Once a month, our small group of creative and healthy food-conscious ladies gathers in the cozy kitchen of Heather’s art-haven San Francisco apartment to produce what we call Mindful Dinner. Our meals are gluten-free, predominantly vegan (dairy additions are on the side), always inspired by nutritionally packed foods, and sometimes by global family-influenced recipes. It goes without saying, the deliciousness of each offering is BEYOND, simple BEYOND delicious. There is soul in every sip and every bite.
Heather’s artful table display for September’s Mindful Dinner
Each dinner have a its own new theme. Soon after one Mindful Dinner ends, we begin exchanging ideas for what the next month’s theme could be. Once decided, each lady is on her own to interpret the theme into creative form. We do not pre-plan entire meals and as of yet, have never followed a set menu. (Perhaps that will be a future theme.) In the few days prior, we email loose ideas (Hey… I’m preparing a raw dessert… Oooohhh yummy… OK, I’ll make a soup with those root veggies coming into season…) to avoid making duplicate dishes. In general, between the 5-6 of us that regularly gather, we aim to spread the creations out across beverage, appetizers, light dishes and of course dessert offerings. With some kind of divine guidance, we always bring the perfect ideas and complementary ingredients to make a full dining experience that flows seamlessly from start to finish.
SUSTAINABILITY was the theme of our September 2015 Mindful Dinner.
This was, without a doubt, our most challenging and rewarding monthly meal. The theme was as just impactful on us chefs as the choices we make on food selection, meal preparation techniques and clean-up practices are upon the environment.
For this meal, sustainability meant a consideration of the current longterm drought in California, conscious awareness of water use for food growth & human comfort needs, and selecting in-season ingredients, locally sourced when possible.
Beautiful Alexis prepares her delectable “approaching winter” salad. And hello to pretty SF cityscape outside Heather’s kitchen window.
I could eat THIS salad all fall, with tasty ingredients including spinach, granny smith apples, pomegranate seeds, red kidney beans, celery, minced pecans, what else?? Seriously, the flavors, the textures, the summer-meets-fall colors. Incredible!
Our Sustainability meal was especially heartfelt, filled with bittersweet gratitude in light of recent Northern California devastation caused by the current drought-fueled town-shattering #ValleyFire. Before the first bite was consumed, we shared a minute of silence and prayer for those who’ve lost homes and other pieces of their community. May greater humanity aid them in swiftly finding their way back to a kitchen table. We acknowledged our own fortune, being gathered around Heather’s artful table.
I’ve always felt the “home” of any home truly resides in the kitchen, gathered around a dining table.
All 5 of us ladies did our homework. The results:
Heather’s ridiculously awesome veggie taco, sauteed mushrooms and peppers, raw cashew cilantro cheese, locally sourced tortilla. The bliss bomb.
Close up of Heather’s creation. I could eat this all week.
Sweet potatoes and squash were the popular kids at the dinner dance, weaving their way through 3 dishes: Malin’s roasted sweet potato slices and Thai butternut coconut soup, and Farrah’s swiss chard wrapped bundles:
The start of something likened to PURE MAGIC. Ms. Malin put roasted butternut squash, coconut milk, locally sourced green curry paste and fresh nutmeg into a soup pot. Voila! Here is the stuff a dreamy silky soup is made of. Perfect base for a “pumpkin” style Thai curry. I’m still dreaming.
Farrah has convinced us again that her”always over the top” food preparation are worth the extra effort and love. This time it translated into “Chard love bundles” filled with goodies like squash, wild rice, blueberries! And chard “wrappers” blanched in fresh thyme infused water!?!? Need I say more?
A closeup of Farrah’s swiss chard love bundles. Serious Love.
Drought-friendly green veggies and raw & dried berries all shined as fillers and toppings. And for that extra protein crunch, pecans replaced almonds and walnuts as the less water-demanding nut in Alexis’ salad and Amber’s pie crust.
Birthday treat for Alexis: a raw fruit pie made by yours truly: crust of pecans, medjool dates, raisins, vanilla, coconut oil and Himalayan sea salt. Topping: strawberries and kiwis.
Alexis had a playa birthday at Burning Man and a Mindful birthday with the ladies. Much love sweet friend and medicine mama. XOXO
In consideration of foods that have the absolute greatest impact on water resources needs, it goes without saying this meal included 0% meat. Then again, our mindful dinners never include meat.
Around the dinner table we discussed ethical struggles. Is it OK to take a bath during a drought? What is healthy use of an automobile when considering carbon footprint effect on drought, as well as one’s physical health? For this group, we settled on a preference of the the range between zero usage to occasional personal usage. We strive to walk or bike to fetch groceries, visit farmer’s markets, discover our home city. Pitch in for car pool. Support car sharing services.
We laughed at secrets shared on how to use less dishes and clean those dishes less often. (Could you only use one serving set of everything? Personal note: I am guilty in often using many glasses in a day. This leads to more clean-up. I will focus on improving this habit.)
We griped about current double standards in water conversation: restrictions imposed upon personal use while the biggest industry guzzlers make little adjustments. We gladly limit our personal water use, from changing how we wash dishes to washing hair less often to my personal favorite: buddying up on those showers. We see shower facilities shut off at at California campgrounds despite most meat producing industries continuing to get unethical free passes during this time of great water shortage.
We talk, eat, contemplate, savor, talk, and eat some more. We talk of relationships, body health, our support of one another, spiritual experiences, travel adventures, and the treasure chests of handmade creations produced by all of the ovates in our magically sweet #girlgang tribe.
#girlgang = Support and Love one another
We are blessed to be well fed by these life practices. They each deeply sustain the nourishment of the soul. I hope a little of our mindfulness practice has inspired you to start one of your own or to further share one you already cultivate. I’d love to hear about what life practices nourish and sustain you and your loved ones. Feel free to share a comment below.
Another beautiful Mindful Dinner shared, with a healthy toast of Malin’s awesome homemade Kombucha. The ladies l-r: Heather, Alexis, Malin, Amber, Farrah
