Holy Moley Me Oh My!

Happy Monday Darlings!

Thank you for all the supportive comments on my last post about devilish Aunt Flow (haha).  I know what works for me obviously, might not work for everyone else (or you might be totally content with the state of your period), but I think just putting the information out there is helpful...then you can be the judge and decide what to do with that information!

Anyway, on to the really exciting news! Holy moley I got to meet Ani Phyo this weekend!!! (Thank you Gia!!!) If you don't already know, Ani Phyo is an amazing raw food chef based here in Southern California. She came out to Au Lac (the best raw food restaurant on the West Coast, no joke!) to do a talk/book signing because her new book Ani's Raw Food Essentials is coming out in June (I've had that baby pre-ordered for months!)

I am so excited for what her new book has to offer considering it contains 250 NEW recipes! Me oh my! Come June there's going to be a whole lot of (non-work related) un-cooking going on in the Raw Food Nerd Kitchen that's for sure!

Ani is everything you would expect her to be: funny, down to earth, personable and a true 'chef-spiration'. She's so laid-back and not to be cliche, but, well, zen. I get the feeling that if one were lucky enough to assist her in preparing a meal it would rank somewhere between hanging out with your best girlfriend on a Saturday night and a totally meditative experience. She just exudes positivity, but not in that weird fake way that sometimes afflicts raw foodies. I'm going to be totally '90s here and say, Ani Phyo is cool.

Awful picture of me, but Ani looks great as always!

Aside from her abject awesomeness, she's got some serious kitchen skills. She makes raw food very approachable, especially for the novice raw fooder.  In fact, this past Christmas my future mother-in-law made a variety of recipes from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen that turned out so amazing even the non-raw foodies were going crazy over them!  [Dear Mom W. I'm still waiting for my Coconut Date Balls! lol] Her recipes are simple, creative, and absolutely delicious. They aren't nut or seed heavy either, which is a big plus for me since I try to avoid all that heavy raw gourmet food anyway.

I really feel so lucky and privileged that I was able to meet her. She is such a bright encouraging light for the raw food community and I think we can all learn so much from people like her.

Thank you again Ani! Can't wait for you to come back to the OC and good luck on your book tour!