First things first. It’s time to announce the winner of the Everybody’s Nuts Pistachi-YES giveaway! Random.org has made its selection from the 93 entries (including comments, link-backs, and emails from non-bloggers), and the winner is #78:
Amie: The nut recall makes me sad because then nuts get a bad name.
Amie, I will be emailing you soon to arrange for delivery of some safe and disease-free nuts 😛
Onto the food!
As I was sipping my sugar cookie sleigh ride tea at 9:23 am this morning, I noticed one of the nurses set a promising foil-wrapped platter down on the other end of the conference room table, along with a pile of plates and knives. This could only mean one thing: cake. I didn’t want to seem too eager, so I whispered across to Rosey that there was cake in the conference room, and she hopped right up and headed down to get the ball rolling. And it turned out to be banana walnut, yum! Here’s my piece, heated in the microwave and then slathered in whipped vanilla frosting that I found in the fridge:
The cake kept me going until lunchtime, when I broke out another fun treat: butternut squash, ground beef, and eggplant shepherd’s pie from mom! She packed this big slice in the food bag I brought home from MA yesterday.
I think there’s kale in there, too? I had it on a bed of arugula. It was perfect and yummy and tasted like mom’s cooking because that’s what it was. I wish I had more!
I also had a bite of Vianni’s tasty tuna macaroni salad:
And finished Mildred’s salad for her:
And two of Mildred’s daughter Adriana’s chicken nuggets:
I haven’t had chicken nuggets in years! Somehow, they tasted better than I remember …
Post-lunch was a blood orange. I shared half with my coworkers (finally, they liked the looks of something I brought in!) since they were intrigued by the color. None of them had ever seen or heard of a blood orange before.
I also had some blurry yogurt art made from fruit salad and yogurt that traveled from MA to NY with me yesterday:
I was hungry again by 2:30 and had a cheese stick, also courtesy of mom:
The final mom treat of the day came at 4:30. I broke up two of mom’s kitchen sink muffins (she sent me home with a ton yesterday!) and spread about a tbsp of cashew-almond butter over them before microwaving to get it all melty, YUM:
It’s probably worth mentioning that I left my Newman’s mints at home by accident, so lots of other candies made their way into my belly throughout the day.
I stayed late at work because I was planning to go to the 6:30 gyrotonic class at Kinespirit with the free coupon Melissa gave out at the blogger brunch last month. I was somehow still feeling a little bit underfed when I left work and knew I would need to last until I got home at 8:30, so I had an emergency spoonful of the office’s extra chunky Skippy:
That did the trick!
I was very unsure of what to expect from the gyrotonic, but it ended up being just what I needed tonight. I’ll have to talk about it more in my next post because I’m too tired now!
What’s the best exercise class you’ve ever taken?
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 
can’t wait to hear more about gyrotonic! i don’t take very creative exercise classes, but i love spin class because its super intense (hills! sprints!!) and has loud, fun music 🙂
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2 years ago I took a class at some fitness studio in new york with my brother’s girlfriend. it was the hardest hour of my life but I have never had so much fun!!!! we basically had to do jumps, kicks, squats, punches (it wasn’t kickboxing, just all over aerobics workout!)….she kept pushing us and we didn’t get any breaks!! I’m LOVING your banana walnut cake (so glad you microwaved it, microwaving desserts is key!)….it looks divineee
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mom’s cooking is always the best!!! 😀 that shefard pie looks amazing!!!
what’s gyrotonic? such a name!! can’t wait to read more.
the best fitness class that I had recently was the one called Fight Do in Argentina. It’s everywhere around the world, except in US 😦
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I have no idea what gyrotonic is either! Spin class is by far my favourite, I even still like it when the instructor plays bad music 😛
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Congratulations to Amie!!
Best fitness class = zumba.
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congrats to Amie!
I haven’t had chicken nuggets in a long time, either.
I love spinning!
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Congrats to your winner!
I had a blood orange for the first time ever in Italy, and I was SO excited when I found out you can get them over here too.
Yesterday I took a Zumba class for the first time. I may have looked completely lost and uncoordinated, but I had a huge smile on my face the whole time!
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that shephards pie looks devine!
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oh man sarah, all your food pics are serious food pornography. it doesnt help that i saw that Yourself In Five Years has you on the list for blogs that sound like a porno.. that was too funny.. i had to laugh out loud!
and i do the same thing, try not to be the first one in line for a work snack. make sure the guys go first!!!!
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Loving the mom’s kitchen sink muffin-porn. Loving it. So glad you had such a wonderful home vacation 🙂 amazing 🙂 How’s the half marathon training going? How long is your longest run so far? i need to KICK IT UP!!
xoxo
s
http://eatfabinnyc.wordpress.com
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Lots of jelousy-inducing food today!! The tuna macaroni salad looks really good and so do the kitchen sink cookies. AHH. Sensory overload!
You ask a good question! My favourite class would have to be boxing. I love an excuse to punch someone. Otherwise, I used to really like body combat… which is kind of a variation on the boxing/punching theme but without a person you can actually hit.
The worst class I’ve ever taken is body jam. I just cannot pick up the dances and I look like such an idiot trying to get the dance moves right. Very embarassing. I never went back.
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I took an awesome strength training class once, my muscles were sore for like A WEEK but it felt GREAT! Wish I could go back…
O0o I can’t wait for some mom’s and grandma’s cookin this weekend myself 🙂
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Thank you so much for holding the contest! I look forward to receiving (and eating) the nuts!
That cake looks delicious! I love anything with banana in it.
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Ok, so I just caught up on a week’s worth of your posts, and it was quite the odyssey.
1. Yay for seeing the doc and getting back in the workout game. So glad you’re on the mend! I’m excited for my own class at Kinespirit, btw!
2. Can I please come live in your freezer? Or maybe just next to it. Judging from your blog, it holds all manner of treasures and delights from far and wide.
3. I must have your mom’s eggplant shepherd’s pie. Does a recipe exist? You may email me to keep it on the DL. 😉
4. A life without cake would be sad indeed. You do not have a sad life.
Happy Tuesday, Sarah!
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How are those blood oranges? I bought some at Fairway a few months back and they did not live up the my high Italy blood orange expectations!
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yummm your lunch looks great i wish i were eating that instead of soggy subway right now 🙂
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