June 8, 2008

Challah Burger

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , |
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Another late post – sorry guys! This afternoon P and I spent on pre-surgery to do’s before Peter had his meeting at 6. While he was gone, I relaxed and did some stuff around the apt. When he got back, we watched Super Size Me while eating dinner. P had never seen SSM before so it was really interesting to watch it with him! Some great discussions ensued. I love that movie and never get tired of watching it.

We had talked about having wine with dinner (we’ve got about six bottles of wine in the house that we need to open), but ultimately I decided it wasn’t a great idea to have alcohol so close to my surgery. So I served lemonade mixed with water, served in wine glasses for flair:

P got some whole wheat challah rolls at the bakery this afternoon, so I used those to make a sandwich with Amy’s Californian Veggie Burgers, with mustard and ketchup on the side for dipping:

On the side I made a salad full of CSA goodies! Salad with lettuce, braising greens, and radishes, with a tbsp of Annie’s goddess dressing on the side:

This salad was AMAZING! These veggies tasted so pure and fresh and healthy. Just really incredible. You really could tell a difference from regular organic supermarket veggies. Dinner was 440 calories, 62g carbs, 16g fat, and 15g protein.

Heading to bed for another day of calming relaxation tomorrow. Night!

 

June 1, 2008

Ellen’s Goodbye BBQ, Columbia University Reunion, Day 2, and Parental Brunch

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Brunch, Dinner, Lunch | Tags: , , , , , |
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Whoo – get ready for a long post!

P and I headed out to Brooklyn on Saturday for Ellen’s Goodbye BBQ.  Unfortunately, it was raining and mucky all morning – so we had to move the party inside.  Everyone wanted to be on the blog – so there are quite a few cameos in this post.  Here’s was the initial spread:

More food came later.  What was paricularly interesting was the make-your-own strawberry shortcake spread:

Neat idea right? Plus homemade sangria, made by Brooke’s boyfriend Kyle (the thumbs-up in the picture):

Later, our friend Melissa brought a really delicious bean and avocado salad

The only thing was there were way too many sweet items, and not enough savory ones!  Everyone loves dessert!  Here was my plate: bean and avocado salad plus grapes.

I also split a cupcake with Peter:

Plus I tried a make-your-own strawberry shortcake, with my goofball friend Brooke in the background:

And here’s me with Ellen (I swear I don’t usually look this tall):

Our friends Rita and Bryan came and brought guacamole and Vegan ‘E’ cookies.  Here’s Rita and Ellen with the cookies:

I had one of these ‘E’ cookies. :)

On to our next activity! We headed up to Columbia campus for a cocktail and dinner, plus dancing and starlight reception.  Here was the main tent:

After we checked in, we went over to Peter’s class’s tent.  Here’s a shot of the inside of the tent:

And the tables:

I started out with a glass of white wine.  Here’s a shot of the bottle:

With my wine, I had 5 fruit kababs:

After some schmoozing and reminiscing (for Peter), we sat down to dinner.  Here’s my first plate, salad with blue cheese, plus a little latke:

With dinner, I had a cocktail: a whiskey sour.  I used to love these in college – they were definitely my drink of choice.

Then I went back for a second plate of salad and latke. :) The salad was sooo good, and the other options (fish, chicken, steak, etc) looked a little heavy – I knew my sweet tooth was going to get the best of me later (which it did!).

For dessert, I had a cherry cobbler:

This was really good – I split another one of these with P. :)

Then at the starlight reception, I had a glass of champagne and snacked on a bunch of chocolate desserts they had out.  YUM!  Of course I had to sample every type – amazing.  Then Peter and I danced like maniacs!  There was a live band playing old hits, and everyone was getting down!  I love live bands – they’re so festive!  It’s especially fun to see all the older people getting down and funky.  Soo sweet.  I definitely burned 300-500 calories easy.

So, to close the Columbia festivities, here’s the Columbia lion, the school mascot.  I think P really had fun being nostalgic and seeing old friends, so it was definitely a success.

P and I crashed at about 1 AM, and my parents called at 10:30 AM with a brunch invitation.  My parents, who live in Virginia, were up in NYC for my dad’s 35th Columbia Reunion and for their 30th wedding anniversary, which is this week as well!  The plan was to meet them up at a old Columbia hangout, the Hungarian Pastry Shop, at noon.

I knew I needed a AM workout after my day off yesterday, not to mention the extravagant dessert parade.  I booked it to the gym to get in a quick workout.  I did the stepmill and the treadmill with weights at full force!  Cardio smorgas = 427 calories burned. I wasn’t hungry when I woke up (never a good sign), but I knew I needed something in my stomach, so I had a banana before I left:

Pre Workout Snack was 125 calories, 32g carbs, 1g fat, and 1g protein.

We were a little late for brunch (whoops), but my parents had stopped for gelato, so I don’t think they minded!  P and my parents picked out pastries and then we headed to another Columbia haunt, The Heights, for brunch.  My mom and I started off with mimosas:

For an entree, I had the portabello mushroom with goat cheese and veggies sandwich, without bread, plus a huge salad of mesculun greens:

I only had a few forkfuls of the balsamic dressing.  Plus I had a complementary fruit cup:

Brunch was good, and it was great to see my parents!  P and my dad talked about Columbia the whole time, of course. :)   Brunch was estimated at 400 calories.

This afternoon the plan is to CHILL OUT.  We definitely need a rest after this weekend.  We also have another event for tonight.  Busy, busy, busy!

 

May 23, 2008

Easy Breezy Afternoon

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , |
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I ended up getting out of work around 3 PM – SUPER early, hooray!  I wasn’t expecting to have that much free time this afternoon so I took advantage of it by taking myself to a manicure and pedicure.  :) I got Bubble Bath (peachy-pink) on my fingers and Belize-It-Or-Not (purpely mauve) on my toes.  Something I really love about NYC is how cheap manicures and pedicures are.  You can get a mani for $8 and a pedi for $23 if you know where to go.  It makes it really easy to get them regularly!  I love getting mani/pedis.  They make me feel very womanly, and like I’m taking care of myself.  Plus, a fresh manicure makes you feel more pulled together and compliments any outfit.

Anyway, afterwards I went to CP to get in a workout.  Before I got started I tried a new snack, Dr. Weil Chia Razz bar:

Pre Workout Snack was 180 calories, 35g carbs, 4g fat, and 2g protein.

Even though I’ve been LOVING CP, I’ve been having trouble staying focused on keeping a cardio groove going.  Today I started out doing weights on the treadmill but couldn’t keep it together.  I finally hopped on the Elliptical Trainer with one of my Podfitness workouts.  That was what I needed!  I just needed some focus and direction for my workout.  If there is a downside to CP it’s that it’s so big, there’s never many people around.  At NYSC, it was always so crowded – it felt like a rat race, yes, but there was a sense of comradarie I felt, plus it was motivating so see everyone else working out so hard.  Elliptical = 471 Calories Burned.

When I got home I made a quick dinner of a Chickpea Cutlet and some carrots.  I was going to boil the carrots, but I was too lazy. :)

Dinner was 320 calories, 26g carbs, 8g fat, and 17g protein.

Tonight I’m going out to a bar with my friend, Jeff, from college.  I’m planning on having one club soda and vodka.  I’ll give you the report tomorrow.  Have a great Friday!

 

May 10, 2008

Lost and Found

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Brunch | Tags: , , , |
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This morning went from calm and relaxing to crazy and stressful back to calm and relaxing again! Whew! Quite the whirlwind! I woke up early this morning for some gym time. It’s always easier for me to get up early on the weekends than the weekdays, not surprisingly. I meant to try a Z Bar for my Pre Workout Snack, but I forgot it on my way out the door, boo. This did give me an opportunity to analyze whether my Pre Workout Snacks are impacting the quality of my workouts, though. Although I had a wave of hunger hit me in the first 10 min of my workout, after that I was more concerned with exercise than my stomach. But overall I think it’s a positive thing to do, so I’m going to keep with it. But it’s always good to evaluate your methods consistently to make sure what worked a month ago is still working now, because that might not always be the case!

So I did more mixing it up at the gym this AM. 10 minutes on the stepmill, 10 minutes on the treadmill with the free weights, some mat time, AND a new machine, the Cardio Wave. I really liked this machine – it was a fun switch-up. It felt like roller blading or ice skating. And again, I didn’t have to move very fast to get a good sweat going. I’ve really liked exploring the different cardio machines – I’m going to keep switching it up! Cardio and weights = 438 calories burned.

I got home, showered, and dressed – P and I were headed to one of our favorite restaurants, CookShop, for brunch. But as we were just about to walk out the door for our 11:30 reservation – I realized I couldn’t find my wallet. Well, to make a long story short, we tore up the apt, called every police precinct in the city, went to my office, and STILL couldn’t find it. After a good amount of tears, and a phone call to Mommy, I finally went to report it and cancel my cards, and my cell phone died. I pulled out my company blackberry to make the call and found I had a message. An older couple, Ira and Martha, who have a stationary store a few buildings down from me, found my wallet on the street – I dropped it as I was getting out of the cab in the rain yesterday! They went door to door in every building in the street trying to find me, but couldn’t, so they left a message on my company blackberry, the number of which is on my business card which is in my wallet. They were on the way to Massachusetts for the weekend when they left the message yesterday, so after speaking with them this morning, I’m going there first thing Monday to get my wallet. I’m bringing them a huge batch of cookies, and I know where we’ll be getting all of our stationary from now on! Can you believe it???? How nice are they! It just goes to show that even in a big city like NYC, there are good Samaritans out there.

Peter, the poor thing who deals with me in hysterics, was smart and kind enough to push back our reservation, and we made it just in time at 12:30. I was planning on having an iced coffee, but Peter insisted we get cocktails after such a stressful morning – and I had to agree! I had a Mango Ginger Daiquiri, which had fresh mango, ginger, lime and rum. It was really good – very creamy.

I cannot hold my alcohol anymore! I was definitely toasted after this glass, which led to bad decisions later… But for an entree, I had three poached eggs, with a slice of sourdough and 2 strips bacon:

This was great! I also had a bite of P’s fish sandwich and about 8-10 of his french fries. :)

So combined with a stressful morning and alcohol, here comes my bad decision, which Peter gladly supported: dessert! I got the Lemon-Vanilla cheesecake with Lemon Sorbet and Blueberry Capote:

I also had a bite of P’s milk chocolate bread pudding, which I snapped a photo of for you guys:

Yum-o! Since this is brunch, and essentially two meals in one, I don’t feel too guilty for going overboard. And I don’t feel uncomfortably full or anything, so I’m happy. Brunch was…gulp…estimated at 1100 calories.

No real plans for the rest of Saturday, but a bunch of options! I’ll let you know what we come up with…happy Saturday!