Dirty Little Vegan

Let me just say that this Memorial Day weekend has started off strong!

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(Doesn’t this picture just take your breath away?)

No, we didn’t pack up the dogs and head to the beach or river.  We didn’t even go out of town. 

But that is the beauty of it. 

We stayed in town and are enjoying a nice, relaxing weekend at home together.  I can’t even tell you the last time we did that… or the next time we’ll get to do it again!

Yesterday, after blogging and catching up on some reading, I spent some down time on the couch.  I watched the movie Precious, which I must say I did not enjoy.  A little too sad and slow.  I then watched a good 2 hours of the Food Network!  I learned how to make Braised Red Cabbage (which I will be making after my next trip to the Farmer’s Market), Apricot Oat Bars, and Stone-Ground Grits with Gruyere.  I decided I’d had enough of the boob tube when I saw Duff Goldman and Geoffrey Manthorne from Ace Of Cakes eat Rocky Mountain oysters.

I then went for a treacherous 6.6 mile run in the blistering sun.  It was the toughest run I’ve had in a long while.  It really didn’t feel that hot when I left the house, but the heat was intensified by my black pavement running path.  It took me 1 hour and 1 minute to run including two walking breaks, and a stop at the Cultural Arts center for water.  That’s an average of 9:24 minute miles, which isn’t too bad considering I thought I could literally to burst into flames during 5 out of the 6 miles! 

Boy was I glad I ran those miles when Larry and I feasted on these babies as an appetizer at dinner!

After lounging by the pool for a couple of hours, we headed to Sticky Rice for dinner. 

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And yes.  We ate half a bucket of tater tots dipped in a spicy ranch type dressing.  They were melt in your mouth good, and I do not regret one single bite 😉

For dinner, Larry had sushi, and I ordered the Dirty Vegan Noodle bowl.  I was ecstatic to find so many vegan meals on the menu!  That is just not something you ever find in the suburbs. 

This description simply does not do this dish justice.  It was chock full of tofu, veggies, edamame, cilantro, and sprouts served over udon noodles.  A little spicy, a little nutty, and a tad bit sweet.  Perfection in a bowl.

It was seriously the best dinner I’ve had while dinning out in a LONG time.  I could only finish about a quarter of the bowl (the tots may have had something to do with this!), and I can NOT wait to have the leftovers for lunch this afternoon.  🙂

Today Larry and I are planning on heading to the pool until it is time to come home and get ready for our friends’ little girl’s first birthday party.  I plan on swimming laps for cardio and then doing some serious poolside reading 🙂

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

~Jen

Remember, Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be You!!!