salad challenge kick-off

I’m not sure why it’s a challenge…since I heart salads, and welcome all motivation to get creative in the mixed greens department.  But hey, I’m not one to turn down something I can obviously succeed at a challenge.

Back to the b-fast eats.  A pile of toast with some Smart Balance light.  Note the pre-photo nibbled corner.   ;)

I need to go shopping, after living on live sprouted bread (ie Ezekiel, Alvarado street, etc) for so long, the regular whole wheat stuff just doesn’t cut it…

 

Other AM yummies: vanilla soy yog and chai tea.

My stomach is a-okay now, if anyone is concerned.  I think I had a stomach virus, and working 3 days in a row in an immuno-compromised environment only exacerbated it.  My job has the best perks!

Now I’m only 2 years behind in my half training.  Fabulous.  I’ll be sure to get right on that deficit.

In honor of salad challenge, I made myself a nice BIG bowl of greens for lunch. 

Ingredients:  fancy schmancy lettuce, brocc slaw, shredded carrots, cauliflower, brocc, green peas, and dried cranz to top it off

It was lovely.  No dressing necessary.

I had some juicy naranjas for lunch dessert while doing bridal research (I didn’t get very far into that mag…).  I’m going to be the worst bride!  My attention span is like that of a fly Jessica Simpson.

Gym time.  BAH.  No energy.

(insert whining and foot stomping)

If you are surprised by the quantity of dried fruit I had as my post-workout snack, you obviously don’t know me very well…

These mini-meals bites kinda killed my appetite for dinner.  But, we all know my lack of appetite doesn’t really matter in terms of what I eat. 

I went for AM in the PM, which I made on my BRAND NEW STOVE. 

This “kitchen” may look tiny compared to what other people are used to…but living in NYC is unlike anywhere else.  Apparently New Yorkers don’t cook, so kitchens are considered wasted space.  How sad is it that the price of my apartment at UCLA was actually cheaper and it had 5 times the space of our apartment now, as well as an enormous kitchen (that’s an actual room) with a dishwasher, an entire wall of counter space, and a normal sized fridge.  It really makes me wish I didn’t take all those years for granted…Even more sad, after living in our first place, this kitchen seems huge. 

So, as promised here are some apartment pics, since I cleaned up enough of the place today to take photos…

When you first enter the door and walk through the kitchen hub with a sink and stove, you get to our nice spacious living room.  Wall art by yours truly.  Off to the right is the guest bedroom, and through the (unpictured) doorway on the left is where the magic happens our bedroom.

Here’s the view of the kitch from the living room.  Not too bad, huh?  There is a huge closet on the other side of the door, which has become a pantry so now I can shop in bulk and have somewhere to put everything!

This is the best part :)

Ok, that’s all for now…back to the food. 

I scrambled up some “eggs” with half a tomato and half an avocado.

FOOD PORN!!

For dessert I had an english muffin with peanut butter, since I kinda OD-ed on dried fruit earlier today (who knew that was even possible).

I apologize for this photo. 

I totally mangled the thing when I was cutting it (mmm…so warm and gooey).  The rest of the decimated muffin was in my mouth before I took a picture…leaving me with 2/3 of an english muffin and enough peanut butter for a dozen. 

What to do, what to do…

I know!  I’ll eat the “leftover” PB plain with a spoon.  I’m so smart.  I’ll be expecting a call from the President any second now on how to solve the US’ economic problems.

Until then, I’ll be on the couch doing my best Jabba the hut impression.

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!