Casa seeks Volunteers!

Volunteer Opportunity at Casa on Fridays, 3-9 pm

Friday is India night and the volunteer would be working with Rachel Hedrick. Rachel is a wonderfully creative cook who is more than happy to answer questions and share her knowledge.

We are in need of someone who is friendly, outgoing and able to think on their feet. This volunteer will also have a lot of customer interaction as a Runner (person who delivers plates), Kitchen Prep, and dishwashing, so patience, kindness and ability to take direction (from customers and kitchen staff) is very important. This opportunity to develop into more responsiblilty and a paid position as you gain experience.

If anyone should need further information, please call Natalia at 476-2535 x4.

This could count towards internship hours for Natural Epicurean students and you get free meals at Casa!

Saturday's Potluck

Thanks to everyone who came to Dawn's place on Saturday! All the food was awesome and the company wasn't so bad either. ;) A couple of people asked me for the recipe for my Butternut Squash phyllo triangles. I'll have to take pictures of the rolling process, but the filling was a simple mix of:

1 medium butternut squash
1/4 cup of thompson raisins
1/4 cup of rice syrup
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch of dried orange peel
1 pinch of salt

I roasted the butternut squash - cut into large pieces, skin on and after about an hour at 375, they were soft enough to just pull the skin off and mash. Mashed in with all the other ingredients and let cooled before assembling the phyllo triangles. Let me know if you have any questions or want to see how to make phyllo triangles!

Environmental Film Series

As a new community outreach activity, CLEAN is hosting an environmental film series to educate the public on an array of environmental issues. In 2008 we are partnering with Rice University's Center for the Study of Environment and Society. Through our partnership at Rice, the series stands to bring out students, faculty, and the general public to raise awareness and facilitate discussion about environmental issues.

The purpose of the Environmental Film Festival is to educate Houstonians on environmental issues and what they can do in their day-to-day life to make a difference. Following each screening, a special guest speaker will join us for a for a discussion on topics related to each film.

The environmental problems we face are global, but it only takes a little effort, some thoughtful action and a lot of care to make our community a healthier place for us, our children and future generations.

Click here for our film series brochure.

Slow and Steady Web Improvements

I don't know how I did it - but I managed to find some free time to work on the Natural Epicurean website. Work is coming along, as the title of this post indicates, slow and steady. I'm changing key pages one at a time to a better navigation, updating calenders, moving around content and cleaning up some formatting issues. If there are any major site glitches, please do let me know so I can resolve them. In the meanwhile, you'll probably see the site change little by little each day over the next couple of weeks. I'm planning to do a major overhaul of the site at the end of this trimester (April) so stay tuned!

NPR and Food Trends for 2008

Since moving to Austin, I find myself listening to NPR on a daily basis - feeling a bit 'off' if I don't hear Terry Gross promptly at 3pm CST each day. If you live in the area and don't already listen to NPR, tune into 90.5FM from time to time. You won't be disappointed.

Over the past week, there seems to have been a huge surge in news stories and interviews about natural foods, veganism and the cultural movement behind 'real foods'. I was happy to hear a mention of this year being the year that 'vegetarian and locally produced foods will grace more tables' and people would embrace 'exotic grains such as amaranth and quinoa' in Food Trends for 2008.

There was also a fantastic interview with vegan chef power team Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, hosts of the TV cooking show, The Post Punk Kitchen. They've just come out with a new book, Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook and interviewed with NPR's Liane Hanson over the weekend.

Also, Michael Pollan, one of my favorite writers was on talking about his new book, In Defense of Food. When asked for advise on how to improve health, he offered the sage advice:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Vegetable Orchestra

... and you thought vegetables were only for eating.

... and we're back!

The Natural Epicurean store is open again! And the first class of the trimester is tonight at The Kitchen Space! Yay!