Finally, my ode to sesame seeds! But first – Tanya (IAteAPie.net, InTheGym.net) and I launched a new blog site!  It’s called Healthy Yum. It’s similar to some communities that are already out there, but ours is dedicated to health. You can submit photos from blogs, comment on them, vote on them, subscribe to a newsletter (with healthy ideas and recipes), and gaze at lovely healthy food photos all day long.

Okay, back to mr. sesame… I my quest to get more healthy fats, I’ve fallen in love with sesame seeds.  I’ve been putting them on everything – breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert.  I wake up to sesame seeds in my PBU (peanut butter + chocolate milk blend) oat bran.

I make salads of shredded chayote, dressing, and sesame seeds.

I make salads of broccoli slaw (finally found it! It’s delicious), dressing, and sesame seeds.

The dressing I’ve been using is by Bolthouse Farms – it’s an Olive Oil Vinaigrette – Tropical Mango flavor.  Delicious.

You didn’t think I would forget kabocha, did you?  Of course not – it’s even better with my new favorite seed.

Bobby loves sesame seeds too.  This was our breakfast on Sunday – Bobby’s was umeboshi soba noodles, some meat and onions, and lots of sesame seeds.  Mine was miso soup (+ sesame seeds) and peanut butter oat bran (+ sesame seeds).

I did a little research (thanks, Wikipedia! you’re not good enough for my old college professors, but you’re good enough for me!).  Sesame seeds are rich in manganese, copper, and calcium.  They also have vitamin B1 and vitamin E. They contain lignans (which have anti-cancer and antioxidant qualities).  Awesome!

Don’t forget to check out Healthy Yum!

(P.S. Yesterday I did a yoga handstand.  It’s about time.  I’ve been practicing it for a month! I tapped against the wall after about 5 seconds though.)

Thank you so so much for the amazing response to yesterday’s announcement.  I am overwhelmed. Details – not sure when or where.  Depends on where we’re living in a few months!  Honeymoon – Hawaii, Caribbean cruise, the Bahamas… somewhere warm.  The food – lots of awesome Japanese and Asian stuff, macrobiotic dishes, and crazy cool Maggie food.  I don’t think I could have a wedding without kabocha.  I will definitely be updating as I figure out more.

Last night we decided to go out to celebrate.  Of course we went to our favorite Thai restaurant, Blue Mango.  This is the only restaurant I ever go to anymore – I know that their food is awesome and they have tons of options.  We went all out and got three dishes to share.  First up, the Combo Fried Rice – with prawn, chicken, pork, tomato, onion and egg.  I had a little bit of this; Bobby had most of it.

Next was the Bamboo stir-fry (vegan unless you get it with chicken) – with cashew, baby corn, straw mushroom and onion.  We got it with chicken.  We pretty much split this exactly.

And lastly, the Mushroom Mountain stir-fry (vegan) – soft tofu, baby corn, bamboo, straw mushroom and bean sprout stir-fried with a bit of green curry paste. Sesame seed are sprinkled on for a beautiful finish.  I had most of this and Bobby had a little bit.  I wish they’d put more sesame seeds.

We just about cleaned all the plates (brought home a few pieces of chicken that I stuck in Bobby’s lunch today).

I decided to practice being wifey and make Bobby a bento lunch.  I did Soba Noodles with Umeboshi Dressing (macrobiotic), topped with sauteed onions, a hot dog, and leftover chicken. I sliced up a peach as well, and there’s an unpictured hotdog bun (with smart balance).  He also has an arsenal of snacks like milk chocolate, crackers, and sembe (Japanese cracker things).  The cutest part though is the 2 carrot hearts that I made and put on top of the noodles.  Very bento-ey

Here’s another thing I’ve been putting in Bobby’s lunches that he loves… Ants on a log!  You all had this when you were little, right?  Celery + peanut butter (PB&Co’s Mighty Maple here) + raisins = ants on a log.  We had a long and rather inappropriate discussion about names that would be better than “ants on a log”, but I’ll spare you the details (which mostly revolved around “poo”).

I’m off to do some yoga.  Though I can’t seem to stop staring at my ring finger when I’m in downward dog and doing chaturangas.  I might get a strange crick in my neck if I keep this up!  Speaking of yoga, I have done about 40 minutes a day for the last week… and that’s about it, for exercise.  I haven’t even been walking much.  But I feel great. Here’s my exercise log.

Today’s question: what’s your favorite childhood food? I think mine would have to be the breakfasts that my dad made on the weekends. Pancakes, waffles, and French toast.  Pancakes were every Saturday and Sundays alternated between waffles and French toast.

My mom has only been to California (I live in Sunnyvale) once before – when we drove across the country last February (which was my first time here too).  We’re trying to enjoy our limited time (she leaves on Tuesday) so we’re doing lots of mother-daughter things… like shopping.

After our delicious bowls of green oat bran, we hit the stores.  We went to Santana Row and the mall.  We hit up Lupicia (a tea shop) where Mom got a bunch of delicious tea (one was rum raisin flavored!).  We also went to Bath & Body Works for a big sale.  We both got candles and other goodies for 75% off.  We wandered a bit more, then went to The Container Store (love!  her first time), Lucy, Lululemon, Anthropologie, and Vera Bradley.  Didn’t get much… but towards the end we were getting hungry and just wanted to go home.

I decided to treat her to another one of my favorite recipes – Soba Noodles with Umeboshi Dressing and Sauteed Onions.  It was her first time having soba noodles and she loved them.  Delicious.  We cooked up a huge onion to put on top.  Mom drizzled a little bit of honey on hers, but said she probably didn’t need it after all.  She just really likes the Wildflower Honey that I have.

After lunch we were ready for more shopping, so we trekked out to Target (OJ for Bobby, rice for Bobby, and long & lean tanks for me and mom), Trader Joe’s (her first time), and Han Kook (my favorite Korean grocery).  We didn’t get a chance to make seitan (soon though) and settled for Hugh Jass salads for dinner.  And a steamed kabocha (the whole thing) for me.  Mom had a bite, and said it tasted like a sweet potato.  I’ll make her eat more tomorrow.  There were some other random snacks during the day too, and lovely lightly sweetened tea samples at the mall.

We didn’t technically work out today (well, I had 20 minutes of yoga this morning) but I think all of the walking probably equates to at least what I normally do.  And if it doesn’t, who cares!  I’m having fun with the momma.

We had so much fun today. I really missed my mom a ton.  I’m happier right now than I have been in a long time.  I’m realizing how important family is to me (now I sound like NJ housewife – but then again, I am a Jersey girl) and I think it’s going to majorly affect some big decisions that are going to come up in the nearish future.  Mom is sleeping now (she was still up before 6am this morning even though she didn’t get to bed until about 2am), and I think I’m gonna go make some more kabocha.  Or eat some blueberries.  Or sit on my butt and do more crossword puzzles and watch trashy late night TV while waiting for Bobby to get home (poor boy has to work late again).  Or all of them.  Yes, definitely all.  Mmmm… kabocha.

Do you live near your family?  Do you see them often?  If you live far away, do you miss them?  How do you deal with it?

I made a very cool and very Japanese/Macrobiotic dinner last night in an attempt to declutter my kitchen and use up pantry items.

I started with this Soba Noodle & Umeboshi Dressing recipe that I’ve been obsessed with, but I had to make a few adjustments.  This was soba noodles topped with julienned burdock and carrot (frozen).  I had a few shirataki noodles for bulk, but it was mostly soba.

Then I made miso soup for each of us (from a packet, but again… trying to use up pantry items).

And I also grilled some frozen Rex Sole that I’d gotten at the Korean grocery a few weeks ago.  The sole was actually really delicious (I ate my whole piece plus part of Bobby’s - he’s not really a whitefish person) and now I want to buy more of it.  So that was a fail at pantry cleaning (unless I resist the temptation to buy more).

I’ve actually managed to use up some other pantry items – I made chocolate/raisin/sunflower seed/oatmeal cookies for bobby (oatmeal raisin is his favorite) with the rest of my instant oatmeal (it’s sweetened, and I just can’t deal with that much sugar… I tried), nuts that I never eat, and raisins and chocolate that have been waiting to be cooked.  He took them to work with him so they’ll probably disappear soon.  I also sent him in to work with a big bag of granola bars so he’s going to try to have them for snacks.  I’m totally over bars, and have been for a while.  Just not my thing.

The point of cleaning out the pantry is to use up all those things that I bought at one point and then discovered that I didn’t really like, or didn’t like as much as I thought I had.  I’m making good progress I think.  By the end of the month a decent amount of the excess food will be used up.

I just found out what my summer schedule is going to look like – I’ve decided to teach full-time for a few months instead of taking classes at community college.  I’ll be teaching summer classes for SAT prep, Algebra 2, and Trigonometry.  Fun!  I hope it will be

My mom comes tomorrow night!  I can’t wait to make her eat green oatmeal and kabocha.  Have you ever made your parents try something that they thought was kind of crazy?