Instant Playback

Since last night was the Super Bowl, I thought I’d give you the play-by-play of my evening.  Here are some of the things – other than scarfing single-serve pb cookie dough – I did while I was home alone –

  • found the articles (hopefully) for my big nutrition presentation
  • watched the new Super Bowl commercials online
  • organized three years worth of study note cards
  • sat in a 62* apartment for two hours before I realized the heat was off

Overall I’m not sure whether or not I’d call the evening a win or a fail 😀

I’ve gotten stuff done this morning too.  Like a kill-two-birds-with-one-workout trip to the gym where I studied notecards on the elliptical.  30minutes, elliptical level 6 and random.  I did several minutes of sprints intervals and got all my studying done.

And I made a tasty breakfast.

Before I got into the shower I made a batch of quick stewed apples – 1 chopped apple, 1 Tbsp agave syrup, 1 Tbsp h20, dash cinnamon; microwaved for 150 seconds.

Then after I got out of the shower, and my apples had cooled down a bit, I put them atop a bowl of Stonyfield Vanilla Soy Yogurt,

with a drizzle of maple syrup and 2 Tbsp of my simply sweet granola.

It was like a healthy, vegan apple crisp!

For reals though, this tasted exactly like – if not better than – apple crisp.  Make it!

What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?  I didn’t see them all – and I wasn’t that impressed – but I think the “angry wife” Pepsi Max one was my fav.

Friday Night Frozen Yuuuums

I did the Friday shuffle!  In fact I shuffled right on through to bedtime!

After class I walked down Elmwood to meet up for lunch with Katie at Wasabi.

I’d like to tell you I ordered a hot water to drink because I’m so mature and healthy, but really it was more of a Japanese waitresses cannot understand me when I’ve got retainers in my mouth thing.

I ordered the lunch special which came with a miso soup (not always vegetarian, fyi, though this one was),

and two sushi rolls.

I got a cucumber and asparagus roll,

and a tempura sweet potato roll.

We had a great lunch and spent a long time catching up.

Then I headed to the Spot to get my study on.  I ordered a grande soy latte with two shots of amaretto syrup.

But then I discovered that drinking hot coffee with retainers in is disgusting and threw it out.

Caffeinated or not, I managed to get all of my notecards for the week done, phew!

Adam and I didn’t both didn’t get home until after 7, so all plans of a fancy dinner flew out the window.  Thank goodness I had the best frozen meal on earth on standby.

The Tandoor Chef Veggie Pad Thai is ridiculous tasty and vegan to boot.

Yuuuuuuum!  It’s nothing like nyc, but this is literally the best Thai food I can get in Buffalo.

I also had some unsweetened applesauce topped with red hots and simply sweet granola.

Can I say “yuuuuuuuuum” again?

Any exciting plans for the weekend?

Delightful Dippables

As I mentioned early, today was a snow day, and a glorious snow day it was!  Not a lot of work got done, but you know how it is.

I did make a very successful (vegan) lunch.

With a nice roll up (a play on a dish I love that my mom makes with cream cheese for parties).  Spread a tortilla with humus – Tribe Roasted Garlic, – chopped green peppers, and radish sprouts.

Tightly roll up and chop using a big scary knife.

Lay out like a fancy sushi roll.

Eat the unsightly ends.

I also ate half of a piece of vegan jerky I split with the husband.

I paired my roll up with some roasted kale.

And dipped everything in some Stubbs bbq sauce.

It was a tasty, tasty lunch.

Later in the afternoon I snacked on 1.5 servings of Newman’s Own Spelt Pretzels.

With a chocolate soy pudding and a diet pop.

Of course, I dipped the pretzels into both the pudding and the soda.  Sooo good.  Honey wheat pretzel sticks dipped into diet cherry coke is my favorite snack on Earth.

Dinner was a repeat plate.

Leftover baked beans,

leftover caramelized onion mashed potatoes with a dab of Smart Balance Light,

and some sugar-free applesauce topped with a few Maple Mini Wheats and red hots.

Again, delicious, delicious.

What do you like to dip pretzels in?  Before you hate – have you ever tried pretzels dipped in diet pop?

Back to School, Back to School

Today is a big day – the first day of my second semester at BSC!

Normally I like to bound out of bed on mornings of big occasions, but today’s -7* weather left me clinging to my pillow!  Fun fact – in just a bit, I’m going to have to go outside for my 30minute walk to school in those negative temperatures. Yikes!  I’ve already had to build extra time into this morning’s schedule for bundling.

I also made time for (warm!) breakfast.

Even though I’m not a teacher any more, I still like to start off new semesters with an apple.  This morning it was a stewed apple – a la IGE – atop a Van’s Berry Boost Waffle.

With a side of ‘smores hot cocoa.

Now if I can just find a parka and a dog with a barrel around its neck I’ll be ready for school!

Help me.  This is my first foray into degrees below 10, does anyone have any advice about my walk to school?

The 24 Hour Post

In order to tell today’s tale I have to start with last night’s.  Adam went out to play poker with the boys until all hours of the night and I stayed at home and watched the first half of several tv shows (seriously, how can “Chuck” be so bad?!?).  I sent him with cookies and everyone raved about them, by the way.

Around 1 o’clock in the morning I sidled up to another bowl of pasta, with some chopped up sharp cheddar and turkey pepperoni added into the mix.

Delicious, and serendipitous because we woke up too late for breakfast.  A middle of the night meal can count as the morning’s breakfast, can it not?

Today, in the day time, I did make myself an orange julius, but other than that I wasn’t quite able to get a handle on at home food.

Tangy and creamy all at once makes me a happy sipper.

Around 3 we headed to the mall on a whim, and took in a showing of “The Dilemma.”  Not ground-breaking, but certainly a cute movie.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more jazzed about my movie snack than the actual picture though.

A glorious mix of gummi cola bottles, sour gummi cola bottles, and cherry sour gummi cola bottles.  The gummi cola bottle genre is my very favorite kind of candy; probably why I was able to take down a 1/2 pound’s worth 😉

While we were out we called some friends on another whim, and ended up with a big group dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was great to catch up with people, particularly since I haven’t really been leaving the house the last week!

I had a slice of sourdough. (Why is CF always so darn dark?)

And my favorite salad of all time for dinner.

The fresh vegetable salad – asparagus, green beans, tomato, cucumber, roasted beets, apple, edamame, radicchio, romaine, and white cheddar – with a side of spicy peanut vinaigrette.

It’s insane to me that this monster is an appetizer salad, I’ve got more than half of it left, sitting in the fridge for tomorrow!  I did help myself to many (unphotographed) bites of the husbands spicy cashew chicken as well.

Ok movie, good food, great friends; what more could a girl want?

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Updated to add – yeah, I totally finished off that salad!

NYC – Day 1

Hello from Nyc! Our hotel is lacking internet so this day late post come from the McDonalds across the street.

I’m just using wifi though, we have real brunch plans at eleven.  For now I’m sipping a diet coke and this Tropical Revolution Foods Mash-Up.

Yesterday morning started with a pre-6am shower before we hit the road for our 8hour drive.

I started my car breakfast with an Empire apple, to put me in an empire state of mind.

This was the most sour red apple I’ve ever tasted! It was quite crunchy and good though.

Plus a blend coffee; ie 2/3 (regular) cinnamon hazelnut coffee, 1/3 (sweetened) English toffee cappuccino.

Coffee really fills me up so I ended up having just the apple for breakfast, but I did steal a bite of the husband’s peanut butter Snickers.

Holy yum! Such a good idea, candy manufacturers! Plus, each square has 125calories, pretty good for a dessert with protein.

We had a lot of hours to fill in the car, I poured through magazines and even painted my nails –

pretty good for 70mph! I guess keeping myself pretty is why I’m so spoiled; the husband stayed on driving duty the whole way!

Our hotel is right on 7th Avenue, which is fabulous for the price.  I’m used to sleeping in Brooklyn so it’s fun to dream in a new area.

You better believe our first stop was Pinkberry!

A small original tart with strawberry, mango, yogurt chips, and praline cream.

There were two spoons, but basically for show because I pretty much dominated it.

And our next stop was green juice.

Carrot, apple, lemon, cucumber, and spinach gets a huge smile from me.

Then we spent a couple of hours walking around our old neighborhood in Park Slope. It was fabulous. Sidenote: we are deliriously trying to pretend we are still local, so the underabundance of city shots is not due to a lack of fabulousness.

Among our old haunts was a quick trip to Watana, where we split Drunken Noodles with steamed tofu.

My plate, x2.

This was so good it hurt! Broad rice noodles are hands down my favorite food.

During the 20(short) block walk back to the subway we also shared a Curiosity Cola.

Quite good, like Coke but without the syrupy sweetness.

We are here for the weekend with friends from high school (Ian lives in MA – and his girlfriend lives here – and Gory lives in PA) so our next stop was meeting them at their train. From there we headed to Bon Chon for dinner.

Ian called it “the new hotness” but beyond that we didn’t know what to expect. It ended up being Asian meets fried chicken. With complimentary rice wine to start.

I ate a super spicy chicken wonton,

and for dinner I ordered the Soy Duk Bo Ki, a sweet rice cake dish prepared with fish cakes, scallions, onions and soy garlic sauce.

The fish and rice cakes were super chewy, it was a totally unique texture. Adam thought it was gross, but I happily devoured 3/4 of the plate.

Even better than good food was the chance to catch up with old friends 🙂  I wasn’t drinking, so I was in bed watching tv by 2, but the boys were out past 4!

I’m not sure what the plan for today is, but my ideal itinerary includes cupcakes!

STT; Wednesday Afternoon – Thursday Afternoon

As predicted, yesterday afternoon was spent on a swim workout. My mom dropped Adam and me off at Morningstar beach for an hour. We had fun, but also got in a good workout. Adam would swim a distance away from me and then I would swim as hard as I could until I reached him. Repeat.

For dinner we refurbished pad thai leftovers.

Stir-fried with extra veggies – okra, carrot, broccoli, celery – and egg.

We also went to see The Fighter. I got in some fruit with apple slices as a movie snack.

And there was German chocolate cake waiting when we got home.

I had a (big) slice with a glass of skim milk.

Yum, good job mom!

For breakfast this morning I mashed a small banana with cinnamon, and spread it on two mini buns with almond butter.

Made quite the tasty little sandwich set.

The wind has been crazy recently so we spent the morning hiking around The Point and watching the waves crash.

I’ve snacked on a bag of cheez-its,

and split a gingerbread Clif bar with Adam.

Now (after this quick stop at school) the whole family is going for a long walk downtown.  The plan tonight is a belated anniversary dinner, and then tomorrow we fly on home.

STT; Tuesday Night – Wednesday Afternoon

One by one, all of our fancy anniversary plans fell through. In the end, we got takeout and played board games with my parents. It was perfect.

Tofu pad thai, cashew chicken, and crab Rangoon.

I did some snacking earlier in the afternoon as well; half a sandwich for lunch was not cutting it.

Apple slices, beer bread with cheese,

and a brownie.

And during board games I showed the husband how much I love him by letting him share my favorite thing on earth –

This candy is basically just a cake of sugar soaked in peppermint oil, it’s fantastic. Minty and crunchy, it reminds you of getting your teeth brushed at the dentist in the best possible way.

Breakfast this morning was 0% Fage with half a sliced banana and a piece of coffee cake.

I also took some gingerbread coffee with skim milk to go while running errands with my dad.

For lunch I toasted a huge chunk of beer bread and topped it with hot pepper raspberry jam and melted swiss.

Yum!

The rest of the day brings a swim (we’ve gotten in a small workout every single vacation day, I’ll be darned if I miss today!), a movie, and dinner.  I can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day here!

What do you do to celebrate anniversaries?