On May 19. 2011 I got to visit Seattle along my tour for Ani’s Raw Food Asia. First stop was with host Margaret Larson at King 5 TV’s NewDay Northwest Show. Everyone in the studio audience received a copy of Ani’s Raw Food Asia.

Next was Evergreen Radio’s Kitchen Corner Show where I had a pleasantly challenging conversation with host Jo Ann Henderson. Jo was skeptical at first, but I hope I was able to convince her that raw foods are simply a way to enjoy more whole, fresh, organic ingredients.

• Listen to Evergreen Radio’s 60-minutes on Raw Food

At the same time, another pre-recorded radio program aired on Seattle radio where I spoke with host Keesha Ewers on her Healthy You! Radio Show.

• Listen to Healthy You! Radio’s 60-minutes on Raw Food

By lunch I was hungry for some local raw food treats, and we stopped at Thrive Cafe for a meet-and-great and book signing, and they fed me delicious salad, green juice, and desserts.

Next stop was KOMO Newsradio where we aired during afternoon drive-time traffic. The hosts Herb Weisbaum & Jane Shannon are already into raw foods, and were already making their own kale chips. I love how main stream kale chips have become!

Our final destination for the day was the Woodmark Hotel and Yacht Club in Kirkland, on the lake. This was the view from my room, you can see snow topped mountains in the distance.

The Woodmark Hotel hosted what they call “Happy Hour and a Half”. They made 2 recipes from Ani’s Raw Food Asia, I gave a talk, answered questions, and then signed books. It was another clear, sunny, dry, warm day in the Seattle. After this final event, I went on a long walk along the lake front. The air was fresh, clean, and crisp. And I felt grateful for all the wonderful people who welcomed me to their beautiful city.

This was the awesome lady who made this day happen for me, Joy. In addition to shuttling me around town, she also hooked me up with a food assistant so that I didn’t have to carry all my food, plates, props with me on the airplane! Plus, she kept the car stocked with cut, prepared veggies of all sorts for me to snack on all day long.

This was Joy’s assistant Lee, who had shopped for props and ingredients, and helped me prep for my TV appearance. Thank you Joy and Lee!! You’ve officially spoiled me.

My first stop in Portland, OR was to shoot a 6-minute segment with host Dave Anderson for AM Northwest on KATU TV. I show Dave how to make a Vegetable Nori Roll from Ani’s Raw Food Asia. Dave’s lost a ton of weight since I saw him along my last tour, and looks great. He said he cut out processed foods and cut back on alcohol.

Here I am above with AM Northwest  co-host Helen Raptis.

Next stop was Yummy Tummy Cafe for a lunchtime fuel-up on a gallon of Norwalk green juice; chocolate covered jungle peanuts; and a ruben sandwich made from flax seeds, mushrooms, and sauerkraut. Omg, seriously yummy tummy! And, a book signing meet-and-greet. From here, I was shuttled over to the KBOO radio station for an interview, and then finally ended up at Powell’s Books downtown for a talk and book signing.

I got to visit Powell’s rare book room, where I sat and signed a stack of my books, including Ani’s Raw Food Asia.

Peter Hanfileti is a very dear, long-time family friend from when I was in middle school…that’s so long ago! He’s an MD and acupuncturist in Vancouver, WA.

Kris Dyer may look familiar because he’s in my first book, Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, which I wrote when I still lived in Portland. Kris was also one of our SmartMonkeys! I love tour because it allows me to visit friends I haven’t seen in a while. The weather was dry and sunny, just like last year in Portland! I love that city especially when the weather is gorgeous. Plus, the city’s blanketed with WiFi.

Watch my debut on Los Angeles TV with ABC 7′s Health Coach Lori Corbin. I show her 5 raw food recipes that have gone mainstream including my Zucchini Pasta (featured in Food Network Magazine), Nut Mylks (like Almond Milk), Green Smoothies, Kale Chips (from Ani’s Raw Food Essentials), and Seaweed Chips (from Ani’s Raw Food Asia).

Watch the 3-minute video, and learn how raw foods helps with weight loss too!

I was honored to have been invited to speak on a panel with superstars (from left to right above) Rachelle Carson Begley (married to Ed Begley), Sophie Uliano (NYTimes best selling author), Izabella Miko (actress), Carly Harrill (blogger ghost writer), Karen Stewart Brown (fashion designer), Kris Willey (host of WotGG), and Alexandra Spunt (author).

The focus of this panel was how we came into our careers. I explained how I used to work in a corporate environment that was not recycling, was wasting energy, and was using styrofoam cups for one 4 ounce shot of water. I realized my raw food catering and the weekly events I was hosting (to feed myself good food) was a successful business. So, I decided to leave corporate America to focus 100% on my prepared packaged foods, catering, and events. I followed my bliss because I believed raw foods helped people feel better and healthier. It also helps us tread lightly on our Planet.

This event was held in Culver City, Los Angeles, CA on Saturday May 14, 2011. These beautiful photos are courtesy of photosbyKailas.com. Thanks Kailas!

The 1st stop along my book tour for Ani’s Raw Food Asia was at Santa Monica Place at Artisanal LA on April 16, 2011. Here are 4 short videos from my talk, Q+A, and book signing:

1) Ani’s Raw Food Asia – I love organic, local, seasonal foods

2) Ani’s Raw Food Asia – Probiotics, Happiness, Longevity

3) Ani’s Raw Food Asia – Easy ways to add more raw to any diet!

4) Ani’s Raw Food Asia – Recipe inspirations and sources for protein.

I had so much fun celebrating the pre-launch of Ani’s Raw Food Asia at Artisanal LA in Santa Monica.

All of these beautiful photos were taken by the amazing Sherman Lee. Thanks Sherman!!

It was a weekend full of local and seasonal gourmet foods (though way too much bacon! – what’s up with bacon these days?) and great expert panels and talks.

I love this fish eye photo, it was a full crowd with great people old and new to raw foods and the raw food diet and lifestyle. Thanks to the wonder woman organizer Shawna Dawson for all her support, for announcing my talk over the loud speaker, and for putting me and Ani’s Raw Food Asia in their printed program.

Q+A is my favorite part of my appearances because I get to listen and interact with my new friends.

It’s always so nice to have my brother Max and my family with me at my events.

This lovely lady kept asking me about how to learn to make raw food. I say if you’re interested in making food, you have to learn how to make all foods first. Then you can translate it into raw food prep.

Libby drove all the way up from San Diego with her friends just to grab an early copy of Ani’s Raw Food Asia.

Please check my homepage and also my calendar of events for upcoming events and stops along my book tour. Hope to see you all very soon. xoxo

Grab a copy of the April 2011 issue of Delicious Living Magazine and enjoy my Raw Power cover feature with 6 raw food recipes for a preview of the flavors I’ll be bringing you in my newest East West Fusion raw food book Ani’s Raw Food Asia, available everywhere May 10, 2011.

Vitamix invited me to sign books for 2-hours at their booth on Day 2 of Expo West. We had a line that was so long the other vendors complained our fans were blocking their booths. Hum…I would have thought they’d be stoked to have a captive audience to sell to.

Even the fire marshall was called in because our line was too long. A good problem to have! I signed 200+ books in 2-hours! (Plus, I signed another 100+ at our reception later that eve.) Thank you Vitamix for generously gifting these books to our friends and fans.

This is the amazing Vitamix team that made this all happen. You can see the video of my 60-minute DVD they’re including with the TurboBlend-VS playing in the background.

I love Expo West because I get to connect with old friends I haven’t seen for a while. Here’s Elizabeth Castoria from VegNews Magazine. Their booth was just down the isle from Vitamix.

I found the beautiful fitness model Koya Webb. I love how ripped this girl is…so pretty.

This was the most brilliant display at the Expo. GoRaw simply hydrated their bar, and set it to sprout over time. Perfect demonstration of why raw….raw generates more life. Now, try that with processed cooked food.

Eric Botner is an amazing man helping make superfoods available to the mainstream. Earth Circle Organics was one of the generous sponsors for my Gastrawnomique dinner event last November. And, they have a cacao and cashew crunch that is sweetened with coconut syrup (the latest in low glycemic sweeteners) that is to live for!

Chris Ochs at Sunfood was another generous sponsor for Gastrawnomique.

After a day of being inside a huge convention center under fluorescent lights, I needed an oxygen infusion. Luckily, I found an oxygen bar, AirHeads, at the Seventh Generation booth, and plugged in for several minutes to recharge.

I ran into many, many other friends including Ryan and Jeremy Black from Sambazon, Frederick from Big Tree Farms, Jane Kim from Sea Tangle Kelp Noodles, my friends at Sequel, ….but unfortunately didn’t get photos with them.

Next…photos from the Vitamix Mix + Mingle with moi later that evening.

BBC Good Food interviewed me for a feature on Raw Foods in their Feb 2011 issue. Very cool, take a peek!

Last week’s dinner at the Test Kitchen was a chance for me to introduce my latest Raw Food 3.0, inspired by molecular gastronomy without the chemicals, vegan and raw. My 6 courses were presented to a main stream foodie audience in a fine dining atmosphere. And it RAWked!

Truffle Flan
black sesame tuile / calamata / pomegranate / golden & goji berries
I dehydrated the olives, then ground them into powder to intensify the flavor. The berries were soaked in a palm sugar syrup. And the Tuffle Flan’s smooth, light texture comes from Irish Sea Moss. The green are shards of perrilla, aka shiso or sesame leaf.

Smoked Anaheim Chili
cacao mole / avocado / chipotle cucumber / kalahari salt / omega chips
Anaheim chilis were stuffed with a cold-smoked cashew cheeze. Using a vaporizer, apple and cedar chips fed smoke into a bag filled with cashews. Avocado marble was made using a cryovac, which sucks out all the air in a plastic bag to preserve and seal. Cucumbers were compressed in the cryovac with chipotle oil. The cryovac pressed the liquid oil flavor into the cucumbers.

Lapsang Souschong Wild Mushroom
fresh corn polenta / hemp maqui berry / kale chip / english pea dust
Mixed wild mushrooms were infused with a smoked black tea for a rich, earthy flavor and used to top a fresh corn polenta. English peas were freeze dried, then crushed into dust. And my mayonnaise was made with hemp oil for nutty flavor and maqui berry for beautiful purple full of antioxidants.

Fauxlafel
lemon mousseline / cilantro gelee / red earth acai / yuzu garden
Fauxlafel was seasoned with fresh dill and made with carrot pulp from juicing 150 pounds of organic carrots. Luckily, I didn’t have to juice all those carrots myself, and instead just picked up the pulp from Beverly Juice Club. It sat on a mousseline kream of lemon and cashews. Cilantro was juiced and mixed with Irish Sea Moss to create a bright green, intensely flavored gelee. Micro greens and baby orchids were tossed in yuzu juice.

Molten Cookie Dough
lucuma yacon gelato / tart cherry / persimmon gastrique
Cacao cookie dough tartlet was filled with liquid, warm cacao sauce. Served with lucuma gelato sweetened with yacon syrup, flavored with fresh vanilla beans. Topped with freeze fried cherries and dried persimmon slice. Served on a sauce of persimmon and tart vinegar.

Pumpkin Gelee
strawberry leather / candied rosemary & cacao nibs / sweet corn / mango shards
Pumpkin was blended with fresh vanilla and Irish Sea Moss, then placed on a crust of dates and cashews. Strawberries and mangos were each blended and dehydrated into leathers. Rosemary and cacao nibs were candied with palm sugar, then dehydrated. Corn was freeze dried for a sweet, light, crisp texture.

It was so much fun to get to feed everyone my new style of Gastrawnomique cuisine in such a beautiful setting with amazing staff. It was a packed house both nights. Celebrities who came to dine included Frances Fisher, John Salley, Jarad Butler, and Diane Warren.

In the kitchen were some of the most amazing chefs assisting me and making sure my dinners were successful both nights including Bravo Top Chef Alex Reznik and Next Food Network Stars Doreen Fang and DAS. I’ll post up more behind the scenes and kitchen photos next….

Generous sponsors included Excalibur Dehydrators, Earth Circle Organic, Big Tree Farms, Sunfood, Gold Mine Natural Foods, and Sambazon.

These photos were all taken by Maria Loewenstein, except for the Lapsang Souschong Wild Mushroom which was taken by Rogelio Marhx.