Eating healthier has been on my “To-Do List” since the year started. While I having been slightly changing my diet at home, it’s helpful to know of places in the area who have the same goal in mind.
I had heard of Turning Natural from a few coworkers. I had been meaning to check it out when my mom mentioned it to me so we decided what better time to go than now?
Turning Natural is a black-owned juice bar with 2 locations in the DMV. From the parking lot it looks very dim inside but there is so much light that shines once you go in. The staff was very friendly and able to offer suggestions since it was our first visit. There were even a few other customers who offered suggestions about their favorite products.
The theme of the entire store is centered around the magic that exudes from African Americans. The smoothies have clever names like Swizz Beets, Green Latifah, Just Blaze, and the symbol formerly known as Prince. There’s a bookshelf shaped like a tree on the wall that features books by and about black people. They also have signs that promote positive energy.
Besides the smoothies their menu also includes juice, black bean burgers, vegan cookies, a juice cleanse, and so much more. I’ve visited a few different times now and each time has been a great experience. I definitely recommend checking them out. Whether you’re currently eating clean or not it’s a great chance to support a Black Owned Business with an awesome energy.
What better way to start off 2017 than with a trip? I’ve been to Miami several times (my family is from Florida) but this trip would be completely different. This would be a trip to celebrate my best friend’s 25th birthday along side my cousin (aka girl’s trip). I’m always pretty anxious to travel because you never know how things will go. I knew I would have a good time with my small travel crew but how exactly would things go down?
A view inside our room at The Kent Hotel.
My first round of anxiety came from the hotel. We spent months online deciding should we use a hotel or AirBnB. When it came down to comparing prices it seemed like most AirBnB’s would be more expensive due to fees so we chose to stay at a hotel. Hotels in Miami can be another cause of anxiety because they offer a lot of “boutique” style hotels (meaning that most of them were places we had never heard of). The most we could do was look at reviews (I always recommend checking several different sites) and go with our gut feeling. We were not let down. We chose The Kent Hotel which had recent renovations and was about a 5 minute walk from the beach, shops, and amazing restaurants.
Food is one of my favorite things to try when traveling and I consider myself very adventurous when it comes to trying new places. Among the places we visited were Sugar Factory (famous for their smoking drinks but dinner was good too), The Naked Taco (the name says it all), 11th Street Diner (amazing breakfast/brunch), Sushi Siam (delicious Thai food), LimeTree Lounge (the restaurant/hookah bar at our hotel), and of course we had to stop by Wet Willie’s. Every restaurant in South Beach includes 18% gratuity automatically (Sugar Factory was 20%) so the meals end up being pretty expensive. The craziest thing to me was that no matter what time you walked down Ocean Ave (the main street so to speak) all the restaurants were saying it was happy hour and asking you to view their menu. Guess “they” weren’t lying when they said it is always happy hour somewhere.
Drunken Noodles with Chicken from Sushi Siam.
French Toast from News Cafe.
Conch Fritters from the 11th Street Diner.
Besides food, there were plenty of shops within walking distance. If we walked about 3 blocks one way there was a Victoria’s Secret, Ugg Australia, the Kardashian store -DASH (where I couldn’t even afford sale rack items), Nine West, Sephora, and a Walgreen’s that sold liquor. About 7 blocks in the opposite direction we stumbled upon a farmer’s market serving fresh fruit, empanadas, and other trinkets in the middle of a mile long of shops including Forever21, Alex and Ani, and H&M.
Fresh mango, pineapple, and watermelon from the Farmer’s Market.
We didn’t go clubbing as much as we thought we would. We decided to visit G5ive, one of the newer strip clubs in the area, instead of KOD which was a pretty fun time. The rest of our nights were spent drinking together in our room, visiting the hookah bar downstairs, or simply walking the strip of restaurants housed opposite of our hotel.
The weather was pretty warm but of course it is Florida so we did endure a few hours of rain (more like a drizzle) on two separate days. We were able to visit the beach and the water was a pretty clear/blue.
All in all, South Beach was great to experience being young and carefree. I would definitely recommend opening up your mind and taking on adventure when visiting because a lot of the places you visit will not have familiar names. That’s part of the fun in it all.
What’s better than brunch and mimosas on a Sunday? Food Trucks that serve brunch and BOTTOMLESS mimosas!
This past Sunday I went to Taste on Wheels (hosted by the same people who put on Taste of DC) in the National’s Parking Lot. Tickets to the event were $5 for general admission (or $3 in advance) and $19 for bottomless ($12 in advance). It was slightly different from Taste of DC; there were less food trucks but on the plus side each truck offered a signature item for tasting at the price of $3.
My $3 treat was a french toast egg roll from a truck called “Bacon N Ed’s” who have been featured on The Food Network. It was basically a stick of french toast rolled in egg roll paper sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Definitely a tasty snack!
All of the trucks had pretty long lines but when you’re having a good time with friends time always flies. To eat, I headed straight for the truck with southern cuisine. The menu at “Myra’s New Orleans” gave me flashbacks of my trip to Mardi Gras and I just knew I had to have it.
My best friend and I went with a simple order of red beans and rice (Popeyes has nothing on the authentic kind. Believe me) while my boyfriend decided to be spontaneous by ordering an alligator dog (basically smoked alligator sausage) and a shrimp po boy. All of the food was delicious (I snuck a bite of everything lol) and it definitely tasted like everything I had in New Orleans.
Last but not least, I just had to have something from the Duck Donuts stand. There isn’t one close so I had to take the opportunity while it existed. The experience was slightly disappointing. Because they had a stand outside the donuts were pre-made of course but their options were limited to 4 flavors. I opted for the Cinnamon Sugar but regretted it later due to the lack of frosting.
All in all, Taste on Wheels was a great experience. Very similar to Truckeroo or Taste of DC, just a little smaller. I definitely suggest putting it on your “Things to Do in DC”list for the next time it comes around.
. There’s a bookshelf shaped like a tree on the wall that features books by and about black people. They also have signs that promote positive energy.
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