eat; eatpinklove meets kumquat kitchen

I had the absolute pleasure of spending the day in Megan Davis' Kumquat Kitchen on Thursday gone by. She was introduced to me by my housemate Natalie, who has insisted for a long time we must meet. And it was a meeting made in eating heaven! We talked about our upbringings and the similar focus on foods our families shared. She even told me a cute story of her mum finding one her most favourite books from childhood called Old Witch And The Polka-Dot Ribbon, which she realised had a recipe in the back, thus discovering her love of cooking starting as a child.

Some of Megans books

Megan is a thirty-something woman based in Los Angeles who lives with her cat Henri and dogs Charlie and Bella (the dogs belong to her housemate) and runs her business from home. She has a commercial kitchen set up in her house which has a surprisingly warm, rustic, homely feel to it. The afternoon sun poured in through the curtains over the kitchen sink, flooding the room with a warm orange glow. Oh how I do miss having a kitchen window facing west!

Megan has a long history of managing restaurants within the U.S.A and Europe and her background within the food industry has allowed her to create a successful business of her own and the freedom to express herself through her food.

In this photo,  Megan is spreading the raw Zucchini Bread onto a ParaFlexx sheet, especially designed to dehydrate 'wet' mixtures. The Zucchini Bread will take up to 24 hours to dehydrate.

Kumquat Kitchen pantry

Kumquat Kitchen works to service clients on a daily basis with special needs diets, busy people who want a healthy meal option or people who simply want to lose weight. She is a personal chef to the stars and the wanna be stars here in L.A. But Megan's passion really shows when she talks about creating themed dinner parties for her clients who are celebrating a special event in their lives. She told me she meets with her clients to get an overview of who they are and then creates a 'portrait menu' of their lives. Through several courses and wine matching,  Megan creates an 'image' of the hosts  through food, for the guests to enjoy.

Even though Megan herself is an omnivore, she really does appreciate a good raw vegan meal (and can prepare an amazing raw dish or three!). Her website has a link to her own blog where her goal is to educate people about nutrition and health, food combining and natural remedies. Check it out here.

Bits and pieces on the shelf

BLT with a bite out of it!

So what does an amateur home cook and a nutritionist chief do when they get together? Why, cook and eat of course! Megan was starting to make a few things for an event on Saturday held at the Hollywood Towers, to promote her business to new clients. We made a Raw Mexican Chili, individual servings of Raw Spinach Quiche, Raw Fennel Soup, got some eggplant marinating to dehydrate into Eggplant 'Bacon' and a Raw Zucchini Bread to make BLTs. I sampled EVERYTHING and we ate  Fennel Soup and a BLT sandwich for lunch. I almost forgot to take a photo of the sandwich as Megan talked it up so much that I couldn't wait to bite into it! OMG!!! It was HEAVEN! (I hope you sung the word 'heaven', lol!)

Mexican Chili Mix 1 & 2, Raw Zucchini bread, three bowls of marinating amazingness, Raw Fennel Soup, Eggplant marinating

Below is the recipe for the yummy fennel soup we made. It is light and fresh yet creamy and filling. I'm planning on spending a day a week with Megan at Kumquat Kitchen until I leave this fine city for a return trip home to Australia at the end of March. But have no fear Angelinos, I will be back! In the meantime, I will post up some of the recipes I make with Megan over the coming months.


Raw Fennel Soup
Serves 4

What you need;
2 fennel bulbs
1 avocado
1 can full fat coconut milk
1 jalapeno, de-seeded
1 green apple
1/2 red onion
a good handfull of fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste

Simply blend everything up until its all smooth and lush and serve with a sprig of the fennel fern. YUM!

Buon Apettito!