Say Yes to Salad

Remember Sunday’s best lunch ever? I went to Souen with Bobby and I loved the food. Well, now I’ve had the Best Dinner Ever. We went to Souen last night (the Union Square location) and it was really awesome (again).

Last time Bobby didn’t like his meal much (I think he ordered the wrong thing), but last night was so different. He started out with a natto roll (fermented soy beans, brown rice, seaweed, and wasabi and ginger) ($4.00).

Then our main dishes came out. I got the Planet Platter ($8.50! great deal), which is very similar to my brunch last week. It’s a huge plate of brown rice, beans, steamed kabocha squash (!), steamed kale, hijiki seaweed, steamed daikon, and steamed carrots.

Ahh, it was heavenly. I got the miso tahini dressing (again). I am a creature of habit, yes. I finished almost all of this at the restaurant; brought home some of the rice for later but caved and had it as a midnight snack.

Bobby got the Chick Pea Croquette (3 pieces of deep-fried chick pea croquette with curry carrot sauce; served with yam and mesclun salad) ($13). It came with veggies and brown rice.

I tried a piece of a croquette at dinner and we took the 3rd croquette home (he was full from the sushi)… which I had with my midnight rice snack. Yum! These were really good but really garlicky – my mouth was so gross this morning, even though I brushed my teeth really well.

I am actually off to Souen again (Soho location this time) to meet a blogger – I have not decided what to get yet. I think the menus are different at each location. I also want to get my nails done today! I haven’t gotten a mani or pedi in ages.

What are you doing this weekend?

Just stopping in. Here are some things that make me happy:

This was me in Islamorada at age 6 months (ish). My parents went down to Key West on vacation and I’m pretty sure I loved it. We drove through Bobby’s hometown so we like to say that maybe we caught a glimpse of each other when we were babies.

Jamba Juice oatmeal:

They make the most perfectly cooked bowl of steel cut oats I’ve ever had. I was getting their $1 Wednesday breakfasts, but starting this week it went up to $2. Still a steal!

And I can’t forget salad…

This is from Chickpea, a cute little mediterranean place by my office. Their motto is: “always baked. never fried.” The layout is similar to Chipotle – you pick between a pita, a salad, a platter, or a hummus plate. I got the salad, topped it with original hummus, falafel (spinach flavor), my choice of 4 veggies (pickles, cabbage, black olives, and a cucumber/tomato mix), and tahini dressing. Yum!

Chickpea is located on 6th ave around West 23rd Street I believe. They do have other locations.

I’m out. What makes you happy?

What do you do when you get home from work? My night usually involves some yummy oily veggies from Gourmet Park downstairs.

What do you do on the weekends? My weekend involved brunch with Marina and Bobby at Counter downtown. At the server’s recommendation I got the “hearty” faro porridge, which was really just a small bowl of rice-like grains in milk. Fail. I dumped in some fake vegan butter to save it. Not worth $9 at all.

What do you do when food disappoints you? Eat something else of course. Marina ordered goodies for the table and these were actually really good. Also $9, but a slightly better deal.

Or you can eat your fiance’s food (only a few bites). (Tofu scramble with hash browns and toast, $13.)

What do you do when someone you love asks you to give something up in order to get better? You listen. You pray. You love back. You face your fears. You let go. You let go of everything that makes you anxious. You let go of something you have clung to for 8 years. You take a leap. Wish me luck.

What have YOU done recently?

Thanks for the Formspring questions! Keep them coming – Ask me anything. I recently answered another disordered eating question and a question about work.

This morning after meeting (3rd week in a row!) Bobby and I went to Souen, a macrobiotic restaurant, for brunch. It was absolute heaven. You might remember that I experimented with macrobiotics last year (actually it was just over a year ago this month) and I really enjoyed it. I cultivated my love of kabocha and I learned a lot about how the food we eat impacts the way we feel (duh). Here are some resources:

• Becoming Whole, by Meg Wolff (book review)
• 2-week wrap-up
• 1-week thoughts
• Lessons learned

So today I wanted to try going back to macrobiotics again. I opted for “Brunch A” ($8.50 – well worth it!! Huge portions for me):

• Kenchin-Tofu Drop Soup: tofu, shiitake, burdock, carrot and watercress in kombu kuzu broth.
• Corn Bread or Spelt Bread (I got corn bread, duh – with miso tahini dressing)
• Steamed Vegetables (carrot, daikon, squash and greens)

Bobby got “Brunch B” ($11 – oddly enough this was less food than Brunch A):

• Yuba: steamed tofu “skin” marinated in kombu-shiitake broth.
• Mixed Grain of the Day (basmati wild rice)
• Goma-Ae: steamed special greens with black sesame sauce.
• Goma Tofu: soy free, creamy and nutty sesame “tofu”.
• Stewed Vegetables: cooked carrot, gobo, yam cake and lotus root in tamari broth.

I thought this was possibly the best lunch/brunch I have ever had. And there were flowers, soy sauce, and sesame seeds:

My soup came first. Bobby and I actually swapped soups because we each liked the other’s better.

The cornbread was really interesting (in a good way) – it was not very sweet at all and tasted healthy (again, in a good way). It came with miso tahini dressing (I finished this dressing and got more – so good). Two related recipes that I made before:

• Corn bitelettes (a BSI entry)
• Cornbread pudding/casserole

My veggies came last. The kabocha was ripe and perfectly steamed. The carrots and daikon were also perfectly steamed. Even the kale was delicious! (Sometimes I think it’s boring.)

Here was Bobby’s spread (clockwise from top left: spinach, rice, tofu skin thing, sesame tofu thing, and soup):

I thought that Bobby’s gomae (steamed spinach with sesame sauce – I have a recipe here) was really yummy. He thought it tasted a little bit like dirt, but I honestly thought it was awesome. I also thought his goma tofu (tofu made with sesame) was awesome, but he didn’t like the texture much. Next time he is getting fish. We’re going to bring his mom here when his family visits in March (!). I think she would appreciate it.

Brunch dessert was a piece of Macasure chocolate. I saw it at Whole Foods yesterday and picked it up. Really good! Bobby liked it too.

I’m gonna end with a mantra that I was contemplating this morning during my hour of silence:

May everyone be happy, well, and peaceful.

How was your weekend?