Nori Rolls And The Chopstick-Challenged.

Several weeks ago, I attended Chef Rod Rotondi's

"Fundamentals of Raw Food Preparation and Lifestyle Course".

The appetizers he created were absolutely delicious!

AND he taught us how to open a young coconut with a big ol' honkin' knife!

Knives freak me out! I'm sure my toes were curled under!

(Notice my left hand held tightly behind me, so as not to chop it off!)

And because I was such a wimp, Rod had to give me a helping-hand. I was still a little apprehensive,

as you can tell by my body-language and the look on my face.

(I mean, check out the size of that cleaver!)

I took that coconut home, gutted it (with a spoon) and threw some ingredients together

for a quick, chocolate and strawberry pudding kind-of-a-thing. Ohhh, yeahhh!

Here is the coconut flesh. I drank the coconut water in class.

Coconut, chocolate and strawberry pudding. What's not to love about THAT?

This was almost three servings! Raw food fills me up much more than the Standard American Diet. (S.A.D.) If this was a regular pudding, I'd be able to eat the entire thing -

and pay for it later with a migraine!!

The next day, I decided to make Rod's "Nori Rolls with Atlantis Pate".

I didn't have all of the ingredients, but was too lazy to go to the store.

I just used what I had on-hand (another great benefit of raw food recipes)

and they turned out super tasty and kind of cool looking.

Here are the ingredients I used. The actual recipe is in Rod's wonderful book:

"Raw Food For Real People".

Check out his blog for his awesome DVD series, course schedules, book,

restaurant-opening information, etc.

http://rodrotondi.com/

Here's the finished dish. Not bad for my first time, huh?

Come to Mama!!

I don't do chopsticks. I'm klutzy enough with a fork. (But they sure are pretty.)

The following day, I used that delicious left-over pate and veggies,

put them on top of a large lettuce leaf - and lunch was served!

I added a few more things to freshen it up a bit - and overloaded it!

(I don't mind a few brown spots on avocados, as long as they don't taste funky.)

I didn't even bother using the fork. I just smushed it together and ate it like a Taco.

(Better eaten in the privacy of your own home, than in public.

Kind of like the "Reuben" was, in my previous life.)

And now...

Say hello to my little friend -

This is Melanie.

She's going to teach me how to use chopsticks. (Or ridicule and taunt me!)

She may be little, but she's got a mouth on her!

(The 'real' Melanie is actually my best friend, but she doesn't live close-by.

Therefore, I'll be using her 'stand-in' from time-to-time.)

I WILL conquer the chopsticks!! (Maybe.)

Signing off for now,

gabriele