A whole year of Peanuts! :) April 29th

I know I said I'd try to update last weekend, but being that today is the 1 year anniversary since we got little Peanut, I wanted to save the post for then! It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by. Peanut was such a tiny baby when we brought him. He actually wobbled around because he wasn't used to walking and he was just off his mother's milk! :) But he learned quickly and grew to be such a healthy, strong boy! The picture at the top of this blog is from that night, but here are a few others as well...

Even though he was 6 1/2 weeks old when we got him, he was unusually tiny for his age (hence the name!). What a precious baby though!!

Now, on to the eats!

Last Friday I met my friend Melissa over at Sea Thai Bistro (which is our usual lunch spot). I LOVE Sea Thai and the Meatpacking District for that matter! And it was a nice day, so we sat outside for a change.

I got their delicious spring rolls...

and their broad rice noodles with tofu.

Other "eats" include...

A bagel from Murray's with swiss cheese and some baked chips (and a coke because I was DEAD tired - our neighbors above us like to stay up all night on weekends - damn them).

A Cadbury "Picnic" bar... which includes nuts and raisins! It was pretty good! (I find all sorts of unique chocolate bars at Fairway Market.)

And I got some pizza this week downtown at Pomodoro's.

Unfortunately it seems their pizza has gone downhill quite a bit. It just wasn't as good as it used to be! :(

Here are some pictures of "grown up" Peanut that I've taken over the past week...

Monkeying in front of the refrigerator (again).

Rolling around by my dinner plate! Something about Trader Joe's Pasta Medley excites him! lol

"Duddying" around on the chair!

And stopping to smell the roses! LOL

Happy Earth Day! April 22nd

Hey guys! Sorry for taking an unintended break or "leave of absence" from the blog! But life's problems have a way of interfering. I do plan on trying to blog more often though. I sort of miss doing it daily like I used to! Anyways, I figured the best way to celebrate Earth Day was by taking a nice walk and enjoying the nature (yes, we have nature even in the city!). I ran some errands on the Upper West Side earlier before the sudden rain came, so I really got to enjoy the nice weather.

There are LOTS of eats to catch up on... I obviously have too many to post since I took such a long break, so I'll only post the highlights!

Last week I went to one of my used-to-be favorite frozen yogurt places, called "Only 8." I've blogged about it once before. I found this place when I was anorexic and was delighted by the amazingly low calorie counts on their frozen yogurt. I got a vanilla cone the other day...

And you know what? I've come to the conclusion that I like REAL ice cream better! Their frozen yogurt just didn't do it for me anymore. And a part of me is really glad to let that go. Not to say frozen yogurt is bad, but I think a lot of us don't truly admit to ourselves what we really like or what tastes best. Instead, we try to replace the real thing with some half-assed version to make ourselves feel better somehow! I am TOTALLY passed the point of giving a sh*t folks. I'm never opting for the diet version of anything again!!! lol

On Sunday I went for brunch at Quantum Leap... I got my usual favorite, french toast combo with soy sausage links and scrambled eggs.

Now my friend Maggie was the first one to point out that this place has gone downhill. I scoffed at her-- how could this be?! Well, she was right. The service is not good and neither was the french toast. It was soggy and awful! I couldn't believe it!!! Just a few months ago I would have told you that this was one of the best veggie restaurants in NYC!!! I'll go back again one of these days and give them another chance, but after that... I'm done.

But on to some really good, high quality food... the other day I had lunch at Friend of a Farmer. This is a great restaurant on Irving Place (which is a gorgeous little block on the east side-- the restaurant is between 18th & 19th st.). I got a pasta dish with fresh veggies (and they aren't kidding when they say "fresh," as they are known for their amazing produce!). I had gotten this one other time and loved it. It was just as good the second time around! :)

I stopped by Qi Asian Eatery this week and had the usual, spring rolls & pineapple fried rice with tofu.

And today when I was on the Upper West Side I went to Josie's West. I hadn't been since last year and I wanted to go back again.

I got their veggie omelette which was ok...

But the star of this show is their chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream pie! It's so light and delicious. You can actually finish the whole thing and not stuff yourself, unlike so many other rich desserts!

And I didn't tell you the best part... they actually FORGOT to charge me for it!!! Can you believe that? I've never had a restaurant forget to charge me for something! So I left a big tip (enough to cover what I ordered). But it was one of those things that made me smile. :D

Peanut has been up to his old tricks, including...

Stalking me...

Napping in warm laundry...

and sitting pretty (sorry for the blurry pics, but he moves around A LOT!).

Ok, that's all for now! I'll try to update this weekend. I hope everyone had a pleasant Earth Day! :)

Blogger Meet-Up & Other Stuff (April 12th)

Yesterday was our Wild Ginger blogger meet-up, which I will get to in a moment, but I have other eats to post as well, so let's get started!

When I was down in Soho late last week, I stopped in Peep again.

I started off with their amazing spring rolls in a sweet carrot sauce.

For something different I tried their turmeric saffron fried rice. It came with egg, carrots, and a whole lot of other veggies, and I chose to get it with tofu. This was definitely a different fried rice from what I was normally used to, but it was good and I'd get it again.

Yesterday was the highly anticipated blogger meet-up at Wild Ginger! It was so great meeting Gabriela and Caronae for the first time, and seeing my friend Missy again! We were going to have a bigger group, but it was hard to get everyone together at one day and time as it was! Still, I almost prefer the smaller blogger meet-ups, so you really get a chance to talk to everyone and get to know people on a more personal level.

I got the spring rolls....

If you notice, they look different. While they were still good, I feel like Wild Ginger has greatly "cheapened down" their spring rolls! Now you get 3 mini ones instead of 2 big ones. They are still tasty, but their other ones were the BEST. Why must people mess with perfection?!?! Luckily the sauce was still the same. :)

I also got my favorite, their pineapple fried rice. Which thankfully, they did not change!

We forgot to take a group photo while we were still inside the restaurant, but Caronae asked someone to take a pic of all of us outside the restaurant (which again proves how NICE New Yorkers are!).

From left to right: Missy (Missy Maintains), Gabriela (Une Vie Saine), Myself, and Caronae (Run.Write.Therapy.Life)

Afterwards I went to the Bowery Whole Foods like I usually do, and I found this amazing dessert that I had later that night.

A chocolate chip cheesecake blondie!

Earlier today I was up by the Herald Square area of Manhattan and stopped for lunch at Macy's Cellar Bar & Grill. The service is still not that great there, but the food is. I love the scenery in the restaurant too... they have different floats and artifacts from past Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade's.

In front of my table was this rocking horse float from a 1967 Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I got the penne caprese (which is basically penne in a tomato sauce with mozzarella).

And lets not forget who this blog is really about!

Now that he's a big boy now, notice that the little orange patch that he has on his chin has gotten darker? His coloring is more of a rich, ginger orange instead of a baby yellow-orange. :)

Here he is playing in my room today...

That's all for now! xo

Daily Eats, Dramas & Trader Joe's (April 7th)

I've actually been eating well this week, as opposed to last week, when I was too stressed to eat much at all! And this morning I braved the crowds and headed to Trader Joe's and got a huge haul (posted below)! Plus, there is something else I want to address... This is going to be a LONG post, so please indulge me! First, here are some of my eats over the past few days...

I had something old and something new at Qi Asian Eatery the other day...

Spring rolls (which I always get).

And instead of my usual pineapple fried rice, I tried their pad see euw dish, which was very similar to the black or broad rice noodle dish that I get at Spice and Sea Thai Bistro. Only, their's was a little more seasoned... garlic, I think. Either way, it was very good and I'd definitely get it again!

I had another slice of Mom's delicious cheesecake (that she made for Easter) with strawberries! With the strawberries added, it almost tasted like strawberry shortcake cheesecake, which is really spectacular! :)

And I had lunch down in Soho the other day at Famous Ben's Pizzeria (which is always worth the crowds!).

For dinner the other night I decided to pair something healthy was something that's, well.. not. Blake's macaroni & cheese with a Birds Eye Steamfresh baby potato veggie blend!

And now, on to my Trader Joe's haul!

Challah Rolls, swiss cheese, pasta medley, Fage 0% yogurts x 2, and eggplant parmesan.

Garden vegetable lasagne x 2 (one of my faves!), spinach & broccoli quiches, and their meatless corn dogs.

Chocolate lava cakes, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate chip brownie bowls, macaroons, 100 calorie milk chocolate bars, and a Toblerone. (Yes, I went a little nuts, but I plan on making my sweets haul last for a while... I do like to have a bit every day though. ;)

Multigrain waffles (which I'm looking forward to trying) and chocolate chips (these are mainly for baking and yogurt parfaits, because Lord knows I got enough chocolate pictured above! lol).

And now on to today's daily eats...

Breakfast:

I decided to try Energy Kitchen, because I've heard good things about it. I went to the one in the West Village (on Christopher St.). My friend Missy recommended the wraps there and she was right, they are good. I got a veggie egg wrap with egg whites, mushrooms, broccoli, and american cheese on a whole wheat wrap (once again stealing Missy's idea! lol). It was good, however, the service was not.

For starters, I was basically the only person there. Yet the service was really, really slow. Which begs the question, how bad does this place get during busy times?! And because I was at Trader Joe's earlier this morning, I didn't get over to Energy Kitchen until a little after 11, having a late breakfast. While the veggie wrap and my choice of toppings was supposed to only come to $3.98, I was informed that since it was after 11 (by 5 minutes or so!) I now had to pay $6.51!! My life will go on, and in the grand scheme of things it's not THAT much money, but that still sucks. And the worst part is, that after taking forever and overcharging me, they forgot to add the cheese (which they had no problem charging me extra for!). Then when they added it back in, it wasn't melted properly...

So, the upshot is, I wasn't too thrilled with my experience there, but I may go back again or try another location one of these days. Anyways, here's the wrap that I went to so much trouble for! lol

Lunch:

I had one of the Trader Joe's meatless corn dogs with a Mott's peach medley apple sauce. I really thought this tasted like the corn dogs I used to eat as a kid! So I give them two thumbs up!

Snack(s):

I had a few of Trader Joe's macaroons... they are vanilla and chocolate, and very tasty might I add!

I also had one of my beloved Whole Foods 365 brand strawberry fruit bars! These are essential on days like today (WAY too hot in my opinion!).

Dinner:

I had Trader Joe's eggplant parmesan with some mini penne pasta along side (I cooked my own pasta and sauce separately). I thought their eggplant parmesan was very good! Usually nothing compares to my Mom's version, but these were pretty close. And so easy to make too (just 2-3 minutes in the microwave!). (Oh and I couldn't finish all this food, I'm guilty of rarely finishing what I'm eating!)

Dessert:

I had one of Trader Joe's ice cream sandwiches... this was DELICIOUS! Enough said!

Peanut and I had fun playing today... he was really wild (maybe because of the weather change?). He did slow down for me to get a few pics of him by the sink for his drinks (and in this hot weather, there are many of them!).

P.S. Someone made a nasty comment to me about my photography on my last post (and I removed it). The only reason I brought this up is because I can't believe that a person has nothing better to do than to insult my photography! Do you not realize I'm taking these pictures off of a freaking CELL PHONE?! What kind of pictures do you expect to see?! I don't even have a separate digital camera for God sakes! I never claimed to be a professional photographer! It's simply amazing the crap that people will come up with.

Anyways, I just wanted to vent about that, because 99.9% of people I've met in the blogging world have been GREAT. However, there are a few trouble makers out there (so I've heard from other bloggers) that have nothing better to do than to post nasty comments out of jealousy, to try to bring people down. These people are very sad and insecure. They are the same people who like to call girls "fat" or "ugly" to make themselves feel better, no doubt. Oh well, sticks and stones!

Here's a picture that I took on my Macbook instead! See, I'm still smiling! :)