It's that time again...

Heya kiddos. How is your day going? Mine has been very strange, mostly because I got up at 9, ate, then went back to sleep until 1. Glorious, but you know how I do.

I had a big bowl of cereal, with two handfuls of All Bran Flakes and two handfuls of Smart Start. I sliced an entire banana (halfway down the road to mushy, also glorious) on top and bathed it in skim. Who says cereal has to be boring?


I had an apple when I woke up...


... and grabbed some dried fruit (date, fig, prune, apricot, candied ginger) on my way out the door to go to the gym.


Got a small coffee with skim milk to take on my ride into the city.


My workout today was not so great (but they can't all be, right?). Since I'm going out to dinner tonight, I'd planned on having a wonderful, 600+ calorie busting session, but that just wasn't in the cards today. I did 35 minutes on the bike, then moved on to the stairs and started to feel sick to my stomach. I hope I'm not coming down with something!

To make up for the lack of greenness in yesterday's eats (just chives and cilantro... bad news) I went to the Whole Foods salad bar. I got some spinach, baked tofu, "chicken" salad (I love this stuff), lemon baked tempeh, broccoli and jicama mango cucumber salad. I squirted on a little creamy avocado dressing (the name itself is enough to make Ari vomit) to give it a little oomf.


I didn't want to have something too heavy, because my parents and I are going to the Tribeca Grill for Restaurant Week. This is the first time since having the blog that Restaurant Week has occurred, but it's pretty much my favorite time (well, times, since it now comes thrice) a year. Assuming you act fast, you can get a three course lunch or dinner at the city's best restaurants for $24.09 or $35.00, respectively. Woo-FREAKING-hoo! By the time I called, our first choices were already booked, but I got us reservations for 7:30 tonight. I'm excited to try something new. It's also co-owned by Robert De Niro, so it'll be interesting to see what his tastes are like (I have a feeling this isn't exactly Italian mobster food).

Have a lovely Wednesday night!

MUPPETS FROM SPACE!!!

Yes, kids, remember when? And what about the even cuter Muppet Babies who kept us company during the day when our mommies and daddies were at work?


Ari and I are enjoying a glass of wine and Muppets From Space (okay, so not exactly like it was in pre-school). Pure genius.

This morning I was dismayed to discover that I'd eaten the last of the bananas, so I whipped up some hot PB & J oats.


1/2 cup oats
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp blackberry jam
1 tsp wheat germ
dried apricot, prune, craisins, currants

I should add that we slept a wee bit late and didn't have "breakfast" until 12:30! I haven't done that since I was at school (although I'm sure I'll be doing that again in a couple weeks when I'm staying up late studying... blegh). We spent the day doing some household chores and running errands (repeat this mantra: I will be a domestic goddess, I will be a domestic goddess...).

Around 4:30 I had lunch using the hummus I made yesterday:


Garlic-free hummus (this was accidental, but it turned out well):

1- 1/2 cups chickpeas, cooked and drained
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1-1/2 lemons
3 tablespoons tahini
1/4 teaspoons cumin
1/8 teaspoons salt
water as needed

Combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy, adding water as needed to ease the blending process. Serve and enjoy!

I made a very strange sandwich that ended up being pretty tasty. Using two slices of rye bread, I spread hummus on one and stone ground mustard on the other. I added fresh spinach and sliced fresh tofu, which I sprinkled with salt and pepper. Yum!


I also had a Sunkist navel orange.


I went home to have a nice dinner with my parents... and take a long hot soak in the tub with my book and a glass of wine. My mom has been on a big Malbec kick recently. This guy had a black cork!


She prepared a lovely appetizer spread, from which I ate almost a whole carton of cherry tomatoes, some carrots, radishes and apple.



My mom made one of the best salads I have ever had. It was made of baby arugula, frisée, toasted hazelnuts, and roasted butternut squash.


We also had crab cakes from Citarella, steamed green beans, and leftover mushroom risotto. Now, I don't know if I've ever expressed my love of crab cakes to you, but they are one of my most beloved foods. (I almost got them at Ruth's Chris last night.) I'm not going to say that's why I'm dating Ari, but he is from Maryland, so...


All together with some ice cold milk.


We also enjoyed a lovely spread of mini pastries from Citarella, which we ate in the pre-school way (in keeping with our theme, of course): bite one, and pass it on...


I did do one Yoga Download today (Power Yoga 1) but I haven't had a sweaty cardio session in days and I'm pretty sure that's why my energy's been so bum. I'm setting my alarm early to make sure i do that tomorrow.

Off to save Gonzo... have a lovely night.

The Lost Weeknight

Heya! So, this is going to be kind of a weird post (you'll find out why by the end); I apologize in advance if it's a little irritating, but sometimes these things just happen.

I went to Starbucks with Greg and got a tall Berry Chai. It's been awhile since Greg's graced Lilveggiepatch, so here's a nice little shot:


The tea was great, but it kept getting on my face! Every few minutes or so Greg would rub his nose and go, "Katie. Your nose has red stuff. Like Rudolph."

I had some free time today so I finally got to whip up an item I've been eying for awhile: Veggie Girl's Fig and Almond Blondies. I made a couple edits to her recipe for economic reasons (I already had Greek yogurt so I didn't buy soy, I used almond milk, etc.), but I followed her instructions to the T. All I had to buy were the

My health food store didn't have black mission figs, so I used plain old California dried.


Let me tell you, I have a whole new respect for miss VG! "Finely chopping" these guys takes a lot of elbow grease, and you can see that my chunks are pretty big.


All the ingredients look so nice together. Look at all those textures!


And my reward:



These were seriously (seriously, Meredith) some of the best things I've ever baked. These are definitely a keeper, and I can see them being a stand-in for my Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Squares.


So, for the past few years, since our favorite Chinese restaurant changed management, I have been on a quest for cold sesame noodles that taste like cold sesame noodles and not a greasy mess. I've been meaning to try Hungry Girl's version for a long time, and tonight was the night.


I adapted it a little (for example, eliminating Splenda):

1 package Shirataki angel hair noodles
1 tbsp + 1 tsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp almond milk
2 tbsp chopped chives
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
1 minced garlic clove
1 tsp honey

Rinse and dry shirataki noodles; pat dry. Microwave noodles for 1 minute. In a separate bowl, combine the rest of ingredients. Pour over noodles and mix well. Chill for at least one hour (or cheat and put it in the freezer). Serve and enjoy!

So, on to the mystery of tonight: Ari and I have been planning on going to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for quite some. Tonight we snuck out and raced into the city and went... it was so spontaneous that I completely forgot my camera! So I kind of used it as an excuse to go all out, splurge-wise. I'm not going to blog about it, but suffice it to say that it started with shoestring fries and ended with Coldstone Creamery. I'm not feeling tippy top right now, but it was totally worth the nice evening. And, as always, tomorrow is another day.

Have a lovely night!

The girl with one left shoe

Hello and happy Tuesday! I'm currently blogging from the bathroom (hooray for WiFi) while I wait for my shower water to heat up. Yesterday was wonderful in terms of eats and movies, which makes it an A+ day in my book.

Last night before dinner, I had a glass of white wine as I caught up on the blogs. I wasn't a huge fan of it, so I sipped one glass throughout the course of a few hours.


My parents prepared a wonderful meal, starting out with a loaf of the first bread that my dad and I ever made together (way back when): Anadama bread.


In case you're not familiar with Anadama bread, the history is as follows (courtesy of The Food Timeline):

"Anadama bread. A bread made from cornmeal and molasses. The term dates in print to 1915, but is probably somewhat older. If it were not for the frequency of their citation, it would be difficult to believe the story most often cited is of a Gloucester, Massachusetts, fisherman's wife named Anna, who gave her husband nothing but cornmeal and molasses to eat every day. One night the fisherman got so angry, he tossed the ingredients in with some yeast and flour and made a bread in the oven while muttering to himself, "Anna, damn her!" A more affectionate story has a New England sea captain referring to his wife with the same name expletive as a phrase of endearment. This Anna was apparently adept at bread-baking, and she became well known for her cornmeal-and-molasses loaf among the fishing crews who appreciated this long-lasting, hearty bread. There was, supposedly, a gravestone to this legendary woman that read, Anna wes a lovely bride, but Anna, Damn'er, up and died. One source contends that a commerical bakery called ist product "Annadammer" or "Annadama bread."
---Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 6)

The meal was a joint effort on my parents part (my role being happy recipient). My mom made a delicious risotto using seven different kinds of mushrooms, with a shaved parmesan garnish. My dad made a lovely spinach curried with Greek yogurt and supplemented with tofu to make a complete protein.



We all split an avocado, which was drizzled with tangerine vinegar, salt & pepper:


The house is being painted, so we had a cozy TV dinner while we watched Midnight. Oh, go see this now... Claudette Colbert is lovely and funny (and plays a girl from Indiana!), and it takes place in Paris.


And then came the desserts. There's a small bakery in the West Village, Patisserie Claude, that my dad sometimes stops at to pick up tasty treats for us. "Tasty treats" is the understatement of understatements, by the way.

Chocolate chestnut cake:


Cappuccino mousse with brulée topping:


Apple tarte tatin:


Heaven, pure and simple. We split each dessert three ways.


When I got home, Ari was finished with work so we decided to make it a movie night (part II, for me). We watched Atlantic City, with Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon (and Wally Shawn in a cameo as a waiter). It's gritty, grimy, and wonderful.


This morning I had another PB&J breakfast cookie. It started off as a peace sign but ended up looking more like a flower...


1/2 cup oats
1/2 scoop protein powder
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 sunkist orange
1 tsp + extra strawberry jam for garnish
dried fruit (craisins, currants, apricot, dates)

I also ripped off a hunk of Anadama bread.


I had a large coffee with skim on the subway; it was too much liquid for me so early in the morning (well... at 11 AM) so I only had half.


I got all the way to the gym (about a 45 minute subway ride in the opposite direction from both of my apartments) only to discover I had left one sneaker at home. Whoops! I went chez maman et papa to do a 20 minute detox flow from Yoga Downloads so at least I could do something active.

Picked up some staples at the grocery store...


This was my first experiment with butternut squash fries. TASTY.


I made a very voluminous salad for lunch.


baby arugula
1 chopped apple
chik'n strips (Morningstar Farms)
cherry tomatoes
raw green beans
dressing (fig infused vinegar, EVOO, grey poupon mustard)


I'm off to go play with Greg, then hopefully cook something scrumptious. I'm on my own for dinner tonight (movies! empty kitchen! debauchery!), so I'll try to think up something fun.

Have a lovely evening!

Look guys, no beard!

Well, maybe a little one, but nothing compared to the old guy! A couple nights ago when I came home from work, Ari told me he had a present for me. It was dark, so I couldn't really see him, and when he presented me with a little ziplock baggie I wasn't sure what was in it. Yep, it was beard hair!!! (We're weird, I know.)

My workout was pretty quick today because of my dentist's appointment.

20:00 stairs, levels 7-9

Arm machines (I don't know why, but the shoulder presses have been really difficult for me the past few times and I can't do more than two sets.)

No ab series today!

We were going to go to Whole Foods for lunch, but we peeped inside and it was pretty much all-around pandemonium. We went to Cosi instead (which didn't end up being much better). It's funny- I never go to Cosi (although it used to be my and Kalle's go-to place), but I've been twice in less than 24 hours!

Today I got a "Duo" with half a sandwich ("Fire roasted veggies" with feta spread) and a small salad (Signature Light- my favorite). I also got some sweet baby carrots, which I shared with Ari.


After the dentist (A+ in oral health!) I went to H & M. They were having a sale so I got some great stuff and a free sweater! I've been looking for a full black skirt (this is a high-waisted lacy tulip) so I was very happy to find one that fit well for a nice price! I'm also a sucker for accessories, and they had cute little hairpins so I got some of those and a boat-necked nautical shirt. Ah, materialism, how I love thee.

I picked Charley up from the groomers (note to self: do not wear Chucks and then walk 25 blocks in below freezing weather). No more Mop Dog!


I made a Fage / clemmies (2)/ prunes (2)/walnut snack:


I drizzled it with a little pomegranate syrup. It was a perfect addition: sweet and tangy. We got this syrup a while ago when we made a bulgar pilaf recipe. Thanks for the idea, Daddy-O!


To stay on my dairy kick, I also had a Laughing Cow Light cheese.


My parents have a yummy dinner planned. I might try to prep a few items to have later in the week... I haven't been cooking so much lately, if ya hadn't noticed!

Have a lovely Monday evening! (I STILL can't get last week's episode of Gossip Girl to play...)