A Busy Week! March 22nd - 26th

I've still been dealing with the migraines, plus a lot of other stress in my life, so my eating habits haven't been that good. I do however try to eat well when I can, and I got to have some good eats this week...

I tried the Spice in Astor Place on Monday (on 10th St. & 4th Ave.). I liked the atmosphere of this one quite a bit-- there's definitely more room. But the one in Chelsea beats them all on service and it never seems as crowded! I got my usual... spring rolls and broad rice noodles in soy sauce, with broccoli, egg, and tofu.

On Tuesday I went to the hair salon... I stopped for lunch uptown first at Angelo's Pizza. I got a penne pasta dish with mozzarella and veggies.

And here are some pics of my hair on the cab ride home...

Ok, so you all know by now that I'm a fan of Sea Thai Bistro and Spice, but I had never tried one of their other restaurants yet! It's called Peep and they are located on Prince St. in Soho. It's similar to the other two, but a little bit different. The restaurant's atmosphere is really cool and the place was pretty packed by 12:30 when I went on Wednesday.

I got their spring rolls as my appetizer (which is free just like in their other restaurants). I was a little apprehensive to try them, because it said they came with a carrot juice vinaigrette. But I was pleasantly surprised-- it was delicious! And I thought the spring rolls were even bigger and better than the ones I was used to!

I got their pad thai with tofu for my entree. This was good as well, because it wasn't overly spicy like so many pad thai dishes.

Yesterday morning I had a physical... I hadn't had one in ages and figured I needed some blood work done (especially after the birth control pill fiasco and all the migraines). By 11 a.m. it was done though and I decided to go to Pax to get a breakfast wrap. I totally stole this food idea from Missy, but I told her that I was going to get this one of these days because it looked so delicious on her blog!

I had an egg wrap which consisted of egg whites, mushrooms, and american cheese on a whole wheat wrap. It was really good and they let you pick what you want in it!

And as for a funny food picture, the other day I realized that my goldfish crackers accidentally formed a question mark on the paper towel! lol

I wanted to also share these funny pics of Peanut on my lap that I took the other day!

Peanut is quite the little fatty, although he is a picky eater-- go figure! lol That's ok, I like it when pets are pleasingly plump. :)

I have been going through a bit of a food rut lately. I just don't feel like eating much of anything. So perhaps you guys can help me... what are some of your favorite quick, easy vegetarian meals?

Good Eats & Granola ~ March 21st

I hope everyone had a good weekend! We actually had amazing weather for a change here in NY! I did get a chance to try 2 of the samples that Galaxy Granola sent me (see reviews below). So now, on to the eats!

I have officially fallen in love with these vegan donut holes! I had tried the cinnamon ones before and loved them, so when I saw the Whole Foods near me had chocolate ones, I couldn't resist!

I liked the chocolate ones a lot, but the cinnamon is still my favorite! Both remind me of munchkins though, and that's always a good thing! (Plus these really fall under the "I can't believe it's vegan!" category.)

The other day I decided to try Galaxy's vanilla almond granola first...

I mixed it in with a Liberte blackberry yogurt (which was good, although apple crumble is still the best!). This granola reminded me very much of so many granolas that I love! I have to hand it to them, I can't tell at ALL that they used fruit juice as a natural sweetener. And you'd never know that it had less fat and sugar!

In other news, my Mom baked banana bread this weekend...

I had some of a slice for breakfast this morning...

Later on I had brunch at Blossom and got their amazing tofu scramble!

For my snack I had a strawberry fruit bar (Whole Food's 365 brand).

For dinner Mom made her very own shrimp marinara recipe. (Shrimp and clams are the only two "meats" I tolerate. And tolerate being the operative word.)

For my snack tonight I tried Galaxy Granola's "not sweet vanilla" granola along with a Chobani pineapple yogurt.

I liked the granola, although I definitely preferred the vanilla (I like the almonds in that one as well). But this is a good granola to have on hand if you want something more plain to not distract from the flavor of your yogurt!

And here are some pics I took of Peanut tonight... he was helping Mom sort coupons! lol

And a kiss from earlier this week...

Who could blame me?! He's the most adorable "man" I've ever met! lol

That's all for now! xo

Happy St. Patrick's Day! March 17th

So I'm not Irish, but I wore green anyway today! I could use a little Irish luck actually... Anyways, I have quite a few eats to post, so let's get started!

A boca "chik'n" patty on a bun with cheese, some baked ruffles, and a peach medley apple sauce.

Mom made some homemade vegetarian minestrone soup and I got us some Italian bread to go with it.

I tried some more of these terrific Liberte yogurts! The plum & walnut was excellent, and the strawberry was good too. Although I still think the apple crumble one is the best!

I made some cinnamon buns this weekend that I picked up from Whole Foods. I saw these on my friend's blog and had to try them. They were REALLY good, even better than the Pillsbury ones!

I tried this new "Blueberry Bliss" Luna bar this morning. I wasn't really in the mood, so that could be the reason I wasn't wild about it, but it had too much of a strong artificial taste to me... it was very similar to the "Blueberry Bliss" Luna Sunrise bar actually.

I had a "green" lunch for St. Patty's Day... well, that wasn't really the reason. I noticed that it was very "green" after I already had ordered it! It was a pasta dish that I got at Trattoria Spaghetto, an Italian restaurant in the Village (at Bleecker St. & Carmine). It was basically penne pasta with broccoli, zucchini, in an olive oil sauce.

Tonight for "dinner" (yes I'm going to hell in a handbasket! lol) I had a Pinkberry yogurt with oreos & strawberries! It's "that time of the month" and I could hardly choke anything down today that's why... speaking of which, does anyone else always get their period on holidays?! I swear to God I do! My last one was on my birthday too! (Sorry if this is tmi, but I figure mostly women read my blog anyway!)

And the good folks at the new Galaxy Granola company sent me some samples of their granola! The UPS man delivered it today (Peanut always LOVES it when the UPS delivers a new box for him to play in! lol). Anyways, I'll be doing reviews soon of the granola. Can't wait to try it! My Mom has dibs on the raspberry one! lol I'll be trying the vanilla ones!

Speaking of Peanut and the UPS man, here he is enjoying one of the new boxes that came today! :)

I got a really cool accessory for my computer that I want to rave about! It's a cover for my new Macbook... I got it in purple (my favorite color) but it comes in lots of cool colors! The company iPearl makes these for different computers, and they even throw in a free keyboard cover too! The new white Macbooks (the October 2009 model) sort of need a cover because the outside is not the same rubbery material as the old Macbooks (like my 2006 black one). I highly recommend it (especially since with shipping the whole thing was under $30!).

I hope everyone had a nice holiday, and btw Peanut "thanks" everyone for the birthday wishes!

Oh and lastly as you can see (on the right hand side of the blog), I've finally set a date for the Wild Ginger meet-up! It will be on Sunday, April 11th at 12:30 p.m. If any of my other fellow New Yorkers (or visiting New Yorkers!) want to attend, please e-mail me!

Happy Birthday Peanut!!! March 13th

My baby Peanut turns 1 year old today!! So today's post will be dedicated to him, of course! It seems like only yesterday he was 6, nearly 7 weeks old when we got him (on April 29th, 2009). To give you a good idea of how much he's grown, check out these nearly identical before and after pics!!

Before (at 3 months old)

After (at 1 year old)

He's still got the exact same facial expression! :)

I've posted some of Peanut's baby pictures before (see Baby Peanut), but here are some I haven't uploaded to the blog yet!

And here's one more before and after for you... of Peanut doing the move we like to call "the duddy," where he puts his arms over his head and rolls on his back! It's so cute and it's something he's done since he was a baby!

Before (April 30, 2009)

After (March 13, 2010)

I can't believe how quickly he's grown! He looks like a full grown cat now (and Peanut truly was the tiniest kitten anybody had ever seen!).

How is Peanut celebrating his birthday? He's doing what he does best... snuggling in warm laundry!

And Peanut thanks you all in advance for all the love on his special day!! xo

Computer Saga! March 8th & 9th

After 2 failed repairs over the last 2 years on my black Macbook from 2006, I guess you could say 3 times wasn't the charm in this case! Here's my story: So yesterday morning I was on my computer like normal, I shut it, then went out. When I came back in the afternoon I opened my computer and it wouldn't turn on! I tried everything, called Apple support, etc. So I brought it down to the good old Apple store in Soho, and a "Mac Genius" took me very quickly without an appointment! They tried everything, but the up-shot was, I would have to spend hundreds of dollars in repairs that may or may not work, or buy a new computer. After a long decision process, spending nearly the entire afternoon in the store, I chose the latter and I got a new Macbook. They only make it in white now and it comes with built in Snow Leopard. So I had to put a THOUSAND dollars on my credit card yesterday! I nearly wept! But they were merciful and took a whopping $29 off my bill for returning the Snow Leopard cd I never used. Am I happy I had to buy a new computer? No. But is this computer better than the last one? Hell yes! It does make slightly different noise than I'm used to, because the hard drive sometimes makes a faint clicking sound rather than the fan noise my last one made (and this is due to the fact that it's a fancy, big hard drive and this Macbook is thinner than my last one). Still, over all, I'm pleased. It's funny how all my old technology burned out this year though. I got the new cell phone on February 8th, and now a new computer on March 8th. Life is funny that way!

Here's my old black Macbook...

And the new white one...

Now, on to the eats!

Everyone has been telling me to try these vegan "donut holes" for a while now. When I saw them on sale at Whole Foods this week, I decided to go for it! I got cinnamon and they taste just like cinnamon munchkins. Only these are WAY healthier than the ones at Dunkin' Doughnuts! I'll be buying these again ASAP! :)

Yesterday before the computer fiasco, I got in lunch at Spice in Chelsea.

I got the vegetarian steamed dumplings. They come in a "plum" sauce and I think they're pretty good. Although Wild Ginger's are better (which by the way, I'm still working on a date for our meet-up, so bare with me!).

I got my usual entree, broad black noodles with tofu. I could eat this nearly every day it's so good!

I picked up an adorable Easter goodie yesterday too! It's the "Baby Binks" mini chocolate bunny. I got it for only 79 cents at Rite Aid!

Today I had lunch at Famous Ray's Pizzeria in Greenwich Village. This has become my favorite lunch to have lately... pizza and a coke. Not healthy by any means, but it's what I've been craving lately, so I get it maybe once or twice a week.

I saw a review for this yogurt on my friend's blog here. I was so glad I got it! This is seriously the most delicious yogurt I've ever tried! It tastes like a dessert, and I suppose it has the calories of one (250 for 6 oz.), but it's worth it!

And I'll leave you with Peanut rolling around!

So in light of my recent computer fiasco, it makes me want to ask all of you, how long do your computers usually last? Mine only lasted 3 and a half years. :( Still, with Mac's I don't get any viruses, at least not yet! *knocks on wood*