Last night, I chopped my precious half stalk of local CSA rhubarb and tossed it into a pan with a teeny bit of water, covered it, and simmered until the rhubarb broke down.

At which point I mashed in three CSA strawberries:

And voila! Rhubarb sauce to top my healthy cheesecake:

I followed the cheesecake with the last piece of Pat Shannon’s famous carrot cake:



This piece had a cute white chocolate seahorse on top:

I couldn’t stop taking pictures!

Soon after my cakes, I heard all sorts of cheering outside and remembered that last night was Brooklyn Pride! I scurried downstairs for a bit to cheer on the paraders:

Brooklyn makes me proud! What makes you proud of your town?

This morning began with my new favorite way to start a Saturday: hot yoga! Actually, the morning technically started with a light breakfast and getting my blood drawn for work-mandated blood tests, but we can pretend that part didn’t happen. All that matters is that I was entering the yoga studio at 10am with Vani, Olga, and Kate. Yay for enjoying yoga!

After yoga, Kate and I booked it down to Brooklyn to pick up our very first batch of CSA goodies!

Since Kate and I live only two subway stops apart, we decided to go in on a CSA share together for the season, and I’m so glad we did. The weather has been abnormally wet (understatement) lately, so pickings today were slim … but still exciting. Strawberries, arugula, asparagus, radishes, dill, chives, strawberries, rhubarb (we got half a stalk each, haha), and eggs:

Oh right, and loaaaaaaaaads of pea shoots! I started snacking on them immediately at the pick-up site:

Half of my pea shoots didn’t even make it all the way back to my apartment with me. Yeah, I was that girl chowing down on handfuls of leaves and flowers on the subway.

More bounty:

Obviously, lunch needed to involve some of the goods: the rest of my massaged kale salad with non-CSA arugula, cherries, and cucumbers; CSA pea shoots, radishes, and chives; the last bits of yesterday’s mangu and Diana‘s Indian food leftovers from last night; and drizzles of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and hemp seeds.

The salad hit the spot. All three times I’ve done hot yoga, I’ve left craving greens. It’s a lovely feeling!

My roommate Tara moved out this morning while I was gone (only six blocks away, but it’s still sad!!) and took all her pretty artwork with her. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to re-inject some homeyness into the apartment … and found a gold mine of artwork that an old roommate left behind over three years ago!

So excited that my stairway looks happy again! The star of the wall is this very appropriate birthday present part 2 from the crazy-generous Olga:

Isn’t it perfect?

My other project of the day involved this earth-shattering find from Emily:

YES, it’s the BALLS!!!! I was so excited to set to work on making my very own bubble tea. I poured half the package of jumbo tapioca into a bowl:

I soaked the tapioca in water for about an hour as I would regular tapioca … but these balls reacted, errr, differently:

These balls must have been instant because they completely lost their ball shape and turned into sludge.

Far be it for me to waste sludge, though. I still poured it into a pot of boiling water and stirred and stirred until everything was cooked through. I saw that the tapioca was still developing the ball-texture — just in a more clumpy format.

I used a slotted spatula to remove all of the ball-clumps.

And then chopped them into little ball-bits:

Which found their way into the bottom of my yerba mate:

Just like the real kind! Except the balls were bits and I had no thick straw to suck them up. Next time, I will not soak the balls first.

With the rest of the tapioca goop that did not form into bits, I set to work on a pudding.

To the goop, I added some smushed CSA strawberries, an overripe banana, a bunch of fruit salad, spices, and vanilla. After immersion-blending, it was a bit too liquidy, so I tossed in 1/3 cup chia seeds to get some absorption action going on:

The pudding successfully thickened over the next couple hours in the fridge, and I enjoyed 1/2 cup of it with some fat free ricotta and a sprinkle of nutmeg:

It was fruity and refreshing and delicious. I love playing in the kitchen! (newsflash)

Have you eaten flowers before? And what is the goopiest food you eat?

Well, I was not even going to blog about my daytime food today because I had nothing exciting planned. But, lo and behold, my coworkers came through! (Is anyone even surprised?)

You may by now be able to identify that photo as the delicious Dominican delicacy that is mangu! I had barely been at the office for 30 minutes (and had already had a very full breakfast and a mini-snack) when Nydia, Belkis, and Lillian lured me into the conference room with promises of that mangu and this avena dominicana:



Seriously, this Dominican oatmeal is sooo good. I had all the ladies (see below for more) at dinner tonight sniff the [empty] container it came in, and Diana accurately nailed the scent when she exclaimed that it smelled like a tub full of flan. After this breakfast #2.5, my coworkers could not finish the mangu OR the oatmeal, so they gave it all to me! I estimate that I drank another 1.5 cups of the oatmeal over the rest of the morning. And the mangu came back for an encore on top of my packed lunch salad:

Belkis also added some tostones to the mix (check out the piles of minced garlic all over them!):

I had one angelic slice:

My other food for the day was not that exciting or new — just know that there was a lot of it!

After work, I went right down to the East Village to meet Diana, Olga, Vani, and Emily for Brooklyn blogger meet-up part 3! Now, I know the Village is not exactly in Brooklyn, but some things warrant crossing borough lines. In particular:

Milon has been my favorite favorite favorite Indian restaurant since my freshman year of college, errrr, nine years ago. When I found out Emily had never been to “curry row” or even eaten real Indian food, I immediately pounced on the opportunity to drag her there expand her food horizons. I haven’t been to Milon in a couple years. Since I was last there, they have apparently begun to use their “gardenlike view” as a selling point. What is a gardenlike view, you ask?



I can almost see the tomato sprouts pushing their way up through the hot chili pepper lights?



Obviously, Milon is a super teeny, crowded, and chaotic restaurant that is a crazy experience in itself. It wasn’t all about the sight-seeing, though. Food clearly had to make an appearance.

We enjoyed our complimentary papadum and chutneys:



And I ordered the only thing I have ever ordered at Milon because it is heaven in a metal bowl: chicken tikka mussallum.

Also, Milon has caught up with the whole grain times and added brown rice to the list of rice options!

(The meal also came with cabbage and lentil soup.) I had tastes of everyone else’s meals, too, but you’ll have to check their blogs for more details! (Ohhhh, the suspense :-P)

Every meal at Milon inevitably involves a birthday celebration … or seven, depending on how crowded the restaurant is. I guess we decided to pretend it was my birthday tonight.



The complimentary candlelit mango ice cream comes complete with a birthday celebration of flashing lights and festive birthday music. And I was extra lucky tonight because still-vegan Vani handed her ice cream off to me.



Emily got cozy with our waiter:



This man has been at the restaurant forevvvvvvvvvvvvver. We’ve shared many a birthday dance up and down the aisle. I love how affectionate the staff here is!

And more little goodies arrived with the bill:



Happy tummies, and all for only $9:



I love how my day began in the Dominican Republic and ended in India! Where would your ideal day begin and end?

Ahhhhh, I feel so manic these days! My June class (child welfare policy) is great, but it just goes so long and so late. I’m not a fan of class until 9:30 at night when there’s still loads of commuting to do on top of that! Blaaaaaaaaaaah. Anyway, you’ve seen all of yesterday’s food before, but it was pretty, so I feel the need to share!

Mishmoshy post-gym breakfast:



Part one was my leftovers twist on an egg sandwich. One of Jessica’s omelets from last Friday took on the role of “bread,” and the filling consisted of arugula, the end of my TJ’s peach salsa, and steamed kale stems and broccoli.



Still had to eat it with a fork, though! Part two was a rainbow of yogurt/ricotta/cereal/fruit salad/hemp mess:



I can never get enough yogurt-soggy golean crunch. It tastes like the richest cheesecake ever, especially when there’s some ricotta in the mix.

Yesterday morning’s snack was 1/2 a sliced cucumber:



And lunch was, for the last time, Rosey’s mom’s spaghetti, my mom’s chicken caciatore, arugula, and massaged kale salad. I also threw some of Myrna’s sunkist roasted almonds on top for fun:



And Mildred gave me the onions and tomatoes from her salad:



I love my group-effort lunches 😀

I also had some involvement with several handfuls of almonds straight from the bag.



And a number of run-ins with Belkis’ candy jar, which included a return to the infamous “paint tongue pop,” among others.



There was more lunch dessert later, again in the form of yogurt/ricotta/fruit/hemp:



When I have yogurt, ricotta, and fruit present in my fridge at the same time, eating them all together is all I can think about!

After my standard pre-class deli samples of manchego cheese and chocolate chip cookie, dinner involved a return of the random kale/arugula/strawberry/peach salsa/Jessica’s omelet salad … with more almonds (and some unsweetened coconut for fun):



Along with, for the third time yesterday (!), yogurt/ricotta/fruit/cereal/hemp:



And cherries!



I got home from class around 10:30 and spent the next hour getting ready for today (including some significant nibbling as I packed lunch), yet I still feel so rushed this morning. I’ve really enjoyed work this week, but I’m so ready to have a little break this weekend … starting with some super fun eating plans later this evening, mmmmmmmmm, can’t wait!

What are YOU planning to eat this weekend?

Ohhhhhh my goodness, hot yoga last night was in-CAH-redible! I never in my life thought I would include “yoga” and “incredible” in the same sentence, but I was wrong. Phew, my arms are STILL shaking! But before the yoga, there was work …

I began yesterday [in terms of food] with an impromptu 10:30 am lunch:

Maria invited me to attend the last grief and loss group that she and Barbara had been running for some moms since September. Unbeknownst to Maria, who happens to be six months pregnant, the group had secretly decided to combine the celebration of the final group meeting with a baby shower for her!

There were probably about 10 moms there for the party. The group picture is so cute! I wish I could show it. In lieu of the cute picture, though, here’s a cuter picture of two babies, conveniently protecting their own confidentiality, snuggled into beanbags:

No, I don’t think it gets any more adorable.

We surprised Maria as she was walking in to deliver the chips. After a little speech, the food began!! As we’ve discovered time and time again, the ladies who work at my agency AND the ladies of the community in which we work know how to cook!

My plate had green salad, an amazing cabbage slaw that Barbara made with ginger-peanut sauce (!!!!), chicken lasagna made by a mom (might be the best I’ve ever had — it somehow tasted just like the vodka pizza at Pomodoro!), roasted chicken from a mom, rice with gandules from a mom, chips, and fresh fresh salsa made by a mom.

The chicken and salsa were zoom-worthy:

(Obviously, I had seconds. Do I really need to tell you that?)

Dessert plate #1 involved a corner piece (for maximum crumb-to-cake ratio) of Entenmann’s coffee cake, one of Barbara’s perfectly thin oatmeal raisin cookies, and a bit of fruit salad:

Cookie perfection:

Plate #2 was a big wedge of watermelon with another cookie:

So, yes, by 11am, I was fully lunched and stuffed out of my mind. I was not too stuffed, however, to try these Sunkist “almond accents” salad toppers that had disappointed Myrna:

They did not disappointment me! These almonds had excellent crunch and flavor, and I had two more baby handfuls. And there are tons more in the conference room for all of my snacking needs 😀

Later, I saw Jose running around with a stroopwafel (ahhhhhh yum!!) in his hand. He saw how excited I was and explained that a visiting friend of his from the Netherlands had brought him some … and then he beyond generously offered to give one up for the Sarah cause! I offered blog fame in return 😛

I took my prize and the stairs back down to my desk because it’s all about checks and balances:

The stroopwafel met its fate in my yerba mate:

And that does it for the work day! I was so so satisfied from all of my morning food, that I didn’t need to eat again for the rest of the day and headed straight to hot yoga when I left work. The class was packed times a million, so it was even hotter than when I went on Saturday. There was literally no space between the mats. But, the instructor managed to make everyone forget about the sardined room, and before I knew it, I was dripping sweat like never before, and my thighs were on fire! I can’t wait to go back on Saturday. Another interesting fact about hot yoga: if you want to ripen a banana quickly, take it to do the yoga with you. This banana from Jessica was still a bit green when I walked into the yoga studio. Here it is when I left!

I was way too sweaty to get on the subway, so my banana and I took a walk around the block to cool off and settled for a few moments in this random new seating area in the middle of the street (interesting concept?!) in the middle of Times Square:

As I walked toward the subway, I actually saw a section of lounge chairs further up! How random. Times Square is a beach now it seems? I did a bit of research and found this article: Broadway Becomes Sea of Lounge Chairs. Thoughts? Where do you fall on the lounging-in-the-street issue?

P.S. OMG OMG, the Professional Vegan is giving away two exciting foodie books!! I am entering stat because I NEED some new subway material desperately, and I’ve been wanting to read both of these books like crazy!