Take it easy, on yourself

After such a long walk yesterday, I figured it'd be best to do something easy today. The easiest walk I know is the Lowell Riverfront Trail, and I haven't spent much time there lately, so I headed down. And I planned ahead for all the gates to be closed, since I always get there too early. Fortunately, it's easy to park on the street nearby and enter the trails from a pedestrian bridge that goes over the railroad tracks. It's quite lovely once you enter.



( Rich girls, they run after me... )

Recip-ease

I don't know exactly when I started my part-time veganism adventure, but I think it's been about six weeks. I'm reaching a comfort level where I'm not particularly worried if I can't find something or need to make substitutions. The challenge can be fun! I'm getting ready to make a batch of Thai noodles tomorrow and realized when I was at the Asian grocery that I'd forgotten all about grabbing some frozen stir-fry vegetables. I'm glad I did, though, because I decided to just browse around and find new and interesting things to cook up instead.

I decided to make that recipe this week, along with some spring rolls, because we're having dinner guests over soon. They're vegetarians so I'd just as soon make a vegan meal since I'm already doing those, and I wanted another practice round. I don't want to actually cook that day, so I'm also seeing how good everything is if I make it the day before.

I also discovered they sell pre-cooked pho noodles, and am beginning to believe all the restaurants use them. They just have to be dunked in hot water for 15 seconds, and I've seen that happening in kitchens plenty of times. Restaurants probably focus more of their energy on the broth. Looking forward to seeing how the ones I bought turn out. I'm also curious if restaurants use the same noodles for salads, but without heating them up. Or maybe they have to heat them, and let them dry out a bit. Who knows? I'll be experimenting.