anniversary

Not long ago, I posted “Typical Food” in answer to several questions about what I eat. Then we celebrated our anniversary last weekend and went out to dine at several places, which was kind of a big deal to us, considering we hadn’t eaten out much (if at all) in a while. So I took a few pictures of that food, thinking I’d show you what some of those indulgences looked like!

Friday night: We went to our favorite Thai restaurant for dinner. The last time we’d eaten there was in 2011, right before we moved to France… we returned to Arizona a year and a half ago, but we still hadn’t made it back to that restaurant! We figured it would be a grand way to kick off our anniversary weekend, and it was. The food was as scrumptious as we’d remembered it.

I’m sorry to say that there are no pictures, for some reason. I totally spaced the picture part of the program, but I’ll tell you what we ate: I ordered Pad Thai (I asked for no egg, no bean sprouts), Callaghan ordered something with chicken, and we shared some Tom Kha to start – it’s a coconut milk soup – as well as an eggplant dish. Everything I had was vegan (they prepared the dishes without fish sauce), and it was out of this world good. The restaurant of which I speak is Yupha’s Thai Kitchen. Get Out Magazine has proclaimed that it’s the “Best of Tempe’s Thai Food,” and we couldn’t agree more!

Saturday mid-day: We went to Green New American Vegetarian, another old favorite. For the first time in many months, I sunk my teeth into their miraculous Calexico burger, and my all-time favorite menu item there, as well, the No-Harm Chicken Parm Po-Boy sandwich. We ordered both so we could split them. For dessert, I had a Cookies ‘n’ Cream tSoynami. Think Dairy Queen Blizzard, but without dairy. You would never know unless you we told, either! Green is a place beloved by omnivores and vegans alike.

Deliciousness at Green. Just because it’s vegan doesn’t mean it’s healthy!

Green’s Cookies ‘n’ Cream tSoynami is fantabulous.

These gorgeous flowers added to our dining experience:

Anniversary flowers. We weren’t home when the shop tried to deliver them, but we were near there, so we picked them up on our way to lunch. We brought them into the restaurant so they wouldn’t perish in the heat of the car.

For dinner that night, we headed over to Oregano’s, where I ordered the Pasta Basta – another favorite dish! – asking for whole wheat pasta, and no feta cheese. Callaghan ordered a huge salad with beef, and we shared a side of their delicious Brussels sprouts.

Some of my favorite flavors are in this Mediterranean pasta dish at Oregano’s.

Oregano’s Brussels sprouts, coated in olive oil and perfectly seasoned!

After that, Callaghan ordered a Pizookie for dessert, which I admired from afar with the fondest of memories.

Those were some of the culinary highlights of last weekend. This weekend, we’re heading back to Green, because my parents are here with us, and I know they would love the tSoynamis.

Happy Friday, All!

I’m eager to settle into a writing schedule now that we’re here and moved in. Thursdays had become standard for blog posting. Today’s Friday. The last time I posted here was Saturday, and it was mostly pictures. But I’d love to start writing, for real, and writing regularly on a more frequent basis, like twice a week. Let’s see… I started this blog at the end of November. In January, we decided to move, and it’s been chaos ever since with one thing or another going on, plus packing and other move preparations. Now, for the first time, there’s nothing major happening. We shall see!

I’m sitting on the bed wearing a short little dress, feeling perfectly comfortable – neither cold, nor warm. We have a fireplace, but it’s blessedly unnecessary. Callaghan’s in the other room. The bedroom door between us is halfway closed. The bedroom door. We have doors in our apartment! It’s a small, one-bedroom apartment, but it’s bigger than our house in France, and the vaulted ceiling makes it feel even more spacious. We have doors. We have closets. We have drawers in the kitchen, and we have a bathtub and a shower! There are screens on the windows, and there’s plumbing. (There was no plumbing in the house in France the first six months we lived there.) There’s a disposal in the sink, and we have a dishwasher. All the things I took for granted before I left the States.

Fully-loaded. Have oven, WILL BAKE.

Also, we have an oven that works, and this… well, let me tell you. This is a huge deal for me. We did not have a functional oven in France, so for almost two years, I couldn’t bake, which is one of things that I love to do the most. Baking has been a favorite hobby and profound source of joy for me since I was like, I don’t know, thirteen. So I made a loaf of whole wheat banana bread yesterday; it was the first time I’d baked since I left Arizona almost two years ago, and I was ecstatic. Callaghan appreciates the oven, too, as evidenced by the fact that there’s only three slices of banana bread left.