My Dallas Trip, Part One

I was anticipating this trip for a loooooooooong time, and I'm so happy I was able to go. I was visiting my sister in Dallas as she finishes up her last semester of undergrad. I left on Wednesday afternoon, which coincidentally happened to be Ash Wednesday (a day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics, where one regular sized meatless meal and two snacks are "allowed" ). That was good for me, since I wouldn't have to be around food and thinking about being hungry, haha. I brought an orange with me, snacked on the nuts from the plane, and then my sister so graciously cooked this up for me:

It was very simple food, but very thoughtful of her, as broccoli and sweet potatoes are two of my favorite foods. The amount of broccoli in the bowl didn't look like much, but as I was nearing the bottom, I commented on this and found out that it was an entire bag of frozen broccoli she had cooked. Whoops. I thought I was supposed to be fasting. I spice up the flavor, I through on some onion powder first and then some curry powder. I think I just should have stuck with some simple lemon, though. The sweet potato was beyond delicious, and I ate it plain, just the way I like it.

The next day my sister had work, so I got the car to myself and went to explore the area around her work. For breakfast I had an unpictured banana and a green drink. I met her for lunch at a cute little chain restaurant called La Madeleine...I had eaten there once before and loved the ambience. I was a-hankering for some spinach, so I decided to get the spinach salad, minus the bacon and with dressing on the side. However, I didn't realize that a "regular" size would be so small. I guess I'm used to eating ginormous amounts of salad.

It was so lovingly thrown together, not. We shared the fruit salad on the side. The person getting the food first gave me a fruit cup the size of a tennis ball, and since we were sharing, I asked for more. He put the contents of the cup in the bigger bowl and then added a few pieces of honeydew and cantaloupe. It would have been nice if he had been a tad more generous. But the meal was good. I hardly ever eat cheese, but my sister loves it and gave it up for Lent. A copious amount came on her salad, but she ate it anyway!

After my smallish lunch, I got hungry, and the nearest food place was Walmart, so I ventured in and looked for something remotely healthy. I found this:

The cashews were delicious! The little hint of spiciness from the chili married perfectly with the sweetness of the pineapple. Most of the ingredients were organic, which I liked. However, I would have preferred there not to be peanuts or cane sugar. A closer look:

There also was a juice bar right nearby, but I didn't find out about that till after I bought the cashews. I figured we could always come back later if we wanted some dessert.

For dinner we went to a great restaurant that we also have back home, called Sweet Tomatoes. When you walk in, there's a huge salad bar, cafeteria style, that you can load up on. In addition, they have pizza, muffins, an icecream machine, dessert, soups galore, steamed veggies, pasta, baked potatoes, and in certain locations, my beloved sweet potato.  I didn't take any pictures, but I had a large salad with spinach, sunflower seeds, beets, carrots, jicama, pickles, onions, and this side salad of green beans, asparagus, and roasted potatoes. To supplement that (as if it needed supplementing), I had a sweet potato and some steamed veggies (mostly broccoli, yum!).

More to come about day 2...

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