Turmeric So Bright

Saturday was the Tour de Fat in Tempe.  Ryan and I couldn’t go as we had to help grandpa move, but we still got to catch a part of the fun by hosting a 7AM pancake breakfast.  Our friend Gabe brought over apples and pancake mix.  I also had pancake mix, so we had a fun pancake comparison test.  My mix was Bob’s Red Mill.  Gabe’s was the Fresh and Easy store brand.  The lovely picture you see below is the Fresh and Easy brand.  It totally won out.  Nice fluffy, hearty, multigrain, poofy pancakes.  A bit of gala apple in there and our friends were ready to take on Tour de Fat.

Gabe with the Fresh and Easy Pancakes

For dinner I made a coconut curry.  Look how bright that turmeric is!  It was full of onions and mixed veggies along with some golden raisins.  On the side we had some rice along with some sriracha marinated tempeh that I baked in the oven with a cast iron pan.  The flavor on the tempeh was good, but a bit on the dry side.  Here’s to my ongoing battle with making tempeh as good as they did in the tempeh hash at Sarcred Chow in NYC.

Later this afternoon Ryan and I are headed to Target to get backpacks.  Now that we’re a scooterized family we need a better way of transporting stuff.  I’ll make sure to get a picture of The Buddy.  It’s awesome!  We ran errands on this fine day in Phoenix in October.  75 degrees and loving life!

Meal Plan Woes

Obviously I’m blogging less.  Why?  I’m cooking less.  My new job comes with a pretty big meal plan that can accomodate me eating lunch 5 days a week and me and Ryan 3 nights a week in the school dining facilities.  Not the healthiest fare, but we make it work.  Too, it saves us a ton of money!  It’s a recession, darnit, and we gotta pinch pennies.

Speaking of saving money, Ryan and I have decided we’re not getting a car (in the most car-centric city ever).  We are buying a motorized scooter called the Buddy.  It gets 120 miles to the gallon and only costs $200 a year for insurance.  Meanwhile, I also got a street bike, so we’re being green, healthy and saving money on gas!  Now, this plan works mainly because I don’t have a commute, Ryan has a short commute, all the stuff we need is relatively nearby and it’s sunny 300+ days a year in Phoenix.  Too, no super cold winter days. 

Because of our new plot to save tons of money, we have run into the issue of not always being able to haul large loads from Costco or Ikea.  We have plenty of cars we can borrow, but I really want to work on using what we have and making the most of bulk foods. 

Enter Joanie’s bag o rice

We also stocked up on all the regular stuff such as tomato sauce, pasta, dried beans, oatmeal, soymilk…enough to hold us over for a good long while!

Tonight I got to cook dinner.  It’s been a while.  On the menu was a bed of lentils with harissa, topped with carmelized onion/green bean/goji berry/ tahini mess, garnished with julliened roasted red peppers and grated carrot.  Woo hoo was it spicy!  But, very delish.

Tonight I’m duty, so here’s to hoping for a quiet night.  Meanwhile, big pancake breakfast at our place in the morning before our friends take off for Tour de Fat.

Healing Power

I’ve been much too busy.  Too busy to blog, too busy to hang with the fam, too busy to visit Puppers!!!!  Note to self, stop it and take some of your own advice!  So, here I am, trying to take my advice.  When I say advice, I mean, what I tell students all the time, “take a moment and breathe”. 

This past Sunday I did an art therapy workshop with a group of students from the Honors College.  There I was telling them to take time each day to stop and be still.  Coaching them on breathing exercises, how to push all the craziness out of your head to truly be peaceful, and to take time to conciously process those big life events that happen in college.  I’m afraid I’m a bit of a “do as I say, not as I do” right now.  I’ve just jumped in full force to my new job and as much as I’m loving really getting into it and investing in it, it’s starting to run me ragged.  I’m getting that twinge of self-righteous, onrnery attitude that needs to check itself at the door. 

Here I sit, with my desk organized, my tea within reach, listening to the New Age Instrumental station on Pandora.  Ohhhmmmmmmmm.

On to the eats.  I needed to use up some of the last bit of bruschetta I made as it was starting to stink up the whole fridge.  So, what’s better than a Bruschetta Veggie Burger?  Mmmmmm…Bruschetta-ey!

Saturday night I made a Greek feast of white bean and basil hummus with rice chips to start off.

Next were Greek Wraps with all the usual suspects.  A bit of tofu feta spiced it up nicely.

Then Sunday I busted out the juicer.  This mega juice of kale, peach, carrot and pineapple was awesome.  I even grew a palm tree out of it!  Oh, wait, that’s just Frank, our back porch palm tree behind.  But, this drink was mighty enough to grow anything regardless.

Three cheers and a big toast to trying to take care of ourselves!

Deja-vu

We’ve been living in Phoenix (Tempe to be specific) now for about 6 weeks.  It’s fun being back where we came from, but things have changed so much.  ASU is totally different, there are new restaurants to explore, and Ryan and I are now different people.  It’s like a bizzare case of deja-vu on a different plane of existence. 

Needless to say, we’ve been having a great time.  Things have been super crazy between catching up with family and friends and starting new jobs.  My job at Arizona State has been fantastic!  Very time consuming with all of the work involved in training the Community Assistant staff and preparing for the move-in of 11,000 students, which happens this week.  Eeeeeek!!!  Batten the hatches! 

Here’s a short re-cap of some of the highlights.

80’s roller skating Birthday Extravaganza for our friend Andrew!

Tofu Rancheros one Saturday morning.

Roasted vegetables (quasi ratatoulli) with fresh sourdough

Dinner at Pita Jungle.  You must try the cilantro hummus!

I had the falafel.  Great flavors and combo of fresh ingredients.  However, the falafel themselves were a little too over-fried.

Soup Trio at Cafe Boa.  Watermelon, Avocado and Green Tomato.  The Tomato was my favorite.

Ryan was so sweet to make dinner this week after I’d worked like a cray person.  He made Yukon Gold Potatoes with a Jalapeno Chutney.

On the side we had a Southwest Salad of jicama, black beans, radishes, tomatoes, peppers and avocado with a light Lime Vinaigrette.  Tons of cilantro, too, just the way I like it!

When you work in Residential Life, there is always an excuse to dress up and get crazy.  Here’s the SPAM Staff decked out in rocker gear.  HOT!

 Today, finally, Ryan and I had the chance to go to the grocery store.  We went to my favorite, Sunflower, and picked up some necesities.  Well, I mean, I got some necesities and Ryan got a Venus Flytrap.  And all is right with the world

Things will continue to be crazy for me for another week, but after the 24th, things will slow down.  So, I will get back on the bloggy saddle and will share some of the new creations coming out of my big beautiful kitchen here in Arizona.  Next on the menu:  Vegan Chile Rellenos.

We’re Here!

After 32 hours of driving, a full week of work and plenty of good times, we’re finally settled into our new apartment.  Settled being a relative term.

We set off Thursday afternoon and made it to Shippensburg, PA.  I drove this sucker through the Lincoln Tunnel!

Puppers was along for the ride with us.  She loved looking out the windows.  She was amazing on the long trip to Arizona!

Here she is with her fur in the wind and Daddy asleep in the passenger seat.

A little shout out to CCK, I claimed this jalapeno for Texas while we were in Amarillo!

 We noticed a lot of unfortunate signage while we were driving.  “Eat here.  Get gas.”  No thanks

Finally we hit Arizona.  Here’s a view from I-17 coming down after Flagstaff.  Absolutely beautiful.  I’m glad we’re home.

Ryan made dinner for us on Wednesday night, as I’ve been working long hours all week.  He made this fresh spinach, scallion, strawberry, sunflower seed, mango salad with a balsamic vinaigrette with a side of some super soft bread.  We paid $10 for the whole meal!  So much more afordable than NYC.

Last night I made Chipotle Tofu burritos filled with beans, lettuce and homemade pico.

And finally, my new kitchen!  So big and spacious!

So Long, Farewell, Until We Meet Again

Today we leave New York at 3:30pm EST.  I’m very sad, especially with respect to the wonderful people we’re leaving behind, most especially John and Kathryn.  You guys have made us feel so special and we love you very much!

(Thanksgiving Day Parade 2008)

Meanwhile, we’ll be documenting our travels westward and will share with you all the highlights after we get to Phoenix on Sunday.

Bye Bye Juilliard!

Atlas, Eyeballs and Bulgur

Today Ryan and I had the day off in honor of the holiday weekend.  We took the opportunity to get outside and enjoy our last day off in NYC.  We headed to the Lower East side and ended up having lunch at Atlast Cafe.  I’ve always heard it’s amazing and had to try it. 

First off, they have a ginormous menu!  This is just the veggie sandwich list!

I ordered the Vegan Mississippi Chicken Chops at the recommendation of the server.  The sandwich was okay, not mind blowing.  But, the faux chicken, which I’m not usually a fan of, was incredible.  Ryan said it was even suspiciously “real”.  The Mississippi comes with “chicken”, guac, cream cheese, red onion and red peppers on a baguette.  I think it would had veen better with more veggies, more sauce and a less chewey bread.  The baguette really overpowered the potential of the sandwich.  They serve it with a side of potato chips and I got Red Zinger tea to drink.  The chips were pretty much straight up Lays.  Had they had some sort of home made type chip or even Kettle Chips, I would have been happier.  Ryan ordered the Moroccan Chicken Sandwich and had the same sort of feedback.  Sort of lacked some punch.

We also ordered dessert, just because I’ve heard so many rave reviews of their sweets.  We ordered up, again at the recommendation of the server, the Death by Chocolate.  Wowee!  Ryan didn’t realize it was vegan until after we annihilated it and said it was the best vegan cake he’d had.  Very moist, but very rich.  We had a major sugar crash while shopping in SoHo.

My overall review of Atlast is 3 out 5 apples.  Ambience is pretty cool.  I classify it as Hippy Funky.  It’s really cramped inside, too.  But, service was great and the constant line was a testment to the neighborhood approval of Atlast.  The food was good, not great, but worth the price and made our bellies happy.  So, if you’re in NYC, check it out if you have time.  But, if not, just go straight to Maoz, Lula’s and Blossom.

After lunch we walked from the Lower East Side to Tribeca via Spring Street.  That took us through the fun shops of SoHo, including Evolution.  I spied the skeleton outside and figured it was a Ryan kind of place.  Boy was I right!  Stuffed animals, skeltons, trilobites, ancient rocks, really any sort of dead thing you’d be looking for, including glass eyeballs!

For dinner I cleared some more out of the fridge.  Bell pepper, bulgur, salsa, red onion, garlic, more beans and tortillas.  Here’s our kitchen sink burros.

Off to pack a bit more and watch Obsessed on A&E.

Sunday Busy Sunday

Today was a wonderful Sunday.  We started the day at church followed by brunch with friends, Patrick and Cheryl.  They’re amazing people, and two more reasons we’re so sad to leave NYC.  But, at least we’re getting time with them before we leave for Phoenix.

After that we headed to Home Depot for more boxes.  Will the packing ever stop?!?  Oh, and for those who don’t believe, here is evidence that there are Home Depots in Manhattan.  Ryan carried the boxes home.  I carried the tape.

After taking the cross town bus to get home, we stopped and sat on one of the benches on the median on Broadway facing south.  This has been our neighborhood and that big shiny building on the right is Juilliard.  Amazing students that I will treasure having known.

For dinner it was another test of cleaning out the fridge.  Can you believe I haven’t been to the grocery store in a week and a half!?!  Money saving and cleaning out the pantry!  So, I used a lonely pack of tofu, a bag of asian veggies that had been in the freezer for at least a month, the last of the basmati rice, the last of the peanut oil, and some bottled teriyaki.  Bam!  We had vegan fried rice!  The tofu doubled as the eggeyness and the veggies were perfect with the salty sauce.  I served up the last of the edemame on the side.

Happy 4th

Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July!  We sure did.  We spent some quality time with our beloved Brooklynites and caught some rays.  Well, maybe too many rays.  But, all that aside, bring on the pics!

We started the day with some red, white, peach and blue fruit salad over our corn flakes.  I wanted to make flap jacks, but I packed the griddle already.

Soy vs. Cow milk was the first big sporting event of the day.  It was declared a tie, for the sake of eating a peaceful breakfast, but we all know which is better

Also note the festive bowls.  I packed all the dishes, so we’re rockin’ out with Sesame Street as it was the paperware on sale at Food Emporium.

After a nice morning we packed up and headed to Prospect Park where we met Kathryn and John for a picnic.  Here’s John trying to run covert operations to keep the beer under wraps.  Tryin’ to dodge the 5-oh.  If only we knew a 5 minute walk from where we were there were guys playing beer pong.  So much for being covert.

I brought along Chinese Pita Pockets.  I stuffed them with cabbage and ramen slaw, half with chicken, half with mushrooms.  Here’s one of the shroomers with a side of grapes.  These were a big hit!

We then played a good bit of frisbee and then walked around the park. 

For our evening activities we headed to The Habitat, where John works.  We played Midnight Bridge at the bar and sipped some sweet wheat beers.  We also got the chance to go up to the roof of the building (located in Greenpoint Brooklyn) and were able to see some of the fireworks being shot off from the Hudson River in Manhattan.  It was beautiful with the city skyline and the Empire State Building lit up in red, white and blue.

At the end of the night we realized that this would be the last time at the Habitat for a long time, if not forever.  So, we got a pic in front of the sign to commemorate many fun memories at a great local bar with incredible friends.

Beginning of the End

Reality has set in and I’m sad to be leaving NYC.  We barely scratched the surface of this amazing city in 2 years.  I kind of feel like we’re leaving things undone.  So, this week I’ve done a lot of reminiscing and have tried to soak up as much as possible.

There’s so many good things to miss.  Like, my red office…

And its view of Lincoln Center.  I won’t be able to see this in my new office in Arizona.  On the left is Avery Fisher Hall, home of the  NY Philharmonic.  The tallest buildings on the right are the towers of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle.

And the food!  Oh, how I’ll miss all of the restaurants.  One of my favorites, which I hit up for lunch today, is Maoz.  It’s a vegetarian falafel joint.  Small, speedy, and a bajillion different condiments.  I looooove condiments and the freedom to “make it my way”.

I’m ready for my close up Mr. Deville

Soft pita stuffed with hummus, falafel, eggplant and dressed up with plenty of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, mint and tahini!  With a side of fries and ketchup watching the sidewalk traffic at the intersection of Broadway and 72nd, I was in NYC bliss.