Eat Locally, Deliciously, and Healthily with Sattva!

Is "Healthily" a word? I guess it is cuz it's not getting spell-checked.

So this is an emergency post... I have multiple other posts that I want to write up, but this one was just too good to keep on my "to-do" list.

Funny Story: Keshari Das and I went to school together at Rye Country Day School. We were friends. We were kinda out-cast-y. I had pink hair. She had her nose pierced. I liked No Doubt. She liked Incubus. We were also both Asian. I=Japanese. She=Indian.

So 2 years ago, I was walking down 2nd Ave, around like, I wanna say 16th street. I passed by this girl who looked really familiar and I swung around cuz I realized it was Keshari! She spun around as well and recognized me! We chatted briefly and said, "I'll add you on facebook!"

We never really talked again. Until last week. When she invited me to join her group for something called "Sattva"... I was intrigued so I checked the page. IT WAS A NEW LOCAL/ORGANIC FOOD BUSINESS! and my good old high school buddy Keshari was starting it! Gosh, was I proud and totally curious!

I also got an invitation for the Sattva tasting party at her house. So of course I was gonna go. Food. Old school memories. Yeah, I'm so there!

Let me just say that I was so glad I went, and I will never miss a Sattva event ever again! The food is serious. Serious. Serious. I loved it <33 Kesahri was adorable. She set up like a little tasting party with all her original creations.
The Foccacia

#1- Pesto, Roasted Butternut Squash, Goat Cheese, Onions, Sundried Tomatoes, Herbs

#2- Tomatoes, Goat Cheese, Pears, Sundried Tomatoes

And now onto the infamous soups:

Melon Soup

Butternut Squash, Pear, Ginger

Carrot Ginger

Some other yummy food by Keshari...

Quinoa salad, some salsa, also a spaghetti squash casserole

And Zucchini Bread!

how fancy: Cucumber Water


How cute is she?!


A lot of the ingredients are grown right in her own garden...


So here's the deal. This is her business, and she's looking to sell her shizz at local farmer's markets (Westchester, Brooklyn, Manhattan)... You can also pick up her goodies at her home in Ossinning, New York. She's also looking to deliver, I think. And she's gonna do the catering thang. Support this local beauty. She's so sweet, and she's so down to earth. You will love her and her food!

So summary is this : Local, Organic, If Not Vegan then Definitely Vegetarian, Delicious, Healthy, Beautiful :-)

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Finally, Shiraz

I say finally because I've wanted to go to Shiraz ever since everyone started hyping it up on Chowhound. We went on Mother's Day and it was P-A-C-K-E-D... at 2:30 PM! MAKES RESERVATIONS!

It's a Persian restaurant. I've never had Persian food, but I got the feeling that it was similar to the other Mediterranean food that I've had.

It was absolutely delicious! And the place was like kinda fancy. I was expecting like a bummy little place.


We tried a bunch of different things.
First: Chicken Dip (white one) and Mashed Eggplant-Garlic-Tomato Dip (red one)

With "Naan"---> thinner and lighter than Indian naan

Greek Salad with a Ground Meat Kabob (forgot what it was called!)

I underestimated the deliciousness of Ground Meat!

My brother's Lamb Kabob

The lamb was definitely the best meat! SOOOOOOO incredibly tender :-)

My Mom's Filet Kabob

My Falafel Salad with Hummus

A little bit of a different Baklava... a trio!

1. made with rice noodles

2. made with phyllo

3. made with rice noodles and pistachios

Persian "Snow Cone" made with frozen rice noodles... cherry syrup!

Deliciously fragrant Persian Tea

Andddd..... Turkish Coffee for mom and I


Shiraz Restaurant
81 E Main Street
Elmsford, NY 10523
Phone: (914)-345-6111

Cherry Blossom Festival in White Plains!

I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in White Plains for the first time in my whole life! There weren't any cherry blossom trees but it was very Japanese and therefore very exciting for me! Mind you, I'm very behind on my posts, so this was like May 1, 2010.

Anyways, there was food, fun, and awesome performances.
I would just like to announce now that I want to learn how to play the Taiko (Japanese Drums)!

Look at how freakin' cute they are!

When we got there we got some food, which unfortunately, was yucky. It wasn't there fault though. It was like 289374928374928374 degrees and keeping sushi in an ice box is not an ideal way to preserve it.

Since it was so crowded, we couldn't sit at a picnic table so we found a random table and stood and ate.

We walked around and played some fun games. And bought Japanese Bread at Parisienne, my favorite Japanese bakery that no longer exists in Hartsdale!

They were selling udon but I couldn't imagine it being good because the noodles were like already cooked and sitting in a bowl. And the yakitori looked super dry.

I did some Japanese calligraphy... what a throwback! I used to take Japanese calligraphy lessons when I was like 7!

This is a popular game in Japan... "catching" balloons- yeah we are pretty simple people!

And this one too.. scooping out Goldfish! (I was super violent and impatient so my scooper broke immediately)

And we did the tea ceremony! The women working the tea ceremony were so cute :-)

The candies were homemade by one of the women!


Twas a nice experience! I know I was hating on the food but they could have done so much better! The entertainment, especially the White Plains Taiko group, was great!

And F.Y.I. great place for little kids because they had a blowup castle!

This year was the first year (I think) that they had it in a bigger park. It was at a park on Lake Street called, Turnure Park.

California, The Final Day

We made it a point to get to another In-N-Out burger before leaving California. So on the last day, we went. And we got those damn good burgers, and Tiny got his Animal Style!

Check out the Animal Style Drippage

Another last one, to make you jealous:


We said that for dinner on the last night, we would cook a nice meal for our gracious host for taking care of us so well...

Remember these?

Stuffed Pork Chops, Yams, Green Beans with Bread Crumbs :-)

Finished off with a "French Cheesecake" from Vons! If you don't know Vons, it's like the equivalent of like A&P, or Food Emporium. It's like the Grocery Store Chain of San Diego...

The next morning, we woke up at like 4:00 AM, and we were home in NY by 6:00 PM! And after thinking I couldn't eat for another week, my mom took out me, Tiny, and Tiny's friend for Korean BBQ!!


Hahahahaha! I <3 FOOD! In-N-Out Burgers
2910 Damon Avenue
Pacific Beach, CA 92109

California, Day Ten: Peruvian in San Diego

Ughhh... one of my favorite meals in San Diego was here at Latin Chef Peruvian Cuisine!

Not only was it my first time having Peruvian food, our waitress was super sweet and helped us out quite a bit.

We were started off with these crunchy corn things

"You're gonna love my nuts"-SlapChop


Appetizer was Anticuchos- Beef Kabobs.... Yum-O


My Picante de Marisco... Oh man, this was so good. The creamy, tomato-ey sauce reminded me of Tikka Masala. Only in the way that it had the right amount of spices in it, but was still do-able for undaring eaters.


Tiny's Lomo Saltado... How can chicken, french fries, and veggies not be good!

For dessert, we asked for the waitress' suggestion and were given these delicious, buttery cookies:


Alfajores... it looks like a macaron, but the cookies are like this buttery shortbread, and the inside is ooey-gooey caramel!

Latin Chef Peruvian Cuisine
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
Neighborhood: Pacific Beach
Phone: (858)-270-8810


Oh... F.Y.I. The little mexican breakfast spot was on this street!

California, Day Nine: Food and Tanning In Pacific Beach

So, we were in the Pacific Beach section. And everyday we went to the same beach. But before going to the beach, we went to the same place for breakfast every day...

Maria Juana's Cafe- the cutest little food spot ever! And the nicest waiter!


I always got the Fruit Bowl with Cottage Cheese...

Sometimes with a side of one Oatmeal Pancake!


Tiny tried a few different things but his favorite was the Chilaquiles

Tortilla, eggs, veggies, cheese and beans! It was awesome!

Unfortunately, I don't know the address or contact information for this cute place. But it is on the Main Street that leads to the beach!

For dinner, we went to a random Japanese place on the main street... ironically called Haiku (it's ironic because there are way too many Haiku's in Westchester and I thought I got away from them!)

We got a Sushi Roll, Tiny got Tempura, and I got Sukiyaki... really it was kinda awful.
Just so you can avoid it, here is the information: