Alive!

As you all know, I'm doing a little raw food cleaning of the system right now, and I'm feeling pretty good. I've mostly been eating fruit and greens, but last night I indulged myself at Alive!. Yes, the exclamation point is necessary. Not because the food at this tiny raw joint on Lombard is something to shout about (though it does have its moments) but because it's actually just part of the name. Go figure. Silly grammar aside, I really enjoyed my meal last night, starting with the raw carrot and ginger soup:

Like most raw soups, this is really just the ingredients (carrot, ginger, some spices) thrown in a blender and pureed. That being said, this is still really yummy. It's refreshing and light, which is nice because the rest of the food at Alive! is heavy on the fats. For example...

Flatbread (sprouted grains and flax I believe) topped with cashew cheese, avocado, and tomato. It was really tasty, thanks in large part to the amazing tomatoes, but all that fat from the cashew cheese and avocado is a bit much for my palate. This theme continued with my Mediterranean Salad (not pictured) which was not only avocado and nut cheese laden, but also topped with olives. Don't get me wrong, it's all very tasty, and I could see why people eating the standard diet would need that fat to get a feeling of fullness, but it was really overload. So what do I do? Order cake of course!

Okay, raw or not, and full of fat or not, the desserts at Alive! are delicious. This is the chocolate cake with coconut whipped cream. Yum. Made mostly of coconut, nuts, and raw cacao, and topped with a decadent chocolate sauce, it is raw heaven.

One thing about Alive! that blows is the slowness. If you aren't alone in the restaurant your food will take time (and lots of it) to arrive at your table. Be sure to bring someone you like talking to.

Okay, I'm still going strong with the raw, and tomorrow I actually begin the "excavation" Blueprint Cleanse, which I'm really looking forward to. I promise to blog about that this weekend. For now, I'm feeling energized and positive, so I'm just hoping that continues. Yay raw!