Eating it up in the US of A

Now that I am settled in and getting adjusted to the time change it will soon be time to pack it all up and head back to the island.  I am about half way through my trip now.  I know it is a quick one, but I was determined to squeeze some family and friends time in with what I could fit in my schedule.

Day 2:

I am so happy that my parents have a Dolce Gusto.  Theirs is bigger than the one Ryan and I have and came with these fun mugs.

 

I had a bagel with cream cheese and lox.  My mom made sure to stock up.

I had to take a picture of this rug because when we were in Morocco I was not allowed to photograph in the showroom.  This is the rug my mom bought in the souks in Morocco.  I love it!

Lunch was at Cafe Fresh at the suggestion of my sister.  We both had the black bean wrap (hers without cheese of course).  It was really good.

She also had the detox juice: spinach, celery, carrots, and parsley.

We did a little shopping around there too.

Dinner was at Al Pacino Cafe/Cafe Isis which is where I worked on and off throughout high school and college.  It is a middle eastern/Egyptian restaurant.  I was shocked to hear the owner, my old boss, was in Egypt at the time of the revolution.  I am very glad to hear he is safe.  He just happened to be staying at his house there and then of course everything happened.

We started off by splitting the eggplant salad.  It was so good.

My sister and I split the Dahb pizza on whole wheat crust with soy cheese.  This pizza has eggplant, hot peppers, mushrooms and red peppers.

My mom and Joe split the Masr, which is a pizza with feta and falafel on it.  This is one of my favorite pizza combos of all time.

This was a great and relaxing day with my family.  I did some shopping and had some great eats.

Day 3:

This is what we woke up to.

You may think it is nice because I don’t get winter and I never see snow, but my Aunt was supposed to come visit and my mom called her around 6 am and let her know everything was shut down here.  I just decided I was awake at 6 am and did some work since I was going to be snowed in and I could nap later if I wanted.

   

I started off with Chobani.  We can’t get this on the island so I was happy when Joe stocked up on these.

Mid-day the snow was plowed and my mom gave me the SUV back (actually we traded, she gave me the car and I dropped her back off at work and took the car).  We decided to be like little red riding hood and get some lunch to take over to grandma’s house.  We stopped at a place called The Flying Avocado.  They offer healthy foods (some I would say are questionable, like the obese woman ordering a smoothie with what I would estimate at around 750 calories, but it seems healthy, right?  Healthy is great, but portions still matter) and some nice vegan and vegetarian options.

Ahhh, the darn snow is still all over the place. 

My mom suggested this berry chicken salad for my grandma.  Good choice by my mom because my grandma loved it.

My sister had the Dr. Ray’s Raw Rainbow Salad.  I must say it is quite pretty looking.  She said it was really good.

I went with a Powerhouse wrap.  I love spouts, which is a main component to the Powerhouse sandwich, so I could not resist having this at least once while in the States.

Now, I know what you are thinking.  All we have done is eat.  Nope, that is just all I took pictures of.  The rest of the time we were shopping and chatting with people and I did not take my camera out.

Which brings me to dinner.  We ate at a place that was new for me, not too far from my mom’s, in a cute area known as Mt. Washington.  This place is called The Falls.

 

Again, some seriously good looking food.  My mom’s neighbor, who is super sweet and good friends with my mom, came with us to dinner.  She had a Powerhouse sandwich (which I had as a wrap for lunch).

My sister and Joe both had a portabella flat bread with salad.  Of course my sister asked for no cheese and she took a bite and there was…cheese.  Oh well, at least she had a lactaid pill on her.  The server quickly took this away and had a new sandwich made.

My mom had a Chef’s salad.

Here is what I had.  Seriously, this was a crazy burger idea.  This is a crab melt burger, but I subbed in a veggie burger.  So it is a veggie burger, topped with lump crab meat, and then topped with melted cheddar, served with some Old Bay mayo and sweet potato fries.

A fantastically delicious 2 days of eating in the USA.

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever heard of a Powerhouse sandwich?  If you lived overseas, what is the one food dish you would miss the most that you would not be able to get overseas?  What would be the first food you would want to go get when you returned to the US after being away for a long time?