Lilveggiepatch » olives

Life Is For Living

lilveggiepatch — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:09:02 +0000

Good morning! How are you today? It’s a blustery day so far here in the city, and I’m happy to say that the air conditioner is no longer running on its automatic circuit. It seems like most of us have mixed feelings about birthdays, but… I think I’ve decided to be less of a grinch and just enjoy seeing my friends and family, as usual. Why not celebrate when you can?

Yesterday was another Fall-inspired breakfast: oats cooked with water and almond milk, topped with a small apple, pumpkin pie mix, and a scoop of peanut butter.

At work, fearing a grumbly tummy (I work in the same room as my boss) I took a water break and ate a Trek Mix bar in the reception area.

My mom and I were able to meet for lunch today, and dined at Baoguette, a chain of Vietnamese sandwich and noodle shops.

I ordered the Bu’n Fish, which was baked in spices and plopped on top a HUGE portion of noodles and pickled vegetables. I ate so much, but still had at least a pound of leftovers to take home!

I went home, made some tea (which I promptly spilled all over myself and the floor), snacked on some chunks, and fell asleep.

I woke up just in time to shower before having to leave to meet my parents. We were going to a play with at 7:00 curtain and weren’t going to eat dinner until it was over, so I made myself a Greek yogurt/ warmed Mangolicious blend/applesauce snack.

The play, called Is Life Worth Living?, was a revival of an Irish play from the 1930s. We all really enjoyed it! The perfect way to kick of birthday season. Ahem.

After the play, we went to John’s Pizzeria for a late dinner. This was a hotspot when I was in elementary and middle school… almost everyone had birthday parties here. I don’t think I’d been for 10 years!

We ordered a spinach salad with apples, blue cheese, walnuts, onions and olives to share:

We also split a large Margherita pizza with basil and onion.

I had two slices.

I haven’t ordered pizza in so long, and it felt so good. It was a really, really nice evening. When I got home, I finished off the last of the coconut milk ice cream and topped it with frozen cherries and homemade almond milk. I love eating straight from the carton… it feels so naughty!

I also dug into some snail mail from a certain buddy who must know I’m obsessed with pugs…

… a special note from Miss Gliding Calm!

This girl sure knows how to brighten a day

Well, I’m off to go get my license renewed. Don’t you just love the DMV? A certain someone might be coming home today, too… I’ll give you one good guess.

Have a great day!

Stealing Beauty

lilveggiepatch — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:40:33 +0000

Good morning, friends! If you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter my giveaway! It will change your life.

I can’t believe it’s already Monday… and there’s only one more Monday of August! Where has the summer gone? I guess I’ve done a lot… I’ve been to Germany, Michigan, Utah, and Maryland… it’s just strange to know that it’s almost Fall. Autumn is actually my favorite season, though… I love the feeling of a “fresh start” that a new school year always gave me, pulling out my sweaters, drinking hot Chai, Halloween, MY BIRTHDAY… so yeah, I’m pretty excited for the weather to change, now that I think about it!

Yesterday, I met my friend Lisa for brunch at the Manhattan Diner. I haven’t seen her since June, and it was so nice to catch up. Neither of us had fully recovered from the shock of being awake, so we drank lots of coffee.

We both ordered the same thing: an omelet made with organic eggs, avocado, pepper jack, carrots, and zucchini, with a side of mixed greens. We also both doused our eggs in hot sauce and ketchup… we’re fated to be friends

The bread was good, but nothing beats my beloved toast from the usual place, so I only had one slice.

All of that coffee was just what I needed, so after I left Lisa, I went home to gear up for a run. I haven’t really exercised since my yoga class on Thursday, and although I walked about 7 miles throughout the weekend, I needed to feel the cardio burn. It was great! It started raining towards the end of my run (about 3.1 miles) , but it actually felt really refreshing. I came home a sweaty beast, but with enough energy to do my 8-minutes abs exercise, which I’ve sorely ignored lately.

Total time: 37:53 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 195 (98%)

Average heart rate: 165 (83%)

Calories burned: 405

By then, I was ready for a snack. I made a BIG bowl of plain Chobani, 1 banana, 1 nectarine, and a drizzle of pomegranate syrup. It was perfect! My dad reminded me the other day how versatile (and yummy) pomegranate syrup is. It’s also relatively inexpensive ($5/bottle), so I’d encourage you to try it if you haven’t already!

I was feeling industrious, so I made some of Gena‘s homemade raw almond milk. I’d left the almonds soaking overnight, so this was easy-peasy and took almost no thought whatsoever! I don’t have a nut-milk bag, but a conventional strainer did the trick.

I let it strain through while I showered and packed up, and by the time I was ready to go, I had beautifully separated almond milk. I saved the “nut meat” as well… I’m planning on making some Bonobo-style nori wraps! (Note: this is 1/2 Gena‘s recipe.)

I made it home just in time to meet some friends for dinner. We went to Brick Café, and although the service was a little slow, it worked out perfectly because we got to catch up and gab a lot. It was pretty much everything a Sunday evening should be: good food, good friends, and relaxation.

I started with a piece of baguette, smeared with a generous portion of olive paté.

I was a little boring and just ordered the tuna niçoise salad (mixed greens, hard-boiled eggs- yolks removed, asparagus, olives, and potatoes), but it was good! I wasn’t a fan of the creamy dressing, so I just asked for oil and vinegar instead.

Once home, I curled up with an almond butter-smeared VitaBrownie and watched Stealing Beauty. I really liked the film! I want to go back to Europe.

I didn’t sleep too well… I woke up at 4 AM with some of the scariest nightmares I’ve ever had, involving… Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Denny, why do you do this to me?!

Have a happy Monday

Healthy Living Summit Pt. 4- Over and Out

lilveggiepatch — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:06:13 +0000

Good morning and happy Monday! By now, I’m sure you’ve all read numerous recaps of the 2009 Healthy Living Summit… I know I have! It’s interesting to see everyone’s take on it, because, like us bloggers, no two experiences are the same.

Yesterday morning, some of us met at 7:30 for a run. We hadn’t had coffee, but look at all those smiling faces! (Thanks to Caitlin for letting me bogart her pictrures )

I joined the 3 mile group, and enjoyed great conversation (pug or German Shepherd?) with like-minded ladies.

We ended up going about 3.5 miles, and I know I could have gone on longer. Having someone (or 10 someones!) to run with makes all the difference. Do I see a race in my future?

Total time: 33:36 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 192 (96%)
Average heart rate: 172 (86%)

Calories burned: 380

After the run we had over an hour until breakfast, and I needed something for my tum. Coffee! I spent an embarrassingly long time trying to find the filters…

… only to discover they were “tea bag” style, and the filters were the coffee. Doh.

The group reassembled and went to Finagle A Bagle for lunch.

Talk about maximum efficiency! The bagels shoot out, assembly-line style…

They are then sliced by a giant spinning blade.

There were so many interesting bagel choices! French Toast, Honey Grain, Stuffed Vegetable…

The line was long, but we were all in an out in no time. That’s progress, baby, progress.

We found a grassy knoll to sit on and enjoyed our breakfast outside, enjoying the last minutes of the Healthy Living Summit.

It took me a little while to set up my breakfast (I can be a little high-maintenance about that, if you haven’t noticed : On a toasted honey grain bagel, I spread light cream cheese on half, and Barney Butter with honey on the other half.

I also made sure to get some fruit in.

I was in a little bit of a rush to make the 12 PM checkout, but I managed to grab Heather to take a sunglass-twin photo. Why spend good money on fancy shades when you can get sexy ones like these at Target?

I hustled back to the hotel, grabbed my stuff, and hobbled out. When I got to the station, I surveyed all of the food choices. Not great, but I did manage to find a Greek Salad at D’Angelo’s.

I wasn’t a fan of the creamy dressing it came with… a relief, because I knew it would also stink up the bus. (I removed the onions for that very reason!)

There was an absurd amount of feta and olives, and I left a lot behind.

I also munched on an apple while reading my copy of Body + Soul from the swag bag. There are some great recipes in there that I can’t wait to try!

The ride from Boston –> New York is almost five hours, so I needed another snack. I went back to the swag bag for a Fruition bar, made by the makers of Pro Bar.

Here’s an idea of the size of the bar, using my camera case:

Pros: There’s a definite strawberry flavor here. It’s very soft and grainy, so you don’t have to work too hard to eat it like some other sports bars out there. It reminds me of something I ate as a kid during snack time at school (which is reinforced by the sticky fingers you will get upon eating this). I like its snack size; you don’t have to make the 400 calorie commitment that you do for a regular Pro Bar. It also has very pretty packaging!

Cons: It’s a little too soft for me. I wish it would either be firmer like a Larabar, or crunchier like a granola here. There are oats in here, after all, so it shouldn’t be so soggy!

Bottom line: Would I buy this? Maybe. I want to try the other flavors of Fruition; I’ve heard rumors of Blueberry, which sounds pretty good. I don’t know how widely available they are yet (I’ve never seen them in stores), but keep your eyes open!

I shlepped about 100 pounds home from Chinatown and just wanted a comforting meal. I made my old standby comfort food:

Gliding Calm tofu; a sweet potato with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar; steamed kale with rice wine vinegar; brown rice. This meal really feels like the equivalent of a big bear hug.

Do you have any comfort foods or meals you turn over and over?

I enjoyed dinner with a small glass of Villa Farnia di Farnese’s 2008 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo that my friend Howard gave me.

Frank Bruni describes this as a “good, solid, dependable wine;” a staple in Italian restaurants. It is medium tannin, smooth, and has the taste of black fruit.

I enjoyed the wine while watching Revolutionary Road and munching on one of Jenna‘s chocolate chip biscotti.

Er, make that two biscotti. I didn’t want the first one to be lonely!

Another great day. The Summit was a blast. I had so much fun meeting over one hundred women who love to do some of the same things I do! Who’d a thought, in high school, that that would be possible?

It’s back to the grind, unfortunately, and I have a lot of reading to do. Hope your week is off to a great start!

Kitchen Bloopers

lilveggiepatch — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:05:51 +0000

Good day, little friends! How is your Friday going so far? Do you have any weekend plans? I’m going to Maryland early tomorrow morning to spend the weekend with Ari’s family. Should be fun! I just looked at the weather and it’s going to be in the 90s, but i’m pretty sure I won’t melt.

Yesterday started off with a breakfast mess:

Daisy Brand 2% cottage cheese with grapes, a banana, Puffins & cinnamon. Mmm!

After breakfast, we set to work on scouring the room. Before:

Yes, that closet mess is mine.

We finally had time to set up our Ikea bookshelf, which we got, oh, two months ago.

I was Pam to Ari’s Tim.

Pretty good, huh? It makes such a difference in terms of space. And now I’m allowed to keep my magazines! I have to go home and get my cookbooks… I can’t WAIT.

Ari drilled a hole in the back of one of our shelves so we can keep our phones plugged in… I was more than a little skeptical that he wouldn’t break the whole thing, but the man knew what he was doing.

And yes, that’s your’s truly. See? Same haircut!

There are still some boxes in the closet, but it’s a LOT better than it was.

I can actually find my clothes!

We broke for lunch and went to Panera. I got the sandwich and salad combo with a Mediterranean Veggie sammie:

I also got the Strawberry Poppyseed salad. Yum.

I didn’t end up eating the apple…

…but Panera was freezing (and as usual, I forgot a sweater) so I got a skim cappuccino and sprinkled Sugar In The Raw on top, just like my mama does. She used to let me eat the foam with a spoon when I was wee!

After a little more cleaning, I was feeling snacky so I had a date with almond butter. I could eat these guys every day and be very, very happy.

A little later, I went on a KILLER run with Ari’s brother. He’s run four marathons, so I figured (correctly) that I would run harder and better with him. As I’ve said, I’m a stronger runner with other people. We went about four miles, and I had to stop for a minute at the halfway point because I thought I was going to collapse!

Total time: 38:52 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 197 (99%)

Average heart rate: 179 (90%)

Calories burned: 475-500 (HRM is being fickle again)

All in all, a great run. I didn’t stretch though (tsk tsk), and I’m feeling the burn today!

After I was clean and presentable, Ari and I went out to dinner. I’d kind of wanted to cook, but we don’t get to spend evenings together so often and this took less time. We went to Locale, a new(ish) place in Queens.

I had a spicy olive that we were brought as soon as we sat down.

We split the bruschetta trio: warm eggplant ragu, portobello/mozzarella/pesto, classic tomato.

For my entrée, I ordered the fish special: grilled Wild Atlantic salmon wrapped in seaweed with a stone fruit coulis. It also came with sautéed spinach and fingerling potatoes, but I subbed those for a mixed green salad instead.

Ari was feeling pretty sassy all through dinner. Imagine wearing a Yankees cap in Queens!

I’d planned on having my usual dessert platter, but he suggested Cold Stone. I’m not one to turn down fully-loaded ice cream, so I ordered a “Like It” cup of Sinless Sweet Creap with hot fudge, peanut butter, and a Reese’s PB cup. Does Sinless + Decadence = Zero? Cuz it should.

This was actually way too much for me. I ate it all, but I felt a little sick afterwards. I stopped at the grocery on the way home to get ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. When baking, I usually substitute applesauce for half of the butter or oil to make it a little healthier; unfortunately this does NOT work for cookies.

I tested one out, saw that it looked more like cake, and turned the rest into a peanut butter banana cake. It’s pretty good, actually!

Batch #2 was straight-up Toll House. Unbeatable.

It was kind of a perfect day, overall

I’m off to the gym to squeeze in some cardio before work. I hope you have a FANTASTIC weekend!

Hit The Road, Janes!

lilveggiepatch — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:48:02 +0000

Good afternoon and happy Sunday! I hope you’re enjoying the last bits of your weekend. My mom and I are in one of the most beautiful places on earth right now… sadly, I’ll have to keep you in high suspense for just a little bit longer. But first…

Friday morning at the airport was… chaotic. It seems that a lot of us city folk wanted to get out of the humidity!

I spotted a Starbucks near our gate and braved the line for a cup of the Perfect Oatmeal.

I splurged and bought all the toppings: brown sugar (used half), nut mixture, and dried fruit. I also got a grande coffee and poured a healthy portion of skim milk into the cup.

I’d planned on getting a lot of work done on the 4.5 hour flight, but I was so exhausted from the last week that I slept most of the trip. I woke up, though, to have a couple bites of my mom’s cheese:

An hour or so later, my time zone-confused tummy was ready for more. I whipped out the Honey Bunches Grawnola Bar from One Lucky Duck that Liz had generously brought me:

The ingredients of this bar are simple and delicate: organic almonds, organic oats, organic buckwheat, organic blueberries, organic nutmeg, organic vanilla extract, organic raw honey, Himalayan crystal salt. It was both hard and crumbly, sweet and salty. The flavors and textures blended beautifully and convinced me that I really do need to get myself over to OLD.

I also split an apple with my mom.

After landing in Salt Lake City, we hot-footed it to the rental car agency, got our car, and hit the road.

We drove 45 minutes…

… admired the mountains…

… and decided we were most certainly not in Manhattan anymore.

After we checked into our hotel and unpacked a little, we set out in search of a bite to eat. We ended up at Clockwork Café, a cute little coffee shop on the main street. I got the Garden: romaine, spinach, cucumbers, olives, craisins, onions, tomatoes and (upon my special request) a big glob of hummus.

I also had half a bottle of V8.

We wandered around Park City a little, taking goofy pictures…

In the tradition of our annual Mother/Daughter Weekends, we went to Mountain Body for pedicures. Mountain Body is a natural spa that doesn’t test on/use any animals or their products. I wanted to buy everything in the store, including the vegan nail polish that was painted on our toes.

After we got back to the room and dolled ourselves up, we headed over to the Sky Club for the pre-wedding cocktail party. The Sky Club is a beautiful roof-top bar that overlooks the city.

There was a great spread of cheeses and antipastos.

I started with a glass of Chardonnay and a trout-smeared cracker (which was a little too fishy for my taste).

These tempurah shrimp were my favorite… I had about 3!

My favorite foods of the night were actually the crudités; I filled up my plate at least twice with raw veggies.

In addition to the wine, I also had a dirty martini (which was a little too heavy on the olive juice).

It was wonderful to catch up with my friends! Usually I only see this select group of people once a year, so I feel spoiled to have gotten them twice in one month.

Although the party spanned four hours, there wasn’t an actual dinner part to it and I left craving chocolate and carbs. (I blame this more on the double shot of Patron I did with the bride-to-be….) When I got back to the room there was no chocolate to be found, so I had a fig bar.

Well, that’s it for now. Stay tuned for Part II of the Mother/Daughter Utah adventure!

A Day Between Tarts

lilveggiepatch — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:01:23 +0000

This was supposed to go up this morning, but WordPress was being finicky and I had to go to work. One day we’ll be current!

Good morning, ducklings! The alarm rang bright and early this morning and I stumbled out, eyes-a-burnin’, to make this bowl of oats.

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup almond milk
TJ’s mangolicious blend
cinnamon
1 tsp almond butter

Lunch dessert was more tart:

Then I snacked on some leftover steak:

Juuuuuuust kidding.

Since I had an unexpectedly long and luxurious morning, I headed into the city to go to the gym and do something other than just shower. On the way over, I read about David Willet, the editor of Runner’s World, and his overpronating feet.

It seems that a lot of us overpronate, and I’m here to tell you that that’s just fine! There’s still hope, and you can run again, injury-free. Jus please, please, PLEASE get yourself fitted for the proper shoe. I haven’t had any problems with my legs or feet while running since I got a pair of Asics Gel Kayanos, which are stability shoes for people who turn inward when they run. Shoes, the way you tie your laces, the way your foot strikes the pavement… these are all so important in not only making your run a pleasant one, but making it pain-free.

I only had about half an hour to spend at the gym (but at least I got there!) so I did a hard 30 minutes on the stairs, arms, and one ab machine.

After my workout, I hustled to Maoz Vegetarian, a falafel chain that I once heard described as “the McDonald’s of Jerusalem” (even though, upon researching the franchise, I’ve noted that it began in Holland). I’ve been meaning to try this place for some time now, but haven’t had the time. It’s close to my gym and job, though, so it was bound to happen sometime!

I ordered a whole wheat pita with falafel and hummus. After the staff prepared that behind the counter, I moved on to the filling station, where there were all kinds of salads and toppings like carrots, beets, roasted cauliflower and broccoli, spicy sauces, pickles, etc.

I loaded mine to the brim, but I wanted to try everything!

It was amazing. Next time, I’m going to get the “falafel salad box” so that I have enough room to try all of these amazing things.

It was a good thing I had a happy lunch, because work. was. so. bad. I can’t even tell you (and you won’t want me to complain for hours on end, as I already have), but suffice it to say that the police had to be called, there were tears and screaming, and it was just… bad.

The undocumented: one piece of lobster ravioli in saffron cream sauce, orange wedges, iced coffee.

Because of all of the drama at the restaurant, I ended up taking my salad to go and eating it, standing over the sink, at 1:15 AM. I had a mixed green salad with imported Italian tuna, olives, and tomatoes, and topped that with a big glob of hummus. It was pretty good… I think that I liked the tuna/hummus combo, but I inhaled it so fast it was a little hard to tell.

I couldn’t decide between chocolate or more fruit tart for dessert, but I went with the tart. Sugar really does make me feel better, and it probably isn’t the right response for stress or anxiety, but it hit the spot .

Needless to say, it wasn’t a great night for sleeping.

Sorry to complain so much… today will be a better day. It’s just becoming increasingly clear that I have to find myself a “real” job and get myself out of this situation.

Off to work the brunch shift. Have a great Sunday!

I'm On The Hunt I'm After You…

lilveggiepatch — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:42:29 +0000

[Image Source]

Duran Duran or vampire fans fans in the house? I guess “werewolves” would be more appropriate, but Sarah‘s been raving about True Blood recently, and I’ve been watching in spurts. Good thing I don’t have schoolwork to be distracted from!

Yesterday we slept late, and by the time we got up and out, it was 1 PM. We decided to go to Brick, a nice bistro in Astoria, for brunch.

Ari and I enjoyed quite a bit of coffee (and I’ll probably get in trouble for posting this and the next photo of him… he wasn’t so pleased with them):

We split an order of bruschetta to start; I had one piece of toast and added a little olive tapenade (not pictured) to it.

We each ordered the special omelet (subbed with egg whites): zucchini, tomato, and smoked mozzarella. There was a little too much cheese for my liking, so I just pulled some of it out and ate the rest.

After brunch, we happened upon a street fair. We were full, but fresh watermelon sounded pretty tasty so we split a cup.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and wandered into Astoria Park. I’m glad we went; it was a beautiful day and it’ll be a prime picnic spot in the future. We ended up walking somewhere between 3 and 5 miles in high heat, so we definitely got our exercise in.

On the way home, we happened upon a really cute coffee shop that serves interesting drinks (watermelon blended with chardonnay), has WiFi, and has live music at night. I wish I’d taken down the name and address, but I’m sure we’ll be able to find it again.

I got an iced coffee with skim milk and one packet of Sugar In The Raw:

After doing a little cleaning when we got home, I was starting to get hungry so I had a Granny Smith Apple with chocolate PB2.

Then I did some work, caught up on some blog reading, and before I knew it I was so hungry I could have eaten every one in the house. Luckily, no one was home, so I had a pickle instead.

I was still starving, so I made a quick and easy stir-fry with ingredients we already had. I used 1/2 block extra firm tofu, 1/2 bag “Asian blend” frozen veggies (green beans, mushrooms, water chestnuts & broccoli), garlic, ginger powder, sesame oil, light soy sauce, srirachi sauce and a little cooking spray. I served it over Trader Joe’s Multigrain Pilaf (the TJ — cheaper— version of Kashi’s Moroccan Pilaf).

I was also having The Vegetarian’s Dilemma (tofu or hummus? hummus or tofu?) so I had a glob of hum with some stale crackers on the side.

For dessert, I had my Old Faithful: dried fruit (dates, prune, apricots) with almond butter and some dark chocolate (from Germany, pepper- flavored)

I spent the evening watching To Have and Have Not, a film that I discovered is none other than one of our very own Veggie Girl’s (AKA Liz) favorites! It was wonderful.

Well, I’m off to get my booty to the gym, try to socialize, and do some work. Hope your week is off to a great start!

Around the blogs:

Gina is giving away a cookbook by Sarma Melngailis (the founder and co-founder of One Lucky Duck and Pure Food and Wine)!

An Apple A Day is giving away Crofter’s fruit spread!

Hop Back On That East Coast Plane

lilveggiepatch — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:28:41 +0000

Yesterday I woke up to a mildly distressing and garbled voice mail from the airline. After a few attempts talking to a computer, we finally got through to a human and found out my plane had been canceled because of “mechanical problems.” Luckily I was able to get on an earlier flight, but that meant I had to haul some serious booty.

I did, however, have time for a delicious (if speedy) bowl of oatmeal.

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup skim milk
1 TJ’s flattened banana
cinnamon
1.5 tsp peanut butter (which my mom had already thrown out… you’re darn right I dug that out of the trash!)

There’s a bus that goes right to the O’Hare airport in Chicago, so I took that, caught up on sleep, and munched on dates.

There weren’t a whole lot of vegetarian options at the airport, but I happened upon a salad stand at the very end of the terminal. This one had mixed greens, hearts of palm, chick peas, Provolone cheese, sundried tomatoes, olives, and some kind of cheesy dressing (which I used for dipping).

I wasn’t quite ready to end vacation-mode, so I got a bag of Flat Earth Farmland Cheddar chips. They were pretty good, and tasted like a cross between regular potato chips and Soy Crisps.

Ari picked me up from the airport, and after dropping off my massive load of stuff, we headed into the city to go to dinner and a birthday party. The party was on the Lower East Side, so we just went to a sushi restaurant in the neighborhood.

I started with a small house salad:

I ordered the chirashi entrée (fish over rice); sadly it wasn’t very good and some of the fish tasted a little funk, so I only ate about half.

The party was at Bob Bar on Eldridge. It’s a nice place… they have comfy couch seating and a big enough floor to dance on. I was a little weary of alcoholic beverages, so I stuck to water.

When we got home, I had an almond butter-smeared banana… I’ve missed these.

It’s a little strange to be back home again after a week of lying on the beach and pretty late nights, but it’ll be good to get back on schedule. I hope you’ve had an excellent few days, and I look forward to catching up with you all!

Hope you’re having a lovely end of the weekend

Bloodsuckers

lilveggiepatch — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:02:55 +0000

Good morning, boys and girls! I hope your holiday weekends were relaxing and fun (if those two things go together in your life . My week is going wonderfully so far… with the small exception that the mesquitoes are out of control this year! I have bug bites in places that never see the sun, bug bites on my ear, in my hair… it stinks! But, it’s a small price to pay for a week on the beach.

The last two days have been a lot of fun: we’ve been catching up with people (there are between 40 and 60 here each day) we haven’t seen in a year, lounging, cooking… The way we do things here is each night, one “cooking crew” makes dinner for the rest of us. It takes a lot of work, obviously, to plan, cook, and feed for so many people, but we always have delicious, restaurant-quality food.

The first night is more of a pot-luck, so we had a Middle Eastern platter with hummus, pita, tabouleh, baba ganoush, pita, etc.

I also had a mixed greens salad and an orzo salad with cheese, tomatoes and olives. This is so good!

Desserts abounded, including my Aunt Mary’s famous chocolate chip cookies:

Brownies, chocolate chip blondies, and lemon squares:

There are also some 7-layer / Magic bars floating around here, but if they didn’t get caught on camera…

We found bottom-shelf vodka to make cocktails to bring to the beach to watch the fireworks:

Jenny + Marina:

We sat on the beach watching the fireworks for hours… unfortunately my camera isn’t sophisticated enough to show you how beautiful it was.

For breakfast yesterday, I had a bowl of Wheaties + Honey Nut Cheerios with 1/2 a banana and skim milk.

‘

We went upstairs to have lunch and cool off: leftover orzo (this will be the death of me, I swear!) and tuna salad. I ate them “wrap style” by rolling the salads up in tomato slices and lettuce weaves.

I had fresh grapes and blubes from the farmers market for dessert.

My dad got quite the haul at the Market… he brought this Super Charge Me-style oatmeal cookie for our cabin. I only had a nibble, but it was pretty delicious! I see its future as “oatmeal future” in the near future…

In the afternoon, Judy and I went for a nice run to look at the houses. We did about 2.5 miles (my HRM was out of it’s mind, AGAIN… Polar, expect a call from me today), and although it was pretty hot outside we ran in the shade and it was just perfect. I cranked out some 8 minute abs when I came back, then had a nice Red, White & Blue Parfait with Oikos nonfat Greek yogurt, blueberries, raspberries and a touch of brown sugar.

After showering and making myself presentable, I stumbled upon Bere, my 12 year old cousin, cleaning a Corona bottle. Bere took over Jenny and my job of saving all the bottles and cans and collecting them for deposit (we go through quite a few of these over the week…), but I might have to convince him that we need the money more than he does!

During the cocktail hour, I had a cheese plate with Manchego (my favorite!), Havarti, Blue, and Brie. I also had a piece of bread, a couple crackers and olives.

I also had a Shiner beer, which was very yeasty. It’s partly my fault for not following the directions and pouring half the beer out into a glass, swirling the rest in the bottle, and pouring it into the glass… but who wants to do that when they’re just trying to chillax with a brew? Hmpf.

George was the cooking crew leader last night and prepared a Mexican meal of Roasted Chicken, Red & Black Beans, Rice, and Tomato Salad. He was nice enough to make me a pot of vegetarian black beans, so I ate them with rice and about 20 tomatoes.

For dessert, we had vanilla ice cream and blueberries.

As I’ve said, I’m not going to be documenting everything here… I want to be able to enjoy my vacation, obviously, but I’ll also be finding a healthy balance by continuing to blog and maintain my exercise regime.

Today, July 6, is Mama Veggie Patch (MVP)’s birthday, so some festivities will ensue.

Enjoy your weeks!

Loosen Up

lilveggiepatch — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:49:14 +0000

Just a few hours ago, I had a conversation with my friend about how nice it was to finally not be constantly obsessing about what we eat (ironic, considering I write a daily food blog). We feel fit, active, healthy, and happy. What a nice feeling! And then… something happened. What was it? Pasta. And bread. And cereal. What? Since when did I become carbophobic? In my family, we joke about how the anciet prison diet of bread and water wouldn’t be such a sacrifice for us. At restaurants, we are told this is not a bakery! when we ask, over and over, for refills on bread.

So why now, why the end of this affair? Or, more accurately, when did I learn that carbs are the enemy? Probably around the time I started college. I’ve always had a pretty fast metabolism and, until then, thought I could eat whatever I wanted. Then I made a friend who introduced me to low-carb diets (that means no apples!), restrictive eating, and food guilt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming this person in the slightest. It’s just sad that almost every girl I know (and even some men) have experienced some kind of negative epiphany when they figure out that food isn’t fuel, it isn’t a pleasure: it’s just something else, in a hectic life, to feel stressed and guilty about.

We all know the mantra: healthy diet, regular exercise, 8 hours of sleep. But, life happens, workouts get put off in favor of a coffee date with friends or an extra hour of sleep. And the guilt sets in. I don’t have a solution, or a way to get rid of that sinking feeling I get after scraping a bowl of pasta clean, or polishing off that last piece of pizza I really wasn’t hungry for, or ordering another round. I guess the only thing I can do is relearn the mantra, get back on the horse, and, once and for all, stop the fat talk. One day, one week, even, won’t turn me into a blimp, cause me to have a heart attack and become the subject of everone else’s gossip. I just have to take some time to relax, breathe, and remember that.

Alright! On a less serious note, I mixed breakfast up a little this morning! I heated up some TJ’s Mangolicious (frozen mangoes, blueberries and raspberries)…

… then I topped them with Puffins, two walnuts and two pecans, and almond milk.

Voila! Fruit-on-the-bottom cereal.

Around 11, I snacked on half a Cherry Cashew PURE bar.

Read the PURE story here:

Product Review: Cherry Cashew PURE Bar

PROS: I love the big hunks of cashews! It’s not too sweet, and there’s an almost coconutty taste. The ingredient list is short and comprehensive, each something I would eat on its own.

CONS: Like Larabars, it’s pretty greasy! Don’t get near the computer after eating this. I also couldn’t really taste the cherry flavor until the aftertaste set in. I’ve also only seen these in stores once, so they’re not so easy to find.

Would I buy this again? Yes; it didn’t feel heavy in my stomach or make my tongue want to fall off from having too much sugar. It’s a good alternative to Larabars, and the price is comparable.

My boss and I went to Le Pain Quotidien for lunch. We both ordered the smoked salmon tartine with avocado, cucumber, radish and mixed greens. (Le Pain Quotidien is a chain, so all of the calorie counts are listed; this clocked in at 350.)

I think I’ve ordered this before; it was fresh and light and just what I was in the mood for. I ate everything except for a little of the avocado.

After we went back to the office, I finished up my work for the day and ate the rest of my PURE bar. I got out a little early, so I met up with my lovely, Caitlin, and we went to CC’s Café.

We just got iced chais (I drink these so fast!), but there were lots of healthy take-out options. I’ll definitely be going back here on my lunch break!

A little later, I met up my mom for a much-needed pedicure (I’ll spare you the photos) and dinner. We ate at De Santos, a little gem I stumbled upon on my walk to the restaurant last week. There was no one there, so we were led to the garden in the back where, even though we were outside, we were protected from the rain.

When we sat down, we were brought fresh bread, olives and three bean-made, hummus-like spreads.

At the waiter’s suggestion, we both ordered a glass of Nero d’Avola. I’m usually a white wine kind of a gal, but I felt like a richer red.

I was craving pasta, so I went with what I wanted. I ordered the Spinach Fettuccine with Jumbo Shrimp, Zucchini and Lemon Zest, and substituted a garlic and oil sauce for the original curry cream.

It was delicious; even though I had Pad Thai last night, I was craving fresh pasta and this really hit the spot. I ate every scrap.

After I got home, showered, and did laundry, I had a bowl of Greek yogurt with PB2, 1/2 banana and a side of dark chocolate.

This was so good! I may repeat it for breakfast in the morning. Once I’ve tried PB2 in a few different ways I’ll do a full review.

Check it out! Operation Beautiful made the paper! Aimee is giving away Nana’s cookies! Zesty is giving away POM! What a day. Whew!

I’m embarrassed to say I’ve gotten sucked into NYC Prep, so I’m going to get under the covers and watch that now. Have a great night!