Peanut butter date truffles

I borrowed this recipe from the Berkeley Student Food Collective(berkeleystudentfoodcollective.org), and boy is it good! I used an electric mixer to combine dates, peanut butter, coconut oil, cocoa powder, brown sugar and agave nectar. Then, I rolled the "dough" into balls and covered them in chia seeds for a satisfying critichity-crunchity tasty texture. :) yum!!

Eating off the ground: 10 second rule does not apply

These tomatoes are a gift from the compost I hand sifted and dispersed around the garden in June 2013. Now, in January of 2014 I am still able to harvest several tomatoes a week!  The tomato plant looks brown in color, but have no doubt, they are still very much full of life, and the fruits still ripen sweet on the vine.The color is not always red,  even the orange tomatoes are ripe it's just the color has shifted with the season.

My favorite thing to do is take a stroll through the garden, and check to see if any fave fallen. I always try to go for the ones that fall off the vine before I pick the ones still hanging on for dear life.

 Although these were still attached to the vine, the plant had fallen. I tasted one to explore the flavor. Just as I anticipated, sweet, rich, and dense in flavor. The skin gets thicker, in the winter months compared to the thin-skin summer days; yet, the flavors become more compact as the weather cools.

I love it! I think I'll make a salad tomorrow. I especially appreciate how healthy the seeds look, don't they look well developed? I almost feel bad eating them, rather than planting them, but rather than feeling bad I need to remind myself that more will come-no doubt about that!

Sometimes I wonder why people freak out when they drop food on the floor when they are inside a house, but when camping or gardening, most people (I would generalize) don't think twice about eating off the ground. I suppose I should just speak for myself and say that I LOVE eating off the ground. It makes me feel connected to what I'm eating, and I appreciate it more since it feels like an awesome surprise since I found it before any other garden dwelling critter. Don't get me wrong, I often get to the fruits after other creatures have began to feast; in which case I have to options:
1) I can share-maybe nibble on part of it and plant the rest
2) let it be- maybe it will grow many more plants right in that exact spot it fell, OR maybe the seeds will get transported to another location via the consumption and excretions of a bird OR maybe it will be consumed and the nutrients will transform themselves into the perfect soil for another plant to grow.

The arugula has been producing since about August 2013 (I planted it in July) and I harvest a little nearly every day. I try to add a hand full or two to my meals, either eating something on a bed of greens or adding it to the dish like a vegi burger or sandwich.

I planted the arugula from seeds that I collected when the last batch flowered and produced seeds. I intend to do the same with this once it goes to seed.

It's pretty awesome watching different plants go to seed. It's as if they are transforming right before your eyes, but in slow motion. The arugula flowers are edible, and rather spicy. I tend to not eat them because they are so beautiful I would rather stare at the elegant purple veins that course through the stark white petals, and let's be real--I would rather wait for the seeds! :)


My favorite salad is currently arugula, and tomatoes (from the garden) and dressed with a ripe avocado whisked with olive oil, balsamic, a pinch on pink salt, and a twist or two of pepper and maybe even some dried Italian seasoning. I like to whisk the dressing with a fork in a small cup before tossing it into the greens. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Mmmmm I dare you to try it yourself! It's simple but super dense and will keep you full of energy for hours. 

A romantic getaway at the Claremont Hotel Club & Spa

I would't say that I am a frequent user of Groupon, but sometimes they post an offer I just can't pass up. I bought a Groupon for the Claremont (www.claremontresort.com) in December, and gave it to my boyfriend for Christmas. We booked it for a Thurdsay night, to celebrate our 4year 10month dating anniversary. We like to celebrate every month, because it makes life more romantic and awesome, and lets be real, we enjoy endulging in any excuse to celebrate. :)

We called them the morning we were supposed to check in, and asked if we could check in early, and also if we would upgrade to a room with a view of the bay. OMG, worth it!

Pulling up to the huge, fancy, mansion-castle in the Berkeley hills made us both feel like a million bucks! We joked around in the car using fake accents and pretended we had just flown in from Paris to  get a bit of rest in the historic Claremont hotel. 

They opened our car doors for us and offered a helping hand out of the car, which made me giggle. We handed over the keys to our rental car to the valet parking (included in the Groupon) and another man helped load our bags onto a fancy little wheelie cart. 

We took the elevator to the third floor and walked to the end of the hall way (lined with marble tables, crystal chandeliers, and ornate vases) and entered through the room with the only red door. We asked our luggage bearer why our room was the only one with the red door, and he said because it is more of a suite room, compared to the others (what a steal!).

The room was small, but beautiful! The sheets were super soft and there were really nice thick, plush bath robes to lounge around in. It didn't take long for us to feel at home. :) I was temporarily disappointed that there was not a bath tub in the bathroom, because I had packed some bath bombs from LUSH, but alas, there was only a shower.

Upon check in, they handed us a card with translucent paper explaining what we had access to, for the duration of our stay. I immediatly wanted to know more about the "Complimentary Spa Ritual" so Alex (my partner) called the front desk. We didn't know what to expect, but the lady on the phone assured us that we could just walk barfoot in our robes to the elevator, press "S" for SPA and follow the light to heaven. So we did.

You show up in your robe and they provide you with spa shoes, and tell you to enjoy yourself (clothing optional).

First, I grabbed a glass of cucumber water, and derobed myself and entered into the sauna that smelled of eucptalus oil. AAAAHHHHH, that's what I call breathing easy. Then I set out to discover the rest of the spa.

Oh, here are the bath tubs! They are available for reservation in one of the Spa Ritual rooms. I was in heaven, I see what they were talking about! 

I rinsed off my sauna sweat in the shower that had 9 heads, NINE SHOWER HEADS! You know, because one just is not enough.... Yeah, anyway, there was one giant round head directly above your head to feel like rain, three aimed at your shoulders and torso, two more at your mid forso, and three at vagina height, so you get really clean, you know what I'm sayin.

My own spa ritual began establishing itself:

Sauna with cucumber water

Shower

Jacuzzi tub with hot tea

Ice-cold wash cloth to the face

Deluge shower (felt like a waterfall neck massage)

Shower -leaving conditioner on my hair

REPEAT!

There were rolled up towels everywhere, in case you needed a fresh towel. There was also  a juice room where you could relax quietly and sip on hot tea, iced tea, orange mango juice, or cucumber water. I tried them all, of course. There were two locker rooms, a bath room and a "dressing room" full of lotions, hair styling equiptment, and mouthwash just in case you mouth didnt feel as clean as your entire body. WOW.

The spa closed at 4pm so I had to leave just as the sun was setting behind the palm trees that were planted just outside the window in the jacuzzi spa room. I went upstairs to reunite with Alex (the Spa is segregated by gender, so people feel comfortable nude) and we sipped on some wine while we photographed the sunset over San Francisco. 

Now, the bay is known for its foggy weather, just for some reason, we lucked out and it was one of the clearest days we had experienced in a while (it sprinkled rain the next day!) We had a picture perfect view of the golden gate, and everything as far as the eye could see.

We brought our own wine, which was awesome because the wine downstairs was $20 for the two of us to each have one glass of Malbec. We like to be fancy, but on a budget ;)

I also made some chocolate covered strawberries before we left the house. It is one of my favorite desserts in the entire world. I melt dark chocolate with a spoon full of coconut oil and rapidly stir it. Remove it from heat right before all the chocolate is melted to avoid burning it. Once it burns, even just a little, it's like curtled milk= your life will be over.

We also packed some ingredients to make breakfast because we checked the "In Room Dining" menu before we checked in...let's just say that the simple oatmeal was about $15 bucks. Yikes!

So, we made bagles with tofutti (vegan cream cheeze) topped with capers, arugula, fresh thyme, edible flower petals and tomatoes (hand picked from our garden). Alex put salmon on his, because he's not quite vegan yet...

They had coffee in the room that we made, and we also had some fresh squeezed orange juice that I juiced before we left from the oranges grown on my parent's tree. 

Overall, we had an amazing, romantic time at the Claremont, and can't wait to go back (it's mega expensive, so it will be a while) the spa experience alone is enough to make me want to stay there again. 

My advice: upgrade to a bay view, and pack your own snacks! Don't forget to go to the spa before you check out too! The spa opens at noon, but they let us go in early at 11:30. Check out is usually at noon, but they said "Don't worry Miss Davis, just go ahead into the Spa and we will call the front desk and get you a late check out at 1pm. Can you believe that! Hands down, this was worth every penny.

A tasty treat, indeed

This morning I made a butternut squash quich-like extravaganza for the first time. I had some left over slices of butternut squash that I had frozen, and have been meaning to eat for a while now. I defrosted them a few days ago and concluded that today was to be their debut. I cut the slices into one inch cubes and began sauteing them in Earth Balance (vegan butter) and fresh sage from my garden. I added a few twists of pink salt and fresh pepper, some freshly grated ginger root, along with a spoon full (or four) of coconut oil to add some fat. Yum!

As they were simmering in the pan, added in some oyster mushrooms, home grown in my garden. I used the back of my spoon to "smoosh" down the squash, and allowed it to simmer while I prepared the fillo dough in a glass pan. I saturated each layer of fillo dough with a mixture of melted Earth Bal and Coconut Oil. Then, all of the yummy simmered butternut squash and sage butter sauce was carefully spooned into the the glass pan on a bed of buttered fillo. I topped it with more layers of fillo and sprinkled the top layer with more sage, and a drizzle of honey. (the process is similar to making baklava) 

I baked it for about 20-30 minutes at 350 and placed it on a bed a arugula hand harvested from my garden. 

If I were to do this again, I would maybe add some soaked cashew (cheeze) and finely chopped arugula to the center, but overall, it was a tasty breakfast.