Date night, sorta

Don’t mistake the ornament mug for my embrace or acceptance of winter…

Even though it was “sunny” over the weekend, it was still below freezing, and as much as I love running in races, 4 miles in Central Park just didn’t seem worth the misery of losing feeling in my fingers, toes, nose, ears, etc.  Instead I slept in and spent time with Kyle…sorta.  He actually had to work all weekend, which sucked since it was my weekend OFF of work.  At least he was working from home? (that is definitely the only positive I can wring out of the situation).  Ah well.  Such is life.  Moving on. 

I’m pretty obsessed with this caramel apple combo I have going on…

This picture = wow.  I’m not sure which is more pathetic:

1. I couldn’t even be bothered to assemble a home-made meal on the weekend (thank goodness for Amy’s burritos, but still, Elise fail)
2. Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” (a commentary on the treacherous landscape of modern food and the often-confusing science of nutrition) is literally within a foot of a diet coke [this is probably the most contradictory thing I have ever seen]
3. I drank a diet coke (wft?!? who am I??)
4. There are heaps of bills and tax documents surrounding my lunch (sad)
5. I ate the burrito with a fork (not necessarily pathetic, per se, but worth noting nonetheless)

In case you were wondering, the (above) side dish heap of beans/salsa was my first taste of azuki beans. 

These beans are favorites of Terry Walters (Clean Food), as she uses them in many of her fall/winter recipes.  Since I am a big fan of shopping seasonally, this book is a great guide.  I found them in the bulk bins at Whole Foods a while ago and only recently cooked them up.

Dried VS. Cooked.

As you can see, they look similar to black beans after they have been cooked.  They taste similar to black beans, but also a bit like kidney beans, too.  They are popular in Asian dishes (second only to the soybean in Japan) and are often eaten in sweeter dishes (with sugar, made into paste, and even as a flavor of ice cream!).  Anyways, I liked them and will continue to use them in other recipes now.

As I mentioned, this has been a recent fave.  Most of his “rules” are very simple (and seem like they should be common sense), but sometimes it’s nice to be hit over the head with the obvious. 

A few examples:

#19 If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.

#36 Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

Clever, no?

So yeah, I was perfectly content reading, knitting, and doing errands around the house…and I really had no desire to leave the apartment all day.  Unfortunately, the empty fridge situation forced me to quit my whining and man up.

This is what dreams are made of   It also helped me face the outside temps.  Thanks to Annabel (and the delivery services of our local Whole Foods)…We STOCKED up! 

I had a little afternoon snack, which involved the Forty Spices Tribe hummus and then Kyle and I headed to a bar to watch the Superbowl.  I brought this guy along just in cases…

My bar food options were a veggie burger or a veggie burger…so I went with the veggie burger

Good thing I had my Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar stashed away.  It made the Saint’s victory THAT much sweeter.  Yes, I was rooting for New Orleans.  For some reason I feel like their win was a win for America…cheesy, I know, but I still got butterflies of excitement when they showed Bourbon Street and the French Quarter as the final seconds ticked away. 

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