Kitchen Date & Girl Time

From girls nights out to women circles or Stich n' Bitch get togethers, women have always appreciate the act of getting together to just be... well, girly. Though I definitely love participating in all the of the above (including aspects of the latter... I won't hold myself to the unrealistic standard that I don't sometimes just want to get together with girlfriends to complain), I've always really really enjoyed my version of girl time: kitchen dates.

These dates probably began when I was a kid and a bunch of us would get together to decorate pre-made gingerbread men with gumdrops and sprinkles. Maybe it was the days we spent appreciating the culinary delicacies of an Easy Bake oven. Either way, I started early. These dates followed me through high school, when my best friend and I would make her infamous chocolate cake of decadence, crepes, or we'd just stuff our faces with cookie dough.

For some reason, those days just kind of dropped off when high school finished, college took over and girly kitchen time was replaced by house parties, watching the OC (yes... I know), and clubbing. Then my Other Half came into the picture, and girly time was generally replaced by being madly in love, spending 24/7 together, and forsaking much of our social lives to live in our warm and cuddly bubble of relationship bliss. While I enjoy every single minute of that, the feeling grew that I was missing something... I wanted to believe that we were enough for each other, who needs time for anything else when you only need each other and you enjoy time together more than anything else? And while that's still true, I slowly realized how much I missed it, that capacity to just be girly in a way you can only ever be with other female friends, to talk about things that your supportive significant other is probably secretly so sick of hearing about (that goes for anything from what happened on the latest Glee episode to your "I'm feeling so fat" days). That might all sound really obvious or stupid, but it is a lesson I've had to learn.

All that to say, I have awesome friends. Especially you, Amanda, who came over for a very belated kitchen date, one that I'd been waiting for for years. Andrew of all people knows that I don't let anyone into myour kitchen, so if you do ever manage to get in there and share the space with me, you're a real friend of mine. Luckily, I was right do so this time. Aside from being generally amazing, Amanda is a culinary genius and really open-minded on whatever food journey I'm currently on. Of course, that wasn't even an issue, considering that she too has been a longtime raw food aficionado. So without further ado and after much girl talk, I give you our feast:

Raw Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

(jerusalem artichokes, olive oil, red pepper, cumin, marinated chipotle pepper, sea salt, water, and probably some other stuff I can't remember)

Raw Massaged Kale Salad (Dulse Sprinkled & Plain)

(I could eat these for the rest of my life:

kale massaged in sacha inchi oil, lemon, sea salt

with a raw almond butter, apple cider vinegar, and herb dressing)

Raw Green Bean Salad

(Green Beans, cucumbers, red pepper, hemp seeds,

with a parsley and rosemary vinaigrette)

Cooked Quinoa Pilaf

(tricoloured quinoa with coconut oil, sea salt,

baby tomatoes, red onions, and garlic)

So whatever you need to do to take that culinary time-off or if you just need that girl time, set up a kitchen play date with your friend(s), because it's so worth it! Here's to the start of many more...