No Hunger, No Problem

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Did any of you watch the CrossFit Games this past week!?

In-freaking-sane. I was on the edge of my seat eating kettle corn watching these superhumans do the impossible.

In other news…

Three of my high school dance company friends got together for a reunion at Bareburger. It had been forever since I’d seen Pam and Charli (I saw Susie not too long ago in the city), and it was so fun catching up with these girls! We’re all talking about our jobs and intense research projects these days. TOO MUCH (quasi-)ADULTING.

what radiant women

As Charli said, we came with our eager stomachs for some kickass burgers. Pam also spotted these incredible brussels sprouts on the menu that we shared. Get this: brussels sprouts with sriracha, blue cheese, pork belly, and butternut squash.

Whoever thought of this combo is out of his/her mind, yet so brilliant. For my burger, I got the El Matador: bison burger, queso fresco, pickled jalapeños, guac, pico de gallo, and green leaf lettuce on a sprout bun.

it looks like a guacamole sandwich tower at first sight, which is very pleasing

Demolished that.

Warning: the rest of this is going to be very first world problem.

When my family went out for our Groupon dinner (that was postponed last week) at North Street Tavern after Mass, I was not hungry at all. Lunch at Bareburger was fatty and filling, but it was also pretty late (we finished at around 3:30).

I could have eaten a salad at Bareburger, but I didn’t want to be “that person” to order salad at a burger place, especially while dining with good friends. Not that they would have judged me, but I knew that we chose this reunion to be at Bareburger for a reason (read: dang delicious burgers).

I also really wanted a burger because I had just worked out and I wanted hearty foooooood.

If I’m honest, I was almost…disappointed that I was so full by the time dinner rolled around. We were about to eat at this fancy restaurant, and I had zero desire for any food. This would have stressed me out to NO END a couple years ago.

“Why did I eat so much at lunch? I will definitely only have a salad now. Maybe I just shouldn’t eat at all. Should I just try to stuff all this food?”

crab cakes with mango salsa for the table to share ➔ 1/2 a cake for each person

But as intro anatomy taught me, rest and digest is the way to go. It’s easier said than done for some of us (trust me), but there’s no need to stress over food. In my recovery, there was a weird phase where I unsure whether I was stuffed because I actually overate or because I just needed to adjust to this new amount of food that I should be eating. This made me hyper-attentive to my stomach at all times, and I would stress about having to eat a certain amount for each meal, even if I wasn’t that hungry.

tuna tartare ➔ mom shared a bite with me

Sometimes that anxiety still creeps up on me, even though I’m certain that I’m eating a healthy amount overall. Or maybe it’s just anxiety that I need to eat all this good food while it’s in front of me. Either way, I’ve learned to CHILL.

mom’s fave: sweet potato fries ➔ I had a few of these

If I’m not hungry at all, no one is forcing me to eat. Don’t eat. If I have a few bites of food— because, hey, I’m at a nice restaurant with my family— that’s still okay. God gave us food to live and to enjoy, but He definitely did not give it to us to stress over it.

If you’ve struggled with food in any way, you know that it’s hard to naturally accept those thoughts “like a normal person”, but I can attest that it is possible to work through it.

Luckily for me, the rest of the family didn’t have nearly as much food as I did during the day, so they were ready for this meal.

my wood-fired personal pizza with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, ricotta, and basil ➔ 2 slices of this

As I relaxed into the meal more, I found that my appetite started to appear (it had been ~4 hours since I finished at Bareburger by then).

a bite or two of Ben’s lobster mac and cheese

I knew to save room for dessert, don’t you worry. This I finished all by myself.

carrot cake!

A few disclaimers:

We ordered so much food because the Groupon was worth a LOT.
Hooray for leftovers.
We are humbly grateful to have so much delicious food available to us.
We also don’t usually eat out every weekend, but I dunno, I guess we have Groupons to use.

Other eats at home have involved peanut butter and banana (but I didn’t need to say that).

brown rice breakfast bowl

overnight oat smoothie with blueberries added in

whole wheat banana pancakes for Sunday morning breakfast

topped with Greek yogurt, nut butter, and blueberries

I also taught Ben how to make and eat avocado egg toast. It is truly an art and a skill. Let me know if you want a tutorial.

I’d say the young lad needs a bit more practice, but not bad for a rookie.

Hope you all have an awesome Monday! Rest and digest.

So tell me:

Thoughts on this first world problem of mine.

What was your Sunday morning breakfast?

Did you watch the CrossFit Games?

What are you thankful for today? Well, if I do indeed wake up after I go to sleep tonight (typing this Sunday night), then I’m thankful for another day of life and for the opportunity to go a job that I find enjoyable and fulfilling.

Two Museums, Two Desserts, Two Blistered Feet

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I did something this weekend other than “oh ya know, just layin’ low…” !!!

Not that there’s anything wrong with laying low (after all, I love kicking up my feet after work these days). But it’s nice to exit the abode and live a little, especially when the weather is as gorgeous as it was this weekend!

Friday

There’s nothing really to share about Friday except that I worked, ate my favorite dinner of the week, and went to bed at 9.

brown rice with eel + avocado = all the good things in sushi, amplified in a bowl

Also, BEN CAME HOME FROM SPAIN! He completed El Camino de Santiago, which is historically a Christian walking pilgrimage. There are many routes, but Ben did a super long one that totaled 890 km (553 miles) within 32 days. Casual.

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Congrats, Ben! YOU ROCK.

He actually came home at 2 AM Saturday morning, but I snuck into his room later in the morning to say hi to him before I left for NYC.

Saturday

Since I went to bed so darn early, I woke up at around 6 AM for some sunrise moves and grooves!

100 burpee workout // 10 reps of each // Click here for demos!

10 tuck jump burpees
10 T pushup burpees
10 candlestick to chair burpees
10 alternating side burpees (this one actually hurt my shoulder a bit because the pushup becomes kinda awkward, so I would not recommend this variation)
10 broad jump burpees
10 spiderman pushup burpees
10 handstand burpees
10 superman burpees
10 dive bomber burpees
10 plank jack tuck jump burpees

I tried to do some new/weird variations to keep things interesting, so it was definitely a fun (and tiring) one!

banana bread baked oatmeal with plain peanut butter + “My Maine Squeeze” almond butter from The Peanut Principle

from the farmers’ market 😀

Plus a couple pieces of my mom’s egg white pork bake.

After washing up, Pop dropped me off at the train station to head down to the city! Cue this Tori Kelly song (because she is the soundtrack to my life).

First of all, I saw an extraordinary number of dads with their kids on the train/in the city that day, and it made my heart explode.

Secondly, Park Ave looks so clean and luxurious, but it honestly just smells like manure. #overrated

First stop of the day was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Can you believe I’ve lived in NY for 11 years, and this was my first time going there?

I guess if you don’t live in NY, you don’t really see the big deal. But this is one of those “must see” attractions in the city.

I did my tourist thing while waiting for my friend, Christine.

Squealing greeting + photos in front of the MET, because we’re bananas (yellow on the outside, white on the inside, in case you haven’t seen me make that joke 100 times on the blog).

apparently this is where Gossip Girl cast ate lunch in the show??

In we went!

We interspersed our “ooo’s” and “aaah’s” with some serious girl talk and some attempts at reading our people’s language.

My contribution every time: “I have no idea what it means, but it looks familiar.”

At least we’re proficient in fit fam culture.

Art eventually drains ya girls, so we headed over to lunch at Bluestone Lane for some Australian fare at around 1 PM.

the restaurant is an extension of an Episcopalian church!

I spy vegemite toast and the word “brekkie”

Christine got the egg and bacon roll + I got the Aussie meat pie with mint pea puree

dynamite

Our waiter was Australian, which really added to the experience. Arman, I could not stop thinking about you.

We made it our mission to find both ice cream and Levain Bakery for dessert, so we took the scenic route and walked around the Central Park reservoir. It was the absolute perfect day to do it! Hot, but not unbearable, and bluuuuuue skies.

We didn’t know where to get ice cream, but we happened upon Amorino Gelato, which is famous for making roses out of their gelato! That stuff is expensive, but it is undeniably pretty and delicious.

Christine got fruity flavors + I got pistachio, black cherry, and a cookie butter flavor!

That cone was tiny and that gelato was melting wicked fast. You would think I was a magician, that’s how quickly I made it disappear.

We continued walking and found the legendary Levain Bakery. I had been hearing about their incredible chocolate chip cookies since I moved to New York, basically. This was THE DAY.

But first, a short wait on a line that spanned half the block. Expected.

this is my “THIS IS BETTER THAN DISNEY WORLD BUT I’M TRYING TO BE CIVILIZED” pose

We descended into the little bakery…

…I bought one chocolate chip cookie and one oatmeal raisin scone. We desperately needed to charge our phones, so we walked over to a Starbucks, where I finally unveiled the glory…

these are both HUGE

…wait for it!!!

You have no idea how long I had been waiting to take that money shot. Ladies and gents, this was one of the best things that my taste buds have ever encountered. I’m not even a big fan of chocolate.

Warm.

Crispy on the outside.

Slightly under-baked and gooey on the inside.

Melted chocolate chips.

Rich walnut chunks.

Thick and decadent.

– a poem about Levain’s chocolate chip cookie by Alison

Christine and I split the mega cookie, and we had a few bites of the scone, which was fantastic as well. Not too sweet at all, but BUTTERY. The bag smelled like buttered popcorn. Mmmmm.

Afterwards, we walked back around the reservoir to where we started, and continued with some more girl talk until Christine had to leave. Next museum of the day was Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design with one of my high school dance company mates, Susie!

had to take a pic of this

This is probably my favorite museum of all time. It’s so interactive, and the vibe is an intersection between classical architecture and modern technology.

They give you this high tech pen that acts as a memory stick. The pen has a “+” sign on the back that synchronizes to the “+” sign on each description panel on the exhibits. When you go home, you go onto their website and enter your unique code that they gave you, and you can see pictures of all the exhibits you saved via the pen. MAGICAL.

This immersion room is your childhood dream. You basically design your own wallpaper with the pen, and watch it come to life in front of your eyes.

Five stars for Cooper Hewitt! Thank you so much, Susie, for suggesting it!

We worked up a good appetite playing around in the museum. Susie chose an excellent Greek restaurant called Korali for dinner.

a rare moment when no cars are about to run you over in the city

beet salad with grapefruit, pine nuts, goat cheese, fennel, dill and scallions

when the manager walks up to you offering a FREE platter of melted Greek cheese, you do not refuse (such a nice gesture of them!)

soup of the day: lentil

Susie gave me a bite of her lamb shank, which was heavenly

We also walked by this gem of a Citi bank sign (great eye, Susie).

This is Gabby Douglas, US Olympic Gymnast. But peep the caption in the upper left hand corner…

THIS is Allyson Felix, US Olympic Track and Field Runner:

[source]

Alright, Citi Bank.

And then I bid NYC a good night.

Ben picked me up at the train station, and I was all excited to tell him that I walked 11 miles that day (according to the Apple Health app), but then I remembered that he had been walking an average of 20 miles per day for the past month. Overachiever.

I still gave myself a foot massage before bed.

Sunday

I got up a little past 7 to get ready for Mass and say goodbye (already!) to Ben and Madre. Not for long though. Pop and I will meet them in Florida soon for our big family vacation next week!

Breakfast after Mass:

banana egg white chia seed oatmeal

I also had leftover roasted broccoli while cooking this. Cravings, man.

I watched some gymnastics, read some blogs, and napped before getting up and eating again. Sundays, man.

smoked salmon avocado toast + unpictured carrots and hummus + half a frozen banana

Then I started this blog post and FaceTimed with my beautiful friend, Briana, from college. Followed by some killer moves and grooves in the basement (which I have deemed to be my “pain cave”).

60 seconds strength/45 seconds cardio/20 seconds plyometric/15 seconds rest

3 rounds of each block, 1 minute rest between blocks

BLOCK #1

weighted reverse lunges with kick (30 sec each leg)
burpees
squat jumps

BLOCK #2

pistol squats (30 sec each leg)
jumping jacks
broad jumps over a step, lengthwise

BLOCK #3

weighted Bulgarian split squats (30 sec each leg)
high knees
full sit tuck jumps

BLOCK #4

I hadn’t done a workout that made my quads cry in a while. I stretched out before Pop and I went to one of our favorites for dinner— Bareburger!

I made my own burger: turkey burger, spinach, sprouts, tomato, pimento cheese on sprout bun + ketchup and mustard

sweet potato fries with their curry ketchup + special sauce

the inner beauty of my burger

Pop’s “Hog Wild” burger: wild boar burger, pimento cheese, frizzled chickpea onions (!?), fried egg, and pickled green tomatoes on a brioche bun

Decadence once again.

We picked up some groceries afterwards, and now I’m finishing typing this while watching sports on TV (← yay for Olympic season coming up!). ‘Twas a fabulous weekend filled with good food, great conversation, and even better people.

Back to the grind today, but one more week until vacation! Hope you all have stellar Monday. Give yourself a foot massage. You deserve it.

So tell me:

Two things you did this weekend!

What is your favorite museum?

What is the best cookie you’ve ever eaten?

Are there any sports you are following currently?

Day in the Life of a Ninja

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Two trips down, one to go!

Not that I’m counting down vacations. St. Louis (for cousin’s Baptism) and Canada (to visit relatives) were a blast, and our last family trip is to Seattle (for a wedding) starts today. Then it’s the countdown to move-in day back in Boston!

Our last day in Canada had some ups and downs, but mostly ups. If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat, you probably already know that I’ve exhausted the ~~fact~~ joke that I’ve been in ninja training, but I’m about to push it to the limit with this post.

A Day in the Life of a Ninja (Monday)

7:00 AM— Wake up and go to the bathroom. Check emails, comments, and social media.

8:00 AM— Go back to sleep, because ninjas need rest to be on their game.

9:00 AM— Wake up again, brush teeth, etc. Eat breakfast, which is oatmeal a la microwave, because time is of the essence for ninjas (and I didn’t want to burn the bottom of my aunt’s pot like I did on Sunday morning, woo).

quick oats, unflavored protein powder, cinnamon, banana, maple syrup, milk, and almond butter

10:00 AM— Change into ninja clothes (workout capris and top).

10:15 AM— Hang out with my cousin, Amy. Get my mind blown by hexaflexagons (<— seriously the coolest thing ever) and get my butt kicked in Super Smash Bros (virtual ninja training).

she’s trying to create a character that looks like me, and the hair is pretty darn accurate

1:00 PM— Go to lunch at a tea house with Amy and her dad, because ninjas obviously like Asian food.

delicious noodles, short ribs, chicken, soup dumplings, beef tendon wraps, and mango yogurt juice

2:30 PM— Digest at home and get ready for bouldering (aka ninja training for scaling mountains and buildings).

3:30 PM— Start bouldering! {I used to rock climb regularly when I was in fourth and fifth grade, so the smell of the gym was familiar and nostalgic. I missed it!} ~~This was an absolute blast.~~ We were all about focus and discipline during our training.

my cousin and uncle are SO STRONG

5:45 PM— After burning out our hands, arms, and upper backs, we realize that we’re late for our dinner appointments. They drop me off to meet my dad.

6:45 PM—Dad and I arrive at my other aunt and uncle’s house and go to a pub for dinner from there. My stomach is hurting a little bit… Figure that I’m just hungry from all the climbing.

7:00 PM— Sit down to menus and some fun 70s music bingo. Try a sip of my dad’s beer because that’s legal for me in Canada.

no idea what I’m doing

7:20 PM— Dig into my fish tacos! My aunt also shares one of her wings with me.

7:50 PM— After finishing two of my tacos and sharing the third, we continue playing music bingo until my aunt wins a round! But then I totally kill the vibe when my stomach pains become semi-excruciating. Take a tablet from my aunt that’s supposed to absorb gas in your stomach. Go to the bathroom just in case.

8:00 PM— Aunt decides to take me back to her house to rest a little. Every step hurts my stomach! Aunt kindly nurses me with some tonic water and her comfy couch. Ninjas are not invincible.

8:30 PM— After lying down for a bit, stomach pain dissipates dramatically. Like, 100 to 0, real quick. We concluded that it was a heck of a lot of gas in my stomach for whatever reason (my stomach looked like a balloon, but I didn’t feel super full or anything). Thanks, Aunt Judy!!!

9:00 PM— Head back to cousin’s house, where we’re staying. Shower up.

9:30 PM— Practice throwing knives with the family, because ninjas. (Promise we’re not actually plotting to kill anyone. This is purely for fun…but that doesn’t sound much better, does it?)

10:20 PM— Practice handstands. Evidently, my stomach pains were virtually nonexistent at this point, thanks be to God.

11:00 PM— Sleep!

_____________________________

And yesterday we drove 9 hours back down to New York, where we did the whole unpack, laundry, repack deal. Here are some eats from our road trip!

McDonald’s Asian grilled chicken salad (not too shabby!)

lots of peanut butter in the car

Bareburger for dinner: pickles and slaw to share // “blue elk” burger

finished off the day with some vanilla bean ice cream + cinnamon and nutmeg (tastes like eggnog!)

Catch ya on the other side of the country! Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday 🙂

So tell me:

Have you ever gone rock climbing or bouldering? I rekindled my love for it on Monday. My shoulders and forearms the next day though… not so much.

Have you ever had extreme stomach pains due to gas? Doesn’t that sound sexy.

Have you ever done a sport/activity that seems scary to others? Like shooting or archery?

If you’ve ever been to Seattle or Portland, what should we do there?

The Best Things I Did This Weekend

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I am currently staring at all the food I need to put away in the fridge and procrastinating doing so by blogging.

What is all this food I’m staring at? See below. 🙂

The Best Things I Did This Weekend:

1. Celebrating Fathers’ Day!

There are no words that can justly describe how much Pop means to me. Such a humble, hard working, charitable man. Thank you for everything, Pop!

We BBQ’d to celebrate and followed typical protocol— I chop, marinate, and skewer; Dad grills. We make a good team.

breakfast for Pop: egg white omelet with cheese, greens, red bell peppers, and avocado + turkey bacon + cinnamon apple FlapJacked pancakes

breakfast for me (unpictured: two or three more spoonfuls of almond butter)

THE BEST ROASTED SWEET POTATOES EVER

pork souvlaki

Moroccan chicken kebabs

grilled vegetables

pita with chicken, tomatoes, and homemade cucumber mint yogurt sauce

When Dad and I grill, we eat super casually. We’ll just graze and try whatever is ready out of the oven or off the grill, as a BBQ should be IMO. It’s like an all night buffet.

2. Logging off of Facebook and Instagram for a majority of the weekend (Friday and Saturday at least).

I dare you to try this. Logging off of social media and not worrying about notifications or checking news feeds did wonders for my focus and breathing. Yes, I was still on Instagram and FB, especially yesterday, but even taking a couple days off helped me realize how much time and energy I spent on social media. I’m going to make this a regular thing.

3. This breakfast.

I rarely have the same breakfast two mornings in a row, but this was a repeat on Friday and Saturday because it was basically 90% prepared and tasted 100% delicious.

a hefty piece of this banana bread oatmeal bake (that I baked earlier this week) with sunflower seed butter + Greek yogurt with chia, cinnamon, nutmeg, banana, and pb

4. One handed handstand against the wall!

I’ve tried this in the past and failed, but on Friday night I just went for it again and surprised myself! I did it a few times and called it a day, don’t worry 😉

5. Amanda’s banana muffins.

These babies made their way to the top of some ice cream…

…and some chia pudding…

…and into my belly.

6. Surprising mom at the airport during her layover.

It’s a long story as to why she was traveling, but long story short: We got to see her for the first time in about a month at the airport! She was so happy to see us, and we were so happy to see her!

airport Qdoba doing me good

7. Listening to Tori Kelly’s new album on iTunes radio.

I need to white-girl-fan-girl here, because I CANNOT EVEN handle how amazing it is. I advise you to go listen (on iTunes Radio First Play, but the album drops tomorrow!).

no one sings or does curly hair quite like her

8. Bareburger with Pop.

The “SoCal”: turkey burger with sprouts, guacamole, pickled red onions, and a beauteous amount of aged cheddar on a multigrain bun

vegan carrot cake which rocked our worlds

9. Eating more than Pop on Saturday.

This is real life. I ate quite a bit more than my dad on Saturday, and I didn’t even try! Granted, we have two opposite goals for our bodies (and…different bodies), but I’m pretty darn impressed with myself!

10. Going to church.

Always the highlight.

___________________________

Woo that’s a lot of happenings! Wait, more than half of these are about food. I act surprised, but I guess I shouldn’t be…

Hope you all have a marvelous Monday!

So tell me:

The top three best things you did this weekend!

Do you like repeating breakfast or changing it up?

Did you cook/bake anything amazing this weekend?

Summer Food Bucket List

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I feel like a new woman!

Chopped it.

My mom said that I haven’t had my hair this short since I was, like, five years old. It’s true! If I look like a youngster, I might as well embrace it. Apparently this hair length is called a “lob”➔ long+bob.

There’s a lob on my head.

Ba da bop ba baaa, I’m lobbin’ it.

Like my lob?

In other news, I made some fancy chicken last night. I say fancy only because it took me forever to make and I made it in a cast iron skillet. Oh, and it had mushrooms and {dried} rosemary in it.

I used this recipe

I had it over some slightly mushy brown rice, because I’m that person who doesn’t know how to cook rice properly. WITH a rice cooker.

Last week I shared my summer bucket list, which included a bunch of activities I’d like to do before heading back to college. This week I have another summer bucket list— for food!

I should take advantage of the blessed availability of a kitchen while I’m home. Also, I want to make an effort to find some awesome food festivals and events in my county and in NYC. I’m not naturally an adventure-seeker, so when I discovered Eventbrite, I decided to join their summer bucket list for food festivals and events. It’s a good opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and find adventures!

Why not, right? I live next to the Big Apple for crying out loud— home of some of the best and most diverse food in the world!

This is a two-part bucket list. The first part is a list of foods I’d like to make at home, and the second part is a list of restaurants and food events I want to check out.

I’m going to use the term “bucket list” lightly this time, because I know I cannot check off all the following items. But at least I have a list, a sense of direction, and motivation! Right? Just nod your head in agreement, please.

The Food to Make

Peach cobbler {a la mode, of course}

A recipe or two from Davida’s healthy breakfast ebook
A recipe of two from Kylie’s single serve cookie dough ebook
Cornbread and chili (maybe THIS!!!)

Homemade pizza
Homemade popsicles
Peanut butter cookies
Fresh lemonade
Banana soft serve

Fish tacos
Salmon burgers/fish cakes
Re-creation of Mei Mei’s “Big Awesome” scallion pancake sandwich (one of the best things I’ve ever eaten)

Soba noodle salad
Homemade shamrock shake
Bananas foster
Muffins of any kind

Cheese biscuits (just because I need something to fill the space in my heart after having these ones in Florida)

I’ll come back for you one day…

The Places and Events

Bareburger

Rice to Riches
Festa Italiana at a local church (for the meatball sub ♥)

Down to Earth Farmers Market
Taste of Asia Food Festival
cheap vanilla soft serve from Baskin Robbins or McDonald’s

Nope, this post is not sponsored. I just thought Eventbrite was onto something groovy. They have this cool event management page, where people and companies can create and organize events and sell tickets. I actually found a few of the events listed above through Eventbrite! Their website makes it easy to find the location and type of event you’re looking for.

So go seek adventure this summer. You might discover fun things like a gelato class or a Greek festival! You might also learn that you can’t cook a certain food. Like rice.

So tell me:

Three things you want to cook/bake this summer!

One food event you want to attend this summer.

What is your hair length right now?

Have you ever messed up cooking a food that is supposed to be dumb easy?