Cafe 118 degrees!

First of all, I just have to apologize (again) for my lack of posts this summer. It's such a busy time of year that my posts tend to drop down drastically. But, for today, I wanted to share with you my recent trip to Orlando, Florida! A few months back, my sis-in-law sent me a text message asking if I'd like to go to Orlando with her on a business trip. The only thing I had to pay for was a flight and food when I got there. Ok, let me think. Sunny Florida, some R&R, a raw food restaurant to try, a ride along with a busy critical care transport program, and time with my sis. What more could a girl want? Ok, done deal! I was in!! 

We stayed at the JW Marriott in Orlando, which was beautiful. We had some cloudy skies, but I still couldn't complain. It was so nice to just rest and relax without having to be on any schedule. 

I love citrus water! 

We arrived on Wednesday and headed straight down to the pool while we had a bit of sun. The first 3 days were pretty cloudy and rainy, but it was still warm and relaxing!

On Friday, while my sis was in her conference, I was able to go do a ride along with Orlando's Air Care in St. Cloud. (Thanks to a very great flight medic friend of mine who was nice enough to get it set up for me!!) I'm just slightly obsessed with critical care transport helicopter programs! I can't even tell you how excited I was to drive up and see the aircraft sitting outside on the helipad!! 

I'm kind of a nerd, but it was fun to see the different types of equipment that they use on transports, compared to what I've seen at other programs. 

Intra-aortic balloon pump

Ventilator

Unfortunately, after about 5 hours, I went back to the hotel without going on a flight. The weather just did not cooperate! I still enjoyed learning about their program and picking their brains about the Air Care flight program.  

 Saturday evening was probably one of my favorite nights in Orlando. Why, you ask? Because we got to go to Cafe 118 degrees. It's an amazing raw food restaurant in Orlando that I was planning to go to the second I found out I was heading to Orlando!  

Emily and I!

 We each ordered a separate dish and then split them. I wanted to try everything! We ordered this pad Thai noodle dish that was really great.

 And this raw lasagna! It was my favorite and SO incredibly amazing!! Trust me, it was better than it looks! The presentation of everything was so fantastic too. It was obvious that Cafe 118 was a very well managed and maintained restaurant.

 It would be a sin to leave a restaurant like this without dessert! Again, we split two different desserts. We had this "smores" like dessert with raw marshmallow cream inside and chocolate on top. The raw graham crackers had been dehydrated.

 We also had this raw mint ice cream made with cashew milk. It had raw cacao bits on top that tasted like brownie pieces. Holy amazing!!! This experience made me want a live-in raw food chef! Just sayin!! Our server at the restaurant was also nice enough to give me a list of her favorite restaurants in several different states, two of which I will be visiting later this year! Stay tuned and I will share with you!!

 Thankfully, we had 6 great hours of sunny skies on Saturday! It was such a fantastic trip, and I was so glad that Em asked me to join her!!

 If any of you have been to any great raw food restaurants, please let me know!

Karyn's Raw Food Cafe!

I was in Chicago a while back and decided to stop for some raw food at Karyn's. It's a cute little raw food cafe just north of downtown. I had wanted to go to this place forever, but it just never seems to work out. So, I went alone! Score! It worked out perfectly. 

Salad bar. I wish these had been labeled so I could tell you what they each were. What I can tell you is that they were all, (yes, I tried every single one of them) amazing!

There were lots of options including fresh juice, smoothies, sandwiches, and even oxygen.

Totally doesn't look all that appetizing, but it was really good.

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Since I haven't attempted to make raw "bacon" yet,  I opted for a 1/2 BLT sandwich. The "bacon" was made out of beet soaked eggplant, which was also amazing. Apparently I'm not too hard to please because I loved it all:-)

There were lots of chemical free cleaners too.

There were so manyI really wanted to take one of everything!

Brown and White bread. The white was really good. It's prepared in a food dehydrator so it's a different texture than standard bread, but very good.

Dips, spreads, and cheeses.

Salad dressing.

Here was all of the raw ice cream, which I really wanted to try, but it would've melted before I got home. I was too full to try some before I left.

There was also quite a selection of books. I've read one or two of these!

Meet Karyn!

In addition to the cafe, there's also a sit down restaurant that serves raw meals. Maybe I'll try it someday!

Don't think I walked out with out grabbing a dessert to go! It was gone before I got home!