Musk melon peach coconut smoothie

Bear with me. I hate that I missed my one promise that I made to myself as a New Year's resolution: to post a monthly meal on the first of each month.

I'll get there. About two weeks ago, the hubs and I drove up the east coast from Florida to New York. Then we drove back down. It is difficult to eat healthfully on the road, and I want this MoMe to reflect a bit of on-the-road eats. So if you have any travel savvy tips, share below.

The best parts of our trip so far were getting to visit friends and family in Chapel Hill, Baltimore, Atlantic City, New York City, and northern parts of the Garden State. Drivers become much less efficient the further south one travels. I do not understand drivers that hang out in the left lane. When I learned how to drive, the left lane was for passing. Drivers in these states failed basic understanding of efficient travel flow on interstate driving: NC, VA, GA, AL, and FL. NC drivers were the most annoying for hanging out in the left lane. On road trips you think you'll get to a city and feel like spending a few hours exploring before you hit the road and head on. We almost ran out of gas twice in NC (thank you S&K for the top-up), then again in Washington DC. These "events" drain patience when asking dear travel partner if they have checked the gas meter for the 6th time in two days. In DC, the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival was pretty neat, and we got to eat at Founding Farmers, although we dined at their more suburban location. Philadelphia was on our list. I've heard it has a neat beer scene, and is full of American history so I thought it would make it as a half-day on our list. We saw Philly fly by from a bridge that we crossed twice due to an smart phone navigation user error (another patience draining "event"). With as many miles as we logged, we were often too exhausted from the driving to head back, or deal with parking. It was fun to travel in our own car, see our country for what it is, and appreciate the heat of near triple digits. Since we stayed pretty close to I-95 on the way up, we ventured through West Virginia on the way back down, and skirted the Blue Ridge Mountains.

One of the main goals of the trip was attending a family wedding in Atlantic City (NJ). It lasted 4 days. The events came fully catered (the first night dosa, idli, vada, and sambar were served), and I still have some orange tints of mendhi/henna leftover. It was a lot of fun. I haven't done garba and raas for a few years, and it's a strategic calorie burning event among the days of rich eating.

We are on the move again (both in terms of travel and relocation) doing some housing search in the deep south. I have yet to share the mystery of the relocation back to the states, but it does have to do with a new, and exciting job for me.

I have gleaned some important on-the-run eats from dear friends, and have had lovely meals packed. Travel tip: do not travel with ripening cantaloupe in the car. It makes for random accusations of asking who passed..ahem..gas.

Now, when your cantaloupe finally ripens…


Musk melon, peach, coconut smoothie
Yield: approx 4 cups


Ingredients:
2 cups ripe musk melon (or cantaloupe)
1 ripe peach
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp honey
ice
1/4-1/3 cup rum, optional

Directions:
Blend all together and serve immediately. Rum is an optional ingredient. Garnish with skewered melon pieces and raspberries, or other fruit.

Picture and MoMe to be uploaded