True Food Kitchen

I ate here today for lunch and had a wonderful meal.  It’s my mom’s birthday tomorrow and my sister wanted to take her out for lunch here.  The restaurant was very large and open, lots of space.  Decorated with lots of planters filled with herb and edible plants.  The bathrooms were separated into men and women’s restrooms but shared a sink area.

I started out with the Natural drink. It’s a mixture of ginger, agave syrup, and soda water.  Totally refreshing.  They do have some fruit infused water at the entrance for you to try while waiting for your table.  Today’s flavor was pear mint.

I had the mixed Autumn salad.  Lots of roasted veggies like cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes.  But the star was the pomegranate seeds and the dressings.  I asked to have all three of their salad dressings on the side and my favorite was the lemon vinaigrette.  

My parents both had meat dishes and my sis had the ravioli.  She wasn’t too impressed by the size of her dish.  It held only 5 raviolis.  The menu was clearly labeled to let you know what was vegan, vegetarian, and meat dishes were obvious.  A big plus for me.  They even had a vegan option on the kids menu.  My 3 year old had the almond butter, apple, and banana sandwich with carrot sticks.

I wish I took some pictures but of course having the kids there, I was a busy mama.  I will be back though.  A definite visit for vegans and vegetarian diners.

 

Book Review: Eat and Run

Like I said before, I love reading and thinking about becoming an ultra runner.  It just sounds so romantic.  Having a goal, communing with nature, and becoming one with pain.  Almost like giving birth.
I’ve read several books on running before.

• What I think about while running by Haruki Murakami
• Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Now… I have run a half marathon in the past but I haven’t been too consistent with fitness.  I’m trying hard and my goal is to do a long run next year.  It’s pretty hard for me to train with two little girls but I will put in an effort when they don’t need me.

Eat and Run is an interesting autobiography of Scott Jurek, ultra marathoner and vegan.  It shares his struggles and triumph growing up with a sick mother and carnivorous family.  I thought he wrote the book well and even included recipes at the end of each chapter.

I don’t think I can write anything earth shattering about the book but it really struck me how running was a journey for this man.  He had journeyed through college, the Barrancas, and Death Valley on his two feet.  Although he runs fast, he slows down to appreciate life.  As a society, humans have lost the ability to slow down and enjoy the earth.  This man enjoys the act of running and fueling his body both with his chosen activity and the food he eats.  He truly is what he eats.

I don’t think I’ll be running ultra marathons in my life but I can always take out an hour to just enjoy the earth and moving my body.  I’ve been so wired to technology for a good portion of the decade and I want to distance myself a bit from it and instead live life.  Who needs to read about or look at pictures on the internet when I could be outside breathing some fresh air and moving my body the way nature intended.  Even if you can’t run races or even run, you can do that at least once a day.  It’s good for the soul.

I am intending on getting to the gym today.  There is a strength class I want to attend this afternoon.  Today is supposed to be a scorcher.  It’s already up to the 90’s so I think spending my time exercising indoors would be prudent.  Especially since I am definitely not conditioned to outdoor exercising.

I made dinner last night for my non-vegan friend who was visiting from out of town and my parents.  Of course I used the Happy Herbivore cookbooks and we had chickpea tacos and the Southwest Chop Salad.  Both were a hit.  I also made some vegan lactation cookies and spanish rice for my daughter.  She has a thing for spanish rice.

I loved having my friend down for the weekend.  We haven’t seen each other since my wedding about 4 years ago and we hardly talk on the phone since neither one of us is a phone talker but it felt like she’d been in my life everyday.  We caught up immediately and had so much fun.  I love when someone is just “easy”.  We don’t have any pretenses or agendas.  We just really enjoy each others company.  There are several people in this world that I can do this with and I am grateful for this.

 

 

I love peanut butter!

My daughter licking a spoonful of peanut butter.  I am encouraging her to eat lots of healthy foods.  She doesn’t like peanut butter sandwiches but a spoonful she will eat:)