After the Harvest: October 2011

Monday, October 24, 2011

Food from the Magical Island of Kauai

This summer I was fortunate enough to be able to arrange a trip to the magical island of Kauai, Hawaii. My journey would not have been the same without the amazing people I spent time with, but the food was also definitely a major highlight!

Please enjoy a little gallery of some of the delicious, local, organic food I enjoyed while I was visiting this beautiful place.

Rolinea fruit

The inside of a rolinea: it tastes like lemon and mango custard.

Durian

Beautiful papayas

Banana meets papaya

Avocados

Best shave ice ever with ice cream and gummi worms

Sugarcane

Pineapple

Starfruit pancakes

Cracking coconuts at Hanalei Farmers' Market

Acai with granola and banana

Pita pizzas with local cherry tomatoes, goat cheese and basil

Kale was a staple the entire time I was there. Officially my favourite vegetable.

Coconut

Choyote -- like a really hard zucchini

Cherry tomato harvest

Snowpea

Limes

Mondo papaya

Abundance

A little veggie dish I cooked up

Kamut with olive oil, coconut oil and sea salt

Kamut and organic wine

A delicious fish sandwich at Common Ground, an amazing place.

Beautiful kale salad with avocado and nasturtiums

Ahi tuna from Kilauea Fish Market, the place with the best fish tacos in town.

Speaking of which...

Ono fish tacos from Kilauea Fish Market

I cannot recommend visiting this island enough, even if only for the glorious food!

Aloha :)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A Bit of Photo Blogging...

I'm going to be doing a bit more photo blogging in the next little while because I'm finally getting serious about my writing project outside of the blog (but still related to it, so stay tuned)! Hope you enjoy the snapshots and the recipes I plan to share more of in the near future. Hope you're all having a great month and enjoying some great meals.

Some lovely late summer tomatoes I picked up from Parkdale Market

My attempt at cooking Chinese Eggplant with a bit of (undercooked)brown rice. Sauteed with mushrooms, garlic, zucchini, Bragg soy sauce and lemon juice. And...I LOVE sprouts! Especially if you're trying to cut down on topping dishes with cheese, sprouts are a great alternative!

Monday, October 3, 2011

We Raised More than Money for Heifer International!

THANK YOU to everyone who came to Cultivate: A Mini Film Fest, and for those who contributed after the fact!

Special thanks to my family and friends for supporting this cause, and to Chef Caroline Ishii of Zen Kitchen for taking up my call to action for post-event auction items!

Extra special thanks to the 30 people who attended who were not my family and friends! It is so cool that you attended and I would love to hear more from you about how you enjoyed the films!

Pretty soon I'll be writing a big 'ol cheque to Heifer International in the sum of....

Drumroll please.....

................. $670 DOLLARS!!!

This is enough to provide:

2 Gardener's Gift Baskets to families in need (tree seedlings, rabbits, chickens and bees)
2 Earth Gift Baskets to provide income for families and to support the environment (tree seedlings and bees)
1 Goat that will provide milk, cheese, butter and yogurt to growing children
1 Llama that will provide fleece for warm clothing to wear or sell and help transform an entire community
3 Flocks of Chicks that will give eggs to 3 growing families

This is AMAZING!

Thank you SO much to everyone that helped me with this event and for all those who gave their hard earned dollars to help others in developing countries who need our contributions!

Not only did we raise money, but we raised awareness. Of course we have our own food issues here in North America, but we can't forget about those less fortunate than us, and that we are all sisters and brothers in this world. I am so humbled for the support I received in generating these funds so that After the Harvest could make a difference with the blog's first event.

Special thanks to Brian Kimmel of Optic Nerve Productions for producing these 2 inspiring films and to Nik Oroshi (@nikorosi) of Eliscaffe in Zagreb, Croatia for alerting me to the fact that there was a film named After the Harvest, which started this whole event in motion.

Ahh, Twitter. Sometimes you're so magical...

Much Love and Gratitude,

~Heather

P.S. Stay tuned for more new After the Harvest Projects...