Sunday, August 14, 2011

Another Crazy Weekend and Pecan Taco Meat

I have been having one of those summers where we are home very little. Not being near my computer does make it tough to stay current with the blog.

Thursday:


We went to Ram’s Head On Stage to see Euge Groove who gave a great performance. He was the first artist who came out to sign CDs and chat after the show. Personally I thought that was a very nice touch on his part.

The picture above is one I took under very low light and I was extremely pleased with it. Apparently I can take pictures that don’t involve food. LOL

For those of you who may be going to Ram’s Head order the veggie sandwich (hold the mayo) and the red pepper hummus with all veggies (hold the pita) and you are good to go. Not only is this combination vegan but fairly healthy vegan if you avoid the potato chips which come with the sandwich. ;-)

Friday:

Like all Friday’s mine was particularly jam packed. However this particular Friday I also had an appointment and we ran some errands after that. We did a little clothes shopping and then ran to West Marine for a few things that grew once we were inside. Both Dan and I got sandals with non-marking soles, sailing gloves and hats. We also picked up some extra sailing gloves while we were there since we know none of our friends are likely to have their own since all of them but Dennis don’t sail.

We were shopping longer than we expected so the evening turned into dinner out which we didn’t decide to do until the last minute. You know that meant that Ian didn’t get any advanced notice and fortunately he forgave us for that. ;-) I love having Open Table on my phone. It is very convenient to make reservations using my phone while Dan drives.

The weather was so gorgeous we had dinner on the patio. When we arrived it looked like all the tables outside were taken but no, there was one set up for us. It definitely pays to be a restaurant regular. Not only did we get a table on the patio but it was in Jenn and Janine’s section which was very nice. Since Jenn was working Dan grabbed the extra sailing gloves to make sure they fit her as I was worried that small might have been too big but fortunately that wasn’t an issue. :-)


I was in a vino mood and asked about a sparkling red that I had tasted a few weeks ago and it was only available by the bottle. Since it was 5% alcohol we decided that one bottle wouldn’t be that bad since we rarely ever drink now. The trick will be to not order this ever time we come in but I think we can do it because it is a perfect summer wine and we don’t typically enjoy sweet wine but will make an exception for this. It must be good because it is Italian … all the good stuff is you know. ;-)

We also had a pot of tea which was half green and half hibiscus.


We started with the vegetarian plate of the day which also happened to be vegan (Gee...I wonder why LOL). This dish included saffron rice, ratatouille, a corn salad over avocado and snow peas.


Then we ordered a dish that is one the regular menu but asked them to remove the smoked mozzarella and replace it with cubes of tofu. It certainly does come in handy knowing that Ian has tofu in the kitchen now. ;-) This pasta dish included tomato, fennel, green onions and I am fairly sure there is white wine in the sauce. It was a good summer pasta.

Saturday:

It rained overnight which meant it was muggy and humid when we got up. Thank goodness for air conditioning was all I could think. Since Dan promised to start exercising again he did go with in the morning for a nice little 3.5 mile walk to start the day.


While we were out for our walk we saw this cute little Mini with a red mustache like Snidely Whiplash from Dudley Doright. I could not help but see the humor in this. After our walk we had small bowls of oatmeal and then a small green smoothie (kale and banana).

Dan went downtown to the office to get some work done and I stayed home and worked on my new website. Have I said recently that I am good with technology? Well, I am not good with technology so it was a frustrating Saturday for me.

Dinner was a simple stew of mixed beans (13 to be specific) which I pressure cooked and then added canned tomatoes, Italian seasoning, fresh shitake mushrooms, wine vinegar and zucchini. Nothing too complicated just simple healthy food. To Dan’s stew I added some cooked pasta and pine nuts for extra calories.

Sunday:



We started our day at the farmers’ market like usual. We picked up two containers of hummus, the version with Old Bay (the traditional Maryland seafood seasoning) and a super hot version called XXX. I loved the heat in the XXX hummus but I do love heat. I found out today that the “hummus dude” also has a restaurant. When I look up his menu online if he has vegan options I will be checking it out and will let you know what I think.

While we were at the market Rudy and I had a quick talk about the causes of autism, He is going to bring me an article next week to read.  I love that one of our organic farmers has a PhD is biochemistry. He and I have the best conversations.  :-)


This is a cute bumper sticker I saw when leaving the farmers' market. I love unusual bumper stickes in case you hadn't noticed.

We came from the market with our usual ridiculous amount of produce with included: red leaf lettuce, kale, collards, oyster mushrooms, baby carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers and a basket of peaches (about 100). Yes I really do love peaches that much. Plus I will freeze some of them for smoothies. :-)

Breakfast was leftover soup from Saturday night because it was quick and easy.

Lunch was corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, and roasted red potatoes with a spicy red pepper dipping sauce. The sauce was something that I whipped together in the Vitamix. Combine roasted red peppers, raw cashews and chili garlic sauce to taste.


Dinner was a taco salad which included: red leaf lettuce, cilantro, salsa, roasted sweet potato, tomatoes and was topped with pecan taco meat. The pecan taco meat was loosely based on the raw dinner we went to at Great Sage earlier this year. Soak pecans in water for a few hours and then drain thoroughly. Place the drained pecans in your food processor and pulse until they resemble ground meat. Now stir in finely diced red onion, grated garlic, a finely diced jalapeno, a little lime juice (or you could substitute wet hots for the jalapeno and lime), ground cumin, chili powder and no-salt seasoning. Stir well to combine all the flavors.

Happy Thoughts:

We had another great weekend though it was more busy than relaxing. However there is always plenty to be thankful for such as:

• We had a lot of fun at the Euge Groove concert Thursday evening in Annapolis. We both love live jazz and Euge did not disappoint. I was also thrilled to get some great pictures at the concert.

• Friday was another busy day but a productive one as well. We stopped at Marshalls before dinner and I found a cute Calvin Klein sweater, a Jones of NY sweater and a red floral maxi skirt. Dan found a great pair of Calvin Klein shorts for the boat. We also picked up some white organic tea and no-salt lemon pepper. Four bags later we were off to the boat store where we able to find more items that were on our boat to-do list. It was definitely a productive shopping trip.  ;-)

• Friday we had a very nice relaxing dinner on the patio. It was definitely the perfect way to wind down the week.

• I was very happy that I didn’t need to twist Dan’s arm to get him to do a little exercise this weekend. Dan claims he will be exercising more often now. Let’s hope work doesn’t continue to get in the way.

• Sunday we were fortunate to get more rain, in fact it rained most of the day. I don’t typically enjoy rain on the weekend but things have been so dry here that a rainy weekend was actually a very welcome sight. Not to mention it was nice to get it out of the way before the boat arrives. ;-)

• Even though Dan had to work again on Sunday we spent the morning together and he worked from his home office rather than going downtown. It was nice to have him at home for lunch and dinner and periodic green tea breaks.

Signing out:

Like always I am up later than I should be. Given what time it is now it looks like we won’t be getting up at 5:30 tomorrow morning. *rolls eyes* Oh well, you can’t win them all. We will at least focus on getting earlier than normal.

Looking at my schedule Monday doesn’t appear to be too hectic. I hope to have time to write another post tomorrow. Don’t forget to join us that the bookclub blog where we start discussing chapter one of “The China Study”. Talk to you again soon. :-)

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