No sugar; extra balls (+ laundry Qs answered)

March 15, 2009February 6, 201524 Comments

I met Gina, JQ, and Di this afternoon at Tea Spot, a teashop in the village, to celebrate Di’s engagement. Here’s the guest of honor modeling her tea ring:

We had to order our teas two at a time so that the other two could guard the table because tables are hard to come by around here. I had been planning to order a regular ol’ pot of earl grey, but Di started asking the guy behind the counter about frappe-y drink possibilities. Good thing she did, becaue the menu gave no indication of the fanciness available!

The guy was very helpful (there’s just something about a man behind a bar, is there not?) and opened several barrels of their loose leaf tea blends to waft the tantalizing scents in our direction. He explained that we could choose to mix any of the blends with fancy tea powder (the kind that is sweet and milky already when you add water to it). Di got almond cookie with taro powder, and I got creme de chocolate with taro powder. When we were through, we sent Gina and Q up to Chris at the bar, and they came back with butter toffee/taro and coconut/taro. We did a little merry-go-round of taste tests — all delicious!

Also, Beadie’s earrings made their public debut, earning a number of appreciative comments:

As Chris, our barista(o?), had warned us, the teas tasted strikingly similar to the addictive blend present in bubble tea. I knew in advance that this would be a problem, as I was out-of-my-mind addicted to the tapioca balls all throughout college, thanks to my old roommate Ilin who introduced me to them freshman year. I left the teashop with an uncontrollable craving for the real deal and stopped into Hanco’s, the bubble tea cafe that just opened in my neighborhood (yay! except that it took the place of the Tea Lounge, which was way better) on the way home to satisfy the urge. I ordered an unsweetened jasmine tea (because the bubbles are sweet enough all on their own) with extra balls:

I saw those flowers when I walked in and chose a yellow straw for color-coordination purposes. Also, inspired by pretty green girl and St. Patrick’s Day (I am part Irish, after all), I greenly saved my cup from the Tea Spot so that Hanco’s could refill it instead of giving me more plastic.

The balls masquerading as a biology experiment:

I made another stop at the laundromat to check in on the status of my clothes and found that they were, in fact, washing my clothes for me and told me they’d be done in an hour. Total cost? $21 … exactly three times what I pay to do it on my own! Eek! Oh well — it wasn’t in my budget, but this one-time expense won’t break me, and I’ll be more careful next time. Plus, I saved so much money on groceries Friday night that things should balance out. More good news: not only did the laundry man avoid putting my delicates in the dryer, but he actually lectured ME because he could tell that one of my wool sweaters had been dryer-ed in the past! And now everything is folded, so I don’t have to spend tons of time putting stuff away right this minute to keep it from wrinkling.

I spent a good chunk of time tonight getting food and lunches ready for the week. The veggies I scored Friday night got roasted. Before:

After:

I used half of this giant avocado to make more chocolate mousse a la Heather. Before:

After:

With the other half of the avocado, I made asparagus guacamole, a trick I’ve heard about before but never tried. I needed enough guac for a week (and I knew that half an avocado, no matter how gigantic, would not cut it), so I threw in a bunch of steamed asparagus to make it stretch.

Before (1/4 avocado + steamed asparagus):

After (post-immersion blending):

After after (mixed with salsa, the other 1/4 avocado because I like it chunky, lime juice, s&p, and red pepper flakes):

I had a few bites — the asparagus flavor came through slightly (which is fine with me since I love asparagus), but it’s still definitely guacamole :-D.

I had been planning to eat some of the roasted veggies and guac for dinner, but after the balls and all the nibbling-while-cooking, I wasn’t hungry at all. I almost ate it anyway since it was all prepared and ready to go, but I listened to my intuition (thank you, Intuitive Eating) and realized I just wasn’t interested. I will save it for when I am hungry and can really enjoy it.

It’s past my bedtime as usual, so I’m headed straight to bed!

How do YOU feel about the balls?

Nuts for salad + laundry debacle

March 15, 2009February 6, 201510 Comments

My second PB2 experiment took place this morning when I decided on the world’s best oatmeal combo: pb-chocolate-banana.

In the pot, I cooked 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats with 1/2 cup unsweetened silk, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 whipped banana, 1/4 chunked banana, dash salt, and 1 packet chocolate pb2. The cooked oatmeal went into the bowl on a bed of 1/2 cup yogurt, and I garnished with 2 sliced strawberries, unsweetened coconut, 1.5 chopped pieces of lindt hazelnut chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa powder.

Yum! But, I couldn’t really taste the pb2 chocolate and peanut flavors that strongly. If I were to make this bowl of oatmeal again, and I probably will, I would mix cocoa powder into the pot to cook with the oatmeal and save the pb2 to pour on top. Mixing it in led to too much flavor dilution!

For lunch, I had the grilled chicken/chicken parm leftovers salad that I brought home from my coworkers on Friday. I actually only used half of the chicken that was on the salad and saved the other half for tomorrow. I bulked up the salad with the grape tomatoes, radishes, chopped endives, and cheese cubes from Friday night and topped it with a drizzle of Annie’s lite gingerly dressing I found in our fridge + freshly ground black pepper.

Post-picture, I decided I needed more crunch and added two chopped and toasted almonds to the top 😀

My eyes were bigger than my stomach (as my dad would say), and I made a second course that consisted of the rest of the chicken parm toast with homemade almond-cashew butter + the last cup of Friday night’s leftover fruit salad and a sprinkling of vanilla-almond granola.

I ate the toasts and realized I felt full, so I held off on the fruit salad for another hour or so until I was ready.

Here’s another picture, just because I’m not looking forward to going back to my paper as soon as this post is done.

I’m leaving in a little while to meet the comm girls for coffee in honor of Diana’s recent ENGAGEMENT :D, and then it will be back home and to the books!

In unrelated news, I went to do my laundry this morning only to find the big metal gate down and the laundromat dark and empty. I spotted the manager parked a few cars down and went to inquire. Apparently, the metal gate was broken and he couldn’t get in! He told me to leave my clothes with him and come back tonight to get them. I was caught off guard, so between that and the language barrier, I got flustered and agreed. But now I’m thinking: (1) Is he going to wash my stuff for me and then charge me by the pound (which will undoubtedly cost more than I normally pay to do it myself)?; (2) Are all my clothes going to shrink because he doesn’t know what can go in the dryer and what can’t?; and (3) Was I completely off-base, and did he just mean he would hold onto my laundry until later so I didn’t have to drag it all the way back home, and I’ll still need to do it myself tonight?

Yes, I could just go back over there and check, but I’m feeling lazy and the suspense is more fun. What do YOU think will become of my laundry?

Renewal

March 14, 2009February 6, 201510 Comments

Well, today has certainly been all about recovery after my wild eating spree at the book signing last night! 1pm came along and I still wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. This is highly abnormal for me because I’m usually ravenous within one hour of waking up. I had been up since 7:30! I decided that a run was in order to speed the process along. On my way out, I grabbed a date for healthy sugar power:

My whole body felt creaky and achey at the beginning of the run, but all my muscles and bones and joints seemed to start communicating with each other more effectively after a few minutes. I was in the mood for sightseeing, so I ran out to the mansions at Flatbush Malls — the most beautiful neighborhood in Brooklyn, according to me — and around the outside of Prospect Park. Stats: 5.75 miles, 61 minutes, 509 calories, 152 average heart rate, 182 max. I totally zoned out during the run and ended up really enjoying it. I felt so refreshed after — but alas, still not hungry!

I sorted my laundry for the ‘mat tomorrow, I dyed my hair, I did some other things on the list … and I finally felt a little bit hungry around 4pm! I did a happy dance and then whipped up the balsamic-strawberry yogurt sundae that I’ve been dreaming about ever since I created these Balsamic-Strawberry Oaties earlier this week for the BSI.

Also involved in that sundae were 1/2 cup Greek yogurt mixed with vanilla and cinnamon, more chopped strawberries, and a drizzle of homemade balsamic syrup. Yum! Definitely lived up to my fantasy.

Then, miracle of all miracles, I was still a little bit hungry! I re-toasted a piece of herby chicken parm toast from yesterday and covered it in 2 tsp homemade almond-cashew butter and cinnamon:

The traces of herby tomato sauce on the bread actually complemented the almond-cashew butter brilliantly. Hmmmm, I wonder what I can do with this knowledge in the future …

I continued to give my body what it needed with a pot of Yogi Renew green tea from the samples I received last week:

The tea actually tasted a little bit like grass. But, hey, I guess you have to suffer for your renewal, right?

At some point a little later, another mini-wave of hunger hit me. I decided it was time to break out sample #1 of PB2! I cut the packet open and tasted some of the dry powder — hmm, tasted like peanuts.

The directions said to mix the packet with 1.5 tbsp of water … so I mixed it with 2 tbsp yogurt. Magic:

My pb-yogurt sauce became the dressing for a cup of last night’s fruit salad:

(I also mixed in a couple of chopped strawberries and topped it with a sprinkle of vanilla-almond granola.)

The verdict? As much as I did not want to like PB2, I have to admit that I think it has sucked me in. There are so many potential uses! Would I buy it? I’m doubtful, especially now that I’ve mastered the art of making my own nut butters from scratch. But, I have the rest of the samples to go through and an entire jar on its way from the Foods That Fit giveaway, so we’ll see how addicted I get!

In other giveaway news, you can win yet another chance to mix your own granola, thanks to Diana at Soap & Chocolate. I’d LOVE to win this one, but I really think I’ve been too lucky! I can still hope, though …

Speaking of Foods That Fit, Abbie posted a fun recipe for wheatberry salad today that I knew I had to try since I had all of those pilfered cranberries from last night.

I made a few substitutions based on ingredient availability — I subbed a rye berries/kamut/barley/brown rice mixture for the wheatberries and cooked the grains in leftover whey from making Greek yogurt; dried apple rings and dates in place of the apricots; and chopped almonds in place of the pistacios and pine nuts. I “tested” a couple of spoonfuls when it was done — delicious!

Just like Abbie said — perfect salty-sweet combo!

The cooking continued because I can’t stop once I start! I combined two recipes to prepare the other half of my tofu block: the coco loco tofu Emily made earlier this week and soy-lime tofu from Eating Well. I soaked the tofu slices for two hours in a marinade of 2 tbsp white rice vinegar + 2 tbsp lime juice + 2 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil and then dredged each slice in unsweetened coconut and baked like this. I tested one slice on another piece of chicken parm toast with 1 tbsp almond-cashew butter:

The coconut flavor was surprisingly strong, and that made me happy. I can’t believe I haven’t thought to put coconut on tofu before. Thanks, Emily!

For dessert, I had about 2 tbsp of half-frozen homemade chocolate mousse (freezing it seems to make it even MORE chocolate-y, if that’s possible) with a crumbled basil-spice meringue kiss and coconut sprinkles:

Hmm, for a day of no appetite, this has been a surprisingly long post!! My tum is feeling ALMOST back to normal, so I’m hoping for a crazy appetite when I wake up in the morning :-D.

What do you prefer: big appetite or no appetite?

Winnings

March 14, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

So, as you may recall, last night’s sushi was only the beginning of my dinner!

Gina, Kate, and I met at NYU at 6pm to attend a panel discussion, book signing, and reception to celebrate the release of a new book titled Gastropolis: Food and New York City.

I have a special plan for telling you more details about this amazing event (and the food that was there!), so for now, I’m just going to stick with what I ate (and ohhh man, what DIDN’T I eat??), what I brought home, and what I found waiting for me when I got home 😀

I only took a photo of plate #1 because things got a little hazy (the amazing spread kind of went to my head!) after that.

This pile includes hummus, carrots, cucumber, jicama, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, roasted red pepper, a mountain of feta, hunks of parmesan and blue cheese, apple slices, grapes, dried cranberries, dried apricots, dried figs, almonds, and so much more!

Oooh, here’s another plate picture. Maybe it’s the same? Maybe it’s different? Who knows. Either way, I ate it all!

I started so honorably with mostly veggies, but I probably went back for about a pound more of feta (I haven’t had feta this delicious since Greece!), lots of parm, goat cheese, dried cranberries, almonds, a couple crackers, TONS more veggies, and maybe 3 full bunches of grapes? Ohhhh, the expansion is right!

I also took one of each dessert to wrap in a napkin and save for later.

From top to bottom:

– Pumpkin-spice loaf

– Lemon-poppyseed loaf

– Chocolate-frosted chocolate brownie

– Oat bar with berry jam layer

– Chocolate rugelach

– Chocolate chip blondie

This napkin plan was super smart, right? Until I ate at least one of each dessert anyway via nibbles over the course of the evening …

Because the event was focused on New York food, they also had samples of something I’ve always wanted to try: chocolate egg creams! They used NY-produced chocolate syrup, of course:

Pretty sure I had enough of these to equal at least a full cup (and maybe 2).

As the night wore on and I saw that there were still piles of food left that might end up getting thrown out, I started slying “packing” some things away for later in my empty containers and bags left from lunch 😀 I unloaded when I got home.

Here’s the haul:

Fresh produce (mushrooms, broccoli, green cauliflour, endive leaves, asparagus spears, carrots, snow peas, white cauliflower, radishes, grape tomatoes, yellow squash, 2/3 of a pear, and a bunch of grapes!)

Sweets and treats (desserts you’ve seen already plus 2 cookies, 3 apples rings, 2 cubes of gouda, 1 hunk of parmesan, and about 2 tbsp dried cranberries)

Most of the desserts went into my “carb bag” in the freezer where I keep all of the breads/cookies/cakes I come across but know I won’t be able to eat fast enough … and I don’t want to feel like I have to eat them all right away before mold starts to grow, either! As stuffed as I was, however, I did have one last little piece of lemon poppyseed loaf:

I also brought home a selection of lunch leftovers from earlier in the day, if you recall.

I dismantled the rest of the chicken parm sandwich that Myrna gave me. A few minutes in the oven turned the soggy bread into herby and delicious toast. Before and after:

I scraped the breading off of the chicken pieces. Before and after:

And added them to the rest of Nydia’s grilled chicken salad. Before and after:

Lastly, I chopped the half banana left from Mildred’s lunch with the grapes and pear from the book signing and the 1/2 apple I had sitting in my fridge to make a pretty cinnamon-topped fruit salad:

So, all in all, I’d say I’m pretty well-stocked on food this week? 😛

On top of all the food excitment yesterday, I also had some mail excitement waiting when I got home because …

My BSI: Kale prize for the Kale-Crust Pizza had arrived from Beadie!! Meet the most beautiful earrings ever:

Can you believe these are completely handmade by Beadie herself?

I can’t wait to wear them. Thanks, Beadie!!

I also had another package, but it was kind of anti-climactic after my new jewels. Gina from Bell Plantation sent me these samples of PB2 and chocolate PB2 to try. Yum!

And in the biggest news yet, I am the winner of Abbie’s Foods That Fit giveaway! Abbie is sending me a package of all of her favorite things (including more PB2!), and I can’t wait to try all the new goodies 😀

We’ll see how long my luck holds out — I’m crossing my fingers for the awesome magazine subscription giveaway that Brandi’s hosting here!

And now, I must get moving on the day! I wonder if I will ever get hungry again?

The beginning

March 14, 2009February 6, 201513 Comments

Ooooooheeeeee, I’ve had quite the day of food! I kept wondering how I was going to blog about it all since there was just SO much, but then I remembered the best part about food blogging: the chronology is set 😀 All of this has happened already, so I can just start at the beginning!

We sat down for lunch around 12:30, and as planned, I ate the rest of the dinner I made last night. I heated the 1/2 portobello cap and the BBQ tofu (with some homemade parmesan in between the layers) in the work microwave and then stuck a lettuce leaf in the middle of each “sandwich” for color:

On the side, I had a salad of the items that wouldn’t fit in the portobello-tofu “sandwich”: 2 more slices of tofu (broken into pieces), more romaine, and roasted brussels sprouts.

Plus, Myrna surprised me with a chicken parm sandwich as a thank you for the help I gave her with a paper. I ate the filling of the half pictured (minus one piece of chicken) and brought the rest home to save for another use! (Other leftovers I brought home today: Nydia’s leftover half of her grilled chicken salad and Mildred’s leftover half banana. You’ll be seeing these foods shortly, I’m sure!)

For dessert, I had my 1/2 cup Greek yogurt mixed with chopped apple, chopped banana, 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger:

Along with this oatmeal cookie from Mildred:

At around 2:30, my last cup of pineapple (with another tbsp vanilla-almond granola) surfaced to go on a field trip to my mouth:

Next up was 2 tbsp homemade guacamole with a serving of Sea Salt RiceWorks:

And since no day can pass candy-free and I want Brach’s to start paying me and I needed to address the guac-breath, I also had a strawberry hard candy (the kind with a gooey strawberry center, mmmm). And about 4 mints, of course!

Early dinners have been a trend for me this week. At 4:30, my agency had an “informal” staff gathering in the lobby with light refreshments. And by light refreshments, they meant SUSHI!!! And there commenced dinner #1. Here’s the spread:

And my first plate with broccoli, grape tomatoes, a california roll, a spicy salmon roll, a spicy crab roll, shrimp, grapes, apple slices, two cheddar cheese slices, and a triscuit thin crisp:

Yum, I was in heaven! (After I finished my plate, I noticed a sign by the sushi that said, “Please only take two pieces per person.” Whoops!)

And just because sushi is so pretty:

Love:

And my second plate with more crudites:

And salsa!

As we left, I grabbed another California roll (shhhhhh), about three more slices of cheese with apple slices, and a small handful of carrots — all of which I ate during the walk across the street to Mildred’s car 😀

And like I said, that was only dinner #1!! Dinner #2 will be along shortly …

How many meals do you eat per day?

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Month: March 2009

No sugar; extra balls (+ laundry Qs answered)

Nuts for salad + laundry debacle

Renewal

Winnings

The beginning

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: