And fruit. And cooking. And cooking delish vegan food for non-vegans. This weekend I was able to enjoy all of these things.
So much to say! Let’s back up to when the fun began…Friday.
I was craving fruit like nobody’s business.
No really.
I think I made my point, yes?
Kiwis are so sexy! They are one of the prettiest fruits, I think.
So after I digested my fruit baby 😉 Kyle and I packed our bags and peaced out. Greyhound tix in hand, we boarded the bus…Atlantic City baby!!! My enthusiasm lasted all of 5 minutes once we discovered the traffic was INSANE, and was going to add an extra 2 hours onto the trip.
Fortunately, I packed these snacks for the ride. Unfortunately, Kyle had nothing…umm…what’s mine is yours? (d&%$ it!) – don’t worry, I was a good fiancé and shared my yummies. The time ticked by dragged on slower than molasses in January November – April (in NYC).
While Kyle did this:
(Boring)
I did this:
(Crunch)
FINALLY, we arrived at the Tropicana hotel where our friend was waiting for us. Wooohoooo! Even though I was so hangry it felt like my stomach lining was starting to eat itself, we still got our gamble on. We won $40 AND 50 cents!!! (Even more hilarious than the amount, was the way we cashed out each individual prize and then had to redeem the tickets for the pathetic values: $2, $2, $2, $2, $2.50, $5, and $25). Haha, sweet!
What to do with our winnings? P.F. Chang’s of course! That’s how the real high rollers dine. I ordered steamed Buddha’s Feast just like my home girls back in CA (no pic, but I polished it off without any help, along with the brown rice on the side). Once our bellies were full of food lungs were full of second-hand smoke, we ditched the casinos for the night.
Our friend (read: friend’s parents) have beachfront property in Margate, which is just under 5 miles from A.C. (and a heck-of-a-lot classier).
Balcony view.
Saturday morning we woke up at 7 am for the Guts & Glory 5K in Ocean City. I know what you’re thinking. Who goes for a 5K on a relaxing weekend getaway? Well, the race actually wasn’t even my idea (shockingly enough), but who am I to turn down a fun way to exercise, especially when it involves new beautiful scenery and friends!! The weather was perfect – sunny with a nice sea breeze, and the route was GORG-E-OUS – right along the boardwalk. It was so fun! I definitely pushed myself harder than I thought I was going to considering it was just a little 5K, but 22 minutes later I was glad I did.
The race proceeds went to the CCFA (Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America). Get it? Guts & glory? Oh so clever race title. Anyways, I was happy to run for a cause that I really support. I rewarded myself with Starbucks after.
FYI – above displayed SoBe lifewater is a no-go in case anyone has ever seen it and wanted to try it. There was a TON of food at the end of the race, but the drink options were less varied. Gatorade is not my thing, so I decided to try the SoBe lifewater. The fuji apple pear flavor wasn’t too bad, it tasted like watered down apple juice. The orange mango flavor didn’t taste like either orange or mango. It was more like fake sugar Gatorade. Blech.
The weirdest part about the post-race food spread was the fact that it included every TastyCake product, caramel covered popcorn, apples, oranges, water ice slushies, coffee cake, and so so much more. And yet, the race was sponsored by the CCFA…ummm…as an IBS girl myself, I know I couldn’t have been the only one there who was unable to eat donuts just after crossing the finish line. I know it was only a 5K, but still, that was really a puzzling buffet. Right?!?
I grabbed a few drinks and an apple for later. After we made our way back to Margate, showered, and snackified, we hit up the playa. Yours truly forgot her bathing suit, so that put a bit of a dent in my lifeguard tryout plans.
For lunch we went to visit my fave Margate celebrity, LUCY!!!!
I’m sorta obsessed with her. Isn’t she precious?
The cute little beach side restaurant is (oh-so-cleverly) called I Love Lucy’s.
We ordered at the window and then sat under the umbrellas to get our grub on. The menu was actually quite veg friendly, and I ordered the Lucy salad with a balsamic dressing and 2 warm whole wheat pitas on the side.
I wasn’t expecting much and I was pleasantly surprised!! Fresh cukes, bell peppers, shredded carrots, onions, and sprouts…mmmm.
I stuffed the pitas full to make a sandwich of sorts, and the rest of the salad went straight into my boca.
We returned to the property for a poolside food coma sesh. Luff. A few hours of nap-age took place before we headed indoors to do more nothingness.
Cute digs, eh?
As I mentioned in my last post, I planned to make a quinoa dish from V’con for dinner, so we went to the grocery store for the essentials. There wasn’t too much to buy since I chose a pretty basic recipe. We also got some stuff for appetizer hour.
Avocado power house. They weren’t ripe enough, so it wasn’t so much guacamole, as it was a tomato/avo salad (that we then scooped onto blue corn tortilla chips).
Kyle and Dean shared a cheesy dip thang, so I went operation sabra-face.
Even roasted red pepper hummus is cheaper better in New Jersey.
I went back to my womanly duties in the kitch after the carrots were gone. Here are some shots from throughout the cooking process.
Juicy juicy mango.
Errrthang in a bowl pre-stir…followed by the bowl meets spoon aftermath.
This, my friends, is love. MAKE this recipe NOW!!! I served the quinoa salad over a bed of lettuce spears, which provided the PERFECT means to shovel it into my mouth.
I steamed the boys’ corn, but lately I’m obsessed with raw corn, so that’s how I ate mine. Here it is (along with more quinoa) in a bowl on the side.
Needless to say, it was a big success. I always love it when non-vegans are surprised that they feel full at the end of a meal. Kyle knows the (veg) ropes by now, but our friend was brand new to the my hippie ways. He was very intrigued and asked a ton of questions, so I could tell he was into it. I could literally see his mind being blown as I popped his vegan cherry. The funniest thing was this meal took hardly any time to prepare!! What’s the longest amount of time you’ve spent preparing a meal for guests? For yourself?
We ate on the balcony – it is so great to get away from the city.
The next morning we woke up to serious rain storms. Boo. We decided to head back to NYC early in order to avoid the extra traffic that thunder and lightning would inevitably bring.
After 3 seconds of pondering, I decided a tall coffee from Starbucks in exchange for drenched hair, clothes, and feet was a trade I was MORE than willing to make.
I boarded the bus happy (and wet) as a clam – with my blood caffeine levels in perfect balance. I have no doubt Kyle was happy about that too. Bus ride with java-less Elise? No bueno.
After finishing A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, I got out some lunch.
Not too bad of a set-up?
Kyle had the leftover quinoa.
Now there’s an action shot if I’ve ever seen one. AGAIN, we hit huge amounts of traffic, and instead of taking 2 hours, we were on the effing Greyhound bus for over FOUR hours. Since I had finished my book already, I occupied my time with blogs (finally, a good purpose for my Bberry).
We downed this bag within a minute of opening it. If you’re wondering why my hand is pale and wrinkled, it’s because the air conditioning was on over-drive and the aforementioned downpour never quite dried. Brrr. I never thought I’d be so happy to get a steamy gust of humid New York air, but sure enough, disembarking the bus was happy times.
The rest of the day was boring-ville and involved snacking, grocery shopping, more snacking, golf, football (pre-season already!!!!), dinner, and an HBO-filled evening. Since I would rather get to bed than find those pictures, I shall bid you all good night. Hope you all had nice weekends.
Your quinoa salad looks beautiful….the colors just POP off the page. I am not the hugest quinoa fan, but I would def. eat this! And your 5k time, very impressive for a beach run! I used to live in both NC and SC and did many a random 5 & 10k’s along gorgeous oceanfront or near ocean views. Ironically, I live in San Diego now and there are no runs that come to mind whatesoever that run along the beach. Weird. Over a/c’ed bus ride when you’re freezing…awful, I concur.
Sounds like you had a fabulous time overall! All your eats look scrumptious!! I can’t imagine eating donuts/coffeecake after a race,.. ugh! Awesome that you took part in it though!! 🙂
Just found your blog & going to add you to my blogroll, hope you don’t mind… 🙂
http://www.operationmuffintop.wordpress.com
Winning money = good under any circumstances… so I guess you can dub the weekend a success! 😉
LOVE that cow teapot.
<3 <3
kiwi IS the prettiest fruit! totes.
um NY..scratch that durty jerz traffic is ridic. beyond ridic.
I’ve never been to AC but I think it would be worth it to make the trip just to visit the giant elephant that pees out super delicious looking salads!
it’s a HOT one out there! stay cool today girl 🙂
Your meal is beautiful! So colorful and vibrant, I bet you totally hooked the non-vegans.
22 minute 5k on a whim?! Who does that?! You rock, Elise!
Love the salad and I’m totally feeling you on the raw corn–I am completely obsessed and throwing it into things that nature never intended, but whatever.
I sponsored a friend who did a Guts & Glory 5K for the CCFA last month (being an IBS girl myself), and now wonder if my money went towards post-race baked goods and pixie sticks…kidding.
Your quinoa salad looks gorgeous and congrats on winning some cash! Also, I would totally do a race that had a pun or double meaning in its name – Guts & Glory – LOVE it!
hahaha…you know, i HOPE not! ignorance is bliss, so we will just pretend that food display was provided by the volunteers and their families, and none of the $$ raised.
Awww you’re so nice to share your stash – maybe it’s an only child thing but food and sharing is one big oxymoron in my book 😀
Hey! $40.50 is still $40.50 no matter how you cash it out. You could buy like 8 Kombuchas (I never can spell that right) with that!
‘Isn’t she precious?’ hahaha ummm not the words I’d use to describe her but I can see it! Edible utensils = key! That dish look FABU! Glad you guys had a great time in AC 🙂
wow the quinoa salad looks absolutely DELICIOUS!!! and i hope you had fun fun fun in AC… it’s always nice to get a break from new york city!
Wow! Fantastic eats! That beachside place sounds great.
Yay for winning money! You won all the money I lost last weekend! I got stuck in that same nasty traffic up and back blah. Not fun on a Greyhound! Your avocado-tomato dip and quinoa looks amazing! Thats great that you got to do a 5K too! You are so fast!
That beach house is major boss. It looks like you had a fabulous time aside from any time that was spent on the bus. The quinoa looks awesome, gotta love poppin’ peoples cherries.
Wahoo for your winnings! Nicely done on all fronts (food, fitness, fun-anigans). I will confess I’m obsessed with raw corn right now myself. OH! I just saw this gadget for trimming corn off the cobb at prevention.com (amazing slideshow about fun kitchen gadgets) – it trims the kernels off AND holds them inside the contraption itself until you’re done! AMAZING! I so need this – I’m tired of finding errant kernels all over my kitchen. 😛
Oh my gosh, all of this yummy food!! I love the quinoa dish.. and all the fruit!
I am so in love with that pic of the avocado + tomato salad. OMG. And with blue corn chips!! Girl. You smaht.
AC is fun. In small doses, lol.
yay~winning cash money! nay~secondhand smoke
yay~pf changs! yay~the proceeds of that race go to chron’s! the boyf has chron’s. nay~sobe life water, i agree, blech.
i think it is a little amusing they had all those items you mentioned after just a 5k~it is not like some huge marathon where you expend so many calories after hours of running! but whatevs i am sure some people were stoked!
loving the sprouty salad, cow teapot, quinoa black bean salad! they have one of those at whole foods that i love~what is the recipe? am i blind?
i have spent a whole day previous to a get together fixing food for it. i love cooking and baking though!
fabulous weekend recap, so much goodness!!!!
Buddah’s feast is AMAZING! So glad you enjoyed it! And ahhhh, Elise. Cook for me, please?? Kyle’s a lucky man! That qiunoa dish sounds delish!
I’d say i’ll spend maybe an hour or so preparing a meal, at most….but only on special occasions!! Gimme somethin’ delish that takes under 10 mins to prepare and i’m a happy girl!!
Oh shooooot….lunch break is OVA! But guess what? Lunch was amazeeee today. They had veg. wraps with spinach, toms, sprouts and AVO……which i had with a side salad and cantaloupe!! LEGIT!
Ok, LOVE U!
Wow–22 minutes for a 5K is great! Congrats to you 🙂
Your fruit shots at the beginning of your post have me MAJORLY craving fruit…even though I am eating an apple as I write this. Hi–I am Courtney and I am a fruit addict 🙂
And isn’t that quinoa salad freaking A-MAZ-ING?! It is soooo good! My sis and bro-in-law were visiting over the weekend and I made it for them (they are both vegans, but had not made that recipe out of Vcon yet) and they loved it too! It is so simple and good…yum. I am glad you liked it!
Courtney
LOVE the avo Salad!!
i love how colorful that quinoa salad dinner is! SO PRETTY! especially with the bright lettuce spears like that.
http://cardiovegsular.wordpress.com
awesome post! love the pix and good job on the 5k!
http://randomlymikey.wordpress.com/
i’m not sure what the copyright rules are with published recipes, but since it’s straight outta Veganomicon, i avoided posting the recipe. basically it’s the ingredients you see: mango, quinoa, black beans, red bell pepper, and a few others…i DEF recommend 🙂
Hi,
Just found your blog & love it! The quinoa salad looks amazing, what all is in it?
And, how do you do raw corn? Just scrape it off the cob and good to go?
Thanks,
K
That elephant! That COW teapot!!! Where do you find these things?!
Ari never brings snacks, either. What’s with this?!
boys boys boys…