Make New Friends, but Keep the Old…

Friday night was full of old and new friends! First I had to get through the workday though. To fuel my day, I had a Green Monster in the morning and then a CocoBanana Bar around 11:30. I was surprised how long it kept me satisfied and I didn’t reach for the rest of my food until around 3:30! I packed a MASSIVE container full of fresh cherries, strawberries and blueberries and ate every last gluttonous bite. 🙂

I also hit up the gym around 3 to get a quick workout in – 3 miles on the treadmill, mostly walking with a little jogging. It felt good to just do what I was in the mood for, rather than feel like I absolutely had to run some distance or burn some magic number of calories.

Before leaving work, I had a few (3) of the new and improved cookie balls I’d brought to work and then sent the last two home with a coworker. Thank goodness they were out of my hands!

After work, the fun started! I rushed home to take Bodhi out briefly and then went over to Candle 79 to meet VeggieGirl and 15 other wonderful bloggers. Lucky for me, I missed the torrential downpour by about 30 seconds and I settled in next to Diana, whom I met on Wednesday at the Beam Green event. We started off dinner with a tasty appetizer, though I’m not entirely sure what it was made of!

I ordered the live zucchini enchiladas for my entree because I’ve been dying to try a “dairy” made from nuts and the cashew sauce did not disappoint! This dish was so much more substantial than I would have imagined and yet I finished it feel happy and satisfied, not stuffed.

As described on the website, the dish was: cashew cheese, spinach, guacamole, chipotle-tomato sauce, cashew sour cream, pumpkin seeds, baby romaine, cucumber-tomato salsa

Most of all, I loved having the opportunity to meet and talk with so many other bloggers. Everyone around the table was so smart and full of life and I hope I’ll get to see much more of them in the future. I was terrible about taking pictures of people, but I did get one of Danielle, Amelia, me and Diana. Thankfully, Diana took lots of photos so check out her recap!

After dinner, I was jonesing for a dessert so the group split up a bit and some of us headed to Pinkberry. Pinkberry debuted 3 new flavors and they were offering a free parfait with two toppings. YAHOO!! The staff was very understanding of our blogger ways:

I had the coconut frozen yogurt with chocolate chips and bing cherries. Tasty!!

Diana had the coconut with chocolate shavings and blackberries. Double tasty!

I really enjoyed having a chance to chit chat for a bit and we’re already planning a chance to meet up for some tasty food shopping some weekend in the near future out in her ‘hood. I can’t wait!

After dessert, I hunkered down to wait for my friend to arrive and thankfully she made it to the city safe and sound. We called it a night around 1:30am after the dogs had a chance to get to know each other. I also saw some totally cool, but also totally creepy cloud cover!

Saturday morning, I shared a CocoBanana Bar with Kristin and had a cookie ball before whisking her off for a run in Central Park. The guys took the pups to the dog park and I was determined to make the most of having my running buddy in town. When asked how far we’d be running, I said “Eh, 6 or so…” Here is how we looked before heading out the door:

No pictures of the “after” look since we were not at our best, but we did stop by Bean Gone Green for a tasty juice (for me) and smoothie (for Kristin). Look at that pretty green color!

I had the Green Light, which had celery, cucumber, spinach and ginger, and I asked them to add apple and mint. It was so fresh and delicious. It also was just what I wanted after a long run since distances over 6 miles or so can wreak havoc on my digestive system.

For lunch, I made some Salsa-mole to accompany the pizza The Huz ordered (Kristin’s beau had never been to NYC before, so pizza was a MUST!) and it was a big hit. I used one lime and one lemon this time and it was fabulous:

We all took the pups to Central Park and snuck them onto the Great Lawn just before the rain started so we headed home and I began prepping dinner while the lovebirds went to “see the sparkly lights” in Times Square. In addition to the many M&Ms they purchased, they also returned with a very tasty bottle of Chateau Diana Pinot Grigio, which we enjoyed with a slight variation of my Summertime Spiral Pasta Salad. For this batch, I added feta cheese, a bell pepper and fresh raw onion. I also pureed some of the fresh basil into the dressing. It was muy bueno!!

I also sliced up a whole wheat baguette and mixed up some olive oil with red pepper flakes, garlic powder and oregano.

For dessert, we had fun with fruit!

Sunday morning dawned warm and bright, though we didn’t really mobilize until closer to noon! We decided to give the puppies some alone time and left them at home while we went to a diner about two blocks away.

I had a bagel with a little bit of the cream cheese SLAB and some grape jam along with a fruit salad.

By contrast, here is The Huz’s meal:

We had a great time and snapped a few pictures before hitting up the fruit stand and packing up our friends.

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and had some frozen peanut butter M&Ms and dried fruit while catching up on blogs:

Do you still keep in touch with many friends from your childhood?