The other day I got a package from Maranatha – 2 jars of nut butter. They sent me one jar of no-stir peanut butter and one jar of no-stir almond butter.

Let me tell you – I thought I didn’t really like almond butter… I was so wrong. This almond butter is great. Both the almond butter and the peanut butter are slightly sweetened with organic cane sugar. I love them!

Thanks, Maranatha! I can’t wait to experiment with these. So far I’ve just had them plain, in oatmeal, and on rice cakes. All divine.

You all know that I work long hours and don’t really have much time to cook anymore. But I’m not complaining – the most wonderful cafe in the city is right nearby: Gourmet Park.

My favorite thing to get at Gourmet Park is the unlimited topping salad for $6.95 ($7.60 with tax – yes I do have that memorized). You pick a base (I get romaine), one “meat’” (I get either bacon or shrimp, depending on my mood), and unlimited gourmet toppings.

This one had (and I’m definitely forgetting some): roasted oily eggplant, roasted oily Brussels sprouts, broccoli, roasted peppers, corn, peas, water chestnuts, baby corn, mandarin oranges, artichoke hearts, sprouts, and probably some other things. I always get the honey mustard dressing (best I’ve ever had) on the side.

Gourmet Park also has a sale on their prepared food after 6:00pm – it’s all half off. So I get prepared food for $4/pound (normally $4/half pound).

This one was some Asian-inspired cooked salad of broccoli, black sesame seeds (Coco likes these!), peppers, and some other unidentified veggies. Underneath (hiding) are a bunch of oily peppers. I’m really into oily veggies lately – they are so good. Loving the fat.

Tonight I got a big dish of something with cauliflower. It was Indian-inspired, I think.

I topped it with some beef, salmon, and crab (salmon and crab are in that left corner). I also got some oily eggplant and some mashed potatoes. This whole things was just $9 (yikes… that means I just ate over 2 pounds of food). It was very yum. I am very full.

Gourmet Park is helping me eat a variety of foods without having to worry about planning my meals. Kinda nice. I wish I had discovered the wonders of eating out earlier in life (and I wish I wasn’t so cheap!).

In terms of exercise I’ve been sticking with my walking routine. Today I actually walked 4 miles instead of 2 because I walked home from work while chatting with my parents.

How often do you talk to your parents? Sometimes I talk to them every day and then other times I will go a week or even more.

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!