Tag: tea

Visions of sugar cookies …

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I have to say again how incredibly cold it was today, and it’s only going to get worse! My internship involves going on lots of home visits, something I love except for the part about having to go outside multiple times each day. Cold like this completely saps all of my energy, and no energy + sitting next to office candy bowl = bad combination! The first thing I did when I got home was make a giant mug (or five) of this:

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I am so excited about this. Are you excited?? Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea is probably the most delicious kind of tea ever made. Just look at these ingredients:

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I have no idea what “natural sugar cookie flavor” is, but it works very well. Drinking this tea right now is even more exciting because, if you did not notice, it is a “Holiday Tea,” meaning it is only available around Christmas. We are well past Christmas, and I have not been able to find it anywhere since mid-December. But my friend Kate stumbled upon a goldmine of Celestial Seasonings Holiday Tea at a health food store here in Brooklyn, and she got me four boxes! I’m planning to make a trip there myself this weekend to see if I can hunt down any more boxes. My goal is to keep sleighing right through to spring!

I addition to my sleigh ride, I made an omelet with the leftover veggies and cheese from the nutrition talk last night. Chopped zucchini, yellow pepper, red pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes:

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Cheese getting ready to dive in with a cute little broccoli bud garnish:

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Omelet with all of the above plus sofrito sauce, coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper:

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Bursting with veggies:

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And crispy on top:

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And for dessert, of course, another vitamuffin! Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip VitaTop with peanut butter (and the sleigh ride!):

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Lunch

My lunch was a repeat with a few minor adjustments as a result of my produce luck last night. I had BBQ pork and beans, sofrito rice blend, yogurt (with banana, apple, and strawberries), grapes (from last night!), and some carrots and zucchini (from last night!):

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Breakfast

I was so confused this morning when my alarm went off at 5, and I could tell it was a freezing day. I was dreading going outside to the gym, but I forced myself to do it. And it was COLD. Colder than cold really. But I lived! I did the same workout as Monday, but for some reason had a slightly lower average heart rate (141 vs. 149) and calorie burn (466 vs. 539). I wonder if the cold weather slowed things down? We’ll see what happens tomorrow (how fun that I can really do that with the heart rate monitor!) I kept thinking about the steamy bowl of oats I could have when I got back.

For breakfast, I made an oatmeal starfish:

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As usual, same ingredients but different arrangement: 1/2 cup banana bread crockpot oats, half cup yogurt, sprinkles of nutmeg and sweetened shredded coconut, strawberry, spoonful peanut butter:

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Phew, that was long. Time to go rest my eyes. Night night!

P.S. Oh She Glows is having a scrumptious giveaway contest: a whole box of Honest Foods bars!! Go enter now!

Pork & beans like a lady

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Teatime!

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Afternoon rolled around, my tum started growling, and I had to begin thinking about lunch for today — and for the rest of the week! After running through a quick inventory of yesterday’s purchases and my already-existing stash of leftovers, I gathered a number of things together.

Clockwise from top left: one cup cooked pork (saved and frozen after a work party six weeks ago!), Dominican rice (from the same party!) + cooked pearled barley (from mom) + sofrito sauce (from coworker Inginia), Jack D BBQ sauce (I would have made some myself, but this was sitting so tantalizingly on the fridge door), two-thirds head of cabbage (yesterday’s groceries), three cups cooked Great Northern beans (from a bag of dried beans I got at the farmers’ market last spring), and one cup chopped grape tomatoes (yesterday’s groceries):

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I thinly chopped the cabbage, steamed it, and mixed half of it with the beans, tomatoes, pork, 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, garlic, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and two Tbsp chicken stock. Then, I simmered everything in a loosely-covered pot so the flavors could mingle:

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I mixed the rice and barley combo with the other half of the steamed cabbage and added s&p and a tsp of minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce:

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The quantities worked out perfectly: pork & beans made six 3/4 cup servings, and the sofrito grain blend made six 1/2 cup servings.

Today’s lunch with dramatic mood lighting:

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Between the Jack Daniels BBQ sauce and the teacup and saucer, this meal is practically exploding with class, don’t you think?

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And for dessert, a half cup of cantaloupe (I sprinkled on some nutmeg after the picture — soooo happy to have nutmeg again!):

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In true teatime fashion, I didn’t sit down to this lunch until about 3:30 or 4, so dinner will probably be something snackier and dessertier — can’t wait!

A cow moos in Brooklyn

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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:

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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:

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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:

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

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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:

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Bitten:

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Followed by two salt water taffy pieces:

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one

two

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And bed!

Walking fruitcake

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That is what I am today! This morning, someone at work very thoughtfully opened the boxed fruitcake — the conference room’s last holiday dessert item left standing — and arranged it with a knife for easy cutting and plates and forks for easy serving. I had a case of sluggish Friday food vulnerability and ended up going back for five slices over the course of the day. I don’t even like boxed fruit cake! It’s way too dry. But I kept going back for more like a zombie. Here’s a photojournal of some of the damage:

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Then, my coworker Nydia shared some of her corn chowder with me:

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Like the M&M mug in the background? The fifth-grader I see for counseling gave it to me as a Christmas gift :-). It kept my Earl Grey (and my fingers!) cozy all day long.

After the soup, Nydia offered me some fancy shaped Fritos:

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I accepted because they looked like pasta, and pasta is my favorite food. Here are my three:

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And finally, I did not eat this, but it was too pretty not to share. Rice, beans, and shrimp that my coworker Vianni cooked last night:

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It smelled amaaaaazing. Vianni said she would write the recipe down for me over the weekend, so hopefully I will be able to try it out soon.

Up next … staff holiday party!

(Still) running (on empty)

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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):

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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.

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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:

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

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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):

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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:

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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!!