Tag Archives: sweet

Hit the Spot

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(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.

Sweet Substitute

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There was no lunch post because there was … no lunch.  Sitting in the house all day makes me feel yucky, I took a nap.  When Adam got home there was still no eating but we did do lots of kitchen stuff.

Starting with making vanilla extract –

My aunt and uncle gave us this for Christmas, all you do is add vodka and wait for 4-6months.

The other side of the family gave us this adorable planter and we set him up as well.

And then finished with … cookies!  Suzanne’s Specialties sent me this Organic Agave Syrup and I wanted to try baking with it.

I followed this recipe for agave cinnamon blondies.

We tried to follow it exactly so we could get an idea of cooking with agave, but I did sub 1/4 t cinnamon for the vanilla extract.

The verdict?

Delicious!  They ended up tasting almost like cinnmon muffins.  I highly recommend this recipe!

I got the bad news today that I can’t register for any of the additional classes I wanted, boo.  Right now all I’m in is two classes and a lab so hopefully I will at least be able to find some sort of job.  For now, I’ll distract myself making dinner 🙂

Salad as an Eraser

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I needed a bigger breakfast, I was so hungry mid-morning I made some less than stellar choices.  It’s crazy how hungry you can get sitting on your butt all day; when I’m active and busy I’m satisfied with much less food.

That’s said, I’ll never apologize for popcorn.

Sprinkled with Kernel Season’s Sour Cream and Onion.

And then I had this.

“This” would be a serving of pretzels with 2T of semi-sweet chocolate chips melted on top.

Eaten with chopsticks of course.

The Reese’s tree is the point at which I probably needed to just say no.

But then I brought things back around with my “real lunch,” a nice healthy salad.

Made with some very tasty components – layer of lettuce,

chopped green bell pepper,

baby corn,

1T babaganoush,

the best dressing on earth (seriously, buy this!),

and a little bit of cheddar.

All added up to a tasty dish.

I’ve got some school work to do this afternoon and I’m hoping to balance long enough to prepare dinner tonight.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dreading my eventual shower, but I’ll probably try to squeeze in a bit of strength training beforehand.

Do you find your hunger increases with or inversely to your activity level?

Chocolate > Codeine

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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!

Oink?

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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!

Bring on the Produce, Tomorrow

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I caught a bit of a cold during my long airport day and I knew as soon as I woke up this morning that today would be less than productive.  What a correct prediction, not much work occurred but there was a lot of this –

I also made a point of eating the crappiest foods known to man all day.  Actually, that’s an objective term, no part of my sensibilities will allow me to call these ‘breakfast staples’ crap.

Oh yes I did stir good Green and Black organic cocoa powder into Ricemellow Creme.  And I only had a teeny bit left so I made/ate it in the container.

Consider this my twist on blogworld’s oats in a jar.  Actually, this ‘meal’ had less than 100calories and rocked my socks, so I consider it pretty damn successful.

You can’t follow up cocoa fluff in a container with fruits or veggies so I ate the other half of my cheddar and jalopeno bialy next.

And then I had a big bowl of brocoli and strawberries.

Oh, whoops, I guess that’s popcorn!  Who thinks that this was my favorite product review yet??

I needed some color so in came the jumbo Smarties.

At this point is anyone surprised that dinner was nachos?

From the bar downstairs, these were smothered in black beans, tomatoes, chicken, and spicy spicy jalopenos.  Yums.  But it did put me over the edge.  Bring on the produce tomorrow!

New Favorites for a New Year

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If the first day set any sort of precedent, 2010 is going to be a great year!  And in case I forgot that it’s not 2009, we got lots of new calendars for Christmas.

Today was all about errands; Office Max, grocery restocking, present returns.  I have my foot surgery this Monday so I’m trying to get all standing activities out of the way.  In between errands I had a lovely late lunch –

The pasta was a Lean Cuisine.  I love how packed with veggies it was, lots of zucchini and the marinara was delicious.

The bread made the meal however.  I don’t know how I managed to only eat half of this cheddar and jalopeno bialy!

Spicy and cheesey and yum!  I also had a tasty bite of Adam’s cookie.

Our final errand took us to the mall, where I discovered my new favorite restaurant – Jack Astors.  There were about 80 things on the menu that sounded good and pretty much everything was affordable.  The booze prices were ridiculous low.  Plus, they let you draw on the table!

Adam’s art was a bit less 6th grade than mine –

I promise I did my drawing before my drinking,

Raspberry Lemon raspberry vodka, lemon, sprite, and soda.  Yums, my favorite drinks are always sour.

And dinner was a Chopstick Chicken Salad Grilled chicken breast on a bed of mixed greens, red pepper, cilantro, toasted sesame seeds and cucumbers, drizzled with zesty sesame soy dressing.  Topped with crispy wonton strips, spicy pecans, and sun-dried cranberries.

Ah-maze-ing!  Next time I would ask for dressing, etc on the side but it tasted awesome.  We were running a bit late to see a movie and I ended up bringing the second half to the theatre and eating it with chopsticks mid-show.  Strangest movie snack ever?!  I also split a small popcorn with butter with the husband.

The only thing that could have distracted me from that salad was an incredible movie, and Sherlock Holmes delivered.  It was my new favorite movie!  It was funny as hell and fully captivating for 2hours.  I love love loved the costumes and setting and artistic shooting.

Now I’m planning on settling in to fill out my new planner before bed.  There is something deeply satisfying to me about a fresh, crisp planner and I’m so excited I could burst!  

Do you use a planner to keep track of your life?  Love or loath it?

Monday Night – Tuesday Night

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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.