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3 Wishes That Will Never Come True, and 4 That Already Are…

Here are 3 wishes of mine that will never come true no matter how much I want them to:
  1. Uncomfortable but insanely cute shoes make you burn infinitely more calories. (Nope, not true yet. I’ve tried.)
  2. Avoiding wedding planning will make everything magically fall into place on its own. (So far this hasn’t worked…)
  3. Staying up late adds hours to the day and you can still get 7-8 hours of sleep a night when you go to bed at 3am. (I cannot get this to come true no matter how many times I try.)

But here are 4 facts that I don’t even have to wish for, because they are magically true already. These are almost too good to be true.

  1. Avocado tastes sinfully delicious, but instead of being sinful it gives me boundless energy and good skin. This is the avocado shrimp sandwich from Souen in Soho (where I saw Dr. Cuddy). My mom got this on Saturday when she came in for brunch (which was almost too late to be brunch – it was close to 3pm).

  2. Macrobiotic meals are happiness. Like this macro plate with extra kabocha minus the rice. (Kale, kabocha, hijiki, beans, broccoli, carrot.)

  3. Smoothies with coconut milk kefir are good for your skin. Coconut fat is my very favorite fat for improved skin. It gets rid of my acne (my skin is *clear*), makes my tummy happy, and tastes delicious. Eating them in a jar makes them even better for you. (Okay, that’s not true, but it is a cool presentation. I drink everything from jars.)

  4. Healthy eating will make you and your spouse both live very long happy lives together. It makes me so happy to see Bobby eating food like Souen‘s Broccoli Tofu with brown rice, which is basically a macrobiotic vegan tofu scramble. I am so looking forward to the rest of our lives together.

What are your 3 wishes? My real wish is that I could have infinite wishes and then I’d wish for whatever I wanted all the time.

P.S. Operation Wedding is updated!

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Review: Slice Perfect Pizza in New York

If you haven’t checked it out already, Foodbuzz just launched a new Healthbuzz section. I’m one of the Contributing Health Editors, along with a few of my favorites – there are too many to list so go check them out yourself.

I mentioned yesterday that my sister came to visit me for the weekend. So…

Bobby and I have been meaning to go to this organic pizza place – Slice – on the upper east side for a while now. I’d heard of it through my Cornell listserve (the owners are fellow Cornellians) and apparently Bobby’s business partner is actually friends with them. We decided to take Julia there for her first night in the city (Friday).

Slice also offers gluten-free pies, and actually pies for people with all different allergies – dairy, wheat, gluten, nuts, casein, etc… Everything is made to order and fresh (no pre-made pizza that gets reheated). The slices come sliced into bite-size pieces – about 5 per slice, I think. Apparently they are the only pizzeria in the country that uses 100% organic mozzarella cheese.

We shared the bruschetta to start ($5.50 I think). I left my camera at home so these pictures are taken from Yelp. This picture shows the bruschetta on little crackers, but it was actually served with fresh toasted pita bread – which was delicious. I think the “pita” was actually the same dough they make their (thin-) crust pizza with.

Source.

Julia got the “intermediate” slice ($5). It was a honey whole wheat crust with marinara, arugula, and goat cheese. It was amazing. Their menu is set up like a school – appetizers are “additional learning”, drinks are “extracurriculars”, and so on.

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Bobby got 2 slices – one was “Taste of India” ($4.50) (honey whole wheat crust, channa masala, and part-skim mozzarella). You had to eat this with a fork it was so thick and chickpea-covered. I’m going to be honest and say I didn’t like this one at all… but I don’t like Indian food; maybe an Indian food lover would enjoy it. Bobby and Julia didn’t like it that much either.

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His other slice was called “the master” ($5.50), which was my favorite. I don’t have a picture. It was a thin-crust honey whole wheat pizza topped with marinara sauce, organic part-skim mozzarella, and crumbled free-range organic herbed chicken sausage. Oh my goodness, so delicious. It was light but meaty and the flavors were perfect.

I got this amazing salad, ($7) and I shared some of the pizzas and of course the bruschetta. (Greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, goat cheese.) I got this with the carrot ginger dressing – I dumped all 3 containers of dressing on the salad and wished they had given me more.

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Next time I think I will get “the intermediate” (Julia’s pick) and steal some of Bobby’s “the master” (the organic chicken sausage one).

Slice was great – organic and reasonably priced. We left feeling pretty full – could definitely do without the appetizer next time. We’ll probably be back one night this week.

I broke out my camera yesterday and took pictures of several things I ate. It was nice. It felt odd after keeping the camera away for so long. The pictures include yummy oatmeal that converted Bobby and Julia into oatmeal lovers. That makes me happy. Bobby has been a willing weekend oatmeal participant for the last few weeks, ever since he found out about steel cut oats.

Do you like pizza? What’s your favorite kind? I like vegan or vegetarian pies with lots of veggies.

P.S. I saw a celebrity at Souen at Saturday brunch. She was gorgeous and her role in one of my favorite TV shows does not do her any justice at all. The women is 44 but she looks about 25. I want to be her. If I’m a vegan too will I look like that? If I practice yoga daily will I look like that? Guess who!

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Reviews Galore

I have gotten lots of swag recently and I have been neglecting to post about it all. All of the products I’m listing here I got for free and the companies did not pay me to review them.

First up… Slice of Life Gummy Vitamins for Adults. Slice of Life sent me 3 flavors to try – omega 3-6-9 fish free, coq10, and vitamin C. These vitamins technically have different flavors, but they all tasted the same (yummy) to me. Bobby is a big fan because this means that he can have gummy candy that is actually healthy. I’d definitely recommend these for kids as well as adults. Yum yum.

Then… Fruit Not Fat aka Galaxy Granola. I have to admit, I am not really a granola person. BUT. This granola is different. It’s light and not too sweet and it’s the perfect crunchy addition to oatmeal or yogurt or even as a topping for baked goods. Galaxy sent me 3 flavors to try…

They sent me Not Sweet Vanilla, Vanilla Almond, and Cranberry Orange. My favorite was Vanilla Almond because of the nuts, but the others were very good too.

I have always disliked that granolas are actually an unhealthy fatty/sugary food that happen to have a name that connotates health. Galaxy is changing the game now. Check out the Fruit Not Fat blog for great ideas and recipes.

My sister is visiting me this weekend. She got in on Friday after work and we have been running around the city and hanging out. I don’t have many pictures, but I’ll do what I can to post a foodie recap tomorrow morning. We’ve been to some old favorites (Souen) and some new finds.

What did you do this weekend?

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Another Perfect (Souen) Sunday

We just got back from another great brunch at Souen. If you are a new reader, Souen is a macrobiotic restaurant – my favorite location is the one by Union Square.

Bobby’s family (mom, dad, sister) are in town this week (up from Miami) and they are staying a few blocks away. This morning we took them to Souen for brunch. I was nervous about it, because Souen can definitely be an acquired taste… I love it, but not all do. Fortunately brunch was a success. I think. Bobby’s sister, Tina, got these great chickpea croquettes (three deep-fried pieces of chick pea croquette with curry carrot sauce, served with yam and mesclun salad) that Bobby got a few weeks ago:

His mom got “Brunch C“, which is similar to this…

But has broiled fish of the day instead of tofu skin. It also has the mixed grain of the day, stewed vegetables, gomae (steamed greens with a black sesame sauce), goma tofu (sesame tofu).

Bobby’s dad opted for a starter of broccoli soup, which apparently was not as good as Bobby’s mom’s broccoli soup. He did really enjoy his udon pad thai though (sauteed with onion, carrot, mung bean sprout, scallion, shiitake, broccoli, kale and baked tofu in all natural house-made peanut sauce with lime):

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Bobby got the stir-fried soba noodles (with onion, carrot, mung bean sprout, scallion, cabbage, shiitake, snow pea, greens and broccoli in miso ginger sesame sauce). Can’t find a picture, but it was great. I helped him a bit.

And I got the vegetable curry (chunky broccoli, cauliflower, kale, carrot, squash, mushroom and onion in homemade mild curry, turmeric and ginger root sauce):

I got kabocha instead of brown rice, which is what it usually comes with.

I don’t think they realized it was all vegan aside from the fish in Brunch C. Hehehe. (Now they do! They read the blog. Hi mom, hi dad!)

For “exercise” today, Bobby and I walked down to Souen from our apartment (~45 blocks = 2+ miles). Yesterday we had an off day and did not do much walking – maybe just 1 or 2 miles total.

AND I finally got my yoga groove back this morning. I did a 20 minute yogadownload routine – Power Yoga #5. I missed yoga. I’m going to try to start doing it for 20 minutes a day because I want to be toned for the wedding (July).

Our dinner last night was at a French restaurant called Bistro du Nord (Madison and 93rd). It was alright. I actually was quite pleased up until dessert – too sweet!

Stay tuned for a protein post tomorrow. I’m writing it now. It should be good.

How was your weekend? (And if you have any protein questions you want me to answer hit me up in the comments and I’ll try to incorporate answers in my post tomorrow.)

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Macrobiotic Souen Meals

I am on a Souen kick (macrobiotic, vegan and vegetarian – but has fish restaurant) and I cannot get enough. For brunch Bobby and I went to Souen in Union Square. I got the Brunch A ($8.50, the best deal ever) again:

  • Kenchin-Tofu Drop Soup  – tofu, shiitake, burdock, carrot and watercress in kombu kuzu broth
  • Corn Bread (you can also get Spelt Bread or Sour Dough)
  • Steamed Vegetables (carrot, daikon, kabocha squash and greens)

Bobby got the Scrambled Tofu with Salmon ($10.50) – Served with brown rice, bread and yam and mesclun salad. You can also get this with Tempeh Bacon for $2 less, but we are not really fans of tempeh. Here is my phone picture:

I shared my soup, took most of my cornbread home, and ate Bobby’s yams. I also had a lot of their miso tahini dressing, which I posted a recipe for the other day.

When we got home we needed to relax, so we went across the street to a spa called Enliven. We got a Couples Massage – 60 minutes for each of us and we were next to each other (screen between us). It was really nice. The spa is very Traditional Chinese Medicine-y and I know they also offer acupuncture and other cool services. They have good reviews on Yelp.

For dinner I made a salmon head/neck that I got in Chinatown (I just boiled it with veggies and dill and miso). I also made a Porgy that I learned to cook at last week’s cooking class (which reminds me that I still need to post about that). And kabocha.

Tomorrow’s plans? I am going to try to get down to Souen in Soho at 10am for a talk with John Kozinski, who is apparently some famous macrobiotic dude. Then Bobby and I have a brunch double date with a friend. I think we’ll go to The Mudspot. (Anyone been there?)

What did/will you do this weekend?