The beginning of the end

Where did we last leave off? 

Ah yes, strolling the High Line.  I had two raw blondie macaroons from O.L.D. while we wandered over the city, and then we decided the time had come to brave the masses.  Times Square or bust?  (Personally I’d rather bust, but that feels awful to say after the Saturday night incident).

I really avoid midtown, especially on the weekends, but when friends are visiting from out of town, ya gotta embrace your inner tourist…and that includes the hideously crowded 42nd street area.  I swear, all the lights and crowds give me serious anxiety!

I was rewarded for my tour guiding skillz with a soymilk-y iced coffee.  Ironically, I fell asleep on the couch right after my caffeine loading.  All that walking really took a toll on me. 

15 minutes does not a power nap make.  In fact, I am so NOT the napping type, and as a result, I was pretty groggy for most of our walk to dinner.  

Blossom!  Ethel is not only open to veganism, but she is quite a fan.  Ever since she started reading my blog she has become super veg-curious and so I was really excited to share my veggie world with her.  Since she loves trying whatever I offer, I knew Blossom was the perfect introductory restaurant.  In my opinion, it’s the perfect place to bring a non-vegan.  Their menu is full of delicious “gateway” meals. 

We started with the Crostini Tapas – hummus, spinach-walnut pesto, and bruschetta (two of each).

I went for the hummus (obvi) and bruschetta, while leaving the pesto to the others.

On the left is Ethel’s Seitan Marsala with sautéed kale, roasted fennel, yukon gold mash, seasonal mushrooms, and pan sauce.  I’ve tried this dish and loved it, so I knew she was going to be happy with her selection…and she was!

On the right is Kyle’s Peas and Carrots (new dish!!) with slow roasted baby carrots, english pea risotto cake, carrot saffron sauce, sautéed pea leaves, and sugar snap peas.  It looked super tasty, and he said it was perfect. 

For my dish I got another newbie on the menu, the Veggie Grain Burger which was made of a lentil-quinoa burger, hummus, lettuce, tomato, and pickles.

Beans, quinoa, and hummus?  How could I NOT order this?  It was absolutely heavenly.

Monday

Kyle went to work, but Ethel and I slept in…

And woke up to frothy joy in a big fat mug.

After a slow start, we made it to MoMA for some artsy time.  After soaking up a few hours worth of culture, we felt it would ONLY be appropriate to lunch on the Upper East Side.  (Yes, I used “lunch” as a verb on purpose, to accent the hoity toity nature of the event – as in “Where do you summer?” – like a true Upper East Sider would).  Just call us Gossip Girls wanna-bes.

Anyways, our restaurant choice was considerably less snooty.  Can you say Candle Cafe?  We made a quick stop on our way uptown.

Don’t worry Kyle, no purchases were made.

At Candle, we started with the Crystal Roll. 

Cucumber, cabbage, avocado, rice noodles, cilantro and barbecue grilled seitan wrapped in rice paper with a spicy peanut sauce.

These were airy and light and absolutely refreshing.  And the peanut sauce was SO friggin’ perfect.  If the Candle peeps would only bottle it…they’d be millionaires and I’d be 700 pounds.

Ethel got the TUSCAN SEITAN PARMESAN SANDWICH – a breaded seitan cutlet with melted tapioca cheese and roasted garlic tomato sauce on a potato onion roll.  It was also served with a mesclun salad drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette and fried potatoes.

I got the CAJUN SEITAN SANDWICH – pan-seared seitan, steamed greens, caramelized onions and avocado served on toasted focaccia with an ancho chili aioli and coleslaw.

We were both dead silent for a good 20 minutes after our meals came…stuffing our faces in total foodie bliss.

Ethel said this was probably the most fabulous vegan meal she has ever had.  As for my meal, well, I’m going to have to agree. 

The crispy outside of the seitan tasted fried (but without the super greasy quality), while the avocado and carmelized onions were an ah-mazing accent.  But far and away, the star of the show was the ancho chili aoli.  Holy yummy perfection.  I reapplied aoli to the sammie after each and every bite.  I literally wanted to dip everything in this sauce.  If it were socially acceptable I would bath in the dang stuff!

How could we leave without dessert? 

Since we were both stuffed to the brim, we got cookies to go (Oatmeal Raisin for me, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip for Ethel).

After waiting patiently for the downpour to turn back into walk-able weather, we made our way back to the UWS.  Ethel rested her feet while I went on a 20 minute jog around the neighb.  She’s not used to the New York lifestyle of walking all over the place…I’m hoping to keep that part of the East Coast lifestyle after I move West. 

Winner winner Whole Foods dinner 🙂

On the left, a MONSTER salad with all the usual suspects and then topped with a pineapple/cashew quinoa dish that I’m fairly certain is new to the WF salad bar (trust me, I’m pretty much an expert).  You all should recognize the dish on the right.  It’s none other than my beloved seitan chimichurri.  Candle eats much?  I just can’t get enough seitan lately.

Dessert was Divine Grape Kombucha and an apple. 

I’m off to get to bed now because…tomorrow is my LAST day of work. 

I’m not really sure what to expect.  To be honest, I’m pretty excited.  Maybe more excited than I should be?  I don’t know.  I’m looking forward to this time off, but I do think that in a month or so I’ll start to get really antsy (then again, maybe not).  I won’t be applying for a new nursing job until after the wedding, so we will see how I handle this time off.  It’s going to be very bizarre to have no set schedule – but I’m actually thinking I will like it.  It’s like the beginning of the end.  Fingers crossed.

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Dinner at Blossom

As promised, here is a more thorough recap of the first dinner with my parents.

I like taking non-vegans to Blossom because the menu is impressive for vegans and non-vegans alike.  They have interesting dishes that showcase a variety of non-meat “proteins” including seitan, tempeh, and tofu, as well as a few raw options and yet they aren’t presented in an ostentatious way.  I love when restaurants have diversity in their menus without an air of arrogance about them.  Unassuming and delicious. 

It took no time for us all to find something on the menu that we couldn’t wait to try. 

We started with the Black-eyed Pea Cake appetizer: a crispy cake of yukon gold potatoes and black eyed peas, served with chipotle aioli.  They were soft and warm on the inside with the perfect crispy top.  And even the tiniest drizzle of sauce made the bite pop in my mouth. 

Then my mom and I split the Butternut Squash soup. 

I’ve had this before, so I knew exactly what to expect.  Delish.  The texture was thick but still light.  My favorite bites were the croutons soaked with soup.  Mmmm…

And since we were coming from The Plaza’s Oak Room & Bar we had to keep the wine flowing…

After we finished our starters, my dad’s Field Greens salad arrived.  I’m pretty sure he thought this was going to be a small started salad.  Yeah, not so much…

This salad had mixed greens tossed with candied walnuts, tofu croutons,
and grilled pears in a shallot vinaigrette.  Clearly this salad was meant to be an entree, so my dad solicited our help with it…otherwise he wouldn’t have had room for his main course (no objections here!).

Finally it was time for my entree. 

I love seitan!!  I ordered the Lemon Peppercorn Seitan served with sautéed spinach & a black olive-Yukon Gold potato cake, over truffle cream.  It was plate-licking good.  I was never a big fan of white creamy foods before I discovered I was lactose intolerant, but this “truffle cream” sauce was out-of-control tasty. 

I literally cleaned my plate.  There was not an ounce of sauce left when I was done with it.

My mom ordered the (raw) Zucchini Linguini with almond pesto, cherry tomatoes, Portobello mushrooms, kalamata olives, and v-parmesan cheese. 

I was SO excited for my mom to try a raw dish, and she loved it.  She has been a vegetarian for a majority of her life (even back when going veg wasn’t as accepted), so she’s had some experience with trying to get others on board with different dietary preferences.  I love my hippie parents, and how flexible they are with accommodating my veganism, but her willingness to try a raw dish just shows you how awesome she is.  She let me take home her leftovers too, which came in handy when I was making my work lunch for Monday.

Kyle ordered the Soy Bacon Cheeseburger with caramelized onions, soy cheese, soy bacon, mushrooms, lettuce and tomato with chipotle aioli.

He cleared his plate, naturally. 

Like my mom, my dad was equally as adventurous with his order, and got the Moroccan Glazed Tempeh with glazed tempeh in an eggplant-chickpea stew with red bell peppers and sweet potato topped with a creamy fennel-black olive relish. 

I had a bite, and I will most definitely order it next time.  Tastayyy.  My dad enjoyed it too, and it is gluten free if anyone is wondering. 

Even after all those starters and entrees, we still HAD to try their desserts.  Had to.  No ifs, ands, or buts.

We grabbed the very last slice of this vegan double chocolate cake.  Holy YUM indeed. 

We also had a trio of soy ice cream with chocolate, strawberry, and cookie dough.  I wasn’t overly impressed with these.  They were good, but I’ve had other vegan ice creams that were creamier and more “ice cream” like (such as coconut based frozen treats).

As usual, Blossom did not disappoint in providing a simply wonderful dinner that satisfied my vegan appetite as well as my non-vegan family’s.  I am so lucky this place is so close by.  I would go everyday if I could afford it.

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Hippies Hijack Manhattan

My parents were in town this weekend! :D  They arrived Saturday in the wee early hours and left yesterday (Tuesday afternoon)…and although they were only here for four days (two of which I had to work 12 hour shifts) we still had so much fun.  I was definitely sad to see them go, but I feel pretty lucky that I was able to see them at all. 

As I’m sure you’ve heard/read by now, the East Coast weather wasn’t so kind this weekend.  Saturday and Sunday were quite the snow-filled days, which were BEYOND brrrrr (especially for our wussy west coast a$$es), but nothing makes a foot of snow more bearable than having your parents there to endure it with you.  Once we got over how poor the timing was (c’mon weatherman, work with us), we were actually able to appreciate how picturesque it was!  Ok, maybe that’s easier to say now in hindsight…it was SO cold.

It’s going to be hard to do a highlights post, since all four days were exceptional, so I’m going to do a quick (cliff notes) version followed by posts with more in-depth restaurant reviews later.  I couldn’t possibly fit it all in one post because the past few days included some of the most FAN-TASTIC dining I have ever done.  Ever.  Period.

Saturday

My parents arrived early early early.  Kyle and I brewed coffee and stopped at Hot & Crusty for some bagels before they got in.  After my parents trained in we woke up (and warmed up) with those brekkie goodies.

After that we finally layered up and went on a stroll through Central Park until we finally made it to Midtown. 

Lunch was a typical NYC made-to-order salad.  Nothing snazzy, and not exactly photo worthy (the Asian-flavored tofu was the highlight, the lack of appetizing dressings was the lowlight).  I survived. 

After lunch we saw Chicago with Ashlee Simpson-Wentz…it was great.  The talent on Broadway is amazing, and I was pleasantly surprised that Miss Jessica wanna-be wasn’t too shabby either. 

I also had a Honey Graham Z bar in my purse that came in handy at intermission. 

After the show we went to the Plaza Hotel. 

At first we were just going to pass some time (in warmth) until our dinner res, but we wound up at the Oak Room & Bar.  Famed interior aside, it was heated and sheltered from the storm…good enough for me! 

I felt like a freakin’ Rockefeller at this place.  Celeb sightings at the entryway.  Good wine on my parents dime.  Yes please!  After one glass of vino I was pretty buzzed…salty bar snacks to the rescue.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay there all night, so we bundled back up to brave the storm.  Just getting to dinner was a serious mission.  Snow.  Blah.

My Dad was more excited by the snow than I…and he took the opportunity to make an angel.  He regretted it shortly after though…once he realized that snow doesn’t melt when the temp is still below freezing.  Ha! 

Eventually we made it to Blossom.  My parents are totally open-minded (hippies) and were more than willing to go for a vegan meal, so of COURSE I chose Blossom. 

Here’s a teaser photo of the meal :)  I’ll do a full post on it later though, because we all got such fabulously gourmet meals they deserve a post of their own, and I just don’t have the space to go into detail now.

After taking the scariest cab ride back home (skidding on ice the whole way), we tucked in for the night.  You know you’re an adult when you are able to host your parents in your own home.  You know you’re still a child when your parents buy you flannel sheets the following day because sleep-overs are never as fun in reality as they sound in theory.  Their hotel reservation started on Sunday night, so the guest bedroom was only a pinch hitter for Saturday.

Sunday

We had an early wake up call for the Christmas Spectacular at The Radio City Music Hall.

Dual organists.  Chandeliers.  Christmas lights.  Awesome!

This show was SO SO great.  It put me in the best holiday mood.  It had a little bit of everything: the Christmas Story, Santa Clause, dancing, marching, ballet, ice skating, the Nutcracker, and (the best of all) the Rockettes!!!

Starbucks and shopping followed.  The phrase “shop ‘til you drop” has a new meaning for me now. 

We stopped in for lunch at Fig & Olive in midtown.  I was impressed with the menu, but regretted my order.  I followed the waitress’ suggestion and wasn’t all that in love with my meal. 

Well, that’s not entirely true.  I liked my meal, but didn’t like the portion size (or lack thereof).  More on that later…

After lunch we split up to divide an conquer Manhattan.  My dad and Kyle went to move my parents’ stuff into their hotel.  My mom and I went to Saks Fifth Ave for (you guessed it) MORE shopping.  We had a very specific mission you see…we were searching for a dress for my mom for the wedding.  Now before you start thinking I’m some kind of baller, perusing the dresses with $10000 price tags (not even exaggerating), you should know that we were actually looking for dresses to have copied made by a seamstress.  How odd to have people waiting on you and hanging hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothes in a private room.  Do people really live that way?  What a bizarre lifestyle.  We were definitely illegally photographing everything. 

27 dresses and a ton of ideas later we waved goodbye to 5th Ave.

We met up with the boys and then split off to get ready for dinner.

I don’t even know where to begin with Del Posto.  Mario Batali is a genius so it was no surprise that the meal was exceptional (to say the least).  There’s a reason this restaurant is so highly rated. 

They can accommodate ANY food preference, allergy, or avoidance.  How great to have a seven course vegan menu.  My dad was in wine heaven too, and we were quite friendly with the sommelier by the end of the night.  I’m pretty sure he will be visiting our family vineyard in the near future. 

Don’t worry, I’ll do a more detailed post on this meal later, too.

Monday

Sadly I had work on Monday.  Knowing I would be dining into the wee hours on Sunday night, I packed my food before heading to Del Posto. 

Bars, apples, and a spinach salad with my mom’s leftovers from Blossom.

I know this doesn’t look like very much but that’s because Monday was our work holiday party and gift exchange, so I knew there was going to be a LOT of food to supplement my packed eats.

Work was fine, although the fact that I got home after midnight the previous night wasn’t working in my favor.

I had THIS to make everything better though.

 

Whole Foods’ vegan chocolate cake…for ME!!!!  The person who had me for our work Secret Santa exchange was one of my besties, and she is clearly the sweetest person on the planet (and knew that being vegan at an event that centers around dessert foods would suck for me).  She now works the night shift and went out of her way to stop by the holiday party to bring me this chocolate vegan treat.  I was so excited to have something for me to eat at our holiday party that I may have gone a bit overboard 😉

So now you understand why the amount of food I packed wasn’t as massive as my typical hippie lunches are.  

I also had a ridic portion of Stacy’s pita chips.  Those things are more addictive than nicotine.  Have you ever seen the Costco size bag of Stacy’s?  Let me show you…

ONE POUND!?!?!  Lord help me.

After work, my parents and Kyle met up with me for dinner at Hearth. 

I had no idea this place was so close to where I worked!  It was close enough for me to walk to without losing feeling in my fingers.  While we ate, they stored my vegan cake in the fridge for me :) 

Tuesday

Again, I had work.  How sad to be stuck in the hospital while your parents are visiting from across the country.  Reason #294701 to move home.

Here is the lunch I packed.  Add in several unpictured (and uncounted) amounts of pita chips. 

This salad had spin, chickpeas, BN squash, cherry toms, leftover brussels from our Tabla dinner, and raisins.  So yes, to everyone who asked if I took home the Tabla leftovers (I’m a hippie remember?).  The bars were the standard faves (Clif, Z, and Lara), along with some edamame, and Chai tea bags.  I’m still going strong without buying my own coffee…and did you see the Starbucks Via packet?

More presents from work peeps!! (My coworkers know me so well)

Anyways, work went well, I said goodbye to my parents 😦 and then this morning said goodbye to Kyle 😦 …so now I’m solo in NYC until the 30th.  To pass the time I’ll be working working and working, along with posting about all those meals I just glossed over above.  Cool? Cool. 

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Salutations to the weekend

Boy oh boy is it exhausting taking NYC by storm in one weekend!  Sunday’s weather was far nicer than Saturday’s (in that there was less rain), but JUST as nasty in terms of humidity…

I still started the day with java and fruit.

 

There may have been a bit of a SoapNet marathon throughout the AM.  Is there a better show to get ready to start the day than 90210?  I think not  🙂

After digesting and beautifying, we set off for Brooklyn.

I love the promenade/DUMBO area.  So cute – and such great views of NYC.

My favorite thing to do with visitors is walk the Brooklyn Bridge, so we walked back to Manhattan for lunch.

I think Marie was in awe of how much walking we were doing…maybe I’m becoming a true New Yorker, just yet?  For lunch we headed to the South Street Seaport.

We came to rest at JP Mustard’s, which had a decent menu.  Nothing too revolutionary, but it worked.

I was NOT a fan of this:

Plastic utensils?  WTF?  Hippie not approved :( 

I ordered a veggie wrap with avocado in a sun dried tomato tortilla, and a house salad on the side (hold the dressing).

Not too shabby, but by the time I reached the bottom of the tortilla, it was saturated with oil.  Hmmm.

Eventually we headed back home.  Weird Brooklyn sign, no?

Dinner was a no brainer.  I just couldn’t let Marie go home without trying the amazing-ness that is Blossom Cafe. 

I vowed I would try all new things this time, and BOY am I glad I did!!

Appetizer for MOI: Autumn Sweet Potato Rolls (Raw) with coconut noodles, jicima, carrot, red and yellow pepper, scallion and avocado with an almond ginger dipping sauce.

This was PERFECTLY refreshing for the summer weather.  The veggies were fresh and crispy and the jicima held the rolls together wonderfully.  And the almond ginger dipping sauce was sweet and tangy with a bit of a kick, but didn’t overpower the rolls.  I wanted to swim in it, to be honest…

Appetizer for Kyle: Cauliflower puree (the daily soup special)

I didn’t try it, but he polished it off, so clearly it was edible.

Marie’s dinner: Southern Seitan Sandwich with spiced seitan, caramelized onions, avocado and chipotle aioli on foccacia bread.

I’ve tried this one before, so I knew she’d love it, and love it she did.

Kyle’s dinner: Soy Filet Parmesan with breaded soy filet on foccacia bread with flame roasted tomato sauce and melted v-soy cheese.

No complaints here either. 

My dinner: Grilled Tofu Salad with sesame soy grilled tofu over mixed greens, arame seaweed and sprouts with a carrot-miso dressing.

I also joined the clean plates club with this one.  I simply ADORED the carrot-miso dressing more than any other dressing I’ve had before (I’m going to try my best to figure out how to make this on my own).  Plus, I’m kinda obsessed with arame right now.  So all in all, the salad was perrrrfect.

**sorry about the photo quality, I can’t seem to figure out how to take good pics in restaurants**

Even though I was pretty full, a few hours later, I was definitely ready for dessert.  Enter carob-filled medjools.

A few dates were camera shy, but it was all good…

We were in bed by midnight since Marie had to leave for her flight at 4 AM on Monday morning.  I had such a blast with her, it was sad to say goodbye.  Living so far away from family really does bum me out sometimes…but my other sister, Laura, is coming to visit in 4 days, so at least I have something else to look forward to now.  Anyone else live in a different city/state than the rest of their family?

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Cafe Blossom success, sleep fail

Talk about karma.  Sleeping in ‘til noon yesterday backfired hard core last night!  Neither Kyle nor I could fall asleep, and as we watched the hours on the clock tick by, we finally decided enough was enough…so we got back up at 2 am and watched some tv.  Sleep FAIL.

At 4 am I still wasn’t tired, but I forced myself back to bed…Kyle fell asleep (lucky ^%$) while I tossed and turned until 6 am.  Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to set my alarm, so instead of sleeping ‘til noon again, I instead got a measly 3 hours of sleep.  At least I will hopefully get back on a normal sleep schedule tonight, even though I feel like a jet-lagged zombie now.

That’s the good stuff!

A few more buckets of these and I was only suffering moderate eyelid drooping.

 

Breakfast sugar was entirely necessary.  I think it’s safe to say I got in my daily cancer preventing antioxidants with the blueberry AND plum action 🙂

As I caught up on the blog pileup in my google reader, I started brainstorming for lunch.  I went back to some old faves:

LightLife “turkey” + Sabra roasted red pepper hummus = sammie of my dreams

I pimped out my english muffin sammich with a few ripped up pieces of fake “turkey” along with spinach and hummus.  Naturally, I had an apple on the side, and a NEW flavor of Kombucha.  I still like Trilogy the best, but this was good…it didn’t really taste citrus-y to me, but no harm, no foul, still fizzy yum.

D to the E – LISH!!! 

I was still hungry for some more crunch, so I made a rando little side salad consisting of raw corn OFF the cob, sliced carrots, and a GLOB ‘o roasted red pepper hummus.  I wasn’t expecting anything too great, since I threw it together in approx 2.5 seconds, but effing fantabulous is what it was!

I know you can’t tell from the photo, but this ring was a FATTY!  And I mean Kim Kardashian thick.

Speaking of huge asses curvy ba-donk-a-donks…gym time!  Not surprisingly, I was a bit sore from yesterday’s workout, so instead of running outdoors, I decided to go a little easy on myself.  Plus, I wanted to watch tennis, so the elliptical won hands down.  It wasn’t a great workout, but it was something (I’m working on getting rid of my all-or-none mentality).  I stretched for days and peaced out. 

FYI, anyone who was worried for my dwindling Alvarado Street bread stash, fear not, on the way home I found some!!! [insert huge sigh of relief here]

Post workout, I showered at lightning speed, and scarfed down on ANOTHER chobz (strawberry this time) and a pair of dried pineapple rings.

I had to get some food in me, but I didn’t wanna ruin my appetite, since I was going to dinner at the BEST restaurant ever (aka Cafe Blossom).

My Mom’s cousin Patti (who previously guest posted) and her hubz (Larry) were in town for a food show, and so in addition to taking me and Kyle to dinner, they even smuggled us a few treats from the show.   

I couldn’t help it, I order seitan AGAIN.  But it’s just SO good!!!  Balsamic grilled seitan in the best sauce ever (roasted red pepper “cream”), with asparagus and baby Yukon gold potatoes.  Heavenly.

Kyle got my runner-up order, which was the Southern Seitan Sandwich.  The spiced seitan came on fluffy foccacia bread, with caramelized onions, avocado and chipotle aioli, as well as a heaping stack of cajun sweet potato fries.

Kyle was the lucky recipient of Larry’s leftover Fettucini Alfredo, so his lunch is already taken care of!

We walked back home, and I quickly threw my lunch together and hit the hay.  Work tomorrow 

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My blossoming relationship

I was so excited to get to sleep in today, until I woke up to my crazy co-worker calling me at the crack of dawn…there goes that.  In her defense, she’s crazy in a good way…still, when I’m with her, I don’t know if I should (a) shoot her up with Haldol or (b) just further feed her kookiness with my own wacky ways.

*FYI: Haldol is a med for schizo patients

She works night shifts, so we don’t actually work directly with each other, hence the ridiculously early phone calls on my days off.  Sweet.

So since I was up, I had some coffee and OJ (I know, what?!?).

Notice how I’m really trying to expand my foodie horizons.  I’m not sure that I’m going to keep up with the juice thing, but at least I’m trying.

Old school oats with a TON of peanut butter…food porn to follow.

And a crunchy apple on the side.

 

Yeah, I went big for brunch.  But that’s what happens when you’re up with the sun rain clouds.  Good thing lunch was on the lighter side.

Enter salad “challenge.”

 

Contents: spinach, broccoli, asparagus, onions, edamame, and a heaping portion of BBQ-ed up seitan.

No dressing needed with the amount of BBQ sauce on this baby.  I love BBQ sauce.  Even more, I love dark green.  NOM. 

I wanted to go for an outside run, but I had to get my gym on instead since the weather wasn’t cooperating.  It was YUCK – rainy all day long.  I did a mini-elliptical sesh, and some arm crap, and hit the road.

For dinner Jess and I went to one of our fave neighborhood places.  The one and only, Blossom Cafe (the UWS location).

I LOVE BLOSSOM!!!

So much so that I know the menu forwards and backwards, and immediately recognized a newbie!  So obviously I had to try the Balsamic Grilled Seitan.

After the first bite I was worried I was dreaming…I almost pinched myself.  Sooooooo good.  Can Blossom cater my wedding even though it will be in California?

The balsamic grilled seitan was on a bed of roasted asparagus, pearl onions and baby Yukon gold potatoes with a roasted red pepper cream and garnished with straw onions.

Those crispy little straw onions and the red pepper sauce were absolutely the definition of perfection in my mouth.  And Lord knows how much I love seitan (is it wrong to have the L word and seitan in the same sentence?)

…hmmm…

Jess got the Southern Seitan Sandwich, which looked equally as tasty. 

Check out that bread!  The sammie contained spiced seitan with caramelized onions, avocado and chipotle aioli on foccacia bread.

I was totally stuffed but Jess went for the Lemon cake for dessert, and I’m not gonna lie…it was tempting 😉

It was HUGE, so she brought the rest home, which I’m sure she polished off within 10 minutes of walking through the door (and I’d place a considerable amount of money on that).

When I got home I relaxed on the couch and caught up on my latest recorded boob toob episodes.

My dessert was a little non-traditional.  I was craving oranges, what can I say. 

I can’t WAIT to get my fiancé back once this freakin’ China deal is done.  He was still at the office as I got ready for bed and packed my stuff up for work tomorrow…poor Kyle. 

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Kirsten who?

Adios Caroline, hello Sen. Gilliweed.  Ok, ok, that’s not her last name…it’s actually a Harry Potter reference, but it’s kinda close?  Sen. Gillibrand is her real name.  I’m liking the recent fad of appointing female politicos to power (minus the near VP disaster). 

As for non-red/blue conversation, I had a pretty solid gym day, which consisted of 60 mins ellipticaling on the random setting (levels 9-15) and 15 mins of spinning (escalating intensity).  No abs/arms – it was a day of rest for the mat work :)  The random setting on the elliptical can be hard when you aren’t paying attention!

Post-gym/PM snack was none other than my newest fave (figs), along with a few friends. 

A cute little dried fruit spread, no?  I LOVE dried fruit, I think I go through phases with my favorites (figs being my latest obsession), but dates will always be my true love.  That coconut date roll is a serious front runner today, though!

After snacking, I got all dolled up for a night out on the town.  It was my BFF’s birthday so me and 2 of my girlies had big time celebration plans (with a strict no boys allowed policy).  I even wore a dress that’s how much I love this girl.  Granted I had some etoh to help warm me up, but still, braving the 40 degree weather in nothing but tights to keep my legs from freezing off is not something I plan on repeating.  That said, Jess is seriously my soul mate (aside from Kyle); we’ve been inseparable since she moved to the Bay Area in 7th grade.  Even after high school, we went to college together and now live only blocks apart in NYC.  She’s like my BFF/sister/lover.  Here’s a pic of us from college graduation (I’m left, she’s right). 

So we decided to start the night with dinner and drinks at Blossom (a vegan restaurant in my ‘hood).  Jess is vegan, and although our other friend is not, she’s very open-minded, so she was game.  I’ve been to Blossom before, and knew exactly what I wanted this time. 

We started the night with a bottle of Pino Grigio for the 3 of us to share, then moved on to appetizers.  Our waitress recommended the Crostini Tapas, which was perfect for sharing.

I came with six toasted crostini breads with hummus, spinach walnut pesto and tomato basil bruschetta mix dressed with kalamata olives – and it was AMAZING.  The hummus alone could have been my dinner, I literally had to use all self control to not shovel it in my mouth.  I think I may return to Blossom just to order 5 of these appetizers for myself!  The tomato bruscetta was good, too, but a little too onion-y for my taste.  I don’t like pesto, but Jess said it was her fave on the plate, so it must have been good.

For dinner I got the Porcini Rubbed Tofu with celery root puree and charred Brussels sprouts.  Last time I went to Blossom they were out of this dish, so I was so excited to get it.  It was really really good.  The tofu rub was a bit spicy, definitely had a kick at the end of each bite that I wasn’t prepared for, and the celery root puree tasted like a twist on a mashed potato dish (with a vinegar flavor to it).  So good.  Also, the brussels made up for my oven nightmare a few days ago. 

Hannah got the seitan scallopini (which I had last time) and is SO good.  It actually might still be my favorite…shhh, don’t tell the tofu.  Anyways, Hannah seemed beyond impressed that her meal was vegan.  She definitely enjoyed each and every bite.  A new convert?  Prob not, but still good that she could appreciate a fine non-meat meal. 

Jess got the walnut crusted seitan cutlet, which looked like a Thanksgiving dinner!  She definitely was blown away by this.  I can’t believe I got to take her vegan restaurant v-card (she’s been vegan longer than I have and has yet to take advantage of living in NYC)!  Looks like I’ll have to drag her around the city with me to conquer all the other amazing vegan places…something tells me she will be more than on board, though.

For dessert we got the birthday girl a slice of “cheese”cake (which we all split).  YUM!!!!  I heart vegan desserts and this one was so decadent, thick and rich.  I want to get desserts from this place every night from now on. 

After dinner we went to a couple of bars for some innocent fun, gin & tonics and dancing.  Cheers!  The rest isn’t PG enough for HHH 🙂

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elise navidad

First off – Merry Christmas!! HO HO HO…I reeeeally heart the holidays.

Last night after I finished the blog, I totes finished off the dried edamame.

Then Kyle called me and told me Santa had come to the apartment!!! SANTA!!

I was confused, but then he told me to go look behind his laptop and whoa! Santa HAD come 🙂

Check out the stocking that Kyle (er, Santa) left for me…so sweet. I’m a pretty simple girl – crosswords, fitness mag, starbucks card, and gum…yep, that’s me!!

I also got a package from K’s parents with (among other things) 3 homemade jam preserves!!!

From left to right, apricot, strawberry, and plum. YUM!!!!!

I look forward to these jams all year, no joke.

Here’s the lunch I packed up for the work day (I don’t know how much I’ll end up eating since everyone is bringing in food). Still, gotta be prepared, I don’t wanna end up without any veggie options…

These are my Blossom leftovers (scalloped potatoes and seitan).

I also packed up a few things to share with others who are working on Christmas, too.

I decided to bring in vegetable hummus…

…as well as a few things to dip (sesame sticks and veggies).
Celery, red peppers, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, and cucumbers.

Empty unit much?

Okay, before I get ahead of myself, let me back up to the AM food-ing. I managed to find a little market that was open on my way to work. Thank goodness, otherwise I’d be without the very necessary coffee loading (duh)!! So the day started with loads of water (as per my new routine) followed by my coffee. A bit later someone brought in dunkin donuts coffee and donuts for everyone. I had another coffee (no donuts)…buzzinggggggg with caffeine. Woot woot! Not that it was really needed, I was so bored, since the hospital was dead (ok, poor choice of words), let’s just say it was a slowwww day.

Lunch-y snack time.

People brought in lots of stuff: cookies, toffee, fudge, etc.

Above was my personal fave, an eggplant dish, which I then sandwiched between 2 pieces of bread (I made 2 of these delish sandos). Granted the eggplant was fried in EVOO, so it was pretty greasy (not usually my thing), but I had to try it since the girl who made it was SO sweet to make a vegan dish especially for me. Only a few people at work know about my dietary habits, so this was a really nice thing for her to do. There were a few made with mayo and a few without (mine), so all of mine are the ones not pictured (eaten), but you get the idea.

I also had a few of these sesame sticks with hummus…and veggies with hummus…and maybe some pieces of bread with hummus…

Smorgasbord of food…my tummy was a little freaked out at this point. So much new food, so many different types, in such a short amount of time. Grrr…

The rest of the day could NOT have been slower. I was agonizing trying to create things to do all day. I organized the stock room for Christ’s sake (no pun intended). I don’t know what’s better, running back and forth without a second to spare or twiddling my thumbs while watching the monutes tick by…if only the days could be in between.

I got off work right on time, and was home by 8, cooking a dinner feast (not really).

I had the Blossom leftovers (seitan and potatoes) and steamed veggies. Then I went a little crazy with mini meals.

First I had the rest of the box of whole wheat sesame sticks with veggie hummus.

Then, baby carrots with the rest of the hummus (did I mention I really like hummus).

Then edamame (so fresh and so green green).

Dessert!! Pineapple rings and dates.

Sweet tooth satisfied.

🙂

Merry merry Christmas.

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

-Dr. Seuss

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Awesome Blossom

Good (hungover) morning! Thank god I pounded water before I went to bed last night and then slept in today, because after last night’s festivities, I needed sleep and hydration big time. I had SO much fun at the work holiday party. Drinking and dancing with the whole cardiac surgery team in a fun (non hospital) environment was a complete blast. The biggest shocker, though, is how SORE I am today! I danced for maybe half and hour, but since I was in heels, I guess I was using different muscles? My quads are aching. I can’t stretch enough. Who knew in addition to fine wine and fine dining, I’d be getting in a work out! The DJ played most of my requests, so I was in heaven 🙂
Anyways, I started off the day with a mug of Starbucks’ holiday blend coffee with ff skim plus (we’re out of soymilk).

I had a few cups, and wasn’t really hungry until later in the afternoon. Looks like I’m back to my normal meal times now that I’m officially over the cold. So, for my late lunch I made myself a new type of sammie (I was in a creative mood). I mixed approx 3 oz. of “chicken” Smart Strips with brocc slaw, veganaise, ff chobani, and curry powder.

Then I heaped it all onto a slice of Alvarado Street (CA style) bread…

It was too big to eat open face, though…so I added another piece of bread on top.

Pic of sandwich doing the splits below.

Yummmm…note to self: curry “chicken” salad sandwich is a repeat, fo sho.

I needed a little sugar pick me up before I headed off to the gym, so I had a big (organic) gala apple.

Summary of my gym visit in three words: ouch, stretch, ouch. My quads were in pain! I was planning on kicking my butt today, too. Clearly, I accomplished no such mission. I managed to stay on the elliptical for 60 minutes, alternating between levels 10 and 11, but I was in agony the entire time. At least I had some good football on tv to distract me 🙂 Favre and the JETS made quite the last minute comeback.

After the gym, Kyle and I headed out for errands and stuff. I hit up Starbucks while we were out for a coffee. I added fake sugar (when will Sbucks get on the Stevia bandwagon, stupid FDA) and vanilla silk soy milk. I’m not sure how long we were out, but by the time we made it back home, we were both starving.

We had a dinner date planned for the evening, which I was VERY VERY excited about. I have been looking forward to going to Blossom Cafe since it opened! This is the sister restaurant to the original Blossom in Chelsea, and is jsut around the corner from us on the Upper West. It is one of the more popular vegan restaurants in NYC, so naturally I had to try it out.

I started with the soup of the day, which was a sweet potato, ginger, coconut milk soup. HOLY YUM! This $h#% is bananas!!! Really thick, really favorful, and really good.

I was savoring every bite, and was about 2/3 into it, when my entree arrived. I initially ordered the porcini crusted tofu, but they were all out, so I instead order the Seitan Scallopini. I am so glad I was forced to order this instead of the tofu. I always get tofu, and I really am glad I branched out.

Pan seared seitan cutlets in a white wine lemon caper sauce served with mashed potatoes and sauteed greens. OMG. This meal was so f-ing good. I. heart. good. food. I’m officially in love with Blossom after this meal. The pic doesn’t even do the size of the dish justice. I have never had seitan in any other form than shredded pieces, so this was new, and quite delish. Also I was so happy to finally have mashed potatoes on my plate that I could actually eat without fearing the revenge of the butter/milk/dairy the following day!! Vegan dining is the way to go! Words just don’t describe how good this meal was (definitely just cracked into my top 5 fave restaurants of all time – and that is a serious accomplishment with my fine dining experience)!! Kyle and I left the restaurant stuffed to the bone. I wanted to finish my soup, so I couldn’t even finish all the seitan (so of COURSE I had them make me a take-away bag of the rest of the meal). Leftovers 🙂

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