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 31, 2008

Columbia University Alumni Reunion, Day 1

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , , |
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Hey all! Peter is still out partying the night away, but I’m home to do a quick post and then off to bed. This afternoon did not go as I would have hoped, in that I got stuck dawdling around the house, and then had to power errands run. I managed to get in a little cardio and weights at the gym, but not as much as I would have liked. It definitely would have put me in a better frame of mind if I had a good, hard workout under my belt before a party – but it was good enough. Cardio and weights = 300 calories burned.

FYI, I didn’t have a snack before my workout because my lunch was so heavy. I made the right call about that- I didn’t need one. My lunch held me through til dinner.

The agenda for tonight was dinner at Robert Emmett’s and then Casino Night at the Nokia Theater. So here’s the place cards at dinner:

I didn’t know this until I got to the reuinion: apparently Columbia University is made up of different branches: one is Columbia College, one is FU, the engineering school where P graduated from, and a couple others I don’t know the names of. So a bunch of the stuff tonight had ‘Columbia College’ written on it, which really tripped me up! My dad went to Columbia too, and actually graduated from Columbia College, so go figure. Every time P and my dad get together, all they talk about is Columbia. It’s nice that they have something in common. :)

Service at this resturaunt was TERRIBLE. But they had an open bar, so P was happy. :) I had a club soda and lime with dinner (sitting out the first round strategy). I started off with salad:

Sorry the photo was a bit blurry, I was trying to be discreet. Nothing special about this salad. For an entree, the choices were ravioli, chicken, or fish. I went with fish, which was a white fish. I think I made the right choice.

I don’t even think the fish was bathed in butter, so woohoo! I ate all the fish and veggies and none of the rice. Then for dessert, they had tirimisu:

This was good. Looking back, I don’t know if I should have finished this (which I did). Half would have been sufficient.

After dinner, we went to the Casino Night. Here’s me getting ready to play blackjack:

Everyone was given 1500 Columbia dollars to start with. P and I both cashed in 500 at the first blackjack table that looked ‘lucky’, whatever that means. Well, it turned out to be lucky! Peter’s pretty good, and our dealer didn’t know there was a 500 bet maximum, so within 20 min, we made over 15,000! Here are some pictures of the table:

On the left is P sticking the red card into the back of the deck. Right is the dealer shuffling.

With the Columbia dollars, you can buy Columbia gear: bags, cups, mugs, etc. As soon as I walked through the casino door and saw the spread, I knew what I wanted: a Columbia sweatshirt! (It should be noted that this was the most expensive item, of course.) Well, after 20 min at our lucky table, that baby was mine! Here’s me in my new favorite sweatshirt:

:)

Anyway, back to food. Here was the spread at the casino night:

To the right there is a huge veggie basket, with a pretty good variety of items. Unfortunately, my sweet tooth was on overdrive, so I mostly stuck to this:

I sampled all of these. Possibly twice. Soo good.

I also had a club soda and vodka at the Casino night to get my mojo flowing. :P

So that was the first event of the reunion. Definitely a splurge for me, but I didn’t do any permanent damage. I’m not going to attempt a calorie count, but I know it was over my needs. Since I kind of let myself eat whatever I wanted today, I’m going to have to be a little stricter with myself tomorrow. Two days in a row of poor eating will leave a very sad Kate on the third day. Tomorrow the plan is to hit the gym first thing in the AM, bake treats for the BBQ, attend the BBQ, and then attend the Columbia reunion, day 2: dinner and dancing under the stars. It’s going to be a loooong day – I better get some sleep!

 

May 30, 2008

Wrap It Up, I’ll Take It

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , |
[4] Comments 

Hey guys, today for lunch Peter and I decided to order in.  I’m feeling alot better than I did this morning, so I’m hoping to have a super productive afternoon.  I wanted to try another wrap, so we ordered in from Bully’s. This wrap wasn’t as good as last time, but it was still really tasty.  This was grilled veggies on a spinach wrap with Fontina cheese:

I would have liked this better if it had less cheese and more veggies.  Plus I got some fruit:

Really good.  Then, on the spur of the moment, I decided I wanted a chocolate from the box:

I’m estimating lunch at 700 calories. Plan for the afternoon is to hit the gym in about an hour, then run some errands, speed clean the apt, and (if I have time) bake something to bring to my friend Ellen’s BBQ tomorrow.  All before we have to be in midtown at 6.  Whew.  Better get cracking!

 

May 27, 2008

The Quintessential Dinner

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner, Snack | Tags: , , , , , |
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Hey guys! My sunburn kicked in full force this afternoon, and I could barely move, let alone go to the gym. :( Two days in a row without the gym is unheard of for me, so I’m a little bummed. Although I feel that I’m at a place with my lifestyle where two days sans gym doesn’t equal ‘falling off the wagon’ or a huge failure on my part. I’m secure enough in myself and my dedication to my health that I know two days don’t define me. I hope I’m feeling better tomorrow – I’m definitely ready to be back in the workout groove!
Peter slept the day away, with an early early early morning flight and no sleep last night. So I cleaned the apartment and caught up on magazines – definitely a restful holiday. At some point in the afternoon I went out and got some snacks for us. I had a Luna bar:

And then a bit later I had a whole wheat tortilla with a tbsp almond butter:

Snacks were 450 calories, 57g carbs, 20g fat, and 19g protein.

For Peter’s welcome back dinner, we went to a reader-recommended restaurant, Quintessence.  Many thanks to Margherita for the thoughtful recommendation!  (Hi Margherita!)  Quintessence is located in the east village in a tiny little space on a tiny little street.  Very sweet.  To start, P and I split the chip and dip platter:

This was ’spicy tomato-cilantro salsa, dairy-free sour cream and guacamole served with home-made corn chips and flax crackers’. The crackers were good, and the guacamole was great!  For an entree, I had the Scallion Roll:

I had two of the four rolls.  These were ‘light yet satisfying nori rolls filled with scalion creme cheese, avocado, bell pepper, cucumber, caramelized onion, tomato and sprouts.’ These were really tasty – I’m going to have the other two rolls for lunch tomorrow.  And for dessert, P and I split the dessert platter:

From top left, clockwise: Chocolate Pecan Pudding Cake, Coconut Banana Creme Pie, Chia Seed Pudding, and Lemon Yam Cake.  They all sounded delicious, but both P and I were really disappointed – none of them were that good!  The best one was the Lemon Yam Cake, and even that wasn’t great.  P was so disappointed that he stopped for a Cookies and Cream milkshake on the way home (which I stole a few sips from). :)

I’m estimating dinner at 600 calories. Well, I’ve certainly had a restful holiday – I hope you have too!  Night!

 

May 18, 2008

Long Afternoon

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , |
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Well, I’ve spent far too much time on New York Transportation today.  It took me a good 45 min to get to the NYSC with a pool, and I use the term ‘pool’ loosely.  It was a glorified bathtub at the end of a dank, dingy hallway with flickering florescent overhead lights.  Stereotypically scary.  So that was a wash.  Then it took me another 1.5 hrs to get home to my apt, grr. I’ve spent some time tonight looking into other gyms in the city with pool facilities – I’m thinking Chelsea Piers.  I’d love your opinion!

While out and around today, I had an apple, Chocolate Mint Clif bar, and 3 mini-muffins.  I was busy running errands so I completely forgot to snap photos.  So, ‘lunch’ was 581 calories, 107g carbs, 13g fat, and 14g protein.

I’ve been hungry all day!  When I came home, I had a slice of Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel Bread with a tbsp of pb:

A little too burned. :) I had planned for this to be a Pre Workout Snack – but I was so annoyed with NYSC, I didn’t feel like going there again today.  Snack was 175 calories, 21g carbs, 9g fat, and 7g protein.

I didn’t want to make anything too intense tonight – looking for something low key.  I’ve seen tortilla pizzas around the blogs, and I wanted to try one.  I made a spinach, goat cheese, and summer squash pizza:

Some of the spinach crisped up really nice – maybe a spinach chip experiment is in the works?  I also had a half cup of Coconut Sorbet:

Dinner was 462 calories, 64g carbs, 18g fat, 12g protein.

I think I’m gonna head to bed early tonight, I think I’m coming down with something.  Night all!

 

May 15, 2008

Whoops!

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , , , |
[4] Comments 

Excuse this post because I’m a little tipsy! Well, my calm, efficient night turned into a girls night out when I called my friend Eva for shopping and dinner. I wanted to buy this purse, but by the time I got to the shop, it was closed. Boo. So we went to a nearby Italian place and split a bottle of wine and and appetizer. I had two glasses of wine and 2 little stuffed portebello mushrooms.

And second glass:

And the mushrooms:

And when I got home I had a little of the coconut sorbet :P :

Dinner was 332 calories, 30g carbs, 8g fat, and 4g protein.

Whew, this wine is going to my head, night!

****************************

Edited to Add:

I forgot to tell you guys about my afternoon snack.  I got a free DD iced coffe (yum!) and tried a new flavor of Luna Bar: Smores.  Good, but again not as good as their mint/chocolate combo.  I must say, I’m having fun trying all their different flavors.

Snack was 180 calories, 27g carbs, 5g fat, and 10g protein.

Also, about 10 minutes after this post, P came home with tapas, grr.  Way too many nibbles ensued.  ~400 cals.

 

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!

 

May 9, 2008

New Adventures

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , |
[7] Comments 

Today was so yucky, rainy, and gross. I ended up taking a cab from the office to get out of the cold. Not my favorite thing to do, as you know, but it was the worth it. I got home EARLY, which was great. Since I had a light breakfast, and medium lunch, I was ready for a snack the second I walked in the door. I had a cocoa banana scone with a tbsp of nonfat vanilla yogurt for ‘icing’:

Snack was 145 calories, 27 g carbs, 4g fat, and 4g protein.

After a few hours of cleaning the apt, making some phone calls, and fooling around, I was ready to head to the gym. I needed a little something to fuel my workout though. So I had a slice of Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel Bread with a tbsp PB:

Pre Workout Snack was 175 calories, 21g carbs, 9g fat, and 7g protein.

I’ve been feeling a little frustrated with my workouts lately – just a little bored and not really challenged. My ultimate solution to this is to incorporate swimming into my workout, but I haven’t gotten a bathing suit yet. On a side note, have you shopped for a one piece in any major retailor lately? They’re impossible to find – it’s all bikinis and monokinis! Gap, Old Navy, J Crew – nobody carries them in stores, you have to go online! They do carry them at sporting goods stores, so I’m planning on getting one this weekend. Anyway – in order to mix things up in the mean time, I wanted to do something different. I was all over the gym – I did some weight machines, free weights, treadmill, and then I found the stepmill!!!! I’ve never done the stepmill before, and I have bad memories of the stairmaster in the past. But the stepmill was awesome – I was pouring sweat – such a great workout! Plus – and this might sound weird – I liked it because I didn’t have to be moving really fast to get a good burn going. I’m not that coordinated and DEFINITELY clumsy, so I don’t really like to move fast – I feel kind of out of control and that makes me nervous, like I might fall or something. Running outside really makes me feel vulnerable for that reason. But on the stepmill, I wasn’t moving very fast, but boy was my heart pumping! Stepmill, weights, treadmill = 447 calories burned.

After walking around a cold, rainy, wet city all day, my friend Whitney decided to go back to her family’s house in NJ because she wasn’t feeling well. P had already set up a boy’s night out since I was going to be out. So I came home to make a light dinner for myself. I had a smoked salmon wrap: a whole wheat tortilla, 2 oz smoked salmon, a wedge of Light Laughing Cow cheese, and capers. Along with, I had some apple slices.

And apple slices, I had all but 4 of these:

Dinner was 338 calories, 62g carbs, 11g fat, and 20g protein.

At one of my favorite restaurants in the city, Pure Food and Wine, has the most delicious ‘ice cream’ made from coconut milk. I found a carton of ‘Coconut Sorbet’ at TJ’s the other day that was made from coconut milk, so I figured it would be similar.

Holy crap, this stuff it was amazing!!!!!! I had a half cup:

This is actually a little less than a half cup – the rest made it in my mouth too quickly! I have to be honest, I was going to have a smaller cup, but this was soooo good, I had to have more!

Dessert was 160 calories, 22g carbs, 8g fat, and 1g protein.

Hope you guys are having a good Friday night!

 

May 7, 2008

Almond Crusted Tilapia with Basalmic Asparagus

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner, Snack | Tags: , , |
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Tonight’s dinner was beyond delicious! There was a very silent 20 minutes where P and I both were engulfed in our food. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

I got home this afternoon and finally tackled my kitchen. I cannot wait until I have a dishwasher in my apartment – washing the same dishes several times a day is the most frustrating thing! Anyway, after that I was starving, so I had a Cocoa Banana Scone:

Around 45 minutes later, I was still starving – so I hit up the Fiber 1 and almond milk.

That did the trick – I was totally satisfied. I don’t take having a second snack lightly – I thought about my hunger for a long time before I decided on it. I analyzed it: am I thirsty? am I bored? am I tired? I finally decided that I was genuinely hungry, so I had my snack guilt-free. Snack was 208 calories, 50g carbs, 6g fat, 5g protein.

So on to dinner. This recipe was the inspiration for tonight’s meal. I switched out pecans for almonds and used regular milk with a little Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk. I also made homemade bread crumbs from a slice of Ezekiel bread. I like doing that because, again I don’t have to buy an additional product, plus I know exactly what is in the crumbs. Also I think it tastes fresher. So here was the finished product:

Yuuuuum. For the asparagus, I tossed these monster guys in a Ziploc bag with some balsamic vinegar, pepper, salt, and olive oil. Then I steamed them for about 5 minutes. These were amazingly fresh and delicious – so tender. Definitely the best method I’ve used to make asparagus.

All together:

Dinner was 244 calories, 18g carbs, 9g fat, and 28g protein. Delicious, delicious, delicious. Low calorie for sure, but you could punch it up with some sort of grain on the side. We weren’t very hungry tonight, especially with my double snack this afternoon. Pluuuuus…

P wanted to make sure I had room for dessert! He always wants me to have dessert for some reason… I had one chocolate from the box. :)

Dessert was 77 calories, 9g carbs, 5g fat, and 1g protein.

Night everyone!