The Taster and I carpool everyday to work. Or, I guess I should say we did. But everyday for many months, as I drove to the Best Buy Corporate Headquarters I saw the process of a new restaurant and market being remodeled.

Once it was open I had to stop in! I also needed masa flour so it really was necessary. I was instantly taken back to the time I spent in Mexico as a child. The taqueria serves traditional Mexican food (complete with tongue and tripe tacos, tortas, alameres) and the adjoining market contains aisles of all the Mexican food you want (lime mayonaise, fanta, bimbo bread). I love these kinds of field trips.

Once I saw that the taqueria had tortas, which are traditional Mexican sandwiches, I added Andale Taqueria to our “must-visit” list and when we finally made the trip, I was a little obsessed. I had heard about this sandwich, but never tried it and never really even seen it around.

I ordered a carnitas torta with everything on it – beans, lettuce, tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, avocado, queso fresca and mayonaise. I proclaimed it the best sandwich I’d ever had and that I wanted to eat one every day for the rest of my life. Seriously. The taster thought that was stretching it a bit, but the sandwich was sooooo good! So many flavors going on and obviously, very filling.

The Taster went with the burrito pollo (chicken) which was Chipotle-sized and stuffed with rice, beans, salsa, sour cream and chicken. Yum! It definitely had a more authentic flavor to it than Chipotle Burritos.

I felt obligated to order a Mexican Coke – does anyone know the difference between them and regular coke? I originally thought Mexican coke was made with real cane sugar, but it was made with high fructose corn syrup. Hmmm.

The market is an experience in itself – it made me feel like I was in Mexico and I always love  perusing new-to-me foods. A lot of memories came flooding back from the time I’ve spent in Mexico.

For all of you Minneapolis readers – try out Andale Taqueria – it is a gem! And if you try the tounge, tripe or other interesting tacos I’ll be really proud.  I’m way too scared.

Andale Taqueria & Mercado

7700 Nicollet Avenue South

Richfield, MN

612-259-8868

 

Monday started like most – with a yoga class. But then the similarities ended.

It was a long day of traveling. I had my last work trip and so I’m currently down south in the land of shrimp and grits. For the record, I’m only allowing myself one meal of grits – do you know what they put in that stuff?! It is soooo good, but not exactly easy on the waistline. Georgia was the place that introduced me to grits, before then I had no idea of their glory. Needless to say, I’m a little obsessed. Hopefully tonight I’ll get some grits!

6:30 am Yoga Class. I needed to go to yoga before I left because I wouldn’t be able to take a class for the next few days – the horror! 

The airport was really quiet so I had plenty of time before my plane took off. I stopped into the French Meadow Cafe for coffee, water and breakfast.

 I was going to get oatmeal for breakfast but decided that eggs, bacon and toast was more what I was after. I should have just skipped the hash browns all together – I didn’t eat any of them.

On the first leg of the flight I was busy preparing for the week and doing some writing and meal planning.

When I landed in Charlotte I was ready for a meal. I always try to walk around the airports so that I’m not sitting the entire day. This way I can also scope out all of the food options at well.

 It may seem rather unlikely that I ate at Sbarro’s but it was actually pretty easy to build a healthy meal full of vegetables! I had a salad (should have gotten the small, the large was huge), side of vegetables and a meatball. It was great.

On the second leg of the flight I snacked on part of a thinkThin bar, read some Elle magazine and took a miniature cat nap (shh!!).

When I landed in my third state of the day, Florida, I jumped into a car to finish my trip to Georgia!

I managed to track down the one natural food store on the island and then it was time for dinner! Being in shrimp country, I was really on the hunt for shrimp. This grilled shrimp and scallops with succotash (SO good) and green beans was just what I was looking for.

Now I’m catching up on things online and heading to bed! Hope you had a great start to your week.

PS. I have two more weeks of work, three more weeks until the wedding and four more weeks until we move!!!