mama bird in the kitchen

it’s time to food blog again. much like when i started this blog,  i need a place to keep recipes that work and to write about some of the research i’m doing. i want to raise my kiddo vegetarian, or more importantly, on real food, not processed crap. but i also want to make sure he’s getting every vitamin, mineral, building block, etc that he needs for optimal health. 

i’m also rethinking things about my food and other habits in feeding luki. for example, kids love a routine. we’re pretty good about keeping things on schedule for him, but we’re not great about doing so for ourselves. what if we ate at the same times every day, would our body work better with that routine? i remember reading a book about macrobiotic eating a few years back and that was a pretty big point. 

anyways, i’m going to mainly post about toddler foods from now on. starting with these banana oat muffins - sweetened with a bit of maple syrup, no sugar needed! recipe slightly adapted from cookieandkate.com 

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup melted oil (coconut, canola, whatevs)

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 eggs

2 mashed bananas 

1/4 cup of milk ( i use almond or hemp)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour

1/3 cup oats

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease your muffin pan

2. in a large bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup together with a whisk

3. add the eggs and beat well

4. Mix in the bananas and milk, then the baking soda, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon

5. Add the flour and oats and mix with a large spoon

summer doesn’t start till june 21st but our pool opens may 9 and i’m already day dreaming of our pool days, and the snacks that come with them. some new ideas:

- watermelon, jicama and mango with lime juice and tajin

 - hearts of palm “ceviche”

- avocado quesadillas with daiya mozz and fresh pico de gallo

- orange and coconut smoothies

- dates stuffed with almonds

- gazpacho 

whenever i come back to my blog it’s to pull an old recipe up. i haven’t posted since February of 2016. last year was one of those years where life got REALLY busy. this year it’s gonna get real. 

last year we decided to move out of the city and ended up finding a mid-century modern home perfect for us. bonus: it has a pool and we moved june 4 and spent the summer enjoying the hot outdoors - in between all the wedding planning, that is and the beginning of home renovations / improvements. we had a semi-DIY garden wedding on august 27 and then took off to italy for 2 glorious weeks (future post on italy later). early in the year my role at work changed dramatically and i was heads down learning a new business, going out to LA more often and meeting a whole new set of reporters. there were work trips to barcelona, DC, and Dallas, and the year had kicked off with fun travel too - austin to celebrate my dad turning 70, providence RI to visit ryan’s college, san francisco for a bachelorette weekend, san miguel de allende for my cousin’s ridiculously beautiful wedding, and tulum for another wedding. in april we were faced with the realization that our sick cat, Owl, had reached her time. putting her down on april 13 was a heartbreaking and eye-opening experience. we still miss her all the time and wonder how she would have liked moving to CT, living in this house with windows everywhere revealing the natural entertainment that chipmunks, birds, rabbits, deer, groundhogs and squirrels provide. 

then came the fall and the exciting news that we’re pregnant! my spare time was quickly filled with lots and lots of reading about the insane things happening in my belly. i’m 5 months in now, and feel like it’s the calm before the storm. i have good energy and feel like my normal self again. i’m starting a new job next week and am slowly collecting things for the nursery, planning a baby shower with a massive lift from my SIL, and i’ve been cooking again ALOT. so for whatever reason, i felt drawn back to blogging. 

i pulled together the following photo recap of the year and realized despite the losses of 2016 - bowie, our cat, prince, the outcome of the election - it was an amazing year for me personally. i’m reminded that no matter how passionately we feel about things ultimately out of our control, we can live each day happy, practicing gratitude and mindfulness in whatever brings us joy, peace or calm, enjoying the simple and best things life offers us every day. 

dad’s birthday, a pit stop in providence, wheeler moved back in with us, mud bath in calistoga springs, CA. 

lucky to go back to barcelona for work: kiss of death statue in cemetery poblenou, hiking trails in montserrat, the black madonna in the monastery at montserrat (it is said she will intercede to encourage fertility); and park guell. 

outtakes from our trip to san miguel de allende for the most beautiful and fun wedding

owl’s last day, tulum: swimming in a cenote with my brother; wedding times with dad, ry and i on the beach

solo visit to the white house, my dad skyping in at our engagement party!, two of my oldest friends from texas in CT for said party, The Strokes - how we spent our last night living in NYC. 

moving day, new home appreciation: beautiful foxglove flowers in our new yard, pool times, gardening

summer: wedding planning flowers, site of a screening in LA, NYC views from the top of the freedom tower, a beach day at fort tilden 

wedding day then honeymoon! adriatic sea, pompeii, amalfi.

honeymoon continued: polignano a mare, puglia, rome, monument to venus where we left an offering asking to be blessed in love and family (it worked!)

more rome: eating gelato, cacio e pepe, at the pantheon, celebrating ryan’s 40th

family time in the city, meeting my oldest friend’s third son in houston!, plane views flying back into NYC. 

we’re pregnant! it’s a boy, fall leaves beauty, love over hate, the bump debut. 

people have different ideas of what mexican food is. if you think of street tacos, big breakfasts, and corn with mayo, lime, cheese and chili you’re right. if you think of burritos, chimichangas and basically anything with a yellow cheese, you’re wrong (that’s tex-mex yo). and if you think it’s a mostly meat diet, you’re right and wrong. 

during the pre-hispanic era, the diet was based on the goods of the earth - corn, beans, squash flowers, chilies, cacao, etc. - and a lot of that remains as a staple of mexican food. after the spanish conquered the country, they brought domesticated animals - cows, pig, chickens, etc. - into the food mix and also introduced frying as a way to cook food. centuries later, mexican cuisine can rely heavily on meat as that is unfortunately one of the cheapest ways to eat, but it doesn’t have to be as there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options around Mexico City.

here’s a round-up of some of my favorite spots in mexico city where vegan and / or vegetarian options abound. i recommend staying in either the Condesa or Roma Norte neighborhoods, they are definitely the most veg-friendly but also the prettiest (condesa - parque mexico esp!) and have the best shopping (calle colima in roma norte has one bomb store after another), and they are pretty central to all the touristy stuff.

Cate de mi Corazon (Condesa) - ideal for brunch, lunch or dinner. every vegetarian dish can be made vegan. the top enchiladas were filled with a tofu “chorizo” that passes for the real thing. the bottom enchiladas were filled with potatoes and chilies and one with oaxaca cheese. 

vegan ceviche tostadas with pineapple, so so refreshing.

Pujol (Polanco) - literally one of the best restaurants in the world right now as ranked by the food authorities and one of the best culinary evenings of my life. you’ll be here for hours, trying a 9-course meal where many courses consists of three or more small plates. an ode to traditional pre-hispanic mexican food, the majority of the dishes are vegetarian, and for those that aren’t, subtle changes make them so. 

this mole had been aged for over two years!

a second mole with vegetables i’d never seen before. not pictured are warm, fresh blue corn tortillas. 

La Buena Tierra (Condesa) - best for their massive juices. their breakfast and lunch menus are great, healthy takes on traditional dishes. for lunch or dinner i recommend their amazing vegan hibiscus tacos. for breakfast, their huevos divorciados are kind of spectacular.

Garufa (Condesa) - stellar breakfast spot for vegetarian food (in fact, probably my favorite). Sit on the outside terrace, enjoy something from the pastry basket when it comes around, their bakery sends up one little highlight after another in those baskets. and definitely order a fresh juice. they are sooooo good here. 

huevos poblanos..mmm despite the fact that i eat mostly vegan, when i think of food i miss in DF, this is top of mind

Sanborns (Centro Historico) - a national chain and instant classic. has all the traditional Mexican fare. Their vegetable soup is vegan and really good and filling. Their enchiladas are famous. This chain is found ALL over the city, but if you find yourself in Centro Historico - perhaps after checking out el Zocalo, Bellas Artes or Templo Mayor - visit the location inside the courtyard of Casa de Azulejos (”House of Tiles”). it’s beautiful. also, their classic margaritas are very very yummy.

Frutos Prohibidos - ideal for a quick casual lunch. this chain is found all over the city. has tons of wraps, salads and small bites like this carrot, cucumber and jicama with lime and chili snack (aka the most typical mexican snack on the planet)

as soon as mangos were back in season they added this delicious little salad to the menu. mango and peanut, who knew it was such a good combo? 

Nonna (Polanco or Condesa) - great light Italian fare (if you keep it veg). love their salads and vegan pasta. insider tip: skip the wine and go for a tamarind margarita. it’s stellar here! 

Condesa DF - chic spot on the ground floor of a cool hotel - great for lunch or dinner. also, the rooftop bar here is fab for overlooking the park or unwinding post lunch with the in-crowd. 

best lil’ quinoa salad i ever did have.

Sesame or Mog (Roma Norte) - two Asian spots not far from each other. Sesame’s menu is a little more adventurous, Mog has a cooler vibe and good vegan yakisoba. 

edamame at Sesame. i didn’t get pics of entrees at either joint.

Papalo y Papatotl (Condesa) - my man’s favorite restaurant for lunch. the hours are short at this tiny neighborhood gem. make a point to go and try their special juice of the day - it’s always something interesting. i think ryan ordered this lentil soup every week. I always got their bruschetta (not pictured) and potatoes.

Tea Connection (Condesa) - great for lunch or dinner. this vegan macrobiotic bowl is my absolute favorite thing there, but the entire menu is veg friendly and pretty delish.

where ever you end up, i’m sure you’ll find some good veg options. i hope you enjoy mexico city as much as i did!

over the weekend, i made this soup that i haven’t made in forever. it’s hands-down the best dish for ridiculously cold winter nights.  i came to the blog to find the recipe and then realized i never posted it. then i spent forever trying to find it online and couldn’t because of course i had swapped out some ingredients the last times i made it and the pictures online didn’t match my old pics soooooo, to make my life easier next time i want to make this, and to hopefully give you a new recipe to consider, here’s what’s up with this nutrient-packed soup.

The lentils have as much protein as a steak, and none of the fat. they also have high levels of fiber, iron, folate and potassium. Kale has all the stuff you know - fiber, vitamins, protein, etc. but also the omega-3 fatty acid (bear with me) alpha linolenic acid which is really really good for heart health. 

The carrots have beta-carotenes and vitamin A (boosts eye health and healthier skin too), the celery root has tons of vitamin K (good for your bones) and anti-oxidants, and the parsnip has a lot of potassium, fiber, vitamins and tons of minerals that overall help keep cholesterol down and improve heart health. And even onion is really good for your immune system b/c of all the vitamin C in it, but you want to peel as little of the outermost layer as possible. when you’re cooking onion in a soup, the nutrients transfer to the broth so that’s good too. just fyi. anyways! here’s the recipe: 

- 1 pound of french lentils 

- 1 large bunch of kale, chopped

- 2 carrots, chopped

- 1 onion, chopped

- 2 parsnips, chopped

- 1 celery root, chopped

- 8-10 cups of vegetable broth (depending on desired broth)

- 2 tablespoons Herbs de Provence

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- salt and pepper to taste 

1.Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat. Add onion, carrots, parsnip and celery root and season with salt and pepper. Saute until the onion starts to brown

2. Add lentils and herbs de provence. Stir.

3. Add broth and stir in kale. Add more broth if needed. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover with lid slightly ajar, and simmer until lentils are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

4. Taste and season with salt as needed.

this year already feels like we’re on the precipice of a major tipping point, like a massive wake up call is reaching a public that’s been in a near-coma for years. a coma i was in until just three short years ago when i finally listened to my gut and my conscience and stopped eating animals. beloved musicians and actors have succumbed to cancer, a colleague of mine just lost her 62 year old dad to ALS, and someone i love very much is battling heart disease. but among this steady beat of bad news, the benefits of a plant based diet are starting to really make headway with the masses.  new federal diet guidelines call for less sugar and for the first time - less meat. Food & Wine magazine calls 2016 the year for vegan cheese. My mom is finally reading The China Study and says she gets my veg diet now! i’m feeling very positive about this embrace of the powerful, positive effects of a plant-based diet, and not to mention the hope that less animals will suffer with this shift. 

so here’s another vegan recipe that is super easy to make: roasted cauliflower tacos. serve with a salad or rice and beans or chips and guac, whatever your hungry lil heart desires :)

Ingredients: 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 lime (note: cut 1/3 of lime vs cutting in half to get more juice) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon water 1 cauliflower, chopped chopped red cabbage as topping

corn tortillas

fresh pico de gallo or any sauce of choice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, juice from 1/3 of a lime, olive oil, and water. Stir in chopped cauliflower until nicely coated. Roast for about 30 minutes. 

cauliflower and chickpeas pre-roasting. coating chickpeas in the same mix and then roasting makes for a great second taco filling or a snack on their own.

2. Heat tortillas, add cauliflower and top with your favorite garnishes (i went with red cabbage, pico de gallo, fresh lime juice and a tex mex tomato sauce that was left over from another dish). 

3. eat!

chances were always that david bowie would die before i did. yet his death on sunday hit me hard. because it was unexpected. because we had just celebrated his 69th birthday on friday night, singing our hearts out at a bowie tribute drag show on red river in austin. because he had just put out a new album, and new music videos. because i always thought i’d see him play live one day. because i always hoped i’d pass him on the street in soho, with his gorgeous wife, Iman, on his arm if i was extra lucky. because i thought we’d have new, surprising, beautiful, fun, provocative, uncomfortable bowie material for many more years. and because he always looked so full of life - man did he seem to “do” life so well - that i never thought of him as sick. not that he let us. he was far too graceful to play that card. a creative legend and fearless artist through and through, he faced death head on and used it to create more art. it doesn’t lessen the blow for us though. this one man lit up the world many times over during his life. he was special and if you told me it was because he arrived to earth on the back of a comet, sprinkling his stardust across the universe, it would make more sense to me than the factual “he was born in Brixton, South London.”

people are saying we were lucky to have existed on earth while bowie was here. sure, there’s a bit of consolation in that. but in my mind, i picture his soul bursting through the galaxy, landing on Mars and putting on a theatrical show. perhaps him strutting in a well-fitted suit, singing Let’s Dance or Fame would amaze and confound his audience there just as Ziggy Stardust did to Earth in the 70s (or to me via online videos years later). and there’s consolation in knowing his stardust will sparkle forever: when someone listens to Hunky Dory for the first time, watches The Man Who Fell to Earth for the first time, plays Sound and Vision on repeat because the opening is addictive and you wanna hear him gasp “ahhh” one more time, gapes at the Ashes to Ashes video, sings Magic Dance to their baby, remembers the Goblin King, laughs and sways to the corny riff of China Girl, discovers his soul and Thin White Duke and electronic eras. and when they see the pictures of him. fully committed to the character of the moment, looking at his wife with an intense love, displaying his beautiful confidence in designer suits, drag or spectacular costumes, or genuinely laughing with a warmth in his eyes and smile that reveals the possibility of so much happiness here on earth emitting a grander hope to some than faith or religion ever could. 

thanks for being among us for awhile, starman, you little wonder, little wonder you.

does that list of ingredients sound off to you? well don’t worry, it tastes so good and is the quickest thing to make. i’m not even going to list the exact measurement of ingredients because it’s all about your own taste. though you don’t need more than maybe 10 hazelnuts, peeled and chopped obvi. one more tip: when you reheat leftovers, add extra, fresh arugula, an extra squeeze of lemon and a dollop of olive oil. 

1. cook pasta, then drain

2. heat a little olive oil in a pan and add garlic. 

3. once you can smell the garlic, add arugula and hazelnuts. 

4. add pasta, the juice of one lemon, a little bit more olive oil, some black pepper, and a pinch of salt. 

5. add more arugula if there’s room. it cooks down so much! i usually use at least half a package. 

y’all i think i made the healthiest freaking thing ever last night. you can feel your body detoxing as it digests. and i learned something new - wild rice has more protein than quinoa. it’s second only to oats in protein content per 100 calories (quinoa is third).  who knew?

anyhoo, the dish includes the following. you can make a gazillion variations of it too - swap farro or another grain for the wild rice, sub veggies as your heart desires, chop your favorite leafy green to mix in, etc. etc. 

- one cup of red quinoa 

- one cup of wild rice 

- two cups of 1/2 inch cubes of butternut squash

- 1 1/2 cups of 1/2 inch cubes of beets

- olive oil

- garlic salt

 - black pepper

 - paprika 

- 4 cups vegetable broth

- 1/2 cup slivered almonds

- juice of one lemon

1. preheat oven to 350. 

2. cook wild rice (4 cups of vegetable broth to 1 cup of rice)

3. wrap beets in foil for roasting. mix the butternut squash with a little olive oil and garlic salt and roast the veggies for about 35 minutes (beets for 45)

4. cook quinoa (two cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa). takes about 15 minutes then set aside. 

5. in a large bowl, mix the rice, beets, squash, quinoa and almonds. squeeze the juice of one lemon, add pepper and paprika to taste. and done!

my favorite thing about this dish, is that leftovers just require sitting out for a bit to get to room temperature. then eat. again. 

i didn’t have much exposure to Patti Smith until my 30s. Her name was a peripheral in the books and articles i had read about 1970s New York where i zoned in on The Ramones because my best friend in high school was obsessed with them and i listened to more new wave Blondie than punk. i knew some of her songs from the radio and the iconic images of her album covers.

but it wasn’t until summer 2014, during the middle of one long beach day, when i convinced ryan to leave our stuff unattended for awhile to check out the art exhibit, Rockaways!, featuring work by Smith and others.

her main piece, The Resilience of the Dreamer, was absolutely breathtaking. upon seeing the structure in person i immediately heard the first lines of my favorite poem, Ode, by Arthur O’Shaughnessy. “We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams.”

what struck me most about the building it was in, apart from the battered roof, the rusting equipment and the graffiti on the walls, was a small room to the left with an untold invitation for visitors to pick up a white rock and place it somewhere within the space. some were perilously stacked up, others pushed into nooks and crannies, but all holding the energy of the people that had recently passed through the formerly abandoned space, their positioned rocks serving as an “i was here” mark.

wandering through the rest of the exhibit, i was excited to see photographs taken at Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s home in Mexico City — somewhere i had been wanting to go for a long time. we looked at the other photographs and read some of the poetry.

i stopped at a table with an open journal and a pen. a note card asked for our thoughts. i remember thinking what could i possibly write down that would be worthy of a legend like Patti Smith’s eyes and time? i felt certain she would later take the time to thumb through the journal, though where this certainty came from, i don’t know at all. i wanted to sit right there and just breathe and be until something profound came to mind. even if it was simple — a few words. i just wanted to share something real, something born completely from the experience of being there.

ryan came up behind me and picked up the pen leaving an adorable if adolescent “ryan loves mari” in the book. he nudged me towards the door.

i grabbed the pen and wrote what i was feeling: a message of gratitude. it wasn’t the profound words i was hoping for. i signed my name and walked back to the beach.

Months went by and I didn’t think of Patti Smith. I ended up moving to Mexico City in January 2015 and made a point to visit Casa Azul on my own one early morning. If there has ever been a stronger spirit presence than Frida Kahlo’s — especially in the bedroom, overlooking the very bed in which she died — i would be surprised. Just like in life, when she welcomed so many into her home, i could feel her pride at having the world come visit her now. but most of all, i felt her spirit make an impression on me, but i didn’t quite have the words to express that.

after passing through the courtyard to visit the recently opened other side of the house, i noticed a short poem on the wall of the veranda. it was full of inspiration direct from having visited Frida’s room. it confirmed what i had been feeling as i walked through her home. and it was written by Patti Smith. it was then that i felt a connection to her. i knew we had gone through something very similar and i loved how she articulated it.

now, October 2015, reading her latest memoir, M Train, i feel grateful once again to this artist. i loved reading the backstory of her time in mexico city at frida’s house. a passing line about this very poem meant so much more to me. 

without knowing that i needed validation of some sort for some of my wishful thinking, her chapter on the cafe she had completely envisioned, made me feel OK about the breakfast taco joint i have completely created in my mind but never made steps to make happen.a handful of additional coincidences string together this feeling of a connected humanity, of a small universe. i love that feeling, fleeting as it too often is. 

the fall has fully arrived here in nyc.  summer is my favorite season - beach days on end! HOT weather! vacations! no school! (back in the day) - but fall is definitely #2.  for all the reasons everyone loves fall. especially fall in new york. and the produce - butternut squash, apples, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, swiss chard, etc. - so many of my favorite foods are in season. 

prepping brussels and rainbow carrots for roasting... 

here are some pics of us doing the cheesy fall thing (pumpkin picking) and a kick-ass spiced lentil soup recipe courtesy of veg blog, Cookie + Kate, that is a perfect meal for this time of year.  

·         ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

·         1 medium yellow onion, chopped

·         2 carrots, chopped

·         4 garlic cloves. minced

·         2 teaspoons ground cumin

·         1 teaspoon curry powder

·         ½ teaspoon dried thyme

·         1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained

·         1 cup rinsed lentils

·         4 cups vegetable broth

·         2 cups water

·         1 teaspoon salt, more to taste

·         Pinch red pepper flakes

·         Freshly ground black pepper

·         1 cup chopped fresh collard greens, ribs removed

·         Juice of ½ to 1 medium lemon, to taste

1.       Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. 

2.       Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened and is turning translucent, about 5 minutes. 

3.       Add the garlic, cumin, curry powder and thyme. Cook until fragrant while stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. 

4.       Pour in the drained diced tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes, stirring often, in order to enhance their flavor.

5.       Pour in the lentils, broth and the water. Add 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper. Raise heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then partially cover the pot and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. 

6.       Add the chopped greens. Cook for 5 more minutes, or until the greens have softened to your liking.

7.       Remove the pot from heat and stir in the juice of half of a lemon. Taste and season with more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice until the flavors really sing. Serve immediately.

The first night we ate is as straight soup. The second night, we served it over whole wheat couscous to make it even more hearty.

day 10 has come and gone people. it included coffee with soy milk, garlic pasta with green veggies for lunch, a watermelon juice, and leftover chinese food for dinner. 

it’s so simple yet so delicious. that garlic infused olive oil...

so how’d i do overall? 

NO BOOZE:  A+ 

ALL VEGAN: A. out of 10 days (a potential of 30 meals well 20 really since i rarely eat breakfast), i only ate non-vegan meals twice and only one of those was knowingly ( i thought the avocado flat bread thing from pret was vegan but it had cilantro yogurt). 

JUICE CLEANSE: C+ i guess? i mean, i completed one day, had one small lunch on day 2 and one full dinner on day 3. i don’t know how you grade that. if it was a pass/ fail course then i failed. but i’m grading on a curve!

OVERALL: B+ the juice cleanse drags the overall average down for sure, but so do the two snacks of french fries. i mean! how non detox can one get? small demerits though, small demerits. 

the most important thing is how i feel. and i have to say, eating vegan and juicing a lot makes the body feel really good. even with the occasional fries. and not drinking = more time for productive things, more energy for things like working out so that’s great. 

but of course, i came across this article that made me laugh out loud for reals. if i was trying to go all of sept sans drinking i’d quit now. According to this, if you drink regularly but moderately, a month of no drinking isn’t any better than the usual moderate drinking. bingeing of course is just plain bad. 

https://www.yahoo.com/health/does-taking-a-month-off-from-drinking-actually-do-128113735267.html

so cheers to the end of the detox and the end of the summer (almost). thanks for following my little detox diary. XOXO

going back to just regular no booze, all vegan felt like such a treat after trying to juice for 3 days. but, i knew on day 7 i was going to give myself one pass meal: my boyfriend’s surprise bday lunch at robertas (aka home to some of the most scrumptious vegetarian food in brooklyn, but not very vegan).

so sunday started with coffee with soy milk, a long run to the BK bridge and back, a vegan blueberry muffin from baked, and then the feast at robertas: straciatella and grilled bread, romaine salad with walnuts, pecorino and lemon, an heirloom tomato salad, the lil stinker pizza and the white and greens pizza. for dinner i kept it simple with a green salad with pico de gallo, black beans and avocado vinaigrette.

the heirloom tomato salad was a highlight. 

being veggie is so easy when you have options like this. 

day 8 started with the usual - coffee with soy milk. then i had a carrot, orange, banana and ice smoothie. i know that may sound like a weird combo but try it some time! for lunch i picked up Cafe Luluc’s chickpea salad with grilled corn, arugula and a garlic and tomato seed vinaigrette. i missed this salad while in mexi!

dinner was a black bean and quinoa burger at rippers on the beach. added jalapenos which was the best idea ever. chugged coconut water all day long. 

trying to get a selfie with the sunset is hard. 

i love sunsets so much. my goal in life is to have a home with a sunset view

day 9 - coffee with almond milk. pret a manger for lunch: their beet juice (beets, apple, carrot and ginger) and their avocado and roasted corn salsa flatbread. i ran a million errands that afternoon in the humid heat of a late new york summer. drank a watermelon juice (on sale 2 for $6 at whole foods!). for dinner i ordered from my fave local chinese spot: large mixed vegetables and white rice. poured duck sauce on that. wtf is duck sauce btw? then i made a pasta with broccoli, asparagus, garlic and red pepper for my man to eat when he got home and to have during the week. 

i didn’t take a picture of the chinese veggies, so here’s a picture of a picture of the same dish that i posted to insta 87 weeks ago apparently. 

so i woke up on day 5 and was on the fence about how committed i was to completing the cleanse as is. the super high sugar content in the juices - 75 grams total PER DAY! (that’s 3 times the recommended daily limit according to the American Heart Association) -  and the subsequent spikes and crashes in energy throughout the day really turned me off the cleanse. i’m really big on listening to your body and while i estimated being a little tired or hungry, i didn’t like this roller coaster of energy / lethargy and the very cranky moods my bf and i were both in.

i wanted to find a way to still mostly juice, but also stay a little even throughout the day and especially the evening. i had basically skipped the last two juices b/c i didn’t like them so perhaps i should substitute those calories with a super clean vegan meal to avoid the nighttime headache?

i decided to continue on the cleanse, but pack my clean vegan substitute in case i felt i needed it at any point. here’s how the day went:

9:45am - purify (same as day one). again, a lovely way to start the day. didn’t even miss my coffee.

11:15am - ginger bomb (same as day one). again, loved it. feeling good.

12:10pm - super cider (diff as day one) - apple, carrot, ginger, lemon. love the flavor but don’t love the sugar content (30g)… as  you can see in the pic.

a few sips into the super cider, i started feeling the sugar rush…and i didn’t like it. i knew a big crash would follow and i wanted to avoid that. so i made the executive decision to eat a small meal - a serving of super clean, vegan chickpeas and kale.

and here’s why i don’t feel bad for a second about “cheating.” I don’t believe you need to solely juice to cleanse effectively. i think eating right - plant-based, vegan, fresh whole foods (raw often) - is going to have the best detox effect. i think juicing is great as part of a healthy lifestyle - but I prefer to mix fresh ingredients in a blender so you get the fiber and protein in the veggies, not just vitamins and sugars that come with pressed juices. i usually have at least 3-4 juices a week, sometimes they substitute meals - but the effects i experienced while subbing juice for all meals was more negative than positive. i didn’t expect this to be the case - i’d read all the reviews about “euphoria on day 2!” and was looking forward to it. but alas, everyone’s body is different, and mine thinks juice cleanses aren’t great.

i googled “the science of juice cleansing” and wasn’t surprised to find that there is no evidence to support the idea that juicing helps eliminate toxins from the body. most of the doctors, dietitians, etc quoted in the 10 or so stories i read across a variety of media (buzzfeed, slate, huffPo, US News World report, Shape, Real Simple, WashingtonPost, Medical Daily,etc) said juice cleanses are an expensive way to get just some of the benefits that come with a whole-foods, plant-based diet. here are some of the quotes that stood out to me:

There’s little evidence that detox diets actually remove toxins from the body. Indeed, the kidneys and liver are generally quite effective at filtering and eliminating most ingested toxins. So why do so many people claim to feel better after detoxification? It may be due in part to the fact that a detox diet eliminates highly processed foods. - Mayo Clinic

“I don’t like the marketing around juice cleanses,” Eric Ravussin, Ph.D., associate executive director for clinical science at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, told BuzzFeed Life. “That it’s going to detox and mobilize all these toxins and all that — this is pure marketing.”

Juices should be just one part of a balanced diet that includes minimally processed foods, good-quality lean protein, and plenty of whole fruits and vegetables—which, ironically, are the real cleansers. “They act like a scrub brush for your digestive tract,” says Marissa Lippert, a registered dietitian in New York City.  

in short, i don’t think juicing detoxifies you, it’s about not putting toxins in to begin with. so yeah, clean food when hungry = better than sugar spikes, lethargy, and bad moods. anyways, back to the schedule - i finished the super cider.

4:00pm - “green protein” (different than day 1) - kale, spirulina, hemp seed, chia seed, wheatgrass powder, golden flax seed, coconut oil, coconut nectar, pea protein, lemon, banana. great flavor and texture - really enjoyed this one.

we went to the US Open that night - no outside drinks allowed. so i settled for some waffle fries which were so tasty and so not juice / detox / healthy. oops.

got home very late and skipped giving either of the last two juices another shot. didn’t need a sugar rush just before bed. luckily, no headache that night. i thank the food for that.

day 6 - final juice cleanse day. should i recommit? decided to just go with the flow and listen to my body like the day before.

9:30am - coffee with soy milk. one of the things i love about the weekend is our long morning walks with the dog to the best coffee shop in my hood. it’s the little things and all that.

morning glories grow all over red hook. these purple ones are my favorites.

10:30am had a purify. was feeling really shaky but it helped.

11:45am ginger bomb. was feeling shaky again after a walk on the beach to find our spot for the day. this plus some nuts (mix of pistachios, cashews and almonds) smoothed me out.

1:40pm longevity (same as day 1) - i love the flavor of this one and it was perfect for being out on the beach.

me relaxing and totes nerding out on a beach juice shoot (say those 3 words 3 times real fast btw)

our lil cliffside beach house

4:00pm - chocolate superfood - cacao, maca, goji berry, coconut oil, coconut nectar, golden flaxseed, vanilla bean, pea protein and banana. this is like a chocolate souffle with raspberry sauce. super delicious and SO filling. didn’t even finish it and felt very satisfied. hmmm, maybe this whole juicing this gets easier as the days go by? or maybe it’s the nuts from earlier... i guess i’ll never know.

that night we celebrated the end of the cleanse by going out to eat (ironic i know, cue alanis morissette) at my favorite ethiopian restaurant, bati. we had chips and guac as an appetizer at cafe habana while waiting for our table. oh, and a pineapple ginger lemonade that was really good.

if you haven’t tried ethiopian food yet, go! this is berbere (spiced) lentils, two portions of collard greens, and ground chickpeas with a little green onion. you scoop it into bites of injera bread which is full of iron and also vegan. 

so day 3 was easy. had the usual coffee with soy, had the little bit of thai leftovers around 11 to hold me over till after a lunchtime yoga class. for a late lunch i went back to hale n hearty for the same salad as tuesday’s (mixed greens, beets, edamame, quinoa, carrot and avocado with lemon viniagrette). they did something new and GOOD to their beets. very delicious. 

dinner was supposed to be leftover chickpeas/kale over couscous, but my man threw out the idea of going out to Brooklyn Crab, a beach-style restaurant & bar that feels more shore house than new york restaurant. and it has the best views of the sunset. i had a fresh watermelon lime juice and a side order of fries there instead.  pretty non-detox food choice but again, but if it’s alcohol-free and vegan, it’ll pass. plus i knew what was coming up.... 

day 4, the juice cleanse begins! 

9:15 am juice #1 aka “purify” - coconut water, celery, chard, spinach and cucumber. it was very celery-y but otherwise pretty delicious. it was a nice way to start the day. 

12:00 pm juice #2 aka “ginger bomb” - orange, ginger, lemon, oregano extract and himalayan sea salt. loved this one! was feeling great until around 1:30 when i was getting sleepy and kind of loopy (the way one usually feels if they skip lunch). 

2:00 pm juice #3 aka “longevity tonic” - fo-ti root, lemon, cayenne, agave, and himalayan sea salt. very delicious and the sugar in the agave and fo-ti root was MUCH MUCH needed. i was dragging before this one and feeling really good again after. btw, fo-ti root is an herb with various uses in chinese medicine and also thought to have anti-aging effects. who knew?

5:00pm juice #4 aka “probiotic smoothie” - vegan probiotic, almond, lemon, coconut oil, coconut nectar, golden flaxseed, pea protein and banana. this was one is bomb. the flavor is refreshing and dessert-like (almond cookie my bf said), the texture is filling and the flaxseed gives you a little something to munch on. so far, this is my favorite but i wouldn’t regularly drink this one given its high fat and sugar content. in fact, i really don’t like the high sugar count in general, but i’ll talk about that when i do my full recap of the “cleanse.”

8:00pm juice #5 aka “green sunshine” - chard, kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, apple, lemon. eh, not my favorite but felt healthy. wish there was less celery and something like pineapple instead. i maybe drank a fourth of it :/

9:45pm juice #6 aka “restore” - carrot, beet, celery, cucumber, parsley, spinach, lemon, orange. by far my least favorite and i was SO bummed b/c i loooove beet juice. I have at least one beet juice a week regularly, but this just tasted like celery to me and a little parsley - two things i kinda hate. So i took maybe 3 sips of this one. 

last week’s spread at mission chinese celebrating a friend’s bday. they actually have amazing vegan options now, yay.

it’s been an amazing summer. lots of travels, lots of visitors and lots of food and drink. i moved home to brooklyn last week and then had a crazy weekend hosting my cousin and her friends as she wedding dress shopped and enjoyed nyc’s food and bar scene that included an almost 4 hour dinner with endless courses at roberta’s, lots of champagne at the bridal store, sunset rooftop sesh at the standard, and culminated in a 3 hour dinner at cosme. i woke up monday morning with one word in mind: detox. 

the final dessert at cosme - a vanilla bean meringue that was very very delicious. the texture was not meringue-like at all so i actually liked it. 

but it was also my first day back at work in new york, so i couldn’t embark on my first juice cleanse or anything that would likely mess with my energy levels / mood. so i decided to go on my own unofficial detox - 10 days without booze, all vegan meals, and a 3-day juice cleanse in the middle of all that. i’ve never done a juice cleanse so i’m a little worried that i’ll break down and scarf a massive bag of garden salsa sun chips when veegman isn’t looking, but i hope to be surprised by my own self control or an even less likely lack of appetite. we’ll see when i get there.

so far, so good. day 1 = coffee with soy milk, lunch was salad with avocado, carrot, edamame, corn and lemon viniagrette, and dinner did not feel like a detox at all b/c i was too tired to cook so i ordered thai delivery (veggie pad ki mow sans egg and steamed chinese broccoli in garlic sauce). veegman was quick to point out how non-detox of a meal this was, but it was non-alcoholic and vegan so by my standards for the next 10 days it counts!!

see how non-detoxy this looks? 

day 2 = coffee with soy milk, lunch was a large salad with avocado, carrot, quinoa, edamame, beets and lemon viniagrette and dinner will be the first recipe i ever posted on here - spicy chickpeas and kale over couscous! see recipe here: http://travelandveggies.tumblr.com/post/49375331314/go-to-vegan-recipe-1-spicy-chickpeas-and-kale

popocateptl, one of the active volcanoes in the state of mexico.

it’s almost here, the end of my expat assignment. there’s still so much to recap, that i want to record so i can come back and be reminded of all the details one loses with time. you know, like old photo albums and scrap books used to do. 

while 7+ months isn’t a ton of time in the long run, it’s been enough to have changed and inspired me. from appreciating the US and understanding what a privilege it is to live there, to home decor and architecture, and most of all an ability to truly be in a moment. i know that sounds cheesy but mexicans really give their all to whatever they are doing in that moment. when it’s time for work, they work until the project is complete. when it’s time to eat, they take their time and don’t rush at all. when they go out of town there is no worrying about email or work or errands. it’s just about observing, respecting and enjoying the surroundings and the company. i think NYC had gotten to me and i didn’t realize i needed to practice this. i also love that mexicans have a deep gratitude for the goods of the earth. it infiltrates every use of resources and really comes out in the mouth-watering flavor of the food. 

over last weekend, while my mom and cousin were in town, i tried to squeeze all my favorite things into their visit. i realized there’s a lot i love here and soooo much i didn’t get to. Mexico is truly a magical country. i hope to be able to travel more of it in the future - that it becomes safe enough to roadtrip through without worry. this incredible land deserves that. 

walking through El Charco del Ingenio, a botanical cactus garden outside San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

the main street in tepotzlan, with the tepozteco in the background. 

a view during the climb of the tepoztlan, with the pyramid ruin at the top left.  

sitting atop the pyramid ruin at the top of the Tepozteco in Tepotzlan.

tulum, one morning after a rain. 

one of the cenotes (fresh water swimming holes) off the highway between playa del carmen and tulum.

our palapa view in tulum. 

cool puffy clouds above the blue corn fields in amecameca, estado de mexico. 

ry in a blue corn field in amecameca, estado de mexico.