Some of you have noticed that we've seemed a bit silent, or asleep, here at Pure Jeevan. We haven't abandoned our blog or our readers, though! For the next two weeks, it may continue to look like we are sleeping, but in reality we are doing anything but that! :-)

Here are some pictures of some recent meals we've been testing in our kitchen...

Daikon Soup, slightly altered from a recipe by Terilynn.

Nori wraps with an Asian salad.

Corn salad, based on Matt Amsden's recipe in RAWvolution.

Pasta sampler (beet pasta with alfredo sauce, zucchini pasta

with alfredo sauce and 'meat'ball, carrot pasta with pesto sauce).

KDcat's ice cream sundae creation. KDcat is going to

officially be a teenager one week from today! EEK! ;-)

Pineapple Coconut Pudding, slightly altered from a recipe written

by Joy Naseath, who is currently building her

JoysTeaSpot.com site that will be launched later this year.

By now you're probably tired of hearing about the 3-Day Raw Food Spiritual Ashram Retreat that we've organized, so I won't bore you with all of the details. This is one of the final two weeks before the retreat takes place, so I am extremely busy with final preparations.

This is the first event I've ever organized, and it's A LOT of work! Not only is it work, it's costing me an unexpected amount of money. Remember just two sentences ago I said this is the first event I've ever organized? Well, that should explain a lot (the amount of time I've put into the event, my expense, the mixture of excitement and stress all wrapped together, etc.). I'm not complaining, however! I'm just surprised at all that goes into creating an event like this. I'm dedicated to making this retreat amazing for those attending, so that's why it's not an easy thing to just throw together. I like the small details, as well as the larger ones, when it comes to pampering others. I'm learning a lot, meeting some really sweet people, and familiarizing others with the Peaceful Valley Ashram (which is new, so not a lot of people know about it, yet).

This week, we're finishing up the bound materials that will go home with each person attending the retreat, I've purchased the gift baskets, all of the raw food treat donations have arrived, I've completed the menu and most of the food sampling (my family has been loving this part of the process), the produce and food supplies have been ordered, and Leela Mata has returned from Germany just in time to prepare the ashram for the guests.

So, although it seems like we are sleeping, you can see that we are quite busy. ;-)? I hope you'll stick with us during this time of near silence. We'll be back after the retreat with some after thoughts on organizing such an event, along with pictures. Then we'll be back on schedule with our regular features here on the blog.

Thanks for visiting and reading our blog! It means so much to me!

Lots of love to all of you!

Wendi

XOXOXO?