No more Nashville, no more Boston, no more Oakland

I spent the past few days trying to make sense of Los Angeles. Alex and I took a last minute trip when he was invited to compete in the American Ninja Warrior 3 trials. Mostly, all we did was hang around Venice Beach where the show was filming, but we had lots of great meals that were just as yummy as the shirtless athletes.

Sunday, we went to the Getty Center, and we had lunch there. This was my first meal in the city and it was better than I could have wished for.

Somehow, I only came out with one photo of this great meal. I didn’t bring in my camera (I wish I did, but I didn’t think I would need it at a museum) so these were taken with my phone. If you’re in the area, I would highly recommend a visit – bring your camera, and your appetite.

What I liked best about the café where we ate was there were tons of selections, and everything was labeled with all of its ingredients. Plus, it was decently priced for a museum cafeteria. We got all this for $20.80 + tax.

• Wrap filled with carrots, daikon, sprouts, and mint – with a very spicy tahini sauce on the side
• A large entrée salad of baby greens, couscous, currants, cucumbers, and lentils with a lemon parsley vinaigrette (can you believe it? a filling salad with no cheese?)
• Side dish of Swiss chard
• Side dish of “garbanzo stew” – onions, tomatoes, yellow squash, and chickpeas

The salad and wrap were pre-packaged, but the two side dishes were from a hot-foods cafeteria line. That garbanzo stew impressed us both – look forward to me giving that a shot here at home. I even overheard another diner complimenting the dish.

My new favorite dessert

You may have noticed that I’m not really a dessert person. Every once in a while I can go for a muffin or pancake, but besides a sprinkle of sugar in my coffee, I’m not a sweet person. I mean, I don’t have a sweet tooth. In retrospect, maybe I should have chosen a different name for my blog. I’m not really a fan of personal branding, though, as much as they yammer on about it at work.

So anyway, just to confuse you, I need to tell you about my favorite dessert.

Gone Bananas! One bite at a time. From Trader Joe’s. We got a box of these a while ago and went through them like a dose of salts through a widow woman. Then, like many things at TJ’s, they were mysteriously out of stock for months and months. When I saw them Monday night, I snatched up four boxes. Three are currently hidden in the freezer, under okra and artichokes where Alex will never look. (Don’t worry, he is not a regular reader.)

These chocolate-dipped frozen banana slices are so good. I can’t really figure what it is about them, but they are perfect. I encourage you all to try them if you can get your hands on them. I would not encourage you to follow the serving suggestion, though. Too much banana.

When I went out back to take the photos outside, I scared off one of our stray cats. Alex has a little sheltered set-up to feed the locals and I scared this poor guy. I snapped his photo through the window, but I know he’ll be back. What do you think we should name him? (Possibly her?)

Momma, we need more photos!

This is one of my favorite photos of me and my mom. It’s almost five years old, but I’m usually the one holding the camera. And when I hand the camera over, I usually end up with weird, bad, blurry shots.

So, happy (late) Mommas’ Day, and to my grandmothers, too. This photo is from Christmas 2004, in the house I grew up in. My mom’s mom is on the left, my dad’s mom is on the right.

I spent the weekend on a surprise visit to Philadelphia. I got home late last night, and I have to stay up late again tonight to pick up Alex from the airport. He stayed an extra day because there was only one seat at the lower fare Sunday night. Here’s Alex, his mom, and her dog. After more than a mile walking, the dog was ready to be carried.

Plus, lately, Alex is always eager to lift and carry. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been doing for him lately.

In other (yes, completely boring) news, I went to Trader Joe’s tonight. I bought giant beans and skipped the tiny taters (they were looking ragged). My coffee was $1 more, but I bought it anyway. But I’ll be cooking, soon, unless there is another demand that I make a quick pointless trip.

Buffalo Beans and Greens at Home

Remember way back when I posted about my visit to Nashville’s Wild Cow? I keep thinking about that. We ate there three times in March and were about 95% (or more) sure that we were moving to Nashville. Now, everything is up in the air. Everything.

No matter where I live, though, I can create good beans and greens at home. The buffalo tofu is a nod to them, though.

I dry-fried my tofu as I learned from It Ain’t Meat, Babe (basically taking out any remaining water in pressed tofu) and then doused it in Frank’s Red Hot and a little Earth Balance. Not pictured – I made some ranch-style dressing from Vegenaise, onion powder, and garlic powder, thinned with some water. I’m still looking for my go-to ranch recipe. It seems like all the ones I find online call for a million ingredients. I’m not up for that. I just need a little something for my tomatoes and hot sauce.

I started with brown rice, spicy kale (made with veggie broth and red pepper flakes), black eyed peas, and the tofu. Although this was another time I didn’t remember to make my peas with garam masala, these leftovers won’t last too long.

Looking at this cube reminds of a so-called news story I heard a long time ago – does anybody else love tofu? You can’t say so on your license plate in Colorado! Um, the kale was my favorite part of this plate. Or the black-eyeds.