the beet, gratitude, and halloween house

Hi friends! How are ya this morning? I hope that those of you who are enjoying a long weekend are enjoying the day off. I’m double dipping in the teaching pool (barre and Spin!) and also getting a much-needed haircut. I have officially reached what I call “witch hair” and even though it is Halloween time, it has to go haha. 

What did you do this weekend? Any fun fitness events or local adventures? I’d love to hear about them.

I FINALLY got my computer screen fixed after dropping it a couple of months ago. I hesitated to get it fixed because Apple said they’d need to take my computer for 5 days. I could never find a good time to do it, especially since I have all of my blogging software, important drafts, and logins on one computer. I talked to a local computer repair man in PB, and he let me pay for the missing screen, ordered it, and as soon as it arrived, he fixed my computer in 45 minutes. It was AMAZING. While my computer got a facelift, I walked around PB and enjoyed this enormous smoothie from the Mad Beet:  

All of their menu options are puns on music artists’ names. This is the Kenny Spinachesney, with Sun Warrior protein. (Why do smoothies taste better when they’re $10 and someone else makes it?)

The Pilot got back late Friday night, and I headed to Betsy’s as soon as he got home to help her throw her first online Beautycounter social. They are so much fun to throw on Facebook; you just pour a glass of wine and enjoy sharing info about this inspirational company and all of the products. (Love this article that came out this weekend.) Of course, we chatted long after the party was over, and I headed home.

Saturday morning was Livi’s ballet class, errands, and relaxing around the house. Saturday night we were invited to enjoy dinner at Cafe Gratitude, which is one my favorite vegan restaurants. (I love their San Francisco location!) I was so excited to return, and as expected, everything was delicious.

Everything in the restaurant is certified organic with a focus on local ingredients, and entirely plant-based. Any “cheese” you see on the menu is likely made with a cashew or nut puree.

Each menu option is a positive affirmation, so it starts with “I AM” and follows with something like this:

Community (warm spinach artichoke terrine),

Brilliant (coconut and summer squash ceviche) and

Honest (Tempeh Reuben with spicy sauerkraut, cashew cheddar, on a gluten-free amaranth and millet bun). 

I had a hard time choosing an entree, but was so happy with my decision. The tempeh reuben was such a satisfying combination of flavors and textures, and I couldn’t help but think it would have been my pregnancy craving dream come true. 

To be totally honest, my forays in raw vegan food kind of traumatized the Pilot. There was that one time he ate an entire plate of raw beet lasagna in one spoonful and looked at me expressionless, like “That was food?” He will try anything, but isn’t the hugest fan of raw vegan cuisine. When we started in on the coconut ceviche, which was bold, spicy and had an eerily conch-like texture from the coconut pieces, he was like, “This is NOT like the other vegan food. This is amazing.”

My “before we leave San Diego” bucket list now includes eating here as often as possible. 

After the girls were in bed, we enjoyed some wine and Chef’s Table on Netflix. Have you seen it?!? I’m officially sucked in, and have been Googling restaurants like crazy just to see how long it takes to get reservations (you know, in case we randomly find ourselves in Modena, Italy  <— not super likely) and to give myself major FOMO. 

Source

I was so excited to see if my brother Kyle had seen it, since he’s a chef and everything.

 

I guess I’m a bit delayed here hahah.

Sunday morning, we laid low since Miss P was a little under the weather and in the afternoon, we had tickets to see Disney on Ice. The girls LOVED it -P was clapping and saying “yayyyyyy” the entire time, and Liv was fascinated by the skating- and it was a fun family outing.

(The photo quality range in this post is amusing me right now. AHHHH)

The evening was just the girls since the Pilot had a Master’s final exam, so we hit up Trader Joe’s and I made Brittany’s turkey spinach feta burgers for dinner. I’m so glad I’m following her recipes from the ebook this week because it made grocery shopping a breeze. I printed the list out, added some staples, and done. 

After the Pilot finished his test, we made one of the Trader Joe’s Halloween houses. Aka we squirted icing onto a house while trying to convince Liv not to eat all of the candy haha.

  #nailedit

Hope you had a wonderful weekend, too!

I’ll see ya soon with a healthy and delicious new breakfast recipe.

Thanks for stopping by today. <3

xoxo

Gina