Green Symphony

Green Symphony was the name of the corner organic juice/smoothie shop where my husband and I stayed on a trip to New York City last week. I just love the name! The name said it all about the experience I had eating the delicious food there every morning. I had never been to New York City before and I just fell in love with it! The visit to Statue of Liberty and seeing "Wicked" on Broadway, as well as attending an opera at the Met and visiting our church's temple were all super amazing. The visits to 3 different Whole Foods stores were fun as usual (business for my husband) because I love to just gaze at the beautifully organized and colorful produce section and read about all the different fruits and vegetables. And, of course, there was the one-on-one time with my husband. It was bliss! Thanks, Mom, for taking on the 4 little ones!

The food, though, added sooooo much to my experience. I actually felt some kinship, like there REALLY are other people out there who eat like I do! We have one organic cafe relatively close to where we live. New York, however, seemed to have an option on every corner. When we travel, we have always had to stay somewhere with a small kitchen and bring our Vitamix. I was a little worried because we weren't going to be doing either. No hotel with a kitchenette OR Vitamix. Yikes. But my husband assured me that I'd be able to find things to eat. I was amazed when I found out how right he was! Every morning I was able to enjoy my traditional green smoothie (not loaded with fruits or added sugars, very GREEN). I ordered a smoothie with spinach, kale, avocado, lemon & green apple every morning and had a couple of hard boiled eggs along with it. Wow, was I set for a long time! I think I'll go back to New York for our next vacation just to be able to so easily procure the food that works for my body - and not have to prepare it!!!! :-)

We also went to Pret A Manger (means "Just Ready") for two different lunches. Wowzers! It is a corner sandwich shop which makes their food fresh every day. The trucks come in the morning with all the ingredients and they hand make their sandwiches, soups and salads all day. In the evening, whatever is left over is donated to local organizations. Both days I had amazing salads and was surprisingly full.

For dinner we went to the hotel restaurant one night, but the other two nights we found great restaurants in the area. We went to Cafe Blossom (a vegan cafe) and a Cuban restaurant called Victor's Cafe. Even the Cuban restaurant had an organic chicken breast marinated in a citrus adobo sauce and topped with watercress. Mmmmmm-Mmmmmm! At the vegan cafe I enjoyed a glass of green juice with a twist of ginger and a black bean/quinoa salad. That salad had watercress in it too...I don't think I had ever had watercress before, or at least not that I recognized. In terms of nutrients, watercress rates at the top of the list. Right up there with kale, collard and mustard greens. It's a more delicate, mild tasting green and one of my new favorites!