I love the crunch and substance that nuts add to any salad, but bonus here: sunflower seeds are a great source of vitamin E (to help with inflammation and prevent cardiovascular disease) and magnesium (which calms your nerves and muscles).

Next stop: Bangkok. Everyone recommended (and raved about) Nahm — it’s one of the world’s 50 best restaurants! — but I thought the food was way too spicy. And I like spicy food. But this was so spicy I couldn’t eat as much as I wanted to. These rice cakes covered with blue swimmer crab with peanuts and pickled garlic were delicious, and reminded me of the spicy tuna rice cakes we get at Catch (and elsewhere) back home, but I could barely get them down. My mouth was on fiya. HOT, HOT, HOT. (And for those wondering, you apparently can’t ask them to turn down the heat. It is what it is, as they say.)

It wasn’t just the food that was hot, either. We walked around Chinatown in Bangkok one night — eating so much fantastic, and fantastically cheap street food — when it was about 90 degrees and sweltering outside. We stopped in one place for spare ribs and Brian ordered a Thai iced coffee — in that mug I’m using to cool down — and it was one of the most deliciously sweet cups of coffee I’ve ever had. I am far from a coffee connoisseur, but I drank a lot of it on our trip (thank you, jet lag!) and this was by far the best. I wish I remembered the name of the place so I could pass it on… but perhaps  you can find it/figure it out based on that money exchange sign hanging above our heads?

Then we went to Koh Samui, a small island off the coast of Thailand, where we had the best breakfast buffet either of us had ever seen. The whole W Retreat was a dream, and the breakfast buffet was the bright red cherry on top. Just look at this fresh, raw honeycomb! They had a massive cell that they’d cut a piece from, that you could eat however you like. I put half in my yogurt and the other half I ate straight cause it was that good. If I wasn’t scared of bees, or lived in an apartment building, I would get my own.

Elsewhere in Thailand, we had coconuts and fruit smoothies on the beach after we rode elephants. I drink a lot of coconut water here in New York, but they taste so much better on an island. No exotic, tropical vacation is complete without coconuts.

And the fruit! My goodness, the fruit. Truly nature’s candy. This dragonfruit/yellow watermelon platter was part of breakfast at the Chedi Club in Bali. Funny that they serve it with lime segments, as if it needs any added sweetness. I also had dragonfruit sorbet when we were walking around Ubud, and that was tremendous. All the fruit there just tastes… better.

This was our last lunch of the trip… at Nihiwatu, on the beautiful Indonesian island of Sumba. I had whatever the special salad of the day was (bottom right) and Brian had the chicken caesar salad… and again, the fresh watermelon with lime on the side. I would say it keeps you from needing or wanting any sweets for dessert, but I’m pretty sure we had ice cream anyway.

When on your honeymoon!

>> Which was the best advice we got. Do it all. See it all. Don’t think twice about any of it. <<

The trip was a dream and this is just a tiny glimpse of it. Any questions or need/want any recommendations… just ask! We were in Rome, Bangkok, Koh Samui, Singapore, two places in Bali, Sumba, then Frankfurt, Germany on the way home.

These popsicles are crazy easy to make with stuff you most likely already have in your fridge — yogurt, honey, fresh fruit — and they’re perfect for everyone at the party. All you’ll need is a 10-count popsicle mold and you’re set! Serve ’em anytime this weekend and you’re guaranteed to be the hit of the party, especially with any little ones. Kids will love these! (The fact that they’re actually good for you can be our little secret.)

If you have leftover strawberries and blueberries throw them on top of the vanilla chia pudding I told you about yesterday, another easy Independence Day snack. And if you want another way to show your patriotic pride, follow my intern Jessica’s lead (the cutie pictured below) and give yourself a red, white and blue manicure.

Lunch and dinner have been the easiest meals because I’ve always eaten salads, fish and vegetables, so I just cut the rice or quinoa from the dish / not a major sacrifice. Breakfast during the week has even been a walk in the park because I have the same protein/probiotic shake every morning. The biggest hurdle has been breakfast on the weekends when I used to always eat yogurt and granola. (Or avocado toast, but we know how that goes now.) Sure there are eggs, and I love me an omelette, but I needed another option, something just as easy that you can grab and go, like yogurt and granola. (Read: no stove, oven or prep time.)

That’s when I turned to my friend Jackie, my one woman health warrior who lives in LA. She’s luckily eons ahead of me in this grain-free world so she has plenty of knowledge to impart. (She’s also the reason I have a Vitamix, my most favorite machine ever, which I’ve used every single day for two years.) She’s passed along recipes too, including one of my now favorites for egg salad, which I plan to share here soon. (Thank goodness for email and texting so we can constantly be in touch about these sorts of Very Important Matters.) Anyway the last time she was visiting New York she sat on my couch and waxed poetic about the joys of chia pudding, how she eats it every morning for breakfast and that she’s full from it for hours… in a good, satisfying way. Sounds pretty good so far, right? But wait, there’s more: toppings! Who’s not a sucker for toppings? She puts hemp and sprouted sunflower seeds on her, along with fresh berries, goji berries, or any mixture thereof…

…and just like the Vitamix, Jackie is so on point with the chia pudding. I’ve come to love it because a) it takes seconds to make, b) you can make a huge batch of it to last all week, and c) the different iterations are endless — not just in terms of toppings, but what you put in the pudding itself, too. Jackie says she sometimes puts raw cacao powder in it to make a chocolate version, something I plan to try soon. (I’m also gonna try the white chia seeds she suggested, because the black ones can get stuck in your teeth.)

In the meantime I made a July 4th version with fresh strawberries and blueberries because, #USA. Let everyone else worry about what to throw on the grill this weekend; you show up to the party with this killer breakfast in hand. (You can thank Jackie later.)