It’s sunny honey

Sunday came and went and I think I hardly blinked!  Normally weekends that I work creep by so sloooooooowly, but this weekend was over in a flash, which is fine by me, since I have Monday off. 

Sorry to the rest of you with normal work schedules!

Back to Sunny-day, though.

SO excited to try my cute ‘lil tub-o-Tribe hummus. LOVE me some humdaddy, right Brooke!

I sliced an apple up for increased dunking pleasure, but the hummus made it’s way to the salad more than anything else…

YUM!

I also had a new CLIF flav – Cranberry Apple Cherry.  Mr. Clif can do no wrong.  It was the perfect chewy consistency, kind like a cobbler, but in bar form.  Blueberry crisp is still my number one, but this will def be purchased again. 

There are dried papaya spears and organic sugar coated ginger cubes in the bag on top (that’s so effing foggy it can hardly be considered a ziplock).  Let’s just say, I can prob skip the Kombucha for today because of all the probiotics growing on that year old baggie. 

At what point does the excuse of being a hippie cross the line to becoming a homeless person?

I may just be there.  And yet, I still saved the baggie for tomorrow.

Nothing too thrilling to report on the job front.  I had one patient sign out AMA today (against medical advice), but he wasn’t a cardiac surgery patient, so I wasn’t too worried.  He was one of the psych patients I mentioned yesterday…and seriously HOW do you reason with a man who says he has to leave because in the middle of the night someone put a knife to his throat?  Ummmm…pretty sure that’s not in the night RN’s job description.  I managed to convince him to stay for a few IVs worth of electrolytes, but after a lifetime on acid, there’s only so much of the liver you can salvage in 48 hours…if you haven’t heard of hepatic encephalopathy, look it up – if that doesn’t convince you to stay off drugs, I don’t know what will.

By the time I got home, my tummy was grrrrowling, so I threw a plate of randoms together asap, including:

My last home-made seitan cutlet :(

A shredded zucchini, broccoli slaw, and carrot salad (vampires beware – I took off my knuckle with the peeler, so there was some added iron in there too…). 

Alvarado Street bread with the rest of the Sabra hummus solo.

THEN (as if I hadn’t already reached my hummus capacity for the day…) I opened another SABRA container.  Can you believe this was my first time I trying the roasted red pepper flavor!?!?

Holy Yum!  I couldn’t stop myself from chowing down.

After this slice, I couldn’t stop!  I had THREE more!

Mmm…

While I ate, Kyle turned on True Blood (apparently he discovered Season 1 On Demand, and made his way through 8 episodes this weekend…).  See, I’m not the only one with an addictive personality!  Obsessed much?  Next thing I know, I got sucked in (pun VERY intended). 

Dessert #1

Dessert #2

Dessert #3 – ick!  Sorry Erin, but these are just not able to satisfy my PM sweet tooth.  I can handle one piece MAX, and then I start coughing hacking up a lung.

Tummy says RAWrrrr

I slept in forever today! 

Initially, I got up at 8, but decided a few more minutes of shut-eye couldn’t hurt…next thing I know, it’s 10 am!!  Whoa, I can’t even remember the last time I slept in that late.  Generally I feel like I’m starting off the day behind when I miss so much of the morning, but to be honest, getting in the extra zzzz’s today felt glorious.

Coffee + crossword = happy grandpa Elise

Newman’s Own organic raisins are gooey and I like it. 

I drowned a few handfuls in my strawberry chobz (death by greek yogurt? I’m in)…some tried to escape via the fruity life preservers apple slices.  They were probably disappointed when they found out that was just another vehicle to my tummy :)

Peanut buttery english muffins.  Mmmm…

After brunch I set out to finish all the errands I didn’t get to yesterday from the “rain” (which ended up being nothing more than 10 minutes of poorly timed drizzle).  The sunshine was beautiful!

Check out what came in the mail today!  My dad ordered this trio of Zagat guides for me and I was SO excited to find they had arrived when I got back to the apartment…I spent forever flipping through them.  There are several veggie/vegan spots I’ve been to before, but also some newbies that I’m excited to try. 

The other Zagat books are guides to NYC Nightlife and Shopping.  Yes please!

 

For lunch I had…drumroll please…home-made seitan!!!

I’ve been meaning to make this forever, and on my last trip home I finally got my hands on some Vital Wheat Gluten.

I used the Veganomicon recipe minus the oil.

This stuff is SO weird.  The second the powder ingreds meet the liquids, this glob forms.  It was the most bizarre thing.  I kneaded it as best I could, but it was quite tough.

As instructed, I flattened it (as best I could), cut them into slabs (far easier said than done), and then immersed them in the already boiling vegetable broth.

Can you believe these were actually cut with a knife?  I swear, vital wheat gluten has a mind of it’s own…

Here they are after 30 minutes in the oven on each side.

The bottom part stuck to the pan a bit, but since it was immersed in veggie broth, it came off easily…and went straight into my mouth.  Soooooo good!!  This was a crazy easy recipe to make, and I will be repeating it for sure.

So for lunch today I decided to make a big sammie with 2 seitan cutlets.

Alvarado street bread, half an avocado, clover sprouts, and home-made seitan.  Holy effing YUM!

The one thing I will say is it is important to keep the cutlets submerged in the broth for storage, otherwise they end up kinda tough and chewy. 

This was SO good.  I can’t even put it into words. 

Does this help?

For anyone else interested in making seitan, omitting the oil didn’t have any adverse effects on the outcome of the dish, but next time I will use more broth for storage purposes (to keep it from drying out or hardening up).

A little later in the afternoon I realized it was Wednesday.  Whoops!  Better get my raw eats in!

I salted the second half of the avocado not used in my lunch sando and ate it plain.  Mmmm….LOVE it!  I could scoop it out and eat it with a spoon.  Oh wait.  That’s exactly what I did.

Before I headed off to the gym, I decided to get a little natural sugar in my system.

Super creative (raw) fruit plate.

At the gym I started off on the tread mill, but my knee started aching, so after 30 minutes I switched to the elliptical for another 30 minutes. 

My stats:  treadmill – 30 minutes (4 miles)

                elliptical – 30 minutes (3.5 miles)

               rowing machine – 5 minutes

**I never keep track of abs, arms, or those inner/outer thigh machines, I just do them until I feel the burn (then pause and do 10 more)

Back home, still high on my post-workout endorphins, I started my raw dinner food prep…

Zucchini “pasta,” peeled and submerged in water for ~45 minutes.

Chopped up tomato, cucumber, and heart of palm.

Plus half an avocado…all mashed up into one delish salsa.

After I drained the zucchini “pasta,” I heaped the above mix on top, and voila!

My (raw) dinner is served!

I swear there are zucchini noodles under there somewhere…

Wow.  This dish was TASTY – granted anything with half an avocado is. 

I’m loving these raw challenges.

Of course I had a nice hearty dessert of medjools stuffed with carob covered raisins. 

I didn’t wait too long after dessert to pack up my lunch for tomorrow and hit the sack…back to work tomorrow. 

Adios 3D

I woke up today feeling exponentially better than the past 2 days.  YES!  So I made coffee and got to work MOVING!

I made lots of progress, and hardly realized how quickly time was flying by. 

I had to go with a quick and easy lunch, so naturally I turned to my girl Amy.  This company can do no wrong in my opinion.  Every meal I have is better than the last.

The delicious Indian Mattar Tofu was no exception. 

The above photo was straight out of the package.

The below photo was after I bulked it up with some extra veggies.

I steamed brocc, cauliflower, and green peas with curry and mixed it in with the Amy’s dish, and it was the perf meal.

Here it is in all it’s glory. 

After lunch I got back to work.  I still didn’t feel well enough to get to the gym, and as frustrating as that was, I knew I’d regret it if I pushed myself too far.  Plus, carrying boxes all day was probably a decent arm workout in and of itself.

I got sooooo much done, I’m rather proud of myself.

Since 51% of our belongings are now in our new apartment, I think it’s fair to say we are no longer living in apartment 3D.  Will I miss it?  Sure.  About as much as Lindsay Lohan misses food boys. 

No, I’m just kidding…it will always have a special place in my heart.  It’s “technically” the first place Kyle and I shared, and even though it is about the size of my closet growing up in CA, I will still remember it with fondness.

For dinner I popped some eggplant and zucchs in the oven, EVOO aplenty.

Then I lathered some bread up with hummus and added the veggies for a delightful Mediterranean style sando.  Oh, and in case you can’t tell, that’s a smiley face I made in the sabra.

Clearly this wasn’t enough to satisfy me, so I made a big salad with lots of healthy fats.

Lettuce, tomato, avocado, hummus, and Country Bob’s.  I’m beginning to understand the humbecue craze in the blog world.  I don’t know what took me so long to discover this magical combination.  Add in half an avocado and it’s a party!!!

It was so good, I wanted another only a few hours later.

I used up all the tomato on the last one, so I subbed in carrots.  Get ready for some food porn, because this salad is a TASTY one.

This is a new fave, so be prepared to see it a LOT in the future.

[Insert more packing/moving here]

Dessert time!!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, I actually changed up my daily dessert dried fruit platter (dddfp?) and went with what I was craving…the last of the avocado and more sabra hummus.  Ummmm, elephant in the room – yeahhhhh, I ate an entire avocado tonight (and it was a big one)! 

Bed time.  Exciting weekend activities anyone?  I’ll be working the entire time, while my boyfriend fiancé and his parents move the rest of our crap (basically all the heavy furniture) into our new apartment.  I can see it already: PIVOT!!! PIVOT!!!!

April (in Cliff’s Notes)

I don’t even know where to begin…this past week has been one of the most incredible times of my life.  Between getting engaged, visiting friends and family in Nor Cal and So Cal, my cousin getting married and my other cousin giving birth, it has been a fantastically memorable week. 

Yes.  My only two cousins managed to coordinate the biggest events in their lives to overlap!!!!!!!!!

My older cousin went into labor 5 weeks early, and ended up in the hospital on the night of the rehearsal dinner and gave birth to a healthy baby boy the day of my cousin’s wedding (her younger sister).  Not only did she miss the ceremony and the reception, but she was the maid of honor and her husband was one of the groomsmen.  Needless to say, it was ONE EXCITING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I rarely remembered to snap pics of my food because I was a bit preoccupied (it was one of the LAST things on my mind…) and to be honest, a lot of it wasn’t very photogenic.  An unfortunate reality of traveling and going out to eat with friends/family is the inability to control the types of food that are available for vegans. 

In Nor Cal I ended up eating a lot of cereal messes…

(raisin bran, life, and nanners)

(grape nuts, bran flakes, nanners and fresh blackberries!!!)

SO MUCH wonderful fruit (!!) and yes, that bowl has my name on it…only in Paris can you find “Elise” on a dish.

Normally I don’t like citrus, but these oranges were SO juicy and perfect (AND they were from our backyard)

Who am I?  Gliding Calm?

No worries, we have massive trees with about 800 pounds of oranges, so I was going to town guilt free :)

They look fake, they are so pretty.  Mmmmm…

We also had a BBQ the day after the engagement.  Sorta an impromptu celebration (which is pretty easy when the weather is permanently 80 degrees).

Apps: Sabra hummus with veggies and ALL-BRAN crackers (review to follow)

Snackety snacking…

The All-Bran crackers were SO good.  They kinda reminded me of graham crackers because they had a sweet honey taste to them, even though I got the “multi-grain” flavor.  Plus, who doesn’t like fiber?  Can’t beat those stats…I’ll prolly never find them again back in NYC.

My dad threw some meat on the grill while I prepped veggie skewers.

Red and yellow bell peppers, zucchs, squash, and ‘shrooms.

And after some time on the barby…

There is nothing like grilling fresh produce to make me miss California.  This west coast livin’ just can’t be beat…

Other featured eats: salad, rice, VINO, and champagne (in bulk)

Plus, some tea on the late night to soothe my tummy.

…and FAR too much of this.  My dad is going to be pissed when he sees the cherry picking that went on while I noshed this tub down to nothingness.  I heart dried fruit like nobody’s business.

In So Cal I ended up frequenting the Whole Foods hot bar quite a bit (always a great option).  Hummus and falafel are definitely the flavor of the month so far.  Prepare yourself for a MAJOR falafel montage…

(and remember these are all different trips – and I only captured 1/3 of my meals on film)

The above meal had TWO kinds of hummus (parsley and plain) and in the corner is BBQ tofu.

The below meal was dominated by hummus.  I went overboard, to put it mildly.

I even tracked down a falafel, hummus, and pita chip platter at the AIRPORT, on one of our many flights, there’s no stopping me!!!

I told you I went through a MAJOR falafel phase.

We also spent some time at my g-ma’s in Newport Beach, so obviously I managed to get my hands on hummus :)

This was my first time trying this brand, and I gotta say, it gave Sabra a run for it’s money.  I would DEF buy it again.  Creamy and thick, and packed with flavor.

But enough about food…back to the fun times! 

 

The proposal was such a surprise.  :)

Kyle told me his parents were in San Francisco for business, so we decided to meet them in the city for lunch…I found out later no such business trip existed.

We stopped by my sister’s apartment on the way…

Here’s the view from her rooftop.

Then Kyle took me to Crissy field to “meet up with his parents.”

In actuality, he asked me to marry him!!!!!!

As if the day could get ANY more amazing, his parents AND mine then showed up (they knew the plan the entire time!!!!!!) and we all celebrated together!

As you can see, the weather was perfect, the scenery was gorgeous, and I was the happiest girl in the world!!!!!!!

I was basically doing the above all day long (staring at my finger  and gushing on the phone).

How could I not, right?

For lunch, we went to a vegetarian restaurant called Greens, which was great!  I got a skewer with veggies and tofu and a side salad.  But I was hardly even aware of my food on SUCH a high :)

The champagne was flowing…

 

After lunch we took more photos, walked around the city, and eventually made our way to the financial district (near our old SF apartment before we moved to NYC).  Kyle had booked a hotel room for the night, so we check in and then headed out to do some shopping.  I desperately needed a nicer outfit than what I brought (jeans and a t-shirt) for dinner.  Clearly the ring upped the ante for the attire!  Off to BCBG, Aldo, and Victoria’s Secret…stat!

For dinner we went to Kokkari, an amazing Greek restaurant in the financial district. 

The food was great and they were so thoughtful, catering the menu to make sure there were vegan options for me.  I hardly even remember what we had because there was so much good food…fried eggplant and zucchini cakes, mushrooms, babaganoush, hummus, greek yogurt, etc…just to name a few things.

L to R: my parents, Kyle, me, Kyle’s parents.

Our table faced a massive fireplace, with live rotisserie action going on. 

Baklava dessert with a sweet message.

It was amazing, for lack of a better word.  The entire day couldn’t have been more perfect.