Eat and eat and eat

Posted: May 21, 2010 at 6:00 pm

Something about yoga, rainy days, and finding caramel Oikos Greek yogurt on your grocery trip can make a day relaxing. That’s about all I have to say about my day so far, so I’ll focus on last night.

As you may remember, last night Peter & I hit up the annual food festival in a local town. We basically spent three hours straight eating. At least that’s what it felt like. I’m in no way complaining. It was a wonderful time. Veggies may have been lacking and there could have been more variety in the choices, but trying out delicious food from restaurants we haven’t been to before and on the cheap makes it all worthwhile. Let me share my food rendezvous with all of you.

We got to The Avenue, which is a quaint shopping area where the festival was held, at around 6:30. We parked and made the long trek to the entrance where we were greeted with large crowds.

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We bought our sheet of tickets for $10 that fed the both of us (as well as miss M) for the night.

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That’s right $10 for 2 people for the food you are about to witness. I’m glad it wasn’t much more than that. While all of the food we tried was delicious, they didn’t have much variety. There were about 20 food stands and the majority of them were either BBQ, Hibachi, Mexican, sandwiches, or a dessert. We decided to pretty much hit up one of each of those places.

The first place we came across was for a cafe called Nature’s Table that just opened in our area. I didn’t realize it is part of a franchise in Florida. I liked the information I received about it and I may have to visit there one day. Peter & I sampled a mini chicken salad wrap from their stand.

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After that we made our way around some of the other stands. We eyed a cupcake we knew we would be coming back for later in the evening and found a balloon for Makenzie. She loves balloons and this helped keep her entertained through the night.

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Then, we stood in line for awhile so I could get some sushi and Peter could get a hibachi sample plate. I was really drooling over the rainbow and tuna rolls they were featuring, but since the whole raw fish thing is a no-no for me right now I settled for a California Roll. It’s no high quality sashimi, but it satisfied.

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To let that food settle for a bit, we meandered the festival a bit more. I checked out some artwork and Makenzie grooved to the live band that played some top notch tunes. You play some classic Bon Jovi without murdering it and you win my heart. That’s all there is to it.

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Now that our tummies were ready for more food tasting, we hit up our last stop for our main course type dining. We opted for some BBQ to get a pulled pork taco with spicy slaw.

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The cabbage from the slaw was my veggie for the evening. Sad, but true. Apparently broccoli and sweet potatoes aren’t big hits at food festivals. That’s what green monsters are for the day after. All about balance, right?

It was now time for the second stomachs to open. You do know the dessert stomach is a separate entity, right? It is for us. We picked up a cupcake and a gelato cone. The cupcake was a basic vanilla with buttercream frosting. The cake was moist and delicious.The icing was dense and creamy and even had sparkles!

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We hit up the gelato line at the end of the night. The line was long and we worried we were going to miss out. We kept ourselves occupied with lots of pictures.

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Finally we got our taste of the good stuff. Ice cream always makes me smile. This…it made me grin from ear to ear. I chose the lemon sample cone. Makenzie got a sample of vanilla as well. It’s amazing how much bigger things look in kid’s hands. I promise it was not some huge waffle cone.

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The small cone was the perfect topping to the night. I left a little more full than I normally end meals, but not stuffed and happy with everything I tried. I would say it was a successful night. I look forward to going again next year to either this one or another local event that is very similar but with different restaurants.

I did notice something during our food tasting extravaganza. When tasting the foods, I would really take time to savor them and I ate slowly throughout the night. I was able to be more in tune with my hunger this way and fully enjoy the experience. I also tried everything that really appealed to me. I didn’t have guilt for choosing some fattier items (hello? pulled pork, cupcakes, and icecream??) and I didn’t just eat things because they were there. It just goes to show you can make progress in intuitive eating and honoring your body and your tastebuds. It takes time, but it is possible.

  • When is the last time you had an “aha” moment from a dining experience and a way your eating habits have changed?
  • What is your favorite flavor of icecream? Mine is normally choc chip cookie dough. I had never had lemon before but it was AWESOME!
  • What are your weekend plans? We’re hanging out with friends tonight and tomorrow night.

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21 Comments to “Eat and eat and eat”
  1. jennifer says:

    I just wanted to let you know that my pregnancy blood test was positive today. I’m due in late January. Yay for moderation in journeying to motherhood for a second time!

  2. homecookedem says:

    What a great evening!! Everything looks awesome!! 🙂 Um, I think I want that cupcake!! So glad you had such a good foodie experience as well as progress with intuitive eating.

    No weekend plans for me other than going to a good friend’s baby shower tomorrow. I need to catch up on sleep and cleaning. Exciting, exciting. 😉

  3. Kati says:

    CC Cookie Dough is an old fave of mine too :> I do love gelato too!!! So good. The new format/site looks great!

  4. April says:

    What a fun night! You are such a great role model!

    Favorite ice cream flavor.. that’s a tough one! I’d have to say something with chocolate or peanut butter, although DQ’s pecan cluster blizzard has won my heart!

  5. Jennifer says:

    Wow that is a neat festival. How cool would it be to go and sample all of those different types of food for $10.00. We have a Nature’s Cafe where I live. I like them most for their smoothies. They put a lot of different fruit juices in them and they’re still low calorie.

  6. Sounds like a fantastic day!! Also the best kind of ice cream EVER is cinnamon. Holy wow, it will change your life.

  7. I love the new site!!
    It sounded like a great day and I think you demonstrated intuitive eating well 🙂

    Favorite ice cream flavor = plain chocolate. I used to get all sorts of combos & flavors but I realized that I like the simplest best!

  8. Shannon says:

    Love the new site!

    All of the food looks great in the pictures….but ice cream is the star of the show for me right now. I can’t get enough. Plain chocolate or chocolate brownie. Yum!

  9. This looks amazing, Tina! I have never been to a food fest and seriously CANNOT WAIT until I finally get the opportunity. And my favorite flavor of ice cream has always been Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. The only challengers are Starbucks Mud Pie (coffee ice cream with fudge and Oreos, but I don’t think they make it anymore… tragic), Ben & Jerry’s One Sweet Whirled (which they also don’t make anymore… even more tragic) and Coldstone Creamery’s Cake Batter ice cream… with fudge, cookie dough and rainbow sprinkles mixed in. Not that I really love ice cream or anything. I miss it so much!

  10. amanda says:

    california rolls rock! so does your little lady in sunglasses. how adorable. looks like a lovely night!

  11. That sounds like fun! We have a similar event near where I live called Fall for Greenville. it happens in the fall, obviously, and all of the downtown restaurants have booths set up and you can buy tickets and sample… oh SO good! I always look forward to it.
    I have plans to hang out with my boy tonight, after a lunch with my best friends and an afternoon at the pol. Yep, sounds like a good day!

  12. Lee says:

    Looks like fun!

    My plans for the weekend are packing and more packing. Of course, I’ve been awake for two hours and done absolutely no packing.

  13. LOVE the new blog!!! YAY! Have a great weekend Tina!

  14. ellie says:

    What a great evening- looks like some delicious food and I LOVE Bon Jovi!

    I had an “a-ha” moment today when I was out with my mom- my thoughts were racing and I was lost in my head until I remembered the promise I made to someone yesterday to practice being more mindful/in the present moment. I took a few deep breaths and felt a hundred times better, noticing the sunshine on my face, exactly how my iced coffee tasted…the world is an amazing place when you slow down to appreciate it.

    Favourite ice cream flavour- Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby. Always.

    This weekend- gym, relaxing with my mom, hanging out and being mindful 😉

  15. janetha says:

    what a fun festival! my favorite ice cream is vanilla. i am so boring. yay for finding the oikos! that is a great success 🙂

  16. WOW, that festival looks AMAZING!!!! Pretty jealous over here!!!! 🙂

    Your daughter is beyond ADORABLE!!!!!!

    My fav ice cream is oreo 🙂 Or vanilla with blended in reeces pieces. Mmmm. Have a great weekend!!!!! XOX

  17. sophia says:

    Hey Tina!!! CONGRATS on your new blog! How exciting! Was it hard for you? Mine was a headache, lol.

    I had an “aha” moment during my HK trip…I ate so much greasy and MSG-laden foods…and my body started screaming for fruits and veggies! A revelation that our bodies know how to take care of themselves! 🙂

    Fave ice cream is GREEN TEA! 😀

  18. Lindsay says:

    My favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip, but I eat it rarely. I want to make sure it’s always special to me, so I make sure I never burn myself out on it. 😉

  19. I love food festivals and I usually eat for hours as well 🙂

    My favorite ice cream…ooh goodness, I love it all. I guess cookies n’ cream would be my favorite though!

    that chicken salad wrap looks fantastic…chicken salad is one of my favorites!

  20. Food Festivals are FABULOUS, aren’t they????
    Favorite soft ice cream would have to be black raspberry & vanilla twist. Hard ice cream…oh geez, there’s too many to decide! But cookie dough will always be at the top of my list, along with anything that has oatmeal cookie chunks & caramel in it 😀

  21. […] REAL journey back to fitness! Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginEver since Thursday night at the food festival, intuitive eating has been on my mind and I realized it has been awhile since my last post in the […]

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