Lilveggiepatch » miso

Out of My Comfort Zone

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:47:33 +0000

Afternoon and happy New Year’s EVE! Last year I was working at a restaurant when the ball dropped… not ideal, but it could have been worse. This year’s going to be a lot more fun!

Yesterday I woke up feeling a little adventurous and decided to try out Heather’s Asian Fusion oats using tahini, miso and honey.

It was good, but I guess in my heart of hearts I was still half-expecting a sweet, nutty breakfast and I just couldn’t get past that. So, although I hate to waste food, I tossed that batch and made a new bowl of oatmeal with banana, almond butter, and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter. I was a happy girl.

There was no time to waste. After running some errands in the neighborhood with Ari, Josh and I went to a local deli to build-our-own-salads. I got a small bowl of mesclun with chick peas, red beans, artichoke hearts, corn, carrots, cucumbers and sesame ginger dressing on the side.

Then I met up with my friend Will, who I haven’t seen in almost 2.5 years! Luckily we were able to meet up during his short visit to the city. We went to Starbucks (and lamented the lack of independent coffee shops on the UWS); I got a grande skim mocha. ‘Tis the season!

After coffee, I met up with Ari to do some last minute sale shopping (you can always find the best deals between Christmas and New Year’s), then found my little redheaded friend in the same neighborhood for dinner.

We happened upon a cute little Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side; we were so excited for dinner that we didn’t even take note of the name!

As soon as we sat down, we were given plates with soft, warm focaccia and olive oil.

We shared a bottle of Estrella Cabernet Sauvignon to warm our cores…

For my entrée, I ordered the Tre Colore Gnocchi with portobello and shiitake mushrooms, goat cheese and marinara. A warm bowl of past was just what I wanted, and this was perfect. Don’t you love gnocchi?! I did a pretty good job on the dish, and just about finished it.

After spending a couple hours catching up and eating, we made our way to Magnolia Bakery for dessert. I got the cupcake of the day: German Chocolate!

I wolfed it down in about two bites Then I made my way downtown to meet Ari and the rest of the family and we piled in the car and drove to their parents’ house for the holiday. Not everyone had eaten, so we made a pit stop at Roy Roger’s (more on that later!)…

Good times.

Have you sent me your questions entered my giveaway? Git ‘er done!

Have a safe, healthy and AWESOME New Year’s!!! What are you doing to ring in the New Year?

Gym Class Heroes

lilveggiepatch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:07:08 +0000

Good evening and happy Monday! I hope the start to your week- and your November- is going swimmingly. It’s strange to think that another year is almost over already, and I feel like I only just graduated! I have two bits of news… one I’ll share now, and one that’s going to wait until the end of the post.

As you know, I’ve been devoting most of my time recently to researching and applying for jobs. I recently applied to an entry level job at Wine Spectator, and the editor who looked over my application noted, after browsing through the blog and reading my cover letter, noted that while I have a clear and definite passion for food, my interest has not been directed towards wine. While I may not get this particular job, I’ve decided that I do want to take a more active pursuit towards learning about wine. Wine has always been important to my family, but with the exception of knowing that Malbec is from Argentina, Vouvray is from the Loire Valley and 2007 was a good year for white, I know next to nothing. So I’ve decided to take a proactive approach! I’m going to take advantage of the free tastings that go on every day around the city, and I’ll do my best to have some inkling about the wine I pluck off the $10-and-under shelf at the liquor store. In the next few days, I’ll add a special tab on the blog devoted purely to vino in order to chronicle my progress. I don’t know where this will take me, but since I have a little more time on my hands due to unemployment, I’m excited to learn a useful skill and pursue a new hobby!

Anyway… let’s jump back a bit.

Yesterday I was awakened quite early as Ari left for a morning meeting. Musicians keep very strange hours, I tell ya! Since I was already up, I decided to make a breakfast cookie to plop in the fridge while I went back to sleep for a few hours.

Jim was made of:

1/3 cup oats
1/2 banana
2 T skim milk
1/2 packet YouShake Vanilla Dream protein powder
1 t peanut butter
toppings: cinnamon, 2 prunes, 1 fig, 1 pecan

I also broke into my new McNulty’s Sumatra coffee to get my buzz on. And on and on.

Finally found a real solution to the Ester-C problem… POM Wonderful‘s Pomegranate Nectarine juice (which the company sent to me a few weeks ago) is sweet enough to completely mask the taste! I simply dissolved 1/3 teaspoon of Ester-C into 1/4 cup of juice and gulped it down as fast as possible. All I was left with was a pleasant fruity taste!

After I finished up breakfast, I looked at the time, packed my gym bag and hustled out the door to make a 12:15 60 minute Pilates class in the city. I got there five minutes early and went into the studio with my jacket, bag and shoes still on so that I could reserve a spot on the floor. Class had already started! I was a little annoyed- I didn’t want to disrupt the class, but it was early! It was also pretty warm and really stuffy, and I thought about asking the instructor to turn off the heat. After ten minutes, we still hadn’t moved to the mat to work on our cores and instead seemed to be moving through a Vinyasa flow. I turned to the girl next to me and whispered, “This isn’t Pilates, is it?” She shook her head and whispered, “Nope, it’s hot yoga!” Oops. I really love Bikram, but had I known I would be taking the class I would have hydrated, brought water with me, and not just had half a pot of coffee! Still, I’m glad I stayed for the full 90 minutes, and even more glad that I didn’t pass out from dehydration!

When class was over, I went home to have lunch and get some work done. I was surprised with festive snail mail from my girlies, which brightened up my day.

I hadn’t brought any food with me, so I rooted around in the freezer to check out the pickings. Not bad! I found bulgur pilaf with mixed vegetables, to which I added raisins and cilantro:

I also found sweet potato soup with navy beans from the Moosewood Cookbook, which I also added cilantro, peanuts and raisins to.

I washed it all down with Natural-flavored Zevia:

Not bad for an improvised lunch!

A little later, I snacked on a Jonagold apple while I did some work.

I’m pretty sure Ari had dinner while it was still light out, so I made a big orange salad with cilantro-chili vinaigrette for myself.

In the mix:

two handfuls of spinach
1 sweet potato, microwaved and diced
1 orange
1 Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burger
shredded carrots

I made the cilantro-chili vinaigrette with:

1/2 T toasted sesame oil
1 T olive oil
2 Trice vinegar
1/2 t Sriracha sauce
1/2 T raw blue agave nectar
1 slice red onion
handful cilantro
1/2 t chili flakes

It was enjoyed with a bowl of leftover miso soup and Christina Yang.

For dessert, I had 1/2 each of a brownie and blondie Edgie.

We watched half of Good Bye Lenin! before tuckering out for the night. It’s been on my Netflix queue for years, but I’m really glad we finally saw it! Or, half of it at least

Onto the second bit of news! My dad called today with a proposition. He’ll be traveling to Russia in December for work and offered to take me with him. Let me think… yes!!! We’ll be in Moscow for four days, then we go to St. Petersburg for two. Not only do I get to spend some much-needed quality time with Daddy-O, but I’ll also get to see my Sarah!!! I can’t wait. Life is good!

Happy Halloween!

lilveggiepatch — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:12:04 +0000

Happy Halloween! I hope you are all having a wonderful night, whether you’re at a party, parade, or staying at home watching movies. Ari and I decided to do the latter, although we’ve been sitting in our costumes all day waiting for Trick-or-Treaters!

Yesterday I started the day with my first (ever!) batch of Oats in a Jar.

I added 1/2 cup of oats and 1/2 cup of water to the almond butter jar and microwaved it for one minute.

I topped it with 1/2 banana, 2 chopped prunes, 3 walnuts, a little skim milk and brown sugar. It was delicious! I may or may not have rescued an empty jar of peanut butter from the trash so I can make this again…

My mom gave me an idea about how to solve the Ester-C powder problem… try mixing it in something else! I put a scoop into a little bit of plain yogurt.

It’s still really disgusting, and I had to down a cup of coffee right away after I ate it. But… it did the trick, and it went down a lot faster than if I’d had to drink it. I’m out of yogurt, though, so I’ll have to find some more creative ways to eat this.

I wanted to get an early start to my day, so I said goodbye to the hair this guy and headed to the gym.

Time was limited, so I just did some arms, abs, PT stretches (which I will post at the end for Melissa) and 18 minutes on the elliptical. Short and sweet. Afterward, I met George for lunch at Pizza Gruppo. Always one for deals, I ordered the salad + 1/2 sandwich special. The salad was bigger than I’d expected, and came with mushrooms!

My panini came with goat cheese, pesto, and roasted vegetables. It was really good! I haven’t had a sandwich I didn’t make myself in a looong time.

After lunch I stopped by Paragon to pick up a foam roller. There was so much pre-marathon mania going on… very exciting to be around! When I got home, I sprinkled 1/4 packet of YouBar‘s YouShake Blended Bliss into the last of my yogurt.

I also split an apple with cinnamon with Ari (who proudly told me he had green juice for lunch!) while we ran some Halloweenie-errands.

For some reason I was snackier than usual, so I had some chunks of energy while getting ready to meet my little redheaded friend for dinner.

Kalle and I found a Japanese restaurant with a great dinner special. It’s so easy to spend a lot of money when ordering sushi, so the specials are imperative. I ordered the Sashimi+Roll combination, which came with miso soup and salad.

The sweet potato roll was delicious… and my second in one week!

The sashimi was beautifully presented.

It came with two pieces of cucumber-wrapped fish… what a great alternative to rice!

The special also came with shrimp shumai and edamame.

Kalle’s rolls were also creatively presented and looked delicious.

After dinner, we went back to her apartment to talk and drink Malbec out of black goblets. I broke the cork in half, but managed to get it out of the bottle! Looks like my waitressing skills are falling by the wayside…

I got home pretty late and didn’t end up going to bed until almost 3… the night was definitely worth it, though.

And now, onto the physical therapy!

One exercise that I’ve been working on with my PT is called the clamshell, which strengthens quads. Lying on my side in bed or on the floor, I stack my knees at a 90 degree angle. Clenching my glutes and quads, I slowly raise one knee while keeping my feet together. I repeat this twenty times, then switch to my other side. Repeat series.

Another exercise that strengthens quads and calves is done by sitting on a chair or on the edge of the bed. Extend one leg straight out and flex glutes, quads, calves and toes. Twist leg to the side, then back to center. Repeat until leg is fatigued, and switch legs.

Around the blogs: Jungwha is giving away a Sodastream!

Happy Halloween from the Upwelling and LVP… have a great night!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03bPXh4FFI]

Pumpkin Salads & Ice Cream In Bed

lilveggiepatch — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:06:50 +0000

Bonne samedi, mes amis! How are you all? Is your weekend off to a nice start? I know I make it a terrible habit of disappearing on the first day Ari’s back, but I’m here now.

Hmm, so… Thursday’s breakfast was based around YouBar‘s The Best Trail Mix.

I plopped half the bag on top of a big mound of pumpkin and an even bigger mound of steel-cut oats, and covered it all with cinnamon and agave nectar.

It felt quite festive.

This was the morning that I had my bone density test (the results of which were called in to my orthopedist… who did not return my call and share the findings with me before the weekend but that’s okay). I had an apple when I got out of the hospital…

… came home, read InStyle took care of some chores, and went back to sleep for a few hours. When I woke up, so did a hungry beast. I was inspired by the previous day’s salad dressing adventures, so I played around in the kitchen a little bit.

Behold: Pumpkin- Miso Vinaigrette!

Pumpkin- Miso Vinaigrette

Serves 1

2 tablespoons pumpkin purée
1 teaspoon white miso paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon agave nectar
sprinkle of cinnamon
sprinkle of nutmeg
squirt of fresh lemon juice

This was delicious. I vow to never have a boring salad again!

Into the salad itself went:

1/3 block tempeh
1 apple
red onion
carrots
red chard
pumpkin-miso dressing

I followed it up with a cup of Trader Joe’s Organic Greek Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt.

After a few hours of job searching, I snacked on a piece of Pumpkin-Banana-Date Tea Loaf with peanut butter and raspberry jam.

Other than walking and cleaning, I have done almost nothing physical in almost two weeks. It’s slowly driving me crazy. Emily alerted me to these workout videos you can watch instantly on Netflix (if you have an account), which is great. Unfortunately, my will power is not. I did about 10 minutes of this yoga class, then made dinner and went to the airport to pick Ari up. Blegh.

I’m going to wager that my dinner is not going to ignite any food jealousy. I had no idea what I wanted for dinner except that I had to have an Ezekiel English muffin. On one half I had a TJ’s Masala Burger with mustard, on the other egg whites with salt, pepper & ketchup. Boring, but got the job done.

We found the band at the airport, piled all the gear in the car and squeezed in like sardines. Everyone was a little jet-lagged, so we just watched a short movie and In Treatment. While doing so, I had another piece of Pumpkin-Banana-Date Tea Loaf with almond butter and jam and a small glass of Merlot.

We slept in a bit yesterday, although I woke up a good hour before the boy. This is usually the case even when he hasn’t just come back from a tour in Europe. No matter! I made myself a bowl of brown oatmeal: steel-cut oats with 1/2 banana, cinnamon, brown sugar and peanut butter.

By the time Ari woke up and decided he wanted chicken parm for breakfast, I was ready for lunch. I made a salad that was almost a repeat of the day before’s, but why mess with a good thing?

In the mix:

red chard
carrots
1/2 avocado
1/3 brick tempeh
1 pear
red onions
pumpkin-miso dressing

I also had a cup of Trader Joe’s Organic Nonfat Honey Greek Yogurt.

We went into the city and took care of a bunch of errands, including chopping what Erin refers to as Ari’s “alterna-hair.” We stopped by my old restaurant for a glass of wine before going to dinner at Friend House, one of Ari’s favorite sushi restaurants. Something happened to my camera and it would only take really blurry (and incredibly frustrating) photos.

I ordered the sashimi entrée… I promise that’s what’s in the picture!

It came with miso soup.

We went down to the Lower East Side for some Upwelling work, got caught in the rain, and practically ran all the way home. After showering away the acid rain, we settled in for the night with our cartons of Ben & Jerry.

I went for Light Phish Food (but demanded asked nicely for the peanut butter cups in Ari’s Everything But The…), and did my best to put it down after I plowed through 1/4 of the carton. I guess I have a little bit of will-power.

What are your plans for the weekend?

A Girl & Her Dog

lilveggiepatch — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:37:03 +0000

Good evening! I hope you are thoroughly enjoying your Saturdays. The day completely got away from me today, so this is going to be a bigger post than usual.

Yesterday I used up the last of my walnut almond milk and added frozen berries, grapes, and Puffins. Filling and delicious!

Yesterday was R-A-I-N-Y! It was also very windy, so whatever umbrella you may have brought with you (which I did not…) was basically functionless. I dodged the drops and met Caitlin for lunch in Union Square. We’d planned on venturing out to someplace a little farther out of our comfort zone than Whole Foods, but it was so miserable outside that we just decided to eat at the hot bar.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with samples of Sweet Leaf iced tea. I’d never tried this before, but I loved both the taste and their cute Grandma-themed packaging!

I loaded my salad box…

It included:

mixed greens
steamed kale
roasted sweet potato
vegan “chicken” salad
baked tofu
wasabi salmon salad
Shanghai dumpling
corn

We also were given samples of mini cupcakes for filling out a mapping survey. Great day for free treats!

We stayed inside for quite some time, taking shelter from the storm. I sipped on a nonfat cafe au lait with a shot of espresso to warm up:

When the rain started to let up, we ventured over to Barnes & Noble to do a little research. On our way out, we popped into the music department and spotted The Upwelling‘s An American Stranger on display!

Caitlin snatched up the last copy, and we promptly demanded they order more.

Then I made my way home to take care of my pup’dog.

I immediately raided the fridge, and found these baby green plums.

I had a little snack of yogurt, one pear, and one green plum.

When I went through the mail, I found a package from Sarah.

She’d sweetly sent me the cup that I demanded to use every time I went to her apartment in Minnesota… it made me so happy! I hope you’re drinking plenty of tea in Russia, Sarah.

I spent the rest of the evening going through my closet and getting rid of old clothes. I had a glass of Black Box Wines‘s Sauvignon Blanc to help me out…

I really liked this. Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite wines, and this was pretty good. If I hadn’t poured it myself, I wouldn’t have known this wine came out of a box! Much better than the Franzia & Carlo Rossi more economical beverages of my college days.

I’d planned on cooking, but the weather was just too nasty and I wanted to stay inside and be cozy. Instead, I ordered a bento box with shrimp shumai, sashimi, and a spicy tuna roll.

It also came with a small salad with carrot-miso dressing…

… and a hot cup of miso soup.

I was very full! But of course, when Ari called and asked me to meet him for Tasti D, I couldn’t turn him down I got a small cup of oreo cookie peanut butter with Reese’s pieces.

Ari had to leave very early this morning to get ready for their tour, and although I had every intention of getting up with him at 8, I slept in until 11. Whoops! When I did get myself out of bed, I had a quick yogurt bowl with an apple and green plum.

I met my little red-headed friend for lunch; we went to the Manhattan Diner for California Veggie Burgers (avocado, Swiss cheese, sprouts & salsa).

The first time this came out of the kitchen, it was literally frozen cold. The second time, it was burned to a crisp… I ate it anyway, with half of the bun.

After Ilana and I met up to pick up our race numbers and T-shirts for tomorrow, I went to Citarella to get groceries. Somehow I happened upon a cupcake sample station…

These homemade cupcakes are made with sour cream and buttermilk. This was one of the richest, juiciest bites of cake I’ve had. So good! I may just have to pick some up soon.

When I got home, unloaded my groceries and soothed my aching & blistery feet (trying out new boots the day before a race might not have been the best idea), I snacked on an apple.

Ilana came over and I made a cozy and comforting dinner for us. We started with a mixed green salad with leftover carrot-miso dressing.

The star of the meal was Bon Appétit‘s Multi-Grain Penne with Hazelnut Pesto, Green Beans, and Parmesan.

I added a little more lemon juice than the recipe called for for a little extra zing, and I think it worked.

We dined in bed like queens, and enjoyed a glass of Black Box Sauvignon Blanc.

Ilana’s review: It’s not sweet. Very refreshing, but that might just be ’cause it’s cold. Not my favorite, but not bad. Would I buy it? I think so. It’s growing on me.

We’re still in bed, watching The Devil Wears Prada. The race starts at 9:20 tomorrow, so we have to get to bed early! I’ve been mulling over this dilemma all day: I don’t have an armband for my iPod (it’s such an old model that they don’t make them for it), but I also want to run with my camera. The ultimate question: to double-fist or not to double-fist? Is it a terrible idea to run with both hands full? I need your help!

Many thanks to Erin, who awarded me this award. Thanks, Erin!

I’m very, very behind on your blogs, but I will catch up as soon as possible. Love you mucho and have a great rest of the weekend!

Julie & Julia

lilveggiepatch — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:15:29 +0000

Good morning and happy humpday! Thank you for all of the well-wishes yesterday… I’m feeling a lot better. I really don’t know what happened, but I started feeling strange at work on Monday night and yesterday I was so dizzy that I couldn’t even read on the subway. When I got to work, my boss said I looked “piqued” and sent me home after twenty minutes. Rest must have been just what I needed, because after conking out for four hours I woke up feeling refreshed and well. I have a feeling it was my body’s way of rebelling against the stress I’ve been feeling lately, so I’ll have to find a way to harness it or make some big changes. Hopefully it will be the latter

Yesterday I wanted a hot, comforting bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I overslept, but luckily had enough time for a nice (if hurried) meal.

1/2 cup oats (cooked in water)
1/2 banana
warmed frozen blueberries
1 T freshly ground organic peanut butter

The morning was spent going to and from Manhattan and napping. You’d think I wouldn’t have an appetite when I wasn’t feeling so great, but… I’m always a hungry girl! I made a sandwich with a TJ’s Marsala burger, hummus, asiago cheese, mustard, and spinach on Ezekiel. We’re running very low on ingredients, but I’m trying to hold out as long as possible to do a big grocery shop and just buy produce on an as-needed basis.

After I ate, I promptly went back to sleep. I felt better when I woke up, and had a snack: apples dipped in Honey Oikos.

I’d never had flavored Oikos before, and I loved this one! I was expecting the honey to be blended into the yogurt, but it was a little bit separated and the result was heavenly. I’m out of coupons, but I think I’m going to have to pick some up anyway.

Ari’s getting ready to go on tour again, so we decided to have a date night. Unfortunately I left my camera in a different purse (I always forget something when I’m shuffling from bag-to-bag!), and the pictures on Ari’s phone didn’t really turn out. Oh well.

We went to Linn for dinner, where we were promptly served an amuse boûche of seaweed and salmon skin. Ari didn’t want his, so I happily ate both! I also ordered a cup of hot tea, because I didn’t want to fall asleep at the movie we were going to see.

I started with a bowl of miso soup to ward off any lingering sickness…

I also ordered the tuna salad: tuna sashimi served over mixed greens with peanuts and apricots…

… and a cucumber roll, which was served on the same plate as Ari’s parsley and squash rolls. I had one of each of his, too… the squash one was pretty good! Very sweet.

We stopped at Coldstone on the way to the movies. I don’t know why I got ice cream because I wasn’t very hungry and I’m pretty sick of ice cream, but oh well. This was a small cup of sinless sweet cream with peanut butter and chocolate chips.

As the title suggests, we went to see Julie & Julia. It’s strange it’s taken us so long to see it… Ari said he wanted to “watch [me] watch it” because he knew how happy I would be during the film. He was right! I absolutely loved it. I’m in the middle of reading My Life In France right now (which I have a First Edition copy of… muahahaha), and while I didn’t want the movie to spoil the book for me, I thought it was absolutely necessary to see it on the big screen. It’s gotten a lot of criticism in terms of the “Julie” part of the story, and my grandmother thought Meryl Streep “overdid” Julia’s idiosyncrasies a bit. However, the whole time I was watching the film I wanted to 1) be back in France, and 2) cook 524 recipes in 365 days. The fact that Julie was a food blogger also made me very happy.

After the film, we met up with Ari’s sister for a glass of wine. When we came home, we ate an entire bag of baby carrots in bed and watched In Treatment. Oof.

I’m planning on going to a 60-minute Vinyasa Flow class at noon, and then will be spending my evening working in the restaurant. What are you up to today? Enjoy it!