Thanks Mom!!

Going to San Francisco a few weeks ago was a good thing. I went for a conference on eating disorders as mine has been rearing it's ugly head again the last year. After the conference, I went with two lovely young women I met to the Mission District where we were all going to attempt to eat dinner together without being weird about our eating issues. It's always a good time to laugh at yourself in the process.

We decided to try an amazing Vegan (a lot of people with food issues of undereating/denial/binge/purge tend to go Vegan because it takes away a lot of triggers and we like the added emphasis on health) Mexican place called Gracias Madre (which, of course, is an homage to Mother Earth, but we liked to just call it "Thanks Mom!")

(photo taken from neoncolorwaves)

May I suggest starting out with the VERY fresh, delightful, amazing guacamole?! Served with warm corn tortillas that were blessed by the Gods?

Sip the most incredible Horchata of your life while you're doing it.

Finish off with the Enchiladas con Mole (spicy mole enchiladas topped with mushrooms and cashew cheese, served with sauteed greens and beans).

This is how good real food can be. It was one of the most amazing meals of my life, but also because I let myself mentally enjoy it too, with really good company.

Breakfast in Bed

Traveling wears on you, especially after the age of 25. Jet setting all of last year to Switzerland, Portugal, China, Norway, New York and Salt Lake City--I did decide that it might be nice to take a year off. Go no where. Do nothing. Apparently, I am bad at doing nothing.

The last few weeks I have been to San Francisco, New York City, Boston/Cambridge, Portland, Newport (OR), and now Corvallis.

I haven't rested much.

So, imagine my utter delight when my hostess brought me breakfast in bed this morning--granola, creamy yogurt, and fresh berries. No one has done that for me, perhaps, ever. It was, in my opinion, what heaven just might be like.

HEAT

It got so cold here that I couldn't stand it anymore. I booked a flight to the O.C. to see my stellar cousins. We'll be beaching it up, hanging out in Hollywood cemeteries, and eating gluten free food together. I can't wait.

I'm also thinking there might be a reason for a black tie event on the beach. If so, I get to be the one with the untied bow tie.

Something Great

Something great happens tomorrow--I'm going to China for two weeks...to see what that country is all about. I know being 6 feet tall and blonde makes Asia an interesting place for me, but I just can't seem to stay away. I started with Indonesia, a few years later I went to Korea and Mongolia, and now China. I've been sort of saving Japan for just the right travel partner. I think I will know when I meet him or her.

I've had a million things to blog about from my romance with Portugal, to my newly inherited Chuck Norris DVD collection, to the fact that I've flown from New York to Lisbon and Lisbon to New York and then did that AGAIN in the space of two weeks. I'm a little over airplanes at the moment, but I always have Mark Twain's words "Travel is fatal to prejudice" burning bright in my heart.

I haven't written much about my job, and with some new things going on at home, it is very possible that I might be in Portugal until the end of the summer only. When I told someone this, they immediately wanted to roll their eyes at the thought of living in Utah (where they live). I'll write more about this later. I don't really fall into the religious demographic of the state, but all in all, and out of all the places I've lived and traveled to in my lifetime (and that ain't no small potatoes)--I just always sort of known that I might just want to settle down right there in old Sugarhouse.