Yesterday, I started my morning with [...]]]> Good morning and happy humpday! The week goes so fast when you’ve had a long weekend.  I can’t believe Boston is in two days!  I still don’t know who all is going to be there, so if you’re reading this and are going, please drop me a line!

Yesterday, I started my morning with another awesome parfait.

• plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 white peach
• 1 plum
• 2 cherries
• cinnamon

Yum!

This didn’t hold me too well, sadly, and I had to break into one of my snacks on the way to my internship.   I’m running dangerously low on fig bars; a trip to TJ’s is greatly needed!

I went to Starbucks on my lunch break.  Even though I brought lunch with me, I wanted a place to sit and get out of the sun.  It was almost 100 yesterday! I ordered a tall iced coffee (and added skim and sugar in the raw) to grant me a chair.

I brought 1/2 serving of my leftover spinach fettucine con vongole:

I still had some leftover dressing from my raw “peanut” noodles, so I brought that and dipped leftover steamed kale and romaine in it. Deliciously messy.

With an apple, it made a pretty good for a lunch on the go!

After a few more hours of work at the office, I headed across town to go to the restaurant.  I’d been craving a smoothie all day, so I stopped at Elixir.  Every day they have $5 specials, so I went with that and got the Smart Start: banana, apple cider, orange juice, strawberries, melon, gingko, and protein powder.

A pretty hefty “snack”, but I thought I was going to have to power through another 8-hour shift.

Thinking I would have to wait until 11 to eat dinner, I split a Ginger Snap Larabar with my friend Cornelius around 7.

Unfortunately, by 7:45 I’d only had one table (whose grand total came to $11.92), so I went home with a wrinkly dollar in my pocket. I should have only made $.65 after tip-out (we have to give back 35%), but the busboys, bartender and manager didn’t want the $.10.

I took a salad to go; new policy says that wait-staff can only have plain lettuce or plain pasta, so I took my dinner home and beefed it up.

I added tomatoes, goat cheese, a chik’n patty, hummus, red pepper flakes and lemon vinaigrette.

I was craving chemicals for dessert and had a Skinny Cow vanilla-flavored Skinny Dipper.

While watching Almost Famous for the 23rd time, I did some therapeutic laundry-folding and felt a little better.

Sorry for that little rant. Today will be better! Ho ho ho.

I’ve also been working on doing many things at once… here’s what my days have been looking like.

At home:

1. “Cook” breakfast cookie [...]]]> Good afternoon, friends! Sorry I’ve been out the last few days… things have been incredibly busy lately. Not everything has been recorded, but of course I’ll share what I have with you.

I’ve also been working on doing many things at once… here’s what my days have been looking like.

At home:

1. “Cook” breakfast cookie overnight, so in the mornings I can just pull it out and…

2. Put clothes in dryer while coffee is brewing.

3. Eat breakfast while reading 600 pages of manuscripts.

4. Perfect art of speed reading (thoroughly).

5.  Stretch in shower (not recommended… especially if you don’t have a shower mat!).

6. Shave legs while conditioning hair.

At work:

7. [En route]: sleep on subway.

8. Staple one check together while printing out another.

9. Flex abs and arms while running orders.

10. Do squats (AKA rest legs) during slow hours.

11. Sleep on subway home (but remember to get off the train).

Here are some of my eats:

Huuuuge bowl of Puffins & Smart Start w/ 1 plum, 1/2 banana, strawberries, & almond milk:

A Gliding Calm-style snack plate with red and yellow peppers, okra, and a fake chicken with melted lite munster:

I made a spicy peanut sauce out of PB2 and sriracha… so good!

Okra + peanut sauce may just be the strangest, most delicious new combination for me.

I’ve been snacking on my spiced chickpeas at work… I put them in the fridge and they got a little soggy, but they’re still great for instant energy.

After a rough night at work on Saturday, I stopped at 16 Handles for a big cup of Eurotart, Green Tea tart, and PB topped with peaches, kiwi and a huge glob of PB cup.

Daisy Brand cottage cheese w/ a peach, strawberries & granola:

Zucchini egg white fritatta w/ fontina & mozzarella cheeses:

Last night was the first night in a while that I’ve been able to spend time with Ari alone. We’d been planning on going out to dinner and a movie, but it started storming.  Instead, we ordered Thai, popped In Treatment into the DVD player, and a picnic on the floor.

We each had a glass of Frizzante (and thought about how I need to organize my closet area):

Grilled tofu satay:

Fried spring rolls (I had one… didn’t really want it, but they were free!):

Vegetarian coconut vegetable soup:

Dark chocolate:

Ari’s sister also brought me back some chocolate from Israel.

So far I have Switzerland, Germany, Russia…

Well, off to work.  I’m very beyond on your blogs… thanks for your patience!

Good Saturday morning! I hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start.  It’s a beautiful day here, made all the more so because, instead of working a double shift, I don’t have to go in to the restaurant [...]]]> Oh yes, that fire was burning last night.  So to speak.  More on that later!

Good Saturday morning! I hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start.  It’s a beautiful day here, made all the more so because, instead of working a double shift, I don’t have to go in to the restaurant until 4! Life is good.

Yesterday, Ari and I had a splendid breakfast at the diner.  Monday through Friday my omelet meal only costs $5 (including toast, coffee & juice), and you know I love a deal.

I got my usual egg whites with spinach, tomato, mushrooms and feta:

Dry toast with lots of HFCS grape jelly, of which I ate every bite.

After catching up with you lovely people, I went on a 2 mile run.  Heather told me Jillian’s going to be taking some time off from her radio show, so, to stretch out the back-episodes, I took a break and listened to some cheesy pop instead. (And by “cheesy” I mean Akon’s sweet, sweet tunes.) I ran faster overall, but took a few walk breaks (never for more than 30 seconds).

The HRM blinked 00 for a couple minutes mid-run, so these stats are a little off:

Total time: 21:45 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 188 (94%)

Average heart rate: 164 (82%)

Calories burned: 231

After my run, I had a little time to kill before work so I did some cleaning.  One of my house chores is to make sure there’s nothing that’s gone funk in the fridge, so, when I noticed half a can of chickpeas about to turn, I decided to use them for a recipe I saw in this month’s issue of SELF.

In the article this was featured in, Zooey Deschanel (one of my favorites) listed a lot of her favorite easy recipes, most (if not all) of which are vegan.  I wanted to make her “Vegan Chocolate Dessert,” but the ingredients were really expensive at my local health food store.  These spiced chickpeas will be great as a snack, though!

I went with Ari to the deli to get lunch, but I’m trying to save money so I just sat with him while he ate.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was, though, and I had to have some cherries so I wouldn’t eat my lunch before it was made! (That happens a lot.)

Lunch was a big, I-Miss-You salad:

• romaine
• arugula
• 1 orange bell pepper
• TJ’s Meatless Meatballs (finally, Jess!)
• hummus
• goat cheese
• Bragg’s liquid aminos (I can’t believe I’m just trying this! I LOVE IT.)

I also had a perfectly ripe peach and Trader Joe’s Nonfat Organic Greek Honey Yogurt (reviewed here).

During work, I snacked on my new Peanut Butter & Jelly Larabar.  (Their website says there are three new flavors; I only have the PB&J and Tropical Fruit Tart… does anyone know what the other flavor is?)

Verdict: Amazing.  It tastes just like a smooshed peanut butter & jelly sandwich, made with crunch peanut butter, that’s been sitting in your lunchbox all morning. Move over, Cinnamon Roll… this may be my new favorite flavor!

The undocumented snacks: iced coffee, fresh mozzarella.

At work, if you sell 10 specials, you get to have one for dinner.  I sold 9, but Ramon made me the special salad anyway! This is a jumbo shrimp and avocado salad with corn and tomatoes, served over mixed greens in a lemon-mint vinaigrette.

YUM.

My friend Howard came by and surprised me with some fruit salad.  Although I shared it with the rest of the staff, I ate most of it myself! It must have been 2 lbs of fruit… oof!

So… work was just fine until about midnight, when I was closing my last two tables and getting ready to go home.  There ended up being some more drama that lasted an hour, a visit from the cops, handcuffs, and, obviously, no tip.  Double oof.

Well, I’m going to get a little work for my internship done while I have the spare time.  I’ve done some kind of exercise for the last 5 days, so I’m going to give myself a day off.

I hope you’re up to something fun! Have a great Saturday

Yesterday we needed a little something to get us out of bed, and that thing just happened to be… [...]]]> Good afternoon! I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but the City is all doom and gloom today! Around noon it started pouring, and it’s been gray and rainy ever since.  No matter!

Yesterday we needed a little something to get us out of bed, and that thing just happened to be… Dunkin‘ Donuts.  Yes, you read that correctly.

I got the eggwhite garden vegetable flatbread sandwich (which comes with American cheese) and an iced coffee.  It was fine… a little strange because the eggs had clearly been pre-formed into a triangle a long time ago, because the top was completely smooth and dry.  However, it’s a good option when all you have to choose from is fast food (or your boy wants a breakfast sandwich).

I didn’t have enough time to go to the gym, so I went for a quick 2 mile run.

Total time: 23:46 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 197 (99%)

Average heart rate: 146 (73%)

Calories burned: 210

After hosing down (or taking a shower, like a civilized person) I headed into the city for a doctor’s appointment.  On the subway, I snacked on a Granny Smith apple:

After the doctor, on my walk to Union Square, I happened upon a sample station of water. I’d thought this was called “Immunity Water,” but I coudln’t find it online.  Does anyone know what this brand of water is called?

Then, hungrily, I browsed through all of the wonderful stalls at the Union Square Farmer’s Market.

Everything looked great, but I decided to go to Whole Foods for lunch instead.  There, they had another beverage station set up for samples of Mossé.  I had a taste of the cherry flavor, and liked it very much.

I was more in the mood for coconut water, and was so excited when I saw this new flavor: O.N.E.‘s Cashew Fruit! (The nutrition facts are available on their website.)

I liked it! It tasted tropical, sort of like a peachy mango.  They have a lot of other interesting flavors, and there are coupons for them in the “Whole Deals” booklets at Whole Foods.

The salad bar was better than usual.

• Farro w/ mint & peas (I want to make this!)
  
• Crunchy sprout salad
• Vegan chicken salad (And this!)
  
• Snow pea and napa cabbage slaw
• Vegan pesto tortellini (1)
• Mexican apple salad w/ mint (And this! Spicy but fantastic.)
  
• Green beans
• Spinach
• Seaweed salad (And this!)

After lunch, I walked over to Trader Joe’s for an overdue grocery shop.

Back in Queens, I bought a couple more things for dinner (mostly fruits & veggies, and the new Larabar flavors).

After unloading all the groceries, I was more than ready for a snack.  I had a bowl of 0% Fage with a peach and 2 tbsp low-fat granola:

Dinner was excellent.  The new Gourmet magazine has a lot of fantastic recipes, but this one came right from the “You Asked For It” column (it was, incidentally, my job to organize these letters when I worked for Gourmet): avocado-strawberry salad with orange vinaigrette.

Who says salads have to be boring?

I halved the recipe to make two servings; I used one avocado, one orange, 1/2 pint of strawberries, and goat cheese.  I added a little tofu to round out the meal, and ta da! Instant summer.

I celebrated Wednesday by having a glass of Italian frizzante that my friend Howard brought me.  It’s a fruity prosecco that’s light and not too sweet, and went perfectly with the salad.

Dessert was the old reliable: dried fruit, dark chocolate, and almond butter.

I spent the rest of the night watching two of my favorite gentlemen duke it out… pretty fabulous Wednesday, if I do say so myself.

I also chopped off my hair again.

Night

Whew, talk about a bum day.  It felt like a weekend in college: stumble out of bed, scarf down breakfast, and go back to sleep for a few hours.  Yep, insomnia has returned.  Neither Sleepytime nor Sweet Dreams teas has been working, so I’ve had to turn to more medicinal remedies… those aren’t [...]]]>

Whew, talk about a bum day.  It felt like a weekend in college: stumble out of bed, scarf down breakfast, and go back to sleep for a few hours.  Yep, insomnia has returned.  Neither Sleepytime nor Sweet Dreams teas has been working, so I’ve had to turn to more medicinal remedies… those aren’t working so well either.  Ari’s teeth are still really bothering him, so we watched Band of Outsiders and waited for sleep to come.  Hopefully tonight, since I got a run in, it’ll be a little easier.

Breakfast was a cookie I made a couple days ago, but it still tasted good!

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 T chocolate PB2
• 2 T almond milk
• toppings: cinnamon, 1/2 peach

I woke up around 12:30 or 1, disoriented and a little miffed I’d let myself sleep so long because today is my only day off until next Wednesday, and I’m pretty sure I have to work that night.  Anyway, I didn’t know what I was in the mood for (we’re in a bit of a grocery slump), so I made the exact same thing I had for dinner last night: a heated wrap with a Morningstar Farms Mushroom Lovers Burger, spinach, hummus, pepper jack and salsa. If it ain’t broke…

I also had an apple while watching some more True Blood:

After lounging around in my gym clothes for several hours, I pushed my booty out the door for a run. The mapping is a little confusing for the route I take, but I think it’s about 2 miles or so.  Elise mentioned that Jillian Michaels has free weekly podcasts, so I downloaded one and listened to it on my run.  Having never watched The Biggest Loser, “Shred”-ed, or asked myself, “WWJD?” , this was my first JM experience.

I think I liked it! I didn’t get through the whole podcast, but so far I have learned one important thing: Do not consume caffeine after 3 PM. Period. Even though I just had an iced tea yesterday at 5, I was so wired and had a terrible time falling asleep last night.  In high school, I would literally drink four thermoses full of black coffee throughout the school day (don’t ask me why), but I guess my tolerance for caffeine has been severely broken down.  By keeping you awake at night, you not only miss out on sleep (obviously) but your cells don’t have time to rejuvenate.

After my run, I did 8-minute abs, level 2.  After almost 6 months, I still pant through the bicycle crunches.  I hate them! Is there an exercise move that you dread every time?

Total time: 31:49 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 198 (100%)

Average heart rate: 170 (85%)

Calories burned: 357

For some reason, I was absolutely ravenous for the rest of the day.  I snacked on a banana with almond butter around 4:30, but by 6 I was starving again.

I was starting to get some serious cabin fever from being in the house all day, so I went into the city to meet my mom for dinner. Unfortunately, she’s had a pretty bad migraine all day and had to leave to go home.  My meal was too hot to be put in a take-out container, so I quickly ate and brought my mom her food.

I ordered tofu nabe and a piece of salmon sashimi:

I forgot to put use “udon” (big, thick Japanese noodles) into my order, but the brothy soup was still good on its own.  The dish was huge, and the bottom was covered with about a pound of cabbage.  I probably ate half.

When I went home, I grabbed some dried fruit and nuts from the pantry that my parents got at the Co-Op for me for home #2:

Charley also needed a walk (and a haircut… that makes two of us), so we strolled around the park for a little.

On the way back over the bridge, I met up with Greg for some Tasti D.  I got a small cup with half peanut butter, half dutch chocolate, and peanut butter chips.  Artificial or not, I missed this stuff.

On our walk, we happened upon this gem of sidewalk art.  Pretty snazzy, hmm?

Now I’m back home, cozy in bed, watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the 754th time and hoping my mind will be wiped clear for just one night so I can get some sleep.  I’m working a lot the next few days, so this rest would be greatly appreciated!

In unrelated news…

Check out Ari! The Upwelling is featured on Seventeen.com’s Band Spotlight.

Have a great night. Bonne nuit

Sorry for disappearing yesterday… somehow the hours just got away from me.  It was a beautiful day, though, so I’m not going [...]]]> Sounds like summer, hmm? As much as I love squash and the like, I’m going to be sad when summer’s fruits and vegetables are no longer.  Maybe I should pick up canning!

Sorry for disappearing yesterday… somehow the hours just got away from me.  It was a beautiful day, though, so I’m not going to complain about it.  What I will moan about a little, however, is that my camera is dying.  Crucial functions are no longer working, so the photo quality is pretty crummy.  Guess I’ll be picking up some more shifts at the restaurant…

For breakfast yesterday, I made breakfast cookies for me and Ari.

Ari’s was made according to the usual method, but I experimented with mine a little bit.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tbsp PB2
• 2 T almond milk
• 1/2 scoop protein powder (I just bought a new kind, vanilla-flavored Designer Whey… not what I wanted, but it was on sale)

• toppings: cinnamon, 1/2 peach

After fumbling around on the computer for an embarrassingly long time, I headed down to the gym.  I did 16 minutes on the stairs at level 10 (whew!), arms, 3 minutes of running at 6.5 and 9 minutes walking at 4.0 at a 4% incline, and abs.

Total time: 58:05 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 191 (96%)

Average heart rate: 155 (78%)

Calories burned: 551

On the way out of the gym, I snacked on an apple:

I had some things to pick up chez maman et papa (read: magazines), so I brought my leftover stir-fry uptown and heated it up with a scoop of Thai red curry paste:

To rehydrate the veggies and keep them from sticking the pan, I added a couple tablespoons of skim milk and the last of the bag of Trader Joe’s Multigrain Pilaf.

I’ve been so thirsty lately, so I had about a gallon of water (with said reading material):

For dessert, I had a mango with a little sea salt:

A little later, I met up with my Greg at Starbucks.  I got a Grande Unsweetened Passion Tea Lemonade and sucked it down pretty fast on a stoop.

I had a lot of reading to do and limited time, so after leaving Greg I went home to get some work done.  Midway through, I broke for a quick dinner: spinach with salsa, hummus, a Laughing Cow wedge, grapes, and a chik’n patty.  Is it weird that fake chicken is one of my favorite things to eat?

For dessert, I had dried fruit, dark chocolate, and almond butter.  One day I’ll change, but that day is not today.

We tried to watch a movie and go to bed early, but Ari’s having some wisdom teeth issues and I’m still an insomniac, so morning came waaaay too early.  I had every intention of getting up to run- and I even did get out of bed and put on my gym clothes- but my eyes were burning and I just couldn’t get myself out the door.  Tomorrow is another day.

We went to the diner for breakfast… A was looking pretty unhappy because of his teethies so I was nice and didn’t photograph him this time.

Our omelets (egg whites with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and feta) took a while to come out, so I ate it in 5 minutes flat so I wouldn’t be late to work.  Oof.

I also inhaled some buttery whole wheat toast on my way out the door.

I stopped at a bakery on the way to work and picked up a seeded roll to eat the oysters with.

A while ago I won one of Erica‘s contests, and she sent me PeTA’s Vegan College Cookbook.  I vaguely remembered a pickle/chickpea salad (and I think Erin made something similar a while back), so I whipped up one of my own.  It was pretty good, although not the most aesthetically pleasing things:

• 6 oz plain Chobani Greek yogurt
• 1/2 can chickpeas
• 1 BIG garlic dill pickle
• two shakes cumin
• two shakes rice wine vinegar

I ended up only eating a few bites of oysters and half the roll, but I scarfed down the salad and apple.

Later on, I snacked on a Chocolate Brownie PURE bar.

Nutrition facts can be found here.

Pros: Dense dark chocolatey taste, with walnutty hunks.  Very fudgy, like a “real” brownie.

Cons: Like Larabars, it’s a little high in calories to use as an end-of-the-meal treat.

Would I buy this again? Yes, for a satisfying chocolate fix.  However, I’m still having a hard time tracking these down and have only found them in one Trader Joe’s.

After work, I met up with Caitlin for coffee.  We went to Third Rail, a coffee shop in the West Village that’s only been open for 11 days.  I got an iced coffee with skim milk and sugar in the raw:

After a lot of window shopping (and sighing), we stopped at Caitlin’s for a pit stop, where she kindly fed me a banana.

After leaving her house, I went to McNally Jackson Books for a reading from Heavy Roation, a collection of essays of authors reminiscnces of records that changed their lives.  Each story was accompanied by the song featured in it, the highlight of which was a cover of the Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back.” You’d be amazed how high the [male] singer could sing!

The reading didn’t end until 8:30, by which point I was beyond ravenous.  I raced home and grilled a wrap with spinach, pepper jack, hummus and a Morningstar Farms Mushroom Lovers Burger.

I ate it with a side of more spinach dressed in rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.  I ate it all fast, standing over the sink, like Diane Lane in Must Love Dogs.  Yep.

Dessert was the same as last night (scroll up), but I was really craving some Tasti D.  Maybe tomorrow.

Off to bed.  Hope you had a great Tuesday!

Yesterday’s smoothie was so good that last night, while I was waiting (and waiting, and waiting…) for sleep to come, I thought about the one I would make this morning: Ginger [...]]]> I’ve actually woken up every morning this week and thought that that day was Earth Day… but it really is today! I think.

Yesterday’s smoothie was so good that last night, while I was waiting (and waiting, and waiting…) for sleep to come, I thought about the one I would make this morning: Ginger Pear.

• 1/4 block silken tofu
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1 small pear
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger powder
• agave nectar
• 2 ice cubes

It needed a little something else, so I ran back upstairs (my roommate was sleeping again so I went to the basement to blend… check out the sweet digs!) and came back with some leftover light canned peaches. I ended up adding three slices, as well as a little of the syrup.

It just fit in the glass! The consistency was, again, light and fluffy.

I felt like  I was drinking Spring.

From now until next Earth Day, I will make a conscious effort to buy more locally-grown and organic produce. I also want to plant a tree somewhere. Maybe my dad, green thumb gardener that he is, will have some ideas.  In the next month, I’m going to use my car as little as possible! What will you do, or do you already do, to help make the planet more sustainable?

Have a great day!

For lunch today, I had a salad with romaine, tomatoes, feta, onions, a Morningstar Farms Italin Herb Chik’n patty with ketchup and mustard, hummus, and a vinegar/sesame oil dressing.

I also had a yogurt:

And an almond truffle left over from Valentine’s Day!

I [...]]]> Ooof, what a long day! I graduate a month from tomorrow… very surreal!

For lunch today, I had a salad with romaine, tomatoes, feta, onions, a Morningstar Farms Italin Herb Chik’n patty with ketchup and mustard, hummus, and a vinegar/sesame oil dressing.

I also had a yogurt:

And an almond truffle left over from Valentine’s Day!

I took a long nap and forced myself to go on a run when I woke up, probably somewhere between 2 and 2.5 miles. It was really hot! Now I know what all the Floridians are talking about.

I thought I wouldn’t need an afternoon snack, but I ended up getting really hungry so I had an apple:

And a granola bar. Much better!

I made a wrap to bring to the library, which I’d been looking forward to all day! Peanut butter, 1/2 banana, cinnamon and blueberry jam on a Flat-Out. Yum!

I also had some carrots.

The Senior Gift Fund at my school decided to bring us to the Surly Brewing Company to give us incentive to donate to our annual fund. They provided school buses, so the way over there was a bit of a party! I shared a 312 Goose Island on the way there.

While there, I had a few 3-oz samples.

Here’s the 16-grit (these are pretty strong; they have 10% alcohol):

A Cynic:

A Coffee Bender (which tastes just like cold press coffee):

I also had an American IPA (not pictured), which was a lot fruitier and lighter.

The founder and owner of Surly graduated from my college.

He sold their first brew in 2006, after sending out a home-brew instead of a birth announcement for his first son! What a great idea.

This was my first brewery tour; it was a lot of fun and really interesting to see the inside of a small brewing company.  I have a few friends here who brew their own beer, and I think it was kind of inspirational for them to see it grow into a small business.

There were snacks at the brewery; I had some cheese and crackers and fruit and veggies (not pictured).

When I got home, I had some Stonyfield Farms After Dark Chocolate frozen yogurt with half of a chocolate chip Hot ‘n Healthy bar with canned peaches.

I’m zonked! Time for bed.  Hope you had a great night!