Local

I am trying to shop at more local stores, restaurants etc. and succeeded today!

I had my first orientation session today in the neighboring county where I will be working. Since I had a little bit of a drive and was not exactly sure where the building was located I left early. Once I was able to find the building and realized I still had time to kill I decided finding a lunch spot would be the next priority.

Enter the Red Pepper Deli

I got the valley veg wrap with hummus, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olives, and banana peppers. It was delicious, filling, and powered me through 3 hours of talk on insurance, benefits, and the like.

Once done I hit up the gym and then stopped at Rainbow Blossom for a few things:



Most of the stuff is for tomorrow's adventure: Morels Buffalo Tempeh Wrap, gummie bears, organic blueberries, organic cherries, lemon iced tea, and a "mac the chip" cookie

Tomorrow should be fun: it involves an early wake-up call, a little bit of a drive, a packed lunch, and being outdoors. Any guesses?

Impromptu Speedy Road Trip

I have my first day of orientation on Thursday (my job "officially" does not start until August) and found out that I needed another copy of my transcript. So this meant that I made a quick trip to Lexington today. I accomplished quite a bit in 5 hours.

After going to the post office and getting gas in Louisville I was on my way. I have been driving the Louisville-Lexington route so many times over the last 6 years that it always seems that I get there quickly. Two major benefits about getting transcripts during the summer: 1) I was able to pick it up immediately instead of waiting 2 business days, and 2) I was able to park right outside the building...that is unheard of at UK's campus.

I then did a little shopping while I was there and ended up getting a summery dress and a pair of jeans.

Finally, I made a trip to one of my favorite places in Lexington, the Good Foods Co-op. Lunch was from the salad bar. The co-op has so many options to choose from and everything is clearly marked for those with food allergies. I also picked up some of my favorites to enjoy in the coming days:


Vegan peanut butter oatmeal bar. It also has chocolate chips in it.

Plus a blueberry muffin and pumpkin muffin:



Dinner was the essence of summer: chickpea barley salad and corn on the cob.



Dessert:

Chickpea Barley Salad

This is my new favorite summer "salad". I came up with this recipe because I had quite a bit of fresh parsley to use up.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried barley, cooked to package specifications
1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 cucumber, deseeded and peeled
2 medium tomatoes, chopped and deseeded
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook barley
2. Prepare all vegetables
3. Put fresh parsley, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, chickpeas, and barley in a bowl
4. Mix extra virgin olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper
5. Combine veggies and dressing. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper if needed.

Ingredients in the bowl:



The end product:

Morels Food Truck

In the Louisville area there has been an increased interest and appearance in food trucks lately. In fact, there was an event a while back called Food Truckus Ruckus where area food trucks gathered together and people could get a glimpse of and taste their food. One participant at the event was Morels which is an entirely vegan food truck. Although I was unable to attend the event I have read about Morels and have visited their website. All of which sparked my interest and lead to my desire to taste the delicious food so many were talking about.

Fast forward to this past Saturday:

When I was at a local natural foods store, Rainbow Blossom, I saw that they had some Morels food there...the Buffalo Tempeh Wrap (some Heine Brothers Coffee also carries these wraps) so I immediately put it in my cart to have for lunch.



Up close



This was SO delicious and exceeded my expectations. I am already looking forward to having it again.

And for a random picture:



This was a bug that hung out on our garage all day this past week. I named him Edgar :)

Happy 4th!

Celebrating the fourth was pretty laid back at my house. I did make a festive dessert found here for my uncle's annual 4th of July gathering.



A close up



They turned out so well and I always think making bite sized desserts increase the likelihood that people will have dessert due to the convenience factor of grab and go.

And here is a confession: I am not a big fan of fireworks. While I like pretty colors I can't help but think fireworks are 1) a waste of money, 2) too loud (and I greatly doubt people wear any hearing protection when lighting them...noise induced hearing loss anyone?, 3) the amount of pollution to the environment.

Another thing I do to celebrate Independence Day is to read this every year.

Also, as I have a brother-in-law who has served in the military, thank you to all our service men and women who sacrifice so much each day.

Blogging will become more regular...promise.

Father's Day

Sunday was a lovely day. I had a late breakfast with my mom, dad, aunt and uncle that live down the street. They brought doughnuts and I had muffins from Whole Foods. After a lovely visit I made dad a late lunch/early dinner consisting of one of his favorites...baked spaghetti served with some merlot. For dessert we had these, also from Whole Foods:



I got dad a bocce ball set which I am looking forward to playing this summer!

The Food of Fairbanks

I haven't been back from Alaska for a week yet and besides missing my sister I am also missing the wonderful food (especially are bi-weekly sushi dates). Anyways I thought I give a sampling of some of the delicious food I enjoyed over multiple occasions at some restaurants:

The Cookie Jar: cinnamon roll french toast, veggie skillets, and a black bean burger served with guacamole (why have I not thought of that before)

Silver Gulch: Midori margaritas with a sugared rim, pub pommes (mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon, then fried), buffalo bleu cheese burger, and a drunken pork sandwich

Wolf Run Dessert House: Peanut butter pie

Tokoyo Express: where I had (among others) one of my favorite sushi rolls to date...the Spanish roll

Ajimi Sushi: another place we went to 4 or 5 times and with sushi rolls just as delicious

Bobby's: the best Greek food I have ever had, the satziki was out of this world

Pita Place: a small locally own food stand, Best. Falafels. Ever

Lavelle's: very good food including delicious tropical drinks like a rum runner and mango breeze

Restaurant at Mt. McKinley Chalets: fried calamari, Alaskan Halibut, and the best carrot cake along with white wine.

So obviously I ate really good for a month and got to enjoy my sister's cooking as well (she is a fabulous cook). I am already looking forward to returning to Alaska at some point.