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!
Yesterday afternoon I ran some errands with my mom during her break. Including getting me a small square of macaroni and cheese for lunch.
West Indian style mac ‘n cheese is baked with cheese on top. It’s fantastic, obviously.
Then I went downtown to run errands with my dad. For this trip I made myself an iced coffee.
With skim milk and 1 Tbsp of gingerbread syrup.
During the afternoon I snacked on carrots,
and chocolate.
Then I made an effort not to be a total loaf this vacation and made dinner.
My parents are wimps so I had to sub two cans of tuna fish for sardines, but other than that I followed my recipe for Sardine Mushroom Tomato Sauce.
With roasted squash and okra on the side.
I never could find good okra in Buffalo this fall, I can’t even tell you how excited I was to spot it here.
I spent the evening baking with my mom, but since my retainers were in no nibbling occurred.
And to my Jewish readers – Happy Hanukkah!
Wednesday
I started this morning with some stewed tamarind.
Tamarind has this unique, tangy yet earthy taste. It has lots of seeds so whether you are eating it stewed or straight from the pod you have to be careful. The best way to eat it is to swish a bite around your mouth (without chewing!) and then spit out the seeds when the flesh is gone. Looking very ladylike I’m sure.
I also ate a leftover serving of whole wheat penne with 1.5 tsp of olive oil, a shake of salt, and a sprinkle of parmesan.
Plus two 7-layer bars,
and more chocolate.
I didn’t realize until I stated writing this post, but I’ve kind of eaten nothing but pasta and chocolate for the past 24 hours!! I’m heading to the gym this afternoon and I guess I’ll make veggies a priority for dinner!
Now I’m back at school, trying to catch up on e-mails and eating this Greek Gods honey Greek yogurt.
P.S. No Window Shopping Wednesday this week. With all the wishlist posts floating around it just felt a little tired. I’ll be back with it after Christmas, next week.
Have you ever tried tamarind? If you’ve eaten any authentic Thai the answer is probably yes, it’s often used in Pad Thai.
If you guessed (e), you’re correct! Adam and I have the problem of being crazy people because we stayed up past 2am doing absolutely nothing. This morning got off to a late, rough start, but our day was packed full of to-do’s to prep for tonight’s party. We are almost set up and I’m all packed for tomorrow to boot.
Today was a double smoothie sort of day. First, another round of berry chocolate mint.
For two, 2 cups chocolate mint soy milk, 2 cups frozen strawberries, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, and 6oz 0% plain Greek yogurt.
My second smoothie was a (soy) nog delight.
For one, medium frozen banana, 1 cup Silk Soy Nog, 3 Tbsp malted milk powder, and a handful of ice.
Plus nibbles while we got ready for the party.
I’ll see y’all on the other side, from St. Thomas!
Note – I will probably be blogging every other day or so on vacation (my parents don’t have internet). If my first post is Monday morning, that doesn’t mean my plane crashed. But thanks in advance for thinking safe thoughts for me!
It’s finally time for my favorite treat of the season –
Silk Soy Nog seriously makes me so happy! It tastes just like (actually, better than!) regular egg nog but only has 90 calories for half a cup and no saturated fat.
The Silk Nog actually showed up at the grocery store back in early November, and it’s possible I had went into crisis-mode because I thought that meant it would be gone before it was seasonally appropriate. Thankfully Silk products have a long shelf-life, so Adam bought me two cartons just to get me to stop whimpering!
I like Silk Nog straight from the carton, in coffee, and in overnight oats, but today’s smoothie might have been it’s best use yet.
For 1, blend –
1 medium frozen banana
1/2 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt
3 Tbsp malted milk powder
1/2 cup Silk Soy Nog
Topped with seasonal sprinkles for funsies.
It was thick, and sweet, and Christmas-y, and perfect.
I had a late breakfast because I spent my morning at the dentist. My teeth are perfect and now they feel nice and squeaky clean. On of our friends is a hygienist at the practice so it was more like catching up with a friend (literally!) than a scary appointment. I’m not sure what will happen with lunch because I’m actually leaving the house this minute to pick up a school friend. We are heading over the Buffalo Centre for the Treatment of Eating Disorders to get in some observation hours. I’ll see you this evening!
It’s Adam’s birthday so I’m going to keep this post quick and cursory. Well, it’s sort of his birthday. But not really. I’ll explain in a minute.
This morning was about as lazy as it gets. I stayed in bed until past noon and it was glorious. Then Adam and I headed out for a late lunch at Mangoz, a new Jamaican place in our neighborhood.
We split a plate of stewed chicken with plantains and beans and rice.
It was amazing. The best Caribbean food either of us has had since leaving home.
And they had pink Ting.
We’ll be back.
My one accomplishment today was a quick trip to the gym. 30 minutes on the elliptical, random level 6. And I did some studying while I worked out. Followed by a super quick stretch/strength session.
But that was sort of where the productivity ended. We decided to spend the day doing fun stuff (in celebration of Adam turning 26 tomorrow). Adam opened all of his presents a day early.
And I even made an effort to fix my hair.
We went to the mall so Adam could use a gift certificate at Dicks, and cashed in a coupon for Aunt Annie’s as well.
We split this pretzel, slathered in mustard.
The husband’s choice for birthday dinner was Indian food. I got a fig lassi.
And we split a paneer pakora (fried cheese) for an appetizer.
I got the vegetable Korma, with extra okra, for dinner.
I demolished it. I made three plates, and ate every last drop (literally!).
I made myself a little bit ill, but that didn’t stop me from drinking 90% of this coffee milkshake I “shared” with Adam.
Whoops. And now we’re gleefully watching tv.
It’s been a good day, even if it’s not my birthday (or the husband’s!).
It’s been a back-and-forth sort of day. My travels included –
home to school
school to the WNY Food bank (in a friend’s car)
WNYFB to the Broadway Market (carpool)
Broadway Market back to school (carpool)
school to the post office
post office to Wegmans
Wegmans to Batavia!
Batavia back home
home back to school
and finally school back to home
Whew! Way too many miles for my poor little gas tank.
For our last class of the semester, my coordinated program group took a field trip. We donated the money we earned from the Chili Sale to the Food Bank of Western New York, so we went there today to take a tour and give them our check in person. The tour was fascinating; a staggering amount of food (1.5 – 2 million pounds) is moved through the food bank each month.
I ate this Stonyfield yogurt drink on my first drive to school,
and these grapes during the drive to the food bank.
One of my classmates bought a fig cookie from one of the stands a shared a bite with me.
Shockingly for me, I actually found this to be too sweet. But the sprinkles were fun.
When we got back to school I had time to print of the last of my notes for final exams before I was off on errands. I stopped at Wegman’s at 12:30 for a 15-minute lunch.
Food, that wasn’t very good.
I had two different types of brussels sprouts and both were basically raw. Plus the German Potato Salad (on the right) ended up being more cheese than potatoes. I’m not saying it wasn’t tasty, but I am saying it wasn’t healthy.
And a coffee with skim milk and two sugars that I dumped down the front of my shirt while driving on the highway.
I’ve had better lunches.
I was driving out to Batavia – 50 minutes each way – for a job interview. They won’t know for a few weeks and a lot of other (more qualified) people have applied, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
My long drive was made exponentially more pleasant thanks the new-to-me Ingrid Michaelson CD my friend Kim burned for me.
I loved it! The sound reminded me a lot of Regina Spektor’s 2nd album, Far. And there were several songs that I had previously enjoyed but not recognized as Michaelson’s. Her song “Snowfall” has been my favorite Christmas (or anytime!) song since I heard it on Bones last year.
How gorgeous is that?
I had enough time before my final event to run home to take a quick shower and make Adam and I the world’s fluffiest smoothie.
For two – combine 1 cup skim milk, 3/4 cup h2o, 3 Tbsp malted milk powder, and 1 scoop chocolate whey protein. Blend for far too long and you get chocolate malted air.
That big glass literally felt like nothing was in it, but at least it tasted good! And my 150 calorie serving was surprisingly filling. Oh the power of protein.
I was back on campus because my friend Janessa and I volunteered to run a nutrition table at the relaxation fair our college was putting on.
We were there two hours and were very pleased to see many students take an interest in our table.
I snagged a popcorn bag from a neighboring snack table,
which sparked the craving for this snack when I got home.
I’ve actually been munching my way through the bag while I typed this post! Plus two unphotographed cookies that snuck in after I hooked up the camera.
Are you an Ingrid Michaelson fan? How about Regina Spektor?
Last day of school before a 5 day break, what what?!! I was actually super busy all afternoon but something about not having to go to class tomorrow just made the whole day feel 100% fun.
I rolled over to look at the time this morning and it was already 7:15. It’s possible my alarm didn’t beep, but more likely that I turned it off in my sleep. Breakfast was on the go, and rushed. A perfect pear,
and this Orgain Iced Cafe Mocha protein drink.
I bought the drink on super-sale at the Co-op and it wasn’t really what I was expecting. It wasn’t thick or sweet at all, which would normally be nice but was strange when I was expecting the opposite. But the nutrients did a good job of filling in my morning.
And then we had cake.
I’ll tell you again, that my classmates all loved the crock-pot cake. Even if you don’t win my giveaway I suggest making it at home.
Amid afternoon activities, lunch was eaten in parts. First, a strange-sounding yogurt bowl.
Activia Selects French Pineapple yogurt with canned pumpkin and shredded coconut.
I know that combination sounds strange, but it was pretty good. Pumpkin Colada?
Plus a bag of popcorn.
And a Biscoff spoon.
I’ve had this jar of Biscoff open for more than a month now and I’m sort of not sure how there’s still any left.
Dinner was Tomato-Vodka Soup and Scones, both magazine recipe finds.
Eating Chalk 