateful to have a job that incorporates so many things I love. I get to talk on the phone, write and I have access to fabulous raw desserts. What’s not to love about that? If you don’t love your work, maybe it’s time for reinvention. Even if it’s unrealistic to reinvent your actual job, you can always reinvent your response to it. Practice being grateful for the opportunity to pay your bills, or remember to appreciate the people you work with as individuals. Just like raw food chefs create recipes that reinvent cooked favorites, we can make any situation work for us if we approach it with love.

Speaking of appreciating the people I work with, our own Inga Petersen, graphic designer extraordinaire, is participating in a group show this month at the Mendocino Art Center. My lovely and talented friend, Laura Pope, has some pieces in the show as well. The show is called Work and Love and promises to be super fantastic! I can’t wait to see it this Saturday for the opening reception. Inga’s art is an extension of herself in the true sense – her soul shines through it. Each piece is a work of love. I’m honored to share an office with her. She makes work easy to love.

Snapdragons by hilloah

Archie and I were talking about what we were going to do on the weekend and I said I would weed out the snapdragons from our wine barrels as they were done. Then I started to think about it. Do they reseed themselves? Do I leave the roots and a few inches of the stalk above ground? It’s Google time! I went to several sites and basically found out that snapdragons can reseed themselves, however it is best to save the seeds and plant next year. Good to know!

 Well, I did not save any seeds as there were so many snap dragons still wanting to flower! I just weeded out the dead ones; looks better!

There are so many yummy choices in our Raw Food Café! My favorite, as everyone knows, is Tiramisu. The Pastry Chefs know to let me know when they bring it down to the café. Our next Pastry Arts – Unbaked! class is May 1st through 4th – I can’t wait.  My favorite non-dessert is the Not Tuna Sandwich. It doesn’t really taste like tuna, but has the same consistency and the flavor is outstanding! And just think, when you come to Living Light Culinary Institute you will get to learn how to make these yummy dishes!

Teach Me by mary elizabeth

As one grows older, one accumulates more tools for navigating life’s rough waters. We learn to handle things with grace and dignity rather than hysterics and panic. We can look at painful situations with a veteran’s seasoned eye knowing they won’t last forever. Our coping skills are honed. My birthday’s coming up and it always makes me wonder if I’m getting anywhere and I’m kind of feeling like the answer might be “yes”. I’ve actually learned some stuff and what’s more – I’ve assimilated it. Good for me. Being taught new stuff is one of life’s most exciting and most scary things. They say when the student is ready the teacher appears. I haven’t always felt all that ready, but looking back – I guess I was.

Here at Living Light, we not only teach people the art of raw culinary excellence, we also teach people to teach. To help our students along this path we make empowerment kits available to them. Each kit has a theme (i.e. comfort food, breakfast, holiday, etc.) and was developed by Cherie Soria and our own Jenny Cornbleet. Jenny has made a fabulous career for herself as a raw food chef and instructor – and she’s put her expertise into these kits and her new advanced instructor training. If you want to learn to teach – call me!

Make the Splash by mary elizabeth

Living Light is making donations to our local chapter of the American Red Cross for every student that signs up for our Advanced Raw Culinary Arts Instructor Training Certification. We as a company have always promoted positive planet change by promoting a healthy life style. Be a part of the solution and learn not only to prepare healthy food but how to teach others to make this positive change. Each choice for health – both personal and planetary – is another drop in the bucket of change. And all our drops can make a splash.

As we hear back from our former students in Japan, the tragedy comes closer to home. One woman wrote that while so many are subsisting on noodles and water, eating healthily seems almost a luxury to be put on hold for a bit. In their situation it probably is, but sadly, eating healthily is often a luxury right here at home. As a mother of two children, I can tell you by the end of some pay periods, healthy eating habits are put on hold. Organic produce and lunch box treats just can’t compete with name brand processed choices and non-organic food.  As a nation, we say that the health of our kids is a priority, but one can buy five giant boxes of FruitLoops for the price of one normally sized box of organic cereal. I really want to support organic farmers and companies putting out organic alternatives to comforting staples but when my family’s involved, if it comes to eating consciously or eating – I choose eating. As we Americans reach out to our brothers and sisters across the Pacific, let’s also be mindful of taking care of our own. We all have a voice and a choice. Let’s concentrate on making healthy choices accessible to all.

I Like It by mary elizabeth

Sometimes the universe gives you little unexpected signs that you’re doing some things right. This time the unexpected sign was in the form of a thirteen year old girl. My daughter’s class is going on a field trip next week and she actually said she wouldn’t mind if my boyfriend and I went along. Definitely not what I expected. But – it sure makes me happy. I’ve been feeling a bit inadequate lately as the bills pile up and my desk just accumulates more and more little post-its – all flapping in the breeze of my own anxiety. At least my kid’s willing to spend some time with me. Something’s going right.

How are you at goal setting and time management? I find these to be rather elusive. I try and practice with things like, “Finish your tea before it’s ice cold” which encompasses both and makes me feel better about myself for a minute. But I don’t think that’s the sort of thing Jenny Cornbleet means in the description of her new class: Advanced Raw Culinary Arts Instructor Training Certification. If you’re an Associate Chef and Instructor grad, or soon will be, you’ll want to check it out. If you want to make raw food your career, she has it all spelled out for you, and will give you the tools you need to really take your business to the next level. This class will be a fantastic confidence booster and a great way to re-connect with Living Light!

Things I Have Added or Taken Away From My Life by hilloah

Since I started walking, I have taken away drinking wine on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and allowed myself only one coffee latte a day (it has been so cold lately I was having two or more!). Last week I added writing and mailing a minimum of one letter a week to family or friends. This week I will add writing one memory for a minimum of five a week.

By memories I do not mean a journal per se, but writing up actual memories of my children. I started out by listing six memories per child – I have four children: one daughter and three sons – and then started writing them out. Once I started, more memories came. This will be a great gift to give them later. Will I ever  finish?

I think for the next week or so I will stay status quo: walk, drink less wine and lattes, write letters and memories. Those are pretty good goals.

What is up here at Living Light? We are gearing up for our first “mini series” of FUNdamentals, Knife Skills (which I will be taking), Essentials and the Science of Raw Food Nutrition, Level I. After the series is over we will have a four day break and then we will be starting over again with a full Gourmet Raw Food Chef series as well as the full Science of Raw Food Nutrition series.

 What a spring this will be!