Numero Uno

I am in much better spirits   We finally made some (basic) choices, which I will be sharing with readers by the end of this week.  Plus I saw Year One this afternoon which made me laugh.  Andthen I got to catch up with an old college friend.

J and I worked at the on-campus bar together at University of Miami.  She is in law school here in NY which means she is as busy as I am and we never see each other!  It is almost summer now so we managed a double date at South Street Seaport.  I was wicked thirsty on the train so I slammed a lemonade as soon as I reached the Seaport.

Then I met up with A, who had been out drinking with school friends, and finally we met up with J and her boyfriend.  Some of the restaurants at the Seaport are a bit iffy so we ended up at Unos.  I was pretty much stuffed still from movie popcorn so I made a light dinner choice.

Soup and salad.  Soup was vegetable – Carrots, celery, corn, beans, onions, spinach, red bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini in a low fat vegetarian broth (135calories).

 

And the salad was the Gorgonzola Walnut Side Salad – Mixed lettuces, tomato, red onion, cucumber, honey glazed walnuts, Gorgonzola, croutons and low fat blueberry pomegranate vinaigrette (280calories).

I ate about 2/3 of the soup and salad.  Even though I didn’t clean my plate I did manage to snag a few bites of A’s brownie sundae dessert.

Yums!  I frickin love living in NY so much – having the calories posted on the menus takes away all of my ordering anxiety.  There are times when I really don’t care between two options and the idea that one of them could potentially have 1,000 more calories when I don’t even prefer it freaks me out.

We got done with dinner around 10:30 and A and headed home because I need to be up early tomorrow for my 2nd foray into Physique57.  Sweet dreams all!

Does your town post nutritional stats?  What do you think about the practice? 

I am generally unsure about things that put an emphasis on calories.  The amount of young girls who are concerned about weight (and additionally engaging in unhealthy practices) is staggering.  If I hear some one commenting about calories when I am eating I feel deeply uncomfortable.  However, I strongly support posting nutritional stats.  While I have slight reservations that this practice may deprive some young girls typical childhood experiences (“A corn dog at a ball game with dad has how many calories?!  No thanks!”) I think that starting a dialogue is a good thing.  And on the flip side there are times when I am surprised by how low the number is, rather than high.  Just as it’s good for people to be aware of excess, I am glad people eating too little have the information in front of them rather than (over)estimating.

Additionally, (thankfully or sadly?) people who are too concerned about calorie counts are the minority in American society.  People complain about parents who don’t bother to have the sex talk with their children, what about the trans fat talk?  Or the calcium talk?  Or for my children, the why we don’t eat candy for breakfast and lunch talk.  Putting nutritional information right on the menu opens up a opportunity for communication.

Finally, as an informed adult I appreciate my ability to be armed with all of the facts when I make a food choice in NYC.  Even as someone who is concerned with health, cooks, reads articles, etc I am often surprised by how much I over/underestimate the calories in restaurant meals.  While it is not feasible to ask Mom and Pop spots to call in a team of analysts, chain restaurants are employing nutritionists anyways, why not make their knowledge public for the good of the consumer?

No Direction

Hello again!  I didn’t fall off a cliff (although with the hooky I’ve been playing my employers might think so!), I’ve just been deep in some serious discussions.

Updates -

1. The Newman’s Own Organic products have been continuing to rock my socks.  A ate a milk chocolate bar and wouldn’t even give me a bite because he liked it so much.

 

And I brought in some products for a small party at school (6 out of 30 children are graduating from one of my classes so Ms. M and I threw them a lunch party) and the kids were very impressed.

They all admitted to be worried when they saw the word “organic,” but were surprised by how much they liked the cookies and pretzels.

2. We have abs0-frickin-lutly zero idea what the heck we are doing next year!

The flowers and cupcake are to celebrate yet another option opening up.  I am pretty stressed out about what to do, and the last 2 days have been consumed with neverending conferencing.  Here is the basic deal

A was offered a position at a podiatric medical school in one state

A was offered a position at a medical school in one state

I was offered admission into a Masters Nutrition program in one state

I was offered a really amazing, dream of a lifetime teaching opportunity back home

A is on the waitlist for a medical school in another state

None of these options are in the same place.  If A makes 1 choice I can be an RD, if he makes another I can not.

I really can’t get into more detail than that, but basically I am stressed.

3. To releive some of said stress I have plans to see a movie and then to meet up with a college friend for dinner.  An actual post is soon to come.

What decisions are you currently making?

“School”

It is a late, late night.  I was at school for more than 12hours today – eeek!  I will try to keep this brief, I am long long overdue for cuddling with A.

For train breakfast I went with pb cookie bar version 2.0 -

Luna Bars are good, but this flavor is better in Lara Bars.

“School” (lets add some “”"”"”"”"”s) was ridiculous today.  There was not 1 single teaching period.  1-3 were used for predictive testing.  4-5 were graduation practice.  6 was lunch.  7-8 were for handing out yearbooks/caps & gowns.  The super fun part was that 4-8 I was in the library with all the kids who will NOT be graduating – good times.

Lunch went the museli route again.

Nonfat Plain Fage, 1/4C oats, 1/4C unsweetened dried blueberries, 1t triple berry preserves.  I love using leftover salsa jars as my to-go containers.

I also packed an apple to munch.

After “school” there was an awards ceremony from 6-8 so I stayed there.  I walked 8 blocks (through the serious ghetto) with 2 kids to pick up the balloons for decorations.  Picture the whitest girl you know walking through the yard of a housing project carring 25 shiny balloons.  Oh yeah.

While I decorated I snacked on a serving of Doctor Kracker Cherry Seminola Crips with 4 figs.

And around 5 Mr. B and Ms. M and I knew we needed to have a quick escape so we headed to a nearby diner for dinner.  The options were typical diner food and therefore dinner was lame.

I ate about 3/4 each of the chicken fingers and the fries.

I had a good time at the awards ceremony, it was fun to see some of the kids all dressed up.  I presented a set of awards but mostly I sat in the audience clapping loudly.  I shared these Sour Patch Kids with a coworker.

I didn’t get home until after 9 and then A and I had a loooong conversation - I have very interesting news that I will hopefully be sharing by the end of the week.  While I typed this blog post I ate three (a serving) strawberry chocolates.

And it’s bedtime.  Sweet dreams!

Newman’s Own Organics Rocks My Socks

There are so many things to be excited about in this post I don’t even know where to begin!  My train breakfast was a favorite,

Peanut Butter Cookie is my favorite Lara flavor by far.

School was easy today – I taught 2 periods, had 2 periods of graduation rehearsal, and then had a half day.  We had a quick labeling assignment to do and then I had the afternoon to start cleaning my classroom.  I gave Mr. H 99% of my stuff so I’m glad all the chart paper I slaved over will not be going to waste.

For lunch I went the trail mix route.

I call this Peanut Better Trail Mix.  1/4C each peanuts, dried blueberries, and pb m&m’s for a filling 570 serving.

This was bigger calorie-wise and smaller volume-wise than what I usually pack but I ended up feeling in good full-ness and enjoyment.  I also had a baggie of green grapes.

 The school provided lunch, which I obviously skipped, but I did eat a slice of unphotographed cheese cake.

I left for home promptly at 3o’clock and got slammed with a migraine before I even made it in the front door.  I almost missed my fun activity but thank goodness medicine and a nap kicked in on time.  This didn’t hurt to perk me up either.

When I saw fellow Brooklyn bloggers getting Newman’s Own Organics boxes (complete with fancy mints I’d never seen before) a while back I was quite jealous.  Several people recommended that I ask for my own and I decided to plead wildlynicely request my own sample.  Sally more than generously agreed and I expected a small sampling.  Holy frick.

Re-dic-u-lous amount of food.  A and I were deeply struck by the generousity.  Expect to be seeing a ton of Newman’s Organic Own products in my posts for the next 10 years

I floated on a cloud of thankfulness and happy thoughts to my next activity – another fitness first, this time with Vani.  We did a 45 minute spin class at Crunch.  This was my 1stish try at spinning and I sucked but I also loved it.  My history?  My mommy loves to spin but I’ve always been a bit scared of it.  

The one time I did go to a class with her I was the youngest person in the room by at least 20years and the worst by at least 50 gasps per minute!  I did my best to keep up but about 5 minutes in my foot slid out of the strap and my knee slammed into the handle.  What’s worse than getting your butt kicked by the last generation?  Having to leave early, bloody! 

This time I still sucked, but I made it through the entire class, all limbs intact.  Sadly, we have no more gym membership as of July 1st but I am going to try to attend a few gym classes over the next two weeks.

After class Vani and I walked down to 7th Avenue for some fresh juice.  I got carrot-papaya-apple.

This was the perfect pick me up.  Plus it filled me up and basically became dinner.  I did have about 1/4 of A’s tuna salad sub when I got home.

And A spent the rest of our evening doing some serious discussing.  There is a LOT going on right now with plans for next year and I got some very interesting news today.  Hopefully by the end of the week I should be able to give you guys some updates.

Now it’s much too late and I’ve got to hurry to bed, night!

Have you ever tried spinning?  What’d you think?

Fish and a Movie

It is obviously quite late so I will try to make this a quickie (hehe).  A and I had a good walk finish our errands.  I even took a shot of my tootsies because the fabulousness of the Chanel nail polish my mommy gave me needs to be shown.

When we got home we got down to dinner making.  My father and I have been talking about cooking fish (my parents’ new routine is fish every Sunday) and he generously offered to have A and me use his credit card to buy some.

Mahi Mahi is my favorite fish other than salmon.  We were hungry so we did things quickly.  First we did a three minute marinade,

2T mayo, juice from 1lime, and a big sprinkle of paprika.  Then A cooked it on the stove top for about 8 minutes, delish.

We also had oven roasted asparagus,

and sweet potato with Smart Balance Light.

All together.

It was a really nice meal – thanks dad!  I had a small glass of A’s beer too.

Our big after dinner plan was gelato that my girlfriends left but we had the fun discovery that our freezer had completely defrosted – woo who!  So we went to the movies instead   We saw The Hangover which 100% rocked my socks.  While we watched I had a regular sized Jr Mints (as in not movie biggie sized) that I bought at Staples today,

and 2 handfuls of caramel corn.

I like having small hands, my palm can’t physically hold more than a .5C serving.

And now it is totes time for bed – peace!

Sunday, Sunny Sunday

Well, things have certainly gone much more smoothly since my last post!  It’s been a fabulous weekend and I still have a block of Sunday night left

After my post yesterday A and I headed to the movies.  I packed some good snacks,

 

the rest of my TJ’s unsweetened dried pineapple and a baggie of green grapes, but also supplemented with movie candy,

Shockers.  The movie was good but not great – Ryan Reynold and Sandra Bullock were amazing as usual but the storyline was pretty flat.

After the movie A and I knew we were a little hungry but couldn’t decide on what.  We had to pick up Father’s Day cards so we stopped at Barnes and Nobel and got small pb cookie dough ices along the way.

I gave half of mine to A and then we ended up wandering more than 2miles to Flatbrush!  By the time we made it to dinner at Mangowe were mega hungry!  I ordered steamed veggie dumplings as my appetizer.

 

These were wonderful, very chewy.  The veggies had a nice meaty taste and the sauce had a little kick to it.  I only at half because I was super excited about my meal – See U Noodles!  Broad rice noodles are my absolute favorite, which means you’ve seen them before which is good because I randomly have no picture.

We headed home after dinner and I’d like to say it was time for bed but for some reason it seemed appropriateto me to spend more than an hour watching Royal Pains on Hulu.

Late bedtime aside, I was more than ready to get up for my adventure this morning!  I packed up a bag and headed into Manhattan.  On the train I tried one of these Raw-Revolution bars for breakfast.

I did the chocolate coconut flavor – delish!  This was chewy and chocolatly and pretty much perfect.  I was full of energy when I reached my final destination.

Physique 57.  Months ago Melissagave a bunch of bloggers a free pass and I think I’m the last person to use it.  I did a 60minute beginner’s class, it was strength moves for the whole body using weights, a ballet bar, a beach ball, and a mat.  I was terrible, the instructor corrected my back like 8 times and I still don’t know how I was supposed to be.  And I loved it.  I booked a class for next Saturday before I even left.

After the class I stopped at Jamba before the subway to refuel.

This was a 16oz Peach Pleasure with a whey protein boost.  I wanted the protein boost but this flavor was not happening, I brought the 2nd half of it home for A.  I can’t wait ’till we move so I can buy a blender!

I had a busy but fun afternoon – painted my nails, ran some errands.  I had a $9 credit at Staples (from my teacher rewards card) that I obviously don’t need so I bought some nuts and candy there and then I headed to the grocery store to buy some goods for dinner tonight.  I was dying for a snack by the time I got home so I ate the other half of my veggie dumplings from last night.

Then I had a romantic snack with A <3.  We went to Union Market for fun the other day and got foccacia,

and this beauty -

Guinness Cheddar Cheese.  Yums!  A made me thin slices so it looked like more.

So good, you could really taste the beer!

We have a fun dinner planned tonight but first we are going on a walk to run some errands I forgot earlier, see ya later alligators!

What new fitness routes have you tried lately?  Did you enjoy them?  I am a new convert to Physique 57 and I’m actually trying something new tomorrow too!

Big Apple Rainstorm

When I woke up this morning I felt so tired I told A I could stay in bed until 5 – looking back that might have been the better idea!  We had a fun day but things weren’t quite working out for us.

I’m not gonna lie – the first thing I ate today was Ruffles potato chips, unphotographed, straight from the bag.  Then we headed up to the city to hit up the Big Apple Bbq.  On the way we stopped at Dizzy’s and got a lemonade to split.

There were TONS of people at the park, and live music. 

I had a few sips of A’s apple cider.

We had a good time people watching but discovered that there was NO chicken at the event, so my dreams of a pulled chicken sandwich were not going to happen.  A was not happy about being pushed (he had a questionable mole removed from his back this week and has stitches) so we decided to split.  No soon did we leave the park then it started to rain!

We ducked into the spot across the street and discovered a fresh juice bar.

I got carrot, spinach, and pineapple.   I thought this was delicious, maybe I can be a real blogger after all!  As we walked down the street we spotted Punch which looked fun,

so we went inside for the brunch menu.  They brought a basket of bread/muffins to the table,

and our meal came with drinks.

I got a Bloody Mary, and salmon eggs benedict with the sauce on the side.

I wasn’t really feeling this meal, I ended up only eating half of everything (incudling the drink and the hollandaise).  I was pretty hungry still as we hurried to the subway through the rain.  I ended up eating another serving of chips when I got home.

 

At least this time they weren’t straight from the bag!

We have low key plans for tonight (and know to bring our umbrellas!) so hopefully this evening will work out a little better!

What is your favorite bbq food?  I really liked pulled chicken sandwiches but feel like you can’t find them anywhere.

Update

I’m not doing pictures of yesterday for a couple of reasons -

1. My stomach felt sick in the morning so I was pretty boring
2. I ate Indian food and not only are my pictures blurry, I don’t remember what anything was!
3. The bowl of popcorn I ate at the end of the night while watching Dumbo was embarrassingly large.

Yesterday was exciting for several reasons though:

1. I met up with some fabulous Brooklyn bloggers for an Indian dinner at Milon – I am officially an Indian food convert
2. I quit my job.  As of Monday my resignation from the NYC DOE with be official!  I am so glad I said something too – another English teacher was about to excessed.

Today we are heading off to the Big Apple Bbq, what are your plans for the day?

Chain Gang

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, so your regularly scheduled food blogging will not be returning until tomorrow.  However, Diana tagged me for a fun blogger chain post so I will be doing that.  Enjoy

Rules

1. Once you are tagged post a picture of where you blog.
2. Feel free to tell us a little more about your space or explain certain items in more detail.  Or not.
3. Link back to the original post.
4. Tag 5 other bloggers to show their blogspots.

This is the desk in my bedroom/living room/one room.  This is where I blog, work, and eat most of my meals.  For more details I will address a few questions you might have.

Yes, I do have a large pile of stickers on my desk.

Yes, I do have dessert shaped erasers and animal shaped rubber bands.

Yes, I almost always have a Diet Coke Plus on my desk.

Now for the questions -

What are you wearing right now?

A flowery tank top from H&M and my Duffy’s Love Shack undies – I do NOT wear pants in my own house!

What’s the last thing you read/are currently reading?

The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson.

Do you nap a lot?

Not really; I get home late enough/exhausted enough that a nap usually just means bed time.

Who was the last person you hugged?

One of my students who was excited that she earned an 80% in the 4th quarter.

What’s your current obsession/addiction?

I always always have to say Scrubs to this but over the last couple weeks it also seems like gelato.

What’s for dinner?

There will be no dinner, instead I demolished Five Guys fries with malt vinegar and gave myself a tummy ache (there’s a reason I’m skipping the post today people!).

What was the last thing you bought?

Gifts that I am bringing to Brooklyn blogger meet up tomorrow evening

What are you listening to right now?

“Alive with the Glory of Love,” by Say Anything.  Before that I was blasting Joshua Radin (<3).

If you could have a superpower what would it be?

The ability to magically heal myself, like Wolverine from X-Men.  I’d never have to worry about my joints hurting from a run again.

What is your favorite weather and why?

I would have to say the “winter” we have back home in St. Thomas.  It is cool with out being rainy, not too humid, the skies are bright – it’s pretty much perfect jeans and tank top weather.

What time do you usually wake up?

Either 6:05 or 6:55 usually, depending on whether I’m planning on being early or not.

What is your most challenging goal right now?

Making it through the last two weeks of teaching without losing my composure.

Favorite pair of shoes that you keep going back to even though you have a zillion others?

My reef sandals (in every color).  I wear them at all times there is not snow, even when they are vastly inappropriate for the weather.

Name one thing you can’t live without.

My husband and stove popped popcorn (he’d say it was in the opposite order).

What time is bedtime?

Ideally 11:30, usually 1:30.

If there is one place you could be right now where would it be?

Standing on a red carpet.

And now I’m passing on the honor by tagging the following bloggers -

• Meghann
• Nate
• Melissa
• Kath
• Sue

Best Ever

I know I said I would be doing full recaps while my friends were in town but I got a little overwhelmed the last two days.  As I predicted I’ve been a little bit under the weather (not that it slowed my eating any!).  All in all my friends had a fabulous visit.  In addition to the fun you all saw, we also went to lunch at Serendipity, watched Up, had dinner with K’s family, and went to Museum Mile.

This morning K and C me up bright and early at 5am since their cab was coming for a 5:30 pick up.  I had plans of enjoying an early morning and eating breakfast and home but the minute they were out the door I was back in bed!  I found my train breakfast just as pleasing

Peanut Toffee Buzz Clif Bars are just as good as leisurely breakfasts at home.

Lunch had a fruity, summery theme.  A baggie of seedless green grapes,

a Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate Bar,

and a new seasonal Dannon Light and Fit flavor – Watermelon!

I almost always prefer plain Greek but this flavor was too fun to pass up!

Lunch was a nice “end” to the day!  I taught the first four periods straight and then on Wednesdays I have lunch 5th period because we have a common prep period 6th.  Well today we had a Lunch and Learn (i.e. nothing) so I was excused from common prep.  And 7th and 8th period we did graduation activities so there were no classes.  A few fun facts -

1. We are spending 10 full 45minute periods on graduation practice over the next 2 weeks.
2. My students graduate Monday, June 22.  School does not end until Friday, June 26.
3. In my mixed class of 30 6 students are graduating.  The other 24 are attending summer school (and 3 of those students will actually be repeating 8th grade next year).

Is that not all ridiculous?  Their science teacher and I are throwing a lunch party for those 6 this week.

I stayed after school to change my hallway bulletin board and headed home around 5 to run some errands.  I met up with A and we weren’t in the mood to end our visitors=vacation feeling so we went out to dinner!  We went back to one of our favorite spots, Stone Park Cafe.

We were in a fun mood, we ordered drinks and appetizers.  I got a passionfruit champagne cocktail.

I’m not going to lie, I was a wee bit tipsy after just this one drink.  It was delicious, passionfruit is such a nice tropical flavor.  We sat outside for a little bit but finally got chilled indoors, what has been with this weather lately?!

For our appetizer A and I split the Knuckle Sandwich tempura lobster “knuckles,” house made potato roll, yuza chipotle dressing.

The picture shows half.  I actually ate mine with a knife and fork since I skipped the bun in lieu of this.

 

The bread at this restaurant is so wonderful, this mini baguette tasted like sourdough,  my favorite.  I ate this x2 (I told you the drink was kicking in!) with real butter.

My entree choice was the Pan Seared Diver Scallops with rock shrimp, fava beans, asparagus risotto, and lobster beurre.

This was amazing.  The risotto and nice and creamy, and I didn’t actually get any fava beans, but the scallops were the best I’ve ever had.  They were cooked to perfection, crispy outside with a nice amount of give, and the sauce was the perfect accompaniment. 

I shared 3/4 of a scallop with A and we decided this was one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten.  I would say it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten, except that if I’m honest about my tastes I would have to choose one of the Pad See Eiw dishes I’ve eaten as my favorite meal ever.  A thought this was second only to the roast beef served at our wedding (when asked what the best thing about our wedding was his answer, with zero hesitation, is the roast beef). 

If you ever are in Park Slope I highly recommend making a visit to Stone Park Cafe.  We even got mini meringues with the bill.

After dinner we came home and relaxed.  I spent a little time catching up on food blogs and I finally wrote my plans for the rest of the week.  Now it’s time for bed so maybe I will actually get my cereal tomorrow!

What was the best meal you’ve ever eaten?  Give details!