Breakfast: We woke up after our first night in Lauderdale-By-The Sea and went for a walk on the beach. It looks, feels and smells like vacation so it must be vacation. It’s vacation!! We have gone far too long without a REAL vacation and far too long without oatmeal. We had run out at home in New York and kept forgetting to get some when we went shopping. With a newly purchased stash from Whole Foods I couldn’t wait to make our Rolled Oats Bowls. Only you can’t tell the oats are there because of the Apples, Almonds, Raisins, Bananas and Blueberries are piled high on top. This was a happy breakfast served with Soy Milk and Earl Grey Tea.
The big event for the day was taking a visit to Josh’s Organic Market on the beach in North Hollywood. I met Josh about 20 years ago on a flight from Florida to New York. We were in the same row, in aisle seats. I heard him ask the flight attendant if she had a vegan meal because he forgot to order it. (Yeah, believe it or not, 20 years ago you could get a vegan meal on a domestic flight, even a short one from Florida to New York.) I wasn’t hungry and offered him mine. (Of course I had ordered one in advanced and confirmed it several times.) I could not believe I was sitting next to another vegan back then since there weren’t many of us. He told me all about his business distributing organic food and how he had learned about farming practices. We kept in touch over the years and I invited Josh to be my keynote speaker at one of annual Taste of Health vegan food festivals that I organized between 2002 and 2006 at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. He is 250% high energy and 500% passion, fueled by organic greens. Gary and I created a short video about Josh’s Farmer’s Market about 7 or 8 years ago. What I love about his Sunday market is the boxes of greens, always piled high. We got there towards the end of the day after over 500 people had been there early that morning so the piles were not so high, but still stunning.
Daily Green Juice: After picking out our produce for the week, we went over to Josh’s Juice Bar. The last time we were here, the juice bar was just a sparkly twinkle in his eye, as Josh showed us where it would be.
I love the menu! If you know Josh he is always so grateful for everything in his life and he frequently exclaims, “Thank God!” He named his juices appropriately.
I got the “Thank God” with lemon, Gary got the “Thank God” with carrots. It’s a beautiful thing. I don’t know exactly what was in our juices but they were spectacular. We said “thank god” many times and we aren’t religious. But we are grateful!
Dinner: Back at “home” I put the dinner together. We have a tiny kitchen here with electric burners. While cooking and slightly charring some bell peppers I set off the smoke alarm! It took a few minutes to figure out where the overhead fan switch was and then unlock and open the kitchen window. Nothing was harmed and the peppers were perfect. Gary came in to help and deglazed the pan. I bet no one ever used that fan before! Who cooks while on vacation? We do! We had Tacos with Black Beans, Guacamole, Charred Bell Peppers and Scallions, Butter Lettuce, Sprouted Corn Tortillas and Distilled Water with Lemon.
I don’t like buying water, but we couldn’t bring our distiller with us and the tap water has a strong chlorinated smell. We buy distilled water in plastic bottles when traveling. Normally we pour Siracha sauce all over our tacos and we didn’t have any. This dinner was satisfyingly on the bland side. And in this case, bland is beautiful. Look at those colors!
Gary “made” the dessert – organic Dates and Walnuts, both from Josh’s Market. Those dates were soft, moist, gooey and sweet.
Evening: A cup of Well Rested Herbal Tea with some Ricola Original Herb lozenges finished the evening. The Ricola came on the trip because Gary brought a little cold along with us. I am hoping he leaves it here.