Eat, Read, Run

Where Did the Weekend Go?

Posted on November 8, 2009 | 4 comments

I can’t believe it’s Sunday night already! This weekend flew by. We headed up to Albany on Friday night after work and pretty much just went to bed when we got there.

Saturday morning I got up around 9:00 (nice to sleep in a bit) and started laundry and had some breakfast. Breakfast was oatmeal with flax seed and banana with coffee.

Before we knew it, it was almost time to head out for the wedding. Bill’s co-worker Tom was getting married in Hudson Falls at 2:00 p.m. Tom actually helped set the two of us up way back when.

The reception was held at a really cute farm in upstate New York. When we got there, we ran into two girls with whom I went to high school and ran cross country/track (Jen and Michelle). Turns out they are Tom’s cousins. Small world.

Dinner was great – salad, chicken, roasted potatoes, pasta, etc. Unfortunately, I did not take any food pics at the wedding. Sorry! But here are two people pics:

IMG_0578_1

IMG_0580_1

We also happened to sit at a table with a guy who is an organic food distributor. He primarily supplies upstate restaurants and businesses, but has recently seen a lot of interest from businesses in New York City. It was great to hear that a healthy food business is thriving. I’ve been trying to eat as naturally as possible and I’m glad to know that it’s something restaurants are starting to focus on.

Here is his website: H. Childress and Sons

How do you incorporate natural foods into your diet? How often do you buy organic?

The wedding was a great time – we headed out around midnight.

Sunday morning I was up early to watch my friend Stephanie run the Stockadathon 15k with her friend Jeannette in Schenectady. I munched on some delicious pumpkin bread my mother made and a banana before heading out.

Jenny and I went to Jess and Bob’s house, approx. the 2 mile mark of the race, to cheer them on. I had a nice big cup of coffee and Jess, Bob and Jenny had some yummy-looking bagels (unfortunately I don’t really like bagels).

Desmond was also hanging out with us:

And then the runners came!

Jenny’s uncle also happened to be running the race and was right in front of Steph and Jeannette. Don’t they look so chipper?!

After they passed, we finished up our breakfast and headed over to the finish. They did great!!

Do you have a running buddy? How do you stay together during races? Do you always stay together or only during some races?

The weather was gorgeous and the runners inspired me, so I went for an hour-long run when I got back to my parent’s house. I even managed to work in a few big hills. Then I snacked on a few things:

Soon it was time to head back home – hard to believe the weekend was over already! When we got back to the city I had an easy and quick dinner of Amy’s Organic Pasta and Three Bean Soup, celery with peanut butter, a clementine.

Now time for bed!!

4 Comments

Posted in Running, Uncategorized

Finding the Perfect Parade Perch

Posted on November 6, 2009 | 4 comments

Today was a good day for three reasons: 1) It’s Friday! 2) Bill is finally coming home, and 3) The Yankees Ticker Tape Parade!!

This morning I tried a new breakfast concoction that didn’t go so well: oatmeal, vanilla Greek yogurt and peanut butter. What was I thinking right? I was thinking I really like all three, so why not put them together? It wasn’t great. What are some things you like to mix with your oatmeal?

I ate it, but didn’t enjoy it very much.

I headed to work and as soon as I got off the subway in downtown Manhattan (right near Bowling Green) I was bombarded by Yankee fans – already! At 8:30 a.m. I made it into work, but could hear the cheers and yelling from my office. My co-workers and I could barely stand it – we wanted to go out so bad!

Finally, around 10:30 we gave in and headed downstairs. I was happy I brought my new Canon Rebel XSi to work with me today. I was unhappy however, when we got outside and saw that it was packed and we could barely see a thing. Being 5’1 is a terrible disadvantage in times like these.

And I had a particular reason why I really wanted some decents pics: Bill was stuck in training in Westchester today and was so upset he couldn’t make it to the parade. He loves the Yankees! So I felt like I needed to capture the event for him.

I was becoming desperate and looking everywhere for a higher spot. Then I saw a bunch of guys climbing a fence to get into a windowsill about 1 story high. There was still some room left up there with them. I turned to my co-workers and told them I was going up. I turned to the group of guys and asked ever so nicely if they could hoist me up. And they did!

Here are some pics from the parade. I’ll post a lot more on Picasa.

It was soo crazy and I was thrilled with my spot. But eventually I saw my co-workers kind of motioning that we needed to go. Afterall, we were technically “working.”

Slight problem. Almost immediately after I got up on the ledge, I wondered “how the heck am I going to get down?” It was a pretty big drop. My co-workers (Tara, Tiffany and Reena) came over to help and Tiffany offered to “catch me.” I could definitely see her “catching me” ending up with me landing on her head and crushing her. I hesistated and then this 6’5 guy (who happened to be friends with all the guys on the ledge and saw my dilemma) came over and I basically fell on him to get down.

My descent was kind of hysertical, but at the same time kind of heart-warming because all these unknown New Yorkers below me stepped up to help get me down. New Yorkers are the best! But I do have a slight war wound from my attempt to scale the building:

It was definitely worth it!

After I scrambled down from my ledge, we went for lunch at a tiny hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant called Tajin. I had a chicken burrito and it was yummy:

The rest of the work day was uneventful. Then after work I headed home to finally see my long-lost hubby! I heated up the leftover pasta from last night for our dinner tonight.

We’re going to a wedding in Albany tomorrow night and then I’m watching my friend Stephanie run a 15k in Schenectady on Sunday. Hopefully I can find time to blog as well… but we’ll see.

4 Comments

Posted in Restaurants, Uncategorized

Bitten by the Marathon Bug?

Posted on November 5, 2009 | 5 comments

I was warned it would happen. I scoffed at such claims. One marathon was certainly enough for me. But…after applying for the NYC Marathon lottery yesterday (wholeheartedly assuming I would not get in), I started thinking about the “what ifs.” What if I do get in? What if I can run it fast enough to qualify for Boston? And as I thought more and more about the “what ifs,” I found myself becoming more and more excited. I think I’ve been bit!

Now if my husband happens to be reading this right now, he probably just let out a huge groan and possibly even some swear words (love you Bill!). The day of my first marathon he was the most supportive husband ever…but leading up to the race, I can’t say he was initially too enthusiastic about my decision to run a marathon.

Training is hard. Training is draining. Training affects not only your life, but also the lives of the ones around you. Schedules need to be rearranged to fit in long runs, exhaustion kicks in and you become a less “fun” spouse, and the list goes on. Not to mention the obvious fear that you’ll hurt yourself. (Think Detroit Marathon where three runners died). All of this led him to be a little wary.

But what they say is in fact true – once you run one, you’ll inevitably want to run more, potentially with the elusive goal of qualifying for Boston. The desire is even stronger if the goal isn’t too too far off.

I had an interesting back and forth today with a fellow blogger/runner. Britt of RunnerBelle has run 11 marathons and started off running at around a 4:30 pace. She has now finished a marathon in under 3:30! I asked her for some advice on increasing my speed and here is some of her feedback:

“I am a huge fan of speed work, the only way I have found to get more comfortable at a faster pace is to push your paces on shorter runs. I do a mix of tempo runs, 1600’s w/ 800 jogs, 800’s w/ 400 jogs, also some races thrown in. For NYC, I added a 1/2 marathon and a relay race into my training as well as some 5k’s and 10k’s. During the spring I’m fortunate that we have a couple of 1/2 marathons and a 20 miler leading up to Boston that really seem to help me find my pace. Believe me I know what it is like to be up around 4 hours and think that getting under a 3:40 is impossible. Before I qualified for Boston, my times were going up around 4:30! But I committed myself to speed work, hills, my long runs and adding in a few races along the way. It really seemed to work for me. Also I really looked at what I was eating, realizing that was my fuel for my runs and I needed the best fuel possible. This resulted in me dropping almost 20lbs, which also helped my speed too! I’ve gained a little of it back, but now I think I’m at my happy weight. I’m also fairly muscular from kettlebell, so I’m not a waif-ish runner. Hopefully that helps some! Happy Running!!!” Britt

That just fueled the fire to run another one even more! Thanks for that Britt.

Now on to my day and food/workout recap. Breaskfast was oatmeal, but wait for it…. with Apple Butter instead of Agave and raisins. I definitely used a little too much. I’ll stick with about a tablespoon next time:

Lunch was leftover salad mixings from the night before. I wanted to use it up before the lettuce wilted (I hate that). I also had some strawberry Greek yogurt with oats.

Snacks for the day included: carrots, chippers and dried prunes with lemon.

Sticking to my Pile on the Miles plan, I hit the gym after work and did the following:

3.1 miles in 25.47 (7.2 start – 7.6 end)
core exercise

My body is feeling a little sore from the past three days at the gym after having taken almost two full weeks off. But it’s a good sore.

Dinner tonight was this:

With goat cheese mixed in:

Which is this recipe:

Pasta and Goat Cheese Delight

Ingredients
• 10 ounces baby spinach, rinsed
• 1 cup of bow tie pasta
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• half a package of grape tomatoes, quartered
• 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
• Nuts (any kind – I used pecans halved) – handful

Directions
Tear or chop up baby spinach into small pieces and set aside. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and place in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil over pasta and add salt and pepper to taste, spinach and tomatoes; gently toss. Add goat cheese and serve warm or room temperature.

And for dessert:

Now it’s time to clean a bit, grab my book and try to head to bed early. I’m so excited to finally see Bill tomorrow! It’s been almost a week since I last saw him. And I almost forgot that I’m also excited to watch the Yankees Ticker Tape Parade tomorrow at work. It will be right outside our office. I will definitely have my camera with me!!

5 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

Over the Hump

Posted on November 4, 2009 | 2 comments

I made it over the hump – Wednesday is basically done! My morning started off with oatmeal with agave and raisins and a little light cranberry juice.

I felt pretty good that I stuck to my plan and got myself back to the gym the night before. Then I remembered that I needed to log it! Where you ask (actually you probably don’t care, but I’ll tell you anyway) – I logged it on the Pile on the Miles Spreadsheet.

Pile on the Miles is a challenge run by two fellow bloggers to help avoid the holiday slump (and not pile on the pounds) and keep you motivated to run/be healthy. Basically you log your miles from Nov. 1st until Thanksgiving and the most mileage wins! I could certainly use the motivation right about now.

Later on at work, I remembered something else I needed to do: sign up for NYC Marathon lottery. The lottery opened super early this year (the day after this year’s race) and they will announce lottery slots earlier as well. I pretty much know I won’t get in, but I had to enter anyway.

One thing I do hope is around next year is the Run Well training tracker on the NY Times website. IF I decide to run another marathon, I would definitely use it. It let me plan my workouts and then log my miles and times and it made me feel sort of guilty if I missed a day. It was cool to see how many miles I logged by the day of the race: 383.5 miles!

My lunch of leftovers and then a late afternoon snack:

Yes, I totally counted out my chips and put the rest of the bag away because, if not, I WOULD eat the entire bag. And I also snacked on a granola bar in the mid-morning, but that’s a super boring picture.

I’m so happy I made it to the gym again after work. Tonight I did a speed workout to test my limits. Here is what I ran:

3.1 miles (starting at 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5)
1 mile cool down at 6.2
85 crunches, 50 side-to-side crunches, 25 leg lowers
25 lunges with 5 pound weights

My workout was a little jilted because I accidentally hit the Stop Button about 2.5 miles in. Am I the only person who has this happen to them every now and then? I think I must run too close to the front of the treadmill. That or I’m flailing like Phoebe on Friends and I don’t know it. (P.S. – if I am – someone please tell me).

I had a pretty decent lunch today – my leftovers with rice and chicken, etc. – so for dinner I felt like having a big salad. I did end up using some of the leftover cooked chicken breast from the night before and let it marinate a bit in balsamic vinegar. My salad was filled with: chicken, apple, cheddar cheese and grape tomatoes.

Lastly, before I sign off and have a cup of tea 🙂 – my weird question of the week: How many sports bras do you use, what brand is your favorite, and have they or do they ever get a little smelly? I ask because a few of mine are fairly new and seem to be a little too stinky after a long run or hard workout. I’m starting to think the material is not interacting right with my sweat. They are not cotton – they are like a spandex material (I think they may be Champion). Not all of them react this way, only some. My next step (I’ve tried washing with more detergent and fabric softener, etc.) is to try a different brand. Any recommendations?

One more thing… Murphy says hello! This is his play face as he hangs off the back of the desk chair.

2 Comments

Posted in Running, Uncategorized

The Tuesday Wrap Up

Posted on November 3, 2009 | 2 comments

Tuesday is coming to an end and it’s been a busy day. First, I want to talk a little bit about this new, great book I got called Clean Plates NYC. It’s a guide to the “healthiest tastiest restaurants in Manhattan.” I seem to be eating out a little more than I would like, so I figured this might be a helpful tool in selecting where to go.

Besides providing a list of healthy restaurants, the book also delves into building the diet that’s right for you, and for once the author doesn’t tell you that you MUST become a vegetarian, like so many others I’ve read. In all fairness, he touts fruits and veggies a lot, but he allows for meat as well. It’s been very enlightening, especially his discussion on wheat…

“Wheat is the highest in gluten of all the grains. The majority of wheat crops are genetically modified. Given its ubiquity, wheat is not easy to avoid. That, plus the fact that it has addictive qualities, means that we tend to consume way too much of it. I suggest making an effort to steer clear – or at least cut down – in part because wheat’s high gluten level means it disrupts your digestive system, even if you’re not allergic. Reduce the percentage of wheat in your diet, and I suspect you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much better you feel day to day.”

Yikes – so my wheat bread sandwiches aren’t as great as I thought. I’ll have to figure out how to begin to limit my wheat intake (even wheat pasta should be eaten in moderation) and see how it affects me. I will have to start experimenting with other grains (stay tuned).

Lunch today was a mish-mash of food: carrots, yogurt, rasins & walnuts, and some new chips I picked up called Rice Works Salsa Fresca. I chose them because they are made from brown rice – No Wheat – and are Gluten Free! We’ll see how long this wheat moderation lasts.

Today was my day to get back into the swing of working out. I made it to the gym after work (it was soo dark so early) and this was my workout:

4.5 miles on the treadmill – increasing speed from 6.3 and finishing at 7.4
85 sit-ups, 50 side crunches, 20 leg lowers (abs)
25 squats with 5 pound weights

I need to start incorporating more strength training into my routine.

Question: What are some of your favorite strength-training moves or exercise?

After the gym, I stopped at the nearby school to cast my vote (yay for civic responsibility) and came home and made this recipe:

Fruited Brown Rice Pilaf

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups hot water
3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 red apple, chopped
2 tablespoons walnuts
2 chicken breast – cubed and cooked

Directions
1. In a large saucepan, saute onion and celery in butter until tender. Stir in the water, rice and bouillon; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 50-55 minutes (less if using instant rice) or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Remove from the heat; fold in apple, cooked chicken breast and walnuts.

It was good to finally eat something home-cooked! The apples in this recipe were a really nice surprise.

EVENT
I also wanted to share this article link to a book review in the New Yorker: Flesh of Your Flesh. I haven’t read Foer’s Book, Eating Animals, but am considering picking it up. I’ll be going to his book reading at Barnes & Noble in Union Square on November 16th. Any NYCers or visitors should check it out! Thanks go out to my co-worker Tiffany for sharing the article and event info with me.

Have a nice night!

2 Comments

Posted in Books, Recipes, Uncategorized

Back Into the Swing

Posted on November 3, 2009 | 2 comments

Good morning. It’s Tuesday and I’ve decided that today is the day I get back into running and working out regularly. The past few weeks have been a bit hectic and I have been slacking on working out. Tonight I am hitting the gym and plan to run at least 4 miles.

This morning I started with some oatmeal with agave nectar and raisins. Something about the fall just makes me want warm oatmeal in the morning.

Breakfast_11.3.09

Now I have to recap a bit from last night. Last night I met up with Katie for dinner and another book reading. We headed to Republic in Union Square and I had the Wonton Broth Noodles, which had wontons filled with shrimp, pork and vegetables, and also had glass noodles, cabbage and chinese greens. It was very good, but I forgot to take a picture!

After dinner we headed to Barnes and Noble in Union Square to hear Augusten Burroughs read from his new book: You Better Not Cry. I’ve only read Running with Scissors previously. The portion he read was hysterical and he got really into it – doing different voices and everything. The book is a compilation of short stories about the holidays and the crazy things that go, the drama, etc. He’s based a lot of his books on his life and this one is no different. Here are a few pictures from the event:

Burroughs

Burroughs2

Tonight it’s back to the gym and also back to eating at home. I can’t believe how much I’ve been eating out. I try to be aware of what I’m choosing when eating at restaurants and now I have a handy tool to help me out…more on that later!

Question: Do you have any tricks or tips you like to use when dining out to try to eat healthy?

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Posted in Books, Restaurants, Uncategorized

Halloween and NYC Marathon

Posted on November 1, 2009 | 1 comment

What a busy weekend! I started Saturday morning off with some oatmeal with agave nectar and sliced bananas.

Then I decide to go for a nice medium run. It was a balmy 65 degrees outside and the East River Esplanade was packed! I figured that if 40,000 people were going to run 26.2 miles the next day, the least I could do was run 6 miles. I still don’t have a running watch, so I’m not sure how fast I ran it, but it felt pretty good. It was both liberating and a bit annoying not to know how fast I was going. That was my longest run since my marathon on October 11th and I definitely think I need to be doing more 6 mile plus runs.

After my run I finished up my costume and cleaned the house a bit in preparation for my overnight guest – Jenny! When she arrived we headed down to Little Italy for some pasta with our marathoning friend, Neil. We went to Florios on Grand Street and I tried some of their famous Penne Al Vodka. It was delish!

After dinner it was off to a Halloween party where Jenny, Rachael and I were: Snap, Crackle and Pop from the Rice Krispies!

We headed home from the party at a decent hour so we would be well-rested for marathon watching on Sunday. And the marathon on Sunday did not disappoint – it was CRAZY!

The first spot we saw our friend Neil running was at mile 17 on the Upper East Side. It was super packed, so I could only snap a poor picture of him. He was motoring along. Next we caught him at around mile 25 where everything was crazy and loud. After he passed us there, we headed for the finish line to find him in the sea of runners. He looked tired, but also happy!

IMG_0626a Great job Neil!!

1 Comment

Posted in Restaurants, Running, Uncategorized

Fun and Food-filled Friday

Posted on October 30, 2009 | 3 comments

The night before Halloween and already the city is getting crazy – costumes and marathoner mayhem! I started the day with some boring Kashi cereal and milk, but my lunch was much more exciting. One of my co-workers recently got engaged after dating her boyfriend for either 6 or 7 years! We had to celebrate.

We went to lunch at Stone Street Tavern on… duh Stone Street in lower Manhattan. Rather than getting my boring salad, I got a chicken fajita wrap and it was delicious. It was filled with grilled chicken, yellow rice, peppers, onions, black beans, and chimichurri sauce and lime aioli. I got a side salad along with it instead of fries. All in all a pretty decent meal.

After work I met up with two friends from elementary school who I haven’t seen in FOREVER!! We met in Hell’s Kitchen for dinner and drinks. The number of restaurants in the area always astounds me. We ended up landing at: Bourbon Street Grille

The picture does it no justice – it’s super cute. I decided to eat light tonight and had a entree salad with bits of blue cheese, pears, and pecans. It was a bit smaller than expected, but actually quite delicious.

It was so great to catch up with Alex and Jackie! And I heard some exciting news at dinner – my friend Jess just got engaged to her boyfriend Bob!!! Congratulations!! What a great Friday.

3 Comments

Posted in Restaurants, Uncategorized

Only in NYC

Posted on October 29, 2009 | 2 comments

I didn’t blog yesterday and I was feeling guilty at first, but then I remembered that I had a very good reason for not having the time. Around 4:00 p.m., my co-worker sent me a link to a Times Talk with John Irving. I had seen the event on the schedule last week and was so excited…until I saw that it was sold out. I almost closed the link when something caught my eye, “Limited tickets will be available at the door from 6:00 – 6:45 p.m.”

I immediately called Katie, who I was having dinner with, (and who loves John Irving as much as me) to see if she wanted to push dinner back and try to get tickets. Thankfully she was thrilled. We went, we waited in a huge long line, I acted like a school girl trying to get into a New Kids on the Block concert (hey – they were popular back in my day), and finally we got tickets!

And it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! He was amazing and I love him even more. He was articulate, funny, confident (but humble at the same time), relaxed and welcoming. In short, he was awesome. Pictures were technically not allowed, but I snuck a few:

I can’t wait to finish David Copperfield so I can start Irving’s newest book. By the way, Irving said that the classics and particularly Dickens were hugely influential on his writing. He considers himself a kind of “old fashioned writer” because he still believes in plot.

After the interview, Katie and I decided to still go for dinner. We had previously decided to try an Indian restaurant in my neighborhood – Chennai. I explained to her right off the bat that I am an Indian food novice (I’ve only eaten it once) and would need some coaching.

In preparation for our outing, I did a little research about Indian food and some of the common misconceptions. To start, curry is not in every dish. Indian Food Guide, Petrina Verma Sarkar shared some helpful information in an article online: “Traditional Indian cooking almost always uses fresh ingredients and involves making dishes from scratch. This means less preservatives and healthier food. Indian cooking uses spices like turmeric, ginger, garlic, green chillies—all of which have medicinal and healing properties. A traditional Indian meal includes carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fiber—all the elements you need to make a balanced meal.”

My fears that our dinner would be completely unhealthy were put to rest and I started to get excited about trying some new cuisine.

We ordered a veggie platter to start and it was amazing. It actually started to fill us up.

We ordered two entrees and both were delicious. First a Dosa Entree (shown in picture below) – the most famous anytime south Indian food made from a fermented batter of rice flour & lentils. We also got Vegetable Tikka Masala.

In another article Sarka also shared this interesting tidbit about Indian food and the culture: “Food is a big deal! Even everyday meals are mostly sit-down affairs and are comprised of two to three main course dishes, accompaniments like pickles, chutneys and papadums, staples like rice and roti (bread), all rounded off with something to satisfy the sweet tooth!”

I really like this approach to eating – meals are events and there should always be dessert!

Our dinner was filling, cheap and delicious, and we ended up having to wrap a lot of it up – lots of leftovers!

Question: What’s your favorite Indian food?

Question: Have you ever made Indian food at home? What dishes?

LEGENDS OF THE MARATHON

So that was Wednesday night, but now we’re on to Thursday. This evening, I had the pleasure of attending another Times Talk at the Times Center, this one called: Legends of the Marathon. The guests were: Joan Benoit-Samuelson (won the gold medal in the first women’s marathon in the Olympics); Deena Kastor (bronze medal in the Olympic marathon and runs sub-2 hour 20 minute marathons); Grete Waitz (has won the NYC Marathon 9 times and silver medal in Olympic marathon); Lance Armstrong (enough said).

They all shared stories about their marathon experiences, including their first marathons. Lance was really funny and told us that after his first marathon, he was so sore he couldn’t walk to the conference center in the hotel he was staying at. They had to send up a bell-hop cart to bring him there.

Grete talked about one of the more “private” running topics – bathroom issues. She admitted that in two of the NYC marathons she had stomach issues. The first time she went behind two cars parked on the side of the road because there were no bathrooms. She ended up losing her lead and not winning the race that time. The next time, she decided to just go. Yup – she went as she was running. She said it was a conscious choice because she didn’t want to give in to the distraction. She won that race.

I’d have to say the consistent advice from all the speakers was to put in the work during training. Don’t skimp. If you do the work then you will benefit. And they all agreed that mile 20 is “when the race really starts.” In other words, when it starts to get really tough. I AGREE!

Only in NYC can you listen to your favorite author read from his new book in person, eat delicious authentic Indian food, and get running tips from marathon legends all within the span of 24 hours!

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Posted in Restaurants, Running, Uncategorized

Monday, Monday

Posted on October 27, 2009 | Leave a comment

I know – its Tuesday. But this post will be about Monday. It was back to the grind yesterday. I’ve had 4-day weeks for the past two weeks, so I have a feeling this week is going to drag on. But luckily, I started the week off right with dinner with good friends last night.

I left work around 5:15 and first headed to Chinatown to buy some fabric for my halloween costume. I wish I had taken some pictures of this place (The Fabric Warehouse), it was insane. I had to fight my way through what I assumed to be competitive fashion students looking for fabric for their next masterpiece. So I finally got out of there and headed uptown to meet Steph and Rachael.

I met Steph at her hotel and got to see her tiny hotel room. It was so cute and miniature. Then we headed out to find someplace to eat. We happened to stumble upon Spice on 8th Avenue and decided that would be a good spot.

The food was great! We started with some steamed dumplings and some wine of course. For our dinners I had the Lemongrass Chicken, Steph had the Cashew Chicken and I think Rachael had something with Shrimp in a Clay Pot – it sounded fun.