Oh, it hit the fan alright!

I apologize for being away (I missed you all, even if you didn’t notice I was gone, haha).  These past few days have been insane. 

I can’t even begin to try to condense it into a blog-worthy Cliff's notes version.  So…

(a) I was working a LOT – gotta get the cash flow to pay those billz, yo!

(b) A patient stroked out RIGHT before I was supposed to head out on my lunch break (the blogger meet up, no less) – ahhhhhh!  I hate to say which part of that last sentence disappointed me more.  SHOOT!  I’m a good nurse, so even though it wasn’t my patient, I obviously had to take over that nurse’s other patients while they called a code and went through all the shenanigans that go down when a patient has a stroke.  Not. Fun. Period. 

(c) We are moving!!!  After a loooooong time discussing all the pros/cons of this decision, Kyle and I are SO thrilled to make this upgrade.  We are still staying in NYC, and we are still staying in our same Upper West Side neighborhood, but we are going to be upping the square footage BIG time.  EXCITING!  The closet space alone, y’all…

(d) We had our friends from CA staying with us.  Party time?

(e) Kyle’s birthday.  A lot of chocolate.  Not a lot of exercise.

(f) My computer and the Geek Squad were having a sleep over (for a week), and I just got it back today.

Since I was pre-occupied with the above, the food stuff came to play second fiddle this past week. Here’s a few highlights.

 

 

 

Hope that holds you over for a bit.  I’ve got a google reader with hundreds of posts to catch up on…alas, I head back to CA for my cousin’s wedding in a few days. 

When the hell am I gonna have the time to MOVE by April 1st?

bright lights, long nights

…party ‘til the sun is rising, high rise, overtime, working ‘til the morning shine.  I feel on TOP OF THE WORLD!  Top of the world! :)

In addition to making me feel like a true New Yorker, that song pumps me up (as most PCD song do)!  Guilty pleasure, fasho.

AM coffee. 

BTW, before I forget, thank SO MUCH for all the feedback on my last post.  You guys are the sweetest and the most thoughtful and it really makes my day when I get flooded with comments of support.  It’s so nice to know that I can share my thoughts with you all without being judged (hooray for blogger love).  Ok, but before you cue the violins, let’s get back to the food.

Soynut buttah in my oats.  Luurrrve it!  Plus, this shiz gives me mega energy fer days.

Before I headed out to kick my butt in the gym, I had to get some sugar in my system (no worries Bender, it’s au natural).  This was my first peach Chobz and it was love at first bite.  I think this flavor just hijacked the top spot (formerly occupied by strawberry).

Fresh berries and frozen grapes only added to the deliciousness. 

Sugar high rocking, don’t come a knocking!  (I honestly have NO clue what that means) – basically, I went to the gym.

I was starving when I got home…like, chew your arm off, starving.  So rather than go the auto-carnivorous route eat my own arm off, I decided to have a snack to tide me over until dinner.  Vanilla o’soy yogurt and a coconut cream pie Lara did just the trick.

Sure enough, a couple hours later, my stomach was ready for dindin!  Kyle got off work a little early to join me at Cafe Viva

I was so excited to try out this vegan pizza place I recently discovered.  I don’t know how I didn’t know about it, considering it’s RIGHT down the street!  When we walked in the door the most amazing aroma EVER greeted me, so I knew it was going to be a good meal!  Mmmmmm…warm dough.

I really think some of the best finds in the city are the hidden ones.  Cafe Viva is a little hole-in-the-wall place, and trust me, it’s a gem.  They have such variety!  Spelt, wheat, corn, or regular crusts.  Vegan (soy) and regular cheeses.  They even have tofu and seitan as toppings!  We each ordered a slice and brought it home to enjoy.

Kyle got the #25 Azteca (left) with onions, sweet peppers, corn & mozzarella on a corn crust.  I ordered the #24 Vegetarian (vegan) which had organic tomato sauce, onions, mushroom, broccoli, plum-tomatoes & soy cheese.  It took MAY-JAH self control to carry that hot box of goodness all the way home (all 4 blocks) without ripping into it on the way…

As you can see I added more vegan parm (upper right corner) to my slice. 

First of all, the size of this slice was massive.  I mean honestly, it’s the size of the entire plate!  As for the whole wheat crust…SO so good.  Not too thick, not too thin, and the texture was nice and grainy (I guess that’s the whole wheat).  I could tell it was freshly made too, it was crispy on the outside and warm and soft when I bit into it.  Also, the amount of soy cheese was perfect.  It was subtle and not too dominant, which was also true about the tomato sauce.  There was just a thin layer but then, in addition, there were tomato slices (who doesn’t prefer actual produce anyways?).  The broccoli was also fresh and cooked the perfect amount so it still crunched (no limp frozen greens at Cafe Viva)!

Food porn, anyone?  I had been craving veggies all day, so I steamed more brocc for a side dish, which I also dumped vegan parm all over.

Kyle continued working (from the apt) after his dinner break (this China deal is quite time consuming) while I tried to restore my music collection on iTunes drove him crazy playing 10 second snippets of a million songs.

Clearly I had dried fruit for dessert (and SCSR tea).

 

Ok, time to pack and get ready for my 6 AM flight.

Going HOME tomorrow!!!!!!!  Woo hoo :)

PS Head over to Heather’s blog to win some coconut love!  Or Bender’s to win some Quaker love!

march, china, pajama party

March is here. In honor of that:

Out with the old, in with the new...

No more gold coast blend (you will not be missed). House blend, welcome home, I love you!

So far March SUCKS. I can't believe it's STILL snowing! Grrr. 8-10 inches in one day is too much? (that's what she said) But, seriously, I'm really annoyed with the East Coast. To make matters worse, my parents are in Hawaii for, like, the 9th time this year, and keep texting me pics of gorgeous sunsets and luaus. Ugh.

Ok, I'll stop the rants.

My coffee was frothy. Very niiiice. Yek shemesh.

Oh, and I ate my cereal mess in bed! Why not?

Eventually I dragged my behind out of bed to join the real world (sorta).

I blame all inactivity this weekend on the snow. I was in my PJs for 72 hours straight (I can't believe I just admitted that)...normally I'd never dream of skipping the gym on a day off, but I felt SO blah (correction: feel so blah). Sorry I'm in a Debbie Downer kind of mood, but why try to hide it. Shocking as it may seem, I'm not always rainbows and butterflies.

After a nice chat from Kyle via skype , I started my new book, Olive Kitteridge, and had a soynut butter-y piece of bread.

Kyle says "ni hao" from the Great Wall...

I can't believe we had a year+ bi-coastal relationship...this just feels weird. Come home already!!!

I've been passing the time with food. Not a healthy way of coping, and I'm no psychologist, but I'd say it's a pretty text book case.

Naturally, I turned to my first love, Sabra. Hey, while the boy's away...

I cut up a few slices of bread for dipping.

I felt so dainty eating my little bite-lettes.

(I'm pretty sure I didn't look dainty eating it though)

And the snacking continued for the rest of the day...

Dried pineapple rings = sugar high.

Sugar crash = curl up on the couch with crossword.

My thoughts on the Key Lime Pie flavor? Meh. It may be because I was so sedentary, or it may be because I had already had pineapple rings, but I was not feeling the overly sugar/tart-ness of this one. Sorry Larabar, this was a miss for me. I think coconut is still my #1.

I had multiple courses for dinner because I was bored, not because I was hungry. I mean let's face it, I did next to nada all day. I felt like a sloth and just thinking about it now makes me annoyed with myself. But, sometimes I just can't force myself to do things against my own will. Do I sound like a schizo or WHAT?!? Geez.

Course 1: pasta with Earth Balance (wow, Elise, creative AND healthy, someone call Top Chef's producers, stat)

Course 2: "eggs" with steamed brocc and grilled seitan

(this "course" I'm actually pretty happy with)...although I'm not sure the following desserts were quite necessary, since I was definitely already full by this point.

I melted some Earth Balance and drizzled it on top of the popcorn (it makes the salt stick better). Oh, and, I like healthy fat.

Naturally my salty taste buds were satisfied, but my sweet taste buds felt neglected.

No worries kids, I didn't repeat yesterday's dairy loaded chocolate disaster. At least today's dessert was vegan. No gluten or dairy, because, as my Dad says "even the monkeys learn." The dominant flavor in this was cinnamon. It tasted like a holiday cookie because there was a real spicy kick to it, but I liked it. It was a very dunk-able cookie because it soaked up soymilk really well, but didn't leave crumbs in the cup. That's a big selling point in my book. I'll probably never find them again, though, because I stumbled across them pretty randomly at a health foods store...in fact, I don't even know the name of the brand (if there is one?).

I stayed up late watching The Office on DVD (my friend hooked me up with seasons 1-4, so if you're the gambling type, it's a safe bet that that's what I'll be doing for the next 62 hours)

Obviously staying up late is a calorically demanding activity, so I had another late night snack.

Apple slices with a buncha chocolate soynut buttah.

Oh, and yes, my computer is still not turning on, so I'm using Kyle's ghetto fabulous Dell.

One last thing: To win some mega chocolate Larabar love, head over to Chocolate Covered Vegan, like, NOW!