… to get more bars? Is that how that rhyme went?

Anyway, I was stuck alllllllll day Tuesday and allllllllll day Wednesday in an overly air-conditioned midtown conference room to attend some official training sessions for the early intervention half of my job. As a result, my emergency stash of portable snack bars came into play. I ate this Crunch Awesome Bar (their name — not mine!) from Saturday:

I loved it! It tasted like cashew butter-coconut caramel, and I made it last alllllllll day because I am a miracle-worker.

I also ate this mango-peach Attune bar from another recent event:

It’s supposed to have 5x the probiotic power of yogurt, and it was pretty tasty, though it’s not something I’d ever buy because I just don’t like to spend money on this sort of thing that scarily never goes bad!

Other more natural snacks included coconut from Jessica, tostones from Belkis and Katherine, and maduros from Nydia:

Nuts from Lillian, Beryl’s collard greens, and CSA white cucumber:

I also made some food myself in addition to the salad extravaganza. I tried my hand at some of Gena’s cream of zucchini soup/blended salad, modified based on what I had of course. Judging from this picture, I used most of my CSA bounty: kale, dill, mesclun, zucchini, and yellow squash:

And wasabi peas?

I did not have avocado or a food processor, sadly, so the creaminess had to come from feta cheese, soaked brazil nuts, and my trusty immersion-blender.

The soup made an excellent portable and non-spoiling dinner for my looooong unrefrigerated Tuesday that consisted of 8 hours of training for work, 2 hours of work-to-school commuting, and 3 hours of class. For dipping excitement, I used the piece of seedy bread with dill cream cheese that I saved from Wife and Ted’s lunch on Sunday.

I also got involved in another cooking adventure sometime this week. Remember the kohlrabi from my CSA last week?

I had no idea what to do with this thing aside from steaming it like a hunk of broccoli, but Kate came through and forwarded a recipe for glazed kohlrabi that she received from our CSA people. I modified based on what I had as usual. I melted 3T of butter in a pan and then added the chopped kohlrabi and CSA kale stems:

After a few minutes on high heat, I added 2 cups of water, two cups of chicken broth, and all of the CSA zucchini and squash I had left.

When the broth had reduced to almost nothing, I tossed in some fresh balcony basil and arugula.

The finished dish was delicious! I used it as a salad topper and stretched it across three different salads along these lines:

(With feta, sunflower seeds, and crumbled Morningstar black bean burger)

And finalmente, you know I got involved in some banana soft serve action. Green tea cinnamon-banana soft serve topped with peanut butter:

And on the side, I’ve been working my way through a giant hunk of cake that arrived via Kate because my love of cake has spread far and wide:

Kate attended a bridal shower last weekend. The bride-to-be is a reader and sent Kate back to Brooklyn with a slice of this masterpiece for me!

Thank you, Elisa!! The raspberry filling in between the dark chocolate cake and rich mousse and white chocolate … mmmm, I will be dreaming about this cake for a while 😀

So, I’ll leave you with an item that ties back to the title of this post quite conveniently. Here’s Emily, enthusiastically tearing into her standard class snack, most of which usually makes its way into my stomach:

Yay for Mars! If you could travel to any planet, which would you choose?

ANNNNNNNNND, you must go visit Olivia to enter her Ohlivin! Official Summer Giveaway because she is generously sharing many of her secrets to fabulousness!

Ayayay, this week! Where do I ever start?

I woke up on Monday still stuffed to the gills from Sunday’s BBQ and decided I should find a way to stop feeling like I was hit by a train first thing in the morning. I went for a 5:30 am run around the park (probably the best I’ve had since my injury in March!) and then split this kombucha (free from Saturday’s event) with Wife.

This was my first kombucha, and I was a big fan! Wife liked the flavor so much that she drank it even though it aggravated her burping. My stomach is made of steel, of course, so the kombucha did not affect me in this way. Wife and Ted hit the road later Monday morning, and I hit the subway for my commute to work.

I made some food decisions in accordance with my plan to return to hungry mornings. I experimented with (aka shook up with lots of water) quite a bit of Amazing Grass:

I liked this berry one, but I think I still prefer the straight 100% wheat grass drink I had on Saturday. This one has some random lingering sweetness that I’m not crazy about.

I felt the same way about the chocolate packet I had on Tuesday. I liked the general flavor and even the chalky/sandy texture, but I’m a little confused by the fakish sweet aftertaste.

I also ate lots of fruits and veggies, like green beans from work, grapefruit from Jessica, and anonymous rescued cherries:

And salads!

Salad + bluefish by Inginia:

Fruit salad accompanied by yogurt, peanut butter, and one of the recycled mini-muffins I made last week:

And my own CSA salad which involved loads of mesclun, frisee, cucumber, wasabi peas left behind by Wife and Ted, and the star ingredient: Cole’s applewood smoke petite rainbow trout:

CSA salad topped with thawed and sauteed remainders (including smoked salmon, bean and corn salad, barley, and flounder) from last week’s windfall:

And Deborah’s leftover salad:

Now, lest you think all I do is eat wheatgrass and salad (though, how you could possibly think that, I have no idea), my week was not all about greens greens greens and being a paragon of produce virtue. Belkis did, in fact, refill her candy jar with pillow mints and big bols:

And Deborah gave me a coconut peach jelly:

And Nydia gave me a piece of gooey just-baked red velvet cupcake from the bakery:

Zoom on gooey center:

Oh yeah, that same day, a former client brought the very pregnant Maria two tres leches cakes — one chocolate (!!!!!!) and one regular — in honor of her VERY advanced pregnancy. I came back from spending two+ tense hours at the Medicaid office with a mom to this sight on the conference room table:

And this sight on my desk courtesy of Deborah:

And this sight underneath that sight:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I ate all of those pieces at work and then ended up taking most of the white tres leches home with me at Maria’s request because she knew she could trust that I would keep it from going bad! It’s chilling in my freezer now 😀

I ate many other things this week, but I think that report should suffice for now! Each post can only handle so many greens and so many pieces of cake. I will be back pronto with chapter two!

On a scale of 1-17, how would you rate your ability to balance your astronomic produce intake with less celebrated dietary necessities such as cake?

It’s Restaurant Two Weeks in the city, so you know that the restaurant week brigade had to take advantage! On Monday night, Gina, Kate, and I made our way to E. 63rd for some high class Park Avenue Summer. I left work around 5:15 and walked the 50+ blocks down to the restaurant, arriving just as the girls were being led to our table.

I ate here a couple years ago with some visiting family when it was just Park Avenue Cafe, but the restaurant has since undergone a major reinvention, as it changes the menu and the decor to match each season. Since we’re obviously in summer (finally!), the decor was bright and sunny.

Despite the yellow flowers, the lighting was actually too dim and the air conditioner too strong for my liking. If it’s going to be summer, I want natural light and natural heat! Maybe a few ocean waves thrown in there, too.

The food, however, was definitely up to par!

I went to the bathroom after we ordered and came back to find that the ladies had begun the photography without me because our amuse bouche, as they say, had arrived.

These are watermelon cubes topped with lavender yogurt — such an unexpected and refreshing treat. (Though, they would have been more refreshing if I hadn’t been freezing!)

Along with the watermelon, we also received this charming bread basket 🙂

I did some knife olympics so that we could have equal amounts: 1/3 each of the warm cheddar & spicy pepper biscuit, and 2/3 each of the polenta and fresh corn rolls.

These were sooooo good, especially with the butter and coarse sea salt that came with them.

Now, in case you’ve forgotten or are not aware of how Restaurant Week works, restaurants that are normally much pricier agree to participate by offering a fixed-price 3-course dinner (appetizer, entree, dessert) for $35 (though we get it for $23 during Brooklyn’s restaurant week because Brooklyn is better :-P).

Kate began with the salmon tartare with tomatoes and basil:

The salmon was served over a thin layer of cream cheese — I tried a bite on top of a crostini piece. I was a fan! How could I not be?

Gina ordered the caprese ravioli with yellow tomato coulis. You know I loved that arugula on top!

This one tasted just like penne a la vodka, a flavor that never fails.

I ordered the butter and sugar corn soup with tomatoes and tomatillos.

This was also a definite summer winner. The corn tasted fresh enough to have come from MNT’s roof 😛

For her main meal, Kate ordered the filet mignon with grilled corn on the cob and watermelon BBQ sauce (YES, watermelon BBQ sauce!):

This restaurant seems to do no wrong in terms of food!

Gina ordered the seared salmon with crispy taro and cucumber salad:

It came with a slightly fiery avocado sauce which I also loved because avocado makes everything better.

I ordered the lobster salad with avocado and citrus vinaigrette. I was expecting a few little pieces of lobster on top of lettuce, so I nearly fell out of my chair when this arrived:

So much rich, juicy lobster meat over a thick layer of avocado perfection:

Seriously, this was one of my all-time favorite meals and well-worth the extra $10 I had to pay for it! (Some of the fixed price dishes came with a $10 additional fee because they are normally much more expensive than the others.)

Conveniently, the restaurant week menu had three desserts. Obviously, we ordered one of each, starting with the peach panna cotta with basil foam and lemon cakes:

The basil flavor was very strong, and I loved how it combined with the peach! Plus, aren’t these layers gorgeous?

Dessert #2 was goat cheese mousse in phyllo with honeyed raspberries:

This one was Gina and Kate’s favorite of the three (and my second favorite). The goat cheese had just enough sweetness to make it a fitting dessert component, and it made me want to try the Dessert Truck’s goat cheesecake even more. And the presentation was clearly another work of art:

My favorite dessert of the bunch was sadly the least photogenic: chilled banana parfait with chocolate crumbs and butterscotch puree:

The chocolate crumbs combined with the caramelized banana and the butterscotch seriously left me swooning. The crumbs provided excellent crunch:

I did some utensil olympics to make sure we each got equal amounts:

As you can tell, utensil olympics is a precise science, and I have been honing my skills in the field for many years:

My own personal dessert sampler:

Everything was faaaaaabulous, so you MUST go to Park Avenue Summer before restaurant week is over, even if it means you need to make a trip to NYC specifically for this purpose!

Have you ever made a trip solely to take part in a specific dining experience?

After passing a pleasant couple of hours at Gina’s on Sunday, we all motivated and set out on the three-block walk to Kareen’s house for her combined birthday and going away party. The boys were appropriately effusive:

Kareen is leaving for grad school in Israel this week, and we are sad to see her go! But not too sad to pose in classic NYU girls formation:

(Photo courtesy of Gina. Left to right, starting in back: Wife, Gina, Kate, Kareen, me)

And definitely not too sad to celebrate in her honor with lots of food 😀

In addition to the tables of snacks, Kareen had some trusty men manning the meat:

I kept things light for my first plate since we all know how crazy I go when it comes to party food.

I had salad, marinated veggies, chips, hummus, and fresh salsa:

And then the protein medley began:

We did a good job of sharing each new thing that came off the grill so that no one ended up suffering from meat overkill (except for maybe Chris who, according to Gina, made Monday a salad day — I almost fell over from shock when I heard that — to make up for Sunday). There were chicken wings, lamb ribs (?), pepper steak, morningstar “chicken” patties, pepperoni, and various other parts of the chicken. All kosher of course!

This skewer was a hit, as you can see from Kate’s starving glare in the background:

And Gina’s eventual attack:

Wife went wild over the veggie burger:

Ted showcased his superhuman strength in an uncharacteristically creepy moment with a beer can:

And the princess of the ball kept herself busy with a funnel:

I admired the scenery, as usual:

Also as usual, I got way too excited about the food, like the dazzling array of watermelon, strawberries, and cherries:

And this perfectly charred cob! Corn was in short supply, so I had to share the kernel love of course.

Someone who was after my heart had the brilliant idea to skewer kosher marshmallows.

And the equally brilliant though somewhat misguided idea to throw them on the grill alongside burgers and hot dogs for a toasting session.

Ummmm, I’m so glad I was not the one responsible for cleaning that grill at the end of the night!

And then, what’s a night in expansion-land without cake??

Chocolate mousse birthday and bon voyage cake, to be exact.

I had a whopper of a piece, alongside a white sugar rose:

And a rare concession to the power of flash in the name of capturing the full density of this masterpiece:

For the even more kosher and dairy free in the bunch, there was a thing called “pie nuts cake.” No one knew what that meant or what it contained. Cinnamon and nuts were pretty safe guesses though.

At around 9:45 (wayyyyy past my Sunday night bedtime), I told Wife that I needed to be removed from the situation before I accidentally ate all of the pie nuts. Fireworks were set off illegally in our honor (ok, maybe they were in Kareen’s honor):

And then we continued with our law-breaking streak by squeezing too many people into Wife’s car for the ride home. I sat in the middle on top of the seat back that had been lowered to make room for Ted’s workout bench. (Yes, Ted travels with his workout bench. How else do you think he’d be able to develop those superior can-crushing skills?)

Sigh, I wish summer could last forever (minus the summer classes).

Have you witnessed/taken part in any law-breaking lately? And what was the reason for the last party you attended?

Sunday morning, the “family” and I took a group field trip to the gym first thing. It was lovely to have guests who wanted to be active! When we returned home, I went straight for one of Wife’s homemade farm-inspired blueberry scones (she used this recipe) and topped half with SOTBPPBDCS butter:

Mmmmmmmmmm, this was delicious. Thanks, Wife!

I ate some yogurt and fruit on the side (about three times this amount, actually!):

We puttered around and had some more snacks, and then we were off for more adventures! Ted was in the mood for a light lunch, so I steered us toward Sweet Melissa, an adorable patisserie where I’ve eaten many times before (most recently for dessert).

Wife and Ted split the smoked salmon platter:

(I had a piece of that delicious and crusty seedy bread with some of their dill cream cheese.)

And I ordered the green apple and goat cheese salad with walnuts and cranberries, aka the most enormous salad ever:

There were mountains and mountains and mountains of greens and toppers.

But we all know I ate the whole thing!

After lunch, we made a stop into the grocery store because we needed to pick up something kosher to bring to our friend Kareen’s birthday party. The original plan was chicken, but the world of kosher chicken seemed a little too daunting. We settled on Hebrew National hot dogs and free samples of black and white cookies:

Fully lunched and supplied, we all drove out to Gina’s house (yay for guests with cars!) so that Wife and Ted could get in some solid visiting time with her. While we chatted, we (as in I) snacked on grapes.

And Jelly Bellys:

(Gina suggested that I bring the nearly full box home after we’d snacked on a few, and I did not hesitate!)

Gina had just come back from a baby shower and had received this little box containing candy favors. The box reminded me of myself just a little too much, so I took a picture and took the candies 😛

While the boys were content inside engrossed in the Yankees game (I think), I convinced Wife and Gina to go for a stroll in Marine Park. We had an excellent time chatting about life and Mister Softee imposters. When we got back to the house, Gina (aka Divine Priestess of Chocolate) whipped out some goodies she had hanging around. I had a bite of this amaretto chocolate truffle:

Thanks to Gina, I have several more waiting in my freezer for the perfect moment 😀

Also, I need to apologize for my complete lack of blogging etiquette as of late! I know I’ve been a failure at replying to comments and reading your blogs. Please don’t take it personally. I am having quite the time trying to balance work and the intense grad school summer session schedule, and some things that I was able to do before have joined the realm of physical impossibility. I do, however, like to post about my food adventures and find it kind of therapeutic, so I hope you enjoy my stories even if I seem to disappear for big chunks of time! If you have a question or comment that requires an actual response, it’s probably best to email me directly at talesofexpansion@gmail.com. I love reading your comments, but I can’t pore over them with a fine-toothed comb the way I normally would, so I’ll be able to respond faster if you email.

With my crazy summer schedule, multi-tasking has become an even greater key to surviving each day. How do you combine exercise with social activities?