partake in parkour, visit arabia, eat some cake, and drink like a champion.
as james bond would say, “i love a drive in the country, don’t you?” in doral, (a place where chain restaurants and cow pastures collide) who knew you could learn how to move like the 007 himself. it is my pleasure to introduce you to the miami freerunning and parkour academy. spend the day learning the tricks of these amazing street performers and visiting some original places in this miami neighborhood. and you thought christmas only came once a year.
read the full itinerary here: http://www.miami.com/doral-daytrip-article
if you know me or know this blog, you know i am more than a little dessert-obsessed. so, even after stuffing my face at arabian nights, i had to have dessert. you do know that dessert goes to another part of your stomach, right? say what you will, but it totally feels like it. there is always room. always. it’s like a magic trick. and it makes me so very happy =). the owners of tina’s original cakes were actually the kind people that pointed us in the direction of arabian nights (and for that, i will always be thankful). but what made these people even more amazing (than just being plain good ol’ samaritans) is that they make some great cake (!). they won my heart by being so nice, and they won my soul with their dessert. they even let us have a few of the extras they had left over from a wedding tasting (!) my heros! we got to try a delicious guava-filled cake that i probably would have never tried otherwise (i’m not usually one to mix fruit with dessert. unless it’s strawberry ice cream. for that, i make an exception.), which would have been a huge mistake. it was so good! and i took a slice of vanilla cake for later. sometimes, i even impress myself with my brilliance. it did not go wasted. if you’re in need of some all-around sweetness, stop by, make friends, and eat some cake.
http://www.tinasoriginalcake.com/home.htm
doral, doral, doral. you did not have me at hello. and for awhile, you did not complete me. not.even.close. i pretty much didn’t like you (and i like almost everything!). do you remember when all i wanted after parkouring was a decent pizza joint? i mean, how easy of a foodie i was that day! well, in the world of warehouses, easy is apparently difficult. remember when i actually did find a pizza place!? but it was in a warehouse. and it was closed. because it was the weekend (i mean, who needs to eat on the weekend?). everything else you had to offer was a chain! i am not going to hooters no matter how hungry i am and no matter how many times i have to drive by it in search of a real restaurant. finally, i googled pizza places and thought ‘this time i found it.’ this had to be the one. the name was a winner. and doral, do you remember i pulled up only to find that it was attached to a gas station? oy vey. work with me here. after some breathing, some (kind of) patient friends (i love you), and driving a bit more out of the way, we found a place that looked decent - but it only served meat =(. luckily at a store nearby the owner was super sweet and shared some wonderful news. he knew the best restaurant in town! and it was locally owned! it wasn’t pizza, but i felt like i had won the lottery! and so off we went. and we arrived. and it was otherworldly. wondrous. it was arabian nights. which i sang over and over again with complete joy (along with many other aladdin songs - i.can’t.help.myself.). they even had wooden camels. and aladdin hats. and hookahs. and we sat on pillows. and there were silk sheets draped above our heads. i felt like a princess. and the food! we had grape leaves and hummus and falafel! and the shrimp kabob was divine! and doral? that was the beginning of a beaauuuutiful friendship.
http://www.arabiannightsdoral.com/
my friend, pierre, being awesome yet again, asked me if i would be up for doing a parkour lesson. ‘a what lesson?’ ‘a parkour lesson.’ ‘no, really, a what lesson?’ ‘this.’ ‘a lesson on how to be james bond?’ ‘for the love of god, megan…’ well, i was close. parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one’s path by adapting one’s movements to the environment. freerunning is adding theatrics to that, using freedom of movement and creativity, like flips and spins. therefore, the miami freerunning and parkour academy teaches you how to get from a to b and overcome any obstacles, with a lot of flair. duh. of course i want to do this. the day we went, we made it in time to watch the end of the intermediate class. basically, for a full 15-30 minutes, we watched people catapult themselves off of a vault onto a wall and into a back flip landing back onto the vault and then running full speed over thigh-high blocks, ending with another flip and sticking a perfect landing every time. dizzy yet? we also watched them do running starts towards a wall that they then ran up - defying gravity - and practiced flipping off of. well, i certainly wasn’t going to be doing any of that today, but i thoroughly enjoyed watching strapping young men do it. what we did do, however, seemed small in comparison and yet impossible. it was hard. but i liked it [insert ‘that’s what she said’ joke here]. we practiced the basics. and one should never underestimate the basics. we learned how to land and roll safely. and we jumped. a lot. like, more jumping i’ve ever done in my life and many different ways then i knew jumping was even possible. jumping by kicking-off of something, jumping with your knees bent, with them not bent, with a running start, without a running start, with one foot… [omg] the list goes on. by the way, jumping makes you sweat. and reaaaalllly sore the next day. what makes the whole thing even more magical (besides the overly gorgeous guys teaching it; who are also professional freerunners and get paid to show off their skills around the world; and make you want to ask - ‘can we clone you?’) is that it is in doral in the middle of a cluster of warehouses. i don’t know. it just seemed like the perfect fit. very dangerous. very james bond. =)
http://www.miamifr.com/
shout out to my beautiful friend danielle pricken for the last photo (and the miami favs logo). you are my hero.
