Back to Healthy Living

Now that Whole Foods Market is in town and I’m back to practicing yoga on a weekly basis, Hawaii is starting to feel a bit more like home. I do wonder if I’ll return to being vegetarian again. My vegetarian kick ended the day James took me to eat at Rainbows as a “welcome” to the island. Yup, I learned that two scoops of rice is too much carbs for one meal and that panko fried chicken steaks and beef patties with a sunny side egg on top (Loco Moco’s) are no way to stay healthy in Hawaii.

A couple weeks ago I was getting dressed to go to the Pearl Ultra Lounge for a birthday party. The scary thing is that I couldn’t button my blouse…nor could I fit into any of my pants--any. I'm not exaggerating--I spent 40 minutes going through several creative outfits and finally had to settle on wearing a black dress..because it was the only thing that could fit my waistline. “What the heck happened?!,” I wondered to myself. Hawaii happened…and for me that meant too much ono food here and a lack of nice planned-community-walking trails for daily exercise. The great thing about living in Irvine is 1) Trader Joe's was ½ a block away 2) my yoga class was a 2 block away 3) Irvine hosts the second largest Whole Foods in the nation after New York 4) there are grass lined cement walking paths and biking paths everywhere in the city and 5) the feeling of open space, green scape, pink sunsets, happy people, and safety abound. It’s a great “quality of life” type of city to live in.

But back to Hawaii. It’s nice out here but for different reasons. The people are great and the pace of life is slow. People aren’t materialistic here and it lends to a much more simplified style of living. It’s refreshing to live this way and I’m glad that I’m here.

Green Eats Chicago

I might have to take another trip to Chicago. Haven't been in 3 years. It's a fun city--the arts, street hot dogs, hoagie sandwiches, the L, and 'the urban city' > words and images that come to mind when I think of the Windy City.

I'll be looking very forward to eating at Green Zebra, the John Beard Awarded vegetarian "tapas-ish" restaurant.
Check out the menu...YUM!:
http://www.greenzebrachicago.com/menu.html

For other vegetarian/vegan/organic and eco-friendly restaurants in Chicago see:
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalContentItemAction.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1571046250.1221363755@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccfadefefmkefhcefecelldffhdfho.0&contentOID=536961205&contenTypeName=COC_EDITORIAL&topChannelName=Exploring&blockName=Promo+Item&channelId=-536879033&programId=536879149

Thanks, Michelle S, for the Green Zebra recommendation!