Be Open: A very different Friday night! Acroyoga and a feast in Silver Lake, CA
From top: Broome Street General Store via theplainjane.com, The Raven, Blair's, Belgian ale donuts at Blair's.
Mine and Mary's love affair with the Eastside of LA continues.
When my friend Pepper invited me to "acroyoga" at the Raven, I didn't give it much thought even though I had no idea what it was exactly. I love yoga, I love Silver Lake which I never get to visit enough, and I had been hearing great things about the yoga classes at the Raven. I made it East with enough time to check out Broome Street General Store, get perked up compliments of their delicious coffee, and browse their perfectly curated assortment of gifts, kitchen accessories, cheeky stationary, and other unique odds and ends.
I wandered over to the Raven ready for a little zen in a new environment. Pepper, also an acroyoga novice, and I were both open to trying something new and were aware that this class involved working with partners (I smugly and wrongly assumed that we would be partners) and elements of Thai massage. I can't say I could have imagined the class if I had tried. We pulled, pushed, supported, stretched, and "flew," with the help of various groups and partners. That may sound erotic-- and somewhat mortifying, but the energy was very playful and I appreciated being silly, somewhat vulnerable, and looking a little stupid with a group of people I had never met and will most likely never see again. I had to keep reminding myself to just go with it and that this was (hopefully?!) good for me body and spirit. By the way, if acroyoga doesn't appeal, the Raven offers all sorts of non-acrobatic yoga classes as well!
After "touchy feely yoga," we crossed the street and found cozy seats at the bar at Blair's. The friendly bartender allowed us to self-impose our own wine tasting by trying pretty much every white wine on the menu before we made our selections and settled in for an incredible dinner of: market lettuces with tangy buttermilk dressing, fennel and rutabega; linguini with blue crab, breadcrumbs, olive oil and parmesan; seared scallops over asparagus risotto with pesto; and Belgium Ale donuts with toffee sauce!
Everything was delectable and we cleaned our plates. Hey, we'd worked up an appetite with earlier mentioned yoga acrobatics. It was a perfect night catching up with a friend-- pushing the boundaries of our comfort zones and then rewarding ourselves with a sumptuous feast and wine! Now that's balance.