Naughty Chocoholic

It's still sort of morning for me, since I just took a little nap. I desperately needed that sleep, which was made very clear when I fell asleep for the first half of Slumdog Millionaire! It's too bad, because I've been looking forward to seeing it in over a month. What I did see, though, I loved, so I'd recommend it.

I had lunch with Greg, Kalle and Mike at the Metro Diner yesterday. I'd already had coffee (which doesn't usually stop me from having more) but I just felt like sipping on tea.


I've been having a lot of formatting problems with Blogger recently, so sorry about the double image. It doesn't want to delete.


The Metro makes THE best veggie burgers. They're literally over an inch thick, and made with a delicious blend of beans and spices. I didn't get the "deluxe" which comes with fries, but I ate a few of Kalle's.


One of the independent movie theaters we go to has THE best treats. Even though I was still pretty full from lunch, I had two cookies: a chocolate covered coconut macaroon, and a dried fruit and nut rugeleh. So yum, but don't know if I needed both of them...


Someone brought in two packages of Ferrero Rocher chocolates (you know, the milk chocolate hazelnut truffle kind?) and put them up on the little ledge where I sit. One of the waitresses and I (who is also a serious runner) and I tried ignoring them all night (hiding them under my seating chart, putting a glass in front of them, etc) but finally they got the better of us and we each ate one. Pure bliss, but they each have 16g of fat!


I got a salad with potatoes, artichoke hearts, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, romaine, onions and a hard-boiled egg (they forgot the avocado... sad).


Some of my friends from school (Mike, Greg and Max) came by when I was finishing up so I stayed and had my shift drink with them (note: we have to wait until the end of our shift to drink it, we can't have it while we're working).

I don't know what was going on with me yesterday, but the chocolate/fat/treat/whatever-you-want-to-call-it bug hit me hardcore yesterday. I had a Hershey's Cookies 'n Creme bar on the subway; I don't even really LIKE these and only eat them when I'm really caving them. Oh well, tomorrow is another day, tomorrow is another day...


I made a nice big bowl of overnight oats that I enjoyed around 8:45 this morning.


1/2 cup steal cup oats
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 banana (sliced on in the morning)

I was planning to go to an early yoga class, but I decided to go back to sleep and go to the 1:30 class. I'm off to do that now; hopefully "the hair of the dog" will ease my muscle soreness. Have a great day!

Spicy Saturday

Hello and happy Saturday! The day has sort of a strange vibe to it today, I'm not sure why... it might have to do with the fact that I just took a two and a half hour nap. Hmmm...


After the soup kitchen this morning, my mom met me for brunch at PicNic. This place has been in our neighborhood for a while, and is, I believe, the sister restaurant to my beloved Silver Moon bakery. It used to be an upscale food store, but it turned into a full-fledged restaurant a years ago.

We started off with bread. I had a slice of baguette with a little butter:


We both ordered eggs. My mom got the spinach and herb omelette (I nibbled, it was very good).


I got an egg white spinach and potato fritatta. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this was HUGE. I ate about 2/3, brought the rest home, and was VERY full.


It came with a great salad of bib lettuce with a tasty and delicate vinaigrette.


I was intent on reading while I snacked on this navel orange...


... but I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was time to bake!


I made a bowl of pre-work oats first: coconut chocolate banana cream pie oatmeal. YUM.

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup skim milk
2/3 banana
2 tsp cocoa powder
chocolate chips
pecans
shredded unsweetened coconut


On to the baking! We're making this recipe. Here are the sum of its parts:





I can't wait to show you what it looks like when its done. I'm off to work now... I might have to work until 2 AM, so look for the post tomorrow morning. Have a great night!

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!

Brunch shenanigans

Good afternoon! It's actually starting to look a little like evening because we're supposed to get a whole bunch of snow. All the more reason to cozy up in bed!

Brunch was a whole lot of fun. It was actually a little sad because this was by far my favorite class this semester. Katie and I will be taking an independent study with this prof, though, so we have a lot to look forward to in the spring!

There was so. much. food. Once again I left with the too-full feeling, so I'm going to try to put dinner off for as long as possible.

A cup of tea:


Clockwise from left: apple-cinnamon bran muffin with blackberry jam, homemade veggie-filled macaroni and cheese (sooo good), roasted thin-sliced potatoes with rosemary, mixed green salad with pears, grapes, craisins and feta topped with Newman's Own Lighten' Up! sundried tomato vinaigrette (I brought the salad minus the greens).


I actually surprised myself by loving this muffin. I didn't try it plain, but with jam it was superb. Erin was right in calling this a "dense" muffin, but it was mighty tasty. I saved an extra for later.

Clemmie, x 2:

Reed made his own cinnamon roles!


They were rich and deliciously yeasty. Good thing I was super full because I definitely wanted more than one.


I'm going to spend the rest of the day napping (very much needed), deep cleaning the house, and studying.