On Friday morning, I made one of the [...]]]> Good evening! I’m so sorry about the posting delay; I spent the weekend with older that, while it still works, is just not up to blogging speed.  No matter! Today’s will just be Doublemint style; double the pleasure, and most definitely double the fun

On Friday morning, I made one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in a long time: Butternut Oatmeal Pie. The combination of flavors and textures really did taste like a Fall dessert!

In the bowl:

• 1/2 cup steel-cut oats, soaked overnight
• butternut squash purée
• Greek yogurt
• walnuts
• agave
• cinnamon
• nutmeg

I spent a lot of time puttering around, catching up on e-mails and cleaning.  I ended up leaving the house pretty late, so my time at the gym was minimal!  I did manage to get a total-body workout in, though: 10 minutes on the stairs, arms/lazy abs (one ab machine), and 10 minutes on the bike.  It’s very efficient, if you only have half an hour.  On the way in, I gobbled down a Trader Joe’s Mixed Berry Fiberful bar.

After making myself moderately presentable, I headed uptown to meet Caitlin for lunch at Alice’s Tea Cup.

I’m a creature of habit, and always order the Light Fare: small salad, soup & bread.  I was very excited when I heard they were serving butternut squash soup… but, of course, it was made with chicken stock.  Instead I ordered the lentil soup, which bummed me out a teensy bit because a) it seems like always have lentil soup, and b) I still have a big vat of leftover lentil sitting in the fridge! But it was still good, and their bread was amazing as usual.

The warm pear + endive salad with carmelized onions and roquefort cheese was, as always, very good…

I think I’m just a little burned out on the Tea Cup. Never thought that day would come? Neither did I.  After lunch, Caitlin and I wandered around, hit up some sample sales, and wandered around trying to figure out what kind of tasty treat we were craving.  Turned out to be… nothing! We couldn’t make up our minds, which I think was because we were actually pretty full from lunch.  On my walk home, however, I stopped and bought an apple from a vendor on the street (and scored last month’s issue of SELF for $1!). Hit the spot!

A little while later I met up with Greg for dinner, and we stopped at our favorite Middle Eastern hole-in-the-wall for take-out falafel. The restaurant has undergone some ownership changes and is now lit with bright flourescents and features a Maoz-style logo.  Strange.  I ordered the falafel/hummus plate, which came with pita and about a pound of yummus.  I ate all of the falafel (which was a little cold by the time we ate it, but still good) and a piece of pita, and saved the rest of the bread and hum for later.

We then went back out for drinks and chat…

… which led to this.

I don’t even really like Ben & Jerry’s, but Peanut Butter Cookie Dough? Half-Baked Frozen Yogurt? I couldn’t say no.  I felt a little sick afterwards, to say the least… oops.

When I woke up the next morning, my mama was ready to RUN!  We fueled up with coffee, and headed out for a leisurely 2 mile walk-run.  When we got back, I dug into my hummus and pita leftovers, topping them with a microwaved egg, salt & pepper.

This was a delicious combination, and I’ll have to re-create it soon.

I also had 0% Fage, an apple and cinnamon.

Finally, my mom and I headed out to take on the day and run some errands.   On our walk downtown, we got distracted by the delicious smells coming out of Georgia’s Bake Shop and stopped inside.  I munched on a chocolate almond croissant to better fuel my shopping tasks. Scrumptiously decadent

We crossed everything off our our lists in record time, and did a stellar job shopping the sales.  On the walk home, we munched on Gala apples.

I also introduced her to chunks of energy… she was a fan!

Since I never ate a formal “lunch”,  I snacked pretty much throughout the entire day… when I was little, I followed the “six small meals” plan completely unknowingly!  I like to sample, what can I say.

We had some surprise guests for dinner (Judy and Caitlin!), so I helped my dad get dinner ready.  While we were prepping ingredients, I sipped on a glass of Black Box Wine Sauvignon Blanc.

Whenever we have company, everyone gravitates towards the kitchen!

My mom set out dried apricots, walnuts, and rosemary-baked bread sticks.

Dinner was superb.  We started with avocado halves dressed with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic, salt & pepper.

And for the main event: mango/onion/green pepper salad with chili-infused dressing, shrimp stir-fry with homemade Italian egg noodles, and steamed asparagus.

For dessert, we had fresh figs dressed in lavender honey served with Haagen-Dazs’ Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream.

It took a couple tries to get the ice cream right, though…notice anything funny?

The carton on the left was missing the chocolate-covered almonds, and they’re the best part!  I’ll be calling the company tomorrow.  Once, I bought a box of Oreos that were missing the cream filling!  What’s the goofiest product blunder you’ve ever come across?

Regular posting will resume tomorrow.  I hope you had a great weekend!

Hi lovepies! I’m so sorry for slacking on my duties yesterday, but Ari and I were having such a nice time enjoying the sunshine (and admiring Mr. Jackman) that there just wasn’t an extra minute! So, without further ado, I’ll backtrack to Saturday night.

We celebrated with a little Robert [...]]]>

Hi lovepies! I’m so sorry for slacking on my duties yesterday, but Ari and I were having such a nice time enjoying the sunshine (and admiring Mr. Jackman) that there just wasn’t an extra minute! So, without further ado, I’ll backtrack to Saturday night.

We celebrated with a little Robert Mondavi Cabernet before heading out to dinner.

We wanted to have a nice dinner, so we headed over to Basta Pasta.  The restaurant is Japanese Italian fusion, and the best meal you’ll get for under $20 in New York. This is, honestly, some of the best pasta I’ve ever had. Every time I go there I get the same thing, but each bite is pure heaven. The pasta is handmade, and the kitchens (one for savory, one for dessert) are exposed so you can watch the magic happen (and salivate).

I ordered the handkerchief pasta with mushrooms and ricotta.

It’s light, fluffy, and even after finishing every scrap, I didn’t feel stuffed or bloated.

After dinner, we headed home so I could raid the freezer.  I found some Breyer’s Vanilla Carb Smart ice cream, which I topped with a nice hunk of peanut butter.

We were both so tired from not having slept very well the night before (and I’m sure the vino helped) that we went to bed really early and slept in late.  For some reason, when I’ve gone more than 12 hours without eating, I either get really hungry, or I feel like I don’t need to eat anything for a while.  We didn’t end up eating until 3, but I felt fine!

We got some iced coffee to kill time while we waited for our table to be ready at Alice’s Tea Cup.  This was Ari’s first time having it… he put his qualms with drinking coffee cold aside, but refused to use a straw.

We were in that weird limbo between “brunch” and “lunch,” and because I always have to get the same thing, we waited an additional 20 minutes after we sat down so that I could get my usual “Light Fare.” It’s a little pathetic that I always order the same thing here, but why mess with a good thing?

The Light Fare comes with 1/2 sandwich or salad and a bowl of soup (chickpea artichoke) and a light and fluffy hunk of herbed bread.

I ordered the warm pear and endive salad; the pears and onions are carmelized and topped with a soft, crumbly stilton.  I dream about this salad.

We went to see Wolverine (thumbs up!) then home to pick up some of my things (like my laptop) and have dinner.  We’ve been so naughty about eating out, but it’s only been two days and obviously this can’t continue forever.  I’m really craving a home-cooked meal, though… I haven’t had one in almost two weeks!

I snacked on some radishes while waiting for our delivery.

We ordered from a new local Thai restaurant: “Virgin” Summer Rolls with tofu, mint, carrots, rice noodles, lettuce, and a peanut plum dipping sauce:

We split two entrées: black pepper grilled whirmp with water chestnuts and romaine:

And three mushroom stir-fry with silken tofu.

I had it with a little brown rice (and a lot of Sriracha):

A few hours later I had a bowl of heaven: Haagen Dazs low-fat Vanilla Raspberry frozen yogurt with hot fudge and one of Anna‘s PB&C cookies.

Well, now it’s morning and I’m thinking about either going back to sleep or getting some breakfast.  Touch choice.  Have a great Memorial Day!

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!

Isn’t Keri Russel great? I just love her.

The last Easter egg (dark chocolate raspberry) was eaten this afternoon.  My feline friend is having a little identity crisis and thinks it’s his job to bring the eggs… not so, Betty Ford, not so!

I took a break from work to eat dinner and watch Eight [...]]]>

Isn’t Keri Russel great? I just love her.

The last Easter egg (dark chocolate raspberry) was eaten this afternoon.  My feline friend is having a little identity crisis and thinks it’s his job to bring the eggs… not so, Betty Ford, not so!

I took a break from work to eat dinner and watch Eight Days a Week…  it was pretty funny at times, sort of like a Superbad- meets- A Christmas Story from 1997, but with a naughty Italian grandfather (who has a Yiddish accent…?).  A little disturbing to see Annie Camden play a sultry divorcée, but whatever.

Some of this wine was had… just because my night was spent with Longfellow doesn’t mean it had to be completely miserable! Too bad it tasted like dishwater.

It did have a cool black cork, though.

Dinner was pretty simple.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted, but chose to have something simple and not too time-consuming: sweet potato with B&B, cinnamon (let’s see how many things I can put it on in one day!) and brown sugar,  a salmon burger with BBQ sauce, and brown rice with nutritional yeast and cilantro.

I thought the nutritional yeast would give it enough flavor to not need salt, but that was false.  I ended on dumping on not just salt but a lot of lemon juice as well.

Dessert was Stonyfield Farms After Dark Nonfat fro-yo, two light Del Monte pear halves, and a Chunky Monkey No-Pudge brownie.

I should probably stop trying to win the “let’s-see-how-many-desserts-I-can-eat-in-one-day” contest one of these days.  Not tonight!

Have a good one and HAPPY EASTER!

I slept so badly last night.  I couldn’t fall asleep, and when I finally did, I kept waking up. Bah. I watched The Limey in spurts yesterday [...]]]> Go on, tell your alarm clock how you feel.  I promise it’ll make you feel better, although I can’t guarantee that you’ll necessarily feel more awake.

I slept so badly last night.  I couldn’t fall asleep, and when I finally did, I kept waking up. Bah. I watched The Limey in spurts yesterday during my study breaks.  I really liked it, even though it wasn’t entirely plot-heavy.  Luis Guzman is one of my favorite actors, and he did not disappoint.

I planned on getting up at 8 and going for a run this morning, but my body ached this morning from not getting enough sleep so I just fought with the snooze button for an hour instead.  Hopefully I’ll be able to go between classes later.

There was a really mush pear in my fruit bowl that I needed to use up, so I made a breakfast cookie.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 T peanut butter
• 2 T soy milk
• 1 pear
• mixed nut garnish

I made a big pot of coffee as well, but I don’t think I like the taste of soy milk in it when it’s not a full-blown latte. There’s a huge carton in my fridge that needs to be used up, though, so soy it is.

Hope your week is off to a great start.  What do you do when you can’t fall asleep?

I had a [finally ripe] pear as a snack to hold me over a little longer until lunch.

When I did eat, I had a toasted sandwich with hummus, peppered Tofurky (this website made me laugh), and [...]]]> Howdy! I am pleased to report that the weather is currently 51˚, which means bye bye black ice!

I had a [finally ripe] pear as a snack to hold me over a little longer until lunch.

When I did eat, I had a toasted sandwich with hummus, peppered Tofurky (this website made me laugh), and spinach.

Yummy yummy.

I had the rest of my Imagine mushroom soup in a big mug, just because I felt like drinking it.  You know how it goes.

With a side of Alice Walker…

I am mighty full, so I think I’ll wait a while to go to the gym.  Maybe I’ll take just a teensy nap…

This little guy greeted me bright and early:

1/2 cup oats

1/2 scoop vanilla protein [...]]]> The internet has been so fickle this morning! It’s been partway loading and then stopping. VERY irksome! However, I did still have a nice and relaxing morning at home (even though my nights are late, my mornings are long and relaxing.

This little guy greeted me bright and early:

1/2 cup oats

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp skim milk

1/2 banana

garnishes: prunes, raisins, pecan (good addition!)

I also had a pot of coffee to myself and read my news. Poor John Updike.

After fiddling around trying to get the internet to work and a few good hours of procrastination, I decided to do a Yoga Download.  I did Power Yoga #4, 25-minute free class.  It was pretty arm-heavy (lots of planks and downward-dogs, but it felt great to stretch out my muscles after Step yesterday.

For lunch, I made a variation of my favorite sandwich of all time: cheddar and pear (I usually make it with Granny Smith apples) on cinnamon raisin bread.  De-lish.  I broiled it in the oven until the cheese was gooey, although i toasted the sides a little bit.

This sandwich is also great if your fruit is a little unripe; cooking it brings out the juices and flavor.   I made a carrot fortress inspired by Caitlin to protect my sammie from the gerkin juice.

I have a break between my afternoon and night classes, so I’m going to try to squeeze in a nice workout at the gym and pick up my iron supplements.  Runner’s World has an article about running newbies that’s pretty interesting (what it feels like, how to prevent injury, etc.). I feel like a newbie again, and I want to be as cautious as possible.

Have a great Wednesday!