I started the morning sans cafe because I just wasn’t in the mood. The wind was pretty ferosh outside, which always makes me want to snuggle up with a book. So I read on the couch while enjoying a plate of grapes and strawberries.
Later on a made an oat, cinnamon, raisin elixir.
Here’s a confession: I like raw oats. As in, uncooked whole rolled oats.
When I was little I used to pour the instant Quaker packs in a bowl, add milk, and eat it like cold cereal. Obviously, my palate hasn’t matured very much since then..the only difference is that now I use Lactaid or soymilk instead of milk.
I did boring packing, apartment cleaning nonsense throughout the day, eventually breaking for lunch.
This Irish colored sammie contained roasted red pepper hummus, avocado, carrots, and spinach. Also, I’m not sure why, but this 365 multi-grain bread photographs like white bread. I assure you, it was not white bread. Blech. Not a fan.
One Lucky Duck’s raw blonde macaroons are much better when you first open the bag. I guess from now on I’ll just have to eat them all in one sitting (twist my arm). They were still amazing, but the outsides were a bit harder than when I first tried them. The insides were still delightfully soft and moist. How are such basic ingredients so amazing?
After lunch, I decided I should maybe try to work out. It has been weeks!! The expiration on my hall pass from last week has long since come and gone. Unfortunately, my NYSC membership is kaput. Fortunately, I have a 3 day pass to Equinox that I’ve been saving up for a rainy day. Cha-ching.
I have mixed feelings about Equinox. While it certainly comes across as a fancy gym, with it’s cool black and silver metallic themed ambiance, spa like services, and uber healthy juice bar, I’m just not sold. I’ll admit, it’s nice not waiting for machines, but it doesn’t have TVs on each machine, and sometimes I feel judged when I’m there. Even my crappy NYSC gym had personal TVs (although, to be fair they also had barely FIVE functioning machines at a time – and that’s being generous). I dunno. Soon I will be researching all the gyms in the LA area, so if anyone has insight (pros/cons) to offer, I’ll take all the info I can get. Who knows, with the nice CA weather, maybe I can save my money and nix paying for a gym membership altogether.
I popped this fizzy delight while getting ready for dinner. A dear colleague (and friend) planned a very special goodbye dinner for me and my closest coworkers. At Gotham Bar & Grill no less…
I was beyond thrilled to try this restaurant. Kyle had already been to Gotham for a work function, so up until a month ago, I had come to terms with the fact that before leaving NYC, I wasn’t going to get to try it. For anyone who lives in (or visits) New York, it’s a must try. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out my farewell dinner was being held at Gotham. My foodie heart was going pitter patter like crazy, and I was nearly jumping up and down.
People started arriving at our apartment around 5 to do a little pre-boozing. Being the light weight that I am, I was feeling my drank after just a few glasses sips of vino. Next, we moved on to champagne, and after all the bottles were empty, we headed downtown.
We were seated in the back, and even though it was 8 o’clock on a Monday night, the place was still pretty busy.
I chose Sonoma Valley’s 2005 Amapola Creek Zinfandel for the table. It was much more fruity than I was expecting, and I loved it.
Just like at Le Bernardin, the servers came around offering a variety of fresh breads. I chose the sourdough baguette (twice).
In terms of catering to a vegan diet, the waiter was perfectly happy to do whatever I wanted. He asked if there were any vegetables I don’t like, or anything in particular I wanted, and I told him to keep me on pace (course wise) with the rest of the table, and bring me whatever the chef wanted to prepare. The meal I ended up with was more AMAZING than anything I could have hoped for.
For my appetizer, I got a grilled asparagus dish topped with greens. The sauce, which was poured over the dish at the table, was the most interesting thing about this dish. To be 100% honest, it tasted like hamburger juice. I know that seems a highly suspect thing for me to be able to identify (since my last burger was circa the 1990’s), but I had my friend try it and she agreed with me. Weird! It looked like wheat grass, so it was a very surprising flavor.
My dinner was a bit of everything. Does plating get any cuter?
The upper left dish was my favorite, and from what I could deduce was green chickpeas and fava beans. They were beautifully prepared – soft, but with just a bit of crunch to them (you all know how I like my beans al dente).
The upper right dish held baby carrots, which were so perfect, they would have made Alice Waters jump for joy.
The lower right dish was grilled asparagus, which was the runner up for the top spot. I know I had asparagus for my app, but this was actually prepared far better. It was very crunchy (which I normally don’t like for asparagus), but it wasn’t lacking in flavor AT ALL. Plus it was drizzled in the perfect amount of olive oil, that made it just melt in my mouth.
Last but not least, the lower left dish. I am still not entirely sure what this was, and the best I can surmise is some sort of mushroom with some sort of bulbous vegetable (my guess is morels with ramps). They were very good, but I ended up mostly picking out the mushrooms because the ramps were a bit strong.
I just have to show you the Grilled New York Steak since FOUR people in our group ordered it.
It came with marrow mustard custard, vidalia onion rings, and a bordelaise sauce.
While my meal appeals to me way more than this one, the tower of rings was too gorgeous to not take a photo. If there were an award for plating, this would get my vote.
When the dessert menus came around I was already stuffed, but I figured these meals are once-in-a-lifers.
The flavors in this trio of sorbets were a bit of a mystery. The yellow was mango, the red was some kind of berry, but the green remains unknown. I also had a coffee. I don’t know why I don’t get coffee more often at the end of meals. I used to do it all the time in Europe and since I love ending meals on a warm note, I should really try to remember this.
This platter of sweets also came with our desserts and was empty within minutes.
It was really sad to say goodbye after dinner because this time it was real. As in the last time I would see these friends for who knows how long. I think the fact that we are moving so soon is starting to sink in. Four days. Holy $hi%!!
I don’t think I’ve ever had fava beans. Must try! Why were the chickpeas green? I don’t think I’ve seen them like that before.
Your meal looks delicious! Hope packing is going well. I hope you don’t mind my saying, but you seem much happier now that you’re moving back home and have finished work. Yay for good moves! 🙂
Equinox is crazy. I used to live in LA and knew a lot of people who went there, but I definitely get that “judgy”, holier-than-thou gym vibe from it too. It´s a GYM!! People need to get over it. 🙂
I like raw oats too! I thought I was crazy, but I am glad to find another raw oat lover out there 🙂 They are really good mixed in with baked apples…bake/micro apples doused in more cinnamon that you know what to do with, then sprinkle raw oats on top and mix them in and enjoy. SO good. Also, if you ever have to eat canned fruit (in a pinch in the winter months in undergrad I would settle for some canned pineapple in its own juice, of course), raw oats mixed in is really yummy. That sounds weird, I know, but…heck. I figure if *anyone* would understand, it would be my raw-oat-loving-twin 😉
Courtney
Gah, four days is CRAZY! Good luck with last minute packing things!! I love the look of those onion rings. They sound really good right now and it’s only 7:30am…
I think its soo cool that your moving to the west coast. Im from the northeast and hate it – the people are too uptight and go go go.
ps. have you ever tried Cedar’s Spinach & Artichoke hummus? It is the BEST hummus I have ever had in my life. Thought you might enjoy 🙂
Well, that is a super high recommendation for Gotham! I must check it out. Thanks!
no idea – i had never seen it either, but they were SO good. not raw or undercooked or anything. super flavorful, just green. weird right??
that’s because i AM much happier now. 🙂 i second your yay for good moves!!
yes!! agreed, that flavor is definitely high on my list of faves. cedars tahini hummus (the original) is great too.
i love raw oatmeal, too. once in a blue moon though, it gives me the heebie jeebies.
that meal looks amazing! i’m jealous of all the nyc restaurants — in my opinion, dc dining is lackluster. and no good sushi. LAMETOAD.
HOLY SHITE…FOUR DAYS?!?!?! that is crazy. i swear you just announced you were moving like yesterday.
ever since i studied in london, i’ve been obsessed with muesli aka raw oats. for real.
yay for all your yummy eats! catching up on four posts, i could not be more jealous of all your one lucky duck and macrobiotic eats. *sigh* wish i had those here.
good luck with all the planning and packing! and you, your mom and sisters are ADORABLE!!!!!!
love ya lady!
wow your move is almost here! so exciting! PLEASE let me know if you find out about a good gym with TVs on the equiptment in LA…i belong to LA fitness and while i got a great deal on the membership, there are no machines with TVs and the only TVs in the gym play 1) sports or 2) news. not exactly what motivates me to stay longer, ya know??
That restaurant looks amazing! I love the presentation of the veggie dishes and of course, the dessert sampler. 🙂
What a treat!! Lucky lucky girl!!!
Let me address your gym concerns. It’s almost always sunny (in philadelphia) Lala land, so I think you can nix the gym membership for the moment and we can just do some yoga and bike riding, long walks along the beach, and then vegan eats. Second, OMG such beautiful plating!!! You know I love my square plates and this restaurant does an amazing job with plating. A+! (p.s. my mama bought me square plates for my bday…i’ll tell you the story via email)
Lastly, I used to eat raw oats when I was younger as well. I just mixed it in my mouth with sugar..mmm….
FOUR DAYS?! Oh my goodness! Any more news on your immediate plans? Crazy times for you – how exciting. It gets me thinking about the day the boy and I head back to england and then I start to hyperventilate – I can only imagine how much STUFF there is to take care of!
That restaurant looks amazing! You should totally start a restaurant review page so that readers have easy access to reviews of great NYC joints (aka so I have my own personal restaurant guide book next time I go…ahem)
I was at a sushi restaurant in february and my table ordered a sorbet dish that included an unidentifiable green flavor. The waiter told us it was green tea flavored. Maybe that’s what yours was.
ahhh you guys were nycity ballers that night! the dessert tray at the end reminds me of those little candy pegs on the sheet? remember those? hahaha except this is at a 5 star restaurant and so not those pegged candies..
I’ve lived in LA all my life and I can tell you that you definitely don’t need a gym membership! The weather really is perfect all the time and there are so many beautiful places to work out! Griffith Park, Pasadena Rose Bowl, Malibu beaches, etc. There are even some parks that have workout equpiment like a gym!
Ramps and morels- reason enough to love spring.
I love ordering coffee at restaurants. It’s such a good cap to the meal.
Everything sounds great! That’s awesome that they catered to you.
I LOVE when nice restaurants are accomodating to vegans… it always surprises me when many places don’t do this. I also love all of that asparagus!!
Really depends what part of LA you will be in, though if you are just using the gym for running, I would pass on the gym membership as you can run outdoors 350 days out of the year.
Otherwise, working out in LA is all about amazing hikes 20 minute from your door, long bike rides and classes – yoga especially but like NY, we have just about everything.
There’s a great spin & athlete-focused-yoga studio based out of Venice called YAS that’s affordable and they have a couple locations (though the Venice one is my fav since it use to be Bruce Lee’s dojo.
That is a once in a lifer meal indeed! I have a membership to Marina Fitness which is pretty cheap and simple but friendly and has everything I need. I have also been to 24 hour fitness in Santa Monica which I found to be huge with more machines but very “cold”.
Awesome veggie plate!
I like raw oats too–perfect smoothie topper, in my opinion:)
Raw oats, story of my life from dessert balls to my no bake protein energy bars. Gotta do the raw oats for sure.
Gyms in LA. For 6 yrs in San diego i didnt have a gym membership. I take that back, for about half the time I did, but it wasnt even a gym. It was so close to a country club. It was probably like what Equinox is…uber posh, chic, classes up the ying yang and about a $250 a month price tag. Enter: skylar. We let that membership slide 🙂
Dont really need one unless you wanna lift OR do classes. If you are just going to do cardio, skip the membership and go outdoors my love. Rain or shine, mostly shine! you will be more than fine 🙂
I love Gotham! They have a year-round restaurant week lunch for $24.
i live in orange county, and the 24 hour fitness gyms are all off the chains in this area. i highly recommend you look into 24 hour fitness.
the location where i live, anaheim, is one of the nicest gyms i have ever been too and i get excited when i go there to workout.
also costco has a deal when you get 2 years for 299.00. you save a butt load of money!!
agreed…i hate when you feel like you have to put yourself together to look presentable at something as stupid as the gym…oh appearances…why must you matter at all.
do you bake the apples then add the oats, or stuff the oats in and then bake them?
i cant recall the last time i had canned fruit, but i used to get pineapple all the time. they are fun to grill, too (even on the foreman).
a sushi-less city sucks balls. c’mon DC, get with it!
thanks love! ca is da sh!!!!t…you MUST come visit. asap. we will eat drink and be merry 🙂
yeah, i prefer some mindless bravo crappola while gym-ing it up. mind-numbing boob tube at its finest 😉
ill let you know how my gym research goes…
check out the “my faves” tab on the top of the page…it has most of my restaurant reviews
it could have been that…who knows, it tasted good though, so i guess thats all that matters, right?
true statement!
yesssssssssssss…malibu hikes here i come!! i much prefer scenic running anyways. thanks for the comment 🙂
thats pretty much what i decided.
localhikes.com is my new best friend. can’t wait to look into YAS though. thanks for the info!
costco! brilliant!!
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Hi! I was searching for an eggless, nonsoy cheesecake recipe and stumbled upon your vegan one. Ever since I just couldn’t stop reading your blog! I love all the pictures you took and the sweets plate at the end looks so cute
Anyway, back to perusing your recipes again 😀
hi jessica! thanks for the sweet comment. im glad you found me 🙂