Still in Shock

Hello lovely ladies...

Life has seriously been a roller coaster lately! SO MUCH going on. I had planned on sharing with you all my super-duper, awesomely amazing visit to the Good Housekeeping Magazine office (A-FREAKIN-MAZING). That being said, I am sort of in a fragile state right now and feeling somewhat traumatized. I do not know if you have heard, but yesterday morning (November 3, 2009), a junior at NYU jumped from the library's 10th floor, through the atrium, and down to the lobby's marble floor taking his own life. It is already disheartening enough to know that a fellow student is so unhappy and depressed that he/she wishes to no longer live, however the most haunting part of this experience for me has been the fact that I saw where the body landed. I had an early morning class yesterday and unfortunately decided to look into the library to see what was going on (they wouldn't tell us anything at first and the journalist side of me sometimes makes me too curious for my own good). Upon peeking in, I saw, taped out on the floor, the body's outline where the victim had landed. Even just looking at or thinking of the library, both yesterday and today, has left me feeling very anxious and deeply saddened. That being said, the past 2 days I have not been my typical, humorous self and feel as though I am lacking my normally there "blogger mentality." I promise to be back in a few days with that awesome GH recap, but for now, please respect the fact that this foodie needs a little time to gain her appetite back! Hope you all have had a happier week than I. Love you all, and take care of yourselves!! Oh, and please remember, every life is worth living!!!!

Peace, love, laughter, and hope.

xo,
S

Manic Monday?!...Talk About Manic Midterm Month!!!

Ladies, ladies, ladies!!!!

Sorry I was gone for the past 7 days. It has been more like midterm month over here. Unfortunately, my crazy a$$ life does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Sigh.

I find comfort in some motivational quotes...
...and in taking random photo shoots with myself (all of you food bloggers know you do it too, lol.)
BUT, the best cure all is a good old-fashioned (new-fashioned?!) blogging session. I mean lets be honest, I am a food studies and journalism major, clearly I enjoy writing about food. So onto the eats...

I DO tend to stress eat, but the past couple of weeks I feel as if I have kept myself pretty in check and in line with my normal/healthy eating habits. That is not to say that I haven't had my fair share of "typical college student pulling an all-nighter eats"

Evidence of me eating typical college"y" food 1:

Curly fries

Evidence of me eating typical college"y" food 2:

Cake batter ice cream

Evidence of me indulging in artificially colored and sweetened liquid poison:









Diet soda galore

But there were some more food blogger treats along the way...

Cocoa coffee

Sparkling water (in my attempt to not OD on diet soda)

Mucho caffination in the form of coffee con leche (coffee with skim)

...AND fries and ice cream were not the only things that wound up in my belly. There were plenty of healthy breakfasts like...

Heritage brand flax flakes and TJ's vanilla 0% yogurt messes

Pumpkin, cinnamon, and plain greek yogurt topped with Heritage brand flax fakes

More autumn loveliness in the form of maple pumpkin oat bran topped with pumpkin pie spice and a dollop of yogurt

Lunches and dinners were pretty tasty and recognizable too!

Hugh Jass salads with mustard-miso dressing and a 1/2 can of tuna (which is def hiding underneath the massive bed of greens)

Egg white omelets paired with steamed snow peas and tri-color pasta topped with some real butta'

...up close and personal

And of course many meals were eaten while on the job--this girl's gotta make a living!!

Lettuce and hummus salad on the left, sauteed carrots and green beans on the right

Carrot-ginger soup with a slice of wheat bread and a container of mixed fruit

Sadly, food has become more of a second thought lately. I just have SO much going on that my main goal basically been to make sure that food gets in my mouth before I pass out...sad but true. I am hoping that by the end of the week when my workload has hopefully died down that I will finally have time to do some home cookin' and recipe sharing. Oh, and I am also planning on having some mighty fine Halloween pics to share. If only I could come up with a costume?!?!?! Honestly, I cannot believe it is already Halloween. It seems like just yesterday it was August!

Tell me your costume ideas!!! I really don't want to buy a costume cuz I feel like it would be a waste of money, plus it is more fun to create my own costume, so I need some help brainstorming my potential homemade costume possibilities--especially considering my brain is pretty fried right now and the only thing I can think of is going as a "new yorker," sad but true!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are having a great last week of October thus far.

I have a VERY exciting day tomorrow, so check back in the next few days for a freakishly awesome blog post. You know you're excited!!

A Few Long Days and BPA

LADIES!!! Sorry to have gone M.I.A. yesterday, but I basically stayed under a pile of books all day. Let's just say I had a long a$$ day that required loads of tummy fuel. BUT, let's back up to Monday night. We last left off with my Monday "lunch" of a DD muffin. I will go ahead and admit it, Monday was a CARBfull day...especially since I ended the day with a grilled cheese sammy (ultra yum). Not guna lie though, I look forward to when I finish/start a loaf of bread because I secretly love the end pieces!
I made my grilled cheese in my cute, new nonstick fry pan. Super cute!

I also had a bottle of black cherry seltzer water on the side. I used to hate seltzer water, but lately I can't seem to get enough of it!!
Onto Tuesday....
I started my day with a bowl of Heritage Flax Flakes and almond milk. Like I've said before, Tuesday's are my crazy day so I basically scarfed this down and ran out the door.
Lunch could not have come soon enough. I had eaten my breakfast at 6:30am and didn't get to eating lunch until 1pm. Needless to say I was hangry!! I don't know about you, but when I feel as if my stomach is practically eating itself, I know that if I eat too much to try and tame that hunger with massive amounts of food all at once, I tend to wind up all cramped up and with a huge stomach ache. Therefore, I opted for a medium cup of ginger carrot soup, a small whole wheat roll and another bottle of lemon seltzer (I told you I can't get enough of them)!
This meal was SOOO good and just what I was craving...love it when that happens. But just because it satisfied my tastebuds, I knew that in an hour or so, it would so not satisfy my still hungry belly. I bought a bag of zoo animal crackers from the vending machine and figured I'd eat them in my next class.
BUT, I ended up only being in class for 15 miutes before I left for the student health center for a spider bite. Yes, you read correctly, a spider bite!! While it wasn't hurting too much, it was very itchy and hurt to touch so I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry. Because I know you're more curious about food, I ended up eating the bag of animal crackers when I was in the waiting room of the student health center (a place I seem to be living in these days).
Look at that thing! I also have a small second bite on my right ring finger. I think scarier than the fact that I got bitten by a spider is the fact that a spider that large was crawling around my bed on Monday night! If you can't tell, I hate spiders, bugs, insects, anything that crawls (besides babies of course), etc. Anyways, going to the health center kind of cut into my planned schedule so I ended up not having time to walk back home to make dinner before my night microbiology class and only had time to run to the deli across the street. Nothing really looked that appealing so I ended up just grabbing a container of fruit and a large water and figured my intensive note taking would take my mind off of my stomach? Boy was I was wrong.
By the time I got home I was once again HANGRY!! Two times in one day, not smart planning on my part. I knew that since I was home, it would be okay to eat a huge meal to conquer my hunger (i.e. I can fart and no one looks at me in disgust. Oh the joys of living alone, hehe). I made myself what I had planned on having for dinner before class--a mixed greens, veggie, and tuna salad with miso dressing. YUM!
BUT, that was not enough food so I went back for a second salad (I was having massive salad cravings!!), but this time I jsut had a bunch of lettuce covered in cranberry and blue cheese dressing. Double yum...yum yum!!
As if my belly wasn't filled with enough food, an hour later I knew I was still hungry so I made myself a grilled cheese. Simple and oh so ooey-gooey fantastical! Yes, that is a phrase...because I'm making it one.
Also, eating again was an excuse to take a 10 minute break from studying. Oh, and since I hadn't had one in forever, I also had a fudgesicle.
Wow, you still with me?! Onto today, Wednesday. I started my day with a DD coffee to wake me up. For someone who works in a coffee shop that serves only hand roasted coffee, I don't understand my addiction to DD coffee. Now no offense to those DD coffee lovers out there, but in comparison to the coffee where I work--Jittery Joes--DD coffee stinks! Now don't get me wrong, I still drink it almost daily, (probably only because a DD is located at the end of my street) but still, my DD coffee has to be "milked down" whereas JJ coffee is delicious straight up black. But back to my day's eats...
I also had an awesome breakfast of pumpkin yogurt and apple oats!
Layer 1:
1/3 c. oats made in the microwave with water, loads of pumpkin pie spice, and a huge spoonful of pumpkin.
Layer 2:
A single serving container of TJ's vanilla 0% greek yogurt
Layer 3:
1/2 of a fuji apple that I diced and warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds
SOOOOOOOO good!
I picked up lunch on my walk home from my morning classes/Asian Pacific American midterm. I think the midterm went pretty well. I just feel as if on the in-class essay midterm, I was only able to demonstrate a fraction of my knowledge which really of frustrated me. It's like I knew all of the concepts I had to explain but couldn't spit out everything I knew in a little over an hour so all my thoughts just got jumbled. Sadness. Hopefully my teacher/TA can weed through my spastic thoughts.

To cheer myself up, I stopped and bought myself a sushi lunch. I have been craving sushi for a few days now and I figured today was the perfect day to treat myself. I also bought a grape-free fruit cup (if you don't know, I am allergic to grapes) and a lemon diet snapple.
Salmon avocado roll...
Melon, oranges, kiwi, and strawberries...
I ate my fruit with the same chopsticks from my sushi. I kind of liked eating my fruit this way....I know, I am strange.
Later in the day I ate half of a cookie dough balance bar to hold me over until dinner time.
But dinner came early, as per usual, tonight when I made myself an awesome dinner of a 3 egg white omelet, 1 c. of tri-colored pasta with a bit of real butter, and a handful of steamed snow peas. As if Ihaven't said it enough in this post, so good!
This dinner definitely hit the spot and satiated all of my cravings, except for something sweet. Enter, a sliced fuji apple. Mission satisfy all taste bud cravings conquered!
Alright, well I have loads of work to do including an article on the presence of BPA in supposedly microwave-safe containers and baby bottles, etc.

This leads me to a very, very important question that I hope you take the time to answer. I need to cite some consumer takes on the potentially harmful presence of BPA (Bisphenol A) in many household products. Therefore, if you could, please take the time to help a sista' out and answer the following questions...

1.) Do you even know what BPA is?
2.) Have you become more BPA conscious when purchasing tupperware, canned soups, and other food related products that most likely contain BPA in their packaging?
3.) Do you think all products containg BPA should be removed from store shelves?

Thank you lovely ladies (and gents?!) and just think, two more days and the work/school week is over!!...but for now, back to the homework.

Peace.

xo,
S

EDIT: I just ate another container of yogurt topped with some cereal. Mindless eating, yes. Did I really need it, no. Is my belly happy now, you betcha'...Good night all!!

Nothing Like Some Good Old Fashioned Mommy-Daughter Time

Thank you for all the comments about my Mom's visit this past weekend. We had an amazing time together and I cannot believe she is already back in Arizona...Sadness. BUT, while the madre was in town, we had quite the blast-y. My mom got in at dinner time on Thursday evening so me and my two closest friends all decided to wait until my mom arrived and then go for a late dinner. We went to my mom's all time favorite restaurant int he city, and one of my personal favs, Veselka, and had an awesome dinner that filled my tummy and my heart!! I ordered the vegetarian stuffed cabbage with mushroom gravy and a cup of vegetable soup and was in foodie heaven. While I forgot to snap a photo of my dinner, I did snap some pics of my mom and I as well as of me and my friends. (PS-excuse the sh!tty hair...we had walked to the restaurant in the pouring rain).
I love that this pic of my mom and I, while not the best it completely embraces how happy we both truly were to be with one another and was so not posed. This pic below on the other hand--completely posed. It took us like 11 tries to get a photo that wasn't blurry so when this one came out clear, I was happy to give my cheeks a rest. The pic is still cute though. Oh, and I love my girls Caroline and Joyce...they are the best!!
I wish I would have taken more pics over the course of my mom's stay, but I just got so caught up in her presence that my photog mentality went out the window. I did remember to take some pics though. Like Friday's breakfast of pumpkin oats topped with greek yogurt...
And Saturday's yogurt mess breakfast...
My midnight snack on Saturday evening (and apparently eating whilst admiring my facebook uploading skills...cuz that's what the cool kids do...)
And Sunday night's early homeade, egg and veggie bowl dinner...
...that was followed with a Sunday night early dinner grilled cheese sammy...
Oh and don't forget lunch on Sunday, that was a veggie wrap from Whole Foods. Had to stay fueled for our day of shopping.
But best of all were the nights we went out to dinner. While I already told you about my dinner on Thursday night, this Friday night dinner topped them all! you are looking at the best piece of grilled salmon slathered in chili sauce over sauteed greens and white rice this girl has ever eaten.
I give it 9 stars (brown rice instead of white rice would of made it a full 10. What can I say, I like me some WHOLE grains).

The rest of the weekend was somewhat of a blur. We dined with my brother's girlfriend (who by the way gave me a bag full of clothes from the company she works for..did I mention I love her!), shoe shopped like it was our job, ran a few errands that involved the needing of 4 hands as opposed to just my 2, and overall, just had some quality mommy-daughter time. While I was sad to see my mom go at 5:30am this morning, I was more sad to realize that I had to get my act together for class in a few hours. I walked to the corner to pick up coffee number one of this lovely morning and also ate half of a balance bar while doing some last minute reading for my Asian Pacific American Studies class I had in a few hours.
Mmmm, cookie dough!
I also enjoyed a fashionable photo shoot with myself as I prepared to dress in all my new duds. While I tend to not be a fan of leggings as pants, I decided to rock the look anyways as to not detract from the gloriousness that is my new boots!!
Pure shoe love right there!!
I was also happy to be wearing my butterfly and black stone necklace once again. I had bought myself this necklace back in May (and a similar, shorter necklace for my mom for this past Mother's Day), but the chain had broken after only a couple of wears. Needless to say, I was really happy when the designer said she would fix it free of charge. Too bad it took her 4 months to fix it and get it back to me! But all is good, I am reunited with my long and lovely necklace.
I was feeling fashionably fierce, smiles and all (I will refrain from posting my impression of "blue steel" for you...Zoolander, anyone?!)
In getting back into 'the grind' I drank a bottle of berry propel on the 30 minute walk to class.
And then purchased the most unhealthy "lunch" on my way home from class...another coffee and an apple caramel muffin. At least it was low fat?! (...I know, I know..this means MORE sugar though).
My muffin minus a pre-pic bite. YUM!
Well now I am about to walk back down to "campus" and do some hardcore midterm studying at the library. Hopefully my muffin will keep the stomach rumbles at bay.

I hope you all are having great Mondays and had fantastic weekends as well. I can't wait to catch up on all of your blogs and weekend debauchery later tonight!

Peace.

xo,
S

Mama P:T!!!

Just wanted to give you all (my 3 or so readers?!?!...lol) a heads up...

Mama P:T just got into town and is, as we speak (i.e. type), on a cab to my apartment. I haven't seen my Mom in over 6 months or so and I am ELATED that she is visiting me for a long weekend. That being said, I will probably not be posting or commenting on blogs this weekend. You all know I will be back on Monday/Tuesday night in full force with a bad ass recap and some killer comments on all of YOUR blogs!

Spreading the love to all of my lovely blogging ladies (and gents?!). Happy (almost) weekend!!!!

Peace.

xo,
S

Long Day, Long Post

HELLO!!!

Sorry for not posting last night but I was BEYOND exhausted. After four classes ranging between the time period of 8am-9:15pm, one of which was a midterm (Food Microbiology and Sanitation...it was as hard as it sounds), plus a doctors appointment, and a lunch meeting, I was in major need of some healthy food refueling and MUCHO sleep. Alas why I pretty much crashed when I got home last night. Oh, and while we are on the topic of pushing through hard days, it did NOT help that I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before due to some hardcore studying as well as the fact that I am STILL sick. Boo!

Like I said, I only got 2 hours of sleep on Monday night because I was voraciously studying for my midterm that counts towards 50% of my grade, and therefore literally had to peel myself out of my bed Tuesday morning. It was a task and a half! After I finally got myself showered and dressed I knew I needed to eat a smart breakfast that would keep me full for a solid 5 hours. I opted for a large bowl of Kashi Go Lean (lots and lots of good protein and fiber) with almond milk which happened to be a really great choice that kept me nice and full.
It also probably helped that I munched on an apple while putting my makeup on.After my first class I had to stop into the health center for a follow-up doctors appointment and unfortunately found out I now have a sinus infection. So not cool, and SO not good timing. I waited until my new prescription was filled and then I darted to my second class of the day. I started to get really hungry towards the end of class--Foundations of Journalism--so I took some random pix to pass the time. Some studious note taking (cough*facebook stalking*cough).
Some actual paying attention DID happen. I was proud considering the lecture in this class is basically my professor reading his PowerPoint slides. Not so interesting.
I literally ran out of my class to speed walk my way to a top secret lunch meeting with a top mystery lunch date....more information on this to come in the near future!
Unfortunately my tomato and veggie soup tasted like pure salt and so after barely choking half down, I decided I would be better off to just pick something else up on my walk back to campus. I was running late for my Nutrition and Health class so I just stopped into a random CVS and bought a propel water (berry flavored is not as good as the lemon flavored) as well as a balance bar, aka a glorified candy bar. It wasn't the best lunch health wise in the slightest but it served its purpose and kept me going through my 3 hour class.
By the time this class rapped up my stomach was rumbling again, but that was okay because I had to eat dinner before my 6:45pm class anyways (the class I had my midterm in). I ended up just stopping my a random sandwich and salad shop and got myself a large chopped salad topped with some provolone for protein and a large cup of hot tea for my throat. I had an hour to spare so I spent the time studying in the student health center. I was still hungry so I bought a bag of animal crackers from the vending machine. While not the healthiest thing int he world, zoo crackers always make me happy cuz they remind me of my childhood. Oh, nostalgia.
I think my midterm went pretty well, but I don't want to jinx anything...knock on wood!! When I got home, like I said, all I wanted to do was crash, but first some ice cream was in order. I had a small cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream that I ate with a plastic fork cuz I didn't want to have to do dishes. Sad but true.
I soon fell into a deep sleep and slept like a ROCK! When I woke up this morning I had some oat bran flakes that I sprinkled with some cinnamon and doused in almond milk. I was really craving oatmeal but I was in a rush so the oats were a no go.

After my two morning classes I made a quick Trader Joe run and then came home to make myself lunch. I was really craving tuna so I made a large batch of tuna salad and stored the left overs in my "recycled" tupperware.
...don't judge. It works! I ended up taking some of the tuna salad and made myself a grilled tuna sammy on whole wheat with a half slice of real cheddar cheese.
Mmmmmmm!
I took the pics by the window for the natural light, but I actually ate it while at my desk, headphones in ears.
Oh, and I had one of these guys too. Gotta have me some sweets.
Alright ladies, I am in one hell of a rush now that I made that gargantuan post and need to get my bootay to work. Anyone in midtown nyc wanna stop by and visit me at Jittery Joe's?! I can promise free coffee, lol!

Hope you all are having a great hump day!

Peace.

xo,
S

Cereal Madness and Revival of the Nasty Cold!!!

I woke up this morning to some loud a$$ beeping (courtesy of my alarm clock) and was so not happy about the fact that I had to get out of my warm bed and go to class. I forgot last night to print out a 50+ page article before, so needless to say, I was in kind of a rush this morning. With no time for stove top oats, I decided a yogurt mess would be perfect. I mixed the two cereals I picked up yesterday and had them atop of the remaining Oikos greek yogurt I had in my fridge.
I guess I thought I was hungrier than I was cuz once I finished this bowl, I decided to have another bowl. NOT my best idea. I felt like I had a brick in my stomach and was uncomfortable all morning--especially since both cereals that I mixed together pack a big protein and fiber punch. On the bright side, it's moments like these that I am reminded of the importance of following intuitive eating. So that was exactly what I did for the rest of the day...ate intuitively.

Once class finished (I only have one class on Mondays....an easy way to start the week but bad because it means I have long days the rest of the week...i.e. I am in class from 8am-9:15pm on Tuesdays) I trudged home and decided to take a much needed nap. I had planned on going to the library to study for my midterms, but when I almost dozed off in class, I knew getting more sleep was the smarter thing to do. Anyways, after taking a 3 hour nap, I woke up to a very cold apartment. Apparently my apartment building has not gotten the memo that it is COLD outside. I immediately put shoes on and darted to the end of the street to pick up a large cup of coffee!

At this point it was 4pm, and I STILL wasn't hungry. Damn that huge breakfast of mine!! I figured while I had the caffeine in me, I should get some much needed studying done so I packed up my things and made the 25 minute walk back to campus to work in the library (I don't work well at home because I get easily distracted).

But let's back up a bit. When I woke up this morning, besides feeling tired, I felt extremely stuffy and my throat was VERY sore. I definitely did too much yesterday, errands and all, when I should of had another day of rest. I guess that is the problem when you live in a city where you must walk everywhere (especially when you live alone), you wear yourself out right when you are starting to feel better!

But back to my studying at the library. I must of looked like such a freak with my whole "I am sick" supplies surrounding me. As you can see I came prepared with meds, tissues, propel water, and cough drops...and it's a good thing too! I was so a sick hott mess. No one wanted to sit near me. Oh well, I got A LOT of work done regardless. I got to the library around 4:30pm and only left at 8pm when my stomach FINALLY started to give me the sign that I was hungry. I was really proud of myself for following my stomach cues and not my mental cues for hunger!
I decided to go to one of my favorite little health food restaurants--Eva's--and pick up a quick and healthy meal. After all of that cereal all I was craving was GREENS!! I opted for the "U tuna me on" salad (sans the brown rice for anyone who checks out the menu). In my AMAZING salad there was obviously loads of romaine lettuce and tomatoes, but also a huge mound of freshly ground hummus and an entire can of white meat tuna fish. I topped the whole salad off with half of one container of carrot-ginger salad dressing. In the end I only ate about half of the tuna but pretty much cleaned my plate otherwise. I also ate half of the whole wheat pita that came with the salad (dipped in hummus). YUM!
After I ate I walked back to the library (a short 5 minute walk), and did a little more studying before I decided it was time to pack up and head home. On my walk home however, I passed this beauty of a sight!
These are the times when I truly appreciate the fact that I go to college in the middle of NYC. sigh.

When I got home, all I wanted to do was take a hot shower and dig into one of these guys. At this point my throat was KILLING me and my beloved fudgsicles have never tasted so good. I might of had two...my throat needed it!
Alright lovely ladies, I think I am guna call it a night and rest up for my long day of class tomorrow (Food Microbiology and Sanitation midterm included).

Hope you all had a grand start to your week!

Peace.

xo, S

EDIT TO ADD: I just had a Fuji apple with a little bit of almond butter. It was necessary, lol. 'Night y'all!