We're on our way out... January 24th

Well, the move is less than 2 days away now, and thank God the weather isn't supposed to be as bad as they initially thought for Wednesday! We've been extremely busy as you can imagine. The only person that has been enjoying themselves during this whole debacle has been Peanut! He feels like "king of the pride" on top of all these boxes (and reminds me of Simba a bit!).

On Thursday we had our lease signing in Queens, and then when we got back we had dinner at The Olive Garden.

I had breadsticks and minestrone soup...

and the very un-vegan five cheese(!) ziti al forno. (This is SO good though, I'm terrified to know what they put in it! lol)

I also got 3 of their mini (and I do mean mini, think bite sized!) desserts to go! They look prettier here (and you can get them individually or 3 of your choice):

I love the strawberry & white chocolate cream cake one! But the chocolate caramel one and tiramisu one were good too.

Last week I also stopped by my favorite, Wild Ginger... and I got the usual...

And today I stopped in one of my favorite asian eateries, Qi (and got my usual there too).

I've really been trying to fit in food whenever I can, not really paying much attention to what I ate (for example today I ended up eating chinese food twice!!). And it's going to be difficult for the next week or so. I look forward to canvasing Astoria for great eats though! ;)

Anyways, here is what Peanut has been up to the rest of the week!

Playing on my bed.

Hiding under the covers while my mom tries to make her bed.

And of course, LOTS of playtime on all the boxes! (He loves to sleep on the highest boxes, as you can see!)

Ok folks, the next time I post I'll be blogging from Astoria! See you then!

A long over-due update! August 12th

Sorry it's been so long guys! I've been busy focusing on other things... mainly, like getting a good paying, steady job... which hasn't happened quite yet, but I'm working on it! Here are just a few of my eats over the past couple weeks (when I actually remember to take pictures!):

A couple weekends ago I tried the breakfast sandwich at Sacred Chow...

I actually prefer their tofu scramble more, but it was good none the less! The tempeh bacon was just ok, but still, you aren't going to get a better vegan meal anywhere in the city than this place (believe me, I've tried them ALL!).

I've been frequenting Good Stuff Diner a lot... it's my new favorite place!

And my mozzarella sticks/smoothie combo really goes together well! This is not "diner" food, but actually great quality... and I care far more about quality of food than anything else!

My usual favorite meal at Qi...

Spring rolls...

and pineapple fried rice.

Finally, the other day I tried a new vegan restaurant called Gobo (on 8th St. & 6th Ave.). They are another pan-asian veggie restaurant.

I wanted to try a few different things there, but their restaurant menu is SO much more expensive than the take-out menu I had seen online, that I only got the pineapple fried rice-- which was really good, but $14?! Insane!

And here is what Peanut has been up to...

Relaxing on the piano.

Peeking at me.

In the laundry (again).

Lounging in his favorite box.

Chasing/nibbling his tail! :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer while it lasts! I'll be updating when I can.

Happy Mother's Day! May 9th

I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day and spent time with their mommies! I know I did. :) It really is remarkable how much mothers do! I know I'm always amazed! Here are my eats from this weekend...

Yesterday I had my usual lunch at Qi Asian Eatery. It's really convenient living so close to this place! lol

Afterwards I stopped by Baked By Melissa (their new Union Square location, which happens to be right down the block from Qi!). I just HAD to try their new pancake flavor (that I found out about through my friend, Missy's blog). Plus, I was in luck because they had a few special Mother's Day flavors as well! :)

Cupcakes from left to right: cinnamon, cookie dough, chocolate chip pancake, peanut butter cup, red velvet cake, and a special edition Mother's Day one (chocolate with vanilla frosting). I really liked the new pancake one!

For dinner last night I had Mom's eggplant parmesan. :)

And dessert was a cheesecake blondie that I got from Whole Foods the other day...

This morning I made Mom breakfast... cinnamon rolls!

For lunch I had a Trader Joe's spinach and mushroom quiche...

Notice one of Mom's Mother's Day presents in the pic. The ladybug timer! We needed a new one and I found it one day at Pearl River Mart (one of my favorite stores :).

For dinner we tried an Italian restaurant down the block from us called Gene's. It's on West 11th St. off 6th Ave. in Greenwich Village. It was supposed to be good, being that it was there since 1919! I got the penne alla vodka.

Unfortunately, much like my Mom's dish, I found it bland and almost "watered down." Not very good. Oh well!

And let us not forget that I am too, a mother. A pet mother. :) Peanut was reluctant to take his "Mommy and Me" picture today. lol

But he was a "ham" for the camera later! I LOVE this pic of him. He's actually smiling!! :)

I hope everyone had a nice weekend! :)

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! :)

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! :)