Natural Energy Flowing...

WOW. I am just LOVING being back in Iceland soooooooooooooooooooooo much.
Last night was UBER-YUMMY – Sigur Rós and Björk gave a huge free concert in the botanical gardens in Reykjavík, attended by around 40,000 people. The weather was gorgeous, the energy in the crowd was buzzing and the performances were...simply superlative. The concert was called ‘Nature’ and was put on to raise more awareness of environmental concerns here and celebrate nature. (There was even a stall selling raw fruits and veggies, plus raw chocolate ‘bliss balls’ – so cute :)
Sigur Rós and Björk are two of my absolute favourite musical influences and it was SUCH a gift for me to see them BOTH play live in such a gorgeous context. I’m still grinning now as I write this :)))
There was one point where Sigur Rós (along with Amiina, the gorgeous girls who share stage with them) were playing a really high energy song, then Ólöf Arnalds and Björk came on too, banging big drums. It was SOOOOO fun to watch – everyone was dressed so vibrantly and the energy was HUGE – they looked like they were having SO much fun up there - everyone just doing their thing, spirit flowing, incredible energy :)))
OOoOooOoOOoooooo, I love Iceland :)))
The night before, we had a raw potluck here too and it was so lovely for me to connect to the energy again of the meetings that used to ‘keep me going’ when I lived here as a raw foodist in the beginning...the gatherings were much less frequent then – once a month or less often at times – now raw-yumsters meet up here every other Friday for sharing...and what a vibrant, healthy, happy bunch :) Tons of fresh greens and sprouts, tasty experiments, talented chefs and herbalists...and there were around 30 of us in attendance...it definitely feels to me like raw food interest has continued to blossom here in the years that I’ve been away… ;) YAY :)
Iceland actually recently topped the charts of a United Nations ranking of the ‘best’ place to live in the world (based on factors like wealth, health, education). Icelanders were also reported to be ‘the happiest people in the world’ in a 1996 study... These topics and more are explored in a beautifully insightful article on life in Iceland, printed in the Observer last week (forwarded to me by my equally fabulously insightful editor Sue ;) You can read that article HERE if you’re interested – it’s raaaaaaaaather long, so I won’t go into it now – just enjoy, if you feel inclined :)))

on June the 27th I had:

1 quart water
shot of wheatgrass
2 cups smoothie: lucuma powder, almonds, green powder, maca, vanilla powder, cinnamon, water, with goji berries and pine nuts for chewability
3 cups water
2 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, watercress, parsley, fennel, ginger, sprouts and amazing greens from the garden: chard, kale, tatsoi, arugula, other unidentified yummables ;)
plate of delicious raw food potluck loved-up food :) A cornucopia of greens, salad dressings, pates, nibbles, breads, crackers and so on – wonderful :)
3 cups water

A petite note-ette for all of those who are intending to play out with Mr Gianni and I on the telephone inter-change system on Wednesday cometh. The time of the event has shifted ever-so-slighty, due to the fact that I’m currently located a few hours ahead in time from the US...(8pm EST = midnight Iceland time...even if it doesn’t get dark here, I still like to go to sleep ;)
So, we've shifted the clockage back an hour and the talk will now commence at 7pm EST, 4pm PST, on July 2nd (with the chance to listen in to the whole thing for free for 24 hours after it manifests, I do believe...) Anyway, as and when you register for the call info, you’ll get all the details on there...I look forward to answering your Qs soon :) You can read all about it and submit your Qs HERE.

on June the 28th I had:

1 quart water
mug of rooibus tea
shot of wheatgrass juice
2 cups yummmmmmmmmmmmmy smoothie: lucuma powder, almonds, green powder, maca, vanilla powder, cinnamon, water, with goji berries and pine nuts for chewability
mug of ‘pleasure tea’
3 cups water
2 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, spinach, lettuce, parsley, fennel, ginger, sprouts and amazing greens from the garden: chard, kale, tatsoi, arugula, other unidentified yummables ;)
3 big luscious nori rolls stuffed with pine-nut/basil pesto, alfalfa, red pepper, cucumber, avocado and spinach. A little handful of cashew nuts
1 quart water
mug of ‘pleasure’ tea

OooOooOooo, exciting developments in the world of CHIA :) You may have read the ‘Chia Cheat Sheet’ article that I wrote sometime last year, outlining the background of chia, uses for the seeds, some yummy recipes and so on. It is one of our most popular articles – so much so in fact that now we’ve had it made into an attractive, colourful wall-chart that you can keep on hand in your kitchen :)
The charts are just $5.95 and are available from the RawReform Store HERE, along with bags of both ‘black’ and ‘white’ chia, ground chia, yummy Cocochia bars, ‘The Magic of Chia’ book AAAAAAAAND the gorgeous NEW ‘Chia Goodness’ all-raw cereal from Ruth’s Hemp Company. WOW, things are really movin’ and shakin’ in the chia world these days, especially since Oprah mentioned it on her show...and IMO, the attention is very understandable – it’s an amazing food – I recommend it to everyone, especially for beginners... ;)
SO, if you have yet to delve into the delicious world of CHIA, I suggest you strap on your ‘raw explorer’ love boots and get munching ;) See HERE for our whole range of Chia Yummables.

All love,
Angelalallallaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

I am the weaver, I am the woven one, I am the dreamer, I am the dream...

“If we were to watch a weaver sewing a tapestry for only a few moments, and focused on only a small piece of the work, it would not look beautiful. It would look like a few peculiar threads randomly placed. How often we use that same, limited perspective to look at our life - especially when we are going through a difficult time.”

Beautiful quotes like this help me to breathe through the challenging times... I am feeling saaaaaaaaaaad today. Matt’s gone back to the US again…and…I’m still here in Canada…hmmmmm…I like it here, yet would be back down in the US and with my man in a heartbeat if possible…ho-hummmm…lots of breathing deep and letting go here…waiting for the visa blahblah to unravel itself…and accepting that this too shall pass… ;)

On October the 5th I had:

1 litre water
1.5 litres watermelon juice
1 litre green juice with carrot
1 atamoya
bowl of durian blended with mulberries and freshly picked blackberries – mmmmmMMMMmmmmm ;)green Vega bar
500ml water
800ml green juice with carrots
500ml water

I am also extremely sad to be absent from the Raw Spirit Festie next weekend…it’s going to be SUCH a tremendous event and I am SO excited for all of you who are going to co-create this amazing happening…mmmmm, well, I’m with you, in the ether…aaaand, happy raw events are happening here in Canada too, after all ;) We just spoke to a gorgeous little raw potluck gathering last night for example and I plan to also speak at YogaWest on Oct 27th, from 3pm (2662 West 4th Ave, Vancouver)…keep an eye on rawbc.org for updates and I hope to see you there if you’re around… ;)

on October the 6th I had:

1 litre water
1 litre watermelon/pineapple juice
bunch of exquisite yellow-green grapes
800ml green juice with carrot
bowl of ‘mushroom’ soup – (From Ani Phyo’s book: brazil nuts, garlic, water, salt, olive oil) with dulse and a chopped apple
500ml water
plate of yummy savoury raw potluck food, bowl of delicious pieces of raw desserts
1 litre water

EXCITING OPPORTUNITY ALERT ;)
Would you like to help me film some exclusive raw food promo footage? I’m looking for someone with a Sony Z1U HD Camera to work on a piece with me for a large-scale raw food production. If you (or somebody you know) have suitable camera experience and are (preferably) in the west of Canada somewhere, do drop me a line at angela@rawreform.com and let me know…

One love,
Angela. xxx

Beautiful, Blossoming Raw Community...

Check out this wonderful 5 minute YouTube share from raw foodie Philip McCluskey, who has lost OVER 125lbs since going raw – yeeeeeeeeeee-HAH – fantastic…I met Philip at one of my talks in Connecticut earlier this year – he’s a very sweet and genuine guy and I’m so delighted for him that he side-stepped Gastric Bypass Surgery and went the raw route ;) – check it out:

On September the 23rd I had:

1.5 litres water
1 persimmon
1 litre green juice with carrot
avocado mashed with spirulina, lemon juice and a pinch of Himalayan salt, with an apple sliced into chunks
1 litre water
an array of marvellous potluck creations – salad, crackers, guacamole, ‘fettucine’ and the most AMAZING raw ‘cream of mushroom’ soup, followed by raw desserts of persimmon pudding, peach cobbler and banana/lemon pie – WOW :)
1.5 litres water

WOW – the ‘cream of mushroom’ soup at the raw potluck yesterday was absolutely phenomenal…and SO simple – just 3 ingredients…it was a recipe from Ani Phyo’s magical recipe book – Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen…I don’t have the book with me right now on the road (you can get it HERE), so I don’t know the exact recipe or measurements or anything, but I got the basic point – the body of the soup is just brazil nut milk, with garlic and a bit of salt, then there were mushrooms marinated in oil and…hmmmm…smthg else, perhaps nama shoyu (I’m not sure) on the side – I didn’t eat the mushrooms, just the liquid part and even though that had NO mushrooms in it – just brazil milk, garlic, salt, it really tasted like cream of mushroom soup – it was one of the simplest and yummiest raw dishes I’ve ever had – I LOVE it :) I could literally have drunk the whole Vitamix jug of it myself, with nothing else (and I think my body would really have preferred it if I did, actually – I seem to get less and less tolerant of complicated food combos and my body was telling me about it today when I woke up – coated tongue, groggy feeling, puffy eyes etc…wow…hence the fact that, as you’ll see below, I moved over to just juices today ;) This potluck was such a magical little event – I find the raw community they have here in Red Deer, Alberta very endearing and surprisingly vibrant for a small-ish place in ‘cattle country’ ;) I gave a presentation for the group and it was fun – I have never been at a raw event with SOOO many incredible raw kids – there seemed to be at least a dozen of them – and most of them under 10 :O …what a blessed community :)

on September the 24th I had:

1 litre water
shot of raw aloe juice
1 litre watermelon juice
1 tsp bee pollen
1 litre green juice with carrot
500ml water
1tsp pollen
1.5 litres green juice with carrot
500ml water

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOO much to all of you who have been putting focus/attention/love towards the vision of me being present at Raw Spirit Fest next month in Arizona…I really appreciate it and I send you all BIG love for your support ;) It’s still unclear for me if/how/when I’ll be able to get there…I am letting go of the details as much as possible though and just holding still the vision of being there…that’s all that really matters, after all ;)…in the meantime, the fabulous news is that the organisers of the festie have opened up space for another 80 VOLUNTEERS to join the crew – it’s phenomenal for me to think that the festie is growing so exponentially that SO many extra hands can be used ;) It’s wonderful…last year there were around 300 of us there, TOTAL - this year it seems at LEAST 3000 people will be in attendance…TRULY wonderful…SO, if you’re interested in getting in for (now less than) half-price - $150 - by being a volunteer, just email kim@rawspirit.com with a one line 'reason why you want to volunteer' and then you’ll get to sign up at the discounted rate…HURRAY - oooo, and pls tell them Ms Angela Stokes sent you, if you will ;) Volunteers share 15 hours of their time helping out with festie tasks at the event…ENJOY and I really do hope to see you there ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Letting go and moving on...

I had such an amazing experience at my parents’ house, which I’d love to share…I’ve been clearing out bits and pieces of my old possessions from my parent’s space over the last weeks and found a drawer full of old diaries…it was SUCH an interesting experience for me…I gave them to Matt to flick through as I continued emptying out drawers and the things he found to read out had us alternating between hysterical laughter and jaws dropped in disbelief…I was SOOOOOOOO angry as a teenager/young 20-smthg – I had NO idea…it was astonishing to hear some of the things he read out and to know that they were written by the same hands which are typing this now – and just a few years back...he was reading stuff from around the year 2000, when I was really at my peak of obesity, illness and – seemingly – bitter resentment…my entire outlook on life was SO entirely different to that which I feel I embody now…as Matt read, it seemed like everything was an issue for me back then – my perspective was so dark and dreary and ANGRY…everything was such a problem/someone’s else’s fault/not fair and so on…hearing the words now, I can clearly see where the fear and pain was coming from in each situation and that back then, I simply hadn’t yet come into my own self/embodied to the point I seem to have today…I was instead reflecting, attracting and embodying all that I had known growing up and was yet to discover that which truly resonates for me – in fact, there was a hilarious bit Matt read that went something along the lines of:

‘Woke up. Ate breakfast with Naomi. She ate salad. Weird. I ate 5 pieces of toast with yeast extract, fruit and chocolate.’

LOL…yeeees…wow, how the times change, eh? ;) …and I for one am SO grateful for the constant shifts and opportunities such as these to reflect…

On September the 5th I had:

1.5 litres water
400ml grapefruit/orange juice
800ml green juice with carrot
bowl of blended avo/banana/maca/lucuma/cinnamon, with sprouts, tiny pieces of broccoli, sultanas and hemp seeds
500ml water
6 fresh figs
500ml water
little bowl of goji berries and pine nuts together
1 medium papaya
500ml water
3 tomatoes, bowl of incredible soaked sea spaghetti seaweed with hemp oil, hemp seeds and seagreens
slice of lavender magic cake
1 litre water

Have you heard Ani Phyo’s Interview on Raw Vegan Radio yet…? Aaaaaah…ANI :) She’s SUCH a sweetheart…I listened to this interview the other day and loved the way she summed up her life – she sold her house, dis-attached herself from the vast majority of her possessions and now travels about in her convertible car with her dog, luggage that fits in the boot (trunk)…and that’s it :) …they travel all over the place, visiting people, doing raw food demos, promoting her book and living in a state of constant gratitude…MMMMMMmmmm, love that gal :) She’s a wonderful light-worker and I totally recommend checking out this sweet little 20-minute or so interview HERE…

on September the 6th I had:

1.5 litres water
400ml grapefruit/orange juice
800ml green juice with carrot
little bowl of cake made with pumpkin seed/soaked dried apricot/lucuma base and frozen durian/banana filling
1 litre water
plate of pot luck yummies – salads, dips, hummus, etc, then pieces of 3 other delectable raw cakes – it’s raw cake bliss at the moment ;)
1 litre water

We’re off to Canada tomorrow – wow…six weeks back in Blighty just fleeeeeeeeew by…much gratitude for all we have experienced and shared here these last weeks…the sunset over the south coast was absolutely phenomenal this evening – what a send off ;) …followed by a really sweet and lovely raw potluck gathering at a local ‘raw-friendly’ house – such divine timing - a great opportunity to bid farewell to so many bright light-workers of the UK…ta-rah for now, lovelies…time to splash back over to the other side of the pond… ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx