Bright Palace-Vegetarian Restaurant in Cary, NC

A family friend told me about a new vegetarian restaurant coming to the triangle. We have several vegetarian restaurants in the area and I always get excited when a new one pops up. The menu at Bright Palace has Cantonese, Japanese, and Chinese menu items. The menu is very extensive and was a little overwhelming to me when I first visited the restaurant. I am not used to having pages, upon pages of selections to choose from. I am lucky if I get two options on most menus.

(Diana enjoying seaweed salad)

The restaurant is completely vegetarian, but not completely vegan. They have many vegan menu items. They use vegan mayonnaise and meat analogs to make the entrees as close to the original dish as possible. Some of the ingredients that they use are organic. Everything I have tried is 100% delicious!

(Lise' enjoying imagination lettuce)

If you have never eaten a meat analog (such as a veggie dog, veggie chicken, veggie lunch meat, etc.), this is a great place to try it for the first time! I have never eaten duck in real life, but had veggie duck at the restaurant. It was surprisingly good!

(Me enjoying sushi)

My first trip to the restaurant was with Lise' and Diana. Although not vegetarian, they were brave enough to try the place with me. They both enjoy eating vegetarian food and were excited to try something new. We each ordered several dishes and shared. Below are the descriptions of the dishes we tried:

• Pan Fried Dumplings-Mung bean noodles, veggie ham, mushrooms, cabbage, black pepper.
• Crispy Tofu-Tofu, corn, shiitake mushrooms, potato, veggie ham, minced with bean curd skins.
• Braised Layered Tofu- Layered tofu, cabbage, vegan mayonnaise.
• Avocado Salad-House salad, pineapples, avocado, with chef's sauce.
• Seaweed Salad- Seaweed on mixed green.
• Imagination Lettuce-Sauteed taro, pine nut, sunflower seed, corn, veggie ham, carrot, green bean, shiitake mushrooms, Chinese celery, Romania lettuce.
• Aso-san Roll-Mushrooms, layered tofu, asparagus. Top: veggie duck, avocado, black pepper sauce.
• Matsumoto Roll- Mushrooms, king mushrooms, asparagus. Top: avocado, oyster sauce.
  

We all loved the dishes that we ordered. Since the first visit, I have been back several times. Diana and I are going again tonight. I cannot wait!

Shout Out To Jason M.!

Things have been VERY busy lately with work travel, work, looking for a home, etc. I have not posted in a while even though I have a lot to post about. BUT........I wanted to make a quick post today to give a shout out to Jason M.! Thanks for reading my blog. I hope I have posted something exciting every once and while for you. :)

Every so often I hear from a friend, or family friend, that reads my blog and knows what is going on in my life (when I actually keep it up to date). I find it exciting because I never really know who is checking my blog. I also check a lot of blogs that I do not post on. I find it fun to get to look into someone's life and just be an observer. I have learned a lot about people. Blogging is one of my favorite pieces of new technology. It is new to me because I only heard about about a year ago. Yah- I am behind!

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog. If you have a blog that I do not know about, please send me or post the link so I can read about you.

Watching Sadie

I have always thought Corgies were cute dogs, but had never spent any time with one. I find their stubby legs, long bodies, and perky ears an adorable combination. They look like a cross between a fox and a bear.


We recently had the opportunity to watch a Corgie, named Sadie, who lives with a family friend. I picked up Sadie on a Friday afternoon and kept her until Monday morning. Our meeting was love at first site. She immediately licked me and begged me to pet her. I, of course, complied.


The ride back to our place was very pleasent. She politely got into the backseat and stayed put on the towel I put down for her. I think "polite" would be the best way to describe her. She seemed to understand the commands I gave to her and listened very well. She also would come up to me and make a little noise as if to say "excuse me, can I get a pet?" If I ignored her, she would do it again. It was very cute and almost sounded like we were having a conversation (maybe we were?).


Her politeness even extended to the mornings. She would walk over to where we were sleeping and make a low noise to wake us up to ask to go out. During her visit, I became sick with a cold and it was like she knew it because she went to John's side of the bed to ask to be let out. I spent an entire Saturday on the couch recovering from my cold/flu and she was next to me the whole day. I pet her every so often to thank her and give her a little praise.


When I was feeling better, we took her to the park to play frisbee and she was so obiedient off of the leash. She never ran away or wondered off. If we were concerned that she was walking to far away, we would call her name and offer her a treat. The promise of a treat would send her back in our direction.


We love all of the dogs that we watch because they touch us in different ways. Sadie's visit was the most polite and behaved visit we have ever had with a dog. We had such a nice weekend and cannot wait to spend time with her again.

Birthday Lunch at Thai Spices and Sushi

Sunday, March 1st was my Birthday with my friends at work was at Thai Spices and Sushi. I chose the restaurant because I love both Thai and Japanese food and find the place a nice getaway during the day. I usually get fresh rolls with tofu, salad with ginger dressing, and vegetable sushi. I was disappointed, at first, when I saw that they stopped serving sushi Tuesday-Thursday at lunch. Then I noticed that they added Bento boxes to their menu and was pleasantly surprised to see they had a vegetarian Bento box.

I was very enticed by the choices in the vegetarian Bento box and decided to order it. When it came, I chowed down on the yummy goodness in each compartment. The food was delicious and I even had leftovers. The box contained salad with ginger dressing, vegetable sushi, ginger, wasabi, edamame, spring roll rice, and tofu and vegetable curry.

I was so impressed with the presentation and the taste and cannot wait to go back! I am hungry just thinking about it!

Pullen Park Adventure

At work, several of us started a group to foster, promote, and share creativity. We all started by purchasing a book called “Wreck this Journal” by Keri Smith. The idea of this journal is exactly as the title sounds- you wreck the book. It is counter to everything we have done our entire lives. We generally preserve and make what we have pretty. The purpose of the journal is the opposite- Destroy the journal to pieces! Each page has directions, such as crumple the page; poke holes; draw all over; infuse with food or smells; etc.

(Diana, Shannon, and Jim at the Flying Biscuit)

(Alfonso and me)

Each month when we get together we swap journals and look at our destroyed progress. We also talk about ideas that we have to advance our creativity. During our first meeting, Alfonso came up with the idea to spend an afternoon going to a park and to take pictures.

On President’s day we decided to head to Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC and chronicle what we saw. We took pictures of the train and tracks, the budding flowers, the playground, the water and wildlife, the trees, the sky, and each other. Afterward, we went to Cameron Village and ate at the Flying Biscuit. Later we all downloaded and posted our pictures to our online group.

In addition to meeting monthly, we hope to spend more time partaking in the creative activities outside of the meetings. Some of us are good at picture taking, writing, drawing, painting, creating music, etc. This group is a way for us to showcase our talents and learn from the creativity that we each hold inside.

Presents from Aunt Amanda

I just LOVE being an Aunt! I have four nephews and one niece. Realizing that I could only make presents for them while they are still young, I got to work! After each nephew/niece is born, I paint letters for them spelling their name. When they get to the age when they can draw, paint, and create I make them art smocks from colorful material (I will have to post about those another time.

In 2008, John and I were blessed with our nephew, Andrew and niece, Helena. As a part of their Christmas presents I made name letters for them.

Andrew has a frog/Lilly pad/butterfly/firefly/snail theme in blues, greens, and yellows. The letters that I created are similar to the designs already in his room, but are not exact. I wanted them to look a part of the room, but not to blend in completely.


Before Helena was born, my brother and his wife were thinking of doing butterflies in brown, beige, and pink. I took that theme and ran with it! I am not sure that they have completely stuck with the original theme, but I think the letters will look just fine in Helena's room. (I took these pictures in a hotel room where I did not have quality lighting).

My Neice, Helena

A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.

-- Eda J. Le Shan

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My brother and his wife had their first child in late December. Her name is Helena Rose and she was born 7 lbs, 14 oz and was 19 inches long. She is the first grandchild on my side and my parents could not be happier to be grandparents (just don't call my Mom granny!). John and I have 4 nephews on his side and were happy to add a niece to my side of the family.

We all went to Dallas in early January to meet her and visit with my brother, David and his wife, Rhea. Helena is cute, sweet, and a delight to be around. She brought a smile to everyone's face along with hugs and cuddles to our hearts.

During our stay, I spent hours holding Helena. I enjoyed looking into her eyes and bonding. My parents and John also spent a good deal of time holding her. One of the highlights of our visit is when my Mom and I gave her the first full bath since she had been home. As soon as we put her in the water, she was calm and content. No smell is sweeter than a baby that has just had a bath!

We also enjoyed spending time with David and Rhea. It had been over a year since we had seen them and we were LONG overdue for a visit. It was neat seeing them as new parents and how they interacted with Helena. I always knew that my brother would make a wonderful father and it was great seeing him in action. I cannot wait to see how she will have him wrapped around her finger as she gets older. ;-)

Helena is a blessing to our family and is blessed to have loving parents, grandparents, a great grandmother, aunts, uncle, and cousin. We love you Helena!