I have just returned from nearly a month in Arizona, visiting my mom (the only reason I would go to Arizona in the summer) and enjoying the wide world of food not available to me in my little hometown.
And it has occurred to me, after thinking back to all the wonderful meals I enjoyed, that I have indeed mastered the art of eating on vacation. No one enjoys a good meal more than I do, and so certainly no one could have enjoyed three and a half weeks' worth of meals as much as I did. In fact - and you might want to hold your breath on this one - I only ate lunch at my mom's home one time in my entire visit! Looking back, I'm not quite sure how I got away with that, but I might admit to a little mischief every morning when I skillfully constructed my lunch plans when no one was paying attention.
My family, of course, also benefited from my food desires. I took my boys to several different restaurants and encouraged them to try new things (I am an anti-kids-meal type of mom, and will gladly pay a few extra bucks for my children to enjoy "real food"). On one of our visits to the Kona Grill, my 10-year-old discovered he likes Miso Soup, and proceeded to swallow all the green onions, seaweed, and tofu that comes with it. My 8-year-old also loves the stuff, though he eats only the broth and skips the tofu (he might have learned that from me).
My 18-year-old will try anything, and I dare say he has started to enjoy the art of the meal almost as much as I do (almost).
My absolute favorite meal, however, was when my mom and I visited a beautiful restaurant in Scottsdale. After we ordered our wine (somehow our lunches morphed into two-glasses-of-Pinot Grigio lunches), we decided to share a seafood salad, although we could have had even one more woman at our table to share since it was so enormous.
I'll make this delicious story short. Imagine this: a bed of dark greens lightly tossed with Louie dressing, layered with rows of crab, shrimp, lobster, eggs, avocados, tomatoes, green onions, and corn.
Enough said.
Other tasty meals I enjoyed included salmon with asparagus over rice, salmon with asparagus over salad, roasted asparagus and grilled tomatoes over dark greens (are you sensing a theme here?), california rolls, shrimp tempura rolls, oriental cabbage salad, linguine with clams, and what I would call the perfect meal: salad, bread, and red wine.
Here's the problem, though. As I write, it's just before lunch. Where's the waiter? Where's the menu? Where are my two glasses of white wine?? Instead, my two youngest are in the kitchen creating some concoction involving tortillas, cheddar cheese, and a can of carrots (don't ask). I suppose I'll meander in at some point and throw together a salad or something, sans salmon or asparagus. But when you're as good at something as I am (eating on vacation), it's tough to come back to the real world. Maybe for just a few days I'll transition by dreaming of all the delicious food I tasted...starting with that seafood salad.
Wishing you all the best food your next vacation has to offer,
Suzanna Quintana, Holistic Health Coach & Certified Foodie
BIG NEWS: My book "Why My Kids Don't Get Fat" recently won the Bronze Medal in Health/Nutrition at the Independent Publisher's Book Awards! Click HERE to take a look inside and read an excerpt!
