Indian food and a quest for chia seeds

Here is Mike with his very first juice! I made today's with celery, spinach, 1 lemon, and 2 apples - I wanted to make it a bit sweeter so that he wouldn't be scared off. I think he liked it... well, kinda :)Mine. It was a gorgeous Saturday morning on our balcony!
We were going to spend the day helping my in-laws finish up the garage sale, but they ended up getting rained on :( so we bypassed the trip to the burbs and instead headed straight to my parents' house in Indiana. Waiting for the train, I starvingly gobbled down an avocado delight.... I was so hungry after the long run this morning!
Mike and I caught up on some reading on the train, and then once we arrived in IN I was still famished so I made up a quickie salad of tomato, red pepper, cilantro, lime juice and flax seed oil, salt and pepper, and tons of olives cut up. Yum!
Dessert was some raspberries and blueberries but apparently my camera ate the photo....
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Ever since we made plans last night for this, I have been soooo excited for this dinner.... Indian food!!! This was Mike's first time getting Indian food... I think he was a bit hesitant since he "hates curry", but he seemed to be pleasantly surprised!
When you walk in the door, there is a cute little guest book alongside a bowl of these candies, made from coriander seeds and a licorice candy. I know some people are skeeved out by the communal bowl idea, but I thought it was an original idea!
When we arrived at our table we were presented with a few bowls of this bread. I didn't catch the name, but the waitress said this was a lentil bread with coriander. It looks like plain, dried up, flavorless bread but it had a ton of flavor and melted in your mouth!
I went with the Vegetable Biryanis, after my mom recommended it based on her past visits to the restaurant.
We got the vegetarian appetizer platter - the samosas were good but spicy, and I especially loved the pakora, which was veggies fried in a chickpea batter. It reminded me of the fried vegetables that my family used to get at the Porter County Fair every summer during my childhood - but this actually tasted good and didn't make you feel nauseous afterward!
My meal was absolutely amazing! It was basically just basmati rice with tons of veggies (peas, red peppers, greens, etc.), raisins, and tons of great spices. I love the cinnamon in Indian food! Isn't is gorgeous?
I was so full that I didn't partake in any of the desserts, but my sister and her friend got "The Trilogy". Apparently it was a mango custard, some type of fried dumpling in a honey sauce, and rice pudding. Everyone gave it the thumbs-up!
Earlier tonight my mom and I went to the Human Race Running Store because I wanted to see if they had the Clif Shots that I was looking for. Many runners have told me that they love the Clif Shot chocolate and espresso flavors, which I can't find at my neighborhood store. I ended up getting one Clif Shot chocolate (the only one they had left), and because they were out of the Clif Shot espresso, I stocked up on the Gu espresso, some Gu mint chocolate, and a few other flavors. Have you guys tried any of these??? I like the shorter ingredient list better for the Clif Shots, but I am still excited to give these a try!
When I bought a case of the Gu's, not only did a save a bit of money per Gu but I also got this hat for free - awesome! I actually love it besides for the fact that it was free - it says "Run Happy" and it's by Brooks, who make my running shoes, and I love that it is white and mesh so it should be great for sunny, hot runs. That's Sam, my parents' cat in the background - what a ham!
I also made a stop at the local health food store, in search of chia seeds. Naturally, I came out with a bit more ;) I am not out of agave or coconut oil yet but I'm getting low, and they had these items in bulk - heck yeah! I also got my first contained of carob powder which I'm excited to try, the chia seeds I had wanted, a package of gluten-free pizza crust, and a couple vegan cookies to try for dessert.
I split these Alternative Baking Company cookies with Mike and my mom. We all loved the coconut macaroon flavor the best, but the chocolate chip cookie one was good too. It's truly astonishing to me how great vegan food tastes if done right, and I can't believe that I never knew it could be so delicious to eat vegan. I had always considered going vegan for health, animal right and environmental reasons, but I think part of the reason I was held back was a fear that the food wouldn't wow me.... I have definitely been proven wrong in that department!
Mike and I went over to see my sister's first place that she just recently moved into - what a cute apartment! Don't you love those adorable Ikea placemats?!?! She shared a bottle of red with us.....
And now I'm off to bed since we are getting up early tomorrow to visit my grandparents, which is a bit far away.
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A big congrats to my cousin Colleen on her recent engagement!!! So excited and happy for you, Colleen and Kyle! :)