A road tripping picnic

We road tripped yesterday. Isn't driving Iowa interstate beautiful. Several years ago I drove my sister to Amarillo Texas... rolling tumbleweed is a good way to describe what I saw. That and the radio station we listened to had an advertisement for the city bus every five minutes. I remember it vividly because my cousin and I drove her 16 hours there, stayed 10 hours and drove 16 hours back.

Back to the road trip. At the beginning of summer I had visions of weekend hiking trails and Sunday after church picnics dancing through my head, so one day when I happened to be strolling through a kitchen store at a shopping mall a clearanced picnicing backpack called out my name. It was regularly $42.95 and I got it 80 % off. Isn't it great how I save money. Unfortunately, Dave always just spends it.

Great picnicing backpack, eh?! I searched cookbooks several hours trying to find the perfect picnicing meal to take with us. I wanted it to be special. My virgin backback was out and about for the first time... it had to be special.

The winning recipes came from Dreena Burtons, The Everyday Vegan. I made the Lentil Veggie Wraps (p. 101) and the Cool Cucumber Toss (p. 94). These were great picks and I enjoyed both of them very much, so much that I am going to have them again today when the kids and I go out and about some birthday and back to school shopping. I couldn't seem to get enough of the cool cuke toss... the fresh picked basil from my garden took it over the top.

In packing the bag I froze our drinks in plastic bottles the night before (lid slightly loose, tightened upon packing). I packed veggies in a separate baggie, lentil spread in a lidded container, chutney in a small serving cup. Dave had potato chips on the side and his favorite sweet coated peanuts. When it was time to eat we found a good shady place to sit. I put the cool cuke salad in an old soy yogurt carton, but also wrapped itin saran wrap to protect from potential leaks.

Here's my lentil veggie wrap. I used nappa cabbage, red pepper slices, carrot shreds and black olives sliced.


Later for a snack we purchased a slice of apple pietza. This road trip was made to the Iowa State Fair by the way. While I was there I of course looked at every new kitchen gadget I could find. My favorite find was a pressure cooker. There were several sizes and they were all "precious" .... in the Lord of the Rings kind of meaning. I could probably give you the sales demo, because I watched it three times before Dave convinced me that I was being hypnotized and would soon be pulling out the plastic if I didn't come with him right that moment.Isn't apple pietza beautiful. The apples were shredded into very thin ribbons and it was topped with almonds. Of course the veg stand we bought it from that was also selling veg corn dogs and deep fried veggies wanted to ruin it with a caramel sauce, I would have none of that.

We had a wonderful day AND we only got suckered $22 on two awesome bottles of cleaner / wax. Once bottle is enough to wax a car 6 times, a three year supply, but it also can clean the bottems of your stainless steel kitchen pans, sink, aluminum, etc, etc. I passed up the amazing mops and squeegie rags, but the pampered chef booth sure was pretty. Dave, usually such a sweetie, kept wanting to take up my limited fair time with drill bits, and saws and bendable ladders ... he was even drooling on the sun room display, but I wiped his chin and quickly found a kitchen utensil booth while he regained his composure.

We both agreed that the best stop we made was at the cell phone booth. It was time to renew our contract so we did a little shopping to compare plans. Our current plan provider shot us the best family plan deal (four phones for the price of one), unlimited talking to family members or each other, the ability to check e-mail via our phone as well as take pictures and send them to each others phones. He shot us a heck of a deal and that could have only happened only at the fair. Someday I will figure out how to take a picture via my phone and upload it to my blog, the sales guy told me it was possible. He was is also an ISU student who checks his e-bay accounts during class and his girlfriend bought some software for her phone and got the college fight song via mp3 download to be her ringer. I love technology.

And before I finish, Happy 18th Birthday to Matt who is officially 18 at 3:16 pm this afternoon.