I have another dinner from our road trip that I want to share.

I usually don’t like Mexican food, but last Thursday (I think?) night it was late when we got into Tulsa (Oklahoma) and I didn’t feel like making an effort to find a good place. We decided to go to Monterey’s Little Mexico restaurant right near the hotel. (Funny how we went to another restaurant called Monterey the night before.)

We started off with free chips and salsa (score!):

I can’t find what I ordered on the online menu, but here it is:

It was a grilled chicken breast with a side of rice and beans, plus sauteed veggies. I don’t like beans so I asked for extra veggies instead. But I kept the rice – it was delicious (I usually hate rice). I actually finished this whole plate. Bobby got this gigantic margarita:

I think he almost finished it, with a little help from me. It was pretty yummy but not very alcoholic.

I really liked Monterey’s in Tulsa – I hope they come to New York soon!

Today I had a yummy *vegan* meal from Wegmans (a grocery store in NJ and NY that I worked at in high school). Back at Cornell, Bobby and I (and others) would make midnight runs to Wegmans and buy humongous bags of sour gummy worms. We were an odd group.

I got 2 packages of a butternut squash dish (butternut squash, spinach, cranberries, and onions with a whole lot of oil and a few spices) and a veggie medley dish (zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, red peppers, green beans, and some more oil). I love Wegmans’ prepared food. I think I like it more than Whole Foods’ hot bar. I have to figure out the recipe for the butternut squash one. I don’t think it’ll be too hard.

Do you buy prepared food? Why or why not?

P.S. …I have some good news. Friends, email me if you want to hear about it!

Bobby’s cousins are so sweet. I’m going to miss them a lot. On our last night in California (Monday, November 9th) we went out together to Blue Mango (our favorite restaurant) in Santa Clara. Blue Mango is a Thai restaurant and they have a separate vegetarian menu (I haven’t used it in a while). We shared a bunch of dishes…

Appetizer: Heavenly Stuffed Wings – de-boned chicken wings stuffed with ground chicken, silver noodle, cilantro, water chestnut and black mushroom. They came with this great sweet dipping sauce. This was kind of scary at first (fried! processed! breaded!) but the deliciousness made up for it.

For dinner we shared 4 dishes. The Blue Mango Fried Rice – a big house special: chicken fried rice topped with sweet garlic pork.

The Green Curry – eggplant, bamboo, and bell pepper are soaked in coconut milk, with a hint of basil (cannot be mild).

Mushroom Mountain, as usual – soft tofu, baby corn, bamboo, straw mushroom, and bean sprout stir-fried with a bit of green curry paste. Sesame seed are sprinkled on for a beautiful finish.

And Basil Chili Chicken, also as usual – with bell pepper and onion.

After dinner we went out for dessert (frozen yogurt) at Golden Spoon – pumpkin pie and chocolate flavors. The toppings were raspberries, mango (not ripe, unfortunately), and crushed brownie bits.

Blue Mango never disappoints. And neither does Golden Spoon. If you ever get a chance, go there! (I’m talking about the Blue Mango on Stevens Creek – I hear the other one is not so good.)

Now that I’m in NJ I don’t have Blue Mango. But I do have Edo Sushi! Bobby, Julia, and I all went out for dinner tonight. I love this place. Edo Sushi is a Japanese and Chinese restaurant on Route 31 in the same shopping center as Pennington Market. It’s about a 10 minute walk from my parents’ house.

First is the tea… (unlimited and free – my two favorite qualities). Notice my cool NY key chain – it’s kind of vintage because it has the twin towers on it. I think I got it back in middle school.

I got chicken and broccoli with the sauce on the side (brown sauce).

The other pictures didn’t come out, but Julia got veggies and tofu with the sauce on the side (also brown sauce). Bobby got the Dragon vs. Phoenix – chicken, shrimp, and veggies stir-fried with yet another brown sauce. He also got a big pot of rice.

We finished everything. The check came with pineapple cubes and fortune cookies. Yum! I love Edo’s.

This dinner was nice after my indulgent afternoon… My parents gave me a massage + facial combo for my birthday and I finally used it. I went to Sydney Albert Salon Spa in Princeton. I’d highly recommend this place – I’ve been going there for years and I’ve always loved everything. Their haircuts are amazing, the facials are fantastic, and the massage was wonderful. Bobby also got a massage and he loved it.

While we were getting pampered, our Relocube arrived. Now we have to unpack it. I’m going into the city tomorrow, but when I get home I think we’re going to try to start sorting through all of our stuff. It’ll be a big project.

What’s your favorite restaurant?

My mom is a great cook. Last night she made a vegan stew. Tonight for dinner she made VeganYumYum’s Rustic Bread & Eggplant Lasagna.

This was the best meal I’ve had in a while. It was fantastic. The flavors blended perfectly; the tomatoes were sweet and delicious; the bread crumbs were crispy; the eggplant was superb. The whole family loved it. She made one completely vegan…

And one with cheese…

My dad, brother, and sister have all raved about this lasagna to me. Now I know what they’re talking about. These disappeared in about 20 minutes.

My mom requested that I make my massaged kale salad (kale, olive oil, sea salt, lemon juice) and I topped it with some thinly sliced onions. Everyone loved this too! I was really happy. They were kind of doubtful about the kale but now I’ve converted them to be kale lovers.

I had a very yummy homey breakfast today. It was huge!

• 1/4 cup (a little more) quick cooking oats (to use them up)
• 1/4 cup farina (suggested serving size is 3 tablespoons)
• <1 cup water
• <1 cup almond milk (sweetened)
• cinnamon
• orange extract
• dash of salt
• toppings: whole milk, honey, agave nectar

I’ve been really into simple big bowls of oats with minimal toppings. I love my breakfast grains. I got into the habit of simple bowls while driving across the country. Almost every morning I had this at Denny’s (minus the fruit; that was Bobby’s):

A big bowl of oats topped with brown sugar, milk, and sometimes a little bit of butter.

Today and yesterday for exercise Bobby, Julia, and I walked to Kunkel Park and played on the swings.

It’s about 3 miles roundtrip. Swinging is also a great ab workout. No wonder (many) kids stay fit so easily.

What did you do for fun when you were little? I loved climbing things and I was always scaring my parents. I (almost) never got hurt though.

Here’s the picture of Bobby and me with Heather. (Heather’s picture came out better.)

That night was very fun. Hope we can do it again some time soon.

We got into NJ (my parents’ house) around 2am last night and crashed into bed after some hugs and story telling. I still managed to get up in time for 10am meeting this morning though. It was nice to see some old familiar faces and meet some new people. I also took a walk through Yardley (where meeting is; it’s right across the river in PA) and scoped out a yoga studio. I’m not sure how long I’ll be in this area so I don’t know if it’s worth it to get a card.

My dad made us French toast this morning; no picture. It was fabulous. Some other good eats of the day…

A ham and swiss sandwich (with a little bit of mayo and mustard) on Nature’s Pride Nutty Oat bread (freebie from the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival). This bread isn’t actually available yet but it’s coming out soon. It was so good. I loved it. I will definitely buy it when they release it in stores.

My mom made Vegan Dad’s Burgundy Stew for dinner. It was pretty good. I de-veganized it with parmesan. I don’t think she made any significant changes to the recipe but I’m not sure.

Lots of other yummy eats today, but I’ve been spending time with my family and not worrying too much about foodie pictures. I got to take a long walk with Julia and Bobby this afternoon (and Benji the psycho dog). It’s so nice to be back in NJ (soon NYC).

What do you do when you visit your hometown? I like to eat at my favorite restaurants and spend time with my family and friends. We sit around chatting about nothing but it’s a great way to just sit around enjoying life. Happy Monday! (Or Sunday night, if you’re up this late.)