Lazy Sunday Much?

LAZY is right. I woke up close to 11 -- especially unusual because I was home by 2am, which isn’t all that bad.  Maybe my run caught up with me.  I woke up feeling not so hot from having eaten 2 cups of cooked vegetables at 2am when I got home the night before (food hangover), but I finally got myself out of bed to make breakfast and coffee.  Coffee is usually a powerful enough force to get me moving.

It being a dreary Sunday, and my having no plans for the day, I took the opportunity to experiment a little with my oats.  Weekend breakfasts at home in Larchmont mean pancakes, but I'm usually not interested in doing that much work.  Ok, fine, mostly I don't do it because it requires 1/2 an egg to make 1 serving of pancakes, which just drives me crazy.  And everything tastes better when my parents make it! :)

So, I whipped up a sample of "The Gilbert", named for my dad, who is a big fan of this flavor combo: peanut butter and bacon.  I have been a skeptic all my life, but I had turkey bacon in the house, so I threw all caution to the wind and decided to try out his recipe.  I present to you: PB AND BACON OATS.

I made a super small portion of this and set aside the rest in case my experiment was a total disaster.  Results: 1 point for Dad.  PB and bacon DO taste good together!  I can only imagine how much better it is with real bacon.  I am going to have to deduct 1 point from team Oats.  Not that it was bad, but having the PB/bacon combo on top of oats did nothing for it.  I would like to try this again with crispier bacon chopped into smaller pieces before being placed on top of the oatmeal.  It was too difficult to spoon-chop.

Overall a fun experiment.  As you can see, I am not afraid of unorthodox flavor profiles.  If you can dream it, I will eat it.

Later on I had a wonderfully crisp and fresh apple from the farmers market -- yay for autumn in NY!  I always forget how amazing a cold, farm fresh apple is. I want to go to the Apple Festival in Ithaca. :(

Sunday night I went home for Yom Kippur and my family's modified version of the fast... we were eating dinner until like 8 and then dessert at 9... oopsy.  I will be eating Sunday's leftovers for dinner tonight, so you can see it all then!

Busy Busy Bee

Oh, man.  I am very behind.

Saturday was a big culinary day!  It was also a big exercise day, so it all worked out.  First Joanna, Katie, and I (“Amanda”) had the 5th Avenue Mile at 9:30.  I had a wonderful bowl of PB Puffins with soymilk and the very last of my homemade granola.  I will be making more of that VERY soon.  I almost never have a bowl of cereal with milk, because I don’t find it very filling, but I wanted something that would sit lightly in my stomach.  PB Puffins are just like Cap’n Crunch.  Or maybe even crack.  SO good.

After the race, we hurried back to my apt to drop off our water bottle souvenirs (yes!  I have way too many race t-shirts), then we scooted back over to Central Park to meet Alex for another 6 miles!  We were helping her get past her 6 mile mental block by doing a group run  We did a really enjoyable (if slightly painful) loop of the park at a 9:30 pace, which I thought was pretty impressive, considering I was out of shape and it felt slow.  But we all finished strong, Katie stronger, and then we headed to BRUNCH!  I LOVE going out for brunch.  We went to Good Health on 1st and 75th, which is like the veggie-friendly mecca of the UES.  They happen to also serve meat, but they have tons of fun things like meatless sausage, veggie bacon, and lotsa veggie burgers.  We were pretty famished and ordered a plate of blueberry whole wheat pancakes to share as an “appetizer”.  Delish!  Then onto the lunch part of brunch. I had a veggie burger, which was good and just what I wanted, but not thrilling.  It said it was topped with onion rings, which was my primary vote-winner, but they ended up being deeply sautéed red onions.  Bummer.  There was, of course, COFFEE.

The wonderful thing about waking up early to exercise is that you get so much time in the day afterward.  Katie, Joanna, and I headed down to the farmers market in Union Square after brunch to pick up a few staples.  I didn’t actually need much food since I was coming home to Larchmont for a few days, but I enjoy the atmosphere and I needed a little fruit.  I came back with potatoes and parsley (potato salad to come), basil (pesto to come), apples and pears (yum to come), and OKRA.  My new favorite vegetable.  I also tried some funky little yellow plum, which I enjoyed, even though it was gone in 3 bites.

AND THEN, the foodiness continued.  That evening, Katie and Alex and I went to an Edible Manhattan tasting event at the South Street Seaport.  It was a collection of local (socially conscious?) restaurants and shops, who all set up stands and had samples of their stuff.  The highlights were my new boyfriend (I wish) at the chocolate station, the pulled pork tortilla things, the (guy at the) van Leeuwen ice cream truck, and the FRESHLY GRILLED REUBENS.  That last one was INCREDIBLE. It was the only station with a line, and we just missed the last batch, so we couldn’t get seconds. Here are Katie and Alex enjoying theirs.

Tiny little pieces of rye bread, corned beef or pastrami?, Swiss cheese, and a little mayo.  Grilled to perfection right before our eyes.  It was the highlight for me.  They also had pickled veggies and cabbage.  I will admit that we ate things totally out of order and I may have felt a little sick, but I got home, drank some white pear tea, and felt much better.  Despite the weird mix of things in my stomach (add pickles, pasta, coffee, and beer to everything I've already mentioned), I didn't feel too full, which is kind of a feat.

I ended up having a little white wine and some cinnamon raisin toast before we went out that night to a bar in DUMBO.  Totally satisfied!

Makeover

As you may have noticed, I have given little miss bloggy a makeover.  I was getting frustrated by the amount of screen space that was being wasted with the other template.  Thoughts?  Reactions?  I'm not sure I love this one, NOR does it seem like I have utilized the screen real estate much more effectively.  Which was more pleasant to read?

Marshmallows and Whole Wheat M&Ms

No, I'm not trying to become the next Willy Wonka.  I just wanted to share 2 sweet tidbits.

1. Very funny and interesting article.  And this video (care of Serious Eats) is adorable.

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

2. For my dad's birthday this year, I designed personalized M&Ms for him.  I'm still in Larchmont today, working from home, so I grabbed a few and decided to show off my handiwork!  That's an old, silly picture of my dad, from HS I think.

My dad asked, "So what is that color supposed to be?  Whole wheat?"  M&Ms says that it's gold shimmer... but whole wheat might be more accurate.

No More Experiments

I spent all of last week trying to eat wheat-free, since I felt so good during Unprocessed Week, but I gave up on Friday.  It hadn't been a particularly successful experiment, and I decided (finally) that maybe a doctor would have better insight as to what might make me feel good.  I can be pretty stubborn, so it took me a while to get here, but I now accept that I can't figure it out alone.  On the up-side, I am now once again eating whatever I want.  Yesss!  Sure, I felt good during Unprocessed Week, but I ultimately found it unrealistic as a lifestyle choice anyway.  Especially if I want to continue to eat in restaurants, which, obviously, I do.

Friday I was in a slow mood, and decided that I would go into the office on the late side.  I watched Top Chef while I ate my leisurely bowl of oatmeal (HOW is Robyn still there?!), packed up a "I have no interest in making lunch" type of lunch, and got to work a little after 10. Knowing that the weekend is imminent, I find Fridays much more bearable, which in turn means I need far fewer snacks.  I guess that reveals how much of my eating is psychologically provoked.  Although, honestly, I really do less work on Fridays, so I need less brain food.  Also helps when you don't get to work until 10... :)  Anyway, this was my food bundle for the day: plain Chobani, PB Puffins, a pear (which I unsuccessfully tried to cut up with a plastic knife), a banana (wrapped in foil... helps keep them from bruising in transit), and a Pistachio Larabar.

FYI, Pistachio was totally disappointing.  My Larabar Hot List: PB&J, Ginger Snap, Key Lime Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Cocoa Mole, and PB Cookie if PB&J is unavailable.  Please share your favorites!  (Of any bar!)  My new friend (read: only friend) in Dallas, David, spoke the wise words: "No matter what the label says, Larabars should really be called 'Dates with a Twist'."  I couldn't agree more, but it turns out I sure do love dates and twists.

After work on Friday, I met up with Rachel for a drink at 'inoteca in Murray Hill.  I have been to the original one on the Lower East Side, and I actually found them to be extremely similar in terms of overall vibe and even clientele, as unexpected as that may be for two such extraordinarily different neighborhoods.

Rachel and I each enjoyed a very large glass of their 2002 Petraro wine.  Rach, did you like it?  I really did.  I thought it ended up going well with the food we ordered, but it also stood up on its own.  We ordered a small dish to share, the Salsiccia skewer (sausage), which was served with gigante beans.  At least, I think that's an actual type of bean.  Maybe I'm making it up?  I'm not!  Martha confirms.  Our host mom in Spain used to use these, and sometimes alubias, another white bean I really like.

So, some poor planning ensued, and I ended up needing actual dinner right after we left the restaurant.  Amanda had met up with us to give me my stuff for the 5th Avenue Mile race on Saturday morning.  She had registered for the race but couldn't make it, so I ran in her place... as her.  (Amanda, I got you a 7:32 mile!  I have NEVER run that fast ever.  I was pretty happy.)  Anyway, Amanda came with us in search of a place to eat in Murray Hill, and we settled on a diner.  I learned my lesson long ago to only eat breakfast foods at diners UNLESS you see something that someone else has and it looks good.  I have had a lot of bad diner salads.  And pancakes are hit or miss.  Eggs are always safe, so I went that route.  2 poached eggs, WW toast, and a baked potato because they didn't have home fries (?).  Does that strike anyone else as odd?  If they had potatoes and onions and fire...  Whatever.   It was probably healthier.  We debated ordering drinks -- what was that one?  the Cold Hard Screw? something hilarious -- but we all decided that the comedic value of ordering a cocktail at a diner was outweighed by the fact that we didn't actually want to drink.  Then Joanna and Ariel met us!  I feel like that doesn't happen much anymore... that spontaneous weekend "let's all meet up!"  But it was really nice.

Since I didn't make my pasta sauce for dinner as intended, I decided to cook up the ingredients when I got home anyway, just so I had them if I wanted to eat on a whim. Unfortunately, I did end up eating them on a pretty gross whim at 2am on Saturday night.  Ew.  My "sauce" was based on a Spanish dish my host mom used to make for us called pisto, which she stuffed into eggplants with cheese.  It included:

2 small tomatoes (needed more tomato to be more sauce like, and maybe tomato paste)
1/2 baked eggplant (slit and rubbed with EVOO, baked face down for 15-20 minutes at 425*)
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup spinach
3 white mushrooms, sliced
1 very small zucchini
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp salt

All cooked up in a pot with EVOO.  I wanted basil too, but I didn't have any fresh, so I left it out but picked some up from the farmers market on Saturday and will add to what's leftover.  And then it was early to bed for the race!

Lovely Creations and the Organic/Local Complex

Last night I intended to make a whole homemade pasta sauce, but it got really late and I was hungry, so the idea got bumped to tonight.  I hope.  Ugh, that's why I like going to the gym in the morning... it gives me time after work to get creative in the kitchen.

Anyway, I made myself an egg scramble with onions, garlic, mushrooms, and fresh spinach.  I also had 2 pieces of turkey bacon, which I pretty much charred.  As I placed the strips in the pan, I thought to myself, "You have no idea how to cook bacon, do you?"  Nope, I do not.  But there they were, crackling away.  It seemed like it was working out ok, until it started getting foamy (?) and the Pam started burning.  Then I got nervous.  I didn't want to under-cook it because I like my bacon extra-crispy (and I was a little nervous it got diseased on the infamous 2 hour trip home from WF...).   Overall it was good, especially for turkey bacon, and I'm looking forward to doing better next time.  I am also looking forward to my secret bacon experiment... to be revealed at a later time.  Muahaha!

 Why is bacon SO ugly?

Actually, I happened to do pretty well with lunch yesterday too.  I made a regular old salad with the usual suspects, but I used tuna packed in olive oil instead of water.  My host mom in Spain, Mayte, used to make us the most amazing tuna sandwiches with oil packed tuna on fresh bread (mmmm pan integral), and it would keep me full for hours.  And anything packed in olive oil is obviously delicious.  It did the trick... it was a lot more satisfying than using water packed tuna.  I had a whole Mediterranean theme going on with olives, capers, artichokes, peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms with a little lemon juice.

And now, on to today's ponderings: local vs. organic.  Which is more important?  Thank you to Alex for sparking this conversation rambling. (Where are all the comments?!?!  No one even played "Guess the Wheat Product"!  I feel so alone.)  It's funny because I've had this on my mind all week.  My thoughts on local and organic (based on The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Inc., and general reading) are as such:

Why local?  To decrease the environmental footprint of the food industry.  I am a student of the teachings of the great Michael Pollan, and I have learned how much environmental waste is produced by transporting fruits and veggies across the world.  Not to mention the way it affects the taste of foods.  Remember when peaches used to taste like peaches?  Now they're all mealy and hard.  (Side note -- is this really such a recent change in produce that even at age 24 I remember "back in the day" when peaches were good?)  Transporting food messes with the whole ripening process and makes foods' flavors unrecognizable.  I also like the idea of supporting small farms and farmers via farmers markets.

Why organic? Because I don't want to to eat pesticides!  Yuck.  As long as you wash things well, conventional produce is mostly fine for YOU, but the effects on the environment are bad bad bad!  The pesticides mess up the whole cycle of growth to decomposition by fending off bugs that are actually part of this process.  The chemicals also end up in water systems, thereby traveling much further than originally intended and making their way into otherwise totally unrelated ecosystems.  The preeminent factor at work here is business.  It's a competitive market, and farmers were only trying to keep up with the Joneses.  Unfortunately, it has caused a lot of damage in the meantime.  As Michael Pollan said, organic may cost more at the cash register, but when you factor in conventional foods' cost to the environment, to your health, and to public health, organic is really quite a bargain.

And so, it would be ideal for me to buy locally AND organically all the time, but I have found this to be too difficult.  Not everything is available to be bought local AND organic!  For example, I am not going to give up bananas and avocados.  Until we start mass producing those in greenhouses in the greater NY area, I will continue to eat my frutas latinas and accept that I am going against my beliefs.  I do, however, try to buy those organic.  I am a big fan of farmers markets, and the local/organic foods movement is definitely in support of them, but honestly, I'm not even sure that all of those farms at the Greenmarket grow organic produce.  Does anyone know?  My impression was that the majority of it IS organic, just not necessarily certified?  I will try to research this.  Either way, farmers markets are my first choice, followed by Whole Foods, where I at least am given a lot of information about where my food is coming from.  It's easy to spot local and organic foods, and I appreciate that they are making the effort.

Conclusion:  Try for local AND organic, but at least try to settle for one or the other when you have to.  I like to think I'm making a difference.

One Pot Wonder

Last night I made a VERY delicious dinner! I didn't take a picture, but I will let Real Simple magazine pick up the ball on that one.


Mine didn't look exactly like this, but, then again, I didn't exactly follow the recipe. My version substituted yellow onion for the red, used fresh juicy tomatoes plus a little water instead of canned, and included paprika and chili powder. My squash chunks were also like 3 times the size of theirs. I let the veggies caramelize (er, ok, I nearly burned the onions) so there was some extra sweetness from that, and I really think the fresh tomatoes were a better choice. One was a super ugly, super sweet purple-y heirloom. The paprika also warmed up the flavor a little. I was very pleased. And it was... real simple! Chuckle chuckle.

I had it with a glass of Sauv Blanc from my wine of the month club! It was a Chilean wine, and it was really great. Kind of rich and buttery, with a little citrus tartness at the end. More complex than most white wines. I tend to really like South American wines, so I'm not surprised I enjoyed this one. I'm excited to have more tonight now that it will be chilled.

I would now like to congratulate my mom on becoming so internet savvy! She reads my blog very regularly. But now she has very little to say to me on the phone. I'm thinking the reason is along these lines. To give credit where credit is due, Maggie sent me that link, courtesy of her friend Tae, whose UPenn comedy group created it. I'm kvelling.

Can someone tell me how to embed a video in my blog instead of linking to it? I would also like to know how to change the width of the text box... it's so narrow! It makes me posts look uber-long and intimidating.

The Cause

I now highlight my ignorance.

This would be the cause of last night's traffic:
http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/lang/en/pages/2009summit

Summit on Climate Change?! Couldn't it at least be something I don't think is important, so that I could be angry at it?? Well, not that I'm angry anymore. OK, fine. I walked for climate change.

Win Some, Lose Some

(Warning: this is an elaborate venting session.)

Let me set the scene... Still on a high from my last Whole Foods @ Bowery experience, I depart from the office at 7:30 for a repeat. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I arrive, coupon in tow ($10 off a $50 purchase -- from the Edible Garden event we went to at the Botanical Garden in May), ready to organically, locally spend to my heart's content. This is not a problem. I have planned a couple of dinners and my lunches for the rest of the week, I choose responsibly, both ethically and economically, and I find a few treats along the way (Ciao Bella Malted Milk Ball gelato?!?!?! It's fun deciding not to be lactose intolerant this week!). Hey, I had to make sure I made it up to $50. (Why do I always think that's going to be difficult?) And so, I am once again delighted to be at WF.

And then things take a turn for the worse. Since I have purchased 1 of every vegetable in the store, it takes the cashier quite a while to ring it all up. Avocado: $2.29. Bosc pear: 80 cents. Cortland apples: $1.20. And so on and so forth through the produce alphabet to my 70 cent zucchini. To add insult to injury, the scale at the checkout is disrupted and skewed every time the F train goes by. This does not speed things along for me. 20 minutes later I am itching to get out and get home (how did it become 9pm?). I have done good work (who doesn't love a bargain?), but I'm... hungry. We all know Hungry Freya. And most of us we wish we didn't.

I know what you're thinking. "But you have 30 lbs of groceries in your hands!" Ah yes, water water everywhere and not a drop to drink. What was I going to do? Take a bite out of my pepper, a la Iron Chef?


No, thank you. I trudged over to the bus stop at 1st and 1st, just in time to see a bus pull away. Strike 1. Not the end of the world, and another one should come in about 10 minutes, right? Make that 20. Strike 2. Bus FINALLY comes, but it turns out it's a Limited, which is efficient, but takes me way past my street, and the whole point of taking the bus was to eliminate walking with all this stuff, plus my laptop. This was going to be Strike 3, but I manage to salvage some hope from the situation by switching buses at 14th Street, where a local bus comes right away. How? This makes no sense. I waited for a bus for at least 20 minutes down at 1st Street. Whatever, no questions, the MTA works in mysterious ways. I swipe my card: "Invalid card." The bus driver must have sensed my despair and lets me get on anyway. Is my luck improving?

No, it is not. 1st Avenue has come to a complete and utter halt at 42nd Street because of the UNITED NATIONS. THIS is Strike 3. I was too angry to even check the news when I got back, so I'm still not sure what was going on, but it must have been something big. After 10 minutes of absolutely no progress, the bus driver lets us get off in the middle of the street. I am frustrated and concerned for the well-being of my gelato and turkey bacon, which have been sitting out for close to an hour. It is now 10:00.

I resemble a crazy bag lady as I stumble down the block with 4 bags, glaring at the police officers and mumbling grouchily to myself. I make it to 2nd Avenue only to find that traffic is stopped there too. Can't tell if 3rd is moving, and I'm not interested in walking even further out of my way. No, no, I'll show them! I'll WALK home! Genius. I'm on the verge of tears, and my shoulder muscles are crying too under the weight of my groceries. But I am bitter, and so I try to walk home. I am sad. :(

Finally the traffic begins moving again and I walk back over to 1st and hop in a cab, 10 blocks from home. It was worth it. By the time I made it home, the frozen things were pretty soft, a chunk was taken out of my peach (I ate it anyway... it was delicious... probably the sweet taste of long-awaited success), and my favorite Fage had been speared and was oozing honey all over stuff.

Was it worth the $10 savings?

You know what? The sick thing is, I think it was.

Spoken like a true NYC grocery shopper.

Ode to My Childhood, Apparently

I'm not sure that I actually accomplished anything at all yesterday. I was very tired (after getting a mere 11 hours of sleep on Saturday night (?!?!?!?)), so I let myself sleep until 8:30 and promptly decided that I would not be going to the office. The morning sort of disappeared in a blur of oatmeal, expense reports, bills, dry cleaners, and essential grocery shopping. I don't like to do the majority of my shopping at Gourmet Garage because it's so overpriced and ours is very small, but it's a really pleasant shopping experience, and it's very close by. I stopped in for soymilk, bananas, and OJ. I never buy juice because it's empty calories, but I was feeling lightheaded and needed the sugar -- thanks for the advice, Mama Allison. It was fresh-squeezed and DELICIOUS! Who knew! I had a little more this morning. I used to like to add seltzer to it for a little homemade Orangina.

I love working from home, because I can do things like spend my morning that way, but I also hate it because I still have to do my work! It wasn't a terribly busy day, but I did have a lot to get done in the afternoon. I stayed at the computer until 7 knowing I should probably have worked a little longer, but I decided to go to the gym instead. Oh well. I will be making up for it today/tomorrow. I actually had a really good 4 mile run on the treadmill, which is unusual for me that late in the day.

Gluten free still going well! For lunch I had leftover matzo ball soup minus the matzo balls, aka mom's homemade chicken veggie soup, and a hummus avocado half-sandwich on rice flour bread. Sound disgusting? It was! The loaf feels like a BRICK. I could have used some Mario power to get through that thing...

Sorry, Mario, but your bread is another castle.

I toasted it, but I think not for long enough, because the bread is very moist and dense and barely darkened in the toaster. Maybe toasting it longer would get rid of the moisture? I'm going to experiment with it again later, but that stuff may not be a permanent solution if I do, in fact, go gluten free for good.

And now, a game! "One of these things isn't like the others, one of these things just isn't the same..." Guess which of the 3 things pictured below contains wheat:

1. Trek Mix granola
2. Sweet Hot honey mustard
3. Supremely Spicy Sabra hummus

Place your votes and I will reveal the answer tomorrow night! Reading ingredient lists is exhausting, but I'm glad I checked.

I leave you with one more of my favorite childhood memories, since I seem to be on that path today... ROSENSHONTZ.


Amanda is the only other person I know who remembers the glory of Rosenshontz, but they were the best. My parents bought me their tapes after deciding that they couldn't listen to another moment of Wee Sing. Amanda, I found the lyrics to the song I was telling you about, where they reference Staying Alive! Turns out they're not official lyrics, but after the part about John Travolta, one of them sings the BeeGees in the background. I bet it was Bill. He was always the joker. Mom, Dad, do you know what I'm talking about?

A New Activity?

I MUST try this.

Weekend Rollup

Saturday and Sunday for the price of one!

The weekend was pretty uneventful, but really nice and relaxing because I spent it at home for the holiday. Saturday was just hanging out, and Sunday my mom and I did some shopping in Eastchester. My favorite!

I decided to get back on the wheat-free train for Saturday and Sunday. That meant passing up more babka on Saturday night as well as blueberry chocolate chip pancakes on Sunday morning. Very sad. I think I could actually be pretty good at taking something out of my diet if I knew I really had to. Right now, since I'm just experimenting with theories, it's really tempting to just eat the challah or the cake because I don't really know what bothers me. I'm just taking educated guesses. I can't even tell you how many times I've decided I'm lactose intolerance and then 3 hours later decided I'm not because I really want pizza or Pinkberry. Hopefully I will have an actual answer soon and a real rule to follow.

Other than those few temptations, eating wheat-free isn't horrible. Of course, I think warm bread is probably the best food ever, but I could learn to live without it. Grudgingly.

I thought this lunch on Saturday was pretty creative:

My mom made curried chicken salad (chicken, cranberries, walnuts, apple, celery, mayo, curry powder), and instead of putting it on bread, I spread it on top of a plate of tortilla chips! It was actually really good. These chips are incredible, really authentic-tasting, and about 10 times healthier than any other tortilla chip I've ever encountered. They're apparently really hard to track down, so let me know if you see them anywhere.

On Saturday my mom and I also made watermelon blueberry ice pops! Watermelon, sugar, and lime juice in the food processor, and then add blueberries to each ice pop mold. We had some trouble following instructions at first (we were over-zealous), but they came out really well!

Things that have wheat that shouldn't: soy sauce, veggie burgers, pre-packaged sushi at Trader Joe's. But I bet I could find some wheat free veggie burgers, no problem.

I realize that this isn't like formal writing or anything, but I am loving this blog for giving me the chance to write, even if it's just knowing that my 5 Followers are reading it. So thanks for being an audience! I really do love to write.

I leave you with some adorable sibling love. Let's see how long it takes for Eric to find this and demand that I take it down...

Juuuuuuust precious.

Work From Home Day!

My goodness, catching up on the blog front is NOT easy.

A quick recap of my Friday working from home:

7:00 Wake up
7:45 Gym (finally did some leg work... I'm usually too lazy to bother because I like my legs already, but people have told me it's good to build the muscle so as not to injure yourself)
9:15 Breakfast -- oats, blueberries, almond butter (I added a little of my MojaMix ala Katie to my usual oats for funsies. It looked like the bowl below before I added the rest of my fun...)

10:00 Email
10:30 Blog reading
11:00 Out for an appt
1:00 Lunch -- can of Healthy Valley 3 Bean Chili with plain Greek yogurt and Mary's Gone Crackers (gluten free, baby!) + a side of The Office.

2:00 Gossip Girl + some work
3:00 Call doctor
3:30 Respond to an email, eat a plum
4:00 Shower (yup, I sat around dirty all day)
5:00 Yogurt snack
6:00 Train to Larchmont!

As you can see, I accomplished many things. Ok, I'm exaggerating, I did more work than that, but it was definitely a slow day, as Consultant Fridays often are.

I was kind of out of food and managed to improvise lunch, thanks to the magic of canned foods. I always like to keep soups and veggie burgers on hand for Fridays when I get home after being away all week. Eggs would be a good one too, but I don't always have those. Anyway, I was very grateful to come home to a delicious mommy-made meal: matzo ball soup, brisket, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows (MY FAVORITE! She still does it for me and my brother as if we were kids...), asparagus, broccoli, raisin challah, and chocolate babka! SO good.

I was trying to eat gluten free this week as an experiment fueled by feeling good last week -- and realizing the only main thing I cut out was wheat (and chocolate). However, that obviously didn't work. Like I was going to pass up challah and babka for some unproven theory? Pshhhh, no way. Sooo, trying again starting today. Shana Tova!

Flying First Class... Flouncy, Flouncy

Thursday = travel day! Yay! The days go by much quicker when I know I get to go home that night. I usually take a 4:30 or 5:30 flight, and I leave the office about an hour and a half before that, so it's a short day anyway. One of the perks of my job, even if leaving the office at 4pm gets me home at 10:30.

For whatever reason my 2 days of waking up at 6 to exercise caught up with me by Wednesday night, and I let myself sleep in on Thursday and then packed up. Breakfast was a repeat of the day before, although this time with some banana and a little of my leftover granola, which I brought with me in a baggie from home. Lunch was a big salad, but with nothing substantial in it (romaine, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, olives, sunflower seeds, a few chickpeas), so I had the other half of my banana and a Pure bar in the afternoon. Totally preferred the blueberry Pure bar to chocolate brownie.

And now, a special segment:

The Art of Flying:
I like to think of myself as a strategic flyer. I have learned many tricks of the trade in my year of life on the road. Of course, I would be foolish to divulge my secrets to you, lest anyone takes up frequent flying anytime soon, but I can share a few things.

Number 1: Dress code. Never wear shoes with buckles, laces, inaccessible zippers, etc. Too much work. I have also found that traveling in business casual clothing garners more respect. For whatever reason, I feel like I get through security faster, and people on the plane are more willing to help me grab stuff from overhead when we land. Probably because I look like a serious flyer. Strategic travelers can recognize integrity in each other.

Number 2: Whether or not you're sitting in a 1st class seat, getting on the plane first is CRUCIAL. I never check a bag when I travel for less than a week, so I always have a carry-on size suitcase. Overhead space is precious, so I cherish my Priority Access boarding pass even if my seat sucks. At least I get on the plane first to secure a place for my bag. Nothing is more disappointing than having to check a bag at the gate. Baggage carousels = the enemy.

Number 3: Always request the upgrade. I used to only request upgrades after really hard weeks, but lately I've been requesting upgrades every time I fly. I tend to take popular consultant routes, which means there are tons of other people on my flights with airline status competing for the upgrade. Hence, I need to request EVERY time to increase my chances. Every airline works differently, but on American Airlines, I get to upgrade my ticket to first class in exchange for 3 upgrade points. I don't know exactly how it works, but I think you get 4 upgrade points for every 10,000 miles you fly, or something like that. And then you trade them in to upgrade.

This week, my upgrade request had not been confirmed by the time I checked in, so I went off to my favorite fro yo stand to get some "dinner" and some dried fruit/nuts. On my way over to the gate, I heard the gate agent call my name, and... UPGRADE! At first a little sad that I had already sated myself with fro yo and M&Ms (I was about to get free food!), I got over it and gladly accepted seat 3A.

The dinner this time was a little disappointing -- dry but well-flavored chicken teriyaki over mushy rice -- but the warm melange de noix at the beginning is AWESOME, and I also had a very good shrimp cocktail. I fell asleep before takeoff, so I was a little groggy when the flight attendant was taking drink orders, and I also still had my iced latte, so I waited until dinner to have my glass of wine. First class is more fun when you don't sleep through most of it. But I love having the bigger, better seat. And watching everyone else board the plane, looking wantingly at my seat :)

More flying tips and adventures to come!

The 5th Avenue of Shopping Malls

Wednesday night I met up with one of Joanna's incredibly gregarious friends who relocated to Dallas after spending some time in LA, Mexico, and NYC. He actually grew up in Rye, which somehow doesn't surprise me -- of course I would meet someone in Dallas who grew up 3 train stops away from me. Thank you, Westchester Jewish Connection!

I got to see the temple, which is the 3rd largest reform synagogue in the COUNTRY (yowza!), and I met some other people my age. I think I had actually started to forget how lonely I was out there.

David took me to this huge, gorgeous mall, which contains ALL the super expensive stores that I didn't even know would even be caught dead in a mall. I'm talking Bendel, Oscar de la Renta... serious stuff.

Then we grabbed dinner at one of the mall restaurants. I had a Teriyaki salmon salad (greens, tomatoes, red pepper, tofu, salmon, unidentifiable dressing on the side), which was lovely, and we chatted about consulting, the neighborhoods of Dallas, teaching English, Spain, Mexico, Spanish, Larabars (another SERIOUS fan), tummy sensitivities, and Lactaid pills. We even spoke IN Spanish a little! Needless to say, we totally hit it off. I'm really excited to have a buddy there and may try to stay an extra night one week to really get to see the city and go out?

It was such a welcomed break from all my usual time alone. I forgot how nice it is to be social during the week, and now I feel like I have someone who I could ask for advice on places to go and things to see. Really nice experience. Oh, and now I have a STELLAR new place to shop! Anthropologie, here I come!

PB&O

Wednesday morning I had all of you faithful blog readers in mind, and I brought my camera with me just in case. Well, I actually took pictures! This is a little something I picked up at WF to make my morning oatmeal feel more like home (sniffle):

They also make Maple Almond Butter, which I've had before as well. I love the little squeezy pack, and I make it last 2 days. I added this and some Starbucks dried fruit to my oatmeal. Now if only they were real oats...

My co-workers left me around lunchtime to attend a 3 hour meeting -- a meeting, mind you, that I was originally expected to attend until my manager said not to bother. I wavered between being offended and relieved, but I think I'm settling with relieved. It's not like I would have had anything to contribute, but it WAS one of three very important meetings over the next 2 months.

Insulted or not, I was able to photograph my lunch for you, since there were no co-workers around to judge. Small salad:


Olives, artichokes, string beans, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, and cukes. This was a very good day at the salad bar. I get small salads and make them totally overflowing to spite the cafeteria and their absurd prices. (It's priced by container size and not weight.) I also could swear that depending on who is at the cash register, my lunch costs something different. I considered asking why, but opted not to. I would care more if it were my own money.

I also had a baked potato with a little sprinkle of cheddar cheese, but it looked really ugly beneath the glow of fluorescent lights, so no picture. But it was surprisingly satisfying. Sometimes I feel more like I'm done with a meal if I've had something warm.

I had my ginger snap Larabar in the middle of the afternoon. I opened it up and it seriously smelled like I was baking cookies. Mmmmm... It was a good one, up on my faves list now. I am considering buying in bulk, especially for the elusive PB&J. Hanukkah gift, anyone?

Typical Tuesday: Ode to Whole Foods

Why is Tuesday night different from all other nights? Because on this night we go to Whole Foods! I like to go to WF on Tuesdays to stock up on snacks for the week and to get dinner. I had a deeeelicious black bean soup and a mess of a salad bar concoction, as it always seems to be. The WF stores in Dallas (I've been to 3 of the 4) are a little different than the ones in NY. There is more prepared-meal type stuff in Dallas, which is nice for mish-mosh prevention, but there isn't an Asian bar or an Indian bar the way there is at Union Square. And yes, there is often a Tex-Mex station. I really love eating dinner at WF at least once a week, because it feels like real food, as opposed restaurant food. It's as close to cooking for myself as I can get while on the road. I realize that with $40 a day I could get something more high class, but it works for me.

This week's snacks: ginger snap Larabar, blueberry Pure bar, dark chocolate, apple, plum, white peach, bananas. It's kind of fun to try to buy local foods in a different state because they're all different than what's local at home! While still not local, I'm much more ok with buying fruit from Cali when I'm in TX vs when I'm in NY.

I brought my glorious dinner back to the Executive Lounge at the hotel and had a nice big free glass of wine (tell me that isn't baller), and blogged! I like going to the Executive Lounge because there's wireless, and I like being around people. Not like I'm chatting people up, but I get lonely otherwise. Also there's only wired internet in the rooms and I get restless just sitting at the desk.

Now I give you photos of my room this week (experimenting with lighting). Keep in mind this isn't even the nice section of the hotel.





Tuesday night also happens to yield my favorite TV event: The Office on TBS from 9 to 10pm Central. I love it! I only started watching regularly last season, so I have a lot to catch up on. This week's new episode was great, by the way. My favorite line was when Jim said that they were playing the game correctly "if Point A is delusion and Point B is the hospital."

Ohhhhh Jim Halpert, why aren't you a real person?

Whirlwind Much?

This week FLEW. I didn't realize how hard blogging would be on the road. Mondays are going to be tough because I don't get in until late, Tuesday is fine, Wednesday is fine, and then Thursdays I fly back home... late again. It was easier when I was working from home last week because I would blog during my lunch break and then quickly again at night. But when I'm at work I have absolutely no privacy, and we all eat together, so there's not much time during the day. I'll work on it.

Tuesday morning I woke up at 6 and pretty much jumped out of bed, despite not really sleeping well. It was still dark out, but I prefer going to the gym in the morning when I'm out there, so I headed outside (I have to walk outside to get to the hotel gym), and to my surprise I found a bunch of people running around the outdoor track. In the dark. Um, weird. But I was glad not to be the only one awake. I always wake up on Tuesday mornings only 70% sure that I know what time it is. It's only an hour time difference, so I always feel like just maybe it's actually 5am instead of 6. It never is.

I had been experimenting with getting breakfast at Whole Foods in the mornings and also picking up lunch, but it was making me late for work, so I went back to Starbucks this week. I do miss WF... Maybe it's worth the 20 mins of sleep that I'd lose? Can't decide. I don't like that if I get coffee at WF it gets cold by the time I get to the office. I also feel a little weird that I go multiple times a day.

I got an oatmeal with brown sugar (only topping they had) and a tall coffee with soymilk. The woman working there asked my name to write it on the cup, and said that Freya was her favorite name ever. I couldn't decide if she had actually heard the name before or just decided right then and there that it was her favorite name ever. Alternatively, it seems possible that she was just saying that to everyone. It was a slow morning. Does anyone actually like Starbucks oatmeal? It's totally boring instant oatmeal, it's just the best that I can get. And I prefer when I can get it with the melange de noix. The coffee, however bitter and chalky it may be, is still like crack to me.


Lunch was the usual small salad and soup. The cafeteria is pretty gross, so the healthy/satisfying pickings are slim. I've decided to go vegetarian at the office because I think the "chicken" is actually dog. Or maybe chipmunk. AND it's overpriced! Really terrible cafeteria.

Anyway, I got a small salad with veggies, olives, sunflower seeds, chickpeas and a little cottage cheese. The lettuce was fresh this week, which helped. I also had a veggie/pasta soup. Most of their soups are safe, but I refuse to eat carrot ginger (it's cream based), pork and cabbage (ew), and caldo de res (beef broth). I am also suspicious when the ingredients are hauntingly similar to whatever was being served at the salad bar earlier that week -- I swear they just dump the leftover pasta salad into broth.

So, my lunches are usually edible, but not very satisfying. I'm too afraid of most of the proteins there to get a good lunch. I end up snacking most of the afternoon on Larabars and fruit.

For the sake of not making every post incredibly long, I am going to post my evening separately. Even though I'm doing it right now. Tata!

Home, Home on the Range

Greetings from Dallas, TX! I have had a pretty busy week so far, but I'm surprisingly content to be here (in contrast to my usual feelings of resenting it wholeheartedly). It's probably because I don't think I had to give up anything I wanted to be doing in NYC, and because I don't have to be here for a few weeks after this (yay!).

Monday was very rushed, and I actually ended up missing my first flight ever. It was not very dramatic, and there was no frantic running through the terminal. Just a lot of pouting and furrowing my brow. It's mostly my own fault for not leaving enough time to get there, but I never leave enough time to get there, and it hadn't been an issue yet! I also blame uncharacteristic traffic and a poor route choice by my cabbie. Thankfully, there was another flight an hour later, and I had no problem getting a seat. It also gave me time to actually buy food and a very fortuitous magazine, so it was ok.


Hold the presses! I almost got on a plane without food? Well, my parents stopped by around 2 with pizza, and I made us a salad with food that would have otherwise gone bad this week. Since I had a big late lunch, I wasn't all that hungry or in the mood to plan dinner at 4, AND I was in a big rush because I realized I was running quite late. So I grabbed some granola in a baggie and hoped I would have time to buy a yogurt at the airport. (I would have brought my own, but they don't usually make it through security.) Since I ended up with an extra hour at the fabulous LGA Terminal D (blech), I had more than enough time to buy a Dannon peach yogurt. I ate my yogurt/granola on the plane and also had a chocolate brownie Pure bar, which I brought from home. My problem with those healthy chocolate-flavored things is that I usually just end up wishing they were chocolate. I think I'm better off sticking with fruit/nut combos that taste like what they're supposed to taste like. Cocoa Mole Larabars are the exception. This Pure bar was actually pretty good, but not amazing.

Lately I have been packing dinners (sandwiches, bagels, prepared noodles from Gourmet Garage) on airport nights because there's nothing good at my terminal, and it's really not very hard to pull something together. I have to eat airport food on Thursdays when I come home, so I like to avoid having to do it twice a week. A girl can only eat so much Au Bon Pain.

So I went off to the hotel, where I have a room in the not-as-nice section of the hotel because I booked late. It's ok, but the hallways feel stuffy and dark compared to the newer part. The newer part is also closer to the gym and the Executive Lounge, where my Hilton Baller status allows me access to snacks, free breakfast, and free drinks (woohoo!). My room is fine, but I will definitely be making my reservation further in advance next time. I will take a picture of the room later.

I had some tea, watched Seinfeld and Sex and the City, got into bed around 11:30, and set the alarm clock for 6am. FUN!

El Fin!

So, I made it to the end of my unprocessed week! I am disappointed in myself for being so loose with the rules at the end of the week and also for sort of getting sick of the blog. But fear not! I am back, and excited again. I decided that purely writing about my meals is not enough to keep me hooked (and if I can't even hold my own interest, how can I hold yours?!). I'm in Dallas this week, though, and really looking forward to staying true to my original blogging intentions: to write about life on the road. But first, of course, some closing remarks on the Unprocessed Foods Challenge of 2009.

Sunday I woke up with a very upset tummy after almost a full week of feeling great. Is it related to the fact that I spent all of the previous day ignoring the rules? Quite possibly! (See closing remarks.) I had a banana around 7:30 before meeting up with my mom for the RACE FOR THE CURE! It was a 5K walk/run, but I was able to convince my mom to come into the city so we walked it together. Probably smart because of the Freya Cough. We had some nice time to bond (right, Mama?), picked up some FREE Yoplait lemon parfaits in the free stuff section, and then went to Fig & Olive for brunch. That's when I probably could have followed the rules but decided I didn't feel like it. Bad bad. We split a poached egg/salmon/avocado thing and a lamb skewer panini. The egg dish was kind of cold, which was disappointing, but I really liked the lamb panini and the balsamic vinegar on the side salad. Fig & Olive is one of my FAVORITE restaurants for dinner, but I may not be running back brunch.

No pictures, because it's too embarrassing to do at restaurants.

But here are some pictures from the race! Before:


Almost at the end:


Post-yogurt:


I can't believe I'm saying this as someone who runs a lot, but walking that whole thing made me more sore than I think running it would have. It just involves being active for so much longer! So, Mom, you did good!

I ended up having a yogurt + peach + granola snack later on, and then I went to SHAKE SHACK for dinner with Alex, Amanda, and Katie to "break the fast"! I was just not in the mood for a burger, so I got the Shack-cago dog, dragged through the garden, of course. (No, I did NOT order it like that.) We shared some fries and a lot of delicious custard/ice cream for dessert. It was a really nice way to end the weekend and our week of eating unprocessedly, and to possibly even have brainstormed my new life passion/endeavor?

Also no pictures, but this time because we felt like pigs.

My closing remarks:
I actually kind of enjoyed the week. I like following rules, and it wasn't THAT hard once I got the hang of it. Things I craved but could not eat: bread, chocolate, sorbet, Berrywild, cereal. Things I was pleasantly surprised by: making my own granola, making salads/dressings, the magic of roasted vegetables, banana "soft serve" with almond butter, and really enjoying fresh fruit. And last but not least, I felt GREAT. I felt kind of light and comfortable, and I don't think it was psychological, but it's entirely possible. I will admit to not really feeling satisfied a lot of the time because I craved sweet things, but I did put honey on lots of my salads and yogurts (ok, fine, I ate some agave nectar by the spoonful. Don't judge). And that banana soft serve could be my choice dessert every night if I weren't too lazy to always wash the food processor. All in all, I found ways around the processed things without feeling TOO deprived, but definitely a little deprived. I hold that if I could have had chocolate, I would have been ok. And at the risk of sounding like I have a problem, I also realized I would have been really sad to give up alcohol all week. I don't drink much anymore, but there are nights when a drink is really JUST what I want. And I just mean a glass of wine or a beer, nothing else. I think wine is one of life's simple pleasures, and I wouldn't give that up permanently. I don't regret having some beer on Saturday.

And so, ladies (and gentlemen?), I rejoice that the week is over, but I am really glad I did it. I think that in making future choices about food, I will make an effort to eat unprocessed foods, but it won't rule every choice I make. For the time being, I am experimenting with going gluten-free, since I had essentially no wheat this week and felt really good. And that's the only major food that I think I cut out of my diet. I've been looking for a food culprit, since I'm often so uncomfortable after I eat, so I figure I might as well see. Wheat/gluten is not something I have ever tried to eliminate before. We shall see!

And so, I conclude the week of unprocessed eating, and I begin the week in Dallas! I realize I'm getting behind, but I plan to post Monday and Tuesday later tonight/tomorrow, with lots of insights into working in another state. I am now going back to my room to watch The Office on TBS, which is my Tuesday night event. Yippee!

Day o' Beer

No, it's not St. Patty's Day... it's Brooklyn Beer Tour day! Note: every beer I drank was magically unprocessed. And the pizza too. Totally not processed at all. It was very nice of all these places to accommodate me. Definitely the Brooklyn way. ;)

A while back we bought tickets to go on a Brooklyn beer tour extravaganza for Ariel's birthday and yesterday was the day! We met our tour group in Williamsburg at 11:45am, started with a tour of the Brooklyn Brewery, and then visited several other spots in Brooklyn that may or may not have had anything to do with beer.

The first flight of beer at the brewery hit me pretty quickly, since I was drinking on oatmeal. You know I have pretty strong feelings toward the stuff, but it is NOT drinking food. Bfast was oatmeal, PB, wild blueberries, GRANOLA!


This breakfast choice happens to be unprocessed, but I knew ahead of time that I was throwing the rules out the window in honor of the beer tour. Actually, I'm not sure I could have picked a worse week to do a food experiment, in terms of number of meals I actually ate at home. Typically I eat most dinners and weekend meals at home. This just happened to be a packed week/weekend. I guess I get over-zealous when I am working from home and am able to have a social life in NY.

The Brewery itself is impressive, although they don't do all of their brewing down in Brooklyn. I love local anything, so having such a popular and successful company so close to home is very cool. And I learned a little about the ingredients that go into beer: hops, barley, yeast, and water!






Allison thought this one was extra yummy:

This was my flight of beer:


I did NOT finish this. So much beer before noon! My favorites were the Blast, the Lager, the Brown Ale, and Oktoberfest. There weren't any I particularly disliked, though! And even though my friends thought I was a huge nerd for taking notes, I did it anyway. Even when I am really, really interested in learning something, I am absolutely incapable of retaining the information for more than 2 minutes unless I write it down. So, haHA! I will remember everything I liked and didn't like now.

We left the Brooklyn Brewery and then had the pleasure of spending quite a while listening to the history of some old brewing warehouses and how Prohibition affected the business. I mostly zoned out and wondered what the delicious smell was. Turns out it was the scent of dumplings wafting over to us from a nearby manufacturer. It was becoming almost too delicious to bear when the tour guide finally noticed our glazed-over expressions and took us out of our misery. At that point we trekked on over to a pizzeria, where we got to sample 3 different types of pizza: a margherita pizza and 2 types of Sicilian. My favorite was the Sicilian one with basil on it, although by that point I would have eaten pretty much anything. I say this without an ounce of sarcasm, but learning makes me really hungry.

I was too hungry to photograph. Hungry Freya is not capable of much more than simple grunting and, of course, eating.

We walked around some more of Williamsburg and met a really cool dude named Augie who owns a beverage center and sells tons of different kinds of beer. At age 17 he already OWNED 2 properties. That is insane! He was really fun to listen to and a very impressive guy. And look what we found!


We ended at a very lovely bar in Williamsburg called Huckleberry Bar, which I would love to go back to. Very lovely atmosphere and a really cool, local-homemade type of menu. We tried a few more beers there (which I can't remember names of, since I didn't write them down!) and we had a little plate with a grilled cheese on homemade foccacia, shallot marmalade (amazing), and a spicy pig in a blanket. Yum! Too dark for photos. They came out ugly. I got one of my friends, though, who are beautiful, with a flash.


I couldn't believe it, but by the time 6:30 rolled around, I was actually hungry again. I put together an unprocessed mish-mosh kind of meal with a garlic-herb shrimp skewer from WF, corn on the cob, and roasted veggies with rosemary. Yes, I ignored the fact that I ate all processed foods all day and went back to the rules. I also just had to get through the food I had in the house.


While I cooked, I realized that I could eat Allison's Cape Cod potato chips! Potatoes, canola oil, and salt. Yay! Very yummy.


Later that night I went back to my new favorite borough for a party in Park Slope, where I had another beer. Alex was there, and it was an approved choice, since she abandoned all logic and drank Crystal Light, which just might be the enemy of our experiment. (It's ok, Alex, I forgive you.)

Anyway, totally exhausted after a long, full weekend, so the closing remarks to come tomorrow! STAY TUNED...

Feeling Crunchy

Anyone else feelin' a little crunchy? This morning I channeled my inner hippie alongside trusty old Mark Bittman, and I made granola. I have been wanting cereal like whoa this week (crunchy, carby goodness), so this was a pretty good way of killing the craving. Cereal is up there with bread as something that I don't think should necessarily count as processed. Lucky Charms? Totally processed. Kashi Go Lean? Nah-ah. But if anything were going to turn me into a wholly unprocessed believer, it would be this granola.

I used the recipe linked here as a base, and for nuts I used walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and slivered almonds. As an afterthought I added a little PB, but next time I would swap out some of the nuts for more PB. It bakes up really nicely and helps make clusters. I think I cooked it almost 40 mins, which was just on the verge of too toasted, but I like that taste. Next time I would do like 35 mins. And, yes, there will be a next time.


So good that I had to have a taste before I even baked it.

And 40 mins later... voila! I wish I could post a link to a scent, because this was amazing. Toasty and nutty and coconutty... I still hadn't had breakfast, so I got to sprinkle some on my oatmeal! Oats, 1/2 banana, thawed frozen wild blueberries, and my homemade granola.

A hectic day at work (er, at the apt) combined with some baking, (and a lot of nibbling...), and the morning flew by.

Lunch:
- polenta
- hot cherry pepper
- tomato
- avocado
- blackened (by accident) Cajun shrimp skewer from WF
- drizzle of honey

Lunch with a side of Lotus Notes:

Snack time came a little bit later. I was craving something sweet (chocolate???? pleeeeease?), so I settled for an organic pluot and some yerba mate tea. I wonder what's more "natural"... an organic pluot or a conventional plum. I love pluots, but the idea of melding fruits is pretty un-organic, if you ask me.


And... I forgot to take a picture of dinner, but I had a pretty awesome salad:
- arugula
- tomato
- avocado
- red onion
- salmon baked with soy sauce and whole grain mustard
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- lemon juice
- honey

Too many dressing flavors. Diane took a picture of her beautiful salad, also a Mark Bittman masterpiece, so I'll put up a picture of her dinner instead.

Mixed greens, blue cheese, raspberries, and walnuts! Yummm. I also made some sweet potato fries with olive oil, cumin, paprika, and chili powder. Best, easiest, feels-like-it-should-be-bad-for-you food ever.


Yowza. Long post! I was too busy to get to it earlier. I leave you with dessert: banana "soft serve"... frozen bananas tossed in the food processor. I also melted some almond butter to go with it. Totally felt like dessert. Success! Do you like my high bun look?



Off to bed now in preparation for Ariel's bday Brooklyn beer tour tomorrow morning! Woohoo! Gotta be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! I foresee photo ops!