Our house is always well stocked with da goodies! The first thing that came out of my mouth when I got home was….‘kaboooooochaaaaa!’
My daddy-o sure knows how to make me happy 
.
***
Last night was the Duke vs. UNC Basketball Game. THE game that hundreds of students slept countless freezing cold nights in tents to watch live.
Since I’ve been a Dukie, we’ve won a couple times at UNC but never home at Duke, in Cameron Stadium. I actually had a terrible nightmare on Friday night that we lost by 1 point. I didn’t want to say anything out loud to jinx it!
Finally, on senior night, we crushed them! Wow. We crushed them so hard I actually felt bad for them (and that’s sayin’ something!!). I don’t even want to know the shenanigans (aka burning stuff) that went down last night back at school!
Get excited for the ACC Tournament this weekend!!
***
Some random nibblings from yesterday:
Coconut Flavor sunflower seeds!! The outside had a hint of salty and sweet…like kettle corn with a slight coconutty flavah.
***
My bestie, Katherine (bless her heart), accompanied me to Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant again! The last time we saw each other I dragged her to this veggie paradise and had a jaw-dropping experience. You can read my first post here about Sunflower and see the crazy items they offer on their menu.
My dear Katherine isn’t a big veggie eater but she gladly came with me . What a trooper!
I thought about going to a regular restaurant, but they’re just not as exciting. I like going to restaurants where I wouldn’t be likely to make the same food in my own kitchen…ya know?
And that is precisely what Sunflower is in a nutshell. So many ingredients I wouldn’t even know where to find!
Here she is trying to figure out what all the mumbo jumbo is on the menu .
…while I couldn’t get enough of it! What a selection this place has.
I love the dessert ideas and check out the ingredients….how cool?
After hours of deliberation, I ordered Raw World: Japanese style akatosaka, aotosaka, jicama, tomato, organic sunflower seeds, avocado, pine nuts, dried blueberry, dried cranberry and daikon on a bed of mixed greens.
Check out that beautiful avocado. You can’t see the jicama underneath the seaweed but that was one of the main reasons I ordered this dish. I was craving me some jicama!!
And Organic Baked Marinated 5 Grain Tempeh. I wanted to try tempeh prepared by someone other than me to see if it still had the bitter taste. It did, but only slightly.
I liked it though (of course)!! I wonder what they use as the marinade.
Katherine ordered Curry Fried Rice–I had a few bites.
It looks like I’m heading back to Sunflower again on Friday night for my birthday blogger meet up! I sent out an email asking for people to vote and Sunflower is in the lead.
If you missed it, I am having a meet up for bloggers and readers in Northern VA on Friday 3/12 at 6:30 PM. Email me (allie at livelaugheat dot com) if you want to join!
I made it home safe ‘n’ sound! No traffic, no nuthin’, I was smooth sailin’!
Here’s what went down yesterday–the last day of my fridge cleaning mission. I successfully finished off every last bite of perishable food. I was extremely proud of myself–arguably too proud .
Here’s the list of food I still had to finish:
- Fruit: strawberries, 1/2 banana, kumquats, 1/2 apple
- 2 eggs
- ~1 cup almond milk
- leftover salad
- 5 carrot stix
Ready or not, here I come!
Breakfast:
I decided to use my last 2 eggs to make french toast!
Whole wheat bread soakin’ in a bath of egg whites, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and almond milk:
Topped with strawberries, bananas, ground flax seeds and pecans:
And a glaze of kefir + Greek yogurt:
91.5 FM
For my Culinary Cultures class, we headed to the North Carolina Public Radio station in downtown Durham because our class had a 20 min. segment on “The State of Things,” which runs every weekday at 12 PM.
My professor and 3 of my classmates spoke LIVE on the show. The rest of us sat in the control room and got to see the behind the scenes action. T’was pretty cool!
You can listen to the segment, Hometown Appetites, here if you want (I just found it Google searching).
The American Tobacco Warehouse District in Downturn Durham has undergone major renovations. This used to be a warehouse! Now it is a modern, sleek business building.
***
Run, Allie, Run!
After class, I decided it would be 100% necessary to take advantage of the beautiful weather. This weekend is going to be gorgeous in Durham (except I’m home)! Can you believe it’s going to be 66 degrees on my birthday down there?
I always have a hard time dealing with my keys when I run. I get nervous when I tie them on my shoe because I always think they’re gonna fly off!
I came up with this brilliant idea at the very last second to loop de loop my hair tie and wear it as a bracelet!
Ready to go with my shin sleeves, iPod, and Garmy .
The workout rocked my SOX:
- 4 mile run (to and around the WaDuke trail)
- 15 min. leg weights at the gym
- 10 min. elliptical to cool down
My Garmin died mid way through the run. It made for a relaxing run though. I didn’t feel pressure to increase my pace and I could just run to enjoy the trail and the sunshine. I felt like a million bux!
***
I had to take care of some business after I showered so my post-workout meal was delayed!! My blood sugar went tumbling down and as a result, I scarfed down dinner in seconds.
I hate the that shaky, low blood sugar feeling!
Leftover salad with apples, carrots, eggplant, and pecans. I topped it with TJ’s Gyoza Dipping Sauce.
I also had a leftover 1/2 slice of French toast from breakfast.
And I finished off the kefir and Greek yogurt!! Just in the nick o’ time. My bowl included strawberries, banana slices, and a homemade granola that my friend Amanda made me–thanks, Amanda!! Tell your Momma her recipe is delicious!
I accidentally dropped this guy on his head!!
I snacked on the rest of the granola bag while packing because even after all that food, I was still a little shaky.
After 2 hours of packing (whew!) I hit the road. I packed the kumquats and strawberries to snack on while driving.
As well as an Chocolate Heart Thrive and 1/2 a Rosie’s Granola Bar.
Nothing left in the fridge! Success. Fridge Cleaning Mission Accomplished!
***
Today is another loaded day. I’m hanging out with my bestie and then the Duke vs. UNC game is on!!! Oh my oh my.
Finally, the time has come for me to go home. I better should be home sweet home by 11 PM tonight! It feels like it’s been forever since winter break while at the same time the past 2 months have zoomed by! It has been an exhausting stretch and I am looking forward to a nice [birthday] week with the ‘rents….
….and my BOOKS!! I’ve got an exam to study for, 2 papers to write, an entire book to read, and a slew of other assignments.
Spring Break? Pshhh more like Spring WORK!
2moremonths2moremonths2moremonths. I know I’ll want back this time in my life once it’s over but for now I can’t help but countdown the days until graduation.
***
Breakfast:
1/4 cup Oats + 1/4 cup Oat Bran w/ apples, pecans and ground flax seed.
I also made a glaze to go on top!
To create the ‘glaze,’ I thoroughly mixed equal parts coconut butter, almond butter and almond milk.
It gave my bowl of oats just the kick it needed.
My sunflower dishes sure brought the sun out!
The afternoon flew by and before I knew it, I was hungry again.
Snax:
Carrot stix + almond butter
Apples:
I decided to mix in some Greek yogurt with the almond butter to create a special dip. Ooooh lala!
***
After class I hit up the gym for 45 min. of LIGHT ellipticalling and 15 min. of arm weights. I was NOT feeling the workout whatsoever. My bum bum was sore and my legs felt like led. I decided to go easy on the resistance and just try to get the blood flowing to my sore muscles. As always, I was still glad I went!
Post workout:
A monstrous salad w/ eggplant, sweet potatoes and other veggies:
2 microwaved egg whites on a sandwich round.
I feel like all I’ve been doing is eating eggs and I still have 2 left!!! I should’ve just hard-boiled them–they always go faster when they’re readily available to eat.
I also had some apple slices, kumquats, and a strawberry.
For dessert I started with pumpkin ice cream, Ferrero Rocher and a corner of a Chocolate Heart Thrive.
Dessert continued as I munched away. I had 2 papers to write and I quickly turned into a munchie monster!!!
1/2 Rosie’s Granola Bar and a Green Tea Latte:
My spring break mission will be to replicate these bad boys.
I continued to munch on chocolate chips (finished off the bag), biscotti, more ice cream and a spoonful of almond butter.
Usually I leave a little more room for dessert because I prefer sweet over savory but the munchie monster from within went a little too far. Dessert was more like a MEAL but I finished my papers and that’s what’s important. It happens.
***
I’m off to one LAST class and then I’ll see you at HOME tonight!!!
I was at the gym until 11:15 PM last night watching the Duke vs. Maryland basketball game. This was me while working out:
“eeeeeeeeeeek”
“come on come on come on”
“gahhhhhh”
“get it get it get it get it get it”
“YESSSSSSS!”
“WHAT THE @$%!#$%?!?!?”
And then….
This was a big game for both teams. Had we won, we would’ve secured the top spot in the ACC. Unfortunately we lost, so now we share the spot….with THEM. Â UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH x500000!!
After 60 min. on the elliptical, I needed to either leave or eat something and I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t miss a single second of the game….are you kidding? So I got these fruit snax from the vending machine and walked on the treadmill for the rest of the time. They worked like a charm.
Silly, Kellogs, you spelled SNAX wrong!
If you haven’t noticed, our basketball team is the only thing at this school that I care about and have any positive feelings towards. Truth.
***
Back trackin’…
Breakfast:
Kefir Yogurt Fondue!! I made this a couple months ago and recently remembered just how much I loved it.
I’m like a child and I like things in bite-sized pieces. Dipping in the kefir + yogurt is ze best part!
Strawberries
Kumquats (I’m still working on this box!!):
Microwaved pear chunks:
The STAR of the show:
With cinnamon spice coffee. It looks like I got my fruit servings in, huh?
Snax:
Repeat photo but same dealio
Chocolate covered expresso beans. I polished off these 2 bags in 2 days!
I had an early dinner because I had to teach and I didn’t want to have a full stomach for my late-night workout:
Salad w/ carrot stix, artichoke hearts and cottage cheese:
Ezekiel Eng Muff w/ almond butter and banana as well as a handful of almonds.
More chocolate!!! (It doesn’t end there )
***
Post basketball workout I made a green protein shake:
- 1/2 banana
- 1 cup spinach
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/2 packet protein powder
Matches my sheets .
I also had some pumpkin ice cream and a Chocolate Heart Thrive w/ pecans. Gotta get those carbs in!!
More Chocolate. At least I had chocolate to comfort my dying soul!
Ferrero Rocher.
I grew up fearing these because they had nuts and I was allergic. Finally, when I discovered I could eat hazelnuts, I couldn’t wait to try the gold foil chocolates my brother and daddy-o enjoyed so much while I sat on the sidelines!
I was a lil hungry going to bed but I wasn’t about to eat any more at 2 AM! It just made waking up for breakfast that much easier.
