A Play-By-Ear Vacation Day

Thanks very much to all of you who welcomed me to my Spring Break. Yesterday was very much a play-it-by-ear kind of vacation day, which is sometimes the best kind.

I mentioned a couple nights ago that I was going to make something from Veganomicon for dinner. I made the Tempeh Shepherdess Pie. The light was terrible in my kitchen by the time I finished, but since I cook big meals and eat a lot of leftovers, I had some for lunch yesterday. I made a half recipe in an 8x8 pan, which works out to about 6 me-sized servings, and the recipe calls for mushrooms, which I rather despise, so I subbed broccoli. I also used a sweet potato instead of regular for the topping. 

I've never made a shepherd's pie before, vegan or otherwise, but it turned out delicious.

After lunch we decided it was a perfect overcast day for some walking, and went to Kimberly Crest, a historic house in the area. It was built in 1897, and it's a popular place for weddings and things in the area. We just had a good time running around the gardens. 

After our little walk we warmed up with some tea and coffee. Boyfriend gave up coffee and black tea for Lent (way to go!), so coffee with cinnamon and nutmeg for me, green tea for him.

It was about snack time, so we stopped at Trader Joe's and I bought an apple. There's a frozen yogurt place across the parking lot, so boyfriend got vanilla with peanut butter cups and reese's pieces.

It was also the perfect overcast day for a movie. We saw The Adjustment Bureau. I thought it was a good mix of humor and adventure and it definitely held my attention. There are few people more charismatic than Matt Damon. 

The theater. 

Post-movie we were hungry for dinner. We wanted Mexican, but I always want a place with black beans and while there are a lot of good taco-stand style Mexican places in the area, it took us a little while to find an actual restaurant like we wanted. Zabella's is very highly rated on Yelp, but they only have refried beans, and it's a walk-up counter. We ended up at Cuca's #6. They had black beans (though apparently they don't always) but they DO use chicken broth in their rice and enchilada sauce, so I got a fajita burrito (not on the menu, but it's just the fajita veggies) with no rice and extra pico de gallo. The chips were warm and thick like restaurant chips should be, and it was a good meal. I saved half for leftovers. Boyfriend got enchiladas with beans and rice.

After dinner we got The Fighter from Redbox. Those ARE Oscar-winning performances, wow. I really liked it. 

Now we're about to go running together; it's another great overcast day. Happy Sunday!