Bon arès-midi! It's been a lazy morning chez Ari et Katie... we slept until 10:40, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long! It's kind of a nice change, although I do feel like I missed out a little on my day considering I have to be at work in five hours. Oh well! Let's backtrack.

Yesterday I had an amazing workout at the gym.

20:00 minutes stairmaster
13:00 minutes bike
10:00 more minutes on the stairmaster (I found a new magazine I wanted to read, which really makes all the difference)

arm machines (shortened to two instead of four; the gym was very crowded)

ab series (no plank)

I used my HRM Andrea-style and kept it on the whole time I was active (machines, stretching, abs, etc), and burned a whopping 600 calories in 1 hour and 8 minutes. Woohoo!


I was pretty hungry after my workout, so I headed to Whole Foods and bee-lined to the salad bar. I filled up the bottom with mixed greens, then proceeded to try every form of fake meat there: plain baked tofu, Indian curry tofu, seitan something, etc. I can't remember everything, sorry! I also had two dumplings, couscous, and this amazing fig and dandelion salad. I love figs!


Although I wasn't exactly hungry, I finished off "lunch" (at 4!) with a ThinkThin Brownie Crunch bar (sorry for the blurry pic, I took it on a moving subway car) so I wouldn't be ravenous throughout my work shift. I've put off trying these bars before because 1) the name kind of puts me off, and 2) they're pricey! I had a coupon for .50 off so I sucked it up and bought it. It was pretty good, although I'm not entirely sure why "glycerin" needs to be on the ingredients list.


I had some goldfish and white chocolate (blegh!) nibbles throughout work, and champagne for my shift drink.

I ordered a spicy tuna handroll:



And this is what's left of my Crispy Crunchy Salad. I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture!


Usual breakfast cookie this morning, although it was 36 hours old, so it was actually kind of hard like a cookie!


Gotta go, busy day. I'll catch up on your blogs tonight!

Behold the healing powers of miso!

All your well wishes seemed to do the trick; I feel almost 100% now. Of course, I do have to give a little credit to the good food I had tonight. I'm obviously not a doctor, but I'm a firm believer that unless you've got some kind of stomach bug, it's best to eat foods that both comfort and nourish when you're not feeling your best. Anyway, on to the eats! I've been lucky enough to eat with my parents almost every night this week, and we've had quite the spectrum of food.

We started off with some edamame:


Some much-needed green tea and miso soup:


I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish all of my usual dinner, the sashimi bento box. I ordered it anyway...


And ate every last bite! (Except for the rice.) It was delicious. I could really eat this every day. In the box was green salad, shrimp and vegetable tempura, tuna and salmon sashimi and a California roll. Finger-lickin' good!


I came home and did some cute little domestic things, like fold laundry and arrange my closet. My idea of a Friday night! Ha, actually I didn't even know it was Friday until my parents reminded me, and I'm all for having a relaxing evening at home. I had the perfect nightcap: a navel orange and a rectangle of Dagoba New Moon (yes, I may have bought it for the name) 74% dark chocolate.


I'm all snuggly in bed watching Charlie Bartlett, but I have a feeling I'll be falling asleep before the movie's over. It seems pretty brilliant so far though, so I hope I can stay awake for it.

Have a lovely evening!

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.

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!

"Well done Pig, well done."

Oof, I am stuffed.  Everything has finally settled and I'm a pleasant, satiated kind of full.  We dined like kings and queens tonight; everything was absolutely delicious and worth every splurge-a-rific bite.  Here's a little re-cap of the party:

Georgie D. playing some holiday jingle:

What's a party without a little champagne?

Daddy-O passionately guarding the shallot/endive/anchovy tart:

One of my oldest friends Niki:

Niki, who made said tart... très parisienne.

Appetizer spread:

Blurry appetizers (crudités, sliver of tart, marinated green & white asparagus):

Mama in her pretty green Christmas blouse:

These caviar/potato puffs come with Karen every year, and we all anxiously await their arrival.  They are the bane of our existences, I tell you.

Almost everything my dad made tonight came from this Marcus Samuelsson cookbook.   These tasty little items were curry-spiced chapatis with a layer of puréed eggplant and seared sushi-grade tuna, drizzled with black olive oil sauce.  These were amazing.  I had more than my fair share...

Happy Chanukah!

Shot of Armenian lentil soup:

Clockwise from bottom: couscous, molasses-glazed carrots, quince peanut salad.

Shot of another Moosewood soup, but I've forgotten the name.  It was made with sour cream, and tasted a lot like the paprika sauces that are all over Hungarian cuisine.

Now for the dessert! Here's the cake my mama and I made (chocolate gingerbread coffee bundt with hazelnut poached pear and coffee whipped cream):

Coconut tapioca over a lemongrass tangerine reduction, topped with a great big blackberry:

And, although I was positively stuffed, I just had to try one of Trying to Heal/ Rainforestgurl's cashew butter chocolate dipped cookies.  Oh my sweet lordy, I have died and gone to heaven.  This was the perfect ending to a delicious night. 

I'm off to see if the boy will watch A Nightmare on Elm Street with me... chances are slim, but I can always hope!

I picked up this protein powder on the way home... am I the only person who didn't know that Kashi made it?

Bonne nuit!