please don’t give up on me!

Sorry about not blogging. I have been out of town (still am actually). I am having a great time but I haven’t been taking many pictures. I thought about giving up on blogging entirely. I have been a little down in the dumps because I have decided to retake the MCAT and we drove past my dream med school with MCAT requirements just out of my reach. I was bummed. The boy talked me into keeping the blog going so I am going to start posting regularly again. I can’t wait to share the highlights of my trip, including a vist to STICKY FINGERS BAKERY! I tried Daiya vegan cheese and ascended to a higher plane of deliciousness. Check back later for a full update.

Beach Haus!

WE HAVE ARRIVED!

The house is so amazing!!! I will be posting pictures tomorrow since we didn’t arrive until after dark. Since this is a food blog I thought I would post a picture of the kitchen.

keeetchen!!!

On the way I had a delicious salad from Earth Fare. It is called the Gado Gado salad loosely based on an Indonesian dish. So good!

Gado Gado Salad

I also had a Tiramisu which is my favorite dessert ever. The cream is very marscapone like but it is coconut cream based.

I promise I didn't eat it all by myself

I’ll post more tomorrow. I want to spend time with my peeps.

I realize it sounds like I am drogging but I assure you I am simply excited about being at the beach with friends.

Highlights

Since I was bad about blogging for the past few days I am just going to post the pictures and only write about the highlights. I had oatmeal for brekkers both days and couscous salad leftovers for lunch.

 

We bought a whole box of vanilla Dipped Mojo bars. They are so good! I would marry them and half little half vanilla dipped delicious babies with them. I could eat the whole box in one sitting, but I have managed to keep it to 2 a day. I am going to start only eating one a day so they last longer. They are so sweet and vanilla-y. They are also a little salty from the nuts (almonds!) and crispy pieces. There is also dried fruit like cherries! Yum! I bought 2 chocolate dipped and 2 PBandJ dipped ones as well but I haven’t been able to tear myself away from the vanilla to try them. If you have had them, what do you think?

went half and half with the boy

I also tried some antioxidant juice that was on sale. It was Mangosteen and Passion Fruit. I love to eat mangosteens in Sri Lanka so I was excited about the flavor. It was tasty, but I wouldn’t pay full price for it. $3.49 no. $0.99 yes!

I made pizza for dinner two nights in a row. They were not the least processed things in the world since I bought the crust and used vegan cheese (Follow Your Heart Motz) and Tofurkey breakfast sausage as toppings. The first night my friend Michelle came over and we shared a pizza. We went half and half with the sauces. I made a green curry sauce (ooo spicy yum) for one half and used jarred pesto on the other half (doesn’t hold a candle to homemade). We topped the green curry half with cilantro, vegan cheese, sausage bits and green pepper. The other half got kalmata olive and no cilantro. Both halves had mandarin oranges (not as good as pineapple, but still yummy).

 

hells to the yeah

 

 

It was so good I had to make it again last night to share with Drew! We did two pizzas because 2 crusts came in the package. The first one was green curry sauce, leftover sausage, cilantro, green pepper, vegan cheese and spinach

 

za with green curry sauce

 

 

The other had pesto sauce, vegan cheese, spinach, and Yves veggie salami (it was ok).

 

pesto sauced

 

 

In case you were wondering, green curry pizza sauce is just a lot of curry paste in a little bit of coconut milk. I also chucked in a crushed garlic clove and microwaved for a few seconds.

Last night I also made some hummus and black bean dip to take on our trip. I will share more about them as I eat them, but they are good. 

As far as exercise goes I have been keeping up with p90x (except I skipped Kenpo) and taking bike rides (love). Also, I helped out with a local outdoors festival on sunday so I carried lots of kayaks and stuff. Oooh and I went swimming for the first time this summer!

I am so excited about our little trip! I bought some new music to listen to on the way. Have you heard Spoon’s song “Don’t you evah”? It is catchy and fun to dance to!

Expect some drogging from me during the next few days

Oops!

I was packing and yoga-ing until the wee hours last night so I didn’t have time to post. I am not flaking out and I will be updating the blog again soon, hopefully this afternoon. I am headed out of town this evening and I don’t know if I will have internet access. I’ll still be sure to take lots of pictures to share!

In the mean time, please read my older posts if you haven’t already. Also, I would love some comments and still need some ideas for that can of Sweet Potato Puree. check the bottom of the linked post

 

I’M GOING TO THE BEACH!!!

I live in a bat cave.

 

The boy and I woke up at 5 this morning to an odd sound. A fluttering noise. There was a bat stuck in our apartment! It was flying in circles trying to escape but couldn’t get out. We opened the curtains and windows all of the way and thought that it had escaped. We didn’t hear it anymore. Just now as I was about to start my blog post for the night I saw it fly by again! It is still in here! How do I help it escape?

 

Also, there is a little beetley type bug repeatedly flying into the map above my head making a fluttery noise like bat wings. I keep expecting to look up and get guano-ed in the face.

I wonder if it bit me in my sleep. Maybe I will be a vampire now, I guess I will find out tomorrow when I start sparkling in the sunshine (Twilight reference for Caitlin at healthytippingpoint.com . I would much rather sparkle and be immortal and pretty then have rabies, which is a more likely scenario.

I will return to my regular blogging schedule tomorrow. Right now I have to liberate a bat…or hide under the covers.

 

hooray weekend

I am having a lovely saturday. I woke up a little bit late (about 9:15) to enjoy a saturday morning brunch. I had some yummy salad topped with the quinoa/israeli couscous concoction from yesterday. It got even better after being refridgerated overnight.

yummo

The salad was so yummy I had another small bowl with some goddess dressing. The salad contained mandarin orange slices, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, carrots, red cabbage, spinach, and red leaf lettuce. There was probably more, but I didn’t make it so I can’t know for sure.

ok...maybe not such a small bowl

To round out my meal I had a wee bit of passionate mango ice cream

double and triple yummo

Then I went and ran errands and visited my boy at work. It was his last day. Funny story, he was getting ready for work this morning and packing his lunch.  Last night I begged him to take the pasta and veggie dish because I was too sick of it to finish it off and I didn’t want it to go to waste. This morning when he was packing his lunch I saw him scooping out some couscous salad into a container. I exclaimed “what are you doing?! I thought you were going to eat the pasta!”. He said “you told me that couscous technically is pasta” (because it is made of semolina flour). Ugh! I finally talked him into half couscous and half leftover pasta. I still have a bunch of the pasta and veg in the fridge…maybe I’ll pack his lunch for him tomorrow ;).

After errands I did P90x legs and back. The dvd player on our tv is broken so I had to use my laptop which skipped several exercises claiming damage on the disc. It threw me off a little bit but I didn’t complain about the shorter workout. I also did the ab workout for the last time for a week because next week is rest week.  Don’t let the title “rest week” fool you tho, there is still a workout everyday and some of them are tricky.

I also went on a bike ride for about 25 minutes. I wanted to go longer but my sitbones we too sore and bruised feeling. I am still getting used to perching on that little saddle…I could have worded that better for a “thats what she said” opportunity. Oh, well.

Since I worked out for about 2 hours today I thought a protein shake was in order. I made it a green one with kale, spinach, and romaine. It also contained a banana, strawberries, blueberries, and hemp seed protein powder. It was ok, I think I added too much powder because it was very thick and gritty. Thats what I get for just blindly shaking the jar over the blender. Hopefully I learned my lesson and will begin measuring neatly (yeah right).

I also had more salad and couscous! You must be shocked.

very clean apt in background

Then I had more salad.

If I wake up green tomorrow I’ll post a picture for your mocking pleasure.

and then I finished off the ice cream. I avoided crying directly over the carton so I didn’t melt the last few spoonfuls. It only lasted two days and believe me, it was hard making it last that long. Thats what she said. Now I am stuffed (omg another one). I am going to try and do something productive with my evening…but Stardust came in the mail from netflix so productivity chances are slim to none.

goodbye dear friend

Final note: Goodluck to everyone racing tomorrow. Meghann of GraduateMeghann fame is running her first marathon. Holy Toledo Batman! And congrats to everyone who raced today, like Heather from HangryPants (half marathon? hellz yeah). I can’t wait for the recaps!

My first drogging adventure

Hello friends. The boy and I decided to drink beer and clean the apartment tonight and let me tell you, it is looking fantastic ( and I don’t feel half bad either) ! I was supposed to do yoga for P90X but…I didn’t. I did go for another bike ride though. I am so in love with biking! I have been in such a good mood since I got done riding. It is amazing what a little bit of cardio will do for ya.  In total I rode about 40 minutes today.  I don’t know if I will be able to do much more then that until I get padded bike shorts and/or a new saddle, because I was in some serious pain down where a swimsuit covers.

After I got done riding I finally went to the grocery store. I was inspired by Jennifer + Jessica’s guest post on kath’s blog to make couscous salad. I used half quinoa and half israeli couscous as the base. Cukes, tomato, carrots, zucchini, red onion, garlic,  and green pepper as the veggies. The sauce was 2 small tubs of plain coconut milk yogurt (still a little too sweet, but soy free), a splash of Goddess dressing, tamari, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and Sri Lankan chili powder.  I also threw in a block of baked tofu, I wish I had more of it to add. It was really tasty. I am thrilled that it made a ton of food so I will have leftovers for days! Not exciting for the blog, but exciting for my tummy.

so fresh and summery

I forgot to garnish with cilantro, so nautrally I had to have another small bowl (not pictured)

After dinner I had some Passionate Mango coconut ice cream. YES!!!!! I love it! I still think that vanilla bean is my favorite, but this flavor was really nice too. I am so glad companies finally came out with a ice cream product made of something other than rice and soy.

sorry about the dirty window

After dinner we went to the grocery and bought a combo box of beer from the Starr Hill brewing co. from Charlottesville Va. I had a wheat beer flavored with banana and clove called “The Love”. It was nice but I didn’t really get a strong banana or clove taste, which is probably good. Banana beer sounds a little odd.

I followed it up with a “Jomo Lager”. I kept imagining the spanish pronounciation of the beer so I called it homo lager. Yes, I do share a similar sense of humor with middle school boys. It was more full flavored and heavy then The Love. I enjoyed them both but they are not my favorite. They have funny new age-y designs on the labels, not really my thing, but that doesn’t affect the taste of the beer.

The pale ale in the background isn’t mine. I tasted it and it was ok. It took me all night to drink those two beers, but I am feeling a little buzzed so I am going to call this entry a drog post. Now, I am going to chug water, shower, and go to bed. I can’t wait to ride my bike tomorrow!

Taking the bike out for a spin…finally

I had a lot of fun at work today! Igot  to set up a viscometer. It is a pretty delicate piece of machinery so I am watched how to videos on the brookfield website. It was super neato! I learned lots!

Whie I watched the videos I ate two packets of oats! I combined maple nut and Flax Plus. It was good, but too much for me. I couldn’t quite finish it. I was tempted to measure the viscosity of my leftover oatmeal with the viscometer, but I refrained.

my view for the day

Actually I wasn’t stuck at my desk all day. I left work a little bit early…ok a lot early because it was sunny and I wanted to ride my bike (it was supposed to start raining again at 3 pm)!!!  But hey, I was working extra today anyway.

I liked biking a lot and it is no wonder that road bikers are fit. My heart rate was way high (175 bpm) when I was just going up a slight incline. This could be mostly due to the fact that my front brake got stuck, but still a good workout! I live in a really hilly area so I think I am going to take my bike to the beach with me next week to practice on something a little flatter. It is going to take some getting used to. Balancing the bike while changing gears and going uphill does not come naturally to me.  I am so excited I finally got to ride! I stopped after about 15 minutes so my landlord could fix my front brake. I might head out again here soon.

Enjoy your day I hope the weather is nice wherever you are! 

yay summer

A Case of the Wandering Munchies

cool medieval font… boysenberries of yore

After I P90Xed I wanted to ride my bike on the trainer for a little while. Unfortunately, I can’t quite figure out how to prevent the back tire and magnetic unit from getting really hot and producing a burning smell. I had to turn the resistance all the way down to prevent it and it made for a frustrating time. Even in the hardest gears I felt like it was way too easy to pedal. Oh well, Im sure I’ll get it figured out eventually. Does anyone have any tips?

After that disappointment I scrounged for some food. I really didn’t want to eat that pasta mix from the other day again so I ate random things. I wasn’t satified so I just kept eating. I had a passion fruit snack from Trader Joe’s. I accidentally deleted the picture…oops.

Some Joe Joes cookies

I took the rest to work so I wouldn't eat the whole box solo

A Bowl of Pacific brand Cashew coconut soup (way too sweet) with 1/2 small block of baked tofu at the bottom. The tofu helped make it better, still won’t be buying it again.

yay new bowl

and another fruit leather.

 

I am positively going to to grocery today because I want to make a yummy couscous salad!

Workin Hard for the Money

I am working as much as possible this week to make up for my road bike and anthropologie purchases, so no thursday off for me. I don’t mind though. I am going on vacation soon so I should get caught up on work as much as possible.

While at work I had my usual breakfast (in a brand spanking new IKEA bowl). I tried a packet of apple cinnamon granola this morning and it was creamy and not too sweet. There was no artifical apple flavor which was nice. It was just a subtle hint because of the dried fruit. I added a tablespoon of PB to make it last longer. I still think the Flax Plus is my favorite flavor.

oatmmmmeal

For lunch I had leftovers from the other night…boooring but filling. Penne with veggie, beans, and tomato sauce. I am probably going to end up eating this for dinner too because I need to buckle down and get a lot of my AMCAS application done before vacay.

I also brought some snacks, of course. I had a maple cookie..then two more maple cookies. I figure the sugar will fuel me through the last couple hours of work and my workout.

tempting maple goodness

It is shoulders and arms today. I love how pumped up my arms feel during and after this workout. I almost look like I have guns which is really exciting since I have never had any definition in my arms before (I am a spindly Sri Lankan). It is actually one of the easier workouts in my opinion because it is pretty much all weights and resistance exercises, no pull ups.

On my way home I snacked on some gummies because they were in the car. Surf Sweets Gummi Swirls are pretty tasty and contain lots of calcium (take that adora…hehe just kidding). I ate the last five in the bottom of the bag.

I updated the page “Who is Spicygranola”, so check it out if you feel so inclined!