traveling

I'm on a whirlwind business trip to California. I've been working every waking hour for a couple of weeks and I am happy to say I have the evening off tonight. Even though I have to work this weekend, it will be easier than it has been the last few weeks, so I'm feeling pretty relaxed again. Food prep has been really easy. My hotel room comes with a nice sized fridge and there is a Trader Joe's grocery store not too far away. Trader Joe's is great when you are traveling because they have all this pre-packaged produce (not good for the environment I admit, but oh so convenient when you can't bring all your own supplies with you). I'm loving the salads I've been making. They only take about 5 minutes to make because everything is prechopped and in convenient-size bags. Here's my favorite right now:

This is romaine lettuce, spinach, edamame, mushrooms, onions, broccoli and cauliflower. The only thing I had to chop was the onions. I bought some balsamic vinegar to pour on top which is really good. This is a really hearty, filling salad. I've eaten two foods I've never had before, well, sort of: fresh edamame and fresh English peas. I've only had frozen before. The peas are very different fresh. Very interesting--more hearty in some way. The edamame is scrumptious fresh, but unfortunately, I discovered too late that they have salt, so I will not be buying them again, wah. If it were just a little that'd be okay but it's a fair amount. The other super yummy thing right now is fresh strawberries! They are especially sweet. I think this is peak season in California. I'm eating a pound a day. And I'm eating blackberries too. So I'm eating like a queen. I feel a little self conscious around my colleagues because I prefer to bring my own food and not eat the catered food (we're in meetings all day). It does make me feel odd and wonder if I'm crazy. But then I see something like what I'm going to post about next, and I really don't want to change. I do like fitting in, being the human social creature that I am, but it's just not going to happen in the eating department. Plus, I've been an oddball all my life so I should be used to it by now at the ripe old age of 51.