Tag: fruit

A cow moos in Brooklyn

2 Comments

I’m partial to cows. I don’t quite know when it started, but I’d say it’s been a good five years. After living in the city for so long, cows just seem representative of a much simpler (and much more ideal) style of living. Here’s some photographic evidence:

560614992105_0_alb

making friends in Ireland, circa 2004

bonding with new friends via milking apparatus, circa 2004

bonding with new friends via milking apparatus, circa 2004

four-year reunion with bovine friends in Peru, August 2008

four-year reunion with bovine friends in Peru, August 2008

So it was really no surprise to anyone when I started making my own yogurt (or was it?) last year. I do it once or twice each week, depending on my rate of yogurt consumption, and it’s one of those relaxing rituals I really look forward to. I spent a big chunk of this snowy evening setting my yogurt up for its overnight incubation so that I could have fresh yogurt to enjoy with my oatmeal tomorrow morning, yay!

Speaking of oatmeal, I embarked upon another favorite ritual this evening: crockpot oats! More specifically, I decided to make a batch of banana bread crockpot oats. I added about 6 frozen chopped bananas, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a sprinkle of cardamom, and LOTS of nutmeg.

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

Mmmm, cannot wait until tomorrow moooooorning!

In other news, remember my tea tragedy? Well, after gluing the pieces I had back together and letting it dry for a whole week, I decided to give it a go! But here it is in the sink after the attempted “go” …

good as new?

good as new?

… because as soon as I poured the water in, I heard a river gushing all over everything! I quickly transferred the boiling pot into the sink (ouch, hot, ouch, hot, ouch, hot) and discovered this upon closer inspection:

img_1259

Because the handle of the teapot is hollow, the hot water spread into the handle itself, weakened the already not airtight glue, and started spouting like crazy. Grrrrrr. I’m considering retiring my pretty teapot to museum status.

Finally … dinner! I finished my leftovers from the work party. Salad:

img_1268

Topped with 1/2 tsp truffle oil, coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, sprinkle of kasha (roasted buckwheat), and homemade grated cheddar:

img_1273

There was a little bit of salad left after this, so I topped it with the rest of the food from last night:

salad topped with chicken, okra gumbo with shrimp, and collard greens

salad topped with chicken, okra gumbo with shrimp, and collard greens

When I was putting my cranberries in the freezer earlier today, I made the most amazing dessert discovery! Just before the holiday, one of the nurses at my office brought in loads of homemade chocolates. Always thinking ahead, I had packed a little baggie with one of each kind and hidden it from myself in my freezer. I decided tonight would be the perfect night to experience the coconut cup:

img_1291

Bitten:

img_1303

Followed by two salt water taffy pieces:

one

one

two

two

And bed!

Snowbound

7 Comments

As predicted, the snow started falling this morning, grrrrrrrr. I did not go for my run and instead rushed out to do some Saturday errands (along with the rest of Brooklyn) before it got too messy. I grabbed a kitchen sink mini muffin as I left:

img_1221

The grocery store was out of control with everyone stocking up on milk and water before the big storm (eye roll), but I survived. I had to get a lot of food because I hadn’t shopped in three weeks, and I ended up only spending $30 (my self-imposed weekly food budget is $40). My purchases included: 3 lbs. McIntosh apples, pint strawberries, pint grape tomatoes, dozen eggs, crunchy natural peanut butter, yogurt for yogurt-making tonight, 28 oz. canned pumpkin, 4 navel oranges, cantaloupe, cabbage, carrots, old-fashioned oats, 2 bags fresh cranberries, nutmeg, and ginger:

img_1227

I immediately peeled and chopped the carrots into matchsticks for snacking next week, chopped the cantaloupe into chunks, and cut the green heads off the strawberries. Food is less likely to go bad when it is ready to eat at a moment’s notice :-). During all of this, I snacked on some cantaloupe shavings:

img_1230

I wanted something hot for lunch, so I arranged a bowl of leftovers from last night and reheated it in the oven at 400 for 20 minutes. Wilted salad greens topped with collard greens, baked chicken, and okra gumbo with shrimp:

img_1248

Dessert was half the container of yogurt I just bought (I only need to use half to make a new yogurt batch tonight). Ronnybrook Coconut Creamline yogurt with a chopped strawberry and nutmeg:

img_1249

OK, I’m off to start the process and take care of some other weekend things …

Repeats (plus a guest chef)

2 Comments

Today’s lunch was pretty much the same as yesterday’s, so I won’t go into details. One tupperware with chicken/okra, one tupperware with yogurt banana, the very last of the green beans, and a mini muffin:

img_1114

To make up for the extreme boringness of that photo, I present you with Brigitte’s Pulled Pork from her dinner earlier this week:

img_1076

My roommate Brigitte is kind of like a cross between Martha Stewart and Paula Deen. She loves to cook traditional comfort foods, and you will never see her trying something sneaky like replacing the butter in a recipe with olive oil (am I right?). If the recipe calls for 1 cup heavy cream and 2 cups granulated white sugar, that is exactly what Brigitte will use, thank you very much (I, on the other hand, would be trying to concoct some crazy skim milk-banana blend).

Anyway, my lunch today may have been boring, but it certainly succeeded in using up the very last of everything in my fridge. Tonight’s dinner will be some mystery items at my office holiday party (full report to come), and I’ll be food shopping with a clean slate first thing tomorrow morning. I couldn’t have planned it better if I had tried, and I only spent a total of $5 on groceries this week!

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning was predictable, but still delicious. The last of mom’s grainmeal, a pile of frozen banana, and some forgotten wrinkly blueberries I found in the fridge (Brigitte or Tara, if those were yours, I’ll be replenishing my produce supply tomorrow morning, and you can help yourself to what I come up with!):

img_1112

Post-oven with yogurt:

img_1133

And now that all that is taken care of … new food starting tomorrow!

(Still) running (on empty)

1 Comment

Because outdoor exercise in freeeeezing weather at the end of the day is just the most super fun thing in the world to do (and because we are now officially training for the 5/30/09 Brooklyn Half Marathon), Kate and I scrounged up the will to meet for another Nike training run through Central Park. We opted for the 3 mile “short” run tonight, but it was seriously like pulling teeth. Sometimes I can run 5.5-6 miles like it’s nothing, and other times, a dinky little 3 miles just does me in (perhaps knowing that I had no post-run buffet waiting for me at the end played a part, too). We did get an almost-exciting surprise when we finished, though: mini Luna bars! Here we are displaying our bounty (in all our sweaty glory):

img_1111

I actually managed to pilfer six of these minis, all in Caramel Nut Brownie, my favorite. I don’t eat Luna bars often because (1) they taste a little chemically and (2) they actually happen to be full of chemicals and ingredients removed from their natural settings (surprise, surprise). But they’ll do as a snack in a pinch, and I certainly have plenty of pinches!

For dinner, I was really getting down to the dregs of the fridge. I scrambled a lone egg I found in there with 1/2 tsp canola oil and 1/4 cup of my okra/chicken mixture from lunch today — all that was left after I packed tomorrow’s lunch. I added more sofrito and grated homemade cheddar cheese to spice it up.

img_1124

On the side, I had an oven-toasted peanut butter chip chocolate VitaTop with frozen banana (just like banana ice cream!) and real cookie crumbs I secured via my office conference room connection:

img_1131

If you look closely, you can see the melty pb chips peeking out from under the banana:

img_1121

I had a tall tall mug of jasmine green tea on the side to warm my poor hands — my fingers were all white and numb from the freezing run, and they didn’t regain proper circulation until I got in the shower two hours later!

Sneaky Snacks

The pile of holiday goodies in the office has dwindled, but it is certainly putting up quite a fight. Today, my coworker Jessica brought in a box of dark chocolate truffles that she received from a “secret admirer,” and she very generously shared one with me (a.k.a. reminded me several times that she had a box of dark chocolates on her desk until I caved):

img_1097

After the truffles, Jessica broke out a sample of some odd new Ice Breakers liquid breath freshener. She offered me one of the teeeeeeeny balls and helped arrange this photo shoot:

img_1104

Sadly, due to the ball’s lack of heft, I accidentally breathed it into the back of my throat and nearly cut off my oxygen supply. I never even got to experience the liquid part of the “liquid ice” (tear).

OK, that’s all for today. Tomorrow is Friday, yayyyy!!

Running low on color

Leave a comment

As you know, my mom’s turkey soup met its tragic end (in my stomach!) yesterday at lunchtime. For today’s and tomorrow’s lunches, I decided to bulk up my okra/rice/barley combo from Tuesday with more green beans and a little baggie of frozen cooked chicken (that I rescued from yet another work function a couple months back, believe it or not). Here’s everything together:

sauteeing in the pan

sauteeing in the pan

tupperwared

tupperwared

Yogurt is not worth picturing today because I’m all out of pretty! All I had left to mix in was more frozen banana, cinnamon, and cardamom. It’s delicious, but all it looks like is a mash of yellow and brown, and you don’t need to see that.

Here’s the lunch line-up of okra/chicken, yogurt/banana, green beans, 2 mini muffins, and the other half of this orange:

img_1109

Breakfast

This morning, another tragedy struck! After my shattered teapot and the elimination of food at my running club, I didn’t think it was possible. I got to the gym for my regular Thursday morning 6:30-7:15 spinning class to find that the schedule had changed while I was away! The new class is an hour-long spinning + core class with a different instructor. So sad! Maybe I can try it once classes start in a few weeks and I don’t have to be anywhere until 11. But today I am working, so I just hopped on the Stairmaster for a quick (but seemingly endless since I had been expecting spinning!) 30 mins.

Anyway, breakfast was grainmeal with lots of frozen banana bits, my last apple half, and a few dried cranberries out of desperation for color:

img_1102

I topped it with yogurt, cinnamon, and cardamom after the oven re-heat as usual:

img_1116