Mega Post

I got really behind! On the road I'd been so good about getting pictures of my food and I was planning ahead... and then there was a fricking hurricane in Albuquerque and the electricity went out in our hotel. So rather than do anything, I just went to sleep. Last night... I just didn't feel like posting. So today I have some catching up to do. Whoops! Bear with me.

Picking up where I left off, I think it's safe to say you know what oatmeal tastes and looks like when made with water at a hotel. I've posted it already. But in case you didn't know:

This is oatmeal.

Lunch was incredible though. This time Jim found a restaurant on Trip Adviser called Bangkok Tokyo in Amarillo, Texas. The owner served us, and through some conversation I found out he was a vegetarian. Everything in his restaurant could be made vegetarian, and he was knowledgeable about a vegan diet, which was really helpful. I got a miso soup which he assured me was made with vegetable and not fish stock. It wasn't the best I'd ever had soup-wise, but it was still pretty yummy. The entree was deep-fried tofu with some kind of tangy sauce (I could give you better details if it wasn't two days ago. My bad). It was AWESOME. And I managed not to get a picture of it. However, I got to try some of Mom's seaweed salad which was also incredible. We're putting it in our plans to go there again on the way back home! We also stopped at Orange Leaf (Mom is a fucking froyo ADDICT). And newly aware that those thingys weren't vegan, I got a little dairy free froyo with about a cup of fruit on top. Yummy!

Miso Soup

Menu

Seaweed Salad

"My belly is happy" face

New, informed Orange Leaf

Lunch had been incredible, but dinner was incomparable. The whole place was vegan. It was actually called:

I was overwhelmed. Probably for the first time in my life I'd have been willing to eat everything on the menu. When I was younger I was a picky eater, as a vegetarian I became limited in what menus offered me, and as a vegan I often have to invent my own meal. But at this place I didn't even have to think about it. Everything was delicious. We found this one on Trip Adviser as well. I wasn't even paying attention, and as we pulled up and I saw the sign I had a little fit of excitement. For a starter we had some lightly salted edamame. I may have gotten more than my fair share at our table. (Oops. Sorrynotsorry.) My entree was called the P.E.T. Pumpkin, eggplant, and tofu. It was very spicy, but I'm pretty fond of a little heat. It came with two springrolls, and adorable, heart-shaped brown rice. I was full after dinner, but couldn't pass up dessert. I ordered banana springrolls. Basically fried banana. Jim got the sticky rice. When it was all done, I left with two boxes, one so full they gave me a rubber band to keep it closed! I'm crossing my fingers we hit it on the way back.

These people are so cool.

edamame

my whole meal

P.E.T.

it's a heart!

Salad

bananas!

soooo much food

After that came all the drama with the weather. I went to bed. Too tired. You get the idea. When we woke up, I again had hotel oatmeal. I'm not going to post a picture. Instead, you get this (scroll to top). There. After that we went most of the day without eating so we could have lunch with Kathi and Rochelle (the reason for coming to Silver City, New Mexico, btdubs). I was starving, so thankfully Kathi had set out some apples and almonds. That was enough to hold me over until we walked to a place called The Curious Kumquat. I think we'll be going back later in the week for a tasting. I'm pretty excited about that!! I got a chickpea burger without the cream sauce, a soup that was green (when they introduced the soups they said vegan and I bounced on it), and there were some precious apple slices on the plate. If it hadn't been our first meal with Kathi and Rochelle I may have tried to get some more pictures of the restaurant. It was very cute, decorated with local art, and representing these southwest colors as only a southwest town could.

lunch

ALMONDS in the raw

Apples. yes, I eat the core.

Then for dinner we had a hard time figuring out where I could eat. We finally decided on a steak house. Go figure. There was some chips and salsa to start us off. The salsa was incredible. It was my first experience with real salsa in its natural region. It was hotter than I'm used to (I went through Mom's water a few times), but I loved it. I couldn't get enough. On the actual menu I searched a while before deciding on a peanut butter and jelly. It was probably going to be the best I could do. I also ordered the sweet potato fries. She assured me they were not fried in butter like everything else in the restaurant. And they were actually quite good. The pbnj was so-so. For dessert I ordered a cherry pie. Sans the sugar used, I'm pretty sure it was vegan. They use Criso which is vegan. You're welcome for that, veggie friends. Don't believe me? Check it out. I couldn't finish it in the end (I really had eaten a shit ton of chips), so our friends helped me out. ;)

Puppy mills and hunting. My two favorite things. -_-

This morning I had oatmeal again. However, I'm willing to post the picture because it was pretty damn awesome. I just used about a cup of oats, a cup of almond milk, a few shakes of cinnamon, raisins, and bananas. But when I microwaved it, I kept the bananas in, so they got all melty and blended into the oatmeal. It was pretty fantastic topped off with a Stevia packet. Kathi made me coffee. We ate our breakfasts on the front porch over talk of mountain lions and weaving. We also made plans for cooking dinner tonight! I can't wait to show you that finished product!

Lunch was not as easy for me. We went to a place serving breakfast until 2:00. I wasn't going to have oatmeal again, so that left me with fruit and dry toast. I wasn't really ready to complain. Those things were good too, but I'm already ready for dinner...