Lazy Little Pumpkin

It’s so nice and sunny outside I tried (note: TRIED) to go for a nice jog first thing in the morning (I’m w@h-ing so instead of the getting ready and driving to work time, I decided to run) … the result?

EPIC FAIL!!!

Ok, I ran a little bit but decided I was hungry and tired and lazy so I went home. Showered. Crawled into bed with my laptop and got to work. :D

Lazy Girl FTW! I’ll be back when I’m less lazy and less busy with work to upload pictures and blog :] Until then I’m raiding my kitchen and working away…………

I’m frazzled, I duno what to eat. I want PUMPKIN to celebrate halloween tho. PUMPKIN PUMPKIN PUMPKIN :D Pumpkin on waffles?… Pumpkin with Yogurt?… Pumpkin with Oats?… Pumpkin with my Hot Cereal?… NO PUMPKIN? (NO! Def need pumpkin)

… I’m still tired and delirious… coffee please!!!

(Pumpkin coffee??… HAHAHA)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

ps. Other random craving: 파전 (Pajeon, aka Korean Pancake) & 김치 (Kimchi) :D

Pre-Halloween & STARVED at 1am….

I’m daydreaming about Chili lately… I’m not even a fan of thick soups/stews and it’s all I’ve been craving. Something needs to be done.  I wanna try something simple and satisfying, like this vegetarian chili I found on Bread&Honey :]

ANYHOO….

I ended up having some grapes before I went home today to get ready for my 4pm meeting which lasted a little past 5pm… I had a quick jog and then decided to start dinner early. I ended up deciding on a salad (it’s Thursday… that means clean out the fridge time)

I chopped up a Japanese eggplant into thick strips, tossed some paprika & black pepper on them, placed them on a sheet. Sliced up some crimini mushrooms and sprinkle black pepper & rosemary on them and sliced up chunks of red onions to roast/bake in the oven. I also baked up some white asparagus with hot pepper flakes in another pan in the same oven. I threw in the leftover arugula and tomatoes in a giant bowl. Topped it withe the asparagus, the eggplant (which was surprisingly delicious despite the fact I didn’t use any evoo hehe) and then the mushrooms. I topped it off with some black sesame seeds and chopped cilantro. On the side I had the onions and then steamed cauliflower (my fav!)

I mixed a few bowls with cauliflower and hot pepper flakes for myself
 

Afterwards I had some bitter melon pork ribs soup… SOOO satisfying. I ended up eating so many pork ribs :D Hahaha…

For dessert I had two cupcakes!!!

Marshmallow Green One Eyed Spider (chocolate)

& Vampire (vanilla)

Both with a cup of vanilla hemp milk (it’s def on it’s last day..)

I watched Apartment 1303 today while eating freeze-dried mangosteens and rambutans. SOOO good :] The rambutans have this sweet/savory taste to them, it’s strange and I love eating the freeze-dried mangosteen seeds inside, they’re so nutty and crunchy! Delish!!!

I also had a few sour dried plums but I didn’t photograph them.

So it’s Halloween :] What’s everyone doing? What are you dressing up as (or already have since festivities and parties started last weekend!!!) I have a few costumes up in the air and even my PLANS are up in the air. New York, Boston, a movie, trick or treating, parties…. crawls… etc..etc… My #1 plan is to go to NY but workload and stress has been really buckling down on me, not to mention I have my physical tomorrow later in the day :T Blah! I hate being stressed about how to de-stress.

ANYWAYS. It’s late and all I want is to eat something…. salty!!!! *Someone* got me a jar of Better’N Peanut Butter today as soon as I talked about it :] Yay!
 

& I also have Twigs, Flakes & Clusters (aside from my norm, GoLean) that I saw on Tina‘s site the other time and then saw them when I went to TJ’s last weekend so scooped it up immediately. It’s the goofy cereal faces that got me hook, line & sinker (you know me and playing with my food haha)

I’m already dreaming about BREAKFAST tomorrow too! I’m W@Hing and kinda wanna whip up one of Erica‘s famous waffle sammies with my Kashi Blueberry Waffles that have just been chilling in my freezer.. PLUS I can try my Better’N Peanut Butter and finish off the last banana… :D

I just finished watching Smooth Talk :] Haha, 80s movie, Arnold Friend in the movie is SO FREAKING creepy in it… & Laura Dern looks exactly the same as she did then as she does now hahaha… I kept waiting for T-Rex to pop out tho (*cough* Jurassic Park reference…) OOO speaking of that.. I wanna watch that.. I should get it on DVD.. I have them on tape somewhere…..

NITE* I’m gonna re-watch this Iron Chef Halloween match, read a bit and go to bed :] TGIF!!! & HALLOWEEN!!!

1o*3o – Oatmeal Oatmeal Oatmeal…

Work is stressful and I’m still sick so I’m behind in comments & posting… my bad :] I’ll catch up today @ work when I get a break.

When I went home from work yesterday I already had set in mind what I was gonna make… but when my mom got home from work she looked like she was having a tough day and she said she really wanted a nice creamy bowl of oatmeal made by me (for some reason hers just doesn’t come out creamy) and some 豆腐乳 :D She just bought TWO new bottles of the stuff and we’re both obsessed. SOOO.. change of plans.

I cooked up a new batch of wheatberries for the next few days and cut up a TINYYYY butternut squash into cubed chunks and baked it under foil in the oven with some nutmeg and cinnamon til it was nice and tender. & whipped up a nice creamy pot of oatmeal. I’ve been having SWEET oatmeal for awhile now so it was nice to have a savory meal. Oatmeal twice a day might be overkill but technically one was savory and one was sweet :] It’s okay I had some veggies and other side dishes as well.

I duno why my iphone pictures randomly come out so distorted but I kinda like it…

My bowl of plain oats w/ 1/4c Wheatberries, some of my squash (I ended up eating most of the squash chunks… about 21 pieces) & then 豆腐乳s :D

Chinese Veggies w/ Garlic

Tofu & Pork & Scallions

I tried to watch Bram Stoker’s Dracula (which I haven’t seen in awhile, the CG is so bad haha I was giggling the whole time…) I didn’t realize Monica Bellucci was in it… super hot!!! & here I am with my chocolate covered fruits!! 3 peach, 3 orange :]


I ended up wiggling around in the chair a lot and not being able to enjoy the movie cuz I was so sore and worried about work-related stuff so I stopped the movie and read some magazines while watching the news…

At around 11ish I realized that I DID want oatmeal for breakfast tmw (plus I needed to use up my gorgeous raspberries since they go bad fast) SOOO… I whipped up a batch (which I’m munching on right now at work)

You know the usual…

1/2c Oats
1/4c Wheatberries
1 tbs Flaxseeds
I pack (it was 192g) of raspberries
about 1 tsp of vanilla extract…

I tried the TAHITIAN vanilla this time. I think I like the Madagascar Bourbon the best… not sure yet…

NOWWWWWW… I’m at work, eating breakfast. I came in and had a meeting early in the morning til 930 or so, so I couldn’t prepare my oatmeal until after it. I barely had enough time to grab some coffee before I called in.

Lonely Coffee…

All rubberbanded up just in case it decides to burst and fly open! HAHA…

I noticed that when I revive my oatmeal it loses it’s intense color… it’s still really colored but a bit grayed out more….

It’s so pretty :D

Breakfast Time!!!!! SEEEE, less bright :[

Pre-Chia/Cinnamon’d… I’d show you but it’s UGLLLLLY hahaha so NO! :]

Nuked @ work oatmeal JUST isn’t as pretty as made fresh and at home :[

See you guys @ LUNCH!!! I’m STILLLLLLLLLLLLL EATING and it’s been like almost an hour of me going at it… this is SO much bigger than yesterday’s…. LOL…

edit @ 140pm

I’ve been in 3 meetings already… and I have more to go. I’m so busy I forgot to eat. I’m not even hungry but I almost passed out just now running to the bathroom during a meeting…. so I scarfed down a tiny peach, a persimmon and now munching on a large honeycrisp. Oatmeal makes me sooo full…. maybe this is kinda bad, makes me NOT wanna eat til dinnertime >_<;

Anyone try the Better’N Peanut Butter? I’m curious…

It was kinda brownish inside but it was still good… & not mushy :D

Reading Care To Eat.

MMM persimmons!!! Crunchy, slightly sweet, sooo delicious!!! (and researching Cauliflower recipes to try)

I love how my first bite always looks like a heart :]

(and just if you’re curious how I’m IN a meeting right now it’s a conference call!!! hehehe…) & I look like I’m sleeping in this pic…

1o*29 – I’ve got the BLUESSS…

OK. I’m going on a candy-free detox. NO. MORE. CANDY. I’m having a horrible candy hangover again from eating a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE bag of jelly bellys all nite… stupid wine. Making me munch more than I want to…

For some reason I found WARM jelly beans to be AMAZING last nite, so I’d put them on my laptop and “heat” them up…

I’m weird. And my waist is growing horizontally very tall….

ANYWAYS…
I have a feeling I’m gonna be super full today for awhile….

WHY?!?!?!…

CUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ….I decided to make oatmeal for breakfast today… last nite :] I had just bought a small pack of BIG HUGE blueberries that I wanted to use, and since I’m too lazy in the morning I decided to make it after my dad’s bday dinner last nite …

1/2c THICK rolled oats
132g of HUUUGE blueberries
1/4c Wheatberries
1 tbs Flaxseed

This is in it’s pre-revitalized state…

Just LOOK at that GORGEOUS color!!!!

This is it after I added some hot water and microwaved it for like 4 minutes :]

1 tbs Chia Seeds (added after it was revitalized at work this morning)
And I topped it off with a strawberry to try to make it less gross looking to my coworkers hahahaha…

In celebration (ok on accident) the nails & the turtle are blue today too :D SUPER DUPER BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Even my COFFEE is WILD BLUEBERRY flavored!!!

It’s still got HUGE chunks of blueberries :D

All of this (chia & strawberry and all) was only about 348 calories!!! PLUS this’ll probably hold me over til wayyy past lunchtime!!!

An article on Counting Calories from the NYTimes.

I was gonna wear my blue flats to work today but I thought that was overkill :D HAHAHAHA…. Anyways nom nom nom nom nom, no cold breakfast today!!! I’m so happy I’m totally gonna do it again tmw!!!

ANYWAYS, HAPPY NATIONAL OATMEAL DAY!!!!

edit @ 1245pm
STILL. NOT. HUNGRY :P This is SO strange, usually I’m just starved at work…. but that doesn’t mean my mouth doesn’t wanna munch… I’m starting to chew my lip off cuz of BOREDOM.. where’s my gumm….

Strawberries & Grapes to keep my mouth company for the rest of the afternoon….(along with lots of TAZO TEA of course!!!)

See, told you I was blue today…

Remember that song… I’m blue da bu di da bu diiii….. yeah, I started singing it and now I can’t get it out of my head :[ LAME.

Pet Peeve: I hate people who eat loudly at work. Like you can hear the sloshing and the mushing in the mouth.. crunches aren’t bad but I hate hearing your saliva. In an old job I used to sit near this lady who was ALWAYS on the phone and ALWAYS eating SUPER loud. You can hear her eat MUSHY PIZZA noshing away… it was so gross. Blah. So go die kthanx bye. The end. HAHAHA :D

edit @ 240pm

Hmmm.. feeling a little twinge of the munchies. This juicy pineapple hit the spot (altho it was a bit watery but it’s good I don’t really want an intensely sweet/strong pineapple right now)

I feel pretty crappy but I have a meeting @ 3 so I’m gonna leave right after.

1o*28 – Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!

In my family we have this tradition where the birthday person gets to pick the place to eat. ANYWHERE!!! This year my dad said “I don’t wanna go anywhere to eat, you cook better than any restaurant…” He says that I catered more to his tastes, liking, plus really healthy.. I could take any dish and asianfy it a bit for him. (I like modifying everything to be more flavor, less fat/sweet)

SOOOOOOOOOOOO….

Me prepping…

Check out my mini Kabocha I found :D

My non-asianified Sea Bass (just a tiny experimental piece)

Tomatoes, home-made cranberry sauce, shallots, arugula, rosemary, wine & black pepper…

More cranberry sauce on top before I cover it with foil and pop it into the oven…

The beginning of the salad…

Quinoa w/ shallots, garlic, scallions & sesame oil

The Wine for the night:

The final version:

The Chilean Sea Bass… full of scallions, ginger, tofu & peas…

The green beans, drizzled with a little Japanese noodle sauce & sesame seeds…

My mini experiments:

I was planning on making another DUCK dish, but thankfully I didn’t because I knew it’d be too much… PLUS the fish, my dad’s favorite dish that I make, was the centerpiece and I didn’t want anything to take away it’s thunder ;]

PLUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, then no room for CAKE!!!!!

I think my mom was more excited about the cake than my dad tho.. hahaha…

It sure was tasty !!!!

1o*28 – Daily Munchies & Sugar Hangover…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!

Me + My Daddy.. haha..

We were gonna go eat at Bullfinch’s.. but he says “Now that we eat so well at home when you cook, I don’t ever wanna go out again!” SOOOOOOO… I’m cooking dinner tonite. Either roasting a duck or some nice tender Chilean Sea Bass!!

I eat so healthy during the day and then at night my inner candy munchies monsters come out :D Hahahaha…

My Hi-Chews were calling my name last nite so I finished TWO PACKS!!! while online + watching Food Network…. ended up not going to bed til super late again… Oy… but yea, I’m sick still and I think I have a sugar hangover from the candy and the caramel apple (soo much chocolate on that thing last nite) so.. I’ll keep it easy today.

I brought my Juicy lunchbox to work today :] It’s tinier than my other one but it’s cute and frou frou

Outside:

Bottom:

Inside:

Breakfast Spread:

My Beloved:

Yep I’m eating my Fage again! (This time I’m taking FOUR lactaids… cuz three still seemed to have my stomach hurt…) I just can’t seem to get away, it’s been in my fridge taunting me. My mom kept telling me she was gonna help me finish it off to keep me from wanting it buttttt, she’s not very much a health fan.. she’ll force herself to eat SOME healthy things but she’ll choose fried chicken or a slice of cake over raw veggies or yogurt any day. Haha… or just avoid it lol…

OOOO I just thought I’d tell ya’ll I’m participating in this round of BSI (hosted by Itzy’s Kitchen) which is PEARS!!!! I emailed in my Pear-Leek-Currant Chicken recipe and I’ll try to get around to posting that soon on my newwwww Recipe section :] Haha…

Countdowns:
Daddy’s Bday – 0 Days :D
Halloween – 3 Days
Election – 7 Days!!!!!

VOTE!!!!!

I have a doctor’s appointment on Halloween :[ I’ve been bad with taking all my supplements for my anemia… and my doctor’s gonna yell at me for not gaining weight. TECHNICALLY I have, but I can’t tell her that 2 months ago I was in my 90s or she’ll beat me :[

Ok ok, see ya’ll @ Lunch… altho I have meetings from 1215-1, 1-2 and then 230-3 @_@ Meetings….. always so many meetings………

edit @ 1146am

Before I forget…
Free Chipotle Burrito… if you come in dressed as a burrito, taco bowl or salad…. >_<; The Chick-Fil-A dressed as a COW promotion was so much cooler and more likely to happen… hahaha… :]

[ source ]

Also, go to Taco Bell today between 2pm-6pm for a free taco!!!

I’m still, strangely, NOT hungry but since I’ll be in meetings til 2 before I’m back at my desk, I’ll bring strawberries with me and I’m gonna munch on my pomelo for now.

edit @ 319pm

I’m out of my meetings and still alive!!!! w00t! (nerd speak is the ish-l33t!!! HAHAHA)

My stomach HURTS :[ Maybe Fage WAS a bad idea today.. even with four lactaids… sigh* It was worth every bite and lick tho :] Can’t let amazing yogurt go to waste!!! *snicker*

ANYWAYS.

Pomelo.

Between my 2nd and 3rd meeting I ran back to my desk to scarf down a bag of strawberries and a bag of grapes :]

These grapes were NOT from cute grape boy at the farm, therefore not as sweet. JK!!! But really they really weren’t as sickingly sweet as last time. HAHA…

Nom nom nom!!! Fruit boostin’!! The weather cleared up so I’m glad, no need to be scared driving home… altho the threat of possible SNOW tomorrow freaks me out… NO! NO! NO! It’s not supposed to snow til AFTER Thanksgiving!!!

I’m excited to cook my dad’s BIRTHDAY dinner tonite!!! It’s so flattering that he requested it instead of being taken out, but then he’s like that. He’d take a nice homecooked meal over any fancy shmancy place any day.

Anyways I should finish up my work and then head home so I can get ready to cook :] I wanna try to squeeze in a jog (as long as it’s not pouring) before hand…. (my dad gets home late so I don’t have to start cooking TOO early!!!)… I wanted to share two pictures my mom sent me… haha she likes to send me funny emails with videos and jokes and pictures (usually in chinese) but I thought these two were HILARIOUS!!!!

HAHAHA the last one made me laugh so hard. HAHAHAHAHHA.. silly puppy :]

Pumpkin Millet Oats = Happy, but still sick, Tiffie

1c Pumpkin
1/2c Oats
1/4c Wheatberries
1/8c Millet
1 tbs Flaxseed
(the last time I tried flaxseeds for awhile I had a bag reaction to them, but when I had it in my 4-grain hot cereal this weekend it seemed okay… soooooo…. here I go again!!!)
Cinnamon +  Nutmeg to taste
~ 1 tsp Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla
Walnuts to top it off!!! 

Cooking the Millet

I was so tasty and I put big pieces of walnuts in it so I’d crunch a bit with a lot of oatmeal…

SOOO freaking MUCH!!! & SOOOOOO GOOD!!! SOOO much textures and chews and so fluffy!!!! I looooove the thick rolled oats from Bob’s Red Mill!!

It was so good that Dior tried to steal some :] TEEHEE….

  It took me over 1/2 an hour to EAT too… SOO GOOD and I’m still SOOO full from it (I ate early today too!!!)

Decided to make some Bacon wrapped Shrimp, topped it off with a nice sprinkling of course ground black pepper!!! YUM!!!

Placed them on top of a bed of fresh Arugula

And fried some Sage leaves as well in the bacon fat :]

 

DELICIOUS!!!

NEw season of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives tonite!!! I *heart* Guy Fieri!!!

 

ANYWAYS… I’m off to play with Dior, watch a movie, possibly drink some wine to unwind and eat my other caramel apple :]

edit @ 1047pm

My goofy little baby…

I thought it’d be funny to watch an old horror movie (it IS almost Halloween!!!)

I was laughing the whole time…. and eating this:

Monster Apple!!!!!

Cut up, it took me like an hour to eat lol….

I’m still sick… and super tired, gonna do a little work and then go to bed… Nite!!!!

Butternut Apple Walnut Muffins

20 oz Butternut Squash (finely diced and mashed)
1 1/4c Brown Sugar
4 Large Eggs
1/2 Granny Smith Apple (peeled, diced)
Pinch of Salt
2 1/2c Whole Wheat Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Cinnamon
3/4 Apple Sauce
2/3c Chopped Walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees & line a muffin pan with muffin cups.
 

2. Peel and dice and roughly mash up the butternut squash.

3. Add in the 1 1/4c of Brown Sugar (you can add more if you want it sweeter) and the 4 large eggs.
 

4. Mix thoroughly. And then chop and peel and add in the granny smith apple.

5. Mix thoroughly. Add in salt, flour, baking powder, apple sauce, cinnamon & walnuts.

6. Use an ice cream scoop and scoop them into muffin cups so it’s almost at the top.
 

Makes about 20 muffins! Bake about 20-25 min
 
 

My first batch I added a cute half walnut on top of each

and the other batch I topped it with cranberry sauce (1/2c cranberries, 1/2c water, boiled down)

1o*27 – More like today’s tiny munching brunch…

I basically have meetings from 830am – 4pm today. I’m still sick so I’m w@h-ing. I just squeezed in a quick shower, slathered on lotion and got some breakfast… er brunch ;] Yeah, it’s like past noon now. I love it when I’m w@hing because I get to stay in bed and work in pjs :] I get more work done too but I tend to eat less structured and just nibble and munch much later into the day when everything cools down a bit.

I managed to also make a quick cranberry sauce (just 1/2c cranberries, 1/2c water) that I’m gonna drizzle on my dinner tonite. I’m thinking a nice big spinach salad w/ roasted butternut squash, grilled pears, wheatberries (gotta have SOME grains haha) and possibly some mushrooms… depending if I’m in the mood…. All I did was eat grains yesterday so I need my veggies. But then we have GORGEOUS new strawberries that make me tempted for some strawberry oatmeal again ;]

But I also promised to make some bacon wrapped shrimp for my parents.. I’m thinking of grilling them and then putting it on a bed of quinoa and/or arugula :D YUM! We’ll see how that goes…

ANYWAYS….

I’m currently nibbling on 1/2 a Pomelo & my huge bag of rainbow carrots I prepped yesterday.

I love the color of the yellow carrots but they’re not as sweet XP

The light orange ones taste a bit grassier too.

ORANGE ORANGE CARROTS FTW!!!! (but I still love my pretty bag of colored carrots!!!)

(thumbs up and holding a carrot at the same time…. with the same hand……)

BUSY BUSY DAY!!! I have to prep and finish some stuff up before my 130-4 meetings… blah!!! See you @ dinner :D

 

edit @ 421pm

It’s getting close to dinner but I got hungry while baking muffins (recipe in the next post!) I feel too sick to go for a run, which I had PLANNED, so I had a big bowl of strawberries…

Dipped in my chia seeds of course :]

I can’ wait to try these:

Anyone have them yet???

Voting = Free B&J Ice Cream!!!!

I’m a sucker for free food.. burritos, cupcakes, and especially ICE CREAM :D

Come to participating scoop shops on November 4th from 5-8pm, show us you voted and you’ll get a free scoop of ice cream. Show us your “I Voted” sticker, a photo of you in front of your polling station, do the “I Voted dance” or just tell us you voted.

[ Ben & Jerry’s ]