Longer than necessary

March 23, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

Ahhh the trains today were out of control! Delays all morning, delays all night. Reason #56498 to leave NYC. Alas, I’ve got many months of grad school to go.

My morning fruit ‘n’ yog was so pretty that I had to take a picture of it from the side:

My 1/2 cup of fruit salad was the same combo I’ve been eating all weekend — pineapple, mango, banana, plum, strawberries, grapes — and I topped it with plain yogurt + lemon curd + cinnamon and a sprinkle of golean crunch.

Mmmmm, yogurt perfection.

Plus a pre-visit sugar fix:

While on my visit this morning, the mom basically deposited a hefty square of tres leches cake onto my lap. How could I refuse? Obviously, I couldn’t.

I love tres leches cake — it’s probably the most moist cake you can imagine, given that it’s soaked in condensed milk and all. Mmmm, again. Unfortunately, I don’t take my camera with me to visits, so I didn’t get to capture the beauty on film/memory card/whatever it is. However, Beryl was just about to tuck into a banana-rum mini-bundt cake when I got back to the office, and she generously offered to let me take a picture before she demolished it. So, in lieu of the tres leches cake I did eat, here’s the banana-rum cake I did not eat:

Lunch during the parents’ group today was a low-key affair since only a couple moms came in. I had a cup of raisin bran with 1/2 cup 1% milk and a few banana pieces:

And then, I ate the rest of the banana smothered with about 2 tbsp peanut butter (aka perfection) and an orange:

I probably ate another orange’s worth of wedges after that, too. Girl loves her fruit 🙂

A boredom lollipop:

Later in the afternoon, I broke into the Quackers samples that Melissa brought to yesterday’s blogger brunch:

Ooooh, they were so good! I made a little dip for them out of goat cheese, plain yogurt, dried basil, and freshly ground black pepper. Perfection again (there was lots of it going around today, apparently).

A breath-freshening mint:

I inhaled pretty much all my dinner right at the start of class tonight. The spread included a cup of roasted veggies:

With manchego cheese samples from the gourmet market:

Two stuffed collard greens leaves:

I made these with the same method I used for my Stuffed Kale Leaves, and I stuffed them with some of the mixed-grain salad I made last weekend.

Hiding under the stuffed collard greens is some scrumptious roast chicken left from Mildred’s lunch today:

The chicken couldn’t have come at a better time because I was feeling a little bit low on protein!

Dessert was a few banana and orange pieces left from the parents’ group this afternoon.

And look what was waiting for me when I got home!

My prize package from Abbie’s Foods That Fit giveaway!! I’m so excited for all of these treats: cocoa java almonds, 2 oatmeal squares, PB2, single-serve nutella, single serve Barney Butter (which I’ve never tried!), and sugar cookie sleigh ride (just as I’m running out of my last box of it … SO perfect) 😀

I was stilla bit hungry, so I actually broke into the almonds as part of this little snack set:

The ramekin on the left has two more stuffed collard greens, and the ramekin on the right has 1/2 cup fruit salad with a mix of above-mentioned almonds, trail mix, and vanilla-almond granola.

But I wasn’t quite done! Last treat of the night:

A chocolate macaroon from One Lucky Duck, another of the samples Melissa brought to lunch yesterday. Ahhh, this was so dense and chocolate-y. I want 10 more of them now.

But what I really really want more than anything else is go to bed. So that’s what I’m off to do!

And make sure you go check out julie golean because she is giving away HER favorite things, and her favorite things look pretty tasty 😀

Weekend remainders

March 23, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

More photos from yesterday …

Taken by photographer/organizer extraordinaire Melissa: Ashley (reader), me,
Dori, Missy, Danielle, Ashley, Gena (the Raw Foodist and soon-to-be-blogger), Mark, Heather, Shane, Emily, Amelia, Vani, Olga

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And waiting in the subway station with Vani and Emily, my fellow slopers:

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I eventually got around to another salad-infused dinner last night and finished up the contributions that I got from Inginia and Nydia Friday at work.

This salad had greens, peppers, cranberries, corn, garlic-lemon juice, goat cheese, strawberries, roast chicken, s&p, and a drizzle of Annie’s Lite Gingerly Vinaigrette:

Dessert came in the form of another salad!

This combo of fruits made me feel like I was in Costa Rica, sigh. My fruit salad contained pineapple, mango, plum, grapes, strawberries, orange, and banana. I topped it with a mix of plain yogurt, lemon curd, and cinnamon. Plus a sprinkle of coconut and vanilla-almond granola because I couldn’t stop.

And yes, I did balance the bowl on the TV so that I could capture the last whimpers of natural sunlight for the day:

I cooked a few things for the week (and nibbled on them, too, obv), including the latest oatmeal which will be along in my breakfast shortly!

Did you make any new friends this weekend?

Munchy brunchy bunch

March 22, 2009February 6, 201521 Comments

I’m back from the blogger brunch — what a fun group of girls (and boy)! We met at Counter, an East Village vegetarian restaurant. While the service left quite a bit to be desired — at least five orders got messed up, and poor Dori didn’t get her food until after pretty much everyone else had finished eating! — the company was wonderful and my meal at least tasted delicious. My people-photography skills are lacking, but here’s what I was able to get.

Left to right: Danielle, Ashley, Melissa, Gena (the Raw Foodist and soon-to-be-blogger), Mark, Heather, and Shane

Left to right: part of Amelia‘s eye, Vani, Olga, Amie, reader Ashley, me

Not pictured but also there: Dori, Missy, and Emily

I ordered the Moroccan Tagine: poached eggs in a rich tomato-pepper stew & grilled flatbread. The flatbreads came haphazardly tossed on a separate plate, so I arranged them around my stew dish for better visual effect:

This. was. SO. GOOD. If you ever go to Counter (which I’m not sure I’d recommend after experiencing their lousy service, even taking into account that there were 16 of us), you must order this dish.

The stew was spicy and flavorful and thick, and the flatbreads complemented it perfectly. (I also ate one of the flatbreads with a smear of strawberry butter because I could not pass that up when I saw it!)

I inhaled my food because it was yummmmmy and I was hungry (the accidental 10.5 miles was starting to catch up with me), but everyone else was still eating and I was jealous. I checked out the spread and noticed a meal down at the other end that I couldn’t quite identify:

It almost looked like a big hunk of steak, but I thought that was highly unlikely with us being at a vegetarian restaurant and all. I called down to Danielle to see what she had ordered. FRENCH TOAST!! She offered me a bite, and my spoon and I were down at her plate in under 5 seconds 😀

Of course, once I successfully filled my spoon with gooey French toast delight, I started talking to Heather (who also accidentally ran 10 miles this morning!! we’re so going to wipe the floor (is that even an expression?) with the Brooklyn Half Marathon) about Providence and waving my spoon all around. I ended up dropping my gooey French toast bite onto Missy! (Sorry, Missy!) Should have seen that one coming …

Danielle immediately offered up another bite of her French toast because she’s AMAZING (Danielle, I’m so bummed we didn’t get to chat — I call dibs on the seat beside you at the next blogger event!) and then she offered me the REST of her plate because she was FULL. How could I refuse??

It tasted like it looked: DELICIOUS. Warm, dense, gooey, maple-y, banana-y. From the menu: a delicious vegan twist on classic French toast with banana flambe. Yummmmmmmmmmmm.

(I’m pretty sure I smeared strawberry butter all over this guy, too )

Thanks again, Danielle! That French toast definitely bumped me up into the “satiated” category!

Vani, Emily, Missy, and I headed down toward the F train when we left the restaurant at 3:30 (yes, we were all there gabbing for over 2 hours! Sooo glad I wrote my midterm yesterday. Olga still has one to write tonight, ack. You can do it, Olga!!). Emily needed gelato, so we stopped into Sugar where I drooled over the dessert case and then got scolded by management for taking this picture (and about 12 others):

I also tried a bite of the pannacotta gelato, which Emily ended up ordering. Mmmm, it was good. Next time!

When we left Sugar, I crossed the street too fast, as usual, and the smarter and safer girls were left behind on the other side:

Once back in the Slope, Emily and I peer-pressured Vani into trying the balls at Hanco’s. I think she’s going to be hooked! Emily boldly ordered the egg yolk soda:

I took a couple sips — it was kind of like a cross between egg nog and and egg cream. It was definitely yolky, but also sweet and a little fizzy. It was different, but I liked it.

I ordered an unsweetened milkless coconut tea:

(It was still milky and sort of sweet because I’m pretty sure the coconut tea powder they use has both milk and sugar already built into the blend.)

I got home and took stock of all the goodies that Melissa and Missy were able to procure for us. Weil bars, a Z-bar, treats from One Lucky Duck, and free passes for fitness classes in the city:

This little guy was so cute that I had to sample him right away:

And now I think I’m already getting hungry again for dinner! Hmmm, what to eat, what to eat …

What is your worst restaurant service story?

Guess what!!

March 21, 2009February 6, 201521 Comments

I’m DONE!! I finished the midterm tonight at 8:32 😀 So much faster than I expected, yayyyyyyyyy. And I’ve been on a roll with “relief” eating, but I’m stuffed now, so I think I’m through for the night!

As I predicted, lunch 2 came less than 10 minutes after my last post: my final fajita wrap sampler.

It was still delicious, but after eating it three days in a row, I’m glad it’s gone!

Sometime a little bit later, I had these Earl Grey Biscotti Bites (x2):

With chocolate tea (black tea, soymilk, unsweetened cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne):

For dinner, I turned Mildred’s Dominican beans and pork (brought home from work yesterday) into a soup by adding veggie broth, a handful of spinach, and two crushed tortilla chips:

Soooo tasty. And I love how my coworkers keep feeding me all weekend long 😛

Dessert #1 was a mini breakfast dessert cookie:

The cookie was a mix of 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, 1 tsp goat cheese, 1 tsp lemon curd, 2 tbsp Greek yogurt, 1 chopped strawberry, 1 chopped square of hazelnut chocolate, and 1 tbsp vanilla almond granola. After letting the cookie “set” in the freezer for 20 minutes, I topped it with the last of my chocolate mousse mixed with 1/4 cup Greek yogurt and unsweetened coconut.

I ate the cookie faster than the mousse, so dessert #2 was a piece of chocolate chip blondie from the freezer bag of desserts mashed into the remaining mousse:

And, ummm, dessert #3 was a slice of chocolate chip brownie with chocolate frosting, also from the dessert freezer bag:

Dessert #4 (I was in a celebratory mood!) was a spoonful of vanilla ice cream with an almondine cookie … you guessed it — from the freezer bag.

And I’m pretty sure I had a piece of Lindt hazelnut chocolate, too. But like I said, I am now officially stuffed, so that should be the end of that! I’m lounging on the couch with a mug of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea and taking care of some other odds ‘n’ ends.

How many desserts did you eat tonght?

eward Also, a big, enormous thanks to Kailey for my second “eward” in one day! I LOVE reading Kailey’s blog SnackFace — she’s probably the busiest person on the face of the planet, but she manages to squeeze everything in with such a fun attitude 🙂

Tomorrow’s the big brunchy brunch, planned by organizational genius Melissa from Fitness NYC, and I’m so excited to meet all you NYC bloggies!

Greens, greens, nothing but greens

March 20, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

I kind of wish today were St. Patrick’s day again because I was really on a roll with the greens!! Just as soon as I got past the non-greenness of my 10am snack …

The identical twin of Wednesday’s yogurt:

And two packs like this of baby gum:

A little past noon, we all settled in for lunch. My coworkers had ordered pizza, so I ate what I packed 😀

Another fajita wrap sampler, just like yesterday:

(There were actually two pieces of that white one, but the first piece flew into my mouth too fast for the camera!)

And a giant salad filled to the brim with goodies:
This is a 4-cup container packed with spinach, asparagus,
radishes, grated carrot, strawberries (finally tried strawberries in a salad — yum!), goat cheese, and about 1/3 cup of mixed-grain salad. I dressed it with balsamic vinegar, truffle oil, coarse sea salt, and black pepper.

It was such an exciting salad to eat — the nuts and dried fruit from the grain salad added perfect chew and brilliantly complemented the sweetness of the strawberries! Nothing like surprise food donations to perk up the standard lunch fare 🙂

A closer look at the inside:

After lunch, Mildred and I went down to check in on the bi-weekly brown bag staff lunch. Today’s theme was “words of wisdom,” and I pulled a really good one out of the basket of words … but I left it at work, hmph! While at the lunch, I nibbled on 1/4 of a cinnamon muffin:

And half of a zucchini muffin:

And there was a bit more fancy candy action.

(Plus two unpictured mints!)

Afternoon snack around 3pm was the very end of the asparagus guacamole (still as green as the day it was born!) and riceworks:

At 4:30, Nydia broke out an array of fresh and fruity produce! I had about three times the amount of grapes and strawberries pictured:

After work, I headed downtown to meet two of my old coworkers from the SCORE! days for dinner. (Sidenote: SCORE! (and not Scores) is where I worked as a director for the three years between undergrad and grad, the savings from which are now paying my living expenses … until they run out in May!)

Anyway, Karimah and Deana both happen to be pregnant right now and due within three weeks of each other late this summer! As a semi-professional expander myself, I certainly could not turn down the chance to dine with two pregnant ladies 😛 Here they are getting ready to tuck into their BBQ feast:

They ordered veggie tempura for an appetizer, so I had to have a few batter soaked nuggets for fun:

I ordered the spinach salad with BBQ’s famous rotisserie chicken, and I was very pleasantly surprised when it arrived complete with mushrooms, raisins, AND walnuts:

The picture doesn’t do it justice — this salad was HUGE. Raspberry vinaigrette came on the side, and I probably used about a tbsp of that for drizzling as I ate through the massive bowl.

When we finished, there was still a bunch of veggie tempura lingering:

I ate the choicest bits of crunchy batter and then peeled the rest off to devour the veggies like so:

I also rescued the uneaten cornbread from the ladies to bring home for future use.

And because they make pretty pictures, Karimah first ordered a virgin peach daiquiri but then sent it back in favor of a virgin pina colada when she realized the daiquiri still had a strawberry base:

I actually ended up drinking about half of that mammoth colada before we left because I haven’t quite mastered the art of asking the waiter to please wrap my frozen drink for me to take home, thanks.

And quite fortuitously, the waiter brought us extra change and Karimah and Deana gave it all to me … so my meal was nearly free! Thanks, ladies 😀

We all waddled out of the restaurant after — Karimah and Deana with their authentic baby bellies and me with my spinach baby belly (much more pleasant than a cake baby belly, however!) — to head to the subway.

And very quickly before I dive headfirst into my bed and zonk out, I came home with another load of delicious food donations! Giant salad with roast chicken and garlic/lemon dressing from Inginia, Dominican pork and beans from Mildred, salad greens and banana/grapes/strawberries from Nydia, and the two pieces of cornbread from Deana and Karimah:

Expect to see these items resurfacing in my meals over the next few days!

Do you mostly eat IN or OUT during the weekend?

Giveaway alert: Another chance to mix your own granola at EatFabInNyc!

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Tag: dessert

Longer than necessary

Weekend remainders

Munchy brunchy bunch

Guess what!!

Greens, greens, nothing but greens

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