Sunday, January 15, 2012

Family Fun Day

Saturday was a perfect day of vacation full of family and fun!  Our morning started slow with TV and breakfast in bed!  I love hotels simply for the TV in bed.  We refuse to have one in our bedroom at home.  Forbes and I know ourselves too well and know that we would be terribly unproductive if we had a television in our bedroom!

After a slow moving morning, we finally got up for a windy walk on the beach.  It was nearly lunch time when we arrived back.
We enjoyed a sweet potato from the microwave with a Tofurky Italian Sausage and small spinach salad with a pita on the side.  We were torn on wanting to try a vegan restaurant down the beach, but decided to save some dough for our own delicious vegan lunch.

Family started to arrive in the afternoon and I talked them into giving me a ride to my favorite ice cream shop.
It's not vegan, but I can't turn down this tradition when in Florida.  My parents used to take us to the beach and then we would swing by Twistee Treat for ice cream.  We never got anything fancy, but I still crave my "usual."
Vanilla soft serve dipped in chocolate and rolled in sprinkles!  It's the best!  Even if I did have to bundle up to eat it!
My grandma and "twin" cousin Tim.
And Jed and Grandma! It was quite cold outside!  So much for sunny Florida weather!

After our trip for ice cream we settled into the condo and laughed and joked for hours.  Finally it was time for dinner and I talked everyone into trying the vegan restaurant Forbes and I had our eyes on.
It helped that my two beautiful cousins Tiff and Tab are also vegans so with Forbes we made up the majority vote!

Cafe de Vida is located in Pass-A-Grille off 8th street.  It is cute little village atmosphere with lots of bars, shops and restaurants.  We settled right in and started scanning the small menu for delicious vegan raw entrees.
I chose the mini tacos and Forbes had the crab cakes and we split both dishes.
The tacos were delicious!  The "meat" was made of walnuts and almonds and really mimicked the taste and texture of taco meat.  With cashew cheese, tomatoes and avocado these tacos were my favorite dish of the night.

The crab cakes were also really good, but didn't quite mimic real crab cakes.  The dipping sauce was the best part of this dish.
I snapped a photo of Tim's raw lasagna which was delicious, but not as good as the lasagna I had at Luna's Living Kitchen in Charlotte last year.
Tim was the most skeptical eater, and I'm pretty sure he left and stopped by a drive thru on his way home...but otherwise, we all really enjoyed our dinners.
The dessert was also phenomenal!
The raw brownie was topped with a coconut and cashew ice cream and tasted delightful.  The brownie was reminiscent of a Larabar and the ice cream reminded me of a cashew ice cream I made not long ago.  It was a delightful finish to an amazing meal!

If you are counting, you might have noticed that is not just 1 but 2 desserts for me in the midst of my sugar detox.  Whoops!  They were just too good to pass!  And life is too short!

Overall, I have been watching my sugar intake which I think is important, but also still living in the moment.  It is definitely difficult when on vacation, but I do still recognize a need to cut back.  Around 3pm and 9pm every day I crave sugar like it's nobody's business.  I would really like to get to a point where I don't depend on sugar so much.

Yesterday was a wonderful day of vacation and I am so thankful I got to catch up with so many relatives including my Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Catherine as well.  I really have enjoyed getting to know my Aunt Catherine as an adult.  She is super supportive of us, our faith and our decisions.  And Uncle Jimmy is just always fun to be around!

It will be hard to be in town 3 more days and not get to spend as much time with family!  But I am now so excited to start the Girls on the Run Summit!

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