Sweet Serendipity

by Emily

After my last post I grabbed my People: Style Watch and headed out to the gym. The magazine was a total clock-killer, if I hadn’t gone so close to closing time I would have been totally motivated to keep going. As it was, I did 35minutes on the elliptical. My machine said that was worth 3.3miles but I was going at a pretty easy pace so I’m not sure how accurate that is. When I got home I did 25more minutes of strength training, stretching, and pt exercises.

After a quick shower it was time for a dinner I’ve been looking forward to all week; I finally recreated the Summer Bries sandwich from Serendipity3! Serendipity is my favorite restaurant on the planet – the atmosphere is fun and the food is fabulous! Plus it’s right off Lexington, one of my favorite streets on the planet! Serendipity is the spot I always would take visitors when I lived in the city: click on the links to see the recaps for some of those fun meals link 1 link 2.

I own the cookbook and even in my hands their desserts are amazing. However, while most people go to Serendipity for the ice-cream, I go for the sandwiches! My very favorite – The Summer Bries – is what I recreated tonight.

*Note – dinner was delayed by a mold problem, ugh! and I snacked on a few Cedar’s pita chips and feta spread. No pictures because I tried to pretend it wasn’t happening*

The sandwiches turned out divine! Whole wheat raisin pecan bread with 98% ff turkey, apple, alfalfa sprouts, brie, and homemade 1000island dressing. They got gooey in a 400* oven and turned into perfection. I had two smallish sandwiches,

Plus some oven-roasted brussels sprouts on the side.

Such a good dinner! I demolished the sandwiches but I did put back some of my mountain of brussels sprouts.

We are watching the season 2 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer so the bedtime goal is 11 – 11:30. Sweet dreams.

FEST Check-in, Day 2

Food – pretty good, my goal was never to skip meals out, just to cut back on the take-out and “box” foods.
Exercise – great.
Sleep – poor. 11am is not when successful people wake up!
Time Management – see sleep.

Double Question Time!

I know the calorie counts are suspect, but do you trust the miles counter on the elliptical machine?
What is your favorite street in the US? As much as I adore Lexington, my heart is forever devoted to Lincoln Ave in South Beach. I think Lincoln is the best spot for people (and dog!) watching.

26Jan2010

Whine and Cheese

by Emily

This was not my most sucessful Tuesday, I’ll keep this quick because I’m in a pretty bad mood.

Sooooooooo, my tasty oats this morning? Two issues – 1. They apparently had no staying power, I was starving by 10am. 2. The 1/3 of yogurt is from the same container as last week’s 1/3 a cup in overnight oats. It was a single serving cup of Dannon, which I placed inside a tupperware after I opened it. I wondered about that decision this morning, but I figured it would all be ok. Yeah, so not ok! My stomach hurt so bad I thought I was going to die and I ended up going home after my first class. Boo!

Between starving and sick I did squeeze in lunch at the school cafeteria.

It was a pretty lame lunch, sometimes food court situations are really overwhelming for me. The excess of choices tend to induce mini panic attacks and short of that I choose quickly, randomly, and poorly. Thus a sandwich that was neither healthy nor what I was craving.

Chicken salad on a spinach wrap with shredded lettuce, jalopenos, black olives, and blue cheese dressing. I also had a side of pickles,

and some so-so chips I only ate due to extreme hunger.

Post lunch but before class I also grabbed a tall white hot chocolate.

In retrospect that wasn’t the best choice; I had it made with skim instead of whole milk but it was still too much sugar. Which doesn’t mean that once I was curled up wimpering on the couch I didn’t eat this brownie. 😉

Or two servings of these guys, straight from the bag, not a good idea.

Given that chips are not that healthy of an appetizer choice I tried to keep dinner light.

The other half of my minneola and a kiwi bowl,

leftovers of the tastiest collards on earth,

mini pita with melted blue brie.

I promise to be in a better mood tomorrow! But not a morning mood, I have my first chem lab tomorrow and it start at 8am, I clearly won’t be blogging until lunch. Night.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

9Jan2010

Hit the Spot

by Emily

(Amazingly) it feels good to be home! The husband and I spent several hours studying at The Spot and I’m happy to say I’m ready ahead for the Spring semester. This semester I’ll be taking the Chem II course and lab, but also an Anthropology course and I want to make sure I’m prepared to be a little busier. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can get forced into another course (or find a job!) but for now I’m happy with what I’ve got.

The Spot has great coffee so I ordered a tasty Americano, with skim milk, to drink.

I actually packed a KIND bar to snack on but when I saw Adam’s sandwich I knew I had to order one too –

Spicy Tuna Panini with cajun sauce, spinach, and pepperjack; count me in! And it came with a pickle.

Post-studying we went to Anderson’s for froyo.

We split a Dirty Snow, chocolate custard with Oreo, marshmallow, and sprinkles.

Adam actually went over to a guy friend’s house to kill zombies but my foot couldn’t handle being in a shoe any longer so I’m entertaining myself by my lonesome. I hope everyone else had a great Saturday.

5Jan2010

Soup & Sandwich

by Emily

I barely managed to skim my magazines – this months “Cooking Light” has about 8bazillion recipes that I want to make – before I fell straight into a long nap! I’ve felt nauseous and just icky ever since yesterday. However, when the husband came home and offered to make lunch I was more than ready!

I had a soup from to Amy’s to sample so I based the rest of my meal around that.

I eat 99.9% of my meals on the couch so I took advantage of eating at the table with my leg up by using the new placemats my mom gave me for Christmas –

Adam did a fabulous job on lunch – Jonagold apple slices,

grilled cheese with cheddar and pickle relish,

and Amy’s Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque.

Yums. The portion shown is the whole can but I handed the bowl off to Adam half way. It was a very tasty combo.

I’m not sure what the rest of the day will bring. I would like to do some stretching and I have a very tricky shower ahead of me. “See” you for dinner!

By the way, the contest winner was actually # 1 – Brandi, who writes and eats with her left hand but cuts and throws with her right!

4Jan2010

Chocolate > Codeine

by Emily

Thank you so much, everyone, for all the good luck wishes! They must have worked because I’m actually feeling pretty good! My last post must have been a bigger distraction than I thought because the pain tapered down to a livable level. When Adam got home with my prescription I actually turned it down. I know from experience that the pain will be worse tomorrow, so I’m enjoying my comfort for now.

A few people asked about my foot so I posted pictures at the bottom. It’s bandaged, but bloody, so don’t scroll all the way down if you are quesy!

The Spanish Spaghetti was mostly for Adam and not a dish I really enjoy (although I will be eating it tomorrow), and I just couldn’t stand the thought of eating it for dinner. I have some pain, I’m using food as a distraction here! Thankfully Adam was able to run to the bar downstairs and get me take out.

French fries and a turkey sandwich with 1000 Island dressing. It hit the spot.

I keep forgetting to order sandwiches without butter though! When something is on a bun I just eat the middle so it doesn’t usually matter, but when I’m eating the whole thing I need to remember to modify.

I decided to go with dessert instead of drugs.

The Amano company sent me two chocolate bars to sample – Dos Rios and Guayas.

I doled out about 2/5 of each bar but the flavors were pretty intense and I ended up only eating half of what I put on the plate.

I have lots of schoolwork I hope to get done tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to fall asleep early tonight. I hope everyone else’s work week got off to a good start!

What is your opinion on OTC medicines? Do you take them on a case to case basis, adamantly oppose, or say the more the merrier?!? I am a full supporter of conventional medicine but I do try to take things only when absolutely necessary.

Below this line is for Edward Cullen types only! Look at your own risk!

30Dec2009

Monday Night – Tuesday Night

by Emily

Yikes, this is going to be a looooong recap. And that’s if I keep the details breif! We’ve had lots and lots of good food and fun the last couple days.

After my last post we drove out to Ashley’s to get chicken patties. They were beyond delicious, but my camera seems to have eaten the picture, whoops! Then my parents, Adam and I went out to The Point to explore a bit. We sat and watched the waves hit the rocks and it was wonderfully serene.

For dinner we went to Lotus, my favorite restaurant on St. Thomas. We took my parents along, even though it was our anniversary dinner!

First we stopped at Fungi’s for a beer,

and then we went to Lotus. We did lots and lots of sharing and it was a pretty fabulous meal. Uptown Wonton Soup chicken/cilantro/crispy shallots/white truffle oil.

We got some amazing rolls to share – 1. Joe’s Stoned Crab sea scallop/jicama/scallion/topped with sesame seeds and hot sesame oil.

2. Shaggy Dog tempura shrimp/scallion/avacado/topped with spicy kanikami crab mix/sweet amai yuzu drizzle.

3. Soho House smoked salmon/spicy blue crab/asian slaw/scallion cream cheese/entire roll tempura/spicy yum yum and amai yuza glaze.

Here are all of my servings –

I also had a few small bites of my parents Green Apple Pad Thai,

and a few bites of Adam’s Muy Thai Tofu.

For dessert we I got the Blond Brulee white choclate ginger mousse/crisp banana brulee.

I let everyone else take a small taste but mostly I dominated this, I was swooning!

When we got home I also had a small slice of my dad’s Lindt Sea Salt bar.

We got up beyond early Tuesday morning to join my aunt’s family over in St. John. Due to our lack of planning and 7:30 ferry time breakfast ended up being less than stellar –

No matter, it’s hard to be hungry when these guys are staring into your car!

My family picked us up and we drove to Ram’s Head Bay for a day at the beach and a hike. The hike was 1.6miles each way and absolutly amazing. These are only a tenth of my fabulous pictures.

The hike was very, very hilly and quite a workout. I drank water on the way and had a few big swigs of Adam’s soda and a cheese cracker when we got back.

Then I spent hours shell collecting.

Before we took a second shorter hike over to Drunk Bay. The beach is covered with rock sculptures people have made over the years.

Adam added a unicorn before we left.

I was burnt to a crisp at this point – in spite multiple applications of 70spf – so we headed to Skinny Legs for lunch.

My Painkiller was nasty so I ended up leaving most of it.

But my sandwich hit the spot. I got the grilled cheese with tomato and onion and asked them to add as many veggies as possible.

Devoured. Then we went back to their rental house for showers and naps. And more cheese crackers.

My parents came over in the evening and we got take out from “The Chicken Man.”

Plantains,

coleslaw,

small piece of white meat,

fries with amazing bbq sauce.

Mmmn.

My portions were pretty small and I definitly ended up getting nachoes once we got back to St. Thomas!

Finally, just so you know I am “skipping” the last two days of December. I have a long flying day tomorrow and don’t want to start my new year with an “old” recap.

24Dec2009

Tuesday Afternoon – Thursday Afternoon

by Emily

My family’s Christmas Eve party is tonight and we’ve got lots of setting up to do so this will have to be kept quick.

Tuesday Afternoon….

After my last post Adam and I set out for some exercise. We ran on the waterfront downtown together. We did walk/run intervals for 40minutes. I’m not sure exactly how far we ran but I burnt 450calories.

Adam and my parents made chili for dinner (which I’m really not a fan off, unless it’s from ED&BV) so I pieced a few things together. Like a smoothie –

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 1/2 cup pineapple, 1 small banana, splash milk, squeeze honey. Topped with nutmeg.

My mom also reheated me a slice of pizza from the freezer, Adam ate all of my half from the other day so it was just plain cheese.

We went out for drinks with some friends but I was the driver so I stuck to diet coke. We stayed out past 1 though, so we were a little sleepy the next day! 😉

Wednesday…

Our plan was to go study at our favorite coffee shop, but due to our late start and some unexpected traffic it just didn’t work out. I was planning on blogging too, but I forgot my camera cord, doh! We did get tasty sandwiches to eat in the car while we ran errands with my mom though!

I got a whole wheat wrap with sweet potato, goat cheese, spinach, and spicy hummus, YUM.

I was feeling really sick later in the afternoon (NOT because of the sandwich, spicy food does NOT seem to affect my stomach) so Adam made me this yummy tasting plate.

Thankfully I rallied in time for dinner. Adam and I cooked for my parents and grandparents, who are down visiting as well.

Adam made a Real Simple recipe for roasted red pepper turkey meatloaf,

and I roasted up some okra and green beans.

My mom provided dessert –

A teensy sliver of rum cake a parent brought her,

and a peppermint chocolate cookie.

I ate a snowball a little later too.

And a cup of Eggnog’n Tea.

And then we went out drinking way too late for the second night! Good times were had by all, but I did stick to diet coke again.

Thursday Morning….

I think the no-booze rule saved me last night because I was able to get up this morning and go for a run! I did ~ 45minutes/490 calories, and ~3miles. I did my pt when I got home before I dove into this –

holy food am I glad I can find the pineapple Chiobani down here!

Although I was probably most excited about this Carebear spoon I dug up!

Now as soon as we leave the library we are heading home to prep for the party. There won’t really be dinner or lunch today, more like lots of snacking on really tasty things. 🙂

I probably won’t be posting again until after this weekend, so to all my readers who celebrate – Merry Christmas!

19Dec2009

Back from the Black Hole

by Emily

And the fall semester has come to a close!!! I’m actually not going to talk about today yet – not only because I’m heading off on a fun adventure, but also because I haven’t actually eaten anything yet today! But instead I’ll do a quickie recap of yesterday.

Did I mention yesterday? More like study black hole. Caroline and I just might have studied from 10am – 2am. Yikes! Most of that took place at the Spot, so my eats were all coffee shopped.

Breakfast –