Tag Archives: cucumber

Day Of Work

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After two very (very, very, very) lazy days, it was time for a day of work. This Sunday was all about getting things done. I –

  • put away two loads of laundry
  • did some dishes
  • ran some errands
  • organized my school binder
  • made all of my note cards from last week’s notes
  • did a case study for clinical practice
  • made a delicious dinner

Breakfast was worth a thumbs up too.

I stirred a Liberte Coconut Yogurt into a big scoop of 1% large curd cottage cheese, topped with shredded sweetened coconut.

The coconut flavor was nice, but the resulting texture was mind-blowing. Too creamy for words.

In between errands and school work was lunch.

I picked up a grab bag-style to-go container from the Co-op.

A salad of yam, corn, and black beans; cilantro tofu; peanut tofu with lots of broccoli; and a little bit of vegan pasta salad.

We took Webster with us on our walking errands and his little sweater was so becoming!

He’s still not 100% down with snow, and shivers like a total wimp.  I tease him mercilessly, telling him that his ancestors in Germany only used to hunt badgers in a climate-controlled living room.

While we were out I found a new M&M variety – Dark Chocolate Mint!

Delish.  These had just the right level of chill to them.

Sometime between the lunch and dinner hours we had salads.

Romaine with chopped cucumbers and a dressing made of the remains of the yogurt Caesar shaken with evoo and cider vinegar.

Dinner was a real winner.

For 4 servings of creamy, cheesy, buttery, vegetarian yet protein-rich pasta, combine –

  • ~ 4 servings of small shape pasta, cooked
  • ~ 1.5 cups peas
  • 2 pint mushrooms sautéed with chopped green onion and 5 Tbsp butter
  • 4 oz sharp cheddar, shredded
  • 12 oz 0% Plain Fage

So much yum! I didn’t tell the husband that there was plain Greek yogurt (which he thinks he hates) in the pasta and I didn’t hear any complaints. I think pasta with peas and cheese might be our favorite dish.

I’ve got to get back to work; I’m going to hit with week with running start!

Which flavors of M&M’s have you gotten to try?  I think I’ve had them all – regular, peanut, almond, peanut butter, dark chocolate, pretzel, cinnamon, and coconut – the only flavor I missed with strawberry pb which I never found despite hours of searching!

Toasted Is Like Frosted

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I made it over the hump, it’s time to wind down the week.  I know it’s pathetic but I’ve got to admit – three days of actually doing things has left me exhausted!

I did have to hurry, but I managed to leave the house to walk to campus for my two afternoon classes on time.  We learned about Diabetes Mellitus for two hours, and then had the introduction to our class on integrative medicine/nutrition.  My packed lunch was a little weak though.  A mini box of Brown Sugar Quaker Oatmeal Squares (a HLS sample).

And a huge cup of iced coffee with skim milk and English toffee syrup.

Not enough food and too much caffeine made me very shaky and cranky!  Adam picked me up for a quick grocery trip after class and I’m surprised he didn’t strangle me in the frozen aisle.  It’s possible that I stood and stared embarrassingly longingly at the hot bar.

A Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar did the trick when I got home.

This new flavor is an easy cranky killer.

I also had a handful of sliced cucumber.

Cucumber slices with a sprinkle of salt are legit better that potato chips, and I say that as someone who really loves potato chips.

Dinner started with a salad course.

Romaine lettuce with chopped cucumber and yogurt Caesar dressing.

Then more salad and veggie.

Roasted green beans.

And a salad of crock pot chicken, mayo, green grapes, and toasted pecans.

Guys, toasted pecans are ridiculous good.  And I’m telling you that because I told Adam three times during dinner and he hates me.

What’s your go-to ingredient for jazzing up chicken salad?

They Were All The Best

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What was the best thing you ate today?  If you’re a normal person you probably answered that pretty quickly.  But if you’re me, every single thing you ate was “the very best thing you ate today!”  If pressed, I guess I’d say the juice.  But that choice wasn’t easy.

My morning started off perfectly with a 60 minute hot yoga class.  I picked up a 30-day unlimited pass to Evolation Yoga on Groupon and I am so excited to get my yogi on this month.  Minus one child’s pose during the camel pose, I managed to huff and puff my way through the entire hour.

It’s a good thing that working out kills my appetite for a bit, because my day got away from me and food didn’t happen until the afternoon.  The husband was home from a night shift when I got back from yoga and I just couldn’t resist crawling into bed with him and the dog.

At 1:30 my friend Kim came by to pick us up and we set off for the hospital that we’ll be doing our clinical practice at this upcoming semester.  We’re all getting pretty nervous and we wanted to do a walk through to set our minds at ease.  I even put on my working-lady clothes so it would feel more like the real thing.

When we got home, the husband and I headed out to Ashker’s.

<– Fraggle Rock; love it!

He got a perfectly thick espresso and I got a juice!

My mother-in-law had to mail me a gift receipt and she sweetly included some fun $ with it.  As you’ll see, we took full advantage of it.

Ashker’s was great about letting me go off-menu and build my own juice.

Kale + spinach + cucumber + carrot.

So dang good.  Veggie juice might be the only thing on the planet I find more refreshing than diet pop!

Then we got Chinese take-out.  Beef and broccoli for Adam, a ridiculously giant plate of crab rangoon for me.

Holy frick you guys, I love crab rangoon so much.  Too much, in fact; I ate it at least once every other day during the first week of the new year.  Now you know why I wasn’t blogging much then 😉

That plate is special too.

Pink glass, which my mom actually collects, from right here in Buffalo.

Pretty nifty.

But I could have basically eaten off of the floor,

with rangoon it’s all good.

My late afternoon was spent on Pinterest.  I’ve been trolling people’s pages for weeks, it was high time for me to finally create my own account.

I made myself feel so full and disgusting with Chinese food that I thought I’d never be hungry again.  But several hours later we were out running errands and suddenly I was ready to gnaw my own arm off.  I made a 1 oz bag of trail mix and devoured it before I could even think about getting home to my camera.

The mix included sesame sticks, peanuts, and honey roasted sesame seeds.

And when Adam found a $10 pizza deal for any pizza with any toppings, I totally bit.  And totally ate a slice in the car on the ride home!  We had a nice dinner.

Romaine topped with celery, buckwheat groats, and yogurt Cesar dressing.

Pizza (3 slices total) with jalapeños and pineapple.

Totally delicious, thanks for the inspiration, Kath.

The Final Location

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Today we traveled to the final location of our winter vacation.  It’s good to be “home” for good!  The last two days were spent with cold-like symptoms.  Hence the no-blogging, no-working, no-working out, and no-resolutioning.  Well, that’s no entirely true.  I have read a book a day from Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan series.  Each one is better than the last, I swear.

Anyway though, today, we were headed to Toronto. The morning got off to a rough start – I am feeling less than 100% still and it’s possible I’m cranky – but by 12 we were on the road. And by 12:30 we were back home getting our passports. But then, we were on the road.

A Big Gulp of Cherry Coke Zero did a lot to raise my spirits.

As did starting another Temperance Brennan book.

And before I knew it, we were there.

Our plan was to head to a neighborhood with froyo and then hunt for a late lunch there.  We weren’t certain what we would find, so we were thrilled to come across a cheap, all-you-can-eat sushi joint.

Just what the doctor ordered!  What?  Adam’s practically a doctor.

Everything was delicious.  I had … A small bowl of green salad.

Cheese wontons split with the husband.

A piece of tomago sushi (egg).

Two rolls split with the husband.  The Rock and Roll white fish, salmon, pepper, masago, cream cheese, tempura, eel sauce.  The Fire Roll crab meat, avocado, cucumber, masago, spicy mayo, tempura, eel sauce.

A Sakura Roll avocado, tempura bits, hot sauce.

Fried tofu split with the husband.

A piece of butterfish sushi.

Some baked eggplant and grilled veggies.

And finally spicy crab, tempura, and california hand rolls.

We got our money’s worth but weren’t too too stuffed; a perfect all-you-can-eat experience.

To clear some stomach room before froyo, we took a short walk down ultra-cool Bloor St.

And then finally it was time for Menchies.

I topped plain tart and hot chocolate yogurts with small amounts of Skor bar, hot fudge, Smarties, and crunchy pb, and large amounts of rainbow sprinkles and popping bobba.

Perfection.

We had an uneventful drive home and now the boys are over for a game of poker.  I’m banished to the office so it’s possible I’ll get a jump on some schoolwork, but it’s doubtful.  It’s looking like our late, big lunch with count for dinner, but if I end up munching on anything I’ll update.  Otherwise, catch you in the am!

STT; Wednesday Afternoon – Thursday Morning

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Wednesday

Yesterday afternoon I made another stop at the gym; woot!  I hopped on the treadmill for 9 sets of 2 minutes running/2 minutes walking.  36 minutes and 3 miles.  I’m going to need to make myself do some strength training soon, but for now I’m taking baby steps.  Plus, my legs got sore enough that I decided to make Thursday a day off.

After a shower, I was heading downtown for a mini-meet up my old school was hosting.  I hate going to things like that by myself; I am seriously the worst with faces.  I love getting to catch up with people but if I’m not with a friend to tell me who people are then it feels more stressful than fun.  Thankfully (ha!) there really was no one I knew there, just a bunch of younger kids.  I met up with one friend from my class and we quickly fled in seach of dinner.

Crystal – a high school friend that I am thrilled is visiting the same time as I – and I headed over to Benny Iguanas, the new location of a sushi place that was very popular back in the day.  I started with a tofu/veggies miso soup.

And got a cucumber-avocado roll for my meal.

The catching up was better than the food, but the meal wasn’t terrible.

Thursday

I started this morning with dessert.

Plus a little of this –

And some of this –

The holiday season just isn’t complete without some “Carebears Nutcracker.”  Though it’s possible that I “borrowed” that DVD from a Blockbusters in Brooklyn 3 years ago!

I also had breakfast.

A 2% Pineapple Chobani with a sliced banana.

And now I’m heading to lunch with my mom, hopefully for more sushi!

How do you feel about high school reunions?

Vacation At Home

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Some people find that having visitors is stressful, but I think it gives you a great opportunity to be a tourist in your own city.  It does help that my visitors are my (funny, easy-going) parents and they pay for everything!  When you have guests it’s like you get to take a vacation at home because they force you to view your city with fresh eyes.

Let me tell you though, vacationing at home can be exhausting! We’ve been falling into bed after 1 am every night and this post is two days in one because I just couldn’t make myself sit down at the computer before bed last night.  Even with double content I’ve got to keep this quick because otherwise it’ll be another post-1 am bedtime and my parents leave early tomorrow.

Tuesday morning started with a very unvacation-like trip to the orthodontist.  But then I took my parents to breakfast at Sweetness 7 Cafe.

S7C is a totally adorable coffee and crepes place; I plan on bringing a good book and camping out for the day eating crepes very soon.

I ordered an iced black tea,

and my parents and I split 2 crepes 3 ways.

Kiss Me I’m Irish – plain crepes with syrup and a cracked fried egg in the center.

Irish Blessing – caramelized fresh apples with melted brie.

Apparently we went Irish for breakfast, and the choice served us well.  I don’t have much experience for comparison but these are the best crepes I’ve ever had; so eggy!

After breakfast we walked a third of the loop around Delaware Park so my parents could see the Buffalos.

I continued to get my sweat on by taking advantage of their hotel gym while they got ready for the day.  30 minutes on the elliptical at random level 6.  It was amazing to have access to a tv at the gym, especially because I was the only one in there and I could control the remote.

Our next activity was a trip to the Albright Knox Gallery.

I wanted to snap a picture of practically everything, but I controlled myself and stuck to a few favorites.

The first day with a new set of retainers is always super painful so I went with a liquid lunch.

A Vega Vanilla-Almonde Shake and Go Smoothie packet that I grabbed from the co-op on a whim.  The flavor was good but not great, and this didn’t do an awesome job of sating my hunger, but I was definitely pleased with this –

And it’s just as well that I was left a bit hungry, because my best meal of the year was coming for dinner.  Don’t let the pictures fool you (why are restaurants always so darn dark?!), Scotch and Sirloin is basically a must-go!  I never would have ventured there if it hadn’t been for Groupon, but I am so glad that I crossed my fingers and bought the deal.

Adam and I split a bowl of crab bisque to start.

I also got a plate from the salad bar.

Romaine with mushrooms, artichokes, cucumber and French dressing.  Plus a slice of the best bread I’ve had since Great Harvest, super duper doughy.

For dinner my dad and I split the two best things on the menu: Fried shrimp,

and the double lobster tail with drawn butter.

Like butter dipped in butter!  We were so impressed with this meal, I can’t even tell you.  I ended up eating three fried shrimp,

most of one lobster tail,

and all of the veggies.

For dessert we ended up at a candy shop on Elmwood with an ice cream counter.

I went with Ciao Bella Gelato, a half scoop each of key lime pie and malted milk ball flavors.

Fashion note – How cute is the back of this shirt?!

I actually bought this years ago in college but it has a strange, unflattering band around the waist so I’d worn it maybe once or twice.  I can’t believe it took me so long to think of pairing it with a high-waisted skirt.

We sat outside of The Spot to eat our ice cream and I also drank a small, non-fat, iced Chai.

– – – Insert time (not enough!) to sleep. – – –

I picked my parents up bright and early this morning for breakfast at Panos.  I got the 2-2-2; french toast, sunny side up eggs, and hash browns.

I ended up eating one egg, 1 piece (1 half slice) of french toast, and all of my potatoes.  The amount of leftover food was a little annoying considering I ate exactly the portion of the 1-1-1 – from the kids’ menu – that they wouldn’t let me order.  However, after taking a bite of my dad’s blueberry pancakes I decided that Pano’s can do no wrong and a little wasted food isn’t a big deal.

Coffee #1 of the day was a tall iced coffee with skim milk from Starbucks.

Did I mention that I’m exhausted?

My parents are sleeping at our apartment tonight so I took advantage of their gym one last time before they checked out.  10 minutes of walking on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I also carried both of my parents’ suitcases up our three flights of stairs and I’d like to count that as strength training!

Our big activity for the last vacation day was a long walk down Elmwood.  We stopped in to basically every store and I definitely discovered a few hidden gems.

Mid-afternoon we grabbed lunch from the Globe Market.

1/4 lb each peanut noodles and Thai vegetable salad.

Meh.  It wasn’t terrible but I’m honestly not a big fan of Globe.

Whether due to hunger or exhaustion or increased physical activity, hunger hit me hard this afternoon. We ran a bunch of random errands and during that time Adam and I split some new flavors of candy,

and I drank a chocolate milk.

Dinner at Chester’s Cajun Grill was a meal Adam and I had been looking forward to ever since we tried the Smoked Bourbon Chicken Sandwich at the Taste of Buffalo.  Of course we had to get the sandwich.

It wasn’t good!!  I can’t even tell you how said this made us.  It wasn’t terrible, but we could only rate it a 5/10 and the sandwich we tried at the festival was a 9.5/10.  I ate most of my meal but only because I was hungry; even the fries were pretty tasteless.

Thank goodness we had good company.  We ended our evening with a final trip to the Spot to sit and talk; we are going to miss my parents so much when they fly home tomorrow!  Coffee #2 – a grande, iced Americano with skim milk and two sugars – was actually consumed at 11 pm so I could make it through this post.

And I’m done; phew!

Gourmet On The Go

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We’re back in Buffalo!  We made it home without losing any limbs or luggage and managed to eat only healthy, delicious meals; I call that a winner travel day!

To start the morning my aunt took me to Atwaters, a local bakery her neighbor owns, to buy a loaf of bread and some provisions for our drive.

I also picked up an iced coffee with skim milk.

Adam and I hung out with my family as long as we could (my cousin just got back from study abroad in Costa Rica and had amazing pictures!) but soon it was time to hit the road.

You know we couldn’t leave Baltimore without self-serving one more frozen yogurt.

I got a mix of cookies and cream and taro yogurt topped with strawberries, bananas, Oreo, sprinkles, and rainbow jelly.

The rainbow jelly took my joy over the top, although now I’m going to be missing froyo and bubble tea!

Typically vacation food goes downhill once you get into the car, but today we were ready and we kept things gourmet.  I bought this Tofu Bahn Mi at Atwaters in the morning and it ended up being the perfect brunch.

Bahn Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich made with pickled veggies.  Typically it is very spicy but this one was pretty mild (my only complaint).

Lunch was also a sandwich, but not just any sandwich.

Bee’s Knees Honey Peanut Butter (good), homemade strawberry jam (better), and Dakota bread (best).

Best damn pb & j I’ve ever had!  I’m seriously amazed by how good this bread is each time I eat it.

We were pretty well prepared but sadly I spent the last few hours in the car dying of hunger.  Adam had a huge bag of m&m’s that made the whole car smell like chocolate and it was all I could do not to pour them down my throat.  I managed to wait, but once I picked up our dinner on the way home I could not keep my hand out of the bag of chips.

Many many (way too many) chips were consumed this evening.

We are out of veggies, actually we are out of everything, so I picked up rice bowls from Moe’s for dinner.

My bowl was rice, black beans, tofu, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions, sautéed green peppers, lettuce, cheese, corn salsa, and cilantro.

I scarfed that bad boy.

Time to unpack!

I’m Hungry and I Suck

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My legs have been feeling pretty good, but this afternoon 2nd day hunger hit me hard!  I didn’t plan on eating while I was out of the house, so I left my camera at home to charge, but by the time I got to the grocery store at 5:30 I knew I couldn’t wait any longer.  Thank goodness for cell phone cameras and thank goodness for hot bar.

That’s my usual mix.  It’s hard to see portion sizes in the photos but that’s ~2/3 of what I usually get, it wasn’t supposed to be dinner.

I also impulse-bought this So Delicious Chocolate Coconut Milk from the fridge by the register.

It was pretty good.

I ate my Co-op candy bar before I went to the mall and it was fricking amazing.

That white stuff tasted like pillowy, marshmallowy nougat!  I “mmmmn’d” my whole way through.

I threw together dinner fairly quickly but it ended up being a good meal.

Salad – arugula, green bell pepper, cucumber, and poppy seed dressing.

I made this salmon patty recipe, but subbed green onions for shallots because our shallots were moldy.  <– what is happening in this house?!

Plus Adam and I split a cheddar cheese bialy.

Best part of the meal, hands down.

No one is entering my recent giveaways, boo.  I would really appreciate some feedback on why/how I suck.  There’s another one tomorrow, please let me know what I could do to make it better!