Tag: tea

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Before I left for the movie, I threw together a very quick and very late lunch. I heated the rest of Thursday night’s steamed cabbage in the oven and topped it with the last of my sofrito sauce:

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And of course, because every meal must end with something sweet, a toasted Chocolate Fig VitaTop with a tsp of peanut butter, a half cup of chopped strawberries and cantaloupe, and a drizzle of yogurt:

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Because I can’t help taking 10,000 close-ups:

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After the movie (Bride Wars — a little bit cute and funny … a big bit sickeningly predictable and superficial), I accidentally went out to dinner with the girls (review to come) and put myself over-budget on entertainment spending before the week has even begun. Dear Sarah: You are not allowed to engage in any social events requiring money for at least one week. Sincerely, your bank account.

After dinner, I decided to hit up the Food Emporium right by the subway station. Holy expensiveness! I used to shop at Food Emporium all the time without realizing the ridiculousness of their prices … but that was pre-grad school when I had an actual income and before I figured out how to prepare fresh food. Everything cost 2-3 times what I usually pay in Brooklyn and I was soooo tempted to abort the mission, but I kept thinking about how much I did not want to have to drag myself to the store tomorrow in the snow. I spent $16 for this paltry showing:

bananas (3), oranges (3), red pepper, red cabbage, dried chickpeas, dried lentils, gallon skim, carrots

bananas (3), oranges (3), red pepper, red cabbage, dried chickpeas, dried lentils, gallon skim, carrots

Right now, I’m preparing my yogurt for its overnight incubation, clearing the fridge of roommate-forgotten rotten produce, and enjoying this little late-night snack:

sugar cookie tea and a freezer-saved conference room cookie from work!

sugar cookie tea and a freezer-saved conference room cookie from work!

Night night night!

Lazy brunch

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All week long, thanks to this and this, I’ve had a pancake craving snowballing out of control. I was ready to take action when I woke up this morning, so I developed a single-serving recipe for Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes with Peanut Sauce.

Hot off the pan:

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All seven pancakes topped with the sauce and flanked by Nutcracker Sweet tea and a bowl of cantaloupe and strawberries:

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I dumped the bowl of fruit on top of the pancakes because I’m a mixer:

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Yum! Despite the laziness, it’s been a productive morning because I have (1) satisfied my pancake craving and (2) completed four loads of laundry. Next up: Bride Wars with the girls!

Brown bag Q&A

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Today, as intended, I finished the last bits of lunch that I prepared on Sunday. Pork & beans, sofrito rice, yogurt/fruit, carrots, orange, and an apple and a mini-Luna (my backup-emergency-snack and my because-it’s-Friday-snack, both of which I definitely ate):

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Total food expenditure for the week: $30 groceries, $10 specialty teas (hello Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea!), and $19 restaurant (from tonight’s dinner … review to come). I am ready to start a fresh week with new food tomorrow!

Have I mentioned before that I sit next to a candy jar at work?? I try to limit myself to 3-5 mints per day solely for “breath freshening,” but some days, like today, I just go crazy and start walking to the jar every 30 seconds for fruity tootsie rolls, dumdum lollipops, mini candy canes, etc. So it’s pretty safe to make a daily assumption that I’ve had about 3-5 hard candies (or 8-10 on a day like today) in addition to what I picture!

Also, I received a question about what kind of bag I use for carrying my lunch tupperwares to work. First, in case you can’t tell, my tupperwares are single serving-sized, as opposed to average-sized tupperwares that probably fit 3-4 servings. The two larger tupperwares in the picture above hold one cup each, and the smaller one holds 1/2 cup. I can fit everything pictured, including my 28 oz. klean kanteen water bottle, into my BuiltNY lunch bag:

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My sister-in-law and brother gave the lunch bag to me (packed with airplane snacks to keep me going for the whole trip back!) when I visited them in San Francisco about a year ago, and I’ve probably used it every weekday since to pack and carry my lunches. It’s perfectly stretchy and durable — and it never fails to fit my lunch buffet!

An oaty mess

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Mmmmmmmmm …

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But first, I literally jumped out of bed this morning when my alarm went off at 5. I felt so refreshed, like it was Saturday morning at 10! Maybe because I went to bed at 8 last night?

I bundled up like yesterday (plus a scarf I wrapped around my face so just my eyes could peek through) and jogged over to the gym to do Tina’s 45-Minute Treadmill Run again (minus the first 5 minutes because I counted the jog there as my warmup) and make up for missing running club last night. I finished with 10 minutes stretching/abs and jogged back home for my oats! Stats: 1 hour, 5 mins (including stretching), 4.61 miles (3.67 on treadmill; 0.94 outside), 567 calories, average heart rate 155, highest heart rate 186.

Remember how I said that pumpkin mess I made last night would have been even better with banana? Inspiration struck this morning when I realized that I only had about 1/3 cup of my banana bread crockpot oats left. I mixed the rest of the oats with the rest of the pumpkin mess and oven-ed it at 350 for 30 minutes while I got ready. With 1/2 cup yogurt, coconut, nutmeg, and peanut butter:

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Pumpkin-banana-bread-mess-oatmeal highlights:

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Of course I accompanied it with a giant mug of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea … which I’ll be drinking all day at work and probably all night tonight and all weekend and every minute for the rest of my life because it is soooo good :-).

P.S. If you love oats, too, you’ll be excited to see what HungryGirl wrote about today!

Climate confusion

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After yesterday’s frigid gym run, I wised up this morning and pulled heavy sweatpants over my capris, added an extra long-sleeved shirt, and donned the silly Peru hat and gloves:

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(That is Peru in the background — not Brooklyn. Although I did almost feel like I was hiking another glacier this morning while running home in the snow.)

I’ve been resisting the extra layers because I just take them off as soon as I get to the gym, and they add time (every second counts this early) and weight (I can’t stand running with anything extra attached to me). But I was so glad I bit the bullet because I felt cozy and snuggly running there and the snow had started by the time I came back — I probably would have been crying if I hadn’t had on full pants. While there, I swapped out my arms routine (since I did it yesterday) with legs/back/chest on the cybex. HRM said 1 hr and 16 mins, 476 calories, and 128 average heart rate/171 highest heart rate.

I made a tropical bowl of oats this morning … covered with coconut snow. Half cup banana bread crockpot oats, half cup yogurt, pineapple (from the nutrition talk two nights ago!) and strawberries, sprinkle of nutmeg, and blizzard of coconut:

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I had my peanut butter on the side because I didn’t want it to muddy the winter storm effect. Can you see it in the background?

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Overview of tropical snowstorm oats:

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Many hours (and a 45-minute subway nap) later, it’s still snowing! Hopefully it calms down by the time I have to go outside again …