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!

Ahhhhhhhhh, these days are flying by WAY too fast. I literally don’t have a second to do anything BUT work at work now that I’ve become a real-live employee. And then to class right from there! I thought I had no down time before, but now I REALLY have no downtime. So with that in mind, yesterday is going to have to get the highlights treatment.

Lunch was massaged kale + arugula + spaghetti salad:

And Jessica shared her bag of maduros chips with me:

Do you know how rare it is to find these sweet plantain chips?! Every time I see plantain chips in the store, I get excited … until I see the big “not sweet” emblazoned across the bag. Yayyyy, maduros! These were delicious.

Later in the afternoon, I had my yogurt + ricotta + fruit + hemp:

And as I was on my way out of the office, I spied something new on the evil conference room table:

Mmmmhmmmmm, you KNOW I grabbed a handful (or three):

I stopped on the way to class for the usual samples: three teeny cubes of French comte cheese and some hunks of Tate’s Bakeshop chocolate chip cookies. Dinner in class was a random crazy salad with arugula, one of Jessica’s omelets from my work breakfast on Friday, steamed kale stems and broccoli, strawberries and blackberries (from Olga), and TJ’s smoky peach salsa from Elisabeth.

Emily also handed over the last 1/4 cup or so of her chicken-veggie soup, and that went right down the hatch:

Plus cherries and sliced cucumber for snack:

And cereal medley + yogurt + fruit salad for dessert (also what I had for breakfast yesterday, if you were curious!):

Breakfast this morning was overnight cereal with about 1 cup of yogurt and 1/2 cup strawberry medley/golean crunch. The big pile o’ fruit (berries from Olga, banana from Jessica, apples/pears/peaches from me) landed on top of the marinated cereal this morning. Topped with hemp, coconut, nutmeg, and cardamom:

I’m 98% sure I’m heading to try another hot yoga class after work this evening, so it will be another late night. Ack, my 8-hours-of-sleep requirement just keeps getting pushed to the backburner. I’m not entirely sure it’s a realistic expectation while I’m in grad school. Hmph. My body is angry at me for denying it adequate rest! Subway naps can only do so much to alleviate the sleep debt. But I don’t see a solution since I get home from class at 10:30 and I have to get up at 6 just to get to work on time! Rararararar, quite the debacle. Can you extend the day just two more hours for me? Please?

Yesterday morning was uneventful in terms of food, so I actually had my packed snack for once. Sliced cucumbers with office peanut butter:

Once noon rolled around, however, I was off and running for the rest of the day. Several food items fell into my mouth along the way. Inginia and I did a fruit project with the moms and kids in the parents’ group, so I nibbled on some orange pieces and banana pieces:

I also had quite a few pieces of corn muffin with peanut butter because, well, everyone else was doing it 😛

We also received some donated mini-cupcakes to use in the group but didn’t end up needing them … so I ate some frosting:

And more frosting from one of the chocolate ones:

( I packed up the rest and brought them home to feed the freezer.)

When I got back up to my desk, Maria offered me her last hunk of coconut, and I very enthusiastically accepted:

I love all the fresh coconut that has been in my life lately!

I ran right out for a visit — while there, the mom fed me a chocolate cream wafer (no picture, lo siento!) and a bottle of water. I ended up staying late at the visit because I was stuck on hold trying to make a phone call for the mom. From there, I raced back to the office and into another meeting. I finally had my snack of fat free ricotta with apple, mango, strawberry, and hemp seeds around 4:45:

Jessica dragged me out of the office at 5 on the dot because she wanted a subway buddy, so I have a bunch of loose ends to tie up today!

I got home at 6, did a little prep work for tomorrow, and then ran over to Prospect Park to meet Olga for opening night of Celebrate Brooklyn. (Vani was there, too, but it was so packed we didn’t end up seeing her.) As you probably know already, Olga is working there this summer and has the inside scoop on all the happenings! David Byrne was there last night. I did not know who he was, but apparently he used to be in the band Talking Heads.

I only recognized one song, but there were others who knew them all. Check out these die-hard fans:

And the crowds!!

(That’s the line to get in!)

I’ve never seen this many people in Brooklyn, let alone all crowded into Prospect Park. Lucky for us, a buddy of Olga’s had arrived super early to get in line, so we were able to skip through about a mile of people to score a good spot on the lawn.

How smart are Olga’s friends?! Here is Constantine pouring wine from a Camelbak.

I brought along a snack to share: the TJ’s jalapeno lime salsa that Elisabeth sent and these Brown Rice Vegetable Snaps from Edward & Sons.

These crisps were delicious, and I dipped them in everything — salty things, sweet things, and both together — all night long. We/I pretty much finished off the package!

Olga and her buddies also provided an amazing spread because they had gone to the Red Hook Fairway (aka heaven on earth) right before the show to stock up.

Cinnamon raisin challah:

Cheddar cheese and some other fancy kind:

Freshly ground honey-roasted peanut butter:

And more! Here’s my plate with challah, pb, baguette, hummus, cheese, triscuits, berries:

I put the triscuit crumbs to work with cheese crumbs and more hummus:

And found some chocolate covered pretzels in the mix (excellent dipped in the pb, as per Olga’s suggestion):

I kept nibbling alllll night! I probably had a full half cup of that peanut butter all by myself!

Check Olga’s recap for more!

I left around 9:45, though the show was still going strong. Olga sent me home with some delicious goodies: the rest of the berries and a belated birthday card and bar of Russian chocolate.

Thanks, Olga 🙂 It was an awesome night, and I’m looking forward to more Prospect Park shows all summer long. Yayyyyy summer!

Even if your schedule is just as loaded and overextended as always, what is one thing you do that makes it feel like summer?

Once again, last night’s dinner and this morning’s breakfast were twins 😛



The process for this rainbow of delight unfolded as follows. I cooked 2 tbsp oat bran and 2 tbsp ground flax with 1/2 cup of water and then immersion-blended in a huge bunch of spinach (stems and all), nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla, and 2 tbsp lucuma powder. After the blend, I added a heaping tbsp goji berries (fyi, I’ve been using the goji berries (and chia seeds and lucuma powder) from Navitas Naturals. I actually don’t really like goji berries on their own, but I’m finding these delightful as oatmeal and yogurt enhancements!), 1/4 cup chia seeds, a big grated chunk of fresh coconut, and 1 cup water. All of that sat in the fridge for a couple hours to let the chia seeds work their absorption magic. I used half of the finished pudding in my dinner last night.



For the “filling” of my oats, I mixed together the “fruit on the bottom” from a Stoneyfield chocolate underground yogurt and a Ronnybrook Farms creamline coconut yogurt (the actual yogurt parts went toward the week’s batch of homemade yogurt … which I had to make with 1% milk because the store was out of skim!) with 1/4 cup fat free ricotta.



The whole thing got decorated with mango (I ate the peel of the mango for the first time ever while I was chopping this one. It wasn’t bad!), apple, strawberries, and Artisana goji bliss. My first bite of the goji bliss tasted so familiar — I was surprised because I’ve obviously never tried goji bliss before. I was thrilled when I realized it tasted just like the cacao bliss! I’m so excited that my “bliss” has been extended a couple more days.



Side note: This was the best oatmeal (I’m using “oatmeal” loosely here because there were barely any oats in this!) ever. Healthy, lip-lickingly delicious, and cheerfully colored! I might even choose it over cake in a standoff.

But … why choose when you can have both?



Dessert was a piece of Pat Shannon’s famous carrot cake with an Oh! Nuts dark chocolate-covered strawberry.



Oooooh, the cream cheese icing. Gets me every time!



I was up and at ’em with my 5:00 alarm this morning and took off for legs and 30 minutes of cardio at the gym. Breakfast was the other half of my spinach pudding. I wish I had made more than two servings!

The only difference between last night and this morning was the yogurt component: today’s yogurt was fresh out of the oven 🙂

I can feel your halo (halo) halo …

OK, time for some quality time with the subway. Happy Monday!

Oats, cake, or both?