VeggieGirl & the City: Part I

Hello, everyone! I am back from my trip to New York City, and am quite anxious to share all of my adventures with you, right now. However, in order to avoid overwhelming you with too much information at once, I am going to blog about my trip in "parts" (with each part being a different day of my trip). So sit back, relax, and get ready to read part one of VeggieGirl & the City.


Thursday, March 20th

Normally, the sound of my alarm going off at 5:15am would not exactly bring a smile to my face (I am a morning person, but the earliest I usually rise is around 6:15am - hey, an hour does make a difference!); but this past Thursday morning marked the very beginning of my trip to New York City, so I had no trouble getting out of bed at such an early hour. With all of our bags packed and in the car, my parents and I were quite excited (despite our sleepiness) to head to the airport. But before we could leave, I had to make sure that I packed a few of these:



I had baked a batch of Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, in order to have a wholesome snack for the plane ride (and for the duration of the trip); and I baked them because we had already finished off all of those granola bars that I made earlier in the week, haha. I delivered the rest of the batch to my grandfather, so that he would have a treat to enjoy while my parents and I were away. The cookies were definitely well-received, and quite a delicious addition to our travel-bags/cargo :0)

Since our flight to NYC was delayed about an hour (due to high winds - so it was not safe to fly into the city when we were originally scheduled to do so), my parents and I had very little time to relax before truly beginning our vacation in NYC. So after checking into our hotel, and settling in for a minute (literally), we walked over to Time Warner Center (conveniently located across the street from our hotel), to check out some of the stores and to have a quick lunch. But little did I know what specific store/lunch spot was right inside the main entrance...



Whole Foods!! Even though I shop at my local Whole Foods all of the time, I was still quite elated to visit the extremely large, impressive Whole Foods in NYC (well, one of the locations - there are actually several Whole Foods locations in NYC alone).



After taking the escalator down, in order to actually venture into Whole Foods, we had lunch (courtesy of the wide variety of nutritious choices available, in the prepared foods section - you can see all of the dining tables in Whole Foods, in the above photograph), followed by a quick shopping trip (in order to stock up on fresh produce and such, to have in our hotel rooms).

Once we returned to our hotel rooms, we had exactly ten minutes before our respective appointments at the hotel's spa and fitness center. Trust me - after waking up extremely early, spending all morning sitting at the airport and on the plane, and rushing around the city as soon as we arrived, the three of us deserved to engage in some relaxing activities. While my parents enjoyed massage treatments, I decided to "relax" and unwind in one of my all-time favorite ways:



A one-hour session with a personal trainer. Pictured above, you can see me warming up on the treadmill (with my trainer, off to the side - he is a professional kick boxer!); but the majority of my workout was focused on strength-training, as well as some abdominal exercises. After my session, I left the gym feeling stronger, more energized, a little sore (haha), and ready to take on NYC! :0)

The massages and workout that my parents and I enjoyed, respectively, were perfect ways to truly begin our vacation; but we were more than ready to leave the hotel in order to walk around the city for a little while, before our dinner reservation. The weather was ideal for a late-afternoon stroll, and the city streets were bustling (no surprise there); and time seemed to fly by rather quickly - it was time to head to the restaurant for dinner, before we knew it!

After sitting in traffic for a while (our taxi driver decided to travel through Times Square, to get to the restaurant - not the quickest route to take at all, since that is where most of the traffic congestion is located at night), we finally made it to our dining destination for the evening:



We dined at Pure Food and Wine, which is an upscale, 100% raw vegan restaurant. We were all quite excited and interested in trying this restaurant, and the experience was even more fun, with a fourth "dining companion":



My parents and I had the pleasure of dining with Melissa, of The Little Runner That Could blog. Melissa has such a wonderful passion for fitness, food, and life in general - it was such a delight having the opportunity to not only meet and dine with a fellow blogger, but to make a new, lifelong friend as well. Aside from the four of us conversing, however, we of course all had a spectacular, raw-vegan meal:



My dad began his meal with a Caesar Salad, which featured hearts of romaine, nori, pignoli "parmesan," and lemon slices. "This tastes exactly like a real Caesar salad," said my dad, in between bites.



(**I apologize for such a horrible photograph! The flash button on my camera did not go off, for some reason!**) My mom ordered the Chanterelle Mushroom and Kalamata Olive Ravioli for her appetizer, which had a macadamia "cream," parsley salad, and pistachio oil. My mom could not stop raving about the "cream" sauce in this dish, and even claimed that she could "O.D. on the sauce! It's delicious! I want the recipe."



For our main entrèes, my dad and I both ordered the Zucchini and Tomato Lasagna. Between each layer of fresh zucchini and tomato, was a decadent spread of sun-dried tomato sauce, basil-pistachio pesto, and pignoli "ricotta." So rich-tasting, yet so light - definitely a sensational dish, and far superior to traditional "noodle lasagna" (in our opinions).



As a lover of Mexican and Spanish cuisine, it is no surprise that my mom ordered the White Corn Tamales for her main entrèe. Accompanying the tamales were avocado slices, a raw cacao mole/sauce, marinated mushrooms, and salsa verde. This dish was definitely a hit with my mom, and satisfied her craving for her favorite cuisine.



Last, but certainly not least, is Melissa's dinner of choice: the S & M Salad. This dish is far from being an average salad - piled high upon a bed of leafy greens was a generous mixture of avocado slices, dulse, hemp seeds, rosemary crackers, and an argan-lemon dressing. Talk about a "lively," flavorful salad!

There was no way that we were going to venture to Pure Food and Wine and not have dessert, so each of us indulged in some raw sweet treats: Melissa and my dad each ordered the Flourless Chocolate Cake with 'Milk' Chocolate Ice 'Cream' (my dad still cannot believe, to this day, that there was no dairy in the ice 'cream' or cake, haha); my mom ordered the Tiramisu; I ordered the Classic Sundae (which featured chocolate and vanilla ice 'cream,' candied almonds, banana slices, whipped 'cream,'and cherry framboise), and then an Apple Beignet dessert for everyone to share (in addition to getting a taste of all of the other desserts that we ordered, haha).

Now I am sure that you are wondering where the photographs are, of these mouth-watering, mind-blowingly delicious raw desserts - well, the truth is, everyone at the table forgot about taking photographs of the desserts, before beginning to eat! Talk about a bad time to be forgetful, haha. Ahh, if only you could see (and taste) just how impeccable these desserts were - I guess you will just have to go to Pure Food and Wine, and experience these delicacies yourself ;0) And just for the record, the chocolate ice 'cream' that I devoured, in my sundae, has caused me to expand my "no chocolate rule" to include raw cacao - yes, it is true! But I am still primarily a carob-lover, haha.

As if the evening could not have been any more enjoyable, I was fortunate enough to get to chat with Sarma Melngailis, who is the co-founder of Pure Food and Wine, owner of One Lucky Duck, and co-author of Raw Food Real World . She even signed my copy of the book!! It was so nice to find out that Sarma is as lovely, friendly, real (and gorgeous!) in person as she seems to be in her book and on her blog.

After being awake and on-the-go for about eighteen hours, I had absolutely no difficultly falling asleep on Thursday night - which was a good thing, considering I wanted to be alert and energized for the remaining days of my trip to NYC! As you can see, my parents and I had a fun-filled Thursday/first day of our vacation - stay tuned for the remaining parts of the VeggieGirl & the City series :0)