Best veggie option in Balboa Park!!

I brought my students to the San Diego Museum of Art today and afterwards treated myself to my faaaaavorite meal here- the soba noodle salad at the Japanese Garden's tea pavilion. Omg, soooo good!!!!

Pescetarianism+ Nikki + Disneyland = Extra Delicious.....part 2

For dinner, I went to the River Belle Terrace, where I got a vegetable po'boy, along with all the fixin's- sauteed mushrooms and onions, marinated zucchini relish, horseradish aeoli... It also came with baked beans and your choice of cold salad- I got lentil salad. Good veggie/vegan Disney option.

Pescetarianism + Nikki + Disneyland = extra delicious

I packed my lunch today- pasta salad with sugar plum tomatoes, red peppers, Persian cucumbers and balsamic vinaigrette! I'm munching while I ride the mark twain riverboat!!

Stir fry lunch!

For lunch today, I cooked up some brown jasmine rice and made a stir fry with crimini mushrooms, green beans, shredded cabbage, and carrots, cooked up with ginger and garlic with a sauce of mirin (Japanese rice cooking wine), soy sauce, the juice from a few clementines, a little sesame oil, and cornstarch to thicken it up a bit. Yum- o!!!!!

MMMMMM....delicious lunch from People's!

People's Organic Market, San Diego, CA

I love love love People's Organic Market in Ocean Beach, CA.  They are a little coop, right here in my own neighborhood, just a bike ride away:) I went there yesterday for lunch and made a delicious salad to -go, with great greens, a bright flavored cucumber salad with orange segments, some tofu nuggets, lots of veggies and I topped it with their peanut ginger salad dressing. I also grabbed an everything bagel twist. Yum-o!

My yummy lunch yesterday!

Yesterday's lunch - crazy leftover ingredient combination:)

I work big long days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I have to pack my breakfast, lunch and dinner, which means a lot of food! In preparing my lunch on Monday I was searching through my fridge to figure out what I could come up with, and I was pretty pleased when I opened my lunch bag yesterday!

Coconut Papaya Quinoa Salad

First off, I gotta work on my photos to make my food look more appealing!!!! And it's all picnic style because I'm eating on the paper plates from school....excuses excuses:) However, it was yummy! I made up some quinoa and mixed it with some of the leftover coconut milk I had from when I made Burmese Curry, and mixed in chunks of papaya that were leftover from the papaya I got for rainbow salad, and then I shredded some basil to add a fresh, herbaceous quality. Turned out pretty good! I think I could probably add something else to it...maybe something with a little acidy to balance it a bit? But overall, yummy!

Grilled Fig Salad

Again, not the most appealing picture, but it was yummy, I promise! I had some figs still hanging around, so I used a Whole Foods recipe for grilled fig salad (by the way, their iPhone app is amazing!!!!).  I marinated the figs in some balsamic, brown sugar and cinnamon, and then I cooked them on my little stovetop cast iron skillet, but they would probably be even better cooked on an outdoor grill as part of a barbeque. I then took the marinade and added olive oil, dijon mustard, lemon juice (from a lemon from the tree in my backyard), salt and pepper. I brought the butter lettuce to work separate, the figs in one little jar, and the dressing in another, and assembled in the little work kitchen. Next time, I think I'll use arugula for the greens, and toss in some toasted pine nuts....droooooool.........


All in all a delicious lunch....but it didn't fill me up long enough and I ruined my simple, clean eating for the day by having chex mix that afternoon!!! ARgh!!!

What to do with figs???

When I was a youngster, I used to visit my grandparent's cute little cottage in Orange, CA, where they had been living since the orange groves had been cleared for their neighborhood in the 1950s. My grandfather spent about 50 years in that backyard, growing everything he could - sunflowers, green beans, lemons, tomatoes, lettuces......  He even devised a crazy looking irrigation system using PVC pipes he drilled holes into:)

Here's granddad working on his next great plan for his garden irrigation system:)

Grandad built this arbor and filled it with plants from "slips" he'd get from neighbors.   You can see grandmom in the background, hanging clothes on the line - she and gdad were always being productive!

Out of everything he grew, however, the thing that sticks out in my memory the most are the figs he would harvest off an enormous tree in the backyard. My grandmother would cut them up and put them in my morning cereal and I thought they were the strangest fruit I had ever seen. They completely seemed like something that would grow on an alien planet to me and although I ate them to be polite, they did not become part of my diet apart from the occasional fig newton:)

My grandparents have passed on now, and lately I have thought of them every time I've seen figs at the grocery or farmer's market and on impulse I usually pick up a carton because of the warm nostalgia I feel when I see them.  Then I'd get them home and have NO idea what to do with them! At first I just ate them as is...pretty good, I must admit! The texture took a little time to get used to, but I like their mild honey-like sweetness, and they are simply gorgeous when cut:

I branched out a bit last night, and decided to cut some of my figs in half, pour a balsamic reduction over them, add some tiny shreds of spinach, and top with toasted almonds and season with salt and pepper. I added a tiny bit of goat cheese to some (I try not to have too much diary). Here's how they turned out:

They were SO yummy! They felt quite decadent, although they were quite healthy...some fat from the cheese and nuts, but relatively balanced and full of potassium and dietary fiber. I probably will substitute the spinach next time - it didn't jive quite as well as I was hoping. Any suggestions for an herb that would blend well?

Burmese Feast

A couple years ago a guy at my church recommended that I try his favorite restaurant when I visited San Francisco - Burma Superstar.  Besides having the coolest name ever, this restaurant boasts some of the finest food I have ever had in my entire life.  If you are ever in SF, you gotta check it out!!!!

There's usually a line because it's SOOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!

The food is a sort of fusion of Asian flavors - Thai, Chinese, Indian - to create somewhat familiar yet striking flavor combinations unique to Burma.  I've enjoyed some of their curry and noodle dishes as well as their salads, so I attempted their Rainbow Salad (although, I  made mine veggie - no shrimp...they look like bugs, and no fish sauce  - I used half and half soy sauce and worcestire...which technically has fish in it though, so I should have just got the fish sauce!!!)

Burmese Rainbow Salad inspired by Burma Superstar

The Rainbow Salad packed a lot of flavor...a bit too much onion actually - I'll adjust that amount next time. I had never bought a papaya before and I got one that was a bit too ripe - be sure to use firm green papayas if you can find them! This recipe gave me the opportunity to try out a Julienne Peeler, which I had never used before.

Set of peelers available from Williams Sonoma for about $15

I also altered a Burmese Chicken Curry recipe to create this creamy and delicious dish:

It looks a bit funky here, partially because it's in a bowl that has a kitty design, and also because I put it together a bit sloppily (I'll invest in some white dishes and work on my presentation in the future!) but it was a really savory mix of coconut milk, tumeric, ginger, paprika, soy sauce, tofu, lots of onions, cilantro, and I added some mushrooms - however I think they overpowered the delicate nature of some of the flavors and I think I'll use carrots instead next time to add some additional sweetness.  I tore the tofu (that's why it kind of looks like scrambled eggs in the picture) which allowed it to soak up more of the sauce...worked well! Overall, quite delicious! I'm looking forward to the leftovers!

Welcome!

Greetings! Thanks so much for visiting my blog dedicated to celebrating pescetarianism!  I have been vegetarian or pescetarian way back since I was 13 years old (so I'm at the 18 year mark...hmmm, I'm going to have to throw a huge bash for my 20th anniversary in 2013!) and I am continually finding new delicious recipes and menu options that I'd like to share with you!

My blog will feature posts related to recipes I'd like to share, photos of delicious pescetarian and vegetarian meals I encounter out and about, links to articles and organizations you might find interesting, and more! Please comment and message me with any recipes/restaurants/organizations you'd like to share with me!