His & Hers

Guess who's who? This was our cleaning getup; we scoured the house from top to bottom.

I had an apple-icious snack around 6. This wasn't the best apple, but it did the trick.


Have you ever had rotten tofu? I hadn't until today, and let me tell you, it is one of the foulest tastes I have ever had. It was supposed to make up the bulk of my sandwich, but instead I made another of my weirdo concoctions: hummus, Laughing Cow Light, and cilantro on rye bread. I also had a sweet potato with marjarine (my B&B disappeared) and maple syrup, but I zapped the potato for too long and it was a bit dry. Oh well.



I had a Hot'n Healthy bar (Chocolate Chip) a few hours later for dessert. Gosh, I love these things.


Waitress is on TV and Ari and I are watching. He's never seen it before, but it's putting us both in the mood for pie!

Night night :-)

Meet & Greet

Good evening, all! I just had a very exciting night. It was a first for me: a blogger meet-up! Caroline, Erica, Nicole and I met (how many ways can I conjugate that verb?) at Josie's for dinner. This was the first time I've broken the "blog-wall," so to speak; I was a little nervous, I have to admit! The girls were all really nice, and it was so fun to dish (pun intended!) with other people who also snap photos about 435 times a day.

So... what do you get when you put four food bloggers at a table together? Strobe-like, seizure-inducing camera flashes, foodie news and gossip, indoor photography woes... I could go on and on, but if you're reading this you probably know what I'm talking about, anyway!


The bread basket came around and we all chose seven-grain bread... sameness was sort of the theme of the night! Josie's makes delicious sweet potato hummus. It's delicious, and seems pretty simple to make (although I've already forgotten the third ingredient besides sweet potato and tahini).


The basket came back... Caroline and I split pieces of cornbread and focaccia.


We all ordered exactly the same thing for dinner: Seared Asian Marinated Organic Tofu Salad with baby arugula roasted vegetables, chickpeas and avocado.


Now, this should have been simple enough, but we all decided we did not want the balsamic vinaigrette the salad came with but rather not one but TWO special dressings... and on the side, please. Ha. Totally worth it, though, because the dressings were amazing: carrot miso and red wine wasabi vinaigrette.


The salad itself was so, so good, and it was nice to be able to dip into two different dressings. It was actually pretty big, so I bagged what I didn't finish and took it home.


We did not, of course, skimp on dessert. They were all vegan and very, very tasty.


Warm pumpkin pie with "soy drizzle" :


Ginger berry pie with oat-y crust and soy vanilla ice cream:


Chocolate pecan pie with graham cracker crust and soy ice cream. This was everyone's favorite!


But, as you can see, we weren't really in the mood for dessert.


That's it for me... I'm brushed and in bed like a good little girl. Hope you've had fabulous Fridays!

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.

"There's nothing as over as Christmas"

My mom used to say that, and I think she learned it from my grandpa.  Sad but true, ALTHOUGH my aunt, uncle and twin cousins are coming on Monday, so we'll have Christmas #2 and some quality family time.  When I was little we used to always do that- spend Christmas day here in New York, then leave for Indianapolis a couple days later to have New Years with my mom's side of the family.  

Yesterday before the movie, I had a big bowl of Mueslix with a banana and skim milk.

Hmm. So The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was... interesting.  To be fair, I was asleep during the first hour of the movie (I'm such an old man) so I missed the beginning set-up and context. But, that said- and this is all I'll say because I don't want to spoil it- Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt were obviously gorgeous, but that's pretty much all the movie had going for it. Oh well! The lines outside the theater were ridiculous.  They went 3/4 of the way around the block!  The Ziegfeld is a really cool old theater; I think it's the biggest one in Manhattan, so at least we all got to sit in the same area.

We came home for a tasty Christmas dinner prepared by my one and only Daddy-O.  We started off with a little Austrian white wine- how great is this bottle?!

We packed up the gingerbread cookies:

Poor Rudolph lost his head:

For some reason this picture won't rotate at all, but on the plate is spiced baked plantains and sweet potatoes from The Soul of A New Cuisine, a crawfish cake, and sautéed red swiss chard with onions and toasted almonds.

The bûche just might have been better on the second day.  I asked to have the end piece, which was covered with a thick slab of marzipan.  YUM.

And another little marzipan pinecone:

My breakfast cookie got a lot of goodnatured laughs while I was making it last night... I guess it's not the most appetizing thing to look at!

We tried out the gingerbread this morning.  White piping icing was NOWHERE to be found, so we settled for dipping them into Betty Crocker chocolate frosting.  Things could be worse.

I'm off to go to the gym and meet my mama for some shopping.  Have a great day!

Bake-a-holic! Secret Santa begins...

Good afternoon! I have had a lovely, quiet day so far filled with baking and munching. After I picked out the recipes I wanted to use for the Secret Santa exchange Sarah's hosting, I went to the grocery store to pick up ingredients and some eats for me.


I wanted to get some stuff in the oven before I had lunch, so I had a little clemmie to tide me over.

After all the rave reviews the blogworld has been giving Amy's California Veggie Burgers recently, I had to pick some up for myself. They did not disappoint! They had a nice and grainy texture. I understand now why Megan mushes them up, though... they're so soft! I think I might like my Morningstar Farms burgers just a wee bit more; I need a little firmness in my chomp!


I packed a whole wheat pita with a Laughing Cow light cheese, dijon mustard and ketchup. I also had a sweet potato with B&B and brown sugar... my favorite! There was no lettuce or any kind of green veggie to be had (except for some broccoli, but I'm not sure if my parents are saving that for something). I'll have to catch up on that tonight!


I caught up on my vitamins and Emergen-C. I'm so bad, I haven't taken them in about a week!


There was too much pita for the burger so I ripped off about 1/4. I totally decimated the sweet potato, though!


Now, on to the baking!

I don't want to give anything away, but I'll leave you with a few teasers:



Both things come from here:


I'm going out with my friends Lisa and Lizzie tonight. I've been eating out a lot recently (a lot for me, that is) so I'll have to be a little more conservative in the future. It's a great way to see people, though, and a person's gotta eat!

What low-budget things do you do with your friends, especially when it's cold outside?

Yoo hoo!

Well hello! Vitamin A does really help you see!



I had two of these eatingbender (Gliding Calm) inspired coffee cocoas today:


They ended up putting me to sleep for about 4 hours! I woke up at 4 PM (!) and had a quesadilla.


I sandwiched one whole egg + 1 egg white, 1/3 avocado, swiss cheese and tomato between two small Ezekial wraps. Strange combo, I know, but it was pretty good! There was some ketchup slathered on there as well.


A slice of pumpkin bread leftover from Monday's pot luck:


Sarah, Carlye, Becky and I had a farewell meal tonight (sniff sniff). Sarah made us a fantastic dinner, while Carlye and I sat around on our bums! Ah, what a life.

We had some of this delicious Vignoles wine that Sarah got when we went apple picking. Look what a good mama Carlye is!


Dinner was made of two kinds of pumpkin pastas: pumpkin tortellini and pumpkin sage ravioli. Sarah mixed it all together with a boiled sweet potato, garlic, oil and parmesan. YUM.


Miss Jenna was here in spirit tonight... Sarah made her delicious Peanut Butter Incredibles and let me tell you, there were out of this world.


The only adaptations she made were to use 1 jar of peanut butter, and 1/2 semi-sweet chocolate and half bittersweet. I died and went to heaven!


She sent me home with a whole plate of goodies... I just enjoyed a brownie to help my studies.


I can't wait to be done with this paper and GO HOME! My flight is at 7 PM tomorrow... I am so excited!!!

Sleep well, little bloggies :-)