The first test--eating away from home

Tomorrow, my husband and I leave for a four day driving trip to celebrate our first anniversary.  This will be my first time away from home and eating out since I started my anti-inflammatory diet.  Tomorrow night we have reservations at a nice restaurant connected with a winery.  It's got a farm to table reputation so I suspect that dinner will not be a problem.  Fish or poultry, a salad, lots of veggies.  I expect they'll have extra virgin olive oil and good balsamic vinegar.

But what concerns me are the stops along the way for lunch.  Although I'm sure I could find a salad at most places, I'm not so sure I trust their oil to be olive.  I've also seen a number of balsamic vinegars that contain sugar.  So today I was off scouring the stores for a couple of food friendly 3oz. bottles to carry some good olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  I was hoping to find a couple of sleek, slender 3oz. glass bottles that could also fly in a carry on but had little luck.  I can't believe nobody makes these!  I ended up buying a three pack of GoToob plastic bottles.  They weren't cheap but they were the only ones I could find that were rated as safe for food.  Plus they have a big enough opening that they seemed easier to clean.  So, now at least I'll have good dressing for salads and plain veggies along the way.

I also went looking for some snacks to take along.  I had hoped to grab a couple of packs of the dried seaweed I had a while back-- it was quite good.  Alas, the regular flavor contained sugar.  I didn't check the wasabi flavor since I'm not found of wasabi.  Not much in the packaged department.  I ended up buying tamari almonds, and spiced pumpkins seeds along with some apples and pears.  I purchased a couple 5.5 oz cans of coconut milk and packed a can opener and a small metal drink bottle to store leftover coconut milk once it's opened. (we'll have a small cooler).  I'll also throw in the rest of my chopped raw kale with tahini dressing.  Come to think of it, I probably won't even need to stop for lunch tomorrow, with everything I'm bring with me.

Wish me luck.  Not just with the diet.  I'm a little concerned about walking when we get to our destination.  My foot has been feeling so good this week that I think I might have overdone it yesterday.  I'm a little sore again today.  In spite of that I'm loving how the rest of me is feeling eating this way and will continue on.  I'll report back on Thursday about how it goes eating out.