My roommate’s 27th birthday was just a few days ago! We have an awesome tradition of going out for Saki bombs to celebrate our birthdays every year. We did not have a date planned this year but we happened to run into each other while walking home from work. She was holding a box of cereal to eat for dinner and I was holding a bag of popchips to eat with my veggie burger. I told her to get ready because I was taking her out to Chikurin for sushi and Saki!

Jackie is not a big drinker so she ordered one glass of wine. I was going to order a small hot Saki and a Sapporo for myself but the server convinced me to get a large Saki. I could not argue with that one!

As soon as Jackie saw me pouring my Saki, she decided she wanted her own shot glass. That did not take too much convincing!

Jackie is dangerous to drink with because she poured me half of every one of her Saki bombs! I also ended up having all of her wine at the end of dinner! I never turn down extra alcohol though!

Eventually we moved onto food. We started with miso soup and edamame.

We decided to share a Shrimp Terykaki Bento Box along with an extra sushi roll.

The bento box is amazing at Chikurin! So much food! It came with salad, a California roll, brown rice, shrimp tempura, shu mai, and shrimp teryaki.

We also split an Eel Avocado brown rice roll. Delicious!

We were so stuffed after all of that food that we got this bright idea to walk 25 minutes to a bar in Forest Hills. It was freezing out but it did not really bother us after so much Saki! We just wanted some extra exercise (and extra beer)!

We had a fun time with my camera!

Still so much snow in Queens 2 weeks after the blizzard! We eventually made it to the bar. Nothing better than a Stella after a long walk in the cold!

We started to walk home after one beer but it got way too freezing out. Luckily a cab was there waiting for us.

We made it back and played with Daisy for a while!

I love my daughter. It was a fun night! Not so fun the next morning though! Luckily a shower, an Advil, a glass of water, and this breakfast made it all better!

Eggs always do the trick. Breakfast is the only thing I’ve been cooking these days! I plan to change that tonight. Stay tuned!

iHerb $50 Shopping Spree Winner!

The winner of the shopping spree is…..

77- Amber, “I would get the salad shaker and stock up on Kind bars!”

Congrats Amber! I will contact you shortly with details on how to redeem your $50!!

Have a good one!

Related posts:

1. Sushi and Saki Triple Date!
2. Saki and Slots!
3. Sushi Coma!

Happy Wednesday! I had a very fun night last night with two lovely bloggers! More on that later. I mentioned the other day that I was going to continue on my little Passover diet at least until after I go on vacation! I kept it again all day yesterday until dinner (I was not turning down sushi!) I lost a couple of pounds during Passover and felt a lot less bloated. Remember those 3 pounds I gained at the end of January after inTensati? They are finally gone! It is not just because of the lack of bread in my diet. The whole week I ate less calories overall. Normally I might have a bite of a mozzarella stick at dinner, some croutons on my salad, a bowl of cereal before bed, etc. Those are all extra snacks that add up and prevent me from losing any weight. It was nice to have some control over those snacks during the past week. Exercise was not cutting it. I also could not drink beer during Passover so that probably helped too. Don’t worry, I still had plenty of vodka and wine and managed to lose some weight. It is possible! I’ll be completely satisfied when I fit into this one pair of pants that I got last year. Almost there.  

I’ve been making omelets every day for breakfast. Yesterday was 1 egg and 2 egg whites. I did have some matzoh on the side because I feel bad throwing out the box!

For lunch I made a turkey and cheese wrap but with salad  and broccoli slaw instead of a wrap. I used my cool EasyLunchbox! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win your very own EasyLunchbox set!

I had an apple for a snack after lunch. An hour later I had another apple. That is what happens when I don’t bring gum to work. I’m really trying to cut back!

After work I met my lovely Queens blog friends Mari and Monique at the bus stop for some sushi at Ginza! You may remember my first date with Mari back in October! It went so well that we had to go back! It turned into a triple date this time

After an hour long adventure trying to get there via the bus, we made it! I convinced Mo to have some saki with me! It did not take very much convincing.

Last time we were at Ginza, Mari told me about an octopus salad appetizer. Octopus usually scares me so I would not let her order it. I did promise her I would try it next time and I kept my word!

I was pleasantly surprised. It did not look as scary as some octopus platters I’ve seen. The sauce on it was delicious! The texture was similar to shrimp and it had delicious cucumbers and cabbage underneath. I even went back for seconds.

We decided to start off with 3 brown rice rolls to share.

Mo and I shared a Salmon Avocado Roll (on the left). The middle roll was called the Liki 4: spicy crab and shrimp. Delicious!

The star of the show and least healthiest of course was the roll on the right…the Godzilla roll! It was Fried Spicy Tina, Avocado, Scallion, Masago, topped with Spicy sauce.

My first plate:

The rolls are so amazing there. I’ve been craving Ginza ever since we went months ago! We were starving girls after our crazy bus adventure so we decided to split 2 more rolls.

The first roll was an Amanda Roll: Spicy Tuna, Kani, Cucumber, Scallion, and Crunch, with Avocado, Mango & Sweet Sauce on Top.

The bottom roll was a Shrimp Tempura Roll.  My second plate:

The Amanda roll was amazing! I loved the mango on top! Fried sushi is the best. It was a wonderful treat!

We ended with some pineapple chunks for dessert.

The staff at Ginza were so friendly too! We asked our server for a picture of us and the sushi chef joined in!

Great dinner! I skipped the gym yesterday but woke up bright and early today for a workout. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and burned 402 calories. I am hitting up H&R Block for some taxes after work so I made sure to get some cardio in this morning. Now I have to go try to track all of that sushi and saki on iChange. Have a good one!

Related posts:

1. Sushi Date and College Memories
2. Sushi Blog Meetup!
3. Sushi Coma!

Hello! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far. I just got back from my first day of school! It went really well! More on that later! First I will do a little recap of yesterday.

I had a boring omelet for breakfast but lunch made up for it!

Brown rice salmon avocado roll with a side of spicy black bean shrimp soup!

I loved the soup! There were so many little shrimpies in there!

I went to Core Fusion after work since I did not wake up in the morning. It was with Paige-one of my favorite teachers. She is really hard but makes jokes the whole time so I never have to think too much about the pain!

I went home starving and had no food in the house except for these!

The stats are pretty good…

I made lots of veggies to go with the chicken!

I topped everything on a salad with a few slices of mozzarella cheese.

Nice fast dinner! I also had a few Bud Light Limes of course!

This morning I woke up at 7:00 to get ready for class! Not fun waking up that early on weekends! I made sure to have a nice breakfast since we are not allowed to eat in the theatre.

Scrambled egg whites and mushrooms with 2 spelt cakes on the side. This kept me full until around 10:30. I got really starving but they said we get kicked out for the day if they see us eating! I will just have to deal with it! Finally at 12:00, we got a 2 hour lunch break. We all got assigned a health counselor and restaurant to meet them at today! I met my counselor at Josie’s with about 5 other people. I did not take a picture since it was my first time meeting everyone but I had a great lunch! I got:

Grilled Asparagus, Sweet Potato, Zucchini & Portobello Mushroom Wrap:
mesclun greens & sundried tomato-white bean-goat cheese hummus

It was delicious! I will definitely be back there soon! I got a Starbucks after lunch because I was struggling to stay awake in the morning! I am definitely having coffee first thing tomorrow!

The class itself was really good! It took place in the Jazz Lincoln Center at Columbus Circle…hello Whole Foods There were about 1800 people there so it did not really feel like class!

I had to sit all the way up top in the morning but got a spot nice and class after lunch! There were people of all ages from all over the country! I felt lucky to be just a subway ride away from the school after people told me they flew in from Florida and Michigan for the weekend. There were a few speakers such as the director of nutrition from Harvard, the founder of IIN, and another guy who will be helping with the business side of things. It was a ton of information for one day but everything was very interesting! A lot of the classmates spoke up about why they were there which was very inspiring. A few girls had diseases and wanted to learn how to use food to help make them better. There were tears in a lot of people’s eyes! Everyone seemed so passionate about their health and really wanted to be there. Tomorrow is another day! It is nice to finally be in school learning about something I am interested in!

Class ended a little early and Core Fusion was a 5 minute walk away! I made it in time for the 4:00 class! I am glad I brought my workout clothes just incase! It was another wonderful class

I came home and made another Morningstar Farms chicken pattie for dinner! This time I made a sandwich with cheese and ketchup! Yum! More peppers and mushrooms on the side.

I am probably just going to relax for the rest of the night since I am exhausted! I am lonely without Daisy here! Blahh. I better get my stuff ready for school lol. Have a good one!

Don’t forget to enter my snackTAXI Giveaway!

Enter Jocelyn’s Awesome Giveaway too!

Related posts:

1. More Fun at School and Skinny Margaritas!
2. Weekend 3 at Nutrition School!
3. Sicky Eats!

Good Morning! Hope everyone had a nice weekend! Sunday night ended up being a saki bomb night! I went to Chikurin which is a delicious sushi place across the street from my apartment.

Hot saki is the best. It goes down so easy and does the trick right away I started off with some edamame.

I also got miso soup and a salad with ginger dressing.

I got a Rainbow Roll for my main course. This is one of my favorite rolls! It is basically a California roll wrapped in salmon, yellowtail, tuna, and fish eggs.

As we were leaving, the server handed me a bottle of saki and said it was a gift for Valentine’s Day! Such a nice surprise!

We went to a bar next door after dinner and had one more beer. I may have poured some of my new saki in there

Monday morning was a nice relaxing day off work! I fixed my hangover with a delicious breakfast from Tower Diner!

I got an egg white omelet with mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, and feta cheese. I had some of my roommate’s turkey sausage as well.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the casino in Yonkers! We had $30.00 in vouchers plus a $20.00 food voucher which expired yesterday! It was great starting with free money. I was up $100 right away but was not ready to leave so I lost it. Oh well! It was really fun. We used our food voucher in the cafeteria. I found a place with whole wheat wraps. I got turkey and cheese and it was huge!

Nice dinner for free Made up for some of my losings. I won enough last time I was there so I did not feel too bad.

1) Do you like to gamble?

2) What is your favorite thing to eat to cure a hangover (if you drink!)

Don’t forget to enter my Lite Choice Giveaway!

Related posts:

1. Saki Celebration and iHerb Winner!
2. Sushi and Saki Triple Date!
3. Sushi & Saki!

I’ve always wanted to take a professional cooking class. I get jealous when I read food blogs and people my age know how to make elaborate dinners! I do not consider myself a good cook and do not even know the proper way to chop a vegetable! I like to make quick and easy meals that are healthy. I am used to just throwing together a salad or making some pasta with red sauce. I never use recipes since I usually don’t understand a lot of the directions or I don’t have the necessary kitchen tools! Last week, an opportunity arose to finally take a cooking class at a reasonable price and for a good cause!

My friend Dori held an amazing auction in support of breast cancer. She needed to raise $1000 so that she could run her first 1/2 marathon on her birthday! One of her items up for bid was a professional cooking class. I immediately knew that was the one I wanted to win! I bid high enough (sorry Melanie!) and won!

I happened to meet my cooking teacher a few days before my class at Core Fusion! Dori and I took a class with her before work so it was nice to be able to meet her before she actually came over to teach me. Her name is Mercedes and she is one of the pastry chefs at the Ritz Carlton. She met Justin Timberlake. I wanted to cry when she told me this. It is my lifelong dream. Any connections….send them my way!

Okay enough fantasizing. Mercedes and I emailed back and forth so that we could create a menu and come up with a shopping list. I decided on an Italian dinner and asked that it be somewhat healthy! We came up with this:

Appetizer:
Italian and Mushroom Bruschetta

Entree:
Whole Wheat Pasta with Artichokes, Chickpeas, and Spinach

Dessert:
Chocolate Molten Cake

She emailed me a shopping list that looked a little something like this:

Kosher Salt/ Pepper
Olive Oil
Tomatoes
Fresh Mozzarella
Basil
Mushrooms
Red Wine
Cannelli Beans
Baguette
Whole Wheat Pasta
Red and Yellow Bell Peppers
Chickpeas
Artichoke Hearts
Parmigiano Reggiano
Spinach or Kale
Valhrona Chocolate( I will bring)
1 pound of Butter
Flour
Eggs
Sugar
Anglaise( i will bring)
Fresh Berries

Strainer, saute pan, cutting board , knives , microplane , whisk , bowls

I had many questions for her about this list. This proves how much of an inexperienced cook I am!

What is a microplane?? (She brought one of her own).
Is it okay to use normal table salt instead of kosher salt? (She brought her own sea salt instead).
Should I get cooking wineor regular drinking wine? (Regular wine; Cooking wine is awful).
Should the artichokes and chickpeas be canned or fresh? (Try to get them fresh but if you cannot find them, canned will be fine).
May I use Stevia instead of sugar? (Yes).
May I use Smart Balance spread instead of butter? (Yes).

I also had to do a little google search to see what Parmigiano Reggiano and Anglaise was! Mercedes was extremely helpful and enjoyed my questions!

I spent my Sunday going to 3 different supermarkets to find everything. The hardest thing to find was the baguette. Finally I found one at store number 4! I was all ready to go!

Mercedes arrived Sunday night at 6:00pm and we got started! She brought a saute pan and sharp knives since I don’t own this stuff. I really want to buy good knives now after my experience!

We poured ourselves some wine before getting started!

We used this wine to cook with as well.

We started off by making the Italian and Mushroom Brushetta. We sliced the baguette on a bias with a serrated knife.

We sprayed a pan with EVOO and sprayed some on the bread as well. I used my handy dandy Misto.

We rubbed some fresh garlic on the bread too. We then put it in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degreesto toast. We used mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese for the brushetta topping. Mercedes taught me the proper way to cut an onion and mushroom!

I also learned that you are not supposed to wet mushrooms to wash them. You are supposed to wipe them off with a paper towel. I’ve been doing it all wrong…

We mixed them in a bowl, sprayed the saute pan with EVOO, and then let them cook.

I loved when Mercedes said, “Pour the red wine all over the veggies.” Okay!!

Next I learned how to slice a tomato…cut it in half, cut out the white part, and then cut it into long, thin slices.

We chopped up the mozzarella the same way and added EVOO, salt, and basil. I only had the basil in a shaker but she said fresh basil is better for next time.

Once the toast was cooked, we topped it with the mushrooms and tomatoes.

They were both delicious! The wine on the mushrooms gave them so much flavor!! They really tasted like they were from a nice Italian restaurant!

Get ready for my favorite part of the night (besides the chocolate cake)…..

How to roast a pepper!!

This seriously amazed me. So easy yet something I never ever knew!

All we did was turn on the flames and place the peppers on the stove top!

So cool! I always thought you could just roast peppers in the oven the same way I usually roast broccoli! We left the peppers there until they turned a little black.

We wrapped them in aluminum foil and let them cool down. That’s it!

After about 10 or 15 minutes, the peppers were soft and smelled great! I am going to be roasting peppers all the time now!

Next we poured about half of the box of pasta into a pot. We added a little olive oil and salt to the water.

I could not find fresh artichokes or chickpeas during my supermarket sweep so I used canned ones. We rinsed them for a while under water to get rid of those BPA’s and salt!

 I was able to find fresh spinach. We chopped off all of the stems.

We cooked the spinach on a pan with EVOO, salt and pepper.

We added the chickpeas and artichokes once the spinach was nice and cooked.

We added the wonderful roasted red and yellow peppers also.

Then we transferred as much pasta as we could from the big pot to the pot with the vegetables and stirred everything together.

Next it was time to shred the Parmigiano Reggiano. I’ve never bought this cheese before but it was delicious!

We grated the cheese over the pasta and vegetables using Mercedes’ microplane.

Heaven!

My plate…

A 2nd bottle of wine was opened.

This was so delicious and flavorful! It was probably the best pasta dish I’ve ever had! I love that it is something I can recreate myself!

The artichokes gave everything so much flavor. The grated cheese was so fresh and a perfect topping for this dish. I could not stop raving about it!

Last but not least, dessert!! I was very excited for Chocolate Molten Cake!!

We decided to make just 1/2 of her recipe since I did not want too much extra cake tempting me in the apartment every day! The following recipe made 5 cakes:

1 cup chocolate
1 cup butter (or Smart Balance)
2 yolks and 4 eggs
3 oz. sugar (or Stevia)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ounce flour (1/4 cup)

Luckily Mercedes brought over some Valhrona Chocolate for the dessert. I measured 1 cup and poured it in a bowl.

I added the butter to the bowl with the chocolate and melted them both in the microwave. We did 20 seconds at a time to make sure not to overcook anything. I think we stuck them in for about a minute total until they were melted.

In another bowl we added the eggs, vanilla, and sugar. We whipped it until it turned as white as possible. Next time I would use my hand blender because this took a long time! Next we poured the melted chocolate  into the egg mixture and added the flour. We poured the chocolate mix into aluminum cups (sprayed with Pam).

It reminded me of the chocolate river from Willie Wonka!

We cooked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. They are suppposed to be soft in the middle and the chocolate is supposed to “erupt” out of the molten cake!

I chose blackberries so Mercedes instructed me to get a white plate. If I would have chose cherries, a black plate would have been fine. Now I really wish I did not buy a black plate set from Target! White looks so much prettier in pictures.

We spread the anglaise on the plate. Anglaise is basically an ice cream base (cream, sugar..all the good stuff).  We spread it in a circular motion and then to the right of the plate.

I added some berries next to the chocolate cake and a beautiful dessert was created!

With some more red wine of course!

The cake was amazing! It was warm, soft and perfect. I loved the combination of the cake with the berries and anglaise! I think we left the cakes in for about 2 minutes too long since the chocolate was not exploding in the inside. It was still much softer than it was on the outside. It was such a decadent treat! My roommate approved as well!

Mercedes and I were chatting about some other desserts I love.  I asked for some recommendations on fruit desserts. She explained how to make fondue and caramelized fruit! I also said I am a huge fan of pudding! She told me pudding is super easy and that she would show me before she left! Luckily we had all of the ingredients on hand!

Chocolate Pudding

2 cups of skim milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
1/2 cup sugar or Stevia
1/2 cup chocolate (cocoa powder works too)
1 tbsp corn starch

 I first mixed the milk and chocolate in a bowl.

I added the sugar and corn starch and stirred everything in a pot over high heat on the stove. I mixed until it thickened.

Once it thickened, I poured the pudding in a bowl and let it cool. Mercedes said a film could form on top but that it is fine to just pull it off. Then she said to refrigerate it and it would be ready in no time! So easy!

I had an audience

This was an amazing experience! I learned so much and Mercedes was super friendly and helpful. I am definitely motivated to try out some new recipes in the future. Thanks Mercedes!

Related posts:

1. Veggielicious Whole Wheat Pasta
2. Cooking With Eggland’s Best!
3. Core Fusion Meetup and Pasta!