Insta-Wrap-Up, IX

Instagram dump, fall edition!

I was sad to have to put this lacy white dress away with my summer gear.

glitter and lace

But the closet swap meant that this scarf is part of my life again.  It was a Hanukkah gift from my cousins last year and it is so me.

heart scarf

The fall smells at Bath and Bodyworks are killer.  We usual burn two at once to “blend” the scents.  Fun fact – Adam doesn’t actually have a sense of smell, but he still thinks these guys are fun.

pumpkin at bath and body works

Our clinic is moving over to an electronic medical record soon {yay!} and I’m particular and obsessive so I’ve mapped out the entire nutrition section myself.  Then I wrote it all out by hand… with color coding… and a key.

handwritten emr

Pie at Four and Twenty Blackbirds.  My salted caramel apple slice was delish.  Also their espresso is our very favorite.

pie from four and twenty blackbirds in brooklyn

When I was a kid, my best friend and I used this book to memorize all of the US presidents in order.  We also had one for the US state capitals.  She recently texted me that she bought a copy and I died for jealousy and then immediately ordered one of my own.

yo, millard filmore!

The boys are ridiculous when they cuddle.  The dog isn’t happy unless one of us is spooning him in his sleep.

dachshund

He’s flying!

webster dachshund

Recommended Reading

My mom is an elementary school librarian, so reading has always been a big part of my life.  The only resolution I repeat and consistently achieve each year is to “read at least 1 book per month.”  Lately it’s been more like 4+ books per month.  I complain a lot about my crazy long commute, but really I’m not sure what I’d do without the daily reading blocks my time on the LIRR gives me.  I’ve read more books this past year than any other time in my adult life!

I just wanted to pop in and share some of the things that have made my fingers flip through pages (or scroll through Feedly) extra quickly lately…

{think} blog posts from other RDs

According to Elle – “Debunking Yet Another Low-Carb Claim

          An educated look at the recent study that pitted a low-carb diet versus a low-fat diet.  I think this is basically a must-read!

Bitchin’ Nutrition – “Testing Your Intestines

          Information on the types of tests required to diagnose food allergies and intolerances involving wheat and gluten.

Grapefruit & Granola – “School Vs. Clinical Dietetics

          A comparison of her days in a school cafeteria versus the hospital.  This one is probably most interesting to other Dietitians.

Dietitian Cassie – “Are Organic Foods Worth It?

          I’m cheating, this is actually a video segment!  She discusses which foods it is most advisable to buy organic.

{fun} two books I really loved recently

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

Little Giant of Aberdeen County

From the back of the book:

Meet Truly Plaice – part behemoth, part witch, part Cinderella.  Born larger than life into a small-minded town, Truly breaks her family into smithereens.  Her mother dies during Truly’s birth, and when her father follows shortly afterward, Truly and her dainty sister, Serena Jane, are destined for very different fates.  As Truly grows larger and larger on a rundown farm, she watches lovely Serena Jane become the town’s adored May Queen and the obsession of a local boy, Bob Bob Morgan – the youngest in a line of Aberdeen’s doctors, who for generations wove their influence among the town’s citizens.  Yet no matter how far apart life propels them, Truly and her sister are forever linked.  And Truly will find her future shaped by Serena Jane’s relationships, a centuries-old antique of Dr. Morgan’s, and the reality that love cannot be ordered to size.

This book was 340 pages long and I tore through it in one day.  Putting it down was not an option!  Baker was beautifully descriptive and I think she achieved the perfect balance of tragedies to happy endings.

Dead Wrong by Allen Wyler

Dead Wrong

Note – This book I received free of charge to review from Astor + Blue.  I was not obligated to post unless I wanted to and I did not receive compensation for this post.  It’s also available on the Nook.

From the back of the book:

When a top secret program of implanting harrowing memories into innocent people comes to light, neurosurgeon Tom McCarthy is literally caught in the crossfire.  While McCarthy looks forward to a three-day weekend, his office is suddenly raided by two Department of Defense investigators bent on arresting him for a crime he didn’t commit. All hell breaks loose when an inadvertent scuffle escalates, leaving one agent dead at the hands of the other, and McCarthy fleeing but hopelessly trapped inside the labyrinthine corridors, heating ducts, and stairways of a gigantic Seattle medical center.

With the CIA and Seattle PD closing in, McCarthy unwittingly pulls Dr. Sarah Hamilton into the fray. And like rats in a maze, they struggle to stay one step ahead of their deadly hunters, while simultaneously uncovering a trail of corruption that reaches shocking dimensions.

Penned by master neurosurgeon, Allen Wyler, DEAD WRONG brings the reader inside the world of an insidious and terrifyingly plausible narrative, to create a heart pounding, claustrophobic and nightmarish thriller.

The only reason I didn’t finish this one in one day as well was because I started it during the work week.  I could not wait to see what was going to happen next or to learn more about why things were unfolding the way they did.  Wyler did a nice job of switching between first and third person narrative and the shifts in perspective helped to pull me in as well.  I don’t want to give anything away, but I was pleased with the ending.

Do you have any books to recommend?

Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

This is a short “week” because my weekend technically starts tonight (Thursday night) – my parents are coming into town and I took Friday and Monday off.  Woo-hoo!!

And since I managed to photograph every single thing over the past three days (minus tons of water and diet coke), I thought it would be fun to do an old-school recap and go by the day rather than grouping things into meal categories.

Monday

Breakfast at my desk, iced Americano and fat-free chocolate milk for the win.

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Lunch was one of those yogurt bowls I’ve been loving lately.

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TJ’s 0% Honey Greek Yogurt with strawberries {that I picked myself!} and some granola from my KIND package.  I used Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds this week and was a big fan; this flavor had some nice tang compared with the first bag I tried.

It was a fabulously busy day at work and I ran around all afternoon.  I’m usually not involved with the Labor and Delivery floor, but I’ve recently started following my Gestational Diabetes patients when they go inpatient so there is better continuity of care.  Getting out of the clinic is always nice because it breaks up the day.  And it’s good to have a little more time to go over the education when we are in a hospital room and not my office where other clients knock at my door right and left.

I ate some of the green curry turkey salad, straight from the container, the minute I got home.

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I was feeling snacky, and there were already leftovers for Adam to eat, so I decided to do a series of snack plates for dinner.  First, a Jazz apple with Mary’s Gone Crackers Sea Salt Pretzels and TJ’s Teriyaki Turkey Jerky.

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I don’t know how TJ’s gets their jerky to stay so soft, but that stuff is delicious.

Next up was a bowl of cucumber salad.

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I let some thinly sliced Persian cucumbers hang out with some sugar (1 tsp of sugar per cup cucs) for a bit then folded in tons of Sriracha and crushed peanuts.

And I ended the night with nachos, aka the craving that lead me to a snack-style dinner in the first place.  2 servings of potato chips baked with 2 servings of low-fat three cheese blend.

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The chips were part of the rather embarrassing “reduced guilt” line and they were amazing.

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I read the bag very carefully before deciding to give them a try; the chips are made using less oil (I have no idea how) but no scary ingredients like Olestra.  The flavor was identical to TJ’s normal kettle chips and the texture was slightly crunchier, which I think is an improvement.  I will definitely buy them again.

Tuesday

Astonishingly, I woke up early enough on Tuesday to go outside for a quick run.  I only had time for 15 minutes of actual running amid my walking, but the weather was gorgeous and getting out there was glorious.  I have been on a total workout hiatus since our move (almost a year ago!!) but starting Saturday I have been making a concerted effort to get back into the habit.  <– hold me to that, please!

I was home and dressed in time to blend up this swampy smoothie.

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It was only slightly better than it looked.  Frozen strawberries with honey, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and Kiss Me Organics Matcha Powder.

Since Tuesday is my inpatient day, I packed a lunch that didn’t need the fridge.

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An apple cinnamon oatmeal bowl with Cacao Bliss and a pear on the side.

I always want to tell you guys more about what I’m doing at the hospital but I like my job and want to keep it so it’s best to follow HIPAA.

I can say that I charted on an impressive 10 patients and I left the hospital a little late which caused me to miss my train.  While I waited to get home I purchased some fun snacks.  A blackberry mojito tea (sans lemonade) from Starbucks.

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And a bag of the new York Patty minis.

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I had searched for that stupid candy for weeks and was thrilled when I spotted it at Target.  Yorks are my favorite chocolate-based candy.

When I got home I made green curry.

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I sautéed shredded carrot, green onion, broccoli, and peas in evoo; then whisked together a can of light coconut milk with tons of green curry paste and a little galangal and brown sugar; then let everything simmer for a while.  Served on a bed of brown rice.

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So flipping good.  And I didn’t even follow a recipe so I’m pretty proud of myself.  Adam wasn’t home because he was on nights all week but I watched “Longmire” while I ate which was a nice substitute.  Are you watching that yet?  It is super good; there was a scene in the 2nd episode of this season that made both of us cry!

Wednesday

I slept in until the last possible minute yesterday so I did another breakfast at my desk.

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Coffee and a Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond KIND Bar (former freebie).  I’m still completely awed by how wonderful this flavor is.

Back to my old standby for lunch.

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Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with Meyer lemon curd, granola, and strawberries.

We have no food because we’ll go out to eat with our guests, so I planned on buying food on my way home but ran out of time for anything but coffee (with skim milk and sugar).

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I had to do my best to cobble dinner together.  Lean Cuisine stuffed pretzels and baby carrots with hummus.

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Not too terrible, but if I’d thought ahead I would have eaten a salad at lunch.

I also ate chocolate-covered gummy bears while I wrote this post.

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🙂

Do you guys miss my old style of posting or are you happier with the new wrap-ups?

Weekly Wrap-Up; A Giveaway Winner And Another Giveaway!

Hey there!  First things first, the winner of my Sandwich, Bagel, and Pocket Thins giveaway is – #30, laurajacobson.  {if you’re only here for the next giveaway keep scrolling to the bottom of this post!}

I haven’t talked much about work beyond posting some pictures of my office, so I thought I’d share a few updates:

a) Most of my coworkers love my purple hair.  Everyone has said that they wouldn’t have expected me to be the type of person to get a crazy color, which is funny because over the past decade I’ve gone purple or pink (or one really unfortunate shade of maroon) several times.

b) As of this week I’m going to be covering inpatient floors on Tuesdays.  I’ve been enjoying my job but it is very exciting to get back into acute care!  My heart belongs to tube feeds.  And since I’m just going where I’m needed, I’ll be able to get exposure to a little bit of everything.

c) It finally happened… one of my former students came into the clinic!!!  I saw her name on my list but didn’t put two and two together until she was standing in front of my door for nutrition counseling.  We both spent the first 10 minutes of our time reminiscing and freaking out. It was really fun to see how grown-up she was.

Now onto the food, in reverse. I had many really amazing new things this week and you’re in for a lot of gushing; you’ve been warned…

dinner

Fancy pasta.

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Whole wheat noodles, sautéed shrimp, and torn kale tossed with lemon, parmesan, and fat-free half & half.

A total fail.

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This was my attempt at okra masala, sans recipe.

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Things were going well until I added a 2nd round of dried herbs and spices, rendering the dish inedible.  I ate a bag of gummi bears for dinner instead.

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Plus my kale chips.

In celebration of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, Fairway contacted me to see if I would like to try* their house-baked beer bread.  Yes, please!

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The bread is made with NY local Blue Point Brewing Co. Hoptical Illusion IPA.

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The bread was delicious – between sandwiches and toasted slices with cheese melted on top we finished the entire thing in two days! – but even more magical was what happened when I went to go pick it up.  Apparently I had never been inside a Fairway before, because, holy foodie heaven, you guys, I have found my new favorite grocery store.  Fairway was better than TJ’s, Whole Foods, and even {gasp!} Wegman’s.  The store was impeccably clean, the produce was the best I’ve seen all winter, and I spotted at least five of the products I’ve been trolling other stores for over the past six months.  There was even a hot bar!  I don’t think I saw any store brands so my wallet won’t let me shop their exclusively but I am very jazzed to add it to my grocery rotation!

As for the bread, I decided to stay on theme and make turkey reubens.

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Beer bread, fresh sauerkraut, 1000 island dressing, and Applegate Farms Herb Turkey Breast and Emmentaler Sliced Swiss.

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For our green on the side we did baby kale sautéed with dried blueberries and honey roasted almonds.

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Such a good combo, the berries took it over the top.

And Thursday I was too lazy to make dinner soIatepopcornwhilewatchingtv,theend.

snacks

Recently Cow Wow reached out to me about trying* their cereal milk.

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Cow Wow is low-fat, kosher, gluten-free, all-natural and organic.  They sent me three flavors in an adorable little lunch box.

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DSC08532Adam and I split a Fruity Trudy Organic Low-fat Milk one night as a snack.

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The flavor was spot-on for milk from the bottom of a bowl of fruity cereal.  I hate fruity cereal, so it was a little too spot-on for me, but Adam liked it.  I’ll talk about the other flavors lower in this post, but to enter to win a lunchbox of your own just scroll to the end of this post!

A super sundae.

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Dannon Café Latte Frozen Greek Yogurt – the flavor was wonderful but the texture had the hollowness that low-fat ice creams tend to have –

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topped with candied pecans and Spoonable Flowery Lavender Caramel Sauce.

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Beer bread with cheese.

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I didn’t even use the oven that time.  I microwaved it.  Like an animal.

And Blackberry Oikos with the last of the pecans.

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lunch

Lunches vacillated between freaking awesome and very weak.  Monday was a strong showing.

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An Everything Bagel Thin with Applegate Farms Roasted Turkey, a fantastic crunchy cheddar from TJ’s, and banana peppers.

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DSC08560Plus a granny smith with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

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Tuesday I bought a salad from the cafeteria and didn’t take a picture.

Wednesday was insane and I ended up not having time for my packed lunch.  Instead I just drank this Arriba Horchata Energy Drink.

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I poured it over ice and it was ridiculous good.

Thursday I ate Wednesday’s lunch.

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A Cara Cara.

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And a Fage Coffee Fruyo.

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This yogurt is my new favorite.  It blows every other coffee variety out of the water!  This was not enough food though (I forgot my other bag of snacks at home) and I ended up eating candy at my desk all afternoon.  Boo.

breakfast

Last Friday I finally got to try the new vanilla macchiato from Starbucks.

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It was flipping fabulous and I’ve had one almost every day since.

Random sidenote – Now what I really need to try is this:

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I want it so bad I can practically taste it but none of the locations I’ve been to have had it frozen.  I’m a woman obsessed.

A set of cinnamon.

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Cinnamon Crunch Somersaults.

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And a Cinny Minny Cow Wow.

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Again, the flavor was a perfect match to the bottom of the cereal bowl.  And I do like cinnamon cereal so I was a fan.

A ridiculously fantastic breakfast sandwich.

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An Everything Bagel Thin with sautéed kale, fancy cheddar, roasted turkey, and a fried egg.

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It was tasty, filling, and it didn’t even take me all that long to make.

Cereal and milk cereal milk and fruit.

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A great pear – TJ’s has been killing it with the bosc and d’anjou pears lately.

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And my last flavor of Cow Wow.

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The fun of chocolate but not too sweet for breakfast.  Chocolate Chip Cathy was my favorite flavor by far.  Though they also have a marshmallow flavor and if I can ever get my hands on it I’m pretty sure it will win my affection.

*both the bread and the cereal milk were sent to me free of charge.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

the giveaway

To enter to win your own lunchbox packed with three flavors of Cow Wow, simply leave a comment on this post by 8 pm EST on Monday, March 17th.

***Update – #10, latanya, was the winner.

Around The Web

Yay for the upcoming weekend, with highs in the 50’s (!!) in NYC!  Whether you plan on spending your Friday night learning or laughing, this post’s got you covered.

things to make you think

– click on the text for the links –

Whole-wheat consumption is not linked to increased obesity in the general population.   {study}

Myth-busting: 5 misconceptions about Registered Dietitians.

Hospitals’ use of infant formula for newborns increases rate of early breast-feeding cessation, even among moms who are to exclusively breast-feed.   {study, abstract only}

Consumption of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids may help maintain brain volume with age.   {study, abstract only}

Potential new “superfoods” from around the globe.

things to make you giggle

winterly introspection

source

eric cartman style

source

rats with teddy bears

source

this is totally true

source

marathon

source

What are your big plans for this weekend?  Any marathons planned?

Weekly Wrap-Up; One Day Late

Usually I get these posts up by Friday, but that implies that I was moderately functional on Thursday night.  This week, I was not.  In spite of being insanely tired all week (I got into a bad sleep habit pattern that snowballed), I did do pretty well on the food front – breakfasts most days, fancy-feeling dinners, the works.

work

Speaking of work…  It’s going well.  I feel like I am fully settled into my position.  I am definitely missing the inpatient setting a lot, but I do feel like I’m getting to make a positive impact.  Part of the reason I’m so passionate about pediatrics (my long-term career goals center around nutrition support  and pediatrics) is because nutrition is so crucial during periods of growth.  Well, working with prenatal patients means I’m counseling adults who are growing{babies!}.  My clinic sees a great variety of clients; among other things, I’ve gotten to deal with anemia, diabetes, hyperemesis gravidarum, and pica.  I’m still waiting on vegan diets, eating disorders, and maternal pku.

On a less serious note, I decided to stop Fashion Fridays.  I’m just not that fashionable.  And I’m really not that good with my camera, which meant I was taking blurry pictures that weren’t highlighting the cool details that make me love my outfits.  I doubt anyone but my mom will miss this feature, but I just wanted to explain why it was going away.

breakfast

Coconut Macaroon Larabar and a short non-fat salted caramel hot chocolate.

DSC07179DSC07195Breakfast from the cafeteria.

DSC07228Kashi Caramelized Onion Hummus Crisps and an apple.  I enjoyed both.

Non-fat iced caramel flan latte.

DSC07243This wasn’t as exciting as I wanted it to be.  I asked for no whipped cream and they skipped my caramel drizzle too.

Two servings of S’mores Krave cereal with blackberries and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

DSC07281I didn’t like the original version of this cereal when I tried it last year but the s’mores kind is quite tasty.  And for a “sugar cereal” it’s not even terrible, with 10 g of sugar per serving.

lunch

Monday.

DSC071830% Fage with mango and soursoup,

DSC07189a super juicy pear,

DSC07188dried clementines,

DSC07191and Duane Reade milk chocolate with toffee and sea salt.

DSC07193Tuesday, I ran out of time to pack.

DSC07220A Chicken and Greens Cesar from Starbucks.  I loved the use of kale in here, I didn’t know a Cesar could feel so healthy.

DSC07225And a Strawberry Apple Crusher from TJ.

DSC07221Wednesday.

DSC07230Hickory smoked tuna with crackers,

DSC07234and salted milk chocolate and a pear for dessert.

DSC07238For Thursday, a jar of fresh pineapple.

DSC07259A sandwich of Applegate Farms roasted turkey, dijon, and light jarlsberg on an everything ciabatta flatbread,

DSC07256and some sesame roasted seaweed.

DSC07263My coworkers were very curious about the seaweed; two of them even were brave enough to taste it, not that they ended up being big fans.

I didn’t have my camera yesterday, but I bought a slice of veggie pizza from the cafeteria for lunch.  And, um, I also bought a doughnut for breakfast.  I almost never eat doughnuts (I didn’t grow up with them) but I had randomly reeeeeeeeally been craving one so it was serendipitous that the cafeteria had cinnamon twists on the morning I couldn’t pack breakfast.

dinner

A fancy night.

DSC07206We topped salmon with meyer lemon and this Dark Horse Smoked Brown Sugar before baking.  We hardly ever make fresh fish at home and this was such a treat!  The texture of properly baked salmon is swoon-worthy.

DSC07197DSC07211With a side of roasted broccoli,

DSC07213and potatoes – mashed with butter, goat cheese, and tons of dijon mustard.

DSC07216It was a great meal.

A tired night – I was too sleepy on Tuesday to even bother with dinner.  Refer down to the “snacks” list below 🙂

A sandwich night.

DSC07276Smokey tofu sandwiches were a total win.

DSC07265We topped ciabatta flatbread with smokey tofu, light muenster cheese, and turkey bacon.  The tofu was baked with a sauce I threw together – ketchup, maple syrup, and liquid smoke – and it turned out great.

DSC07268DSC07273Plus green beans.

DSC07271A restaurant night.

DSC07287Those are the complimentary yam chips that Laverne sets out, by the way, and they are fantastic.

For my meal, I ordered the Drunken Noodles with shrimp, extra spicy.

DSC07291Oh boy, did they ever deliver on spice!  The noodles were exactly to my liking, which is to say, almost unbearably hot!  Adam took a tiny taste and was not happy.  Thai iced tea helped me to cool down a bit.

DSC07289And after dinner we went out for giant cups of froyo.  Sadly, the evening took a sharp turn downhill from there.  I made myself a much bigger froyo than I usually do, loaded up with all sorts of toppings, including, apparently, something that didn’t agree with me.  Even if you’ve never thrown up after eating the spiciest meal of your life you can probably still picture it.  I basically rolled around on the floor and screamed.  <– sorry, husband!

snack

When I sent Adam to “the fancy store” to pick up salmon, he came home with this 26 month aged Beemster Dutch cheese as a surprise.

DSC07199Do you see those salt crystals?!  Love.  We didn’t even use crackers, just ate big chunks all week long.

Vivaloe Watermelon Aloe.  Surprisingly, Adam liked this even more than I did.

DSC07241We both have been missing the variety of boba we could get in bubble tea in Buffalo and the chunks of aloe are a nice substitute.

Onto the chocolate portion of our show… My last Alter Eco Velvet Truffle.

DSC07285I’m amazed these lasted so long in the house (they are outstanding), but it seemed like we just kept on bringing home new treats.

Like the Lime Splash Lindt bar that I obviously had to buy because, hello, it’s new.

DSC07293Two thumbs up.  And I know that the cover photo makes him look like a creeper, but I’m currently loving Grant Achatz’s memoir, Life, On The Line.

Finally, my (sugared up) take on Something Swanky’s Single Serve Skinny Brownie Batter.

DSC072445.3 oz vanilla Greek yogurt + 1 Tbsp brown sugar + 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar + 1 and 1/2 Tbsp almond meal + 1 Tbsp Dutch cocoa powder = brain exploding goodness!

The Bacon – Bringing It Home

It is {finally!} time to announce that I’ve started a new job.  My first official job as a Registered Dietitian.  <—yay!

I’ve actually known about this news for a while, but my hospital has an insanely long hiring process and I didn’t want to blog anything until everything was set.  I spent yesterday at an all-day orientation and today I get to go start being an RD.

I am going to be the Dietitian for the Women’s Health Center at a hospital in Brooklyn.

The above statement still sounds so surreal; I still can’t believe it’s only been a little over 2 years since I was freaking out about buying my first white coat.

lab coatPlease cross your fingers for me that I have a good first day!

Good News

Do I look any different?

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Because now I’m a *Registered* Dietitian.

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Yay!

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1 career switch

3 more years of undergrad

2 days of Jean Inman

61 minutes of testing

And now I can put those two little letters after my name!