So this is September. Feeling a lot of gratitude these days as we enter a new moon and an opportunity for a reset. I don’t know about you, but August was rather tumultuous for me with Mercury in retrograde and a swirl of emotion that had me contemplating a lot of personal decisions about career, family and…purpose. Like, am I mindlessly climbing the ladder…or am I truly following my passions, the things that light me up? It reminded me that what truly excites me is not random. It’s connected to my purpose. And I needed to follow those passions. Like reigniting my passion for travel, my passion for driving innovation and my passion for creating connections. Read on for what sparked my clarity and creativity while in Venice Beach.

What better way to express gratitude than through food? At Cafe Gratitude all of the plant-based dishes are named for inspiring feelings like “Nourished”, “Bountiful” and “Restored”. Flavorful dishes like the “Evolved” bowl (shown above) feature local, organic produce like the oyster mushroom bulgogi, daikon, cucumber, kim chee and chickpea frittatas that top the crispy brown rice with bibimpap sauce. So much texture and flavor going on! These dishes live up to their names. But also, isn’t it amazing how just a name like “Restored” can reset your entire mood?

My lust for travel…and ice cream was fulfilled and then some at Wanderlust Creamery. This artisinal ice cream shop on Lincoln features flavors inspired by global travels. Each scoop takes you to a new destination like the Ube Malted Crunch (above, purple) inspired by the Philippines and featuring sweet purple yams with malted milk pieces. The bottom layer (green) is a Japanese Neapolitan with layers of matcha, hojicha (a more mellow green tea than matcha, with a slight nutty flavor) and black sesame seed ice cream. I have no desire to site on a flight for 10+hours to visit Japan, but I will take a walk to this ice cream shop again!

If you’ve been watching my Instagram feed, you know my new obsession with Erewhon Market. This pizza is what raw food dreams are made of. Erewhon may be “nowhere” spelled backwards, but the name of this organic grocery store and cafe might as well be spelled h-e-a-v-e-n. The crust is a crispy blend of buckwheat, sunflower seeds and flax that is topped with a creamy cashew “ricotta”, walnut pesto, cherry tomatoes and olive tapenade. This is the kind of pizza you could eat every dang day.

This gourmet grocery store is a Mecca of healthy foods that’s named after the book with the same name in which the world is a utopia where everyone is responsible for their own health. The market continues to be a pioneer in functional foods with a tonic bar (where I ordered an activated coffee of ghee, collagen peptides and…), raw food bar and aisles filled with everything under the sun from local produce to every adaptogen you can name.

The Class by Taryn Toomey may have a generic name, but it’s anything but generic. This was my second time returning to The Class, this time at The Space, formerly know as Cardio Barre. I wanted to see if it could carry the same luster the second time around and whether it would be as insanely hard, or if that was a one-time event at Wanderlust Hollywood. The verdict? Just as mentally, emotionally and physically exhausting…in a good way. Check out my prior post for a low down on what to expect.

The Butcher’s Daughter featured vegetarian fare just as clever as the name. I’ll be dreaming about the Spaghetti Squash Carbonara for days. Carbonara is a classic turned plant forward with a bed of “angel hair” spaghetti squash layered with the most decadent and creamy cashew “ricotta”, adzuki “bacon” and a soft poached egg nestled amidst spinach and seared cherry tomatoes.

Adzuki might sound like something you would sneeze, but it’s actually a red bean that is indigenous to the Himalayas. It has a relatively neutral flavor that pairs well with buckwheat and liquid smoke to create a bacon-like flavor and texture. It’s not quite as crumbly as the real deal, but I can’t wait to try making it on my own!

The Venice Canals were my serenity on this vacation. It was a quiet and calm oasis of gorgeous homes lining these man-made canals off the coastline. The canals were developed back in the early 1900’s, but were left to erode. In the early 1990’s they were resurrected to their current state of beauty for the public to wander the sidewalks and dream of Italian Villas.

The theme of my trip was really wanderment (yes, I made up that word). I so often plan every minute detail of my life, and my trips, that it sometimes takes away the joy of discovery. I happened upon this exotic sausage shop and beer hall on my way back from yoga. Now that I’m working in innovation again, I take every opportunity to discover new foods, like this rattlesnake rabbit jalapeno sausage. Like I’ve heard before, the rattlesnake tasted surprisingly like…chicken. And the jalapeno was just the kicker to spice things up.

Usually when I run out of time during my weeks, the first thing to go to the wayside is yoga. On this trip, I cultivated the time for some much-needed introspection at Love Yoga. The practice at Love Yoga is a blend of Katonah Yoga, Iynegar and Vinyasa with inspiration-laden narrative winding through challenging poses. The hands-on practice made it personalized and was especially needed for some of the unique movements. Ultimately, I left feeling radiant, transformed and ready to take on September!

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