Walk Like An Egyptian, Eat Like A Caveman

It is no secret that I love all the foods that are totally bad for me. It is also no secret that I am not the most active of humans. Obviously, these two non-secrets do not provide for a healthy existence. Last week, a blog in my local paper discussed if it was plausible for families with young children to convert to a completely vegan diet. In one of the comments, someone mentioned "Paleo eating" or in other words, eating like the cavemen. Meats, fruits, veggies. No dairy or grains. I was intrigued. And then I was terrified. Could I really give up the two greatest food loves of my life? Luckily, I was able to find a couple of sites that avoided the preachiness that sometimes comes along with advocating certain diets, and they assured me that you don't have to be 100% paleo if you don't want to. The key is really to try and get away from any sort of processed foods and back to basics. I have made a goal to be at least 75% paleo.

My first attempt was a fritatta that would provide me breakfast and maybe a couple of dinners. Ingredients: eggs, shredded sweet potatoes, asparagus, garlic, and red onion.

Sautee all the veggies until tender:

 

Combine eggs with veggies, pop into the oven and ta-da:

 

 

Not only was it super easy, it turned out pretty tasty, too. I still have some food items to get rid of before I can get serious with the paleo meal planning, but next week, I attempt zucchini spaghetti. Stay tuned!

This Weekend in Collage

NYC Invasion 2011

I thought I would spare you the play-by-play of every minute of our trip. So, in the spirit of David Letterman, I present to you:

Top 10 Moments from NYC Invasion 2011

10. First class seats/Delta SkyClub- Thanks to hubs’s silver medallion status and my hoarding of skymiles, we were able to travel first class and get into the Delta SkyClub. It’s always nice to have people treat like you’re someone important, and being able to cut in front of the little people stuck in coach.

 

 



9. Jimmy’s Corner- A dive bar in the middle of Times Square. In the middle of Times Square and serving $3 drafts. The owner is a former boxing trainer, so there are lots of memorabilia to look and awe at. His wife really got on Ryan’s good side when she carded him and then exclaimed “really?!” when she saw how old he was.

8. Central Park- This was my first time actually roaming through the park itself. It’s hard to believe such a beautiful green space exists in the smack dab middle of the city. Of course it wouldn’t be NYC if there weren’t a strike/protest going on at the Boat House Restaurant. We made our way to Cleopatra’s Needle, a 5000 year old obelisk where you can still see the hieroglyphics.

 

7. Bella Vita Pizza- Ryan found this little joint the last time he was in the city, and judging by the line that we encountered the first night we tried to get in, this place would not disappoint. The service is kind of slow, but all so worth it. Some of the best pizza I have ever had. We also tried their fried zucchini, which was yummy, too. I mean, really, how can you go wrong with fried vegetables?

6. Mom and Pop Eats- I love that the city is made up of non-chain places to eat at. I didn’t understand the unbelievable crowds that were at places like Crapplebees, places that you can go anywhere, anytime. Hello! You’re in the one of the best cities for food, and you’re eating there?! WTF is wrong with you? Although the decision was quite difficult at times, we found some really great places to eat with some really good deals. One place in particular that we really liked had $1 sliders and $3 cheesy fries.

5. MacBar- I saw this place featured on an episode of Food(ography), and it was like the mothership was calling me home; a restaurant with nothing but mac and cheese on the menu. After some schlepping in the rain, a couple of subway stops, and more schlepping in the rain, we arrived at what I now refer to as heaven. It literally took me 15 minutes to figure out what I wanted, which was everything. It would have been perfection if they had a sampler so that wishy-washy out-of-towners (ME) could get a taste of everything. In the end, I finally decided on the “Lobsta Mac”, and it was like a cheesy party in my mouth. Yeah, I finished the entire serving. I was on vacation dammit!

 

 

 

4. Awesome hotel room- We stayed at this place called Yotel in the middle of Hell’s Kitchen. It’s brand new and very boutique-y. I told the hubs that he should have been wearing a pair of skinny jeans to fit in. You check-in on a kiosk, the rooms are bare minimum, but still very comfy, and there is a free coffee/espresso/cappuccino/hot chocolate machine on every floor. The roof-top bar is pretty awesome at night when the weather is good.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Having a hubs who is not directionally challenged- I am not ashamed to say that I have no sense of direction whatsoever. You can’t tell me east or west, you have to tell me left or right and give me landmarks. Not my hubs. If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have ventured more than 5 blocks past the hotel. I love that he takes the initiative to figure out where we’re going, how we’re going to get there, and that he can figure out just about any subway system in the world. We are definitely a testament to birth order relationship matches with him being the oldest and me the youngest.

2. All You Can Eat/Drink Brunch- The food highlight of this trip. OMG, for $35 per person it is all you can eat and drink for 2 hours. The food is served tapas style, so you can order two plates per person at a time, and everything we had was ah-may-zing. This was truly a gluttonous moment for hubs and me. We made up for it by a 4 mile walk up to, through, and back from Central Park.

1. Roger Federer- Ah, the reason for our jaunt to the Big Apple. Hubs surprised me with tickets to the U.S. Open to see my favorite player. We were so lucky that we got to watch him at all. The impending arrival of Hurricane Lee did not provide much comfort that we would be able to get in Roger’s match before it started pouring on us. It seemed that everything was working against us: the men’s day match had gone long, and then the women’s night match went all 3 sets with a couple of tie-breaks to add to the match time. Finally at about midnight, Roger took center court, and my butter was melted. Good fortune was finally on our side and kept the rain at bay and allowed Roger to dominate and finish his opponent in straight sets.

To sum up: I had a fantabulous time eating my way through the city, as you could probably tell by half my favorite moments being food related. Also, a HUGE thank you to the hubs for orchestrating it all.

It was great NYC, hopefully, I'll see you next year!