Papa Crunk Turns 62!

My dad's birthday is next weekend — April 3rd — but I went home to Arkansas this past weekend to celebrate a little early. Can you believe this man is 62? He may be getting older, but my dad is really just a big ole kid with a big ole heart. He likes to ride motorcycles and drink whiskey and do fun stuff. He also happens to be the best dad ever.

He wanted Chinese takeout, so my mom and I drove over to Chin Chin Express, an sort of Asian fusion restaurant. I went with the more Japanese side of the menu and opted for a Vegetable Udon Stir-fry. I've rarely seen udon noodles served in a stir-fry (usually in a soup), but I love, love, love the fat, thick wheat noodles. And this stir-fry was excellent. I also had a couple spring rolls.

Of course, the order included way more noodles than that, but I only put a small amount on my plate, because I also ordered a Vegetable Sushi Roll with avocado and cucumber. My parents always think it's gross when I order sushi, even though mine is fish-free. It's just not their thing.

No birthday is complete without birthday cake! Before I left Memphis, I picked up a few vegan cupcakes from Pink Diva Cupcakery — Triple Chocolate Ganache for my parents and Lemon for me.

My hometown of Jonesboro, which is much smaller than Memphis, just got a new health food store called The Truck Patch, and they have all sorts of vegan items that I can't buy in Memphis! In Memphis, we only have one Whole Foods and a couple of Sprouts stores (way out east). But there are no indie health food shops. My dad usually always gives me an Easter basket (filled with vegan treats from Vegan Essentials), but since he knew I'd want to stock up at the Truck Patch, he just gave me money to go on a shopping spree instead! 

I got all kinds of awesome stuff that I haven't been able to buy in Memphis! A Tofurky BBQ Chick'n Pizza, three packs of Vegan Egg, Annie's Natural Vegan Mac & Cheese, Rising Moon Organics vegan ravioli (in artichoke & olive!), Treeline Herb-Garlic cheese, Earth Balance Roasted Garlic & Herb Spread (for some reason, our WF sells every EB spread except this one), and Food Should Taste Good White Bean Hummus (with caramelized onions). Also, I'm sure I can find the Back to Nature Sunflower-Basil crackers in Memphis, but I needed crackers for my Treeline cheese.

I'm so excited that this new store is only an hour from Memphis! I will definitely be stocking up there every time I go home to visit my parents. Thanks to my awesome parents for all the treats. And happy birthday Papa Crunk! Don't worry — I got him a present too (a bottle of aged scotch whiskey).