Local: Pizza at the Grotto

 

We borrowed Adam's Mom's camera for the Vancouver trip in June.  I took this opportunity to slip the small traveler into my purse and snap shots of local restaurant eats as promised ;)

The Grotto is a local joint in Springfield, MO that serves pizza, sandwiches and salads.  A vegan menu is available at request, which makes the experience even better.  The most exciting thing about the Grotto is vegan cheese!  I could hardly believe it when a friend told me about this place last year.

We went out for a girls' lunch since Hannah (sister) was in town for Tori's (niece) graduation.  The crew included Mom, Hannah, Tori, Madi (niece) and me.  

First up, appetizers!  Homestyle chips seasoned with rosemary and thyme, and hummus with herbed focaccia.

The chips were slightly crisp and had a nice delicate herby flavor.  The hummus was decent, but pretty average.  I was happy to see the extra oil on top :)  It was a little more oil than necessary, but since it's been dry on previous occasions it was a welcome sight.  Their focaccia was quite nice; flatbread sprinkled with herbs and sea salt and slightly crisp.

Did I mention how enticing it looked?

We ordered two large pizzas.  Hannah and I decided that it was important to have plenty of food and had no fear of taking home leftovers if necessary ;)

The Vegan Veggie Medley features a light marinera with roma tomatoes, grilled squash, red onions, portabello mushrooms, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and fresh herbs.

Nicely loaded with veggies and very satisfying.  Check out the huge slice on my plate!

Our second pizza was a classic Vegan Margherita.  Also very pleasing.

A very satisfying meal :)  Adam and I enjoyed the leftovers cold.  It was definitely just as good the second time around ;)

Almost forgot photos of happy people!

Hannah, Tori, and Madi = 3 lovely ladies!

My lovely Mom :)

Happy Things to Come

The sun is shining brightly today and it's hard not to smile about things, even while visiting the laundry mat.  We took a detour and had a slice of vegan blueberry cake at a local tea bar.  We also ordered pita and hummus and I had a cup of berry tea, a very delightful event :)  As soon as I get a smaller camera I will start posting photos of local eats.  Believe it or not, there are more options popping up in Springfield, Missouri all the time :)

Up for tomorrow:  Heading to Mansfield for the Baker Creek Spring festival and hopefully getting back in time for a vegetarian potluck!  If it's not raining too hard I'll try to take some pictures.

It's not too late to sign up for the poetry swap!

Band practice, Bingo and Beer

It was a good night tonight. A night of working toward some of my 2010 goals, actually. This year will be a year of not just creating, but achieving many goals, I hope.

A few of those goals and tonight...
Improve community involvement: joined the community band. It's going to be a pretty good time I think ;)
Spend more time with people: A friend told me about a bingo night at a local bar in town, Lindberg's. I love games (and beer), so it seemed like a grand opportunity. And it was a good chance to catch up with a couple of good pals.

Tomorrow night I'm headed to the local independent theatre, The Moxie, to see Herzog's Bad Lieutenant. Herzog is an amazing director and I really enjoy Nicolas Cage, especially when he gets to be over the top!

A bit of food. Tonight we had Fried Tofu, mashed potatoes and gravy and peas. It was a quick dinner night.

Fried Tofu Seasonings (not marinated long because I was short on time)
tamari
granulated garlic
ground ginger
pepper

This works really well for a quick fried tofu to stick in wraps or on top of rice.