After the long (but relatively smooth) work weekend, all I wanted to do was sleep in ‘til noon.
Unfortunately, I had (have) a to-do list the size of China, so that was out of the question.
I felt like a full time secretary with the amount of time I was on the phone and doing paperwork. Ick. Those things should be illegal on days off. Hey Barack, can we get a bill passed on that?
Since I was buried in boring, my brain kinda stalled out on me, and so I had what is probably THE most uninspired breakfast/brunch ever.
H&H has good bagels, I’ll give them that, BUT they are certainly not a blog-worthy item. I didn’t even have the decency to jazz it up for the photo. I even ate it plain (I debated adding Justin’s nut butter but in the end decided I wanted to keep my hands clean and non-sticky while gettin’ sh!t done).
Multi-tasker? Yes. Successful blogger? Uh, fail.
I made up for it later with a green monster that couldn’t fit in the klassy glassy.
- kale
- spinach
- soy milk
- frozen strawberries
- frozen bananas
- ice ice baby
Followed by some plump dates. Speaking of plump, did anyone else watch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution this past week? Kyle and I tivo-ed it and watched last night and I was nearly crying while simultaneously going through the stages of shock. I am so appalled and yet utterly grateful that people like him (a) exist, and (b) are willing to suffer the wrath of vicious cooks lunch-ladies to get the point across. America! Wake Up! This crap is killing us!!
I could have eaten a pound of medjools…thank goodness there were only 5 left. Eventually, I changed out of PJs and (reluctantly) made my way to the gym. Did I mention reluctantly? I was really getting into the outside running. Rain clouds be gone! I still managed to push through 6 miles and some weights for my arms. My wedding dress is strapless, yo! Time to get some tone.
Post work out I snacked on some carob chips, raw almonds (a bazillion more than shown), spelt pretz, and raisins.
I like home-made trail mix way mo bettah, because I can control the ratio to my liking. Dried fruit is usually way underrepresented in the store bought kind. Plus, I haven’t found any store bought kinds that have carob, or the salt factor that pretz bring for that matter…
The mix was purely for my mouth’s entertainment distraction while my lunch got baked (sweet potatoes are such stoners!).
16 ounces of hummus should last a person longer than a day. “Should” being the operative word… But I loooooove Cedar’s. Ever since Whole Foods had it on sale, I have become addicted like no other. If Whole Foods ever decided to carry Sabra too I don’t know what I’d do!? (Since this is a pretty major concern of mine, I think it’s pretty obvious that I have my priorities out of whack)
Anyways, for my (late) lunch I stuffed my baked sweet tater with roasted red pepper hummus and topped it with pepitas. On the side I had broccoli with raisins and carrots with (you guessed it) MORE hummus.
Evidently being productive makes my appetite go into overdrive as well, because I had 3 apples over the course of the afternoon, despite the fact that I knew I was going for a very special dinner. Love me some manzanas.
Special dinner? Where does a hungry hungry hippie go for a special dinner in Manhattan?
I. Love. This. Place.
The last time I went to Candle Cafe, I licked my plate clean. And since I was a new blogger back then, I didn’t take any pictures of my food.
Now I have no shame, and felt like documenting each glorious bite.
AH-FREAKIN-MAZING.
After much deliberation, I finally decided on the Chile-Lime Grilled Seitan (but for the record, I wanted each and every item on the menu x 2).
This delicious feast contained the most amazing seitan, along with roasted vegetable quinoa pilaf, sautéed greens and an avocado salad with a black bean sauce and chipotle coulis. Could you die? I nearly did.
The seitan had a bit of a kick that had me reaching for my glass of water at times, but never in a way that was too hot…it was as close to perfect as you could get without molesting it. The quinoa/black beans/greens with avocado was like a Mexican feast but better. The entire dish was incredible. I can’t write anything eloquent enough to do it justice. I wanted it to never end.
My date got the Tusca Lasagna with grilled zucchini, peppers and onions, tofu basil ricotta, tapioca cheese and seitan ragout topped with tomato sauce. It was also served over sautéed greens…and since the plate was left with nary a morsel, I know she liked it.
The best part about living in New York is having exceptional vegan options like Candle Cafe. I love being able to go to a restaurant and browse the ENTIRE menu (and moreover want to try the entire menu) rather than feel limited by the veg options. For the veggies out there (or the non-vegetarians who appreciate a nice meat-free meal) how many crappy salads have you had to suffer through? For me – too many.
Later on back at home I put together dessert. Apples to apples. Tea to tea.
And now for the giveaway winner announcement: As per a random generator, the Nature Made goodies (including a 6 month supply of Nature Made’s CholestOff, CoQ10 and Fish Oil supplements as well as an aluminum water bottle, yogamat and carrying bag – yeah, I decided to channel my inner Tyra Banks and reiterate the actual goods being won) will go to…
Lauren @ BIOCHEMISTA who (much like everyone else) said “My favorite cholesterol-lowering food is OATS.”
Congrats Lauren! Now send me your addy so I can get this ballin’ gift out to ya!
Tomorrow will be a HUGE post and I can def guarantee that I will have news to share. I swear I’m not trying to string you along so much!
All y’all can blame Kyle for the lack of news because believe me I wanna shout it from the rooftop. What I will tell you is that I’m not preggo (since that seemed to be a popular guess).
maybe moving back to cali?
Are you guys going going back back to Cali Cali? If so, i say you don’t even bother with the whole pregnancy thing and you and Kyle should adopt me! You wouldn’t have to worry about the terrible 2s, i support myself completely, and i would even pitch in with housework, make home-made hummus every week and provide exercise motivation daily! Sound like a plan? 🙂 I will have to drag my sis to Candle the next time i go to visit her, i doubt she will go though! Oh well, i will go by myself and suffer through my gluten-intolerance to eat THAT meal! By the way, step your game up sistah, i’ve downed 2 pink ladies and 2 granny smiths since noon! 🙂
Dude, of course you’re not preggo – you celebrated with champagne. Although, I heard fetus really likes champagne – that’s what I’m going to tell myself anyways…
I guess Cali too – or at least a big move? Maybe somewhere overseas? If so, take me with you!
well i cant wait for the annoucement 🙂 that’s so freakin cool!
no word on our situation. holding pattern.
Til then, i posted about veganism tonite and i know you dont really define yourself as vegan, but for all purposes, you are. Would love to hear your take on how and why and animals and health and where it all comes together for you. I know you have GI stuff and all that, and i had food allergies, but my depth with vegan has totally morphed. Ok i am talking about myself on your commetn form. Sorry! 🙂
I LOVE Candle Cafe too! I’ve only been once, but would love to go back…I remember everything being amazing. It’s too bad humans only have one stomach, because I want to try everything when I’m there! Can’t wait for the news 🙂
Yes crappy dinner salads… or plain pasta.. “sides” of veggies that are FAR too small.. The world should cater to people like us! Dinner looks amazing!!!
can’t wait to hear the news!
Hehe, it’s funny how people suspect big news=pregnant when you get to a certain age and have a long term partner! Looking forward to hearing what it is tho. And your food looks awesome. If I was in manhatten I’d go there 🙂 xxx
Candle cafe= amazing. Dammit, I can’t believe I didn’t go there.
OK, Kyle got accepted to some law program in Cali (or something, I don’t know what you call it) and you’re moving back to the Bay!!! If I’m too accurate, you can erase my comment.
But…take me, please. Actually, I’m favoring West over East coast right now. The soul needs it.
I think you should invent a Hungry Hungry Hippie trail mix–pretzels, carob, almonds?? Genius and delicious!
Can’t wait to hear the news!
Hot dang, that sweet potato lunch looks AMAZING. I’m drooling over here. Also – I’m with you on the “no paperwork/phone calls law” – I just detest having to do stuff like that when I’m not getting paid for it at work. Boo hiss.
I would love to have more places like that in Boston even!
Isnt it crazy that the kids didn’t know how to use silverware?? or what a tomato is?? and eat pizza for breakfast!?!
Hooray for Candle Cafe and excuses to celebrate and delicious eateries! Can’t wait till you can announce your news to the blog world 🙂
I’ve only been to Candle Cafe once, but I had SUCH a hard time choosing what to order!
damn and i thought i was gonna be a god mother!
i loveed it when i went to the candle cafe a while back with deej. their hummus platter i remember was off the hizzy and deej got some HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE honkin buritto that she loved. plus we had a celeb siting haha
i’m esssited for zee news!
Okay, so now I think the announcement is that you are moving to MN and we are going to sit around and eat medjools and hummus and live at Whole Foods and I will introduce you to the wonders of co-ops so we will move out of Whole Foods and into the co-op instead and eat ourselves sick on dates and nutritional yeast and hummus 🙂 Am I right, or am I right?! Although, I don’t know anyone who would be nearly as excited as you are to move here…. 😉
I still can’t believe that you can’t get medjools in bulk and you have to buy them in packages like that! Come on WF–get your act together and ditch the packaging that is going to end up in a landfill! Seriously…
And darn! I love entering contests, but I have yet to win anything in all the ones I have ever entered, lol. I don’t give up easily, though 🙂
Your kale smoothie looks/sounds amazing! I made “green ice cream” in the vita-mix last night and thought of you 🙂
Wow…this is a really loooooooong comment…shut up already, Courtney!
Courtney
YES!!! omg, seriously…all of the stuff you just said was beyond appalling. we need some education in a MAJOR way! i hope this show starts to catch on.
hahaha…long comments are way better anyways…i couldnt agree more about the plastic packaging on the dates. i asked the checker last time i went if they would be switching them to the bulk bins anytime soon and she said negative on that. ugh.
especially when i was boozin’ it up with champagne in the last post! haha
i know! i was so surprised that people actually suggested that. talk about the first sign you arent ready to be a parent, ha!
So jealous of your Candle Cafe dining experience! I have to go there next time in in NY, it looks so amazing! I can’t wait to hear your news. 🙂
i agree. trail mixes definitely slack on the dried fruit and they are usually too salty or have just wrong proportions 😉 your carob/spelt pretz/raisin combo is seriously the best. you should patent/trademark it because i made it and fell in love haha. candle cafe looks AMAZING! next time im in nyc i am going. i love seitan!
i have wanted to go to candle cafe since alicia silverstone said she was obsessed with it…. because i seriously love me some cher. why is clueless th ebest movie ever?
You know, H&H may not be blog-worthy UNTIL you move somewhere where you can’t get a decent bagel (pretty much all of the West Coast, but would be worth moving there anyway). Then those of us who remember a hot H&H with cinnamon-walnut cream cheese get pretty excited to see one!
My theory is that you were hungrier later because of the sugar in the dates….but that’s just because I’m obsessed with lowering my sugar these days.
Can’t wait for your announcement!
I’m just giddy. =)
You’re moving somewhere really exciting! That is my big guess. Do I get a prize if I’m right? Please?
Well, excited to hear you’re news anyway…
I’m extremely excited to hear your news and I don’t even know your haha, – congrats anyway!
haha I was going to say that you were preggo!! oh well. I guess we’ll have to wait for tomorrow!!!! I cant wait! that seitan looks SO GOOD! I have never had seitan…does it taste like tempeh? If it does, I probably won’t like it, tempeh and me don’t sit too well together, I have tried making it in numerous ways and I just havent found a palate for it!
You need a co-op!! Totally worth the move to MN 🙂
Courtney
i hope you know we are all just skimming through your posts trying to see what the big news is! hahaha. but i went back and read after realizing you weren’t squirming on telling us. i have heard real good things about candle cafe! i want to try it some day!
Your hummus-pepita combo=GENIUS.
Hooray, candle! After your sad salad last week, you deserve it, girl.
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