I am 35

(Title is a riff on Cafe Gratitude recipe book, did you get it? If not, keep on reading :)

12 has always been my favorite number. Maybe this is partly because I was born on the 12th day of January, but my love of the number 12 goes beyond a simple date. When I was a little girl I associated the age of 12 with the final year before one becomes a teenager, the end of a cycle. Years later I would learn that 12 years mark the end of the Chinese horoscope cycle. 12 was also the age when Jesus stayed behind in Jersualem at Passover and Mary and Joseph found him in the temple talking to the rabbis--already amazing people with his truth. 12 is also the number of apostles Jesus called to walk with him, and it is considered the number of completion. 12 is a powerful number, and to me it is aesthetically beautiful. 

On January 12, 2012 I celebrated my 35th birthday. I am not exaggerating when I say that I had been looking forward to this specific date since I was young. The two 12s made the date even more beautiful, plus it marked a semi-milestone year of the age 35, *and* it would be just before the start of the Year of the Dragon, which is my astrological sign. So it was a special birthday date for me this year. Throughout the 24 hours I was conscious of the day's existence and passing. As I went to bed early on the morning of Jan. 13 I felt I understood the passing of time. January 12, 2012 was over and would never be again.

My birthday wish

This year I vow to be courageous and grateful. To live my life with honesty and compassion. To harness the energy and transformative power of the dragon to fully become who I am created to be. As with all great achievements, I lean upon the support of my friends and family who enable me to create, love and persevere.

Now on to some recent raw culinary adventures!

Irish moss

Almost all of the desserts in the Cafe Gratitude recipe book call for irish moss. Even after googling 'irish moss' and reading about how to use this aquatic ingredient, I was still intimidated by it and left the Cafe Gratitude dessert creations to the more advanced raw chefs. But this year my sister gave me a bag that she had picked up from the One Lucky Duck takeaway store.  "I have no idea what that is," she said, "but the lady said it was cool and I figured you would know what to do with it." Well I had no idea, but was happy that she was inadvertently pushing me to discover it! Aren't siblings the best?

Irish moss is a type of algae that is used as a thickener. For nutritional info on Irish moss, check this link here. To learn how to use the material, I turned to my reliable online source Carmella and her Sunny Raw Kitchen blog which has such a great wealth of information on it. Sure enough she has a post dedicated to instructing us how to work with irish moss, complete with video. 

Definitely check out the video, but to summarize: clean with cool water, let soak between 2-12 hours, snip, place measured amount in blender with the liquid called for in the recipe, and blend. It is the heat during the blending that causes the Irish moss to pop and become gelatinous. The moss needs heat to release its gel-like qualities, so don't let it warm up before it is put in the blender. And a little insight that I discovered when making the two recipes below: you will hear the moss pop and the blender will behave differently afterwards. And when you open the top of the blender, it will smell like warm ocean and the gel will be quite warm. That is what you are looking for! Don't worry, the smell will not be noticeable in your dessert.

Irish Moss step-by-step in photos

Irish moss post cleanse, soaking in spring water

Irish moss 12 hours later, soaked and ready to be used

Close-up of the Irish moss gel

I Am Grateful for raw desserts!

Now that I felt confident working with Irish moss, first up was the Cafe Gratitude I Am Perfect Pecan Pie, then the I Am Magnificent Chocolate Mousse. Below are the recipes from their I Am Grateful recipe book, I note where I changed the recipes.

I Am Perfect Pecan Pie

Crust: 
2 3/4 cup macadamia nuts
1/8 tsp salt

Process nuts in a food processor until it is a dough-like consistency. But do not overprocess or you will end up with nut butter. Once the ground nuts start rolling into each other to create what look like balls, and you feel confident that you can press the mixture into a form, it is ready.

The recipe calls for macadamia nuts, but to keep my expenses down I substituted cashews. Macadamia nuts would have created a lighter, more buttery pastry-like crust. Cashews are a bit heavier.

Pecan pie ready for wishes to be made

What was different to me about this crust recipe is that it did not call for any sweetener - either for taste or to bind the nuts. I usually add a dried fruit or dates to the nuts and was concerned that just packing cashew crumbs together would not work. Well, it did! And now I know a new trick for making a pie less sweet.  I did put the crust in the freezer while I prepared the filling.

Filling:
1 1/2 oz Irish moss
1/2 cup H2O
3/4 cup agave (I only added 1/4 cup - could not get myself to pour 3/4 cup of agave into one recipe, that is toooooo sweet!)
Blend the above ingredients together in the blender until you have a warm gel.

1 cup pecans

Blend in food processor to a paste-like consistency.

2 T vanilla (if you are using vanilla bean, make it a liquid first by blending the bean with water in a high-speed blender)

Ben ready for pie, jasmine tea, and lychees

1 T yacon syrup (I substituted maple syrup as I do not have yacon, and increased it to 2 T)
1/8 tsp salt
Add the Irish moss gel and the above liquid ingredients to the pecan mixture and process until smooth. 

1 1/4 cup dates (I used 1 cup = 8 medjool dates)

While processing, add in the dates in small amounts until smooth.

Spoon mixture into pie crust, and top with cashews. Chill in fridge before serving.


I Am Magnificent Chocolate Mousse

One of my first raw creations when I started experimenting with this way of eating was raw chocolate mousse using avocado as a base. That has consistently been one of my favorite raw desserts. The Cafe Gratitude version does not use avocado, and instead relies on Irish moss, lecithin and coconut oil to create the right texture. The result is a lighter mousse with great chocolate flavor. I tried to capture the texture of the mousse in the picture below. See the air bubbles?

Chocolate mousse

1/2 oz Irish moss
1/2 cup water
Blend in blender til it pops! and you have gel
 
2 cups almond milk (I had a stash of amazing almonds that made a beautifully scented almond milk that added a nice perfume to the mousse).

1/4 cup dates
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup + 2 T cacao powder
2 t vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
Add all of the above to blender and blend til smooth
 
2 T lecithin (I did not have lecithin and omitted this ingredient)
1/2 cup raw coconut butter (I used 1/4 cup)
Add to blender and blend until smooth.

I poured the mixture into 6 cups and let them set in the refrigerator. And I learned another trick about Irish moss: consistency of the dessert depends on using just the right measurement of it. I used a little less than 1/2 oz which made the mousse a little less dense than it should have been. But it was still a good texture and delicious!
 

• Do you have an Irish moss tip to share?
  
  
• Have a favorite Irish moss recipe to share?