I'm Going to Oz!

I haven't even finished writing about my trip to the Florida Keys, but I am so excited about my next vacation I just can't keep it to myself any longer... I'm going to Australia!!! I'm not really exactly sure of my Australian travel plans yet, so far all I have are plane tickets.

I'll be sure to write about the rest of my vegan adventures in Florida this weekend.

Vegan Key Largo

Key Largo is the diving capital of the world, or so they say in Key Largo. After flying into Miami, renting a car, and stocking up in Whole Foods, we slightly settled ourselves into our condo/hotel that was set among the mangroves and faced the Atlantic. Most of the meals we ate while in Key Largo were in our condo. However, we did venture out to Cheng Garden, a Chinese place that served a few options with tofu. The Sesame Tofu and Szechuan Vegetable Tofu were pleasant, but not spectacular. It's worth noting that there is a small health food store and a Thai place that also serves tofu in Key Largo. Generally, everything is clustered in a mini mall on the Overseas Highway.

We didn't go to Key Largo for the food, we went for the diving, and the diving was excellent. Not having much experience, I hired a guide that started calling me the turtle whisperer after I spotted two juvenile Hawksbill sea turtles! While I heard mention of a fin popping out of the water from some of the snorkelers near the boat, I didn't see any sharks or dolphins. The scariest thing was a school of about 15 shiny and gigantic barracuda hovering above the reef. Yikes! There were tons of fish including French Angelfish, surgeonfish ganging up on territorial seargant majors, and many different kinds of parrotfish and triggerfish. I saw brain coral, the biggest lobster I've ever seen in my life, and I made a silent vow underwater to never dive without my camera again.

After two nights in Key Largo, we headed to Key West, but before we did, we stopped at the Key Largo Conch House. While not a very vegan sounding name, I couldn't resist checking out this restaurant/cafe set inside a cute peachy/pink house. I had a fried potato breakfast and we got an iced coffee with soy milk and a strawberry banana smoothie to go. Both were delicious, by far the best tasting thing we had in Key Largo.

Fueled by sugar and caffeine, we headed west. The incredible shallow blue water that looked warm surrounded the road practically the whole way. We had a reservation for a sunset kayak tour so we didn't stop for much on the way...

More about Key West next! I had a long absence from this blog due to computer issues that seemed to be somewhat resolved. I also have two trips planned for the near future, one is fulfilling a lifetime travel wish, but more on that next time!

Win a Free Juicer!

Looking for a way to get some more leafy greens into your life? Leave a comment on this post and you could win a free juicer courtesy of 877MyJuicer.com. From what I've read about the Lexen Healthy Juicer, it's a manual, easy to clean, lightweight and travel-friendly wheatgrass and leafy green juicer. More detailed information about the juicer (including reviews) can be found here. If you'd like a chance to win, leave a comment on this post about juicing. My personal favorite juice combination is carrot/apple/beet/ginger, heavy on the ginger. What's your favorite? Have you ever tried wheatgrass? What did you think of it? The winner will be randomly selected and contacted by May 29th. Unfortunately, this contest is open to U.S. residents only. If you are a winner, I'll need to give the people at 877MyJuicer.com your first/last name and valid email address. Good luck!

Lula's Vegan Ice Cream

Vegan ice cream selections at Lula's Sweet Apothecary in NYC

I have a ton of photos from my recent vegan adventure in the Florida Keys to sort through, and I'll write about that soon. In the meantime, I finally went to Lula's Sweet Apothecary the other day. Everything is vegan at Lula's. In addition to the hard ice cream flavors pictured here (including peanut butter Oreo, espresso, chai, mango), there's soft serve chocolate and soft serve cake batter (which really tastes like cold and creamy cupcake batter). They're super generous with giving out little flavor samples. It was hard to choose, but I finally settled on chai ice cream in a cone. It was awesome. I will be going back often.

Happy Earth Day

Harbor Seal, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

Photos and food from the Florida Keys and Miami coming soon...