Valentine's Day Eats!

I took Valentine's Day off work because I had a 20-mile training run to squeeze into a very packed weekend. And who doesn't want a self-care day off work on Valentine's Day? Even though I had no business being in Crosstown Concourse since I was off work, I still came to up the building bright and early to get myself a VEGAN DONUT! Lily from Darling Donuts made a special batch of Valentine's donuts to sell at French Truck Coffee for the occasion, and I had to have one.

I didn't get to eat it right away though. I still had that 20-mile run first, and a donut before a long run sounds like a recipe for a stomachache. So I had a blueberry bagel with nut butter instead and then hit the trails at Shelby Farms. I had a great run and enjoyed my donut after a proper post-run snack of white rice, banana, and protein smoothie.

I had plans to go visit Paul in Nashville on Saturday, and we planned to do our date night then. So on Friday, I stayed home and had a nice dinner of White Bean & Veggie Pasta with salad and wine. Date night with myself! This was perfect because I was truly pooped after that run.

The next day, I got up early, squeezed in an hour-long recovery run, and then hit the road for Nashville. I had a very amazing lunch on the road, but I'm saving that for an entire post tomorrow! I also stopped at KOKOS Plant-Based Ice Cream in Nashville on the way to meet up with Paul. I got to town before he was off work and had some time to kill anyway, so ice cream!!! I got two scoops of Biscoffee Ice Cream (coffee ice cream flecked with bits of Biscoff coffee), and it was seriously the best cone of my life.

I met up with Paul after he got off work, and we headed to dinner at The Smiling Elephant. It's a quaint little Thai place that had super-awesome reviews, and everything I'd read about them said they really understood what it means when someone orders vegan. Paul and I both love Thai, and I knew we could agree on this place. Look at his "Somebody in Memphis Loves Me" tee! I gave him that for V-Day and made him wear it. 

We started with the Fresh Rolls, made with rice noodles, cilantro (Paul picked his out), bean sprouts, and carrots.

For our entrees, we decided to split two dishes so we could try more things! We got the Pad See Ew with tofu. They use bean thread noodles rather than rice noodles, and they really soak up the soy sauce flavor and color. Plus, it has broccolini!! Pad See Ew is my favorite Thai dish, and this one was excellent.

And we got the Panang Curry with tofu. Panang curry is Paul's favorite dish, and he said this one was his second favorite he's ever had (the favorite is from Bhan Thai in Memphis). I really liked it too! Coconutty and spicy with lots of crunchy veggies. I enjoyed my half with brown rice, and Paul had white jasmine rice.

A very lovely two-day Valentine's celebration!