Oh, hey. It’s me.

And yes, I am fine. I’m actually doing quite well – I’ve been busy working, spending time with friends and family, applying for jobs in New York City, traveling, and getting back into a running routine.

I’ve been trying to live my life more than document it, and for the last month, was even questioning whether to continue to blog, since it was feeling more like an obligation instead of a hobby.

But after getting an email from a loyal reader this morning, and getting inspired after talking to my friend Alysa tonight, I’m still going to blog.

I’m not ready to give it up just yet, especially since I’ve been writing here for just over two years.

It just may be a bit different from what you’re used to around here, and I’m not sure whether I’ll be continuing with some of the series I started this year.

What will you probably see here?

More photos, and less words.

I still like to bring my camera around, or use my iPhone, and capture some moments (especially good food).

So, instead of recording details on everything that’s happening in my life through narrative, I’m hoping to get photos up here with minimal words. That may change, but for now, it seems to fit.

Still food. Still unconventional thoughts. But less time needed for blogging.

Since I don’t always get around to uploading photos to Facebook, I can take care of that by putting my favorite photos up here. Hopefully in the next week I can get some photos up from the past month.

Thanks for sticking around!

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I’ve definitely been getting my New York City fix lately.

A few weeks ago I heard about the New York City Vegetarian Food Festival, and knew I wanted to check it out. Fellow vegetarian Josh joined me for the day, and we spent time checking out the festival, wandering through the city, and eating lots of food.

We took the train to Grand Central, and since the festival was only about 30 minutes away, we decided to walk there.

We spotted a very bold, very photo-friendly squirrel.

And took a quick walk through Eataly.

I’d been meaning to check out Eataly for a while, and may head back to try some of their gelato or coffee.

We arrived at the Vegetarian Food Festival, ready to explore what it had to offer.

I didn’t capture many pictures, but there were lots of samples to try, there were some speakers talking about vegetarianism and veganism, and there was a stage for bands.

Most of the samples were snack foods, which makes sense (since they’re cheap to transport and share as samples, and Americans sure love sweet and salty snacks), but I would have like to see more healthy options. And because of my soy allergy, I had to pass on a bunch of treats, but that’s okay.

(The caviar looking stuff is called Cavi-Art, which is made of seaweed, and was…interesting. I didn’t really like the texture, and it was way too salty for me.)

My favorite sample? Saratoga Peanut Butter Company. They don’t use palm oil in their products, and they have great, natural-tasting, not-too-sweet peanut butter. The Monkey Boy, made with banana and raisins, was incredible.

By the end we’d had a few too many cookies and ice cream, and were ready for lots of water, and a real meal.

Again, we decided to walk our way to Soho, in search of Balthazar Bakery for some of their delicious bread.

We found it! And left with two loaves: Multigrain, and Cranberry, Raisin & Pecan. That Cranberry, Raisin & Pecan bread is probably the best bread I’ve ever eaten. Wow.

While we thought about walking further to find a vegetarian restaurant, when we saw Lombardi’s, Josh mentioned that he’d wanted to try their pizza.

The place was packed, and our legs were tired, so we headed in, hungry for dinner.

We started with a house salad (no onions), which had a creamy house-made Italian dressing, and was loaded with mushrooms.

And also shared a wild mushroom pizza.

The pizza hit the spot, and was just right – lots of tomato sauce, fresh slices of mozzarella cheese, fresh herbs, and mushrooms.

While we thought about wandering around to find dessert or get some coffee, it was time to head home.

I love these food-filled city days.

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During second semester, senior year in college, I spent a lot of time thinking about next steps.

I knew I didn’t want to go straight into a full-time job. I also knew that I wanted to give back in some way.

While I gave some thought to the Peace Corps, being away from home for two years wasn’t for me.

And I felt like the United States has so many of its own problems, like hunger and health issues and inequity, so instead, I decided to spend a year right in my own country, facing poverty and human rights issues every day.

I did a year of AmeriCorps in Burlington, Vermont, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

AmeriCorps is a national community service program that consists of a few types of programs.

I did a statewide Vermont program in which the mission was to bring dignity and independence to elders and adults with disabilities.

I spent part of my time doing direct service, like bringing people to doctor’s appointments or doing yard work. (For some reason, my co-AmeriCorps members and I did an awful lot of yard work that year.)

I spent time recruiting, interviewing, and managing volunteers.

And I developed programs. We could pursue anything we were passionate about, as long as our programs would last well beyond our AmeriCorps year. I started a community garden at a senior living facility, and created a two-month-long intergenerational after school program for elementary and middle school kids.

So many parts of that year remain vivid…

• Living on $10,000 in one year (granted, I babysat a lot, and worked a holiday retail job, and taught Hebrew school to get by). I definitely learned how to live on a budget.
• Helping to clean out someone’s storage unit, and opening it up to find it chock full of stuff. We only had one small moving truck, four sets of hands, and a few hours. Yikes.
• Cleaning out and painting a house that was in really sad shape. So was the owner. The house stunk of cat urine and cigarette smoke.
• Driving once a week to the tiny town of Swanton, just south of Quebec, where I would catch up and eat lunch with elders at a senior meal.
• Baking chocolate chip cookies with a Quebecois woman. She taught me to get every last bit of batter out of the bowl by swiping the sides of the bowl with my hands, and sent me home with a bunch of cookies wrapped in the empty chocolate chip bag.

I still look back on my AmeriCorps year with strong feelings, even though it happened over ten years ago.

I saw some unbelievable poverty, and realized how huge the rich and poor divide is in this country.

I bonded with three other AmeriCorps members on my team.

I learned the importance of family, and caring for our elders, and having independence.

It was a year I felt like I was truly helping people, and felt like I was part of a larger community.

We really did make a difference.

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One of the best things about having two weekdays off each week is taking advantage of the quiet weekdays in typically busy places.

On Monday Josh and I headed up to Breakneck Ridge, a hiking trail in between Beacon and Cold Spring, New York, north of New York City. The hike has views of the Hudson River and the train lines, plus a few other mountains.

The hike is 2.8 miles long, but because of the elevation climb, it takes about 3.5 hours to complete.

If you live in NYC, the stop for the hike is a whistle stop on Metro North. Pretty cool, huh?

I brought some avocados, oranges, and Power Snacks (thanks, Navitas Naturals!), and Josh brought some bread from Balthazar Bakery.

A good sandwich on a hike is key. (So is having enough water.)

Before heading home, we decided to check out the towns of Beacon and Newburgh.

We stopped at a coffee shop in Beacon for a cup of green tea, and then went on a mission to find a place for dinner.

There’s a nice section of town by the Hudson River in Newburgh, where we found Cena 2000, an Italian restaurant.

I had the ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta in a puree mushroom sauce; Josh had the grilled salmon, which came with couscous, and a salad of tomatoes, avocado, asparagus, and red onions.

Delicious, especially after a few hours of hiking.

Now that spring and Daylight Savings Time are nearly here, I’m hoping to get in a bunch more hikes soon. And some running. And at least one day of skiing. 

Anyone know of other good hikes in the New York City area?

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It is the people’s right to decide their own food agricultural systems.

- Tanya Fields, Executive Director of The BLK ProjeK

We’re sanding the gears of a destructive [food] system, and we have to keep growing.

- Joan Gussow, Former Chair of Columbia Teachers College, Nutrition Education Program

Living just an hour outside of New York City has its advantages.

One of them? Going to great food conferences and festivals.

On Friday I headed into the city for the Just Food Conference, which brought together over 1500 foodies, farmers, and other local and organic food enthusiasts over the two-day conference.

The day started out with a simple breakfast buffet of Kashi cereals, Organic Valley milk, and rolls, juice, jam, and coffee from local producers.

I spent the day attending a bunch of workshops, and hearing speakers talk about the current U.S. agricultural system, the importance of community to the food movement (yay community!), and how to encourage others to hop in on the movement.

There were some incredible speakers, like Tanya Fields, a woman who ended up getting gentrified out of Harlem and into the South Bronx as a single mother with four children.

After seeing her children’s health getting worse, she eventually began a non-profit that empowers underserved women of color, and teaches them about environmental and food justice issues.

I also got to hear from the Brewmaster of The Brooklyn Brewery, Garret Oliver, and the Publisher of Edible Magazine, Brian Halweil. It’s always inspiring to hear from people who have really come a long way in the food world.

I also attended three workshops:

• Community First: Business for the Greater Good
• Daily Bread: The Food, Farms and Faith Connection
• Revolutionary Restaurant Sourcing: How Restaurants Buy, Grow, & Support Local Food

Lunch was good too, of course. I had some Butternut Squash and Orzo Salad; Tabouleh Salad; a Beet, Goat Cheese, Caperberries and Swiss Chard Sandwich; and a Falafel and Hummus Wrap. Plus some brownies and cookies.

The biggest thing I took away from the conference?

That we can all participate in the food movement, even in ways that feel small – like joining a CSA, or talking to the farmers or artisan producers at farmers’ markets, or volunteering on a farm that gets teens growing and selling food.

Sometimes the local and organic movement seems like it’s big – and while it’s growing – it has a long way to go.

There are still lots of opportunities for entrepreneurs, dreamers, and doers.

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One year ago, I started training for my first half marathon.

Even though the Wine and Dine Half Marathon wasn’t for another eight months, I wanted to take the time to build up my running core, slowly.

The longest I had ever run at that point was a 5k (3.1 miles), so the thought of running 13.1 miles was daunting.

I found a few Jeff Galloway training plans to prepare myself, and set out to run three days a week. Two of those runs were generally for 20-30 minutes.

The third day, though, every other week, was the long run.

In one week I’ll be running again.

Back in December, I decided that I’d take at least two full months off from running after the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January.

Those two months are almost up, and I can’t wait to get back into running, especially those long runs. I much prefer them over the shorter runs – they’re much more satisfying, for sure.

And if you’re a runner too – or aim to be – keep in mind that a long run is a distance that is much longer than the runs you’ve gone on recently. It’s also important to increase your distance by no more than ten percent each week.

(But please check with a medical professional before beginning a new fitness program.)

WHY LOVE THE LONG RUN?

1. Self-reflection.

Long runs take time. Mine vary from one to three hours, and that’s a lot of time to think.

I like to vary what I do while I run – I’ve called a good friend to chat for ages, I’ve listened to running and Disney podcasts, and I’ve listened to a lot of Pandora stations, and my own music.

Knowing that I’m the kind of person who almost always keeps busy, it feels healthy to just get out and think about my life for a while.

2. Fueling for the run.

When you’re running for hours, you have to fuel your body properly.

There are so many options, and I learned which foods and drinks work for me. It feels good to be so in tune with my body that I know how to treat it while running, and to know what to bring with me on the run. (I’m planning to use sugar cubes this time around, preferably fair-trade, organic ones.)

3. The gear.

While I’m not normally a big consumer, I do love to try new running clothes and gear.

From compression socks to perfect-fitting tops, I find having the right equipment almost as important as fueling right.

My running tights and fleece vest are all ready for next week.

—

I’m counting down the days. Seriously. I never thought I would crave going running – me, someone who always wanted to be a runner.

I don’t have any definite races planned out quite yet, though there are a few half marathons in New England that look pretty cool. And I also have my eye on an aquathlon in September, which involves training for a 1k swim, and then a 10k run. Swimming’s one of my favorite things to do, so I think it’d be a good challenge.

So, here we go – one year after beginning training for my first half marathon, and I’m ready for it all over again.

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Oh, hi there.

Yeah, I’m still here. I realized this morning that it’s been a week since my last blog post, and while I don’t necessarily want to apologize, I’ve been doing some thinking about where my time has gone in the last week.

Between balancing my 4-5 day a week job, exercising, job searching (for something more long-term), and seeing friends, I haven’t left myself much time to blog. And sleep it pretty important to me too.

I know this is my space, and I can write whenever I’d like, but I also feel like this blog is an important part of my life. And so is getting out the stories and words I need to share.

Blogging is definitely also a habit, like exercise, or eating healthy, or any of the other things we want to keep up with in our lives.

And with my schedule being not quite regular, and wanting to fit in my exercise before I head to work, blogging has gone to the wayside.

It’s kind of fitting, really, considering how I’ve been talking about acting more. Doing more. Since I’m living at home, I have several close friends who live nearby…if I get the chance to hang out with them, I take it.

For the next few weeks, I’m planning to spend my time a bit differently.

I’m going to take some time off from my job search. While I still want to land a non-profit job (and am actually heading to a pretty cool food job fair on Friday), I want to mostly spend the next two weeks focusing on blogging, going to work, and spending time with friends.

I honestly don’t know sometimes how I used to teach full-time and write on my blog daily, but then again, I think I was mostly reporting the foods I was eating, and there’s no way I’d go back to writing something like that.

But yeah, I’m back, and I’m here. I’ll be sharing another unconventional jobs post this week, along with some fun NYC plans that I have coming up.

I’ve gotta run though – I’m off to meet a friend for tea.

When I moved to Connecticut back in October, I had the intention of going into New York City a lot. Like every week.

But, of course, life gets busy – I work many days each week, and only get in once or twice a month.

Last month, Sofia invited me to join her for a free class at Pure Yoga. Finally, finally, we’d get to hang out for the afternoon, which hadn’t happened since June. (We’d met up for lunch since then, but only had about an hour of catch up time. Which clearly wasn’t enough.)

Reason #243 to Move to NYC: To hang out more with blogger friends.

Reason #244 to Move to NYC: So I no longer have to categorize my city trip blog posts as travel; they’ll just be a part of my everyday life. Yes.

Sofia and I met up with Leslie, and started the day at Pure Yoga, a beautiful studio on the Upper East Side.

I love the grasses growing on the side of the building. A little bit of greenery in the big city is always a good thing.

The event was set up by Amie Valpone. She and I have followed on Twitter for years, and it was wonderful to finally meet in person. I’ll be seeing her next week at another fun food event – stay tuned!

The class was a Figure 4 class, which is a barre-based class unique to Pure Yoga, and was taught by Figure 4 founder Kate Albarelli.

Figure 4 is like a combination of yoga, dance, Pilates, and weights. It was tough, but felt really good. I’m feeling it in my glutes and arms today.

After our workout, we made the trip down to Union Square to check out City Bakery. When Sofia told me about Figure 4, she promised a trip to this bakery for cups of hot chocolate.

During the month of February, City Bakery hosts its Annual Hot Chocolate Festival. Yes, a hot chocolate festival. Every day they feature a different type of hot chocolate, along with their regular dark chocolate hot chocolate and vanilla bean hot chocolate.

Reason #243 to Move to NYC: Hot Chocolate Festivals.

Leslie, Sofia, and I found a table upstairs to enjoy our food, and spent a few hours chatting about the city, food, and yoga. Megan also joined us for an hour or so.

I had the vegan lentil soup with a roll.

And then had my cup of vanilla bean hot chocolate (shown next to Sofia’s baby hot chocolate shot), which was rich and absolutely delicious.

I may need to hit up City Bakery once more before February ends.

Leslie, Sofia, and me in front of the bakery.

As I took the train home and reflected on my wonderful day, I enjoyed a piece of Sofia’s banana chocolate coconut walnut bread, and read more of my book.

I left the city feeling refreshed and ready for more.

Good thing I’ll be back in once a week for the next few weeks for more fun foodie events.

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When I find a meal I like, I make it a lot.

At one point it was cheese and black bean quesadillas; I’ve been on a peanut butter and banana sandwich kick many times. And you can imagine when I cook up a pot of soup, I eat it for days on end.

For the last week, my lunch staple has been a sandwich made with avocado, ricotta, and egg. It’s delicious, filling, and gives me the protein that I’ve been craving lately. If you’re looking for more vegetables, add a salad or cup of soup on the side.

The richness of the avocado and ricotta make this extra delicious.

Avocado Ricotta Egg Sandwich

• English muffin
• 1/3 avocado, mashed
• 1/4 cup ricotta
• 2 eggs, cooked how you like

I like to just layer the sandwich ingredients on the English muffin, and eat the whole thing with a knife and fork. I suppose you could eat it sandwich style, but it’s kind of messy.

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Alright, it’s time for a confession.

Ever since I moved back home in October, I’ve barely done any cooking.

Yes, me. A food blogger. A foodie. A person who normally loves to cook.

Sure, I still make oatmeal most mornings, and I make simple things like eggs and pasta and couscous. But it’s rare for me to make a pot of soup, or homemade pizzas, or any of my other favorite things to cook.

I may seem like I’m full of excuses. Perhaps it all comes down to laziness, or bad habits (from not really cooking ever when I’ve lived at home), but all I know is my cooking is definitely on the low side while living at home.

All I can hope and assume is that when I move to the city and get my own place, the cooking will increase.

I LIKE TO HAVE MY OWN KITCHEN

As wonderful as my parents’ kitchen is, it’s never the same as having your own space and kitchen tools.

There’s plenty of counter space, so that’s not the issue. And we have all kinds of pots and pans and colanders and a food processor and pretty much whatever else I would think to use.

But it’s not my kitchen.

Even when I lived in Burlington, Vermont and had a tiny kitchen in my studio apartment, with next to no counter space, I did lots of cooking. I made soups or stews every Sunday to eat all week long. I canned tomatoes and made homemade pesto and applesauce and preserves.

So I know it’s not the space that’s an issue. It’s more about having privacy and my own cookware and not wanting to disturb anyone.

I’M GOING OUT TO EAT MORE

Being surrounded by friends and family (and living pretty close to lots of good restaurants), I eat out at least twice a week.

I really like it, even though eating out isn’t always very healthy. But when my friends invite me to go to the local Latin American café, or our favorite sushi place, or for wine and dessert at a little Italian place, I’m all in.

It feels good to get out of the house a few nights a week, and I’m at a point where I’m less concerned about saving money, and more concerned about staying social.

I GET AWFULLY COMFORTABLE

It must have something to do with going back to the house where I grew up, when I barely did any cooking.

It wasn’t until I was living on my own – after moving out of the dorms in college – that I really got into cooking. One roommate and I constantly experimented with different vegan recipes. One friend and I often cooked at her apartment, making big bowls of steamed vegetables with basmati rice and ghee. Many of our parties in college were potlucks or dinner parties, and we did quite a lot of cooking.

From there, I moved onto having that apartment in Burlington, where I learned how to cook quinoa and millet and dried beans and lots of other simple and healthy foods.

But whenever I get back home, it’s kind of like regressing back to my high school self. I get home from work, and my mom’s usually cooked dinner. I make sure to do the dishes afterwards (something I should have done better back in high school), but I still don’t really cook.

I suppose when the mood strikes, or when I move out, things will change. But for now, I’m in an acceptance mode, and really enjoying spending my time doing things besides cooking.

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