Yoga To The People!

Hello and happy Friday, my fine blogging friends! I hope you've all had wonderful days off, fun holidays, and all that fun stuff. I've been hopping around all over the place, so let's backtrack a little bit.

Yesterday Ari and I went to the diner for breakfast. We tried to learn the ways of the heart rate monitor over coffee:


Whole wheat toast with butter (whoops) and grape jelly. I've said this before, but for some reasons toast without butter at a diner is just plain wrong.


For the main event, I ordered an egg-white fritatta with zucchini, tomato, and ricotta cheese. It had sort of a funky taste that I likened to escargot... not exactly what I was expecting out of my breakfast eggs! I was starving, so I gobbled it all up (with ketchup, of course!) and had a couple of the home fries.


Ari's been working really hard, so I didn't want him to have to worry too much about dinner. I whipped up some Gliding Calm tofu and put it in the fridge, along with some steamed green beans and Lundberg brown rice blend.


I made the tofu a little differently this time; I dusted each piece with a little garlic salt on both sides, then dipped them in the combined maple syrup, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, ginger powder, and that spicy red sauce whose name I am forgetting.


I came home and took a much-needed nap before work; I'm on an early-morning schedule so I get up around 8 but then get really tired mid-day. When I woke up, I whipped up a quick soup using this as a base:


Combined with shirataki noodles and chik'n strips. Fast, easy, comforting.


I also had some Fage with strawbs and blubes:


And some cookies on my way out.


Since people were generous with the coat check tips today, I decided to splurge and get some sushi. I'm so glad I did! I got the sushi combo which comes with a California roll and 7 pieces of assorted fish. Scrumptious.


This morning our way into the city, Ari and I split this Hot'n Healthy bar. I've never tried the Cinnamon Roll flavor before, and we had to eat it cold, but it was still delicious. Ari's not a huge fan of nutrition bars, but he loves these because they taste just like cookies!


Grabbed a coffee with skim on the way to the gym. I only finished half of it because you're not really supposed to drink them inside.


Once I got there I realized I had forgotten my shorts, for the second time this week! I didn't want to give up my workout, so I shelled over another $26 for a new pair. Boo! Once I changed into them, I realized I had also forgotten socks, and I came to the gym wearing tights. (I am so scatterbrained since I also forgot my cell phone and have felt disoriented all day.) Lucky for me there was a yoga class just starting, so I joined that.

Now, I absolutely LOVE yoga, but I haven't done it for over a year. This class was a little advanced for me... I fell over when I tried to do a handstand but did manage to get up into crow pose, if only for a few seconds. I am SO glad I went. I've been a little stressed out recently, what with work and the holidays and very little down time, and yoga was just what I needed. I felt so relaxed afterwards and much more ready to take on the day!

I had a banana in the locker room before showering.


After leaving the gym I rushed uptown to have a girls' lunch with my family. Originally, we'd wanted to go to Alice's Tea Cup (which our very own Heather used to live right next to!), but the wait for a table was an hour and a half so we moved on to Le Pain Quotidien instead.

Because it's Friday and my day off, I had some sauvignon blanc with my water. Woohoo!


Cousins!


Sisters!

You'll have to tilt your head for this one: I ordered an open- faced sandwich with black bean hummus, avocados, zucchinis, radishes, diced peppers and tomatoes and lemon with a spicy tahini sauce on the side. This was delicious. I'm going to try to make the spread myself!


After lunch, we had to make a pit stop at Magnolia. Can you imagine a trip to New York without one of these luscious cupcakes?! I got red velvet with vanilla buttercream. It was good, but I should have gone with my old favorite, devil's food with mocha frosting. Lucky for me, my mama let me finish hers up!


Someone left this Texan cookbook downstairs in the lobby (what we apartment folks do when we don't want something). I'm so excited to use it! I just flipped through and saw great recipes for gazpacho, spoon bread, Texas toast...


Abby and I shopped the sales for several hours today (I didn't find anything, but she had her first taste of Betsey Johnson) and I am pooped! They're all at a play right now, and I'm meeting them for a pizza dinner at 6. Hope you all have a fun night planned!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

T-minus six hours until Christymisty!

Last night before work I had a date with PB. It looks a little ominous out there by its lonesome.


Last night at work, I ordered a bowl of black bean soup (sorry for the horrible picture):


I also got some shrimp dumplings, which are pretty much invisible due to the glare. Sorry!


I had some blackberries when I got home.


This morning we woke up very early and got breakfast before the clock struck 8. Who am I and what have I done with Katie?


Bagel with lox... I probably ate about 1/20 of that cream cheese.


It was a morning for pie! Pecan pie is Ari's favorite... I'm not such a fan so I didn't have any.


A couple hours later I took Megan's suggestion and heated up this Clif bar. Very good! Ari had a bite, but the top was too "white and creamy" for him.


I hauled tail back to Manhatty and was greated by this lovely rum cake. My babysitter, who is from Jamaica, used to make this for me when I was little. So. Good. I felt like Proust and tasted my childhood as soon as I had a bite!


I had a little sliver, which I spread out to look like teeth. Santa has to chew his cookies with something!


We got Chinese food for lunch, which I've been craving. Bad choice. This place used to be delicious, but it was so bad. No flavor at all.

They were shelling a lot of beans... I discretely (although my idea of "discretion" has been greatly blurred since I became a blogger) snapped a photo...


I ordered a lunch special that started with a bowl of miso soup (thick and gluey):



A greasy spring roll:


Mushroom tofu and brown rice. I literally had one bite and lost my appetite, but I may not be able to blame that all on the food. I brought it home, so maybe I'll eat it later.



The tea was good! I had almost that whole pot to myself.


Off to find some holiday cheer, and make some gingerbread cookies with the fam. Have a great and magical night!

It's not Greek to me

The Larabar fairy came to my mailbox today! I'm really excited to try them; in concept, they're like Larabar's version of Clif Z-Bars. It's like two of my favorite things had a baby and made the JamFrakas (say it out loud: jam-fra-kass).




I had a snack plate that would make my mother proud: a fiber rye cracker, manchego, pepper jack, carrots, and an apple. And my good friend Mr. Coffee.



A while back I made Caitlin's sweet potato/ black bean burgers, and was craving them again. This time I added mushrooms (which I noticed were on the tail end of freshness) and chopped walnuts, a pinch of cumin , coriander seeds and salt and pepper.



I started to cook them on the burner, but then figured broiling the burgers would cook them more evenly. I added a dollop of yogurt to each patty (it's not Greek, but it did its job) and a sprinkle of curry powder.



A LOT of broccoli, squirted with lemon juice:




I love these burgers. What I did not love, however, was my tummy's fullness after the meal... too much fiber, Katie!


I found these guys in the bottom of my purse. They weren't fuzzy, so...


I heated some frozen strawberries to make a warm syrup, and stirred it into my sugar-free rice pudding. Yum!


The massive to-do list that probably does more harm than good:


Have a lovely evening!

Photofest! Halloween goes on... Pt. 2

Katey and I went to the Dakota for our friend Andrew's CD release party. His band, Loe & Nasty's, played for about an hour and a half in a really swanky place. It was a lot of fun; half my school was packed into this little jazz club!



I was pretty full from all the snacks I had at the Halloween party, but I knew I should eat some "real" food, especially since I was going to be out late.



I served it on top of 4 oz of spring baby greens. I like this combination! I got the idea from Women's Health.



Katey and I (and the rest of our table) got some Pinot Noir.


I also had a "Minnesota martini", which didn't end up being very photogenic (and I didn't finish anyway). I was very appreciative of the extra hour I got this morning; because of the daylight savings time shift, I didn't end up going to bed until what felt like 3 (2).


I'm having lunch with my grandparents at their club, but I needed some kind of breakfast. I had a smoothie with Carnation Instant Breakfast (chocolate, sugar- free) with a banana, skim milk and PB.




And a piece of protein bread with B&B and blueberry jam.


I'm going to get back in bed and watch a little Greek until I have to leave for Wayzata. Happy Sunday!