Cacao powow

After my tea yesterday, I bummed around a bit (ohhh, the luxury of this new and temporary lifestyle!) and then set myself up with a bit of dinsert: Carrot โ€œPuddingโ€ Cake.

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I finished the last of the original batch Tuesday and loved it so much that I instantly made two more. I keep surprising myself that this concoction tastes like actual carrot cake, except more moist, dense, and rich. I’ve really outdone myself here ๐Ÿ™‚

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There were a few differences between this batch and the last due to changing ingredient availability. Most notably, I used a package of Peeled Apple-2-the-core in place of whatever fruit I used last time.

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In place of the strawberry cake icing that I no longer have, I used a mix of plain yogurt, molasses, cinnamon, and vanilla. To thicken it, I dissolved less than a tsp of unflavored gelatin in a tbsp of boiling water, mixed it into the icing, and let it chill for a bit in the fridge before spreading.

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On the side, I had a whole strawberry in dark chocolate from Oh! Nuts:

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Oh! my goodness. You can probably imagine how delicious this tasted. And with a real, live strawberry inside (the seeds, too!):

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(Those are knife marks and not teeth marks. My teeth are not that perfect.)IMG_9722

I went to the gym this morning and came home for some muffin-cauliflower oat bran. After heating it, I had it on top of 1/2 cup of yogurt with a tsp each of Astisana macademia cashew butter and cacao bliss:

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I also sprinkled coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, and coriander on top.

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And I ate breakfast with a big mug of soymilky Numi Chocolate Puerh tea after “tempting fresh water to a boil” as per the instructions:

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The chocolate flavor in this tea was actually very understated. It was good, but it tasted like regular black tea to me with just a minor hint of subtle chocolateyness. Out of curiosity, though, I did lick the tea bag (shhhhh) since it actually has cacao nibs in it. That tasted like chocolate. Maybe I should break open the tea bag and dump the whole thing in next time. Hmmmmmm …

OK, time for some classssssss! Today, I get to turn in my final paper, yipEEEEEEE.

What do you get to do today?

Ancient mysteries

I broke my own rule this afternoon and went for a secret run.

I know I’ve been saying (at least in my head) that I’m not going to run at all between now and the half marathon on May 30 because I need to let all of my muscles heal for real, but I couldn’t help myself. After finishing my paper, all I wanted to do was run. Perhaps because I really just needed an excuse to wear my official Endurance Challenge 2009 tech shirt:

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Hello giant teeth.

(Speaking of which, I updated the race post with official mid-race pictures of me dying.)

I made it 25 minutes before the pain forced me to stop, and then I finished the loop of the park with a 30-minute walk. And now that that is taken care of, I really promise that there will be no more running until the half. Maybe.

I came home and felt hungry for a snack, so I heated up some of the leftover mangu I’ve been saving in the freezer since a mom made it for me at work a few weeks ago. Remember the mangu? I do! Here it was back then:

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And here’s my doctored version:

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The doctoring took place yesterday (I actually ate some yesterday, too, but I never got around to blogging about it). I had about one cup of the mangu left, so I mashed that in with half a head of steamed cauliflower to (1) make it last longer and (2) increase the healthiness of the dish. Mangu is basically mashed plantains, but I saw how the mom was cooking it, and let’s just say that this mangu was not wanting for oil or salt! I had to spread the wealth, and cauliflower seemed the perfect way to do it ๐Ÿ˜€

I topped 1/2 cup of the revised cauliflower-mangu with one of the mom’s tostones and a little piece of her vineger-ed onion (which used to be bright purple but lost its color in the oven-reheat process):

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IMG_9683Around this time, I also decided I was in the mood for tea. What to do, what to do … Oh wait! What’s inside this random jewelry box-ish thing?

It’s a sampler of
Numi teas! I’m sorry for the product placement that is about to occur, but the packaging excited me so much that I can’t help myself. I found out about these teas a few weeks ago when Brandi mentioned them, and I knew I had to get my hands on some, if only because the website is full of flowery prose: “Numi elevates the tea experience through quality, creativity, and authenticity.” Elevate me, please!

The sampler has all four flavors of their puerh tea which has been “picked from wild-harvested tea trees up to 500 years old.”

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I’m generally not into showing labels from foods since you can just look at them yourself, but the flowery prose continued in the brewing instructions, and I had to share:

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You might think I went for chocolate first, but I did not! My tum is still feeling iffy, so I opted for the mint even though I’m generally not a fan of minty teas. Also, I really wanted to “capture the full taste as the ancient mystery is revealed.”

I actually enjoyed this tea (maybe because I followed the instructions for once and only let it brew for 3 minutes as opposed to 20), and it was soothing for my belly. Though I don’t think I experienced revelation of any sort of ancient mystery.

Have you had any mysteries revealed to you lately? Most recently (as in, this afternoon), I experienced the ancient mystery of how running in a moisture-wicking shirt feels … and I must say I’m a fan!

Can it be true?

Guess what!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s DONE.

At 11:02 this morning, I officially finished my LAST paper of the semester. It happened way sooner than expected, and I am thrilled. Now, for the next 2.5 weeks, I am completely free of school AND work (except for two more Thursdays of class and one half day retreat for work).

For breakfast while I worked this morning, I had half an apple sprinkled with cinnamon because I still had plenty of food in my belly from last night.

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When I finished, I had a celebration lunch of muffin-cauliflower oat bran. I made cauliflower oat bran yesterday morning (thanks to Heather for inspiration, once again!) and was a fan, so I decided to jazz it up today with some extras. I actually prepped the bran yesterday by immersion blending these ingredients:

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That’s one cup of steamed cauliflower, 1/2 cup raw oat bran, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, and 1.5 cups of chopped frozen pumpkin muffins and bran muffins. These muffins did not make the strawberry birthday cake cut the other day because they were too seedy:

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In addition to the above ingredients, I also blended in 3/4 cup water, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. All of that sat in the fridge overnight.

IMG_9654For lunch today, I scooped out 1/2 cup of the cauliflower-muffin oat bran and heated it in the oven for 30 minutes while I addressed some long-neglected cleanliness issues in the kitchen. My stomach was still feeling confused from last night’s feast, so I decided simple would be better with the bran. All I was really wanted was a big, melty pile of nut butter, so I pulled out yet another gem from Artisana.

When the oat bran was ready to go, I served it to myself on a bed of 1/2 cup plain yogurt and topped it with that big tbsp of pecan butter, lots of cinnamon, and some strawberries:

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Hit the ol’ spot!

I’m off to take care of some other long-neglected necessaries. I have two weeks to get my life under control before it becomes unmanageable again!

What is long-neglected in your life?

One of each, please

I just ate 42 foods.

Actually, I ate more than that because I just uploaded 42 pictures, and many of them contained more than one food. I’m also sort of speechless because every single food was out-of-this-world phenomenal.

All of this deliciousness came my way tonight at the David Burke Townhouse, courtesy of a Foodbuzz event to celebrate one million posts.

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Before I arrived at the restaurant, I had taken “townhouse” literally to mean that the party would be taking place in someone’s swanky uptown apartment. In fact, the party took place at this swanky uptown restaurant. With an egg theme (much like my life lately):

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I ran into Ashley immediately upon arriving, and we contented ourselves at the bar with wasabi cracker sticks and thyme lychee martinis:

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Those lychee martinis were teeny, so I had four of them. (Whoops.) I just get so excited about drinks that have real fruit! Plus, my first three did not contain any actual lychees. I had to go back for the fourth when I started to see the whole lychees floating around in other people’s drinks.

As soon as we got the go ahead, Emily and I beelined to the back of the restaurant where food was waiting. Remember, I’m still speechless, so I will let the photos do the talking.

Shellfish (including lobster, crab, mussels, oysters, and jumbo shrimp):

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My plate:

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I had more than you see in that picture, of course. I couldn’t let the chance for fresh lobster and fresh crab to pass me by!

There were tons of sauces for the seafood, along the lines of wasabi crรจme fraรฎche, lavender crรจme fraรฎche, pineapple-truffle sauce, mango something, and more. I tried all the sauces on the side because I wanted to experience the flavors but I did not want them to mess with the perfection of straight lobster and crab ๐Ÿ˜›

Sushi:

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Scallops in their shells with a ginger-scallion sauce:

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My plate with two sushi rolls, a scallop, and a pile of picked ginger:

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The carving station had salmon with horseradish sauce, turkey with gravy (I’m making that up because I can’t remember what sauce it really was), and short (?) ribs with red wine sauce. (I’m not a rib expert. Feel free to correct me if I have mis-identified.)

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My plate with a little of everything:

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I actually didn’t finish that plate. It was too meaty for me, and I like my salmon more done.

There were dumplings like this. Some had lobster, some had chicken, some had beef, and several had foie gras in addition to the other meats. I had at least one of each.

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Lobster scramble with caviar:

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Enjoying eating straight out of the mini frying pan:

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Mini raw-ish crackers with beef tartare, smoked salmon-cream cheese, and more foie gras:

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Pineapple shrimp skewers (yes, actually IN the pineapple!):

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Chicken satay with peanut sauce:

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Pretzel-crusted crabcake with poppyseed honey and kumquat-jalapeno jam (YES, it was THAT amazing):

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Lobster flan (served in an EGGSHELL):

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Hamachi with watermelon:

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And then the desserts began to come around. I kept myself to “one of each,” but one of each became far more than I had anticipated as more and more desserts rolled out of the kitchen!

A mini red velvet cake bite with cream cheese frosting:

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Pecan-cinnamon buns arranged on a mini-stove. There was actually a fire flickering inside the stove, but you can’t tell from this picture:

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Apple fritters on a bed of brown sugar:

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Mine:

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Cheesecake lollipop tree!!!!!!

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One of each (clearly the theme of the night): triple chocolate nut, strawberry pistachio, and chocolate with chocolate crunchies:

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Dark chocolate cherry cupcake (literally the size of my thumb — I had two) and butterscotch pannacotta:

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Chocolate-nutella milkshake!

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At around this time, I started to get overwhelmed by too many desserts and not enough hands. I found a narrow ledge and got a collection going:

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(On the right is a chocolate rice crispy-cereal treat.)

A coconut cream puff and a warm custard-filled doughnut ball (the doughnut ball actually had a fancy Italian-ish name that I cannot remember):

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Malted milk and a grapefruit bar with crรจme fraรฎche:

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The malted milk had a very familiar flavor. Missy hit the nail on the head when she said it tasted like the milk leftover from a bowl of Fruit Loops. I only had a couple of sips because I can make that myself. I left the milk on the ledge and promptly knocked it over with my big bag about five seconds later. David Burke himself swooped in to clean up the mess.

The grapefruit bar, on the other hand, was insanely good (though Emily wasn’t a fan. I guess you really have to love grapefruit.) It had gold leaf on top:

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And rather than a bowl of mints on the way out, the Townhouse had peanut brittle, of all things! The grab-in-action and my pieces:

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So, this was a scrumptious event that I got to share with several fun ladies who love food almost as much as I do! I hijacked this photo from Missy’s recap (which you should check because she has many more facts about the event and the restaurant): Me, Emily from Super Caloric Chalk Dust, Melanie from MelonCauliflower, Ashley from Healthy Happier Bear, Missy from Missy Maintains, and Diana from Soap and Chocolate.

I’m so glad that Foodbuzz decided to celebrate one million posts and invite me. I just wish they could have invited the starving population of NYC as well since there was more food than anyone there actually needed. I always feel torn at events like this — awed and thrilled that I got to attend, yet overwhelmed and distressed at the excess! The thought of trying to comandeer all these leftovers was too much to handle at this particular stress-pinnacle of the semester, but I hope they went somewhere useful. And I hope thinking about it doesn’t keep me up tonight!

What makes you feel torn?

Product moved

First things first: the cakes were a success in class last night! I did not have to bring any home with me, so my plan to move all the sugar out of my freezer was effective. I just have two little chocolate cupcakes that wouldn’t fit in the tupperwares to cart up there, and that’s it. Phew, cake-overload disaster averted.

Also, in honor of my birthday yesterday, I went shoe shopping at Payless. This is irrelevant to food on the surface, but it’s actually connected because food is the only thing I have spent money on since starting grad school. Until yesterday, I hadn’t bought shoes in two years because I needed the money for groceries. Evidence:

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Yes, that is the sun shining through the hole in the sole of my shoe.

Here are my new friends:

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My feet are happy.

Back to food, I had an early egg salad dinner around 4:30 before heading up to class. To make the salad, I chopped one of my Eggland’s Best peeled hard-boiled eggs and mixed it with 1/3 cup plain yogurt, 1 tsp dijon mustard, paprika, dill, cayenne, and one cup chopped arugula. I topped it with 1/8 chopped avocado, coarse sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

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Dessert took place at class, of course ๐Ÿ˜› My cakes were so good!

Piece #1:

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Piece #2:

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And a cupcake!

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It’s back to the grindstone for me today. I have one more paper left, and it’s not going to be a fun one! It’s due Thursday morning, so you know how I’ll be spending all of today and all of tomorrow … with a little fun break for an exciting event this evening ๐Ÿ™‚

Will you be taking any fun breaks today?