What I Ate Wednesday #115: Welcome to the Working Week(end)

Posted on June 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

Yes, that title is a shameless reference to an Elvis Costello song. This week’s What I Ate Wednesday post is about the super-excited Saturday I spent working.  I honestly shouldn’t complain—working 8-2 gave me plenty of time for a nap and some interaction with other humans. Thank you as always to the lovely Jenn of Peas & Crayons for hosting the weekly link part. Take a visit to see more WIAW from other bloggers!

So yes, this Saturday was spent partially at work, but after a catnap, I went for a stroll through Riverside Park. It was freaking glorious. I slept like a worn-out kitten that night.

It was one of those days where I ate some of the same things multiple times because that’s what was around and what I was craving.

  • Breakfast: Greek yogurt with ground flax and a banana, an uncpictured coconut coffee from Dunkin Donuts
  • Lunch: Salad—baby spinach with cherry tomatoes, roasted pepper, quinoa, and black-eyed peas
  • Snacks: Greek yogurt (again) with puffed millet and sunflower seed butter; an unpictured green juice while out walking around the city
  • Dinner: quinoa (yes, more quinoa) with egg whites, kale, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and hummus
  • Snacks: popcorn

Do you ever eat certain things more once over the course of a day? 

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Can’t Call Me Unprepared

Posted on June 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

Thanks to my mom’s gift of some organic dark chocolate from her recent trip to Boston, there is now enough of the stuff to kill a small child with antioxidants. I am totally ok with this. The PMS monster has some serious competition.

Just a note-though chocolate is considered a “healthy” food in some respects, a little goes a long way. A lot of the research out there says about an ounce a day will do you, provided it’s within your daily calorie needs.

I like to enjoy a square after dinner sometimes, maybe with sliced fruit if i need something more substantial, or with a cup of tea.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy chocolate?

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Day of Fathers

Posted on June 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

So I guess I spent a little more time talking about music than I did Fathers Day yesterday. I have nothing but my DNA to blame—my mom comes from a very musical family, and my dad’s been in the music business for longer than I’ve been alive. Because of these things, I have never wanted to be a musician (growing up around the business side can turn you off to almost anything, I’m convinced), but I’ve been a ravenous consumer of music pretty much my whole life.

I’ve also been known to be a ravenous consumer of good food. There was also plenty of that on Sunday. We had a full house as always—lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, and a happy grandfather sipping on the usual Johnny Walker Black. My mom’s family does not mess around when it comes to food and drink. Observe:

“Healthy Living” in still life
Smart-ass crackers.
One of the many good things about having a sister is having someone to split the beer with
Junior’s cheesecake w/ coconut milk ice cream, whipped cream, and hot fudge

What are some of your family’s holiday/celebration favorites? 

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Working (and playing) for the weekend

Posted on June 16, 2013 | 4 Comments

First off, Happy Fathers’ Day to all the baby-daddies out there. Here are a couple of my past Fathers’ Day posts:

Secondly, how is it Fathers’ Day already? And by that, I mean mid-June. WTF, time?

Despite having to work Saturday (I survived!), I’ve actually had a really nice weekend, thanks to a few catnaps.important things.

Friday night, my sister and I went out for dinner (I had a groupon to this place) and then hung with my cousin  and his wife before we all headed to see the Postal Service at Barclays Center. My inner 17-year-old was freaking the f*** out in the best way possible. Ben Gibbard and Jenny Lewis on the same stage? I was a happy camper.

Postal Service fans on a budget—what up, “best available?”

I feel like I’ve been talking a lot about music on this blog lately—even more than usual. I may also have a playlist coming your way soon. I go through phases where I basically depend on it—it’s my frame of reference and my therapy and part of how I process things. Even the most positive changes bring challenges, and having some go-to songs for those tough moments makes all the differences. I also find that I get attached to certain songs that speak to a particular experience I’m having. Later, when I listen to those songs I feel like I’m traveling in time, for better or worse (I think a lot of us have “lost” favorite albums or artists to relationships gone south).

Luckily, the weather has been beautiful this weekend. I spent most of Saturday afternoon/early evening outside near the water—freaking gorgeous! Wore myself out all over again…

What have you been up to this weekend? Do you “time travel” through music? 

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Sh!t you can make at home

Posted on June 14, 2013 | 2 Comments

Yesterday, a few of my friends on Facebook were sharing this list from Buzzfeed of popular foods you can make at home—awesome way to save money and save yourself all those extra weird chemicals.

A little inspiration goes a long way

A little inspiration goes a long way

I know I went on a bit of a rant a few months ago about making my own hummus, but there are definitely foods that are super-easy and totally worth making at home.

A few of my favorites:

  • Tomato sauce—my mom may not be Italian, but her recipe tastes just as good as anything I had in Italy
  • Granola—we may not be in touch anymore, but I do have to admit that, if nothing else, when it came to making granola, that ex-boyfriend had skillz.
  • Soup—My favorites are basically everything on my recipe page.
  • Shake ‘n’ Bake—an experiment gone very right.
  • Miso-Tahini Dressing—enough said.

What are your favorite convenience foods to make at home?

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This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco

Posted on June 13, 2013 | Leave a comment
This is Francie—aka the Franz. She's 15!

This is Francie—aka the Franz. She’s 15! I kinda know how she feels…

So wow, talk about an ass-kicking. I’ve been going in early and staying late all week playing catch-up from Monday, which was my compensatory day off for working this coming Saturday. My brain feels like it’s on a nutrition care elliptical machine or something. However, there have been some funny things getting me through the madness.

For example, I don’t know what was in the hot cereal yesterday, but the patients were in quite a mood all day.

It started at, like, 7:30 a.m., when a guy said to me, ”If you are what you eat, then you must be eating some damn exotic stuff!”

Charming.

Then during meal rounds, someone grabbed my hand and kissed it. There was also a funny thing with a very old, sweet lady who didn’t want to let go of said (freshly washed) hand. We had a nice little chat, and at least it was good practice of seeming sane and calm when my brain is all “OMG SO MUCH TO GET DONE IN SO LITTLE TIME!”

I think the funniest part was at the end of my shift, when a bunch of folks were hanging out by the nurses station swapping dirty jokes. I caught one about sex in an eye socket—wtf? Actually, speaking of, author Steve Almond has a short story about eye-socketing (“Skull”) that I kind of love in this book.

Unrelated to the hot cereal where I work but just as odd, as my friend Anna and I were heading a kombucha-making class in Brooklyn later, some boys threw dry pasta at us as passed.

Me: Did that just happen?
Anna: Yeah, um, that was weird.

Teenagers…

At least the ‘buch class was really interesting! I’m not sure I’m going to become a home-brewer, but I’m toying with the idea. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to enjoying my free growler of goodness. I freaking love this stuff.

My other cure for this ridiculous week? Lots and lots of Talking Heads. I also saw a screening of this documentary on Tuesday, and it was awesome!

Heard any good dirty jokes lately? Do you like kombucha? 

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What I Ate Wednesday # 114

Posted on June 12, 2013 | 6 Comments

Wow, Wednesday, way to sneak up on me! Happy What I Ate Wednesday again! Thank you as always to the lovely Jenn of Peas & Crayons for hosting the weekly link part. Take a visit to see more WIAW from other bloggers!


This week feels a little lopsided since I had a three-day weekend but having the extra weekday off was really nice and restful. Here’s what I ate on day two of my random long weekend—aka Sunday.

ubiquitous bowl of zucchini bread oats

  • Breakfast: Zucchini bread oatmeal (I eat this at least 3 or 4 times a week—so freaking good, especially with egg whites cooked in)
  • Lunch: Big salad with chickpeas and toast with hummus & roasted eggplant on the side
  • Snack: Greek yogurt with puffed millet, chopped white peach, and a little sunflower seed butter
  • Later…rose wine (unpictured) at a wine bar in the West Village
  • Dinner: Quinoa with steamed kale, roasted broccoli, egg whites (needed to use them up), hummus, and goat cheese
  • Snack: Chocolate chia pudding

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten recently? Do you have a breakfast food you eat more often than others? 

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