Tender Greens - Palo Alto

In my previous post, I had written about new openings in Palo Alto recently. The city already has a health conscious demographic which made newcomer, Tender Greens, a perfect fit for the Stanford Shopping Center. Tender Greens is a sit down restaurant specializing in salads, although you do order at the counter. Unlike Pluto's or other salad bars where you choose your own ingredients, there are already set salad combinations designed to have complimentary flavors. Tender Greens recently invited me and my husband for a complimentary lunch. 

($2.75) Agua Fresca - you can't go wrong with watermelon juice. It's always refreshing. 

($12.50) Tuna Nicoise - seared albacore tuna with baby greens, tomato, potato, capers, green beans, quail egg, olives, sherry vinaigrette, and a slice of buttered garlic toast.

I was very happy with my selection. There are large pieces of fresh tuna, sweet tomatoes, and the portion size was very filling. That garlic toast is so good. I highly recommend this dish and would get it again.

($12.50) Backyard marinated steak sandwich with butter lettuce

The ingredients in this sandwich were all high quality and wonderful on their own. The steak pieces were large and cooked perfectly and the roasted peppers were a nice addition. It just lacked a flavorful sauce to bind it together well. There is an aioli spread which tasted bland. 

($4) Side of red quinoa salad with radish, cucumbers, pickled radish (?), and a garlic toast.

This is definitely a side I would order again. Quinoa is a healthy grain to fill up on while feeling very light. They seasoned it lightly and enhanced with the other vegetables. Again, the toast is wonderful.

Our whole meal

($2.50 each) salted caramel with white chocolate, and chocolate chip cookies

For dessert, our waiter brought out warm cookies. They are the BEST. Just absolutely, the best. Chewy, soft, perfect. Salted caramel is better than chocolate chip although the choc chips were also one of the best choc chip cookies I've had too.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

The food at Tender Greens is really fresh and tasty if you are into healthy salads. Although the price is expensive, it is Stanford Shopping Center and you can easily make a salad worth $12.50 with all the add-ons at Pluto's, which I consider to be in a similar category. The line gets very long at lunch even though it moves quickly. I highly recommend the tuna nicoise salad and also to finish your meal with a cookie. Why not? You deserve it after eating healthy salads.

CorePower Yoga (Golden Triangle) - San Jose

There's a new CorePower Yoga studio coming to San Jose. Grand opening is tentatively scheduled for June 3. Press Release below.

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(Denver, CO) May 5, 2016 – America’s leading yoga brand CorePower Yoga is pleased to announce a new studio opening in North San Jose, located at 55 River Oaks Place, Suite #10. CorePower Yoga roots an intensely physical workout in the mindfulness of yoga, helping students to change their bodies as well as their lives. Studio manager Jane Shim will officially open doors to the brand’s third location next month. “We are thrilled to expand our presence in San Jose,” said Tess Roering, chief marketing officer at CorePower Yoga. “The San Jose community has really embraced our classes, and with a third studio we’ll be able to share the physical and mental benefits of this practice with more people.” Each CorePower Yoga class is designed to work every muscle and every emotion, creating a unique all-inclusive fitness experience. Offerings range from restorative classes to physically demanding, muscle-sculpting classes. In addition to the daily class schedule, CorePower Yoga offers a renowned Yoga Teacher Training program, along with special programs including boot camps, retreats and wellness cleanses. Designed with green building practices in mind, using recycled products and sustainable materials, the new San Jose studio will mirror all others by employing the latest technology to efficiently heat the practice rooms. Class attendees will have access to spa-like amenities including spacious changing rooms with showers and private lockers, and a full retail boutique showcasing a stylish selection of men’s and women’s activewear and accessories. San Jose community members are encouraged to take advantage of the studio’s limited-time founding rate on Black Tag Memberships. People who sign up prior to the studio opening will receive 25% off unlimited yoga. Black Tag Membership perks include unlimited classes and 20% off programs and teacher trainings. Black Tag Memberships following the grand opening will start at $155 per month. For more information, or to find out how to secure the founding rate, please visit http://corepoweryoga.com. 

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About CorePower Yoga: CorePower Yoga strives to show the world the incredible, life-changing things that happen when an intensely physical workout is rooted in the mindfulness of yoga. Through a variety of yoga classes, convenient times and more than 150 studio locations, CorePower Yoga provides a highly intense and incredibly mindful form of fitness. CorePower Yoga classes are taught by passionate and encouraging certified yoga instructors who take a typical yoga practice and crank it up to 11. In addition to yoga classes, CorePower Yoga offers transformative Yoga Teacher Training programs to empower students to advance their individual practice or become instructors. The beautiful, spa-like studios are built with green practices in mind and operate to meet the highest standards of service and quality. For more information, visit corepoweryoga.com.

Vitality Bowls + Giveaway - Cupertino

Superfoods are a trend I have no issues participating in as they are all healthy and good for the body. While Acai berries (ah-sai-ee) are no stranger to the superfood list, they are making a relatively new presence in the Bay Area. It is a highly perishable berry grown on a kind of palm tree in Brazil which has made them hard to ship. In Brazil, I took a tour through a popular park in Rio de Janiero where the guide pointed out some acai berries for us. On it's own the berry is very tart and hard to eat. It's usually frozen, blended with sugar and other fruits, then served with various toppings as a breakfast food. That's how I had it at the market in Brazil.

It's 3 years later and I am just starting to see Acai gain momentum in the Bay Area. At the helm of this trend is Vitality Bowls, a franchise offering not just food but a healthy lifestyle. There is a location in Cupertino in the same building as a new apartment complex across from Vallco mall. Parking is plenty here and the space is clean and modern. Here is my experience trying their bowls.

*I received complimentary bowls in exchange for this review.*

The bowls come in Medium and Large sizes. They have a base of acai berries, the VB blend, then other fruits and toppings. The VB Blend contains the following frozen or powdered superfood mix: Mangosteen, Noni, Camu Camu, Moringa, Acai, Blueberry & Pomegranate. I linked to Wikipedia pages if you are curious about the fruits. There is no added sugar or preservatives. The bowls take on any flavor and sweetness from the fruits only.

We ordered a medium size of three different types of bowls and had each bowl split into two so we could taste test.

($8.99) Vitality Bowl - Açaí blended with VB Superfood Blend, Banana, Strawberries & Flax Seed; Topped with Granola, Bananas, Strawberries, Goji Berries & Honey

The Vitality Bowl is the classic and for a good reason. We liked this bowl the best out of the three. The acai blend was naturally sweet and went well with the fresh fruit and granola. Even though this was only half of a medium portion, it's quite filling with all the toppings. 

($11.49) Acerola Bowl - Acerola blended with Coconut Milk, VB Blend, Mango, Banana & Spinach; Topped with Granola, Banana, Blueberries, Coconut Shavings & Honey

Photo from Wikipedia

I had to try the acerola bowl because it's a fruit commonly found in Vietnam. They call it so ri, basically a Vietnamese pronunciation of cherry. Unlike cherries in America, the acerola is not very sweet. In the bowl, it reminded me more of a kiwi flavor, a bit on the sour side. It was very refreshing and I liked the blueberries and honey toppings. 

Photo by Sherry

($11.49) Dragon Bowl - Acai & Pitaya (Dragonfruit) blended with Mango Juice, Coconut Milk, Bananas, Pineapple, Raspberries & Immunity Boost: Topped with Strawberries, Kiwi, Almonds, Goji Berries, Bee Pollen & Honey

Dragon fruit has become quite common in Asian communities in California. It's quite easy to grow in our climate. Dragonfruit doesn't has as strong of a taste as it does texture. The base of this bowl has a distinct dragonfruit texture which is slightly viscous. My favorite parts of this bowl were the Goji berries and bee pollen. This was my first time trying bee pollen. The pollen ball breaks apart in your mouth and leaves a distinct flavor of honey and flowers. 

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The owners of Vitality Bowls - Cupertino have graciously offered gift certificates for a lucky winner. By entering the raffle below, one winner will win TWO certificates, each are good for a bowl, smoothie, or juice of your choice. The contest runs from 12/16 to 12/18. I will draw the winner over the weekend and announce on 12/21. GOOD LUCK!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Vitality Bowls Cupertino

19700 Vallco Pkwy, Suite 160

Cupertino, CA

US   95014

Mom's Fit and Well Event at Sunnyvale Sports Basement

In 2010, I wrote a post sharing my tips for exercising and weight loss and it is still one of the top performing posts of this blog. Check it here. In the years since then, I lost more weight and got more toned by running half marathons, lifting weights, and going to the gym 7 days a week. Pretty much if I saw it on Instagram, I did it. When I got pregnant, I only walked, took some Zumba classes, and did light hand weights as my exercise.

Having such a large belly made me feel like my arms and legs were still skinny in comparison. Now that baby is out, everything just sags and looks chubby. At 7 weeks postpartum I started swimming which is actually the perfect exercise to get back into losing weight. It's low impact and stretches out all the muscles. I didn't lose too much weight from a month of regular swimming but I definitely felt my muscles get back into balance. The pool is closing soon so I joined a gym. As eager as I am to get back into distance running and lots of crunches, when I work out, my hip joint hurts and my muscles spasm. Everything just feels so misaligned and rusty.

Shari from my blogger group posted this Fit and Well event aimed towards moms so I went last week and learned so much that will help me with my work outs. I need to be patient with my body's ability to recover. Healing is much more than how skinny I look. For me, it will be about
Running without having this loose hip joint feeling.
Doing ab work without feeling like a turtle on it's back.
Ending a workout without my leg muscles going into spasms.
Improving the posture of my upper back which is constantly hunched from holding my son.

I stopped doing exercises that target the ab muscle specifically and started doing more things for my back, arms, thighs, and hips. Many of these exercises will also engage the abs but at least they won't directly strain them.

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The first class of the fitness event was Bombay Jam Dance Class, which was like Zumba with Indian belly dancing. It was very fun. The moves are easier to learn than Zumba and gives just as much of a workout. (Photos by Shari)

The event was sponsored by Smarty Pants vitamins. They make naturally sweetened gummy versions of daily vitamins. 

The prenatal vitamins were good. Not very sweet or sticky and easy to eat. It takes about 6 gummies to equal the amount of vitamins usually found in a pill. Prenatal vitamins can be very large and hard to swallow. Some women have difficulty with this and the gummy vitamins are a good alternative.

We got this nice goodie bag and I am making my way through some of the snacks.

There was a bounty of Hint Water at the event. It tastes as natural as infusing water with fruit. These are some of the best flavored water I've tasted.

I haven't had a chance to try the Big Slice apple packets yet.

I just finished eating the Smart Candy vitamin gummies in the top right corner. It's a bit too sour and sticky for my preference in gummies. Smarty Pants prenatal vitamins tasted much better. It doesn't look like these two companies are related despite the similar names.

Those Beanfields bean and rice chips have a good flavor although the texture gets mushy in your mouth quickly. It definitely gives me gas. I still feel healthier eating it versus potato chips though. I also tried the peanut butter Dynamos in the middle and they're really good. Not super sweet. Just enough bites to fuel a short workout.

I have not had a chance to try these products yet but I can't wait to try the chemical free WaterWipes and Goddess Garden Sunny Kids Organic sunblock on my son when he's older. Mommy Nearest is an app to find family friendly places near your location.

I already devoured all 4 of the Krave Jerky packs and they were yummy!

Gomacro bars were available at the event. The are smaller, healthier versions of energy bars. It's less dense, not as sweet, and tastes lighter.

Business Spotlight - Brad's Bistro

Brad Kunkel is a personal chef who created Brad's Bistro, a weekly meal delivery service based in San Jose. Brad's meals focus on health and wellness, with portion sizes catered towards weight loss and ingredients that are diabetic friendly. He can make slight changes for gluten free meals as well. Brad's Bistro is based in San Jose and he makes deliveries to the South Bay area.

There are a number of people in my life who need to follow restricted diets for health reasons. Some others I know also follow restricted diets for brief or extended periods of time to lose weight. When Brad offered me a complimentary delivery of his metabolic meals, I specifically had these loved ones in mind. 

For $150, you get everything pictured above. Brad has recently started offering a snack service in addition to the meals. When you place your order by no later than 12PM on Weds, Brad will email you an invoice. The delivery is dropped off by Brad on Saturdays and they contain 5 days worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinners. He personally manages all the aspects of his business himself. The containers are reusable, microwavable, and are all labeled with the food item name. I kept the containers and continue to use them to store ingredients I prep for dinner the day before, or to bring lunch to work where I need to separate different elements. They are very handy!

Here's a quick breakdown of what was in that week's delivery. I split off one day's worth to my friend who has diabetes. I wanted a diabetic's opinion of the meal since it is made to suit their dietary needs. I won't be making notes on every item since the menu changes every week. I'll highlight my favorites. The food is pictured in their meal categories.

BREAKFAST

Almond berry oatmeal
My friend said this tasted much better than it looks. The oatmeal texture was spot on. 

Almond flour pecan pancakes

I thought these were some of the best pancakes I've ever had. I never had pancakes with almond flour before and I should be having more of them in the future! They reheat very well, still fluffy.

Huevos Rancheros

Kale mushroom fritatta

LUNCH

Curried tofu waldorf salad

Salmon, chickpeas, and broccoli salad

Pad Thai salad with grilled turkey
Turkey was perfectly cooked, still juicy and moist.

My general note about all the salads is that the home made dressings are all very tasty. They are all unique and you won't find those flavors in bottles on the store. Aside from that, each salad was pretty good. You should follow the order on the menu that comes with the delivery because it does suggest which items to eat first in terms of freshness. This is most important for the salads.

DINNER

Quinoa pasta
Yum! I had this for lunch instead of dinner. 

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

The dinner actually comes with sides which aren't pictured here so your portion is much larger than this.

Pork tenderloin with date walnut sauce
I ate most of my meals at my desk and the only meal I was able to plate and photograph was this one. This is more like the portion size of what you would get for a dinner. Each element is boxed separately.

Chicken mole with dates and almonds
I thought this was the most filling of all the dinner options. The dates, walnuts, and chicken can really fill you up.

Carrot and roasted chili slaw
A surprising hit! The chili is not spicy at all. The dressing has some acidity, and there's no milkiness like the usual slaw dressing. I liked this side dish very much.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

There's no doubt in my mind that Brad knows how to cook and plan meals. Some of the flavor profiles in his dish were spot on. Especially impressive given that he needs to replace certain carbs with healthier options like quinoa and almond flour and I saw very minimal use of sugars. You will notice a lot of use of almonds, dates, and beans to fill out the meals. Having close friends and family members with diabetes, high blood pressure, as well as having gone through a weight loss process for myself and with my husband, I think Brad's ingredient choices and the way he designed the menu is very nutritional and tasty.

His service is great. He cooks everything on Fridays out of a catering kitchen he rents and makes all his deliveries on Saturday. The food will keep well for you up until Friday dinner, given that you follow the suggested order in his menu. The invoice comes to you promptly, and emails are answered quickly. He is very receptive to feedback and can make slight adjustments to your meal if needed. 

The portion sizes are a bit small. They actually look to be appropriately sized for what's recommended if you look at Choosemyplate.gov. However, everyone is a different size with different lifestyles. If you are active like me (I work out for at least 30-60 minutes almost every day), you will need to supplement the diet with more snacks or other small meals. Brad also started offering a snack package with 2 snacks per day. The portion sizes and ingredients choices will at least get you on the right track to a healthier diet. 

I think what Brad's offering is unique and useful to the community. Nothing seems quite as bothersome as cutting out many foods you used to love for health reasons and not having the time or experience to cook proper replacements. His food definitely has that home cooked feel to it while being nutritious at the same time. 

Brad's Website/Menu

Brad on Yelp