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!

Another farewell

Hi, dreambugs! I hope your weekends wrapped-up beautifully.... maybe with a little football, maybe some sleep... whatever makes you happy!

I had sort of a blah workout today, but at least it was something. I did 20:00 minutes on the stairmaster (226 calories), then got on the bike but after a little more than a minute I got off. I tried to do some arm machines, but after two reps, I just wasn't feeling it and stopped. One of those days, I guess!

I went to Whole Foods with my dad for lunch today. It was a little bigger than usual, but after being so hungry during work last night I didn't want to deal with that again.

Here, I have mesclun greens with Indian curry tofu, BBQ tofu, and Thai "Chicken." I put a little oil and vinegar on the greens.


I also got an 8 oz cup of carrot, ginger and sesame soup. Mmm!


I also had a clementine...

... and a small skim cappuccino with a chocolate hazelnut biscotti.


After lunch, we went to Paragon to get new sneakers!!! They had me run on the treadmill so they could analyze my gait and "technique." Apparently, I pronate to the left, which either caused my stress fracture or is the result of it. Anyway, I got a pair of Asics that has an extra level of stability, and special insoles that support my arches so I won't get plantar fasciitis (OUCH).

Don't they look angelic?

Tonight was my last night of work, so I wanted to treat myself to a delicious sushi dinner. I ordered the sushi combo (7 pieces of sushi and a California roll), but Sunny, the oh-so-amazing sushi chef, sent me home with two extra California rolls and a Slammin' Salmon roll (salmon, lemon & cilantro).


I ate all the sushi, the Slammin' Salmon roll and two pieces of California.

For dessert, I had three clemmies and two pieces of Dagoba dark chocolate. This is one of the best combinations.


Eastern Promises is on TV, so I'm watching that in bed. Bonne nuit!

Gives you hell...

Sorry, but that song has been in my head all day. Moving on...

Another late morning! I don't know what's up with our sleep schedules, but it is funking me up. I had a lunch date in the early afternoon, so I just grabbed a banana and a coffee on my way out. This was not my finest coffee-making day... it tasted so watery!


I met Kalle for lunch and we went to our usual, Tomo, and had our oh-so-yum bento boxes. I had a bowl of miso soup (which also tasted watery! I poured in some soy sauce...) and a cup of hot tea.


Clockwise from leeft to right: tempura, California roll, brown rice, seaweed/ soybeans, tofu teriyaki.


I had one of my figgy bars on the street:


Kalle and I went back to my house and played with nail polish and watched silly TV, just like the goold ole days.


I rushed down to the gym for a quickie.

20:00 minutes on the stairs
arm machines
ab series

42:32 minutes total
maximum heart rate: 180
average heart rate: 142

I rushed over to dinner at Eatery, where I met my parents and Stewart.


The waiter brought out some kind of sweet and crunchy rice crisps. I forgot my wallet at home tonight, which meant no ID so no vino for me!


We split the shrimp spring rolls with grilled banana, Japanese eggplant and black sesame dipping sauce.


For my entrée, I ordered a salad with black tea crusted salmon, smoked tofu, grilled pineapple, organic mixed greens and avocado-jalepeño vinaigrette on the side.


I had a triangle of whole wheat pita. Bad contrast!


We were going to a play tonight, so I got a cup of coffee as a preventative method... it failed and I snoozed through the entire first act (Pal Joey is a musical, I might add, so sleeping should have been difficult...).


We shared a bar of this dark chocolate four ways.


I snuck two clementines on the way out of the theater.


I have a very exciting day day planned for tomorrow, so I want to get enough shut-eye so I can fully enjoy it to the max. Bonne nuit!

Edited to add: Head on over to Oh She Glows for a chance to win some delicious Honest Foods products!

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!

Yes, kids, I finally got my Twilight on. It was better than I expected, but still not entirely satisfying, if that makes any sense... I thought Bella was okay, but Edward was a little strange. He definitely took cues from Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands, but not in a good way.

Anyway, at the movies I had some snacks: two mini butterfinger bitelettes (not pictured, we couldn't find the box in the dark), a Peanut Butter Z Bar and a new kind of cappuccino they're selling at the movie theaters. It was definitely NOT skim, and came pre-sweetened, but it reminded me of the coffee from the machines at my school in Paris so I drank half of it anyway.


I was starving and pressed for time when the movie got out, so I got a Tomato Basil and Mozzarella sandwich on wheat at Cosi, with a small baggie of carrots. I went back to the bread sample bin several times... Why does it have to be so addicting?!


During work I had some orange slices and an oyster. For dinner, I ordered a California veggie burger (avocado & cheese) with blue cheese, no bun and a side salad. I ate almost everything on that plate! I also ordered a glass of Albariño (Spanish white wine).


My dad brought be half a Macadamia nut brownie in the car...


I also had an orange before bed.


My breakfast cookie this morning was delicious (and purple!):


1/2 cup oats
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
remainder of yogurt container
1 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp jelly
dried fruit

I'm off to run loads of errands (gym, dentist, pick poodlepie up from groomers). Have a wonderful day!