What I’m Loving Wednesday 10.24.12

1. I ate at Purée four times this weekend: Friday dinner, Saturday brunch, a juice, and Sunday lunch. What is wrong with me? Nothing.

Friday: I had the Asian Bowl: pan fried tofu in a chili garlic sauce w/ brown rice over a bed of greens, shaved cucumbers, carrots, ginger.

Boding had the Pad Thai: rice noodles with crushed peanuts, red pepper, snap peas, coriander, lime.

Saturday:  Danielle and I split two wraps: Grilled Chimichurri Seitan Wrap (protein marinated in homemade herb cilantro lime dressing then grilled) and Mo Mo’s Homemade Rosemary BBQ Wrap.

2. I’m not the most organized person when it comes to my belongings. My shoes are all over my apartment and my purse is always a mess. I’ve learned to embrace it and work well amidst the chaos. Check out my k-cup madness. What’s your favorite k-cup flavor?

3. On Sunday evening, Boding and I went to Trader Joe’s for dinner stuff. There was one pumpkin Greek yogurt left. Obviously I grabbed it out of principle.

I was just there for the bare essentials: Greek yogurt and wine.

4. I enjoyed said wine in my favorite Pier 1 chalk note wine glass and pajamas. Christmas pajamas…two months early.

5. Speaking of Christmas, the seasonal Clif bars are back! Peppermint Stick is the real winner of this trio. What do you think of them?

6. Now rewind back. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I’m excited for this weekend’s festivities. I went from wanting to be Cat Woman, to a cat, to something very different than either of those animals. Here’s one hint :I will be carrying these around all evening.  (Annabel/Hannah/Amanda --  shhh!)

7. Amanda and I are still on a running kick. We never plan how far we’ll run and kind of just see how we’re feeling at each mile. On Monday’s run, at 7 miles in we felt great so we continued. At 8 we still felt good. Neither of us wanted to stop at 9 because, well, why would you when 10 is right around the corner? ;)

Nope, we’re not training for anything…other than world domination.

NYC Days 1 & 2

So, last week I told you I was going on a little vacation, but couldn’t tell you where. My reasoning for this was that I was surprising my bestie Lucy. For over 3 weeks, I managed to keep it a secret that I was coming. She had no idea…until I walked into the bar where she and Kaye were “waiting.” It was absolutely hilarious and she was in shock for a good 3 hours.

On Friday, before she knew I had arrived, I spent the day frolicking while my friends were at work.  I walked all around Soho, then travelled back up to the NYU campus for one reason in : Chick-fil-A! The last two times I’ve been in the city, it was closed, but today it was actually open. Finally!Unfortunately they didn’t have anything I could eat (limited menu), so I walked a block over to Space Market, a grocery store/deli. I picked up a wrap full of roasted veggies, hummus, and fresh mozzarella. It was so good.

My fun purchase of the day was at C. Wonder. Oh my gosh, I am in love with that store. Bright colors and monograms everywhere! A Southern girl’s dream. I picked up the Easy Tote in orange. This picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s the cutest thing! It reminds me of my Longchamp totes but is better quality with more pockets. And less expensive at only $58.

That evening was when I surprised Lucy at one of the bars we like, 10 Degrees in the East Village. Although she was the one in shock, I apparently was unable to focus on the camera.

On Saturday, my friend Ben and I went for a 5 mile run along the East River running path. The weather was really nice and who doesn’t love running along the water? On the walk back, we stopped at One Lucky Duck for a cold-pressed juice. I had the Green Apple: apple, cucumber, celery, mint, lime, spinach. It was interesting, and now I want a juicer.

To refuel, we ordered a pizza from Naked Pizza. Their pizza contains less calories than typical fast food pizza places and does not contain added sugar, hydrogenated oils, or HFCS. Our pizza was topped with black beans, pineapple, tomatoes, spinach, and roasted red peppers.

Saturday evening, Lucy, her friend Shana, and I went to dinner and drinks at Room Service, a Thai restaurant in Chelsea. I had the Room Service Pad Thai: sautéed glass vermicelli with shrimps, mixed seafood, mangoes, brown tofu, bean sprouts, scallions, crushed peanuts,  wrapped in an egg white crepe. The presentation was so neat – once you break the egg layer, out pop the noodles and seafood. Fun stuff.

Lucy had the Green Curry. Hers was also delicious.

After dinner we bar hopped in the West Village, making stops at Kingswood and Desantos.

We had too much fun, as usual. Stay tuned for more on NYC tomorrow!

Body Attack and Sushi Taro

On Tuesday, Amanda and I planned on going to Body Attack and the Farmer’s Market. Besides the fact that Body Attack is a great cardio workout, I love going for several reasons:

1. Erica teaches the class. She is just awesome. Her energy is contagious and she’s really fun to watch. She’s a billion times more coordinated than I am and honestly, she inspires me to be less twinkle-toed. Did I mention she just gave birth to her gorgeous daughter, Kailyn? Yep, she welcome her peanut on August 1st, and is already teaching classes. See, I told you she’s inspirational.
2. The music! If I’m ever in need for some good tunes, Body Attack has some great tracks. They are usually fast-paced and would probably be great to run to.
3. It’s a good laugh. Honest to God, if I’m ever having a bad day, I need to remind myself that Body Attack makes me laugh a little too much. At what you say? Oh, just myself. My lack of coordination and inability to combine steps is really quite humorous. I always look over at Amanda (who does really well) and then back and myself and think “What are you dooooooooing, Christina? Get with it!” And then I look at Erica and I think “Oh damn, she’s good.”

Seriously though, check out Body Attack if your gym provides the class. It’s an calorie-torching hour of fun!

Our plans to hit up the Farmer’s Market didn’t work out. As we pulled up, we noticed all the trucks packing up! It wasn’t totally dark yet, but I guess that’s what happens when Summer turns to fall. Boo!

But instead of calling it a night, we decided to try a new(ish) restaurant in Mt. P: Sushi Taro. Sushi Taro menu is huge, with options ranging from sushi, hibachi, noodles, and even a few Thai entrees. Amanda and I decided to get an appetizer and share two entrees. This is pretty much the way we always eat together!

After many recommendations from our server (who was so sweet by the way!), we opted for the Gyoza: pan-fried pork dumplings served with ponzu sauce ($6).

Loooooved these. They were slightly crunchy on the outside with a tender, meaty filling. The sweet ponzu sauce was excellent.

Neither Amanda or I can resist a good Pad Thai. I also get really excited when I see Udon noodles on a menu…so that’s exactly what we ordered for our entrees.

Pad Thai: shrimp with rice noodles, bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro, chili paste, lime, crushed peanuts and eggs with tamarind sauce ($11).

Yaki Udon: Shrimp, chicken or beef with special sauce served on hot sizzling plate ($8).

We immediately dug in and loved both dishes…except for the shrimp on the Pad Thai. Something wasn’t right about the smell. And the taste. I’ve had food poisoning from bad oysters before, so there was no way I was taking any chances. I politely sent it back with our waitress who offered to remake the dish with chicken. Both she and the chef were apologetic and more than happy to remake it for us. Every restaurant can make a mistake, but to me, how they handle it is what matters most.

Overall, we were extremely happy with Sushi Taro. The menu prices were very reasonable and the food was just as good as Basil. Think about this: the Pad Thai at Basil is 15.50 and at Sushi Taro it is $11 and tastes the same. Hmm…I think we know where I’ll be revisiting! And if not for the Pad Thai, I still want to try their sushi and hibachi.

What are some of your favorite Japanese/Chinese/Thai entrees?

Have any memorable restaurant experiences? Good or bad?

Basil and Babe-Hunting with Boding

Today I met my old roommate, Boding, for lunch at Basil downtown. I hadn’t been in so long and was seriously craving their Pad Thai. Neither of us even looked at the menu – we just automatically knew we both wanted their signature dish. Rice noodles stir-fried with chicken, shrimp, eggs, bean sprouts, scallions, peanuts and Pad Thai sauce. I also asked our server to bring out some of “whatever they use to make this dish spicy.” She knew what I meant.

After lunch we frolicked around King St. in the beautiful weather. Today was sunny and in the 70s – perfect for babe-hunting and shopping. I stopped into The Vault for the first time. They have a lot of pretty shirts and adorable Summer dresses. I tried on a few things while Boding played with my camera. What was behind this curtain? ME! haha.The lady that worked there was ridiculously friendly but kept bringing me those most hideous things to try on. Like this shirt…It looks like Mother Nature threw up on me.

Next, we went to Dumas for Boding. This store is really something. Really Southern. We found the most incredibly patterned bow ties. Among my favorites were shot guns, butterbeans, cotton, and okra. Who puts food on ties!? And can I get a man in a cookie tie?

I do love the South, but if I stay here much longer, I could end up with THIS MAN.Hopefully mine would have a head though.

Our last stop was a sweet fix at Godiva. Did yall know that if you sign up for the Rewards Club, you get a free piece of chocolate each month? We can thank Lucy for this vital information. I left with a Carrot Cake truffle and a Honey Almond truffle for later.

On the way home, I stopped by Eco and did 35 minutes of HIIT plus 25 minutes of arm/chest exercises. The guy who gave me unsolicited advice last week said “Hi gym rat!” and then spoke to me in Spanish. He is a character.

After the gym, I attacked the Carrot Cake truffle, but it wasn’t at all what I expected. Instead of a cakey center, it had a cream cheese and cake batter-like filling. It was good, but I wanted cake!

I can almost guarantee that I will be eating the honey almond truffle with my breakfast tomorrow.

Any suggestions on what/where to eat while in NYC? One of my top reasons for going is for a Levain Bakery cookie. Priorities, priorities.