It was unexpectedly awesome. It was terrible.

I am still having after-effects of something I ate a couple days ago, and today was the worst of it I think.  Since I had a confrontational meeting and wasn't feeling well on top of that, I decided to go out for lunch although I had brought something.  Knowing that True Food is an allergen-issue person's haven, I headed over, but the parking lot was full and busy and I decided to leave.  I was wandering, but in my car, and I ended up at Bertha's.

Bertha's was packed, so I went to Smarty Pants to see if I could find some black slacks.  I didn't find any in the size 8 section, although I picked out a few others; on a whim, I decided to pick up a couple size 6 pants.  The size 8 paints were too big, and I bought a pair of size 6 pants!  They had a little stretch in them but they fit very well.  I'd call them pants more than slacks, but I can definitely wear them a lot to work.

I went to Bertha's and they have changed their soups to the spring soup menu, so they didn't have "my" chili.  They have a Friday soup that I might come back to try.  They also have re-done their menu and it says that their chicken is marinated in pesto sauce, so no more chicken for me.  They also roast their turkey there, so I had the roasted red pepper and goat cheese salad with no pesto, adding turkey.  I should have told them no sun dried tomatoes--I am coming to the conclusion that I really don't like them.  Other than that, the salad was very good, but I can make that myself, so I may be taking a Bertha's break for the spring.

coconut aminos = "soy sauce"

I was thinking about trying the panang at True Food, so I got that Thai craving in my head.  So when I got home, I looked at a couple of Thai "peanut sauce" recipes I have and went to work.  It started with almond butter, but I didn't have enough so I added cashew butter.  Then I added canned coconut milk, ground ginger, garlic, "soy sauce", lime juice, sirachi, red pepper flakes.  It ended up more like a satay peanut sauce, so I kept working on it, adding more coconut milk and sirachi.  I cooked the sauce with some chicken.  I sauteed some carrots, red peppers, and cactus and added it along with some rice noodles.  The sauce got better, but it never got to the point that I loved it, and I didn't really like the rice noodles or the cactus either.  My husband thought it was good although the carrots weren't soft enough for him and he didn't like the cactus.  He told me several times that the carrots weren't cooked enough; "I'm sorry" must not be the right thing to say since it didn't stop his redundancy.  Despite that, he claims he will eat the leftovers.

"being authentic means never having to say you’re sorry. Or always having to say you’re sorry."