Taste Of The Town Pairs Yoga With Healthy Fare At The Palms Hotel & Spa
MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - There's a new summer program that's gaining popularity at the Palms Hotel that's geared to invigorate the mind, body and soul.
The program is called Flourish; a yoga, spa, and garden-to-table dinner series that takes place every Wednesday evening.
Experienced yoga instructors teach the one hour class while Chef Julie Frans designs the menu.
"Ever since I've been here, I had a great idea about people into yoga and nature and healthy food and fitness all coming together for a real community type environment," Frans said.
Aside from the over-sized vegetable garden outside the hotel, Chef Julie teamed up with Endlessly Organics, a local produce company that donates organic fruits and vegetables to design a menu that would be the perfect fit for dinner after yoga.
"There's no 'this is health food' menu. I just think of food as being natural and clean," said Julie. "So we have lots of herbs and spices. We get flavors from the fresh food itself."
With a serene view of the garden, a fully packed class bends, twists and lifts through the challenging poses--and you can bet your downward dog that the hour is a workout your body will feel.
As soon as shavasana is over, the healthy fare is ready for munching.
Julie, whose fulltime job is signature chef at the hotels elegant "Essensia" restaurant, points out all the organic dishes on the Flourish buffet table; there's grilled corn and black bean salad, a kale Caesar salad with homemade vegan sherry vinaigrette, plus a cauliflower couscous--made of cauliflower. There's no grain at all in the couscous—it's all raw, made of cauliflower.
CBS4's Lisa Petrillo, post yoga session, tried the black bean salad.
"That's a meal in itself. It's real fresh and light and dressing is perfect. You won't know it's healthy, you'll just know it's really good," said Petrillo.
The Flourish program is on every Wednesday night at the Palms Hotel now through the end of September. Tickets are $35 in advance and $45 at the door. For more info go www.thepalmshotel.com/dining.
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