Wednesday, August 7, 2013

What I Ate Wednesday: birthday edition


Having a summer (August 5th) birthday means I have celebrated my birthday in many different places throughout the world. The most notable was in Venice, Italy in 1999, when I ate my birthday dinner overlooking a picturesque canal.

This birthday found me much closer to home, spending the weekend with family at different locations. Here is a What I Ate Wednesday look at my birthday long weekend eats. We put together a barbecue dinner at my parents' place, above, using veggies, vegan sausage, corn, potatoes and a broccoli slaw.


Another night, my mom and dad took my family out for dinner at Jasmine's Foodery in Port Dover. My husband and I ate a rather unusual mix of foods, starting with this mazza plate of hummus, baba ganoush and pita wedges. There were supposed to be falafels too according to the menu. I'm not sure what happened there.


We also shared a vegan Caesar salad. They ran out of vegan croutons, so they gave us tempeh instead. It was a nice touch, but the dressing tasted almost purely like lemon, with no creaminess.


We had planned to have the "vegetarian" Pad Thai, but the waitress pointed out that it has fish sauce in it. Not vegetarian then. We ordered a green curry and miso rice bowl, which was quite tasty.


On Monday - my actual birthday - my husband prepared pancakes using a gluten-free mix my mom picked up at Costco. It had a bit of an aftertaste. Thank goodness for blueberries and syrup.


We visited my mother-in-law later in the day and she prepared a delicious pasta sauce for lunch.


She is a great one for making veggies with every meal. This time we had cucumbers and tomatoes fresh from the garden, along with a green salad.


We were back at home in time for a late dinner. At my special request, my husband made me a pizza, half topped with rapini and half with broccoli. Next time I'm going to mix the two right together. I love, love, love these particular green veggies!

When is your birthday and what do you like to eat to celebrate it?


12 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday! I hope you had a fabulous day :)

    I really don't get the fish sauce in vegetarian dishes, same with beef or chicken stock... hardly vegetarian!

    I want to know if you ate all the tempeh croutons!

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    1. Thank you dear! I had a great day. :)

      I don't consider fish vegetarian either! Weird.

      We DID eat all the croutons. They were good (although I know some tempeh can be gross.)

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  2. Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Everything looks scrumptious as ever-- & I feel you on the gluten free pancake aftertaste, we haven't been able to find a pancake mix either. Sigh. BUT syrup does hide a multitude of sins lol! Hope your day was as varied and beautiful as your menu!!

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    1. Thank you Miss Taby!!

      I prefer to make spelt pancakes myself (although for poor you, they are not gluten-free). I took the pancake mix home with me from Mom's house. Next time I'm going to try more berries and some ground flax in it.

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  3. Happy Birthday Jo!! How lucky for you that it falls on the long weekend, where you can extend that birthday feeling ;) Your family has spoiled you with all these delicious looking meals! I feel your disappointment when the restaurant doesn't deliver what you ordered. How wonderful to have had a birthday celebration in Venice! My birthday is in the fall and we always have a camping trip north (already booked) to walk through the spectacular fall colours. Wendy

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    1. Thank you so much! I DID have a nice long birthday weekend. :) And not cooking is the best of presents!

      Your birthday camping trips sound lovely. I enjoy the fall leaves so much! :)

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  4. Happy Belated Birthday!! Carla's was yesterday, summer birthday's just seem much more full of fun, she spent every birthday on PEI until she started working summer jobs. My birthday is in March - not much exciting going on that time of the yeat!!

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    1. Thanks so much Jill! It's true, summer birthdays are fun...and relaxed. PEI would be a great place to celebrate. At least you get March break in March...maybe?

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  5. Happy belated birthday! Looks like you had a lovely celebration.
    How can they call it vegetarian if it has fish sauce!?! At least the waitress told you :-) My birthday is the day before Valentine's Day which isn't necessarily a good thing. Growing up I hate hearts because that was always my bday theme and in every relationship, including my marriage now, I never really get a separate birthday and valentines day. Well, my hubby does try and has gotten much better over the years but it's just not the same...

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    1. Thank you very kindly!

      Yes, I'm glad the waitress told me. She said they are trying to work on a true veggie pad thai sauce. Get moving, people. ;)

      I understand the combined birthday thing because my husband has his birthday near Christmas AND near his sister's birthday. He was a bit bitter about always sharing a cake. (I make sure he has his own now!) I believe everyone deserves a birthday-only celebration! :)

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  6. I have been a bit behind in reading as of lately so I wish you a very belated birthday.Hope it was a great one!

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