Yesterday I decided to make nut milk. I bought some raw almonds (highly recommend going to Trader Joe's for the best deals), soaked them overnight, and then today they were ready to become milk! I decided to make plenty, so I had soaked two cups of nuts. Little did I know how much that would create. First, I added the 2 cups of almonds, and put 8 cups of water in my Vitamix. I blended it on high for a couple of minutes until I had some awesome looking, yet slightly chunky milk.
Then, I got a bowl, and my nut milk bag (attained from the Raw Food World) and poured the milk mixture through the bag into the bowl. Well, since I had NO idea how much milk this would make, my bowl immediately filled and overflowed and I was so shocked I still had a good squeeze on the bag, and milk squirted all over me, the counter, floor, etc. I immediately grabbed a large mixing bowl and transferred the milk into that. Then SQUEEZE! Just squeeze that bag until every little drop of milk comes out and all that is left is the pulp.
I made 2 1/2 Quarts of Almond Milk. I tasted the milk, and while good, I always like the milks that are slightly sweetened. So I added a squirt of Agave nectar. Perfect.
After looking at how much milk I had, I decided to make one of the quarts chocolate almond milk. I added 3 Tablespoons of raw cacao powder. Very tasty. I am so excited to be able to make my own milk! And now that I have learned a bit, I might make less next time, plus, larger bowl so no explosions! Overall it really only took 10-15 minutes, and without the mishaps it might have taken less. The same method can be made to make any kind of nut milk; hazelnut, brazil nut, cashew milk, etc. I will certainly try some of these next time.
So what to do with the pulp? Freeze it for now. Almond pulp (or any of the nut pulps) are often used in raw baking recipes. Cafe Gratitude's dessert book uses almond and hazelnut flours for nearly every recipe. Raw tiramisu anyone?
Terces Engelhart, owner of Café Gratitude, just posted the following announcement on her Facebook page
announcing the closure/sale of all Northern California Café Gratitudes
locations. According to Englehart, some "aggressive lawsuits" from
former employees brought her to the decision to shutter her vegan/cult
restaurants.
Engelhart writes:
With great sadness we are announcing the upcoming closing/sale of all Northern California Café Gratitudes.
A series of aggressive lawsuits has brought us to this unfortunate
choice. Although we believe that we have done nothing wrong and our
policies are completely legal, it will cost us too much money to defend
them in court. Despite telling the attorneys that brought the
lawsuits that the current structure and resources of Café Gratitude are
insufficient to sustain and defend our community, they have refused to
give up and are forcing us to close. We appreciate the loyalty of our employees and customers over these
past 8 years and are grateful for having had the opportunity to serve
each of you. We were happy to tolerate low margins and sustain ourselves
on the transformation and personal growth of our people, while
providing local organic vegan food to our community in an atmosphere of
unconditional love. That commitment is under attack and we are not able to weather this storm. This process will take a few months so please keep coming in and
let's celebrate our 8 years of success together, we are grateful for
you! We have come to realize that it isn’t how we serve that is most important but rather that we serve. Our mission will survive this, as love cannot be threatened. Thank you and love to you all, Matthew and Terces Engelhart on behalf of Café Gratitude, LLC
The lawsuits in question stem from former Gratitude employees who
left the restaurant with a bad taste in their mouths, so to speak. East Bay Express published a 2009 article that claimed, among other things, employees were fired for not attending Landmark Forum classes.
What outsiders may not know is that the culture at Café
Gratitude is closely interwoven with a self-help philosophy of personal
transformation called the Landmark Forum. Café Gratitude's founders say
the classes and seminars, which employees are highly encouraged to take,
empower people, create a better work environment, and help change
lives. Yet some employees say the curriculum fosters an uncomfortable
environment in which their personal beliefs are compromised. One
former employee says she was fired for refusing to attend a Landmark
seminar, and it's unclear whether the company's practice of requiring
managers to attend and pay for half of the $500 seminar is legal.
"It is definitely a challenge for those people to stay comfortable
saying no," admitted Paddy Smith, general manager of the Berkeley Café
Gratitude. Although Smith says she was initially "offended" by the
invitation to attend one of the seminars, she eventually signed up and
found it to be a "life-changing" experience. "I learned how to be
empowered and creative, get the results I want," she said. At Café
Gratitude, she added, Landmark's teachings manifest themselves in the
form of better communication, honesty, openness, and a no-gossip policy,
and are so ingrained into company culture that she has a hard time
differentiating between the two. In fact, Café Gratitude wouldn't exist
if it wasn't for Landmark.
In 2011, former employee Sarah Stevens filed suit claiming "that in
her time working at various CafGraf locations, she was deprived of
legally-mandated breaks, and received only a fraction of the tips she
rightfully earned." Via a statement from her legal team, Kumin Sommers LLP:
In addition to not receiving her rest and meal periods, Stevens alleges that she is required
to participate in an unreasonable and uncustomary tip pooling scheme
that leaves her with a very small percentage of the tips she earns as a
server. Specifically, Stevens alleges that after tipping out
20% of her daily tips to the “central kitchen” — an offsite kitchen on
14th street — Stevens must then split the remaining 80% of her tips
equally with all of the Café Gratitude staff, including the “shift
leaders” and retail employees.
"For every illegal or disreputable thing you hear there are half a dozen
or more former employees who learned to follow their dreams (and still
are rocking it). As well for every one 'bad' [comment] there are
HUNDREDS of happy customers whose lives were changed for the better and
some profoundly!! I know this personally as I have been told this and
thanked hundreds of times by the people I was serving." — Former Café Gratitude server Zachar Sollars regarding yesterday's post
about the possible closure of the raw/vegan chain, and the labor
lawsuits dogging them. He calls the restaurant a "school of
transformation for its servers."
Terces Engelhart made a new plea to supporters today, via Facebook,
that anyone who'd like to help the company in their hour of need should
purchase some of their retail items, or sign up for one of these
workshops.
The holidays are coming and many of our retail items are wonderful
holiday presents. Our Abounding River board game is a meaningful gift
for family and friends, and it is the beginning of the Gratitude
Movement. ... If you have participated in any of our workshops, please
take what you learned, that had value to you, and give it away! If not,
come join one of our upcoming workshops, they are still offered on a pay
it forward basis.
As for when Café Gratitude will close, Engelhart encourages fans to
keep coming in for the next few months as they figure things out.
Sommers speculates that several locations haven't been profitable at
all, including their Healdsburg location, and that these will be let go
while others may go to friendly buyers who will continue to do business
with the Gratitude farm and food-prep operations. As for the Los Angeles
location, which is somewhat of a celebrity hot-spot, that was sold to family members several years ago and remains a separate entity.
There's bound to be more bad press stemming from all this, if not
more lawsuits, so in the spirit of generosity we'll leave off with
Terces's own words. "Be kind, offer forgiveness, acknowledge one
another, take responsibility, be generous, know you will always be
provided for and restore trust in all of your relationships. We continue
to keep our hearts open and to be filled with gratitude for
everything." Update: Matthew Engelhart responds to the lawsuits calling them "legalized extortion." Also, this NYT piece
from July bears noting — the Los Angeles location is said to bring in
about $4 million a year in revenue, and is owned by the children of the
Engelharts.
Café Gratitude owners Matthew and Terces Engelhart will say only "we
believe that we have done nothing wrong and our policies are completely
legal, it will cost us too much money to defend them in court." So, that
kind of points to the labor lawsuits. In any event, in signing off
after eight years in business, they say, "Our mission will survive this,
as love cannot be threatened."
I am
completely in awe of this. It saddens me that such beautiful people have
to go through this. My friend Natalie is a Cafe Gratitude junkie and
has brought Mathew and Terces to Kansas City several summers in a row to
teach their seminars. The first was the Abounding River Workshop, which
they have a workbook you can purchase. It's a 42 day program, that my
Mom and I did together. I found it extremely inspiring. The Kindred
Spirits really got to me, and when I purchased the amazing book, I cried
reading it. In fact, I posted about it here. They also had a workshop
on Sacred Commerce, which is their business philosophy. We don't yet
have a restaurant, and yet over the last few years I've made so many
friends from the Cafe Gratitude experience. An entire community has
developed, in fact, enough money was raised that we will have our own
restaurant branch in February. I find the timing to be a bit ironic, and
hope that the closures do not go through. However, we will be an
official affiliate. My intention is to apply for something part time. I
really want to start doing a little something to support myself this
coming year, and I think its a job I would love and could handle. Plus, I
know all the owners. I just want to say that no matter what happens, I
believe the community they created will still hold strong. Their message
of love and gratitude is too strong to be crushed by a lawsuit. I fully
intend to continue to support this amazing company.
Last night I read Mathew and Terces from Cafe Gratitude's new book Kindred Spirit and was completely moved by the experience. While reading a passage regarding how the Ego can create stories that are not necessarily true, especially in relationships, I began crying, real tears. Now, those that know me will realize what a rarity this is. I do not cry, especially sitting home alone. But last night, I shed a few tears and immediately my Ego jumped in and said "You are ridiculous!". Yikes! I realized in that moment that instead of being in a state of letting go and being love, I was trapped in a place of being control and showing any emotion outside of that control was "being ridiculous." Over the past few years, as I've continued to heal, I sometimes have moments where I get frustrated. What else is there for me to learn, to do, in order to release this cancer and live a fully healthy life? I realized last night that while I've done quite a bit of work, my focus has been more on reading about exercises or writing about healing tools, rather than the implementation. And while I have done many exercises, as soon as that Ego pops in with the control, I stop letting go, and stop making progress. Therefore, I'm starting fresh, breaking out all my workbooks, healing tools, etc. and telling my Ego that it's time to let go and be love.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to get up a bit earlier, begin my day with meditation, a green smoothie, journal free write and yoga. Once I'm balanced, I'll be able to work on my writing throughout the day, and take small breaks to do some EFT, Reiki, Healing Codes, etc. and make sure that I focus on at least one emotional exercise each day, and by golly if crying is required, I'm just going to have to let go and get over it. This will be difficult for me, but I feel positive and I know that in reality, being love, asking for forgiveness, apologizing, blessing others and expressing gratitude is a daily practice, and one that will make me into a even happier and spiritually balance, physically healthy person than I am today.
I am amazed when I look back and see how far I've come, but it's time to heal this attachment to cancer, and be a daily example of Kindred Spirit.
Today's Archangel Oracle Card: You Know What to Do. Archangel Uriel: "Trust your inner knowledge, and act upon it without delay. You are far wiser than you realize, and your inner wisdom has already given you the answers you seek. Embrace this knowledge, and trust it. If you're doubtful, ask me to give you clear signs to validate your thoughts and ideas. I can also help you put your ideas into action, and make decisions about the next steps to take. Just ask me. And then be willing to work with me by taking action."
Doreen Virtue Archangel Oracle Cards
Some days I feel alot like this polar bear, hanging on for dear life. However, as Archangel Uriel stated, we often know what we need, we just don't always know how to get there. There are a lot of amazing workbooks out there with exercises, affirmations and guidance on how we can manifest the life we desire. Each week I'm going to post some exercises, tools and tips from some of my mentors. I encourage you to invest in a journal, and take the time to do these exercises each week. I also would love to hear how you are doing, what discoveries you make about yourself. We are a community here, so post your experiences and let's grow and manifest together!
Workbook Exercises: Week 1
Affirmation: "In the infinity of life where I am, all is perfect, whole, and complete. I believe in a power far greater than I am that flows through me every moment of every day. I open myself to the wisdom within, knowing that there is only One intelligence in this Universe. Out of this One intelligence comes all the answers, all the solutions, all the healings, all the new creations. I trust this Power and Intelligence, knowing that whatever I need to know is revealed to me, and that whatever I need comes to me in the right time, space and sequence. All is well in my world." --Louise Hay
Exploration Question: "What is an inherited belief you have about money that inhibits your experience of abundance? What is something you would like to believe about money that would have you aware of abundance? Share both of these beliefs with someone in your life" --Abounding River Workbook, Cafe Gratitude
Art Project: Break out the crayons, stickers, etc. Visualize yourself, how do you see yourself? Draw you incredibleness and see what that "inner billboard" looks like. This tool will reveal a lot about your feelings of self-worth. --Kris Carr
Exercise: Write "I Should" on the top of a piece of paper (or in your journal) and make a list of 5-6 things to finish that sentence. Read each one aloud to yourself, and ask yourself "why?" Should is an obligation and often times means being wrong. Reread the list, one item at a time, except this time begin each sentence with "If I really wanted to, I could _____________" Then ask yourself "Why haven't I". You may have some fears come up after doing this. Focus on letting go of the "shoulds" this week and focus on things that empower you. --Louise Hay
Exercise: Focus on your Feelings. What emotions are coming up for you? Experience those negative emotions, than re-think them. Ask yourself, "What are the beliefs about myself that are holding me back?" Then put on an upbeat CD and dance it out! Release those negative beliefs and refocus on gratitude.
--Gabrielle Bernstein
Your Homework 1. Purchase a journal or notebook 2. Say your affirmation each day. If you can say it to yourself in the mirror, it will be more powerful. 3. Work through these four exercises this week. Journal your thoughts, what comes up for you? If you need any releasing tools, let me know. 4. Take time each day to list at least 5 things you are grateful for; morning and night is really empowering.
