Good afternoon, bloggies! I'm so sorry I couldn't get it together to blog yesterday... I got off work at midnight and my brain was just not in a technological mindset by the time I got home.

So, back to two nights ago: the later I stay up, the more likely it is that I will need more food. Simple math, eh? I ended up finishing my Josie's salad the same night!


I tossed it with some Annie's Lite Gingerly Vinaigrette, and it really complemented the salad nicely.


I woke up pretty late yesterday, so all I did was get dressed, hop a subway into the City, and meet my mom for lunch at Seven's Turkish Grill. We ordered exactly the same thing as last time, with the exception that I had a couple cups of Turkish tea.


This lentil soup with lemon is so delicious. I'm going to try to track down the recipe. Extra lemon squirts are key!


The "bomb-diggity" bread... still bomb.


These spreads were just as good as we remembered, with the exception that they were really cold, like they'd been stuck in the fridge overnight and hadn't had a proper chance to thaw out. That didn't stop us, though... we munched along merrily.


Mama D and I spent a lovely day shopping around, and ended with a nice manicure. I got my nails painted with Damsel In A Dress... cute, huh?

I had a banana and an Apricot Clif Bar right before I went to work, around 4:45.

Sadly, those snacks didn't hold me over through my 7.5 hour shift, and I started looking at the clock and reading the menu at 8:30. I had some restaurant nibbles: a couple nachos, a clementine, a lot of club soda with lime...

When I finally got to eat (in the car, at 12:15) I pretty much inhaled my dinner. Because it was my second to last night, I wanted to have the first meal I had there (I'm sentimental like that): steamed shrimp dumplings (sorry about the photo, it was taken in transit):


... and goat cheese salad. This really comes with a full bed of lettuce with cabbage and tomato, and two other goat cheese crostinis, but I was so hungry that I was almost finished before I remembered to take a photo.


My dad dropped me off at the diner (what a nice daddy) where I had a little wine with Ari. I came home and had a mint Skinny Dipper (finally, Sarah!). Yes, it's a little too green, but it is mighty tasty.


Last night I made overnight oats to have for breakfast this morning. It has been a while, OO, and I'm glad to have you back!


1/2 cup steel-cut oats
1/2 cup water
1 small container 0% Fage
1 banana
cinnamon
1 T maple syrup

I'm off now to organize my day. Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

Whirlwind of activity

Pfew! What a day. I didn't even do all that much, but commuting from place to place (today I was in three different burroughs!) that really wipes me out. I went all the way uptown today just to get a couple hours of mid-day shut-eye... you gotta do what you gotta do.

This morning I made a breakfast cookie out of steel cut oats, which was a first for me. It was definitely a lot chewier, and I think they work better as overnight oats or plain ole stovetop (which reminds me, I don't even remember the last time I made oatmeal on the stove!), but it still tasted yummy and filled me up. I topped it with a craisin/currant version of Ari's band's logo. Bring on the cheese.

1/2 cup steel cut oats
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 banana
2 big scoops nonfat plain yogurt
craisins/ currants

I made a little pit stop at Wallgreens on the way to the gym for some much needed supplies. (Yes, Lucky is a necessity, thank you very much.)


I took Caroline's advice and bought some Tiger Balm to rub into my sore spots. I had an awful experience in 6th grade when I applied Bengay to my stomach (for kicks, I guess?) and was promptly told by one of my classmates that I smelled like a peppermint. My abs have been pretty uncomfortable for the last few days, so I tested a small amount of TB on my stomach. It wasn't too painful, so I just slathered it on my tummy.

I'm still getting to know my HRM, so here are the stats I do have:

Stairmaster: 20:00 minutes
Bike: 20:00 minutes
About 440 calories burned... I might have to take my notebook with me again until I get the watch figured out.

Usual ab series, minus leg lifts (abs need a little rest)

I had an apple on the way out. If I'm gonna take pictures in the gym, I might as well set the stage!


I went to Whole Foods to pick up some things. I got three new bars (Gnu, ThinkThin & Amazing Grass Organic Superfood), Unsweetened Almond Breeze, Ezekiel Sprouted 7 Grain English Mufins, a dark chocolate bar, and my usual bar variety. Whole Foods always has coupons for bars, so be sure to pick the coupon booklet up at the front of the store! I was distressed to discover that their Union Square locations does not have a bulk foods bar. What's up with that, WF?


I decided to try something that's been in our fridge for a very long time:


I used it to cover one half of my English muffin. On the other half, I had a whole can of [dolphin safe] tuna mixed with the juice of half a lemon, two tsp of Fage, craisins and grapes; dijon mustard, and lettuce. Yum! (Tuna salad does not photograph so well...) I'd planned on having butternut squash fries, but alas, the squash was no longer. Instead, I had a sweet potato with B&B and brown sugar. Not much of a sacrifice, I have to say... I think I could eat these guys every day.


With almond milk (I added vanilla extract to it and it tasted like coconut...?) and my long-lost vitamins:


I had a date and a prune for dessert, each stuffed with peanut butter and a chocolate chip.


This evening, I went to see The Cherry Orchard with my parents at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Green.


We went to an Austrian Bistro called Thomas Beisl for dinner, which was conveniently right across the street. I started with a glass of Grüner Veltliner.


Blurry bread plate that tastes better than it looks... soft and salty! I had a slice with a little butter.


My parents and I split an appetizer sampler of different Austrian salads: beet, potato, cucumber, and lentil.


For my entrée, I had oven-baked salmon (they couldn't grill, steam or poach it) with sautéed greens and parmesan polenta. It was delicious. I'd actually been planning on making a polenta dish that I saw in SELF later this week, so I guess I'll hold off on that! I had half the salmon, all the greens and 2/3 of the polenta. I don't know why, but I was full after only a few bites. I kept on eating, but I'm glad I didn't force myself to eat the whole thing.


I needed a little coffee to make sure I wouldn't fall asleep during the play, which has been known to happen with me....


For dessert, we all split an apple cranberry oatmeal crumble with vanilla ice cream. It was divine. I'll have to remember to use toasted oats as a topping!


The play was really, really good. The cast was stellar (Ethan Hawke, Rebecca Hall, Richard Easton, Sinéad Cusack, etc.) and the story (Chekov) was great. The theater itself was really neat, too, and I snuck a look at the café menu and that looks good, too!

I'm off to douse myself in Tiger Balm goodness hit the hay. Oh, and I also just had a pickle and a light Baby Bell cheese. No photo... it all happened so fast!

Bonne nuit, mes amis.

Dead Santa

Good afternoon! Thanks for being so understanding about my slackerdom yesterday. I feel nice and energized today!

Backtrack to yesterday: Ari and I saw this sad sight on the way to breakfast. That might be even more depressing than brown Christmas trees on the sidewalk!


I ordered a huge bowl of oatmeal, which I added skim milk, brown sugar and honey to. Gotta problem with that?


"I wear my sunglasses inside..."


Artsy fartsy picture on the way back from breakkie:


After the gym, I met my mom for some of the best Turkish food I have ever had. We went to Seven's Turkish Grill and each ordered a vegetarian lentil soup:


... and the cold appetizer platter with smoked eggplant, minty yogurt dip (a little thicker than a regular tsatsiki), homemade hummus (!!!), tabouleh, spicy fava bean salad, olives...


And the most bomb-diggity warm and salty bread.


I took a little catnap, then had my pre-work snack. I had a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar, which was, as I remember, fab. I think they should change the name to Coconut Macaroon, though.


I also had some white tea and berry fruit salad.


When I got off work around 11, I had my usual Crispy Crunchy Veggie Salad, but this time I had it with no croutons and added a hard-boiled egg (whose yolk I flicked out... yuck!).


Another caramel Skinny Dipper when I got home... love these guys.


I'm sure there are some Redskins fans out in the blogosphere, so this water bottle will probably only make sense to you. It complimented the photo of my breakfast cookie:


In the cookie:
1/2 cup oatmeal (used up the last of it!)
1/2 scoop protein powder
1 T peanut butter
1 tangerine
2 scoops yogurt
toppings: craisins, raisins, almonds, chocolate chips (this is a keeper!), a date

I had coffee with Ari while he had breakfast. This is him "being a mushroom":


I fully intended on going to the gym today, but time ran out and I am still super duper sore from yoga the other day. Isn't that silly? One of the women I work with is a massage therapist so she pushed on my trigger points, which helped a lot, but I still feel like I have bricks on the backs of my thighs. Ow!

I'm off to have lunch with Kalle, Mike and Greg. Have a great day!