Tag: party food

A club, a review, and a trash can

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Ohhhh dear, it’s going to be another one of those still-full-from-yesterday days…

On the way to the book club last night, I tested a piece of organic sugar-on-the-go from the package I received yesterday:

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Who knew Neman’s made breath mints? I certainly did not. Anyway, as far as cinna-mints go, it tasted like a cinna-mint.

img_6834When I arrived, Amanda set me right up with a delicious pear martini.

We actually discussed the book — something that has never ended up happening in any book club I’ve attended before! I think it helped that (1) this book, Those Who Save Us, was really intense, moving, and thought-provoking and (2) Amanda, Meghan, and I were the only ones there for the discussion portion. (P.S. Amanda and Meghan live there, so I was actually the only one there :P)

Amanda and Meghan had prepared a substantial spread of goodies to get us through the chat.

A port-wine cheese ball with melba toasties:

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(I think I ate about five of these over the course of the night.)

Baby carrots:

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(Probably ate about 20 of these.)

Jelly Bellies:

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(Errr, the jar was full when I arrived and empty when I left Sorry, Meghan!)

Peanut m&ms:

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(See comment above about jelly bellies.)

And peanuts:

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(Ditto. Yup, I mindlessly housed about two cups of peanuts in the space of three hours. Was I hungry for any of it? Nope. At least my body is now swimming in healthy fat …)

We also went to town on the snacks I brought. The last single-serve bag of kettle corn from the pack I found at work:

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And, the star combo of the night, Newman’s protein-infused pretzels (a close examination of the ingredients list seemed to indicate that the protein comes from pea flour?) with Nutella for dipping:

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Demonstration:

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(I might have repeated this action 12 or more times.)

Willie arrived in the midst of all this and had never tried protein-infused pretzels or nutella, so we peer-pressured him. Game face on:

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The aftermath:

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(You may not be able to tell, but that’s a look of pure pleasure. Really.)

Willie is also very thoughtful and aware of my compulsion to eat everything in sight, so he brought us a six-pack of Dunkin Donuts:

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Left to right, top: powdered chocolate frosting-filled, Boston Cream, powdered cinnamon-apple-filled; bottom: chocolate-frosted with sprinkles, jelly-filled, strawberry-frosted cream-filled.

I had the winning idea of cutting all the donuts into fourths so we could try little tastes. Which led us (or me at least) to try many tastes:

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Soon after the donut demolition incident, Damon, Laura, and Owl arrived. And things start to get fuzzy.

It started out innocently enough, with Owl boldly getting the ball rolling on the still-unopened Newman’s bite-sized chocolate chip cookies:

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Everyone loved these. I had two:

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The innocence continued with a simple pass-around-the-pretzels-so-I-can-try activity:

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Amanda somehow noticed a striking difference between these pretzels and all those that had come before. Her evaluation was poetic and beautifully-phrased, but I can’t remember it.

Things kind of deteriorated from there as everyone got carried away with the idea of doing a product review. Meghan and Amanda administered a blind taste test on Willie:

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And on Damon:

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The boys took it seriously:

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Interestingly enough, even in the blind taste test, everyone preferred — and noticed a striking difference between — the regular store-brand pretzels and the extra crunchy and subtly salty protein pretzels. Perhaps even more interesting, both Willie and Damon guessed that the store-brand pretzels (the non-preferred product) were actually Newman’s because they assumed that an organic and protein-infused pretzel could not possibly taste as good as a less-healthy and no-regard-for-nutrition-or-the-environment brand.

Amanda said it best:

I will definitely buy Newman’s Own Organic protein pretzels next time.

Newman’s should hire her.

In conclusion, my tummy hurts this morning. And my planned 10-mile-run (as opposed to accidental) with Kate is imminent. And I am hoping that the run will leave me feeling rejuvenated and refreshed and like I ate whole grains and produce last night instead of a trash can.

How are you faring this morning?


La bomba

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OK, confession time: I was prematurely harsh in my comments about this afternoon’s pizza and “staff development” event! I should have known that my perfect internship would not let me down 🙂

But first things first. The second I arrived at my desk, Beryl popped over with the last bite of her coconut rum cake (she let me photograph the banana version on Monday) that she’s been devotedly saving for me:

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Whooooooeeee, was this cake something! The coconut flavor was definitely there, but so was the rum. Nothing like a shot of hard liquor to get the Friday started …

Before I went into my two-hour meeting with Heather, I snacked on the same best-ever yogurt/fruit salad/golean crunch combo I’ve been eating all week:

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After the meeting, I chowed down on this yummy stick of nutrition that Melissa passed out at the blogger brunch last Sunday:

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Even though I knew lunch was imminent (the event was about to start), I wanted to pad my stomach so I didn’t end up eating half a pizza (or a whole one) by “accident.”

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I was a fan of this bar — it tasted dense and healthy and was definitely satisfying. BUT, it does have sugar added … something I always think is so unnecessary when dates are involved!

The event started at 12:30, and here’s what was waiting when we arrived downstairs. Five boxes of pizza:

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Salad:

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Cookies (store-bought trio and homemade-by-Heather chocolate chip) and lemon squares (also homemade by Heather):

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Strawberries and cool whip:

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Here’s how I began:

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Round two:

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Yes, that is a second slice of pizza hiding underneath the salad (which is topped with salsa and tortilla chips) 😀 This pizza was surprisingly tasty, if quite a bit chewy. I patted down the grease with napkins and ate every bite except for the big pieces of plain crust on the end (I wasn’t sure my jaw would be able to handle them!). The best part was the crispy cheese:

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I followed the pizza with two of Heather’s delectable lemon squares:

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They were like perfectly buttery shortbread cookies topped with a thick layer of lemon curd … and we all know how I feel about lemon curd after this past week 😀

I also had a big bowl of strawberries with a heaping mound of lemon-square-crumb-topped cool whip:

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Plus another bowl just like it … except this time I topped the cool whip with a crumbled chocolate chip cookie:

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And then I had a homemade chocolate chip cookie straight up.

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Throughout the rest of the workshop, I snacked on loads more strawberries dipped in cool whip. Then, I made myself a giant bowl of just strawberries to munch on so that I could be distracted from eating all the cookies:

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Interspersed through all the eating was a great workshop! A group called YerbaBuena came to teach us about Bomba, one of the oldest musical traditions of Puerto Rico. The workshop still related to the theme of the book we had to read, but it was much more fun than the breakout groups and role-plays I had expected.

Mildred and Deborah danced while Jessica drummed:

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Vianni, Belkis, the workshop leader, Jessica, and Maria went wild on the drums:

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MORE dancing … Myrna, Mildred, Deborah, Inginia, and Jessica:

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Yes, clapping is the best dance move I can pull off.

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The day was pretty much over when the workshop ended. I celebrated with these candies (plus another mint):

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As Mildred, Pura, and I were leaving (Mildred drives me to my subway station downtown), I spotted this squirrel after my own heart through the windshield:

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That squirrel was literally clinging to the tree by his toenails so that he could use both hands to eat the cookie he found on the ground!

I came home to (and brought home with me) a LOT of excitement! A dozen roses from Myrna as a thank you for the help I give her with her papers (AWWWWW!); a cup of strawberries, 4 cookies, and leftover salsa from the workshop; a fun Stonyfield bag filled with yogurt coupons; and a lifetime supply (or close to it) of Newman’s Own Organics products for later review:

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I’m not even going to show you the inside of that box because it is just TOO overwhelming (in a good way) … but rest assured that you’ll be seeing everything as I get to it over the next 10 years.

I’m off to discuss yet another book at the book club my friend Amanda is starting — and I’m obviously bringing some Newman’s to contribute to the snacks of the night!

Now that I have so many snackss, I need ideas! How do you or would you use a million pretzels if you had them?? Any favorite pretzel snacks/meals you can suggest?

Eat food. [Not] too much. Mostly plants.

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I am so full of produce right now!

We had a lunchtime meeting (with snacks provided!) in one of the nursery rooms at noon today. Here are my goods aligned on the mini-ironing board:

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First up was leftovers from yesterday‘s lunch: a variety bowl of my roasted veggies, Myrna’s chicken/rice/corn, and Belkis’ moro de habichuela.

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Next: baby carrots and red peppers with a big pile of salsa for dipping.

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I had two plates just like this.

And finally, grapes, apples, and an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (baked by the nurse Sarah using the recipe on the Quaker canister, sooooo good).

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I probably had two plates more of apples and grapes (and I wrapped up some extras, along with two cookies to take home after the meeting :-)! ).

I snacked on more leftover produce as the afternoon continued. Grapes and red peppers:

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Plus approx a cup of Inginia’s chicken and veggies soup with kale, spinach, and mushrooms:

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Pura came through our floor around 2 to to inform us that there was banana bread pudding from Sylvia’s … as in the queen of soul food.  This was amazing amazing pudding — complete with Nilla wafers all over the top! I had about 1/4 cup in the moment and packed up another cup to take home.

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And then some more produce around 3pm:

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Plus a chocolate star mint:

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And my gold medal winning gymnastics yogurt + fruit salad doing its mat routine because it really wanted to show off its toned underside:

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A 4:30 strawberry on steroids from Vianni:

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And finally, a baby orange soda candy:

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So much faster to do a post on the work computer than on my computer at home! I’m staying here a little late tonight because I’m meeting Gina and Kate at 7 for a delectable three-course meal as part of Dine In Brooklyn, the most wonderful week of the year. You can be sure I’ll be reporting back on the food excitement!

Also, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know about the next bake sale Meghann is hosting on April 6 to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as part of Team in Training for her upcoming marathon. To support her cause, I’ll be putting three dozen of my Jasmine Tea Biscotti Bites up for auction. These bites are a delicious and healthy treat and have been taste-tested by a number of my fellow bloggers — Kath,  HangryPants Heather (aka my self-proclaimed big sister), and Olga — to rave reviews. Please consider supporting Meghann (and giving yourself a fun treat) by bidding on my bites when the time comes!

I’m off to dinner now! Yay for three courses :-D.

How many servings of fruits/veggies did you get in today??

Munchy brunchy bunch

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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

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

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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:

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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.

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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:

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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??

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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.

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(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):

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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:

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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:

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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:

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(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:

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

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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?

Winnings

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So, as you may recall, last night’s sushi was only the beginning of my dinner!

Gina, Kate, and I met at NYU at 6pm to attend a panel discussion, book signing, and gastropolisreception to celebrate the release of a new book titled Gastropolis: Food and New York City.

I have a special plan for telling you more details about this amazing event (and the food that was there!), so for now, I’m just going to stick with what I ate (and ohhh man, what DIDN’T I eat??), what I brought home, and what I found waiting for me when I got home 😀

I only took a photo of plate #1 because things got a little hazy (the amazing spread kind of went to my head!) after that.

This pile includes hummus, carrots, cucumber, jicama, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, roasted red pepper, a mountain of feta, hunks of parmesan and blue cheese, apple slices, grapes, dried cranberries, dried apricots, dried figs, almonds, and so much more!

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Oooh, here’s another plate picture. Maybe it’s the same? Maybe it’s different? Who knows. Either way, I ate it all!

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I started so honorably with mostly veggies, but I probably went back for about a pound more of feta (I haven’t had feta this delicious since Greece!), lots of parm, goat cheese, dried cranberries, almonds, a couple crackers, TONS more veggies, and maybe 3 full bunches of grapes? Ohhhh, the expansion is right!

I also took one of each dessert to wrap in a napkin and save for later.

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From top to bottom:

– Pumpkin-spice loaf

– Lemon-poppyseed loaf

– Chocolate-frosted chocolate brownie

– Oat bar with berry jam layer

– Chocolate rugelach

– Chocolate chip blondie

This napkin plan was super smart, right? Until I ate at least one of each dessert anyway via nibbles over the course of the evening …

Because the event was focused on New York food, they also had samples of something I’ve always wanted to try: chocolate egg creams! They used NY-produced chocolate syrup, of course:

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Pretty sure I had enough of these to equal at least a full cup (and maybe 2).

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As the night wore on and I saw that there were still piles of food left that might end up getting thrown out, I started slying “packing” some things away for later in my empty containers and bags left from lunch 😀 I unloaded when I got home.

Here’s the haul:

Fresh produce (mushrooms, broccoli, green cauliflour, endive leaves, asparagus spears, carrots, snow peas, white cauliflower, radishes, grape tomatoes, yellow squash, 2/3 of a pear, and a bunch of grapes!)

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Sweets and treats (desserts you’ve seen already plus 2 cookies, 3 apples rings, 2 cubes of gouda, 1 hunk of parmesan, and about 2 tbsp dried cranberries)

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Most of the desserts went into my “carb bag” in the freezer where I keep all of the breads/cookies/cakes I come across but know I won’t be able to eat fast enough  … and I don’t want to feel like I have to eat them all right away before mold starts to grow, either! As stuffed as I was, however, I did have one last little piece of lemon poppyseed loaf:

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I also brought home a selection of lunch leftovers from earlier in the day, if you recall.

I dismantled the rest of the chicken parm sandwich that Myrna gave me. A few minutes in the oven turned the soggy bread into herby and delicious toast. Before and after:

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I scraped the breading off of the chicken pieces. Before and after:

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And added them to the rest of Nydia’s grilled chicken salad. Before and after:

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Lastly, I chopped the half banana left from Mildred’s lunch with the grapes and pear from the book signing and the 1/2 apple I had sitting in my fridge to make a pretty cinnamon-topped fruit salad:

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So, all in all, I’d say I’m pretty well-stocked on food this week? 😛

On top of all the food excitment yesterday, I also had some mail excitement waiting when I got home because …

My BSI: Kale prize for the Kale-Crust Pizza had arrived from Beadie!! Meet the most beautiful earrings ever:

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Can you believe these are completely handmade by Beadie herself?

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I can’t wait to wear them. Thanks, Beadie!!

I also had another package, but it was kind of anti-climactic after my new jewels. Gina from Bell Plantation sent me these samples of PB2 and chocolate PB2 to try. Yum!

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And in the biggest news yet, I am the winner of Abbie’s Foods That Fit giveaway! Abbie is sending me a package of all of her favorite things (including more PB2!), and I can’t wait to try all the new goodies 😀

We’ll see how long my luck holds out — I’m crossing my fingers for the awesome magazine subscription giveaway that Brandi’s hosting here!

And now, I must get moving on the day! I wonder if I will ever get hungry again?