A new MUST EAT in downtown Palo Alto, California! LYFE Kitchen!!!

As soon as my husband and I start planning a trip to San Francisco, the first thing we start doing is planning where we are going to eat!  San Francisco has AMAZING restaurants from all different cultures and you really need to spend some time in these places. Our usual favorites are The Stinking Rose, House of Nan King, Tony’s Napoletana, and our guilty pleasure:  The Ghiradelli Factory for hot fudge sundaes.  Those are all in downtown San Fran; I didn’t even mention some of our favorites in the surrounding cities in the Bay Area.  Let’s face it, the place is packed with MUST EATs, and I’m sure if you talk to some of your friends, they will all have some of their own restaurants to add to this list.

Back in March I joined the Transformation Community on line and started attending weekly webinars on making a healthy lifestyle change.  At the beginning of every webinar, there was a commerical for LYFE Kitchen. (LYFE stands for Love Your Food Everyday.) The way I understood it,  it was to be a restaurant that focused on bringing delicious, healthy foods to the everyday American.  It was going to be fast, convenient, reasonably priced, family friendly, and in a relaxing setting.  The CEO was a former McDonald’s CEO.  Famous Chef’s were creating the menus.  And eventually they were going to be selling these wonderful meals in the super markets!  I was sold!  The only problem was, I lived in Boise and LYFE Kitchen was being built-in downtown Palo Alto, California!  Okay, it really wasn’t that much of a problem, as my husband travels to the Bay Area once a month and I get to go there occasional, especially since I started working for the same company as my husband!  So every week, I watched this commercial and every week I got more and more excited! It was supposed to be done by the summer of 2011, and I had my first trip back to the area in September 2011.  We drove to downtown Palo Alto and it wasn’t open…yet!  As a matter of fact, it was supposed to open the next week!  I missed it by a week!!!  My heart about broke, but I told my friends about it, and they went for me!    They told me it was amazing!!!

Finally, my turn came!  We planned another trip for me.  The very first restaurant that made the agenda was LYFE, everything else got planned around it!  I was so excited I could hardly stand myself. Finally when the day arrived, my friend Christina and I kept saying, “Tonight’s the night!  LYFE!!!”  I couldn’t wait for the work day to end!  I had been Facebooking LYFE for a while now. I had been looking through the menus and browsing the pictures, and I couldn’t even begin to decide what to eat!

Finally, we walked up to the restaurant, and Christina and I posed for a picture!  This was my Mecca!  As we took the picture, one of the managers kinda joked around, “That had better find its way to Facebook.”  Boy, he had no idea who he was dealing with!  I couldn’t contain my excitement and I just started telling him how excited I was to finally be there and how long I had waited for this place to open and then how long I had to wait to finally make it there!  He treated us like royalty!  The whole restaurant did!  And my friend (who had been then a couple of times now) told me that they ALWAYS treat people like this there.  Everyone is always made to feel welcome, appreciated and special.  Not just their first time, but every time!  (Have I mentioned lately that my passion is customer service??  Ya.  So this royal treatment was going a very long way in my book!)

When we walked into LYFE, the energy in the restaurant was beautiful and peaceful.  There was a nice size crowd, it was decorated with comfortable couches and or love seats and chairs.  The space was open.  Everyone was smiling and laughing.  There is a beautiful herb garden growing there by the register/ordering area.  The kitchen is open and you can see them cooking.  There are inspiring quotes printed on the walls.  The whole place just makes you want to take a deep breath and really in-joy “LYFE”.   It completely resonated with everything I have focused on for the last 44 weeks!  I was home!

   

How do you go to a restaurant you  have been so excited to visit when you know you are only going to eat there once (at least for this trip)? How do you choose what to eat?  Everything looks so good!  Even the fresh squeezed orange juice looked amazing, but for dinner?  How do you choose?  Well at some point, you just have to.  Since I am extremely picky about my fish tacos, I figured I would jump in and try those. My husband picked a good ol’ stand by, Cheeseburger. Christina ordered the Salmon and a bowl of Corn Chowder.  Then there was the issue of dessert!  OH MY! We ordered Banana Rum Dairy-free Cheesecake and the Chocolate Volcano Cake.  Tracy and I had beers. (Don’t ask me which flavor, but when I told the nice man who helped us asked what kind of beer I normally drank, he suggested this one.  It was very yummy!)  We were handed a pager type thing and went to find a comfy couch and table to sit and visit and wait.   Our little pager thing had the number 4 on it, but more importantly it said, “LYFE is Calling.”  Yes, indeed it is!  Are you going to pick up and answer when LYFE calls or are you just gonna let it pass you by?

See what I mean? This place is amazing!!!

    

  

The food was truly delicious!  My fish tacos were to die for!  The salmon was very tasty!  My husband thoroughly enjoyed his burger.  But more importantly, my husband ate his Kale salad!!!!  Okay, so usually when my husband hears “health food” he kinda of shrinks and hides.  He crosses his fingers that there is something he will be able to eat and usually has a back up plan for the ride home (which burger, taco, or sandwich joint can he hit on the way home to fill his belly?)  I’m sure that was probably on  his mind when we made plans for LYFE.  Instead, what I heard was, “That was really good!  I really enjoyed myself and I would go back there any time!”  That is high praise from my non-healthy eating husband!  There truly is something for everyone on the menu!

One of the other things I was excited about was getting to visit with the CEO, Mike Roberts.  He was there working and visiting with the guests and when I asked if I could get a picture with him, he was very sweet and willing. I HAD to ask him, “How does a previous McDonald’s CEO from McDonald’s to LYFE?”  He was more than willing to share the story with me!   He has a passion for bringing  healthy food to the American Public. He wants it accessible to everyone.  He wants the children to love it as much as the parents. He wants the plates to be filled and our tummies to be happy.   When I asked him what it would take to open a LYFE in Boise, he said, “Give me a minute.”  I thought he literally meant a minute to think it over, but what he really meant was to give him time to make  LYFE perfect at its current location.  (Yes, it takes me a while to “get” things.)  We continued to talk.  He was gracious enough to listen to my healthy lifestyle changes and accomplishments, but he was genuinely happy for me because this is what LYFE is about!

So I think I will give Mike about a “minute”, but I am not letting this one go!  LYFE needs to be opened here in Boise!  We have the best market for it.  Boise has that same downtown Palo Alto feel (with less money maybe), but it is certainly getting there.  Downtown Boise has that outdoor living, be alive, live life to the fullest vibe!  It’s perfect for LYFE and LYFE is perfect for Boise!   And since Mike has made many trips to Boise to purchase fries for McDonald’s and he has some contacts here, I have hope!

Anyway, dinner at LYFE was so amazing, that before we left that night, we decided we would visit for breakfast the next morning!  Fresh squeezed orange juice that tasted like Florida!  As soon as I took my first sip, I had visions of Florida sunrises and I could smell the sweet winter orange blossoms!  It was heaven! (It really did taste like it was fresh from the Groves; the kind we had when we used to live in Florida.)  Tracy had the whole wheat pancakes topped with greek yogurt and fresh berries and served with real maple syrup. I had a delicious egg white breakfast burrito with a side of fresh fruit that was so sweet!  Tracy said it was the best whole wheat pancakes he has ever had! Again, high praise from someone who shrinks from healthy food.  It was perfect!

  

It was a bitter-sweet moment when we walked out of the restaurant that morning.  I resolved to make it back to Palo Alto soon so I could eat there again.

But on Sunday as we finished our hike in Muir Woods, we were hungry and Tracy asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner before we got on the plane to fly back home.  “If I told you I wanted to stop at LYFE for the 3rd time in 3 days would you think it was over kill?”   His reply, “No, I was going to suggest the same thing!”

And that is exactly what we did!  We rushed back to our car, drove as fast as we could over the windy mountain roads, rushed through the traffic to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, darted through the cars on the high way to Palo Alto and made a bee line for our new favorite restaurant!!!!   There are no pictures from dinner that night because I was just too hungry to take them, but I guarantee you my taste buds sang with every bite! Oh ya..and you MUST have the strawberry lemonade when you visit!!!

So there you have it. The new MUST EAT in the bay area!!!!  Put it on your list, and don’t forget it.  Get there an in-joy LYFE!

So much to say about week 44…may require a couple of posts….

Week 44 found me trying to ease back into exercise from the muscle tear.  I don’t sit still very easily and I completely miss running!  And I find that without a normal training routine, I find it harder to keep my eating in check.  Exercise does so much for me (well for anyone really). It is a mood regulator and keeps you focused on a healthy lifestyle.

So I went to a pole dance class and I went to belly dancing last week before I headed out-of-town for a 4 day trip to the Bay area (Palo Alto, Menlo Park, San Francisco).  My leg is feeling a bit better, but I think I need to see an orthopedic surgeon/doctor to have him check it out.   As the swelling went down in the tear, there is a new issue at the back of my knee with popping when I walk.  Just want to be safe and have it checked out.  No worries.

Like, I said my husband and I went out-of-town last week.  We travelled to a place that is filled with amazing food and lots of walking.  I tried to use the “lots of walking” to justify some of my eating choices, but in reality, I don’t think I did enough walking to justify all of it. However, not ALL of my eating choices were bad.   Some of them were very, VERY good!

Thursday:

On the way out the door to catch the plane:  Bowl of Kashi Cereal with banana.

On the plane, the little ginger snaps they give you.

Lunch:  a piece of white pizza and a salad.

Snack:  Pumpkin bread and large chai late from Starbucks

Dinner:  A fruity adult beverage, garlic fries, and a burger with pineapple and avocado.

 

Friday:

Breakfast:  Kashi Bar and Water

Lunch:  Pho

Snack:  Large Skinny Chai Late

Dinner:  Fish Tacos, beer, and  dessert of 1/2 banana rum non dairy cheese cake and 1/2 volcano chocolate cake from LYFE (healthy foods with some yumminess)..this restaurant will have its own blog entry!

 

Saturday:

Breakfast:  Back to LYFE to have breakfast burrito with egg whites and fresh fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice!

Snacks:  We toured Jelly Belly Factory..need I say more?  Lots of Jelly Bean Testing with 3 tiny bites of fudge testing.  (SUGAR HEADACHE!!!!!!)

Lunch:  In-n-out cheese burger and fries (BAD BAD BAD)

Dinner:  Way too much pizza at Tony Napoletana and a huge Stella Beer.

 

Sunday:

Breakfast at Holiday Inn Express breakfast bar:  Scrambled Eggs, Sausage with a bit of syrup on it, blue berry muffin and half of Tracy’s blue berry muffin and a small glass of orange juice.

Lunch…more early dinner:  Back to LYFE for nonfried chicken with winter squash and collard greens and  bowl of sweet potato soup with fresh strawberry lemonade.

Snack/dinner on plane:   Heart smart park of almond butter, wheat crackers, apple sauce, oatmeal bar and jam..and I had a snack back of snack cracker  mix.

 

Now that I look at it, I don’t think I did all that bad in my food choices really.  It could have been much worse.  We did walk everywhere in San Fran.  We walked back and forth to work from the  hotel.  I walked to lunch.  We parked our cars and had to walk to the restaurants.  Once in downtown San Fran, we kept our car parked at the hotel and walked to our restaurants and bars.  We did all that walking at the Jelly Belly Tour.  Sunday we did probably close to 5 or 6 miles of hiking/walking.  1 mile of the hiking was up hill and power hiking and 1 miles of it was down and running.  We worked up a sweat on that hike and got our heart rates up.   So all in all not too bad.  And truthfully, I gained .4# this week.    I really should see a nice loss next week.  But in the mean time I will focus on the good things and not focus on a gain.

I also decided to buy a 3 month tracker to keep in my purse to keep track of my points.  I think I need the change-up  and the tactile writing.  I think it will also help with journaling my running too. I need to keep a runners journal to keep track of my training; I figured the point tracker could double as that as well.

So I have to say, that the hiking my husband and I did was at Muir Woods National Monument home to beautiful huge Red Wood trees!  I love it there!  There is so much beautiful energy generated by this gorgeous ancient forest!  You just have to experience it for yourself!  This time we decided to take a hike from the floor of the forest up the mountain and through changing climates to see the Pacific Ocean Overlook.  It was a mile UP with hundreds of stairs.  The last half mile was serious power hiking; we were in a hurry.  The view was gorgeous!  Then we decided to run down the mile hike.  That was so much fun.  I felt so much joy!  I felt like a child just running through the forest without a care in the world!

    

Later, once we were done running and just enjoying the walk back,  hand in hand, I started to cry.  My husband noticed. “Martha, what are you crying about now?” he asked.  My reply:  “A year ago, I could not have even imaged hiking up that trail much less running down it and  laughing and feeling so free!  My life has changed so much!”

It’s true it has!  You know what else happened over the weekend?  My husband and I had plans to go out on the town in San Francisco on Saturday night, and I bought a dress for the occasion.  It was a short tunic type dress and I wasn’t sure what he would think about it. But as usual, I put thought into every outfit I buy and put together, from the under garments to the jewelry I am going to wear.  (It is worth noting that I didn’t used to give this much thought to it, but since losing weight, I really LOVE dressing!)  Anyway, when I was all dressed, my husband said the words that every woman longs to hear.. “OH.  MY.  GAWD!!!!  You look ***** AMAZING!!!!!”  Then he proceeded to pout because he didn’t have anything near as nice to wear (he is truly a geek and if I don’t buy him and pack him something nice, he will wear t-shirts with geek sayings on them).   All night long, he couldn’t stop telling me how much he just wanted to walk around town and show me off.  Then he said, “Martha, you really have changed so much and I am so very proud of you!”

I may have gained .4# this week, but the NSV’s were HUGE!!!!!!!