I am back online!

My apologies for a longtime silence, the past couple of months have been busy with moving house, preparing and teaching classes, Yoga trainings and also taking some time to think about new projects.

The year has started really well, and I hope it has for you too!

I will be posting some new recipes soon and there are some surprises to come this year, bear with me!

So I have also finally invested in a new computer, which is going to make blogging very much easier!

My first experience with my new tool has been to make my first Video-photo- montage.... I let you have a look... 

I'll be back again soon!

Sybille

Merry Christmas to you All!

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, a lovely time to reconnect with family, reflect on the past year, time to take time to set intentions for the New Year and start 2012 excited and inspired!

Love to you all,

See you in 2012!

Sybille

Quick Idea! / Idée Rapide!

Coming straight from the London kitchen, easy, quick and adaptable to your imagination, have fun!!

Tout droit d'une cuisine Londonienne, facile, rapide et à vous d'adapter les ingredients/quantités à votre imagination! amusez vous bien!

Stuffed Apples- Pommes farcies





Stuffed apples/ Pommes farcies





In a food processor, mix a handful of raisins, a handful of goji berries, a handful of pistachios. Add a bit of brandy if you like it, a pinch of ground ginger, a pinch of cinnamon, a tablespoon of honey. Half the apples and remove the center. Stuff the apples and either eat raw or bake in the oven at 180°c for about 20-30min (you may need to cover the apples with foil if the filling starts browning too much). Enjoy!

Dans le bol d'un robot ménager équipé de l'hélice, mélanger une poignée de raisins secs, une poignée de baies de goji (ou canneberges, ou autre fruit sec), une pincée de gingembre en poudre, une pincée de cannelle en poudre et une cuillere à soupe de miel. Couper les pommes en deux et les vider. Farcir les pommes et déguster soit cru, soit cuites au four à 180°c pendant environ 20 à 30min (il sera peut etre necessaire de couvrir le plat de papier aluminium si la garniture commence à brunir trop. Bon appétit!

Sybille

Hearty squashes with millet

So I’ve decided to add some cooked recipes to this blog.

Yes indeed, cooked! This might be controversial…

The thing is I may well be eating mainly raw, I actually do eat a bit of cooked food too. So that would be a lie to say that I don’t, and it would be a shame not to share those beautiful recipes of delicious hearty, healthy, dishes.
With the cold weather coming I have been feeling the need for some grounding and hot foods.
In the summer, I like eating more light foods that make me feel light and airy. In colder weather, I like to feel a bit more grounded. So to my daily salads, I like to add some cooked vegetables, pulses or cereals.
I actually feel healthier when I really listen to what my body needs instead of being rigid in following a strictly raw diet.

Everyone is build differently and has different needs.
For some people (Vata types), eating only raw can be very unbalancing, as they can feel ungrounded, very hungry, or can’t digest properly.
For others, eating only cooked food might make them feel sluggish, tired and heavy.

For me, the best is about 70% raw. More cooked, and I start feeling slow, tired and heavy. More raw and I start feeling agitated, ungrounded and hungry all the time. I simply invite you to work out what actually works best for you. This means experimenting, and refining your listening and attention skills. Every day might be different.

Here is a nice recipe using millet, a gluten free cereal (yes, the cereal we give to birds…).

Millet is tasty, with a mildly sweet, nut-like flavor and contains many beneficial nutrients. It is nearly 15% protein, contains high amounts of fiber, B-complex vitamins including niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin, the essential amino acid methionine, lecithin, and some vitamin E. It is particularly high in the minerals iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium. A good general guideline is to use 3 parts water or stock and 1 part grain, add grain to boiling water, and simmer covered for approximately 30 minutes or until water is completely absorbed. Remove from heat and let steam, covered for ten minutes more




Harlequin squash



Harlequin & butternut squash salad with millet

Gluten free

1 small harlequin squash (or any other squash)
½ butternut squash
½ bunch of parsley
100g millet
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Juice of an orange



Preheat oven to 180°c.
Peel the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut in chunks.
Leave the peel on the harlequin squash, remove the seeds and cut into chunks.

Place squashes chunks onto a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Massage the chunks so that they can be coated in oil and seasoning. Roast chunks of Harlequin and butternut squash in the oven for about 30min, or until tender.

Meanwhile cook the millet as indicated on the packet or follow the guideline above.

Mix millet and cooked squashes (once cooled) with orange juice. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, add the chopped parsley and any other herbs you like.

A bientôt!
 
Sybille

Take time and listen

EN FRANCAIS AU BAS DE LA PAGE!

I am back. Not from a holiday, but from a nice summer of having and taking time

Time to practice Yoga.

Time to think.

Time to reposition myself and set my intentions.

Time to create.

I’ve been drawn to my yoga practice a lot over the past few months.
I was always practicing regularly (maybe every other day), but recently I have made the commitment to practice every single day.
It doesn’t have to be a 90min practice every day, sometimes it can be even just 20min, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening, I don’t want rules, I just want to listen carefully to what I need, every day.

I want to adapt my practice to the day, and also to the natural cycles a woman experiences every month.

Believe me, so far it has been wonderful, a great challenge, on and off the mat.

Oh yes, there are times when I come back from a day of cooking thinking “how am I gonna even manage to hold a warrior”, but I always get energised, relaxed and it feels like my whole body is getting a shower from the inside!

Finishing with a few minutes in savasana (lying down) is BLISS, yes BLISS.

I then become aware of every cells of my body relaxing, and of the energy flowing again in my entire body.

Practicing yoga is my tool to stay grounded, focused, and calm. It makes my body and mind feel strong and alive, it keeps me energised and positive.
It also helps me remain in front of reality, and facing challenges (calmly…) rather than denying them.
That commitment in itself is a challenge, and a practice of everyday, on and off the mat!

It helps me be more compassionate and available to people.

Yoga has been a wonderful tool to teach me how to respect my body and to become aware of what it needs.
There was a time when I was not very nice to my body (thus to myself), and was denying its need of care, rest or food.
Being more in touch with it and listening carefully to what it has to say has made me want to take care of it.

Eating the right food, and the right amounts (for me) is for me part of my practice.

This is why I am excited to share with you today this lovely recipe, inspired from the book “Raw food, Real World” by Sarma Melngailis and Matthew Kenney .

I usually have fruit for breakfast but sometimes, I feel like I need a little something more substantial. This “Grawnola” fills the gap very well, I like to sprinkle some on top of a bowl of fruit, or simply eat it as a snack. You’ll need a dehydrator to make it. Once dried, it will keep a few weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.

Grawnola

2 pears
½ cup dried figs
½ cup dates
2 TBSP Orange juice
½ Cup Agave syrup
½ cup Sunflower seeds
2 ½ Cups Almonds
2 cups Pecans
1 ½ Cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup Goji berries
A pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 TBSP Ground ginger

Soak almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds together in water for about 4h.
Soak the sunflower seeds for about 2h.
Soak figs and dates in water for about 1h, keep the soaking water.

Put the figs and dates in the food processor (with the S blade), process and add some of the soaking water until it forms a paste, add the agave syrup, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
Cut the pears in chunks and put them in the food processor with the paste. Add the orange juice. Blend well.
Remove from the food processor and reserve.
Put all the nuts and seeds in the food processor, Mix briefly, just to break them down. It should stay chunky.
In a bowl, mix the nuts and seeds with the fruit paste, add the goji berries.
Spread the mixture onto 2 teflex sheets and dehydrate at 115°F (40°C) for about 6h.
Then remove from the teflex sheet and place on the mesh screen, dehydrate for another 12h, or more, until crunchy and completely dry.

Break into pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge.


EN FRANCAIS:
Me voilà de retour!
Non pas de longues vacances d’été, mais plutôt d’un été, frais, à Londres, à avoir le temps de prendre le temps.
Du temps pour la pratique du Yoga.
Du temps pour penser.
Du temps pour me repositionner, tirer et déterminer mes intentions et objectifs.
Du temps pour créer.

Nature I love you



Raw  zucchini spaghettis and fresh pesto taught at my Demo "Raw Vitality for Summer" at Divertimenti Cookery School in London


EN FRANCAIS AU BAS DE LA PAGE!

I've been totally craving nature recently, i guess i always do but i have felt the need to see some greenery even more in the past few weeks. So here is a all-green post for you all to share a bit of my "Green moments" in nature but also in the kitchen.

The past couple of months have been very eventful, sometimes dounting and self enquiring, but also very exciting. Find out what's been going on, and to finish the blog, you'll find a recipe of Raw Taboulé, so delicious even my "not so keen on raw" collegues at work loved it....

In  June i had the chance to teach a Raw for Vitality "summer edition" at Divertimenti cookery school in London. The class was lovely, I demonstrated about 10 recipes in 2 hours. Recipes included fresh dips, Zucchini  spaghetti with about 4 different sorts of dressings, a Fennel Salad and to finish a 2 layers Raspberrry and vanilla Cheesecake.
It was a fun class, especially for my students who had quite a few occasions to laugh at me that day as I squeezed some lemon juice in my eyes, then found out only just before serving it that we had forgotten to take out the stones of the dates in the cheesecake crust base... It was one of those days. I think it made everyone relaxed about making mistakes in the kitchen!!
It was all delicious and they left full, satisfied, energised and inspired.
It was so good to see that people were so thirsty for new ideas and tips of how to become healthier and live life in a fuller way.

My fav spot on Yoga Camp with Lisa Sanfilippo in East Sussex

After a busy month of June I was lucky enough to participate to a Yoga camp week end with Lisa Sanfilippo, very inspirational Anusara Yoga teacher ( http://www.lisayogalondon.com/). We spent 4 days in beautiful East Sussex, on the South coast of England at Gayles retreat centre with lovely people. It was a time of deep rest, deep practice and also time for self enquiry and questionings. It's made me feel even more strongly than ever that I wanted to live life in Love and Truth as much as possible.

Gayles retreat centre in East Sussex, Yoga camp with Lisa Sanfilippo

The Yoga Barn at Gayles

After this wonderful Yoga camp week end, I had the chance to meet Sianna Sherman, another very respected Anusara Yoga teacher (http://www.opentograce.com/index_start.cfm) and do her week end "Rock the Bhakti" workshop at Triyoga in Soho. It was a wonderful workshop, full of challenges, emotional stuff and deep connecting.
Yoga definitely helps me to connect to myself and sometimes it does that so well that it even shows me stuff I did not want to see, or was denying to see! It can be quite emotional and it's sometimes churning things in yourself in a way that can be a bit disconcerting. However for sure this is really good as it made me think a lot and find ways to become more in harmony and aligned with myself and the world.
I feel like i get those times when i need to readjust something in my life, and sometimes i'm not sure how or what, but i know something needs to unfold. Yoga for me is my tool to help me see things more clearly. And before i can see clearly there is always a lot of fog!
Although dounting, those times are great as they make me go forward and take another step towards being more in tune with myself and the world (which of course changes all the time, so this is regular work to do...).

Anyway I decided that i wanted to study Anusara Yoga more and signed up for the immersion with Bridget Woods Kramer starting in september.
I've also been thinking i would like to teach Yoga more, and as if the universe had heard me (My friend Rachel always says "just ask the universe...") i've been asked to teach a lot recently!
The sun is shining again...

A beautiful old oak tree supporting me in Epping forest near London 

To Finish, here is a summer recipe of a very fresh and light raw vegan Taboule. Even my "not-so-keen-on-raw" collegues liked it a lot...

Wheat free Taboule, Raw and Vegan, delicious!

Raw Taboule

1 small cauliflower
1 small head of broccoli
1 handfull of pinenuts
1 handfull of raisins or currents
1 handfull of fresh mint, finely chopped
1 handfull of fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
4 TBSP Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper

Remove leaves and big stalks off cauliflower and broccoli. Cut Cauliflower and broccoli in chunks. Put them in the bowl of a food processor with the S blade and process until it is "couscous like". Don't overprocess or it will become too mushy. Put the "couscous" in a salad bowl and add raisins, pinenuts, mint, parsley, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning. It may need more lemon or olive oil depending on thz size of your vegetables.
You can prepare this salad in advance and let the flavours infuse if you like.
Bon appetit!



EN FRANCAIS

J'ai toujours eu un grand besoin de nature mais ces derniers temps j'ai litteralement eu envie de dévorer la nature! Alors voilà un article Tout Vert, pour partager avec vous un petit peu de mes "moments verts" dans la nature mais aussi dans la cuisine.
Ces 2 derniers mois ont été bien remplis, pleins d'évènements, parfois pleins d'interrogations et introspectifs mais aussi tres excitants. Decouvrez ce qu'il s'est passé et vous trouverez à la fin une recette toute verte de Taboulé crû, sans gluten, que même mes collègues pas très pro-crû ont dévoré...

Summer salads and thoughts of the day/ Salades d'été et pensées du jour!

EN FRANCAIS AU BAS DE LA PAGE!

Cherry tomato salad with Sumac, parsley, olive oil, salt and black pepper. Sumac is a spice that comes from the Middle East and is made from dried berries. It has a lovely lemony taste. Great in summer salads.

Yesterday, my yoga teacher was talking about “remembering”. She was referencing to one of the yoga sutras (ancient texts) that are part of the foundations of yoga, and of our yoga practice. It’s funny how every week, she brings up philosophical points which I always feel completely relate to me at this point in my life. She must reed my mind…


So let me explain. It was about remembering why we practice yoga, and for me it also made me think again about why I eat raw food. I realised that both practicing Yoga and eating raw food help me do the same thing: be on a quest to find my own truth, remember how to find deep joy, create space in my body and mind to be able to access my own fullness, and really access love, in yourself and others.

All right, all right, calm down I know this may sound a bit too self centered and hippyish, but hey, you know what I really believe? You can be a better person, and interact with the world better once you feel settled with your own self, when you have created space for yourself, you’ll have created more space for others. Try it!

So the key thing is: what are your own tool that allow you to feel spacious, settled, and in tune with yourself and loving? It could be hiking in the mountains for some, playing music for others, cooking, or anything else.
Find it and try to remember it every time you feel a little overwhelmed, or unsettled.
For me, practicing and teaching yoga, eating raw and healthy food are my tools. I am very grateful they came into my life.
Let me know what yours are!

And because I would not leave you without a little bit of foody inspiration, here are a few things I’ve been making at work. It is tomato season, and I’ve been having loads of fun making salads. Try them and see if they help you feel good! And if you like salads you can find more recipes in my e-book here: http://livingfoodandyoga.blogspot.com/p/buy-my-recipe-e-book.html

Avocado, cucumber and herb salad

Raw grated beetroot salad with herbs, mint, balsamic dressing, pumpkin and sunflower seeds

EN FRANCAIS ICI
Hier soir, ma prof de Yoga faisait référence au “souvenir”. Depuis quelques semaines, elle s’appuie sur les textes anciens appelés « yoga sutras » qui font partis des fondements de la pratique du yoga. Tout comme des textes saints, il y a beaucoup de façons de les interpréter. Ce qui est drôle c’est que chaque semaine, elle nous parle d’un thème philosophique qui chaque semaine semble avoir été dicté pour moi! Elle doit lire dans mes pensées…