Tag Archives: sushi

Mango-Pesto-Choco-WHOA!

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You know you’re a blog-addict when: you don’t update for one day and it feels like forever!

Ok, so that exciting something I mentioned last post?
Drum roll please….
I HAVE A CAR! With four wheels and an engine and everything. SO EXCITING!!!! Pictures to come, of course (it rained cats and dogs pumas and St. Bernards today). Still thinking of names – need to drive her around a little more. YAY!
Saturday was blissfully uneventful, starting with this:
Fage yogurt + applesauce + some random apple cinnamon granola I found, with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Ok, actually, this wasn’t too good. The applesauce totally killed the wonderful thickness of the greek yogurt and only left the tang, and…well, one of my less enjoyable creations. Live and learn! And it was rather pretty :)
 Unfortunately, my brother’s Saturday didn’t begin quite as happily. The lucky devil had to be awake and alive at 7:30 AM for his SAT. EW with a capital E. He was very much in need of sustenance when he returned from the ultimate brain drain, so we went off to…
First of all, love the slogan. So true.
When I was in high school, my biffle (BFFL, in word-form) and I discovered this place when we took the T into Boston to go shopping for sweet prom dresses and were hooked. They have some A-MAzing fries, and for a looong time they were the only place I knew in Mass. that had sweet potato fries!!! One of my faves :)  They also have great burgers (you can get beef, turkey, homemade veggie, or chicken breast!) and yummmmy smoothies. I wasn’t too hungry, but I did steal several fries of both varieties and sip a yummy mango smoothie.
I have to tell you about my improvised dinner!
I just mixed some tuna with dijon mustard and tabbouleh, threw it on some greens/slaw, and drizzled with some olive oil and herbs – SO good! Tuna and tabbouleh make a truly wonderful combo – I highly suggest trying this ASAP. (Works with salmon, too!)
Today was pretty fun, minus the random thunderstorms that lasted for 2 minutes at a time. I like thunderstorms – just not the kind where rain pours down onto your new car whose windows you may or may not have forgotten to roll up. Keeps a girl on her toes!
My dad makes either pancakes or waffles every Sunday morning (my brother’s request), but I usually sleep too late to partake. This AM, I was feeling a pancake, so I whipped one up myself. We usually have Bisquick, but today he had used Fiber One’s pancake mix. Just add water and go:
I halved the amount for 3 pancakes to make just one big one and try out the F1 mix – and I’m glad I did. It was, well, not good. It was really dry and unpleasantly crumbly, and even cinnamon and maple syrup couldn’t fix it. Sad. I need to make Jenna’s or Kath’s p-cakes, pronto. Real food is always better anyway :)
Breakfast also included a bunch of melon (I could seriously eat a whole melon a day in this humidity) and this guy, in honor of the end of yogurt week:
Meh. If I liked cherries more, I would have liked it more. The flavors are dead on though – the cherry and vanilla and very present and well-balanced. And – no fruit-on-the-bottom! Although the few I have had recently, like other Stonyfield and Chobani flavors, don’t bother me as much as I remember. Probably because it’s fake-ingredient-free – it just tastes like jam that I often just add myself!
Took my new baby for a test-drive to the gym for some ellipticalling – btw, Glee + NSYNC make some of the best gym music ever. In fact, I’m waiting for Glee to do a 90s episode – boy bands, Britney, Spice Girls, oh my! Tell me that would not be epic.
Unfortunately, I did not eat enough before the workout; I was definitely lacking in energy today. I usually go later in the afternoon, and I think it makes a biiiig difference. I don’t like eating too close to the workout, but it’s really hard to get the timing right sometimes. We made a pit stop and Whole Foods and my madre and I got lunch, including this:
What is that odd yellow thing in my sushi? MANGO!!!! This was mango+salmon+cucumber+cilantro. Ohmygod, genius in a box. The flavors were just perfect together – and some of my favorites! Sweet citrusy mango, fresh cool cilantro and cuke, and the tasty sweet salmon = to.die.for. Would be pretty easy to make on your own, too!
My parents hired me as personal chef tonight (no complaints here, I’ve been itching to cook!), and I made one of my favorite pastas from my cooking class: trofie al pesto e pescatrice!
-400 g fresh pasta (trofie is that particular twisted shape, holds the flavors better in this dish)
-300 g cherry/grape tomatoes, de-seeded & cubed
-500 g monkfish – I used swordfish both times I’ve made this and it is de-LISH.
-1 spring onion (or leek)
For the pesto:
-20 g fresh basil
-20 g ricotta cheese
-10 g pine nuts
-1 garlic clove
-1 Tbs parmesan
-4 Tbs cold water
Start your water aboilin’ for the pasta. It takes a while.
I made the pesto first – you can use either a blender or food processor. Throw it all in with a little salt and blend ’til it’s a sauce. (Add more water if it’s too thick – although in my experience, 4 T is plenty!)
Deseed & cube your tomatoes now. If you want, you can add the seeds to the pesto to make it even creamier and get all that healthy lycopene :)
It’s probably a good idea to cook your swordfish before the rest begins. It’s not important how you cook it – pan, grill, broil. When it’s done, cute it into cubes and keep it near your stove.
Chop up the onion. I used a leek, and if you do – only chop up the bottom white part! The green outer layers you can puree and make vegetable stock/soup with.
Saute the onion (or leek, or whatever you’re using!) in some oil, then add the swordfish. The recipe says to cook for 3 minutes, but I didn’t wait that long (didn’t want the fish to overcook). Go with your gut – that’s what cooking is all about anyway!
Is your pasta water boiling yet? Good – throw in that trofie!
Now add your tomatoes with a little S&P to the onion-fish saute pan.
After a couple minutes, check your pasta. If you used fresh, it’s probably very close to done. Throw it in the pan and “quickly saute” – just toss it around and show it a good time ;)
Add the pesto sauce, mix, and plate into a perty bowl. Serve and watch as everyone bows to your sick-nasty-ill Italian culinary skills!
My mom made a nice green salad to go with it – can’t get enough green!!
I also made dessert – feeling ambitious today! I have been wanting to try Dreena’s Triple Layer Chocolate Cream Cake for a while – tofu frosting? This sounds too interesting to not try!
Because it was my first time and I wasn’t sure how much it would make, I decided to halve the recipe. I made two layers instead of three, also – rather thin layers at that. I also added some chocolate chips to the cake batter (had a tablespoon or two left in the old bag). Well, it wasn’t a total success aesthetically-speaking…
Oy. But, my mom helped me patch it back together:
Nothing a little strategically-placed frosting can’t fix!
Can we just talk about how amazing this cake is? Oh yes. And the frosting – WHOA! I love tofu, but I love it even more now that I know it can turn into deep, fudgy ganache goodness. When I was making the frosting (for which I used vegan chocolate chips and damn those are good!!), I kept tasting it and here is what I added:
-a good couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder
-a hefty tsp of instant espresso (coffee will make chocolate flavor much more intense – I do it in my oats all the time!)
-cinnamon —but this I regretted. Didn’t like it as much as I expected.
-fresh mint leaves – YUM!
It was a hit. Even my brother enjoyed it – and he would run the other direction of anything with vegan or tofu in the title. If you never make another cake again in your life, make this!!!
I’m not gonna lie – I had quite the breakdown today. I felt gross, my cake was falling apart, and that evil ED voice in my head was screaming about how fat I was. And I just snapped. All I want is for it to not matter so damn much. I know I’m healthy, and I’m just so tired of fighting against that stupid voice in my head. It’s so stupid that it can put me in such an awful mood so fast. I think this is another big part of why I am so focused on learning to east intuitively: I feel like if I can do that, I’ll be more connected with my body inside and out. I just don’t understand why I tolerate the negative self-talk – it REALLY pisses me off. Somedays it just feels like such an uphill battle. 
That said, I think this week will be Project: Positive Self-Talk. And I would love others to join me! At some point during the day, look in the mirror and be grateful for your awesome self – whoever you are right now. We all have flaws – they’re a pretty important part of being human! But, I know I’m pretty disrespectful of my flaws, and that’s just silly. They’re just as much a part of who we are as our talents, and they deserve a little more respect. Yes, sometimes they trip us up and get in the way. I’m such an obnoxious perfectionist, I’ve had many a sleepless night spent worrying about a test the next day or that paper due next week. But, it’s part of what makes me me, and I’ve accepted it. So, I look into the face of negativity and say: try me. It’s on.
Thanks for letting me rant, y’all. It helps to just get it out, ya know? I’m very interested to see how this project ends up…I’ll letcha know;)
In other news, I’m thinking of taking my blog in a new direction – still food and lots of it of course, but maybe a little more travel-centric? Well, I have lots of brainstorming to do.
~Namaste~

Nothin But Blue Skies, Blue Skies Do I See!

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Despite yesterday feeling a little blue, this morning I woke up to a very different kind of blue:
There is nothing in the world like opening the window in an apartment in Italy and letting the breeze and sunshine soak in. Definitely a cure-all for blah moods.
While walking to Italian this morning, I remembered my epiphany from earlier in the semester. Why bother mumbling and grumbling about what isn’t perfect in life (now there‘s an exhaustive list) when you can slow down, take a deep breath and just enjoy where you are in that very moment. No “I’m going to be late”, no “if I don’t get home right now I’ll starve and die”, no have-tos or should’ves. It was with that thought in mind that I went to the market right after class. Because I was up, I was out, and because there is no rush. There is something about the personableness, the conviviality of the market that just leaves me feeling more content and calm than when I entered. It should probably be studied or something.
Blue skies calls for more blue, and what better way to do it than with…
Blueberry yogoats! If these don’t chill you out, nothing will ;)
I mentioned yesterday being a bit off. I’m never quite sure how to approach “off” days on the blog. I want to be honest, but I don’t want to bring everyone down! I was just feeling very…unsatisfied, I suppose. Maybe it was just a bit of homesickness in disguise. Or maybe it was the shopping trip on Monday – there is nothing like walking around an upscale Italian department store to make me feel unstylish, unattractive, and “un” everything else that I “should” be. And that got me a little angry. Why should I let some impersonal hoity-toity store dictate my self-esteem? How stupid. I happen to like my style; it’s not hot off the runway, and doesn’t fit any stereotype. It just fits me. I don’t like jeans, never have, and I think I do a darn good job of making myself presentable. If someone can explain to me why wearing yoga pants everyday is any weirder than wearing leggings that look like they’ve been sprayed on or wearing low-rise jeans that dip so low you wonder where exactly the “rise” is, then I will happily listen. But I can’t be anyone else, and I am determined that no one or thing will tell me otherwise or give me a guilt trip about it. So there.

And yes, I realize that society still judges and there are forces out there that even the greatest self-esteem can’t conquer, but in my experience, being comfortable in your own skin gives a kind of confidence that makes other people look past, or even not see, the outside. Easier said than done, of course. But it can be!

I tried to turn my day around:

Chocolate-raspberry yogoats. Not sure they helped my mood, but my tastebuds sure were grateful :)

Ethnic Tuesday: Sushi, take-2
tuna roll + seaweed salad
Quite depressing sushi, actually. The tuna was unimpressive and the salad was too sweet and too spicy. And it was overpriced in general. BUT, this place delivered and the rumored “good” sushi places here are sit-down restaurants and a little pricey, so subpar sushi it was.

Ok, no more crappy Tuesday talk, let’s get back to the present!

 I’ve been meaning to check out the San’ Ambrogio market, another big food market in Florence. It is not quite as old or big as Mercato Centrale, but you know, variety is the spice of life and all. And it’s such a beauuuuutiful day!!!

Funky angles, no?

This market had all of their produce stands outside – it went on forever!

Beautiful South African pears. I had to get some. I loved it! Very nice cinnamony-sweet taste. And so perty!

This market was fun; the old man at one of the cheese stands liked me and gave us lots of samples :) I also bought this monster:

This pepper was 1,50 euro. That’s like 2 dollars of BELL. PEPPER. Did NOT see that coming. Whoops.

I liked this market a lot, but Mercato Centrale remains my favorite. More to see there, I think. Either way, it’s hard to go wrong with markets in Italy!

We did a bit of shopping in San Lorenzo and stopped for what remains to be the best cappuccino I’ve ever had before lunch at Sergios! My Wednesdays will be just a little empty when I can’t come here for lunch.
Although I woke up thinking about their wonderful soups, I ended going a different route once I took a look a the daily menu…

Melanzane alla parmigiana – Eggplant parm!
What I love about the eggplant parm I’ve had here is that it is nothing like the breaded, buttered, deep-fried, cheap-cheese-covered American version. The eggplant has a melt-in-your-mouth texture on the inside, but the skin gets crispy and crunchy in the oven, and paired with wonderful parmeggiano and provolone cheese and fresh tomato sauce, it tastes like nothing you’d ever expect to come from just an eggplant and some cheese. It’s really a toss-up between my first eggplant parm  at Dino and today’s…mm, yummylicious. And it was a perfect little lunch portion too. Cute food is more fun to eat ;)

Because of the gorgeous weather, the roomies and I grabbed a blanket and headed to a piazza nearby to do some much-needed sunbathing. I took my book…but ended up napping in the sun instead. I almost wish everyday were this wonderful, but then that would make it less special, and what’s the fun in that?

Taking pictures lying down is fun!

[That would be Alaina's foot.]
Spring has sprung!

I came home on sunshine and nap high, fixed myself an enormous salad…and that’s about when my lovely day in the sun got cloudy. But this is such a happy post, I’m not bringing it down! Let’s just say – to be continued.

Wonderful food, warm spring weather, and a nap in the middle of a piazza. Life is good.

~Namaste~

Exhaust Fumes

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I hate to start out a post on a sour note, but I have to be honest – I am NOT doing so hot over here. I don’t feel sick, I just feel like I’ve been hit by a sledgehammer. Like someone drained every ounce of energy out of my body. Look at the weather today:

And all I can think about is bed. I’m hoping it’s just a travel hangover – Rome was rougher on me than I knew. It will be an early night.

Italian this morning was a little rough. I just could NOT get myself to focus. I deal with tiredness a LOT, but even this is rare for me. Our teacher told us the legend behind panettone, a sweet bread eaten at Christmas here. She even brought some for us to try – it helped. It was delicious, and I’m going to ask around for a good recipe. It’s very fluffy with a strong vanilla flavor and dotted with raisins. Even through my exhaustion haze, I could tell this was GOOD. Project: Panettone will soon be put into action.

I dragged myself back to the apartment and immediately went back to bed. I slept for a solid 2.5 hours straight, and the oddest thing is I slept fine last night, just not enough.

You don’t want to hear whining, you want to see some good eats! And as promised, here is my breakfast experiment:

Overnight CEREAL!

You see, I was totally the kid whose favorite part of the bowl of Cheerios was that last bite of completely milk-saturated Os. And, being a lover of oats, I figured, “hey, why not apply the overnight soak method to regular cereal?” The results: I’m a fan! It was a consistency very similar to oat bran, which I actually prefer to oats and miss very much :) Very thick, almost pudding-like, especially after I added the yogurt. I sprinkled cinnamon over it before putting it in the fridge and it really seeped throughout and gave a great flavor boost. Now obviously if you like your cereal super crunchy, this is not for you – but it was a fun experiment and I’m definitely going to try it again!

I was still a little hungry (it was a small bowl – it was, after all, the first trial), and so I made b-fast #2:

Tea, toast & eggs. Quickly becoming my new favorite snack. And as you can see, I was much more successful with peeling this time…

Blogged a bit and did some emails while staring longingly at the beautiful blue sky, and then made some lunch:

Very light salad, just to keep my energy up for some errands.

I felt a little better once I was out and went for a short walk before yoga club. Did some window shopping…

Ooooh so perrrrty:)

 And had to snap some pics:

Oh Duomo, I’m going to miss you so in a few months!

Hit up the grocery store, came home, made coffee, went to yoga. I knew that if anything would help this exhaustion, yoga would. And it did – we held shoulder stand for a gloriously long time. There is something about seeing the world from upside down for a while that just makes a difference.

One of my favorite poses:)
Tonight was deemed Sushi Tuesday in our apartment after we tried to go last Monday, only to discover that essentially every single sushi place in Florence is closed on Mondays. I haven’t had it since the day I boarded my plane here – I was ready for some maki!
We went to a take-away place pretty close by. We ended up waiting for a good 25 minutes, which seemed a little excessive considering the phone didn’t ring once when we were in there and we were the only customers, and there were 4 of us. I just got a salmon roll and a cucumber roll, nothing special but I like the simple rolls more anyway. Sushi is one of my favorite meals because it involves fish and it never fails to leave me satisfied but not never heavy-full. Because we waited so long and then walked back to the apartment, I ripped into it before thinking to snap a picture! But I promise, it looked very similar to this:
(Pretend that tuna is salmon or cucumber.)
I reaaaally wanted some gelato, so I dragged a couple of my roomies out with me. The place we had in mind was some random recommendation and I didn’t think it would be particularly picture-worthy (which was silly – is gelato EVER not worthy of a photo? no. silly gilly!) But the place was closed, so we went to Grom in hopes that the March flavors would be there. It turned out that the March flavors are…the exact same as the February flavors, but Grom is pretty amazing in general, so I wasn’t complaining. I was sad that I forgot my camera, though :( I got pear and Bacio, which is essentially Italy’s Hershey Kiss – it’s a popular chocolate with a whole hazelnut in the middle. Trust me, it was GOOD. Hit the spot.
I definitely need to hit the sack soon, but I couldn’t resist the call of the blog:) Tomorrow I’m going to Mercato Centrale (I’m out of my beloved pecorino! The horror!) and out to lunch to my new Wednesday spot, Sergio’s. A domani!
~Namaste~