So many entrees ... so little time | Refrigerator tea

Now, I'm not trying to make everyone jealous by describing the dinner we shared with the Madison Vegetarian Meet-up ... but I probably will. Thanks to fearless leader Dave, the meet-up group enjoys an amazing vegan meal at a different restaurant each month. This month, we were lucky enough to be in Madison for the July meet-up at Lee's Asian Bistro, a new restaurant on Monona Drive. When the dinner began, I was wondering if the modestly-sized plates of food would be enough, but by the end I was stunned that the waitstaff kept bring out more dishes. By the time it was over, I was waddling around like a beach ball on legs. I really liked everything, too, except maybe the sesame ball dessert, which may have been a little too authentic. (Had it been served without the syrup, as an appetizer, I may have felt differently. As a dessert, well, hmmm, not so sure.) The food was very fresh and tasty, and didn't seem overly salty or oily. My only complaint (not that a complaint is even warranted) was that the color palette was a bit brown, as the meal leaned more heavily on starch, and more lightly on vegetables.

We started with spring rolls (pictured at top of post) which were fresh, crunchy, delicious, and accompanied by a really good peanut sauce. This was followed by papaya salad, crunchy and interesting.

Next came vegetarian lo mein.

Followed by pad Thai.

And a cold Vietnamese rice noodle dish that I almost finished before I remembered to take a photo.

Vegetable fried rice came next.

And then a dish called vegetarian's delight, which was accompanied by a large plate of delicious sticky rice.

Dessert number 1 (yes, I'm not kidding, there were two desserts) was sesame balls in syrup. Two balls came floating in a tall glass of sweet liquid. They were interesting. The outside was kind of OK but the inside ...
was seasoned mung bean paste. This may have been a little too weird, or maybe I was a little too full to appreciate it. I've tried to eat — and make — aduki bean desserts in the past but I have to admit that they are not my favorite.

But then came dessert number 2. Seriously, I shouldn't even have eaten more than a bite of dessert number 2, but in fact, I ate the whole thing. Inside that egg roll wrapper was a gooey fried banana. Now you can understand why I felt like a beach ball on legs as I waddled out of the restaurant.

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The day after

Salad!

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Hotter than ...It's been breathtakingly hot and humid this past week, and although I enjoy the heat, for the last couple of days it's really not been comfortable to engage in activities more strenuous than reading ... and sipping iced tea. I've been keeping two pitchers full in the refrigerator at all times. Because my body can't handle caffeine very well, I use decaffeinated tea and herbal tea, and I've read that brewing herbal and decaf tea in the sun leads to bacterial growth in the liquid. (Caffeine somehow retards the growth of bacteria in the sun-brewing jar for about two hours.) It's hard to believe it's true after all the sun tea I've consumed without a problem, but I've decided to play it safe and brew in the fridge. I use one teabag for each cup of cold water. Most directions say to brew the tea for 12 to 24 hours but I find that the tea tastes good to me after about four hours in the refrigerator, though sometimes I forget about it and brew it much longer. Remove the teabags when the tea is strong enough to please your taste buds.