Foodie BOOK CLUB and Superfood Giveaway!

Dear P&P readers…

Meet Talia.

Talia is a rad, fun-loving San Francisco dweller who enjoys baking, exercising, Disney movies, and hanging out with her awesome cat.

Now meet Julia.

Julia is an adorable East Bay resident who recently traded in the exotic life of PR for a new exotic life of law student come fall. She loves hiking, baking, and wine.

You know me already. I’m old news.

Talia, Julia, and I met at Gracias Madre, a Mexican vegan restaurant in SF’s Mission district, for food, gossip, weak margaritas, and to kick off a new exciting event in our lives.

Book club!

Sure, we all like to read, but what else are book clubs for? Making time for cool people to do cool things, or just to hang out. We all love food and cooking. So we are going to be alternating our monthly (ish) meetings with either 1. Going out to a cool SF (or even east bay… WOAH!) restaurant we haven’t tried yet, or 2. Meeting at one of our places to cook and bake. I think next up is molten chocolate lava cake. Who doesn’t like that?

I want to invite any cool 20-something female bay area residents who love food and meeting cool new women to join our book club! I’m serious. It’s not going to be a huge thing, but it’s going to be a fun thing and maybe there’s someone out there who thinks “hey that sounds fun!” If so, please leave me a comment or email me at pancakesandpostcards @ gmail dot com. Our first book is How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’Neal. Read about it here.

We are meeting on June 18^th. It’s a quick read. Let me know if you want to join us. : )

I feel like this book club of sorts will be one of many “new beginnings” for me over the next few months. But that’s for my next post!(I’m vowing to try this thing where I post more than 2x a week and the posts aren’t a bajillion pages long each. Let’s see if it works.)

Now for a review and a giveaway!

At the end of February, someone from Sun Chlorella USA emailed me and asked if I would do a review of their projects. I said yes, and then moving to San Francisco at the exact same time, this product along with one other were lost in the mail. But what has lost has been found! I finally got the products in my hands about two weeks ago and am finally posting a review now. (I received these items for free from the company, but everything written here is my own opinion.)

I had never heard of Sun Chlorella before. It’s a whole food supplement derived from Chlorella pyrenoidosa, according to the company, which is a type of algae (!) that is super nutrient dense. It has potassium, B vitamins, amino acids, and chlorophyll. I for one tend to be super skeptical of supplements. I don’t know why, but I just am—I like the idea that you can get everything you need from a healthy, well-balanced diet. But I appreciated having this product to review this week, because it made me do some research.

The company sent me a variety of products to try: tablets, granules to mix in with drink or food, and another product called Sun Eleuthero which they say gives you a boost without caffeine’s negative effects. I also received a few bags of tea and some samples of cream made with chlorophyll.

The verdict?

Interesting! They call it “nature’s perfect superfood,” and it definitely fits that in my mind. For one, it’s made of algae! Upon opening the bag of tablets, the first thought in my mind was “fish food.” The granules that dissolve in water are dark green and unless you love wheatgrass or green juices (notice I didn’t say green MONSTERS) you might be a bit turned off by it. But I’m sure there are smoothies and/or stir-frys or other dishes you could stir it into and be none the wiser.

The tablets are small and easy to take, the only issue I had with those is that they recommend a minimum of 15 a day. To me, that is a bit crazy. 15 to 45 pills a day for a voluntary thing? Perhaps this is why I’ve always stuck with just a multivitamin. The lazy girl’s supplement?

Supplements may not be my cup of tea, necessarily, but I think they are great for people who have trouble getting in the necessary intake of vitamins. Sure, in an IDEAL world we’d get everything we needed from our perfectly organic and unprocessed diets, but that just does not always happen as we know. This kind of supplement could be great for someone trying to beef up the nutrient value in their diet. My verdict: the jury is still out, but it definitely couldn’t hurt. And there’s always the placebo effect of feeling healthier, right? : ) I didn’t necessarily feel more energetic, but there’s probably a lot of external factors playing in as well.

Now you be the jury! I’ve got a pack of granules, a pack of tablets, and a pack of Sun Eleuthero (the energy one), plus some cream samples (The cream is BOMB) to give away. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post by Thursday, 5.26. I’ll send it to you and you can tell me what you think!

And I’ll also throw in some Ghiradelli chocolate from my hometown, because you know, being healthy is about moderation.

Hope everyone had a great night. Comment below to enter the giveaway, and if you’re in the area… join my book club! : )

Have you ever been in a book club? Have you read any foodie books that you would recommend?

Do you take any supplements? Why or why not?

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