Around the World

My wallet may hate me, but my foreign food fetish has certainly been fulfilled this weekend!

There was Afghan food on Friday:

The Vegetarian Special:

Banana Squash (!), Eggplant, Spinach, Okra, & Rice

Friendlings.

(I bit into something that I thought was a hunk of candied ginger…wrong.)

Rice pudding, on the house!

There was Korean food on Saturday:

Squid (love!) , zucchini, potatoes, cabbage, spinach, fruit salad…

OCTOPUS with veggies (I know!!)

A shot of sojo

The birthday boy had t00 many of these…

…and I judged/lovingly teased him for it.)

There was Tunisian food on Sunday:

Hummous, khobz (bread), couscous tomato soup

Top it off with homemade tortilla chips & guacamole…

Around the world in 80 hours. Love it!

What’s the most interesting thing you ate this weekend? Banana squash was the tastiest for me, but you can’t beat octopus for oddity.

The Whole Day

Since my trip to Zumba last night required into a farther section of the city, I figured I might be near a Whole Foods once I got out.

I was right. 8 Minutes Away! Too close to resist.

I limited myself to 3 items (which I convinced myself I couldn’t get anywhere else): protein powder, daiya cheese, and a huge jar of crunchy organic peanut butter. All were very necessary: my protein powder just ran out, I’ve been wanting to try Daiya’s vegan cheese forever, and all of my roommates burn through crunchy peanut butter. I don’t know why they don’t sell the organic (or at least natural) crunchy peanut butter in big jars at our local supermarket, but I found it at Whole Foods! All is well now.

And there was great rejoicing! Vanilla green monsters are just as tasty 🙂

With spirulina, to boot! I’ve been meaning to get this alga (which is apparently the singular form of algae? Oho) into my life. It’s convenient to have it right in my protein powder!

Although it annoys me that there was such a gap from the top to the contents…

It that typical?

Spinach, 1/4 avocado, 1 small banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, coconut milk, cinnamon

Usually I’m too late rushed to eat my breakfast at home, but I slept in today so I had some time! I tried to eat around 9 so I’d actually have an appetite for the Religion Department Lunch 3 hours later.

Do y’all have Jimmy Johns subs where you are? I’m not a sub person, but these are pretty good. I just wish they had more bread choices! I had 1/2 a veggie sub, which contains sprouts (the best part!), tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, & provolone cheese.

I was productive for a while this afternoon, then took a break for a quick treadmill run. I think my school’s “girl” gym is overheated; I get cold really easily, but as soon as I move in there I’m drenched in sweat immediately! I did a modified run since I had rugby practice tonight; it was about 40 minutes total.

5 minutes jog (warm up), 6.0 mph

4 minutes walk @ 7.5% incline, 4.0 mph

5 minutes jog @ 1.0% incline, 6.5 mph

Repeat those two 2x

5 minutes walk (cool down), 3.8 mph

I came home to refuel with some protein & carbs!

The very last of the plain greek yogurt, 1 chopped green apple, 2 small chunks peanut butter, cinnamon

I tried to do reading, but was distracted my the usual roommates’ nap interference plans and charming conversation.

I threatened to send these into a male modeling agency. They weren’t into it.Another roommate found the Daiya cheese and graciously decided to test it out!

“Melts and stretches? I’m intrigued.”

What’s the verdict, Lo?

“That works. I could so be a vegan.” 🙂

A few hours (and prunes! I’m so glad y’all like them too!!) later, I prepared to venture out into the single-digit temperatures for a quick rugby practice.

Despite the fact that the only form of lip balm I could find was “merlot lip shimmer,” I came to practice prepared!

For post-practice dinner, more of the spaghetti squash that never ends. I think there’s only one serving left, finally!

Spaghetti squash over spinach with chickpeas, red pepper, onion, and daiya vegan cheese

I see what all the fuss is about with this Daiya stuff! It’s not exactly the same as cheese, but it’s very similar in texture and the taste is phenomenal.

Tomorrow’s Friday! Are y’all excited or what? Any fun plans?

Question: Do you like green apples? I always find them too tart, but when you need an apple, you need an apple.

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Flats on Ice

Hello hello everybody!

Wonderful Wednesdays all around?? Glad to hear it! Haha. I feel like Wednesday is the neutral day of the week. Yes, it’s technically in the middle, but I think Thursday is the breaking point and Wednesday’s the “Well, whatever” day. Thoughts?

I raised myself out of bed for rugby weights this morning; I’m finally back on track, and my weights (the ones I lift) are increasing as well! That’s awesome to feel. I was SO. HUNGRY. by the time I got home and showered, though! My appetite was vicious. I chose protein.

Plain greek yogurt, banana, coconut, cinnamon, & peanut butter…to-go for class!

Colorado is sunny but frigid…

 

And yet, I chose to wear flats. It seems like I nearly slip in whatever kind of shoes I’m wearing, so why fight the feeling? I wanna wear my ballet flats!!

Lunch was a clean-out-the-fridge day! I have SO much spaghetti squash left  over.

 

Spaghetti squash over mixed greens with tempeh & nutritional yeast

(I’m actually glad the tempeh’s gone; my roomie bought the “spicy” kind and it was too intense for me!)

And guess what dinner was? Don’t hate me…

Yup, the same! Hey, it really needs to be eaten up. At least it was in a different color bowl! This time, no tempeh, but canned tomatoes (ew?) and more nooch.

Prunes too! Do y’all like prunes? Not the nasty, stewed kind; I tried those this summer and I can see why many are scarred against this delicious fruit. Just buy them like raisins!

A black abyss of yummyness.

I have a confession. I’ve missed Zumba (any dance class, really) so much that I creeped online to look up classes in the area.

A 15 minute drive and I found myself here:

Yes, as a recently-turned-21-year-old, I wound up in a hokey bar to take a Zumba class. Dork alert!

The class was pretty easy, and there weren’t enough latin tunes as I would have liked, but I still really enjoyed it! Some booty-shakin’ was just what I needed. I definitely want to be a Zumba instructor one day! I nearly sprained an ankle slipping on ice (in sneakers, mind you) on my way out, but it was worth it 🙂

I’ve almost finished my reading for tonight (the early rabbis! wooo!), but I’m being distracted by my teenage sister’s college woes and my at-home boy-toy’s promises to visit me over spring break. There are worse fates!

Almost to Thursday! My favorite day of the week.

Question: Have you ever slipped on ice and totally wiped out? Did anyone see? I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t consider anything I do embarrassing, which is handy when my clumsiness gets the best of me!

21 & Other Events

Sup y’all! It was hilarious to read about your 21st birthday celebrations, even if you can’t remember them too well! I hope you can understand why it’s taken me so long to bounce back from mine…hehe.

Superbowl weekend was nicely balanced with work and play.

I partied hard (a.k.a. attended multiple house parties, hugged lots of people and stayed out until the wee hours) on Friday night, and it was just what I needed. My school is small, but there are so many kids I haven’t seen in the longest time! I even found out that one of my roommates from freshman year (I was in a triple) is getting married! Ahhh! 2 years can change so much!

I don’t really recall what I had for breakfast Saturday morning oh, that’s right! I didn’t wake up until 11 and wasn’t hungry till well past 1. But I rallied with my first attempt at socca!

Are you intrigued? Hmm?

I knew socca was a favorite of the Pure2Raw twins and the Fitnessista; they said it was easy, so I pulled my garbanzo bean flour out of the pantry and hopped to it!

I mixed equal parts garbanzo bean flour and water (1/2 cup each), then added salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme

(I definitely didn’t use thyme. My fingers were just itching to write a Simon and Garfunkel song!)

I schlopped about a tablespoon of coconut oil on the skillet and poured the batter on

I’m not coordinated enough to make multiple pancakes (as you’ll see later), so I made one big one!

I just cooked each side for a few minutes until it look toasted. I sauteed a red bell pepper in balsamic vinegar to go along with it. Good decision!

The socca was really delicious, and really filling! I guess that’s because each serving of garbanzo bean flour has 6g protein, 18g of carbohydrate (of which a hefty 5g is fiber) and an impressive 10% of the daily value for iron, and I had 2 servings! I’ll have to make this a habit; not only did it taste delicious, but the apartment smelled amazingly herby.

I went to a free hot yoga class with a friend later in the afternoon. Have y’all ever tried hot or Bikram yoga? I don’t do it often; I prefer yoga that’s more touchy-feely, inspirational, and flowing, preferably with some hipster music, candles and incense. The whole spiritual nine yards. To me, hot yoga feels more like I’m atoning for my sins by sweating buckets and holding postures for way longer than my attention span can take. But I have to admit, it feels great once in a while! There’s a CorePower yoga studio (do y’all have this chain in your state?) just minutes from campus, so I try to catch their free once-a-week hot yoga classes when I get the chance.

When I got home, I was dehydrated and starving! Good thing my muscles weren’t too tired, because I really wanted to make spaghetti squash. Here I am wrestling to cut it:

I even let my knife-happy roommate try to halve the squash. He gave up! He took a picture of me instead.

Eventually I worked that knife through that stubborn squash and got dinner on the table. I used Kath’s spaghetti squash method but I think I’m going to attempt a microwave cooking next time. I’m too impatient for the oven!

Served over spinach and tossed with chickpeas and red pepper

Later that night, when I tried to make oatmeal pancakes, I set off the smoke alarm.

Ok, so they were a little burnt. Oops?

Still delicious. In preparation for birthday celebrations, I did some late-night schoolwork (aka bible reading!) so I could relax the next day.

And relax I did! I woke up, did some Zumba, then headed to a superbowl party.

Grapefruit before I left. I mostly ate it because we have a grapefruit spoon, for once!

Packers colors?

 

Confession: I didn’t eat a lot of real food on superbowl day, so when I started birthday party #1 later that night, 2 shots went riiiiiight to me and I was pretty schwasty. But that’s appropriate for your 21st, right? My rugby team gave me one heck of a party; I’ve never felt so loved.

It’s also convenient that my teammates don’t need any convincing to drink on a Sunday night. What sports!

I headed home at 1:30 AM and went to class 8 hours later, fully coherant. Success!

Yesterday (the real birthday) the shenanigans were much more tame.

The only times I ever CRAVE bagels is after a night of heavy drinking. Luckily, someone had picked up everything bagels, my FAVORITE! I made do without cream cheese and put avocado on top.

(I don’t do that whole “I’m so hungover I can’t stand the thought of food” thing. When I’ve lost my appetite, I know something’s very, very wrong.)

Seaweed snack (I liked!)

 

And dinner with the apartment:

Potato, apple & onion casserole

(We were missing a salad, so I ended up grabbing the huge mixed greens container from the fridge and passing it around the table!)

Birthday pie (so much better than cake!)

Roomies!

The sweetest gift ever (it’s a rugby ball!)

And Monday night shenanigans.

Good thing we have geeks-in-residence to fix the stereo system!

I hope y’all have recovered from superbowl weekend easily enough! As for me, I’m hoping to get back on a proper sleep schedule by tomorrow.

Question: What’s the best gift you’ve received lately? I love my signed rugby ball, but I think heartfelt toasts are the best gift of all 🙂

 

Resolution

There’s a reason why I didn’t post yesterday.

It’s the same reason that explains why I writing this at 4 AM.

My New Year’s dinner with the family was good:

curried acorn squash puree

and mixed greens with avocado, goat cheese, almonds

When I went out to a friend’s, I ended up staying sober throughout the night, but I did consume a vast quantity of cookies. and chips with salsa con queso.

I contributed these little babies:

Magic Middle Peanut Butter Cookies

At one point a few were splayed across the carpet, along with other food and beverages, but they still got the thumbs up!

I can tell you exactly what I ate the next day:

half a pancake with (fake) syrup. 3 slices of melon. chips. chocolate covered cherries. cookies. oatmeal bars. slice of cheese & broccoli pizza. (a few) carrot sticks. kettle corn.

yup. no wonder i couldn’t sleep last night!

Thankfully, I had roped my mom into another Zumba launch at 10:30 this morning, which we attended and she loved! I’m so glad, because this is a woman who is “embarrassed how long she studied dance” because she “doesn’t have any coordination any more.” Not true, Mom!

Well, it is true that you won’t be able to shake your hips like I can. But let’s put that aside.

We stayed for BodyFlow afterwards, which sold her. She’s hooked.

It’s rainy and yucky outside, so I came home to finish out the sunflower seed butter jar!

1/3 cup rolled oats, 1/2 banana, 1 cup blueberries, cinnamon, sunflower seed butter

I haven’t had Oats in a Jar for so long! I love being able to scrape the remaining bit of nut butter from every inch of the jar. And they make great portable breakfasts when I’m at school.

I can't believe how expensive that jar was...

It feels like the end of something beautiful, and the start of something new. Appropriate, right?

There are so many things I need to do.

But I do have one resolution!

I’m going to dance.

Every day.

Whether it’s 2 hours of ballet or 5 seconds of the dougie, it’s going to happen.

What’s one resolution you fully intend to keep?

 

Gym-nice-stics

Has anyone ever watched Stick It?

It’s produced by the same writer who did Bring It On, which should give you an idea of its quality.

Nevertheless, it’s one of the only gymnastics movies out there, so my sister owns it.

Among its many snarky one-liners, we like to recite the one that goes, “It’s not called gymnicestics!“

Nasty as it may be on your body, it’s nice just to gaze in awe of that kind of grace.

That flexibility.

Those thighs.

That fearlessness.

And those little imperfections that remind me my sister is, indeed, human.

That balance is a pretty awesome thing to watch.

But life isn’t a spectator sport, so within a few hours we were onto the next order of business!

I brought my breakfast to the gym:

1/3 cup rolled oats, pomegranate arils, almonds, instant coffee powder

I wish this coffee had worked, but I’m almost certain the box is circa 1990. Anywho, the flavor was perky!

Lunch was had at home:

Rainbow chard, sauteed with chickpeas and spiced with garam masala. Topped with leftover winter squash puree!

And then we went to the mall.

After a few hours, we were all, might I say, cranky.as.fuck.

I turned to a grande pumpkin spice latte with soy milk for salvation:

With a handful of almonds in the car ride back, I was content again and ready to attend the Zumba launch at my gym!

Verdict? I loved it. I like it more than BodyJam classes, because I prefer latin music and hip shaking than jazz with footwork. I’m sad that I’ll only be able to take advantage of it for a few days before I leave for Colorado!

Good thing my friends don’t shun me when I show up to their house a sweaty mess:I just don’t get a Snuggy.

And then my sister bakes molasses muffins.

Are you sure it’s not called gymnicestics?

 

 

Typical Townie

Because our guests were still sleeping early this morning, I snuck out to do rugby weights #2.

1/4 banana, side of guilt.

What? I had to.

I made it back to town to do some main-street snooping…

Essex, CT: The best small town in America.

What? Look it up. No, seriously.

The coffee shop was out of soy milk (story of my life…) so I got a cup of Hawaiian Hazelnut coffee with a tiny bit of 2% milk. My last attempt to drink a latte with lactose didn’t work out perfectly.

(Aaaand this is why I never paint my nails.)

Our guests wanted to do what any other Connecticut shoreline tourists would want to do…

…shop at one of the two outlet centers that grace our 20-minute radius.

I’m not complaining! Mom bought me two stylish, work-appropriate, figure-hugging dresses at Banana Republic.

Ironically, I then had to flee to the other outlet mall to work!

The fuel for this day was not ideal:

I found a sketchy but HUGE apple sitting on the floor of my car.

Next to a pencil, too. That’s suspiciously coordinated.

And I munched on almonds through the morning, with some snuck at work, too.

Work today (it’s a baby and kids store) was like World Languages day!! I heard conversations in French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. Naam, el-Arabi!

I definitely freaked out the two Arabic-speaking families by trying to converse with them…but I was ecstatic to use my limited vocabulary:)

Or should I say,  فرحانه (farhaanah: happy)!!

I found myself back on this same street (look to the inn on the left) for dinner:

The Griswold Inn, established in 1776.

We all just had to laugh when we saw the menu!

The Gris is an old, traditional, very reputable inn, but my mother, myself, and our guests are all vegetarian.

And the menu: meat, meat, meat, meat, and more meat.

Granted, it was fare like quail, venision, and moose, and I would feel better eating those than other animals…

but we all decided to go with with the salad of beets and sides:red & yellow beets, pistachios, goat cheese

I’m so glad I was never exposed to beets as a kid, because I know I would’ve been scarred for life. We’re friends now 🙂

bread rolls for the table. whatever happened to variety?My side of winter squash pureé

It wouldn’t be the Griswold Inn without its colonial-era-dressed waiters and carolers. We weren’t impressed with either, but when you’ve got good company at your table, who cares?

I’m continuing getting my small-town on again tomorrow, at my sister’s gymnastics meet!

Question: What’s your city/town/area’s claim to fame? My hometown was attacked by the British and boasts a fine array of sailboats. Did you notice the nautical-trimmed plate?