So long 2010... December 31st

I know a lot of you bloggers are doing re-cap posts of the year, but I won't be doing that. lol I just don't have the time or patience with all that's facing me in the next month (or year, for that matter!). So instead, I'll post some of my eats, starting with...

Zen Palate. Now Zen Palate and I have a love-hate relationship. I started going to the big one that used to be in Union Square (but closed) years ago (which was really good). Then when that closed, I tried the one in the theatre district a couple times, but didn't really like it at all. Now I just found out that they opened a new location in "union square" (and I put it in quotes because it's really not in union square, but rather on 18th st. off Park Ave.). They opened in August of this year, but I didn't hear about it or try it out until now! Oh well!

I got their portobello burger with yam fries. This was really good and I'd definitely get it again. I wanted to try their "banana bliss" dessert, which is their vegan version of banana cream pie, but I was too full, so next time! I definitely liked the food and atmosphere of this Zen better (although be warned, their food is hit or miss... there is better out there *cough, Wild Ginger* ;).

On Wednesday I met up with Melissa at our usual spot, Sea Thai.

I got my usual, spring rolls and broad rice noodles with tofu.

And I was really on an asian food kick this week, as I got a lunch special from Suzie's (a chinese restaurant in the village) too.

I get their bean curd homestyle lunch special (which is basically tofu with vegetables) and it comes with vegetarian wonton soup, mini egg roll, and fried rice.

(P.S. I don't know where Wild Ginger or Suzie's websites disappeared to! Both of their restaurants are still open and thriving, yet their sites have been down for ages-- strange!)

But back to the new year... I really am starting to feel old and understand now why people drink on new year's eve! It's amazing how fast a year goes by!

Peanut can't believe it either! lol

Anyways, Happy New Year and lets keep our fingers crossed for a great 2011!!!

I also want to thank all of you for visiting my blog all year! I really do love reading your comments and appreciate the feedback! :)

Christmas re-cap & more! December 26th

I was up at my grandparent's house for Christmas eve & Christmas day. We were going to leave this morning, but ended up leaving late last night instead because of the blizzard heading for NY! We may get up to 2 feet of snow here. I'm praying it won't be that bad, but it's going to be a rough next couple of days, that's for sure! Anyways, my Christmas re-cap has no food in it, but instead, cute animals! :) Here are some pics I took from my grandparent's house, starting with me and the tree:

Now, on to the puppies! :)

My grandparent's dog, Mae, who you can see more of here. (She's my favorite dog in the universe! :)

And my aunt's dog, Chiclet, who visited us on Christmas Eve. (What's really cute is that Mae and Chiclet are friends and Mae actually greets Chiclet at the door when she comes over! lol)

Now I know what you're thinking, what about Peanut?!?!

Don't worry, he got his Christmas presents before we left!

One of his gifts was a mint scented toy that you can see him with here:

And I also got Peanut his very own mini box of Q-tips! lol I decorated it for him too!

(Also, please note that Peanut is MONITORED when I give him a Q-tip to play with! NEVER let a cat play with a Q-tip or any other small object unsupervised because they could choke!!)

When I got home today, despite the blizzard, I went out to the Chelsea Whole Foods to pick up a few things. First I stopped for brunch at Blossom.

(The view outside Blossom's window earlier today... they were decorated nicely for the holidays.)

I got my usual, their tofu scramble. I swear, after eating pretty much nothing but junk food the past two days, it felt SO good to eat something healthy (and delicious!). Which brings me to my next announcement...

I'm really going to be making an effort to eat vegan as much as possible for the new year! I've been a vegetarian for years anyway, so it's not that big of a jump. I'm not going to become obsessive with it (and I'm still going to eat the NYC pizza that I love!), but I do want to clean up my diet some, and the less animal products I eat, the better!

I'll probably be updating one last time before 2011, and posting more food then! But first, how was everyone's holidays so far?

My Favorite Things... December 18th

So I'm going to be definitely moving next month... Probably to Queens, although we're still not sure. But in the meantime, I am visiting my favorite Manhattan establishments...

Wild Ginger with my usual favorites (spring rolls, shumai, and pineapple fried rice):

Mozzarella sticks and a "high c" smoothie at Good Stuff Diner:

And my favorite, banana bread french toast at Sacred Chow:

And incase you're wondering, that's blueberry sauce on it-- incredibly delicious!

We also got some holiday treats (from Figi's) too!

Red velvet petit fours and it came with a sample of free fudge (which surprisingly wasn't very good!).

Here are some recent pics of Peanut that I wanted to share too... starting with bath tub play! lol

On my bed...

And these adorable close-ups!

What are some of your favorite things (for the holidays or anytime of year)?

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! I'll be Upstate visiting relatives, but I'll update when I get back!

Holiday Party ~ December 8th

I rarely (if ever) do this, but they say when someone else has already done it best... My friend Shannon and I attended a fabulous holiday party Monday night, at celebrity party planner, Bronson van Wyck's residence (other food bloggers were there as well). I was going to do a whole write up on it, but Shannon beat me to it! lol She did such a lovely summary of the party, that I'd really rather send you all over to HER blog! You can check it out here!

So sorry if I'm taking the easy way out... but I learned it from this guy! ;)

It's that time of year again... December 3rd

Hard to believe the holidays are already upon us... Hanukkah is already underway and Christmas is coming... Yesterday I went up to Rockefeller Center to see the tree!

(It looks better at night when you can see all the lights!)

But not before stopping to see the tree they put up in my building's lobby!

Earlier this week I had lunch with Melissa at our usual spot, Sea Thai.

I got the spring rolls and broad rice noodle with tofu.

After lunch I stopped in the Chelsea Market and picked up some rainbow cookies at a bakery there. (I had been craving these for a while!!)

Wednesday morning I stopped in Elephant and Castle for breakfast... It was SO rainy out, but they decorated the restaurant nice for the holidays!

I got their "California" breakfast... which included eggs, french toast, hash browns, tea (or coffee), orange juice, and I substituted the bacon for fruit.

This is truly the BEST breakfast in Manhattan... you get all this for only $10 and their food is really good too!!!

When I was uptown visiting the tree, I stopped in Saks because I had a gift card to use there. Remarkably I didn't buy anything (everything was SO overpriced!!!). But I did stop in SnAKS (their cafe) for lunch.

I got their grilled cheese with potato strings. Despite the small portion, this was filling.

And finally, Peanut has been cuddling up on the blankets in this cold weather!!

In his usual position that we call "the duddy," where he "duddies" his arms about up over his head! lol

Thanksgiving Day Wrap-up & Peanuts! Nov. 26th

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! I'll get to my Thanksgiving eats in a moment (and they are minimal, at best!), but first, some of my eats from earlier in the week....

Last weekend I had brunch at Village Natural. I hadn't been since last year, when I had a disappointing lunch there. Luckily, their brunch was better!

I got their french toast, which came with fruit (blueberry sauce!) and soy sausage patties.

I was in Tribeca earlier this week doing some last minute grocery shopping at the enormous Tribeca Whole Foods (which is AMAZING-- it could be a tourist attraction!), and I stopped for lunch in Ivy's Bistro (on the corner of North Moore & Greenwich St.).

I got their veggie burger with fries. This was pretty good, although not fantastic.

For Thanksgiving I had some of my favorites...

Clif's Iced Gingerbread bar (a seasonal favorite!).

Mom's stuffed mushrooms... they are FANTASTIC. Between yesterday and today, I've eaten a ton of these!

And of course, mom made her signature cheesecake (OMG is this good!). This is the number one reason I'm not a vegan!!! Nothing comes CLOSE to real cheesecake.

As for the "turkey"....

And if you think that's cute, you'd better brace yourselves now!! lol

Peanut was all riled up over one of his favorite things... Q-Tips!

(Notice the Q-Tip in the lower right hand corner of the pic!)

I am so very thankful for this fluffy bundle of joy! :) Hope everyone had a good holiday!

New & Tasty Eats! November 17th

I want to start off with my review of the other MorningStar Farms entree (you can see the review of my first one here). Now I am usually a HUGE fan of MorningStar Farms, but their entrees have been disappointing. :(

I normally like pretty much any vegetarian lasagna, but this one had an awful taste and texture. It just didn't taste much like lasagna. So it's only 270 calories. I'd rather they put another 100 calories in it and have it be edible! The ONLY thing I liked in it were the "sausage" crumbles. And that's because I really love their veggie sausage (as you can see here). Unfortunately though, there was hardly ANY sausage in it! Not good.

Luckily I had a great meal at Tue Thai Food. I have gotten food delivered from them, but never visited their restaurant in the village (on Greenwich Ave. & 8th st.).

Look at this amazing lunch! And for just under $10 too! I got their pad se ew with tofu for my entree, and the lunch special comes with an appetizer of your choice (I chose spring rolls, of course!), a side salad and beverage of your choice (I got a coke, which you can just make out in the picture in that cute little jar).

For breakfast this past weekend I made Trader Joe's BIG cinnamon buns.

Mom and I enjoyed these. There is little that Trader Joe's makes that I DON'T like. lol

This week I had a great lunch delivered from Suzie's, one of my favorite chinese restaurants.

I got a vegetarian egg roll and their sizzling tofu in black bean sauce (this is an exclusive dish of their's and is really tasty).

And yesterday I went to the doctor's downtown... long story, but my doctor is downtown in Chinatown because it's one of the only places that accepts my health insurance! lol She's great though, so I don't mind going.

Anyways, after my appointment I stopped in an adorable bakery in Soho. I must have been by this place before, but it looked new to me! It's called Little Cupcake Bakeshop and it's on Prince St. It's funny, I had really been craving a cupcake too!

I got their golden vanilla one, which had chocolate buttercream frosting. I am not kidding when I say this was AMAZING. I seriously don't know what they even put in it to taste so good, and truthfully, I don't care!!

As for my Peanuts, he was having quite a time when I got a package that had some of those white foam packing bits.

And he spent some time watching the figure skating with me this past weekend.

Ok, that's all until Thanksgiving! Enjoy this fall weather while it lasts!!