Recent thoughts and photos

Hey guys, the title is plain because I was feeling a little less than creative 5 seconds ago.


Recent thoughts that entered my head:

1. Why does everyone dream of owning a Louis Vuitton bag when all I want is a Christopher Kane printed dress?

2. Why is CSI crack?

3. Am I really allowed to listen to Let Live and Let Ghosts a million times in repeat and be called normal?





4. How will my first race go?

(source build-africa.org)

Okay, so the first three are self explanatory but number 4 is a new one.

I run as a hobby from time to time around my neighborhood. I've been doing so for a while, but it's never consistent (I prefer doing more boot camp style cardio exercises, with variety in moves). But at work, I have a coworker who likes to run races, and he convinced me to join him on September 5th for the World Trade Center, Run to Remember 5k run.

Click HERE for more info.

It's going to be my first race and although I don't think it'll be as intense as that picture up there, I do think it's a big step for me. I've been training, and each time I've noticed I can go longer without taking a break and generally, I feel stronger. It's a good feeling and I hope it continues up til race day.

Wish me luck. :)

Today's Agenda

Today I plan to go watch this:

I never read the book (I STILL am on the waiting list at the library), but I've heard many great things about it. I figured might as well watch the movie first, since if I read the book beforehand, I know I'd only be comparing it to the original.

Also, you'd think I was excited to see James Franco. Don't get me wrong, I am. But have I mentioned I have a secret not-so-secret crush on Javier Bardem?

He's smokin'.

I also have a not-secret-at-all girl crush on Penelope Cruz, and it's funny how they ended up together, no?


Anyway, I'll see y'all sometime soon. Pictures of things that's been going down as of late will come. Bye!

Why you can't put me in the same room as . . .

Well, there are several things you can't put me in the same room as. Some things start or end with the word "chocolate" (or it could be the word itself!) Other things include Food Network stars or bands.

But clearly, you can't put me in the same room as a single sharpie and a paper bag from a certain warehouse sale, because I will be inclined to draw hands and other worldly things.

I usually try to draw realistically, but this time I just decided everything should be mangled. And my sea creatures should be angry. And my tomato should not really look like a tomato.

Speaking of that warehouse sale, basically what went down:

I waited early to go in, and took no time at all to get in. But once in, there were just women EVERYWHERE. Clothes were on the floor (oh no, my brands!) and women were trying on all sorts of shoes.
I saw those gold Givenchy boots I posted about before (yeah, dream shoes right THERE) but they were still pricey. So watch me check in around September to see if it's still there (no one seemed interested when I was there).
I left with a pair of pants (will pop up in the blog in the future).

But now that we're on the topic of fashion, let me show you what I found recently.



THIS JACKET IS BOMBER. Not the style, I mean, THIS IS AWESOME.

Lately I've been into two things:

1. The combination of black and brown.
Years ago, I thought it was taboo because of that one episode of Will and Grace where Jack says it's basically terrible if you wear black shoes with a brown belt (and gay men are almost always right). But now I really like buying pieces that mix the two colors together.
2. Beaded
I don't know what it is, but I'm so into beaded embellishments all of a sudden. During the warehouse sale, I kept staring at the really expensive designer clothing and looking at the bead work. Also, lots of vintage has beading.

Hence why this jacket I found at Beacon's Closet is like, WOAH. I also like velvet jackets so it was like win. However, I felt broke and it felt big, so I felt unsure and I didn't buy it.

Now, a recent outfit.



And a face shot (Look! I can smile!)



Lowdown:
-Long wig
-Urban Outfitters printed shirt
-Uniqlo yellow shorts
-Urban Outfitters lace leggings
-Booties found at Buffalo Exchange
-Bag found at Daffy's

I wore that to karaoke with my friends I haven't seen in a while. Here's the lunch I ordered there!

I love salmon!


Maybe a week or so ago, I went to the new Crumbs bakeshop in the financial district and picked up some cupcakes. They have a promotion special going on until Sept. 5th that on weekends, you can buy one cupcake and get the second free (coupon here)

The chocolate covered strawberry wasn't as good as that coconut one right next to it. Chocolate and coconut just rock together!

Finally, I tried the ULTIMATE in waffles and food trucks, Wafels and Dinges.

The first topping (dinges) is free, so I got the BEST SPREAD IN THE WORLD. It's called Spekuloos (as is on the menu, but when you search for it, it's actually spelled with a "c"). It's a sort of cookie spread, but it was such a "Move over Nutella!" moment.
I recommend them if you find their truck somewhere because although a tiny bit pricey for waffles, it's delicious and the guys are super nice!


So this post was nice in that it summed me as a person: fashion, art/sketches, food. Now to go and walk around Manhattan for no reason! See you guys later!

Blogger Girls We're Unreliable

Actually, it's just me.

Sorry chickee-doodles, I haven't been as active on the blog as of late. I keep coming here to write something, only to be distracted by something else. Then I forget and when I come back, I hate what I wrote before.

Oh well, so is life.


So some pictures from my past few days:

Food Truck Fest

Nothing too special. Was way too hot and crowded, and I ended up not getting anything. Instead, I walked up until I stumbled across an Amy's Bread and I got a rosemary twist. Yum, CARBS.

I did see this purty booth.

I love dramatic jewelry.

I then met with my friend Lesley to go get some 8 cent crepes at Motek. The line was SO LONG. So we cam whored.

I like red lips.

The crepes:

We both got the same flavor (Pesto). It was good, but we ended up waiting 2 hours on that line and it really wasn't 2 hour wait worthy.

After failing at buying some cupcakes at Crumbs afterwards, we settled on sweets elsewhere. I got a hazelnut ball at Black Hound. I normally love Black Hound, but this was just a little dry and there were too many nuts around it. I did finish it though.

In the end, I just went home and had a banana soft serve with kiwi. This might've been the best thing I ate that day.

I also did Restaurant Week at Club A Steakhouse! I have no pictures to post here because everything turned out red and dark due to the lighting at the place. HOWEVER, that was the least of my worries. The food was delish and the service was SUPERB. My water was constantly being replenished (but not annoyingly so), and they even gave us a side dish on the house. My favorite dish was the cauliflower soup (I must have it again someday!), but trust me when I say I enjoyed all courses.

I doggy bagged half the salmon so you at least get to see what I did with it.

Mmmmmmm, salad.

Then the other day, I went to Murray's Bagels for well, bagels.

They only had a few bagel choices because it was 6 in the morning and the hadn't baked all of them yet. So I had a sesame bagel with some maple walnut spread.
I've been wanting to try this place because it's got an impressive list of awards received. I gotta say the bagel was really good. Maybe I should just get one with no spread next time because it sort of takes from the pure taste of bagel, but that might be hard to do since the spread was tasty too . . . Ah well.

Finally, my boring dinner from the other day.

Salad + TJ chips!

Okay, so I believe I best be off to eat some dinner and then hit up the SEASON FINALE OF NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR. I'm rooting for Aarti or Herb. Are you watching?

I love nerds

I love nerdy people. They are the only ones who will watch sci-fi movies with you, talk philosophical theories about the power of mind and the existence of God, know what's going on in the world of politics, and of course, get really excited about tv shows that no one else gets.

I think I just described myself and the majority of my friends. No matter.

So recently I made some more energy bars. This time though, I made it extra special by making labels for all of them.




I made them mainly for coworkers, so a small batch it was. One for that kinda quirky nice guy who listens to my ramblings, one for that hard working fellow who gets overlooked, one for that guy who got me the job and who I can never thank enough, and one for that dude whose impossible sweetness makes every shift I'm working better. I should've written that on the back of those labels too, huh?

And now for some recent eats:

I went karaoke-ing with mi madre y mi hermana (4 years of Spanish and I get this, I know). This is what I ordered.

I finally ate at Bonobos! I had the nori roll.
You know, I really love eating raw from time to time. It's filling and I think it's a pretty spectacular way to be really creative with what nature gives you. These nori rolls were colorful and tasty, and I ate about half before being full. The rest I saved for the next day, and the dressing on that salad?

Saved it for some tofu salad two nights later.
That's also a boiled sweet potato. I wish I could bake the darn thing but my oven's busted and has been for over a year now. 8D Another reason why I have been making raw desserts lately.

And speaking of raw, some more!

The sandwich is from Westerly, along with the chunks of energy. The water is courtesy of Whole Foods.
I gotta say, I'm hooked on raw bread now. It's too expensive to justify buying it often, but it's okay to indulge once in a while. It's just so nutty and rich and just plain GOOD.

Finally, I went to Lifethyme and grabbed myself a raw chewie.

It's HUGE. Kinda like eating a big hunka dough. I still have some left over.
I contemplated buying it because I could easily make this, but I thought hey, why not? There were 3 other flavors, and since the original tastes like eating ole fashioned raisin bread, I wonder how lovely the coconut one will be?

Finally, some of the best economical hummus to be in my tummus. You really can't turn it down at that price, can you?


So to sign off with some substance (because mucho food pictures aren't enough), a NY foodie update taken from Time Out NY's website.

SUN 8 FOOD TRUCK FEST
The Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market welcomes a convoy of mobile eateries for this food-truck bonanza. Arrive early to beat the inevitable lines for vendors such as Go Burger and Jersey City’s the Krave, which serves tacos and burritos filled with Korean BBQ staples. Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, W 39th St at Ninth Ave (hellskitchenfleamarket.com). 11am–4pm.

Will you be there?

A Friendly Reminder

The world should know three things about me.

The first two are a given:

1. I love fashion.
2. I love food.

But the 3rd one, well, many of you DO know this about me, but some of you don't, so here it is:

3. I am a Food Network junkie.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "Well, that kinda goes with #2, doesn't it?" And yes, yes it does. But I even frighten myself sometimes when I can list the line up of shows happening on what day of the week and when I get really excited at just the mention of Alton Brown or Paula Deen.

Of course, this took years. What many people (even my closest friends) don't know is, I've been watching the channel only a few years after it started. As a kid, my favorite thing to do was go home and watch Cooking Live with Sara Moulton. Or Sweet Dreams with Gale Gand. Or Emeril Live with . . . well, you know who. And I would often tape Sweet Dreams so I can watch it later and pause it every so often to write down the recipe in my recipe book. Yup, I was a determined little nugget.

One thing I remember enjoying writing the recipes of the most were smoothies. As a kid, that's one of the few things you can do without any help what-so-ever, and it takes only a few minutes to pour yourself a snazzy glass of deliciousness.

Some things never change.

"It's Not Easy Being Green" Smoothie

Handful of Spinach (abt. 1 - 1.5 cups)
Half a Mango (I used the Alphonso variety, as it's sweetest and bigger)
1 Organic Pink Lady Apple (found at TJs)
Splash of Water

Put all ingredients in a blender. Enjoy.

Some people don't like green smoothies because the flavor from the greens can be too much for them. The thing about greens are, the darker the color, the more nutrients it usually has, but it's also more bitter and tends to taste harsher. I opted for pre-washed baby spinach in this case because spinach in general has lots of Vitamins A and C, along with iron and calcium. It's also commonly found raw.
A word of advice for green smoothies in general, if you're just starting out, I recommend adding a sugar fruit with them. Things like bananas, mangoes, watermelon, etc. all have higher sugar percentages so it'll cut out the bitterness. You also won't need extra sweetener (although if it's a must, I suggest natural ones like stevia or honey).


Now I think I may have to go. The Next Food Network Star is On Demand, and since I have work later on in the evening, when else can I catch my food related melodrama?