Yesterday I was in a rush to get [...]]]> After all of your great advice about fitting exercise into a busy schedule and even sleeping in my gym clothes, I slept through the alarm and didn’t make it to the gym before work!  (I did get there after 5, though, so all was not lost).

Yesterday I was in a rush to get out the door; luckily breakfast was a no-brainer.  I took Ari’s rejected breakfast cookie…

… and turned it into a Breakfast Cookie Parfait! I just cut it up and layered it with nonfat plain yogurt and a little cinnamon.  It was yummy and filling; I think I may eat it this way more often!

At work, I snacked on a Fuji apple (cut into slices to minimize loud crunching).

For lunch, I had leftover tofu, cheezy “pasta” and an orange.

I made the “pasta” by tossing a package of angel hair Shirataki noodles with Elise’s cheeze sauce and cherry tomatoes.  I was a little skeptical about the “cheeze” at first, but I really liked the taste!  And I love having Shirataki noodles for lunch… I tend to prefer to eat heavy pastas for dinner instead of early in the day, and this was nice and light.

Anticipating my post-work sweat sesh, I snacked on a Green Superfood Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar around 3.  The last time I ate this bar I wasn’t crazy about it, but I really like it now.  The first bite is a little odd, but then it’s smooth, rich and fruity.

At the gym I did 13 minutes on the bike, 20 minutes on the stairs, arms + abs.  Not bad for a total body workout in under an hour!

I met my parents for dinner at Regional, an Italian restaurant on the upper west side.   We started with rustic bread and garlicky bean dip…  (Still learning this camera… sorry again about the lighting!)

We shared a mixed green salad with beets and gorgonzola cheese three ways.

We also split a side of sautéed broccoli rabe.

For my entrée, I ordered spaghettini with frutti di mare.  The pasta was cooked perfectly, but the seafood was tough and overcooked.  The restaurant was pretty crowded and we’ve never had this problem before; I’ve worked in restaurants before and I understand that this happens sometimes.  I still ate almost all of it.

After dinner we walked to Tasti D Lite for frozen yogurt.  It was way too cold to eat on the walk home, but I ate my cup of peanut butter and coffee and cream with chocolate chips as soon as I warmed up.

I slept for a glorious 8 hours and woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the day.  My mom and I made steel-cut oatmeal and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.

My bowl had:

• steel-cut oats cooked in skim milk + water
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1/3 banana
• warmed frozen strawberries
• walnuts
• cinnamon
• brown sugar

We also sampled my dad’s Turkish flagel (flat bagel) with sour cherry jam.

I went to the soup kitchen, then headed to Brooklyn to have lunch with my little red-headed friend at Kiku, the Japanese restaurant we discovered (and loved!) but couldn’t recall the name of.   We figured out that when it comes to Japanese food, you can get a FABULOUS lunch for under $10!  The same meal, while still a great deal, is at least $5 more expensive at dinner-time.

My meal came with salad + miso soup…

My Lunch Box came with California rolls, salmon teriyaki + vegetables, edamame, shumai and rice.  I took the rice home but ate everything else.

Even though we were pretty full, our playdates are never finished without a treat.  We popped in to Marquet Patisserie, an adorable bakery that transported me right back to the streets of Paris (where I studied abroad).

I had a chocolate brownie with crushed peanuts.

The late lunch + snack held me over so well that I wasn’t ready to eat dinner until after 9 o’clock.  And then I had what I can assure you, nine days yet, was The Most Random Meal of 2010:

Egg whites scrambled with a Dr. Praeger’s Tex-Mex Burger with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese…

… and shredded broccoli stalks with miso-tahini dressing (tahini, apple cider vinegar, ginger, miso paste, agave nectar, salt).  It’s better than it looks!

Inspired by all of Erin‘s pudding creations, I whipped up one of my new favorite desserts using two of my (formerly) not-so favorite products.

Tofu “pudding”

• 1/3 block silken tofu
• 1 T Chocolate PB2
• 1/3 packet stevia

Mix to combine.  Enjoy!

This was the first time I’ve actually enjoyed stevia! I don’t really like powdered sweeteners (I don’t normally take sugar in my coffee or tea, and often find sugar substitutes to be too sweet).  However, blended with the tofu and PB2.  As long as I don’t think of PB2 as a peanut butter substitute, I can enjoy it mixed in to other things.  Peanut butter is what it is, and shouldn’t be messed around with.  Just sayin’!

I also ate about 15 of these throughout the day.  It will be a sad day in the LVP household when  go out of season.

I’m watching Jackie Brown in bed and getting ready to go to sleep.  I think I’m going to pull out my mat and do a quick YogaDownload Lunar Flow.. tomorrow will be a busy day, and it always helps me relax!

Hope you had a great night

Last night I made a breakfast cookie for this morning using chia seeds!  I figured they’d have time [...]]]> Hey there, chickadees.  Talk about a humpday! I didn’t even realize it was Wednesday until it was almost 5:00… this week is going by so slowly.  It must be an after-effect of the holidays, but seriously!

Last night I made a breakfast cookie for this morning using chia seeds!  I figured they’d have time to plump up and turn into the “gel” if they soaked over night.

In the cookie:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• big splash of skim milk
• 1 tsp almond butter
• toppings: cinnamon, 1 almond nose, 2 prune eyes, goji berry smile (makes Jim look a little bit creepy!)

I made Ari one, too, but added more oats and left out the chia.  (He must not have been feeling this particular mixture; there were only two little spoonfuls missing when I got home from work.)

I thought I took my time to get ready this morning, but when I got to work I realized that while I’d thought I’d applied brown eyeliner, it had really been purple!  Whoopsies.  But hey, why not pretend you’re at the club when it’s 9 AM on a Wednesday? Spice up your day!

Around 11, I snacked on a tangerine (and ate another one at 3).

For lunch, I had the last of the Tomatoey Spiced Chickpeas with mixed greens and pita bread.   I actually ate with my coworkers and not at my desk,  but since I’m still new I didn’t want to explain the blog to a big group of people all at once (although some do know).

At 4:30, as the work day was coming to a close, I had half of a Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif Bar.   I really wasn’t all that hungry, I just wanted something to chew on.

When I got home, the band was packing up and getting ready to leave for tour.  I helped load the van (no need to strength train when you date a musician… music gear is heavy!) then made dinner.  I’ve been wanting to make Heidi Swanson’s Sushi Bowl for ages, and I did!  I made a few adjustments for time and taste, starting with substituting her tofu for Gliding Calm’s.  I also added sesame seeds to the marinade.

Instead of cooking a new batch of rice, I used up the last of the Harvest Grains blend.  This is a keeper! You don’t even really need to use the recipe (although the dressing is mighty fine).

I sipped a glass of The Big Red Monster wine with dinner… the beast was unleashed.

Anticipating the next month’s Arilessness, I made myself a huge bowl of Coconut Bliss ice cream (Mint Galactica, Naked Coconut, Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge) with homemade chocolate sauce (two kinds of melted chocolate chips + water).

You can bet you’ll see a lot of that in the next few weeks.  I miss my boy already.

There are few things more exciting and anticipatory for me than Christmas morning… I hope that feeling never goes away! Everyone else is still sleeping, and, “as giddy as a schoolboy,” I am up and ready to bring on the holiday! But I’ll be a nice daughter and girlfriend [...]]]>

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

There are few things more exciting and anticipatory for me than Christmas morning… I hope that feeling never goes away! Everyone else is still sleeping, and, “as giddy as a schoolboy,” I am up and ready to bring on the holiday! But I’ll be a nice daughter and girlfriend and can wait a little bit longer. Let me tell you about Christmas Eve!

I had the best of intentions yesterday… I really was planning to go to the gym before work. I even made breakfast the night before to take with me and eat at the office! Jim really is the best of all portable breakfasts.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 packet Tera’s Whey Bourbon Vanilla protein powder (I think this made my cookie fluffier than usual)
• 1 banana
• 1 scoop Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter
• 2 T skim milk
• toppings: prunes, goji berries, cinnamon

This was a winning combination. The sweet spicy peanut butter was excellent, and the goji berries plumped up over night and were soft and chewy, not hard and gummy as they usually are on their own.

Anyway, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I didn’t make it to the gym. I just snoozed, and snoozed… and snoozed! I ended up getting up an hour later than I do on regular days! Good thing I packed my breakfast. At work, I also snacked on an apple. (Skirt by J.Crew, tights by Trina Turk for hue.)

We had an early close at the office, so my mom met me and we went to Le Pain Quotidien for lunch.

I wanted something hot, so I got a small soy chai to warm up. It needed the teensiest bit of extra sugar.

For my entrée, I ordered the Organic Tofu Salad with nori, mixed greens, and three savory dressings. It also came with organic bread.

We split a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert… it was Christmas Eve, after all! (I’m not a huge fan of this kind of pie crust, so I cut it off. This can also save you about 100 calories, if you are so inclined.)

New York is in full Christmas swing right now.

We stumbled on a holiday crafts fair on our walk home!

I was very excited to find a stall selling Fine & Raw chocolate.

After chatting with the self-described “Fine & Raw elf”, we knew we had to try some raw hot chocolate.

We split a small cup with a “shake” of sea salt… divine. I’ll have to try their chocolate bars sometime!

Finally, we headed home to get started on the festivities!

Ari came over, and we all started on the tree.

I am very picky about who gets to top our tree… Santa always wins!

No tree-trimming party is complete without champagne…

Cheers!

My dad really outdid himself to make a special Christmas Eve dinner for us to enjoy together.

We had a bottle of Joseph Faiveley Mâcon-Villages to complement our meal.

Whenever there’s wine to be opened, Ari has to do it.

This wine key is supposed to be idiot-proof, but I just can’t figure it out! It’s become a bit of a joke.

We started with a pumpkin and sweet potato soup made with a coconut milk base, sweet spices, cilantro and toasted peanuts:

Curried lobster (!), Israeli couscous with cauliflower, and herbed tomatoes he slow-roasted for five hours. It was a fabulous meal.

As per LVP tradition, we closed the meal with bûche de Noël (“yule log”). Ours came from Balthazar; we’ve been getting these for years and years and after careful research are convinced this is the best one.

It’s a chocolate cake with vanilla cream, marzipan, and hints of rum and mocha.

After dinner, we all watched Christmas Vacation. We couldn’t find our copy last year (very sad), but this year was a success. The only Christmas movies Ari had seen are It’s A Wonderful Life and The Santa Clause (one of my favorites), and I think he really liked it! After the movie, we migrated back to the Christmas tree to continue with our Christmas Eve tradition…

… reading The Polar Express aloud together.

Charley tried to read a little, too.

Well, I think it’s time! I’m going to go rally the troops. Have a wonderful day, wherever it finds you. Stay merry

My boss has a subscription to Harry and David’s Fruit of the Month club, and [...]]]> Happy Tuesday, chickadees! I hope you’ve had a fabulous day.  My day was nice and easy.  I’ve come to really appreciate the short hours I have when I get home, though! I try to stretch them to their fullest.

My boss has a subscription to Harry and David’s Fruit of the Month club, and this December she received a pineapple!  She didn’t want it and was worried it would rot if she left it in the kitchen, so I got it! Lucky me.  I LOVE pineapple, but never buy it for myself.

I woke up this morning not really knowing what I wanted, so I looked in the pantry and came out with a packet of Tera’s Whey Bourban Vanilla protein powder.

I mixed half a packet in with some plain yogurt, then topped the mixture with granola, pineapple and a drizzle of almond butter.

I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out what time I need to leave to get to work and still be a few minutes early, so I leave myself with enough time to relax and enjoy a leisurely breakfast.  No one else is up in the house at this time, and it’s nice to have a little time to myself.

At work, I snacked on a pretzel, crunchiness be damned.

I started to get hungry at 12, but knew I would be starving if I ate all of my lunch that early.  So I just ate my side of molasses-roasted Brussels sprouts, and saved the rest for later.

When I was ready to eat the rest about an hour later, I had a salad with romaine, Whole Foods’ tempeh with roasted peppers, and tabouleh from Hummus Place.

…and more pineapple.  Such a treat!

I started to get hungry again around 4, so I snacked on a mini Chocolate Brownie Clif bar.

At the urging of both of my parents, I packed my gym bag last night and brought it to work with me.  At 5:00, I was not only ready to work out but excited to do so! It felt so good to work up a sweat after sitting still for 8 hours.  As soon as I changed clothes, I hopped on the treadmill and ran 3 miles.

Mile 1: warm-up at 5.8 mph, 0.5% incline

Mile 2: intervals at speeds between 6.1 and 7.0 mph, 0.5% incline

Mile 3: intervals at speeds between 5.8 and 6.3 mph, 0.5% incline

Mile 3.0-3.3: walking at 4.0 mph, 3.5% incline

I’m going to have to get used to running on the treadmill as long as the ground is icy outside.  I love the snow, but I have to admit: I’m a little jealous of our Floridian friends who can run outside through the year!  It was a little harder for me to stay focused today because I haven’t been able to find my iPod since my last long run before the 15K (when I borrowed Ari’s).  If I don’t find it soon, I think I’m going to have to use one of my paychecks to buy a new one… I don’t listen to it while walking around anymore (although I used to be plugged into my headphones all the time outside of the house!), but music is crucial when I exercise.  We’ll see.

When I got home from the gym, I was so hungry I thought I would eat my own hand.  Luckily, I’d been thinking about dinner all day so it took no time to imagine and prepare!  I just heated up leftover seafood linguine and last night’s branzino, seasoned my dish with chili flakes, and I was ready to go.

For dessert, I had one of each of my homemade holiday treats (which my coworkers loved, by the way): pumpkin molasses cookie, sugar cookie (dusted with cinnamon sugar), Hershey kiss-stuffed chocolate cookie, Aztec chocolate bark.

Now I’m in bed, sipping a mug of Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea, watching the end of Saving Silverman.  Sleep is imminent!

Melissa awarded me with this Beautiful Blogger award.

As the rules dictate, here are 7 random facts about me!

1. I really like the show Golden Girls, but I can never decide who my favorite is! I think it’s Rose (Betty White), but they all play off each other so well.

2. I can’t wink or snap my fingers.  (I may have mentioned this one before!)

3. I really want a pug or a French bulldog.  Ari also wants me to write down that I am not allowed to have one.

4. I’ve seen the movie Reality Bites more than 20 times.

5.  I hate being on speakerphone. HATE. DO NOT EVEN TRY,

6. If you watch A Positive Rage, the documentary about the Hold Steady, you will see me front row center in the audience at the show at First Avenue in Minneapolis!

7. The first rated R movie I ever saw was Greedy, with Michael J. Fox.

That’s it! Pretty random. Thanks for the award, Melissa.  Everyone else: feel free to list your on 7 facts! I love reading them

Night!

Yesterday morning I decided that I needed all the friends I could get to help me stay [...]]]> Good morning, all! Thank you so much for all the well-wishes.  I’m feeling 100% better now, especially after reading all of your comments!  It seems like most of you have had your share of food poisoning.  Blegh!

Yesterday morning I decided that I needed all the friends I could get to help me stay well, so Jim kept me company for breakfast.

This breakfast cookie was made with:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 2 T skim milk
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 T PB2
• Toppings: cinnamon, dried craisins/raisins, pecan

I puttered around on the computer for a little too long, and by the time I was ready to go for a run, I was hungry again!  I grabbed a date on the day out the door.

This run was… not good.  It took a little while for me to get warmed up, and by the time I found my groove, I had to stop every 30 seconds or so because of the silly stitch in my side! It was in the same place as its been for the last couple weeks: above my right ribcage.  After 3.5 miles, I finally got so frustrated that I just walked the last mile home.  And I didn’t just walk… I walked at a snail’s pace.  Everyone on the street passed me, and I’m sure I looked furious about it.  When I got home, I plunked down on the computer and found this lovely Wikipedia entry explaining just what the Side Stitch is… I’m going to squelch this little bugger once and for all!

When exercising, a side stitch (also called a side ache, a side cramp, a side crampie, a side sticker or simply a stitch) is an intense stabbing pain under the lower edge of the ribcage. It is also referred to as exercise related transient abdominal pain (ETAP). This pain may be caused by the internal organs (like the liver and stomach) pulling downwards on the diaphragm, though an exact mechanism remains to be elucidated. Consistent with the suspected cause, it is more likely to occur in sports involving up and down actions – like running, jumping, swimming and equestrianism. If the pain is present only when exercising and is completely absent at rest, in an otherwise healthy person, it is benign and does not require investigation. There are a variety of published ways of alleviating the symptoms including adjusting at what point in your stride you inhale

Causes: Most of the time, side stitches occur on the right side of the body. This is due to the largest organ in the abdominal cavity, the liver, being on that side. Certain athletes also report a pain in the tip of their shoulder blade. This is believed to be because this is a referred of pain for the diaphragm via the phrenic nerve. When the side stitch is on the right published advice is to try to exhale when your left foot lands.

Prevention:

• Improve fitness
• Strengthen the diaphragm by using exercises such as those that aid respiratory rehabilitation
• Strengthen core muscles (abdominals,lower back, obliques)
• Limit consumption of food and drink two to three hours before exercising (in particular, drinks of high carbohydrage content and osmolarity (reconstituted fruit juices))
• Drink water beforehand to prevent muscle cramps
• Warm up properly
• Gradually increase exercise intensity when running
• Exhale when the left foot hits the ground, and inhale when the right foot hits the ground
• Run on soft surfaces

Curing a Side Stitch:

• Stop exercising. With the digits, push into the abdomen on the right side, and up under the rib cage. At the same time, forcefully let out a deep exhale while holding the lips closely together.
• Try belly breathing; inhale while pushing out the stomach, and on the exhale, relax the stomach muscles.
• While running, exhale when your foot strikes on the opposite side that the side stitch is located. For example, a side stitch on the right, exhale hard when your left foot strikes the ground.
• Reduce the frequency of breathing (e.g. in jogging, inhale for four steps and exhale for four steps)
• Lie down on the back and lift the knee on the side with the stitch up to the chest.
• Do not breathe too hard, shallow breathing for a few minutes at the same time maintain oxygen input levels.
• Relax the mind and do not focus on the stitch itself.
• Put pressure on the affected area, not enough to hurt, but just enough so the pain subsides

THANK YOU, Wikipedia!  I’m certainly going to try these out. As my mom said, stitches make you feel like you’re having a heart attack!

I ate my lunch in two parts. Part 1 was leftover Health Valley Corn & Vegetable soup with Bragg’s and Sriracha:

Part 2, an hour or so later, was a big salad with romaine, sprouts, carrots, hummus, a black bean burger & Annie’s Light Gingerly Vinaigrette.

After lunch, I hopped on the subway and went into the city to get some groceries.  I usually go to Trader Joe’s once a month; it was time! I had to stop at Whole Foods for a few things TJ’s didn’t have (like pumpkin… although they say it’s “seasonal”, they don’t sell it until the end of October! Sad ).

At Whole Foods, I literally bumped into a sample station with my cart for Grandy Oats, who were giving us two flavors of cashews to try: Maple Roasted & Nori Sesame.  What interesting flavors!

They were both delicious, and complemented each other nicely.

When I got home, I laid out my groceries.  Here’s what $58.98 from Trader Joe’s looks like:

And here’s what $26.45 from Whole Foods looks like.  (I didn’t realize until I got home that the “canned pumpkin” was actually “pumpkin pie mix”, but oh well! I won’t need any sweeteners this way )

When I’m shopping for recipes, I usually get everything that I can at the cheapest store (in this case, Trader Joe’s) and get specialty items where I can find them.  The prices reflect this!  Thanks for helping me with my coffee question… I ended up listening to Averie and grinding my own at Trader Joe’s. I selected the Breakfast Blend, which is both Fair Trade and Organic, and makes me feel festive drinking something especially for breakfast!

While hustling around, I had a quick snack, using the quinoa crackle I’d made from Body + Soul magazine.

I’d made this, oh, a month ago?! At least it’s getting used up! I plopped two tablespoons with 1/2 banana on top of Trader Joe’s Organic Nonfat Vanilla Greek yogurt.

After whipping up a few things in the kitchen (to be enjoyed later in the week), I headed over to Caitlin‘s gym to go to an event hosted by SELF‘s Reach Your Goal program. On the way in, we passed yet another sample station.

Katie Graham – or the “Green Smoothie Mama”- is a holistic health coach who works with the Equinox gym to ensure clients’ minds, bodies & spirits are in sync.  She gave us each a shot of her wheatgrass/mango/banana blends for us to try. It was delicious!

Caitlin, her friend and I decided to go to the 30/60/90 class: it’s basically Step Aerobics using weights.  Holy moly, was this hard!  I’d already run today, so I had to channel my inner Melissa for the strength.  I did Step in college, and it was nice to get back into it again.

On the way out of the gym, we stopped by the cocktail table… they don’t usually have vodka lying around, so we decided to take advantage of the special event! I had clementine vodka with club soda.

We headed over to Caitlin’s house, where Nancy had prepared a lovely, farmer’s market fresh meal.  We started with a delicious salad (note to self: put lemon juice and parmesan in my dressing):

We also had a fabulous, whole wheat pasta with heirloom tomatoes, fresh herbs from the garden, and mozzarella.

I had 1.5 servings

No meal is complete without dessert, so Tasti D-Lite called… I got a small cup with half Peanut Butter, half German Chocolate Cake, covered with Heath Bar. Mmm. It was a Tasti Tuesday.

I collapsed into bed as soon as I got home, but couldn’t fall asleep.  Don’t you hate when you’re too tired to sleep? Oh well.  I’m off to my internship… have a lovey day!

Yesterday I experimented a little with my breakfast.  I [...]]]> Good morning, ladies and gentleman! I am SO excited for today.  It’s Friday, I slept in, I have the next three days off work, and my little red-headed friend has come home!!! It’s going to be a great weekend.  What do you have planned?

Yesterday I experimented a little with my breakfast.  I had a lot of leftover rice in the fridge that I wanted to get rid of… I often make too much of things like grans and beans, and they end up going bad. Anyway, I decided to try making a breakfast cookie with rice!

• 1/3 cup cooked brown rice
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 banana
• 2 T skim milk
• 1 T PB2
• toppings: cinnamon, dried apricots, dried cherries, 1 walnut

This was actually pretty good! It ended up being a lot creamier than the cookies made with oats.  I would definitely make it again… don’t you love coming up with new uses for leftovers?

I ended up making it to my yoga class just in time, with only enough time to stash my stuff in a locker.  I did a 60 minute Vinyasa flow… I was definitely rusty, but it felt great to get back into it again.  The class was a little unconventional… the instructor played lots of music, like L7 and Ella Fitzgerald.  I really want to start taking more yoga classes.  This may be a steep goal for me, in terms of time, but I would love to be able to go to a class at least once a week. Yogadownload.com is great, but a class is such a different experience.

I was pretty hungry after class, so I picked up an apple at a fruit stand on the street.

After I showered and made myself presentable, I met Caitlin for lunch at Chelsea Market. I don’t know how it’s possible, but I’d never been there before! It’s a big arcade-style collection of specialty food shops, cafés and bakeries; each place, like the Ronnybrook Milk Bar, is very “New York” in its nature.  After we looked around at everything (a terrible thing to do when you’re hungry!) we settled on Amy’s Bread.

I’d been to their Hell’s Kitchen location before, and my dad used to pick up their olive and chocolate twists on the way home from work, but it had been a while.  Everything looked incredible!

It was hard to decide what I wanted, but I ended up going with a salad. This had romaine, avocado, cannelini beans, roasted tomato and zucchini, toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and a lemon vinaigrette.

It came with an olive roll.

It was a perfect lunch.

When we finished, we set off in search of dessert.  Hooray for Thursday Treat Day!  First, we went to Eleni’s, a picture-perfect cookie and cupcake shop.

Their cookies looked too pretty to eat…

… and their cupcakes were GORGEOUS. (See those Obama cookies?!)

I decided that one dessert was not enough for me, so I got one of their “Petit Sin” brownie bites with walnuts.  Caitlin got a beautiful chocolate cupcake with white buttercream…  they made a funny picture next to each other!

It must have been fate that we ended up at Eleni’s, because they were selling a Manhattan Cupcake sampler pack

Next up, we went to Fat Witch Bakery for brownie samples.

Caitlin has raved about these brownies for years, so I was really excited to try them! They were pretty good, but I think my Eleni’s bite was a little better.  And I’m going to be a bit of a snob here and say that the brownies my mom and I make are pretty hard to beat!

My next and final dessert stop was at L’Arte del Gelato.

I was really full at this point, but thought that I should have gelato. Riddle me that!

I got a cup with 1/2 peach sorbetto and 1/2 chocolate hazelnut. This was amazing! The peach sorbetto was fat-free, and so full of flavor.

We finally left Chelsea Market and walked up to the High Line to move a little and check out the new site which just opened on June 9.

We’re going to picnic up here next time.

Can’t you just see Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda lounging on these chic chaises?

Eventually I had to leave for work, so I walked across town to the East Side to the restaurant. While there, I snacked on a Maple Nut Clif Bar.  Love these!

The restaurant was pretty slow last night… I was  able to leave at 9, though.  I made a decent amount of money for the time I was there, and got to watch Project Runway! Do you watch the show? What did you think? Do you have any favorite designers so far?

I took my dinner to go last night. Ramon made me a mixed green salad with walnuts, beets, Italian tuna (!), oranges, and Bufala mozzarella.  I added a little hummus to it at home… it may sound strange, but tuna + hummus is a great combination!

I made a BIG yogurt bowl for dessert with nonfat plain, a peach from the Farmer’s Market, peanut butter and cinnamon.

I ate a little more than usual yesterday and was pretty much in a constant state of full-ness since lunch.  I still woke up hungry for breakfast this morning, though!

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

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.

Yesterday started out… whimsically.  Ari’s brother, Josh, has [...]]]> Good morning, lovelies! I hope your week is starting to wind down and you have a fabulous weekend planned to celebrate August. As I said, I’m going to a wedding near Salt Lake City, Utah, for the weekend, so I’ll be blogging from the West Coast!

Yesterday started out… whimsically.  Ari’s brother, Josh, has been threatening to disturb Jim‘s face for more than six months, but I was so surprised when I opened the door and saw him and laughed for a good minute.

Poor Jim! I’m sure he kept his sense of humor about it, though .  This cookie had:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 T skim milk
• 1 t chunky pb
• toppings: cinnamon, 1 prune (split), dried cherries

Ari had already left for the deli to work by the time I got around to eating breakfast, so I met him there and guzzled down an iced coffee with 1% milk.

I went back home, blogged while watching some great tv, and went out for a quick run.  I went about 2 miles, then came back, showered quickly, and went into the city to meet Liz for lunch.  She’d suggested we go to Bonobo’s Vegetarian, a new place we’d both never tried and thought sounded very interesting.

As soon as we walked in, our eyes feasted on the packaged beverages they had: ginger lemonade, coconut water, coconut chai (a recommendation from Diana).

Their “salad bar”, which was thankfully behind glass, had all kinds of organic veggies and spreads.

The staff at Bonobo’s is very attentive and willing to give out samples of everything.  I tasted six different things!

We both (er, more like I copied) ordered the Nori rolls.

For the rolls, you pick five veggies and a nut meat spread. I chose beets, zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, and sprouts; I couldn’t decide on one spread and went with two: macadamia nut and sesame tahini.

Again, indecisive girl that I am, I couldn’t just pick one dressing so I had them mix up two! The end result was spicy sweet: a combination of their Diablo (spicy mustard) and agave mustard. Delish!

The meal was fabulous, and the company was even better.  Luckily, we both admitted our gracelessness when it comes to consuming messy food, and didn’t try to eat with poise. In other words, sprouts were a-flyin’!

Unfortunately, on the way back to Liz’s hotel, we got caught in a torrential downpour.  This girl has no luck when it comes to weather! The last time she was here, the weather was also terrible.  Her poor tights were soaked, but she still looked fabulous!

After I dropped Liz off at her hotel (and said a very rushed hello to Diana), I dodged more raindrops and went to work.  On my walk, I drank my bottle of Bonobo’s Coconut Chai.

This. Is. Amazing. It’s sweet and really thick, and, as I described to Liz, almost like a rice pudding. She suggested I freeze it and eat it like ice cream… unfortunately I’d already drank it all! I can’t wait to go back and get more of this.

At work, I was so munchy! I think it was because of the weather.  We were very slow, which made it both boring and tiring.  I nibbled on desserts, went into Black Hound for samples, and ate a Toasted Nuts ‘n Cranberry Luna bar (image recycled).

I sold enough specials to get the special saladfor dinner: mixed greens with shrimp, avocado, apples, tomatoes, walnuts, and goat cheese with lemon vinaigrette.  So good!

Ari surprised me by picking me up from work with the car.  We went to 16 Handles to fuel up for the ride (ha), and I loaded my cup with peanut butter, pistachio, and Eurotart yogurts topped with mochi, blueberries, Reese’s cups and a chocolate-covered pretzel.

It was a pretty great day, I’d say.  Now I’m off to go meet Greg for lunch before work, and tomorrow morning I’m off to Utah! Have a great day

Yesterday I overslept my alarm by TWO HOURS, so I was very happy to [...]]]> Once again, I am blown away by how sweet you all are.  Thanks so much for being so nice and understanding, and sticking with me even though I’m not always able to give you my 100%.  You make me blush!

Yesterday I overslept my alarm by TWO HOURS, so I was very happy to have followed my rules and prepared a breakfast cookie the night before.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 T skim milk
• 1 T PB2
• 2 strawberries (topping)

Reading furiously must make burn more calories, because I was a hungry girl all morning! A couple hours after breakfast, I had a cup of TJ’s Organic Nonfat Greek Honey Yogurt.

An hour or so later, I had a Golden Delicious apple:

I finally finished my work around 2.  (On days I work at the restaurant, I like to eat lunch as late as possible since I eat dinner at 11 or later.) I took Jess‘s suggestion and made a Meatless Meatball sandwich, on a wrap (microwaved, not grilled, to save time) with hummus and light munster cheese.

I also had a huuuuuge arugula salad with red and yellow pepper, sprayed with Bragg’s.

It didn’t make the photo, but I smothered the wrap in salsa and Frank’s Red Hot.

At work, I snacked on a fig bar.  I first heard about these from our favorite Michigan girl, and I just love them! They’re like big, smushy Fig Newtons.

We weren’t very busy at work last night, but the hours actually flew by pretty quickly and I was surprised when it was time for Ramon to ask what I wanted for dinner.

He made me a big salad with mixed greens, vegetables, and a can of imported Italian tuna (in oil). Very yummy!

On my walk to the subway, I stopped at the deli across the street from the restaurant for a fruit cup.  I ate it all in less than five minutes! It’s hard to beat fresh fruit.

All in all, a busy, but not bad, day.  And hey, at least I’m not bored! I’m enjoying an evening to myself tonight, watching Fracture.  I do love me some Ryan Gosling