Brace yourselves: there was another barbecue at work recently. (I say “recently” because I’m sooooo behind in blog posts. I’m writing this a week after the bbq, but it won’t publish until a week from now probably. I’m so confused! What month is it again?)

Anyway, I was busy working (of all things) when the bbq began, so I missed the first part. After about 20 panicked calls from my coworkers wondering where I was with my camera and expressing genuine concern that I would miss all the good stuff, I made my way down to the patio. The buns and burgers were gone (fine with me!), but Ibrahim was kind enough to put the remainders of his meal on display for blog purposes:

Despite my late arrival, I rustled up quite a plate!



Clockwise from top left: olive medley, Turkish tomato-cucumber-dill salad (made by Lucia), green salad with corn, Italian sausage (grilled by Sam), a baby brownie (made by Sister Fran), strawberries, and grape tomatoes:



Lucia’s cucumber salad was amazing and so refreshing!



And check out the fudgy perfection of this brownie:



Belkis and Rosalie were very excited about the chip selection and wanted to ensure that they made the blog:



I had a couple chips but was more focused on taking advantage of the 40-spice hummus that had just arrived, courtesy of Trish:



And, of course, watermelon had to make an appearance:



I think I’ve eaten my weight in watermelon at least five times over this summer! It is EVERYWHERE.

Other work treats of the week (month?) have included Jessica’s honey wheat pretzel twists, Pansy’s ground chicken puff pastries, Belkis’ rice and beans, bakery fresh buttered french bread, mystery trail mix, avocado, Deborah’s mom’s home cooking, and Puerto Rican cookies and wafers from Rosey’s mom:







On top of all that excitement, there was another department breakfast somewhere in there, too!



My selections included more french bread, half a banana, CSA tomato-cucumber salad with balcony basil (from me!) and mozzarella (from Jessica), Dominican round cheese from Lillian, and mangu(!!!!) with egg, salami, and fried cheese:



I had seconds of mangu as usual:



Mildred and Jessica matched Nydia’s flowers:



For breakfast dessert … and lunch … and dinner, I ate copious amounts of Pansy’s ambrosia:

And I’m pretty sure I went home and ran like a million miles before I could fall asleep because I had so much extra energy jazzing me up! Something I’ve noticed: as much as I looooooove veggies, my best runs take place after too much cake and other desserts. No pain, endless stamina, positive self-talk the whole way through. It’s a crazy effect. I wish that a mountain of steamed broccoli would produce the same result! What is the most effective exercise fuel for you?

… but sometimes, raw doesn’t care.

Recently, Vani, Diana, and I met up for dinner at Rawstar, a new raw restaurant in Brooklyn. Sadly, Rawstar decided to be closed that night, and we were left wandering the streets of Brooklyn aimlessly until we found an alternative.

We found ourselves at Dao Palate, a newish vegan Asian fusion restaurant in the Slope (where else?).



We arranged ourselves in a window seat and admired the scenery (as usual):



While we waited …



… and waited …



… and waited for service.

Once we got service followed by food, however, we became much more enthusiastic about the restaurant. To start, we shared the avocado tartar with diced avocado, mountain yam, and mango in a wasabi-lime sauce:



Delicious, obviously.

My main meal was the glass noodles, my all-time favorite component of Korean food! Officially, the dish was called “Jap-Chap” and came with stir-fried sweet potato noodles, vegan fish cakes, spinach, scallions, cabbage, and a flower that was edible this time:



On the side, I ordered steamed pumpkin:



Little did I know that a steamer basket would arrive with an entire kabocha squash waiting inside!



Luckily, the ladies were able to help me out.



Brooklyn in da hoooooooooowwwwwse!!! (But it’s not quite the same without Emily and Olga!)

We sort of needed dessert after our delicious meal, so we moseyed over to Uncle Louie G’s for the best Italian ice this side of the universe.



I got a small cup with half peanut butter chocolate cup and half coconut:



Once again, the coconut blew me away with its creaminess and the real coconut bits. And the pb chocolate cup wasn’t too shabby, either:



I don’t know how Uncle Louie does it, but his ices are the creamiest non-dairy concoctions ever. This is not your run-of-the-mill Italian ice, let me tell you! The ladies agreed:



So, although our raw plans fell through, Vani, Diana, and I ended the night with some frozen delicacies — and we still have Brooklyn-goes-raw-night to look forward to whenever we can get our plans together to coordinate another dinner.

How do you rally when your night does not go as planned?

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Sarah. For a whole year, no matter where she went, cake followed her. Cake did not seem to care that she had to fit into a very expensive bridesmaid dress, nor did cake care that she had a family history of diabetes. Cake only cared that Sarah ate it. So she did.

On August 30, Gina and Chris celebrated their first wedding anniversary.

They knew that the entire top tier of their wedding cake had been waiting in the freezer for a year, and they also knew that they could not possibly conquer the entire tier between the two of them.



Gina and Chris put their heads together and came up with a plan.



The plan involved calling in reinforcements.



Kate and I heard the urgency and desperation in our friends’ voices and responded immediately to the call of duty.



Before we could dig into the cake, however, Gina had to strengthen our stomachs with a hefty dose of sodium in the form of her baked ziti:

With that, we were ready to get down to the matter at hand.

We held Gina and Chris at camera-point and forced them to re-enact their very first slices of cake together as husband and wife. Things got messy.







Chris had a slightly violent reaction to the year-old cake:



Gina fared better:





And then Kate and I went in for the kill. Here’s my plate:



I beefed it up with a mini-sliver of chocolate cake from The Chocolate Room that Chris had bought the day before:



And I also left Gina’s with a baggie full of frozen birthday cake that Chris’ sister had made for Gina few weeks earlier:



It was delicious when I got around to eating it a few days later, but I wish I had seen it live because it looks like such a wonder in the pictures:



A few other cakes have also invaded my life as of late, though I doubt anyone is surprised. Sister Pat brought treats to work from an East Village bakery to celebrate three years with the agency:



I had a little sliver of napoleon and a bite of carrot cake:



And Belkis made a cake with her son Emanuel and brought it to the office for Emanuel and other kids of my coworkers to decorate:





I had a small sliver … and then another small sliver 😛



I always say it — there’s something about boxed cake mix and canned frosting that is SO addictive! Mmmmmmmmm.

But now I must switch gears and take a break from all the cake! Dear cake: I appreciate your persistence, but you really must stay out of my way now, at least until I get through these fall weddings. I think Erin Gunn will literally kill me if I don’t fit into my bridesmaid dress. And I want to live. Please? Thanks. Love, Sarah

Horrifying dress-too-small stories, anyone??

As indicated yesterday, I headed back to Brooklyn after brunch to take care of some business and change into evening attire, and then I returned to the city for a night with the boys:



(Ummm, in case you are wondering, Rami is married … to a woman.)

Gina met up with us at Gabe’s apartment, and then we were off to the bars! Except we got sidetracked along the way:

Hmmmmm, any establishment with that sign on the window is guaranteed to grab my attention!



Gabe’s apartment is conveniently located across the street from Rice to Riches, and all signs seemed to be pointing toward an immediate need for rice pudding:

We carefully studied (and sampled) every flavor:

And debated the merits of each option:



Until Gabe stepped up to the plate and placed our order:



We settled on a small bowl with half cheesecake and half sex, drugs, and rocky road:



And we enjoyed it thoroughly:



Satisfactorily rice puddinged, we made our way across the street to Vig Bar where we found my favorite thing to find in a bar: a good-looking man making drinks with fresh fruit!!



Gina and I both ordered fresh strawberry martinis, and they came complete with floral accents:

The flower garnish was picked right from this plant immediately pre-delivery:

Gina had watched the drink preparation and warned me that the bartender poured in a hefty serving of vodka, but I paid her no mind.

The first sign of trouble may have been when I assumed the flower was edible since it came with no warning label. I popped it into my mouth like it was a skittle without a second thought.

I was not impressed. Gina can vouch for the look on my face.

I rallied with a fresh pineapple martini:



Courtesy of Rami, wingman extraordinaire:



The second sign of trouble may have been when I made best friends with the bouncer, Mustafa:



I was quickly whisked away to another bar, where the third sign of trouble appeared when I met a half Peruvian man and had to tell him about all my Peruvian adventures in my atrociously imperfect Spanish, even though he spoke atrociously perfect English. Luckily, Gina’s husband had just finished his hockey game in the city around that time, and he swung by the bar to collect us and drive us home, where I proceeded to eat several unphotographed meals in an effort to prepare my swirling stomach for bedtime 😛

All in all, I’d say I had a successful night in terms of nutrition: grains, dairy, fruit, flowers, bouncers. I covered all the bases. How do YOU ensure proper nutrition when you are out on the town?

During the last weekend of August, I had an excellent Saturday brunch at Camaje in the Village. It was a rainy, sleepy day, and it took all my energy to drag myself into the city, but I knew that my favorite Australians would make the effort worth my while:

(From left to right: Rony, Ross, Jenny, Nicola, Ali, Daniel, me, Rami, and Gabe)

The plan had initially been for Rami and Ali to throw a pool party at their place, but the rain put a damper on that arrangement … so brunch it was!

I was excited that Rami and Ali chose this restaurant. I took a one-night fall dessert-making class here in my last year of college — a 21st birthday present from my old roommates — but I had never actually eaten there for a real meal despite wanting to for ages and ages!

I ordered a pot of Early Grey with milk and honey, aka the best rainy day beverage:

Our food took forever to come, but that was fine because we all had hours and hours of chatting to do.

Plus, my granola and yogurt was worth the wait:

The server had told me it did NOT come with fruit, so I was quite pleasantly surprised when it arrived with apples, blueberries, and pears on top!

Rami ordered the chocolate brioche french toast:

With blueberries and bananas:

Ohhhh my goodness, words can’t describe! The chocolate flavor was SO rich and amazing:

I also finished the last bite of Nicola’s banana pancakes, mmmmmmm:

When the bill finally came (again, hours and hours later), Rami took care of business with some quick calculating:

From there, we all parted ways … only to meet up again a few hours later! I so rarely see these guys (I met Rami in an NYU elevator in 2001 when he was studying abroad here and stayed in touch because I was planning to study in Sydney the next semester … which is when I met Gabe and many other friends of theirs) even though they live here now, so we had to maximize the opportunity. My Australian adventure part two will be along shortly …

What’s your favorite English accent: Australian, Irish, or British?