Park Slope Tourists

My parents came into town today for a visit, they will be here until Wednesday and we are very excited!  We spent the day exploring my ‘hood and everyone had a great time.  I will say in advance that there were a lot of indulgences!  It is way too late, once again, so this is a pretty cursory review.

I started my morning off right with this fellow –

A small green juice from a spot on Flatbrush.  I had them add carrot to this and it was very, very tasty.

My parents, being islanders and all, were very excited to hit up Target so that was our first stop.  While we were there we got “brunch” at Buffalo Wild Wings (no, this was obviously not a spot we needed to show off, but my mom and dad couldn’t eat on the plane and food was a necessity).  I got the naked tenders.

They came with blue cheese, honey bbq, and potato wedges.

I ate 3 out of 4 pieces of chicken and gobbled up the fries.  I love that NY menus post calories, there is no way I would have guessed that what I ate had only about 350calories.

From there we hit up the farmers market at Prospect Park.

 My parents loved it here!  We bought macaroons to munch while we walked around,

and the four of us split a strawberry cider.

Next up, we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

We had a great time walking around.  The coolest exhibit was called “Wicked Plants,” and it showcased plants that are psychotropic, deadly, or illegal.  It was a lot of fun.

 

After that we headed to my apartment so my parents could check the place out (they are staying in a hotel, it works for my girlfriends to stay in one room with us, but my mom and dad wanted space!).  I was very happy to share a big sampling of Newman’s Own Organics with them – they were very excited about it 🙂

For dinner we wanted to stay local so we went to Perch, a fun spot on 5th.

We did a lot of sharing so my portions are not very clear, but you can assume I had more than my fair share!  They brought homemade bagel chips to the table as soon as we sat down.

I ordered a Bloody Mary to drink.

I’ve only had this at brunch but I feel like they can rock it at dinner, I love the spiciness.

We split the beer and cheese fondue wolaver’s organic brown ale, sharp cheddar

 

It came with bread chunks and apple slices and was absolute perfection!

We also split the most amazing salad I’ve ever had.

It was Waldorf inspired and had apples, buttermilk dressing, candied nuts and grapes.

I felt the need to extend the cheesiness to my entree (not a good idea) and I ordered the mac and cheese blend of grueyere, cheddar, blue cheese, and green onions.

 

It was good but cheese followed by cheese was just too much for me, I only ate about 1/3.  I shared some big bites of everyone’s sandwiches too.

I ralied in time for dessert and ordered the maple ginger bread pudding.

 

It wasn’t all that good, it was much more like a loaf of bread then a pudding, but I was pretty buzzed and self-control flew out the window.  I ate about 1/2 and gave myself a tummy ache.

A and I walked my parents back to their hotel and then made a treck (1.5miles) to the movie theatres.  I don’t know what was worse, the fact that Transformers sucked so badly or that I polished off this medium popcorn without any help from A.

Yuck, all around.

And, once again, it is time for a late late bedtime.  Hasta!

What bad movies have you seen lately?

I’m That Into Him

I had a really fun evening, it an unexpected sort of way.  First on the agenda was finishing up my business with a grocery trip.  A was busy so I finished out my Physique57 workout from this morning hauling 2 heavy bags back to the house!  On the way home I stopped for a fresh juice.

I got a small veggie blend – Apple, carrot, spinach, kale, celery, bok choy, parsley, lemon, cucumber, and ginger.

Delish, this was my favorite of all the juices I’ve tried!

A had an eye appointment at 5:15 so we threw together a quick meal.

A cooked the pasta (Rising Moon Organics Wild Chanterelle Mushroom Ravioli) and the broccoli/cauliflower together.

Then I topped my portion with a serving of TJ’s marinara sauce.

So tasty!  I like pasta cooked al dente and this had the perfect amount of chew to it.

The plan for the evening was to head to Manhattan to see a friend of a friend at a comedy club.  We got a late start because of A’s appointment and the rain but we were feeling good.  I even relaxed with a book waiting for the train.

Well apparently I was too relaxed because I followed A right onto a train headed the wrong direction!  Once we realized our mistake (on the moving train!) it was too late to make it to the show.  I was sad, but it was easy to get over once A suggested Wendy’s and a movie!  We split chicken nuggets and fries, my portion –

and watched “He’s Just Not That Into You.”  A had never seen it and he loved it – it is the perfect mix of touching and comedy.  I snacked on some new Lindt Mini Truffles while I watched.

I had one of each flavor – cappuchino, nougat, caramel.

I have some fun planned for tomorrow so I’m trying to make it an early bedtime but we’ll see how that goes.  Sleep tight!

What silly things have you done for a crush?  As you know I married my high school sweetheart, A and I have dated since my senior year (his jr year) in high school.  When we first met it was very casual – he thought I was hot and I wanted him to drive me around in his car!  Well as I spent some time around him I developed a crush.  A ran cross country so I thought “what better way to spend time with him than join cross country too?”  Good idea, except, I was already a cheerleader.  I somehow worked it with both of the coaches that I did cheer practice M, W, F and running T, R.  So I ran 2 days a week, which meant while everyone else was training and getting better I was basically maintaining.  Which meant I started off pretty strong but by the time the first meet rolled around……….I came in dead last and then puked!  The things we do for love!

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!

Can’t Hold a Candle

Un-Frickin-Believable Day!  Every single minute of this day has rocked my socks (and some of my best friends will be here in mere minutes!)!

I had plans of getting up for a run this morning but I’ve had a really hard time falling asleep this week and I ended up sleeping way in (the lack of exercise was the only un-awsome thing today).  When I did finally get up it was time to do so I scurried out the door and ate another train breakfast.

Lara bars are just so good, Coconut Cream Pie is one of my favorite flavors.

I don’t know whether the universe decided to finally cut me a break or what but today was my best day all year.  Every single class was quiet for 2 straight periods and 95% of my students read the entire story, answered every question, and volunteered to share out.  If I had been grading today I would have legitimatly given almost every single student a 95-100%.  I was seriously so happy all day.  I have no idea what worked so well, my lesson was on folktales (we just finished a few weeks on fairy tales).  We took notes on key elements, I did a short read aloud, and then the kids read a (longish!) folk tale on their own and analyzed it.  I think part of what helped is that most people stop teaching in June so they were taken off gaurd by the fact that I am still full-force doing lessons.

For lunch I did another museli, this one was much more pleasing than the last.

Nonfat plain Fage, chopped nectarine, 1/4C oats.

I also added a dollop of Stonewall Kitchen Triple Berry Preserves.  I had a bunch of kids in my room at lunch and they were very curious about what I was eating – museli is beyond strange to them!

I stayed after school a little bit to work with students and then headed to the train with some coworker friends.  Somehow I ended up talking two of them into getting a drink with me even though we all had to hurry to other plans.  We stopped at a place in the Slope and I got the best strawberry mojito I’ve ever tasted.  I also ate some communal chips and salsa.  Sorry for no photos – my camera stays home some school days.

I didn’t have much time to relax by the time I got home but I did send some e-mails and eat a few of these Chocorooms.

Then A and I freshened up and headed into the city.  We’ve been planning this date for weeks and I was very excited.  I love going to the Upper East Side, even the subways are fancy!

Our final destination?

 

Candle Cafe.  An organic, vegan, spot that serves mostly local food.  I don’t know how I managed to drag my husband here but he ended up loving it!  A got the potato cauliflower soup as an appetizer.

I had a few bites and it was great.  At this point they dimmed the lights and my pictures go steadily downhill.  I was excited most about this:

I took a flash picture so you could catch the true oranginess.

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie.  Holey frick; sweet potato, vanilla help milk, cinnamon, and maple syrup.  This was too delicious, I couldn’t stop raving about it.

For dinner I ordered the Indian Plate.

It was basically a sampler – potato cauliflower curry, black-eye pea marsala, yellow basmati rice, date raisin chutney, cabbage sald and parata bread.

It was fabulous!  This was my first major foray into Indian and I am hooked (Brooklyn blogger gals, I am so excited for next week!).  The bread was out of this world, my favorite thing was the curry.  I left all of the rice untouched but I basically licked the rest of the plate clean 🙂

A and I were pretty stuffed at this point but we were on a roll so we got dessert.  I ordered the cherry chocolate cheesecake.

I thought it was pretty good but A fell in loooove and made me switch after a few bites.  I ended up with his chocolate mousse.

Which I actually liked better, love how that works out!  All total I ate about 1/3 of each desserts.  We brought the rest home for my friends who are coming in tonight.

Stuffed to the gills, but in a healthy feeling way, we headed back home.  Now we are waiting for my girlfriends to get in, their flights were delayed so we decided a cab was a better idea than meeting them at the airport.  I’m not sure what my blogging will look like over this weekend, but I will try to at least do a big recap.  I am so excited!

Drag Me

Sorry for my two day absense – my obsessive need to be near A has lead me to make some stupid (but fun!) decisions.  I’ve done a LOT so this with be a slightly less detailed account.  It’s been a great two days, but I’ll backtrack…..

Monday morning I ate a Cookie Dough Balance Bar for my train breakfast.

I try not to eat Balance Bars all the time because they do have 2.5 – 4grams of saturated fat, but they sure are good!

For lunch I packed a Fiji apple,

a TJ’s Nonfat Honey Greek Yogurt,

and 1serving of Doctor Kracker Fire Roasted Crisps.

 

The apple was super mealy so I only ate half but the crackers and the yogurt hit the spot.

After school I rushed around trying to get some program applications (I’m going to try to post about this on Thursday) filled out and faxed.  It was a lovely spring day and I was glad I dressed in season for school.

The picture is blurry but here is the flowery fabric –

 

I love this shirt, I got it and the same but in black from H&M last year.

With more rushing, I even managed to make it to the gym for a class.  1st I did 15minutes (2walk/13jog) on the treadmill to warm up.  I did 1.6miles.  Then I headed into a 30minute Abs and Stretching class .  Holey Moley, I couldn’t even finish all of the sets!

Next up, making dinner.  I did some snacking while cooked, I serving each of turkey pepperoni and salted peanuts.

It is also possible that I ate an ice-cream Snickers bar.

Yums.

Dinner was very veggie,

baked tofu in a sea of roasted brussels sprouts with a small pile of coleslaw.  I had never eaten a brussels sprout before this year but now roasted they are one of my favs.

The tofu I drained, pressed, sliced, then drizzled with evoo and a sprinkle of dried mustard and paprika, baked for 25minutes at 475*.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, I only ended up eating 2slices (1/3 of the package).

And finally was homemade cole slaw, recipe below.

All together.

The cole slaw was inspired by this sale item at the grocery store –

Cole Slaw Recipe

• 4C shredded cabbage
• 3T mayo
• 3T apple cidar vinegar
• 1t sugar
• 1/2C raisins

Mix to combine and Done.  I’m sure this will be even better leftover.  I love raisins in cole slaw.

Somehow after dinner A convinced me to see a 10:15 showing of “Drag Me to Hell.”  Drag me to Hell is right – Worst.Movie.Ever.  Seriously, I don’t know if you guys remember the year in the ’90’s when 80 movies in a row were terrible (Godzilla, Breakdown, etc.) but this movie was worst than all of those movies combined!  Even scarier was what I ate during the movie (I always eat a ton during scary movies) – an entire container of pretzel bites with fake cheese and a box of cookie dough bites.  Seriously, I’m glad I don’t have pictures.  A calls me a goldfish, I actually made myself nausous.

This morning I was still feeling so gross from the movie-crapfest that my train breakfast didn’t get eaten until well into 2nd period!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif Bar.  This wasn’t bad, but it was my least favorite flavor in months.

Lunch was a total bust – it seemed like such a good idea at the time, but it just didn’t come together.

The idea was Pre-Smooshed PB & J Museli: Greek yogurt, oats, raspberries and peanuts.

Doesn’t that sound good?  Well, no, no it was not.  I took about 2 bites before I decided I’d rather be hungry.

I stayed after school to conference with some kids then rushed to the post office to main in an application.  A was my knight in shining armor today – it was pouring and he came and met me at the train with an umbrella.  Even better, he let me talk him into a meal at Sweet Melissa!

It was wet and chilly enough out for a hot drink so I took full advantage, Sugar and Spice Latte.

A caramel latte with nonfat milk and homemade cinnamon sugar marshmellows.

For eats I got the Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich.

It came with a green side salad,

was served on a crossaint and had green apples and golden raisins in it.

Delish.  Usually I don’t eat the bread on restaurant sandwiches (and I never eat crossaints) but today I ate the whole thing and it was delicious.

A and I hung out at home for a bit and then he said he was going for a run.  Well, my plan for June is to slowly get back into running shape doing intervals but I’m a crazy-face who misses my husband all day so I jumped up and said I’d go too!  We did some loops in Prospect Park and a few little loops in the Slope.  And get this – in 35minutes (I ran the exact time of my 35minute gym playlist on my i-pod, which was an exciting coindence) we did 4.4miles!  Not only did I know think I could run for 35minutes straight I never thought I could do more than 3miles this out of shape!  Other than a few quick stops for boob adjustment (holey heck I need new sports bras) we ran the entire time.  And my ankles/knees don’t even hurt yet (keeping my fingers crossed)!  I can not even describe to y’all how excited I am.

And then it seemed totally normal to tint my hair…..with Kool Aide (oh yeah!).

I used 4C of h2o and three mini packets to dip my hair into.  The end result?

Pretty much zilch.  It’s a little bit darker and it smells fantastic!  In retrospect, when I did this as a teenager I had blonde highlights.  I’m glad I tried though.

Now it’s time for a sweet (smelling, literally) bed time.  I hope everyone’s week has started without a hitch.

Have you ever used food for beauty?  How’d it go?

Rolling, Rolling, What!?

Fred Durst lyrics aside, I’ve been on a roll this week with the productivity!  I’m pretty proud of today if I do say so myself.

I had no train breakfast (or lunch) today because A and I were going back to the doctors to get the blood tests we missed from last week.  It was interesting day of school – I did not teach a single class.  Exit projects for science and social studies are due tomorrow so every single period of 8th grade for the last 2 days has been devoted to finishing them.  It’s not that I mind helping with the projects, but isn’t the school sending the wrong message by instituting a mad rush?

I stayed after school to re-average grades for students who handed in make-up work today and then I met A at the doctor’s office.  Quick and painless.  I’m not afraid of needles, but I should be – I have really small veins and the last 3 times I got blood taken it involved 8+ sticks and a popped vein!  A went before me and was nice enough to save me his post-test leftovers.

He brought me about 1/4 of a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl.

I ate it on the walk home.

I didn’t even have time to sit when we got home because I had to make a quick turn around to make it to the gym by 6:15.  I did the best I could to approximate a meal by drinking a chocolate EAS on the walk.

60minutes of Virgin Yoga is just what I needed – I’m still sore from the class on Tuesday!  My balance is pitiful, even the first-times look more graceful than I do as I flop around like fish.

When I got home I hunkered down to work and finished my plans/materials for tomorrow, and 90% of next week, and 50% of the week after that!  The reason I had to do tomorrow is because I was informed that I will be teaching Social Studies for the next two days due to the upcoming state exam.

Dinner was quick and simple but delicious.

Yam Soba noodles + frozen organic asparagus = tasty meal for 2 x 2nights.

 

I topped my portion with a drizzle of evoo, a sprinkle of salt, and 1T toasted pine nuts.

Somehow after dinner I managed to convince A that a trip to the grocery store at 11pm as a good idea- so we went!  We got our groceries for next week.

Groceriers, grading, doctors appointment, plans, and the gym?  Sounds like a good day to me.

Are you afraid of needles?   I am not.  Which is probably how I ended up with 6piercings and a tattoo.

Back to Basics

After all of the indulging over the week (and the last week/month/year!) I was more than ready to get back to the basics today.  I’m often torn – I know I’m probably leaving nyc in July and I want to experience as much as possible, but at the same time this is my life and I’m getting tired of feeling out of shape and out of sorts.  Two of my best friends are coming to visit in 10days and I know we’ll be doing lots of eating and drinking so this is a good time to get myself resettled.

A and I could not get out of bed this “Monday” morning – we stayed in bed past 7!  I woke up at 6 and then proceeded to have a terrible nightmare while I snoozed.  My dream was so upsetting I actually felt out of it my whole way to school.  My Boomi Bar did snap me out of it a little though 🙂

I tried the Macademia Paradise today, even though this is my least favorite flavor of the three I tried so far it is still good!

For lunch I prepped a museli last night,

Nonfat plain Oikos Greek yogurt, 1/4C oatmeal, 1small banana, and some Nuts Online dried blackberries.  My parents bought me these berries as a gift so I’ve been trying to enjoy them but I’ve decided that they are inedible; they were so sour I had to eat around the parts of the mix that they touched.  It was still delish though.

I also packed a blood orange but I was so busy helping kids that I never got a chance to eat it, it is on my desk for tomorrow.

I stayed after school for about an hour helping kids and when I got downstairs I got the fun news that final grades are now due on Thursday.  Yes, that is Thursday as in all of my final grades are due 2 days from now.  Yes, that is Thursday as in we will be having a month of school in which the students will not be graded.  Fun stuff.

I was super hungry when I got home so I made the mother of all “snacks,” this thing had courses!  1st course – the last scrapings of the Smuckers Natural Honey Peanut Butter jar, about 1.5T total.

2nd course – sliced pear with walnuts and blue cheese crumbles.

This was very tasty – the only improvement could have been a little drizzle of fresh honey but unfortunately I’ve been out of that for months.

3rd/dessert course – strawberry chocolates and my vitamens.  The candies kind of look like carrots, which makes me smile.  But the picture will not load, which makes me not smile.

I did some stuff for school applications (I am hitting all sorts of walls!) and then A and I headed to the gym.  I went to a 60minute Pilates Mat Class that kicked my patootie.  No matter how busy life is the last 5weeks of school I am making a commitment to fitness, I never want to be this out of shape again.

We took a long walk home to pick up Emily crack, a.k.a. diet soda, and then got started on dinner.  I based my meal around this More Than Tofu Spicy Thai Tofu.

I baked my tofu for 30minutes at 475*.  A chopped yam joined tofu in the sauna, along with some purple asparagus.  Meanwhile, we heated some frozen collard greens in a pan uptop.  I seasoned my greens with maple syrup and red pepper flakes, then topped them with yam and tofu.

My bowl had half the tofu package and half of the medium yam – so tasty! 

I ate the roasted purple asparagus as my side.

And a tall glass of skim milk.

All together.

It was a pretty great dinner if I do say so myself!

I can’t really start grades until tomorrow because kids still are handing things in and I know tomorrow night is going to suck so tonight I’m going to shower and watch Adult Swim!  I hope everyone else had a pleasant start back to the work week.

How do you balance fun foods with real life?

When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

First things first – if you had the same kind of crappy eating day as me and are actually feeling crappy about it please stop over to this fabulous post a la Caitlin.

For train breakfast this morning I had an Odwalla Chewy Nut Bar (am I the only one who giggled there?  anyone?)

I am a fan of this, I like any nut-heavy (more giggles) bar.

School was interesting.  For some reason the copy room didn’t make my copies (that I put in 8am Friday!) for first period and I had to totally change up my lesson.  Next my boy’s class was completely and typically out of control.  Atypically, I made the principal come in and confiscate everyone’s cell phones and ps2s – there are now a lot of angry 8th graders.

The collection/complaining lasted through my lunch so I ended up not eating this random assortment until the end of the day.

I tried a So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt in Pina Colada.

I love this quote.

For fruit I had an Odwalla (I’m not sure why I had so much Odwalla today) Orange Honey Passion Juice.

 

And dessert was a pb candy cane from my Blue Apron spree.

Yum!

I stayed late after school to redo my bulletin boards and meet with some students.  What is going to be sucky when I quit my job is that my hyper-critical administration actually likes me.  Apparently my old administrator was having a convo with the guidance counselor about how sad she was I was off the floor because I was available to the kids instead of bolting after school (I moved floors this year from 7th-8th grade) and then he came upstairs and saw me meeting with kids.  Actually, I wish they liked me less, then maybe they’d believe me that I have zero control and actually Help me!

By the time I finally got home it was after 6:30 – boo!  A was a sweetheart and met me at my train and I went to Barnes and Nobel and spent way too much $.

The third book was free!  On the walk home I ate these bbq Popchips.

 

Once home I had some school work to do and I decided it was absolutely necessary that I read my new issue of Health with Mariska Hargitay and Sarah Chalke!  I also snacked on A’s leftover pizza crusts.

I dipped them in Diet Dr Pepper Cherry – I always dip my pizza crusts in soda, I also dip pretzels.  What do you dip?

Later in the evening I ate this SWITP sample – a Belly Bar.

It was meh.

And much much later, too late, I decided to make dinner.  My favorite cooking method is oven roasted so that was the focus – sprayed foiled pan, chop food, baking spray and salt, 30minutes at 475* – perfection.

I did 1yam baked fries, cauliflower, and the leftover half block of tofu.

The tofu I sprinkled with this.

And I made DIP out of a lot of ketchup and a little maple syrup and Tabaso Chipotle.

And now it is fully time for bed.  Sleep tight!

Random BAM pics:

Rock Star

The day is done and I am a Rock Star!  I am 100% + done with school for this week.

This morning I worked straight through breakfast but around 1 I prepared lunch for A and I.  We bought this Arnold Everything Rye bread on Thursday so we knew we wanted sandwiches.

Tuna salad!  We use a little bit of mayo and a LOT of pickle relish in our tuna salad.

I sprinkled hot paprika on my portion, I had about 1/2 a can (since A ate 1.5cans!)

{More his/hers} I added salt and pepper and cheddar cheese to the bowl after I took my portion out.

I ate my sandwich along with a sliced plum and some Dirty Salt and Vinegar chips.

All together.

I did morework and a little later I made this split-tastic bowl.

A sliced banana, a sugar free banana fudge pudding, 1 crunched double stuff oreo, and a few cinnamon brown sugar almonds.

.more work.

When I was 80% of the way done I went to the gym.  I did 35minutes on the treadmill – 1minutes walking/2minutes jogging for 3.4miles.  Then I did 5minutes of abs and stretching on the mat and 5minutes of arms on the machines.  In spite of being a total fat ass for the last 6months we discovered I can now do 40lbs on some of the arm machines – more rock starness!

After the gym I walked to Staples to do work and to Union Market to buy fruit and a surprise for A, I also bought this Naked Gold Machine Juice for the walk.

Then home, and then to Starbucks to do my final piece of work.

I ordered a tall nonfat iced latte so I wouldn’t feel bad sitting at a bench but A came down a bit later and drank 90% of it.  I made grade reports for all of my students that show every assignment so far this semester and the grades they earned on them.  I have high hopes that kids do make-up in the next 2weeks but it looks like I will be failing a lot students my FINAL QUARTER of teaching.

Once done I came home and made a late lame/awesome dinner.

This was Tofu -Deveganized!  I drained and pressed a block of extra-firm tofu then cut it in half.  Then I cut a hole in the side of the block, careful not to cut through to the other side.  In the hole I stuffed turkey pepperoni and reduced fat mozzarella cheese.  I covered the hole with a small slice of tofu, rolled the block in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried in .5t evoo.

Awesome.

On the side sauteed A and I some frozen broccoli rabe with wasabi sesame seeds and then added in the leftover dipping egg for the last few minutes of cooking.

It was inedible – the frozen rabe was cheap and it was all bitter bitter stems.  This dish was more bitter than a fat wife whose ex-husband just married an 18year old.  My other failure was the Stonewall Kitchen Wasabi Mustard I tried to use as a dipping sauce, also terrible.  But the tofu?

Fabulous.  I would, however, recommend baking at 450* for 30minutes instead of frying, I was pressed for time.

I tried a few sips of A’s beer but ended up going with a diet Dr Pepper cherry.

I totally had to have dessert. Turkey Hill Mint Choco Chip ice-cream with 2 double stuffs crunched over the top.

Mint chip is a favorite of mine but this might be the best kind I’ve ever had, go Turkey Hill!

A and I have super fun plans to celebrate a work free day tomorrow, I can’t wait!  Sweet dreams all.  I will end with some bonus questions –

1. What are you excited for on Sunday?
2. What do you put in your tuna saldd?
3. What is your favorite ice-cream flavor?

Doubles and Debacles

I realize I’ve been away three days, but this post is a double because it will just cover the last two.  I’ve been super busy (and tired), but I’m sorry I’ve been a boring blogger.

Thursday morning I had the best train breakfast ever.

Boomi Bars (maple pecan) officially rock my socks!  This was crunchy is the most amazing way and the flavors, salty and sweet, were perfect.

For lunch I packed the 2nd serving of my Pimento Shmento Red Pepper Spread,

along with a serving of Doctor Kracker, a mini almond sample, and a small apple.

I also ate this SmartFood sample for dessert, tasty!

I had to stay late after school for a Smart Board training, and I didn’t get home until after 6.  Somehow I managed to make myself do schoolwork (I’ve been rocking it out this week) before A convinced me to get Thai food for dinner.  We just got a big $ refund from A’s grad school so it seemed like a good way to celebrate.

I went veggie-crazy for dinner.  I had steamed veggie dumplings,

and a carrot and cabbage spicy salad.

So good!  The dumplings were nice and chewy and the salad was like a super spicy (non-mayo-y) slaw.

After dinner we went to the grocery store (at 11:30pm!!!) to do our shopping for next week.  On the way home I rounded out my small dinner withmore veggies, this time the unhealthy kind!

The pizza place we are obsessed with makes the best fries.

For dessert I broke out a grocery store purchase (with a coupon from SWITP)

Jell-O Sugar Free Banana Fudge Supreme Pudding.  I had a cup with Oreos crunched in.

You can also visualize an extra 5 oreos, oops.

Friday morning had a bumpy start – my alarm on my cell phone didn’t work and I way overslept, I ended up throwing my cell phone and breaking it in half!  Yes, I do have a temper, but I was particularly angry because I’ve spent so much time this week doing work in advance for next week and I was so proud of myself for getting up early on a Friday.  I hated myself for the last 1.5years because I always oversleep and this week I’ve been actually getting up and then the alarm doesn’t work!?!

I was 15minutes late to work and I didn’t get to eat anything all day.  After school I came home to meet A to buy a new phone and then I finally got something to eat!  A was super excited about the Grand Canyon Dinner for some reason so we went there.

I ordered the New York Pannini – turkey, bacon, tomato, American cheese, and roasted onions with a side of Russian dressing.

I modified my order for turkey bacon and no butter on the bread.  It was pretty tasty.

A’s meal came with dessert so we split the blueberry pie.

 

I’ve never had canned pie filling before and I was pretty surprised at how sticky it was!

After dinner we walked home and I fell asleep, at 7o’clock!  I must have been exhausted because I was O-U-T out!  I woke up this morning and got started on work, which is why I am not talking about today until later.  I will however tell you a story…..

The Dumpling Debacle

Or as I am calling it, the Foie Gras Faux Pas.  As you guys know, I am semi-vegetarian.  I eat fowl and fish but haven’t eaten pork or red meat (mammal) since the summer before 8th grade.  As it is, I don’t eat a ton of fish and not all that much fowl, I eat a lot fake meats.  But I especially, do NOT eat duck, as they are my favorite creatures on Earth.  I ate duck at a fancy Chinese restaurant once when I was 13 and my aunt and uncle had taken me to NY for my birthday and I cried for days!

Now, you remember the fabulous chicken dumplings from the FoodBuzz event.  The beyond delicious ones I ate two of?  I found out towards the end of the event that they were in fact chicken FOIE GRAS dumplings!  I ate tortured duck?!?!  And loved it!  I would never seek out foie gras (it is so inhumane that even some full-blown meat eaters are againstit) but I have to say, I’m a little glad I tasted it accidentally.  I am such a foodie and there are a lot of big items I’ll never try because I stopped eating “meat” so young – oxtail, marrow, proscutio, etc.  Don’t think I’m a monster!

If you are semi/vegetarian/vegan – have you ever had any accidents?