traveling for food.

When I was little I would spend hours making up fantasy trips. I would spare no expense in my imaginary trips to Antarctica, Belize, Egypt, and everywhere in between. While I'm still lusting after many of these trips, I've recently had to face the fact that the majority of them are outside of my graduate student budget, which I and other students will tell you, is not very large. So for now, I must limit my actual trips to driving to artsy Santa Fe with friends to shop for cheap turquoise and visiting my awesome boyfriend in New Hampshire. While I love these trips, I really do, I sometimes crave something a little more exotic. That's where my newfound obsession with finding local, authentic fare comes in. Lately, Albuquerque has been getting a bunch of restaurants that while small on size, are big on really awesome food from all over the world. My latest exploration took to Street Food Asia, a restaurant near the university. I'd heard some really great things, so yesterday I wandered over to try it out. Wow. That's really all I have to say.

Deliciousness. 

I don't actually remember the name of what I ordered, and it's not on their online menu, but it's basically crunchy rice noodles with loads of fresh portabella mushrooms, bok choy, red bell peppers and cilantro on top. One of my missions over winter break will be to recreate this pile of deliciousness so I can eat it at my leisure. And I hope this is just one of many "traveling" adventures I have over the next few months. But what are some other ideas to get out of the grind and experience something new when you can afford a plan ticket to Asia? Hmmm?