New Cooking with the Five Elements Class

Dawn and Tina Brackins have developed a new series for the Cooking with the Five Elements Series. Any student who has taken the 5 Elements class, as well as teachers are invited. This class starts this Thursday, February 28th, so if you would like to add your name to the roster call the office or e-mail me at culinary@naturalepicurean.com.

Check out the class descriptions below:

Five Transformation Theory Applied to Your Cooking
This series provides an in-depth review of the 5 Transformations and their movements. We will learn how to harness that energy for your everyday life. Through discussion and group activities, we will cover cooking for each season, cooking for condition, pulling out past accumulations, menu planning, and how to make a smooth transition from season to season. We will incorporate a bit of feng shui and ki gong, too.

French Meadows Summer Camp Work Exchange Program

Receive internship credit! There are many positions available, please contact Rosa for the application.
For more information about the event, http://www.gomf.macrobiotic.net/gomfcamp/fmsc/index_ns6.html.

The George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation cordially invites you to the 39th Annual French Meadows Summer Camp to be held in the majestic Tahoe National Forest, July 11 - 20, 2008.

The major emphasis of French Meadows Summer Camp is education.
Each day, three sessions--one in the morning and two in the afternoon--are set aside for a lecture, cooking class, or workshop. All sessions encourage participation, dialogue, and questions. At least one session each day is designed specifically for beginners. Join teachers and students from around the world for an exhilarating, outdoor experience like no other:
So far, teachers who have committed to the 2007 camp include Bob Carr, Patrick McCarty (in the photo), Hugh Tinling, Dawn Pallavi, Carl and Julia Ferré, Mike and Maria Chen, Laura Stec, Barb Jurecki-Humphrey, Bhumi Russell, Mary Lore Simmons, Kerry Loeb, Shirley Tung, Bob Ruggles, Patricia Murray, Kaare Bursell, and Lenny Rubin.

Health Spa to Go

Help Vanessa Vaughan facilitate a “health spa to go” class for a Girl Scouts Program book called "Possibilities" which is given out to over 1,500 girls in the Austin area. This opportunity would involve planning before events and working the day of the event. It would be best if you were available for both dates.

Event Dates Session 1: Sunday, 3/1/08 9am-1pm
Session 2: Sunday, 4/13/08 9am-1pm

Cadette & Senior Girl Scouts
Casa De Luz invites you to discover ways to care for your body and mind with help from students from the Natural Epicurean Academy. Take an introductory yoga class and try out basic stretches and positions. Experiment with unique home remedies and make a facial mask from natural ingredients found in your own home and backyard. Learn to make healthy vegetarian snacks and then chow down on your yummy creations!

Please contact Rosa or Vanessa to get involved.
Vanessa can be reached at travelingnecha@yahoo.com.

Celebrate Green Living at Hostelling International-Austin!

Vanessa Vaughan is not only a student at the Natural Epicurean but she is also the director of the Hostelling International-Austin. Vanessa has a lot of great projects going on and she has invited the Natural Epicurean to be a part of the Hostel's celebration of green living on Saturday, February 23rd. (See invite below)

We need a couple of students to help represent The Natural Epicurean and promote green living at this local event. Winnie Hsia is organizing this project as part of her internship and she needs help from a couple of students. Travel Foods is on the menu and students who assist will receive Techniques Credit. These are the shifts we need filled:

• prep on Friday night, February 22nd, 6-9pm
• Demo and represent school at the event on February 23rd from 12:30-3:30

Please contact Winnie at winnie@naturalepicurean.com or Rosa at rosa@naturalepicurean.com for more information.

We hope to see you there!

Several Local Organizations to Join Hostel in Celebration of Environmentally Conscious Lifestyles
Austin, Texas, February 15: For more than 20 years, the Southwest Texas Council of Hostelling International-USA (HI-USA) has provided an economically and environmentally conscious home for tens of thousands of travelers from around the world.

On Saturday, February 23rd from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., the Southwest Texas Council's HI-Austin hostel will team up with several environmentally-friendly organizations from around the city to celebrate another successful year of green living.

The celebration will be an afternoon filled with delicious organic foods, homegrown music and exhibits extolling sustainable living from organizations like Ecology-Action, TreeFolks, Ten Thousand Villages, Austin CarShare, Austin EcoNetwork and The Natural Epicurean Academy.

Food donated by White Mountain Foods
Music performed by local favorite band "The Lennings".

WHO: Hostelling International-USA, Southwest Texas Council and

local environmental organizations

WHAT: A Celebration of Green Living

WHEN: February 23rd, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

WHERE: Hostelling International-Austin, 2200 S. Lakeshore Blvd., Austin

For more information, contact Vanessa Vaughan, Director of HI-Austin, director@hiaustin.org, (512) 444-2294.

ATX Vegan Knitters

ATX Vegan Knitters

The wonderful employees of Dhaba Joy/Toy Joy have put together a vegan knitting circle right here in Austin! Join the MySpace group and come to the first February meet-up this weekend.

Sunday February 17, 2008
7-9 pm ish
Dhaba Joy
2900 Guadalupe

Bring a friend! We'll have extra needles and yarn if you are a beginner!

What-a-Bake Sale!

Okay, I have to brag, this Bake Sale was fantastic and excellent. It was truly decadent and rich with Strawberry and Blueberry Tofu Cheesecake and Fluffy Chocolate Cake with Creamy Orange Icing or Chocolate Coconut Mint Icing! Gooey Hello Dolly bars and if you don't know what a hello dolly bar is - you missed out. We had beautiful strawberry tarts, brownies, and cookies too.

I have to give many praises to the students who participated and thank you to Christina Terriquez for her delicious recipes and to be honest, big thanks to myself for organizing it.

Julie Danehy, Maria Rios, Winnie Hsia, Christopher Jolley, Andrea Alchin, Tina Brackins, and Naomi Perryman whipped it up on Friday night at the Kitchen Space. Tina Brackins decorated and garnished on Saturday giving our baked yummies an elegant, beautiful, and enticing presentation to lure in our unsuspecting clients. Winnie and Christopher helped out and boxed it up and sold it to happy customers.

And it worked! This bake sale was very successful and we will be donating a percentage to The Sustainable Food Center and the rest goes towards a movie night for all students of The Natural Epicurean. I will post more info on the date, time, and location of this event.

If you haven't had enough sweets don't forget about the demo on Wednesday, February 13th. Brooke Northcutt will be demonstrating The Ultimate Birthday Cake. Give your fellow student some support and get a free taste and recipe.

So that's the update, we will definitely do it again.

Let there be rice!

After a whirlwind weekend with Warren Kramer, our little store was depleted of many of our key selling items including, of all things, brown rice! I'm happy to report that we are now fully stocked with your favorites: Field Ripened, Pearl Short Grain, Akitakomachi Short Grain, Rose Medium Grain and Jasmine Long Grain. Stop on by and buy some rice!

Also, our supplier has finally come through with the much requested Dried Lotus Root! I know some of you still have lingering colds, so come on in. We're also fully stocked again in Hokkaido black soybeans and azuki beans, zeni-fu, hato mugi, mochi and your other favorite macrobiotic staples.

1701 Toomey Road
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 476-2276