Author Archives: Emily

Surprising Satisfactions

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I was surprised and satisfied when I woke up at 6am this morning to register for summer school and I got into all of the classes I need.  Whoopie!!!  My exams at UB end May 6th and then here is my class schedule for this summer –

  • Sociology 100 – MTWRF 10:30-12:40, June 1st – June 26th
  • Anatomy Physiology – MWF 3:00-4:50, June 1st – July 17th
  • Introductory Nutrition – Online, June 28th – July 21st

It’s going to be a really challenging summer but I’m so excited to get started.  I just hope I’m as lucky with registration for fall classes next week.

I was surprisingly satisfied by how tasty my in-the-car-breakfast was.  A huge hunk of coconut banana bread,

and a Greek Gods Fig Greek Yogurt.

Greek Gods is my very favorite yogurt brand.  The texture and flavor is the absolute best in Greek yogurt and the packaging is adorable.

I ate in the car because I headed to school with Adam this morning.  My production level at home is abysmal and I have work that has to get done today.  While I was taking a computer break I was surprised and satisfied to see that I earned a 94% on the last Anthropology exam, go me!

Walking around campus I was surprised and satisfied to see all the signs of Spring in spite of the especially cold April weather.

I hung out in the campus library from 8-12 and then when Adam got out of class we headed over to The Spot and continued the study session there.  I was satisfied but surprised by my Mikes (egg and cheese) Bagel Sandwich.

Tasty and filling but I’m not sure it why it looked like such a hot mess.

The plan for the evening is a dinner that’s quick and easy (just like your boyfriend! ba doom ching!) and cuddle on the couch tv time.  With a big scoop of excitement mixed in – we are getting dessert from Dolci!  I’ve had my eye on it all year and we are finally trying it out.

What were you surprised and/or satisfied by today?

Summer Goals

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Another excited yet lame blog post from Eatventures?  Nah, you’ve got to be kidding me!  And I’m not going to lie to my readers and say “it’ll be better soon.”  Because it won’t.  I’ve got finals folks, and now it’s time for me to learn all of the material I’ve been ignoring the last month!  But I do promise to keep posting at least daily (because people would totally die without reading about my lunch?!?!), and to work on stepping it up this summer.  In fact, I’ve got all sorts of goals for this summer –

  • start running again (slowly and carefully!) once my leg fully heals
  • get into a daily exercise schedule before I start full-time school
  • post more regularly on the blog
  • purchase a domain name and go all official (fingers crossed)
  • rock out my summer school classes
  • find a new, better apartment and move into it
  • turn 25!

This morning’s goal was to tackle some issues with my financial aid.  I was trapped on the phone all morning so I ended up eating a bun spread with a little bit of Smart Balance Light.

And that candy bar was decimated.

When I was finally free I made a real breakfast.

Plain non-fat yogurt topped with honey and a sliced plum.  This guy was a little too sour but I am so excited about plum season; they are my favorite fruit yogurt topper.

Unfortunately I ate so late that I wasn’t hungry for lunch.  And even more unfortunately I failed to plan ahead.  So lunch was most of this trail mix eaten during Anthropology.

I ate ~500calories worth, so it certainly covered lunch, but not in any sort of healthy way.  Plus I ended up feeling totally ill.  Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Bellyache be damned though, I wasn’t passing up an on-campus opportunity; bubble teas are few and far between in Buffalo.

Strawberry milk tea with bobba.  It was way too sweet but I was kind of in love with it anyways.

Classes are done, whoopie!  Now I just have to huge finals before I’m through with UB.  (Dear God, that was not supposed to rhyme)

Dinner was leftovers, with a twist.

I didn’t want to use another bun so I ate my sloppy joe mix in a bowl, topped with 2% colby jack, Siracha, low fat sour cream, and the last of the homemade pineapple salsa.

This mix of flavors was so darn good!

That glass of sludge is plain non-fat Kefir with cinnamon-sugar swirled in.

I’m posting so late because Adam and I went on a Buffy binge, but also because I did some baking.

Coconut Banana Bread.  I followed this recipe but skipped the glaze.  Make this, make this, make this!  The flavor profile is spot on.  I might have had a slice or three.

Bed time?  Bed time!

What are some of your goals for this summer?

Down in Lunch Lady Land

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Why yes, I am posting at midnight.  Is it possible my sleep schedule needs a wee bit of work?  Perhaps I should grow up a bit and learn to not watch Buffy the husband all night prioritize?  I will keep this quick though.  Like super quick.

We had lab check out today, I ate a Cookie Dough Balance Bar during final exam review.  (18words, speed it up, Emily!)

Good God I love those bars!  Did not really dent my hunger though.  And my plan was to swim afterward but I didn’t so I ended up stuck at campus waiting for Adam.  I did a 40minute swim on Monday and my ears have been hurting, better safe than sorry so I’m not swimming again ’till this weekend.

While I waited I did hit up Starbucks.

Tall, non-fat, iced, cinnamon-dolce latte.  I literally had to tell the barista that I was aware that “my drink has too many adjectives!”  I almost was starved into an item from the display case but I was too excited about my planned lunch.

I decided to bring back taco salads.  This guy had a lettuce base with black beans, crushed blue tortilla chips, 2% colby jack, low fat sour cream, and homemade pineapple salsa.

Do that not just sound/look like the best salad ever?

Well it WAS NOT.  Holy yuck!  The lettuce was so bitter that I seriously gagged on it.  I did my best to pick off the toppings but I ended up having to throw most of it away.

Not surprisingly, I was still hungry, so I popped a frozen mac and cheese into the microwave.

Much better.

Whilst hanging out this afternoon I snacked on too much some of this Divine candy bar.

It had crunchy, but yet still juicy, pieces of dried strawberry all throughout, so yum!

Dinner looked like this –

I used a Cooking Light recipe for Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes.

The sauce was more Joe’s cousin James than full on, but still very tasty.  I used ground turkey meat, of course.

And for our side I did a quick saute of chopped okra, frozen turnip greens, and chopped turkey bacon.

Dinner was good, but Adam and I were mostly excited for dessert.

What’s that?  Oh, not much, just a toasted marshmallow milkshake!

The recipe comes from Rachael Ray Magazine, and yes it was amazing.  I did sub in reduced fat varieties though.

It is undeniably bedtime.  Sweet dreams!

What’s your favorite Adam Sandler song?  When his stuff was popular my parents wouldn’t let me buy the cds, which was ironic because I owned several Jerky Boys cds!

Earthlings

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This is a cursory post but I wanted to stop in.  I didn’t eat a single veggie today, but I also just didn’t eat much in general.

While studying on campus I drank a frozen coffee with coconut.

After my test I went with Adam to Jamba Juice for a Pink Star smoothie.

Before class I grabbed an everything bagel with cream cheese.

And on the way home I ate a bag of chips.  [I realize my food choices today won’t be winning any awards]

And that was it.

Dinner didn’t happen.  In spite of the warnings from fellow bloggers about it’s graphic nature I decided to watch the trailer for Earthlings WARNING Clip plays immediately.  I think the movie is a great idea and I’m glad that a lot of cities have been having showings recently.  But for me it was not a good idea.

I know how animals are treated in factory farms.  I wouldn’t eat mammals regardless, but I recognize that if I can’t see the process for fish and fowl then I shouldn’t be eating them.  I do, however, disagree with conventional meat (fish/fowl) production which is why Adam and I are going to make more of an effort to purchase ethically.

But I do not believe in the fur industry.  I have never believed in the fur industry, I’ve always been staunchly against it.  I’ve said for months that Kanye West is a monster.  I do not need to learn more about the fur industry, there is nothing that could convince me to be more against it than I already am.  So seeing clips of animals within the fur industry was not a learning experience for me.

I cried for 20minutes.  I’ve described the exact process I watched, in detail, but actually seeing it was heart-wrenching for me.  Of course I was bothered by the clips of the farm animals and seals, but when the video reached the part with the fox I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.  Watching that clip was genuinely the worst I’ve ever felt.  Adam sat on the couch and rubbed my back and he told me later that he’s never seen me react to something like that before (and we’ve been through some pretty hard experiences).

Sometimes the fact that human beings are so awful just makes me feel hopeless.  Like there’s nothing I can do that will be good enough to counteract all the bad out there.  On some level I really do believe in a balance of positive and negative energy, so modern humans scare me.  How can we put so much hate into the world?

Have you seen, or are you going to see Earthlings?  Have you seen the trailer?

The Little Dutch Girl

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*Not a post!*  I have my anthro exam in just a bit and I’ve still got some studying to do.  I just wanted to apologize for bailing yesterday.  I wax poetic about 3-post-days and they ditch you guys again 😀

Nothing that exciting happened foodwise, so I’ll skip the recap.  I will say, that living in this apartment is like an adventure.  You never know what new and exciting thing is going to break.  So many areas in this little apartment have leaked in the past few months that I’m starting to feel like the little Dutch boy with my finger in the dyke!!!

What’s your living situation?  Rent, own, dorm, or still at home?  Are you in your Barbie Dream House or trying to escape like me?

Pineapple Paradise

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In spite of getting to sleep long after 3am – due to a combination of difficult homework, frivolous blog reading, and annoying insomnia – I knew I needed an early morning to finish my assignment on time.  I knew it, but unfortunately Adam’s reflexes didn’t, and he turned off my alarm before I even woke up.  Thankfully my little bad influence’s own alarm was set for 8:30 so not too much time was lost.

I got right to work and managed to finish up by 10am, 2 whole hours before the due date 😉  I will say that I’m pretty darn nervous for my Chemistry final.  And more than a little bit ticked off; the amount of material (and degree of difficulty) they are trying to squeeze into the last week of class is a bit ludicrous.  I would feel a lot more comfortable if we had some review of the concepts, but sadly the final will be the first time we are tested on them.

I have ZERO complaints about this morning’s breakfast though.

1/2 cup plain, fat free yogurt with Crofter’s Superfruit Spread stirred in.  Which isn’t exciting at all.

But it becomes exciting rather quickly when topped with this –

We have some leftover canned pineapple rings from a recipe last week that weren’t exactly thrilling me.  So I sprinkled them with brown sugar and roasted those bad boys!  Everything is better roasted, period!

I ate three tasty rings atop my yogurt.

Perfection.  The pineapple ended up not being too sweet or too tangy, and finding carmelized bits in your yogurt is pretty exciting.  Plus the texture was perfect, almost a bit chewy like dried fruit.

On the agenda for the rest of the day?

  • Anthropology studying (ya know, for my test tomorrow)
  • a swim work out at the UB pool
  • putting away the dry cleaning we picked up more than a week ago
  • some baking fun; fingers crossed!

Do you have any pineapple recipe recommendations for me?  I’ve still got half a can left!

Sunday, Study Sunday

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It’s almost Monday, I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Today started off with some glitching, but ended up being quite productive (and fun!).  Continuing with my oh-so-healthy late night habits [insert sarcasm here] I’m going to work on some homework after posting so I’ve got to keep this quick.

And I’ll use my quickness excuse [see above] to not have to explain why breakfast looked like this –

I’d been excited about key lime since this month’s custard calendar first came out, but sadly it was a bust.  No tang at all, it basically tasted like vanilla which I hate.  I ate less than 1/3 of it.

I was disappointed about my ice-cream and my few bites fully kick-started my hunger the result of which, sadly, was a bit of a temper tantrum when we got home [blush] 😦  Thankfully the sweetest man on earth, aka my husband, saved the day by suggesting we go out to lunch before heading to our study session.

Pearl Street + lunch =

– sun =

2nd time’s the charm!

We decided to split lunch which worked out perfectly (although we ate off a communal plate so I don’t have photos of my portions; you can assume I ate roughly half).  We had our own drinks though, the husband can consume a beer and still study but my light-weight tendencies meant I guzzled iced tea instead.

To start we got a bowl of the Gouda Soup.

Holy yum!  It was a blend of smoked Gouda and the house made Lighthouse Ale.  I pretty much adore soups with booze in them.

As well as the fish fry.

I could tell it was well done but this pretty much confirmed my idea that I don’t like fried things that are not french fries.  The fries, however, got doused with malt vinegar and rocked my socks.

After lunch we spent the rest of the day (3pm-10pm) studying at The Spot.  I got a ton done for Tuesday’s Anthropology exam (basically all the stuff I should have been doing the past 3weeks).  At one point in the afternoon I ordered a medium iced coffee with skim milk and amaretto syrup.

And for dinner I went with the pizza bagel.

Yummy, and the perfect studying “carrot.”  Cut into 8ths and eaten at 5page intervals this meal lasted more than 1.5hours.

During our one (extended) study break the husband and I actually had a long talk about factory farming / welfare / American food production / corn / etc.  The end consensus is that we’ve been shopping based on $ since moving to Buffalo and we are going to make a much bigger effort for now on to only purchase sustainably and morally farmed meat and dairy products.

Now we are home, and I’m munching on the last of the fresh pineapple.

I’m planning on staying up to work on this homework assignment so I’m not sure what tomorrow’s deal will be.  I hope everyone else gets to bed early in preparation for another work week!

What guides your meat and dairy purchases?  Nutrition, money, morals, other, or some combination of the above?

One-a-Day, Fun-a-Day

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I couldn’t manage to make this a three-post sort of day, but it was a lot of fun!  Tomorrow and Monday are going to be all about Anthro so I’m glad I squeezed some joy in today.

When I woke up this morning I was so hungry I was actually a little angry about it!  Sometimes when I’m so hungry I feel like I could eat a horse I end up not eating anything at all because it seems like no matter what I try I’ll still be hungry!!!  Plus I knew I had a fun lunch date to look forward to 😉

Katie and I have been planning a trip to the hot bar at the Lexington Co-op for months.  The co-op only has outside seating and it was 45* outside today but that wasn’t going to stop us, we just bundled up!

And ordered hot coffee (with skim milk).

Foodwise I went with a bunch of fun tastes.

Stuffed grape leaves and some massaged kale,

An amazing falafel – it tasted like it was baked instead of fried and the outside was super thick and crunchy,

curried chicken salad, and chicken salad with almonds and grapes,

and some Thai cucumber salad with peanuts.

Yumtastic!  I adore meals where I get a bunch of different tastes, I find I feel much more satisfied.

Afterward I picked up some fun bargains at the co-op, as well as dessert.

That peanut butter swirl brownie was literally gone in less than 2minutes!

Later in the afternoon the husband and I headed to the movie theatre to see Kick Ass.  The movie was pretty kick ass (hehe) but holy moley was there a lot of explicit language and violence!

I too felt like a superhero when I got tonight’s dinner on the table.

The bacon fettuccine alfredo was almost tastier leftover than it was the first night.

And for our veggies I made the world’s best dish from yesterday’s lunch: kale and eggplant with worchestire and marinara; I left out the okra because the husband thinks it looks like spider eggs!

The pasta and the veggies ended up working together perfectly.

Dinner was a definite success.

However, a few hours later (now) I did end up feeling some hunger.  I knew I was heading to bed soon and didn’t want something heavy so I decided to try the packet of chocolate whey protein I picked up.

Shaken with 8oz of skim milk.

Meh?  It wasn’t bad, but I feel like there are a lot more exciting (natural?) sources of protein.  That’s not to say I wouldn’t try another variety though.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend thus far, enjoy your Sundays!

What is your feeling on protein powders?  Any recommendations (or warnings) for me?