It's all good

Hi There!! 

Happy Tuesday (if there is such a thing)... 

This week already seems very, very long - at 3pm both yesterday and today, the clock started to move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me. Extra points for you if you got that reference.

That being said, there is definitely good news this week:

• I did pilates yesterday and yoga today. I hope to focus on cardio and the below activities for the rest of the week.
• I discovered that I get 24 free channels by plugging a unnoticed cable in to my almost never used television. My life will be changed forever haha. 
• These newly discovered channels have allowed me to watch not only Bachelor Pad but the Olympics! There is such a HUGE difference between Olympic coverage here in the US compared to back home in Canada. Craziness! Observations:
•  I'm super into gymnastics right now! Teeny little people doing wild flips, spins, bounces and kicks = entertainment at its best. 
• Poor Michael Phelps has lost just a teensy bit of his mojo :( but he is still pretty rad
• My aunt & uncle were here this past weekend and they took my to Costco while they were here (yes, in Harlem). That means that my freezer is stocked with scallops, salmon, halibut and coffee. That means my fridge is full of very cool cheese. That means that I have enough bottles of wine to last me at least until Sunday ;)
• Thursday is my company's annual employee summer party. We are going to a country club in NJ. I've signed up for 2 activities: cooking class & wine tasting class. Should be a co-workertastic time.
• Friday, BF and I are going to go see Mike Tyson on Broadway. Seriously. I'll let you know how it goes.

Since I have been bad at taking pictures lately, here are a few things that have been going on in my kitchen:

street cherries - $2/lb . Loves it.

leftover chili + salad

I'm off to bed. Night Night!

Jenna Lyons & Locanda Verde

Happy Friday!

I took today off of work and have been enjoying every minute - particularly the sleeping until 10 part :)

This week, I went out for a friend's birthday at Locanda Verde. It is a gorgeous, very cool restaurant in Tribeca. The menu was amazing - we shared just about everything: 2 crostinis and 4 antipasti dishes. For my entree, I ordered the sea scallops (my fave!).

We started our meal with a bottle of Prosecco. Right after clinking our glasses, one of my friends noticed that Jenna Lyons (creative director / prez of J Crew) was in the restaurant. Such a cool celeb sighting. I wish I was brave enough to introduce myself! Gotta love New York :)

Check out what we ordered:

Sheep’s Milk Ricotta with sea salt and herbs - this was insane

complimentary foccacia bread for the table with pesto & tomato - soo good

blue crab crostini w/ jalapeno & tomato and the grilled octapus

Roasted Sea Scallops with spring peas, almond gazpacho and pancetta mostarda 

I love restaurants in Tribeca because they're usually simple, clean and have more space than places in my neighborhood.

  

yes, i took a picture of the tap in the bathroom

If you're in the area and are feeling fancy, go!

This weekend, my aunt and uncle are visiting me from Toronto. I'm very excited to see them!

Since I will definitely be skipping the gym this weekend, I plan on taking a total body conditioning class later today. These classes kick my butt - I have a tough time doing strength training and will do more squats than I have all week BUT I can't deny the benefits of dropping it low! Here in the city, its about to thunderstorm. I hope it lightens up before I have to walk to the gym!

Have a good weekend!

Pot o Gold

Hi!

Happy Monday! Last night I made a big pot of vegetarian chili for this week's work lunches. 

What was in it?

• pinto beans
• chick peas
• black beans
• crushed tomatoes
• marinara sauce
• hot sauce (lots)
• chili powder
• garlic salt
• salt & pepper
• yellow onion
• green peppers
• orange peppers
• corn kernels 
• olive oil
• garlic

 I threw it all in my giant-est pot for about 2 hours.

 Et voila! It was really good!

This is a great way to spread your grocery money over a week! Summertime makes me a very broke girl (with all of the excessive going out and whatnot), therefore healthy, cheap meals are a must. 

 Yesterday I decided to take a Total Body Conditioning class but before leaving my apartment at 5:30, I decided to drink a little 5 hour energy. Big mistake! The whole class I was dizzy and had too much energyyyyyyyy.  THEN I couldn't fall asleep until almost 2am. Blech never again. I felt like this:

If you've never watched this, you're welcome. Kenyans!

Anyhoo, I decided to take pilates at lunch today and it was fantastic. My whole body feels like it worked today. Tomorrow is Vinyasa yoga with my favorite teacher at NYSC. He's so cool :)

Have you tried taking energy drinks / supplements before a workout? 

Do you make big batches to stretch out your $?

I'm off to bed. Nighty night!

Weekend fun

This weekend felt way too fast!

On Friday, I went to The Delancy in the Lower East Side for a good friend's birthday party. I like this place because they have a very pretty rooftop BUT I found the crowd a bit too hipster-y for my liking, it was crowded, and the neighborhood is a bit sketchy (right by the Brooklyn bridge) Even with those flaws, I still had lots and lots of fun!

pretty palm trees :)

outside of the front door of the bar. see? sketchy

pretty

Today I went to the gym and took a Total Body Condition class. So tough. The instructor combined lots of cardio with what seemed like a bah-zillion squats. After the class I did 30 minutes on the elliptical to flush things out. 

When I left the gym, I wandered into the grocery store because I had a craving for chocolate milk. I found something even better:

I can't wait to put in coffee tomorrow morning.

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday. I don't wannnna go!!! 

How was your weekend?

Special Dinner

Hi There!

As part BF’s birthday gift, I usually like to make him a special meal. 
For him, a special meal = meat.

I haven’t eaten meat for about 10 years (not including fish). OBVIOUSLY when it comes to working with meat, I need as much help as I can get! I almost never use recipes, but for meat dishes I need instructions. Detailed instructions haha. 
After countless Google searches and discussions with friends to try and find the perfect recipe, I decided on the below recipe I found on the Food Network website created by Ina Garten.

After researching Ina a bit more, I learned 2 things:

•  Ina likes butter 
• A lot of people like Ina

Based on this discovery, I decided to attempt the below recipe. The only difference I found between Ina’s recipe & reality was timing. Prep took way longer than 20 minutes and cooking time was almost 2 hours.

Perfect Roast Chicken (the title is really what sold me)

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_21404_RECIPE-PRINT-FULL-PAGE-FORMATTER,00.html

Prep Time:20 min

Cook Time:1 hr 30 min

Level: Intermediate

Ingredients

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs ( forgot the extra 20 sprigs! Oops!)

1 lemon, halved

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks

1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges

Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

 The result? It looks pretty good! BF said he really liked it and got very excited about the whole process. I made rice and roasted potatoes on the side.

bfs plate. my plate <3

What did I learn? (please don’t take offense if you LOVE chicken but…)I hate chicken. I hate everything about it and I don’t understand how people can eat it after knowing what raw chicken looks / smells / feels like. On the other hand, the cool thing about chicken is that there are endless ways to cook it and it’s not that hard to prepare. BF sure seems to love it.

In other news, I had an amazing time at yoga today. I worked hard, fell over, got sweaty, laughed with a friend, got really deep into a binding triangle pose (even got my leg up in the air!!!!) and  walked out feeling refreshed. The best kind of class.

Anyway, I’m off. Happy almost Friday!

Lucky Day

I won free concert tickets to see the Counting Crows tomorrow night!

I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I sang Mr. Jones in a bar during university. What a great day!

I had a great weekend too. It consisted of a whole lot of this:

rooftop fun times with friends in the East Village

How was your weekend?

Lovely

Happy Weekend!

Today is BF's bday and I'm VERY excited! He is such a catch - smart, handsome, funny, FUN, sweet, caring, altruistic, sensitive yet manly and my best friend :) I love spending his birthday with him. Okay, enough bragging haha. 

I've been really into beets lately. My Tuesday night yoga instructor said that eating beets and celery regularly can relieve lower back tension. This may or may not be true but since I love beets, I'll believe it!

Here is an easy dinner salad I made this week:

- Italian balsamic vinegar

- New York tomatoes

- Chopped romaine lettuce

- Crumbled gorgonzola

- sliced red beets

- 2 pieces crushed garlic

my arm looks weird

note, spilled water all over my table

Jumbled up

Followed by fat free yogurt, cinnamon, sugar free canned cherries and honey I got in Prague!

Anyway, I'm headed out to go shopping for something cute to wear to BF's birthday party. Gotta impress the boy on his special day :)

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

Birthdays & Sushi

Hi!

Happy almost Friday (thank god)! 

The weather in New York was so perfect this week so sitting at my desk was extra challenging. Luckily today I was able to get out and walk along the Hudson River at lunchtime. This week I HARDLY did any cardio. My workouts this week:

• Monday - mat based Pilates and a 30 minute walk
• Tuesday - intense Vinyasa flow yoga
• Wed - just a leisurely walk to BF's apartment from the office: about 30 minutes
• Tonight - Total body conditioning at NYSC. This was the first TBC class I've ever taken that had a cardio aspect to it! I did burpees for the first time in a looong time
• Tomorrow - planning to do spin at lunch!

This weekend is my BF's bday and I couldn't be more excited. He has decided to have a birthday boozy brunch on Saturday. He's just the best and I am the luckiest girl to have spent the majority of my time in the city with him. I love that he wants to do something so fun to celebrate.

I'm still not sure what to get him for a gift. Any ideas? 

I've promised to cook him some type of chicken as part of his gift and I'm super nervous (for those of you who don't know, I do not eat meat except for fish). I would love any ideas for that as well! Last time I cooked him chicken, I used lemon, rosemary and garlic. Apparently it was good so here's hoping for a successful meal!

Speaking of successful meals, let's talk sushi. There is a place near my apartment called Hanabi. My neighborhood has a ZILLION sushi places and they're all awesome. 

Hanabi is a bit different - the sushi is not spectacular, but its pretty darn good and reasonably priced for the Upper East Side.  I find myself getting the same thing every time I go! I order: 

- 'Sweet 16 Roll' - tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, carrot, topped with spicy lobster

- Spicy Salmon - my go to

- Steamed shrimp shumai - these little guys are so yummy. They're about the size of a quarter. 

Check out their menu - http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/hanabi/

  

Looks good right? I might have to get some this weekend.

Other than BF's bday I'm not sure what I'm going to do. If the weather is nice, I will probably go to the public pool near my apartment to cool off.

Let me know if you have any bday gift or meal ideas!

Hope you have a great weekend.

A Coney Island Adventure

My glorious roommate and I decided to take a trip to Coney Island to get out of the unbearable Manhattan heat. 

It was a very cool place! Super retro with the old carnival rides and freak shows, famous Nathan's Hot Dogs where they host the annual hot dog eating contest (barf - veggie dog for me plz), a not too shabby beach (meaning cleanish, cold water and cool breezes), and a very long boardwalk! Originally, I had planned on venturing out on the E train all by myself and I'm definitely glad I brought a friend. It turned out to be a slightly sketchy borderline ghetto hood. 

Overall, well worth the trip! I'm glad I got to see it at least once while I'm living here.

arriving off the subway! so happy we made it.

Nathan's hot dog - complete with countdown board

Roommate and I enjoyed Bud Light Limes, Snyders Honey & Onion Pretzels (the bestest) and strawberries I packed in my beach bag. Yum!

very cool

The weekend we were visiting was the 86th berf-day of the world famous Cyclone! 

sideways pic because I felt pretty wacky afterwards

 We had to try it out. For $8 per person, I had high hopes and boy oh boy were they met! This was the bounciest, bumpiest, most terrifying wooden roller coaster I've ever been on. After the wild ride, my legs were numb, I was sweating and could barely speak. All signs of a good time ;) 


I love old wooden rides (blush) even more than the ones at Canada's Wonderland! For all you Americans out there - please educate yourself on one of my homeland's treasures - http://www.canadaswonderland.com/

Have you been to Coney Island? Do any crazy areas like this exist where you live?

A favor..

My company is having a contest to drive video views! The person who drives the most view through their social network will win an ipad so I"m asking you to check out a video:

Help a girl out!!!

Please and thank you a zillion :)