Raw Oysters

Mom and dad took us out to a local sea-food restaurant Nan-Seas for dinner Saturday night. Mom ordered raw oysters on a half shell because she loves them, and I wanted to try them.

I've heard people talk about eating raw oysters since I was small, but never have tried them until Saturday. Some people say you should just swallow them whole as to not be grossed out by the texture or eat them on a cracker, but I didn't mind the texture at all, and happily chewed half of the dozen. Oysters have a rather subtle taste, which I enjoy.

Pumpkin Penne with Steamed Romanesco Broccoli

Amanda cooked these yesterday. If you ever see fresh Romanesco, get it. It is really easy to cook but is so much tastier than its relatives, broccoli and cauliflower. The pumpkin pasta was delicious too.

Raw Food in Lake Tahoe

Amanda wrote this on our way back from Tahoe. Sorry it took so long to post. Make sure you look back a few posts to see our Yosemite post.

After Yosemite, we went to Lake Tahoe to stay with our friends Nile and Jessica. It was a very relaxing time, and we didn't do too much. We did laundry and watched a movie. It was a good time to chill and catch up.

Nile and Jessica are doing a diet experiment for a month and only eating raw, vegan food. Ben and I really like to cook dinner for people, so we found some recipes which accommodate their diet and made a night of it. We served raw, vegan sushi with cashew meal, sprouts, and assorted veggies as the filling with wasabi and a special soy-vinegar-sesame dipping sauce. It was actually very tasty. I'm mad that Ben didn't get a picture of it. I also made a raw, vegan strawberry "cheesecake" with an almond and date crust. It was quite delicious, very fruity, and not too sweet. It congealed nicely in the freezer. Eating raw food has many nutritional benefits, and after eating raw food I felt satisfied, yet not bogged down or tired. Clean seems like an adequate, but odd adjective to describe how my tummy felt. I think Nile and Jess were impressed, too.

In-N-Out

Monday morning on our drive to Yosemite we stopped at an In-N-Out Burger, which was on our list of things to do in California. In-N-Out is a fast food chain found only in California with a few locations in other states near its borders, and it is famous for making everything on the menu fresh from scratch with quality ingredients. The menu consists of burgers, fries, and shakes. In-N-Out is also famous for having a secret (or not-so-secret) menu. It's a secret because it's not posted anywhere in the restaurant, and there is however a link to it on their website homepage. The only part Amanda could remember was "animal style" which means your burger gets sauteed onions and spicy mustard, I think. We split an animal style cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. All were quite tasty for being fast food.