The Raw Chef

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 12

I've back-posted this a little as I wanted to show you the final picture at day 11.  Obviously the wheatgrass here is good to juice and will continue to grow until you've drunk the whole lot!

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 10

Still growing!

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 9

Blades of grass are growing nicely and should be various lengths between 2cm and 10cm now.  If you're starting to see some mould at the base of the wheatgrass it may be due to the amount of time that the wheatgrass seed was stored before you bought it.  Hydrogen peroxide is the best thing to get rid of mould.  Adding it to the water you use to feed the wheatgrass works well and look for better seed for next time.

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 8

Starting to look like actual wheatgrass now.  Just keep watering regularly, shouldn't be difficult if you've a had the storm that I experienced this afternoon!  I've never seen rain like it in the summer, or in the winter actually!

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 7

You should now have a tray of wheatgrass that looks something like the picture on the left.  I put this out last night so it has started to go green even in the few hours since sunrise.  You will find that it's more yellow when you take it out of the dark.  I have given my tray a good amount of water to be getting on with.

The hard work is now over and all you have to do is keep it watered and see the fruits of your labour flourish before your very eyes!

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 6

Leave your wheatgrass in darkness again today.  This is the last day until you reveal it to the world so tonight, if you can't wait until the morning, you can take it out and give it a good watering.  Otherwise, you can leave it until the morning and reveal it then.

We're going to need to place it as close to a window as possible but away from direct sunlight.  Outdoors at this time of year is great for wheatgrass, it'll end up being very green because it's had so much sunlight.  Just make sure you find a place that the sunlight won't get directly on it.  Also, make sure you put it somewhere the cats won't sit on it!  This isn't a problem I've ever had but I've been warned by people who have!

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 5

Nothing to do today as far as the wheatgrass is concerned - who said growing wheatgrass was difficult and time consuming? :-)

One word of warning though; don't be tempted to peak at your wheatgrass, not even a little!  They mustn't be shown even a slight bit of daylight otherwise they will think it's time to start growing again, rather than keep putting down their roots.

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 4

You should find your seeds have grown 'tails' that are a few times longer than the body of the seed itself.  This means you are ready for planting, but if your seeds aren't quite there, they should be by tomorrow.

So first up we're going to take your trays (use 1 tray for every 1 1/2 cups of dry seed used) and fill them 3/4 full with the organic compost.  Once that's done you can sprinkle the sprouted seed over the compost ensuring an even distribution all the way to the edge (start with the edges and then fill the middle).  It's okay to have seed on top of each other, you'll also find that there shouldn't be any compost showing.

Next we need to thoroughly water the whole tray as it won't be seeing any water or the light of day for the next few days.  Once fully watered, cover with another empty tray.  If you have more than one tray you can stack them up in this way.  If you are using trays with holes in you will need to use bin liners to cover them as well as we don't want the seeds getting any light at all.

I'm using a plastic box with a lid to put the trays in that completely cuts out the light.

We're going to leave the trays undisturbed for the next few days to allow the seeds to put down their roots and germinate further.

Dinner Parties...The Next Chapter

As you may have read in Karen's eZine, I have decided to make the July 29th Mexican theme dinner party the last one this year.  We had previously advertised them as being for the rest of the year but I have had to make a decision that I will explain in a second...

When we started the dinner parties with just a few people at Karen's house it was obvious they were going to be popular.  The response I got from them surprised and excited me.  Both Karen, Pete and myself started to gear up for larger events, the pinnacle of which has been at Vita Organic for 35 people.

As I'm sure you realise, the amount of work that goes into not just the food but the organisation of these events is huge, and needless to say, very time consuming.  So I now find myself in a situation where I need more time to concentrate on various other aspects of my life and my quest to become the best raw chef I can be.  This includes writing and publishing recipes, setting up courses and taking time out for further training at the very best raw restaurants in the world.  I'm really excited about the future and it all points to not just setting up monthly dinner parties, but something more permanent, where you truly can dine in style, whenever you choose - that's my dream.

Thank you for all your support so far, every comment I get after an event makes this journey so worthwhile.  There's a few places left on the dinner party this month so hurry and book your place on the final one this year!

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 3

Today is just a continuation of yesterday - keep those little seeds washed as regularly as you can up to a few times a day.

At the time of writing this, we're experiencing some very hot weather so the seeds are quite advanced now and are sprouting well.  You should certainly be seeing some 'tails' on your seeds by now.  Day 4 will be the same as today and we should find that we're close to being able to plant them.

Dr. Brian Clement Ate My Sandwiches!

And so did 100 other people actually!  It was at Dr. Clement's lecture in London last Saturday, for which I had the honour of catering, the largest event I've catered for so far.  I must say a big thank you to Amy who assisted me and who I couldn't have done without, plus everyone who chipped-in to help on the day.  It was certainly all worth it as everyone loved the food and I was getting so many requests for the recipes.  That's what I love about catering events - the wonderful feedback we get once everything is done and we can soak up the satisfaction.

These sandwiches just keep on making an appearance don't they?!!  Well you'll be pleased to know that this isn't the last you'll see of them - I'm going to be demonstrating them at this years Fresh Festival.  The line-up and schedule for the event is looking amazing, it's going to be a truly life-changing weekend for everyone who attends so look out for the event brochure soon and then book your tickets!

Seeing The Bigger Picture

I'm an expert at being late.  What I mean is that I can have plenty of time to get somewhere and meet someone but I have a real ability to do something that will make me late - wheather it's just one more website that needs to be looked at, one more page of a book I'm reading, or a mango that's needs to be eaten before I leave.

It's not a conscious thing, well, until now that is.  I certainly don't make myself late on purpose, or because I don't value the other person's time.  That's what I thought anyway.  But in the last 24 hours I've been thinking that to be so 'loose' with my timing, I really am being disrespectful to that person, in my case, without realising it.  I guess it's partly because I don't really worry too much when someone is late for an appointment with me, I just tend to be a bit laid back sometimes and don't like getting worked up about things.  But what does that say about how I value my own time?

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 2

This morning you should have drained your wheatgrass seed as instructed yesterday.  Today is also very simple, it's all about keeping that seed washed.  Don't worry, you can still do this if you work during the day.

I like to use a sieve to drain the seed and then wash it through.  Then when it's washed I'll leave it in the sieve over a bowl.  If I'm using a larger quantity of seed that won't fit in a small sieve then I'll just leave the seed in the bowl once drained.

Wash the seed at least a couple of times throughout the day.  You can wash it before you go to work and leave it until you get back, no problem.  What we're doing here is sprouting the seed up to a certain point that enables us to plant them in the trays.

Grow Your Own Wheatgrass - Day 1

So at last, here we go with the wheatgrass growing!  Sorry to everyone who's been waiting for the instructions, things are very busy for me at the moment, more on that in another post.

By now you should have bought the few essentials needed to get going, I mean, you've had the time to get them! :-)

Day 1 is very easy indeed.  In fact, there's nothing needed during the day, all you have to do is soak your seeds overnight...

• Measure out an appropriate amount of wheatgrass seed, completely cover with water and soak overnight.  I find that for a 'normal' sized tray, 1 & 1/2 cups of dry seed works well.

That's it!  No timing needed when soaking, overnight works great.  Just so you know, at the start of day 2 we're going to drain the seeds, wash them and leave them in a bowl to sprout, which won't take long in the hot weather we're having in the UK at the moment.

See you tomorrow.

An Experiment in Sacred Commerce

I was so impressed with Cafe Gratitude when I was in San Fransisco last year.  The extremely popular raw restaurant has such a beautiful ambiance that's created by the wide range of customers, the  talented and caring staff, the gorgeous food and the concept of what they are offering.

I made multiple visits during my 24 hour stay in SF before I caught my plane home, I even risked being late for my flight, just so I could pick up some snacks for the flight....which I promptly ate before I even got on the plane!!!

From Vision Magazine...

Cafe Gratitude How An Attitude of Gratitude Can Change Your Whole Perspective

Have you ever meditated on Gratitude?  Have you ever consciously chosen to believe that you are enough, that you have everything that you need?  Do you ever stop when you are feeling down or needing something and give thanks for all that you have been given?  For Matthew and Tersi Englehart, owners of Cafe Gratitude, this has been a daily practice for many years, one that has grown into an inspiring, industrious and innovative restaurant business...

Click to continue reading at Vision Magazine