Happy New Year & 2012 Recap

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Did you stay up? I actually fell asleep watching 30 Rock around 11:30 but luckily I have the best husband ever and he woke me up in time to share the strike of midnight and a new year’s kiss 🙂 I’m trying to cut back on coffee thus I was very tired yesterday night.

2012 was a big year for our house – here’s a recap.

  1. taught my first (and probably last) yoga class at my old job – turns out I like taking yoga much more than teaching yoga, at least for now. People seemed to like my classes but teaching is just not for me! (January)
    maggie-yoga
  2. I went back to my old job (I had left it for ~5 months, but missed it almost as soon as I’d gone). (March)
  3. My hubby and I bought an apartment in NYC. And then we renovated it (still renovating it…). (Closed in May; began renovations in November)
    reno-framing-floor
  4. I joined a CSA and discovered a farmers’ market on the corner of my street. (June)
  5. I joined Pure Yoga back at the end of June (and Bobby just joined in late November so now we can go to yoga together). (June)
  6. I fixed my PCOS. (Basically by eating more carbs, and more in general, more food more regularly.) I also ate a lot of PCOS bread. (July)
    pcos-bread
  7. Bobby and I went on a yoga retreat with Raghunath (August), and I tried Mysore Ashtanga yoga (July).
  8. Bobby and I went to Japan for 2 weeks for fun (and so I could finally – after 7 years of being together – meet his family!). (October)
    maggie-japanese-grocery
  9. I went to India for 9 days for work. (December)
    ACTION
  10. NYC got hit by Hurricane Sandy – our home was unaffected, but my work lost power for a week and many of my friends and family members, including my parents, were also without power. Sandy Workout & Sandy Link Love.

What were the important things in your life for 2012?

{CSA} The Best Way to Eat Radishes…

… is definitely raw, dipped in salt.

^^ The Best Way to Eat Radishes ^^

My dad taught me this little trick years ago, when we were picking radishes in my Grammie’s garden. We also picked fresh cucumbers, and dipped them raw, in salt, as well. So many of my best memories are of my times spent outside in the garden, or running around the farm at my Grammie’s or at my great aunt and uncle’s place (all of them lived – still live – on farms).

The reason I am eating radishes is because my CSA share this week had:

  • 1 bunch of radishes
  • 1 celeriac (I am really not a fan… I am making it in soup right now, which hopefully will hide the flavor.)
  • dried pop corn
  • 2 pounds of white potatoes
  • 2 garlic bulbs
  • 1 cabbage
  • 1 collard bunch
  • 1 parsley
  • 1 bunch of mizuna
  • 3 gourds for decoration that I did not take! I don’t need any more clutter, especially not clutter that might go moldy.
I have the cabbage, garlic, parsley, celeriac, plus some of last week’s veggies (beets and leeks – maybe that is all?) simmering in a soup pot right now. Need to use them up, and no better way to down your veggies than in a pureed soup. I’ll pop it all in the Vitamix in a few minutes, and if it’s good, I will write up the recipe.

How do YOU eat radishes?

{WIAW, food} What I Ate Wednesday, CSA Chat

I belong to a CSA – the 92nd Street Y CSA – and each week we get a shipment of fresh, organic, local vegetables from a farm just an hour or two north of the city.

This means that I tend to eat similar foods week to week, because the CSA sends me foods that are in season. It’s great when we get my favorites, like squash – but it can sometimes be overwhelming in the summer when I’m getting pounds and pounds of greens.

This CSA is organized by volunteers, so each member has to volunteer to man the pick-up table at least one. Last week was my week (Thursday). I got sent home with about 4 full bags of veggies and I could barely carry it the 2 long blocks to my apartment. In the bags I got:

  • many pounds of beets (and then more again this week!)
  • broccoli and cabbage (and more again this week)
  • butternut squash (the allotment was 1, but since I was volunteering I was able to take home many of the extras at the end)
  • tomatoes, eggplant, & shallots
  • basil & hot peppers
  • 3 dozen eggs (I gifted 1 dozen to a friend; I will probably gift another dozen because I get 1 dozen each week and I can barely finish them)
  • peaches, plums, and nectarines
  • 2 loaves of raisin bread (brought 1 to work and it was demolished), 1/2 loaf of whole wheat bread, 1 piece of focaccia

I have been trying to use all of that up this week. Here are some of the beautiful squash:

I think I could eat squash until I turn orange.

What I Ate Wednesday

  • breakfast was coffee and a medium-sized chunk of raisin nut bread toast with butter
  • lunch was 2 scrambled eggs and roasted veggies (beets, broccoli) for lunch
  • a large-ish nutty biscotti (grabbing coffee with a friend)
  • went to a yoga class at 6pm (had to sneak out of work early! I made up for it later in the evening)
  • dinner was a tuna salad sandwich on focaccia from a nearby restaurant (Cavatappo Grill) that came with a side salad
  • dessert was a cup of greek yogurt (0%) with cinnamon, stevia, and PB2
  • and I ate a few roasted veggie pieces as I was putting them in tupperwares (I tend to make roasted veggies at night, before I go to bed – then I eat them the next few days for lunch)

I don’t actually have any pictures, but I do have a picture of my coffee.

How To Make Coffee with a French Press

  • boil water
  • 2 heaping spoons of freshly ground coffee goes into the press (the spoon is a coffee spoon – I want to say it’s 2 tablespoons – so 4 heaping T’s in total)
  • pour the hot water over the grounds, let sit
  • after one minute, give it a stir and put the top on (don’t press down yet)
  • wait 4-5 minutes, then press down
  • put your milk and sugar in your cup first, then pour the coffee over
  • amazing!

That’s all I have. What did you eat Wednesday?