FREE Fortnightly Recipes and Tips
Joyful
Published September 27, 2012 | 
Such an exciting new phase in life will be happening 
for me in the next couple of years. For a long time I have spoken about living in a community one day and the reality is here, being part owner of 63 hectares of prime land with existing buildings and some roads, greenhouses, dam and stream, citrus orchards and a pecan nut plantation I think, haven’t seen that bit yet.
Of course being part of group of people with diverse 
personalities and agendas will be interesting but give me time and I will soon have them all thinking like me, chuckle… We have neighbours whether we live in the city or country and work colleagues, friends and family in our daily circle of life. My goodness I’ve met some characters, thank goodness I am normal and easy to get along with, when things are going my way.
My brother-in-law Kurt can categorise people into colours when he conducts facilitation meetings. Each colour represents a different type of person and within minutes he knows if he is dealing with a red person or a blue person and can then facilitate between them to make sure they hear and communicate with each other. I know details are important to me and am incredibly organised BUT I can be travelling along on my incredibly organised detailed path without looking at the big picture. Next thing I am far away from the desired outcome.
So we need big picture people that are messy, creative, get sidetracked, 
ignore the small stuff (cringe) and we need annoying, irritating busybodies so that we can contrast them against the people we really like. Arrogant, noisy, exuberant folk make great sales people which we need and the computer geeks, the hands-on practical, down to earth trades and outdoors types. People to organise food, a café’, look after the wwoofers – PICK ME, PICK ME! I promise not to feed you only raw food.
If anyone would like to join us or if you know of anyone who could benefit and enjoy this lifestyle, please forward on my email. None of us have dreadlocks, honest. But it’s early days so I can’t guarantee it won’t happen!
Published September 16, 2012 | 
Yawning through my jet lag, my night and day are still mixed up! Someone said jet lag is worse when you travel forwards in time and not backwards. I woke up at 3am this morning and am trying to stay awake so I can crash early and hopefully sleep through the whole night. Back to work tomorrow, WHAT A SHAME!
In transit on the way back was at Singapore Changi 
airport, a very attractive terminal with a central display of orchid beds, glass flowers and shiny lighted glass balls. I ignored duty free shops, am still sulking about losing my bottle of dessert wine at Tokyo airport on the way over to England.
Very sad to leave family and my gorgeous little granddaughter but how lovely to have had a month to get to know her. Days drifted by with walks by the river, through the laneways and hedges eating fresh berries straight from the bushes. I enjoyed some ripe elderberries for the first time. Elderflowers are made into cordial and elderberries made into wine. Blackberry season was at its peak, I saw crab apples, rose hips and many apple trees laden with fruit just dropping to the ground. Raw foodies you could feast happily on tons of fruit, I wish there had been time for me to experiment with making loads of raw apple recipes.
I watched many couples wondering what attracts people to each other. So many mixed cultures which in turn means that families are scattered all over the world and international travel is the only way to see loved ones sometimes. My mother left England as a young woman and went to Rhodesia in Southern Africa, there she met my South African father (his mother was Dutch, his father German). I met a Swiss guy in Johannesburg and we emigrated to Switzerland before finally landing up in Australia. Our eldest daughter went travelling a few years ago and met a guy in Spain who turned out to be half English, half Swedish and they have been together for years now in England. If only it wasn’t so far away.
Next thing to look forward to… Christmas in 3 months! Geoff and I are off to Perth to enjoy a family get-together there. And I have never been to Perth way over that side of our huge Australian continent – it takes almost 4 days to drive from Sydney to there, huge distances. We will fly to save time but who knows one day we may have our bus and then we can take as long as we like to travel around the country. Dreaming ……
Published September 10, 2012 | 
I had my last opportunity to visit London this week. And as a tourist, I had a fabulous day out to 
Camden – street markets, canals, lunchtime stalls, quirky shop fronts, other annoying tourists getting in my way when I wanted to stop and gawk and photograph everything.
The Indian summer is often used to describe warm weather that comes later in the year, after unusually cool summer months and am SO lucky to be having one!
So I walked the half hour to the train station past the semi-detached and terrace houses, under the bridge by the river and went into Paddington, the beginning of The 
Underground. From there, armed with my post it note and detailed instructions on which underground platform to be on, I got to Camden Town.
Nearly all the shop fronts have huge artistic displays – shoes bigger than me, tattoo parlours called The Dark Angel and Evil the Needle. Vendors selling the same tourist crap stall after stall along the main road. But away from the main street along the river were more interesting shops and views. Was tempted to try on some clothes but couldn’t be bothered with the hassle, too difficult in small market places.
Inspiral was the 2nd raw café’ on my list to visit – enjoyed a raw cashew cheese tart with side salads and 
bought some raw choccies. Nice cooked veggie meals available as well as raw and all sorts of wines and beers, a perfect mix.
No more time to make any more trips into the city which means I have to come back again, of course!
Published August 30, 2012 | 
Perhaps when I was younger, the excitement of wearing gumboots, sloshing around in mud to climb into a small tent and listening to music, would have been on the to do list. I admit the idea makes me shudder but it was interesting watching the passing parade of young people revved up and ready to party.
Stoner craft fair in Berkshire, the mushrooms are carved out of wood.
Reading Festival is one of the largest in the UK, bands from all over play for 2-3 days and about 
50,000 arrive via train and car. The ‘uniform’ is wellies or gumboots – the Brits know their weather! This footwear is topped with cut off shorts and jackets, sleeping bags and backpacks. Standing on Reading bridge we watched the long line of mostly teenagers walking the 2 miles along the riverbank towards the festival grounds. Security officials allow groups through in stages and the more affluent catch water taxis. Fortunately we couldn’t hear any of the music.
Over the weekend I took a train down to Southampton to visit an old friend Monica, we used to work together in South Africa. Long rambles in the soft English woods, catch up chats and nice meals – just what the doctor ordered! Southampton is possibly the best port on the world for cruise liners to arrive and sail from. As children we used to love our trips that went from Cape Town in South Africa to Southampton. From there my parents would drive north to visit family in Yorkshire. England is so pretty but I hate the weather! Now if only I could work out how to live in each country for the summer seasons and avoid winter for ever…..
Published August 23, 2012 | 
Olympic fever is over and the Underground trains are back to normal. I planned my holiday to make sure I arrived after it was all over. Roll on Rio for those of you who love the excitement. I somehow doubt their train system will be as efficient as London.
Heathrow customs were so easy to get through compared to Sydney. We only had one tiny form to fill in and no questions to answer about food, feathers, shellfish, bones, and contraband seeds. Almost everyone just strolled through the green ‘Nothing to Declare’ gate and a couple of disinterested officials just watched us. It was a real anti climax; no one was stopped or searched. I was delighted to meet my new granddaughter and daughter at the gate.
Australian weather has followed me here; at least I am taking credit for it. It’s a heat wave by English standards. The weekend was gloriously sunny and jokes about train commuters being sunburnt and bumping into each other on the Underground the next day were flying around. A bit of sun and the Poms bare their chests and turn Tabasco red.
Blackberry picking has been a highlight for me, unlimited supplies free on the sides of the hedge-lined roads. And then watching them being turned into cocktails was even nicer. Crushed ice, Absolut vanilla vodka, lime juice and icing sugar mixed with fresh blackberry puree’. Unfortunately VERY nice although you could opt for an alcohol free version but to be polite ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’, I had to try the vodka version!
Raw food is still high on the agenda and I made a spiralised zucchini salad with rainbow capsicums
to take to a family dinner. And there are LOTS of online raw food goodies available so, as in New Zealand, I ordered ahead to have treats ready for when temptation strikes.
Off to Southampton tomorrow by train to catch up with Monica, an old friend from South Africa.
Published August 19, 2012 | Looking at plastic food, well it is edible but looks like plastic. You know one of those toy sets for children to play grocery shopping but this highly coloured plastic wrapped gift box was being sold as food.
So what else was I supposed to do for 5 hours in transit at Tokyo airport. Doing laps around all the duty free shops that look the same as all over the world but with a few differences. Rules seem to be changing all the time lately, ridiculous laws regarding liquids on planes. It was already stupid to introduce no nail scissors or penknives and then no toiletries or liquids exceeding 10ml. Come on, international highly trained terrorists are not going to get on the plane with a deadly weapon hidden in their Colgate toothpaste tube.
At Sydney I passed through Customs and THEN did my duty free shopping, all good and normal as per usual. I chose an attractive long bottle of sweet dessert wine with gold flecks floating in the liquid. Arriving in Tokyo at 6am and having to wait in transit, we went through the scanner machine again. I was pulled beside with my bag. The offending article was the wine; it was more than 100ml liquid.
Well duh, of course it was. I explained to 2 non-English speaking Japanese customs officials that it was duty free. I had 5 hours to kill so could afford to spend half an hour arguing. I spread out my cash docket, my boarding passes, my tickets but I lost the battle.
WORD OF WARNING – DO NOT BUY DUTY FREE ALCOHOL IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN TRANSIT!! Sydney duty free did NOT warn about this latest insane rule, bastards. And because I needed to stay calm and not trigger off any heart palpitations in the middle of my long international flight I couldn’t even lose my temper! Bastards.
I was a coward in the toilets; they had arms like an armchair on either side of the toilet bowl. With play buttons Stop, Spray, Bidet, Flushing Sound, Volume, Water Pressure and Powerful Deodoriser. One could have had a lot of fun if one was in the mood.
And if you’re a parent with a small child there was a mini seat in the corner of the toilet that you could slip baby into, a grandstand front row seat to watch Mum taking a dump, so practical. After 5 long hours I was happy to be back on the plane and heading towards London.
Published August 19, 2012 | Does this happen anywhere else in the world? Does any other country grant long service leave to their employees?
In South Africa we had no idea it existed, in Europe we didn’t hear about it but in Australia, the lucky country, there are so many rewards. No wonder we have a boatload of refugees arriving daily on our shores (illegally) from other not so lucky lands.
I have my doubts that Gen Y will ever experience long service in any company. You need to stay with the SAME company for 10 years to become eligible for your reward and Gen Y do a hop skip and jump from job to job every couple of years. But then they tend to earn a whole lot more than our generation too so I doubt it keeps them awake at night feeling they might have missed out on something. After 15 years you get even more reward days and again after 20 but I haven’t reached that milestone yet.
So I am off to England to visit family using long service days and not precious annual leave time. My new granddaughter is only 5 months old and I can’t wait to meet her! Summer Eden has seen and heard me on skype but has yet to get a big grandmother cuddle. My father who turns 80 this year cannot get his head around these ‘new-fangled’ names as he calls them. He struggles to remember it and recently asked me how ‘Fig Leaf’ was? Fig Leaf? You know, what’s her name… Eden something or other. The connection was Eden – Adam and Eve = fig leaf. Next time he asked me how September was.
Olympics are over so the thought is that Heathrow airport will have returned to sanity by the time I arrive in 24 hours, via Tokyo with 5 hours in transit time. First time in Japan even though it will only be in the airport, the atmosphere will be different and a chance to get out of the plane and stretch my legs.
I feel a bit lost not having Geoff with me for this trip but it’s mainly a family visit so he can save his annual leave days for fishing trips and Christmas in Perth. Nicole, my daughter will look after me and we have a few ideas for small day trips. Nothing too strenuous as it’s been an ‘annus horribulus’ as the Queen was heard to say one particularly bad year. My new resolve is to balance my life with enough rest and relaxation and regain my outstanding energy and stamina, one step at a time. First step right now is to check the suitcase in, get through customs and settle into my aisle seat on the plane for the long trip.
Published June 8, 2012 | Raw ‘n’ Tasty Recipes
Hey Everyone around the world, it finally happened – my first book!
It was kind of like having a baby, the planning and then the nurturing, feeding and adding to it. It took up hours of time, mine and Tony & Libby’s. Finally it was done and launched on Sunday, relief.
At 54 it has only taken me 30 years to get a book off the ground, there are numerous in the wings still there. Some may remember my ‘Day in the life of…’ interviewing the older generation from around the world. I still have the stories so maybe that will happen in the next 50 years allotted to me. My backpacking letters could be a book too one day but finally it was the FOOD that won out – no surprise there.
Karen’s Raw Sushi – delicious!
I spoke to my Little Sister and said ‘It’s done, it’s on my website, you can buy one if you like.’
‘She laughed…and then said No’
The excitement was contagious….
How patient she has been with me, every holiday when I go home to South Africa, accommodating me, letting me invade her kitchen and fridge with my fresh foods. Driving me around to look for Raw produce, fresh foods and turning her life upside-down for a month and me driving her insane with my prattle about food. I do appreciate it.
Jonathan’s lettuce Salad boats – rainbow colours!
Now for the rest of you – let me tell you ‘excitedly’ about my Raw ‘n’ Tasty recipe book packed full of healthy foods, articles and suggestions to include more fresh food into your daily diet. There are easy to implement ideas so even if you’re busy it is possible to achieve at least a couple of things step by step towards improved health. The fresh living foods photos are colourful and plenty and there are also some before and after pics of me for those who say ‘Gee I couldn’t imagine you chunky like that’. I was chunky.
So we had a party last Sunday to celebrate good fun, lots of food and even a laughter yoga session with Jeevi the Laughing Chef. Nice to have sore face muscles from laughing! 
If you buy my book and find it useful, please let friends know about it by sending them my website address www.fruvenu.com.au – you will see a cute little book cover on the left hand side, click on this to go to the Sales page to get more details. Tony did the very professional layout and design and Libby did most of the proof reading, amazing work.
Joy’s trio of Nut cheese.
Enjoy!
nut cheese, raw 'n' tasty recipes, raw fresh foods, raw lettuce boats, raw sushiPublished April 21, 2012 | Two of the most important things in the world, food and water (and sweet fizzy wine… NO, wash your mouth out Joy, no, not with the wine!). The media is starting to rumble and warn us that food and food production is going to be the common denominator for wars in the near future. 
We need to start growing our little edible patch now and then take self defence lessons in how to protect it. My judo is a bit rusty by about 35 years but if someone threatens my food source beware the power that could be unleashed! 
In the interests of doing our bit for food, 4 of us had a lovely weekend in the Blue Mountains. I picked up Toni, a visiting raw foodie friend from Buffalo, America and we drove up to stay with Tony & Libby, another 2 passionate raw foodies. Put all that enthusiasm for food and non-cooking together and creativity flows along with non-stop conversation about, well about food of course. I hear many of you groaning. I know, but hey, you have to admit that I have found the perfect solution in raw fresh living foods.
I can eat and eat and still maintain this shapely, sexy body of a 20 year old, okay maybe 35 year old. Toni has an amazing figure too and I’ve seen her play Twister! Raw food heals the joints, your flexibility comes back.
We drove into Katoomba and visited the local co-op first to buy 8 bunches of kale, the wonder green that is becoming more popular here in Australia, then the local fruit & veggie shop to fill up the trolley with colour. At the bottle store we chose organic and preservative free wine to complement the healthy food.
The rest of the weekend was a blur of talking, laughing and food preparation. Kale chips were put into the dehydrator, more kale was massaged into a divine salad along with spiralised zucchini and 2 sauces. Breakfasts were sweet fruits blended into porridge, served with hemp and banana.
Lunch was a striking green lemony soup with enough nutrients to wake up any sleepy digestive system and served with Tony & Libby’s signature flax onion bread. Dinner loomed and we voted to have the delicious kale salad again with falafel, tabouli and cabbage salad. Just reminding you all, these are all raw versions of traditional dishes and you thought we just ate cucumber and tomato? 
There are too many pictures to share so I will load the rest up on facebook and those of you, who enjoy staring at food pictures without actually making anything, have fun! 
Buon Appetito!
Published April 13, 2012 | People have been asking, so did we succeed, do we still love each other, do we still want to travel together? At the beginning of this trip one of my goals was to see how we coped in a small space travelling along. We have a dream of retiring from work, renovating a bus and taking off into the wide blue yonder, like so many others. 
So did we succeed on our 24-day trip? Traditional meat eating, loves cooked food Aussie male with wannabe raw vegan fresh living foods South African girl. I mention the South African bit because even though I have been Australian for over 20 years, the paranoia of feeling secure, constantly locking doors and watching strangers with suspicion does not go away (and can drive those close to me nuts).
Hell yes there were moments that didn’t work and times where it did flow smoothly. If you want to test any relationship, go on a trip together! Travel brings out the best and worst in us, a different set of rules. Throw in the extreme diet differences and who knows what could happen.
Our standard phrase of ‘I keel you’ to diffuse tense situations works a treat. You try staying angry at someone when you say it. Watch some You Tubes on Jeff Dunham the ventriloquist with Achmed the dead terrorist and tell me it’s not funny! His ‘n Hers dinners, barbecued veg for him, salad with veggie sausages and lentils for her.
Most women analyse, need and want more. More of what? Well pretty much more of everything! More communication, couple time, special moments, a point to life, reasons for doing things. I asked Geoff:
J: So how do you think the trip went?
G: Good.
J: Anything we could do better, differently?
G: Not really.
J: Did my diet and food choices cause any problems
G: None at all.
J: Well I felt that we could have communicated more, especially at mealtimes when we were in café’s and restaurants, you know, make eye contact and really talk to each other. And because the evenings and nights were cold I was inside the van most of the time with the little heater going full blast. You were outside a lot of the time because you smoke and get too warm inside. 
It was hard for me to stay high raw when you were cooking crispy potatoes & veggies on the barbecue and drinking beer, because then I wanted some and also wanted to drink wine. And making up the bed in the van every night was a frikking pain in the ass although luckily your snoring didn’t keep me awake too often and we had enough blankets. So what do you think?
G: Let’s do it all over again to make sure!
In the end I was the one with issues over talking, food & alcohol temptations, cold weather, security and feeling grumpy about some things. Geoff bless him, had a lovely holiday (even though he didn’t catch a fish), gives me big cuddles and loves me no matter what. So how do you analyse that? Asked Geoff this question and he said ‘Fucked if I know!’
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