The beginning

March 14, 2009February 6, 201513 Comments

Ooooooheeeeee, I’ve had quite the day of food! I kept wondering how I was going to blog about it all since there was just SO much, but then I remembered the best part about food blogging: the chronology is set 😀 All of this has happened already, so I can just start at the beginning!

We sat down for lunch around 12:30, and as planned, I ate the rest of the dinner I made last night. I heated the 1/2 portobello cap and the BBQ tofu (with some homemade parmesan in between the layers) in the work microwave and then stuck a lettuce leaf in the middle of each “sandwich” for color:

On the side, I had a salad of the items that wouldn’t fit in the portobello-tofu “sandwich”: 2 more slices of tofu (broken into pieces), more romaine, and roasted brussels sprouts.

Plus, Myrna surprised me with a chicken parm sandwich as a thank you for the help I gave her with a paper. I ate the filling of the half pictured (minus one piece of chicken) and brought the rest home to save for another use! (Other leftovers I brought home today: Nydia’s leftover half of her grilled chicken salad and Mildred’s leftover half banana. You’ll be seeing these foods shortly, I’m sure!)

For dessert, I had my 1/2 cup Greek yogurt mixed with chopped apple, chopped banana, 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger:

Along with this oatmeal cookie from Mildred:

At around 2:30, my last cup of pineapple (with another tbsp vanilla-almond granola) surfaced to go on a field trip to my mouth:

Next up was 2 tbsp homemade guacamole with a serving of Sea Salt RiceWorks:

And since no day can pass candy-free and I want Brach’s to start paying me and I needed to address the guac-breath, I also had a strawberry hard candy (the kind with a gooey strawberry center, mmmm). And about 4 mints, of course!

Early dinners have been a trend for me this week. At 4:30, my agency had an “informal” staff gathering in the lobby with light refreshments. And by light refreshments, they meant SUSHI!!! And there commenced dinner #1. Here’s the spread:

And my first plate with broccoli, grape tomatoes, a california roll, a spicy salmon roll, a spicy crab roll, shrimp, grapes, apple slices, two cheddar cheese slices, and a triscuit thin crisp:

Yum, I was in heaven! (After I finished my plate, I noticed a sign by the sushi that said, “Please only take two pieces per person.” Whoops!)

And just because sushi is so pretty:

Love:

And my second plate with more crudites:

And salsa!

As we left, I grabbed another California roll (shhhhhh), about three more slices of cheese with apple slices, and a small handful of carrots — all of which I ate during the walk across the street to Mildred’s car 😀

And like I said, that was only dinner #1!! Dinner #2 will be along shortly …

How many meals do you eat per day?

Layers upon layers upon layers

March 7, 2009February 6, 201513 Comments

Remember when I was panicked earlier in the week about not having enough food due to lack of grocery shopping? Yeah … I needn’t have worried.

The lunch I’ve been carrying around since Wednesday got pushed to the side again today for some more urgent delights :-). Vianni brought in her famous shrimp, veggies, and rice for me to sample. I had about 1/2 cup:

She also brought me the actual seasoning packet that she uses to flavor many of her dishes (featured here and here and here). I’m so excited that I can now Viannify my food!!!

Next, Belkis gave me an entire chicken and salsa fajita left over from a meeting yesterday! It was very cutely cut into little pieces like sushi:

I ate it cold because the microwave was otherwise occupied, but it was delicious and very filling!

All of this eating took place as part of a new “event” my agency is trying out to build community amongst employees: brown bag staff lunches every other Friday. You bring your own lunch (or the lunch with which your amazing coworkers have provided you) to the meeting, and a few people also bring desserts (like the angel food cake here) and snacks to share.

I did my part to make sure that no snacks went to waste. Multiply what you see here by about three (or more!). I had honey pretzel twists with spinach dip, cheez-its with spinach dip, cinnamon nut rugelach with nutella, and coconut cookies with more nutella (again, x3!):

In my parents’ group with Myrna, I continued the streak by taking part in group snack: apples and peanut butter! I probably had the equivalent of one chopped apple and 1 tbsp peanut butter (unpictured):

After all of this, I was able to control the sugar insanity for the duration of the afternoon. I only ate two mints today, a record! Around 4:00, instead of going for the candy jar, I went for my dates and prunes:

After I left work, I headed downtown to meet Erin Gunn (yes, of German food fame!). I was early and decided to go find samples kill some time in Whole Foods. I sampled buttered Irish soda bread, a handful of wasabi peas, 2 sandwich cookies, cashews, and cucumbers in miso dressing. I also bought the pineapple (only $2.99!), cashews, and almonds to the right. The dates, avocados, and cocoa powder came from Morton Williams where I stopped on my way home post-Erin Gunn. These foods are more expensive than what I normally buy, but again, I only spent $5 on groceries last week, so I have a little wiggle room this week! Grocery total so far: $22.

Since I was the farthest thing from hungry ever, Erin and I split a pot of tea and a salad at teany (review to come shortly) and then headed over to Kenny’s Castaways for the main event: a show by her friend’s band, Wesley Jeremiah.

Erin had beer; I had water (pretty standard unless there’s karaoke involved …):

(Keep in mind that, throughout all of this, I was lugging around a pineapple, among other things. I felt kind of like Baby with her watermelon.)

I got home around 10:30, just in time to help my roommate Brigitte with the first of her birthday celebrations (her birthday is on Thursday). Brigitte’s friend Katie is staying with us and made a surprise birthday cake for tonight.

I “agreed” to have just a little teeny piece. Until I realized that this was not just a regular cake but rather a no-bake chocolate-wafer-and-whipped-cream cake … aka a giant log of oreo goodness. I added another little piece to my little piece. And another little piece to those pieces.

Here’s my tower:

There were chocolate and peanut butter shavings on top …

And layering perfection:

Good thing Kate and I have 9 miles planned for tomorrow morning :-D.

Enjoy the rest of your Friday night!

The sugar monster is back

February 20, 2009February 6, 20158 Comments

Ahhhh, must get a grip on the sugar craze!

My morning snack was this delicious strawberry Trio bar (once again from Tina’s Carrots ‘N’ Cake Valentine’s day prize package).

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This bar definitely tasted as good as it looks … real strawberry essence and packed with satisfying nuts and seeds and crunch: picture-026

In addition to my soup and yogurt, Myrna gave me some of her mangu (salted mashed plantains) and fried cheese, yummmmmm:

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And then, because there’s always something to celebrate at my office, I had three slices of angel food cake with thick thick chocolate fudge icing and chocolate-covered strawberries:

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And that totally set me off on a sugar binge for the rest of the afternoon! Before my visit, I had a Riesen and two big lollipops:

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And after my visit, I ate the grapes I packed and the rest of Heather’s skittles:

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Again, I need to get a grip. Hopefully all the sleep I get this weekend with my new eye mask will help bring back my sanity and self-control!!

Now, I’m off for a mini-blogger dinner with two lovely ladies: Emily of Super Caloric Chalk Dust and Vani from Fit for Free. You can be sure you will hear all about the meal when I get back!

Who has battle tips for fighting the sugar monster??

Still expanded

February 14, 2009February 6, 201511 Comments

Well, the gluttony certainly knows no bounds.

Kate and I went out to spend the afternoon with Gina in her ‘hood. We started admirably with a five-mile run — six arduous and windy loops around Marine Park: 55 minutes, 454 calories, 151 average heart rate, 179 max. When we got back to Gina’s house, her husband Chris surprised her with a dozen roses and TWO boxes of JoMart chocolates which we ALL attacked immediately (thanks, Chris!).

Specialty chocolates:

I think I had at least one of each kind. I remember a 2-layer hazelnut square, dark chocolate-covered oreo, marshmalow-filled coffee bean truffle, chocolate-filled dark chocolate truffle, peanut butter cup, and there were probably more.

Oh, and this butterfingery peanut butter puff was the best one:

Box #2 was full of broken chunks of dark and milk chocolate. The dark chocolate tasted just like cocoa, sooooooo good. I ate several (fyi, whenever I use the term “several,” I mean at least seven) pieces because I was on a roll.

And then we began preparations for our actual Valentine meal (because the chocolate wasn’t it, in case you were wondering).

Gina worked on the waffles until she made a mess:

Chris had to take over:

Meanwhile, Gina’s ice cream maker had been sitting on her counter right where Kate and I left it last time we were there! The “ice cream” mix I prepared this morning and brought over included … well, what didn’t it include?

There was nonfat cottage cheese, nonfat Greek yogurt, cranberries, apple, banana, apple butter, strawberries, valentine m&ms that Deborah gave me at work yesterday, crumbled bits of chocolate-covered pretzel from my blogger secret cupid, shredded coconut, vanilla, dates, and maybe more? Kate brilliantly brought along some mini red velvet cupcakes that she had frozen after her dinner party a while back, so we crumbled those into the mix, too. The end result was some amazingly delicious and rich “strawberry cheesecake ice cream”!

Here’s my first plate, topped with banana, more chocolate chunks, and crumbled hazelnut thins that Gina brought home from her trip to the London Harrod’s last fall:

Here’s my second plate:

My camera didn’t make it to the third plate in time. Well, the food didn’t actually make it to the plate before I inhaled it, either. But it looked something like this:

I wasn’t actually hungry for any of this, by the way. But it tasted good, and I couldn’t stop!

Then we broke into the giant chocolate heart brownie that Chris’ mom made:

With our bites:

I had seconds of the brownie, too .

When I got home, I did a serious reorganization of the contents of the fridge, freezer, cabinets, and pantry. It’s hard to keep track of stuff when you live with two other people! This was a very stressful process, and I have to admit that I continued to snack on too much of too many unhealthy things while I worked (the binge finally ended when I sat down with a piece of pumpkin kibbi and then brushed my teeth). I discovered that Brigitte actually had SEVEN boxes of white rice, three of which were open and the SAME brand. I did a lot of consolidating, and I am happy to say that everything is now accessible! We’ll see how long it stays this way …

So anyway, I feel ill from all of the junk I’ve been downing nonstop this week, and I’m so excited to feel better tomorrow and return to a life of balanced nutrition! I finally got around to dyeing my hair tonight, and everyone knows that fresh color is the ideal setting for a fresh start :-D. See you on the other side!

Ohhhh, the expansion!

February 13, 2009February 6, 20153 Comments

Just because I try to keep my belly expansion to a minimum doesn’t mean I always succeed!

The day started out innocently enough with Mildred, the office Cupid, coming around and handing out Hershey’s Kisses. (I responsibly dropped my kisses into the empty tissue box on my desk where I “hide” things like this from myself.) Here she is (on the right) with Belkis and Jennifer:

When Vianni arrived in her gold boots, however, I knew things were about to get out of hand:

The festivities for the day included a secret office valentine gift swap. Jennifer was my Cupid and got these adorable socks for me. I can’t wait to wear them tomorrow!

Our big Valen-dining lunch feast began at 12:30. We each had the option to contribute $5 to ordering food from Caridad or to make and bring something. Obviously I made something — I can’t afford $5 for lunch!

Here’s the pretty table decor, complete with festively wrapped apples as party favors:

(I took two of those apples home :-)).

And here’s the food vanishing …

… onto my BIG plate:

This plate included maduros (my favorite!!!!) and tostones:

Grilled steak, onions, and veggies:

Chicken:

And beans:

I had more veggies and beans.

And I also had lots of dessert (duh). My first (small but full) plate included a slice of Orange Cranberry Dark Chocolate Heart Tart (all of which got eaten except for two crumbly pieces that I brought home!), a chocolate-covered strawberry, three Italian cookies, an extra piece of tart crust (the crust tasted like some sort of amazing dark dark chocolate butterscotch toffee), and a big scoop of Baskin-Robbins Gold Medal Ribbon ice cream:

Plate #2:

#3:

And I decided I might as well finish the ice cream carton:

And keep snacking on cookies for the rest of the afternoon:

With peanut butter:

And tea:

It’s pretty safe to assume that I ate about four times as many cookies as pictured (and I also brought three more giant ones home for my freezer stash).

When I got home, I had even more sugar excitement waiting for me! My prize for winning BSI: Spinach had arrived from Brandi, wrapped like the treasure it was:

That’s right, my truffles from The Chocolate Spike are here!

dark chocolate pomegranate

sassy mango-lime: dark chocolate blended with mango, lemon peel, ginger, and lime oil then dipped in dark chocolate

aztec gold: bittersweet chocolate, chipotle chili, cinnamon, orange and lemon peel dipped in bittersweet chocolate

dark chocolate-dipped orange

I wanted to dive into this goldmine the second I opened it, but I decided to wait until I sober up from all the sugar I’ve already consumed today. The treats are currently resting/hiding safely in my freezer until I am able to appreciate them in the way they deserve!

In the meantime, however, I snacked on several things I did not need — pita chips, cookie crumbs, other items that are hiding in the freezer, etc. — while I was puttering around in the kitchen. I also made a new centerpiece for my table. My coworker Nitza received this beautiful rose from a parent today:

She’s going out of town, so she gave the rose to me for safe-keeping. I combined it with the conversation hearts I received yesterday from my blogger secret cupid:

The full effect:

I’m still stuffed to the gills, so I’m blogging in bed with a mug of gingerbread spice tea, my cupcake t-shirt (designed by a little girl from the nursery school where I worked last year), my cupcake tattoo (designed by the tattoo guy around the corner and pinkified by my cousin Rachel), and my flannel cupcake pajama pants (a gift from my sister Emily).

I’m big on symbolism.

Anyway, I’ve got loads of plans for this long weekend, the most exciting of which (for me) is the prospect of a kitchen deep-clean and organizing-fest while the roommates are out of town! I’ve also got some single-girl Valentine’s fun lined up and plenty of homework to keep me busy.

What should we bet that Monday night I’ll still be whining, “Where did all the time go?”

Enjoy your Valentine’s day tomorrow!

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Tag: party food

The beginning

Layers upon layers upon layers

The sugar monster is back

Still expanded

Ohhhh, the expansion!

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