Bye, Brooklyn Bloggers

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Our mini-meet-up was a success; good food and great company!  Diana, Vani, Sarah, and I met up at Organic Heights, a vegan spot near the Bergen stop.

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It was a cute little restaurant although the menu was also pretty little.  I am a Reuben (turkey Reubens only) fanatic so when I saw tempeh Reuben my order was obvious.

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I ate none of the salad and 95% of the sandwich.  It was de-lish-ous!  The bread was sourdough, which is always fantastic, and they got the tempeh chewy and wonderful in a way I never could.

To drink (my third bought drink of the day, I think I went a little over calorie/$ budget in liquids today) I got a Vita Coco.

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It was great getting to spend a final bit of time with that group of girls.  I have met some really wonderful people through this experience.  We sat after dinner and had a big chatfest which is exactly what I needed this stressful week.

Diana was a sweetheart and brought us all homemade, vegan, chocolate chip cookie/brownie bars.

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They were delicious.  They did not deter me, however, from getting suckered into Haagen Dazs which is across the street from where Adam and I had to go after dinner to deposit a birthday check from my grandma.  I got a mint chip dazzler.  I couldn’t take a picture due to drippage but think of the biggest sundae acceptable for a grown woman to eat and multiply it by 3!  I threw away half of it and it was still a ridiculous serving.

On a similar note, I think the thing I am most excited about in the move is shaking up my routines.  This year (and the last month especially due to move circumstances) we have done so little cooking.  I really do love my time in a kitchen.  When people play the ‘if you won the lottery….’ game with me the very first thing that pops into my head is culinary school.

Our exercise schedule, or lack thereof, could also use a good shaking.  I am 24, the amount of stiffness and lack of energy I currently have is unacceptable to me.  Even if I hadn’t recently discovered that I’m 10+lbs over where I want to be, I don’t like the way I feel.  Aside from long-term health benefits and looking good I like to be active because I enjoy the way I feel in my body when it is in shape.  The CPR instructor yesterday did a quick heart health speech and he made a very good point – this is the only body you have.

So now I’m going to try to take my only body and actually get it in bed a reasonable time!  Peace y’all.

What do you need to shake up?

P.S.  Who doesn’t want Chiobani????

Too Hot

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Woo-who, it is a scorcher today!  You’d think I’d be used to it from growing up on an island but I hate hot weather!  I just feel so puffy and sticky and gross!  I was too hot this morning for breakfast, Adam and I did some move strategizing but mostly I laid around and acted snippy (these days leading up to the move have not exactly been my shining moments).

Lunch, however, was very exciting.  In fact, it was my final check on my ‘to do before the move’ list.  I had to go to the city for a doctors appointment so I had lunch from the Whole Foods Buffet.  There isn’t a Whole Foods (or a Trader Joes, tear!) in Buffalo so this was a must.  On the train ride up I tried to combat the heat by splitting a Bolthouse Farms Mango Lemonade with Adam.

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Please excuse the crappy pictures, I forgot my camera and had to use the husband’s cell phone.  For lunch I chose vegetarian.

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Steamed veggies, okra marsala, lemon baked tofu, and Caesar salad.  I had this okra marsala once before and fell in love – it is chewy and spicy and delicious.  To drink I had a hibiscus and lime Ooba.

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Check!

The doctors office went ok, I currently have 4 plantar warts on my left foot, ugh!  My protein light lunch left me pretty hungry and when I was still complaining after my appointment so Adam bought me some corn chips.

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I have been randomly craving Fritos (I haven’t had them in years and years) the last week or so and these perfectly hit the spot.  Plus, kudos to Utz, this bag had only 150calories, the reason I hadn’t just bought Fritos is because the “small” bags were all 300calories+.  Another fun fact about Utz – I got to tour their chip factory as a teenager and it rocked my socks.

Before you think “God she eats a lot of crap,” go ahead and picture a slice of provolone cheese with two slices of bread, because that’s what I ate when I got home.  I was too lazy to take a picture but the whole thing was 210 calories if that helps you to visualize.

I have fun plans for dinner too: a mini blogger meet up at a new restaurant.  See you then.

Do you prefer hot or cold weather?  I can handle cold, but hot makes me crazy.  The main thing is that my body really reacts to temperature so when it’s hot my jewelry is all too tight and my clothing feels super uncomfortable.

Thunder, Turkey, Too Much

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I am so hungry!  I’ve eaten so much, as you will see in this post, and I am still starving!  I finally just stopped eating because it was getting ridiculous.

We didn’t have much to get at the grocery store for this week – milk, bread – but we stocked up on some snacks for our upcoming road-trip.  Due to some plan changes I just found out that I will be driving from the city to Buffalo alone by myself in the car.  It’s a little scary – moving vehicles put me to sleep in minutes – but my plan of attack is to do a lot of snacking and chug some sugar free energy drinks.  By the way, for obvious reasons, I won’t be blogging during the move.  We lose our internet this Wednesday and it won’t be set up in Buffalo for about a week so I will be taking a quick hiatus.

The errand took a little longer than planned because we got caught in a massive thunderstorm –

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I looked like a drowned rat.  By the time we got home I was (wet) starving so I grabbed my emergency candy from when I thought the CPR class was running until 6.

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Limited Edition Coconut M&Ms.  These were really good, the coconut flavor was very present without being too strong.  Plus some had cute little palm trees stamped on them.

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I also love these “what’s inside” nutrition stat bubbles.

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What a clear, colorful way to make sure important information does not go overlooked.  My only complaint is that they do not list trans fat in the bubble – that is by far the most important thing I look for when I read nutritional labels.  Even when I am totally pigging out I never eat trans fat.  With the disagreements over how trans fat effects fertility it is disgusting to me that this [added] ingredient is still in products.  It’s one thing to say that Big Brother shouldn’t put laws on how much fat products can have or restrict supersizing, it is up to consumers to be informed.  But when it comes to trans fat there is a real glut of information, even many informed consumers aren’t informed and they deserve to have risk-free food.

While we were cooking I also lopped off the top of a kiwi and ate his brains out with a spoon.

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This was the best method at maximizing flesh eaten and minimizing mess I’ve found so far.

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For dinner we sauteed extra lean ground turkey with frozen collard greens and some peas and then added Newman’s Own Cabernet Marinara.  We ate that on top of some wheatberries Adam cooked in bulk the other day.

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I ate a ton of toppings over 1/3C of wheatberries.

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Tasty, and quick.

Of course I was still hungry after dinner, so I dipped into our car snacks stash and at a small large bowl of cheddar goldfish

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And finally a mini strawberry rice krispies treat.

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As I said before, I’m still hungry, but it was time to stop.

Unfortunately I never got in even a mini workout, but I am just so wet!  I need to go shower so I can snuggle up in bed.  I’ll leave you with some interesting happenings online –

1. Surprising Secrets of Celebrity Chefs from MSN.  My favorite tip was from Ming Tsai, there are so many wonderful, easy applications for store bought wonton wraps.

2. Kath and Caitlin both blogged about free samples in bloggerland.  I don’t get many samples (although I’d like to get more!) because my blog is pretty teensy and I don’t ask for them.  However, when I do get freebies I think I do a good job of mentioning that the item is a sample.  I will always be completely honest about how I feel about a product – if it’s bad it’s bad, my blog isn’t big enough to be worth compromising my integrity.  While I don’t get a lot of free samples, I do do a fair amount of product reviews on here.  I know sometimes it seems like I gush about everything but honestly, I’m just really excited about food!

What is a non-negotiable for you on nutritional labels?

What do you think about blogger freebies?

“How to Save a Life”

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Did anyone guess correctly?  I was at a CPR certification training!  Actually, we went to an advanced emergency professionals’ training so I am AED/CPR certified now.  Also exciting was that it finished earlier than scheduled at 3:30.

We got a late start this morning (more on that later*) so we had to rush to the American Red Cross center.  It was so hot outside that even speed walking felt like a major chore!  I was sweaty and sticky and my thighs hurt from all the Warriors in hot yoga yesterday!  I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast but I felt myself getting a little sleepy so at the 10:30 break I bought this winning combo –

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I shared a few lifesavers with Adam but the sugar/caffeine combo was just what I needed.

When we broke for lunch Adam and I went to the deli next-door, the only food spot for blocks, and I got paninnis.  Mine was The Chipoltes grilled chicken, salsa, chipolte, avocado, swiss, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.

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It was pretty tasty but super duper spicy.  I ate 90% of the sandwich but left most of the chips.

The day consisted of lecture, video, practice; repeat for each topic.  This was my first class ever so while I knew the basics I found it very informative.  We had a 40question test before we were certified and I only missed 1 question (and the teacher said it was a stupid, poorly worded question)!

This evening we have to make a teensy grocery trip, make dinner, and even though I’m sore I would love some sort of mini work-out.  See you this evening!

*later – I realized I had yet to set yearly goals for 24, I like to do them on New Years and birthdays.  Here we go:

  1. Go to bed earlier…
  2. …and wake up earlier!
  3. Complete at least one of the prerequisites for the RD programs.
  4. Run more regularly…
  5. …and complete a half marathon!
  6. And finally, since I had to weigh myself to program my heart rate monitor and I practically fell off the scale in shock, lose 10pounds.

Are you CPR certified?  Why did you decided to take the course?

Do you set birthday goals too, just New Year’s ones, or none at all?

Guess Where

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First things first – I am not posting yesterday, I’m pretending it never happened.  90% of the day was me eating junk food and fighting with the husband – clearly I’m getting a bit stressed about the move/next few months.  The only thing that did happen?  60minute hot yoga class with Sarah, I loved it!

Secondly – just for funsies, let’s play a guessing game! Where am I going today?  Here are some hints –

  1. I will be there from 9am – 6pm
  2. Adam has to do this before medical school
  3. A famous song by The Fray describes this day really well
  4. On “Family Guy” Peter did this, but then his was revoked because he attacked two men who had been in a car accident and then he swallowed a bunch of nickels and went blind

Good luck!  See ya this evening!

The Not-So-Ugly Truth

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It is late (for my new goal of actually having a bed time) and I have a random tummyache so this should be quick.

Activity # 3 of my birthday day – 7:45 showing of “The Ugly Truth.”  This movie was fun and cute; I am usually more for raunchy comedy than romantic comedy but this had some pretty funny moments.  I think Hiegel is a great actress.

We were naughty and snuck dinner into the theatre.  We were going to go out for Thai food but later in the week we will have to go out because everything will be packed so I figured we should save some money for now.  The main meal component was sandwiches, the star of mine was –

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TJ’s Chickenless Pulled Chicken on two slices of white bread, perfection.

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I also packed a sliced Jazz apple,

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and some baby carrots.

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A pretty excellent movie dinner I would say.

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For dessert I brought half of this Newman’s Orange 54% dark chocolate bar.

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This was tasty but my stomach is super bloated and hurts like crazy and the only thing I can think to blame it on is the candy bar.

Peace out yo!

What did you think of Knocked Up?  This was one of my favorite movies on earth!  Hiegel wasn’t even on my radar until this movie and now she is one of my favorites.  I know that some people thought it was too dirty and had too many curse words but honesty (sadly) that is how I talk!  I thought the scene where they were smoking with the gas masks was genius!

Birthday Bikes and Black & Whites

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Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…..  I have to give Adam credit, I’ve had a really great birthday so far!  It’s hard to believe that I’m 24, I feel like I should still be in college (which I guess is a good thing since I’m planning on redoing my undergraduate!).

We woke up early (for a birthday!) at 8am to take showers and head to the train to Manhattan.  I ate a Cool Mint Clif Bar for breakfast en route. 

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My chosen birthday activity gave me a chance to use my birthday present from my mom and dad – my new heart monitor!  I got the Polar Sport RS100 and I think I’m in love.  Activity # 1– 2 hour bike ride in Central Park.  We rented bikes from the same spot as a couple weeks ago, I can’t believe I didn’t discover this sooner!  The two hours were great, but almost over too soon.  We did a full loop around the park, plus a couple little loops within.  I was so proud of myself – I basically learned how to ride a bike a few weeks ago when my parents were here but this time I wasn’t afraid at all and I even stood up down most of the hills.  The loooong uphill stretches were a little difficult, but fun.  On one of the more difficult hills I started murmuring sweet nothings about the goodness of diet coke so we made a quick pit stop:

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I earned that guy!  When I checked my heart rate monitor after we turned in our bikes here were my stats –

  • 1hour 52minutes
  • 62 average heart rate
  • 647 Calories burnt

I was surprised by how high the calorie burn was but I’m pretty sure it was accurate (you program in your weight/height/age/sex so the only way for it to be off is if your heart rate is off but that seemed pretty spot on).

Activity # 2– reconsume those calories and then some!

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The hour+ wait in line was so worth it!  I ordered a black and white milkshake and it rocked my socks.

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Halfway through I switched with Adam and finished his black and white malt; I love when we prefer each others orders, we are such a good pair!

Shake Shack is one of my favorite spots in the city and I was really pleased to see all of the ways they made an effort to go green –

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Equally exciting were these Prius sponsered solar powered wifi/power spots –

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If I wasn’t moving next week I would definitly bring my laptop there.

On the way home we stopped at Economy Candy because my dad had a candy order he wanted me to mail him before I moved!  We have to make a stop at Trader Joes tonight to complete his package 🙂

Once we got home I did the “Pilates for Dummies” video I Netflixed.  It was about 30minuteslong and a pretty good workout except maybe a little bit too ‘dummied,’ I would have prefered a few more reps.  I also did 5 sets of 10reps of arms exercises with my 5lb weights.

After we shower we are headed to fun activity # 3 – the movies!  See ya later.

What was the most fun bithday activity you have done?  I love, love, loved riding through Central Park.  Throughout the years my parents have surprised me with – rock climbing, parasailing, skydiving, a tattoo, and a flight lesson.  I loved sky-diving but I think the most thrilling were actually the tattoo or the flight lesson.

Goodbye 23

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There will be no post today, in preparation for my birthday tomorrow I hunkered down with some to-dos.  For tonight, I will leave you with a list of 23 great things about this year.  See you tomorrow for my 24 on the 24th!

 23 great things about my 23rd year –

  1. I started my first food blog
  2. I did a Thanksgiving Month $100 grocery challenge
  3. I was accepted as a FoodBuzz featured publisher
  4. I walked the Brooklyn Bridge
  5. I celebrated my 1year wedding anniversary with the love of my life
  6. (always a wicked fighter) I learned to weather fights with my husband where we both come out intact
  7. I traveled to Miami in October and December
  8. I visited some of my best friends in Boston and walked the Freedom Trail
  9. I learned to handle my stressful job with slightly more grace
  10. I had some great nyc blogger meet ups
  11. I had tons and tons of Sugar Sweet Sunshine
  12. I enjoyed the last season of Scrubs
  13. I spent two weeks as a vegan
  14. I discovered some great ways to cook tofu
  15. I attended Self Workout in the Park
  16. I saw Wicked with two of my best friends
  17. I was accepted to my top choice masters program (even though I had to turn it down!)
  18. I successfully made it through a 2nd year of teaching in a failing school
  19. I quit a job I hated and was proud of my decision
  20. my husband got accepted to medical school
  21. I got things arranged to move to Buffalo next week
  22. I had a great visit home without getting burnt
  23. I made it to 24!