Yesterday’s food was pretty much the same as Monday’s — except that there was less of it! (Thank goodness!)

As I mentioned, I was still stuffed on Tuesday morning from Olivia‘s feast on Monday night, so my breakfast crepe came along on a field trip to work:

I didn’t get hungry until around 11:30, so that’s when the crepe made its appearance. I also ate a small handful of almonds from Lillian at some point during the morning:

Because breakfast was so late, all I had for lunch was my strawberry-flax-chia-hemp yogurt:

The yogurt sounds fancy, but there’s nothing to it. I mixed plain yogurt with unmeasured amounts of chopped strawberries, ground flax, chia seeds, and hemp seeds (I think I also mixed in a bunch of unsweetened dried coconut, too) and then sprinkled more flax on top for flair. The chia seeds worked their magic overnight and absorbed the moisture, creating a thicker and more tapioca-like texture:

I was fascinated by the looks of Belkis’ Dominican recaito (cilantro) noodles:

So she shared a bite with me. Why does everything Dominican taste so much better??

Belkis also brought in a very special treat courtesy of her son Emanuel, whose adventures in the kitchen have already served our office quite well. Name this dessert:

It’s vanilla pudding!! And Emanuel expertly dusted the top with cinnamon, yummmmmmm. I had some (of course), along with a few bits of cake left from Monday:

And then I had another spoonful. And another. And another. Until this happened:

Many people are afraid to take the last cookie, the last bite, the last piece. They worry that they will come off as greedy and rude. I am different 😛 My office is very lucky to have me on food rescue duty 24/7 … ummmm, or 8/5. (I also had several more bites of cake crumbs, but not as many as yesterday!)

Before leaving the office for class, I munched on a little snack baggie of cherries:

I bought these cherries last week because they were on sale for $3.99/lb (still a splurge, but they normally cost $7.99!), but Myrna scolded me for even paying that much and said that the Pathmark by her had them for $1.99/lb!!!! I’ve never heard of prices so low on cherries. So now, Myrna is in charge of finding me some super cheap cherries next time she is there 🙂

On the way to class, I stopped into Butterfield Market for my usual pre-class samples.

Back on the left, you can just barely make out my cheese sample — not manchego this week but some very soft French cow’s milk cheese. The market also just started selling soft serve fat free frozen yogurt, so I got a sample of the coffee flavor and scooped it up with a sample of Tate’s Bakeshop chocolate chip cookie. I was so pleased with my ice cream cookie sundae, composed entirely of free samples.

Dinner in class was the salad of the week and an apple, along with a few bites of Emily’s mozzarella tomato basil sandwich on olive focaccia:

Do you see that huge juicy chunk of olive baked right into the bread?! Incredible.

I also had this royal berry punch Starburst from Lisa because she thought the flavor was strange and couldn’t place it:

I’m convinced there was lucuma in there!

Once again, class was excellent, but it lasted the full 3.5 hours … which meant I didn’t get home until 10:30 and didn’t get to sleep until 11:30. I know I keep complaining about this and should stop whining about what i can’t change, but things start to disintegrate when I don’t get my 8 hours of sleep! I keep trying to tell myself that I’ll be fine as long as I get at least 6, but it doesn’t work very well, hmph

Are you afraid to take the last bite?

Monday night, I was one of two lucky invitees to the inaugural dinner for Olivia’s blog Ohlivin!.

That’s right, your prayers have been answered! I know you’ve been dreaming of the day when Olivia would start her own blog ever since you laid eyes on the other-worldly brilliance of the caramelized onion-truffle-goat cheese pizza she made for her birthday party last month. (I had twelve pieces that night, and I’m still dreaming about it.)

Olivia began her inaugural blog dinner for Kate and me with the crack dip (recipe alert! recipe alert!) that has also been lurking in my dreams ever since her party:

The crack paired perfectly with these “Exotic” whole grain jasmine rice & spring onion rice toasts from Edward & Sons.

You can even see the little green onion flecks, awwwww!

Those crackers + this crispy, cheesy, sweet onion brilliance = Sarah was stuffed before dinner even began.

Between our nibble course and our appetizer course, I went around and took the pics of Olivia’s apartment that I was kicking myself for not taking at the party:

In case you can’t tell from the pictures, this kind of space is unheard of here, especially in Olivia’s prime central NYC neighborhood. She soooooo lucked out!

This is actually her roommate’s (messy) bedroom:

Yes, the bedroom contains a couch, a bed, a fireplace, loads of furniture, and is bigger than my entire apartment.

After the tour, Kate and I watched Olivia as she worked on our feast.

Meet “Greater Olivia,” a present from Olivia’s mom:

The.most.incredible.soup.ever. (and I think I’m the luckiest girl ever because I brought home leftovers!!!!)

We all agreed that the souperstar (I’m on a roll) of the cauliflower-sweet potato soup was Olivia’s honey-truffle-garlic crostini, recipe to be found here. (And, believe me, you MUST go find this recipe.) I also got three lucky pieces of this crostini to bring home. I almost DIED of happiness when Olivia handed them to me.

Finally, the main course was this killer salad with braised leeks, roasted asparagus, pancetta vinaigrette and poached egg. (I made Olivia hard-poach my egg because I don’t do runny yolks, but Kate an Olivia did it the authentic way, as you can also observe here.)

I really can’t say anything about this salad because it left me utterly speechless.

Amazing.

Dessert was courtesy of DP (aka Disney Prince), who very well could be my future husband if Olivia doesn’t get to him first and if Princes Harry/William fall through and if I magically change my mind and decide that marriage is a good thing.

I had five. Because Girl Scout cookies only happen once a year (we keep telling ourselves that) and I missed the season!

Ohhhhhhh boy, are you still with me, or has the gourmet quality of this phenomenal meal short-circuited your nervous system? Obviously, if you have not already done so, you need to go pay a visit to Ohlivin! because Olivia is brilliant and knows how to “liv” life. (Just to give proper credit, that’s her pun — not mine :-P)

I got home too late after dinner to get to the gym Tuesday morning and was too full to eat breakfast on time (don’t fear — I just packed it up and brought it to work with me), but it was all worth it. I wish Olivia would launch her blog every night!

What is the best “punny” use of your name? (i.e. Olivia … Ohlivin!) If I get some good ones, I’ll dedicate a post to them so everyone can appreciate your creative genius 🙂 I’ve been trying to think of something for Sarah, but it’s not coming easily!

Please give a warm welcome to my buddy, Kate, who also happens to be an expert in portable desserts! Read on to find out more …

Will Stop for Cupcakes!

I was walking to work on Friday, and I stopped in my tracks when I saw this:

I texted Gina and Sarah with my sighting immediately! It was funny because last weekend (while eating “Imposter Mister Softee“), we were talking about all of these trucks that we have been finding around the city. There’s the Dessert Truck, the waffles truck, the Kustard King in Brooklyn Heights, the Treats Truck, and the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. Only in New York …

I said that I wanted to start a cupcake car, but now I’ll need to find a new market before quitting my day job because the cupcake position has already been filled!

The Cupcake Stop‘s Twitter feed told me they were parked in my work neighborhood until 5. I also discovered the Cupcake Truck in my Google search. Anyone want to take a field trip to New Haven, CT for their sweet potato pecan cupcakes!?!?

I decided that this would be a nice mid-afternoon snack to celebrate the end of the work week! As I stood behind an excited couple ordering a nice assortment, some woman (who must have been living under a rock) asked me what a red velvet cupcake was. I explained everything down to the creamcheese frosting and told her she had to try one!

It made my day when I saw that they offered miniature cupcakes for $1 each (regular size were $2.25). I love trying everything, so these were the perfect size for satisfaction minus the “over-expansion.” I opted for the red velvet and the oreo crumb minis.

I took them over to the “lounge-in-the-street area” around the corner. If you ask me, Times Square isn’t meant for lounging or frequenting, but I kind of like this seating area because it’s a bit quieter and good for watching tourists attempt to take pics of the Flatiron Building from across the street. Plus, I had a beautiful view of the Empire State Building.

Okay, back to the cupcakes. The red velvet was delicious. I think I may consider paying the extra $1.25 for a regular sized one next time!

Then, it was time for the oreo crumb.

It was good, but I wasn’t crazy about this one. The icing was too sweet for my liking, and I was disappointed that I didn’t get a mini oreo cookie on top because I had seen them on the photos on their website!

All in all, it was worth the trip out of the office! And I forgot to mention, these are baked fresh daily, and they give their leftovers to City Harvest. If Sarah were to try it, it would be a Tales of Expansion-Approved truck.

OK, Sarah again here, and I approve, I approve!! Thanks for your reconn, Kate! [And I’m actually pretty sure City Harvest has brought some of these cupcakes to the agency where I work!] I will be on the lookout for more reports of food-on-the-move from you 😀

As always, if any of you have a Tale of Expansion to share, I accept submissions at talesofexpansion@gmail.com.

What is your favorite food from a truck?

You probably don’t realize it yet, but that could be the most clever and witty title I’ve ever created. (Eye roll.)

Somehow, I did not get around to eating lunch until 2pm yesterday! Can you believe it??? No snack either. That crepe was a breakfast powerhouse!

Lunch was a repeat of yesterday’s farm salad, minus the tuna and pesto and plus leftover Indian food brown rice and some Sunkist roasted slivered almonds from the office bag.



And then, some trouble came along! I went out for a little walk with Jessica since I ate lunch at my desk while I worked, and we made some stops. I saw this lone bag of maduro chips in the bodega and accidentally bought it. (It was only 99 cents!)



I guess this is what happens when you suddenly have an income again. You start to buy 99 cent snacks from bodegas. Somebody stop me before I go too far!

Anyway, I shared the chips with the office, and Jessica shared her grapes with me:



Things grew significantly more worrisome when these appeared on the conference room table:



Seriously, whose idea was it to sit me right next to this effing table?!!!!!



I started with those two small pieces (one of each, of course), but you know it didn’t end there. I probably went back to the table five or six more times! Somewhere along the way, this happened:



Because I obviously had to slather the chocolate-drizzled banana crunch cake with peanut butter and make it into a sandwich.



I did manage to sneak some more green in before the day was through, however. One of the moms I visit came by the agency to pick up a diaper donation, and her four-year-old son brought me this beautiful gift he had hand-picked from the sidewalk right outside the building:

Sigh, what would we do without leaves?!

From there, I left work in the torrential rain because I had some very special dinner plans that require their own post. I will leave you with this hint!

Which played a bigger part in your day yesterday: greens or cake?

This morning, it was time for round 2 of the tapioca-ball-goop “chocolate without the chocolate” crepe!

I threw it together pretty quickly after the gym, thanks to all my prep work yesterday. Today’s filling was an apple cinnamon/cardamom ricotta/yogurt mix:

With coconut and homemade pb on top:

And chia-strawberry yogurt on the side, made with fresh CSA strawberries!

Now might also be a good time to follow through with Diana’s tag about where I blog. As you know, my roommate Tara moved out this weekend, so things are in a very temporary state of, errrr, transition?

Yup, that’s right, I’m blogging to you from a ratty old broken down sidewalk-found chair covered in an even more broken down sleeping bag for some cushion. And my computer is comfortably perched on a step ladder.

If that doesn’t scream luxury, I don’t know what does.

Do you compute in comfort?

Giveaways!

• Holey Donuts (OMG OMG go look at those pictures)
• Peanut Butter!
• Envirosax

Good luck!