Category Archives: Reviews

Marathon Photos and Angelica Kitchen

Posted on May 20, 2010 | 9 comments

Good morning all – we made it past Hump Day! We are inching along toward Friday. Before I get into Wednesday’s recap, which includes a review of Angelica Kitchen, I’m going to reluctantly share with you some of my Pocono Marathon photos taken by the event sponsor. I think they pretty adequately depict my decline in strength and spirit. 

The start (look at how eager I am – see me there in the blue tank top and black shorts!) 

 

Next the photographer caught us at the halfway mark. Somehow I always manage to miss the photographer and have my eyes closed: 

 
And there’s proof that I was still motoring – my official halfway time was 1:45! 

Next up, we have some extremely flattering photos from mile 18. At this point I was most certainly feeling some pain. 

 

 
And man am I white!! I’m also kind of impressed with my ripped leg muscle in the last photo. I think it’s because I was going downhill, so my muscles were screaming and bulging a bit, but doesn’t my leg look totally ripped?! It’s nice to dream. 

And lastly, my finish shot is also less than stellar. 

 
Head down, struggling to pull it in, looking like I was barely moving. My clock finish time was 3:39:56 and my chip finish time was 3:39:35. 

Gorgeous I know, it’s okay to be jealous. Hey, I’ve never claimed to be a pretty or photogenic runner! Tomorrow I think I’m going to do a post about what exactly I changed in my training plan, eating and thinking from my first marathon to this marathon and how these changes helped me reach my BQ time. 

So now on to Wednesday’s recap. Breakfast was a multi-grain English muffin with peanut butter and banana on one side and apricot jelly on the other. 

 

For lunch a few of my co-workers decided we needed to go out and celebrate my latest my marathon completion. We went to Zigolini’s near Stone Street and I had the arugula salad with a side of fries (no pics). 

After work I met up with one of my best friends, Katie, for a belated birthday dinner/celebratory marathon dinner. I’ve been wanting to try Angelica Kitchen for a while now and I knew that Katie is usually up for trying new and potentially different/delicious restaurants. 

I stopped at Trader Joe’s along the way and picked up a bottle of 3 Buck Chuck Shiraz to share with our dinner.

We arrived at Angelica fairly early, which was good because it filled up quickly. We settled in and started to peruse the extensive menu. 

Angelica Kitchen Review 

We started with the Soba Sensation appetizer: rich, velvety sesame sauce ladled over soba noodles, topped with pickled red cabbage garnish. 

 

That photo was taken after we mixed it all up. We also tried their Southern Style Cornbread with the Onion Spread and it was delicious. 

Now my apologies, I forgot to take photos of our entrees. They looked so amazing, we just dove right in. We ordered the two specials of the day which were: 

Wyld Scallions: Savory Mexican style corn cakes featuring Yukon gold potatoes, roasted red & green peppers, sautéed scallions, carrots, corn meal & sweet corn kernels; topped with black bean-tomato salsa, sprinkled with toasted pumpkin seeds & served with guacamole. Accompanied by green beans & roasted cauliflower; garnished with mixed lettuce. 

Dill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Delectable Greek style casserole layered with a mix of spinach, nettles, roasted zucchini, leeks, button mushrooms, & onions, balsamic marinated beets, lemon dill tofu cheese & a whole wheat couscous crust, baked with a flaky phyllo top; served over creamy carrot-sunflower seed coulis. Accompanied by asparagus & an arugula salad drizzled with orange balsamic vinaigrette. 

The prior was my favorite, but I really loved both! The specials change daily and are posted on the website. And then we had the special dessert of the day which was a rhubarb something. 

 

Totally yummy! 

All in all, I give Angelica Kitchen VERY high marks. For being a vegan eatery, I thought all the food was flavorful and delicious. Everything we ordered hit the mark and totally satisfied. Dare I say I liked it even better than Caravan of Dreams? I’d also read some negative reviews about the service, but we thought our waitress was great – a little quirky, but very pleasant and more than willing to help us with any questions we had. 

All in all, I highly recommend this restaurant! I hope you all have a great Thursday. Still no running for me…maybe this weekend. 🙂

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Finding a Hidden Gem

Posted on May 12, 2010 | 9 comments

Good morning all! Happy Hump Day – hope it goes by quick. Thank you ALL so much for the birthday wishes yesterday. I am admittedly not the biggest birthday fan, but I took your advice and feigned some excitement.

My day started out with a yummy breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries and more blueberries. 🙂

I had a seriously crazy day at work. We are working with a videographer and he was at our office yesterday, so I was running around trying to coordinate and schedule different shots. I managed to squeeze in a late lunch of salad – no pictures. I also snacked on a granola bar and Chobani yogurt during various down-times throughout the day. It was hectic.

And then around 3:30 my co-workers scheduled a “meeting” where instead of a meeting they got together to wish me happy birthday with GIANT cupcakes. They were seriously huge. I didn’t get a chance to snap any pictures of them before they were devoured. Soo good. But also very filling.

After work I headed home to go out to dinner with Hubby. I had decided earlier in the day that I wanted sushi. I came home to find these lovely flowers waiting for me!

So gorgeous!! I love getting flowers. After I got my lovely flowers we headed out for dinner. I had been looking at Japanese places throughout the day and decided that I wanted to try this little hole-in-the-wall place practically across the street from us. I’d walked by it a million times and never noticed it, but I read some great reviews about it on menupages, yelp and Chowhound.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am not the fancy, overpriced restaurant kind of girl. I’d rather find a small hidden gem that has quality, delicious, yet affordable food and I will visit it frequently.  And guess what, that is exactly what we discovered last night. We went to Sushi Suki on York Avenue between 83rd and 84th, and had what I consider to be some very yummy sushi. Mind you, I may live in NYC, but I am by no means a sushi connoisseur. But my personal opinion was that it was delicious.

Hubby and I both started off with the miso soup and it was very good. Then we ordered 4 different rolls: Spicy Tuna Roll (Hubby’s favorite); the Boston Roll (shrimp, cucumber & lettuce); the King Crab Roll (with avocado, cucumber & tobiko); and the Lobster Tempura Roll (with avocado, cucumber, lettuce with spicy sweet sauce). I am pretty sure the Lobster Tempura was my favorite, but they were seriously ALL delicious.

I got the impression that many people from our neighborhood visit this place frequently. The owners said hello to many of the patrons and asked about kids, etc. They also knew what many of the patrons’ “usual” selections were. For its small space (only about 10 tables) and less than eye-catching facade, this place is absolutely the local eatery I had been looking for. I think Hubby and I will definitely go back.

Have you ever found a hidden gem like this in your neighborhood? I was seriously so excited!

After our delicious, yet inexpensive meal, Hubby took me for ice-cream at our favorite place in the neighborhood: Emack and Bolio’s. I was so full from dinner I could only manage a small scoop of the Cake Batter ice cream. Have you ever been to Emack and Bolio’s? It is certainly not a frozen-yogurt, low-fat place. But it is a treat to have it every now and then.

We headed home in the freezing cold (it felt like fall yesterday) and I finished my ice-cream in the warmth of our apartment. Then we settled in to finally watch Sherlock Holmes. We got the DVD probably three weeks ago, but haven’t had time to watch it.

I thought it was pretty good. I was very tired and found a few parts where I struggled to stay awake, but I think that says more about my busy schedule than it does the movie.

We finished the movie just in time to switch over to The Biggest Loser to find out the final four. I was happy with the way it turned out.

And that was my busy birthday yesterday! It was a very good day with lots of indulgences. But now I am back on the straight and narrow for the marathon on Sunday. No more sweet treats. It will be good food and carbs for the rest of the time.

Have a great day all!

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Book Review: The Year of Living Biblically

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 11 comments

I just finished this book on Sunday. Here is my review, it’s also posted under my Book Review page. You should definitely check this one out!

By: A.J. Jacobs

I first saw this book sitting at my friend’s apartment. She hadn’t read it yet, but it came to her highly recommended. I was interested. My interest grew when I went to Borders and couldn’t find the book in the normal literature section I frequent. I had to seek out some help. I hesitantly said the name of the book to one of the Borders employees and the guy immediately said “Ahh yes, Jacobs. He’s in the Humor section.”

I visited the new section the employee led me to and selected a book from the ones on the display table. Already this book seemed a little different.

And the differences didn’t stop there. This book was laugh-out-loud-funny from start to finish! I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting when I picked it up, but it turned out to be a fun and unique journey told by a self-depreciating and amusing narrator.

A.J. Jacob’s first book “The Know-It-All” was the memoir of his journey of reading the Encyclopedia from A to Z. Likewise, “The Year of Living Biblically” is his journey of reading and trying to live by all the rules outlined in the Bible. Sure, it’s a strange sort of journey and one that doesn’t sound particularly fun or exciting, but Jacobs’ narration makes it enthralling.

In short, this guy is hysterical! I want him to be my friend or family member because, surely, everyone in his life is immensely entertained by him day-in and day-out. His outlook and approach to life is totally refreshing and unique. And his candid self evaluations are priceless. Not mention that I actually learned quite a few things about the Bible.

But don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to read this book for any kind of biblically explanation or earnest insight. If you’re looking for that, you might be a little put-off or offended by some of Jacobs’ commentary. I for one was not, but just a word of warning.

I do recommend this book to anyone looking for a break from the routine novel norm, seeking amusement and character, and who isn’t afraid to laugh out loud on public transit. Or have bystanders constantly glancing quizzically at your book cover – yeah I got that a lot. It’s funny, it’s perceptive, it’s distinctive and certainly unforgettable. So I say – give it a shot!

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Caravan Dinner and 16 Handles

Posted on April 20, 2010 | 9 comments

Good morning all – happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s Monday was good and all the Boston marathoners are recovering nicely. I was checking the progress of my 18-year-old cousin and this lovely lady and both did AWESOME! Congrats to them and everyone who ran it!

My Marathon Monday was good. As I mentioned yesterday, I was up super early to get in a quick 5-mile run. I made a yummy oatmeal and banana morning mash-up with some delicious brown sugar on top.

Then I headed to work  for the day…just a little bit tired.

What a boring eating and snacking day at work. Mid-morning snack was a granola bar and then lunch was a salad with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, carrots, walnuts, raisins and chickpeas.

My afternoon snacks were an unphotographed apple and yogurt with Kashi Go Lean. And it was the yucky yogurt. I just couldn’t throw it out – it felt too wasteful. Plus, the pickens were slim in our fridge yesterday and beggars can’t be choosers right? So I sucked it up and at the Yoplait yucky yogurt.

It was loaded with cereal, which made it a little bit better.

After work I headed to the Lower East Side to meet up with my friend Katie for dinner. She suggested Caravan of Dreams, which is where I met up with a few bloggers and blog readers a little while back. I loved it then, so I happily agreed!

We decided that we wanted to share an appetizer and then split our entrees as well, we really wanted to try as much as possible. We started with the Classic Nachos and they were scrumptious!

For our main courses, we split the Shiitake Stir Fry and The Ecuador “live meal.”

They both looked delicious, but the stir fry was the only one that impressed us. The Ecuador was too much like a plain salad – there were hardly any noodles and hardly any of the dressing and pic de gallo. It was unimpressive to say the least. I wish we had ordered another of the main entrees.

I did enjoy the stir fry a lot. However, after our meal I was craving something sweet. Katie had just mentioned a frozen yogurt place called 16 Handles, which was in the neighborhood, so I decided I needed to try it.

All I can say is YUM!! The yogurt at 16 Handles was delicious!! I tried to control myself, but you get to make your own, so it’s kind of tough. Here was my creation:

Yeah, there was a lot going on in there. The frozen yogurt in my bowl is vanilla (boring), NY Cheesecake (divine) and Dulce de Leche (YUMMM). Then I topped my three flavors with a few cookie dough bites (love em), granola and shredded coconut. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!! It ended up coming to about $4, which isn’t so bad. I’ve definitely spent more a Pinkberry.

Have you ever tried 16 Handles?

I certainly do recommend.

However, one thing got me thinking as we were leaving. I noticed a group of three high-schoolers with their yogurt containers piled high and deep with everything you can imagine. I looked at their obscenely large yogurts and then instinctively I looked at them to see what kind of health they appeared to be in. (I couldn’t help it) Two out of the three were extremely overweight. And for some reason this made me really uneasy. I immediately thought of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which I’ve been watching lately, and about all the obese kids in high school these days. These girls were probably about consume at least 500-calorie yogurts (if not more, I’m so bad at estimating) and were likely thinking that because it’s “frozen yogurt” and they saw signs posted that said “low-fat” they were being healthy.  Or maybe they just didn’t care.

And it’s certainly not my place to judge anyone, I just know that if/when I have kids they will learn the value of their food — what it gives you in terms of nutrition and energy and how to enjoy desserts and treats in moderation. To be fair, I wasn’t much of a moderation-kid. I wanted candy, fruit rollups, Little Debbie dessert cakes – you name it and I wanted to eat it. But my mom also instilled in me the need to have three nutritious square meals a day. So maybe that helped tame my snacking a bit. That and the fact that I was always on the go – riding bikes, playing tag, climbing trees, building forts. I didn’t really discover video games until junior high and even then, I wasn’t a huge fan. So I burned a lot of the extra calories I ate through cardio activities.

Sorry for this long tangent. The yogurt place just seemed to be a perfect example of how we got to where we are today in terms of childhood obesity.

For all you mothers out there – what are some of your techniques and tips to teach your kids about nutritious foods? And do they seem to get it, and/or are they interested?

Alright all – have a good Tuesday!

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The Furminator and Zombies…Sounds Scary

Posted on April 15, 2010 | 12 comments

Yay it’s Thursday! This week is almost over. I was supposed to get up and run this morning before work, since we have a happy hour planned for after work, but it just did not happen. Maybe I need to take a rest day.

My hump day yesterday was busy, but good. Breakfast started out with a bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with skim milk and strawberries, and a side of light cranberry juice.

My mid-morning snack was four clementines. They did not keep me satisfied for long. For lunch I had some burrito bowl leftovers – so good.

My afternoon snacks included another non-Chobani yogurt, but one which was much more satisfying and truly “all natural.”

I give Brown Cow a very good rating. It was tasty, but maybe not as thick and creamy as Chobani. But still a winner in my book and way better than Yoplait. Ingredients in this yogurt: Cultured Pasteurized Nonfat Milk. Contains Five Live Active Cultures: S.Thermophilus, L.Bulgaricus, L.Acidophilus, Bifidus And L.Casei.

Much better. I wish I’d bought more of this brand and less of Yoplait.

My late afternoon snack was a peanut butter and jelly Larabar – fuel for some running.

After work I headed home and reluctantly put on my running gear. I was still feeling a little nervous after my IT band pain on Tuesday. Would a 5-mile run help or hurt?

I headed to the East River promenade and did a somewhat easy run.

Mile 1 – 8:34
Mile 2 – 8:29
Mile 3 – 8:37
Mile 4 – 8:38
Mile 5 – 8:32
.28 – 2:21

Total mileage – 5.28 miles in 45:13. Average pace – 8:34 minute miles.

I actually wish I had slowed it down even more – maybe to 9:00 minute miles. It’s just so hard for me when I’m running around other people. I don’t like to follow too close behind another runner, or have another runner on my heels, so I tend to speed up rather than slow down.

I felt a few twinges in my hip area here and there while running, but didn’t feel too bad after my run. I stretched again, but not nearly as much as I did on Tuesday night and I think that was a problem. I did wake up with a very dull and minor pain in my hip/leg. I need to stretch like crazy from now on. Like I said, today is going to be a full rest day for me and then we’ll see if I work in a run tomorrow or just hold off till my 12 miler on Saturday.   

After my run, I made a very quick and easy dinner – a fried egg with cheese on an Arnold Thin Sandwich with carrots and hummus. BTW – Hubby says that I am obsessed with fried eggs now that I know how to make them…and I kind of am. 🙂

Loving that dill-flavored hummus too.

Then I made a small dessert:

I actually couldn’t eat all of the peanut butter and chocolate chips for some reason – maybe too full or I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

Hubby and I also watched “Zombieland” last night. I think we both approached the movie with less than high expectations and me with some trepidation. But despite a lot of blood and guts in the beginning, it really wasn’t half bad. It was very funny in some parts and I loved all of the actors in it. It was short and over before I knew it. I would definitely say to give this movie a chance, it’s unexpected entertainment.

More unexpected entertainment is the book I’m reading: The Year of Living Biblically. I think people see me reading this on the subway and think I’m a big Jesus worshipper or a little bit crazy (the cover is kind of crazy looking), but I promise you, this book is not trying to convert anyone or anything like that. It is truly hysterical. I’m moving through it pretty quickly, so hopefully I’ll have a full review soon.  

And since my parents pointed out that their grandkitty Mr. Murphy hasn’t been featured on my blog lately, this little shot is for them:

He was just chillin – hanging out with his Daddy and obviously having a good time. Doesn’t his fur look particularly shiny and clean? Why, you ask? Cuz we’ve been furminating him all the time. That’ right, we bought a product called “The Furminator” and it’s pretty good. It’s supposedly removes hair from your pet’s undercoat as well as top coat. When I use this thing on him giant globs of hair come off. And he’s gotten better about tolerating it. We bought one for my parents to use on their cats and the one cat absolutely LOVES it. If you have pets (cats or dogs) that shed, you should check this thing out. The demos on the website are pretty incredible. Do you brush your pets? Do they like it? Like I said, Murphy usually tolerates it for a while, but I think he’s kind of getting used to the Furminator.

That’s all for now folks – hope you have a good Thursday.

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Yucky Yogurt and IT Band Issues

Posted on April 14, 2010 | 15 comments

Good morning. Happy Hump Day. My week seems to be moving by slowly. I am very much looking forward to the weekend and possibly even sleeping in on Sunday!

But first, my Tuesday recap. For breakfast I had some delicious oatmeal with banana in an almost-bare peanut butter jar. Yay for oats in a jar!!

Early morning snack was a granola bar and then lunch could not come soon enough. I was so hungry. I had sliced chicken breast with two slices of american cheese and mustard on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. And three pickles on the side. These were the leftover pickles from last week’s jar-breaking in the fridge catastrophe, so I figured it was time to eat them.

For my first afternoon snack I tried Yoplait’s new Greek yogurt. Apparently, there was a raid on Price Chopper in Whitesboro this weekend and all the thieves stole was Chobani yogurt. Seriously, the shelves were absolutely bare! So, I tried to make do with a few other kinds of Greek yogurt, Yoplait being one of them. I added some Kashi Go Lean cereal to this yogurt and gave it a whirl:

Decision: This yogurt was less than stellar. It is not nearly as thick and creamy as Chobani and it had kind of a weird taste. Not only that, but this yogurt is not all natural. The ingredients include: CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A NONFAT MILK, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SUGAR, STRAWBERRY PUREE, KOSHER GELATIN, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, COLORED WITH BEET JUICE CONCENTRATE, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, , VITAMIN A ACETATE, VITAMIN D3.

So all the ingredients highlighted in red made me suspicious. For the first one: milk protein concentrate, I found this info almost immediately:

“Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) sounds OK, but how would it look if we saw the word “glue” on our food and beverage labels? MPC is legal for glue and for industrial uses, but it has never been approved for human consumption. Why then does the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permit MPC use in any food or beverage without first having this unapproved ingredient tested for safety and nutrition as required by law under federal “Generally Regarded As Safe”(GRAS) status?” from www.farmdefenders.org.

Yuck – did I really eat that?! I dug a little deeper and found that  New York Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a bill back in 2009 that would levy higher tariffs on imports of  MPCs. The dried dairy product is used in many processed foods in the United States because it’s cheaper than domestically-produced dried milk powder.

Bleck!!

Next on the list: Kosher Gelatin – sounds yummy doesn’t it? Well, Kosher gelatin can be made from fish bones, beef, Japanese insinglass, agar agar, carrageenan, and Irish moss, according to The Vegetarian Resource Group. Double ewww and gag!!

I’m a little rusty in the periodic tables, so I googled Calcium Chloride next and Wikipedia told me this:

Calcium chloride, CaCl2, is a salt and the compound of calcium and chlorine. It behaves as a typical ionic halide, and is solid at room temperature. It has several common applications such as brine for refrigeration plants, ice and dust control on roads, and in concrete. The anhydrous salt is also widely used as a desiccant, where it will absorb so much water that it will eventually dissolve in its own crystal lattice water. It can be produced directly from limestone, but large amounts are also produced as a by-product of the Solvay process.”

Oh yum – this yogurt is really sounding tasty now, right? Widely used as a desiccant – delish!

So next is Vitamin A Acetate. I had a hard time finding info on this vitamin additive. My searches kept bringing up facial beauty products and information about retinol. I’m going to continue searching, but in the meantime, maybe I should be rubbing the yogurt on my face instead of eating it?

Anyway – I bought one more container of this yogurt and part of me doesn’t even want to eat it, but I also don’t want to waste food either. Tough call.

After work I set out for my 8 mile run, fueled by all the really great and inspiring comments posted yesterday (thanks all – you’re the best!). Everything was going really well until about 3 miles in when my left side thigh area really started hurting. I trudged on and finished my 8 miles, but the pain in my leg was searing from my butt all through my upper thigh afterwards. Here are my stats from the run:

Mile 1 – 9:14
Mile 2 – 7:58
Mile 3 – 8:30
Mile 4 – 8:26
Mile 5 – 8:02
Mile 6 – 7:55
Mile 7 – 7:52
Mile 8 – 8:50

Total mileage 8.01 miles in 1:06:43. Average pace – 8:19 minute mile.

I was definitely pushing myself a little bit harder than I probably should have, especially after my 20-mile run on Saturday. But I so wanted to prove to myself that I could run harder without any issues.

I guess that was not true last night. When I got home, I tried to stretch every way possible to help with the pain and then finally it dawned on me that perhaps this was IT band related. I’ve heard so, so many runners mentioning IT band pain, I needed to check it out.

And all my searching told me that it likely was related to my IT band. I wasn’t experiencing any knee pain, but the pain from my butt throughout my upper thigh sounded like one of the symptoms of an IT band issue. I then searched for many different stretches and happened upon Megan’s post about her IT band stretches (including awesome how-to photos). So I spent a solid 20-3o minutes throughout the night doing her stretches. Hubby even turned to me later in the evening and told me all I’d been doing since I got home was stretching. Darn right!!

But it must have been IT band related and the stretching worked because my leg feels about 80% better today. I got out of bed very cautiously, waiting for the pain to hit, but it was gone! Hurray. At least now I know the cause and how to stretch it. Plus, I’ve decided to take tonight’s and tomorrow’s runs REALLY slow. Seriously, I am going to force myself.

Have you ever dealt with IT Band issues? Did they ever go away completely or do you just work to keep them under control and at bay as much as possible?

After my run I made us a yummy dinner of chicken, rice, lettuce, a little cheese and salsa in a bowl. I call this dinner a mini “burrito bowl” and it was totally satisfying.

I swear there is some chicken and rice in there….

After dinner I stretched away, vacuumed up gobs of Murphy hair and watched The Biggest Loser. Does anyone else feel like it’s time for Sam to go home? I like the guy and all, but I don’t think he needs to be there anymore. He is totally motivated and has got this – he can do it at home.

So that was my night. Hope you had a nice day yesterday and that Hump Day flies by for you!!

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April Heat and Stress

Posted on April 8, 2010 | 11 comments

Good morning. Happy Thursday – I can not wait until the weekend! This has been a week of stress and heat, and it has not been fun.

I’m not going to recap what I’ve eaten over the past two days, mostly because I was too frazzled to photograph much of anything.

On Tuesday night I did manage to work in an 8-mile run before the heat hit us. Thank goodness.  Here are my stats from that run:

Mile 1 – 10:01 (I hit every light on the way to the park)
Mile 2 – 8:06
Mile 3 – 8:17
Mile 4 – 8:17
Mile 5 – 8:10
Mile 6 – 8:02
Mile 7 – 8:20
Mile 8 – 9:22

Total mileage – 8.05 in 1:05:04. Average page 8:34 minute miles

Happily, I only had one 8 mile run again this week, so I was glad to have that out of the way. Why? Because then Wednesday began and it was the day from hell.

First, I woke up late because I completely forgot to set my alarm. Thankfully, Murphy frequently pesters me to get up in the morning and for once I was happy he did. He nudged me to get up, I looked at the clock and flew out of bed and rushed to work.

I’ve been a little stressed lately at work and I won’t get into it, except to say that throughout most of the day yesterday I was a stressed out freak. Thankfully, after a 3:00 meeting, I was more at ease. But for the majority of the day I was a nervous wreck and even started breaking out because of it.

Then I left work and was hit in the face with 89 degree weather. I had a 5 mile run on the training schedule, so there was no backing out of it. Let me tell you – it was a doozy. I decided right from the start to take it slow. I managed well until the last mile, which was all uphill. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 –  8:25
Mile 2 – 8:19
Mile 3 – 8:26
Mile 4 – 8:18
Mile 5 – 8:50

Total mileage – 5.09 miles in 43:05. Average pace – 8:27 minute miles.

Holy hotness! Not only that, but when did it become okay for people to smoke pot out in the open on the East River Promenade? It’s starting to get out of control over there. Usually when I head south toward 63rd street I prep myself for it because there are typically 1-2 groups of teenagers out there smoking, but I hadn’t encountered it heading North yet. Well, last night I did. It is the most unpleasant thing in the world to run by the people smoking cigarettes and cigars, but a plume of pot smoke is the worst! I’m sort of tempted to put in a call to our local precinct and ask them to patrol or something. I’m really tired of having to hold my breath when I’m running.

Well, I was certainly dripping after that one. That is one of the things I was really liking about training for a marathon in the Spring – not having to deal with the summer heat. I think the crazy heat is supposed to dissipate a bit for a while after today though. And I’m pretty sure in NYC we hit a new record high for this time of year.

After my run I showered and then listened to Hubby explain the latest co-op drama going on. He’s the co-op president, so people always seem to run to him when they have a problem. Fun times – fabulous day.

I made us a quick, easy dinner of grilled chicken with broccoli and then as I started cleaning up I noticed that one of my pickle jars must have cracked in the fridge because there was pickle juice EVERYWHERE! It was totally disgusting. I spent a long time cleaning up that mess, while attempting to clean up the dinner mess as well. Good lord, I just needed the day to end!

With the day from hell coming to a close, I decided to turn in early and move on to the next day. Do you think I was able to fall asleep? Nope – layed in bed wide awake for at least an hour and half. Great.

But today is a new day and hopefully a better one. To be safe, I’ve decided to run my 5-mile run on the treadmill at the gym tonight. It’s only going to be around 80 degrees, but I could use an easy, cool run. I’ve got my first 20-miler coming up this Saturday, so I won’t beat myself up over choosing the treadmill for once.

Did you brave the heat yesterday for a run? How do you cope when you have a day from hell?

Looking back, I probably should have enjoyed a big glass of wine before bed, that might have made sleeping a little easier. 😉

Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday…and that I do too!

P.S. Forgot to mention that I finally have some new book reviews up:

Angela’s Ashes
The Help

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Cadbury Egg Craving

Posted on April 5, 2010 | 9 comments

Hi all. Good afternoon. Where has the day gone? I didn’t have a chance to blog until my lunch break!

How was everyone’s weekend and Easter?

Mine was very good. The weather in NYC was fabulous, I ran a great race on Saturday and then Hubby and I hit up a local restaurant for a delicious celebratory dinner.

UVA Review

On Saturday, we went to Uva on 2nd Avenue between 77th and 78th, upon the recommendation of one of Bill’s colleagues. We went to celebrate the fact that Hubby recently passed a hugely important test thing at work. Seriously, he was stressing about this thing for months! But he passed and with flying colors (of course I knew he would).

My apologies in advance, there will be no delicious dinner pics, since Hubby gets extremely embarrassed when I snap away in public places. We started off dinner at Uva with a delicious cheese plate with three different selections and we each had a glass of wine. I absolutely LOVE cheese plates. I order one every chance I get when I’m out. I’ve also been known to make a nice little cheese plate as an appetizer when hosting or attending parties. 🙂

Hubby also ordered the baked calamari, which I’d never had before. Have to say it was pretty good and I’m not the biggest calamari fan.

For my entrée, I had the Bigoletti Di Barbabietole – red beet fingerling gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce with baby spinach and yellow grape tomotes. It was DIVINE!!

I also tried a bite of Hubby’s dish which was some kind of ravioli filled with artichoke and something else – his was amazing as well!

Overall, our meal was delicious. It wasn’t exactly inexpensive, since we did order two apps, two entrées and three glasses of wine (of which I had two – hehe). But I think that the price was definitely more worth it than some of the other restaurants in the area we’ve eaten at before.   

I also liked that our server was very knowledgable. I asked her for cheese suggestions and she totally knocked it out of the park.

After dinner, I forced Hubby to stop at CVS while I picked up some half-priced Easter candy. Lent was almost over and my sweets craving was starting to grow.

Which leads me to Sunday, which was a very candy-filled day. I woke up and had a decent breakfast. Oatmeal with mixed frozen fruit blended in and a side of light cranberry juice.

After breakfast we headed to church for Easter mass and then when we got home we went to work cleaning and scrubbing the entire apartment. Seriously, it took hours.

And while we cleaned, I snacked on chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Including my favorite…

Cadbury eggs!

Mmmm so yummy. I ate all four eggs in that carton yesterday. Yes, sickening – I know.  Are you a cadbury egg fan? I think people either love them or hate them. We know how I feel about them – obviously.

I didn’t really eat lunch, since I was snacking on candy all day and cleaning incessantly. So by the time dinner came around, I wanted something über healthy. Hence, my giant salad.

It was so yummy and just what my stomach filled with chocolate wanted. Romaine lettuce, carrots, feta cheese, apple and walnuts with Newman’s Light Italian dressing. I definitely overdid it with the candy.

How about you – did the Easter bunny visit you this weekend and bring you lots of candy? Were you able to use any willpower?

I clearly was not able to abstain. But I do not eat like this everyday, so if I go a little crazy once in a while, I think it’s okay.

That’s all for today folks – I’ve got a 5 mile run on the training plan tonight. Weather.com says it’s gorgeous out – so I can’t wait! I really can’t believe I’m already in week 13 of my 18 week training plan. Scary!! Marathon will be here way too soon.

Have a great day!

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The Sun is Trying to Come Out!

Posted on March 31, 2010 | 12 comments

Finally there is a break in the rain! Thank goodness because things were starting to look pretty bleak. And because I’ve been running outside for a few weeks, I don’t like being forced back to the treadmill.

Monday and Tuesday were very busy days for me and my photo documentation was lacking. I managed to get my Tuesday morning breakfast because it was delicious – just the right thing to start your day with on a rainy day. Banana oatmeal with a big glob of peanut butter. Yum!

I don’t have any daytime food photos, but I was quite the snacker yesterday. Mid morning snack was an apple, lunch was a chicken sandwich on an Arnold’s thin with a side of carrots. Then in the afternoon I had a small bag of raisins and walnuts and a peanut butter Larabar. Yes, apparently I was very hungry.

After work I had a brief moment when I debated just going home and resting – for some reason the dreary weather always deters my drive to workout. But I powered through and made it to the gym for a quick 5 miles in 42:42. On Monday night I was also a gym rat and ran 4 miles on the dreadmill. Tonight I’m praying for clear skies and an outdoor run.

After the gym, I braved the blustery rain and made it home. And what I found when I reached the top of the stairs in our hallway was a puddle of water. The roof was leaking right in front of our front door. Lovely. Yet another reason why I hate the rain.

Hubby came home shortly after me. He had just finished a really big review/exam-type thing for work. It sounds like he did great. But he was also exhausted as well. He was being evaluated pretty much from 7:15 a.m. until 3 p.m.! Yikes.

For dinner I was craving veggies. I made a quick stop at the store after the gym and picked up two bags of lettuce for $4. That was a steal in my book. So I made a giant salad for dinner with some leftover pasta, walnuts, raisins and cheddar cheese. I sprinkled some Newman’s Low-fat Sesame Ginger dressing over top. P.S. – that is my all-time favorite Newman’s dressing. Have you ever tried it? Amazing!

And for dessert I had a nice bowl of delicious organic strawberries that were also on sale. So juicy!

After dinner Hubby and I watched The Biggest Loser and then I was in bed and asleep by 10:30 p.m. So tired. I don’t think I moved an inch all night.

Coming Soon (I promise): Angela’s Ashes review, The Help review, and my Galaxy Granola review.

And I started a new book on Monday – Sarah’s Key. Anyone heard of it or read it? It’s another one of my mom’s recommendations. So far so good – only about 25 pages in.

Lastly – I need some advice. When you are working cooperatively on a project and you end up putting in more work/effort than the other person, how do you deal? Do you mention the unbalanced workload? Let it go and just focus on your tasks? And what if the other individual is getting the same, or more credit than you for a project which you’ve been devoting a ton of time to? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Have a happy hump day all! I think some fine weather is in our future.

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Lots of Updates!

Posted on March 4, 2010 | 9 comments

Happy Thursday – we are almost at the weekend! I definitely need a break. I’ve been exhausted this week and super busy. My morning run did not happen today, so it’s off to the gym for me tonight.

Updates! Updates!
Before I recap yesterday’s eats, I wanted to point out a few updates on my blog. First, there is a new section on the top navigation bar called “Reviews.” This section will be for book reviews, product reviews, restaurant reviews and anything else I can think of. And in that section, I just posted my latest book review of The Historian. I also updated my “Currently Reading” page. You should check them all out!

Secondly, stay tuned for my very first product review to come shortly. My food recap will give you a nice sneak preview.

Breakfast yesterday was delish – oatmeal with banana and almond butter.

I snacked on a nice big apple around mid-morning (no pic) and then for lunch I had chicken breast deli meat with mustard, a slide of American cheese and baby spinach on an Arnold’s sandwich thin.

I also had a Chobani blueberry yogurt with some granola.

The granola in my yogurt was this kind:

Galaxy Granola
I received a sample package of Galaxy Granola on Tuesday evening and gave it a try with my yogurt. Galaxy Granola is baked in fruit rather than oil, which means it has 70% less fat than most other granola. The sample pack Galaxy sent me to test out had three flavors:

Vanilla with almond, cranberry orange and not sweet vanilla. I tried the not sweet vanilla first (blue bag) and used it in my yogurt. I was expecting that it might have a less-flavorful taste, but it was really good with just the right hint of sweetness, but not overpowering like some of the more sugary granola out there. I’ll have a full product review coming soon!

This granola also has no artificial ingredients, no oil, no corn syrup and no processed sugars – nice! Galaxy recently started a blog called fruitnotfat and they are on Facebook and Twitter. Plus, in honor of National Nutrition Month, they are giving away a bag of their delish granola to the first 50 people to contact them. So head to their site quick – it will probably go fast!

On to my afternoon. I completely forgot that I had signed up for another camera class until I got the reminder on Tuesday morning from Adorama. The class was from 6 -9 p.m., so I knew I would need some snackies to hold me over.

Around 4 p.m. I ate a Larabar and some veggies with balsamic vinegar.

This Adorama class was called EOS Discovery Day and it was all about the basic functions and tools of an SLR camera. This class was much better for me than the last one I took. The instructor was great and talked about so many things: ISO, shutter speed, aperture, auto focus, exposure, flash and helpful photography tips. They also provided us with a great booklet filled with helpful, digestible info (not like a camera manual). That booklet really made the class worth the money for me. I took a lot away from the class, but now it’s really going to be about practicing what I learned and getting comfortable with all the settings.

I was seriously wiped out and hungry after that class and finally got home around 9:45 p.m. I snacked on some triscuits with cheese and also ate a big bowl of blueberries and blackberries.

I set my alarm last night for 5 a.m. with grand plans of going for a morning run, but I was zonked out. I plan to hit the gym tonight to try to squeeze in 5-7 miles.

Have you ever taken a camera class? What’s the most helpful tip anyone has given you about an SLR camera (from a class or anywhere)? How long did it take you to get comfortable with your SLR options and move away from the automatic mode and into the “creative modes” (as the instructor called them)?

Have a great Thursday all – talk to you on Friday!! 🙂

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