life is a journey

a friend told me one day that i never fail to surprise him with what i do. i took it as a compliment.

last september when i went to LL for the raw food course, all i wanted out of it was to become healthier. i did not have any aspirations of becoming a chef and i still don't!.. maybe, but probably not :-)

life is a journey... that line seems to keep on popping up in my thoughts, my conversations, a lot of what i do really. so this journey has sometimes been a roller coaster, and peaceful other times.

little did i expect the journey to take me back to USA to pursue another raw food course, this time at 105degree academy... it's a long story....

anyway this is the start of my blogging of yet another new adventure.

i arrived in Los Angeles and of course i had to go check out the local raw food cafes.




my memory of my last raw vegan meal was at cafe gratitude in san francisco, which was a delightful experience. totally enjoyed the food there. sadly, i couldnt speak the same for this.


i ordered a taster portion of the appetizer, which is literally a one mouthful taste of some of the items on the menu. sadly, it was totally forgetable and even the presentation was sad. there was nothing appetizing about that.

then i ordered a main course - a wrap



does that look appetizing to you? well it wasnt. it looks like someone decided to dump the food on the plate in a hurry. shocking... what a sad excuse for an restaurant.

i was so disappointed.

not willing to give up, i ventured out the next day to another local raw food cafe but this time i only had the dessert and a ginger kombucha... served frozen, although the lady did apologise that its just been taken out of the freezer... i was fine with waiting for it to thaw, coz i just wanted to sit in the cafe and watch life go by.




i worked my way slowly through the cake, blueberry chocolate cake... and halfway through, i found a strand of hair! yucks... that of course put me off. i promptly brought it back to the counter to show to the staff and she just said oh. i walked back to my seat and continued reading and drinking my kombucha from the bottle. she finally came to my table and offered to let me have another dessert. now if you were me, would you actually want something else when you have just been introduced to the hygiene level of the place? of course i turned down the offer... there was no offer of refund of my money (its upfront payment at the counter when you order your food) ..

sigh.. i was disappointed. it makes cafe gratitude seem like mecca of raw food!

anyway, next stop 105...