Springtime is Detox Time

Every spring and fall I participate in a 21-day cleanse to boost my body’s natural seasonal detox rhythm. In the spring, our bodies start to waken from their winter sleep, and gear up for the summer growth season. Ever notice that as soon as the days get longer and a little warmer you suddenly feel the need to get outside? Commonly known as spring fever? Whether you’ve noticed this feeling or not, Boston is suddenly abuzz with runners everywhere despite a random snow flurry here or there. As Lori says, “there’s the first day of spring, and then there’s the first day of spring.”

Because I’ve been spring cleansing (like spring cleaning, but for your body) for many years, I’ve picked up a lot of information about the staples of detoxing. A recent online post titled 3 Ways to Support Your Body’s Natural Springtime Detox highlights what I would consider to be 3 key elements to any successful detox program.

Squeeze Half a Lemon in Hot Water Upon Waking.   I do this every day without fail, whether I’m cleansing/detoxing or not. This helps flush toxins from the whole body, the liver especially, and promotes a healthy morning elimination. It feels great to start the day off doing something good for yourself!

Drink Fresh Green Juices. Nothing kicks the body’s natural detoxing ability into high gear like a tall glass of fresh antioxidants, enzymes and absorbable vitamins and minerals. And green juices are a great replacement for coffee to get you energized in the morning or early afternoon. Two combinations we like: 1) cucumber, kale, apple, lemon, ginger, celery; and 2) apple, carrot, beet, ginger, lemon and celery. We’ll be serving up both green juices at Each Peach Café!

Add Dandelion Root and Greens to Your Routine. Dandelion is an amazing springtime herb that helps to safely enhance digestive and elimination function, revving-up detoxification and movement of stagnation in the body. Dig up fresh roots and greens from your yard, or buy organic roots and greens at a health food store and make a tea each morning to drink throughout the day. Add greens to your salads, smoothies and green juices. Or sauté the fresh roots and greens with a little garlic and olive oil for a tasty treat! Not into dandelion? Nettles are another fabulous springtime addition. If you’re looking to take things to the next level and learn about foraging for wild foods, I highly recommend checking out Daniel Vitalis’ Ancestral Plants 3-day workshop this May in Maine.

Lori and I have been perfecting a quick and easy 4-7 day detox that anyone can follow, and testing it out on ourselves, friends and family. One girlfriend of mine decided to try it out to get over her morning coffee addiction so that she could enjoy a morning coffee but not NEED it. She not only kicked the addiction, but lost 5 pounds in 3 days and is now regularly having a green juice instead of coffee. Her skin also improved, and she’s experiencing the “glow” often attributed to a healthy regimen.

Once we hammer out the right plan and all the details, we’ll offer the recipes to everyone for free. For those who need/want to have everything prepared for them ahead of time, as well as a detox kit and daily support, we will be offering that service once we open in early April. We will keep you all posted! Perfect way to jump-start getting ready for bikini season…

We are getting close to our grand opening. The plumbing is done, internet will be installed tomorrow (Mar 24), the signs are being installed Friday, and our sanitarian is stopping by for the walk-through on Saturday (my birthday!). We should be able to announce our grand opening date by Monday… Fingers crossed. We did put up our first wall hangings today!

Augusta

Each Peach Menu

Smoothies – simply blended fruits
Signature – peaches, yogurt, honey
House Blend – orange, banana, strawberry, blueberry, yogurt, honey
Blue Breeze – blueberry, lemon, yogurt, vanilla, honey
Monkey Mocha - banana, almond butter, cacao, coffee, yogurt
Very Berry – blueberry, raspberry, cherry, mint
Athlete’s Recovery – house-made nut milks (almond, coconut), vanilla protein powder, cacao, maca

*All are available dairy-free by substituting yogurt with our house-made milks (almond/coconut)

Other Menu Items
Organic fair trade coffee and tea
Wheatgrass shots
Organic steel cut oats with toppings
Parfaits made to order with seasonal fruit, yogurt, granola cups
Organic snacks such as “cheesy” kale chips, eggplant “bacon” and seasoned nuts
Richardson’s ice cream
Assorted gluten- and dairy- free desserts

*As we grow, we will incorporate a soup and salad of-the-day

M-F 6am-2pm
Sat 8am-2pm
Sun Closed

Each Peach cafe is a Wi-Fi enabled hot spot

Renovations, Radiation(?), and Recovery

It’s been a month since either Lori or I blogged, our apologies, but we’ve been up to our eyeballs in renovations, purchases, permits, etc., getting Each Peach Café ready to open. We are close! We won’t hit our original target date of this Saturday, March 19th, but I’m certain our grand opening will not be too far beyond that.

We’ve made a lot of progress with the look and feel of “The Peach” (as we affectionately call it) over this past week, and she’s definitely started to take on a personality. We weren’t certain about how some things would turn out, like the floors, but everything seems to have fallen into place and just works. See the rest of the transformation on our Each Peach Café Facebook Page. We purchased the tables off the woman who bought Grezzo in Newburyport, the chairs off a nice young couple in Reading (thank you Craig’s List, once again), the shelves from IKEA, and the two comfy chairs from Home Goods. Our experience in Home Goods was seriously like the commercial where two woman start fighting over an article of clothing… Once we moved those chairs from the furniture section to the front of the store, EVERYONE started eyeing them! Lucky a brawl didn’t break out.

I would like to take a moment to recognize that more important things than picking out café decor have been going on in the world, like the devastation in Japan. Truly horrifying. And in light of the meltdown of Fukushima, David Wolfe describes how to protect yourself and your thyroid against radiation: kelp, ginseng, ashwaganda (recently found to regrow nerves), chlorella, zeolites, fulvic acid, nascent iodine, reishi mushroom, sea salt (also salty miso), botanical (plant-derived) or lipo- vitamin C, magnesium (chlorophyll), selenium (brazil nuts), coconut butter, Megahydrate, Crystal Energy. A wonderful resource for some hard-to-find items is Jing Herbs. Lori and I will also be trying to get Each Peach No-Nuke Packs together, featuring these super-foods, as soon as we can.

Lots of work, and potentially hazardous exposure, required some additional recovery. I am starting a 10-day Bikram Yoga journey at Bikram Yoga Danvers this week, located next door to us at The Peach, 110 Newbury Street, Danvers, MA. The studio offers a special to new students, 10 days unlimited yoga for $20. Can’t be beat! And a wonderful way to detox.

Lori and I have also been working on a mini-cleanse program you can do all on your own with food from your local grocer. I’ve tried it and one of my girlfriends tried it last week, and this week Lori, one of her girlfriends and my mom are trying it. So far the consensus is two thumbs up! More to come as we hammer out the details and get it just right.

Finally, some tasty treats to keep you healthy and satisfied as we roll into spring. A new one Lori and I are testing out today is Spiced Chickpeas (dehydrated) for a yummy little afternoon snack, road snack, any-time-of-day snack.

Spiced Chickpeas
One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground hot paprika
1/2 tsp salt (sea, Celtic)

Toss chickpeas with spices until coated. Spread evenly on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate 12+ hours or until crunchy.

Remember, we are testing these! We may have to coat the chickpeas in oil first to get he spices to stick well. Or we may not. If any modifications are made, I’ll post them here. We’re also making up some tried and true treats today, like the kale chips and the eggplant “bacon” chips. All will be featured at THE PEACH once we open! Stay tuned…

Augusta

Blisters and Bruises

The transformation has certainly begun at Each Peach Café… Lori and I have the blisters and bruises to prove it! And we’re loving every moment of it.

The serious work started on Saturday, Feb 12th. Christopher (my partner, Happy Valentine’s Day!), his brother specializes in HVAC and other very useful odds and ends. We walked through the place, making a to-do list and a Home Depot shopping list. Lori and I spent the evening prepping for painting the drop ceiling on Sunday.

Sunday morning we took the multitudes of ceiling fans and lights down. We had been told it “looks like a lighting supply store” because there were so many of them, which was SO true. Then we replaced any broken ceiling tiles. All in prep for painting…

Painting with a sprayer. Yeah. I rented a sprayer from Home Depot that morning, and then let Mike go to town. Of course, it didn’t take long for us to blow through the 2 gallons of paint we bought on Saturday, so Lori desperately found me a paint store that was open on Sunday so I could dash out and get more in an exact match. It was crazy! We managed the get the whole front room ceiling painted and most of the walls primed in less than 4 hours. Wow. Painting with a sprayer is amazing, but doesn’t come without a price. Even wearing a mask, all of our nose hairs were painted too.

This spring cleanse can’t come soon enough for me!

Sunday night, Lori and I started the demolition portion of the renovation by ripping any cheap, ugly, poorly finished trim off everywhere we could. Fun stuff! And a great reward after such a long day of painting and running around.

I was not thrilled with the color of the ceiling after it was completed, and couldn’t imagine going through all that work again to re-do it. Thankfully, it looked much better Monday morning in the daylight and with rested eyes. And everyone else seems to love it! That was a nice Valentine’s Day surprise, but even better was the floor ripper-upper thingy that the property’s work crew brought in for us to use! Awesome! Lori and I ripped up almost all of the flooring and most of the glue too in about 4 hours, leaving behind a nice concrete floor. Just wait to see what we have in store for that!

We could both certainly benefit from a chiropractic adjustment after removing that floor. Worth it? We shall see…

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the trash pile should be completely removed and the floors completely ready for the next step. We may even have time to do the taping in preparation for painting the walls.

Very exciting!

Everyone has started asking about the Each Peach menu, which Lori and I began to hammer out over the weekend. We will serve a standard set of smoothies, with a seasonal smoothie added in every now and again.

Partial Smoothies List
Each Peach Signature > peaches, yogurt, vanilla, honey
House Blend > orange, banana, strawberry, blueberry, yogurt, honey
Monkey Mocha > banana, almond butter, cacao, coffee, yogurt, coconut milk
Blue Breeze > blueberry, lemon, yogurt, vanilla, honey

Add-in options include protein, flaxseed and spinach. All smoothies are also available dairy-free by substituting the yogurt with almond milk or coconut milk.

Other menu items include coffee and teas, wheatgrass, steel cut oats, a salad-of-the-day, a soup-of-the-day, healthy snacks like kale chips (I have all my friends hooked on these!), Richardson’s ice cream and assorted gluten- and dairy- free desserts.

We’re targeting March 19th for our opening, but there’s lots to do before then! Wish us luck, and if you come across any handy gnomes send them our way. Until then, check out our neighbors! They are all awesome… Like Shannon at Bikram Yoga Danvers, Steve at Centre Street PIzza, and Vanessa at Bella Salon & Day Spa.

Augusta

In the Beginning…

Yesterday I stepped into #6 110 Newbury Street, Danvers, MA, for the first time as a tenant, and it felt a bit like the beginning of an epic journey – like the Odyssey, or Star Wars. There’s a sense of the unknown; of pride and anticipation.

I promised to detail this journey, so I took several photographs yesterday to document the beginning.

There is a bay of windows and a counter to sit at along the front entrance. This is an area where people will be able to sit with laptops and hop on our WiFi, or just people watch through the windows.

There’s a nice long walk to the counter toward the back, with his and hers separate washrooms. A nice feature! Although, interestingly, the current décor in the men’s room seems more befitting a ladies’ room. No matter.

We learned of a pipe burst just after signing the lease, which is why there is a section cut away along the entire bottom edge of the drywall. Lots of work to do… But very much looking forward to it!

The countertop/cabinets left by the previous tenants will be moved to the back room for work space and storage. They actually left quite a few useful things… And some not-so-useful things too, like the used fly paper. Needless to say, there will be quite a transformation taking place over the next several weeks.

Near the back counter, the space opens up quite a lot, making room for all sorts of possibilities. Then there is a large back room with plenty of space for a three-bay sink, dishwasher, storage, dehydrators, etc. And, there’s even a small back office. It’s such a workable space, with endless options, we are so excited to get in and get to work!

More to come…

I was asked for the coconut chips recipe. It’s VERY simple:

Coconut Chips
Young Thai Coconut Meat
Lemon juice
Salt
Cayenne

Mix together until “chipped” coconut meat is well coated. Dehydrate until crispy.

Enjoy!

Augusta

Raw Food Classes for Everyone

Have you ever wanted to take a class, but couldn’t justify it due to either the expense or commitment of time? I certainly have… Photography, piano… The list goes on.

However, I’ve had the pleasure, nay the joy, of teaching raw food preparation classes for the past two years, because I DID make the financial commitment and time commitment to train with Alissa Cohen and the Head Chef at Grezzo restaurant, Leah Dubois. The restaurant no longer exists, but Leah’s recipes are featured in the new Raw Food for Everyone cookbook authored by Alissa. I am grateful for that experience, because adding raw food to my life has changed my life. And I believe learning how to add raw food into your diet in a way that is fun and delicious can benefit everyone.

It’s no secret the ingredients we use for our classes are expensive, and some of our classes literally take days of food preparation before the class even begins. For this reason, the cost of taking a raw food class can be cost prohibitive… especially in the current economic climate. An intensive class can also be a rather large time commitment – for example, the Level I and II classes we were teaching, back-to-back, consumed an entire weekend. I don’t know a mom with kids in sports who can commit to an entire weekend doing something for herself… Do you?

For these reasons, Denise and I have taken the time to come up with new classes to suit anyone’s wallet and lifestyle. We feel adding more raw food to any diet is important enough to make learning how easily accessible. From free 1-hour seminars, to half-day advanced preparation classes, we offer something for everyone. But you have to want it for yourself!

Green Smoothie Spring Detox Seminar
Date TBD, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
55 Amoskeag Street, Manchester, NH
Join us for a quick one hour seminar about the many benefits of green smoothies; and how to make delicious, HEALTHY green smoothies that even your kids will love! FREE.

Italian Family Dinner - Raw Style!
Date TBD,
176 S River Road, Bedford, NH
This abbreviated course will teach you how to prepare a delicious Italian-style raw food meal your entire family will love! You will leave with introductory knowledge of how to prepare fun, delicious raw food, and your very own spiral slicer to get you started. $50.

Just Desserts!
February 4, 2011, 7 - 10pm
452 Brent Street, Manchester, NH
This evening course will teach you decadent, gourmet, easy-to-make raw food desserts that will wow even the most discerning dessert connoisseur! Excellent class for mothers and daughters to take together. $100.

Raw Food Basics
March 13, 2011, 9am - 12pm
452 Brent Street, Manchester, NH
This half-day course will teach you the fundamentals of the raw food diet through the preparation of easy, delicious raw food meals. $100.

Sprouting and Dehydrating
March 13, 2011, 1pm - 5pm
452 Brent Street, Manchester, NH
This half-day course is designed to demonstrate sprouting and dehydrating techniques that take you beyond basic raw food prep. Learn how to create dishes you never thought you could make raw... Like pizza! From this course you will be proficient in preparing elegant gourmet meals. $250. Prerequisite: Raw Food Basics. $325 to take both classes together. 

Visit the Each Peach Calendar for updates to the classes, seminars and events. Or sign up now to start your journey towards a healthier, more beautiful and radiant you! Register at least 3 days prior to the event by sending an email to abarstow@eachpeachcafe.com with the following information:

Full Name
Email Address
Mailing Address
Phone Number
Class/Seminar Title
Class/Seminar Date

We hope to see you soon!

Augusta

Finding Inspiration

Sometimes the very best things in life can be found in your own backyard. Sometimes that backyard stretches as far away as a 2-hour drive, i.e. from Boston, MA to Laconia, NH. Let me explain…

I spent this past weekend at Winter Carnival in Quebec City with one of my best girlfriends, Crystal. Neither of us had been to Winter Carnival before, but we travel really well together and just knew we’d find fun regardless of whether we had maps and elaborate plans or not. Inevitably, our trips together always turn into an adventure… Often involving some sort of law enforcement, we’re not sure why. Like the time we crossed the border between Germany and France, pre EEU, and had our entire car searched by machine-gun-toting border patrol. They riffled through our unmentionables in our suitcases, and even our packed lunch boxes! Maybe the fruit looked suspicious?

Back to our current story… This time, as we were driving through the streets of Quebec City using navigation and MapQuest directions to find our hotel, some pedestrians darted across the street in front of us when we had a green light and got us both a little flustered – navigation talking to us, while we’re reading directions, trying to watch where we’re going, at night, with foreign street signs, etc., and having to slam on the breaks so as to not hurt any locals. It’s no surprise then that we didn’t really see the next street light, which was red, not green, until we were just about to pass under it and I yell “red light!” and then immediate following “and that was a cop.” Yup. The benefit to being young and fabulous is that not only did the officers NOT write us a ticket after pulling us over for blatantly failing to stop at a red light, but they kindly escorted us the rest of the way to our hotel!

The most memorable aspects of the Winter Carnival for me were the dog sled races and, of course, eating sugar on snow (boiling maple syrup poured on snow to make a delicious maple toffee). We also got to wander through Old Town, sit by a massive fireplace in our hotel lounge to relax before dinner both nights, and eat in a couple of very fine restaurants.

'”What does all this have to do with Laconia, NH being the backyard to Boston, MA and finding inspiration there?” you might ask. When I eat gourmet cuisine in fine restaurants, I continually find inspiration for new raw food recipes. And although we ate like Queens in Quebec City (an 8 hour drive from Boston), I found inspiration Sunday night at Tavern 27 near Crystal’s home in Laconia (a 2 hour drive from Boston).

Tavern 27 is a tapas restaurant that strives to use local organic ingredients when possible, and they happen to make the BEST PIZZA EVER, “How Sweet It Is” -- figs, local organic spinach, fresh mozzarella, bleu cheese and local honey on sourdough crust. Yes, I eat pizza, on occasion, when I know it’s worth it. And believe me, this pizza is worth it.

It got me thinking… I‘m fairly certain I cannot successfully duplicate this pizza in raw form and have it be nearly as perfect for the palate. However, I’m also fairly certain I CAN recreate the perfect meld of flavors in a simple, scrumptious salad. When I achieve success, I’ll post the recipe. If any of you decide to play with these ingredients on your own, be certain to share your findings as well!

Augusta