My Valentine... February 14th

• has fishy breath
• uses fresh step
• has a chubby belly
• loves kibble

Yup, you guessed it!

And he is so handsome too! :) So who is your valentine?

Last weekend I had a very "Valentine's Day" brunch...

I got french toast with their homemade strawberry sauce and cream at Brick Cafe here in Astoria (it came with a side of potatoes too). All for $7! Talk about a great deal! (One of the only great deals I could find too... most restaurants here in Astoria are as expensive as Manhattan, or worse!!)

And my first Lightlife review is actually a product they didn't send me, but rather one I bought with the free coupon they gave me at the event I went to. Because I liked their mini hamburgers so much at the event, I bought a package.

And I had one of their burgers with Alexia's sweet potato fries (the new kind with sea salt and pepper). All in all I like the texture of Lightlife's burger. It's very "meaty" and filling. They are not your typical frozen burger, and you can find them in the refrigerated section.

And I swear, dairy (at least in large quantities) isn't for me. Mom made her mushroom lasagna last weekend, which was good, but upset my stomach. :(

I also tried a thai place in the area called Yajai.

I got their pad see ew with tofu. It tasted almost exactly the same as it does at Spice or Sea Thai in Manhattan. Unfortunately though, they don't give you a free appetizer, just a free soda (who needs that?!). So I've yet to try their spring rolls.

And yesterday I got a mango smoothie at a great health food store on Steinway St. called Organics For All. (The picture isn't appetizing, but the quality of the smoothie was terrific!)

I am glad that my "valentine" is adjusting well to the new apartment. He loves to look out my window...

and roll around on the floor (notice that he practically "blends in" to the floor!!)...

but his favorite of course, is his "perch" in the living room with Pellet (who recently had a bath... I like to give him one every several months because Peanut gets him so dirty!).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Easter! April 4th

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it! And Happy Passover for those who don't! :) Anyways, I have lots of Easter eats to post, so let's get started!

First, not an eat (obviously!), but this is a pic I took the other day on a walk... it illustrates the gorgeous weather that we've been having here in NYC and that spring is officially here!

And keeping with tradition, Mom and I colored eggs yesterday...

My chocolate bunny, Parsnip Pete! :)

Mom's amazing deviled eggs! (I just helped peel the eggs, she did the rest!)

Dinner was Mom's mushroom lasagna!

And for dessert, Mom made cheesecake! (Mom was definitely busy in the kitchen, God bless her! lol)

And Peanut was totally tuckered out by the Easter festivities!

This is technically Peanut's second Easter, but it's his first one with us! He was just a tiny baby last Easter, spending it with his kitty family (mom, grandma, brothers, and sisters) at the home on Long Island where we adopted him from. :)

I hope everyone had a nice holiday! Next Sunday is our Wild Ginger meet-up, so those of you on the list of attendees will be receiving e-mails from me soon with directions, etc.

I'm watching The Sound of Music now like I do every Easter. No matter how many times I see it, Julie Andrews never ceases to amaze me!

Brunch, Blog Lunch, & Baked Goods! February 1st

Can't believe February is here already! It is the best month of the year after all (and I say that because my birthday is this month... although getting older is not that thrilling anymore. lol) But I digress... I really want to thank everyone for their responses to my last post about birth control pill issues! It seems you all confirmed what I already knew-- I'm not alone! Nearly EVERY woman I know on them, is suffering in one way or the other because of them. It's really such a shame... The ironic thing is, women used to do much better on them! And that's back when they were supposedly stronger (like in my mother's generation), so go figure! I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing, but I'm glad to be off those damn pills. I feel SO much better already, and it hasn't even been 2 weeks since going off them!

Anyways, yesterday I went to brunch at one of NYC's most popular vegan restaurants, Blossom (on 9th Ave. between 21st & 22nd St. in Chelsea). I haven't been there since LAST winter, which is why I haven't featured them on my blog before. I'm glad that I went again, because they really do have the BEST french toast and the quality of their food is terrific (even though their service is a little lacking).

I got the french toast with berries, and instead of getting the tempeh bacon that comes with it, I asked them to substitute it for soy sausage (because I really didn't like the tempeh bacon when I got this dish before). And it turns out I was much happier with the soy sausage (they're the small little triangular bits at the 4 corners of the plate in the pic).

For dinner Mom made vegetarian lasagna (which has mushrooms instead of meat). I had some last night, and will be having left overs tomorrow night too-- it's that good!

At brunch yesterday I decided to text my friend Missy (who runs the Missy Maintains blog) and asked her if she wanted to meet me for lunch at Sea Thai Bistro today. She couldn't wait to go back, and neither could I, since we hadn't been there since October (see here)!

For my appetizer I got the usual spring rolls of course! :)

And my entree was my new favorite-- broad rice noodles with broccoli, egg, & black soy sauce. It was delicious as always!

After lunch on my way home I made a quick detour... I felt like something sweet, so I went to the NEW Baked By Melissa that opened up on 14th St. right by Union Square! There used to just be the stand in Soho, but now they've opened up a whole store!! And when I saw this I thought... God help me! Especially since I live so close by to this one! lol

I got 6 mini cupcakes in these flavors (from left to right): s'mores, cookie dough, red velvet cake, peanut butter cup, cookies & cream, and one of their newest flavors, cinnamon (which might just be my favorite!).

We still have some boxes to sell and get rid of since we called our move "off." But Peanut has been having a field day, as boxes are one of his favorite things! :)

Where's Peanut?!

Here he is on top of the un-opened boxes... he loves to chew them, but in this pic he looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth!

What did I do, Mummy?!

That's all for today my lovelies! And please keep the comments coming! I love to hear what my readers think, experience, etc. (and I try to answer your questions in the comments, so please check back!).

Daily Eats & Thoughts ~ September 28th

I feel a lot better today. I decided to take a long walk... sometimes I find that can actually make you better. Afterall I spent nearly the whole weekend in bed sick! :( I had some errands to run anyway... You wouldn't believe how much time is spent getting Peanut food! lol Since I had to head over to the east side to get his food anyway, I decided to stop in one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants, Dang Lai Palace. After only having a Kashi cookie and juice for breakfast, this was my first substantial meal of the day, a very late lunch at nearly 2 o'clock. Here's what I had...

I started off with their taro spring rolls. Yum!

Then I had their wonton soup...

And I had only some of their steamed dumplings, as I wanted to save room for dessert!

I always get their cheesecake for dessert because it's SO amazing... I don't know if they make it there or get it from somewhere, but it's so creamy and delicious!

I snapped a few pics of Peanut when I got home...

For dinner I had leftovers of Mom's amazing lasagna that I was telling you about yesterday. Thankfully this time I remembered to take a pic! Now it may not look glamourous, but it sure tastes good!

I realize that 90% of the time I just eat Italian or Chinese food! To me those are two of the best kinds of food! So tell me, what are your favorite cuisines?

And on a side note, it's been a year and a half since I've done modeling, and I have to say it's almost a relief to not be part of that world anymore. It is SO nice to be able to eat and enjoy food. To allow (and embrace) myself to be a size 6 instead of a size 0. To eat whatever I want, whenever I want. To not be on a diet anymore. To never go on one again! :) I will always enjoy fashion. I am blessed with good genes, to be tall and slim, and it is important to never take that for granted. No matter what your build, size, etc. throwing your health away is the BIGGEST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE! And it is not worth it. I am much happier now and I feel like such a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I can only pray that other people will be able to let go of their eating disorder as I have! If you do have an ED and need support, remember I'm always hear if you want to talk!!! marinajc@rcn.com

That's all for now, my lovelies! xo