Eating in NYC

Whenever I find myself in NYC I'm torn between the option of revisiting all my favorite old restaurants, and trying something new. This trip I decided that I was going to attempt to eat somewhere new everyday, and try to find some new favorites.

By accident while wandering around the East Village(favorite neighbourhood, hands down!), I stumbled across Stogo. Their mantra is 'We are passionate about offering the healthies, most delectable frozen dessert on the planet using only the finest premium organic dairy-free ingredients, with no refined sugars, animal products, gluten, or artificial flavorings.' Totally up my ally!! It was pretty grey and cloudy that day, but I think any day is a good ice cream day. I tried their Vanilla Chocolate Chip(they make all of their flavors from scratch!), and it did not disappoint! Mildy sweet with a hint of coconut, and an amazing melt in your mouth texture. The texture of dairy ice cream is one that I usually find hard to replicate, but this one could have fooled anyone. You can also get them to sandwich a scoop between two cookies, it's pretty much heaven.

An old favorite that I had to visit was Pure Food and Wine. I first visited One Lucky Duck for some Thai Salad Wraps, then finished up at Pure Food and Wine for Sangria and a Blueberry Crumble with Maple Ice Cream. I adore raw food for the way you can feel like you're indulging, but everything is good for you. The feeling of lightness and energy after a meal isn't in your head, I've realized. I just don't experience that ever from eating cooked food! The Salad Wraps were wonderful, mildly spicy and tangy and creamy goodness. I could have drank a vat of the sangria. The Blueberry Crumble was that perfect mix of gooey warm fruit and melting ice cream, it was truly a perfect meal. I followed it up with a walk home through Times Square, I always think the best way to see NYC is on foot.

I've heard the praises sung of Candle 79 over and over, so I decided to pay a visit to their sister restaurant, Candle Cafe on the Upper West Side. It was a lovely balmy evening so I decided to take my order to go, and have a picnic in Central Park. I ordered the Tofu Club Sandwich, it was probably the best sandwich I've ever had ever. Crispy toasted bread, a huge hunk of perfectly seasoned tofu, avocado, tomato, and watercress, with vegan mayo. Sitting on a bench watching the sun set over the reservoir  and it kind of hit me how happy I am that I can eat food like a normal person and enjoy it. Central Park is one of my favorite haunts, so it was a perfect place to recreate that memory. I know that peacefulness is not the first word that comes to most people's minds when they think of NYC, but it's how I felt for most of the trip. This weird, innate sense of peace that all was right in the universe.

Banana Soft Serve

This week is flying by, I can't believe it's Thursday already. This morning I woke up planning on maybe making today a rest day, but I was feeling zesty and wanted to go lift some weights, so off to the gym I went! It was empty today, which is my favorite way for it to be. I did some strength moves in short bursts of 20-30 seconds, with 15 second breaks which was great for getting my heart rate up. I feel like I noticeably lost strength when I stopped lifting heavier while I was in Vancouver, so I've been easing back into it slowly.

While I was in Vancouver I was experimenting with adding more healthy fat into my diet, and somehow from that I lost weight. Or toned up a bit more, or a bit of both. I've been using photos to measure progress because they don't seem to bother me the same way knowing numbers does. Even though it's been a year since I started making a conscious effort to feed my body what it needs, and not restrict it still seems like it's slowly stabilizing itself still. I only started getting regular periods in January, and I guess things are still working themselves out.

Lately I've been trying adding more carbs into my diet in the forms of whole grains mostly. It's kind of making my energy levels go off the walls! In my head for some reason I still think I should stay away from carbs, even though I know your body needs them. Still learning to let go of weird food hangups I guess.

I've done miraculously well with cutting down my sugar intake the past couple days. I've been eating less fruit than previously, and more lower sugar fruits. One thing I noticed was even though I've been eating lower sugar fruits, after I eat them I crave more for no particular reason, even if I'm full. It's interesting to see how foods can affect you when you start paying more attention to them.

I had my 5th Health History session today, and I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it. It was so much easier to talk and connect, and get meaningful answers. I enjoy so much about learning about other people's diets and journeys'. I never get tired of talking about food.

Banana soft serve is so ridiculously easy, and not even really a recipe. It's one that's been floating around the internet for awhile. I made some the other day because I was excited to try my new food processor, and it photographed well, so here it is:

Banana Soft Serve

Take 2 bananas, chop into pieces, then freeze til hard. Process in a food processor until soft. It will sounds like the food processor is about to die initially, but it will be okay!

For a bit firmer texture freeze it for about half an hour before serving, or use as is for a more soft serve consistency.

You can add 1/2 cup frozen other fruit as well, like strawberries, blueberries, mango, etc. Chocolate chips are a good mix in as well.

I topped mine with this recipe!