Freshtopia.net

There s a raw juice movement sweeping the nation, as it seems to do from time to time. I remember my family briefly going through a similar craze when I was young. It seems to be a binge and purge business, there one minute, gone the next. This goes a long way toward explaining the impressive selection of juicers to be found in many suburbian rummage sale block parties. Well, color me a bandwagoner, I m hooked. For how long it will last, no one knows. Many folks in the raw food community are onboard already, such as Phillip, Heidi, and Kris, to name just a few. Last week I wrote about my favorite fresh juice, or more precisely, about its color. This week were showing how to make it. Without further ado, we give you The Director s Cut. The Director s Cut: 2-3 large carrots, to taste 2 ribs celery ½ cucumber ½ green apple 1 small beet 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger Since weve been slow posting this past week, were going to be sure to include a bonus recipe in this week s edition of our mailing list, the Freshtopian. If you haven t already signed up, just enter your preferred email address in the widget at the sites upper right corner. That issue will be coming out this Sunday, so be sure to tell all the neighborhood kids to sign up to receive the free recipe and secret decoder ring. no, there s no decoder ring. Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)

I m growing to really love Michael Pollan. Among other things, Pollan s seventeen minute TED Talk (above) takes us on a tour of the survival of the fittest, from a grass-eye perspective. Pollan, director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley, is probably best known for his 2006 book The Omnivore s Dilema. Regardless of your views on omnivorousness, vegetarianism, veganism, Pollan gets people thinking deeper about food and where it comes from, and that is a true service to our surprisingly nature-starved culture. Alas, you won t find many fun graphics or sound effects, but if you re a foodie and care about the world around you, you many find this interesting. This far-ranging talk covers ground from the human genome project to the sophisticated yet simply logical permaculture of Polyface Farms. You can check out some of the other TED Talks here. Oscar Director, Freshtopia.net

I don’t know why I’m only getting around to posting this now, it’s quite a treasure. A few months ago our resident Tanja-avatar-designer and most prolific video commenter, Steelee, told me about this post he had found on how to build a better mousetrap. The contraption is easy to build, effective, mouse-merciful, essentially free, and is more fun to watch than American Gladiators on ice. The jist is this: Flatten one side of a toilet paper tube Put a meal fit for a rodent at one end, a bit of peanut butter works great Get a tall trash can or bucket, 20 inches minimum Precariously place the tube on a table or counter edge, balanced with the treat end hanging over the bucket below The mouse, craving both peanut butter and confined spaces, will crawl into the tube Mouse, and tube, topple into the awaiting receptacle below Drop the critter off in the country, a mile or two away, where it’ll be healthier, if not happier The original post comes from a chap named Chris Glass. I’ve been dropping in on his site often, ever since Steelee sent me the link. The site is filled with great design, photographs, and a journal section worth checking out often. It reminds me of a personal version of one of my favorite art sites, CoolHunting. Thanks for the use of the illustrations Chris! UPDATE :: Speaking of video commenting, Steelee and Jessica just sent me this video of their TP-tube mousetrap. These two are so talented, they didn t even need the tube! Oscar Director, Freshtopia.net

This Valentines day, weve gone buck-rogers with a racy show about aphrodisiacs! For the occasion weve concocted a pulse-pounding chocolate sauce chock-full of sensuous spices like maca, cayenne, and cinnamon to get you in the mood for love. Treat your sweetie, (or yourself!) and use it to top some of our fabulous nearly raw vegan ice cream from episode #0055, or if you live in New York City, grab some awesome raw vegan ice cream from Pure Food and Wine. Feel the love! Ginger-Cardamom Ice Cream: 1 recipe Simply Vanilla Ice Cream Base and add to the blender: 1T fresh ginger juice, OR 2t dried ginger 1/8t cardamom Sensuous Spicy Chocolate Sauce: Serves 2 with extra for drizzling! 3T raw cocoa 1t maca powder 1t carob powder 1/4t cinnamon pinch cayenne pepper pinch sea salt agave syrup to moisten, about 4T water as needed Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small dish, add water if the mixture remains un-saucy. Serve portions of the ice cream topped with the sauce, fresh banana and chopped raw almonds. Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

Thanks largely to the inspiration of Heidi Ohlander and Philip McClusky, I’ve been on a bit of a raw juicing jag for the last week. This trend is going around at the moment and I’ve finally gotten on board, or at least am beginning to wade in. While many are going on an all-juice diet for a period of weeks or months, that is not my fate, there are too many other components to my cancer diet that I need to adhere to. In fact, this post isn’t even about juicing. It’s about the color of beets. While I have been getting the charge associated with juicing, mostly I find myself drawn to the amazing colors I’ve been finding in the process. I come from an art background; I graduated with my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and spent four years showing my paintings and sculptures before starting my own animation and video business. Yes, I actually made a living as a painter, believe it or not. I’ve always been attracted to earthen tones, black, and deep, brooding reds. These colors found their way into most of my paintings back in the day, circa nine or more years ago. Now fast forward to the present, and Freshtopia.net. I had never consciously considered how my preferred color palette in paintings of old might affect my tastes on the show, be it in food or show aesthetics. I just realized it has. The juicing phenom didn’t really resonate with me until a beet was thrown into the mix. As soon as a small dose of the ruby elixer entered my glass it overwhelmed, visually at least, the rest of the carrot, ginger, apple and celery juice. When the reds hit it was like something was triggered in my mind, making is something that I suddenly had to have. Yes, I like the taste of beets well enough, but in this case it was the color that got me. Interestingly, many foods deep red in color have substantial cancer-fighting properties. Tomatoes are high in lycopene, an anti-cancer powerhouse. The capsaicin found in chili peppers is a powerful antioxidant. And the chemical agent in beets that give them their rich red-purple, betacyanin, is a clinically proven cancer fighter. Beets are also associated with reduced heart disease and birth defect rates. Click here to read more about the health benefits of beets. Oh, and studies cited in the former link suggest that the anti-cancer properties of beets are greatly diminished by heat and cooking, so eat them raw, or at least take it easy on the heat. Sidebar: The thing about juicing that has always bothered me a bit is the idea of throwing away all that perfectly good pulp. As such, two days ago I decided to add a bunch of pulp to a batch of flax crackers I was putting together. The next day when they were finished I was very excited to see that I had two-tone crackers, one side beet-red, the other flax-gold, again a faithful representation of my palette of choice. Apparently the liquid(ish) flax base settled through the more fibrous pulp layer – gold on the bottom, red on the top. Ok, enough romancing the red. This was all just an excuse for a little food porn anyways. Perhaps I’m a vampire at heart. I propose that in a world of vegetarian vampires, beets would be the fix of choice.

This episode we take you on a quick and dirty (and occasionally bloody) history of Valentines Day.  The story of this holiday and its patron saint is still a bit of a mystery.  From Roman pagan festivals (Lupercalia), to saintly love letters sent from the joint, the truth behind the origins of Saint Valentines Day continue to illude.  Be sure to check back next Tuesday, when we ll be showing you how to make some festive pagan treats of your own. -Oscar Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)

Happy Lunar New Year! February 7, 2008 begins the year of the Rat, the first year of the Chinese zodiac, a time of activity and renewal. Today we’ll take you on a quick tour of lunar new year basics, factoids, and food traditions. It is said that this is a good year to make a fresh start, and after the year we’ve had, we couldn’t agree more! As uncertified joy practitioners, we here at Freshtopia.net love a good reason to celebrate and eat some delicious food. So why not wear a little red, do a spot of cleaning (a lunar new year tradition), bring some fresh blossoms into your home and enjoy some healthy, auspicious fruits and vegetables? In addition to tossing a little green, Tanja put together a wonderful, earthy, spicy parsnip noodle salad for this episode. We’ll be putting the recipe in the next edition of the Freshtopian, so if you haven’t already signed up, do so by entering your preferred address in the field at the site’s upper-right. Once you’ve had a chance to check out Tanja’s little nerd-core rap tribute above, take a look at the video below. MC frontalot is making me lose my mind, and his glasses look like mine, which is splendid. Special thanks to Justin Winokur, and Hello This Is Alex for letting us use their music in our show. And thanks to Brian Beggerly, Jakob Montrasio, John Haslam, Jim Winstead, and Laughlin Elkind for releasing their great photos under a Creative Commons license via Flickr.

Sometimes things don’t work out quite like one envisions them. This recipe was inspired by Anthony, aka the Raw Model, and his nifty list of 5 things to eat every day for health and beauty. It was a well-intentioned soup, simple and unassuming, comprised of some of my very favorite things to eat, all in one convenient bowl. What we ended up with however, was a watery bowl of grayish-green horror, with a crime-scene chili swirl. Sorry Anthony. Despite the soup’s tragic disposition, the episode may be worth a check-out, if nothing more than as a cautionary tale. “What not to do with grapefruits.” The music, by our friend Justin Winokur, is great, and there is a healthy dose of nervous laughs to accompany. If we’re still friends after you watch this, consider tuning in next week. Among other things we’ll be showing you how to make our variation of green lemonade, as well as blogging up a storm. Here’s the recipe, so you know what to avoid… Sundried Tomato-Chipotle Swirl: 1/3C olive oil 1/4C sundried tomatoes 1 small dried chipotle pepper 1t mustard Sea salt and pepper to taste Grapefruit Avocado Soup: 2 large grapefruit, peel and pith removed 1 large avocado ½ cucumber, peeled (about 1C chopped) 1/4C sweet white onion Sea salt and pepper to taste Soak the tomatoes and the chili in warm water until soft and pliant, about 1 hour. Remove seeds and stems from the chili and blend all the swirl ingredients in a food processor until saucy, yet slightly chunky texture is achieved. Peel the grapefruit and remove as much of the pith as you want. Place in blender with all other soup ingredients and blend until smooth, adding as little water or oil as necessary to blend. Divide soup among bowls, and top with the tomato-chili swirl. Serves none, if you’re lucky!

Today Tanja takes us on a quick and winding historical journey into the world of the grapefruit. Born in Barbados in the 1700s, this surprisingly young fruit is wonderously bright and precocious for its age. A veritable cancer-fighting super agent, grapefruit is also a cold-killer and an inflammation assassin. Consider signing up for our once-per-week mailing list, The Freshtopian, if you haven t already. You ll receive show updates, Freshtopia news, and free recipes! Just enter your preferred email address in the field at the upper-right of the screen. Thanks to the wonderful Justin Winokur, for the use of his tracks Scary Monster Mobile , and So Alone. Check out Justin s other work here.

This episode would probably be better simply titled “Sage-Pistachio Pesto”, but the allure and onomatopoeia possibilities of the word squash were too many to avoid. This recipe is another winner. We originally shot this episode before we left on our cross-country train trip, but we had the dish again last night and I can honestly say it’s even better the second time. I’ll be asking for this one again soon. The episode calls for shredded butternut squash as a base, though after trying it over shredded parsnip last night, I have a slight preference for the latter. Recipe below the fold! Sage-Pistachio Pesto: ½ Cup fresh sage ½ Cup raw pistachios 1/3 Cup olive oil 1 small clove garlic 1 T nutritional yeast Peel, de-vein, and chop garlic. Add all pesto ingredients to food processor and blend to desired consistency. Serve over julienned butternut squash, or the shredded vegetable of your choice. Be sure to note our snazzy new difficulty rating system, the Freshtopian Blender Scale. I ranges from 1-5, 1 being the easiest and using the least equipment, 5 pulling out all the stops and rolling in all the heavy gunnery. There are some sound glitches in this one… nothing new, but irritating none the less. It’ll be some time before we can do much about that I’m afraid. Hey, it’s a labor of love and it’s free for all. Thanks once more to Justin Winokur for his generous contribution of just the right music. Happy new year Justin! Oscar PS- if you like the show, consider recommending it to a friend! You could also help spread the word by linking to Freshtopia.net from your blog.

I was sent this video by a friend (thanks Melissa) a couple of months ago, but haven t posted about it until now. The woman in the video, Eva Vertes, is a brilliant young microbiology prodigy currently researching the nature of cancer. I know I ve been posting on cancer a lot lately, to the exclusion of other topics in fact, but with a diagnosis like Glioblastoma Multiforme perhaps you can understand why I m so interested. The video is nineteen minutes long and all of it is worth watching. However if you d like to cut to the chase, try jumping to around 5:25 at which point she begins discussing stem cells and their relation to tissue damage. This video has become a form of meditation for me; entertaining the idea that the body s cancer-response is a healing process triggered as a result of a damaging initiation event. In my case I can think of several candidates for initiating events, not the least of which is the fact that I grew up near a major chemical manufacturer (at one point there were actually three major chemical factories in the town). Food for thought, gotta run. Oscar

Going home.

Well, here it is, a day late, but present and accounted for. We found the Japanese tradition of Furoshiki a beautiful and green alternative to wrapping with, and tossing a bunch of paper this holiday season. We hope you enjoy today s episode, and we hope that you have a chance to relax and treat yourself a bit over the coming week. Enjoy your family, your friends, and spend some time on your health. Merry Christmas! Oh, and today is Ms. Tanja Andrews birthday! Happy birthday T, with all my heart. -Oscar

It s day two of the Freshtopia.net Christmas Special! We hope you enjoyed our first day of Christmas Pockets, pocket stuffers, and relaxing yoga. Now get ready to plunge into a recipe that s more than fit for the holidays: Vegan White Chocolate Ice Cream with Port-Poached Figs. This is the perfect dessert to curl up with next to your fireplace . . . or if you live like we do at the BOT house, the one and only heater in the house. In this episode we talk about the divine and delectable ingredient raw cacao butter. It is a must-have in the pantry, yet it’s hard to find in the store so we recommend purchasing it online. We hope you are tantalized by today’s recipe and prepare it for your friends and family this holiday season. Come back tomorrow to view the Freshtopia.net Christmas Finale! Vegan White Chocolate Ice Cream with Port-Soaked Figs: Based on a Recipe Created With Love from Heidi and Justin Makes About 1 Quart 2 Cups Raw Cashews 2 Cups Purified Water 1/2 cup Maple Syrup 1/2 cup Agave Nectar 1/4 cup grated raw cacao butter (raw white chocolate) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract OR 1 vanilla bean pinch of sea salt 1 Cup dried organic figs, halved 1 Cup port or organic red wine 1 teaspoon vanillia Blend all ingredients in blender for 2 minutes to reach as smooth a consistency as possible*, chill mixture in freezer for about 1 hour. Process mixture in ice cream maker according to your model’s instructions, we’re using Cuisinart’s ICE-25. Place into re-sealable container and put in freezer to firm up! *Note: if using a regular blender, consider soaking the cashews in the water to soften and make blending easier.

Welcome! This is an event that will one day reach great renown… the first Christmas Special in online media history. Well, the first to our knowledge at any rate. This is day one of three action-packed days of Freshtopian Christmas cheer, featuring food, fun, green gift ideas, holiday stress relievers, and more. In today’s episode we will first illustrate a reclaimed stocking craft idea. Next, Barb Finnin gives us some green stocking-stuffer ideas (see links below for purchase). Lastly, yoga instructor extraordinaire Kate Schox shows us a holiday stress-relieving pose. Note too the bonus clip below today’s episode. This is a cropped reissue of last year’s Christmas episode, in which we make a little something called Freshtopian Analog Nog, a rich, sweet, comforting and dairy-free alternative to classic egg nog. We love this recipe, and are hoping it will make its way into your rotation of Christmas traditions. Click the “green gift ideas” banner in the left column to learn more about today’s green stocking stuffers, as well as other great green gift ideas. … Oh! And be sure to click on your video Christmas card in the left column as well. Just look for the picture of the lovely Tanja Andrews!

This episode we bring you a dish that we made for last week’s dinner party with Ryanne, Jay and Eddie. The dish is Celery Root Soup, and it’s the perfect comfort-food compliment to a cold Autumn day. Celery Root, also known as Celeriac, is an often underappreciated vegetable. It has the brightness and water content of celery but is much more mild in flavor, as well as having a slightly higher starch content. In a soup, these factors combine to make a dish that warms and comforts the palette, without adding the empty calories that many starchy vegetables are prone to. We hope you’ll take the time to give it a try!

Welcome to the first video installment of our new “Dinner And A…” series. In this episode, we get a visit from Ryanne Hodson of RyanIsHungry, Jay Dedman of Momentshowing, and Eddie Codel of Geek Entertainment TV. As this was our first attempt at capturing a dinner event in episodic format, I’m sure we missed a few details. That’s ok, the company was great and the food was spot on. Ryanne and Jay brought some fresh mixed greens from their backyard garden, along with a mystery squash that they had grown from seed. Eddie brought along an organic chardonnay that suited his Gary Vaynerchuk alter-ego just fine. Ryanne and Jay’s squash was destined to become a spiced squash soup, featuring the surprising combination of cinnamon and dill. And even I was surprised by the liveliness of their fresh greens. I’m still always struck by the difference between produce served minutes or hours after picking, rather than days or weeks. The evening was filled with roving topics, like any good dinner party should be, though eventually we settled on cross-promotion and surviving in a new medium. Making a go of it in the world of online content is still a tremendous challenge; the industry at this point is still a sea of turbulent waters. Add to this the issues of unaffordable health care and fading social security, and the outlook could appear grim for long-term survival in the video blogging world. Young professionals in today’s work force, especially the increasing ranks of freelance professionals, are in for a potentially bumpy road. There are some real advantages to the transient work life that has evolved in modern America, such as greater flexibility to pursue interests and less likelihood of chronic boredom. However these perks in many lie on top of a shakey foundation. Dismal health coverage was unanimous among us, and at the current rate social security will be a thing of the past well before we’re likely to need it. Talk about a domestic threat – the office of homeland security needs to sic itself on reinstituting usury laws, reducing insurance premiums, and fighting labor loss and infrastructure deterioration in order for us to have a truly safe and stable country. There was a palpable patriotism to much of the evening’s discussion; despite the likelihood of choppy waters ahead, everyone present seemed interested and determined to make a positive change in their corner of the world. In the end, we’re blessed enough to be doing what we have a passion for, making content, entertaining, trying to affect change. None of us are likely to switch jobs any time soon. On the subject of passion, this Friday night the Freshtopia.net team, along with Ryanne and Jay, and Doctor Popular will be presenting at Eddie Codel’s Video Salon Redux. If you’re in San Francisco Friday night, consider stopping by and saying hello. Happy Dinning, -Oscar News: Music :: Thanks again to Justin Winokur for the use of his wonderful music. Stop by Justin s site and check out his albums, they just may make the perfect holiday gift for someone on your list. Food :: If you haven’t already done so, consider signing up for the Freshtopian by entering your email address in the field at the site’s upper-right corner. We promise to use your address for good, not evil, and you’ll be rewarded by receiving show updates, news, and the occasional recipe. This week: Marinated and Pressed Portobello Steaks.

This past weekend was a busy one at the BOT house. We ended up playing host to two dinner events, in and amongst filming, editing, site upgrades and day jobs. It was a clear illustration of both the fact that we are probably more busy than is healthy, and a manifestation of our many interests. The wandering interests, we gots ‘em. In fact, most of the young professionals we know these days are prone to wearing many hats. Saturday we welcomed Chris, Cheryl, and their daughter Naomi to the table, a young modern family that exemplifies this truism. Chris is a musician, designer and father, Cheryl is a programer, chemical engineer, mother, and blogging starlet. Naomi, at the ripe old age of four months, hasn’t yet executed her first WordPress local install. Cheryl started blogging on a whim, out of a love for the artistry of food and baking. She runs the very popular site Cupcake Bakeshop, and has been doing so for nearly three years now. Check out one of her recent works in the photo browser above, an Adzuki Bean Paste Filled Chocolate Cupcake with Matcha Green Tea Frosting. Cheryl and Chris both eat meat on occasion, and Tanja was excited to tackle the challenge of inventing a hearty and omnivore-quenching meal for them. The answer? Portobello mushroom steaks. Served with… yet more mushrooms of course. Herb marinated crimini, mini hedgehog and white maitake mushrooms were served over a bed of julienned parsnip pasta, with a lightly spicy red pepper romesco sauce. In addition we prepared a holiday-inspired, three-beet salad with pine nuts and capers. The Portobello steaks were marinated in nama shoyu and olive oil, then pressed to facilitate a bit of relaxing and breakdown. The result of this method is a tender yet not too giving mushroom fillet. Just like meat? No. But wonderfully satisfying none the less. Originally we were planning to focus discussion on the strengths and challenges of communicating to a niche using modern media, but instead our spectrum of hats came out in full force. Though we did manage to discuss blogging and vlogging for a hot minute, we quickly got diverted toward other topics. We touched on health care, video and photo tips and tricks, parenthood, and the state of the union before the table was even set. In our respective mediums, we fill a niche. Cheryl, the world of fine-art baking, Tanja and I, the world of vegan, raw foods. Fortunately though, we have a plentitude of other interests. And also fortunate is that we work in mediums (blogging/vlogging) that [so far] retain a bit of flexibility tolerance. While we in new media can stray from subject and arbitrarily do a show about say, solar science for example, it is unlikely that conventional media would let the same happen; Sylar will probably never stray too far from being an uninventive, dimensionless, and wooden super-villain wannabe. Speaking of straying from subject, I’m struck more and more by how much I love beets. I liked them as a kid, but only really had them sweet-pickled. In the last couple months we’ve been experimenting with them quite a bit, and have found them a rich, earthen, often under-appreciated vegetable. Barb went crazy for the beet salad, and I think we’ll be making it again soon for one of our upcoming Christmas episodes. The mushrooms worked as intended, that is, heartily. By the time dessert arrived I wasn’t really in the right frame, but verily I could not resist. Tanja made a white chocolate raw vegan icecream, using some amazing pressed cacao oil that we’ve been rationing like one pack of peanuts on a twelve-hour flight. It was complimented with a chocolate sauce with walnuts and ripe banana, for a banana split that brought the evening to a proper conclusion. Conclusion, yes, time to sleep. In short, viva la straying. Life is short, so indulge in some capacity in all of your many interests, until you either expire satisfied in your circuitious efforts, or find the one thing that forces you to toss other interests aside due to its inescapable gravity. For me that’s not Rushmore though I do love the movie dearly, it’s probably not even video blogging. Maybe it’s the lovely Tanja Andrews. Be good to each other, Oscar PS- be sure to notice our Romanesco Christmas tree, you ll be seeing more of it in the near future. EVENT :: This week the Freshtopia.net crew is presenting at Video Salon Redux in San Francisco, along with Ryanne and Jay of RyanIsHungry, and a video blogger chap called Dr. Popular. If you’re in San Francisco on Friday, swing by and say hello. FOOD :: We’ll feature the recipe for the pressed Portobello Steaks in this week’s issue of The Freshtopian. If you haven’t signed up yet, consider entering your email address in the widget at top-right.

We had a great time at The Winnies this past weekend. The Winnies were organized by the entertaining and highly motivated team of Irina Slutsky (Geek Entertainment TV), Lan Bui and Bonnie Pierzina of NoodleScar, and Vu Bui of Vu Goes Vegan. They made sure that the event was well funded, well attended and well lubricated by an open bar! Irina and Gary Vaynerchuk hosted the show and provided some structure to what turned out to be a delightful cascade of lunacy. From the ping-pong ball-spewing device that was intended to randomly dole out the names of attendees to come on stage and give their awards, to the humorous/accomplished/slightly disturbing performances, the evening’s entertainment was a fine representation of the anarchistic spirit that still permeates the medium. It ended with “Wingling,” that is to say, the crowd mingled, drank, danced and documented it all until the wee hours. We had a wonderful time, meeting some of our favorite vlog stars, seeing some old friends and sharing the love. The night was a who’s who of the vlogosphere. Big thanks to all the organizers, sponsors and attendees for making it possible! Some of the other fine folks we were lucky enough to hang with this weekend include: Steve and Zadi, of Epic-Fu Ryan, of Ryanne Is Hungry Jay, of Moments Showing Eddie, of Geek Entertainment TV Clintus McGintus, of I Do It Digital Sara, of Average Betty Jeff, of Tiki Bar TV Jennifer, of Cooking With Rockstars and Sunny Gault, of Viral Back home again, we’re flossing out the site, so we hope you enjoy its fresh look and new features!

Ok, just a quick update before I collapse from exhaustion. Tomorrow morning the Freshtopia.net team is heading to Southern California for The Winnies, an awards ceremony for the video blogging community. Each attendee is paired (anonymously) with another attendee, who then reviews that blogger’s videos and invents an award to suit the work. Think secret Santa meets the Academy Awards. Part of the process of attending is making an award trophy to fit your invented category. Alas, I can’t tell you who I was assigned to, nor tanja, as the event isn’t until tomorrow night. Likewise we can’t tell you what ‘category’ the awards we created are for. But I can tell you that we had a great time putting it all together… and so did Jorge. We’ll be getting back in to town on Sunday evening, so you won’t be hearing from us for a couple days. When we do return though, we’ll bring you word from the first annual Winnies, and hopefully some footage as well. We hope to get the next show to you Tuesday, with updates on the changes that have been happening on the site, as well as our new mailing list (see upper right of the site). Ugh.. and now I sleep. -Oscar

Here be our promo video for The Winnies, hot off the presses. We ll be rocketing down to L.A. this weekend to attend the secret-santa-like event, hand over a trophy or two, and maybe even receive one! Hopefully we ll have a chance to shoot some footage at the event, so we can show it off in a future episode.

Exhausted. It’s already 1am and I’m just now getting around to writing the next Dinner And A… post. It’s been a big (and chilly) day here at the BOT house, many long hours have been worked by the whole team. As a result, you may notice some recent additions to the site… to your right you’ll find our new mailing list submission form, some fancy new feed buttons, and a new donate button. I’m a dismal html coder, so even minor changes like this are major accomplishment for me. We also managed to plow through a month’s worth of email, plan our Winnies promo video, and get some photography done as well. A long, cold day like this calls for comfort food. Tanja was nice enough to treat all of us (her, Barb and myself) to tomato soup and some of her flax crackers, perfect for the occasion. Here in Northern California we’re just catching the last of the season’s fresh tomatoes, and when supplemented with our dehydrated tomatoes, they made for a welcome return to an old Freshtopian standard; Simple Tomato Soup. She used essentially the same recipe as in the episode, except that she (for reasons related to my cancer treatment) substituted the cashews from the original recipe with an equal amount of peeled cucumbers, chopped and blended into the mix. It’s true, there are many nutrients in cucumber peel however, green peel + red tomatoes = brown soup. No, there’s nothing wrong with brown soup, but tonight we were treating ourselves to a delight for the stomach and the eyes. She also added ½ of a mystery pepper (hot pepper) that she picked up at the farmer’s market over the weekend, and garnished with a bit of fresh fenugreek. If you haven’t tried fenugreek before you might want to take it for a spin. It very mild and tastes somewhat like a blend between parsley and mint. Dinner was the production meeting. For starters, we discussed how we want to use the new mailing list. Over the months we’ve researched a few list services, but they were always too expensive or too complicated to easily adopt. Google to the rescue! What we’ve done is set up a Google Group that will serve as a mailing list, from which we plan to send a once-per-week email to all those who choose to sign up. The email will be short, contain show updates, Freshtopia.net news, and an occasional recipe. Largely it will serve as a reminder to check out the latest show, for those that don’t subscribe via RSS feed. We have gotten this request many times over the months, and have finally gotten around to implementing it. Sign up and give it a shot if you like, you can be one of our beta testers. Expect the first mailing to go out within a week or so, and please be patient with us, there may yet be a bug or two. We also discussed in brief: - The possibility of adding Blogher Ads to the site, in a column on the left of the page. - The realism of finding a [good] video editor, familiar with Adobe Production Studio, and willing to work on a volunteer basis. …stop laughing. - Where all we should post the show (Blip, Podtech, Veoh, YouTube, MySpace TV, etc.) - The possibility of a Christmas special. Email us your ideas! I’m also happy to announce that there will be a new episode posted tomorrow, even if it’s only our short Winnies promo. Ok, enough updating. I’ve got to get some sleep. Try the soup, it’s tasty, hearty, and filled with lycopene. Happiness and Health to you today, I hope the holiday weekend treated all of you as well as it did us. Oscar Director, Freshtopia.net

Why is it that when raw-food health gurus go on national television, talking about all the wonderful soups, rich entrees, and magical desserts you can have on a raw food diet, so often they end up handing over to the excited and anticipating host a glass full of green glop? (see video here, and here for examples) The green smoothie; almost invariably it’s met with a nervous stare, and followed promptly by an ick face upon tasting. We could make Cacao Pistachio Florentine, Portobello Burgers, or Curried Chocolate Pudding, but instead, in a moment of mindless passion, we make green smoothies. I say we because we at Freshtopia too have made this mistake. Check out first Green Smoothie episode here, and check out our old-timey stylings. It’s an easy mistake to make. Once you get on the green smoothie train, you tend to ride it all the way to happy town. I don’t really know what that means. The point is, often once people get into the GS, they tend to really get into the GS. It can be easy to forget that not everyone is so keen on the taste of pulverized kale and celery right out of the starting gate. It is not a transition food. There are exceptions though. On a recent episode of Oprah, Dr. Memet Oz presented Ms. Winfrey with a bright green concoction that she was pleased to receive. Her response upon tasting, “It’s like a glass of fresh!” Our green smoothie episode garnered us our first video response. Our friends Steelee and Jessica gave our first smoothie a try, and were less than enthused about it. Fair enough, I wasn’t so jazzed at my first either. In time the body adjusts to the taste of more punchy, alkaline drinks, but it’s a good idea to start with a more accessible smoothie. So, if you’re up for giving it a shot, toss together the recipe below. As you’ll see, it’s so good even a child will like it! Green Smoothie 2.0: Serves 1-2 1 ripe banana 1 Cup mango, chopped 1-2 Cups fresh spinach Water as necessary 2 ice cubes 1 Tbspn flax oil, optional Blend as long as necessary. Make it as smooth as possible. Enjoy. The primary difference? More fruit, less (and less bitter) greens. Give it a shot… and send us your video comments!

Here’s something deliciously special for your holiday table. Rich, creamy, pumpkiny pie with a sassy bite! Just so you know, I’m pretty sure this recipe needs a high-speed blender to really shine. With all due thanks to the beautiful, charming food blog Smitten Kitchen for the inspiration, here’s a fresh version with good-for-ya veggies blended right in, and a little splash of something-something if you’re feeling naughty! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Naughty Pumpkin Crème Pie serves 8-10 For the filling and topping: 2C raw cashews 1 1/2C raw pumpkin, (or other squash) cubed or shredded 1C carrot, cubed or shredded 1C coconut butter (Artisana) or 3/4C dried coconut 1/4C coconut oil 1/2C agave syrup Juice of 1 lemon 3-4t pumpkin pie spice (to taste) 2T bourbon or brandy (optional) Dash sea salt For the crust: 2C raw pecans 1/2C dates, chopped 1T agave syrup 1T cinnamon Dash sea salt Additional Pecans for garnish To make the crust, chop the pecans very coarsely in a food processor along with the cinnamon and salt, add the agave and dates and pulse until the mixture begins to stick together. Press into the bottom of a springform pan, tart pan or pie dish (approx. 10 inch pan). Blend all the filling ingredients except the pumpkin, carrot and the pie spice in a blender until smooth, keeping it as thick as possible, but adding a dash of water if necessary. Reserve 1 ½ C of this mixture for topping. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour the filling into the waiting crust and chill in freezer for about 20 minutes to firm it up enough to spread the crème on top. Garnish with additional pecan slices and a sprinkle of pie spice. Keep chilled until ready to serve. Tanja Host, Freshtopia.net

This weekend we had the pleasure of playing host to not one, but three dinner guests. Jeffrey is a patent attorney working primarily in the green innovation sector, as well as being a close personal friend of mine. Kate is a yoga instructor and photographer, as well as a good friend of the BOT house. You may recognize Kate from our Yoga Mat Review episode. Mike is a new friend to Freshtopia, working in the health advocacy world. Mike is a foodie, and this was his first all-raw meal. Dinner prep started out a bit tense. Periodically I would bumble into the kitchen, camera at the ready, while Tanja was trying to prepare the meal. The kitchen smelled terrific, like autumn, and harvest, and the harbinger of Thanksgivings to come. The food looked wonderful, including the marinated mushrooms and onions that had been dehydrating along with some fresh flax crackers overnight. Tanya however… not so happy. She was less than confident that the butternut squash tart that was to be the entrée was going to turn out. I though, had faith. In the two and a half years I’ve known Tanja, and in the hundreds of meals we’ve eaten together, nearly each and every one has been a complete delight. I can only remember two dishes as having been average, and another two to be avoided (don’t ask her about the all-natural grasshopper pie). Overall, she has an outstanding record, and I trusted this night would be no exception. When the meal met the table it was welcomed like an old friend. We were planning on sharing a recipe this time around, but the idea got vetoed. Tanja felt there could have been more mushrooms in the mix, and that the butternut squash filling needed some slight tinkering before sharing the recipe with the world. The mushrooms were fantastic, as were the lightly dehydrated onions. The herbed zucchini-walnut crust will certainly be appearing on the table again soon in one form or another. It had a savory, cracker-like quality that was perfect for the occasion. Jeffrey and Kate added a wonderful, seasonal tomato and spinach salad with raw walnuts and dried cranberries to the mix. Tomatoes are quickly on their way out, seasonally speaking, and it was great to have one last fling before saying goodbye. They also brought a bottle of Martin Berdugo Joven 2006, a young red Spanish wine. As well as a 2006 bottle of Oreleans Hill’s Cote Zero, an organic, sulfite-free red. Mike brought a 2005 Pinot Noir from the Paraiso Vineyards. For better or worse alcohol is not in the cards for my cancer diet, so I didn’t get a chance to sample the wares. Therefore, in my professional opinion: The Pinot Noir was finished first, the 2006 Joven second, and the Cote Zero is still floating around here somewhere three days later. To be fair though, Kate suspects the Cote Zero may have been corked. In a strange turn, dinner conversation somehow quickly devolved into talk of Columbian Neckties and other violent past times. With a little effort though, and a second helping of the tart, the situation began to come under control. By the time desert was brought out (in this case a hazelnut-chocolate mousse with caramaca sauce and coconut cream) civility had been fully restored. Alas, things however threatened to turn back to the dark side when the game Taboo was brought out. Guys versus girls. Screaming, pinching, prodding ensued. Merciless it was. I learned some things about my own post-op brain functioning; my ability to guess the word in question was unaffected by surgery, if anything it might have improved strangely enough. However when it came to remembering a list of words not to say, while devising a word clue strategy, and keeping it under 60sec… not so good. My mind fried faster than fish at a Kiwanis fund raiser. In the end, the evening was a hit, without hitting, though it was close there for a second. We agreed to stop the game as soon as we reached a tie, the food was a great precursor to the upcoming holidays, and the spirits were kept responsible, raw, and occasionally even sulfite-free. -Oscar Director, Freshtopia.net

This is the first installment of what will hopefully become a new blogpost series here on Freshtopia.net, featuring food photography and conversation from the many small dinner parties we hold at the BOT house. Tentatively we’re calling the series “Dinner And A…”, but only time will tell if that name will stick or not. We’ll be posting them on a roughly weekly basis. Give it a couple weeks and let us know what you think. So without further ado… Dinner And A Cameraman This past Tuesday we had the honor of welcoming a new member to the Freshtopia team, James, who will be acting as part-time cameraman and roving reporter for us in the near future. We welcomed him in classic Freshtopian style, with food. Autumn, my personal favorite time of year, is upon us and Tanja wanted to pull together a dinner in proper Fall fashion. Beets, potatoes, pumpkins and squash, to name a just a few, are all in their prime here in Northern California, and as much as possible we wanted to include seasonal fare. Dinner ended up consisting of tri-colored Julienne-cut vegetables, in this case zucchini, carrot and cucumber, with a fairly traditional basil pesto sauce made with Get Tough or Die Farms (GToDF) basil. A healthy pinch of nutritional yeast (and perhaps the freshness of the basil) is essentially the only thing separating our pesto from the norm. Along with this, Tanja put together a wonderful four-tomato salad featuring GToDF yellow pear and standard red cherry tomatoes, as well as sungold cherry tomatoes and soaked, dried romas from our own garden. This mix makes it’s own exquisite dressing, we just added some salt, pepper and minced white onion to liven the party. Finally, as the culinary centerpiece, Tanja stuffed four squash blossoms with a macadamia-rosemary cream stuffing. We had planned to use blossoms from our own garden, but alas we didn’t have enough, and it is a little late in the season which led us to fear that ours might be a bit tough. Berkeley Bowl to the rescue - we were able to find the right amount and freshness, and without loosing our shirts. Squash blossoms are an elegant, sensual addition to a dinner arrangement, and are well worth experimenting with if you haven’t before. They remind me a bit of water lilies, which I ate a lot of in my favorite clay pot dish, at a small Vietnamese restaurant in Ann Arbor Michigan. They serve primarily as an exquisite vessel, but also carry a very subtle floral quality, as well as a unique and wonderful texture that is hard to find elsewhere. Tanja prepared them masterfully, and they were big hits with all of us. James is an old friend of Tanja and her crew from back in the day. It also happens that he is a big fan of Freshtopia, as well as a budding videographer and documentarian. For some time he had been generously offering his assistance in shooting some shows while I was researching and planning my cancer treatment regime, but the pieces didn’t finally fall into place until this past week. He’ll be joining us on the weekends, and helping us shoot around town. James brings with him a Xacti, a small (very small) camera that delivers a big punch. It shoots in high-definition, though unfortunately online distribution won’t entirely taken advantage of this ability. It does however have an impressive color range and great onboard sound. I’ve heard a lot of great feedback on the Xacti, and it was nice to finally get a chance to experiment with one a bit. Our friends Ryanne and Jay occasionally shoot with a Xacti, and have been pleased with it overall. I suspect it will be a great video blogging camera, and we’ll be reporting on its features for the geek set some time in the future once we’ve had a chance to stretch its limits. And finally, desert, because even its description was worth saving for last. Now this was a dish to behold (hopefully you can behold it in the photo browser above, on page 2). Pomegranates are arguably one of the most beautiful fruits on this fine earth of ours. Crimson, bejeweled, sweet, sexy, and in case that’s not enough, they’re also completely loaded with antioxidants. Add to this the singular taste of persimmon and the richness of young coconut and you have, yet another, major crowd-pleaser. Tanja made the raw food standard, young-coconut pudding base, but to it added some seasonal persimmons for additional flavor and color. We’re fortunate enough to find pomegranates and persimmons grown here in California, however the young coconuts were an import. The pudding was served individually, and dressed with a date-sweetened pomegranate sauce, pomegranate seeds, and a leaf of persimmon for garnish. This was one of those dishes, the fabulous kind of dish, a dish that hovers dangerously close to being over the top but falls just within the boundaries of decency, and ends up being a fun and adventurous food event that isn’t soon forgotten. Dinner was enjoyed by all, and was well accompanied by old friends and good conversation. We’re happy to have James aboard and are thankful for his assistance with the show, and for his company and conversation. Welcome James, and thank you to Tanja for another amazing dinner. -Oscar Director, Freshtopia.net

Your browser does not support JavaScript. This media can be viewed at http://www.podtech.net/home/4002/freshtopianet-macadamia-stuffed-figs Fresh, ripe figs are the best. Sensuous, decadent and so delicious it almost seems wrong. So good, in fact, that it s perhaps a little crazy to do anything to them except enjoy their sweet flavorful perfection. However, there are those times when madness and the presence of figs in your life intersect. Why not try stuffing your figs with rich, creamy macadamia filling with a burst of bright lemony flavor, and topping them with crunchy pecans and a drizzle of golden honey? Maybe it s not so insane after all… Macadamia-Stuffed Figs: Serves about 4 6-8 large figs, or more if smaller ones Macadamia cheese: 1C macadamia nuts soaked 1hour or more Juice and zest of 1 lemon 2T honey or agave syrup 1t vanilla extract Dash of sea salt Pecans and additional honey for garnish Blend all cheese ingredients in food processor until smooth and fluffy, scraping down sides of processor if necessary to ensure even blending. Cut figs in half and use small spoon or spatula to mound about 1T of filling (depending on the size of the figs) in each half. Press a pecan sliver into the filling and drizzle with additional honey before serving. Wicked delicious!

Never doubt our commitment to sparkle motion! Our house had a problem; we all loved sparkling water, but hated the wasteful plastic packaging and crazy cost. Americans drink more than 55 billion liters of soda and seltzer every year, which means over 3 billion cubic feet of packaging ends up in recycling facilities or worse, landfills! We were determined not to be those consumers any more. After doing some research, Barb determined that the answer to our sparkling dreams was a home carbonating unit with reusable bottles… and also that there s some sort of inexplicable connection between sparkling water and yachts. For more information on our Edition One soda machine, visit SodaClub. Even if you don t have a yacht, why not celebrate the blushing finale of peach season with a fresh white peach Bellini? White Peach Bellini: Serves 2-4 1 large white peach Juice of 1/2 lemon 2-3 raspberries, plus additional for garnish Agave to taste Sparkling water Remove the pit and chop the peach, then blend until smooth along with the lemon juice, raspberries and sweetener if using. Divide among 2-4 glasses, garnish with 1 or 2 whole raspberries and top with sparkling water, stirring gently. Cheers!

Today’s recipe is absolutely divine! We’re making Mexican mole fresh-style! In this rich yet nutritious sauce, the delicious heat of chilies and the rich flavor of chocolate caper across the palate. Treat yourself to a dish that’s fit for Aztec royalty, and so sexy, you won’t believe that it was invented by nuns! Whatever its origin, be sure to give this delicious, raw vegan twist on a perennial favorite a try. This post is sponsored by Audible.com, click here for free download and 14-day trial. Holy Mole with Faux Frijoles: Serves 2-4 Mole sauce 1C fresh tomato 1/3C olive oil 1/4C onion 1/4C raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds) 1/4C raw almonds 1 clove garlic 3 large dates 3-4 sun-dried tomato pieces 1 small dried pepper or ground chili powder to taste 1T raw cocoa powder, or carob if ya like 2t fresh oregano 1t ground cinnamon 1/2t ground cloves Smoked salt and black pepper Faux Frijoles: 1C sunflower seeds 1C zucchini, diced 1/4C red bell pepper, diced 1/4C sweet onion, diced 1t cumin Salt and black pepper Cherry tomatoes and fresh oregano for garnish Soak dates, sun-dried tomatoes, sunflower seeds and dried pepper if using, in about 1 1/2C warm water for at least 1 hour. De-stem and remove seeds from dried pepper. Reserve soak water and add all mole ingredients to blender and blend well, adding soak water as necessary to thin. Mix drained sunflower seeds with diced veggies and seasonings. Top with sauce and garnish with tomatoes and oregano.

Living a fresh and healthy lifestyle? Missing things like decent candy bar? Here s a recipe that will make you forget all about those high-fructose corn syrup-laden bars in their landfill-destined plastic packaging. We ve taken candy to a whole other place with the addition of powerful superfoods like maca, he shou wu, and raw chocolate. It s SuperCandy! These bars will not only satisfy the naughtiest sweet tooth, they ll give you an enduring lift that old-school candy can t match! This post has not been approved by the FDA. SuperCandy is not intended to treat, cure, diagnose or prevent any illness, but it tastes great and may make you feel a little awesome…. Caramaca-Chocolate SuperCandy: makes 8-16 bars Walnut crust layer: 1 1/2C walnuts 1/2C dates, chopped 1t vanilla Dash of sea salt Caramaca layer: 1/4C carob (un-roasted) 1/4C maca powder 3/4C agave syrup or honey 2T cold-pressed flax oil 1t cinnamon 1/2t sea salt Power chocolate layer: 1 1/2C raw chocolate powder 1/2C coconut butter (not oil!)or substitute your favorite nut butter 3/4C agave syrup 1-2T He Shou Wu (add more if you like!) 1t vanilla Dash of sea salt Blend all crust layer ingredients in food processor until cohesive, but still chunky. Press into bottom of small loaf pan. In a small bowl, whisk all caramaca ingredients together until a saucy consistency is reached. Pour caramaca over walnut layer and place in freezer while making the chocolate layer. In cleaned food processor, blend all chocolate layer ingredients until a nice fudgy consistency is reached. Press chocolate evenly over the caramaca layer and return pan to the freezer for about 1 hour to firm. Cut into squares or bars and enjoy! Feel super! Wondering where to get all this good stuff? Your local health food store will probably happily help you out, or go online to: One Lucky Duck for raw chocolate powder, agave, and Artisana Coconut butter. Nature s First Law for maca and raw chocolate. Herbal Extracts Plus or Ocean Wave Vibrations for He Shou Wu, aka Ho Shou Wu or Fo Ti.