Bright and Sunshiny Day


I love that it takes less than two hours to drive to San Francisco. When I was off from school between finishing my undergrad and starting grad school I would drive into the city every couple months. This past semester it felt like I couldn't even give up one precious day of study time to enjoy San Francisco. But now that I'm on winter break and can enjoy slowing things down, my mom and I headed to San Francisco to enjoy Tartine, the de Young museum, a new bar and coffee shop, and Flour and Water.


Tartine


Beautiful artwork by Ashley Eva Brock and Charlie Callahan


all of the pastries, please


Essentially the whole point of the SF trip...morning buns from Tartine



de Young Museum



Easily my favorite piece of artwork in the whole museum










love all of the murals around the city

Trick Dog Bar







Current read and obsession



xxo



Deviating from the Plan

I found this oatmeal recipe a long time ago and have made it several times in winter. So delicious (especially the coconut whip cream). The breakfast on my food challenge for today was another unbearable chia pudding, so I substituted this perfect rainy morning recipe.








The original recipe calls for beating the whip cream with a hand mixer, but I used a whisk and it turned out just as well





Even more amazing than this breakfast? Tonight is my last night of class for the semester. Winter break will be filled with reading Darling Magazine, books about sex and feminism, binge watching Netflix, and working on my thesis.

xxo

Creature of Habit

This food challenge has really brought to light the fact that I am a true creature of habit. Every morning I eat two scrambled eggs with my coffee (with vanilla creamer of course). Sometimes I'll add in toast or a bagel with cream cheese. But always scrambled eggs. And I LOVE them. Could eat scrambled eggs every morning for the rest of my life and still delight in them.

For lunch I usually eat a tuna or turkey sandwich with bbq chips (because they are the best...right after blue doritos, but I feel too guilty eating those regularly...they probably have the same nutritional value. But the bbq chips I buy from Whole Foods. Therefore, they're better for you. Sound logic). Pellegrino. Fruit. And a treat. 

Dinner is usually some variation on white meat, quinoa or brown rice, and green beans or broccoli. And wine. Or beer. 


Day 4 was pretty great. I'm enjoying the smoothies far more than I thought I would. This one I even macgyver'd because I don't own a blender (Santa's on it), so I made it in my food processor. HA. A little chunky, but still worked.

I made the dinner a little differently and substituted brussel sprouts for the leeks. It was also the first time I had roasted radishes. Not horrible, but I definitely prefer them raw on a salad or sandwich.

Day 5 was a bit wonky...I do not like chia pudding, so for breakfast I made two hardboiled eggs (recall the aforementioned love of eggs?). The pear and almond butter was a great combo and surprisingly was the first time I had put those two things together. Left over veggie salad was great. And instead of the dinner above, I had tamales from the St. John's craft fair.

Day 6 I made my smoothie (in the food processor again)...Did not make the carrot salad because I was running around all day getting errands done. So I had cucumber and carrots with hummus, then a little later an apple with almond butter. The turkey burger for dinner was great! Sans the collard green "bun." When I make regular hamburgers I usually leave the bun off and just eat it with knife and fork anyways.

That night was the Zuda Yoga staff holiday party. SO.HARD. to resist the alcohol, bread, and dessert. But I was really impressed with myself for doing so. And not just because of the challenge. I was proud of myself for going to a social event and not relying on a glass of wine to calm my nerves.

And the dates stuffed with almonds instead of pistachios (had a bad experience with pistachios as a child and haven't had one since!!) and coconut flakes was really yummy.


                           
Half way mark! Sweet potatoes were AMAZING. And what's even better is that I resisted going to Cafe Bernardo for a bunless hamburger with sweet potato fries while I was at The Pavillions shopping at The Paper Garden. YAS will power.

I was a little weary for dinner, since I am new to sea food. I had only tried shrimp once and they were the really tiny ones. Unfortunately, my same thoughts exist today: the taste is pretty good, but the texture is just too chewy for me. But again, this challenge is also about me trying new foods, and I at four of the six shrimp I had prepared.

My last day of the challenge will be this upcoming Sunday. Which is perfect because the bestie comes to town Monday for the week. And you know we're all about pizza and wine and cheese. So there's that...

xxo

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Friday night was the annual St. John's craft fair. My mother and I have been attending since the little brother was in kindergarten (he's now a junior in high school. Where does the time go?!). I loved this craft fair, especially the years after I moved into my apartment. I found many jewels to add to my home. In recent years though I think we go mostly for the tradition and the time spent together. And the tamales. ALWAYS for tamales.


















I had wonderful plans to take pictures of the amazing tamales...but my appetite and the excitement got the better of me and I just dug right in. By the time i was half way through I remembered my intentions, but it was too good to stop mid tamale for photos. Sacrifices must be made. 

xxo

Preparation is Key

Day 2 Recap: did NOT like the chia pudding for breakfast. The lunch salad was amazing. However, if I make it again, I would put slightly less dressing on the finished product... Dinner was alright. It was the first time I've had ground turkey meat. The spaghetti squash was nothing like delicious pasta pretty good with the parmesan sprinkled over it. And somehow I missed getting swiss chard at the grocery store, so I didn't end up with any greens on my dinner plate...

Lunch time salad



Here are a few things I'm noticing while on this 14 day challenge...


  1. Prep EVERYTHING for the next day the night before. And then even look at the needs of two days out to make sure you know what's coming up
  2. It is far easier to do this plan on nights that I don't have class. Yesterday I brought some left overs from dinner with my mom to school with me, then made the challenge dinner when I got home
  3. Try everything, but don't make yourself eat it if you don't like it. Case in point: chia pudding. While it looks pretty, I just can't do the texture of it. There's another breakfast coming up that is another chia pudding recipe that I'm planning on substituting with gluten free oat meal                   
  4. I mainly miss coffee not for the caffeine (thankfully no headaches), but mostly for the morning ritual of hearing it brew, mixing it in with my vanilla creamer, and taking that first sip of the day

I felt really proud of myself for making the frittata for breakfast this morning. It looked like it would require far more work and time than it did. But it was really simple, and convenient enough to make before work. Plus, it combines two of my favorite foods: eggs and broccoli. 


I ate a quarter of the frittata this am, then another quarter for a morning snack. I ate the apple and almonds (plus a cutie tangerine) around lunch time, and am planning on eating the chicken and veggies closer to 2pm or 3pm in hopes that it'll hold me over until I get home from school tonight at 8pm...Wish me luck

xxo