“Gimme Some Salt” from the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah self titled album
Spring Has Sprung
Yoga in the park has to top the list of perfect ways to celebrate the arrival of spring. There’s just something about doing sun salutations in the sun that seems oh so right. And thanks to Happy Buddha Yoga Lounge and flawless Tampa weather, I get to experience this kind of right (almost) every Sunday.
A sunshiny, 80 degree practice = A crowd of shiny, happy people.
After practice, we headed across the street to Pizza Fusion to take advantage of my Living Social coupon. At the risk of over-using the word ‘perfect’ in this post, Pizza Fusion was the perfect place for Chrissie, an urban planner, and me, the product of an urban planner, to have our post-yoga meal.
We shared the Farmers Market pizza on multigrain crust with soy cheese. You could have just changed the name of this pizza to the Kristin Special, cause I wouldn’t have done one thing differently.
Besides having beyond clean plate club worthy pizzas, they are also the most socially responsible restaurant I have yet to encounter. Hybrid delivery vehicles, giving customers discounts for bringing back pizza boxes, using either 100% recycled or 100% biodegradable everything? Lucky for me I loved the pizza, but I have to think that even if I didn’t, I’d still return out of principle!
Total Tostacos
It all started when my long lost Katie friend called me last night to catch up on current events. As we were about to hang up she mentioned she was on her way to Mexican dinner, which caused an instant Urban Cantina craving on my end.
I was on a mission to find a dinner partner, but fifty percent of the calls I made went straight to voicemail. Dead phones? A sure sign that the weekend was entirely too eventful for those of us pushing thirty!
I settled on the idea of take-out, but my plan came to a screeching halt when I realized my car was still parked at Bailey’s from the night before. How did I not realize this before 7 PM??
Rather… How did I not realize this before 8 PM? Time change, doh!
A day later, my cravings were still in full effect. I secured Urban Cantina dinner plans with Robbie for Tuesday night, but… I wanted Los Frejoles tacos (sans cheese) ASAP. Patience has never been my strong suit.
I topped toasted corn tortillas with rinsed black beans, romaine lettuce, sliced avocado, and fresh(er) salsa. If salsa is in the refrigerated section and I can identify all of the ingredients at first glance – it’s fresh enough for me!
I filled them a little on the full side, they were total tostacos (tostada+taco), but tasty tostacos nonetheless. Sunday night fail, Monday night win!
Chicka Chicka Yeah!
I promise I recognize the irony of admitting that I don’t fancy meat substitutes and then immediately dedicating a two week period to faux meat meals.
But I wasn’t thinking far beyond tzatziki today.
Growing up within miles of Tarpon Springs will do that to a girl (give her random Greek food cravings). Baklava, avgolemono soup, tzatziki, souvlaki – I think about them all the time.
I modified this recipe by replacing the yogurt/sour cream with Tofutti sour cream and doubling the dill.
I shredded the cucumber rather than dicing it. In hindsight, I should have squeezed the cucumber with a paper towel to remove excess moisture prior to mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. It was a tad too watery.
Then what to do with the sauce? Leftover Gardein? I microwaved a mini, room temperature pita for 15 seconds and a Gardein patty for 30 seconds. After cubing the Gardein, I topped it with some iceberg and COVERED with the vegan tzatziki.
I will surely be making the thicker version of this sauce often. I loved it. As far as the whole souvlaki shebang? I’m Gardein-ed out. Fear not, the faux meat meals will be winding down, effective immediately.