This was a powerful performance by Scott of ScottSongs.com on the playful and empowering ability to be at the source of your experience at our San Rafael cafe.  Check him out!

There are plenty of miracles happening every day, and I would love to share some ways that you can keep in the flow of knowing!

Here are some amazing miracles that have happened this month:

Jon Bon Jovi Opens 'Pay What You Can' Community Soul Kitchen - Need a meal?  Need a job? Visit 'Soul Kitchen in Redbank, NJ.

Chaya Ryvka is a raw food Chef, and most well known as a gourmet raw food Pastry Chef. Chaya Ryvka’s five star desserts have attracted students from around the globe, and brought her to cater events like the wedding cakes for Angela Stokes and Matt Monarch's RAW union wedding festival. Chaya-Ryvka’s extensive raw food training includes many years spent as Master Raw Food Chef Elaina Love’s personal assistant, and working for years as a pastry chef, and bakery supervisor for Cafe Gratitude. She is now the director of The Living Vision where she does raw dessert catering, cleansing and kitchen consultation, and private and group classes.  Scroll down to find out about the Holiday Dessert Classes she will be teaching at Cafe Gratitude this December!

How did you find raw food?

Café Gratitude’s new menu hits our stores today, and what better way to close up shop than to bring back some of our favorite items from times past.  Here’s a rundown of the changes:

Some of my favorite raw entrees are back on the menu – ‘I am Terrific’ Pad Thai sports a complex palate of basil, mint, and scallions over a bed of crunchy noodles and greens in a creamy almond thai sauce.  This dish is easily my favorite special of all time, and one I won’t soon forget.  ‘I am Giving’ Kale Salad also returns, and with a bold ginger tanini dressing that definitely outdoes its predecessor.

Greetings! My name is Shoshana Frumkin, and I have been committed to health, healing and transformation most of my life. What drives me is a deep desire for us to heal our wounds together, recover our connection to the power of love, healing our hearts and health while enjoying meaningful connection and taking care of our planet.

Tis the season for colder nights, extra hot tea in the morning, and wearing a scarf just for good measure before venturing out into the elements. It’s almost Winter and if the weather doesn’t give you that impression, your garden will. Now is the time for plants to start winding down, grounding into the earth a bit more, and for buds to go to sleep rather than bloom. As a gardener, I mourn my roses, calendula and lavender this time of year. I’m so fortunate to be able to go out and pick flowers most of the year - for baths, salads and tea making, but when it ceases in the winter it can be a bit rough to take. One thing that gets me through this horticultural lull, is by bringing the nature that is left this time of year indoors for some at-home apothecarian projects. Our skin is our largest organ, absorbing so much throughout the day and night - and this time of year is important to nourish it as much as possible. Crafting your own organic, botanically infused bath and beauty products can be easy and a great way to ward off the dehydration caused by the cold and rough skin this chilly season can induce.
Here is one recipe that motivated me to start my organic bath/beauty line, Garden Apothecary (www.gardenapothecary.etsy.com). Projects like this inspire me to create healing treatments for my customers, using organic, whole botanicals. Try this one for yourself:

Honey Mask -
Ingredients: -Raw, local honey (you can find at a farmer’s market or local natural food store).
-Petals (this time of year try using any left over geranium, pansy or marigold petals) 1. Take about 3 tbsp of honey and about 2 flower heads of petals, and emulsify together in your hands. The mixture will be tacky at first, quickly becoming soft and creamy with the heat of your finger tips. 2. Apply to your freshly washed face and neck. 3. Let sit for about 30 minutes. The honey mask will never dry, but will warm up from your body heat, allowing your skin to absorb the nutrients from the petals and honey.
4. With warm water, wash the mask off your face and neck, and pat dry with a soft towel. You face will feel incredibly clean and fresh!

*To really indulge your skin, apply the honey/petal mask above, then shower your face, neck and hair with Garden Apothecary’s organic rose water refresher - this can be found at any Cafe Gratitude store or online (www.gardenapothecary.etsy.com).
This post is brought to you by Jenn of Dirty Girl Gardening.

Anne Kubitsky has a vision.  In a country with a tanking economy, a discouraging political situation, and escalating national protests, she has become a leader in the awakening of gratitude.  The ‘Look For The Good Project’ is a community art project that encourages people (like you!) to share little bits of what they are grateful for, via postcard, in an online art gallery.

“Why not offer people a chance to pause and reflect on something that

ReadyMade is a book – but not just that. It’s a DIY bible that grew up reading popular science as a kid, and now has a collegial 50’s garage tinkerer sensibility.  It launches with fiery trails. It soars. When it falls, it brushes itself off and starts over. It is the Captain of Creativity. Resistance is futile. This book is 100% hope.

Shoshana Berger came up with the idea for ReadyMade Magazine in 2000.  At a time when no one was launching a magazine with less than $5 million to invest, she decided to take a more DIY approach.  After all, that’s what they would be writing about, creating things yourself instead of buying them.  For two years, she and her partner, Grace Hawthorne, worked on a small budget, starting from scratch and learning the intricacies of the magazine business as they went. They did everything themselves – from conceiving and proofing every document that went out the door, to taking out the trash. Three years and many interns later, they were able to start paying themselves, and were the official editors of a widely regarded magazine.

It isn’t every day that you hear great music with a real message.  I mean, not everyone is John Lennon or Bob Marley – right? 

That’s what I thought, but I had to think again when Erin Ross introduced me to Luminaries, a Venice based consciousness-expanding Hip Hop group whose history as teachers, social workers, activists, MCs, and instruments of service informs their music and their message.  These are not just incredible musicians, but messengers of hope, whose song titles on their debut album, “One,” read like a list of mantras: “Everything is One,” “Only Love,” “Show the World,” “Peace” and “Be the Change.”

Healdsburg locals, Pam Bell and Jim Willis have come together  to present ‘The Nand Collection,’ a display of one man’s collection of rare and antique Himalayan art and antiquities.  This exhibit runs through the end of October, and I assure you that it is not an opportunity to be missed!

Rama Tirwani is a collector, publisher, and the owner of ‘Pilgrims Book Store’ of Kathmandu, Delhi and Varanassi .  His 35-year journey of buying and selling rare books has yielded much more than words on a page.  He possesses an immense collection of rare art and artifacts – the likes of which grace only a few museums on this side of the Atlantic.