Title inspired by Caronae (I love her blog – a beautiful writer and wonderful woman).

This morning I woke up at 10:10am. Meeting starts at 11. Bobby promised me he would go with me this week. I got him out of bed at 10:30 (late) and we showered and went on our way. We were only 20 minutes late and I enjoyed the silence and the few spoken words for the next 40 minutes. I like it.

We left meeting and began to walk. We walked along 15th street over to Union Square. We got three buck chuck at Trader Joe’s (3 bottles). We walked down to Souen (closed; something wrong with the boiler room). I remembered that Marina had told me about a fantastic vegetarian lunch place nearby: Quantum Leap.

I celebrated pancake Sunday. I ordered the pancakes (multigrain) with fresh fruit (bananas and apples) ($8 something). I did use all the butter but only used a little syrup. I finished this all, whith a little bit of help from Bobby (he had maybe half of a pancake). I was quite full and satisfied. These are the 2nd best pancakes I have ever had (first best are from my dad’s recipe).

Bobby ordered “The Mexican” ($10 something), which consisted of a vegetarian chicken enchilada thing with guacamole, sour cream, salsa, fake sausage, and eggs. It was fine. I’m not a savory breakfaster.

We walked over to Peanut Butter & Co. Realized I should never work in a place like that unless I want to be obese. We didn’t get anything.

We walked up 5th avenue all the way home. I got votive candles at Pier 1 and a tea at Starbucks with half and half and all the spices.

Came home. Went back out to Gap and Banana. Scored great clothes. Came home. Made dinner (teriyaki turkey and tofu for bobby; lamb and veggies and various animal fats for me). Drank wine. I drink wine now. It was cabernet.

And now I will either go get frozen yogurt or relax in front of the olympics. I don’t know how much I like the olympics. It seems like everyone in them has serious food or body issues. I guess I’m more attuned to that kind of thing than the average person who just thinks that these athletes are incredibly dedicated and accomplished.

Signing off now. Big week ahead. What did you do this weekend?

I mentioned yesterday that my very cool boss bought us lunch, but I neglected to tell you what we ordered! We ended up ordering delivery from Spice over on 8th Avenue. Spice is a very yummy Thai restaurant. I have been to the location at Union Square and I really liked it.

I ordered the Hawaiian Ginger and Pineapple Stir-fry (with onions, carrots, and mushrooms) and I ordered it with beef. Would I have preferred this to be organic beef? Of course. Did that fact that it wasn’t (I assume) stop me? Absolutely not. It was yummy and exactly what I was craving. (Eek blackberry picture.)

I also ordered the spring rolls (fried). I had one of them and gave the other to Bobby. They came with a very good sweet sauce. I have no idea what was in it.

Last night I used the leftover beef to make a stirfry with some veggies.

I have been using frozen veggies because they make cooking prep so so so much faster. I don’t have that much time to cook, and time will deter me from cooking (I’ve been doing takeout a lot). I cooked these in some butter and spices. Yum!

Are there any tricks you do to make cooking easier? Chopping veggies in advance? Making big batches and eating leftovers?

P.S. I had another acupuncture appointment today and I will definitely update about that soon. I need to sleep now!

This last week has been full of contemplation. I had some really good talks with friends and tried to figure out where I’m going.

Where do I want to be in a year? Two years? Three? I have no idea. But I’m okay with that.

I had my first acupuncture treatment this morning. So far I am very impressed with Nicholas Steadman, but I’ll probably write a more thorough review after I’ve gotten it again (I signed up for another session on Thursday night). I think I am very lucky to have found this.

I think this blog has been heavy enough recently, so here is so food! Bobby and I have been to this Japanese place called East 3 times now. We have definitely learned what to get. The menus have pictures for every dish:

I like to get tea (complimentary) with my meals.

The first time we went I got this grilled broccoli. Kind of a ripoff ($2.50 I think), but very good.

Bobby got this burdock noodle soup with tempura and fish cake things. He said it was delicious and finished it… I got to taste the broth though. Pretty yummy.

The first night he also got this salmon roll ($10?). I’m not that much of a sushi person, but I tried it and I thought it was alright.

I had to get a salad, and this one rocked. It was only $6 and it was huge.

And I got this grilled salmon (miso glazed, $9) and horseradish with some sort of roe. I actually chopped most of this up and put it in the salad – so awesome. If this were cheaper I would get it again (it was a fairly small portion).

The next time we went with my mom (she had been up to help me paint). I got the salad again ($6). It is gigantic and probably the best deal I’ve seen in New York.

My mom got a bento box which came with a small salad and miso soup.

That night I got the chicken teriyaki ($5 something?). Ahh, this was delicious. It came with a piece of broccoli and a piece of carrot.

This was the rest of my mom’s bento box – seaweed salads, rice, salmon teriyaki, tempura, and a roll. I helped her

Bobby got a soup again that night. I don’t remember which one. Or maybe this was the burdock one and the other one was something else. Anyway, this was delicious as well.

And that same salmon roll (I want to say it’s called salmon lover’s).

Then last night we went with Kate and Simon (who just got engaged, congratulations!). It was Salmon Thursday! Lots of salmon dishes were super-reduced, so Bobby and I went all out for salmon. Here are the happy couples:

I got the salad yet again. Bobby got that salmon roll yet again.

Then… I got something called “salmon neck” for just $4. This plate is twice the size of a normal dinner plate. So huge!! It wasn’t all meat though (bones, eyes – you know – the usual).

It came with some horseradish stuff. Bobby also got a natto roll (fermented soybeans – I do NOT like this).

And another ridiculously cheap salmon roll (normally $14 or something, but on Salmon Thursday I think it’s $8).

Wow, what a lot of delicious Japanese food. I would highly recommend East. They have a few other locations as well. Bobby was the mayor briefly at this one, but he was ousted just last night.

I have to go tend to my sweetie before he gets pissed at me for blogging when he came home specifically to hang out with me. Later, pies!

What are your weekend plans? I am going to IKEA!

In the heart of Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, is a mecca that Bobby and have trekked to twice. It’s Savor Saigon, and it is the best Vietnamese food that I have found on the east coast.

You all know that I have an obsession with Vietnamese food – papaya and/or lotus root salads in particular. Here are some of my past papaya and lotus enjoyments:

• Pho 99 in New Jersey (November 12,2009)
• Homemade papaya salad (July 1, 2009)
• Blue Mango in Santa Clara, CA (June 15, 2009)
• Delica in San Francisco, CA (December 14, 2008)
• Pho Vi Hoa in Los Altos, CA (December 6, 2008)
• Blue Mango again (December 3, 2008 – our anniversary)
• Pho Vi Hoa AGAIN (November 26, 2008)
• Pho Vi Hoa AGAIN! (November 23, 2008)
• Pho Vi Hoa… again. (November 19, 2008)
• Papaya salad in Miami (November 17, 2008)
• Pho Vi Hoa again (November 9, 2008)
• Blue Mango *again* (November 7, 2008)
• Blue Mango AGAIN (October 16, 2008)
• Layang Layang in Cupertino, CA (September 27, 2008)
• Pho Vi Hoa again (September 21, 2008)
• Xanh in Mountain View, CA (June 1, 2008)
• Slanted Door (San Francisco, CA) & Minh’s (Mountain View, CA) (June 1, 2008)
• My Own Papaya Salad Recipe (April 4, 2008)
• Hijiki Salad Recipe (with Lotus Root) (March 24, 2008)

This time my sister and I decided to split two (vegetarian) dishes so that we could sample more things. We also got some appetizers for the entire table…

First up: fresh vegetarian summer rolls (served cold). These are fried tofu, vermicelli noodles, mint, lettuce, and carrot wrapped in rice paper. They come with a peanutty dipping sauce. We each had half of a roll. They were good…

But not as good as the fried spring rolls! These were not vegetarian – they had pork and other random things inside. I dipped them in the standard Vietnamese dipping sauce (fish sauce, sugar,water, vinegar I think). They were awesome. My vegan sister passed on them.

Julia and I split a lotus root salad with fried tofu (vegetarian/vegan). It had lotus root, carrots, and fried tofu. Very yummy.

We also split the very yummy Vietnamese Pad Thai (vegetarian):

This had noodles, tofu, egg, broccoli, mushrooms, and other veggies I am forgetting. It was a little bit different from regular pad thai – less peanutty, but still very good. It was topped with peanuts though!

My picks of the night – the lotus root salad and the fried spring rolls.

What’s your favorite cuisine? Mine is most definitely Vietnamese! I’m looking for a good (cheap) place in New York now… ideas/tips? I can’t find anything as good as the California Vietnamese places.