It was my birthday on Tuesday, I turned 43 years young! This was my first birthday as a raw vegan and it was the best birthday I have had for more years than I can remember. This birthday I was now able to really enjoy and really participate in the day!
So, what did I eat on my special day? I started my day as I usually do with a smoothie, that day I chose mango and banana.That was followed not long after by more bananas, again that is my norm. Starting my day with those foods is how I feel my best, and of course I wanted to feel my best!
After some wonderful time with my incredible husband and daughter, receiving the beautiful gifts they gave to me, I then enjoyed my also usual mid morning dose of nice cream! I chose strawberry and banana nice cream, which is very simple I know, but it’s one of my favourite meals in the day time! In the day I eat exclusively fruit until dinner, as again this is how I feel my best, so I stuck to that routine on my birthday.
After a lovely trip out to get nails done with my daughter I came home to my chosen lunch, which was Durian! Durian is my favourite food in the world, I eat it almost every day when it’s in season, which thankfully is a large portion of the year here in the Philippines where we live!Durian never gets old for me. I ate a large portion and adored every single bite as always!
We then enjoyed a chilled afternoon and also the raw vegan Black Forest Gateau I made myself for my first raw birthday!!It was so delicious, even if I say so myself!!
It’s also nut and seed free too!! The recipe is up on the ROAR site now for you to try !!!
Then it was time to get ready to go out for my birthday dinner!! We had decided to try some where new and my husband found a lovely quant French restaurant called Tomate-Cerise Co which is in the Phillipines, a little up towards the mountains just out side our city. It had some wonderful looking big salads on their menu, and they were clearly passionate about serving fresh quality raw fruits and vegetables. We figured we would ask if we could mix and match ingredients that were raw from multiple dishes on their menu to make raw meals we would love.
My husband took charge of organising the meal, he called a few days ahead, explained our raw vegan needs and they agreed to allow us to make up raw vegan salads from the items on their menu. When we arrived at the restaurant we began making our order, explaining as clearly as we could what we wanted. It was the first time I have eaten in a restaurant that does not serve vegan food exclusively, and there is also often a language barrier of some degree for us living in a country we were not born into, so I will admit I was a bit nervous!
There were a couple of times that the waitress did not understand well.I felt anxiety when the waitress did not understand me and the irritation begun to rise up in me. I chose not to give into it though, my husband continued to explain patently, and was very confident about our orders when he was finished.
I ordered two large salads, salad 1 was made from lettuce, raw corn kernels, nori paper, sesame seeds, herbs, fresh mango, and grapes. Salad number 2 I ordered was made from lettuce, raw olives, fresh raw young broad beans, cucumber, tomatoes, papaya, chia seeds and edible flowers. Both salads were so delicious, large, presented beautifully and clearly made with love.
I took my own avocado to the restaurant also, as though there were a few raw dressings on the menu, I wanted to make sure to have a dressing of some kind should the raw dressings not be available that day for any reason. I chose a raw peanut dressing which was simple but lovely, and we asked for a couple of fresh red chillies which we chopped into the dressings we ordered dressing!
The meal was absolutely wonderful, and all the produce was very fresh, full of life and taste!
We were very impressed indeed, sent lots of compliments to the chef and we will definitely go there again! It feels good to have found a restaurant that cater to about every type of food preference. It means that we can now go out to eat with friends and family that are neither vegan nor raw, and everyone will be able to order a meal that they desire!
My birthday and birthday meal was absolutely perfect and the experience built my confidence in successfully ordering raw vegan food in new situations and this is why it is great to try new places to dine as a raw vegan.
If you dine out as a raw vegan I would love to hear about the places you go and your experiences eating out in the comments below. Also do not forget to subscribe to the Roar website. #roarleanne
That's wonderful Leanne! Happy birthday! I'm familiar with your story; I too have Ehler's Danlos. I was in pain most of my adult life (now turning 42 in a few days). I went whole food plant based vegan 5 years ago and I noticed a slight improvement with my pain, but I still had flare ups that were interfering with my life and mothering. Then 2 1/2 years ago I went hight fruit raw diet (80/10/10). I couldn't believe how much better I felt!! I almost forgot I had Ehler's! That was the missing piece. However, the past two months I have went back to a high raw diet (raw till dinner) while greatly increasing my protein with co…