I come from a Jewish-Irish-Catholic-Italian family, so during Easter, our family dinners are basically one step away from sandwiching lasagna in between two pieces of matzah.

For this reason, I tried to keep things a bit healthy the day before, so after Saturday’s bike ride, Michal and I headed over to a cafe aptly named Catch a Healthy Habit.

The cafe, which adheres to the philosophy of only eating “raw”, gives the customer a unique dining experience which is not easily accessible in these parts (nor in any other parts for that matter).

To understand what “eating raw” actually means, I recommend reading a quick article on raw foods here.

When we first arrived at the Cafe, Michal and I were hungry, tired, and extremely thirsty from biking, so we started with some fresh juices. We chose the “Kalelicious,” which was Kale, Carrot, and Celery, and the “Blood,” which was beet, red apple, lemon, and ginger.  I love how rich the colors are…

I also like how they make everything right out in the open, so you get to see how beautiful the produce is.

For my meal, I had the Pasta Primavera which was zucchini noodles, spring vegetables, tomato sauce, and pesto topped with Rawmesan.

The dish tasted incredible, and as you’ll clearly notice from the above close-up shot, this food is extremely fresh.

Michal chose to have the Caesar Salad which was romaine, Caesar dressing, nori strips, avocado, rawmesan, and garlic croutons. He also added vegan “crab cakes” to the salad.

For our raw dessert, we ordered one s’more and one brownie. Michal and I both loved the S’more, but he found the brownie to be a bit too rich. I on the other hand have never experienced the sensation of a dessert being “too rich,” so I was a huge fan of the taste and texture, and had no qualms with finishing it off myself.

Although I don’t foresee myself ever going completely raw, I have a strong appreciation for this type of vegan diet, and it’s definitely inspired me to  try and eat less processed foods (I even bought a bag of raw almonds to keep at my desk at work).

All and all, this was a fun little food adventure, and I will definitely be back to try more.

I just got back from the Manchester “Finally Spring” 5K race, and what a fun time! This is probably the coolest 5k I’ve ever run because:

• Instead of a t-shirt you were given these amazing green socks (see below)
• The entire race is on an intense trail course through the woods, with the first mile being uphill!
• Michal and I crossed the finish line together

With over 200 people squeezing through rocky and steep trail turns, it is quite the adventure, and I’ve never seen so many people have to stop and walk during a 5K. Without a doubt I’ve run 10K road races that were easier than this trail course, but I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun on a run.

Michal and I stuck together during the race, which was something we’ve never done in an actual race before, so I was happy about that. We do casual runs together once or twice a week, but Michal is a much faster runner than me, so on a race day it’s always been easier for us to go our separate ways–mostly because when we run together I try to run too fast to keep up with him, and he tries to run too slow as not to get ahead of me, and it ends up messing up both our paces. Sticking together for this race still required him to slow down at a few points, but before the race we decided to treat it like a casual run (and not a competitive race), and that mindset helped us cross the finish line together. Our final time for the 3.25 mile race was 28:40, which I was happy with (note my smile below).

Michal was just happy to have a pair of  green running socks, which he insisted on putting on before the race.

After the race we headed a bit more north to Middletown, CT so we could enjoy the beautiful weather and eat at a restaurant called ION (It’s Only Natural), which was voted best vegetarian restaurant in the Hartford advocate last year. It deserves any accolades it gets, because it’s the first vegan and vegetarian restaurant I’ve come across where the entrees are actually gourmet. The prices are a bit steep, but it’s completely worth it.

We started off the meal with some fresh juices. I had the veggie bomb (left) which was carrots, beets, celery, and parsley, while Michal had a juice called Bee Green which was a bunch of green vegetables with agave syrup for sweetness.

For our entrees, I had the Macrobiotic Plate which was organic brown rice, legumes, sea & other vegetables, with a huge pile of kidney beans on the side. I mashed everything up together, and it tasted incredible. The sea vegetables had the perfect amount of saltiness to them, so I didn’t even have to season the dish.

Michal had one of the specials, which was a phyllo dough packed with tofu and mushrooms with a huge scoop of mashed potatoes and a side of asparagus. I had a few bites and it was to die for.

The serving sizes are really generous at this restaurant, which made this the perfect place to have our post-race meal. As you can see we inhaled are food.

I should also note that Michal and I have been here once before and we had the ION burger and Sweet Potato Enchiladas, and they were just as incredible as today’s menu choices. The ambiance of the restaurant is really nice too, and today we were seated at a fun table which doubled as a chalk board so we could draw on our table while we waited for our food.

I’m off to try and fit in a nap before a friend’s dinner party tonight.

Happy spring everyone!