No need to send out the search dogs, I’m alive and well. In the last few days I’ve been hanging out with with my sis and working. I worked the past two days, and Laura left to return to CA today (tear).
In the interest of just getting up to date, I’ll limit Tues through Thurs to the very upmost blog-worthy parts. Not that everything I write isn’t thrilling…
Me + Laura + WF lunch + central park = happy day
The sun was BLAZING, so the photos were all soopah bright. In case your vampire eyes can’t cope, box #1 contained: kale, sprouts, artichoke hearts, a buncha PITA wedges, and a fatty dollop of hummus.
In the SECOND box ‘o goodies: chimichurri seitan skewers
Ummmm…LOVES IT!! I saw these babies in the displayed/cased section and knew I HAD to have them. The WF employee kept choosing the wussy skewers and I was like “yo homes, gimme that fatties!”
Now. The REAL pregunta: Does anyone know what chimichurri actually is??
I had no idea when I bought it, but it was tasty. I rubbed the extra sauce all over my kale salad, it was ALMOST as good a topping as hummus! Anyways, thanks to the Google gods, I now know that chimichurri is in fact made from finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, vegetable or olive oil, white or red vinegar, and red pepper flakes. Additional flavorings such as paprika, oregano, cumin, thyme, cilantro, lemon, and bay leaf can also be added in case you wanna make some (and then send it my way).
For dinner? MAOZ!!! (I’m lucky enough to have a foodie sister who adores Mediterranean cuisine as much as I…well, ALMOST as much as I – let’s not get carried away now).
When you order the salad box, you get 5 falafel balls and all the toppings you can pack into your bowl in a single pass through…talk about a challenge!!
BRANG IT.
There were so many layers up in this salad, I couldn’t even BEGIN to list them all, but underneath all the CHICKPEAS, tabouli, tomato/cucumber salad, carrot salad, roasted broccoli/cauliflower, beets, and falafel was a bed of lettuce.
The lettuce was weak sauce in comparison to the several marinated salads that I heaped on top.
Oooo…saucyyyy 🙂
We saw Julie & Julia, too. I liked it (even though I had heard several negative reviews of Julie’s whiny, emotional, Debbie Downer role in the film). Meryl Streep and Amy Adams are QUITE the winning combo.
Recognizable anywhere. Work lunch. L to R: Apple, Sabra mini-tub of hummus (free from Sabra Sunday), Pop Chips, salad, dried fruit/nut mix, PB cookie Luna bar, Cookies ‘N Cream Clif Builder bar, and dried papaya spears.
How many times have I re-used these baggies? I think I’m in the 50’s with the nutty one…the papaya spears is brand spankin new since the old one practically had Kombucha sh!t growing in it. Not cool man.
I’ll admit, this had super creepy ingredients. And yet, I was trapped downstairs in the dungeon ICU all day, so it kinda hit the spot. 0% of it resembled “cookies ‘n cream,” which in NO way was the worst part about the bar (the odd Charleston-Chew-meets-cookie-dough-texture wins that award). I feel like the bar couldn’t make up it’s mind on what it was trying to do…come on Clif…puh-leeze give me something I can scarf down in guilt-less delight.
It may seem boring because it’s repetitive, but why mess with perfection?
I had a CRAPPY shift (to put it nicely), and as soon as I got off I called Laura and announced that the ONLY solution was a WF dinner. So we met at the new UWS location and went to town at the hot bar.
Remember the QUINOA veggie patty that I found at the SoHo Whole Foods last week? Found it again!
I got a basic (read: uninspired) salad and pita wedges to accompany the quinoa cake. The salad wasn’t too entertaining, so I turned to my favorite life meal saver – hummus. (DUH).
After the pitas were gone, I realized I still wanted more carbs. And not just ANY carbs. I wanted big, fat, thick, doughy, seedy, delicious carbs.
Enter Dave’s Killer Bread. I still have a few regular slices left, but I skipped ahead to the heel piece because it was just too damn good looking!!! I mean have you ever seen anything so gorgeous?
Work day lunch. Again.
Bars, hummus, dried/fresh fruit, nuts, & salad.
World of Grains Garlic Herb flavored crackers review: not salty enough, but great as a salad topping (or hummus dipper). PLUS for being garlicy, I don’t think my patients were too offended by my breath. Then again, that may be a rather brilliant way to reduce call bell use. I keed, I keed.
Tropical Fruit Tart Larabar review: meh. I’ve had better. No harm, no foul.
The rest of the packed up food posse filled my tummy and before I knew it I was off work and headed home.
Surprise flowers from my boo. Yea 🙂
Laziness leads to the freezer…which meant bombay curry veggie burgers. I had heard good things about Dr. Praeger’s, but I was NOT a fan of these.
Here’s why:
I heated two patties which (upon heating) just about disintegrated before my very eyes. WTF!?!
One patty went into a wrap, and the second patty was consumed separately on the side. Neither way was that great. I won’t be buying these again, but I do still have two more left in the freezer.
They had the consistency of baby food, and didn’t hold together AT ALL. They were SO mushy, I don’t think they even deserved to be in the burger category.
Clearly I needed dessert course 2.
Can you believe this is only HALF of a Whole Foods granola fruit & nut bar? I really am in love with these. I cut it in half, fully planning on eating a sensible and controlled portion. But it was just TOO good…I ended up slicing up the second half and downing it like a starvin’ marvin.
Worth it. DEFINITELY worth it.
Yay Maoz! I think the places offering unlimited salads don’t know what they are letting them inself in for half the time…hehe. Rise to the challenge!
I never get bord seeing your lunches! I think they are so pretty (anything with craisins and carrots = pretty).
Sorry about the Clif FAIL. Have you tried the Nectar bars? You might like the Betty Lou balls (in Gary Null’s, big plastic containers on the counter!). Who doesn’t like balls?! (TWSS!)
28 days!!!!!
Ok those burgers. Nast. I wouldnt be buying them again either.
On the bright spot, that WF granola bar…fabulous looking!
Re-using plastic baggies til they practically have shizzle growin in them? Yep, I do that too. Well I have a 2.5 yr old so if I didnt recycle baggies, we’d go thru a box a week or more. I have tried reuseable little sacks, glass containers, plastic containers, tiffins, reuseable this and that and you name it paid a fortune, and honestly, sometimes, well mostly, a baggie just does it best. But at least I do reuse, hey you’re helping the errrr..environment by reusing 🙂
Welcome back, missed you!
glad you got to spend some QT with your sis. mine lives in CA also and i cherish the times i get to see her! not positive what chimichurri is but they sure talk about it on the food network a whole bunch! and it looks good. haha, zero percent. hmmm, not so bueno. lovely flowers! that is the best!!
Yum, I am totally in love with Maoz! I was so happy when they opened up right on my block:) The new UWS Whole Foods location is pretty nice too, though it’s kind of a pain that you have to go downstairs to get all your grocery items.
My mom makes so much fun of me for re-using plastic baggies… but really, it seems like such a waste to throw it out after one use if it’s perfectly clean!!
Raw corn!! Yay!! And pretty flowers 🙂
…and I believe you’ve hit on one of the reasons why I dislike Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers. Not that I’ve had one in a very, very long time!!
<3 <3
The title of your post is ironic and hilarious – stay tuned for the new VGTV episode, to see why 😉
Aww I’m sad for you that your sis left! I’ve been without mine for about a week now because she’s at school and I miss her too! tear.
Dr. Praegers is a crumbly bastard. and thats enough of that.
1. I’m sad you dont love the trop fruit lbar as much as I do
2. I’m glad to see the blueberry cliff in there because it’s just too good.
YES–*everything* you do is thrilling! Obvi–that is why so many people read your blog 🙂
I saw Julie and Julia last weekend and really liked it. I had read Julia Child’s autobiography/biography (I think she died half way through writing it and her great grand nephew or something finished it), and loved it (she had SUCH an interesting life!), so I was really excited to see the movie. Yes, okay, I know I am a huge total foodie/cooking geeky nerd.
My plastic baggies are bordering on hazardous, I think. I am diligent about washing them and drying them after each use, but, yeah. They have def seen better days. BUT, they still contain what I put in them, so I will keep reusing them til holes appear, lol!
It is too bad you had to work while your sister was visiting, but it sounds like you two had a good time together!
Courtney
PS I missed your posts 🙂
Chimichurri sauce is the bomb!! They serve it at Bonefish Grille and I am hooked!
Yea, the Praegers do tend to disintegrate. I used mine more as a heavy spread than anything else. Not really what I would deem a “patty” though.
I had no idea what chimichurri was either! Must try! I reuse my baggies every day too. They not not look so appetizing! That Mediterannean salad looks heavenly!
I thought of you last Saturday when I packed my trail mix in a ziploc bag which was then thrown away. I was like, “You know…Elise wouldn’t be pitching this!”
So.Much.Med.Food – loves it! HangryPants Heather was the blogger who introduced me to Dr. P’s and she told me it was basically a stuffing patty. They are pretty limp but I like it 😉
Sorry about the crappy shift, crumbly burger, and CA reclaiming your sis.
Love the looks of the chimichurri’s and the quinoa patties though. Yumster.
I liked Julie and Julia too, even though everything I’ve heard about Julie kinda bums me out.
Bummed to hear that the Dr. Praeger’s burger didn’t work out for ya. If I’d seen it on the shelf I’d have bought it for sure–it SOUNDS really good. But I guess I’ll have to consider myself warned!
I love how WF has stuff from Candle Cafe. Those skewers are awesome and recently I spied their hugh jass veggie burgers on display at the Union Sq. location. NEED!
HA i can just seeeee you using some mad upper body strength to cram all those falafel balls in that little container 😀 Those dr. praeg’s are sooo weird i hate them! Ha i used them more as a spread-like substance on toast until they were finally out of my freezer!
I made my maiden voyage to the new WF today… wow, is that thing big! Best of all: not crowded! I got one of those granola bars after you wrote about it… it weighs half a pound, I love it!
Glad you had fun with your sistah!
We need to date soon 🙂
those veggie burgers look gross, but they are some of my FAVS … really different from most kinds!
i have GOT to find a WF somewhere … all the food looks sooo yum. there is not one with in a 1.5 hour radius, sadness!
all your lunches look DELISHHH
I want to devour everything in this post, but I think that quinoa veggie patty managed to capture most of my attention!
Love all the sister-sister time you got in last week, I know y’all enjoyed it!
And that Meditteranean place sounds right up my alley…bring on the hugh jass salads!
I just tried my first DR. P boiga today too!! However, it was the tex-mex flav!! After microwaving it, the thing turned mushy anddd fell apart on me too!! BUT, I still thought it was extremely delicious and spicy…..so I kinda loved it! It was especially delish with the sabra and avo….mmmmm good to back with the best stuff!
Sorry you’re schedule has been so packed with work, but at least you’ve had some legit wf meals!!! LOVE!
i guess as a mashed up schmear it could be ok – but if i want a burger, i want a BURGER!! haha.
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