Angelica’s Kitchen Review (Vegan, NYC)

Angelica’s Kitchen

A while ago I met up with one of my best friends for a delicious vegan dinner at Angelica’s Kitchen on the lower east side.

I got the “Pantry Plate” with 5 items – Marinated Hiziki & Arame Salad, Garlic Lemon Marinated Kale, bean and butternut squash salad, some kind of cabbage, and a sprout and bean salad (I think). Next time I think I will try their macro plate.

Fantastic company, fantastic meal.

July Shenanigans & Recipes…

This summer has been one of the best.

Bobby and I have been cooking up a storm…

moscow-mule

^^A moscow mule (a drink my dad introduced me to).^^

This was mine, but I gave it to Bobby – after one sip I didn’t want anymore! It’s delicious but I wasn’t in a drinking mood. {HERE} is the recipe I posted 5 years ago when my dad first told me about it. It’s a mix of ginger beer, vodka, lime, and mint. Sometimes we do half seltzer / half ginger beer. Gingerale also works.

tempeh-onion-goop

^^Sweet and Savory Tempeh with Onions^^

I started off following Gwyneth Paltrow’s recipe for Tempe Manis (Sweet Tempeh) but changed it… a lot. As you guys know, I’m not really into sweets that much, so I cut out just about all the sugar, and instead caramelized some onions to give it sweetness. I will hopefully remember what I did so I can post my version of the recipe later. So delicious.

kale-mustard-green-salad-seaweed-avocado-goop

^^Kale & Seaweed Salad with Avocado – Except with Mustard Greens because I mistakenly grabbed the wrong bunch of greens!^^

Another Gwyneth Paltrow recipe. Which she actually got from Cafe Gratitude (in LA I think?). {HERE} is her recipe. I changed it a bit – I only used one avocado, I didn’t add the cucumbers (all of a sudden I am hating cucumbers, weird!), and I accidentally bought mustard greens instead of kale. I’ve remade it with kale and I actually prefer it with mustard greens. They don’t come out bitter.

dinner-veggies-kabocha-rice-beans-cucumber-mushrooms

^^Random plate^^

This plate has a veggie stir-fry that was *amazing* – it has fake chicken from Trader Joe’s, but aside from that I don’t know what’s in it because Bobby (a budding cook, apparently) made it. I’ve also been *loving* white rice. Having it almost daily, in large amounts. My appetite has been interesting the last month or so. In this pic there is also kabocha (simply steamed, though I have another kabocha recipe I’ve been meaning to share), Rachel Ray’s sesame green beans, a cucumber salad (before I started hating cucumbers), and roasted mushrooms – I think these were oyster mushrooms.

Lastly…

natto

^^Natto^^

This is a fermented soybean product that is eaten a lot in Japan. It has an interesting (funky) smell and it’s slimy/stringy like okra (only more so). It’s definitely an acquired taste, but I have learned to love it. In fact, Bobby made a batch of homemade natto this week, which is aging in the fridge right now. It should be ready this weekend.

Aside from lots of good eats, other wonderful things have happened recently.

I got to meet my close friend’s baby:

maggie-and-eden

She is so sweet. So cuddly and adorable.

And Bo the cat is a weirdo 😉

bo-weirdo

I can’t believe I caught that picture! I was reorganizing the area next to my washer/dryer and was taking these shelves downstairs, but Bo decided to hang out in the shelf and I got him mid-yawn.

What have you been up to the past couple of weeks?

JP Morgan Corporate Challenge: Race Recap

On Wednesday night I ran in JP Morgan’s Corporate Challenge. It’s a 3.5 mile race in Central Park.

NYCCourseMap

Wednesday night was also Bobby’s birthday and his band (The Balls) had a show in Brooklyn.

The race started at the 72nd Street Transverse, wound up above and around the reservoir to about 104th street, and then came down on the east side. I finished the race in 35:51.

race-time

I have to be honest, when other people write “race recaps” I usually end up skimming them. So I will not be offended if you skim this.

In the beginning there were a lot of people and we were getting shuffled around (7pm). I was in the blue group, which was the slowest of the faster groups (the first waves to go). We had all submitted time estimates in advance, which is how we got grouped – red was the fastest, then yellow, then green, then blue. Orange and white (white is walking) were separate from us and started once red/yellow/green/blue had all gone.

maggie-race

We shuffled towards the starting line for almost 15 minutes after the 7pm starting time passed, and when I passed the starting line I began to jog (around 7:14pm). The first mile was my fastest. I think I kept about an 8.5-minute pace. There were only a few uphills and a couple of fortuitous downhills. At the water station after mile 1 I drank a cup and poured some water on my head.

Mile two was a little slower, probably a 9.5-minute mile. This mile started getting hilly and I realized that my training runs had been slower than I was running now. I didn’t stop though, and ran past the 2-mile mark.

Mile 3. There was no water in sight after the mile 2 mark and my chest was begging me for a break, so I started walking. I didn’t walk for long, maybe 30 seconds, but it was enough for me to get some energy back and continue. I took a slow jog up to the next water station, and drank some more. After that I felt great but then we hit some hills. I had to walk I think 2 more times and my time probably ended up being over 12 minutes for this mile.

Last half mile. I was jogging slowly at this point, but I knew I was close so I kept going. I walked once for about 15 seconds. When I got close to the finish line I picked up the pace, saw Bobby on the sideline, and ran past him for a high five. I sprinted after that, maybe 100 yards, and crossed the finish! I felt like I was going to puke but I didn’t. 😀

Lessons learned:

  1. I love racing! There is something so exciting and fun about running in such a large group of people.
  2. I am slower than I thought, but I think I can improve. I didn’t train for this except for a couple 2-3 mile runs over the last two months. On those runs I didn’t check my time and I did not run on hills.
  3. Running can be really fun. It’s also challenging.
  4. Water stations are great.

After the race I met up with Bobby and we booked it to Brooklyn for his show. He was supposed to go on at 8:45 and we made it just before 8:40 with just enough time to set up his keys. After the show we had a fantastic dinner at this place: The Anchored Inn. There are so many good cheap places to eat in Brooklyn. Sometimes it makes me wonder why I still live in Manhattan and pay $15 for a salad…

I got a delicious large $9 salad: radish, cucumber, avocado, queso fresco, pumpkin seed, pickled onion, chile vinaigrette. Bobby got the bacon wrapped hot dog. We split roasted Brussels sprouts: brussels with pickled apple, serrano, horsey sauce.

Yesterday I was a bit sore but nothing terrible. Last night I ended up going out with coworkers + Bobby and didn’t sleep well afterwards so I was up early today. This morning I went for a nice slow walk over to Central Park where I saw this weird pink fluffy tree (what is it?):

pink-fluffy-tree-central-park

Have you ever raced before?

Monday Link & List Love [01.21.2013]

I have found some interesting links lately that I wanted to share:

Monday Link Love

  • The Nitrate & Nitrite Myth: Another Reason not to Fear Bacon: This article “debunks” the idea that nitrates and nitrites can cause serious health problems (cancer, heart disease). Honestly – I want to believe it; I just don’t know if I can. Apparently nitrates and nitrites are found in much higher amounts in natural foods like celery and even in our own saliva than they are in hot dogs, bacon, and other processed meats. Even if they are – aren’t they different? Wouldn’t our bodies treat “natural” (whatever that means) nitrates/nitrites differently than artificial ones? I have no idea. I’m not a food scientist but I would really like to know the truth behind processed meats. (Because I love bacon. Who doesn’t?)
  • Breaking the Cycle of Emotional Eating: Just some goods tips for leading a happy, healthy life. I especially like #5 – Unleash Your Creativity and Do Something You Love Every Single Day.
  • Homemade Lotion Recipe: I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks like it really couldn’t be simpler.
  • Slow-Cooker Squash Stew: Butternut squash, chard, and parmesan? Count me in.
  • 7 Ways You Might Be Inadvertently Sabotaging a Good Night’s Sleep: I may not always agree with him, but Mark Sisson just about always has an intelligent, well-thought-out response to just about every question or problem anyone could possibly have. In this case I do agree with him. The article is from November but particularly applicable now that I’m trying to sleep earlier. He makes good points – 1) are you getting natural light during the day? 2) are you eating too late? 6) do you have a nighttime ritual? and 7) are you simply staying up too late? –> These 4 all right true for me.
  • Vow to Get More Sleep in 2013: Another sleep article. Tips include 3) turn the heat down, 4) unplug (what I should be doing now!), 5) meditate, 6) do yoga (OK!), and 7) stop puttering! (That means no chores after 9pm, yes I am talking to you my fellow type A’s.)

And I also just wanted to share some other random things…

Monday List Love

  • Wanted to share this pic of dinner the other night. I was out of the city all day Saturday and when I got home, Bobby had prepared this beautiful meal! It’s a salad with hard boiled egg, bacon, onion, and homemade dressing. I had no idea he could cook – he totally outdid himself. He also made butternut squash ravioli (from TJ’s) with sauteed veggies and he cooked up a cheesy mushroom flatbread (also courtesy of TJ’s). The salad is served in a really beautiful dish from my mom.
    bobby-dinner-salad-ravioli-wine
  • Bobby used this salad recipe for the dinner salad and dressing. It was supposed to be spinach but I prefer romaine as a salad base.

That’s all I have… I’m off to do some reading and relax before I go to sleep (early). Hope your week is off to a good start.

{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.