HEALTHY TRAVEL REVIEW: Santa Monica, California

My kids and I were headed to Southern California for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it was going to be a beautiful, sunny week, and I really wanted to stay on the beach. So I did a lot of research on hotels and wasn’t surprised to find they were all very expensive. Malibu Beach Inn was my first choice but their prices were way out of my budget, with rooms starting at $425 and went up to over $1000 a night. I’d love it but not a reality, nor does it seem worth it. So I checked out several of the nicer resort hotels on the beach in Santa Monica. They too were very expensive, but their prices started at $250.00 so we were getting closer to something possible (yet still a splurge). I have always loved the Loews Beach Hotel. I was in a wedding there years ago, and I remember how light and cheery the hotel is and it is ocean front, so it was my first choice. When I checked their website I found out they were renovating their lovely pool, and room prices were a bit lower than usual. So I booked it for 3 nights. A week later, they had a special on Travel Zoo (my favorite travel deal website), so I re-booked at an even lower price!

Loews Beach Hotel

You can beat watching the sunset over the ocean
from your own balcony!

We arrived at the Loews Beach Hotel on Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. The lobby was light and airy as I remembered it and there was a VERY cool real time video  screen of the beach that fills the wall behind the front desk. Nice. 

Loved the real time screen behind the front desk when checking in

Upon c heck-in, we were greeted by Michele, who was cheery and efficient and she kindly upgraded us to an ocean front view room. WE WERE VERY EXCITED!  Our room was on the 5th floor and the view was beautiful….EXCEPT it overlooked the construction crews working on the remodel of the swimming pool area. That was kind of a drag. Also, the noise from the jackhammers during the pool remodel were unnerving, but I knew they would quit by 5:00pm. and I really looked forward to the days end when it was quiet and I could look out at the sunset over the ocean. 

Beautiful view from our room
(if you don't look down at the pool construction!)

The room was great with 2 very comfy double beds, and the bathroom was to die for! There was a beautiful deep bathtub, that I took full advantage of every night! I always bring some Epsom Salts when I travel so I can soak out the stress of long and stressful travel days, if there is a nice tub in the hotel room, which there certainly was here! 

I couldn't resist this lovely, deep tub!

The shower was nice and roomy and in a separate little room from the sink and tub. The GREATEST thing was there was a little TV in the bathroom, that faced the sink and the tub! It was fabulous relaxing in the tub at night watching my a fav show on TV, and my kids loved getting ready in the morning and watching something while brushing their teeth. It was really fun. 

Watching "Hawaii 5-0 while brushing my teeth!

There is no fridge in the room but I requested one and they brought one up for us to use free of charge for the week. On the way to the hotel from the airport, we stopped at Whole Foods Market and got some healthy treats for a quick breakfast snack, so we could relax in the room in the morning, and didn't have to rush out too early in the morning because we were hungry. They also had a Kerig Coffee Maker, which I know isn’t very "green" because of the plastic waste of all the pods, but I found it a bit more convenient and sanitary than a regular hotel coffee maker. Hotel coffee makers are usually pretty nasty and the pot always has a strong coffee smell and taste. It was really nice to have the nice Kerig machine. I don’t drink coffee so the staff brought up several green tea pods for me and I enjoyed them all week long. The hotel was perfectly located ocean front at a nice beach and also walking distance, to the Santa Monica Promenade, lots of nice restaurants, shopping, movie theaters and the Santa Monica Pier. We didn’t have a car and didn’t need one. That was a plus on the “green/eco-friendly” scale. The bath products were sadly low-end and I’d love to see them upgrade sometime soon to Aveda Products or something a little more natural and eco-friendly. The housekeeping staff and concierge were very helpful, friendly and efficient. 

As far as eco-friendly practices, the Loews website states that they use environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, practice trash recycling as well as several other green initiatives. I didn’t see any evidence of this but you should check out their “green” initiatives on their website: http://www.loewshotels.com/loews-initiatives-en

Real Food Daily

In the 1990s, when I worked in Malibu, my favorite vegan/macrobiotic restaurant was Real Food Daily in Santa Monica, and I went there often. So for our first night in Santa Monica, we went there for dinner. Real Food Daily started as a small macrobiotic-friendly restaurant in the early 1990s and still has many macro dishes on the menu. They have expanded the restaurant since then, so now it is twice as big as before, they have also raised their prices, and have added a vegan bakery on-site. Their menu is a little more mainstream than the old macrobiotic menu from a few decades ago, but everything on the menu is vegan and a lot is organic. They have daily specials that are always fresh and tasty. My old favorite though, is the Basic 2,3,4, or 5 where you pick 2,3,4 or 5 different items from a long list of choices to create your own balanced plate. There is a list of grains, beans, proteins, greens, pressed salads and house-made dressings. The house dressing is my absolute favorite and I wish they sold it in a bottle so I could take it home! I ordered the tempeh, greens (collards that night), and rice. My son had the basic two with mashed potatoes and tofu (the white plate!). My other son ordered a special, a seitan club sandwich that he said was tasty and filling. Both my sons ordered a milkshake, one vanilla one strawberry, that they both liked at first but eventually started to have a bad aftertaste and neither of them finished it. The milkshakes are made with Hemp Milk, and if you are not used to the aftertaste, it may not be the right choice for you. I ordered a fresh carrot/orange juice, which was room temperature, which is a little off-putting, but still tasted good. We couldn’t miss out on dessert, which, of course, are all vegan, so we ordered a few to share. One slice of coconut pie, chocolate tofu mousse with cashew creme (a nice version of whipped cream, but thicker and vegan), and a chocolate chip cookie, all which were very nice. The food is always good but I find that it is way overpriced now, but for a splurge and a nice, healthy, vegan meal, you can’t go wrong.

BTW, The Real Food Daily Cookbook is my go-to vegan cookbook, and I love every recipe! I got a signed copy at the restaurant when the book came out but you can get one on Amazon.com, of course

All vegan cookbook.
Some of my favorite recipes are the Tortilla Soup,
Corn and Bean Salad, and the BEST chocolate chip cookies!

and I just heard that Ann Gentry, the owner of Real Food Daily and author of the book, has just written another cookbook that is available now. I'm going to get one for sure!

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Food-Everyone-Vegan-Friendly-Meat-Lovers/dp/1449466532/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424845842&sr=8-2&keywords=real+food+daily

Another exciting tidbit... Real Food Daily is the first vegan organic restaurant to open a place at the Los Angeles Airpor!t (or any American Airport as far as I know!) YAY, for healthy airport food! I haven’t tried it yet, but the next time I am in Terminal 4 at LAX, that is my first stop!

Real Food Daily

514-516 Santa Monica Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA  90401

(310) 451-7154

Back on the Beach

Back on the Beach is wonderful for breakfast or lunch. It is located
right on Santa Monica Beach and serves fresh, healthy food.

Our first morning in Santa Monica was a warm, clear and beautiful beach day! We were so lucky to be staying on the beach!  I really wanted to have a walk on the beach and my kids were really hungry for breakfast, so we decided to combine the two and have a nice walk along the water down to Back on the Beach. Back on the Beach is a lovely restaurant right on the beach in Santa Monica, and one of my favorite places.  My family from all over California used to gather here every year to celebrate the winter holidays and we would have a lovely brunch together before we opened presents and then had a winter-time walk on the beach together. So I was anxious to take my kids here during our visit and I’m so glad I did! It was wonderful! The walk from the Loews Beach Hotel to Back on the Beach took about 25-30 minutes, but what a lovely walk it was. 

A lovely walk to the restaurant and you can't beat the view!

You could rent a bike at the hotel and bike down to the Cafe, which would get you there in half the time, but I was anxious to sink my feet into the sand and feel the ocean and enjoy every minute of the beach walk on a warm, fall day, so we meandered up to the Cafe! We arrived around noon and were seated right away. We decided to eat inside by a window rather than at one of the outdoor tables because, believe it or not, it was quite hot!- and we thought we would be more comfy indoors. 

There is plenty of outdoor seating at Back to the Beach

I was ready for lunch so I ordered the beet and black bean burger, which came with cashew cheese and smoked ketchup. Yum! My sons both had egg dishes, one a cheese omelette and the other had a “make your own scramble”, where you pick from a wide variety of veggies, cheeses, and herbs to put in your scramble to make it the way you want it. They both had smoothies too, which were a big hit. We all had a great meal. BOTB is NOT a vegetarian cafe, they have several meat dishes (grass fed beef, cage free eggs and Mary’s free range chicken), but they have a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan dishes and their cooking is clean and fresh. We loved it!

Back on the Beach is a certified green business in Santa Monica, CA

Back on the Beach

445 Pacific Coast Highway

Santa Monica, CA 90402

310 393—8282

STAYING STRESS FREE: Walking or Biking

Palisades Park is great for walking during the day

Exercise to stay healthy and stress free. Beach Bike path from our hotel runs for miles up and down the coast and it is a wonderful way to get in some exercise and take in the spectacular view at the same time. If you want to get your feet wet, you can stroll along the sand instead. If you don’t want to get your feet wet, or dodge bike riders on the path, there is a lovely walking path above the cliffs in Palisades Park, right on Ocean Avenue. The windy path goes through a grassy, well-maintained park that overlooks the Pacific, with beach access (steps and bridges) in a few places, and plenty of benches to sit and watch the sunset. Be warned that Palisades Park has a fair amount of homeless people, but is patrolled regularly by SMPD on foot, on bikes, and in patrol cars.

PF Changs

PF Changs is my favorite chain Asian Restaurant, and always one of our fav restaurants to go to when we travel.  Their food is consistently tasty and fresh, and they offer a wide variety of vegan and vegetarian items. They even have a Vegetarian menu.  So it was definitely on our list of places to eat, during this trip. We headed to the PF Changs in Santa Monica for dinner our second night. It is walkable from our hotel, but a good 15-20 minute walk. The route to/from the restaurant goes through the Santa Monica Promenade, so it is a fun, busy and entertaining walk.  This PF Changs is always very crowded but we were lucky and were seated right away. We ordered some hot tea, veggie dumplings and edamame to start. There were four of us for dinner so we then ordered the Buddha’s Feast with baked tofu and mixed veggies, Ma Po Tofu with steamed broccoli, veg sauce, ginger and chili paste (it’s a little HOT), vegetarian fried rice, a side of garlic spinach and a side of green beans.

Ma Po Tofu with broccoli is one of our favorite dishes

  All were hot (temperature hot!), tasty and reasonably priced. You can’t go wrong here, especially if you are vegetarian and looking for a nice, healthy meal when dining out. YUM!

P.F. Changs

326 Wilshire Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA  90401

(310) 395-1912

❀❀ Bach Flower Remedies for Travel ❀❀

I LOVE Bach Flower Remedies. They are easy to use and a wonderful boost to emotional health. They are the perfect, natural remedy to take with you when traveling.  

♥︎

A LITTLE ABOUT BACH FLOWER REMEDIES:
Dr. Edward Bach (1886-1936) was a British Physician and Homeopath who believed that mental health and attitude played an important role in one's overall good health and well-being. Although trained as a conventional doctor, he became increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations of orthodox medicine and it's focus on curing symptoms, rather than the underlying cause of problems and illnesses. In 1919-1922, while working as a pathologist and bacteriologist in London, he met Samuel Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy, and was inspired to find a way to heal patients emotional health using flower essences. He discovered 38 essences, plus Rescue Remedy, all of which are designed to help cope with  difficult life situations, such as anxiety, depression, and trauma and are not designed to suppress negative thoughts but to transform them into positive ones, stimulating one's own self-healing. They are completely safe, have no side effects and there are no restrictions as to who can take them.  I love them!
♥︎♥︎

Here are a few of my favorite BACH FLOWER REMEDIES for traveling:

SWEET CHESTNUT

For stress and sadness, especially if you are separating from a loved one. Also a very good remedy if you are attending a funeral, memorial service, or are in any state of bereavement.

♥︎

IMPATIENS:  

The name says it all, this is perfect for impatience. Waiting in a long line at an airport, hassles going through security, missed a connection, flight delays, stuck in traffic. This remedy will give you the extra patience you need and lower your stress level. If you are easily irritated, get annoyed when something isn't done instantly or correctly to your standards, or often fidgety, this remedy is for you.

♥︎

WHITE CHESTNUT

If you are concerned for the safety and well-being of a loved one, this is a wonderful. I tend to often worry about my children's safety, health, and happiness while traveling. This is one of my favorites.


ASPEN

This is a great remedy for those who are worried and have fears but are not sure why or what exactly they fear. Sometimes when I travel, I am worried about something...but don't really know what or why. Where is my passport? Did I forget something? Is this area/town safe? This is perfect to help ease that stress.

RESCUE REMEDY

This one is a staple. A great remedy for stress and sudden changes. My homeopath recommended 10 drops in a large water bottle and sip it slowly throughout the day or evening during travel. 

♥︎♥︎

DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
Rescue Remedy: Put 4 drops on your tongue and swish around for immediate relief from an acute stressful situation. Place 4-6 drops of RR in 8oz of water and sip throughout the day for on-going stress or trauma.
Bach Flower Essences: Put two drops directly on the tongue and swish around and/or 2 drops in 8oz or more of water to sip at intervals throughout the day.

I will add to this post all the time and cover most of the essences and how they are best used.

HEALTHY TRAVEL REVIEW: San Francisco

My girlfriend and I and our kids like take a few days away together around New Year’s. This year we went to San Francisco. It’s a nice time to visit the city since a lot of the Holiday crowds have died down and often (although not this year) hotels have some discount prices. Around New Year there is still holiday decorations up, after-Christmas sales, and a festive atmosphere everywhere.

Triton Hotel

Many years ago, when the Triton Hotel first opened, it was a hip, modern boutique hotel. I stayed there while on a work trip to San Francisco once and thought it was wildly different and unique. 

Triton Hotel lobby years ago

It is conveniently located in front of the gate to Chinatown, and walking distance to Union Square, and loads of restaurants, shopping, and the Powell Street cable car. It’s a perfect location. Recently, Kimpton Hotels bought the Triton. Kimpton Hotels were one of the first Hotel Chain companies to boast that their hotels are “green”, and they still maintain that ideal. Their website states that they use non-toxic cleaning supplies, recycle, serve only organic coffee, and also give $10.00 of your room fee to the Nature Conservancy. I did not see any evidence of any of this during this visit because I didn’t see the housekeeping cart nor do I drink coffee, so I can’t verify either way, but you should check them out via their website: https://www.kimptonhotels.com/kimpton-cares/environment 

🍂

So, I love that the Triton is now a Kimpton Hotel. Years back, I used to try to stay at Kimpton Hotels whenever possible because of their green initiatives, but their hotel room rates have gone up so much, I haven’t been able to stay at a Kimpton in quite awhile. Another thing I remember about Kimpton Hotels years ago is that they were very kid-friendly. When my kids were little we would check into a Kimpton Hotel and right away the front desk person or concierge would give them each a little drawstring backpack with toys, crayons, playing cards, and snacks inside. They loved it. So when my friend said she wanted to stay at the Triton this trip, I said SURE. My kids are teenagers now, but Kimpton still says they have something special upon arrival for every age! We looked forward to it! Triton’s room rates were fairly high, around $160-$180 for a small room with 2 double beds, certainly no deal, but my friend really wanted to stay there so we reserved 2 rooms for the 6 of us.

🍂

We arrived at the Triton just after check-in time at 3:00p.m. and there was no street parking available, even to pull over, so my friend dropped me off quickly and I ran inside to check-in while she and the kids drove around the block until a spot turned up. There was one person in front of me checking in at the front desk and when it was my turn to check in, there was some confusion with the rooms (two rooms, two different prices…) and it took quite a while to straighten out. I asked for a quiet room, as I always do when traveling, and she ended up trying to check us into rooms that were already occupied!  Not good. Also, when I asked her about any “special gifts for kids” that Kimpton offers, she had no clue about it. Frustrating. While she was trying to straighten out our rooms I asked her for a dinner recommenation for a vegetarian friendly restaurant on the healthy side. This was San Francisco, after all, and I know they are known for their wide variety of vegan, vegetarian, and healthy food places. She sadly recommend a diner down the street, that was very well known but didn’t have anything close to healthy or vegan, since it was an old-fashioned diner. Lovely and retro but not the place to go for what we were looking for. I decided this front desk girl was not the best person to help us out with this, so I just waited until she tried to find us a room. But…the day was saved when she ended her shift “mid-check-in”, and handed us off to Jason, another front desk person. 

🍂

Jason found us two rooms right away, on the fourth floor facing the street (FYI: rooms facing the alley are much more noisy, since garbage trucks come daily at the crack of dawn to pick up the trash for the surrounding restaurants, etc). I mentioned the special Kimpton surprises for kids and he promised to bring us up some “treats” for the kids and gave us a $10.00 credit toward anything in the mini-bar. Yay Jason! As I mentioned before, The Triton has always been known as a funky, hip, modern hotel and it hasn’t really changed much, even though it is a Kimpton Hotel now. We checked into our rooms and found the furnishings were fun and different.

double beds

coat hooks between the beds...an odd place for them.. 

cute retro bench

 The mini-bar was stocked with the usual fare as well as some new, fun and hilarious items such as condoms, aspirin, and rubber ducks! 

The room was small, as I expected, but fine for us and it wasn’t long before Jason brought up a tray full of treats as promised.

Our treats from Jason

That was really great. Nice customer service. There were a few downsides to staying in a funky hotel room. The view of the street was nice enough, but the windows had shutters, which looked cute but didn’t cut out the light in the morning as much as I would have liked. Also, I got really cold in the middle of the night. When I ran over to the closet to look for a blanket on the shelf where most hotels keep extra blankets and pillows for guests, I didn’t find any blankets or pillows, but I did find a yoga mat. Yeah, it’s THAT kind of hotel. But it was perfect for what we needed and I would recommend it for the location and their green practices. Ask for Jason.

See my review of the TRITON HOTEL on Trip Advisor under HealthyGypsyTraveller

Triton Hotel

342 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94108

(415) 394-0500

🍂🍂

METERON

After settling into out hotel room we headed out to see a movie at the METERON, a huge multiplex with 16 movie theaters just south of Market, which was about a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel. The theater is very large, crowded and confusing, and there is a bit of a walk from the theaters to the concession stand.  Concessions offered the usual food fare and when I asked how their popcorn was made, they said that it was indeed vegan and they used Orville Redenbacher brand popcorn, which they pop on site, and instead of butter, they offer a popcorn topping that is butter flavored and made from soy bean oil. A large tub costs $6.75.

AMC Meteron Multiplex

35 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

(415) 369-6000

🍂

After the movie we were all starving for dinner, so we took a look at Trip Advisor for veg-friendly restaurants near our hotel. (HappyCow is a great site for finding veg-friendly restaurants, but I find it is often limited. Trip Advisor works better for me) I thought we would try E&O Kitchen for dinner since it was very near our hotel and served Asian Fusion fare, which is usually very vegetarian-friendly and kid friendly, and it had excellent reviews. We walked over to E&O and, since it was a Friday night, the place was packed. The hostess took our name and cell phone number and said she would phone us when our table was ready or a place opened up at the bar. She figured about 45 minutes to 1 hour. We were all so very hungry so we walked around a bit to take our mind off our hunger and, well, basically, I’m still waiting for them to call! They never did!  

So after 45 minutes, I gave in to a unanimous vote to go to California Pizza Kitchen (more on E&O Kitchen later!)

🍂

CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN

My kids love CPKs and it is our old stand-by whenever we travel, but since I eat a HEALTHY plant-based diet, I’ve always struggled finding healthy, vegan options on the menu. To make matters worse, in the past few years, CPK has taken the few healthy, veg. items I really liked off of the menu, such as the Asparagus Soup and the Broccoli Fusilli, so I was not looking forward to dinner there, but I was pleasantly surprised! The restaurant had not wait, although they were busy, and we were shown a table right away. For appitizers/starters there was a nice hummus plate, a lovely healthy vegan option for me, and the others ordered a variety of flatbreads, spinach and mushroom was a favorite. For the main course, the kids, all ordered vegetarian pizzas, of which they had a great selection, plus gluten-free pizzas and extra thin and crispy crust pizzas. They were all thrilled. The next quest was finding something vegan. I am not a big fan of salads but they had 2 nice, new hearty salads, Asparagus and Arugula Salad, and Quinoa and Arugula Salad. I tried the Asparagus and Arugula which had toasted almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh shaved parmesan cheese. I shared it with my vegetarian friend, who loves cheese, and it was easy to take the thin cheese slices off my portion of the salad to give to her to make mine vegan, and hers vegetarian. If I was having it for myself, I would have asked them to substitute the cheese for avocado. They are VERY accommodating about substitutions. My girlfriend ordered the Thai Crunch Salad for us to share, which comes with chicken but we asked for avocado instead. It also comes with edamame and crispy rice noodles on it, as well as peanuts and a peanut dressing.  I don’t eat non-organic peanuts (do you know non-organic peanuts are one of the most toxin-laden foods? ♥︎♥︎ see below…) but it was easy to leave them off my side, and I asked for a different dressing for me. They brought both dressings on the side. Perfect. My kids and I also had the lemonade, which came in a variety of flavors. My son had the raspberry lemonade and I had the peach lemonade. I’m sure it’s made with not-so-healthy flavored syrups but it was fun to try. Refills were free. I will definitely go back to CPKs again.

California Pizza Kitchen

53 Third Street

San Francisco, CA  94103

(415) 278-0443

A LITTLE ABOUT NON-ORGANIC PEANUTS:

♥︎♥︎ One of my very favorite books of all time is called: “ Diet for a Poisoned Planet: How to Choose Safe Foods for You and Your Family” by David Steinman. It was my “food bible” for many years back in the 1990s when I became vegan (from a vegetarian diet). In the book, Mr. Steinman, who grew up in Southern California where I did, discusses what pesticides and toxic residues are found in a huge array of foods, then rates all food by three colors (like a traffic light). Green Foods, which are fairly non-toxic/low pesticides, Yellow Foods, which has some toxic/pesticide issues, so recommended to eat infrequently, and lastly the Red Foods, which are the most toxic and pesticide laden of all, and recommended to not eat. In the book, peanuts are listed as one of the few RED foods. Here is what it states:  

“Peanuts take the grand prize for the most pesticide-saturated food in the American diet based on results from the Total Diet Study. Peanuts had 183 residues in sixteen samples, representing 17 different formulations on their environment metabolites. Most frequently detected pesticides were chlorpyrifos, diazinon, dicloran, dieldrin, phonons, HCB, Malathion, pentachloroaniline, penta, quintozene, tecnazene, and toxaphene. Less frequently detected were BHC, chlorpropham, DDT, heptachlor, and tetrachlorobenzenes. Eating an average of slightly less than 2 ounces of dry-roasted peanuts a day over a lifetime would result in a risk of as many as twenty excess cancers in one million persons. A naturally occurring carcinogenic mold, aflatoxin, grows on peanuts, adding to the potential risk of this food. Look for organic brands that are sun-dried in the field to prevent aflatoxin growth. Arrowhead Mills organic peanut butter is made with peanuts dried this way.”  

P.S. This book is fantastic and was my 

“food bible” for many years. I love it! Read it!

🍂

CAFFE PRESSE

Right next door to the Triton Hotel, was Caffe Presse. The front desk girl at the Triton recommended it for breakfast when I asked them for a healthy-type restaurant with veg options recommendation (and you remember how accurate she was with her dinner recommendations…this was no different!) and since it was so convenient, we went there for breakfast our first morning. What a mistake! For starters, there is not much terribly healthy on the menu, it is a menu of butter and sugar. Sadly, there is nothing vegan to eat at all except for a fruit plate, but they have several vegetarian options such as buttermilk pancakes, croissants, egg dishes and omlettes, and a yogurt parfait. One of us ordered the french toast, that arrived so buttery no one could eat it so I sent it back asking for them to please serve it dry. It came back just as buttery/greasy so I assume they just have a nasty, oily griddle that they cook it on, or they just ignored my request. 

Very buttery French Toast

My son had the same buttery-ness on his pancakes, but he didn’t mind and ate most. I suppose since they are a “French” cafe they think that French means butter, butter and more butter. When really, it just means it’s gross. 

A few others ordered the vegetarian omelette, which had spinach, tomatoes and feta cheese. The omelette came with the veggies inside raw, which was a bit unappealing, but perhaps that was just a personal taste. I think it would be a lot nicer to saute the veggies first, before folding them into the omelette.

spinach, tomato, and feta omelette

They were also terribly rude and pretentious in the restaurant. When we first entered the cafe, we were met by a most unfriendly host, whom I found out later was, sadly, the manager. I went over and asked for a table for us and he glared at me and asked if I had made reservations. What? Really? Reservations for breakfast? Ah, no. Perhaps reservations for Sunday Brunch at the Four Seasons, but for a small Cafe, uh, no. He shook his head (tsk tsk) and told us to wait. He strolled over a few minutes later and showed us to a small table, all by itself in a nook in the back of the cafe. No problem, we loved it. We endured more unfriendly encounters with the manager, that I won’t go into the details here because it really has nothing to do with HEALTHY TRAVEL, but we did not enjoy our experience at Cafe Presse at all. 

BOTTOM LINE:

Most items are not on the healthy side but 
a lot of choices for vegetarians

No vegan choices

Stressful, crowded, noisy, pretentious atmosphere

If you would like to read more about our experience at Cafe Presse, you can read my review on 
Trip Advisor under HealthyGypsyTraveller.

🍂

E&O Kitchen

Remember earlier I mentioned we came to E&O Kitchen our first night for dinner and they took down our name and cell phone because it was an hour wait and, yes, we are still waiting for the call! I was really disappointed because I was really looking forward to trying this place, so the following afternoon we stopped by for lunch. It was a Saturday mid-day and not very crowded at all.. The atmosphere was dark and not too cheery in the daytime and we were seated in the back. We started with an order of WOOD ROASTED EDAMAME BEANS with Shiso fumi furikake and maldon salt (??), yeah, I wasn't sure what that meant either, but it was tasty, although a little burnt (gotta watch those carcinogenic burnt black toxins!). 

Edamame appetizer

There really wasn’t very many vegetarian options that looked appealing, so my friend and I decided to try a few small plates. My friend ordered the BUTTERNUT SQUASH DUMPLINGS with Thai red curry lemongrass sauce, and basil oil, which truly was a “small plate”, and I ordered the SHIITAKE MUSHROOM DUMPLINGS with Soy butter pan sauce. They were both yummy but each small plate, which is more appropriate for a starter, had 4 dumplings on it and cost $13.00.  

dumpling small plate

OUR kids all ordered the PAD THAI, that came with white prawns, tofu, egg, bean sprouts, preserved radish, peanuts, roasted chilies, and lime. We asked for it without the prawns, which they accommodated, but still charged us the full $18.00 for the dish. WOW! I really never understand why vegetarian/vegan options are not cheaper, and often more expensive than the food with meat.  Such as Starbucks charging extra for soy or almond milk but not for cows milk. $18.00 for noodles with prawns is understandable, but without the prawns it should have cost significantly less.The food was very tasty, but $120.00 later we walked out hungry. I would not come back here for lunch or dinner again, especially with the family, as it is not as veg friendly as I had hoped. I can’t imagine what it would cost if we ordered enough food until we were full! It may be a nice place to come for drinks and a small plate if out for the evening with friends.

E&O Kitchen

314 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

(415) 693-0303

HEALTHY TRAVEL REVIEW: Davis, California

 DAVIS is a small town in Northern California located roughly between San Francisco and Sacramento. Considered on the edge of the "valley" rather than the "Bay Area" it is VERY HOT in the summer and COLD (for California!) in the winter. The majority of the town population is made up of the college students that attend UC Davis, so a lot of the shops and restaurants in the very small downtown area are geared towards young adults and twenty-somethings. Because it is a college town, I thought it would be filled with a lot of healthy eating choices and vegetarian restaurants, but, to my dismay, not so much. There are NO vegan or vegetarian restaurants at all, which was surprising and disappointing to me, but I did find some restaurants with vegan/vegetarian options. 

Here is what I found:

⭐️

CREPEVILLE:

Noisy and crowded almost always, this place made up for the lack of atmosphere by offering some nice veggie items. My favorite is the Tofu Sandwich, which has a large slice of marinated tofu, sliced avocado, sauteed onions and mushrooms. A REALLY nice combo. Ask for no mayo on a sourdough bun and it is a vegan option.

Tofu Sandwich on Sourdough

Also on the menu is a veggie sandwich, which my vegetarian son likes a lot. Cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts and comes with a nice green side salad. 

The veggie sandwich is very simple and fresh and a great
healthy option!

Another happy option for vegetarians who want to try the speciality at CREPEVILLE is, of course, A CREPE! The Make Your Own Crepe option is the greatest where you can pick and choose what items you want in your crepe from a long list of nice, yummy options. My son ordered a cheese and avocado crepe and it came with the same nice, fresh side salad.

Make Your Own Crepe

Crepeville also has a variety of healthy beverage options. My favorite is their fresh juices and I ordered a carrot and orange combo. Delicious! And lots of beta-carotene and Vitamin A!

Fresh squeezed Carrot
and Orange Juice

You can also read my detailed review of CREPEVILLE on Trip Advisor!

           

CREPEVILLE

330 3rd Street

Davis, CA  95616

MIKUNI'S SUSHI

Mikuni's sushi is one of my favorite sushi places. The larger Mikuni's restaurant is in West Sacramento, which has a nicer atmosphere and larger menu, but this one is nice for a small town. They have VERY nice vegan/vegetarian  options, my favorites are the Vegi-Ten Roll, Illegal Asparagus, and Freaky Edamame. Mikuni's is always crowded and noisy so not really an option for a romantic dinner or business lunch.

Please see my detailed review of MIKUNI SUSHI on Trip Advisor: 

MIKUNI SUSHI

500 First Street

Davis, CA 95616

(530) 756-2111

CAFE BERNARDO

Located inside the  Best Western Palm Court Hotel in the center of downtown Davis, this casual dining place had a few vegetarian options, but vegan options are slim. There are daily soup specials and, if you are lucky, you will find one which has no added chicken stock or dairy. Otherwise, the only daily vegan option is the Polenta plate, which is a nice plate of grilled polenta on a bed of greens, sometimes sauteed greens such as chard and spinach, sometimes on salad greens. Vegetarians have a few more options, especially for breakfast where they offer nice Huevos Rancheros, French Toast with fresh fruit, and buckwheat pancakes.

CAFE BERNARDO

234 Third Street (@ D Street)

Davis, CA  95616

(530) 750-5150

SOPHIA'S THAI KITCHEN

Some of the best Thai Food I have ever had. My favorite is the asparagus with grilled tofu. This place is always crowded so expect to wait for a table.  It's totally worth it.

SOPHIA'S THAI KITCHEN

129 E Street, Davis, CA 95616

(530) 758-4333

WHOLE FOODS MARKET

I love Whole Foods Market because it can always double as a healthy eating option for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Whole Foods Davis has a fair salad bar, hot food bar, and soup bar, although not that many veggie options, but almost always something. To save the day there is the Burrito Bar, that has several veggie and vegan options, as well as the pizza section, that always has a vegan pizza of the day, using daiya non-dairy cheese. The delectable bakery has vegan doughnuts and cupcakes, and the coffee bar offers drinks with soy, almond or rice milk. They even made me a root beer float with soy ice cream! YUM!

WHOLE FOODS MARKET DAVIS

500 First Street

Davis, CA 95616

 CHECK BACK FOR ADDITIONS AND UPDATES!

TRYING TO STAY HEALTHY ON A LONG HAUL FLIGHT - San Francisco to London, Heathrow ❤

It hard to believe how much I used to love traveling on an airplane. I loved the excitement of boarding the plane, getting served drinks and nice meals and waiting to see what movies were going to be playing. But nowadays, I dread flying on an airplane. After paying fees to check baggage and having it weighed to the last ounce, getting to the airport hours early, having to re-book our seats over and over again (how hard can this be for an airline to do? I WANT TO SIT WITH MY KIDS!) and then going through hurdles with the TSA and all the security, seeing my mouthwash confiscated because it was 4.1 fl. oz, instead of 4.0, and then having to pay $5.00 for a bottle of water in order to stay hydrated on the flight without having to deal with bacteria-filled airplane water (Read: "Think Before You Drink": http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/think-before-you-drink), I find airplane travel stressful and unhealthy. So here is how I try to cope best on a flight.

Most summers, my kids and I have a long haul flight from California to England.  10-11 hours on a plane is a nightmare, not counting the 3+ hours we have at the airport ahead of time, and waiting for luggage and going through immigration/customs on the arrival end. It is something I don't enjoy at all.

Here are a few things I like to bring with me each year on a flight:

EO and Seventh Generation are great brands found everywhere

1. Natural Hand Wipes in small packets: I love these EO wipes in small packets. The are great to use for your hands before you eat, or when you (dare) take a trip to the restroom on a flight.

2. Natural Disinfecting Wipes: These I take in a large container because we use them a lot during travel. As soon as boarding our plane we wipe down our seats, armrests, tray table, video screen, etc. Don't bother with the pocket in front, it is a germ-y nightmare that really can't be cleaned and shouldn't be used at all! Read this article for more info: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2014/05/20/are-airplane-seats-a-ticket-to-infection/) and http://www.healthywomen.org/content/article/airplane-seat-back-pockets-germier-toilet-handles?context=print/node/1060&context_title=The%20Secrets%20of%20Aging%20Well)

3. Organic Cotton Socks: I bring these to put on my feet while sitting in my seat for 11 hours. I NEVER wear them to the restroom unless I have something over them. They keep my feet warm and protected from the dirty floor.

4. Bach Flower Remedies: I add these to my ($5.00!!) water and it helps me to relax and deal with any stress. It can also help with anxiety if you have a fear of flying 

(See my post: Bach Flower Remedies for Fear of Flying, May 27, 2014: http://healthygypsytraveller.blogspot.com/2014/05/bach-flower-remedies-for-fear-of-flying.html)

 

healthy snacks are a must for a long airplane flight

EATING AND DRINKING

1. I almost never eat or drink what is offered by the airline on a plane flight. But it's important to eat something on a long haul flight. I like to bring my own mix of nuts and dried fruit, my kids bring crunchy snacks like popcorn and crackers. This  year I found small packets of naturally flavored almond butter by Justin's. It looked like a great idea so I bought a few in case we found a bagel at the airport or were offered a packaged bread bun on the plane, we had an emergency non-dairy, non-refrigerated, somewhat healthy, spread to put on it. Sadly, upon closer look of the almond butter packet,  I noticed in the ingredients that the company adds oils!, which I don't understand because almonds are already pretty oily, and it raises the fat content to 18 grams! I won't buy it again, but it was great to have for an emergency, and if you don't mind the extra fat content, it's a nice vegan spread.

2. I always bring wrapped plastic utensils to use on our own snacks. Sometimes I buy some oatmeal at Starbucks at the airport but don't want to use the utensils sitting out there that have already been rifled through, so I'm really happy to have my own. If you are really GREEN and ambitious you can bring your own small stainless steel utensils to clean and re-use. Starbucks often runs out of utensils too, so it's always handy to have some on me.

3. I also bring short straws for my kids to use in drinks. I can't believe how many times I've seen a flight attendant hand over a beverage to a passenger holding it by it's rim. EW! She has just handled cans, trays, push cart handle, etc. and now he/she want so share all those germs on the beverage cup rim! YUM! I don't order drinks when flying, but sometimes my kids like to, and we are all happier using a small straw in it. (regular straw cut in half or else it will tip over in a bubbly drink). I bring a few.  Again if you are ambitious, there are these fabulous glass straws that I use at home, that are easy to clean and re-use. I love the ones made by ManyMinis on ETSY https://www.etsy.com/listing/187520230/pick-your-colors-gift-set-of-glass?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=glass+straws&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery which come in fun colors.  I worry too much about them breaking when traveling so I don't bring mine, but I love them at home. I will do a post on this topic soon!

4. Fiber Bar: Great to have. Adds fiber to your diet, which helps with digestion on a journey, especially after sitting down for 11-12 hours. I bought this Go Organic bar at the airport. I really liked it.

Travel Bag by Shabby Chic Couture.