Breakfast: Started this rainy day with a green smoothie. It’s been a few days since my last one and I have missed them! This tasted so delicious. In the blender: frozen spinach, banana, blueberries, mango, and water. Yum.

Wednesday night, I went to a neat event. Chloe Coscarelli, the vegan chef who won the FoodNetwork’s Cupcake Wars, has a new cookbook–Chloe’s Kitchen– and was doing a signing near my house.

I was mostly vegan a few years ago, but even now that I eat meat often (and dairy occasionally), I still really like vegan meals. But I need EASY vegan meals and that’s what attracted me to Chloe’s book– it’s just that! Simple, tasty vegan meals.

Chloe was really sweet in person. She seemed a little nervous at the signing but answered a few questions, mostly about her favorite vegan SF restaurants.

sorry for the big head in the way, no good angle here

She also talked about how difficult it was to write a cookbook– her friends thought she just cooked in her pjs all day, but honestly, it was a ton of work– so many trials and errors with each recipe, late into the night, figuring out exact amounts. I believe her!

She signed books

And another event perk– There were sparkly cupcakes (vegan and g-free, of course!)

I flipped through the book at home. Some good looking recipes. Like these:

She says that whenever she makes these cinammon rolls she keeps breaking up peice after peice....until pretty soon she's eaten half the pan!

Vegan meatballs

And I think Charlie would like this:

Anyways, so the cookbook is now on my shelf. Hope to make a recipe next week.

It’s always fun to meet the chef/author in person. Puts a personal touch to the recipes when you actually make them.

In other news, here was my non-vegan lunch. Sprouted bread with avocado and smoked salmon. Totally easy to make at work and filling.

Happy Friday!!

Any good cookbooks sitting on your shelves?
For those of you who aren’t vegan– do you still make vegan recipes?

Happy Monday! Anyone else have a rough time waking up this morning? Sheesh, the alarm at 6:30 felt ridiculously early, I hit it off and then passed out for another HOUR. Haha. But the still-light evenings are well worth it.

This weekend, I had a mini-flu so I mostly layed-low, but I did make it out to the neighborhood Farmer’s Market.

Greeted with the first booth, overflowing with flowers. I love tulips...and tulip season makes me so happy

It was overcast and felt like it was about to rain, but that didn’t stop a big crowd from coming out.

There’s something so fun about buying produce from the sellers. And I am always curious to see what the latest in-season produce will be.

Freshly made apple juice. Um, yum!

First strawberries of the season.

Purple cauliflower.

That’s what I call a sample table! Check out the options.

After a good hour exploring all the booths, I left with bags full of veggies. Will hopefully be no veggie shortage in my house this week!

My only complaint (and yes, of course I have one) is that it really wasn’t any less expensive than if I went to the grocery store. In fact, I think it ended up being MORE expensive. For example, I bought one bunch of kale, about 10 brussel sprouts, and 3 mini cucumbers….and she charged me a whopping $7! Now that I think about it, I think she miscalculated? Whatever it was, that was much more than if I was at an organic market. Oh well. Gas prices are up, so maybe farmers market prices are up as a result?

Do you have a nearby Farmers Market? Is it year-round? How often do you go?

And now for my weekday exercise set-up. I haven’t done this before, but think I need to.

Monday: Swim 30 minutes, walk 1 hour, situps/stretches
Tuesday: Walk 2 hours (in 3 increments)
Wednesday: Run 30 minutes (5k?) morning, walk 1 hour (after work)
Thursday: Walk 2 hours
Friday: Swim 30 minutes, stretches/sit-ups
Sat/Sun: In Tahoe, so probably nothing except for a few walks and maybe some skiing.

Do you do a weekly exercise plan?

Last night, Jared and I went for a date night at Straw, a carnival-themed restaurant that opened in SF a few months ago.

Jared actually took his co-workers there on Wednesday too for a surprise lunch. They had a blast! He brought them party favors like slinkys and whoopie cushions to keep the theme going. I have a feeling that whoopie cushion is going to get a lot of use in their office!

But, we happened to be in the area the next night, so thought we should go in for Cotton Candy Cocktails and Funnel Cake. Who doesn’t like carnival food and atmosphere, right? The place is great!

We sat in the tilt-a-whirl seats (loved that ride as a kid!)

Their menu is full of things like corn dogs, tater tots, mac & cheese, cotton candy, etc. But it has a gourmet spin to it….and there’s also quite a few salads and “healthy” things on the menu too.

Not everything’s healthy….on Wed, Jared got the “Ringmaster Burger,” which was a burger in between two donuts. He said it was delicious.

Since we’re not eating meals out this month, we opted to just get drinks and dessert (yes, dessert before dinner…..and yes, those two things are allowed in the loophole of our “eating-in” plan).

My blueberry cotton candy. Pure sugar. Yum

I got the Blueberry Cotton Candy (of course!) and Jared got the Funnel Cake (with 3 dipping sauces).

The wait staff was really friendly and it wasn’t crowded yet, so we had a good time.

Fedding me cotton candy

Dum Dums, all for me, please

Then, we went to see the Headless Lady.

Just kidding, I wish! That was just a photo in their bathroom.

Do you like carnivals? Favorite rides?
Any fun themed restaurants near you?
How often do you do date-night?

This weekend has been filled with veggies and sunshine so far! The perfect combo, if you ask me.

We were going to go to Tahoe, but decided at the very last minute Friday night to skip it (too much driving and going next weekend anyways). Instead, it’s been great to have a weekend with little planned.

Saturday was spent at the park, on a picnic, and then at the Disney Family Museum (so cool! Go if you come to SF).

It’s full of the history of the Disney family and the story of how everything started. Interesting- Walt failed sooo many times in the beginning, people didn’t like his work and he even went bankrupt. It just proves that success comes to this who work hard, believe in themselves and keep trying.

Lots of good healthy food this weekend too.

Veggie friendly dinner- lentils, chard, and sweet potato with peanut butter. Yum.

Sunday morning breakfast- Pancake with a cup of blueberries. Kudos to the handsome chef.

Smiley face

Veggie filled lunch

And now time for more puppy park time before going to a housewarming party.

Any guesses for what’s going to win the Oscar? I’m betting on the Artist….even though I admittedly haven’t seen it yet. Can’t wait to see the celebs’ dresses- love that part!

And what’s your favorite Disneyland/world ride? Mine are Peter pan and big thunder mountain railroad

I somehow missed National Fro Yo Day this week. How could I not have taken advantage of free frozen yogurt? Sooo bummed!

Not to worry, I made up for it.

Went to my third favorite one of my fave yogurt places last night.

My bowl of deliciousness somehow only cost $2.15. That’s some frugal will power, huh? Haha, not really. I ate as many samples of yogurt as ended up in my actual cup.

What do you think of this flavor? Maple Bacon Donut. Sounds so gross to me. But maybe that’s just because I’m not really a donut or bacon fan (I know, who am I?). What do you think? Gross or good? Would you want to try it?

Say what?

Any weird unique flavors at your yogurt shops?

oh yeah…..and Football too, of course!

Scenes from the weekend:

Charlie and I went to the beach on Saturday morning.  He is sooo in love with the beach.  Doesn’t he look so happy and content in this pic?

His normal beach behavior is:  First, he jumps in the water and swims for a minute.  Then, he spends about 10 minutes rolling in the sand, covering every bit of his body.

I’ve seem other dogs roll in the sand of course, but not for 10 minutes straight.  Other dog owners always look at me with sympathy and say something like, “Gonna be fun to give him a bath later….ha”

Truth is, most of it shakes off when he dries, so it’s not so bad.  And he just seems so happy doing it, I can live with the sand.  Yes, I spoil him.

He's a nut.

Saturday afternoon:  Baking time.  Cupcakes.    I’m a chocolate girl all the way, but I just love these.  Funfetti makes me want to smile…..and then take a big bite.

Sprinkles=Smiles

Saturday night, we hosted Game Night.  Clue, Pictionary,  Uno, and many games of (somewhat competitive) ping pong.   My horrible drawing talents weren’t so bad and our team did really well at pictionary– totally fun group game.  Highly recommend hosting a game night!

Pictionary skills are much better with italian cookies

Sunday morning- Tree planting at the Free Farm.  SF is covered in community gardens.  They are all volunteer-run and the food grown (kale, lettuce, strawberries, etc) is given out free in a low-income area.  pretty neat.  We planted plum, peach, and pluot trees.  I’ll have to go back in a couple months and check on them

See our pretty tree?

And Sunday afternoon was football, of course!  We’re on west coast time, so the Superbowl is an afternoon event (not an evening).

Go Giants!

Watching football at a bar means way more TVs, but way less superbowl snacks.

Ahhhh, good weekend with plenty of outdoors time and relaxing time.  Weekend done, workweek ahead……off to tackle Monday.

Hope you had a good weekend!

As a San Franciscan, I just had to write about this– The SF Airport just opened the VERY FIRST airport Yoga Room.

Yep, you read that right.  While you’re waiting for your flight, you can pop in for some downward dog and pigeon poses.  No more flipping through magazines while your flight is delayed.  Instead, you can stretch out those legs.

Yes, us San Franciscans are very zen.  So zen that we need a respite from the stress of travelling.

Airport designers recently decided that travelers should have a FREE place to relax and find balance in an otherwise stressful environment. And Voila!  We now have our very own yoga room.

The room is, “bathed in calming blue light, with a floating wall said to symbolize a buoyant spirit and enlightened mind. Lights in the room are low and warm — to counteract the bright concourse — and loaner mats are supplied.” source

Signs of a person in a lotus position are all over the airport directing people to the Yoga Room.

They even had an opening this week that featured granola and fresh fruit.  Instead of a ribbon cutting, they did a sun salutation.  How very un-airport like!

Random or Cool?

Here were my initial thoughts/questions—

• Um, I sometimes do travel in sweats, but not really yoga clothes.  Are there going to be people there in jeans and business suits?  Or is this place only for those in yoga-friendly clothes.
• Who has that much time in between flights?
• Because I most definitely will NOT be travelling with my yoga mat,  do you think their mats will stay clean?  I doubt it’s the first priority of the airport janitorial staff and travelling makes you extra dirty anyways….so that could be really, really gross.
• It’s really random.  I’m not sold yet and think the space might better be used with, say, a FREE MASSAGE ROOM, but the more I think about it, the more I think it could be a neat idea.

If you want more details, check out THIS article.  All photos courtesy of SFO.

QUESTION—–  SOOOO-  What do you think?  Cool and you’d use it?  Or wayyyyy too random?

Regardless of if I do any poses, I’m totally gonna pop my head in and check it out the next time I’m at the airport.

Happy New Year and welcome to my healthy living blog!   We’ll see how the blog evolves, but I’m planning to post 5 days/week and share food, nutrition facts, exercise, and just general fun life adventures.  Thanks for reading (and please comment, that’s my favorite part of blogging!)

2012 has started off pretty darn well.  Love having New Years Eve and Day on the weekend, makes it into a really fun, long holiday.

2012 starts with a bang! Midnight fireworks from a roofdeck

Jan 1 started with brunch outside while trying to watch football.  It was sunny and warm in SF all day, which almost NEVER happens!

First things, first.  Coffee.  Need Coffee NOW.

My first blog photo of myself, hungover, tired, and needing a hair cut, so please don’t judge

Plus food, greasy please.  Here was brunch.  Eggs, potatoes and other stuff. Semi-tasty, nothing special.

Then we pretended to be tourists and walked around Pier 39.  There are usually hundreds of sea lions over here but they have weirdly disappeared.

Luckily, the ice cream shop hasn’t disappeared.  Can’t start the year without a giant scoop of Espresso Chip ice cream.  Oh, YUM.

 Not so giant as J’s though.  That guy knows how to pick flavors- these two flavors were def a winner.

Back to watch another football game.  1/3 of a beer.

And then dinner at home.  Tried to balance my holiday-eating with some greens.  Salad with tofu and nutritional yeast (have you tried it? I was so weary before and now it’s my newest obsession) and an apple.

And then sadly, the sun set and “vacation” was over.  Back to work tomorrow!

SO- Did you read the CNN article about New Years traditions in other countries?  In South America, everyone chooses their underwear color based on their hopes for the new year (aka, red for passion, blue for health, green for money, etc), in Denmark people throw old dishes at their friends’ houses (I feel like that might get you arrested in the US?) and in the former Soviet Union, everyone eats a ton of candy to ensure a sweet year (Ummm, I am adopting this tradition).  Yesterday, instead of running down the street throwing dishes on a sugar high wearing red, green, and blue underwear, I just ate, drank and watched football. Shoot.

Have you ever spent NYE in another country?  Do you have any unique New Years traditions?