I'm back!

It's clear I don't understand macs yet.  So until I do, I'll be posting beautiful iPhone pictures in my posts.

I worked alllll weekend.  Long weekend.

This morning I woke up and managed to shuffle to the kitchen to put a lemon water/cayenne thing in my face before I walked 1.2 miles to work.  I haven't done much walking in the past two days and it felt great!  Which led me to start thinking about the fact I much prefer exercise that is practical.  Like biking to work.  Jogging to the bank.  I don't know why, but I find it much more satisfying.  Which is why tomorrow I may very well walk to the Union Square farmer's market.  That, and I don't have Saturdays off anymore.

Anyway, I got to work and had a slice of my mother's delicious pumpkin bread.

No green monsters the past few days.  I miss them.  Tomorrow I am having 5.  I kid!  Six.

Sometime around 10:30 I went and got the parfait cup of undressed salad.

It took me all day to eat it because, well, it wasn't very good.  So...dry.

My marvelous friend Isabel came to visit me at work and we had hot dogs.

Veggie dogs to be exact!  With lovely assorted toppings like kimchee and pork belly.  I had two.
I also had one tiny cupcake from Kumquat Cupcakery.  The ginger cupcake with a tiny tiny little gingersnap on top is awesome!

I also had one of these:

And when I got home, I baked my first spaghetti squash!  I mixed some of my bottomless pit of turkey and brussels sprouts sauce in with it, as well as some grated parmesan.  Delicious!  Way better than usual.  Screw brown basmati rice (at least with my sauce).  I thought I took a picture of it but apparently I just ate it. 

I suggest everyone go out and buy a spaghetti squash this week and try it as a substitute for pasta.

No drinking.
No smoking.
Exercise today:  1.2 miles walking and that's it really. 

Tomorrow I'm walking 5.3 miles to the farmer's market and also moving all day.  Got to get to bed.  Goodnight!

Rejuvenation plus a Long Day

I didn't get to blog yesterday.  I was out with friends late!  and therefore too tired to blog when I got home. 

Unfortunately, my computer is angering me and I may not be able to upload all the pictures I need to.  Bear with me.

Yesterday morning I was at my parents' house upstate.  I had gone up to bring up some furniture I no longer needed, and was upset about it, but the trip was absolutely lovely and exactly what I needed.

I always miss the leaves though.  I get the sticks.

 Yesterday morning started with my mother's delicious tuna salad on an Arnold's sandwich thin with baby spinach and carrots and green beans on the side, which apparently I cannot upload a picture of because I do not know the Secrets of the Mac.  Maybe someone could give me a lessson.

I'm tired and cranky.  I need to end today right now.  To bed I go.  I promise I will continue blogging away as soon as I figure out what the hair I'm doing wrong.

I leave you with crackers endorsed by Oprah. And cheese.

Stress Eating

Hello, hello!

This morning I started my day with a lemon water/cayenne miracle and leftover ma po tofu and Ching Qong chicken over brown basmati rice.

No green monster today.  Low on greens and stressed out and basically just crawled my way through the day.

An hour later, an apple!  And Glee.

Today I had to move some stuff out of my old apartment and drive it to my parents' apartment upstate.  Ugh. Stress.

Around 4 my friend Lauren and I were starving TO DEATH.  I ordered us a small veggie pizza and a some chicken fingers to sustain us (me) through the nightmare of moving.  I had about 5 chicken fingers and a slice of pizza (no crust).  Weird pizza.  No tomato sauce.  What the hair is that about?

I drove upstate and wanted to smoke the whole time.  I haven't had sustained cravings like that until today.  Instead, I ate a Twix and a million (maybe 10?) Now and Laters.

My mother made me one of her famous caeser salads around 10 pm, to which I added some spinach, and then I relaxed with my parents and played some board games.  Then I hung out with my hilarious brother and his friends, most of which I've known longer than my friends.

Last night after my blog post, I also had a couple of saltines with farmstand cheese and preserves on top and several saltwater taffies.

Perhaps my eating habits today and late last night had something to do with my feeling stressed out and upset today.
YA THINK?

But I'm not gonna worry about it.  I ended the day on a high note, hanging out with my family and some friends.  Even though I was with a bunch of smokers who were drinking a bunch of beer, I didn't smoke and I didn't drink.  And it feels good to be working towards something and seeing myself achieve it.

Exercise today: Just finished Day 2 of the Hundred Pushup Challenge.

Time to shop for scales online.  I think it's time.  And then to bed!  Goodnight.

Cooking again

Good evening!  A beautiful day in Brooklyn today.

Brooklynites!  Don't forget to look up sometimes.  There's actually some space up there.

And night!

I had a lemon/cayenne water bomb this morning followed by and green monster.

Unattractive picture of the end of my smoothie, natch.

I didn't pair it with anything.  I knew I'd be eating calorie-dense food at work later.
I haven't been cooking much lately.  Mostly sandwiches, smoothies, crockpot meals, maybe steamed veggies.  Easy stuff.  But last weekend I picked up some ground turkey at the farmer's market with ideas for a meat sauce.
Today was the day.  I had some brussels sprouts that I first trimmed, then blanched in boiling salted water.

You get the idea.

They cooked a little too long because I was trying to get the perfect shot.  No camera skills and only a Canon Powershot at my disposal made this difficult.  Impossible, actually.  But anyway.

I drained the sprouts and julienned them into little slivers of mini-cabbage.  I diced up some onion:

The perfect dice:  First horizontal slices into the onion

Then vertical slices lengthwise

And finally, slice it width-wise.  I don't explain very well.

I sauteed the onion in a tablespoon each of butter and vegetable oil with several cloves of minced garlic, and then added the brussels sprouts.

Here they are caramelizing nicely.  Only after I threatened, though.

I added some salt and pepper and stirred minimally so as to allow these lovely sprouts to caramelize a bit.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I grabbed the ground turkey (just a shade over a pound) and browned it in a separate pan.

I drained off some of the fat when it was done (there wasn't much) and added it to the sprouts with two large cans of peeled tomatoes, and a little dijon mustard because I was feeling nutty!  Watch out!

Just try to contain me.

I let it simmer for about an hour and I had a small bowl of it over brown basmati rice with a little romano, which wasn't actually that great with it.  Parmesan would've been better.

This pot of turkey-brussels sprouts sauce will probably be good for 6-8 more meals, and I will be sick of it after about 3.  I will then either freeze the rest with a good chance I'll never eat it again, or I will force it upon my roommates under the guise of goodwill.

I mean, I guess I could've GRATED the cheese instead of slicing it like a lazy jerk.  It looks like someone dropped their cheese and crackers in my lunch and only fished out the Triscuits.

I also had this salad of greens and yellow pepper, also gotten from the farmer's market, and the salad dressing I made a few days ago - rice vinegar, honey, soy, oil, garlic.  Success!  Delicious.  I usually find salad dressings intimidating to make.  Good ones, anyway.

 

Does anyone know what kind of green these are?  They're really, really good.  I'm guessing young mustard greens but I'm not sure.

I walked to work and around 7:30 had about 3/5 of a large burrito, of course, with a mexi-coke.

And a fair amount of grazing.

Exercise today:  4.0 miles round trip to work.  My legs are kind of achey, so I think I'm not going to do the Squat Challenge for now, my envy of Jay be damned.
No smoking.
No drinking.

Packing and moving tomorrow, so I have to go to bed, as I have a long day of procrastination ahead of me.  Night!

Kitty says goodnight.  Like, a hundred times a day.

Eating at Work

I'm glad I ate well today before work.  Before I left I had a small bowl of edamame.

I walked 2.0 miles to work and around 6pm had a pretty large burrito.

Rice, beans, cheese, a little steak, guac, onion, hot sauce, sour cream.
I don't know why I do that.  I don't even really enjoy food while I'm at work.  I should eat minimally and then splurge when I'm out.  I guess just because I can.
I then continued to graze now and then.  I probably had 15 tortilla chips, some guac, some chicken, some steak...  As a cook, it can be hard to eat well.  Generally, you graze.  You're constantly tasting.  I'm not going to worry about this too much now, and fortunately I'm only cooking twice a week right now, but this is something I'm probably going to want to curtail eventually.

I walked home around 11pm another 2.0 miles.

Atlantic Yards fake sidewalk scaffolding bridge thingy.

I'm now enjoying a plate of fruit.  I'm going to make some phone calls, chase the cat around the house, and get ready for bed.  Goodnight!

Couple of tiny pears and an apple.  Farmer's market, natch.

Push-ups are HARD!

And I hate sit-ups!  You're laying on the ground, in agony?  What could be worse?

But I like the way my shoulders feel after pushups.  And I like the fact the shirt that didn't fit me a couple of weeks ago fits me now.

I redid Week 1 of the Push-up Challenge, at a lower level.  I did them slower so I could be sure I had good form.  And even though I had to start Week One over, the great thing about push-ups is you can feel an increase in strength almost immediately.  I am definitely stronger than I was a week ago.

I also did Week 1 of the Sit-up Challenge which went fine but I don't want to talk about it.

This morning I had a DIFFERENT green monster than USUAL.  I used pumpkin, spinach, soymilk, and half a banana.  I paired the smoothie with a couple of hard-boiled eggs, a few slices of cheese, and a bunch of computer wires.

I've decided to bump up my breakfast a little because I've been getting hungry only a couple hours after breakfast lately.  Hence the eggs AND cheese.  I wish I had some nice whole wheat bread in the house, but I don't so oh well. 

I just got back from jog/walking to the bank 1.1 miles away.  When I first got out there, my shins were killing me, but by the time I got to the bank, I was feeling awesome.  I haven't run in years, but it felt truly great.  I suffered my way to my fourth floor apartment because I stopped by the truck to pick up my two 25-pound dumbells I needed to bring upstairs.  An inadvertent workout!  I felt like I was going to die by the time I got to the top.  But now I can do more complex workouts in my house.  Yes!

A couple of days ago I was talking with someone who's acupuncturist told her to eat a portion of red meat every other day, that it would help with her health immensely.  I believe there are different body types and and that different bodies require different things.  That's why different diets (and exercise regimens) - Paleo-centric to vegan -  can work equally well - for different people.  With the exception of burgers, I'm not a huge red meat fan - I don't think I need much red meat in my diet (and I'm still figuring out my optimum diet) - but I do think I was meant to run!
These are my thoughts.

Ok, time to get ready for work.  Have a good afternoon.

Delicious Szechuan

Oooooo-eeeeee!  I got some of the things of the things done today I needed to do.  Around 5:00 or so, I steamed an artichoke and made a dip for it with a little bit of butter, garlic, and dijon mustard.

If you look closely at the dipping sauce I made, you'll see I made an error in the science of the sauce.  It's clear that the milk solids AND the fats in the butter and also the garlic decided to get together and bond to the mustard, leaving everything in a clump at the bottom and some strange watery mess to rise to the top.

Not my best dipping sauce.

Anyway, I probably had about a tablespoon of butter total.
Apparently artichokes are really freaking good for you.  And they taste great (except for that weird astringent feeling you get in your mouth at the end).  They're like wings, as they're also an activity food - my favorite, except much better for you.

So around 8pm I drive into the city and pick up my good friend Sandy Jeans.  He's selling his truck, so need to use it as much as possible before does.  I had asked him to go with Home Depot with me, to which he agreed, and as a token of my gratitude (and also so we could drive around awhile), I took him to my favorite Szechuan place in NY - Grand Sichuan Palace in Bay Ridge.

Somewhat less romantic with the Business Improvement District acronym at the end.

Bay Ridge - Italian, kind of suburban, little enclave on the water in South Brooklyn.  Also home to Sichuan Palace, which is not a palace but has great food.  I've been before and had an idea what I wanted, and ordered various dishes for both of us to share family-style.

Dan Dan Noodles

Chenyu Spicy Dumpling - Andy asked if it was pork inside, to which I said yes so he'd keep eating it.

Dan Dan noodles were spectacular.  I didn't realize now much I liked them til afterwards.  More subtle than the rest of the dishes we ordered, the noodles were soft but firm, and soaked up the broth while grabbing some of the chili oil on their trip to your mouth.
The Dumplings were pretty good as well, the sauce the best part.

Ma Po Tofu

Then we had Ma Po Tofu, which was served in a thick sauce with ground meat and spices.

Chong Qing Chicken - my fave.

Finally, the Chong Qing Chicken.  Really nice and spicy, szechuan dishes like this are fried in red pepper oil before the spices are even added.  This dish had tons of Szechuan peppercorns - little peppercorns that numb your mouth in preparation for what's coming.  I love this dish, because I love heat.

Sandy Jeans sweating into his food.

I had to gently tell Andy he didn't have to eat all the hot peppers.  In fact, no one really does.  Maybe one or two, for fun, and to make sure you're not a a little baby-child, but this guy was eating every single pepper on his plate - and sweat was dripping off his nose onto his plate.
We were there for that reason; every dish we ordered was bright red, but no one eats all those hot little dried peppers.

Delicious meal.  A lot of food - and there's more in my fridge now - but I don't feel badly about it.  It was a veg-heavy day and some spicy Chinese was a-ok with me for dinner.


Still not smoking.
Still not drinking. (you have live in New York to appreciate just how many temptations run into PER DAY to drink)

Exercise: None really.  My legs are pretty sore today from all the squats yesterday plus the walking, so I figure it was time for a day off.  I was kind of limping earlier - just taking it easy today.

Bedtime.  I have a lot to do tomorrow plus go to work.  Have a good night.