Speaking of childhood, I got a fun e-mail from my friend Jenny at 8 this [...]]]> As of 3 minutes ago, it’s officially Thanksgiving! I’m cozy at home in my bed, surrounded by my stuffed animals, Polaroids from high school, and hundreds of books, among other things. What was your childhood bedroom like?

Speaking of childhood, I got a fun e-mail from my friend Jenny at 8 this morning while I was sipping on my coffee. Jenny is hands-down my oldest friend; our mothers grew up together, and although Jenny and I have been separate by half a country for our entire lives and only get to see each other once a year, we’ve always been close. When my grandfather was still living, my parents and I visited him in Indianapolis every winter between Christmas and New Year’s; this photo is from the winter of 1988. (That’s me on the right, with the bowl cut.)

Here we are this past summer, in Lake Michigan.

I miss her so much during the year. We look forward to our week on the lake so much!

After my trip down memory lane, I made a quick breakfast: Ezekiel English muffin with almond butter and a banana, raspberry jam on one side and pumpkin butter on the other.

I went to the post office to mail something; it didn’t open until 10 (which seems a little later) but there was a machine that got the job done. Then to physical therapy I went! It as a particularly good appointment. I learned some new exercises to stretch my hips; I can easily do them from the hotel room in Russia. After PT I raced back home to eat lunch before I had to turn right back around and go to an interview. I made a quick salad:

In the mix:

• romaine
• celery
• tofu
• leftover roasted veggiesM

It was one of the rare occasions where I could not finish my meal. Usually, once I’ve dished a certain amount of food out, I will eat every last scrap even if I’ve long since reached capacity. (Last night’s pasta plate was an example of this.) However, today I started getting a stomachache about partway through, and just picked out what I wanted (roast vegetables, tofu, hummus), leaving a fair amount of spinach.

I felt guilty about throwing the rest out (I won’t be back at the house for two weeks), but it was better than making myself sick. As it was, my tum hurt for the next two hours. My eyes are bigger than my head sometimes, and I think the most important thing I need to remember to do is slow down while I’m eating. I’ve been so rushed these past few weeks that although I’ve been eating foods I love, I’ve barely tasted them as I’ve had to practically inhale them to get from appointment to appointment on time. It’ll be nice to have a little break

There’s always room for sweets, though! I had a couple of these strawberry gummy candies from the Japanese grocery store in our neighborhood. Not bad!

I was starving after my interview. Luckily I had about four different snacks in my bag, so I ate one of the apple-flavored Heart Thrive bars that I was sent to review. I’ll do a formal review once I’ve sampled all of the products, but I liked this a lot!

When I got home I folded laundry and did some preparatory packing for my trip to Russia. I am one of the worst packers ever. I always take too much and forget crucial items, like spare contact lenses or pajama pants. Do you have any fool-proof (or LVP proof!) packing tips?

I snacked on some Concord grapes that were about to go bad while I waited for my dad to help me pack some things up. These grapes are really addicting. There are seeds, which I thought I wouldn’t like, but are actually kind of fun to work through and take longer to eat. Plus, these are the kind of grapes used to make grape juice, so they’re the perfect combination of sweet + tart.

While my dad was at a holiday party, my mom and I had dinner at watched Hannah And Her Sisters. Not only is this a really good Woody Allen film, but it’s told between two years’ worth of Thanksgivings! I ordered a bento box for dinner, which came with a spicy tuna roll, tempura, sashimi & shrimp shumai. (It came with rice, salad & miso soup as well, but I’m saving those for tomorrow.)

I also had a glass of Black Box Wine’s Sauvignon Blanc.

My mom brought home dessert from Billy’s Bakery, the same shop she ordered my birthday cupcakes from.

She bought one pumpkin cupcake and one pumpkin bar; we split them three ways. De-lish.

I’m off to bed. There’s a lot on the agenda tomorrow! Have a great night, a happy holiday, and safe travels wherever your day takes you.

This morning I woke up bright and early, eyes-a-burnin’, ready to work.  I made a pot of coffee (and drank [...]]]> Evening! How are you doing on this fine Thursday? Today has been a strange day and I’ve felt a little out of sorts for most of it! Not in a bad way, just… different.

This morning I woke up bright and early, eyes-a-burnin’, ready to work.  I made a pot of coffee (and drank it black, which is unusual for home-brew… I usually only drink it straight when I’m out) and got breakfast ready.  It was nutty,fruity, and choco-coconutty.

In the bowl:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup water
• frozen berries
• leftover un-balled chocolate snowball dust
• flaxy PB

I worked all morning, got ‘er done, and before I knew it, it was almost time to go to physical therapy.  But what about lunch?! I made a very quick salad, and ate it even faster.

In the mix:

• baby spinach
• escarole
• grape tomatoes
• 1/2 Gala apple
• celery
• Morningstar Farms Pizza Lovers Burger
• sesame vinaigrette

When I left the house it had started raining, and kept on for the rest of the day.  I got to the subway and they were doing track work on my line again, so I had to call my PT and push the appointment back. Again.  They must hate me! But I was able to get an appointment at 3:30 instead of 2, even though I probably would have made it on time.  I was scheduled to run five miles today; it would have been too dark by the time my appointment was over and I got back home, but I didn’t have enough time to go to the gym first.  Quite a conundrum! So I decided to push the run back until tomorrow, but it’s supposed to rain again so I might just have to tough it out and get wet.  I’m going to have to figure this out soon, though, because it’s getting darker earlier and earlier now (4:30) and I don’t think it’s a good idea to run in the park at night by myself.

While I was weighing each option, I took shelter from the rain in the subway and snacked on a cup of Strawberry Oikos.

My appointment went well; I did a lot of leg work on the pilates machine which I have a feeling I’ll feel tomorrow!  Even though I had recently eaten, my stomach was grumbling the whole time and as soon as I walked out of the office I dug into my purse and found an Apple Pie Larabar.  Never underestimate the importance of the “emergency snack.”

The bar held me over for a while, but when I got home at 5:30, I was already thinking about dinner again.  I think it must be the darkness outside that’s throwing off my internal clock.  I looked in the pantry, the fridge, and the hanging produce basket to see what I could see.

Brandi‘s pasta-stuffed squash inspired me, so I decided to combine two of my favorites: roasted veggies and loaded macaroni and cheese.  I cut an acorn squash in half and rubbed each with olive oil, salt, pepper and cayenne; then I roasted them at 450˚ for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I sipped on a glass of Rosemount Sauvignon Blanc.  Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite white wines, and from my experience, unless the wine is really cheap (and you remember buying it at the liquor store near your college’s campus), it’s a pretty safe bet.

Rosemount is an Australian-based vineyard. In traditional French Sauvignon Blanc,  Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes are often blended together; Sémillon come from Bordeaux and Southwest France, whereas Sauvignon Blanc can come from Bordeaux, the Loire Valley, southwestern France and Languedoc.(FWFD 19).  “Sauvignon Blanc is the dominant grape variety (60 to 100 percent) in most of Bordeaux’s dry white wines, whereas Sémillon dominates the sweeter white wines…. The Sauvignon Blanc part of the wine offers immediate charm; it’s crisp, lively, herbaceous, light0bodied, and develops early” (FWFD 70). Rosemount’s version is also a Sémillon blend.

When the squash was just about done, I made a bowl of macaroni and cheese mixed with tuna, nutritional yeast and chili flakes.

I packed the mixture into the squash halves and baked them for 2 minutes longer.

These were so good! I loved the sweetness of the squash, the saltiness of the tuna and the cheesiness of the pasta noodles.  I know I’ve been getting a little crazy with my mac ‘n cheese lately, but it’s so much better that way

I was craving ice cream for dessert, so I started with a Pure Dark Chipotle/ semi-sweet/bittersweet chocolate sauce.  A few drops of water, 30 seconds in the microwave, and a quick stir gives you melty freshness that’s far better than Hershey’s.

I added a little Brown Sugar ice cream, and had a nice lil sundae for myself.

I needed to take the night off from thinking about (un)employment, so I climbed in bed with my dessert and popped Wristcutters: A Love Story into the DVD player.  It was pretty cute, in a twisted sort of way.  I’m going to try to get a quick yoga sesh in and hit the sack.  Bed before 10? You betcha!

This post is another “greatest [...]]]> Good morning and happy Tuesday! My mom and I landed at JFK at midnight last night after a wonderful trip out West.  Who knew Utah was so beautiful? I can’t wait to get back over to that side of the country.  Yes, that’s your little East Coast girl talking!

This post is another “greatest hits” mix of road fuel and scenery.  Enjoy!

On Sunday morning, we rushed to the post-wedding brunch.  I was surprised by how many people made it there by 9 (including the groom)… there were quite a few shenanigans on the dance floor, from what I hear… I was a grandpa and was in bed by 11

I loaded up my plate with 1/2 toasted bagel with cream cheese, lox, and onions; fresh fruit; two slices of mini quiche (spinach goat & roasted red pepper) that the father-of-the bride baked himself the day of the wedding.  Impressive, no?!

A couple hours later, I munched on a mini carrot/ginger muffin. This was so good! I was never a muffin person, but I think I’ll be whipping up a batch soon.

We left Park City and drove many miles to Moab.

Wind turbines!

Burger King pit stop… I made do with the BK Veggie (1/2 bun), “apple fries” (more expensive than a Whopper… riddle me that), and a side salad sans dressing.

It got very flat…

As we got closer to Moab, the scenery started to change…

Look at those orange cliffs!

We finally arrived at the Red Cliffs Adventure Lodge, which is located right in the heart of Arches National Park.

It was absolutely breathtaking.

We went to a wine tasting that was 100 feet from our hotel at the Castle Creek Winery.  I bought a bottle of Unitah White to bring home and enjoy later.

We had breakfast overlooking Arches National Park. Don’t mind my bedhead… it was a little early.

We stopped at the Peace Tree for road food:

I got a cup of “Triple A” juice with wheatgrass, carrot, apple, beet, celery & parsley.

When we stopped for lunch, I had what George called my “Instant Bathroom Stop” salad: mixed grains, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, quinoa, and (by my special request) curried hummus, with a lemon tahini dressing.

Bathroom or no bathroom, this salad was amazing.  I have figure out how to make that dressing! Does anyone have any good recipes for tahini salad dressing?

Another A+ Mother/Daughter weekend! So far we’ve gone to Philadelphia, Montreal, Halifax, Killington VT, NYC (for a shopping staycation), and now Park City/ Salt Lake City/ Moab, Utah.

I wonder where we’ll go next year?

It’s one of the first songs I remember seeing on Pop-Up Video. Whatever happened to that show? It was so good! I also remember seeing Marcy Playground and Meredith Brooks on there… oh, I hate getting old.

Anyway, happy [...]]]> I couldn’t find this on YouTube, but it’s worth watching for a trip down memory lane.

It’s one of the first songs I remember seeing on Pop-Up Video. Whatever happened to that show? It was so good! I also remember seeing Marcy Playground and Meredith Brooks on there… oh, I hate getting old.

Anyway, happy Friday night! A week from today my family will be here (!) so this is pretty much my last “real” Friday in college.  Appropriately, this will be a doozy of a photo post… I’m going to have to get a space upgrade for my Wordpess account soon!

I went to Whole Foods today and pretty much stuck to my list, which is something to be celebrated.  There were tons of samples:

Trout spread:

Spicy guacamole (I really wanted an avocado but these were all really hard, so a really nice WF man went “to the back” and found one for me. Thanks, WF man!):

Spanish cheese:

Food Should Taste Good chips:

More cheese:

I went to the cafeteria for lunch today. The had big soft pretzels; even though these are on every street corner in New York, I never really crave or eat them! Ever since Meghann, Jenna, and Caitlin have been raving about their Greenwise pretzels, though, I’ve been craving them.

I made a salad with spinach, carrots, cukes, cauliflower, celery, and a jalepeño.  They had dijon (my favorite mustard) for the pretzels, so I made a delicious mustard/lemon juice/olive oil vinaigrette.

Tofu cutlet with “salsa verde” :

I ate about 2/3 of the pretzel; half with mustard and half with peanut butter and jelly.

… and finally, a grapefruit.

I first read about black bean brownies in Hungry-Girl a few years ago. After seeing Angela’s batches a few weeks ago and Lindsay’s yesterday, I decided to try them myself.

I used the Happy Herbivore recipe, and followed her directions with the exception of swapping brown rice syrup for agave nectar.

I also, once again, didn’t read the directions properly and forgot to mix in the oats until the batter was already in the pan.

The batter was really good, but when baked the brownies themselves didn’t have a whole lot of taste and were kind of dry. Sad, but I’m not giving up yet!

I snacked on an orange while I was eating batter baking and cooking.

My friends Becky and Sarah had a lovely potluck tonight.  I brought the “brownies” and some cheesy green (read on).

There was red vino:

Spinach salad with strawberries, cucumbers and gorgonzola:

I made a plate with a Barefoot Contessa pasta salad Becky made, salad, oranges and quiche.

Gina has been raving about quiche recently, so I decided to whip one up.  I used the same original recipe that she did, but also made my own substitutions.  For the cheese and dairy, I used 1/2 cup manchego, 3/4 cup nonfat cottage cheese, 1 cup nonfat yogurt, and 2 tbsp 4-cheese blend; for the spices, pinches each of nutmeg, cumin and cayenne.  The color was a little too light, so I added 1/2-1 cup broccoli florets to the mix.

It was really good! It ended up tasting more like a soufflé; whipped and very light and an excellent side.

I also had a bowl of black bean soup with cheese that Sarah made:

More oranges, salad, and chips (potato + yellow corn) and salsa.

For dessert, I had a frosted pumpkin square my friend Krista made:

She’s writing a cookbook called “The Book of Nom.” Genius. Nomnomnom.

Finally, even though I was insanely full, I had a dark chocolate truffle that Carlye brought.

I definitely ate a lot tonight and didn’t make it to the gym as I’d planned, but I had a really nice night with my friends. There is so much love in sharing a home-cooked meal!  Anyway, I’m going to hit the hay and get up early to work, work it out, pack, etc.  Hope you had a faaabulous night.

I couldn’t sleep at all last night, so finally around 1:30 or 2 I got out of bed and had this granola bar.

I went back to the smoothie for [...]]]> Good afternoon! Sorry about the delayed post… I tried to get this up in the morning before class but the internet was being really slow.

I couldn’t sleep at all last night, so finally around 1:30 or 2 I got out of bed and had this granola bar.

I went back to the smoothie for breakfast… my roommate was up so I blended in the safety of my kitchen instead of the shady basement.

• 1 navel orange
• 1/4 cup frozen berries
• 1/4 cup POM juice
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

I also had a Kid’s Original Flatout with chunky PB, honey, cinnamon, and 1/2 banana.

I love the combination of drinkable and chewable foods.

My prof brought some goodies from the Butter Bakery Café to our “class” (more like “informal gathering of geniuses.” Just kidding! But it’s pretty great) today:

I had a couple bites of banana bread (which I will be making this weekend) and a taste of the blueberry scone.

Black coffee from the English Department pot:

The lunch options weren’t so great today so I just made a big salad with raw spinach, cooked spinach/tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and celery, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

I also had a small bowl of black bean soup with cottage cheese and hot sauce.

I wasn’t hungry afterwards but I wanted some kind of “dessert,” so I had a banana and coffee (not pictured). I’m pretty full now, so hopefully it won’t put me to sleep in the library!

Hope your Tuesday is off to a great start.  Have a lovely day!

I went to 30 minutes of Step today and then did some arms.  My HRM has been acting very strange recently… sometimes I’ll look at my watch [...]]]> What a long- but fun- day… my eyes are burning!  Is there anything better than a cozy bed to relax in? Probably, but it’s definitely up there.

I went to 30 minutes of Step today and then did some arms.  My HRM has been acting very strange recently… sometimes I’ll look at my watch and it will say that my heart rate is “OO.” Does anyone else have this problem? My stats are just estimates based on last week:

Total time: 40:00 minutes

Calories burned: 310

I went to the cafeteria for dinner, but only had about 15 minutes to eat before the Sandra Cisneros reading. In it went romaine, spinach carrots, beets, corn, mushrooms, beans, and a little blue cheese, dressed with oil/mustard/vinegar. I also had some red ants on a log (celery with craisins and peanut butter).

I only had time to eat about 3/4 of the salad, so I grabbed a slice of bread with hummus and swiss to eat on the way.

This was the most garlicky hummus I have had in my life! My throat was burning and I tasted like Dracula’s nightmare for hours after eating it. I think it has something to do with that little something Food Services adds in case there is a “problem,” so to speak. Ya catch my drift? Everyone I know always has a stomachache after eating there!

The reading was wonderful; you might be able to listen to it here later on.  She talked a lot about the process of writing, and I left with two great ideas:

1. The 10 x 10- Write a list of 10 things that make you different from everyone else. Then write down 10 things about you, or things that happened to you, that you wish you could forget.  Then start writing! Real writing costs you to relive it.

2. Have writers’ block? Take a nap! “What gets lost when you’re writing is you’re thinking about the reader.” Napping makes you less self-conscious as you move from horizontal to vertical states.  I’m the queen of naps, so I guess that means I’m a burgeoning writer. Right? Good!

When I came back, it had been four and a half hours since I’d eaten an unsatisfying dinner, so I had a bowl of Fiber One Honey Clusters and GoLean Crunch! with half a banana and skim milk.

Well, I’m off to reconnect with “my reader” and stew on my capstone in bed.  Hope you’ve had a lovely day!

At the allergy clinic, they tested me for 19 different common outdoor allergies (like species of trees, dust, etc.), and I took some gratuitous gross-out pictures to share with you.

I’m most allergic to dust and weeds, which means [...]]]> Hi there! How was your Thursday? Mine has been verrry snoozy, but more on that later.

At the allergy clinic, they tested me for 19 different common outdoor allergies (like species of trees, dust, etc.), and I took some gratuitous gross-out pictures to share with you.

I’m most allergic to dust and weeds, which means no more dusting or mowing the lawn! Ha. The doctor gave me Claritin and an ice pack (my arms were pretty itchy) and the swelling has mostly gone down, although I have a big lump on my left arm. I think that one was for dust mites.

I decided to go to the cafeteria for lunch today, and good thing I did, because they had my favorite: cumin-cornmeal tofu! I dipped that in BBQ sauce (which my genius friend Carlye instructed me to do), and also had millet with carrots and raisins (with some hot chili sauce), beets, and carrot/celery crudite.

They also had a rarely delicious soup: coconut sweet potato spinach! Sounds like Kath’s Nutty Vanilla Sweet Potato + Kale soup, which I was just telling Heather I wanted to make. I topped it with peanuts and cilantro.

They were also on-target with their desserts today, and I had half of a chocolate chip peanut butter bar with some coffee.

That put me to sleep for the next three and a half hours, and I slept through Step! I’d set my alarm for 4:10 AM instead of PM. Silly LVP. All was not lost, though; I rolled out of my nest, had some no sugar added berry applesauce, and hit the pavement.

I forgot to wear my HRM, but here are my approximates.

Total Time: 40:00, aproximately

Total Distance: 3.9 miles

Calories burned (approximate): 380

I did 8-minute abs and Detox Yoga #1 when I got back. Stretching in the poses felt so good. I’m glad I got more or less of a total body workout in, even though I missed Step.

My friend Morgan is coming over to cook dinner. See you later!

This morning it was HARD to get up.  We’d been going to bed pretty early (relatively speaking) in New York, and [...]]]> Good afternoon and happy Tuesday! Thanks for all of your nice words about my daddy… I got a call from one of his nurses today saying his first surgery went well, thank goodness.

This morning it was HARD to get up.  We’d been going to bed pretty early (relatively speaking) in New York, and staying up an extra hour really makes such a difference! As I said before, food is sparse in the apartment, but luckily I was able to whip up this bowl of oats:

• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup 10 grain hot cereal
• 2 dates, stirred in halfway through cooking
• 3 dried figs
• pumpkin
• cinnamon
• cottage cheese
• brown sugar

I also had coffee,  but I’m so used to going out to eat that I forgot to make the pot in time! Usually it’s the first thing I do when I stumble into the kitchen in the morning, so this morning I had to chug it pretty fast so I’d get to class in time. Ick.

I went to the cafeteria for lunch and had spinach with beets and feta, drizzled with oil and vinegar; celery with peanut butter & craisins (fire ants on a log)…

I also had a small bowl of ancho-spiked bean chili with rice and shredded cheese.

I already read this Gourmet at home, but there are so many good things to make in it!

I took a chocolate cookie to go and just ate it while I helped Ari download Firefox.

He’s very worried about contaminating and slowing down his computer, and has resisted getting this for months. Lucky for me he finally caved… now we can watch Heroes together on Netflix!

Please forgive that I’m still completely behind on your blogs. I’m going to catch up on them tonight when I have time.

Have a great rest of the day!