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!

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!

Not a creature was stirring...

Yep, everyone at home is in bed but I seem to find myself wide awake. I hate when that happens!

After my Chinese food fiasco, I took a little nap and woke up famished. Quick fix: clementines!


And a box of blackberries. So sweet and juicy!


We made a shrimp curry for dinner with snow peas, corn, red pepper and coconut milk. Pretty yum.


We also whipped up some chapatis. Here, you can see the Chapati King is hard at work:



Triscuit+ cheese+ blackberry= surprisingly tasty combo.


I had one tuna/eggplant chapati...


A glass of wine...


Emergen-C and vitamins...



I ate the curry with a little basmati and two chapatis.


Mystery dessert... what could be in the box?


A Bûche du Noël! Also known as a chocolate yule log cake.





I've been criticized a lot recently for the quality of my photos. So, sorry about that folks.

Hope you have a wonderfully happy holiday. Night night!

I just can't get enough

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! This is always such a strange day... it feels like it should be a holiday, but it's not. I tend to Grinch-out a little with all the crowds... everyone (including myself!) is frantic trying to find last minute gifts, and it is pure and utter chaos. Humbug!

Last night I ordered something different from work when I finished my shift: veggie stirfry! It was made up of carrots, broccoli, zucchini and fresh ginger, and came with a side of steamed rice. The thing about ordering a stir fry at a restaurant is you never know how much oil it's being cooked in. This one tasted pretty greasy, but it was delicious and I was pretty hungry so I ate the whole thing! I had about 1/3 of the rice.


My dad was nice enough to pick me up from work and drive me from Queens. He brought me a sack full of clemmies, and although I was stuffed I had to taste one (or six) to make sure they were good. They were.


Another citrus-y breakfast cookie:


This guy was made with:
1/2 cup oats (ish)
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp PB
1 clementine
2 spoonfulls yogurt
dried fruit (craisins, currents, date)

I slept in a little this morning (meaning, I got up at 8, ate breakfast, and promptly got back under the covers and slept for 3 more hours) and then went back into Manhattan to meet my little redheaded friend (Kalle!) for lunch at Alice's Tea Cup. Oh, you guys would all love this place! It's decorated to look like the Mad Hatter's tea room, and everything in there is Alice themed. It's impossible to go in there and NOT be happy.

We started out with a pot 'o Christmas Tea (note the little kitty that catches the drips!):


I ordered my usual, the Light Fare of a bowl of soup (chickpea artichoke) and Warm Pear and Belgian Endive Salad that comes with roquefort cheese and carmelized onions. So. Freaking. Good. The bread that comes with the soup is also divine... it's soft and buttery and has some kind of herb in it... maybe chive? I ate every last bite of everything!


We stopped at the new Magnolia Bakery on the Upper West Side...


We each got a devil's food cupcake with mocha frosting. Holy Yum, Veggie Girl!


I almost talked myself out of going to the gym, but I know I won't get there tomorrow or Christmas (there are better things to do!) so I settled for a quick workout.

Stair Mill:
20:00 minutes
1.8 miles
86 floors climbed
227.1 calories burned

Machines:
shoulder press- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
chest press- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
lateral pulldown- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
lateral raise- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs

Usual ab series minus plank holds

Sometimes my joints kind of "pop" when I'm doing exercises. Does this happen to anyone else?

I came home to drop off my sweaty gym clothes and found this ENORMOUS container of Fage in the fridge.


I can't get enough of these clementines! I had a bowl of yogurt with one clementine, blackberries, and basswood-flavored honey.


Off to work... it's an early night (I get off at 11) so it shouldn't be too bad. Have a great night!