Sweet Greens

 I was diagnosed with lupus last year- it's an autoimmune disease where your body basically attacks your own organs :( That means I have to watch my diet and eat plenty of raw fruits and vegetables.  I'm all for raw fruits but raw vegetables is a little hard to take in.  So I started juicing and blending.  The only thing I don't like about juicing is the messy left overs.  I'm pretty sure you need to eat the solid parts of the vegetables and fruits to get the full benefit and that's also why I prefer blending over juicing.  At least with blending, you get to eat everything!  My favorite drink is a kale and spinach smoothie with fresh fruits and dried dates.  My favorite blend with kale and spinach are apples and pineapples but any fruits will do.  For extra sweetness, I add dried pitted dates or fresh bananas.

For today's smoothie, I used the following:

• a handful of kale
• a handful of spinach
• 1 ripe pear
• a handful of strawberries
• a handful of dried dates

Blend everything with ice cold water until liquified and bam!- the sweetest green smoothie you'll ever have in your life :) and no sugar added!

Cheers!

XoXo

Cory

Paradise Weekend

I went to Key West, FL this past weekend to celebrate my friend's 24th birthday and it was so much fun!  Despite being sick, sober, and spending a night at a horror condo, the whole trip was pretty successful.  I saw chickens running along the beach like they own the place.  I've lived in Florida for more than half of my life and I have never seen chickens on the beach...ever.  I've visited Key West many times before but never have I actually set foot in town and walked around.  It's a quaint little town filled with overpriced items!  Nevermind all the unnecessary price gouging.  I had a fantastic time.  Among the places we visited were Mallory Square, Custom House, Rest Beach, and a few that I can't recall.

Let's talk about food.  I love food.  

We went to a restaurant called Willie T's.  The prices were up there but everywhere else was packed so we went anyway.  I had a Mixed Seafood Pasta and it was delicious!  It was a little pricey but it was worth it.  My friends ordered other things on the menu and their food sucked.  A cardboard probably tasted better.  We didn't try everything on the menu but 5 out of 6 entrees that we ordered completely sucked and just were not worth the money.  The restaurant also does not offer anything special on birthday occasions. BOO!  The service sucked.  I think I've used "sucked" a lot in this paragraph...well, that basically summarized the whole experience at Willie T's.  I will NEVER go back to that restaurant again.  My dish was really good, though.  I'm guessing that they only put effort in their food when the price is above $25.  Did I mention that the restaurant walls and ceilings were covered with dollar bills signed by previous customers? Yea...I tried to take some of them to compensate for my friends' bad food.  Too bad they were stapled so securely on the wall.

For breakfast, we decided to have something simple and familiar... IHOP! We love IHOP! You can never go wrong with IHOP.  Except for the homophobic seniors sitting next to us, I can't really complain.  Food was great. Price was great.  We were filled with happy bellies.

The next time I come back here, I'll make sure I stay at a nice hotel.  I will take a cruise from West Palm Beach to Key West instead of a butt-pinching 4-hour drive.  I will need a week to completely scout the whole town.  I might also buy a house there once I'm financially stable..you know, to rent it out for extra income and for vacationing purposes.

XoXo

Cory