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!

Babes in Sugarland

Hello my long lost friends! I HATE posting once a day, not only because I have about a dozen pictures that need to go up, but I feel like such a bad blogger. When I get back to school it'll be better, I promise.

Yesterday after a ridiculously pathetic workout that I'm not even going to post about (I'll admit, I got a little too party-hardy the night before so getting onto a cardio machine probably wasn't the best idea) I met my mom, aunt, uncle, twin cousins, and George in Union Square for lunch.

After eating something I felt a thousand times better. Is pizza and soda not the best hangover cure? Maybe not the healthiest, but there's something to be said for it. We went to Pie, a cute little pizzeria on 4th avenue (and conveniently across the street from my gym, for future reference). I got a portabello mushroom slice with a diet black cherry soda.


Bere grew an orange moustache:


All in the family! Notice how Abby and I are dressed almost exactly the same.


Abby and I broke off from the group to have some girl time and do a little shopping. We needed some fuel to keep us going, so we stopped in at the Cupcake Café.


Some dancing cupcake showgirls to aid the decor:


I got a chocolate cupcake with mocha frosting. It was almost too pretty to eat. Almost.


I made a nice pre-work snack... I've started eating more meals throughout the day, if you haven't noticed, because of the weird schedule my body is struggling to get used to.

Fage with honey, blackberries and a clemmie:


An Amy's California veggie burger with ketchup and mustard:


One of Melissa's chocolate-covered pretzels...


After I finished work at 11, I had a Crispy Crunchy Veggie Salad (carrots, chickpeas, olives, cucumbers, hearts of palm, celery and romaine) with carrot ginger dressing.


The sushi chef saw me salivating over the sushi bar so surprised me with a California roll. Thanks, Sunny!


Daddy-O and Abby made my favorite: Grandmother's Apple Cake (which you may remember); he brought me a slice to munch on in the car. I LOVE THIS CAKE!


This morning Ari and I woke up bright and early, split this Hot'n Healthy bar (LOVE) and went into the city.

I had a nice long workout to make up for my days of slackage:

Stair Mill:
20:00 minutes
1.76 miles
84 floors climbed
229.9 calories burned

Bike:
25:00 minutes
152 calories burned
3.21 miles

Machines:
shoulder press- 2 x 10 @ 10 lbs
chest press- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
lateral raise - 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
lateral pulldown- 3 x 10 @ 40 lbs

Ab series (minus plank holds)

I popped into Starbucks to refuel. This was my first experience with their "Perfect Oatmeal." I added brown sugar and dried fruit; it was very good and definitely the healthiest thing Starbucks has to offer. Now that they've posted the calories in their baked goods, I don't think I'll be buying their mediocre "treats" again!


We just had our "second Christmas" with the fam. I got some very nice things, including a heart rate monitor! I have been wanting one for SO LONG. I can't wait to figure out how to use it tomorrow!

Have a lovely day, and if I don't see you, have a GREAT NEW YEAR'S!

O Christmas Tree...

I. Love. Christmas. I have no shame, which I think I have already made clear with my select holiday movie choices, but it is by far my favorite holiday. It's so drawn out and fabulous (and yes, the 26 is kind of a bummer), mostly because it's an excuse to spend as much time in the kitchen with my family as possible, belting out Christmas songs. Anywho, Daddy-O just put the lights on our tree. Isn't it pretty? I can't wait to decorate!


So blogging might be a little sporadic (although it'll always be every day, just not 3 x) because I'm bouncing back and forth between two households and possibly a job. I'll try my very best to be extra-good, but sorry in advance if there are some meal delays... and know that I'm always thinking in my head things like, "Hmm. These eggs are good, but they would have been better had there been crushed red pepper..." to write down for you!

Last night Ari and I watched The Neverending Story... can you believe neither of us had ever seen it? I think it would have been better to watch it had it not been very very late... as Ari said, "It really was neverending."

We had a little wine and popcorn while we watched. Gotta get in the movie-watching mood! I only had a few handfuls of the popcorn.


This morning we went to "our" diner, and Ari treated me to a lovely breakfast.


Black coffee (didn't finish it... might explain the 4-hour nap I just took ):


Egg white omelet with spinach, tomato, mushroom and feta. Side of hash browns, which I only had a few bites of. I ate about 2/3 of the omelet.


Whole wheat toast tower! I had one slice with jelly (half with butter):


I went home to see my parents, but ended up taking an epic nap. Whoopsies! I woke up and had some delicious soup my dad made, Armenian lentil (if anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I'll post it) with a mint and cilantro garnish:


Boca spicy Chik'n patty and a slice of cinnamon raisin Swirl toast with B&B:


This tablecloth comes from the same region as mine, if it looks familiar:


Now I've got to shower and go to work... enjoy your Saturday nights!