Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Day 1 of NO MEAT Month: Labor Day

For Labor Day I decided to let others do much of the laboring in preparing my food, largely because it was hot as balls here in the city and I could not be less bothered. Also, more than ever, I really hate my kitchen. I find it a really poorly designed cheap space and it makes me want to not only withhold rent but move all of my pink kitchen appliance to the other end of the building (my office) where I will likely enjoy them more. This happens every time I come back from Vegas, where I love my beautiful granite and chrome oasis kitchen. But I digress...

Take that chicken! (Vegas kitchen of glory)

Here's what I ate today:
m&m Veggie Wedge sandwich: I am kind of shocked there is no web presence or listing for this Asian market and deli on Broadway at 115th Street. You can order from a lengthy list of sandwiches, etc. as well as buy all the Sriracha and fresh oyster mushrooms your little heart desires. The sandwich is more than excellent. It is a giant Kaiser roll with slices of fresh mozarella, shredded letture, thin slice cucumbers, roasted red peppers, avocado slices, and sun dried tomatoes. I, of course, ask them to substitute real tomato slices for the gag-inducing sundried ones. It's glorious! ($5.75)

Then walking down Broadway to meet some CU Rugby minxes and watch the greatest movie ever made, we saw the Van Leeuwen Artisanal Ice Cream truck. If you have not had this and have been gagging back that non-food chemical Pink(crack)berry stuff all summer, you need to switch over NOW. It uses local milk from Lewis County, NY, with other ingredients to form a custard base, then all natural flavorings to finalize the ice cream. It is delivered to only NY (three turkc locations) and CT, uses biodegradable cartons and spoons (made from 100% renewable resources), and is 105% glorious! I had a small with one scoop of chocolate and a scoop of strawberry. Andrew had a cone with a scoop of pistachios. If the photo below does not make you want to switch to this kind of confection, you should also factor in that they donate a percentage of their profits to help one of the world's most endangered species, the Mountain Gorillas of the Congo through a grassroots organization called Wildlife Direct. Now you should feel guilty and go eat their ice cream. What have you done for gorillas today?


After the movie, Andrew and I stopped at one of our sometimes favorite cheap organic/vegetarian (for us) restaurants. You would think there would be more numerous options on the Upper West Side, but alas.... Nanoosh Mediterranean Hummus Bar (2012 Broadway between 68th and 69th) is somewhat of an oasis from that. Yes, the waitstaff is a little dead behind the eyes, yes, they often run out of items, yes, they serve the most Gumby-like celery ever, but otherwise, it's pretty good. We tried to get our favorite item, the Mushroom and hummus wrap with Mediterranean salad, but of course, they were out of mushrooms. Curses! We had to order the egg and hummus salad wrap with a side order of hummus and vegetables (including flexi-celery). The waitress tried to test the theory that moisture is the essence of wetness and not give us any water, but we prevailed! It was good.

Then we stopped at Fairway to pick up some lettuce, mushrooms, red potatoes, and Bumble Bars which I will be taking to school. Some nosy too tan Naugahyde broad with smudged fierce teal eyeliner in the elevator (No steps to the organics? Curses!), reached into Andrew's basket, picked up one my my prized Chai Bumble Bars, and declared, "You know these are full of fat." I could not have hidden my annoyance and superiority more, mainly because I did not care to, and said, "I know, and it's good fat." She turned to me and said, "But it's still fat." Andrew was still confused as to whether she had insulted his red leaf lettuce, and the other elevator passengers looked intrigued like a dead cougar v. cat fight might happen in a teensy tinesy elevator with them. I only had one floor so I made the quick decision not to educate this woman on omega fats and the power of flax, and just cut her down quick, saying, "I'm a dietitian and I know what's in them. The fat is good and they are filled with fiber." She started to kind of stammer as the door to the first floor opened and I stepped out. Another girl in front of me turned and said, "I hate women like that." I have to agree. Either way, I know what I'll be eating in class for the rest of the week.


When we got back to the house, it was still horrifically hot. I wish we didn't live in a place where even on an upper floor you have to keep things locked up tight because 89% of the surrounding community should be in Rikers Island. Anyway, I felt the need for more ice cream in the form of Haagen Daz Vanilla Honey Bee Ice Cream. I am going to write an entire post about the honey bee collapse which will leave us barren of many fruits and vegetables, etc. soon. Profits from sales of this product go to research on how to stabilize and save the honey bee population. However, until then, know that you should google the condition and read up!

And after that, we start to see why I am still on West Coast time, or at least my stomach is. I had a late night can of Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable. I should have just poured salt in my hand and licked it occassionally. Then a Swiss Miss hot chocolate packet with marshmallows (what a joke) and some half and half. All in all, no meat. However, I choose to think that this will be easier once this blazing weather chills a little. It is certainly making me scraps. For those interested, Andrew ate virtually the same until the soup. What a good boy he is.

~beth

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