Happy Birthday Kyle!

This is gonna be snappy because I'm tired and grumpy.

AM: I made some java with silk and sf vanilla syrup...which I sipped while doing some mega apartment cleaning.

I had an apple for a mid-morning snack. Thrilling, I know.

And then the fun began...that's right, I'm talking March Madness!!!

A few quarters under way, I got lunch ready.

I spread some plain greek yogurt and red pepper hummus on a whole wheat tortilla, then added in spinach, shredded carrots, and baked tofu (more from yesterday's batch), with lots of CURRY on top.

I don't know why I consistently try to stuff so much in my wraps...will I ever learn? Not bloody likely.

It was delish, even if I had to eat half of it off the plate after (that poor tortilla...never saw it coming).

I washed it down with the last of my sugar cookie sleigh ride tea.

Good thing I ordered in bulk! I still have 5 more boxes :)

Since I did a long run yesterday, I didn't feel like cardio much today. I decided I should stick to low/no impact exercise, so I ate some dried figs and headed to the gym for spinning fun.

Dried fruit gives me such a good sugar high for working out. It's not the kind that makes me crash, either, just a nice rush to get me going. I'm trying to keep track of my best pre-fitness eats so that I will have a good idea of what will work for me before I run the half marathon. Unfortunately, my stomach is pretty sensitive so I can't eat too close to running. Anyone have ideas?

What foods do you guys eat before working out or racing? I need something to give me energy, but nothing that will sit like a brick.

I did about an hour of spinning, stretched, did some arms, and headed home.

Coconut date rolls held me over til dinner.

Kyle submitted his huge China deal today, so he finally got home at a decent hour (poor guy has been living at the office for the past month)...pretty good timing since it's HIS BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy 25th babe!

You know you are an old fart when...

all you want to do on your birthday is watch basketball and get take-out. We cheered on UCLA while vegging on the couch and reviewing our brackets (our Cali visitors were more than okay with this plan, too, after a long day of covering Manhattan on foot).

I'm doing pretty well so far in March Madness. Kyle, not so much.

For dinner we got take-out from OZEN (Asian cuisine), an upper west side restaurant. They had cheap eats and a ton of variety...perfect for big groups with different cravings. I got steamed brocc and tofu with black bean sauce on the side. The sauce was SOOOO good.
There was a TON of food, too.

Notice the container with the other half on the left, next to my first plate full on the right. You bet I finished it all. I could have bathed in that black bean sauce.

I tend to get a little sketched out with certain Asian eateries, so steamed dishes are how I roll. What can I say, MSG and random additives are not my cup of tea.

Kyle got chicken pad thai which smelled divine. I was jealous for about a second, and then I remembered my stomach would have put up a violent fight if confronted with his dish. Oh, IBS, how blessed I feel to have you in my life...(TMI, guys?)

For his birthday dessert, Kyle had requested brownies...and since he loves chocolate and peanut butter more than a PMS-ing teenager, I knew exactly what to make.

Chocolate brownies with dark chocolate chips and peanut butter chunks on top. He was in heaven (as were the others). I wish I could have made a vegan treat and "tricked" them into trying it...but time was an issue, so I stuck with a recipe from mom. I'll leave the vegan baking to the one and only, miss VeggieGirl, aka vegan baker extraordinaire. She was kind enough to suggest a wonderful recipe, which got veto-ed before it even left the starting line :(

Oh well. I bought myself a little treat to rub in their non-vegan faces...hehe!

Sorry about the pic. It is in a clear plastic box, on a place mat with a pattern.

A slice of (vegan) death by chocolate cake. O.M.G.

HOLY yum!!!
Seriously, no words can even begin to do this justice. I was in heaven. Now I know how they came up with this name...I really thought I was going to die, by chocolate.

After a few bites I was so in love, I wanted to savor this cake forever. You know when something is SO good, you just wish it would last and last? Well, this was like that. I felt so much pleasure mixed with so much sadness after each bite. It was almost TOO good. I know that sounds crazy, but seriously. WOW.

I only ate half, so the food porn will continue tomorrow.

I forgot I had these carob covered raisins, too. Look at those massive clusters in the middle. I live for those. I am a vegan dessert freak.

sleep in, do nada

Love how detailed my weekend plans were? 

 

When you have no agenda, it’s pretty easy to stick to it…coffee, check.  B-fast, check.

Alvarado street bread toasted with greek yog and “egg” on top. 

I lazed the AM away watching the Real Housewives of NYC, while Kyle rolled his eyes and made sarcastic remarks throughout(sometimes crap TV is the best way to start the weekend).  Clearly Bethanny is going to continue to provide the majority of the show’s entertainment for the second season, too. 

Apparently, my breakfasts even get their own desserts now!

Crunch!

I am almost out!!!!  Whatever will I do when my delish sugar cookie sleigh ride tea is all gone :(

For lunch I made a smart deli “turkey” and hummus sando.  You’d think last night’s hummus dinner would have been enough for a week, but you’d be wrong.  Umm, it’s me remember?  Founder of the Sabra fan club.

And my lunch dessert of dried papaya, figs, and coconut date roll.

I had a pretty random PM treat.  I say “treat” because I don’t drink soda. 

I got it because the bottle was so cute looking…but it didn’t really live up to the hype (if packaging can be considered hype?).

I was a little sore from yesterday’s gym sesh, so I needed a big time boost to get my butt in gear.  Here’s where the chocolate soynut butter came through for me big time!!

I didn’t eat it at the apt, so no glamour shot!  (apples and bananas are such perfectly portable fruit, no?)  Good thing this jar is brand new because I didn’t have a spoon, so I looked like a hot mess dipping the nanner in the jar.

I did not enjoy this trip to the gym.  Weekends can be so annoying…the gym is packed and people don’t follow the 30 minute rule, so it’s just a chaotic free-for-all.  Oh well…

I snacked on pineapple rings while making dinner.

Leftovers!!!  In an attempt to mix things up, I added my asian/noodle/tofu dish from the night before to a bed of lettuce.  Talk about a brilliant invention…I felt like Benjamin Franklin!  Noodles in salad might be a new fave! 

Perfection!

It was movie night tonight (so different from the rest of the day).  Blockbuster should thank us because this winter weather makes us the laziest couple ever…it’s simple math really.

2 native Californians + 30 degree weather = cozy night indoors

As to be expected, I had a massive dessert plate.

It goes without saying, that I did this with them…

Oh so tasty!!!

I should have called it quits here, but…

I mean c’mon, there was ONLY one left (actually there were 2, but I ate one before I snapped the photo) – haha!  Never leave a man behind!

Only 2 more teabags left…(tear).

Tomorrow is looking like more of the same…I’m SO over winter.  How much longer until spring?  Any native east coasters, feel free to chime in.

I.M.Healthy

I woke up to another day of ick weather.  It’s so hard to get excited for the day when you know it’s going to be spent mostly indoors. 

But then I found a surprise PACKAGE at the door!!!  What could it be…??

The wonderful people over at I.M. Healthy sent me my FAVE soynut butter, both creamy AND chocolate flavors!  I LOVE this stuff!!  Since you all have been asking about soynut butter, now you can see this amazing product, and go out and get it, to try it first hand.  It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet.  It tastes exactly like ground up soynuts with a smooth and creamy texture – it just doesn’t compare to any other nut butters, and I’ve had extensive experience!!  Trust me, this stuff needs to be in your pantry, like, now!

So brekkie was an obvious choice.  Alvarado street bread toasted with creamy soynut butter.  I can’t wait to try the chocolate.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!

I had a second brunch type meal later on (I don’t know why I bother labeling meals).  I guess since it was before noon, I couldn’t call it lunch.  Vanilla o’soy and 2 coconut date rolls with my coffee.

“Lunch” was kinda weird.  I wasn’t overly hungry, and I didn’t feel like making anything, so it turned into a snacky afternoon as I did errands around the apt (I apologize for the randomness in advance).  First, I had leftover veggies.

Followed by spoonfuls of hummus (you read that correctly).  Sabra is so tasty, sometimes you don’t need anything to dip in it, ya know?  As for the pretz…I TOTALLY dipped these in soynut butter!!!  Haha!

And later I made myself a dried fruit plate with papaya spears and pineapple.

Finally I got my act together and headed to the gym. 

GYM stats: elliptical 30 min, tread mill 30 min, elliptical 30 min, abs/arms/stretching 20 min  (I had a mega high from all those endorphins as I headed home)

**special shout out to Adrianna for the Ting Ting music rec, I’ve been trying to find that artist forEVER – thanks loveee

Dinner was an asian inspired noodle/veggie/tofu dish.

Tofu blocks baked with soy sauce.

Steamed edamame.

Steamed shrooms.

Steamed broccoli slaw.

Soy noodles.

All mixed up together – doesn’t it look YUM!  I drizzled a little bit of teriyaki sauce on top.  I def have un monton de leftovers.

Dessert?  Duh.  Dried dates and carob covered raisins (I de-pitted and stuffed because it’s just so much more fun that way)!! 

Note: After I finished this plate, I made myself another platter (unpictured) because I have no self control because the first one was out of this world.  AND I opened up the chocolate I.M.Healthy soynut butter for my first taste (I just couldn’t resist trying it out!!!).  I’ll save the full review for tomorrow, but HOLY YUM!  I was in sweet tooth heaven – my desserts will NEVER be the same again!  The creamy, smooth, salty, sweet, buttery texture was divine, but I def gulped down what felt like a gallon of soymilk.  This product is like a nut butter lover’s mecca (oh, and fyi, the chocolate soynut butter has no dairy).  Needless to say, I headed to bed ridiculously full, but quite pleased about my new dessert discovery. 

Who’s done with taxes?!  I am, I am!  (One of the few remaining perks of having a BF in finance) – that comment is in reference to our crap economy, NOT Kyle’s skillz! 

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!