What We Eat

A weeks worth of food Caroline and I will eat at home. The items are all vegetarian as Caroline is veg, although I am not, we only cook vegetarian at home

Inspired by the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel, I took today’s photo to show what Caroline and I will eat in a typical week, minus restaurant visits. Our food costs for grocery shopping are about $120 per week which does not include meat. With Caroline being a vegetarian I have found it easy and satisfying to only cook vegetarian meals at home. When my meat craving strikes I go out. What foods are pictured and what we will eat over the coming week are as follows:

Homemade pomegranate syrup (used for making Fesen Jan), cauliflower, Napa Valley Grapeseed Oil, Bates & Schmitt Apple Balsamic Vinegar, fresh mint, fresh thyme, sweet butter from Spain, goat and water buffalo yogurt, flaxseed oil, orange juice, collard greens, cashews, pine nuts, currants, celery, Roma tomatoes, limes, jalapenos, brown eggs, fresh corn, red bananas, Himalayan pink crystal salt, chipotle chilies, walnuts, organic pasta, Kala chana (black chickpeas), red onions, nectarines, green beans, margarine (used for making Ethiopian flavoring), Nanak paneer (Indian cheese), tofu, bell peppers, carrots, cilantro, potatoes, pattypan squash, soy kielbasa, Sprecher soft drinks, brown rice, fresh coconut, blueberries, green peas, gobi mix (Indian cauliflower dish), vegetable Tawa mix, vegetable biryani mix. Most of our fruits and veggies are organic. Missing from the photo are curry leaves, fresh dill, parsley, strawberries, Thai green chilies, yellow split peas, and homemade sauerkraut.

So, what does one make with the above? Here are some of the planned dishes:

Herbed rice with currants marinated in oil, thyme, and balsamic vinegar

Yellow split pea stew and gomen (Ethiopian-style stew and collard greens)

Fesen Jan with tofu and veggies (Iranian pomegranate and walnut dish)

Vegetable Tawa (a veg dish from India)

Vegetable Biryani (rice dish from India)

Sauerkraut and sausage

Kala Chana dal and gobi (dishes from India)

Smoothies or eggs with veggies for breakfast, dinner leftovers for Caroline’s lunch.

Buy Now, Or I’ll Punch You

An inflatable Mexican Professional Wrestler, wrestling in Mexico is known as Lucha Libre, is on display at a local car dealer in Phoenix, Arizona

A local Phoenix, Arizona car dealer has the bright idea that if he features this bigger-than-life Lucha Libre inflatable superhero that more people will stop and buy cars. Lucha Libre in Mexico is what is known on this side of the border as professional wrestling. So, just what is it that motivates someone driving by to register: Hey, there’s an inflatable Lucha libre man and at the same time they are selling cars, I think I have to stop and maybe buy one. Personally, I stopped because I thought this was from a new Japanese anime series and might be the hottest new thing in Mecha.

Bighorn

Big Horn Sheep on Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

While up on Mt Washburn early in our trip to Yellowstone, we passed a large herd of bighorn sheep near the summit. Still clad with partial winter coats, these sheep could not have been any more relaxed. My temptation to walk up and pet one was tempered by some semblance of understanding that these wild “strong” animals would probably simply knock me off the 10,000-foot mountain I was currently standing on had I gotten too close. Yeah, sure, I admit it, I had the same lame idea about the bear.

Are You A Bear?

A black bear road side in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We were out for a drive just this past Saturday afternoon heading towards the eastern park entrance there in Yellowstone, but the road, which was under construction, unpaved, with no guardrails, at a scary high elevation with impatient idiots tailgating us, forced an early turnaround. Lucky for us, a few miles back near Yellowstone Lake was the tell-tale sign that an animal had been sighted, meaning half a dozen cars piled up on the side of the road with heads gawking out of windows. Strangely enough, these people were looking towards our side of the road, and there were no vehicles sitting on that side, so we pulled right up, and seemingly out of nowhere, this black bear was pawing about the ground, looking for something or other. In the excitement of seeing a bear this close, you wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to take one picture in focus, even if you try fifteen times. After what seemed like ten minutes of blocking everyone else’s view, we left and, not three miles later, stopped at another bear-jam to check out a grizzly in the forest. The grizzly was too far away to get a decent photo.

Going Home

Utah

Yesterday, we left via West Yellowstone, Montana, so we wouldn’t distract ourselves with one more visit to West Thumb or a stop to gaze upon the Teton mountain range either. From Idaho Falls, Idaho, we beat feet to Tremonton, Utah, before checking into our Super 8 motel in Ogden, Utah. With 660 miles to drive today before pulling into home tonight, we just drove and drove and drove until some particular sight demanded a stop.

Utah

Fortunately, it wasn’t all too often that stopped.

Vermillion Cliffs in Northern Arizona

Ah, back in Arizona, coming out of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon area.

Vermillion Cliffs in Northern Arizona

Kept the pedal to the floor as we flew over the landscape.

Vermillion Cliffs in Northern Arizona

But how can I just pass all these beautiful sights of the Vermillion Cliffs? I can’t help myself; I must stop and have at least one photo.

Rafting trip on the Colorado River in Arizona

Caroline and I were making a pit stop just as these rafters on the Colorado River were beginning their journey downstream.

Dory on the Colorado River, Arizona

We are standing on the Navajo Bridge near Marble Canyon, Arizona,  just downstream from Lee’s Ferry, where these intrepid adventurers would have just put in. This is an experience we are yet to make, and with a reservation required a year in advance for the $1700-a-person trip, it is yet to be known if we will ever take this exciting journey down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park.