The Contributors

Get a Glimpse of Heaven

Who doesn’t love a little R&R these days? A Little Touch of Heaven might just send you to cloud nine. This trendy day spa in Newport Beach specializes in LED, oxygen and microderm facials, waxing, and skin and body treatments using a proprietary line of natural products. It’s a one-stop shop for beauty needs, be it acne, pigmentation and anti-aging or anti-stress. Massages that can make your muscles melt are a popular service, but every treatment is results-driven with your need for relaxation of paramount importance. Founder Crystal Surmanian and her team of estheticians make it their goal to give clients top-tier service and beautiful complexions, one face at a time. aliltouchofheaven.com | IG: @althskincare

Make Healing Your New Year’s Resolution

Take the next step in your holistic healing journey at Magnolia Wellness in Costa Mesa. Known for curating personalized experiences for clients, the award-winning wellness center borrows from the principles of Chinese and functional medicine to help with fertility, gut health, relief from pregnancy discomforts, stress and anxiety, and more. The team comprises experts with talents ranging from acupuncture and herbalism to nutrition services and massage therapy. Too busy to come in-person? The company also offers virtual naturopathic and herbal consultations. Its online quiz is a fun way to kickstart your new wellness journey, offering insight about your healing type and how to live your best life through specific treatments, herbs and nutrition choices. magnoliawellness.com | IG: @magnoliawellness

Spice Up Your Life

Once an intern at a restaurant, Akeem Wong is now living the dream. After launching a food truck and then parlaying it into a successful Los Angeles brick-and-mortar in 2017, Akeem brought his signature Southeast Asian fusion dishes down to Orange County. Now open, his second Buddha Belly location is feeding the crowds at SteelCraft Garden Grove. Guests are in store for a world of flavor with dishes like the spicy “Ka Prow” chicken, pad thai, banh mi, and more. | IG: @buddhabelly.oc

Balancing Act

Tai chi can help center your mind, body and spirit, like meditation in motion. So take a deep breath, let last year’s worries stay in the past, and embark on a journey of healing and health this season at Lao Kune Do. The Costa Mesa martial arts studio helps people of all ages and abilities practice this graceful form of exercise that keeps the body in constant motion. With slow, focused movements, deep breathing and gentle stretching, tai chi offers the therapeutic benefits of stress relief, improved muscle strength and balance, and energy regulation. Sifu (“teacher”) Paul McIntyre, who studied under Lao Kune Do founder and grandmaster Richard Tsim, offers beginner and advanced classes in tai chi and kung fu, as well as private training and qigong meditation sessions. kungfutaichioc.com

TO ORDER

EAT YOUR WAY TO A HEALTHIER GUT

By Anita Lau

Fermentation Farm is an extension of a home business that outgrew its capacity. Owner Dr. Yasmine Mason, a chiropractor by trade, was seeing more and more people complaining about digestive issues at the practice she shares with her husband. It prompted her to make gut-healthy remedies for her patients, such as fermented yogurt, bone broth, kombucha and jun. Very quickly, Yasmine outgrew her kitchen; in 2014, she opened the current Fermentation Farm location on Victoria Street in Costa Mesa. The original single retail space has since grown, now comprising many kitchens, including one where fermenting classes are offered to the public. While its moniker is slightly misleading — it’s not a farm, but rather, a market and restaurant — the farm aspect is 100 percent legit when you take into consideration the fresh, organic, and responsibly sourced produce used to create these gut-healthy probiotic foods. The well-stocked space is brimming with myriad goodies such as fermented vegetables, including kimchi and krauts, bone broths, kombucha, and other healthful, ready-made items for home use. In February 2021, chef Amy Lebrun (formerly of Lido Bottle Works) joined the Fermentation Farm team. Her passion and drive are evident in not only her impressive menus, but also in the extensive variety you’ll find in the refrigerated section of the store. It is vital to be hungry when you visit Fermentation Farm, as the menu offers an array of delicious items you won’t want to miss. During the week, the possibilities are endless. Try the morning taco or brekkie sando, a breakfast sandwich with bacon, egg, curtido (Salvadorean slaw), scallions and bread toasted with ghee. Breakfast is served between 9 and 11 a.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends. If it’s lunch you’re craving, the kraut grilled cheese, using raw cheese, house-made kraut and sourdough, is a must. The roasted brassicas and red curry dish is heavenly — a fantastic vegetarian option filled with cauliflower, broccoli, turnip, radish, Brussels sprouts and cabbage, bathed in chef Amy's fermented red curry. The curry sauce is available in the cold case and easy to add to your home recipes. On weekends, find outstanding breakfast items such as the stunning shakshuka, taken up several notches with fermented harissa, black garlic sauce, tomato and pepper sauce, raw cheese, pasture eggs, squash blossoms, scallions, and served with ghee toast. Or, jammed French toast is a stunning presentation of the best in seasonality. This dish speaks for itself, as it’s as tasty as it is beautiful. Taco Tuesday at Fermentation Farm is unlike any other. Dishes like the sweet potato taco and squash blossom mulita are aesthetically beautiful and absolutely delectable. Of course, chef Amy uses the freshest produce available, so ingredients often shift with the seasons. And on Thursdays, a handful of farmers set up shop outside. Not only does Amy take full advantage of their proximity, but visitors have easy access to this bounty as well. No matter what day of the week you find yourself at Fermentation Farm, know that you’ll discover something on the menu worth trying. Sample the seasonal kombuchas on tap and then take a growler of your favorite home to enjoy, or select some items from the market and create your own gut-healthy meals at home. Taking care of your health means so much more than meeting just physical needs. What you put into your body helps promote your physical, mental and emotional well-being. Real, whole ingredients that nourish you from the inside out are essential, especially as we age, and Fermentation Farm makes it easy to practice that mindful eating. Start with something small, like adding kombucha or fermented yogurt to your daily routine. You’ll soon find that a healthy gut does actually mean an overall, healthier you. fermfarm.com | IG: @ferm.farm