We Keep Tweaking
Our Recipes A
nd
Our Business Model
Change is never easy, but without change, there can be no improvement. Around this time last year, we decided to become a "fast gourmet" restaurant rolling all the roles of service into one person per shift. A passion for Licious, live, vegan food is also expressed in our staff's great attitude and involvement at the Farmers' Markets. We've been fortunate that the right people with the right personality and attitude for the all-in-one positions, appeared when we needed them, replacing the ones whose excitement in promoting our food, withered away.
We even had a Japanese student (Riko Kato) for 3 months giving us her all. She's back in Japan and will graduate from the university next April, and hopes to come back to Greens & Vines at that time. Another Japanese "student" (Tomoyuki "Tom" Harada, not an actual student) has appeared offering his time to train in our kitchen and lend a hand at the Farmers' Market.
It's not just a fluke that these Japanese nationals have volunteered at our restaurant. I see Japan as one of the first places I will take my recipe book (translated into Kanji), doing demos, and possibly doing consulting work in creating raw, vegan, gourmet restaurants there. Already, half of the free advertising Licious Dishes, Greens & Vines has received over these past 9 years has been from Japan. I am opening my psyche to what the world can offer me for a new chapter in life of travel, demos and consulting. So by the time it happens, it's going to seem like great luck. But I believe in making my own luck. Just like I am "lucky" to have such a great kitchen staff stay with me for all these years, which will allow me to venture forward with a new chapter.
You'll also see changes in our upcoming revised Brochure. We will replace the Arugula Salad meal with our Mango-Avocado Salsa "Tostada" meal. We will tweak the Garden Taco as well. Sometimes we decide to change little things out like not including oil anymore in our Moo Shu Wraps because the Hoi Sin Sauce will break down the cabbage once combined in the wrap, so it's healthier not to have the added oil.
Some changes may also be caused by communication confusion. Like I noticed there wasn't Pesto in my Pizza Meal one week. I thought it was only for my meal until a customer mentioned that the pesto was missing from her meal as well, and also pointed out the missing oil in the Moo Shu Wrap meal. I thank you for your comments and suggestions.
That being said, I haven't had time to complete the recipe book, as I've been concentrating on spreading our roots around the island to Spread Health and make Licious Dishes Greens & Vines a lot more sustainable in return.
BLUE ZONES and
Oil-less Meals
While we do have oil-less foods available for people who are participating in the Dr. Dean Ornish program in which heart patients can claim food as medicine, I have mentioned to people that in a pinch, they can always ask for dressings and sauces on the side, and do what I learned from a Jane Fonda cookbook years ago. She recommended that just stick the tines of your fork into the sauce, then scoop up the veggies onto the fork and eat it. You will be able to lose weight, while lowering the amount of salt and oil in your food.
In addition, I describe to people adhering to the Ornish diet, that while converting cooked food to raw vegan, I found a bunch of hidden salt, oil, and garlic. In converting a Kung Pao Chicken recipe to vegan and raw, I left out the Chicken, so no need the meat, cornstarch, salt, oil, and garlic. So now, all I was left with was the veggies, the sesame oil, garlic, chili flakes and salted cashews on the side (instead of peanuts).
So when you think of it, our food only has one dose of oil, salt, and garlic. And, no processed food like cornstarch either. Also, it's a "good oil" not a cheap cooking oil. Now, when you apply the Jane Fonda fork tine technique, you don't have to sacrifice flavor for health.
