I have a [...]]]> Good Sunday, y’all.  How are you spending the last hours of your weekend?  Dinner in bed? Catching up on shows from the week? It’s 8:30 and I’m just getting dinner ready, and will spend the rest of the night doing some internship stuff and possibly watching Thursday’s episode of Gray’s Anatomy.

I have a confession: I’ve been putting off blogging all day. Why? Well, I’ve been in kind of a weird place the last few days, and haven’t wanted to whine about it.  But whine about it I must (for a few seconds), or I have a feeling I won’t post for days.  Either that, or I’m having a blogging identity crisis.

There’s only so much time one can sit in front of the computer applying for jobs and reading blogs.  I haven’t been exercising at all… the thought of sitting on a stationary bike makes me cringe (and it’s a 45 minute ride to the gym, each way) and I haven’t been able to find enough energy, motivation, or opportune time to try a workout DVD. I feel like my muscles are weakening and that by the time I can run again, it’ll take me months to build back up to where I was.  There was one instance yesterday when I seriously thought about just going for a quick two mile run to blow off steam.  I’m not proud about it, but didn’t run, and won’t until I’m given the okay.  But frankly, what it comes down to, is that I’m just plain bored.  Bored and broke.

As happy as I was about quitting my table-waiting gig and spending that lost time looking for a “real” job, I think it’s gotten to the point where I might have to start looking for something like that again.  Hopefully it will be temporary, but I’m not generating any income and it’s getting pretty tight over here.  I haven’t started looking for another waiting position yet, but I really think it’s in my future again, unfortunately.  Unless I win the lottery… I never bought a ticket on my 18th birthday, and have put off doing so because I think I know that in the back of my mind, when I do it will be the winning ticket. Good logic, eh?

For now, though, I think the key is to just do something outside of the house every day.  If I have to read, I should find a place to read.  Preferably near the gym, so that I’ll get myself moving again.  Things will look up, but I have to set that process in motion.  Ho, ho, ho!

Self-pep-talk over, I promise.

Breakfast yesterday was inspired by Katie‘s “brulée” style oats.  I zapped this banana in the microwave for one minute:

I combined it with a serving of steel-cut oats, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and almond butter.   A sweet and rich way to start the morning!

Ari and I spent the morning running errands, going back and forth between the city and home.  We got a lot done! I knew lunch was going to be late, so I snacked on some Greek yogurt to tide me over.

When I did get around to making lunch, it ended up looking a lot like the killer salads of recent days, and it was mighty fine.  I think I’ve figured out the formula for a perfect salad: plenty of greens, a variety of other veggies, fruit, savory protein, and a unique salad dressing.

This was made of:

• spinach
• shredded carrots
• red onion
• 1 Gala apple (yep, the whole thing)
• meatless meatballs
• Dressing: raw agave nectar, olive oil, rice vinegar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt & pepper

A little later, I snacked on a couple chunks of energy.

Dinner was another nod to college life; this time, I made a batch of Annie’s Mac & Cheese and mixed in a mashed sweet potato and black beans.  The result? Delicious! And oh so festive with the Halloween colors.  I realize you might not all be sold on this one, but try it!

After dinner, I went into the city to meet Caitlin at the 92Y Tribeca to see the premier of Sufjan Stevens‘ film The BQE.

Source

If it’s not 100% obvious from the above photo, he is a total fox.  And a ridiculously talented fox at that, so ladies, should you decide to join the ranks of rockstar girlfriends, he earned my seal of approval.

After the show I met up with Ari and Ilana, and we all went home together.  I wasn’t really hungry, but all I could think about when I opened the front door was how much I wanted ice cream.

Phish Food isn’t as good as I remember it being… I think there needs to be some peanut butter in there.

A few days ago, a reader asked for the recipe for my miso soup with collards and seitan.

It’s easy peasy: Simply take 1 cup of spicy miso soup , eliminating the tofu, and pour it into a pot over four loosely chopped collard green leaves, until just covered. Steam until leaves turn bright green, about 4 minutes.  Add 1 serving chopped seitan and heat through.  Serve and enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNpoDmsuEPk]

I’m off to get some work done.  Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Yesterday, as I mentioned, I slept [...]]]> Good morning and happy Wednesday! How is your day going so far? Mine’s going just fine, although I can’t figure out how it’s already 10:30! The same thing happened last night: I got home at 7:30, had dinner, and all of the sudden it was after midnight.  Crazy!

Yesterday, as I mentioned, I slept through the alarm.  My training plan had 2 easy miles scheduled in for the day, and since I had to intern and go to an event in the evening, there was really no other time to go.  So I threw on my exercise clothes and raced – slowly, of course- out the door, jamming along to the Gaga.

Total distance: 1.96 miles

Total time: 20:54

Maximum heart rate: 176 (89%)

Average heart rate: 166 (84%)

Calories burned: 216

When I was back and showered I was already running late, so made a quick breakfast of plain Chobani with 1/2 banana, and a piece of whole wheat toast with the rest of the banana, honey and cinnamon.

There didn’t end up being too much for me to do at work, so I was able to leave after lunch.  My mom also had a little time in the morning before her flight to Paris, so she met me in the Village and we had a nice lunch at Doma.

I found this cafe on my first day of back in June, then couldn’t find it again until yesterday. I have a pretty terrible sense of direction.  I wanted a salad but couldn’t decide which one, and at the last minute decided to go for the soup + 1/2 sandwich combo.

The soup was black bean (I removed the white and creamy sour cream):

I chose a grilled gruyère sandwich to feel a little more française.

Everything was good, but the sandwich was a little tough and I left craving veggies.

After lunch, we strolled around and somehow found ourselves in front of a pet store.  I took this to taunt Ari with send to Ari…

No, a pup did not come home with me.  It was sad, but it would be sadder if I couldn’t afford to feed it.  Anyway, Mama and I moseyed along until we hit The Light Choice.  We both got what we agreed was the best Tasti-type flavor yet: Almond Joy! It tasted just like Gena‘s Raw Almond milk, but frozen.

We also stopped and picked up two late-birthday presents: a new gym bag (I’ll post pictures of my old one later… it was gross) and new running shoes. My mom finally had to leave to go to the airport (I really had to twist her arm ) and I went home.

My friend Howard invited me to a cocktail party and kitchen demonstration at Smallbone of Devizes, an upscale kitchen boutique on the Upper East Side.  I knew there would be a lot of good food and I didn’t want to be ravenous when I got there, so I had an apple before I left.

The party was hosted by Architectural Digest and catered by Daniel, one of the fanciest (and tastiest) restaurants in New York.  Everything was amazing, and I really wish I could have documented it for you! Unfortunately, AD was covering the whole thing and wouldn’t allow outside photography.  Trust me when I say that my fingers were itching to whip out my camera and snap photos of the chef poaching partridge breast in Napa cabbage leaves.  I may not eat those myself, but I can appreciate the skill it takes to prepare such a lovely dish. Two glasses of wine later I left and went home to eat dinner.

My knee was really hurting so I didn’t want to schlep all the way out to the grocery store; instead I stopped at Gourmet Garage and picked up some sashimi.

I also had a few bites of cold pasta.

Although I’d already had a treat once today and enjoyed two glasses of wine, I’d been thinking about dessert all day.  I really wanted to contribute to Julie‘s tribute to Gourmet magazine, so I made myself an individual portion of the magazine’s Caramelized Banana Splits with Hot Chocolate Sauce, from their 2009 “Quick Kitchen” booklet.

I adjusted the recipe to be a little more LVP-friendly, substituting Brummel & Brown for butter, skim milk for heavy cream, and La Loo’s Mission Fig Goat Milk Ice Cream for regular old vanilla.

This ice cream, by the way, is unbelievable.

The Banana Split was amazing: the bananas were perfectly caramelized, the toasted nuts gave the smooth chocolate a spectacular crunch!, and the fig ice cream was a wonderful surprise that complemented each different flavor.

We still have the November issue of Gourmet to look forward to, but I can’t imagine a holiday season without their Christmas cookie special.  I’m sure Gourmet‘s demise is going to open all kinds of doors in the world of food media, but it’s going to take a lot of getting used to.  I foresee poring over back-issues from the 1970s in my future…

Except for the lack of vegetables consumed, it was a pretty great day.  I did, however, spend the last few hours with my knee bound up like this…

…icing on and off.  When I went outside to walk Charley, I felt like I could barely walk.  A man, who was clearly on his first few days of crutches, passed me on the street.  I will admit, I’m a little discouraged.  I’m really hoping this isn’t serious, because I am just starting to feel like a real athlete, and that maybe the 2010 NYC Marathon is a goal within reach.  We’ll see.  I’m going to take it slow; I’ll try using the bike at the gym today and see how that feels.

Do you push through an injury or go straight to the doctor?

Have a great day!

Yesterday morning I decided that I needed all the friends I could get to help me stay [...]]]> Good morning, all! Thank you so much for all the well-wishes.  I’m feeling 100% better now, especially after reading all of your comments!  It seems like most of you have had your share of food poisoning.  Blegh!

Yesterday morning I decided that I needed all the friends I could get to help me stay well, so Jim kept me company for breakfast.

This breakfast cookie was made with:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 2 T skim milk
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 T PB2
• Toppings: cinnamon, dried craisins/raisins, pecan

I puttered around on the computer for a little too long, and by the time I was ready to go for a run, I was hungry again!  I grabbed a date on the day out the door.

This run was… not good.  It took a little while for me to get warmed up, and by the time I found my groove, I had to stop every 30 seconds or so because of the silly stitch in my side! It was in the same place as its been for the last couple weeks: above my right ribcage.  After 3.5 miles, I finally got so frustrated that I just walked the last mile home.  And I didn’t just walk… I walked at a snail’s pace.  Everyone on the street passed me, and I’m sure I looked furious about it.  When I got home, I plunked down on the computer and found this lovely Wikipedia entry explaining just what the Side Stitch is… I’m going to squelch this little bugger once and for all!

When exercising, a side stitch (also called a side ache, a side cramp, a side crampie, a side sticker or simply a stitch) is an intense stabbing pain under the lower edge of the ribcage. It is also referred to as exercise related transient abdominal pain (ETAP). This pain may be caused by the internal organs (like the liver and stomach) pulling downwards on the diaphragm, though an exact mechanism remains to be elucidated. Consistent with the suspected cause, it is more likely to occur in sports involving up and down actions – like running, jumping, swimming and equestrianism. If the pain is present only when exercising and is completely absent at rest, in an otherwise healthy person, it is benign and does not require investigation. There are a variety of published ways of alleviating the symptoms including adjusting at what point in your stride you inhale

Causes: Most of the time, side stitches occur on the right side of the body. This is due to the largest organ in the abdominal cavity, the liver, being on that side. Certain athletes also report a pain in the tip of their shoulder blade. This is believed to be because this is a referred of pain for the diaphragm via the phrenic nerve. When the side stitch is on the right published advice is to try to exhale when your left foot lands.

Prevention:

• Improve fitness
• Strengthen the diaphragm by using exercises such as those that aid respiratory rehabilitation
• Strengthen core muscles (abdominals,lower back, obliques)
• Limit consumption of food and drink two to three hours before exercising (in particular, drinks of high carbohydrage content and osmolarity (reconstituted fruit juices))
• Drink water beforehand to prevent muscle cramps
• Warm up properly
• Gradually increase exercise intensity when running
• Exhale when the left foot hits the ground, and inhale when the right foot hits the ground
• Run on soft surfaces

Curing a Side Stitch:

• Stop exercising. With the digits, push into the abdomen on the right side, and up under the rib cage. At the same time, forcefully let out a deep exhale while holding the lips closely together.
• Try belly breathing; inhale while pushing out the stomach, and on the exhale, relax the stomach muscles.
• While running, exhale when your foot strikes on the opposite side that the side stitch is located. For example, a side stitch on the right, exhale hard when your left foot strikes the ground.
• Reduce the frequency of breathing (e.g. in jogging, inhale for four steps and exhale for four steps)
• Lie down on the back and lift the knee on the side with the stitch up to the chest.
• Do not breathe too hard, shallow breathing for a few minutes at the same time maintain oxygen input levels.
• Relax the mind and do not focus on the stitch itself.
• Put pressure on the affected area, not enough to hurt, but just enough so the pain subsides

THANK YOU, Wikipedia!  I’m certainly going to try these out. As my mom said, stitches make you feel like you’re having a heart attack!

I ate my lunch in two parts. Part 1 was leftover Health Valley Corn & Vegetable soup with Bragg’s and Sriracha:

Part 2, an hour or so later, was a big salad with romaine, sprouts, carrots, hummus, a black bean burger & Annie’s Light Gingerly Vinaigrette.

After lunch, I hopped on the subway and went into the city to get some groceries.  I usually go to Trader Joe’s once a month; it was time! I had to stop at Whole Foods for a few things TJ’s didn’t have (like pumpkin… although they say it’s “seasonal”, they don’t sell it until the end of October! Sad ).

At Whole Foods, I literally bumped into a sample station with my cart for Grandy Oats, who were giving us two flavors of cashews to try: Maple Roasted & Nori Sesame.  What interesting flavors!

They were both delicious, and complemented each other nicely.

When I got home, I laid out my groceries.  Here’s what $58.98 from Trader Joe’s looks like:

And here’s what $26.45 from Whole Foods looks like.  (I didn’t realize until I got home that the “canned pumpkin” was actually “pumpkin pie mix”, but oh well! I won’t need any sweeteners this way )

When I’m shopping for recipes, I usually get everything that I can at the cheapest store (in this case, Trader Joe’s) and get specialty items where I can find them.  The prices reflect this!  Thanks for helping me with my coffee question… I ended up listening to Averie and grinding my own at Trader Joe’s. I selected the Breakfast Blend, which is both Fair Trade and Organic, and makes me feel festive drinking something especially for breakfast!

While hustling around, I had a quick snack, using the quinoa crackle I’d made from Body + Soul magazine.

I’d made this, oh, a month ago?! At least it’s getting used up! I plopped two tablespoons with 1/2 banana on top of Trader Joe’s Organic Nonfat Vanilla Greek yogurt.

After whipping up a few things in the kitchen (to be enjoyed later in the week), I headed over to Caitlin‘s gym to go to an event hosted by SELF‘s Reach Your Goal program. On the way in, we passed yet another sample station.

Katie Graham – or the “Green Smoothie Mama”- is a holistic health coach who works with the Equinox gym to ensure clients’ minds, bodies & spirits are in sync.  She gave us each a shot of her wheatgrass/mango/banana blends for us to try. It was delicious!

Caitlin, her friend and I decided to go to the 30/60/90 class: it’s basically Step Aerobics using weights.  Holy moly, was this hard!  I’d already run today, so I had to channel my inner Melissa for the strength.  I did Step in college, and it was nice to get back into it again.

On the way out of the gym, we stopped by the cocktail table… they don’t usually have vodka lying around, so we decided to take advantage of the special event! I had clementine vodka with club soda.

We headed over to Caitlin’s house, where Nancy had prepared a lovely, farmer’s market fresh meal.  We started with a delicious salad (note to self: put lemon juice and parmesan in my dressing):

We also had a fabulous, whole wheat pasta with heirloom tomatoes, fresh herbs from the garden, and mozzarella.

I had 1.5 servings

No meal is complete without dessert, so Tasti D-Lite called… I got a small cup with half Peanut Butter, half German Chocolate Cake, covered with Heath Bar. Mmm. It was a Tasti Tuesday.

I collapsed into bed as soon as I got home, but couldn’t fall asleep.  Don’t you hate when you’re too tired to sleep? Oh well.  I’m off to my internship… have a lovey day!

Don’t forget: you still have until 10 PM EST tonight to enter my giveaway.  You’ll score an album and some LVP treats… I’m a proud girl, if [...]]]>

THE UPWELLING’S FULL-LENGTH DEBUT, AN AMERICAN STRANGER, IS

IN STORES NOW!!! Click here to buy it on Amazon; it’s also available on iTunes, at Best Buy… the works!

Don’t forget: you still have until 10 PM EST tonight to enter my giveaway.  You’ll score an album and some LVP treats… I’m a proud girl, if ya can’t tell   What a great way to start the day!!!

Yesterday started out with a great breakfast: Puffins, Smart Start, and a banana, covered in my homemade raw almond milk.  This milk is incredible!  I think I’m going to make cashew milk next.  Has anyone ever made peanut milk?

A couple hours later, while I was getting some reading for work done, I snacked on an apple.  Right after the photo was taken, I sprinkled cinnamon on top, making sure not to touch my eyes!

Lunch was a Lilveggiepatch-approved “meatball sub”: an Ezekiel English muffin topped with tomato sauce, TJ’s meatless meatballs, and low-fat munster cheese. (It needed a little boost, so I went back and topped it with more sauce, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, and hot sauce. Mmmm!)

On the side, I had a salad with romaine, shredded carrots, tomato, hummus, and Bragg’s.

Pure belly-busting goodness.

For some reason I was hungry all day! A couple hours after lunch, I grabbed a fig bar on my way out the door.

I met a friend downtown for iced coffee at Joe. I always forget how much I like this place!

Now, here comes the funny part.  I pretty much planned my entire day around going to a 90-minute yoga class at 7 PM.  But, when the time for class rolled around, I really just wanted to go home.  I was feeling the pressure of work, and didn’t want to stay up until midnight getting it done.  Still, I popped into a deli and picked up a banana to fuel up for class…

I even checked in at the gym, wrote my name down on the list to reserve a spot for class, and went down to the locker room… but it was completely packed, people were waiting in line to use the shower, and it just wasn’t for me.  Instead, I went home, threw on my running shoes, and ran back out the door before I had a chance to talk myself out of that, too.  I ran a good 2 miles.

I’m going to have to start working on speed soon, because I registered for my first 5K!  It’s two weeks from Sunday.  It’s really important to me because, almost the same time last year, I was signed up for a 5K and then promptly broke my femur. I’m going to be smarter about racing this time; if it goes well, this will hopefully be the first of many

When I came home, I made an old favorite: a sweet potato topped with cottage cheese and black beans.

I also steamed up some broccoli. It was too hot to drink the broc wat!

Sweet potatoes are starting to get some love again… not that I ever stopped liking them, but I ate them SO MUCH at school that I wanted to give myself a little break.  Consider the hiatus over!

I finished off the Ashley Brooke Pinot Grigio.  Happy Monday!

For dessert, I had two of Jenna‘s chocolate-chip biscotti.  I wanted more, but I restrained myself.

Off to work I go! I’ll announce the giveaway winners tomorrow morning.  Have a great day

Prune + almond butter. Heaven on earth.

My [...]]]> Good morning, darlings!  I went to bed last night during a storm, which makes me sleep harder and I just could not get up this morning! Yesterday I also extended my Snooze’s life for as long as possible, before finally getting up and making a pre-running snack.

Prune + almond butter. Heaven on earth.

My run was good! I had to stop for traffic a little more than usual, but I have so much more confidence in my running since this past weekend.  I really want to sign up for a race, as long as I tell myself that I will train for it properly so I don’t injure myself again like last year.

Total time: 21:23 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 195 (98%)

Average heart rate: 178 (89%)

Calories burned: 253

Breakfast was another awesome Amazing Grass shake.

• Amazing Grass Kidz Chocolate Superfood
• 1 banana
• 1 T chocolate PB2
• 4 oz water
• splash of coffee

It was smaller than yesterday’s and not nearly as thick, but it was still good.  Not enough coffee to keep me going, however… I stopped for some on the way to my internship.

At work, I made a couple post office runs, and took advantage of the time outside to refuel with some grapes. It was incredibly humid, so these were the perfect snack! Cool and refreshing.

Lucky for me, my mom was able to meet me for a quick lunch at Cowgirl, a Tex-Mex style restaurant in the village. (Photo borrowed from here.)

Everything inside was “Western”-themed, from the antler-shaped chandeliers to the cowgirl pin-ups.

I ordered a home-made black bean veggie burger with melty fontina cheese…

… with a salad.

I’d thought the burger would come plopped on top of a salad, but this was just fine. Notice the jelly jars the drinks come in (and my fleeing bun)!

I only ended up eating about 1/4 of the bun, though… it was a lot of food.

My boss surprised me by sending me home pretty much as soon as I walked back into the office. What a gift!

I had a lot of household chores on my to-do list, so I went back home to get some things done.  I ate an apple while admiring my new stack of books… I love working in publishing! I don’t have time to go to the library, but then again… I don’t really need to!

Then I got down to work.  Here’s what needed to get done:

• Blog posting
• Blog commenting
• E-mail catch-up
• Cleaning room (enough said)

• Take out trash/recycling
• Make dinner
• Enjoy an evening on my own!

It’s funny how you have to schedule in time for yourself, huh?

In the middle of my computer work, I whipped out Angela‘s Glo Bar.

It was delicious! Peanut butter and coconut go so well together.

It was already time for dinner by the time I got my housework done. I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I combined a few things that I had.

I made lettuce wraps with brown rice, black beans, tomato, mango, lime, Daisy Brand cottage cheese, and cilantro.

I doused it in hot sauce, then mixed it all up and made a big mess.

YUM!

Dessert was equally awesome: a healthy brownie sundae!

I somehow managed to get my hands on one of Amie‘s raw agave brownies at the Summit, and ate it on top of a huge bowl of raspberries.  I added a few dollops of nonfat plain yogurt and a drizzle of agave, and voila! A deliciously perfect sundae.

It was a great day. I love when I have time to get done the things that have been nagging at me for days!

Have a great Wednesday! Enter K’s cookbook givewaway, and your day will get even better

Monday night I ended up staying up really [...]]]> Heya, heyo! Good morning and happy humpday!  I woke up waaaaay too late this morning (midnight showing of Transformers, while fun, was not the best move) and have to be out the door in 8 minutes? Think I can do it? Countdown from 10, 9, 8….

Monday night I ended up staying up really late reading for my internship, so I made a midnight snack of a Kids Flatout, peanut butter, cinnamon and blueberries. PB&J goes fresh!

In the morning, I woke up to a Bullseye Breakfast Cookie:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 banana
• 1.5 tsp PB
• cinnamon
• blueberries
• 1 prune

Then Ari and I hit the road and went to…

IKEA! I’d never been before yesterday, and let me just say: holy moly.  It was a little overwhelming, but we got what we went there to get (pictures to show later when everything is all set up).

I was starting to get cranky from being hungry, so I sent myself to the food court to get a salad (mixed greens, carrots, beets, black beans, tomatoes, cukes) with honey mustard + Italian dressing on the side.  Dinner roll wasn’t great, but it was hungry (and cheap!).

I finally spotted the legendary fat-free fro-yo… lived up to the hype!

When we got home I was going through one of my tired spells, so I conked out for almost two hours.  When I woke up, I had some cherries:

I did some work for a few more hours, then caved and ordered delivery.  We need groceries like whoa!  We ordered Greek, so I got a grilled salmon salad:

And a spinach pie.

The spinach pie kind of tasted like feet, but I ate the whole thing.  I only had about 1/3 of the salad, so I know what I’ll be eating for lunch!

Dessert was German chocolate and dried fruit.

Transformers was eh… lots of gratuitous Megan Fox shots and way too many CGI battle scenes, but it wasn’t horrible.

Alright, my 8 minutes are up! Have a great day

Around the blogs: Wanna win some applesauce? Head over to Hangry Heather and Mark’s blog and check it out!

Yesterday was the first day of my summer internship.  I left really early so I wouldn’t risk being late if I got lost (I have the [...]]]> Good morning! How are you lovely boys and girls doing on this fine Thursday? I’m just great. Today is going to be packed with fun, so read on!

Yesterday was the first day of my summer internship.  I left really early so I wouldn’t risk being late if I got lost (I have the worst sense of direction, even with a map, GPS, or seeing-eye dog). I found the building pretty early, so I hit up a Starbucks to kill some time and caffenate.  I ordered a Tall Skinny Caramel Latte, which was good, but too sweet and I couldn’t finish it.  I think I’ll order a “Short” next time.

Breakfast didn’t hold me too well yesterday, but luckily I had a couple snacks in my bag.  These Quaker Chocolate Chip Chewy granola bars were being handed out on the street a couple days ago… I used to eat them all the time when I was little!

I packed my lunch to save some $$$ and made hummus/tofu/lettuce/mustard-on-a-garden-vegetable-wrap for lunch.  It was fine, but nothing special.

I also had an Axelrod nonfat Cherry Vanilla yogurt and a navel orange.

For some reason, lunch didn’t hold me at all, so I snacked on a Cinnamon Roll Larabar (my favorite) about an hour later while reading manuscripts. Did the trick!

I came home, loaded down with more manuscripts and books, only to get caught in a downpour.  (Did I mention I was wearing a white silk shirt? I’ll spare you the visual.)

Last night I just could not decide what I wanted for dinner.  Ari’s been kind of Panera-crazed recently, but nothing there sounded good to me so I just sat with him and stole a hunk of his bread.

I played a nice game of Pimp My Sweet Potato and topped this one with plain nonfat yogurt and black beans.

While this tasted “fine,” it wasn’t the cheesy melty goodness that it is when topped with cottage cheese. So, I went back to the fridge, whipped out a Laughing Cow, smooshed it on, and squirted Frank’s Hot Sauce on top. Much better!

I also had some steamed broccoli (plus a little more that was leftover in the pot):

And finally, some broc water.

After dinner we went to see Tanlines play at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg, where I had two vodka sodas to aid my head bopping.

Now… on to the exciting news!

1. My parents and I are going to Berlin today! We’ll be gone for about 10 days, and are staying in an apartment so we’ll be able to cook some of the meals.  My dad also fixed us up with gym memberships, which should be very nice.  I’ve wanted to go to Germany for years and years… there is so much history and culture packed into this one city alone! I’m not sure how blogging is going to work, but I’ll try to stay on top of it.

2. Calling all NYC readers and bloggers! Ari’s band, The Upwelling, is playing next Wednesday, June 10, at the Mercury Lounge.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to be there, but go in my place and represent the food blogging community! It’ll be a great time.

3. Check out Keep It Simple Food’s Sunshine burger giveaway!

Well, that’s all for now.  I’m off to wake up said boy and drag his booty to the diner for some toast.  Have a great day!