Oh, How I LOVE LA...

Seriously, I love LA.  Just like the bumper sticker says.  Yes, it is crowded, pretentious, expensive, and apparently has bad air.  BUT it has the most perfect weather of any place I have visited. It has mountains, the ocean, shopping, hiking, biking, spas, amazing hotels, history, beauty, (I think great air), high energy, fantastic architecture, and health consciousness.  It is truly a melting pot - so many unique individuals all in one place.  Did I mention the food? - healthy, delicious, plentiful, beautiful, FRESH, unique, and always gluten free / vegan options.

Yes, I just returned from a trip to LA.   And, I already miss it.

I am really missing it right now, so I will torture myself and document all the fabulous food I enjoyed:

First up - how to travel with food restrictions.  Plan ahead.  I made gluten free oatmeal with frozen fruit and put it in a little container.  In a second container I sliced up a sweet potato and added stone ground mustard.  Gross to some, but I LOVE mustard.  Then, just in case, I packed LaraBars.  They have the least ingredients of any of the bars, no added sugar, no soy protein isolate, etc.  But they are high in fat, as they are mainly nuts.  Always good to have though in emergencies. Here is what I put in my carry on bag:

Guacamole

 

 

Chad and I drove straight from the airport to Planet Raw in Santa Monica.  I was very hesitant to bring Chad here.  This is a truly all RAW restaurant, no turkey sandwich for Chad.   He was up for trying it and found a Mediterranean falafel and hummus wrap.  He cleaned his plate.  I had for the first time, kelp noodles in a green curry sauce.  Delicious.   We started with the flax chips and guacamole.  Unreal.  Then I ended it with one of their chocolate mint shakes.  Decadent.  Truly a unique meal.

Chad's Mediterranean Dish

Kelp Noodles with Green Curry

ALL GONE.

 We drove from Santa Monica to West Hollywood, stopping at a few shops in Brentwood.  I picked up my book for the trip -

 Great book.  Rich Roll is truly an inspiration.  Going from fat and 40 to doing Ultra Triathlons all on a PLANT BASED DIET!!!  Yippie.  Those people who say we dont get enough protein - check Rich out.

We checked into my most favorite hotel EVER - Chateau Marmont and sat out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

 The architectural detail in this hotel is  everywhere.  Can you see how cool these tiles are?  These were in the entry way of our room.

That night we went to Izakaya by Katsuya on 3rd Avenue.  Yes, I can eat at sushi restaurants!  What I love about LA, is that you say you are vegan and gluten free and they know what you are talking about. And, they know what you can and can not have on the menu.  Beautiful.  There was not a lot of selection for me, but enough.  And, the difference in sushi in LA versus sushi in Atlanta is the freshness.  There is simply no comparing an avocado roll in LA to one in Atlanta, no matter the restaurant.  I had a seaweed salad, edamame, avocado roll and another veggie roll.  So delicious.

The next morning, I awoke to room service with coffee, soy milk these berries!  Again, the food in LA is just better. No where in Atlanta can I get berries this amazing.

 These berries fueled our hour long hike up Runyon Canyon.  Another favorite place of mine.  It is so uplifting to see how many people are out exercising, even at 7am.  It was packed with people and dogs, of course.  Great people watching.

We then went to another favorite - Urth Caffe in West Hollywood.  Best soy latte ever.  And, delicious oatmeal.  Which fueled our shopping trip and back home again to the hotel.  Again, look at that FRUIT!

Alright - Day Two afternoon and evening and Day Three will be in the next post.