Seis de Mayo!

by Emily

Okay, okay, so I’m a day late on my May 5th post. Normally I hate to do long-overdue recap posts, but since my new 30 day goal is to post everything, here it is. Quick sidenote – mad props to everyone who engages in drogging (aka drunk blogging); I wanted to share this yesterday but it was just not an option 😉

My classmates I add were touched by serendipity yesterday, when Cinco de Mayo and our last day of classes fell on the same day. After a very long last day of classes (9:25 in the morning to 7 at night) we were able to head out for some much-needed celebration.

First, the morning. Our last day of lab included drawer check out and a final exam. I had a little extra time in the morning to study since I had to skip my workout (boo!), and I think I did pretty well on the exam. I didn’t have it together for breakfast, but I did grab a medium iced coffee with skim milk from Starbucks.

And it was so good I forgot to take a picture until I was down to my last sips; clearly I needed coffee!

Our last lab let out pretty early, and we were left with a six-hour break before our final evening class. No problem, I took my friend Rachel on a mini tour of Elmwood! We ambled down the street from school, stopping to visit a friend at work and hit up the Spot for a study session. I grabbed some brown rice veggie sushi from the co-op for lunch.

And actually stopped at the co-op on the way back to school for dinner as well.

During my night class I noshed on Thai cucumber and peanut salad,

and some vegan pasta salad.

Suddenly we were taking our last quiz of the semester, packing up, and we were done with our first year of school!!! I mean, there are finals next week, but still exciting.

Cinco de Mayo plans were supposed to include a holiday appropriate trip to Cozumel Bar, but a $10 cover later we ended up at JP Bullfeathers.

That was a Jack and ginger ale, but it tasted more like dirty water. Weak drinks aside, JP Bullfeathers ended up being a perfect spot for our end of school celebration; not too packed for good conversation, but busy enough to still be fun.

We ended up sitting at a table and ordering some food as well.

My friend Janessa and I split the turkey and gorgonzola pannini,

which was delicious. Turkey sandwiches seem to be my go-to restaurant order.

And how to do go out on Cinco de Mayo without margaritas?!

What’s the Spanish word for sloshed? Let’s just say I’m glad I could walk less than a minute and be home!

I did stay up to share some dessert, of course.

That’s a caramelized macadamia nut and chocolate mousse tart that Adam brought home.

Now on to today. In true college-girl fashion, I managed to stay in bed well past 1pm!! It helps to have the bladder of a camel and a four-day break before finals begin. 🙂

Adam and made the executive decision that we needed a day together, so we took down a full season of Scrub’s recaps and an entire pizza.

That’s a bruschetta pizza topped with extra green olives, the best pizza topper ever.

The ~~half a~~ pizza pretty much covered all my food groups (what?! dairy, grains, veggies…) but I did sneak in one more veggie with a slice of carrot cake from the co-op.

A few facts – Carrot cake does to count as a veggie. I think I need to be done with the co-op for a few days. It was a glorious day with my husband.

Did you do anything to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? What are you looking forward to this weekend?

2May2011

I’m Feeling Wicked

by Emily

Congrats to those of you who guessed it; last night Adam and I saw “Wicked” at Shea’s Performing Arts Center!

I’ve seen the show once before in NYC and I have to admit that the Buffalo rendition totally exceeded my expectations!

Gregory Maguire is one of my favorite authors, and Wicked is actually my all-time favorite book. I tend to read mostly memoirs and non-fiction, but Maguire’s adult fairy tales are totally my jam! I don’t love all of the changes that the play makes to the story, but the added hilarity definitely allow me to overlook them. Adam loved the show as well, which was the most exciting thing at all for me.

We bought ourselves a champagne before the show started,

and nibbled on some Smarties during intermission.

It was a glorious date night, thanks Mom and Dad!

This morning’s breakfast was centered around trying out a new vegan yogurt find, Amande is made from cultured almond milk.

I tried the coconut flavor today, atop a sliced banana and topped with a dollop of Smuckers Natural PB with Honey and a sprinkle of shredded coconut.

I didn’t love love the yogurt (nothing can top the tang and thickness of Greek), but I thought it was the best vegan alternative I’ve ever tried. I wouldn’t buy it regularly, but I am looking forward to trying the strawberry flavor in my fridge. The bowl was pretty good,

though I have to admit, I was missing my usual crunchy/sweet nut addition.

I had to head to school a bit early because I was meeting with a professor about a project and I needed to go grovel at the financial aid office as well. Part of the reason I have been feeling wicked is because I have NOT been keeping on top of my work! <– more on that in a minute

Lunch was all about the leftovers; a piece of corn bread,

and a serving of steamed spinach,

topped with maple turkey sloppy joes.

The “sauce” mixed with the spinach was divine; I’m never eating ‘joes on a bun again!

I also snagged a few bites of free cotton candy from the student union.

Boo-yah for free spun sugar!

I mentioned feeling wicked above, and I think I put that shame to good use. After classes ended today I headed to the dietetics lab (computers and silence) with a friend and hunkered down there until after 8pm! I finished a ton of work and I’m on such a roll that I’m planning on making it a late night of studying. The goal is a 12-1am bedtime alternating 30minutes of tv with 45+ minutes of studying.

We grabbed lattes – medium, non-fat, half pumps of almond rocca syrup –

before the study session but dinner never really happened. My stomach has been feeling off all day, hurting and bloated, so nothing ever sounded appealing. I’ll probably grab a snack at some point this evening and I’ll just blog about it in the morning.

Have you ever seen (or read) Wicked? What’s your favorite Broadway show?

25Mar2011

Eeeeee!

by Emily

If I thought yesterday was exciting then I don’t even know what to call today – I WAS ACCEPTED TO THE COORDINATED PROGRAM!!!

That’s my I’m-excited-but-also-embarassed-to-take-a-mirror-self-portrait-like-a-teenager-on-Myspace face.

I wasn’t expecting to get in, and we weren’t supposed to hear the news until later, so the shock just adds to the thrill. I’ve been crossing my fingers and hoping for months, I’m not even sure what my plan B was going to be if I didn’t get in. Let me explain…

In order to be a Registered Dietician (a highly regulated job title in the US) you must –

take a certain set of courses
complete a certain set of clinical hours/experiences
pass a comprehensive exam – which you can only sit for after #1 & 2 have been completed

The Didactic program (what I’ve been in since this summer) is the typical course for most students. You complete the courses, then apply separately for the internship, then sit for the exam. It’s a great program, but the competition for internship spots is fierce. In the Didactic program, I would have had 2 more years of school, followed by a year of clinical work (if I got accepted to an internship right away).

The Coordinated program is not available at most schools. It has you complete clinical work alongside the required coursework. You complete requirements #1 & 2 as a set, and then are ready to sit for the exam. It is a very challenging program, but is helpful for people who learn better when pairing clinical and classroom learning. Doing the Clinical program means you don’t have to go through the carnival ride that is finding an internship.

Additionally (and for me most important of all), in the Clinical program I will have two more years of school until I’m ready to sit for the exam. 2 years, and not 3 years. And since Adam is done with medical school (not done done, but ready for residency done) in two years – and probably moving in 2 years – this is a very big deal for us. Yay!

I’m thrilled that now I won’t have to live in Buffalo for a year without Adam, I’m excited about starting clinical work, and I’m proud of myself for getting in to such a competitive program. This year was especially tough, because there were more than 40 of us applying for the 16 spots. I’m so glad I made the cut!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Before we even knew there was anything to celebrate, a group of friends and I had plans to meet for breakfast at Panos before our last class before Spring break. I got a short, nonfat latte on my walk there.

Pano’s breakfast menu is amazing; I don’t know how I don’t end up there more often. I convinced the waitress to let me order the 1-1-1 (a kid’s meal).

1 egg (sunny side up), with hash browns,

and 1 pancake.

I couldn’t quite finish it all (about 3/4), but it was nice to have any sort of breakfast appetite for a change.

I also ordered an extra-spicy Bloody Mary.

Yes, I’m the person who orders off the kid’s menu and the drink menu.

When we got to school and got our letters, after a lot of screaming and jumping around, I somehow decided more coffee was a good idea.

A grande nonfat latte with almond roca syrup (half amount of syrup). Can I just say, I pretty much shook and twitched my way through Biochem?!

Since we are so busy over Spring break I’m actually trying to get a lot of work done this weekend, so my friend Rachel came home with me after class for some studying and TV watching. I can’t even tell you how fun it was to watch “Grey’s Anatomy” with another girl for a change.

I had to show her how to get back out to the main road, so I took a random stroll down Elmwood to reflect. I ended up stopping at the Co-op for celebratory sushi.

Now I’m about to dig into a late lunch of veggie sushi with brown rice.

I can’t wait! I also feel that ice-cream should be on the agenda at some point today….

What was the last thing you applied for that required an interview? Are you good at interviews or do you seize up with nervousness? Apparently I rocked mine, because I don’t feel like I’m the best candidate on paper 🙂

28Feb2011

End With A Bang

by Emily

We’re over vegan month. Did I mention that yet? The thought of eating those leftovers for dinner made me want to gag.

Actually what I’m really over is the barking dog; I’ve got a huge, important interview tomorrow and a test on Wednesday and I feel like a walking zombie. I barely got a stitch of work done this afternoon, and it’s a good thing I decided I wasn’t in a dinner mood (ha!) because the thought of heating up a plate was too much.

But it is the end of an ~~era~~ month. I like to go out with a bang.

Those are Banana Foster Bars. They are vegan. This is the recipe.

You’re welcome.

10Jan2011

NYC: Day 2 and 3

by Emily

I wish I had been able to blog more in the city because squashing the recaps of these two days together just can’t do them justice. To say the weekend was fabulous is an understatement; although every trip to the New York is fabulous.

Saturday and Sunday were spent pretty much exclusively eating and walking. My two favorite things. And the walking was through our favorite areas and the eating included some of the best meals I’ve ever tasted. Fabulous.

Saturday started with a trip to Soho to our favorite brunch spot.

We discovered Freemans on a whim one weekend and it has never disappointed us. The boys (and my friend Lana who lives in the city and joined us for the day) were duly impressed.

I ordered the Fall Vegetable Hash, which came with two pan-fried eggs and herbed creme fraiche.

This was savory breakfast perfection, I didn’t know that brussels sprouts in the morning could taste so good.

I knew our next stop required a hungry belly though, so I managed to leave one egg on the plate.

I’ve you’ve ever previously read my blog when I had visitors in the city then you know where we headed next.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine has the best (and cheapest) cupcakes in the city. They are sweet without being too sweet, spongy and light, gorgeous, and innovative. Plus the cake is so good that this former frosting-licking-then-tosser devours the entire cupcake, cake and all!

I went with pistachio.

Be still my heart.

Then we hopped on the train and headed to DUMBO.

The neighborhood Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass is one of our favorite areas in the city.

In addition to being gorgeous, you can walk straight from the park to the Brooklyn Bridge for a walk into the city.

Fabulous.

A subway trip later, and we were back in Park Slope. I know hitting up the same area during a three-day trip to the city is a little silly, but we just love it there so much! Plus, it was the first time Gordy and Ian got to visit our old ‘hood.

Those photos are from Bierkraft, an exciting little craft beer spot on 5th avenue.

Bierkraft has an area with benches, a tap selection, and then walls and walls of beer coolers for you to peruse. So I of course ordered an apple cider.

This was the only underwhelming thing I put in my mouth all day (TWSS). I usually drink Woodchuck ciders and this guy from Harpoon had a slightly lower alcohol content and a much lower flavor punch. I passed him off halfway through.

We continued the carbo-loading by splitting this bag of chips.

It had been a long time since brunch but I wanted to be hungry for dinner and these spuds fit the bill perfectly.

For dinner we took everyone to Sotto Voce, the best Italian food in Brooklyn. The wait staff was totally accommodating about seating six without a reservation, nice as hell, and they brought us great bread.

The lighting was a little dim, so these pictures – with lighting engineered by Lana with an i-phone flashlight app – don’t even begin to do the food justice.

I ordered the special and it quickly found its way onto my “Top Five Best Meals Ever” list.

Sacatini pasta stuffed with spinach and gorgonzola in four cheese sauce with walnuts and poached pears.

Holy god. I am not a good enough writer to adequately describe how amazing this was. The fresh pasta had a totally unique texture. The sauce was pure cheese ecstasy. The poached pears would have been exciting all on their own and then they were perched atop this masterpiece. I ate about 2/3 and shared the rest and everyone agreed that it was divine.

The rest of the night took us bar-hopping in Williamsburg, but frankly I was just plain too tired for booze so I have no pictures of that.

Sunday morning we slept in late, Ian set off to his train, and Adam, Gordy, and I wandered down to Lexington Avenue in search of brunch. We had been very excited to try one particular location but I’m glad that it fell through because that disappointment led us to Rare.

Rare is the restaurant attached to the Affinia Shellburne Hotel but don’t let that fool you; it is so not a hotel restaurant.

For starters, they took pride in their complimentary Bloody Marys.

I ordered mine extra spicy and was in horseradish heaven.

Did I say that Saturday’s dinner was a best meal ever? Because Sunday’s brunch was the best breakfast of all time. Seriously.

This is how Rare does french toast. Thick slices of challah, real Vermont maple syrup, and sautéed bananas.

They were ridiculous good. I ate exactly half, pretty much only stopping because I couldn’t shut up about how good they were and I was starting to annoy the other patrons.

I also took a few bites of Adam’s parmesan and truffle fries.

I wasn’t the only one moaning at the table.

A quick walk to drop Gordy at his train, a stop at Barnes and Nobel for a coffee with skim milk, and we were back on the road.

As you might have divined from yesterday’s post, dinner on the road sort of sucked, but every minute in the city was perfection.

I’ve lived a lot of (neat) places – St. Thomas to Miami to Brooklyn to Buffalo – but the city has felt like home since before I even moved there. When we vacation my homesickness is always for our studio in Park Slope, even though we now live somewhere new. After two years away it still feels like home, my true home.

Where is your home, your true home?

26Dec2010

STT; Merry Christmas – Sunday Afternoon

by Emily

I hope everyone had happy holidays! Adam and I have been feeling extremely blessed. I’m also feeling busy, I hate how brief I have to make these recaps!

Ok, back to Friday afternoon. Since we had already paid the daily admission fee, Adam and I headed back to Magen’s beach. He swam, I read a magazine, and we both clapped in delight over these signs –

On the way back, we had to hit up an island institution.

Going to St. Thomas without making a stop at the dairy is practically criminal! Adam and I split a Bailey’s Delight, made with rum raisin ice cream, egg nog, and brandy.

Then it was time for the final prep for our big Christmas Eve party. A family friend who knows we usually just have to scrounge on the 24th brought over turkey chilli with kidney beans for dinner.

The rest of the evening’s eats were indeed party food. I have no pictures from the actual party, but you can assume I ate at least one of everything, and that it was all delicious!

My hot pepper peach cheese ball.

Baked spinach and artichoke dip.

Baked brie topped with cranberries and walnuts.

Dippers.

Pinwheels.

Fixings for mini turkey sandwiches.

Mini bagels with cream cheese and lox.

Frosted shortbread.

Snowballs, macaroons, and 7-layer bars.

We were also fully stocked with booze. I spent most of my evening carrying around a tray of tequilla shots – it’s a Christmas tradition! And while I did manage to skip that particular tradition, I got so wasted on orange juice with Goldshlager (don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it!) that Adam had to pour me into bed.

Christmas morning began the best possible way – with a light workout! Adam and I ran for about a mile near the beach, then hiked the mile home. It was a short workout, but considering that we had double hangovers and presents to open, I’m pretty proud of us.

A small glass of egg nog was consumed during stockings,

and then a lovely breakfast before presents.

Sidenote – our family does stockings, breakfast, then presents. Always. What was your Christmas morning tradition?

Gingerbread coffee with 2% milk,

a small plate of eggs with red and green pepper and Applegate Farms turkey bacon,

and a 0% Plain Chobani with a slice of coffee cake.

I should have given myself a bigger serving of eggs, I gave away most of my bacon/yogurt/cake. In spite of our refreshing run, I think my nighttime imbibing had made me a little picky.

Not too picky, however, to turn down a big handful of maple sugar cotton candy(!!).

After present opening (which was plentiful – thank’s mom and dad!) there was lunch.

Apple slices and baby carrots,

and crackers with leftover hot pepper peach and spinach dip.

Plus dessert.

Dinner was consumed at my aunt’s house, with a large group of family and friends.

Plus a slice of garlic bread,

and a slice of delicious yellow cake with blueberry jam and vanilla buttercream.

I helped with the frosting, pulling a recipe from Eat, Live, Run that was to die for.

This morning started with another light workout. Adam and I walked up and down the beach for 45minutes, then hiked the mill uphill homeward. I wore my heart rate monitor and was pleasantly surprised that our 1hour, 11minute workout killed 290calories. It’s nice to know that our sand trudging burned up more than the back of my leg muscles.

Lunch was leftovers.

Turkey chilli,

and macaroni and cheese made with swiss cheese, chives, and white truffle flavored oil.

Sidenote – my cousin made the mac and cheese for Christmas dinner and the husband liked it so much he went back for thirds!

I also ate the final serving of Junior Mints,

which helped fuel me up for…. a long nap!

We are at school now, and rest of the day’s agenda is movies, dinner, maybe drinks with friends. See you soon!

23Dec2010

St. Thomas; Tuesday Morning – Thursday Morning

by Emily

We’re here. We’re here, we’re here, we’re here! We’re also busy; this will be a quick recap post.

Tuesday morning at the airport, Adam and I did a good job putting together breakfast from our packed snacks. We split the Orange Cranberry Cliff Bar,

and shared sharp cheddar, baby carrots, and a gingergold apple throughout the morning.

Our flights went well, and on our layover I found a Salsarita’s for lunch.

(Delicious) chips with spicy salsa,

and a chicken burrito with black beans, a little bit of rice, corn salsa, red onions, medium salsa, and shredded cheese.

So tasty and fresh, especially for a plane meal! I ate about half of everything.

Before we knew it we were in my childhood home. Being handed homemade toffee,

and finding gifts on our pillows.

I could get used to this! The husband and I did some wrapping of our own too.

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner.

Spicy chicken with whole-wheat linguine,

mushrooms and broccoli with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds,

and mandarin oranges.

We ate all squished together in a clump, because someone decided to start a puzzle at the table 😉

For dessert my dad and I opened up these Klick Halva Truffles.

Adam went out (late!) with some of our guy friends from high school, but I stayed home rereading All But My Life, by Gerda Weissmann Klein and laughing at the notes I wrote in the margins while writing a 15page final paper on it.

Wednesday morning was all about dinner leftovers for breakfast.

And 10minutes of strength and stretch moves. My goal for vacation is to (at minimum) get in a good stretch every day.

For lunch, we headed to Barefoot Buddha, my favorite restaurant.

I split a passionfruit smoothie with the husband,

and a bagel sandwich with my mother.

Yuuuuuuuum.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on errands, including finding a gloriously huge pile of Achie comics (donated to my mom’s library),

and getting all of our wedding rings polished.

Plus testing saved maple sugar cookies from Thanksgiving.

Out of the freezer, still good!

For dinner we headed to Island Time Pub with my aunt and cousins (2sets, one local, one visiting). The lighting was awful, but the dark did mean we got to enjoy these sailboat sail “trees.”

Adam and I split a Caesar salad, with green peppers and mushrooms added.

And a buffalo chicken pizza.

I had these two slices plus a third.

I also had two black and cokes with dinner.

After that I was the designated driver, so even though we were out with friend until almost 1, I stuck to diet coke.

This morning began with a workout. A good workout 🙂 St. Thomas isn’t exactly map-my-run-able and I don’t have a Garmin, so we are focusing on time instead of distance. We had my mom drive us down to the nearby beach so we could run (not that we ran I’m the sand, just near the beach). In the end we ran for 20minutes and walked for 18minutes. Then we slowly walked up the HUGE hill home; I’ll have to take a picture tomorrow. All total, 60monutes of activity, which felt great.

Breakfast was Greek Gods honey Greek yogurt, topped with some blueberries and banana.