One of my favorite things about the Little Italy farmer's market is that I'm always finding new fruits and veggies I've never made myself, eaten before, or even ever heard of. Almost every time I go, I come home with something new to try. Last weekend, I came across a stand that had fruit called jujubes. No, I'm not talking about the artificial candy. Also known as the red/Chinese/Korean/Indian date, the dried fruit first caught my eye because of its dark red color. After reading the chart above them that listed all their nutritional benefits, I was curious to try one. High in antioxidants and various vitamins, including vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin B2, jujubes aren't as sweet and sticky as the typical date. The inside of the fruit is sort of spongy. Today I sliced some jujubes up ... [Read More]
Archives for May 2012
Need Reasons to Exercise?
Happy Hump Day! Here are my favorites things today - Chart of the day: (source) Mantra of the day: "Never give up on yourself." Best moment of the day: Coming home from volunteering at the Humane Society and finding flowers on my doorstep from my marine. I haven't been able to talk to Adam very much lately because of where his squadron is currently at. The communication has been difficult and that at times can be a bummer, so the flowers made me feel better! Quote of the day: Good night! ... [Read More]
Quinoa Salad, A Dog Fight, and Dark Chocolate Dreams
Hi friends! My random blog title is reflective of the mood I am in. Ever feel like your brain is going in 10 different directions? Then you get it! Before I get to my tasty quinoa salad dinner, here are some things I must discuss: #1 - My Memorial Day evening hike turned out to be pretty adventurous, mainly because Harley got attacked by another dog! OK, attacked sounds sort of dramatic since there was no blood shed, but it was a bit scary at the time. The situation: We were hiking at the toughest part of Kwaay Paay Summit, where it's super steep and narrow, and came across a guy with his dog. Harley and I stopped a bit away to see how to go about this, as there's no way that 2 people and 2 dogs can cross each other at this point in the hike. There's barely room for 1 person really. ... [Read More]
Memorial Day at Fort Rosecrans
Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Mine was awesomely fun and a perfect mix of busy and relaxed. In honor of Memorial Day, I went to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery today for their 112th memorial service. In the address given by a USMC Lieutenant General, he talked about the significance of Memorial Day. To a lot of people, it's a glorious extra day off of work to lay by the pool, BBQ, get errands done and so on. Many think of it as the official kick-off to the summer. Though it's all of these things, first and foremost, it's a day of remembrance. A day to think about all of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. A day to honor those who have risked their lives serving in our armed forces. I hope that amidst your fun today, you took a second to think about this and be ... [Read More]
Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Bars
Happy Memorial Day weekend! Chocolate. Banana. Peanut butter. When your morning starts off with these things, you know it's going to be a good day... but first let me back up to last night. I had a girls' night at my friend Jackie's house, complete with good conversation, sweatpant attire, yummy food, wine, and playing of the game Apples to Apples. I put together a roasted red pepper hummus platter to bring to her house: Roasted red pepper is my favorite type of hummus, so it only makes sense that I would try making this kind myself. I'm all about hummus these days! It's really become my go-to appetizer to quickly whip up when having people over or going to a get-together. The recipe differs only a bit from my classic hummus, and I think this is my favorite hummus combo so ... [Read More]
Sweet Potatoes, How I’ve Missed You
Did you know that it's National Vegetarian Week? Well, technically only in the UK, but I feel the need to recognize a week that promotes a lifestyle I've been embracing for 15 years now, even if it's not in the US. Shout out to any fellow vegetarian/vegans/veg curious/veggie loving people reading this! [Side note: I think the US has a vegetarian week later in the year.] My morning just flew by, as I was super productive work-wise and got a lot done earlier in the day. Later in the afternoon, I decided to take a break, get some fresh air, and go for a hike with Harley. One of the big perks of working from home is the ability to decide I'm going to leave my desk and go hiking at 2 PM! I find that I am way more productive and focused if I take a breaks. I'd rather be working at 8 PM and ... [Read More]
