Food, US style...

Before we left on our recent holiday, DH and I had been a bit concerned about whether we would be able to eat healthily whilst away. On a previous trip in 2011, we had not been so concerned with diet and had eaten a fair bit of 'junk food'. With DH's diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes early this year, food choices have changed. But I think we did pretty well with the minimum of 'naughty' foods consumed. 

So here is a collection of 'food' photos taken on our journey through California, Washington State and Vancouver. (in no particular order) Warning, lots of photos of food follow!

In San Francisco, we sampled the clam chowder and delicious breads at Boudins.

Turtle shaped bread rolls?

Also in San Francisco at the Ferry Terminal building we ate delicious sourdough toast for breakfast, topped with half an avocado...very moreish!

Waiting while DH ordered our avo toast...the counter in front of me was filled with bags of dried fruits and nuts...mmmm

 The next photos is of an In-N-Out Burger place; we didn't eat at this one in San Fran, but DH's cousin had introduced us to those when we stayed with her. The burgers have freshly made meat patties and have fresh tomatoes and lettuce...much, much nicer than Maccas (Aussie slang for McDonald's) and very quick as in the name In and Out.

In Hollywood, I had the best gnocchi; it was light and just like my Patrozza (Godmother) would make. DH had a pizza as you can see in the photo. 

We ate at a few diners too...San Francisco, breakfast at Lori's and a 'not that great' eggs benedict at Sears cafe also in San Francisco, and a healthy lunch of salad and chicken minus the dressing for me, at Ruby's in Huntington Beach.

A closer look at DH's burger lunch at Ruby's.

During our 5 weeks away, I was often able to order a simple meal of salad with chicken, like this meal .

A dinner at the Lumberyard Restaurant in Laguna Beach...

 Just near where we stayed in Huntington Beach was a restaurant called Red Table which served nice meals...and beer in very tall glasses!

DH's cousin also introduced us to Brix at Huntington Beach...the chowder and the pastrami and coleslaw on rye were worth a return visit before we came home...delicious!

 We were also introduced to 'truck' food; gourmet food served from trucks parked in various locations. The vendors usually have fixed restaurants as well and the location of the trucks are announced via social media.

Our hosts in Huntington Beach, love the Kogi truck food which is described as Mexican/Korean. It was beautiful! Our feast that night...

 And these were dessert...I don't normally eat dessert but it would have been churlish to refuse...

It was like a cake, fruit, custard combo.

Another night while staying in Huntington Beach, we all went out to a local Mexican place. Our hosts are pretty cluey about good food places and this was no exception, despite the 'fast food restaurant look' about the place.

In Vancouver we met up with friends from there, whom we had met in San Francisco in 2011. They chose the Old Spaghetti Factory in New Westminster as a meet up point. It was lovely catching up over a long lunch!

On another day while we were in Vancouver, we lunched with some friends of DH's eldest brother and his wife...they chose a favourite of theirs, Cardero's Seafood Restaurant.
The food was beautiful!

When we arrived in Canada, DsD3 took us to a Red Robin Gourmet Burger Restaurant; she particularly wanted her father and I to try a Canadian specialty, Poutine. It appears to be chips/fries, covered with gravy and sprinkled with 'cheese curds'. We politely tried just the one each. But as you can see in the next photo, our meals were definitely in the 'naughty category', even without the poutine. Nik took the photo but the plate of poutines doesn't really show. My chips/fries are 'yam' fries but they seemed just like sweet potato.

In Seattle we visited a quirky cafe called Bedlam...very nice coffee! Lots of vintage, quirky items to look at as well as Art.

 Of course we ate meals on the ship...

In a Vintage Cafe in Everett (near Seattle) I ate a 'chicken dip'. It's a different 'dip' to what we have in Australia...it was the equivalent of a 'Roast Beef Roll' which came with a bowl of 'jus' that you dipped the roll in.

  We enjoyed tea at Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island...here's DH playing 'mother' which is an old saying for the person who pours the tea.

Next door to our hotel in Seattle was a cafe called the Biscuit Bitch. We ate breakfast there one morning...eggs and biscuits. The biscuits are more like our scones. 

Also in Seattle we had a lovely lunch at Etta's in Pikes Market; the fish was breadcrumbed and it was so delicious. The accompanying coleslaw had the lightest dressing...very nice.

And it was in Seattle that we found Rocco's in a street near our hotel.

We knew it was popular by the queue waiting for tables. It was basically a pizza place. DH suggested we buy half a pizza and hoped that 4 slices would be enough. I assured him I only wanted 1, so it would be fine. Well...we would have been in trouble if we had ordered a whole pizza...look at the one slice on my plate!

Yep...it was large as a foolscap page...but so delicious! and we saw my salad being freshly made/tossed behind the counter. It had the loveliest blueberry vinegar dressing. As well as the usual salad vegetables, it was sprinkled with toasted flaked almonds...mmm, yum!

 (Luckily our room in Seattle had a fridge and microwave which is unusual in the US; we took the leftover slice back there and reheated it next day)

I'm including this next photo as there is a bit of a story attached to it. Cobs is a chain of breadshops/bakeries in Canada.

Fellow Aussies would notice a similarity to Bakers' Delight stores, which is an Australian chain of franchised bakeries. Cobs was started by the son of an old schoolmate of mine. Ally's son went to Canada, started with one shop and then ended up with a large chain of franchised shops. This particular shop was next to an eatery (Vera's Burger Shack)) that DsD3 took us to one night; I chose not to eat anything that night as all options were 'heart attacks on a plate'! On reflection I should have bought something from Cobs to eat while I watched the others eat. lol.

 We didn't always eat out...or get get takeaway...

On a few nights when we stayed with DsD3, DH and I cooked a meal; I cooked spaghetti and meatballs from scratch one night, DH cooked our 'salmon dinner' the next night, and then near the end of our stay, he cooked spaghetti bolognaise . ( years before I had shown him how to cook these and I regularly get a 'night off' when he makes these 'specialties') 

My bit of cooking while on holidays...oops, didn't wipe the plate's edge after serving. What would MKR say???
Hope I haven't made you feel hungry with all these food photos???