Tag: tea

Food rich, cash poor

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I may not get paid in cash at my internship, but as you’ve all seen time and time again, I definitely get paid in food!

Before my 11:00 visit this morning, the standard morning snack came out to keep me going until lunch. I had a mug of Earl Grey to accompany my 2/3 cup yogurt with 1/2 small chopped apple, a sprinkle of vanilla-almond granola, cinnamon, and cardamom:

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Immediately after the visit, I ran down to join Inginia for our regular Monday parents’ group. Today was a special day because all of the kids in the group are turning two this month! We celebrated by making play-dough together 😀

Here I am with some ghost children and their moms (confidentiality and all …):

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The celebration continued with mac & cheese courtesy of Inginia’s culinary skills. She doctored a regular boxed mix with extra cheese, eggs, oregano, and black pepper:

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I had about two cups worth — it was so delicious! (no surprise there)

The best part of our celebration was cake-decorating!! Right before the group, Inginia baked a pineapple cake.

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We let the kids go to town with vanilla and chocolate frosting.

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I scraped the empty frosting jar clean, of course. It was ALMOST as satisfying as scraping a peanut butter jar clean 😉

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Next up were the sprinkles.

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Two! The finished product, plus the fancy custard-filled white cake one of the moms brought in:

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My small plate was bursting with pieces of each, plus more frosting scrapings from the spatulas.

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We packed up the leftover cake for the families to take home, and then I filled this cup with all the rest of the crumbs and frosting still on the plates and savored every bite.

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(You might notice some suspicious chocolate cake crumbs in that cup that don’t seem as though they match up with either of the two birthday cakes (or you might not). Good eye! I randomly found a bag of chocolate cake crumbs in one of the kitchens at work and thought it would pair splendidly with my cup o’ frosting. I was right :D)

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Afternoon snack (as if I needed it) happened when Jessica brought out her baked batata! I loooooove me some batata, so I had about half of it:

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It was around this time that the best announcement of the day came on over the loudspeaker: “Attention staff: We have collard greens available in Advocacy. Please come down if you would like some.” You know I was up and running at that one!

The food bank delivery had come in for our pantry, but the pantry will be closed tomorrow … meaning that all the extra perishable produce had to go! I went down and Pura hooked me up with two bags. On my way out of the office later, I stopped into the Advocacy kitchen one more time to make sure nothing was in danger of rotting while the department is out “advocating” in Albany tomorrow, and my timing was perfect. Lucia loaded me up with another bag of collard greens, a tightly packed bag of fresh spinach, a bag of radishes, and three enormous carrots!

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(Also worth mentioning: I survived the day with only four mints from Belkis’ candy jar! Not sure how much of a sugar success that actually is given that I ate my weight in frosting earlier …)

Straggering under my heavy bags of books and produce (not complaining!), I speed-subwayed the 40 blocks from work to class and made it just in the nick of time. The group presenting tonight did a great job with their topic of addiction … including food addiction. We talked about my blog briefly (as a healthy example, of course ;)), so welcome HBII classmates if you’re reading!

I wasn’t all that hungry for dinner (understandably), so I had about 1/2 cup mix of mac & cheese left from the group, mystery fried rice left from Vianni’s lunch, and mixed-grain salad.

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I got hungrier near the end of class, so I also ate my cup of roasted veggies:

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And this cup of cantaloupe that was also left from the parents’ group:

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And now, it’s really really time for me to go to bed. I hope I fall asleep quickly tonight — yoga was nice this morning, but I missed my gym-time!

Do you have a morning routine that helps set you up for a productive day?

Awake

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Before I get to today’s breakfast, remember that time I ate a week’s worth of food in the space of one hour? I know, I know. You’re saying, “Which time does she mean? There are millions!” Let me be more specific. I’m talking about this time. Well, you’re in luck! The full story of the evening, complete with pictures of the most beautiful food in the world pre-demolition, is now available in my guest post at For the Love of Oats. Get a napkin ready because you’ll need it to wipe the drool off of your desk.

Onto today:

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It took me HOURS to fall asleep last night. I don’t know what was going on, but it was well after 1am by the time I dozed off! I knew an extra hour of sleep and yoga would serve me better than 5am cardio, so I got up at 6:15 and did the beginner Power Yoga #3 from yogadownload.com. I had a delicious Fitnessista breakfast cookie (and pb2 experiment #3) waiting for me when I was done:

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This slab of perfectio contained 1/2 cup oats, 1 packet chocolate pb2, 2 tbsp homemade chocolate mousse, 2 tbsp plain yogurt, 4 chopped strawberries, 2 chopped toasted almonds, and one chopped date.

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I decorated the top with a square of Godiva dark chocolate and a dollop of plain yogurt (which I also used to “ice” the edges of the cookie):

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It had solidified well after a night in the fridge, but I popped it in the freezer
for 20 minutes or so before eating because I prefer it half-frozen. I’m pretty sure this was my best breakfast cookie combo yet. The pb flavor really came through (much more than it did yesterday with a similar combo in hot oatmeal form) — in fact, the cookie was reminiscent of peanut butter-chocolate-strawberry cheesecake! It made me thrilled to be awake 😀

I kept things steamy with a mug of soymilky black tea (and the triumphant return of morning sunlight!) on the side:

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I love starting my day with a million pictures of oats 😀 (Speaking of which, don’t forget to check out my guest post at For the Love of Oats!)

What makes YOU thrilled to be awake?

P.S. …

1. Check out Vani’s brilliant, healthy, and fun Forbidden Foods Challenge. This is hands-down the BEST blogger challenge I’ve seen!

2. Thinspired is giving away some exciting British snackaroos!

No sugar; extra balls (+ laundry Qs answered)

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I met Gina, JQ, and Di this afternoon at Tea Spot, a teashop in the village, to celebrate Di’s engagement. Here’s the guest of honor modeling her tea ring:

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We had to order our teas two at a time so that the other two could guard the table because tables are hard to come by around here. I had been planning to order a regular ol’ pot of earl grey, but Di started asking the guy behind the counter about frappe-y drink possibilities. Good thing she did, becaue the menu gave no indication of the fanciness available!

The guy was very helpful (there’s just something about a man behind a bar, is there not?) and opened several barrels of their loose leaf tea blends to waft the tantalizing scents in our direction. He explained that we could choose to mix any of the blends with fancy tea powder (the kind that is sweet and milky already when you add water to it). Di got almond cookie with taro powder, and I got creme de chocolate with taro powder. When we were through, we sent Gina and Q up to Chris at the bar, and they came back with butter toffee/taro and coconut/taro. We did a little merry-go-round of taste tests — all delicious!

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Also, Beadie’s earrings made their public debut, earning a number of appreciative comments:

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As Chris, our barista(o?), had warned us, the teas tasted strikingly similar to the addictive blend present in bubble tea. I knew in advance that this would be a problem, as I was out-of-my-mind addicted to the tapioca balls all throughout college, thanks to my old roommate Ilin who introduced me to them freshman year. I left the teashop with an uncontrollable craving for the real deal and stopped into Hanco’s, the bubble tea cafe that just opened in my neighborhood (yay! except that it took the place of the Tea Lounge, which was way better) on the way home to satisfy the urge. I ordered an unsweetened jasmine tea (because the bubbles are sweet enough all on their own) with extra balls:

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I saw those flowers when I walked in and chose a yellow straw for color-coordination purposes. Also, inspired by pretty green girl and St. Patrick’s Day (I am part Irish, after all), I greenly saved my cup from the Tea Spot so that Hanco’s could refill it instead of giving me more plastic.

The balls masquerading as a biology experiment:

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I made another stop at the laundromat to check in on the status of my clothes and found that they were, in fact, washing my clothes for me and told me they’d be done in an hour. Total cost? $21 … exactly three times what I pay to do it on my own! Eek! Oh well — it wasn’t in my budget, but this one-time expense won’t break me, and I’ll be more careful next time. Plus, I saved so much money on groceries Friday night that things should balance out. More good news: not only did the laundry man avoid putting my delicates in the dryer, but he actually lectured ME because he could tell that one of my wool sweaters had been dryer-ed in the past! And now everything is folded, so I don’t have to spend tons of time putting stuff away right this minute to keep it from wrinkling.

I spent a good chunk of time tonight getting food and lunches ready for the week. The veggies I scored Friday night got roasted. Before:

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After:

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I used half of this giant avocado to make more chocolate mousse a la Heather. Before:

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After:

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With the other half of the avocado, I made asparagus guacamole, a trick I’ve heard about before but never tried. I needed enough guac for a week (and I knew that half an avocado, no matter how gigantic, would not cut it), so I threw in a bunch of steamed asparagus to make it stretch.

Before (1/4 avocado + steamed asparagus):

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After (post-immersion blending):

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After after (mixed with salsa, the other 1/4 avocado because I like it chunky, lime juice, s&p, and red pepper flakes):

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I had a few bites — the asparagus flavor came through slightly (which is fine with me since I love asparagus), but it’s still definitely guacamole :-D.

I had been planning to eat some of the roasted veggies and guac for dinner, but after the balls and all the nibbling-while-cooking, I wasn’t hungry at all. I almost ate it anyway since it was all prepared and ready to go, but I listened to my intuition (thank you, Intuitive Eating) and realized I just wasn’t interested. I will save it for when I am hungry and can really enjoy it.

It’s past my bedtime as usual, so I’m headed straight to bed!

How do YOU feel about the balls?

Renewal

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Well, today has certainly been all about recovery after my wild eating spree at the book signing last night! 1pm came along and I still wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. This is highly abnormal for me because I’m usually ravenous within one hour of waking up. I had been up since 7:30! I decided that a run was in order to speed the process along. On my way out, I grabbed a date for healthy sugar power:

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My whole body felt creaky and achey at the beginning of the run, but all my muscles and bones and joints seemed to start communicating with each other more effectively after a few minutes. I was in the mood for sightseeing, so I ran out to the mansions at Flatbush Malls — the most beautiful neighborhood in Brooklyn, according to me — and around the outside of Prospect Park. Stats: 5.75 miles, 61 minutes, 509 calories, 152 average heart rate, 182 max. I totally zoned out during the run and ended up really enjoying it. I felt so refreshed after — but alas, still not hungry!

I sorted my laundry for the ‘mat tomorrow, I dyed my hair, I did some other things on the list … and I finally felt a little bit hungry around 4pm! I did a happy dance and then whipped up the balsamic-strawberry yogurt sundae that I’ve been dreaming about ever since I created these Balsamic-Strawberry Oaties earlier this week for the BSI.

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Also involved in that sundae were 1/2 cup Greek yogurt mixed with vanilla and cinnamon, more chopped strawberries, and a drizzle of homemade balsamic syrup. Yum! Definitely lived up to my fantasy.

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Then, miracle of all miracles, I was still a little bit hungry! I re-toasted a piece of herby chicken parm toast from yesterday and covered it in 2 tsp homemade almond-cashew butter and cinnamon:

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The traces of herby tomato sauce on the bread actually complemented the almond-cashew butter brilliantly. Hmmmm, I wonder what I can do with this knowledge in the future …

I continued to give my body what it needed with a pot of Yogi Renew green tea from the samples I received last week:

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The tea actually tasted a little bit like grass. But, hey, I guess you have to suffer for your renewal, right?

At some point a little later, another mini-wave of hunger hit me. I decided it was time to break out sample #1 of PB2! I cut the packet open and tasted some of the dry powder — hmm, tasted like peanuts.

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The directions said to mix the packet with 1.5 tbsp of water … so I mixed it with 2 tbsp yogurt. Magic:

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My pb-yogurt sauce became the dressing for a cup of last night’s fruit salad:

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(I also mixed in a couple of chopped strawberries and topped it with a sprinkle of vanilla-almond granola.)

The verdict? As much as I did not want to like PB2, I have to admit that I think it has sucked me in. There are so many potential uses! Would I buy it? I’m doubtful, especially now that I’ve mastered the art of making my own nut butters from scratch. But, I have the rest of the samples to go through and an entire jar on its way from the Foods That Fit giveaway, so we’ll see how addicted I get!

In other giveaway news, you can win yet another chance to mix your own granola, thanks to Diana at Soap & Chocolate. I’d LOVE to win this one, but I really think I’ve been too lucky! I can still hope, though …

Speaking of Foods That Fit, Abbie posted a fun recipe for wheatberry salad today that I knew I had to try since I had all of those pilfered cranberries from last night.

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I made a few substitutions based on ingredient availability — I subbed a rye berries/kamut/barley/brown rice mixture for the wheatberries and cooked the grains in leftover whey from making Greek yogurt; dried apple rings and dates in place of the apricots; and chopped almonds in place of the pistacios and pine nuts. I “tested” a couple of spoonfuls when it was done — delicious!

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Just like Abbie said — perfect salty-sweet combo!

The cooking continued because I can’t stop once I start! I combined two recipes to prepare the other half of my tofu block: the coco loco tofu Emily made earlier this week and soy-lime tofu from Eating Well. I soaked the tofu slices for two hours in a marinade of 2 tbsp white rice vinegar + 2 tbsp lime juice + 2 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil and then dredged each slice in unsweetened coconut and baked like this. I tested one slice on another piece of chicken parm toast with 1 tbsp almond-cashew butter:

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The coconut flavor was surprisingly strong, and that made me happy. I can’t believe I haven’t thought to put coconut on tofu before. Thanks, Emily!

For dessert, I had about 2 tbsp of half-frozen homemade chocolate mousse (freezing it seems to make it even MORE chocolate-y, if that’s possible) with a crumbled basil-spice meringue kiss and coconut sprinkles:

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Hmm, for a day of no appetite, this has been a surprisingly long post!! My tum is feeling ALMOST back to normal, so I’m hoping for a crazy appetite when I wake up in the morning :-D.

What do you prefer: big appetite or no appetite?

Subway sleeper

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Breakfast this morning was my final portion of Almond-Infused Rosemary-Lemonade crockpot oats:

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I’m really so pleased with how these turned out — I think lemon is going to be making more appearances in my oats! The long slow cook in the crockpot seemed to take away all of the sourness, leaving just a sweet, lemonade-y taste of summer — something I definitely needed this morning after my foray to the gym in weather that has returned to the 20s!

With the oats, I had 1/2 cup yogurt, 3 crumbled basil-spice meringue kisses, 1 tsp of my properly creamed homemade almond-cashew butter, unsweetened coconut, and 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola:

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With water and soymilky black tea on the side!

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At the gym, I did my arms and steps: 1 hour and 15 minutes, 440 calories, average heart rate 126, max 165. During what was supposed to be my mini-vacation from meaningful thought on the Stairmill with Us Weekly, I got worked up about all the drama with Rihanna and Chris Brown. Sure, them getting back together sends a terrible message to all young girls out there about accepting domestic violence, but who is reporting this message??? THE GOSSIP MAGS!! Can they please quit tossing around blame and instead examine why and how they play a role in allowing the values of celebrities to dictate those of the world?

So, thank you, Us Weekly, for giving me that glorious, much-needed 30-minute mental break this morning. … Just kidding.  I had to take my mental break on the subway instead and snuggled into my scarf and coat for a solid 30 minute nap from Bleecker to 116th. Take that, trashy magazines! I will be coming after you when I wake up with no purse and no shoes …

Where and how do you take your mental breaks?