Sandwiches, Smoothies, and Schedules

Hello again, happy Monday!  This will definitely be the longest recap post I’ve done in a while – Friday through Monday.  Physically things have been low-key but mentally there’s been lots of drama – my flight was canceled!  And since I’m in St. Thomas it could have meant getting into Buffalo on Tuesday and not having a ride and missing class.  I was freaking out a bit.  Thankfully 45minutes on the phone + my firm but calm voice got me on a different flight that leaves/gets in on pretty much the same schedule.  And now my layover is shorter and in Philly and not Charlotte.  🙂

I’m a big proponent of the firm but calm voice.  I was polite, and said multiple please and thank yous, but unwavering.  I didn’t ask whether or not I could get on another flight, I simply said “I will be leaving St. Thomas tomorrow, what can you do to help me make that happen?”  And it worked.

Anyway, back to Friday.  My mom served me a slice of cake,

which promptly got stripped of it’s icing because I don’t eat cake.

Then I moved on to greens, a small container I put together at the salad bar we stopped by.

Lettuce, beans, corn, cheese, 1 hard-boiled egg and a drizzle of light Cesar.

I also made myself some frozen coffee – coffee, ice, skim milk, and 2T sugar.

Soo much better than Starbucks could ever do.

Dinner was all about the leftovers.

Oven baked okra is kind of my favorite.

And I served up some leftover baked tofu on toasted rye with hot pepper raspberry preserves and sharp cheddar.

Friday night I did end up going out to meet some friends.  We had a good time and I had a few drinks but photo-taking was abandoned in favor of trying to keep my balance on one leg!  I don’t know how on earth I managed to stand on one leg past 2am but a fun time was had by all.

For Saturday morning breakfast my mom and I hit up one of my favorite places on earth – Barefoot Buddha.  I had fresh-made lemonade,

and a Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich.

Frittata, smoked turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, spicy sauce…

I love these sandwiches so much I ate them on my wedding day!  I know most brides say they are too nervous to eat but I was just nervous my friends would devour them before I got any 😀

We hung out and studied for a bit and I had a passionfruit, banana, coconut smoothie.

We laid low the rest of the day before going out to a fabulous dinner at The Cellar.  We did a lot of sharing and the lighting was low so let me apologize for the picture quality in advance.

There were way too many things I wanted off the drink menu but I finally settled on the Caribbean Champagne.

Champagne with coconut rum and key lime juice.  GREAT combination.

We split a cheese plate that was kind of out of this world.  The goat cheese was my favorite but the stewed plums were pretty fantastic as well.

My plate –

And at The Cellar the chef always sends out an amuse bouche.

Ahi wontons.

Plus homemade bread and butter.

For my meal I got the Vegetable Cutlet – panfried, potatoes, peas, carrots, eggplant and pickled papaya, and tiki masala sauce.

The cutlets were delicious but my favorite part of the entire meal was the eggplant wrapped papaya.  I ate one cutlet and took the other home, and I had a few bites of my dad’s tamarind mahi as well.

We were stuffed, but couldn’t not order a dessert plate to share.  It came with little forks,

because we got four little desserts!

NY cheesecake with fruit sauce and bananas foster,

cinnamon creme brulee and chocolate mousse.

Yum, yum, yum; I wished I could have had a BIG serving of the bananas foster.

Sunday morning I made a nice green monster for breakfast.

My mom and I got our nails done (green again, I’ll show you later!) and then I picked up nachos for lunch from the bar I used to work at.

Yum, but I think it’s time to be fully done with any sort of nachos for a while.

We saw a matinée of “Our Family Wedding,” during which I munched on a box of Nerds.

I would like to show you dinner but it was so dark at our table I never could get a picture.  I shared green bean fries with my parents and ate half of a tamarind turkey burger.

When I got home I had 2 maple pecan sticky blondies for dessert.

Dreena would be sad to know I deveganized these, but at least I made the recipe for my parents!

This morning (Monday) I’m hanging out at school for a bit before I head home to pack.  I brought a pineapple Chiobani for breakfast,

but that didn’t begin to cut it.

I ended up also having an egg and cheese biscuit from Wendy’s.

It is 100% time to stop eating like I’m on vacation!  Especially because I’m not sure what the workout situation with my leg is going to be like.

I had fabulous spring break but I am more than ready to get back with the husband and back on a schedule.  I get in late tonight so I won’t be posting today’s eats but hopefully Tuesday my sleeping, eating, and blogging will all be back on track!  I can tell you now though, that I have a Greek Gods honey yogurt in the freezer for a pre-packing treat!

When you get to the end of a vacation are you sad it’s over or ready to get back to business?

I Ran a Half Marathon!!!

I did it!!!

I am still disappointed in myself that I didn’t train, but I finished it and I had the time of my life 😀  The entire experience was seriously a blast and I can not wait to (train first!) and do it again.

I ‘tracked’ myself and had the updates sent to my e-mail so I could check my pace later.  Here’s the final e-mail:

EMILY WAX, 02:37:55 (NET) @ Finish Pace 12:02 .

Waking up this morning at 3:15 was no where near as painful as it should have been, I think I was running on excitement.  I had layed out all my stuff the night before so the morning could be pretty stress free.  Kristen lives 45minutes away from Disney so we dressed and checked our stuff and then ate breakfast in the car.

I had a bagel with a little bit of strawberry cream cheese and a Rockstar.

I also packed some mid-race snacks into my new belt pack.

I took way too many things but I wanted to be on the safe side.

Camile and I were both running in the race and it was really nice to have Kristen to drive us there, soo much less stressful than finding parking.  She actually slept in the car for most of the race!  We reached the course around 5am and began the 20minute walk to our starting corral.  I drank a TON of water last night with dinner and it definitely caught we with me; we used the porta-potties 4times before the race!

It was pretty cold out (40*) but once we got into the corrals I was so excited it didn’t even matter.  We were in the last corral so our start time was about 30minutes after the original group.  Sadly the five corrals didn’t do much to help the bottlenecking, I felt like the the race never really thinned out.

My longest training run (more than a month ago) was only 6miles so I really wasn’t sure what to expect.  I wasn’t even positive I was going to finish, although I’m pretty stubborn once I set my mind to something.  In the end I ran the first 8miles, a pr in and of itself 🙂  I did the run/walk method for the rest of the course, although I attempted to run the last mile.  I never really stopped to walk but I was definitely dragging from 12 – 13.1.  I got something to drink at all but 2 of the water stations; I walked through them but never stopped running for more than 30 -45 seconds to drink.

Here’s a breakdown of the race (approximately) –

  • I started running as soon as I crossed the start line
  • mile 1 – mile 5: running
  • mile 5: stopped for 7minutes to use the restroom
  • mile 5 – mile 8: running
  • mile 8: at 1hour and 33minutes
  • mile 8 – mile 12: running and some walking
  • mile 9: took an Espresso Love Goo (this was really tasty!)
  • mile 10: at 1hour and 58minutes – apparently I was really booking it between 8 and 10!
  • mile 12.1 – mile 13.1: running, but dying, I really really wanted to sprint here but I was just spent

When I saw that I crossed the finish at 2hours 38minutes I was shocked!  I figured that if I finished I would take at least 3 hours.  AND I feel pretty darn good!  My already injured leg hurts a ton (8+ out of 10) but the rest of my pieces feel pretty ok.  I did ice my legs in the car though.

With ice from the gas station where I got a Big Gulp of Coke Zero.

Mmmmmn!  I told my husband after the race that I’d probably go home with the first man to hand me a diet soda but thankfully Kristen was able to fulfill the craving for me 😉

Here are Camile and I post race.

Looking happy!

Camile got pulled off the course around mile 8 for not maintaining pace so she was a little angry.  She pr’ed as well though with 8miles and I am super proud of her.

We left from the race to go get breakfast at Perkins.  I wore my heat rate moniter so I know I have a 1968 calorie deficit to make up but sadly my hunger is pretty stifled.  I ordered sunny side up eggs which came with buttered toast and breakfast potatoes.

I was not hungry enough to kill this whole plate,

I’m definitely still a good 1000calories in the hole.  I feel pretty good though so I’m not sure I’ll force myself to eat if I’m not hungry.

Today was a great experience.  I did learn a few things:

  1. I was in the wrong corral.  I spent the first 4miles running much slower than I was able to and weaving in and out dodging people.  Next time I think I will list my pace as at least 12minute miles so I can start off at full force.
  2. I should have taken another Goo closer to the finish.  Next time I will aim to take one every hour or so.
  3. I need to get my leg checked out by a doctor, asap!
  4. This experience, which was probably the best day of my life, would have been more fun if I felt like I had earned it.  I am so excited to start actually training once my leg heals!

 Have you done any half/marathons?  What was your experience like?

Busy Busy Bee

I want to get my packing done this evening and I HAVE to squeeze in some quality time with the husband so I’ll keep this snappy.  `_< (oh yes, that was an alligator!)

I like to make to-go smoothies for breakfast on the mornings I have 8am lab.  My first proclamations were not wrong: I love Green Monsters!

This had 1 frozen banana, 1 cup oj, and 1 cup frozen spinach.  I took a better lit picture at la escuela to show of its Kermit-esque awesomeness.

I was in the bathroom because I realized I couldn’t not show you guys today’s layered look!

Love it!  Adam and Katie both asked me why I was dressed up today.

I was with Katie because we had a lunch date today!  I packed us a lovely spread from home to save a little $.

 Turkey and 2% provolone sandwiches with hot pepper peach preserves.

And caramel Oikos with blueberries.

We ate at the Wegman’s coffee bar area and Katie bought me a lovely Nutty Irish (hazelnut and Irish cream syrups) skim milk latte.

After lunch we walked around the store a bit and I managed to get some gifts for the friends I’m seeing tomorrow that I’m quite excited about.

On the way home we split this package of Newman’s Own Peppermint Cups.

Meh.  They aren’t bad I guess but I much prefer Yorks.

Adam had a suture clinic from 5 – 8 so he dropped me off at the Spot to do some studying.  I am completely caught up for Chemistry, yay!  I got dinner there, a Mike’s cheese and egg bagel sandwich.

Plus a skim iced latte.

Still on the agenda for tonight?

  • pack everything but my chargers into my suitcase
  • separate the laundry
  • paint my toe nails and shave my legs, eek!
  • cuddle with the husband and try not to cry about 12 days apart

Gotta get cracking!

*****Updated to add – packing is never fun.  Which is probably why this seemed like such a good idea –

Shamrock Shake!  😀

Me: 0, Hunger: 4

I’ve been super busy (and stressed) all day and that paired with my intense hunger somehow led to me eating 4 full meals today, whoops!  The amount of school work I have to do over the next few weeks (particularly while I’m home, boo) is sort of staggering.  I’m actually looking forward to seeing whether or not I rise to the challenge 🙂

I was feeling a bit empty still after breakfast so I grabbed a Yoplait Light Red Velvet Cake yogurt.

This wasn’t my favorite flavor, but I was pretty entranced by the color.

My study session ended up being split between two coffee shops.  First Starbucks, where I ate a low-fat egg white, spinach, and feta wrap with a nonfat tall latte.

Then the Spot where I had a Cajun Turkey Wrap (ww wrap, sliced turkey, pepperjack cheese, cajun sauce, l/t).

I ate 2/3 of the sandwich plus a 2nd diet coke.

Finally Adam picked me up around 7:30 and I headed off to get my “real” dinner.  We were so excited to try this newest location of …..

Moes!  I’ve been seeing the Florida bloggers gush about this place for years so I was super excited to try it out.  Adam and I were NOT disappointed.

I did some damage on the huge bag of chips the gave me,

but my main meal was this fellow –

A Junior Homewrecker (burrito – little bit of rice, black beans, tofu, cheese, salsa, cilantro).

Yum, yum, yum.

I would say it’s been a good day but I’m going to try to bang out some of my online Chem homework so my day seems far from over.  I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

What’s your opinion on “Fourth Meal?”  Just for Taco Bell or awesome idea?

Eggland’s Best for Dinner

Dinner tonight was inspired by a coupon I received from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

I always buy Eggland’s Best brand eggs, but usually I can’t afford to go organic so this was a nice treat.

My recipe was a tweeked version of my spinach ricotta pie.  Serves 3

  • 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed out
  • 1 C frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
  • 5 Eggland’s Best eggs, lightly beaten
  • salt and pepper, to season
  • 15 oz container fat free ricotta cheese
  • 6 t 2% sharp cheddar, shredded
  1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Grease the cups of a muffin pan.
  2. Place first five ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
  3. Carefully pour mixture into the muffin pan.  Top each “muffin” with 1/2 t cheese.
  4. Bake for 20minutes.

Each muffin has 72 calories.

With all my mall food I was pretty full but the husband still needed dinner so I went ahead with my plan.  I had a half serving for funsies and to add a few veggies to my day.

It was a tasty meal and according to the literature I received “Compared to regular eggs, Eggland’s Best eggs now contain –

  • 4 times as much Vitamin D
  • 75% more Vitamin B12
  • 10% more riboflavin
  • 50% more Vitamin A
  • 25% less saturated fat and 3 times the level of Omega 3s”

Thanks Eggland’s Best!

I hope all my readers have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

Coffee and Coconut

Today has been the perfect kind of Saturday!  Cuddling up with Adam in front of the tv with funny shows and plates of food?  Count me in!

My parents gave us a purple french press for Christmas and we finally got to try it out.

Besides the fact that it makes me feel cool and European, the coffee (Kona, by the way) was much tastier and less bitter; win.  Per usual, I had mine with skim milk.

Alongside the joe we made eggs with turkey and cheddar sausage mixed in.

It made for a very nice breakfast.

Choking laughter at “Modern Family” worked up my appetite and I shared some of Adam’s Brushetta Chicken Pasta leftovers from last night.

But the real piece de resistance of lunch was this guy.

That guy is a Young Thai coconut.  I drank a little coconut water in the usual way,

but ultimatly I decided to do a smoothie.

1 medium banana, juice + meat from the coconut, 6 ice cubes, a little bit of honey, and a bunch of cinnamon went into the blender.

The result tasted like the coconut chai from Bonobos, LOVE!

My plans for the rest of the day include a work-out, some laundry, and a tasty dinner.  Happy Saturday!

Have you ever drank directly from the coconut?  Love it or hate it?

Oink?

Some people might view yesterday’s eats as motivation to get in some greens; I apparently saw it as a challenge.  Prereading Disclaimer – do NOT try this at home, you will gain 15lbs in less than a year and it will make you sad.  That said, eating crap and watching tv all day was fun.

I did leave the house for a little bit though –

Our friend Danielle (who we actually saw at the restaurant!) has been recommending Coles as a brunch spot for months.

Brunch = Bloody Mary.

And to eat I ordered the crab cake Benedict.

I ate about 2/3 of this before passing it off to Adam.  Overall the meal was good, but it just couldn’t compare to brunch in NYC 😦

Afterwards we drove to Anderson’s for froyo.

I got cinnamon with Heath pieces.  I only ate about half of this.  I’m not sure why I kept wasting food, but I do know I probably should have wasted my next two eats –

And then I rounded out the day with a disgusting amount of popcorn.

Divided into two bowls so I could sample two flavors of Kernel Seasons sprinkles.

Yuck, I feel gross.  I’m having foot surgery tomorrow so I don’t plan on moving any time soon but I could certainly eat a lot more cleanly this month!

Do you have a favorite brunch spot in your hometown?  Cole’s was ok but we need to keep looking.  I miss my Brooklyn brunches!

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays Blog Readers!  I dragged my whole family to school so I’ll keep this quick.  I don’t have many food pictures today, so I’ll take a moment to show off all the red and green I’ve been rocking this week –

After my last blog post I spent the day setting up for our Christmas Eve bash.  I had some random snacks for lunch; carrots,

a Hello Dolly,

a few nuts,

and half of a tuna salad sandwich.

I did lots of nibbling during the party but I ended up not taking any pictures.  My parents had the lights low and there were a TON of people in our little house so I ended up skipping it.  A fabulous time was had by all though.

Christmas morning with my parents and husband was wonderful.  Just 3 years ago today, Adam was proposing to me under the Christmas tree!!!

My mom and I made a great, festive breakfast.

I had an eggnog scone that was super tasty, I plan on buying more packs from this company.

And we made scrambled eggs with red and green bell pepper and white cheddar.

Plus I had a small glass of nog, I think I actually like Silk Soy Nog the very best!

My dad’s sister’s family is flying in in a few hours and then we are all going over to my mom’s sister’s family’s house for dinner.  Merry Christmas, Everyone!