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?

I’m so glad you all liked my post about apple picking yesterday! We had a lot of fun. If you are in the Bay Area, Gizdich Ranch is having an apple butter festival on October 17th – check out their website for more info.

Another announcement – HealthyYum has a coupon code for organic healthy Halloween candy. Check it out!

Recipes used in this post:

• Butternut Squash Fries (for all types of squash though)
• Homemade unsweetened ketchup (with added stevia this time!)

Last night I made a delicious dinner, part of which is pictured here. Also pictured is my big pumpkin. This was miso soup (just hot water, miso, and wakame seaweed), “sweet dumpling squash” fries, and my homemade ketchup. Mmm… squash is amazing. What a lovely carb. Not pictured are the rest of the fries and 2 La Tortilla Factory wraps that I had with peanut butter

The sweet dumpling squash are small and roundish; they have delicata coloring. I also call them “I’m a cute squash”. They made great fries.

A few nights ago I made butternut squash fries for the first time in a while. Once I discovered kabocha, I kind of forgot about butternut. Butternut used to be my go-to squash, and now I remember why. (I still prefer kabocha though.)

These were also dipped in my homemade ketchup.

I got a few questions about my camera – I use a Nikon D40 (SLR). It’s digital. I got it about two weeks ago. The lens it came with (I got it on craigslist, so it didn’t come with the standard kit lens) is a 55-200mm, 1.4-5.6G lens. It’s great for zoom; it’s actually not that great for close-ups, so I’ll be getting another lens too as soon as I can. If you are debating getting a digital SLR, check out Ken Rockwell’s website. He has great information and advice.

I know, I know – I owe you a carb hugging picture. It’s coming. I just haven’t gotten around to taking it yet. Can you guess which carb (or carb appliance) I’ll be embracing? Maybe I’ll do requests.

(I also have some awesome breakfasts to share… Stay tuned!)

Remember how I love Delica so much? Delica is that awesome Japanese delicatessen located in the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

I finally figured out their recipe for the Spicy Burdock Root Salad. Their salad has lotus root, but I was all out. I subbed in water chestnuts instead. Theirs also has mizuna (a salad green), but I didn’t have that either so I just left it out. The ingredient list looks long, I know – but it’s really very simple. Texture is really important here, so make sure the onion and celery are both sliced very thinly. My mandoline helped me achieve the awesome textures, but a grater would work just as well; so would a lot of patience with a knife.

I kid you not – this will be the best salad you ever make.

FYI: Konnyaku is a Japanese yam… it’s the base of shirataki noodles. A block of konnyaku has 0 calories (just like true shirataki noodles – not the tofu kind). It’s great for digestion and overall health. I get mine at my local Asian markets. It’s next to the miso. I would also check near the tofu, or near the refrigerated noodles. If you can’t find it, I guess you could substitute a different veggie or maybe some seitan.

Maggie’s Spicy Burdock Salad

Ingredients (serves 4-5 normal people… or 1-2 crazy salad eaters)

• 2 cups of burdock, sliced up (I used a mandoline)
• 1 block of konnyaku, cut in small slices (or a different veggie or seitan)
• 1 small can of water chestnuts (6 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon oil (sesame)
• 1 inch of ginger, grated
• chili powder and/or chili flakes, to taste (optional)
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced (mandoline)
• 4 stalks of celery, finely sliced (mandoline)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon stevia (or other sweetener, to taste)
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons Bragg’s liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Boil the konnyaku slices in water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse.
2. Heat the oil in a pan (wok) over high heat. Add the ginger and saute for 1 minute. Add the burdock, drained konnyaku slices, water chestnuts, and chili powder/flakes. Saute for about 5 minutes. You can reduce the heat to medium-high if you’re nervous about burning. When the burdock is tender enough to chew, remove it from the heat and let it cool.
3. Mix together the water, vinegar, and stevia. Soak the sliced onion and celery in the mix for 5 minutes, then drain.
4. Combine the burdock mix, the onion/celery mix, the carrot, sesame seeds, Bragg’s, and salt and pepper. Top with more sesame seeds, if desired. More sesame seeds are always desired by me.

Om nom nom. Bobby and I devoured this. He actually said it was *better* than Delica’s salad. You MUST make this. If you are scared of any of the ingredients (burdock! konnyaku!) – don’t be. Burdock is amazing for you. Burdock health benefits: it’s good for the reproductive system, the skin, the digestive system, and it’s even anti-cancerous. Other burdock or konnyaku recipes:

• Carrot Burdock Kinpira
• Lemon Garlic Okra & Sweet and sour Konnyaku
• Hijiki salad
• Vegetable sukiyaki

I adore Asian/Eastern food. I love eating with chopsticks (way cooler than forks). If it were up to me, I would probably eat Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai food for every single meal. Oh wait… I pretty much do The only difference is that I eat oatmeal or oat bran instead of rice, and I eat squash every single day. (Sounds kind of like a cool vegan lady I know.)

What are your weird food quirks? What is your favorite food (cuisine or dish)?

Stay tuned for a silly picture and updates from this weekend’s apple picking adventures!

On Wednesday Bobby and I were up in San Francisco again for a job interview (Bobby’s). We had to go to Delica rf-1 again; we go there almost every time we are in SF. Delica is a sweet little Japanese deli/delicatessen with takeout foods. They have salads, bento boxes, soups, and other cute Japanese dishes.

I got almost the same thing as I did last time (3 salad combo), except I doubled up on the Spicy Burdock Root Salad (A spicy mix of braised burdock and konnyaku (mountain potato) tossed with thin slices of white onion, celery, julienne carrots, and wild mizuna), and got a single a serving of Hijiki and Soybean Salad (Hijiki (seaweed rich in calcium, iron, and fiber) mixed with dried soybeans, edamame, konnyaku (mountain potato), daikon, wild mizuna, fried tofu, and kuko (wolfberry)).

Bobby got the 2 salads + 1 main item combo (like last time). He opted for the Spicy Burdock Root Salad (this is our favorite), the Wasabi Garlic Potato Salad (Garlic potato salad with wasabi mayonnaise, edamame, snap peas, and romaine hearts), and for his main item he got Sweet & Spicy Chicken (Marinated chicken, lightly fried, served with sweet & spicy sauce).

We split that iced tea.

I made my rice cooker oats again for breakfast one day this week…

This time I topped them with chopped dates and a whole bunch of sesame seeds. I love adding sesame seeds to oats – they give a nice chew and crunch. I couldn’t decide which picture I liked better.

Have you tried rice cooker oats yet?

You guys had some really good input about my post regarding rest days. I continued my pattern of unintentional and/or fun workouts the last few days – I had my accidental 5 mile walk on Thursday, yesterday I did 20 minutes of Tom Morley yoga and about a mile of walking (I consider yesterday a very lazy day; I just walked to the grocery store but got too much stuff and Bobby had to pick me up), and so far today I did a 35 minute video – Self: Slim and Sleek, Fast! Bobby has class all day so I’m on my own. We were going to go to a pumpkin festival but that will probably happen tomorrow instead.

Oddly enough, Meghann and Kath both posted about non-rest rest days yesterday! Their opinions were similar to mine. Remember to check out my workout page if you ever want to see what I’ve been doing. And don’t forget about my yoga page – it has lots of great (free) yoga resources. I should probably update it because I’ve found some more (free) sites.

Another post I enjoyed reading was Tina’s post this morning – she ate a pretty amazing looking muffin for breakfast. Muffins are actually one of my favorite foods, but I don’t really eat them that often. She reminded me that I should definitely treat myself occasionally! Back at Cornell, Bobby and I used to go to a cafe called Mate Factor and they had the most amazing muffins. This is their raspberry one (old picture). I’ve posted about Mate Factor HERE and HERE and HERE.

I’m off to shower and enjoy this lovely fall Saturday. What are your plans? What’s your favorite muffin?