Do The Short Week Dance!

I really enjoy 3-day weekends. I realize this isn’t a unique opinion, but let me give you my reasons:

1. I love having an extra day to sleep in/stay out late/read/run/whatever!

2. Long weekend usually mean getting to travel somewhere and see people I wouldn’t normally get to see.

3. More chances to experiment in my kitchen and at restaurants!

What are your favorite things about long weekends? Do you prefer no-work Fridays? Or no-work Mondays?

This weekend, I’m hoping to run on Friday morning with Melissa and then we’re zipping off to the Hamptons to spend the weekend with The Huz’s parents. Hopefully we’ll get to spend some time on the beach, go for long walks (on the beach maybe? hehe), eat good BBQ and seafood and work on Bodhi’s swimming skills. The poor pup grew up in Tennessee and just about jumped out of his skin the first time we took him to the ocean a month or so ago. Maybe he’ll go in if The Huz can swim with him!

In preparation for a weekend of foods I have no control over, I’m trying to make the most of my options here in the city this week.

Monday started off with a 45 minute Power Yoga from YogaDownload.com. It was a great way to start the morning – challenging, but not exhausting. Check it out! Morning eats included a Green Monster, which was followed by a CocoBanana bar around 11:30am.

The bar kept me full for a long time and I didn’t eat my leftover pasta salad until 3pm, when I got back from my walk to the library.

I’d never been to the NYPL (except the little branch near my office) before and I loved the plaques in the concrete and the view down 41^st Street. Rather than venturing into the main building, I skipped over to the Mid-Manhattan branch, which is just across the street from the lions and picked up a book I’ve been reading so much about lately: The Raw Food Detox Diet, by Natalia Rose. After my Beam Green experience and the wonderful lecture Gil Jacobs gave, I’ve been feeling a pull to learn more about the raw movement and to start incorporating more raw foods into my diet. The lovely Ms. LoveIN and Gena have both had wonderful thoughts and posted incredibly informative and helpful feedback about Natalia and her philosophy. Since I respect both women so much, I have a feeling I’ll have a similar level of respect of Natalia when I’m done reading her book!

I told The Huz about my curiosity and, unfortunately, he was not exactly thrilled. When I told him about the juicer, he cried, “NO MORE KITCHEN APPLIANCES!” so loudly I think most of the East River Promenade heard him. To be fair, the poor guy has to navigate around numerous blender parts every time he ventures into the kitchen and the sound isn’t exactly angelic when I mix up my morning Green Monsters. However, he does fully support anything that makes me happy. Soooo, I’ve decided to read Natalia’s book (and any other raw food materials people think might be helpful!!) for the next few weeks. I have it for 3 weeks from the library and that takes me up to my birthday. I’ll get green juice from the Green Bean Café a few days a week and I’ll keep making my Monsters (I’m going to need a seriously convincing argument to give these babies up!) on my non-juice days to both use the produce I love to buy and vary my nutrient intake. I’ll start incorporating some of her raw recipes, as desired, and then I’ll assess my feelings on the raw lifestyle the weekend of my birthday (which hopefully will be topped off with a trip to Pure and a picnic on the Great Lawn!). I’ll be sure to post my thoughts throughout this experiment and I’d love your input and feedback as well.

For dinner on Monday, I had the last of the Salsamole with some blue corn chips and a few pieces of feta with pita, and a side of Natalia Rose. I also had a kiwi, though I didn’t eat the whole thing because some of it had gotten a bit too soft for my liking.

I really like my fruits a little under-ripe. Too soft and it’s a no-go for me. I prefer the refreshing crisp bite of a nectarine to the mush of a mango any day.

Do you like your fruit very ripe?

I also had another small bowl of peanut butter M&Ms while watching Seven Pounds and I have to say I’m glad the M&Ms are now out of the house. I always think “I’ll have some self control this time. This time I won’t eat the whole thing in one sitting” but it never works. Ever. I hope I can remember this someday when I’m standing in the candy aisle of the pharmacy again!

On Tuesday, I started my day with some Green Lemonade, courtesy of Green Bean Café. I revised the café’s “Green Light” juice slightly by scrapping the celery and adding apple, ginger, kale and lemon. It was delicious, though I have realized I really prefer my juices on ice. Something about warm juice really just gets me. I carried the juice to work and poured two glasses over ice, which I sipped happily until 12:30 when I went to the gym. I can’t believe I was so satisfied with just fruit/veggie juice for so long! Well, juice and a Tazo Zen tea, since the juice made me so cold! 😉

At the gym, I did 40 minutes on the stair climber at level 9. It was a good workout, I was sweating like some kind of maniac, but I have to be honest – I picked the stair climber so I could read more of The Raw Food Detox Diet! So far, so good, though I’ll write more later about some questions I’ve already had to follow up on.

For lunch, I got a small salad at Hale and Hearty Soups with mixed greens, shredded carrot, cucumber and broccoli and added a little EVOO and balsamic vinegar. Then, keeping with proper food combining techniques (or at least improved combining), I had my pasta salad leftovers. I genuinely did try to eat the veggies first and save the pasta for after, but those spiral bites are tricky and a few snuck in.

I had to work an event at work on Tuesday night so I’ll write more on that later.

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(Can you tell I didn’t take Spanish?!?)