Vacation Food: Snack, Sea, Picnic

The first thing LisaD & I did once I arrived at JFK was--GO TO TRADER JOE'S. We picked up this gorgeous four-flavor hummus pack and then we went to a fruit stand near Lisa's apartment in Queens and got carrots and tons of fresh fruit (which, was cheaper than in KENTUCKY at the fruit stand in NYC!). I love Trader Joe's (and we need one here in Lexington), but there is one in Cinncinnati which my mother expressed interest in going to sometime (she remembers the first Trader Joe's in San Francisco), so we're gonna go to TJ and Ikea in Cinci sometime soon. We snacked on this hummus pack all week.

Above, you'll see my Thai Eggplant Basil dish with chicken that I had at Sea in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We also had some dumplings to share that were so powerfully gingery and spiced, but I forgot to take a picture of that. My dish was great and the basil was so fresh you could taste the field it grew in. The eggplant was definitely not "Black Beauty," the typical eggplant you buy in the grocery, but propably a Thai variety. It was bitter-free and soft. I love eggplant.

LisaD had a sea-food dish--the name I which I can't remember. It had squid, shrimp, scallops, fish, & chicken--the kitchen sink in other words. Lisa isn't terribly fond of squid, so I helped her out by eating that and the sauce was spicer than mine, but equally fabulous. She also had a mango-infusion ice tea, which was very refreshing after walking around the city all day.


Later in the week, we did the traditional picnic in central park. She got to break out the wedding picnic bag from her mother in law. It was very handy and we had all the accoutremont of the civilized picnic.

Here's my peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwhich on gluten-free brown rice bread and a celery stick with a seven-layer bean dip on celery. I also had tons of other veggies dipped in yet more hummus. We also had some left-over fruit salad.