Divinity at Tribeca Grill

Mmm, I just came back from a delicious dinner at the Tribeca Grill. The restaurant is a former warehouse, and it really shows: it's very open, with exposed brick wall and huge ceilings. I told my parents that should it suddenly become a loft built for one with my name on it, I wouldn't complain. Righto!

What's dinner out without bread?


We ordered a delicious bottle of Sandy Cove, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.


I started with Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Crème Fraiche. This. Was. Heaven. I'm pretty sure that without the crème fraiche, it would have been completely vegan. (The drizzle on top is molasses.)


My dad and I split two entrées, since I couldn't decide which one I wanted and Daddy-O is always very accommodating. This is the pan roasted brook trout with chestnut purée, haricots vert & celery root in brown butter. I ate about 1/3 of a filet... the soup really filled me up. The green beans were my favorite part of this dish.


This was the star of the evening: Spinach and sheep's milk ricotta ravioli with rainbow chard & picholine olives. By the first bite I was completely full, but I could not let the poor ravioli sit all by their lonesome. You know how it goes.


Bring on the desserts! Here we have chocolate truffle cheesecake with morello cherries:


Pumpkin, oatmeal & pecan torte with vanilla ice cream:


And a strawberry semifreddo with a meringue "baton":


We split all the treats in three, but my parents were having trouble finishing their cheesecake. Lilveggiepatch to the rescue! You'd think the pumpkin would have been my favorite, but I didn't even finish my portion in favor of extra cheesecake!

I'm pleasantly and happily- (almost) always happily- full. It's going to be an easy movie night tonight.... We have The Science of Sleep (which I've already seen 1.5 times before) and American Teen. Should be fun! Have a lovely evening.

Rice and tofu, anyone?

Good evening, my fine non-feathered friends! I hope you've all had lovely days. Mine was quite nice, thank you, although it seemed to pass by so quickly! I think that probably has to do with going back to bed immediately after breakfast. I haven't even been up for 12 hours, but I feel so tired! Strange how that works.

I made it to the gym in time for Vinyasa yoga. Just like the last time (which was Anurasa) it was ridiculously hard for me to do and I found myself looking at the clock every five minutes. There were a lot of poses I had to come out of early because my muscles just couldn't take it. I'm not going to give up, though... I know it will get easier.

On the way to meet Ari after the gym, I ate leftover Gliding Calm tofu, steamed green beans, and Lundberg brown rice blend. Good news: even cold, this tofu is delicious!


I had a Gala apple when I got home while I went through my cookbooks and the new cooking magazines to see what I wanted to make for dinner.


I decided on the mushroom soup from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything...


And the Panang Tofu Curry from the February issue of Bon Appétit in the article on how to cook green in 2009.


The curry was a delicious blend of coconut peanut buttery goodness with a little spice.


The soup was fast, easy and vegan. It would be great as a pasta sauce, or as a topping on fish or chicken (or even steak, for those so inclined). I was cooking everything at once, and I accidentally put some of the tofu into the soup. Whoops! It tasted good, though!


We served the curry over brown rice.


A little cilantro garnish for the soup added some nice color.


I had a glass of white wine, but I only ended up drinking about half of it.


We had some Edy's Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Vanilla Bean ice cream for dessert...


... but what's ice cream without chocolate sauce? I also added some pecans.


I'm watching Prime Suspect (the tv show, not the movie) while Ari finishes up some work. I do love my crime dramas! I have a feeling I'll be dozing off soon, though. Bonne nuit!

Role Models?

Yes, we saw this movie today. It was actually much better than I thought it would be! Ari gave it a C+; I'd probably give it a B. I love me some Paul Rudd. I was so jealous of Cher!


I forgot to bring my camera to work last night. I was going to try to use Paint to draw you my salad, but I couldn't find the application! Oh well. It was a Cobb with avocado, tomato, cabbage, lettuce and crumbled blue cheese. I had little carrot ginger dressing on the side. I also had a vodka soda for my shift drink.

My nice nice Daddy-O drove me to Queens, and brought treats! I had two of Melissa's chocolate- covered cashew butter sandwich cookies.


I also had a piece of trail mix bark. I have the eating bug this week! Sorry for these pictures... I took them in the car, as you can probably tell.


Another morning at the diner! I should just call Ari Coffee Boy from now on... he's always in my coffee pictures.


Toasted sesame bagel with lox, onion, lettuce, tomato, a little cream cheese and capers. I might take Sarah's suggestion and start bringing Laughing Cow Light wedges with me.


After the movie, I'd been planning on going to the gym (I was even in my workout clothes!) but I just didn't feel like it. I felt guilty about that decision later, but whatever.

I stopped at Whole Foods and had a late lunch (you'd think I'd have learned by now). I filled up at least half of the container with mixed greens, then topped it with two kinds of tofu (including an inferior version of Gliding Calm's sesame-ginger kind), green beans, artichokes and sesame noodles. I've been craving cold sesame noodles- you know, the really good Chinese take-out kind? Well, I haven't been able to find any that are satisfactory ANYWHERE. I might just have to make some myself.


The carbo-load this morning apparently didn't satiate me, so I grabbed a cranberry walnut roll and a coconut water. I LOVE this stuff.


Here are some shots of the view outside our living room window, courtesy of Ma Veggie Patch:




I might do a little yoga or ab work... I feel sort of like a slob today. I'm going to a play tonight with Kalle; I'm not sure if we'll get dinner before since I ate such a late lunch. My family is also coming tonight for a week... I'm so excited!

Have a great evening!