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!

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!

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.

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!

Hustle & Go

I've got to run to work in a few minutes, so I'm going to make this quick! I didn't think I was going to be able to stop at home, but my bags were so heavy that I thought I'd take the extra subway trips to lighten my load.


I can't stop making breakfast cookie faces! I didn't want someone to open the fridge and think it was just mush and throw it out, and who would throw this baby out? I didn't have any banana or yogurt so this cookie was a little different today:

1/2 cup oats
1 clementine
1/2 scoop of my new Kashi protein powder (good!)
1 tbsp peanut butter
craisin eyes, prune nose, current smile


I went back to sleep after breakfast until ONE. My sleeping schedule is pretty whacked-out. I had a small coffee with skim milk on the subway on the way to the gym:

I had a great workout today. I decided to just use the stair mill, so I stayed on longer than usual. I left my ipod at school by mistake, so I was very happy to see the new issue of SELF in the magazine rack!

Stair Mill:
42:00 minutes
169 floors climbed
447 calories burned

ab series (the planks are getting MUCH easier for me to do!)

I was pretty hungry so I had a clemmie while I dried my hair in the locker room:


I read in SELF that post-exercise, you shouldn't eat much more than 18% of carbs in your meal. That translates into no energy bars for at least 3 hours after your workout. Interesting!

I re-feuled at Whole Foods. I missed this salad bar! Roughly what I had:
tabouli
falafel ball (NOT good, very dry... but I kept "tasting" it to see until I liked it more until it was all gone)
vegan "chicken" salad
3 types of tofu: fried sweet & spicy, baked plain, BBQ with edamame
mixed greens
pad thai (we serve this at my restaurant, and rather than order it for dinner I thought I'd get a little taste to satisfy my craving)
2 dumplings (again, thought I'd satisfy that craving and maybe I won't order the shrimp dumplings for dinner tonight!)


With coconut water (LOVE this... I rarely treat myself to it, though):


And I grabbed a chocolate hazelnut biscotti on the way out. I think I've been having biscotti-envy from K's ABC breakfasts... this was so good! I forgot how much I love biscotti :-)


Time for work, catch ya later!