Birthday Week! September 18th

Nearly everyone I know was born this past week in September, including my "ex" (now sort of "on again") boyfriend, and my mom. But first, I have a week's worth of food to post, so let's get started!

Last Saturday I had a really early meeting downtown for my job. So I stopped in a Dunkin' Donuts on Varick St. and got my favorite kind, a chocolate covered one with sprinkles!

When I finally got out of my meeting, I had a proper breakfast since by that time, it was already brunch/lunch. I got the french toast combo with scrambled eggs and soy sausage at Quantum Leap.

Some other eats this week include...

Pizza at Ray's... I went for dinner here last Sunday when a pipe broke in our kitchen and we had a leak-- obviously making it very hard to cook!

A quick lunch at Good Stuff Diner... my favorite combo: mozzarella sticks (which are truly the BEST mozzarella sticks I've ever had!) and a tropical health smoothie. :)

For a quick boost, one day I stopped in the Jamba Juice in Union Square and got their bright eyed and blueberry smoothie! Sadly though, this has really gone downhill... not nearly as good as it used to be! :(

Today was my mom's birthday... I ran some errands this morning and stopped in Rivioli Pizzeria in the West Village for lunch.

Then later on for dinner we went to an amazing new restaurant called Sagaponack Restaurant (named after Sagaponack in the Hamptons), at 22nd st. off 5th Ave. And this restaurant really did have a very "hamptons" feel. It was beautiful!

For starters I had their pesto fries... these were INCREDIBLE! I couldn't finish them all of course, because the portion was huge!

For my entree I got the portobello mushroom tower with lots of veggies and quinoa. This was amazing as well!

Mom and I got our desserts "to go" because we were so full! I got the banana cream pie, and the funny thing is, I don't even like bananas (as in, I don't ever eat the fruit by itself), but this is the one banana themed food I like!

As for Peanut, I recently got him a new toy at Petco. Glow in the dark balls to keep him occupied at night!

So Happy Birthday to Mom and everyone else this week!

Good News & Good Eats! May 6th

I feature a picture of the good news below, but it has to do with Wild Ginger bringing back their original spring rolls! Yes, I care that much. But the last time I went when we had the blogger meet-up, they had these mini spring rolls that weren't quite as good. But to my surprise, when I went back yesterday, the original sized ones had returned! I actually told them how happy I was. I'm such a geek! lol Ok, anyways, on to the eats!

I've been having major PMS symptoms this week. The evidence is below!

Pizza and brownies. :) The pizza is from Ray's (my local pizza place here in Greenwich Village), and the brownies I made myself and they are the terrific Ghiradelli ones that I've made before (see here).

Yesterday was my lunch at Wild Ginger...

My beloved spring rolls! They are seriously the best in Manhattan. Where did they disappear to last month? I hope they take my suggestions seriously (they should only know the amount of publicity I've given them on here! lol) and not f*** around with them again!! ;)

I got their adorable shumai steamed dumplings too. These are so tasty!

And of course, my beloved pineapple fried rice. :)

Now, on to today's eats!

Breakfast:

I tried Van's cinnamon french toast sticks. I had these along with some berries and Trader Joe's maple syrup.

Here is my mini review: While I did like the cinnamon-y taste, I wasn't wild about the texture. And they were a little too "everything free" for my taste. Now, you don't need gluten to make something taste good, but these were a little off to me. Still, the syrup made them better. But doesn't it always? :)

Lunch:

I was running errands in the West Village and decided to stop in the Le Pain Quotidien on Hudson St. I had been to "Le Pain" before, but not in a long while.

I got their vegetarian quiche, which came with a mesculn salad.

The quiche was quite good, but they really didn't give me a lot for the price! I mean nearly $12?! I'm not even a fan of raw veggies, so salad is not my thing. Still, for the money I made myself choke down some of it!

I was still so hungry after eating it that I broke down and got dessert. And guess what? I forgot that I had made brownies a few days ago and ordered... another brownie!!! I had one of those "doh!" moments. But this has really been a brownie sort of week anyway, so it's ok.

As for the brownie, it was good, but I actually like the ones I made better! Their food is pretty good, but they really overcharge... now I remember why I don't go there that often!

Snack:

One of my favorites, a strawberry fruit bar (Whole Food's 365 brand).

Dinner:

Was an Annie's skillet meal. I know on the box it says "Creamy Tuna Spirals," but it's actually totally vegetarian pasta (even rennet free, which is super important to me these days!). You have the option of adding whatever you want to it. If I weren't so lazy I would've added tofu, but I don't know what I'm doing with it! So instead I just added peas!

Either way, it was good! And for dessert? Yup, you guessed it! Another brownie! I had one of my home made ones. But don't worry, I had an orange earlier in between brownies! lol

And on that note, I'll leave you with some close-ups of my dear little boy! :)

P.S. ~ I also forgot to say, "thank you!" for all the comments on the last post! Keep them coming! I read them all and will respond to any questions. :)

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*

More Snow, More Brunch ~ February 27th

After a false alarm with a "blizzard warning" a week or two ago, NY got hit with a real snow storm this time! (And as usual, the weather forecasters didn't predict any of it until it was already coming down! lol) Peanut really enjoyed watching the snow out the window. It was so cute because he actually tried to "catch" the snow flakes!

Here are some of my eats over the past few days...

Pizza at Famous Ray's Pizza in Greenwich Village.

I made myself a "belated" birthday cake this weekend. It's funny that I didn't care for one last weekend (when I had my actual birthday). I guess I just felt like baking with the snow and all! This is the good stuff too... Duncan Hines yellow cake with their milk chocolate frosting... cheap and awesome! :)

Mom made linguini & clam sauce one night for dinner. This is the closest I come to eating meat. lol

Crossiant with harvati cheese & some red grapes. This is an amazing combination and I used to get this lunch all the time back when I went to Hofstra University (which was my very brief stint at college-- it was not for me!).

Today I had brunch at Counter, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the East Village (on 1st Ave. b/w 6th & 7th St.). I went with my friend Maggie (from Say Yes to Salad), and her fiancee Bobby.

I had only been to Counter once, and it was a couple of years ago now. I remembered they had really tasty mini muffins with their own housemade nutella, so I ordered their "housemade baked goodies" for the table before Maggie & Bobby even got there!

For my entree I got the "farmers plate," which consisted of scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, roasted tomatoes, and a baguette.

(I should've removed the leafy garnish before I took the pic because it takes up the whole plate! lol The portions weren't huge, but we found that everything was quite filling regardless.)

After brunch we walked over towards Trader Joe's because Maggie wanted to go and it was on my way home. However, I parted ways with Maggie and Bobby when we got there, because I truly fear Trader Joe's on the weekend! lol But we had a good time!

I'll leave you with some more of Peanut's hijinks!

On the prowl. lol

Shopping in Mom's purse!

I'll be doing a post next time about a blog award that I received, so please check back! :)

End of the Year Eats! December 31st

It's so hard to believe that 2009 is almost over! And more incredibly, that it will be TEN years since the year 2000! (Am I the only one starting to feel REALLY old?!) I am not going to front... I am VERY depressed this New Year's Eve for a variety of reasons. I was going to do a nice "year in review" post, but I'm going to take the easy route and just tell you all to take a look in my blog archive! lol There are SO many cute pictures of Peanut as a baby there. Speaking of which... THIS is THE BEST thing to happen to me in 2009!

Born ~ March 13th 2009

Adopted ~ April 29th 2009

And here are some of my eats from the past few days...

Yesterday at the Westside Market I got this bowtie pasta dish... with mushrooms, peas, and parmesan cheese. It was very good!

Also from the Westside Market, I got a piece of chocolate hazelnut cake... yummy!!

I found these gems at the Whole Foods Market the other day... I was going to save them for New Year's Eve h'orderves, but instead I ended up eating them during the week! These delicious mini quiches come in 3 flavors... spinach, mushroom, and cheese!

This morning I woke up to this...

More snow! It wasn't a big storm by any means, but Peanut really enjoyed watching the flakes come down. :)

For breakfast I finished the last of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies my Grandma made for me! These are actually very good for breakfast because they're mainly just oatmeal with a few pieces of chocolate thrown in! They are my FAVORITE.

And tonight for dinner Mom and I ordered a pizza from Famous Ray's Pizza in Greenwich Village. They have locations all over the city, but this is the closest one to us. Plus I tried their pizza for the first time the other day and it was excellent!

Tonight I'll be staying home and watching the ball drop on television. Personally I think you'd have to be some sort of nut to go to Times Square, but I guess it's just not my thing! I'm praying that 2010 is a better year for me and of course, all of you!!! I'm not going to bother making any resolutions, as nobody actually sticks to them anyway. All I'll say is that I try each and every day, and when I compare my life to a couple of years ago, that in itself is an accomplishment, as I'm far better off than I used to be!

Tomorrow I've got the big blog lunch in Soho at Spring Street Natural, so please check back for that! I hope that I'll be able to stagger to the lunch by noon, as I'm not planning on getting much sleep tonight with our noisy neighbors (and yes, I plan on drowning my sorrows too-- don't judge me! lol).

And one last note... if you've noticed with my last few posts, I've been responding to your questions/comments in the posts, so please check back after you post a comment, because I do read each and every one, and I like to hear what my readers have to say!!

Finally, from Peanut & I...

Happy New Year and God Bless!! :)