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Sister Visits & Souen Suppers

My sister came to visit me this weekend.

I had to work yesterday, but after work we all convened downtown (me, Julia, and Bobby) near Bobby’s office to get something for dinner. Bobby suggested Souen, and who am I to disagree! Julia also enjoys Souen though she says it’s a little bland sometimes 😉

So let’s see, what did we get…

Julia ordered the cornbread with a side of miso-tahini spread. (But we all shared it.)

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I got Squash Tofu – my absolute favorite dish at Souen. (My other favorite is the macro plate.) Squash Tofu is a sauteed mix of fresh vegetables – broccoli, napa cabbage, onions, soft/medium tofu, carrots, kabocha squash, and probably more that I am forgetting. The sauce is of the miso/tahini variety (a common theme at Souen).

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Souen’s Squash Tofu (with a side of brown rice)

Julia opted for the Inspired Vegetable Curry – a delicious mix of broccoli, carrots, squash (kabocha), cauliflower, mushrooms, and more + a savory Indian spice-inspired sauce.

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Souen’s Inspired Vegetable Curry (with a side of brown rice)

And last but certainly not least, Bobby got Souen’s Stir-Fried Noodles with soba noodles as his entree. Tons of veggies including lotus root and snap peas, topped with some seaweed flakes. It’s in a mushroomy-gingery sauce.

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Souen’s Stir-Fried Noodles

After dinner I got a macrobiotic scone. Here a recipe for macrobiotic scones that I have been meaning to resurrect – it’s from 2009. And I found this Eden Foods recipe for Cranberry Walnut macro scones too.

Do you like macrobiotic food? Which dish would you pick at Souen? Do you like math?

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Random December List.

Random thoughts and things.

1) I got back from my trip to India on Sunday morning. Amazing trip. I was in Hyderabad for work for ~8 days (it’s a city in the south of India – in the state of Andhra Pradesh). JFK–>DEL the previous Saturday (after a 5 hour delay at JFK due to plane malfunctions – thanks Air India – a 14 hour flight total), did sightseeing on Sunday in Delhi, and then took a short 2 hour flight DEL–>HYD. Worked with an incredible team all week long, and then began the journey back to JFK this past Saturday. Two unexpected things about this trip to India: 1) I didn’t get to do any yoga aside from sun salutations in my hotel room and 2) there are way fewer vegetarians than I expected. I was just about full VEG for the whole trip. (I think I had a chicken sandwich in the airport on the first day.)

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(A sign at Golconda Fort, in Hyderabad – ha! I thought it was funny.)

2) Home renovations are still in progress. I am still very excited about them, but at this point I am getting very anxious to get my kitchen and bathroom back. Showering at the gym is getting old, fast. It’s been over a month now! I think we started on 11/14.

3) More travel plans this week. Bobby and I are going to visit his family in Miami and we leave on Thursday. Construction will continue while we are gone – and hopefully be nearing completion by the time we return. ::Fingers crossed:: Cats are headed to New Jersey.

4) I have only gotten to 4 yoga classes this month so far. But then again, I have only been home for ~8 days of the month so far, so this is actually a good record: one class every other day. Hoping to get to one more before we go to Miami (Wednesday morning?), and 2 more after we return. Bobby has been going with me because he joined my same yoga studio. ::Happy dance::

5) After Miami, we are going to NJ the following weekend to visit my family. Hectic hectic month!

6) I am obsessed with candles. I recently bought this avocado mint candle and this frosted maple candle from Anthropologie (not only do they have beautiful clothes, but they have wonderfully aromatic candles). I also have 3 from this line (also at Anthro).

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(^^frosted maple^^)

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(^^avocado & mint^^)

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(^^whipped cream & pear^^)

7) My favorite breakfast as of late has been a sugarless berry scone from Butterfield Bakery (unsweetened – not with fake sugar). These things are gigantic but somehow I manage to finish them. On the days I don’t get a scone I get either a fresh croissant (also from Butterfield) or a whole wheat bagel with butter from the deli around the corner.

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8) My heart goes out to the families affected by the terrible school shooting in Connecticut.

I think that is all I have for now. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season so far. Wish I could spend more of it in New York – NYC at Christmastime is one of my favorite things.

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{Fun} Birthday Quiz & Perfect Weekend

I saw this survey on debbie’s blog a few days ago and I couldn’t resist.

The Birthday Quiz

A. Age: 26 as of yesterday.
B. Bed size: Queen.
C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning the litter box. (Thanks hon, for relieving me of this duty 9 times out of 10! Love you much.)
D. Dogs: None. (2 cats!)
E. Essential start to your day: Stumptown coffee with milk and stevia; toast with butter; alone time.
F. Favorite color: Purple.
G. Gold or Silver: Platinum.
H. Height: 5’10”
I. Instruments you play: Piano (but not lately) and I sing soprano in 2 choirs (sop 1 in one choir, sop 2 in the other).
J. Job title: Software engineer. (I’m a web developer at a marketing company.)
K. Kids: Someday… soon?
L. Live: NYC – UES.
M. Mother’s name: Same as mine! Different nickname though.
N. Nicknames: Maggie, Meg, Magpie, Mags.
O. Overnight hospital stays: None that I know of. When I was born I guess.
P. Pet peeves: chewing with your mouth open. Having to repeat myself because you weren’t listening. These are the general yous, not you the reader specifically 😉
Q. Quote from a movie: “It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.” — Dumbledore (in the HP movie)
R. Right or left handed: Right.
S. Siblings: 2 – a younger brother (3 years younger) and a younger sister (6.5 years younger).
T. Time you wake up: Generally sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 am. Later if I had a late night.
U. Underwear: Uniqlo.
V. Vegetable you hate: Hrm… none? I used to hate baby corn but I love it now. I don’t really like mushy peas, does that count?
W. What makes you run late: Sometimes I start cleaning and I get distracted and I end up looking at the time and I should have left for work 30 minutes ago. Or getting back in bed in the morning to snuggle with Bobby before I go.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: At the dentist (many times – a little less than yearly I think) and at the chiropractor once.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Everything? Hehe – I kid, I kid. I made a pretty good broccoli soup last week, and I have been making some yummy gazpacho this summer. I make good eggs with goat cheese and I also make killer roasted veggies.
Z. Zoo animal: I don’t believe in zoos.

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I had a great birthday weekend. Friday night I took Friday Night Flow at Pure with my Ashtanga teacher (I haven’t been to ashtanga in a while). Then I met up with Bobby and we grabbed a quick dinner at Kobeyaki – think Chipotle but for Japanese food. I got the shrimp teriyaki on brown rice and a seaweed salad on the side. (B got the chicken teriyaki and a beer.)

We later hit up Rockwood (a live music place with a bar) and saw the Delta Saints – I’d never heard of them but they were awesome. They are from Nashville, TN. I listened to their stuff online when we got back but they were much better live, so if you ever have a chance to see them definitely go. They are incredibly talented. The singer’s voice is great, the guitarist is great, the bassist too, the drummer, and there is another guy who plays a bunch of random instruments including harmonica – he was awesome too.

Saturday I went to hot yoga in the morning, sat at a bank doing stuff for my co-op (I’m on the board), and my mom came into town for the day. We got a delicious lunch at Pret a Manger – love this place. My mom told them it was my birthday (embarrassing! kind of) and they gave me a cookie. I got the turkey-basil-hummus wrap and a decaf.

We went out to Brooklyn where we met up with Bobby’s cousins (from Japan). Walked around a bit, then came back to the city. That evening was pretty chill.

Then this morning we went to Le Pain Quotidien with my mom (I got a soft-boiled egg and bread) before she headed back to NJ. B and I went to central park and tossed a frisbee around and I did some yoga in the park. We walked around before coming home. It’s a gorgeous day in NYC today. Crisp and cool (not too cool), not humid, sunny – the perfect weather. We stopped at Williams Sonoma and got a few kitchen items, and grabbed dogs at Grey’s Papaya before heading back to our apartment.

Now that I’m home, honestly I want to take a nap! But I think I will do some food prep for the week and maybe do some reading.

All in all a lovely weekend. It is SO nice to have almost nothing planned for once. I have got to stop booking up my free time. I am very content to meander with my husband and just enjoy not having anything specific to do.

What did you do this weekend? Do you overbook yourself? What are your answers to the quiz?

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{food} Japanese Lunch at Sakagura

A few weeks ago Bobby’s mom was in here in NYC for a few hours on a layover. We took the opportunity to have lunch at her favorite New York restaurant, Sakagura. Sakagura has lunch specials, so we each got a different one.

I think I got this: “Jewel” Oke Bento ($20.00) – Assorted Appetizers , Fried Tidbits , 5 kinds of Seasonal Sashimi , Grilled Tidbits , Mini Rice Balls and Miso Soup.

There were fried intertwined veggies; a hijiki seaweed salad (the black and orange stuff in the dark brown bowl); rice balls (looks like rice sushi in the middle but really was all rice); the white ball with yellow on top (top left) is satoimo, a Japanese sweet potato; fresh sashimi (tuna, scallop – my favorite, squid, salmon, and one other that I don’t remember – mackerel?), and finally on the bottom was eel with eel sauce, a piece of pork, a piece of potato, and some scrambled egg.

My favorite part? I loved it all.

Bobby got a soba box – it must have been this one: Kaisen Don ($21.00) – Assorted Variety of sliced Fresh Sashimi Served atop of Sushi Rice, with Soba Noodles ( Hot or Cold ). You can see the bowl of rice and sashimi (top), soba sauce (top left), soba (front and center), and a few edamame.

He also enjoyed his very much.

Bobby’s mom also ordered a soba set – I think it was set C – Yakizakana Gozen ($20.00) – Seasonal Grilled Fish, Seasonal Appetizers, A Bowl of Rice, Homemade Soba Noodles (Hot or Cold). It looks like the fish was salmon (front slightly right); there was steamed spinach (middle right); some seaweed, potato, and pork (bottom left); soba (back left) and soba sauce (top middle); and something in the middle there that I can’t quite make out.

We all shared a bowl of black sesame ice cream for dessert. No pic! It looked too good and I forgot to take one before diving in.

Sakagura is always a hit. We have been there a few times before, but I don’t think I have blogged about it.

What is your favorite Japanese dish?

I think mine is anything with hijiki seaweed. I even had some tonight – I had some “Japanese fried rice” from Trader Joe’s that had hijiki in it; then I added 2 scrambled eggs – perfection. When we lived in California I used to LOVE going to a place called Delica. They have a fantastic salad – the “Hijiki and Soybean Salad“. My attempt at recreating it is here.

Hijiki is also a staple in macro plates. Here are my favorite macro plates.

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Link Love

Health & Nutrition Links

  • The Hidden Truths About Calories – This article delves into the complicated science of calorie calculation. Though many of us were already suspicious of calorie counts on labels, this article proves that those counts can be wildly inaccurate. The way you prepare a food, the way the food was grown, how processed the food is, AND your various aspects about your body composition – these are four factors that contribute to how many calories your body will actually take away from a food. For example, the more processed a food is, the less “work” (energy) your body expends while digesting it, and thus the more calories your body gets to keep. If you have longer intestines than your spouse, you will get more calories from a food (or vice versa). It’s a really good read, and not that long either.
  • 5 Ways to Make Going Vegan Easy – I am not a vegan, but I like these ideas. The ideas include drinking green juice,  eating quinoa, using almond milk, eating more greens and fruits, and giving up one animal a month. Click through to read more.
  • Chocolate Buckwheat Cake. Need I say more! I haven’t made it yet but it looks awesome.

Yoga, Fitness & Happiness Links

  • 6 Things I Do to Be Consistently Happy – written by a person who does startups. The ideas include 1) waking up early, 2) exercising, 3) disengaging, 4) helping others, and 5) learning new things regularly. Click through to read the last one, and to hear his thoughts on the ones I just listed.
  • Track Your Happiness – a cool app idea for the iPhone (I don’t think it’s for Android yet).
  • Patanjali’s 8 Limbs of Yoga – this is a great illustration of them.

NYC Links

  • Broadway Week – 2 for 1 tickets coming up (Sept 4 – 16).
  • All You Need to Know to Compost in Your Apartment – to be honest, I have not started composting yet. There is a compost station at the farmers’ market Sundays (it’s less than half a block from my apartment) so I can drop it off there if/when I do start.