tuesday

Finally, a day off of work…time to get the apartment set up!

After I got back from errands, I made a big lunch.  A pseudo BLT (soy bacon, spinach, and hummus)…ok, so it was a BLH.  I used Lightlife soy bacon and Sabra hummus (obvi) on my fave, Alvarado street bread.

Looks delish, huh!!!

I cleaned the apartment while snacking chowing down some dried fruit.

I was a bit of a slacker, and really wasn’t feeling the gym, but I dragged myself there (my goal is to not come in last in April’s half marathon).  It ended up not being a total waste, and I got in some decent cardio and arm stuff.

I snacked on frozen green grapes while prepping (aka chopping).

It doesn’t get any better than the “big salad.”  In this massive bowl was: stupid romaine lettuce (nutritional value = blah), soy-tein with spinach, and some de-thawed frozen veggies (I was in a rush), and brocc slaw.

Not too shabby, but I needed more carbs, so I had 2 slices of Alvarado street bread with Sabra hummus on the side.

 

I also had gotten myself a treat for dessert.  A slice of vegan vanilla/coconut (tofu) “cheesecake.”

Get ready for a montage…

Half way through…I added some berries, too.

 

Oops!  Where did this one come from?  I guess I had more figs, too…although I don’t remember this, so I don’t think it counts.

How often are you surprised by things you forgot you ate when you are loading your pics onto your computer?

back to BRRR

Cheers to 2009, but jeers to leaving home to return to snow. I packed a TON of plane food the night before (the LAST thing I want is to be stranded/delayed in an airport without food options).

With the other end piece of the Alfaro's bread, the rest of the veggie cheddar shreds, mushrooms, and a fresh, organic tomato, I made a pretty gourmet sando.

Check it out!

It turned into a monster as I was making it, so it's a good thing the bread is SUPER thick to hold all that stuff in. DAYAM!

Also included in the plane snack pack: dried cranberries, edamame, 2 apples, fresh medjool dates, and a spiced chai tea bag. I know, I know. It's a bit much for one flight...but better to be safe than sorry!

My dad drove me to the airport at the crack of dawn, and I was at the gate by 6:30. Unfortunately, the fog was SO thick and dense that we couldn't take off as planned (told ya delays were inevitable)...we were on stand by until the visibility improved to at least half a mile, which ended up being about an hour.

So I got a Starbucks to hold me over while I waited to board. Short coffee with vanilla SILK soy milk :) This really helped warm me up AND wake me up.

On the flight I polished off my sando, one apple, lots of dates, and several bottles of water. After the flight I raced to get into Manhattan asap. Being around Times Square on New Year's Eve was a scene I desperately wanted to avoid.

Okay. Now let me just say, I was prepared for bad weather, in fact I thought I was ready for the snow, but I was freakin' STUPEFIED once I arrived at the LIRR platform. Snow was screaming through my coat, my hood wouldn't even stay on when I tried to hold it because the wind was too strong, and tears were streaming from my eyes - basically it was a miracle I even got on the right train! I couldn't feel my fingers so clearly I couldn't buy a ticket at the kiosk. I am pretty sure I ended up paying 200% what the ticket actually cost on board the train. Whatever. So worth not getting frost bite. I managed to get home by 8 pm, just in time to make some din-din.

My fridge was on the barren side, but lookie what I managed to scrounge up.

I threw the soy noodles in a pot...

heated up the edamame...

and chopped up the tofu.

Here's bowl #1 (with a dash of low Na+ soy sauce).

Not too shabby for a last minute, post-flight meal. It was so good that I made myself a second bowl, finishing off the rest of the ingreds...

I had a BIG time hankering for some sweets, though. Good thing I had some vegan choc pudding left over - saaweeeet :)

Yum Yum Yum. New Year's celebration in my mouth!

This set off a chain of wild and uncontrollable CHOCOLATE urges. I pretty much devoured the rest of the choc sorbet (about 2/3 of the container).

I added soy milk on some sorbet filled mugs...DE-lish!

Empty container = sad

I stayed up til midnight (East Coast time) to ring in 2009 watching my (other) lover, Anderson Cooper, on CNN - then I called K and my parents before I headed to bed (with my pleasantly full tummy).

Work tomorrow - BOO!

feliz ano nuevo!

home for the holidays

Airport on my way home!! WTF were they thinking when they made the new terminal for JetBlue - no Starbucks?! I'm not a fan. They DO have all these new creative dining places though, with lots of potential options beyond fast food (which is nice), including salad and hot food bars. But still, at 7 am that is little consolation for the lack of soy for my coffee.

So I ended up going to Dunkin' Donuts :( and ordering a small black coffee and a HUGE water. I've got a aisle seat, kids, no worries!

Here's my bag of goodies for the plane...odwalla bar, apple, and music. I tried to fall asleep, but that was a no go, thanks to the rows of children (and the coffee). I have never looked at my watch so many times on a flight, my god, I was eager to get home. When I arrived the entire fam was there to pick me up (well all the girls at least). The '95 van on it's last legs was loaded with my mom, 2 sisters, grandma, and 2 aunts!!! We all drove into San Francisco to see my sister's new apartment and then headed home.

My parentals hadn't yet stocked up on the necessary vegan supplies, but they did have lactose free milk, so I dug into a big bowl of Life cereal. I was gonna do banana slices, but I was lazy.

I LOVE seeing the fam. I was so happy that my whole mom's side was visiting from Southern CA, too. We played guitar hero on my sister's Wii that she brought home with her, and I'm pretty sure I missed my calling. Drums, not so much, but the guitar, I was really in my element (if I do say so myself)!! After a few too many repeats of Michael Jackson, my sister and I headed to the store for the ingreds for TACO NIGHT!!! My fam does taco night right.

Here were some of the new products I got to try out (Cheddar Veggie Shreds and Yves Ground "meat").

After the grocery shopping I decided to head out for a jog, since I was kinda going crazy after the flight. I hate sitting for such long periods of time, I just get all stir crazy. I also really wanted to take FULL advantage of being in an area with nice enough weather to run outside without losing a limb to frost bite. I have done the run to my elementary school a million times, so I wasn't too concerned that it was dark out. What I didn't take into account was being blinded by oncoming cars' headlights. Such a frustrating run. I kept having to stop so I wouldn't trip after the blaring lights of oncoming traffic. The route is only about 3 miles (round trip) but it took me practically 30 minutes to do it because of all the stopping and going. Still, it felt good to work up a sweat, and I was happy that I did it. After I showered it was time to open presents!

I got a new camera!!!!!!!! It is SO cute, and now I don't have to steal Kyle's! I'm so so excited. Oh, and I also got new slippers. What a perfect holiday!

So dinner was running a little late after all the festivities. But once my Dad got underway making taco shells, it was GO time. I was WAY ambitious in my taco making...I ended up just turning mine into a burrito (I opted for a sun dried tomato tortilla instead of the shells my Dad was frying in the veg oil). I should have gotten a side view since you can't tell how much crap I heaped onto it. The not visible ingreds that are piled on top of each other are: veggie refried/pinto/black bean mixture, meatless ground "meat," avo, salsa, veggie cheddar shreds, and then the lettuce and tomato.

All on a snowman plate :)

YUMMMM...so full. I couldn't even roll the thing up! It was amazing. I heart being home. After dinner we all played apples to apples. Hilarious. I feel so cheesy, but I honestly couldn't be any happier than being home with my family (ok, I take that back, Kyle arrives in a few days, so then it will be REALLY perfect).