My Summer Vacation

Hi all! Have you given up on me yet?! I hope not :)
I got back from my mini-vacation last night after being gone for an entire week! I went to Plano, Texas to visit my family, who I only get to see about twice a year because I'm always so busy with school and work.
I arrived just in time for Mother's Day!

I love you, Mom!
For brunch on Mother's Day, we had some delicious food at home:

Idli with spicy sambar and coconut chutney! And, lots of berries for dessert. There is nothing better than a mom's cooking!

After that, we headed to Richardson because my sister was participating in a Mother's Day play put on by her Bal Vikas (Hindu Sunday School).

My sister was in a really cool dance! She's on the far right. 

The play was great and afterwards, we headed to Patrizio in Plano for a Mother's Day dinner. 

This part of my post should really be titled The Best Thing I Ever Ate, à la the Food Network show.

We started off with some delicious Foccacia and Bellinis!

Sorry about the dim lighting- we were out on the patio basking in the beautiful evening weather. 

This was the best Bellini I've ever had! Now, the second best one I've had is from Carino's. 

I also had the open faced ravioli for dinner:

From the menu, this was: Sauteed Artichokes, Mushrooms, Roasted Peppers, Asparagus, and Basil. 

Tossed with a Light Cream Sauce and Fresh Roasted Garlic Folded 

Inside a Fresh Pasta Sheet. Topped with Tomatoes and Fresh Basil.

Soooo gooood!

See that entire roasted garlic clove up there? 

I had half and took the rest home for lunch the next day. 

It was great to spend Mother's Day with my family and enjoy a delicious meal together!

We were too full for dessert but here is a picture of a delicious tiramusu from La Madeline that we enjoyed later in the week:

Unfortunately, I didn't take a ton of pictures during the week. 

However, I did take pictures the following Saturday. My grandma came from India and is staying in Texas for three months! So, we did a Mother's Day Part II luncheon two days ago at my parent's house.

My grandma, mom, me, and aunt (mom's sister)

My sister and cousin were busy playing a game called Penguin Club in the next room...
We held our luncheon potluck style and I made my Garlickly Lemon Cannelini Bean Dip (with a little less garlic than usual!) and crostini, and my mom and I made minestrone and fruit salad as well. My mom's sister brought garlic bread, dessert parfaits, and salad (with greens, tomatoes, red onion, apples, pears, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, and I can't remember what else but it was amazing!) and my other aunt brought bowtie pasta with vegetable marinara sauce (and almonds!).
In addition to parfaits, we also had a Mother's Day tiramisu cake from Whole Foods for dessert. Can you tell that my favorite dessert is tiramisu?

All in all, we had a fabulous time and it was good to see other family that I don't see very often as well. After the luncheon...my mom took me shopping! I got a lot of cute summery clothes as well as dressier clothes I'll need for my upcoming Practicum and Internship- can't wait to do some fashion posts for you all. 

I left Dallas Sunday morning and was met at the airport by my friend Sanja and Raine. 

Unfortunately, on the way to the airport last week, our car started having some big problems with overheating. And this was just after we'd spent over a thousand dollars on some other necessary repairs! Needless to say, we're not getting any more repairs done on the car and are shopping around for a new (used) one...

Sanja was super sweet to offer to pick me up from the airport and we made a day of it in St. Louis! 

This included a tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery...

I'm putting together a fun beer post...so you'll have to wait on that :)

I am also planning a week of high-raw eating that I will tell you all about tomorrow.

What is the Best Thing You Ever Ate? and... does the title of that show bother you?! Shouldn't it be: The Best Thing I Have Ever Eaten?