A Ballerina Abroad: Day 5 of A Hip and Healthy Guide to Los Angeles

words by Saskia Gregson-Williams

Day 5

Back to Le Pain this morning for an alkalising hot water and Lemon and another bowl of super omega-3 oatmeal. Early in the morning LA is so peaceful, the cars are replaced with people running and power walking along Ocean Blvd and up San Vincente.

Pilates in Brentwood gardens at 9:30 Another great session, really felt the burn! I am the first to complain when I feel like muscles are gripping excessively and the work feels to tight and heavy, but I am told that tight muscles are weak muscles and to push past it. The Resolution Pilates team are great at incorporating muscle fatiguing exercises with deep releasing stretches for maximum benefit. After a pounding Pilates session, we quenched our thirst outside in the sun at The Coral Tree Cafe next door. I love this chain of cafes, great food, healthy, fresh and organic and there is always so much to choose from. The  smoothies and juices are truly special though, I chose a Beetroot Detoxifier. Full of greens and beetroot. Perfect.

After enjoying the sun we went to the Santa Monica Place shopping centre a new shopping mall at the end of 3rd Street. Just as I returned to England a few years back they started to knock down the old tacky shopping centre and replaced it with this new modern mall with loads of great shops including Tiffany, Michael Kors, Armarni, 7 for all mankind, Nike and lots more. We visited the Nike store to look at new trainers – you’ve got to work out with pretty shoes right?! I bought some super springy orange and grey nikes, with a thin sole, so not to clumpy but with all the right support.

For lunch we met a friend at the top of the mall in the food hall to try out the new Michael Kenney raw restaurant ‘M.A.K.E’. After waiting for outside seating (with weather like this sitting inside is criminal!) we browsed over the menu. The menu was small but included lots of wonderful raw creations. We ordered the Kimmichi ‘Dumplings’ (coconut paper stuffed with pumpkin & seed pate) and the red radish, daikon, nori and avocado salad with a side of  raw fennel and walnut crackers. It took a while to come as the chef’s use the plate as a canvas to create an artwork as well as a delicious meal. When it did come, it was worth the wait – never have I seen raw food look so creative. For dessert we ordered strawberries with a carrot cream purée, lemon kefir sorbet, poppy alfalfa, cucumber ‘jus’ and beetroot biscuits to share. This spectacularly presented pudding was just as delicious as it looked, with no added sugar it still tasted wonderfully sweet.

After some time spent mooching around shops in Malibu. We returned back to the hotel and got ready to meet a friend for dinner at FIG. This restaurant only a few blocks down the road from our hotel on Ocean Blvd is part of the Fairmont Hotel, but locals love it. The menu is very vegan friendly but has lots of organic meat options too. For my starter I ordered spinach with pine nuts and dates. This sat on a bed of freshly made peanut butter, that oozed into the water from the spinach making a crunchy peanut sauce. Being quite a peanut butter addict, we’re talking eating it straight from the tub, I was a huge fan of this savoury and sweet combo. For my main I ordered the Scarlett Quinoa with carrots, apple, green beans, Almonds and more wonderful rainbow foods. It was a tad on the vinegary side, so in future I would ask them to go easy on the seasoning but all in all it was a fantastic meal.