Where am I going to get my Macro or Juicing box now?

Diamond Organics is no more.

I was thinking to myself - hey - let's see if Kathleen can get me some gooseberries for a Midsummer cake I want to make this Friday...I wanted to make little ones and drop them off at my son's school for his teachers along with a spiral sun-catcher - which is a little craft the boys and I will be working on Friday. i didn't want to use grapes from Chile and our grapes don't come until September...although I might be able to find some early ones...

Anyhow - I go to the website and guess what I see?

Diamond Organics was the largest organic online retailer in the nation. Products included organic prepared foods, organic gift baskets and sampler and a full line of organic food items including fresh organic produce cut to order shipped overnight to arrive the next day.

When I traveled, I always had a box of Diamond Organics goodies shipped to my destination, this way I was guaranteed to have food with the standard I'm used to feeding my family.

Of course I'm heartbroken.  I wrote Kathleen and she in turn wrote me back...

What happened? Well - California happened.

This is a super expensive place to live. She sold organic food - which already had an associated cost, but also shipped it across the USA - shipping rates are astronomical.

What I do want to share is who Kathleen Hamilton is...

• She has been in the organic food business for 30 years and knows that California is where you can produce food on a year round basis.
• She cooked macrobiotic at home for 15 years.
• Her soups were GLORIOUS.She sold her own line of ready-to-eat food and packs for lunch and dinner to her customers. 
• She's a mother, she feeds her family whole foods and fresh organic ingredients. 
• She didn't have health care for many years being self employed. (don't we know that situation!)
• She does have a little cookbook and I'm looking forward to getting it!

She's in Moss Landing, CA and will continue to support her local delivery business to her area. thank you Kathleen for the many years you kept this family healthy.

I wish you luck in your next venture - you're an inspiration!

Pure Cafe 2

A couple of weeks ago we received a lovely box from Pure to Go. For those of you who don't know - MOST RAW FOOD IS VEGAN. All of this was and it was wonderful. My photos are really about the mail-order experience and do not do her cafe justice. Please visit the site:http://www.purerawcafe.com/index.html

It came with a beautiful menu and each dish was presented in compost-able take-out ware. It is the loveliest presentation of raw foods I have ever seen - and I've seen quite a bit - and it was shipped from Tulsa. Not good from a petroleum stand point - but this woman Cynthia knows her stuff - she's a creative raw goddess. I had to try it.

I'm going to say upfront here that her food is excellent. Anything I mention an issue with is most-likely due to one of two factors; mail order food must be shipped with dry ice (frozen or very chilled) and I am extremely sensitive - some foods and I do not get along.

Here's the menu - in case you can't read because it is small - it says - Strawberry Soup, Pasta Alfredo, Mexican Tamales, Sun Burger, Tuscany Pizza, Cinnamon Vanilla Granola, Blueberry Banana Scones, Chocolate you RAWK Raspberry Breakfast Pie, Strawberry Banana Oatmeal, Smoothie of Choice (which I did not get), Strawberry Cheesecake, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (which I did not get).

We got right into some of it - 

First: the Strawberry Soup

This was the crowd pleaser. Everybody LOVED it. I mean from the husband to the little man. It was gone gone gone. Even slightly frozen it was beautiful.Next we had to have a few bites of the Chocolate you RAWK Raspberry Breakfast Pie

I'll mention here that every dish was beautifully decorated with orchids or rose petals (seen here). We ate a few bites of the pie - it was absolutely dreamy - perfect balance of fruity raw cacao and raspberry with a lovely nut crust. Can't you see from the picture that it was magnificent? Then I put the pie in the freezer as instructed and continued to eat the pie for the next week or so...I actually finished it 2 nights ago - it was very rich, perfect and I prefer it to my RAW vegan ice cream.

Opening night for dinner I had the Pasta Alfredo with white truffle sauce and olive bread for dinner. The kids and I devoured the olive bread before we had a chance to take a photo of it, but trust me - it tasted awesome. The little man kept asking for more "pizza" - yes, that's what he thought it was.

Well - this was nice - however - there's a little issue with freezing zucchini - which is what RAW foodies use for pasta...it contains lots of water - and when it defrosts it loses lots of its integrity. It was good - but not as spectacular as I'm sure it is fresh from the cafe. The wonderful thing was the truffle sauce and how it mixed well but didn't mask the veggie flavors. Now my mouth loves truffle oil - but my tummy doesn't...I keep learning this lesson again and again.

In the morning I tried the Blueberry Scones with Strawberry Dipping Sauce.

I have to say - these did not agree with me. I think it might have been the truffle oil from the night before. They were very strong. the dipping sauce was excellent - but I just couldn't eat these. 

And then I had one of those moments that every foodie dreams of - a moment of food perfection -  I consumed the most remarkable RAW pizza I have ever tried. It kicks ass. It makes the pizza from euphoria loves rawvolution look like the dogs breakfast. It was so damn good. This is what it looks like when you get it at the cafe:

I took it for our picnic with the boys. All of the mothers and teachers were watching me eat it. I could literally see them drooling. No joke. Every single one asked me what it was, where did i get it, it smelled and look so good. I was pulled aside on three separate occasions for an explanation of what it was - with the final comment being - "It looked so amazingly delicious". AND IT WAS! this is what it looked like before I dressed it - an almond crust (that didn't bother me), nice veggie toppings, red sauce and magic macadamia cheese (not a dairy product). 

Next I had the Tamales.

Notice there is only one? I ate the other while preparing this one for the husband. He wasn't hungry since he had a late lunch so I had to eat this one too. DARN. I have no idea what she put in there but it was amazing. I had sworn off tamales - but if Cynthia is preparing the recipe - I'll take two. I don't know what was in there but something savory - probably the mushrooms - was totally amazing and moorish. The sauces - sour dream queso cheese and chunky red salsa and the avo puree was freaking over the top yummylicious.

And then the Sun Burger. I borrowed a photo from her site - Cynthia - please tell your photog not to get angry.

This was spectacular. Of course I loved it? I love veggie burgers, rice burgers, and any sort of raw burger type thing - but this one was fragrant, had a nice texture and really made me savor it. Some food you can just - well - woof down - this meal was one that you wanted to chew, take your time, let the flavors and texture mix and take time to breathe and experience - not just to satisfy your hunger.

I ate the Strawberry Banana Oatmeal for breakfast the next day. It was good - just what I expected - tasted like oatmeal - I put some amazake with it.

Cinnamon Vanilla Granola with Nut Milk was very crunchy - I like my granola this way. The nut milk was divine - heaven sent - it was sweet, nutty and thick - great alternative to yogurt. It took me 4 days to eat it all...I'm not complaining. I don't have a picture of the Strawberry Cheesecake. It was good. The Chocolate you RAWK Raspberry Breakfast Pie was better, but both had me wanting more.

I'd love to subscribe to her month of meals - especially since she has a special going on - buy 1 month - get one free...alas...it would be a very selfish move on my part - while the little man and I would totally enjoy it - the husband and 5 year old would be wondering what was going on....I could probably sway the 5 year old with breakfasts and desserts - but the husband likes his food cooked and hot for the most part.

Cynthia - I'll be ordering from you again soon. Thank you. Namaste.

A bit about Pure Cafe: http://www.purerawcafe.com/index.html

Owner: Cynthia Beavers