How will I fit it all in one post?

Well, I’m going to.

My trip home has been amazing.  I have been lucky enough to spend time with my ENTIRE family, as well as try on wedding dresses, run a half marathon, and enjoy some pretty awesome meals, too!!

This is the best of the very best, in recap form.

On Thursday, we went for lunch at our wedding venue. 

Dad’s Dungeness Crab Melt with chunks of Dungeness crab topped with fresh tomato, avocado and melted dill havarti cheese on an English muffin.

Mom’s Gale Ranch salad with organic mixed greens, Fuji apples, Brie cheese, candied walnuts, and raisins tossed in a sweet lemon-honey dressing.

Sister’s Diablo Burger with half-a-pound of grilled Niman Ranch beef served on a ciabatta bun with avocado and bacon.

My Pacific Rim salad with lettuce, snow peas and radishes, topped with cashews and sesame seeds and served in a crispy fried wonton with a miso-vinaigrette dressing on the side.

YUM.  I polished mine off (even the nuts!) and it was delicious.

After lunch we went golfing, followed by grocery shopping for dinner.

TACO NIGHT!!

Mom fried the shells, while we started chopping toppings, making the beans, and heating the “meat.”

I had Smart Ground Mexican Style veggie crumbles while the rest of the fam had chicken.

Crazy bleached out flash aside, they look lovely, don’t they?!?

Mine were on soft corn tortillas because my stomach was being a little shifty.

After the first round, I went back for una mas. 

 

Friday was kinda a snackface day.  Amid the chaos of race day pickup, my other sister coming home, and me trying to straighten out more wedding shenanigans, I managed to eat the below yummies.

TJ’s Mediterranean hummus to the rescue.

A little bit ‘o this, and a little bit ‘o that.

While in the city, I got an iced coffee…the cash collector almost spelled my name right, and yet, I still got called “Elsie” by the barista who made the drink.  As as aside, I get called “Elsie” 90% of the time at work by people who just read my name tag.  I don’t get it. 

Hummus-y snack plates #2 and #3

And for dinner, ANOTHER meal sponsored by (the one and only) Trader Joe’s.

LENTILS!!!  Rose, I decided to give it a go and try to make them look pretty!

So easy.  Threw spinach and ‘shrooms in a pan with cooking spray and once they were nice and wilty I added in the lentils.  Once again.  SO EASY.

Ok, so the color of the lentils doesn’t exactly make them look like the most appetizing dish on the planet, but I promise it tasted better than it looked.  Naturally, I repped the family vineyard with the wine glass.

Tastayyy bean-age with some veggies and hummus on the side.

Oh, and a big salad, too (with home-grown cherry toms).

After dinner we all carved pumpkins.

The puppies waited patiently for scraps…well…kinda.

 

I may have added fuel to the fire.  Mwahaha.  Instigator! 

We collected seeds for roasting.  Holler.  The left pan was savory (EVOO, salt & pepper), while the right pan was sweet (EVOO, cinn & sugar).  While my strategy for roasting wasn’t super precise, it’s not exactly brain surgery is it?  Oven at 400 ‘til you can smell them.  Ya dig? 

Carving pumpkins really worked up an appetite.

My mom made a beautiful apple cranberry cobbler for dessert, which I dug into for first, second, and third helpings.

My mom usually makes the crisp topping with nuts, but since she loves me I hid the walnuts, she omitted them this time around. 

 

Saturday was ZE BEST day of my lifey thus far.  For reals.  iPod drama aside (see this post if you are in the dark on WTF I’m talking about), I was in seventh heaven.  Cliff’s notes version: I got a wedding dress!!!!  Sorry, but I can’t show you the gown because those pics are as sacred as Brit Brit’s virginity on lockdown.

Lunch was spectak.  For anyone in the San Francisco area, make sure you make your way to The PLANT Cafe Organic.  They just opened a new location at Pier 3 and in addition to having an amazing menu, the view wasn’t too shabby either.

A toast to the bride-to-be and her (co)maids of honor!  I actually got the only drink without EtOH since my half marathon was the next morning.  Pre-race boozing ‘aint my scene.

It was tough to choose, I wanted everything on the menu!  In the end, I decided to get their signature dish, the plant burger with mushrooms and avocado on top.

HOLY M.F.ing YUM.  I wanted to cry this was so good.  I need a food processor for this dish alone.  The burger was made of lentils, mushrooms, beets, cashews, and bulgar wheat.  Oh my gah.  The memory of the taste of this burger will stay with me forever.  Def in my top 5 best bites of food. 

The size was pretty noteworthy too.  I literally can’t say enough about this meal.  The bread had a yummy seedy crust and was toasted to perfection.  The burger was too savory, no words do it justice.  I hardly touched the roasted potato wedges and salad on the side because I wanted to save the room in my stomach for the huge beast of a burger.  Think I liked the meal much?  I will FOR SURE be back to this place.

Ok, I give up, turns out I can’t fit it all in one post…TO BE CONTINUED.