Ancient mysteries

I broke my own rule this afternoon and went for a secret run.

I know I’ve been saying (at least in my head) that I’m not going to run at all between now and the half marathon on May 30 because I need to let all of my muscles heal for real, but I couldn’t help myself. After finishing my paper, all I wanted to do was run. Perhaps because I really just needed an excuse to wear my official Endurance Challenge 2009 tech shirt:

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Hello giant teeth.

(Speaking of which, I updated the race post with official mid-race pictures of me dying.)

I made it 25 minutes before the pain forced me to stop, and then I finished the loop of the park with a 30-minute walk. And now that that is taken care of, I really promise that there will be no more running until the half. Maybe.

I came home and felt hungry for a snack, so I heated up some of the leftover mangu I’ve been saving in the freezer since a mom made it for me at work a few weeks ago. Remember the mangu? I do! Here it was back then:

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And here’s my doctored version:

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The doctoring took place yesterday (I actually ate some yesterday, too, but I never got around to blogging about it). I had about one cup of the mangu left, so I mashed that in with half a head of steamed cauliflower to (1) make it last longer and (2) increase the healthiness of the dish. Mangu is basically mashed plantains, but I saw how the mom was cooking it, and let’s just say that this mangu was not wanting for oil or salt! I had to spread the wealth, and cauliflower seemed the perfect way to do it 😀

I topped 1/2 cup of the revised cauliflower-mangu with one of the mom’s tostones and a little piece of her vineger-ed onion (which used to be bright purple but lost its color in the oven-reheat process):

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IMG_9683Around this time, I also decided I was in the mood for tea. What to do, what to do … Oh wait! What’s inside this random jewelry box-ish thing?

It’s a sampler of
Numi teas! I’m sorry for the product placement that is about to occur, but the packaging excited me so much that I can’t help myself. I found out about these teas a few weeks ago when Brandi mentioned them, and I knew I had to get my hands on some, if only because the website is full of flowery prose: “Numi elevates the tea experience through quality, creativity, and authenticity.” Elevate me, please!

The sampler has all four flavors of their puerh tea which has been “picked from wild-harvested tea trees up to 500 years old.”

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I’m generally not into showing labels from foods since you can just look at them yourself, but the flowery prose continued in the brewing instructions, and I had to share:

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You might think I went for chocolate first, but I did not! My tum is still feeling iffy, so I opted for the mint even though I’m generally not a fan of minty teas. Also, I really wanted to “capture the full taste as the ancient mystery is revealed.”

I actually enjoyed this tea (maybe because I followed the instructions for once and only let it brew for 3 minutes as opposed to 20), and it was soothing for my belly. Though I don’t think I experienced revelation of any sort of ancient mystery.

Have you had any mysteries revealed to you lately? Most recently (as in, this afternoon), I experienced the ancient mystery of how running in a moisture-wicking shirt feels … and I must say I’m a fan!

One of each, please

I just ate 42 foods.

Actually, I ate more than that because I just uploaded 42 pictures, and many of them contained more than one food. I’m also sort of speechless because every single food was out-of-this-world phenomenal.

All of this deliciousness came my way tonight at the David Burke Townhouse, courtesy of a Foodbuzz event to celebrate one million posts.

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Before I arrived at the restaurant, I had taken “townhouse” literally to mean that the party would be taking place in someone’s swanky uptown apartment. In fact, the party took place at this swanky uptown restaurant. With an egg theme (much like my life lately):

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I ran into Ashley immediately upon arriving, and we contented ourselves at the bar with wasabi cracker sticks and thyme lychee martinis:

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Those lychee martinis were teeny, so I had four of them. (Whoops.) I just get so excited about drinks that have real fruit! Plus, my first three did not contain any actual lychees. I had to go back for the fourth when I started to see the whole lychees floating around in other people’s drinks.

As soon as we got the go ahead, Emily and I beelined to the back of the restaurant where food was waiting. Remember, I’m still speechless, so I will let the photos do the talking.

Shellfish (including lobster, crab, mussels, oysters, and jumbo shrimp):

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My plate:

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I had more than you see in that picture, of course. I couldn’t let the chance for fresh lobster and fresh crab to pass me by!

There were tons of sauces for the seafood, along the lines of wasabi crème fraîche, lavender crème fraîche, pineapple-truffle sauce, mango something, and more. I tried all the sauces on the side because I wanted to experience the flavors but I did not want them to mess with the perfection of straight lobster and crab 😛

Sushi:

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Scallops in their shells with a ginger-scallion sauce:

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My plate with two sushi rolls, a scallop, and a pile of picked ginger:

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The carving station had salmon with horseradish sauce, turkey with gravy (I’m making that up because I can’t remember what sauce it really was), and short (?) ribs with red wine sauce. (I’m not a rib expert. Feel free to correct me if I have mis-identified.)

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My plate with a little of everything:

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I actually didn’t finish that plate. It was too meaty for me, and I like my salmon more done.

There were dumplings like this. Some had lobster, some had chicken, some had beef, and several had foie gras in addition to the other meats. I had at least one of each.

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Lobster scramble with caviar:

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Enjoying eating straight out of the mini frying pan:

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Mini raw-ish crackers with beef tartare, smoked salmon-cream cheese, and more foie gras:

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Pineapple shrimp skewers (yes, actually IN the pineapple!):

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Chicken satay with peanut sauce:

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Pretzel-crusted crabcake with poppyseed honey and kumquat-jalapeno jam (YES, it was THAT amazing):

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Lobster flan (served in an EGGSHELL):

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Hamachi with watermelon:

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And then the desserts began to come around. I kept myself to “one of each,” but one of each became far more than I had anticipated as more and more desserts rolled out of the kitchen!

A mini red velvet cake bite with cream cheese frosting:

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Pecan-cinnamon buns arranged on a mini-stove. There was actually a fire flickering inside the stove, but you can’t tell from this picture:

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Apple fritters on a bed of brown sugar:

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Mine:

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Cheesecake lollipop tree!!!!!!

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One of each (clearly the theme of the night): triple chocolate nut, strawberry pistachio, and chocolate with chocolate crunchies:

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Dark chocolate cherry cupcake (literally the size of my thumb — I had two) and butterscotch pannacotta:

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Chocolate-nutella milkshake!

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At around this time, I started to get overwhelmed by too many desserts and not enough hands. I found a narrow ledge and got a collection going:

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(On the right is a chocolate rice crispy-cereal treat.)

A coconut cream puff and a warm custard-filled doughnut ball (the doughnut ball actually had a fancy Italian-ish name that I cannot remember):

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Malted milk and a grapefruit bar with crème fraîche:

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The malted milk had a very familiar flavor. Missy hit the nail on the head when she said it tasted like the milk leftover from a bowl of Fruit Loops. I only had a couple of sips because I can make that myself. I left the milk on the ledge and promptly knocked it over with my big bag about five seconds later. David Burke himself swooped in to clean up the mess.

The grapefruit bar, on the other hand, was insanely good (though Emily wasn’t a fan. I guess you really have to love grapefruit.) It had gold leaf on top:

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And rather than a bowl of mints on the way out, the Townhouse had peanut brittle, of all things! The grab-in-action and my pieces:

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So, this was a scrumptious event that I got to share with several fun ladies who love food almost as much as I do! I hijacked this photo from Missy’s recap (which you should check because she has many more facts about the event and the restaurant): Me, Emily from Super Caloric Chalk Dust, Melanie from MelonCauliflower, Ashley from Healthy Happier Bear, Missy from Missy Maintains, and Diana from Soap and Chocolate.

I’m so glad that Foodbuzz decided to celebrate one million posts and invite me. I just wish they could have invited the starving population of NYC as well since there was more food than anyone there actually needed. I always feel torn at events like this — awed and thrilled that I got to attend, yet overwhelmed and distressed at the excess! The thought of trying to comandeer all these leftovers was too much to handle at this particular stress-pinnacle of the semester, but I hope they went somewhere useful. And I hope thinking about it doesn’t keep me up tonight!

What makes you feel torn?

Product moved

First things first: the cakes were a success in class last night! I did not have to bring any home with me, so my plan to move all the sugar out of my freezer was effective. I just have two little chocolate cupcakes that wouldn’t fit in the tupperwares to cart up there, and that’s it. Phew, cake-overload disaster averted.

Also, in honor of my birthday yesterday, I went shoe shopping at Payless. This is irrelevant to food on the surface, but it’s actually connected because food is the only thing I have spent money on since starting grad school. Until yesterday, I hadn’t bought shoes in two years because I needed the money for groceries. Evidence:

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Yes, that is the sun shining through the hole in the sole of my shoe.

Here are my new friends:

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My feet are happy.

Back to food, I had an early egg salad dinner around 4:30 before heading up to class. To make the salad, I chopped one of my Eggland’s Best peeled hard-boiled eggs and mixed it with 1/3 cup plain yogurt, 1 tsp dijon mustard, paprika, dill, cayenne, and one cup chopped arugula. I topped it with 1/8 chopped avocado, coarse sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

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Dessert took place at class, of course 😛 My cakes were so good!

Piece #1:

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Piece #2:

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And a cupcake!

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It’s back to the grindstone for me today. I have one more paper left, and it’s not going to be a fun one! It’s due Thursday morning, so you know how I’ll be spending all of today and all of tomorrow … with a little fun break for an exciting event this evening 🙂

Will you be taking any fun breaks today?

Caked

I’ve tried to be consistent with my birthday food theme today (theme = must eat cake at every possible moment). After breakfast #1 (pumpkin pie flax-oat bran), the gym, and breakfast #2 (cake and frosting tasting), it was time for breakfast #3!

IMG_9470While at the gym, I got an exciting idea for carrot cake custard pudding, and I set right to work when I got home. The custard involved two grated carrots, 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, a chopped package of Peeled apricot-a-lot, and a chopped date:

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The above ingredients got immersion-blended with an egg, baking powder, a couple splashes of soymilk, 1/4 package of silken tofu, vanilla, nutmeg, ginger, and LOTS of cinnamon. I poured the batter into two greased ramekins and baked for 20 minutes at 350.

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IMG_9472To ice the custards, I blended some of the leftover strawberry-cake frosting from earlier today with this baby jar of Artisana walnut butter. Brillllllllllliant! But wait, by the time I finished making my carrot cake custard pudding, it was time for lunch! Hang on carrot cake, I said.

IMG_9495I was excited to eat lunch because I few days ago, Vani dropped off this package of organic wheat Ramen noodles for me to try. She had mentioned the noodles on her blog and offered to donate her other package to me when she saw how excited I got. I was excited because, growing up, I pretty much would not eat anything aside from Ramen noodles. We called it Ruthie Soup in my family because my cousin Ruthie loved to eat them when she was a baby. Whenever I went to a birthday party, I take along a package of Ramen because I didn’t like pizza! I thought the Ramen would be an ideal way to celebrate the first lunch of my 28th year.

While the Ramen cooked, I steamed a broccoli stalk and two sliced carrots and then sauteed them with garlic in canola oil. At the end of all that, I mixed everything together and had half for lunch over a big bed of arugula and topped with homemade parmesan and freshly ground black pepper:

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This healthed-up version was not quite the Ramen I remember, but it was good enough!

My carrot cake custard pudding then became lunch dessert:

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It was incredible!! It tasted a ton like carrot cake, and the frosting was sooooooooo thick:

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I am excited I made two of these!

Now it’s time to head up to class with all my cakes. I hope they get eaten because I do not want to bring any of this stuff back with me. My freezer needs a break!

What needs a break in your life?

O-L-D

How did this happen??? 27. Twenty-seven. twentyseven. It even looks old.

In order to make my birthday feel more like a celebration, I’ve spent the last couple of days rounding up all the things that really need to be moved along (i.e. all the frozen cake and cookie bits in my freezer) in the name of a baking experiment. Here’s the collection, separated into chocolate-based goods, fruit- and spice-based goods, and frostings.

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You might be wondering how I was able to chop all of those amazing goodies and have them sitting out on the table without nibbling on them as I worked. I wasn’t.

For the first project, I very loosely used this recipe for Strawberry Layer Cake from Cooking Light. Obviously, I didn’t quite follow the recipe, especially since I had four cups of the fruity baked goods (mostly blueberry muffins, pumpkin muffins, and lime sugar cookies) to incorporate!

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In addition to the extra baked goods, other changes to the cake involved 5 oz. whole wheat pastry flour in place of 10 oz. all-purpose, no sugar (there was plenty in all those cake pieces I was mixing in!) intead of 1.5 cups, 2 tbsp canola oil in place of 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup plain yogurt in place of 1 cup buttermilk, and the addition of the last 2 tbsp of homemade berry jam and 3/4 cup fruit salad. I immersion blended everything together and poured it into two sprayed 8-inch cake pans:

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I also baked a mini strawberry cake so I could taste test:

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It passed 😀

I almost followed the instructions for the icing. But instead of 1/3 cup cream cheese and 1/3 cup butter, I used 1/2 cup extra-strained homemade Greek yogurt. Instead of 3 cups powdered sugar, I used a red cup of jello that Myrna gave me at work last week. And instead of 2 tbsp Grand Marnier, I used 1 tbsp Amaretto. And for fun, I threw in a bunch of unsweetened shredded coconut, 1/4 block silken tofu, and some cinnamon. Taste test:

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Finished:

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For the second project, I (again, very loosely) used this recipe for Glazed Chocolate-Avocado Cupcakes from Vegetarian Times that I found via VeggieGirl. Once again, the recipe required some alterations as I had 3 cups of chocolate-baked goods to use!

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Changes involved using 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour in place of 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder in place of 3/4 cup, and no maple syrup (once again, the 3 cups of chocolate goodies had enough sugar!). I immersion-blended everything together and spooned the super super fudgy batter into 30 paper-lined mini-cupcake cups:

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Obviously, a taste test was in order for these, too.

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Successfully chocolatey and fudgy!

I followed the instructions for the glaze, except I used chocolate from various scraps I had around that were most definitely not vegan, including the rest of my Newman’s Own Organics Dark Chocolate Orange bar. Finished:

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Frosting these cakes became birthday breakfast #2 (birthday breakfast #1 was pumpkin pie flax-oat bran) after I got back from the gym this morning. You can rest assured that quite a significant portion of the frosting made its way into my mouth! One of the perks of being the birthday girl and the baker on the same day 😀

Thank goodness I have class tonight and can hopefully unload all of this decadence there!

Who is your favorite person to feed?