Ohio Surprise!

by Emily

The past weekend I drove to Ohio to pay my mom and grandmother a surprise visit. Adam was actually already with them hanging out but we weren’t sure about my work schedule so I didn’t want to tell them any plans. The timing worked out at the last-minute and I showed up in the parking lot one night after dinner and scared the crap out of them. {Surprise!} It was great to get some family time.

I didn’t manage to snap many pictures, but we did have a fun weekend.

We went to Sonic and a giant strawberry diet coke rocked my face off.

We checked out the sign that was dedicated to my grandpa who passed away last year.

That field is named after him!

And of course we made time for a trip to Trader Joe’s.

I picked up some tasty stuff that I plan on blogging about soon.

P.S. After family time, Adam drove to meet up with friends for a Tough Mudder challenge. He is officially a bad ass.

7Apr2013

Bloody {Mary} Sunday

by Emily

My big plans of knocking off some school work didn’t come to fruition, but I did manage to do some day drinking. That’s a better use of time really, isn’t it?

I started the morning with this bowl of absolute incredibleness.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt, 1/2 serving Nature’s Path Coconut Chia Granola, fresh blackberries, 1 tsp honey, 2 Tbsp coconut butter.

Oh my goodness, you guys, the coconut butter. I have been reading Kath talk about coconut butter acting as a magic shell for years but I never quite knew what she meant. It was amazing.

I also snacked on (approximately 2 servings each) BBQ Pop Chips with reduced-fat french onion dip.

If I had known I was going to have chips with dinner I might have done a veggie-based snack instead, but at that point I planned on having soup! Sidenote – did you know that Pop Chips has a new ketchup flavor?! I’m pretty sure that sounds terrible.

I spent my afternoon at work. The weather has finally gotten the memo that it’s Spring so lots of people were out and about.

At the end of my shift some friends stopped by to invite me to Blue Monk. They were having a Bloody Mary special, with celery, hot sauce, tomato, etc infused vodkas.

A girl from our program sweetly got us a 2nd round so I ended up having two.

Bloody Marys make me crave stick-to-your-ribs food so instead of soup I ended up with Moe’s for dinner. A rice bowl – rice / black beans/ sautéed onion / mushroom / green pepper / cheese / sour cream / guacamole / corn salsa.

Plus chips with queso.

Apparently there’s always room for chips.

Do ketchup flavored chips sound good to you?

1Apr2013

Choco-Cherry Love

by Emily

I’ve been skipping breakfast on most of the early mornings of my internship without incident, but today I ran into issues. After a week of eating breakfast – giant, glorious, egg studded breakfasts – my body rebelled at today’s sudden fast. I spent the first hour of my morning light-headed and nauseous, crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t pass out while reading charts. Yuck.

All that is to say, I drank a regular sugar Pepsi for breakfast (I felt better almost immediately!), after breaking out in a very embarrassing cold sweat while talking with a doctor. No photo because I was in a hurry to get back to work.

Lunch was nutritionally lame as well; I ran out of time to pack food this morning.

At least the hospital cafeteria has good pizza.

When I got home this afternoon I made myself a Choco-Cherry Smoothie.

1 heaping cup frozen sweet dark cherries // 1.5 heaping Tbsp Navita’s chocolate Protein Smoothie Mixer // 1 Tbsp U-Bet chocolate syrup // ~1 cup Silk Vanilla Unsweetened Almond Milk.

It had so much potential but sadly my smoothie had absolutely no flavor. It was basically ice water! I’m not sure where I went wrong, but I drank the whole thing any way to get in the nutrients.

I spent my afternoon working on my thesis for the history class I’m taking this semester. I am not enjoying having to write an actual paper; it’s been awhile! I am hoping to plug away over the next two weeks though and get it done a little bit early so I can get it off of my mind.

I ate baby carrots with blue cheese while I worked.

The perfect snack.

I spent the evening in night class. We talked about the Holocaust today, which felt like a throw-back to my first time in college. Did you know – when I thought about getting my Masters in English I planned on writing my thesis on Holocaust literature?

Then I hurried home to squeeze in a few episodes of “Battlestar Galactica.” I enjoyed a sliced banana with peanut butter while I wrote this post.

I’ve decided I’d rather paint my nails – a gorgeous, sparkly pink! – than eat a grown-up dinner, so that’s all she wrote.

Can you skip meals or does it make you too queasy?

26Mar2013

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

by Emily

Hello from the South! I’m blogging in a spring-ish 50-something degrees (it’s better than Buffalo!). Actually, I’m blogging from Adam’s computer this trip, so I’ve got to keep things quick. We are having a terrific, delicious time.

Breakfast day 1 – brunch at the famous Hominy Grill.

I got a(n extra spicy) bloody mary.

And a bowl of she crab soup.

Charleston is famous for its she crab soup; this bowl was super creamy and loaded with pieces of crab. I adore anything with sherry.

We ordered a piece of buttermilk pie for the table.

But it was much drier and less custard-y than we were hoping so we all just took a small taste.

It was a rainy first day so we did lots of inside and driving activities. We got in some good sight-seeing and scoped out a few spots to hit up during the rest of our trip.

One of our stops was Whole Foods for stocking up on goodies. <– chocolate coconut butter packets, it’s good to have you back in my life!

There was froyo next door.

I didn’t really love any of the flavor offerings so I got a small cup of cheesecake yogurt with tons of popping boba.

Can’t go wrong with boba.

We went to Hyman’s Seafood for dinner and they brought us complimentary hush puppies.

Best hush puppies ever; they had the perfect amount of sweetness.

We also started with fried pickles.

Lots of fried food in that dinner. I got french fries as my side,

with steamed shrimp.

Every component of my meal ended up smothered in tartar and cocktail sauce. I’m a girl who loves her condiments.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and crashed into bed hard. Let’s pretend it was the 20 minute stationary bike ride I started the day with, and not the heavy dinner!

Day 2 we skipped the gym and slept in. Instead I made it a healthy morning by starting my day with an apple.

Then we headed to Bakehouse for breakfast.

The offerings were as delicious as the space was adorable. The cookies and bars looks amazing but the closest we came to them was splitting a caramel marshmallow.

I also did a toasted marshmallow cappuccino.

Adam and I shared breakfast.

We had a mixed berry scone.

And a piece of Greek turkey strata.

It was a great breakfast.

We spent our second day exploring on foot. King Street and Meeting Street provided lots to look at.

We even got to see dolphins!

I couldn’t get a picture to save my life, but we saw lots of waving flippers and even a mama/baby combo.

Tastes from the day included…. Praline,

a drop of the spiciest hot sauce available (I stuck a toothpick in it and touched it to my tongue; I honestly didn’t think it was that hot!),

honey,

an Earl Grey macaron (<– squeeee!),

a KIND bar,

and some watermelon Zots from one of the many old-time candy stores.

All good, but I am definitely a lunch eater; when we got back to the hotel to change for dinner I was starving. Enter the perfect snack –

Diet coke and Cacao Bliss? Yes please!

But I sure was glad I saved room for dinner. We had an incredible Southern meal at Magnolias.

Bread with ridiculous cream cheese herb butter came when we sat down.

And we ordered a pimento cheese plate to start.

Sadly, the cheese wasn’t quite as sharp as I was hoping for, but everyone else at the table loved it. Pimento cheese was at the top of my to-do list for the Southern vacation though, so I hope to try again tomorrow.

I ordered a Bellini to drink (champagne/peach nectar/and a touch of grenadine),

but ended up swapping with Adam halfway through for his vodka/creme de cassis/pineapple juice martini.

For dinner I went with the “Fresh, Local, and Vegetarian.” You can’t go wrong with a name like that!

Sautéed spinach, fresh corn salad, roasted carrots, fried green tomatoes with jalopeño pimento cheese, and mashed potatoes.

We were too stuffed for dessert, though the menu listed a cream cheese pecan brownie with white chocolate ice cream that I’ll probably be dreaming about!

In fact, I’d like to be dreaming now; goodnight!

Have you ever been to Charleston? Is there anything we just can’t miss on our last day?

23Mar2013

South Carolina

by Emily

After a long day of travel, we are in Charleston! Our spring break matched up with my parents’ so we met up for a few days of fun. I’ve never been to Charleston before and I am very excited to explore.

Our flight wasn’t until 4 pm so we had a nice easy morning to pack and say goodbye to the dog. I made a sweet bowl for breakfast.

0% plain Greek yogurt, 1% large curd cottage cheese, sliced plum, fresh blackberries, and maple syrup.

We were a bit rushed in the afternoon (you know I waited until the last second to get ready!) so I saved lunch for the airport. Cherry tomatoes and baby carrots dipped in Greek yogurt asiago artichoke dip.

Plus cheese popchips shared with the husband.

And the last serving of quinoa dark chocolate for dessert.

Our flights were stupid (I hate Delta) and we ended up with a lengthy layover in Atlanta. We took advantage of the time and took a nice looooong walk. The movement was great, but then unfortunately I cut it too close to buy food-food.

Cheetos and a peanut butter strawberry KIND bar (and free pretzels), dinner of champions.

And now we’re here. Wheee!

21Mar2013

Eggstra Special

by Emily

This is an extra-special post – it’s the first one I’ve managed to get up all week!

I had a giant presentation to give on Tuesday, an important quiz on Wednesday, and on Monday the dog had another series of 2 am seizures. Yay. <– sarcasm

Since the start of this rotation all of my classmates have reported getting to bed by/before 10pm but I’ve stubbornly, stupidly stayed up until at least 12. I’d been doing ok, but my weeks of lost sleep and this week’s trifecta of late nights hit me hard on Wednesday. I wandered around in a daze all day yesterday and then hurried home and got into bed at the record-breaking hour of: 7pm! I got up for an hour or so around 9pm, but went back to bed for an amazing 10 hours total!!!

I felt much better today. So of course I’m staying up late. What can I say, I’m an idiot.

After that long introduction, let’s do this quickly… Coffee at the hospital.

Dark roast with french vanilla creamer. The sweetened creamer is not a habit I want to get into, but while I’m somewhere without milk it is fun.

I had cafeteria pizza for lunch, but I didn’t think about taking a picture until after my plate was bare. Whoops.

Plus candy.

And when I got home I had this bowl of goodness.

A serving of Liz Lemon Froyo, a Dannon Oikos Toasted Coconut Vanilla Greek Yogurt, sliced mango, and fresh blackberries.

It was yumtastic.

For this evening’s fun, we dyed Easter eggs.

Except that it wasn’t fun at all.

Because my “hard-boiled” eggs were raw. And we were all hungry.

But they were pretty, and Adam salvaged a few by breaking the partially cooked eggs into a skillet and making us dinner.

We had fried eggs,

with white toast with Earth Balance.

And big salads – baby spinach, pink salt, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and homemade maple vinaigrette (1 tsp sweet hot mustard, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, 2 Tbsp rice vinegar; shaken and split into two portions).

With quinoa dark chocolate for dessert.

Goodnight, Webster!

26Feb2013

Strawberry Tea With Mini Boba

by Emily

You can, in fact, purchase the giant tapioca balls known as “boba” for bubble tea. They are available in most Asian specialty groceries in most mid-sized cities. Sadly, it took me years to learn this. Even more sadly, some of you live in cities devoid of boba entirely. And it just wouldn’t be right to let you live a life free of bubbles.

I’m not going to say my recipe is as good as what you’d get in a tea shop. It isn’t. But it is good. And the fancy-factor of making your own strawberry tea makes up for the slightly less chewy boba.

I recommend making all of the components 24 hours ahead of time, for easy assembly the next day.

Strawberry Tea with Mini Boba, serves 4

5 bags tea of choice (I recommend a nice Earl Grey)
1 cup large pearl tapioca
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
sweetener to taste

Brew 4 cups of tea (the 5th bag is to make your 4 cups extra-strength) according to package directions. Set aside to cool completely.

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add tapioca and allow water to return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer tapioca for 5-10 minutes, until balls are mostly translucent. Strain and run under cool water to stop the cooking process. Store cooked tapioca in a water-bath in a Tupperware in the fridge.

Place berries in a small saucepan over medium-low heat (go ahead and reuse your dirty tapioca saucepan, I won’t tell!). Cook 1 minute, using the side of a wooden spoon to mash the berries. Add sugar and continue to cook until it is completely dissolved, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a Tupperware.

Divide mashed strawberries evenly between 4 glasses. Top with brewed tea and shake or stir to combine. Sweeten to taste. Carefully scoop cooked tapioca out of water bath and place into tea. Serve with large straws to allow for bubble slurping.

25Feb2013

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

by Emily

Complaints first – The chance for 8-hours of sleep passed before I even started this post. All of my end of internship assignments are due on Friday and I’m freaking out. I ate two snacks after dinner and I am still flipping hungry.

Complaints aside, it wasn’t a bad day. We got lots (and lots) of shipments at work so I was nice and busy.

The morning started with smoothies.

For two: 1 Thai young coconut, ~1 cup frozen blue/blackberries, 1 medium frozen banana, and 2 Tbsp Hey Shuga! <– don’t forget, you still have another ~hour to enter my giveaway!

I didn’t have a lot of time for lunch so I kept it simple. A Garuka Bar (from my yumvelope).

The sweet peanut butter coating was addictively good; I planned on snacking on it throughout a task but every time I tried to walk away I took another bite instead!

I also had a Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with Cinnamon Apple Raisins.

The flavor isn’t listed on the Fage website and I’ve only seen it at Target. The apple compote was good, but nothing can really compare to the pure decadence of the honey and strawberry flavors.

I only had an hour between work and night class so Adam and I cashed in a coupon for Subway for dinner.

6 inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, and honey mustard on Italian herb and cheese bread.

I knew my sandwich wouldn’t quite fill me up and I shared this peanut butter spoon with Webster when I got home.

Then I also had a plate of baby carrots with the last of some smoked gouda spread.

And a bag of Smart Fries.

I ended up dipping my “fries” in yellow mustard. And then I had a big glass of water; methinks I’m a bit dehydrated!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: berries

Ohio Surprise!

Bloody {Mary} Sunday

Choco-Cherry Love

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

South Carolina

Eggstra Special

Strawberry Tea With Mini Boba

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}