Day 4 - Rochester Minnesota

I was worried about the cold temperatures but I actually had a really nice time in Rochester! Breakfast was standard hotel breakfast of oatmeal and had some pineapple on the side. Lunch was at the Mayo Clinic. Made a salad and they had a taco bar so I topped my salad off with black beans and salsa. Will this be a staple go-to meal for me?? They also had a fruit bar with pineapple and blueberries. What is with all the pineapple being served during winter in Minnesota?!

Dinner was great! I went with a co-worker to a seafood restaurant called Pescara. They had a lot of side vegetables and some potatoes on the menu. I let our waitress, Claudia know I didn't eat meat and I can't have oil. She let me know they do a vegetable platter that is not on the menu. I asked for that and some of the potatoes but she let me know all the potatoes have oil on them already. She was really knowledgeable about the menu, even for things about what has oil and what can be made without which is really impressive! How many people go to a seafood restaurant and ask for no animal products, no oil! They also have a black bean soup. I asked for that if it didn't contain oil. It was really good! The vegetables were delicious too, asparagus, brussel sprouts, portabellos and some others. I also had a side salad and she offered balsamic vinegar with it. Overall, a great meal and positive experience. My worry about co-workers thinking I was too picky did not happen tonight either, we had a very nice dinner out!

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of my dinner, but afterwards we braved the negative degree temperatures and walked around an event that was occurring, outside! But it was pretty awesome to just walk around and see. There were about 8 or so bars all made of ice, and ice sculptures, a live band playing inside the above skywalk, some heat lamps that didn't provide enough heat at all. Here are some pictures of that instead today.

Tomorrow, flying back to San Diego, stopping in Chicago again. Will it be another salad with black beans and salsa? We shall see tomorrow.

I thought I should add some prices so people can see expense when eating plant-strong out. My breakfast was $5.50 at the hotel. They didn't charge me the full buffet since I just had oatmeal and fruit. The salad and fruit at Mayo clinic was weighed, and came to a bit under $9. The vegetable plate at the restaurant was $15, salad-$7 and black bean soup $4. Not too bad.

#E2Challenge