Beautiful day at a Mt Martha farm / Lucy's world

After two hours of pressing "snooze" on my IPhone, I finally realized I needed to get up, get going and find a nursery at which to buy an organic lemon tree.  I wanted to find this for Lucy Stegley (aka SmoothieGirl), who kindly invited me to lunch at her family farm in Mt Martha, Victoria.  After geting lost numerous times along the way and having to ask multiple strangers for directions, I finally made it!!  Albeit with potted carnations instead of the desired lemon tree, and with one last wrong turn where I got lost once more on her driveway - the farm is so big!!!   Ohh well, it could only go up from here! I was really looking forward to meeting Lucy.  I didn`t know that much about her, but the moment I got out of the car, I felt I had been at her place before -  the smell of the farm, the beautiful white clouds, the barn, the rustic fences and the smiling girl who came to meet me in a cute white apron with cherries on it!  So, I'd finally met Lucy and proceeded to have a wonderful day with her.

It went by so fast!  I met her vibrant friends, sipped on watermelon juice and had fantastic stimulating conversations.  I took myself outside with my camera and I had the pleasure of meeting Lucy`s mother Ann, who zipped in on her pistachio green Vespa piled high with last minute shopping. We introduced ourselves and it wasn`t long before I was chatting with a beautiful, articulate woman with whom every moment seemed filled with joy and compassion.  I think I deserved a day like this, a day in which I was surrounded by friends and their family, around a table full of simple, delicious farm food made with love and honesty.  I took pictures to capture all the exquisitely prepared dishes.  

Raw Fusion Canape / Food Styling & Photography

Food Styling & Photography

The art of bringing food styling and food photography into the life of a food blogger is challenging. It is not easy sharing your art with the virtual world… There are so many areas that needs to be covered for a Raw Food Stylist & Photographer Blogger to share his or her final work, we need to take into account and start with the following:

• Create a Raw Palatable Recipe
  
• Make Sure it Has the Right Color Balance According to the Season
  
• Choosing the right Prop
  
• Knowing what you Want: Elegant, Rustic or Resturanty Looks
  
• Buy the Ingredients a Day Before Hand & Prepare
  
• Style & Shot (the most frustrating part for me)
  
• A Small Editing on the Photoshop
  
• Hold Your Breath and Share it

But of course as is with anything, you need to have a passion for creativity. I became passionate about cheffing purely because every time I got an order, I put the docket in front of me, and the first thing that I would grab was the big white plates, because then I knew that it was completely up to me to choose how I want to mount (stack) the creation (food) on the plate. It was the same with taking photographs for me when I first started using a camera at the age of 21 traveling around Africa from Uganda to Cape Town. Looking through the lens and taking the shots felt like it was my new tool to release my emotional package… and after taking a class in Montreal for 3 months learning the basics of Black & White photography 6 years ago, and working in the dark room developing all the photographs that I took during my 9 month trip through South America I knew that one day I want to combine both of my passion, (food Styling and Photography) together… and so this dream started about 9 months ago with Shiitake Blog.

 

Street Expressionist Photography

Is imagination a positive element to the development of human consciousness? The answer for sure is a big YES. The power of imagination can be a wonderful resource for the human beings because it gives us the power to form, create a mental image of lets say Expressionism that may enable a certain subjective emotional release, and emotional creation. For this small project that we did in Toronto & Montreal Canada September 2009 imagination became the source for Street Expressionist Photography by capturing people’s positive emotional side of the Streets.

Thank you Ladies for your Wonderful Support and the Love of Raw Food

Within the next few weeks I wil be posting articles, recipes and of course wonderful photography regarding the Al Fresco Summer Raw Class Tour and not to mention the sneaky holiday that Gabrielle and I went to in Paris, Barcelona and Madrid. 

But first, it is important for me to simply say thank you to all the Diva organizers who made the tour possible, fun exciting and progressive.

Thank you ladies
xxoxox 

Al Fresco Summer Raw Class Tour - US & Canada

Wow this is the first time that I am posting a video on my blog and it is all about an exciting news that I like to share with you guys. It is about my Al Fresco Summer Raw Class Tour around:

Los Angeles with Ingrid Weithers-Barati of Raw Epicurean from
August 27, 28, 29,30, 31, 1 and 2 September. 1 class available per day. 10 people max per class.

Contact: love@rawepicurean.net or (760) 981 8450

New York City with Michelle Master (raw pastry chef, founder of CocoGazelle raw confections)  from September 5 & 8. 1 class available per day. 10 people max per class.

Contact: cocogazelle@gmail.com

Toronto with Yafa Sakkejha of HouseOfVerona.com from September 16, 17, and 19. 1 class available per day. 10 people max per class.

Contact: yafa.sakkejha@houseofverona.com

Montreal with Tera Warner of The Raw Divas from September 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27. 1 class available per day. 10 people max per class.

Contact: tera@therawdivas.com

Or you can contact me @ omidjaffari@hotmail.com

You guys can sign up by either sending me or one of the above organizers an email with the following:

• Name
• Phone Number
  
• City that you are going to attend the class
• Number of People

Class Time: 3 Hours

Price is $100 per person, cash or Paypal payment, to be paid at the time of reservation.

A Peek into my Culinary Niche

Omid Makes Pad Thai à la Raw from Tried.Tasted.Served on Vimeo.

www.triedtastedserved.com / www.shiitakeblog.com

Press & Media tts@triedtastedserved.com or omidjaffari@hotmail.com

The Cognitive Understanding of Food Philosophy

Preface

Chromosomes are part of the patterns of the ever-changing forms and shapes found in nature, encouraged by motions of atoms and matter. Zooming out of these chromosomes that are part of a green leaf, a different shape jumps from here to there with the excitement of being a Robyn. It's that time of the year when the leaves are green, the birds are chirping and everything around grandpa and I and our game of chess and a platter of olives, sun blushed tomatoes, red peppers, red onions, baby rocket etc... is dazzling with life. The puffy clouds surround the life giving sun and as we are sitting on old wooden chairs in the garden I am reaching for my knight to make my first move. Suddenly grandpa says, “What good is knowledge in enjoying the experience of eating simple organic raw food?” I said, “Does knowledge about food make the food taste better grandpa? I mean can it enhance the experience of eating good food?”

Home » Advertising Opportunities on Tried.Tasted.Served and Shiitake Blog... (Beta)

I receive a constant stream of emails from people asking me to promote their products on Tried.Tasted.Served and  Shiitake Blog... , but I’ve always struggled with maintaining the personal feel of my sites and blog and responding to this need. Starting in January 2009, I’ve opened up two paid programs for those of you who want to reach my most wonderful readership.

My promises to my readership are below, so please don’t ask me to violate these. I will simply ignore these requests.

Let’s Talk about Flavors & Replication

Wow! In less then 4 weeks I will be departing on the Al Fresco Summer Raw Class Tour around the US & Canada. It is exciting, to say the least, not only will be sharing years of culinary experiences as a Chef but all of this combined with one of my favorite things in the world raw and living food. 

There are so many areas to cover for these raw classes but high on my list is flavors. Ask any “foodie” raw or not, and in so many words they will all come to a common consensus: it is all in the flavors (well if you are eating for pleasure that is!). 

Fact: Food is life; food is a living joy that it can be appreciated in so many ways. The possibilities are endless when it comes to exploring different recipes from various cultures and the most exciting part is that this knowledge can all be implemented to your raw food dishes. 

Sunny Herb Days: Basil, Thyme & Coriander

Ever since I remember growing up, we always had a big bowl of herbs on the table to accommodate other dishes. I remember my mother coming back from her herb shopping days and spend hours on the kitchen floor spreading different kinds of herbs on white cotton sheets and cleaning them with a happy smile on her face. I called them Sunny Herb Days

Raw and Living Foods into an Edible Art Form

When it comes to creating healthy, great-tasting culinary delights made with live ingredients, no other chef has as much “raw” talent as Omid Jaffari. Described by his clients as “one of the world’s premier raw food chefs” and the “best live food preparation person in Japan & Australia,” Omid Jaffari turns the preparation and presentation of raw and living foods into an edible art form.

Good Chefs, like artists, are visionaries. You have a vision of the taste, the look, the smell of your masterpiece; you hold it in your mind and make it materialize.

                                       - Omid Jaffari

"Kitchens are where I have spent most of my life. Literally, it is the birthplace of my  identity and everything I know about myself..."

As one of the director and founders of Tried.Tasted.Served, (The Art of Raw Food & Healthy Living) Omid Jaffari prides himself on “preparing food with a deep connection to the Earth.” Focusing on teaching and sharing his vast knowledge of raw foods. Omid Jaffari began his culinary journey while living in New Zealand and working at Ferryman’s Café, Café 98 and The Viaduct were he trained and shaped his food philosophy and credits his time at the Crown & Castle Hotel (Ruth Watson's Hotel) for shaping his modern fusion style.

His travels through Europe, The Middle East, Africa, South America and Asia helped evolve his passion for creating delicious raw food meals. The globetrotting gourmet and the founder of his personal blog Shiitake where it is an online like magazine, where all the food styling, photography is done by the master chef himself and is one of the regular chef, food styling photographer for Purely Delicious Magazine. Omid Jaffari's vital creation workshop is taking a new direction this summer 2009 by doing an Al Fresco Summer Raw Class Tour with some of the leading organizers within the Raw Food Movement in Los Angeles, New York City, Toronto and Montreal.

By LTJ Burton

www.triedtastedserved.com / www.shiitakeblog.com

Press & Media tts@triedtastedserved.com or omidjaffari@hotmail.com