Argh to Ahhhh

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What a long and exciting day it has been!  I’ll start from the begining…..we were up too late after the semi-formal and I was not feeling it this morning.  I felt so gross I almost called in from volunteering, but I knew it was more about being tired than being contagious.  I told myself that I would suck it up and go and planned a reward/major sugar and caffeine rush for breakfast.  I ate a Cliff Mojo Trail Mix Bar on the walk to the hospital.

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Adam had been driving me but it’s only about a half a mile a way.  I should have walked further though, because when I got to the hospital I ordered this –

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cookies and cream javalanche (i.e. frozen coffee).  Oh man, I felt like a 24year old and not a college kid because this made me so sick!  I got about 3/4 through before I threw in the towel but I spent the first hour or so of volunteering wishing I had somewhere quiet to puke!

Volunteeringwas much better today than it had been, because I finally had a bit more to do.  I spent several hours making catheter packs and the repetition was very cathartic.  There was some sadness and hubbub because a DNRpatient coded but getting to see all the UB med students rush in the room got me so excited about my husband 🙂

For lunch I let my uber unhealthy breakfast guide me away from pizza and toward the sandwich counter.

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Sliced turkey with spring mix lettuce, sun dried tomatoes, and chipotle sauce on pumpernickel bread.

When I got home I found a very exciting package, and a review is to come.

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I also had to go to the post office to pick up more excitement from my parents.

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(Among other things) they were in San Francisco last weekend and they sent me all of these goodies they bought along the way.  I also got an Amazon order with two books my mom had bought me for my birthday that were on hold.

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Right now my “to read” bookshelf is packed 🙂

As soon as we got home from the post office we had visitors!  Adam’s mom and dad came up for his white coat ceremony tomorrow and they are staying with their friend Peg in Warsaw.  The three of them drove over tonight to meet us for dinner.  We hung out and showed them our new digs before we walked across the street for dinner here –

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We tried Tempo, and Italian spot on our block, and looooooved it.  We sat on the patio which was gorgeous.

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It came up that I had a food blogand we ended up gettingto meet the chef!  If that wasn’t exciting enough he sent out an extra course for us to sample.  All in all the service was impeccableand the experience was amazing.

I nused a glass of riesling, Richter Porter, Germany, throughout dinner that I adored.

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Soon after we were seated we were delivered an antipasto plate – eggplant tapenade, fresh feta, olives – and some fresh homemade foccacia.

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Here was my plate –

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For my first course I ordered the eggplant antipasto fried eggplant/goat cheese/olive tapenade/sun dried tomato vinaigrette/baby greens.

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How gorgeous is that?!?

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The eggplant was unbelievably fresh and the tanginess of the sauce complimented the dish wonderfully.  I ate it all except for a few shared bites.

After the appetizers the chef sent out three plates for our table to try.

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Respectively they were: a. gnocchi in a favabean sauce, beef carpaccio, and a zucchini stuffed with bacon risotto.

Since I don’t eat mammals there were parts I couldn’t eat, but I had small tastes of each –

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The gnocchi was a-maze-ing.  It was the best texture ever, chewy and airy all at the same time.  I realize the bacon was cooked into the the risotto but I said screw it and just sort of ate around it, it was creamy and smokey and great.  And my husband said the beef reminded him slightly of salmon and was delicious.  We just couldn’t get over how fresh everything tasted.

For my entree I ordered the Gnocchi Pomodoro housemade gnocchi/pomodoro sauce/fresh mozzarella.

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I couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful all of the dishes were.

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The gnocchiwas amazing, as before, and the best way to describe the pomodoro sauce is that it tasted made from scratch.  We were getting stuffed at this point and I still managed to eat all but a few bites, though I did peel away most of the cheese.

Stuffed, however, does not mean too stuffed for dessert!  My mother in law ordered a trio of sorbets, best she’d ever had she said, and Peg raved about the cannolli but I was too busy swooning to taste anybody else’s!

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Butter Pecan Gelato with biscotti and housemade fudge sauce.  Adam and I split this but if I hadn’t been so stuffed I probably would not have let him have any!  The gelato was great (again, it was just so clearly homemade) but nothing on this Earth is as good as that frickin’ fudge sauce.  The very best comparison I can make, which doesn’t even begin to do it justice, is that it reminded me of baking chocolate squares, if they were somehow the most amazing thing on Earth.

Adam actually commented after dinner how much he enjoyed watching me enjoy my food 🙂

We walked our guests to their car and since I was too close to exploding to sit back down we spent 20minutes taking a nice walk around our neighborhood.  I called my parents to thank them for the gifts and swooned about dinner all over again.  Now Adam is studying and I am going to do some blog business and then aim for a 10pm deadline.  Sweet dreams.

When was the last great meal you had?  Other than tonight’s amazingness, and the world’s best sandwiches at Serendipity, I would say this meal.

Semi-Formal

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It’s a late night so this has to be quick, but we had a great time at the semi-formal!  I talked to some really fun people and it was great getting to dance with my husband.  Getting low in heels is pretty much an awesome thigh work-out!

I wore my new gold necklace from BR,

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and the shoes I rocked at my wedding!

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Here is Adam and I at the end of the night –

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I got to know the people at our table pretty well and I explained about the food blog so I ended up taking a picture of dinner.

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It was buffet style and I got salad, roasted veggies, penne a la vodka, and a roll.

Adam and I split a small slice of cheesecake for dessert.

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And I also had 2 glasses of white wine.

Tomorrow is another day of volunteering, in addition to Adam’s first day of actual classes; send him good luck thoughts!  See ya tomorrow.

Prep = Snap

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Since I started to prepare ingredients yesterday making breakfast this morning was a snap.  All I needed was a pan and 4 eggs.

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For two servings I used (approx) 2C kale, 2t evoo, 2oz extra sharp cheddar.  Look at those yummy greens.

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Lunch was less than stellar in the greens department for the second day in a row.

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Who could pass up buffalo chicken pizza?  The vouchers we get wouldn’t cover pizza and a salad and I’d rather not spend my own money at the hospital.

Volunteering went well again, although I wish I had more to do.  I’m there 6hours a day and they don’t go by very quickly!

When I got home I made the afternoon snack of artificially flavored champions.

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Diet cherry flavored colas are my favorite kind of soda.  I bought the candy – Kazoozles, which were like Twizzlers filled with goo and made by Wonka – at the gas station yesterday because pink lemonade totally caught my eye.

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Tonight is Adam’s semi-formal.  I’m not planning on taking pictures – tonight is his night, it’s not the appropriate time to explain about the blog – but I will do a full recap.  I will definitely take pictures of my new dress though.  See you when I get home from the ball!

What do you do to ensure a healthy breakfast?

Bad Etiquette?

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When Adam got home we spent some time cuddling/discussing his day and then I made some business phone calls.  Among other things, calling Budget insurance which is being ridiculous; our mattress was ruined on the move due to a leak and making a claim has been impossible.

I decided to eat my Newman’s Own Organic 77% Chocolate bar as a pick me up before our run.

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I had half of it (serving size was the entire bar), and oh yes that is sunflower seed butter spread on those two pieces!

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Unfortunately, my pick me up was more of a weigh me down, as now I am having major tummy troubles.  I love love love Newman’s Own Organic products but the last time I had one of these bars I had stomach issues too so I have to think there is a problem with them.  Has anyone else tried these and had issues?

To be honest I was feeling pretty lazy anyways so I am (almost) glad to have an excuse not to exercise!  I very happily filled the time pouring through cookbooks and making a list of “to try now” recipes!

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Over the course of the evening I ended up looking through every single cookbook and now I have quite an exciting list.

In the middle of it all I drove Adam out to his event.  When I got home I walked to the gas station across the street to buy cheese for tomorrow and I ended up walking to Arbys for dinner on a whim.  I got flustered so I decided to do 5-for-5 but when I realized there was no chicken on that menu I got even more flustered and I ended up ordering this –

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Left to right: onion rings, curly fries, mozzarella sticks, jamocho shake, diet dr. pepper.  I ate a few bites of everything (except for the shake which I had 90% of and the pop which I had 100%) and then threw the rest in the trash –

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  1. I know that was a major waste of food
  2. I am aware that I am a totally fattie
  3. I realize this is totally against food blogger customs (which is kind of sad actually, I wonder how many readers look at some of the bigger name blogs and feel crappy because they actually eat fast food more than once a millenia?)

I wasn’t hungry for real food but I did manage to prep my ingredients for breakfast tomorrow morning.

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We are having (better) eggs tomorrow so I sliced 2ish oz of Hellva Good Sharp Cheddar Cheese and sauteed ~1.5C of kale in 1t evoo and 4-5T water.  Not only will things be quicker tomorrow but I am much more likely to get up and make a healthy breakfast if I know I’ve already done some of the work.

I’m going to hang out while I wait to pick up the husband and my goal continues to be bed before 11 – I’ve made it the past two nights, but hopefully tonight I’ll actually fall asleep then!  Sweet dreams.

How often do you eat fast food?  We do not eat fast food all that often (especially because other than Wendys it doesn’t do much for me, making it not a “splurge” but a waste) but we do rely on it from time to time.  There are places I will not eat at because of ethical issues – hello kfc – but other than that I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.  I grew up eating pretty healthy, but once a week my family would go out to dinner.  For a while when I was 6-8ish we didn’t have much money but we continued the tradition by going to McDonalds once a week.  Those 5chicken nuggets didn’t do irreparable damage and I have fabulous memories with my mom and dad.

Am I Awake?

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Thanks so much for all the half marathon support guys!  I am very excited and nervous but since I’m not starting training until September I am trying not to obsess about it until then 🙂

I was running too late to post this morning but I did manage to make breakfast for myself and the hubby.  Just barely though, my dreams have been throwing me off!  All this week I’ve been having very realistic dreams that then confuse me when I wake up.  Today I dreamed 3 times in a a row (in such realistic detail that it was like watching freakin Food Network) that I was cooking eggs; I ended up oversleeping.  And then when I got up I made eggs.

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For 2 servings I used 4whites and 1 whole egg, 1t evoo, and ~2/3C chopped broccoli.  I was proud of myself for using leftovers (broccoli from our AnTEAoxident pasta and egg whites from our homemade ice cream) but I went wrong somewhere because I barely made any.  I ended up giving part of my (small) portion to Adam so he had enough to eat.

I got to the hospital for volunteering early so I got a frozen coffee to make up for the eggs.

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This wasn’t the healthiest of choices (although it sort of was, which was disappointing for a hospital cafe) but I was majorly craving frozen coffee and it hit the spot.

Today was my first day on my actual placement for the next three weeks of volunteering – dialysis.  I learned a few interesting things but the ward was really slow today so there wasn’t much of me to do.  I hope I’m not having to stand around as much tomorrow.

For lunch I used my voucher to get a slice of white pizza with black olives.

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Delish!  The only way it could have tasted better is if the olives were green, which I’ve discovered is the best pizza topping ever.

When I got home I realized another positive to having volunteering being my only responsibility for the next few weeks: this gets to be my uniform once I get home at 2:30 –

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Fun fact – I was wearing these pajama pants (which actually used to belong to Adam) on Christmas morning when Adam proposed to me!

On the agenda for this evening is a short run, a super low-key dinner, and a fun project.  Adam has another “first week” event tonight so I’ll be on my own.  See ya later alligators!

Have you ever volunteered?  What did you do?  I volunteered at a hospital in Brooklyn last year and in high school I did most of my 40required hours at the animal shelter.

Excited!

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First things first, my exciting news – one of my best friends and I just registered for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in March!  I am super excited but very nervous.  I am sure you will hear lots lots more about it in the upcoming months, especially once I start my training in September.

My parents had lots of excitment for us at the post office –

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They sent magazines, books, bath products, and a huge stack of cookbooks I’ve stored at home for the last few years.

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That isn’t even all of them, some didn’t make the cut!

They also mailed the two adorable vases I bought an Anthropologie years before I had anywhere to put them.

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Now they are right at home on my cookbook shelf 🙂

Adam and I spent some time talking about his first day and looking over his schedule and then we got started on dinner.  We made a recipe from the March issue of Fitness in under 30minutes!  I’ll post the recipe below but just to warn you, I’m not so big on measuring – I used way less cilantro and peanuts than called for, and more chicken because the husband scoffed at the suggested portion.  Also, where it called for sesame oil and red pepper I used 1t of the chipotle oil* my mom sent instead.

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Here was my portion –

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It was pretty darn delicious.

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Cilantro Chicken with Peanuts, serves 2, from the March ’09 issue of Fitness

  • 8oz skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into strips
  • 1t cooking oil
  • 2t reduced sodium soy sauce
  • 1t rice vinegar
  • 1/2t roasted sesame oil
  • 1/4t crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3/4C fresh cilantro leaves
  • 2C Chinese cabbage, finely shredded
  • 2T dry roasted peanuts
  1. In a medium nonstick skillet, cook chicken over medium-high heat 3-4minutes, or until chicken is tender and no longer pink.
  2. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and pepper.  Stir and cook 1 more minute.
  3. Remove from heat.  Stir in cilantro.
  4. To serve, spoon mixture over cabbage and sprinkle on peanuts.

If you follow the recipe the nutritional stats per serving are: 231calories, 30g protein, 6g carbohydrates, 10g fat (2g saturated), 4g fiber.

After dinner I ate a serving of Lindt mini truffles (180calories for 3, in fantastmic flavors like cappuccino, caramel, and hazelnut) before I got ready to go out.

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Adam had a first day of medical school mixer at a bar nearish our apartment.  I wore my new perfume – how cute is that packaging?

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And my new favorite shirt.

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I met a lot of neat people, it seems like he has a pretty great class.  We stayed until almost 10 playing pool and chatting.  I drank this x2 –

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The bar made its own microbrews, I had a Blueberry Blonde Ale and an Irish Oat Stout.

My goal is bedtime by 11 again, especially because I’m hoping to get up and cook Adam breakfast tomorrow.  Sweet dreams all!

Have you ever run any sort of race?  How did it go?

Get Excited…

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So this has to be another quick post because Adam is on his way home from his first day of medical school and he is picking me up to go to the post office.

My first day of volunteering went well, just for today I did clerical work a couple of places.  I have to have patient contact for the rest of my time but I really enjoyed today, did you know that when I was a little kid I dreamed of growing up to be a secretary?!  I used to help my mom in her library and I thought that stamping, and filing, etc was just so much fun!

I got a break for lunch around 12:30 today.  We get a free voucher for food but I was a little confused and worried about going over the limit so I ended up with a teeny salad.

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Spring mix with peas, 1/2 a hard-boiled egg, an artichoke heart, green olives, cucumber, balsamic vinegar and evoo.  It ended up being way too salty so small as it was I only ate half.  I’m going to try to get a snack a little later.

I’ve got to run, but I have super super super exciting news coming in the next post.  I won’t be posting until late because I’m going to an event with the husband tonight but see if you can guess my news…

  1. I’ll be going to FL
  2. I am not at all ready
  3. 3:30:00

P.S. Giveaways –

  1. click me
  2. click me also

Give Fuzz a Chance

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This has to be quick because I am leaving to start my volunteering shift (from 8-2) in just a few minutes.  I skipped posting last night because I did (and ate) nothing worth mentioning.  I spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch with the husband, eating crap and watching movies.  It was glorious 🙂

This morning I made this bowl for breakfast –

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  • 1 YoKids Strawberry Lowfat Yogurt
  • 1 huge, fuzz-intact kiwi
  • 1t peanuts

I’ve seen other bloggers eat kiwi au natural for years and I finally had to try it.  The verdict?  I prefer them clean, but for convenience sake this was pretty good.

Do you eat your kiwis fuzz-on?