Day 4 - Happy 4th with a Legume Salad

Talk about a challenge! It was pretty hard for us to be vegetarian today. 4th of July cookouts going on all around, even the hot dogs smelled good...

Somehow we managed the self restraint to pass up all the lovely hamburgers and steaks and stuck with our goal! We made a delicious Legume Salad -- the recipe was kindly passed on to me by my friend when she heard about our quest. She calls it Salade Legumineuse which sounds much more exciting. 

 I gave this dish 5 Moos because I love how it tastes! It's fairly easy to make, just throw the beans together, add a few extra ingredients and that's it. It's also packed with protein. 

JM only gave it 3 1/2 Moos because although he really liked how it tasted, he somehow wasn't full despite all the beans! 

Our 4th!

On a completely non-food related note, can I just say how much pride I now how have for my town of Aptos and Santa Cruz. We started off the festivities here with our local parade. It also holds the record for being the World's Shortest Parade, although that would be the distance they travel, not the length. The whole thing actually runs for about 1 1/2 hours but is only 0.6 miles long. Our town came out, they celebrated in true spirit of their uniqueness, it was awesome. 


Right after the parade the festivities begin in park...

You might have to enlarge this to read this guy's sign 

There's also this little gem where yes, children have a blast rolling around in a giant bubble... wouldn't you?

And then of course there were the illegal fireworks that Santa Cruzians shoot off from the beaches! The cops doing their best to catch them, random booms and sparks flying all around, it's all so exciting! Gotta love Santa Cruz.