Questioning My Independence

July 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

 

Toto, we’re not in Brooklyn anymore.

I’m out in the burbs celebrating Independence Day with my hometown friends, and those crazy kids I like to call Mom and Dad. The last few times I’ve been home the thing that has struck me most is how grown up every one seems to be. My friends own houses (some with fire pits and giant American flags in the backyard), have cars, are planning weddings, and popping out babies.

I’m still living the same life I was when I graduated from college. I still live in a rented Brooklyn apartment, I’m still single (okay, actually when I graduated from college I had a boyfriend, so my 21 year old self is actually winning this comparison), I’m still trying to make my way in the artistic community, and I can still stumble in at 2am from a night out on the town. Sometimes this feels like an awesome reality, and sometimes, times like now when I’m surrounded by people that actually seem to be growing up, I feel like an overgrown teenager.

How old do you have to be before you’re officially an adult?

I’m mostly psyched about where my life is right now, but I sometimes have pangs of longing for the more traditional. If only I could figure out how to mesh the life I have (and love) with the comforts of the life I ran away from grew up with. Methinks this is definitely one of those grass is greener moments.

Brunch


Dad was in charge of breakfast. Dad likes carbs.
Bagel with butter.

BBQ

I’m going to be honest and say that I did not photograph everything I ate, but I’m going to try and rattle off as much as I can remember:


I don’t eat hot dogs often (sometimes I buy a pack of tofu pups), but I do love them.

This doesn’t need a caption, right?

Then came my first ever taste of venison. My BBQ host caught it himself, which kind of freaked me out, but made me feel slightly better about eating such cute animal. I could only eat a bite though; I’m still rationalizing the Bambi factor.

That potato salad was the only thing resembling a vegetable I ate all day
Ribs are not a plant. Who knew?

Then there was half a giant marshmallow.

I’m very full. The thing I miss most about Brooklyn right now is my produce bin.

Happy Independence Day!/Happy Monday for people not in the USA!

Kim

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Remembering the Grill

May 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment

It’s Memorial Day here in the US (I’m hoping that you US folk are enjoying a long weekend!) and I spent a good portion of my weekend peppering my dad with questions about his time in the military. Papa Miller served in the army between 1969-1971, and was stationed in Germany and Vietnam. I don’t always agree with the politics behind war, but I am eternally grateful to the amazing men and women that serve in the armed forces. I can’t even imagine that kind of selflessness, and I’m so thankful for those that are capable of it.

In addition to its solemn nature, Memorial Day has somehow become synonymous with grilling. I considered it my patriotic duty to fire up my BBQ for the first time this season. My mom and dad came over for a good old fashioned family BBQ; mom made the turkey burgers, I diced and seasoned the vegetables, and dad supervised the charcoal distribution. We added some fruit for a little bit of sweetness, and voila: a healthy and totally tasty barbeque.

Now that the summer has unofficially started I’m sure there are going to lots more barbeques to keep me fed. I’m going to do my best to keep things healthy, but I have to admit, every once and a while I just want a good old fashioned hot dog J
What are your favorite BBQ eats?

 

BBQ


Fennel, mushrooms, and pablano peppers roasted on the grill


Turkey burgers with peppers and onion

Turkey burger with Swiss cheese and pepper, pineapple, blackberries, watermelon (not pictured), and grilled veggies

 

Kim

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Pilates Victim

April 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

FYI, Pilates totally qualifies as a contact sport in my humble opinion. I was busy yesterday and had very little time to get to the gym, so I decided to try a new Pilates DVD (review to come in a later blog). I love Pilates, as far as I’m concerned if you want to see results in your core quickly Pilates is the way to go, but I totally remember why I stopped taking mat classes at the gym—I always look like I’ve had the crap beaten out of me afterward.

I bruise really easily, and for some reason after an hour of moves like Rolling Like a Ball and Superman I’m left with bruised vertebrae and black and blue hip bones. Sexy, I know. I love Pilates but it would appear that I’m a wee bit of a delicate flower. Perhaps I need more iron. Who wants a steak?

Speaking of steak, the first full day of the great Passover Diet of 2011 wasn’t so bad. I spent the earlier part of the day shopping with a friend (read: enlisting her as my personal shopper since my own personal sense of style is sometimes lacking) who also admitted that she sees Passover like a dietary detox. Not its intended purpose, but it’s perhaps the most will-power efficient way to give up bagels. Mmmm, bagels. I’m glad I’m not the only one who rationalizes holidays this way. After shopping, I headed out to Queens for a girl’s night out. Tuesdays are totally the new Friday.

Basically what I’m saying is: I was too busy socializing all day to go to the gym so now I’m all black and blue. Karma’s a bitch.

 

Breakfast


Greek yogurt with honey, banana, and walnuts

Lunch


Cajun broiled tilapia with salsa made from avocado, tomato, and grilled pineapple
Broccoli

Dinner


Sangria

Cobb Salad

Kim

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Countdown till Carbs

April 18, 2011 by 4 Comments

FYI the South Beach Diet has been around for thousands of years, the Jews invented it, it’s called Passover, and it is my least favorite holiday.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever fully expressed the full extent of my love for carby goodness, but eight days of no bread, pasta, rice, corn or soy derived anything, and legumes pretty much cuts out the majority of my feel good foods. I’m not sure who makes the rules about what is or is not edible, but I imagine that they don’t like me very much. Things are about to get super cranky up in here, because as of sundown it’s officially Passover.

In a way, a very small way that I’m trying to convince myself is awesome, I’m kind of excited. Basically I HAVE to eat cleanly this week. The majority of my junk foodie downfalls are on the do not eat list, this could be a good detox as I kick off operation hottest bridesmaid ever.

Speaking of mission hottest bridesmaid, I found a dress! Thank you all for your opinions and your advice. If you don’t mind I’d love to pass on your words of wisdom to my fellow maids J. Surprisingly, it was the second dress that ended up looking the best on me. I tried on a ton of dresses, but that one was the only one that looked great on me. Go figure. I’m actually really excited about it. Is it normal to be excited about a bridesmaid dress? I am actually pretty sure I could wear it again. Of course, everyone says that, but I really mean it.

Here’s the final outfit:

It’ll probably be a bit darker blue than this photo.

The accompanying footwear. I bought them today and have a feeling it’s going to be really hard to not wear them (re: ruin them) before November

 

I already have a plan of action for the gym based on this dress. Based on the neckline I want to spend some time focusing on building up my deltoid region a bit; and based on the cocktail length, I’ll spend a little more time doing calf exercises. I can’t help it, when I see clothes, I see muscle groups. Tonight, however, was all cardio. Sure, I should have gone to a Sedar (the traditional Passover dinner) but spin class seemed like more fun. It’s all about compromise; I’ll give up bread and pasta in honor of tradition, but I’m not quite ready to give up cardio.

Breakfast


Getting in my last bowl of oatmeal for a while, I threw in a little pineapple and coffee for good measure

Lunch


Panini made with whole wheat pita bread, roasted turkey, tomoto and lite mozzarella
Cucumber slices in balsamic vinegar

Dinner


Leven free dinner: salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, sunflower seeds, and turkey
Olive oil and vinegar

Kim

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Know vs Feel

January 4, 2011 by 6 Comments

Anyone else sporting a post-holiday muffin top?

Yes, I believe in body acceptance, a healthy but not extreme lifestyle, and all around gentleness in the way we treat ourselves.  Still, gaining weight sucks.  Fact of life, and I was most definitely not immune over the holidays.

Sure my rational mind says “Don’t worry, be happy, and maybe amp the cardio for a few weeks,” but my emotional mind says “Whaaaaaah.”

Here is what I know: It’s not as much weight as I think it is. Really only a few pounds.

Here is what I feel: Oh dear lord, I’ll never fit in my pants again.

I know: The majority of any weight I gained is water weight.

I feel: Why did I bake three birthday cakes?

I know: A little budunkadunk can be a good thing.

I feel: I’m going to go into hiding, in regard to dating, until I can successfully minimize my birthday/holiday damage.

I know: Easy on, easy off.  It will probably only take me a couple of weeks to get back to a comfortable relationship between me and my jeans.

I feel: That’s it, I should just give up now and resign myself to a life of sweatpants.

This little look into my psyche is just proof that it is totally normal to have a knee-jerk reaction weight gain.  But the key to getting back to my life before muffin top is to stick with what I know.  I’ll try to be slightly more careful with my sugar and alcohol intake in the next few weeks and perhaps take my last month with access to treadmills a bit more seriously.  Hopefully that’ll do the trick, or you know, there’s always Spanx.

Wow, my hair was puffy!

Breakfast

Green Monster: 2 cups spinach, 1 cup almond milk, 1 Tbsp ground flax seed, 1 banana, 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, 2/3 scoop protein powder

Lunch

Finally done, this was the last of the white been soup!

Dinner

Salad with lettuce, roasted beets (I didn’t realize these were white beets until I peeled them, they really should label these suckers), mandarin orange slices, goat cheese, lemon vinaigrette

I did better on my home fitness resolution today, opting for the ‘Look Better Naked‘ exercise DVD from Rodale Publishing.  Great workout, expect a review sometime next week.

Kim

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January, Come On Already!

December 29, 2010 by 1 Comment

My wonderful friend Priya emailed me a few days ago asking when she could take me out for my-most-favoritist-thing-in-the-entire-word, banana pudding at Sugar Sweet Sunshine,  in honor of my birth.  If you live in New York City and have never had this, well then march yourself over there right now and have some.  If you do not live in New York City, and have never had it, well then book yourself a plane ticket right now and have some.

It’s amazing.

This stuff is like bananay, sugary, vanilla wafery crack.  Not that I know what crack tastes like.  Do you even taste crack?  Hmmm….I digress.  But, I kept putting off responding to Priya, not because I don’t love her or want to spend time with her, but because, deep breath, I don’t want to eat anymore.

I know, that’s weird, right?

I am so tired of eating.  I still have one more mandatory birthday dinner this weekend, and then, thank the heavens, I can settle back into my normal routine.

I try to eat normally between festivities, but the festivities are seriously gaining momentum, and they are winning.  All this food makes me feel sluggish and bloated, not sluggish and bloated enough to not eat, but sluggish and bloated nonetheless.

I’m looking forward to the routine and respite of January.

I emailed Priya back, finally, and asked if we could celebrate in a non food related manner.  I haven’t heard back yet, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Please tell me I’m not alone in this, is anyone else tired of celebrating?

Breakfast

Usually I like to have at least one fruit or vegetable with my breakfast, but sometimes you just need a plain cheese omelet.
Egg white omelet with lite cheddar cheese, whole wheat toast

Lunch

White Bean Soup
Pear

Snack

An unphotographed banana.  Sneaky, sneaky banana.

Dinner

Another dinner of mixes and matches from the contents of my fridge.  It’s amazing what you can come up with out of the shear necessity to use things up before they go bad…and how much vegetables can fill out a meal.  I swear this is really only 1 cup of cooked brown rice, 1/2 a cup of garbanzo beans–it’s the summer squash that makes this a monumental meal.  Before I knew how gigantic this was going to be I threw a veggie burger on the grill.  Let’s just say I am fiberific!

Tonight I’m lighting some candles and testing out a new yoga DVD.  How totally romantic of me.  Review to come ;)


Kim

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Holiday Rambling from my Over Medicated Mind

December 25, 2010 by 1 Comment

I love baking, I just don’t love eating baked goods.

Don’t get me wrong I love a cookie, muffin, or chocolate layer cake as much as the next person, but I’m  not generally the type of person to crave dessert on a regular basis.

If I could bake for other people all the time, I would be happy.

Christmas in my family means Chinese food and movies, and it is a day of familial bonding we look forward to all year.  Mainly because it’s usually the one time of year that we all have off from our respective responsibilities to spend the day just simply being a family.

Unfortunately I threw a wrench in our regular routine by coming down with the plague this year.  Instead of me visiting my family, my family came to me.  It’s a good thing too, because man did I need to be around people.

My dad, sugaraholic that he is, gave me a perfect excuse to whip out that Kitchen Aid Mixer that sets my heart aflutter.

“Do you have any chocolate?”

“I don’t keep sweets in the house, but I could make chocolate chip cookies.”

“That’ll do.”

Of course, I still have the flu and quite possibly have now made delicious little flu-cookies, but still, everyone seemed happy.

If you don’t know this yet, the key to “chewy” vs. “crispy” cookies is to use corn syrup instead of white sugar.  Sugar granulates and gets crispy, corn syrup is made of ooey-gooey magical sweetness.

Okay, so I don’t keep ‘sweets’ at home, that doesn’t mean I don’t keep all the ingredients necessary to make ‘sweets’ hidden in the recesses of my pantry.

Family members satiated with sweets; it was time to get this holiday tradition on the road:  The Chinese takeout appeared as if by magic (well, actually my dad picked it up, but he’s kind of like magic).

Can’t forget the soup!
Egg drop.  In all my efforts to recreate my favorite takeout dishes at home, I never get the consistency of egg drop soup quite right.  Perhaps a 2011 resolution?

Sesame chicken, brown rice, white rice, egg foo young, beef chow fun

Mmm, tastes like Christmas!

Let me preface this by saying I’m still a wee bit loopy.  Over dinner I tried to impress my father with my newfangled knowledge of the German language, but it mostly turned into me saying a bunch of “words” then asking “Does that mean anything?”  To which my father just shook his head and wondered whether it was too late to exchange this daughter for a newer model.  Then I started saying, “Dad say ________ in German.  Okay, say___________.  Now dance.”

Maybe it’s time to lay off the cold medicine.

Since my pajama adorned self dragged my family all the way to Brooklyn, I figured the least I could do was share my new toy with them.  It was time to break in the new Wii!  This was my first real Wii-a-thon, and the first time my parents ever played.

They loved it!  I think the exact words my father used were “outstanding” and “delightful” and my mom said “I love it, don’t buy me one.”  She says this a lot, because somewhere in the recesses of my Filofax I take notes on the things people say they “love” and then come birthdays, holidays, and just because moments I tend to reference back.  Note taken.

We bowled and played table tennis, and after a while I wore myself out, but I let those two crazy kids that made me duke it out.  It was really fun.  I think I may have found the key to getting my parents to visit me more often!

My mom did have one complaint though, she said my Mii didn’t look like me, and hers and my fathers were definite doppelgängers.  Sigh, everyone’s a critic…

Really, it was the best I could do given the cartoon options I had to work with.

My mom is quite proud of hers.

Personally, I think my dad looks more like Hulk Hogan in Mii form, than himself.  I’m pretty okay with that, Hulkamania was a bright spot in my development.

Since I was in no shape to hit up the movie theater,  as we usually do, instead we scoped out all the really bad horror movies that Netflix had to offer.

Strange, the gratuitous nudity and sex that doesn’t phase me a bit when I watch these movies with my friends makes me uber uncomfortable when I’m sharing a couch with my dad.  Luckily my parents are the types to tease me about my puritanical reaction than be offended or it could have been super weird.  Still, next year let’s aim for a family friendly comedy.

While this day certainly broke from tradition, it really was one of the best Christmases we’ve had in a while.  We laughed, we coughed, we ate cookies, and clapped for one another.  This warm, comfortable feeling is what the holiday season is all about.  My family may be small, but it is close, and I can’t imagine having two more wonderful and doting parents.

Merry Christmas and Happy Saturday!

Kim

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‘Tis the Season

December 14, 2010 by 5 Comments

For a Chrismikkah Bush
Technically I’m Jewish, but I love Christmas Trees!
Life’s too short not to decorate trees in your house.

For Homemade Gifts
Chocolate Butterscotch Blondie Mix

For Mistletoe
What?  Like you didn’t hang it over your door justincase

For  Sentimental Gifts
I couldn’t think of anything I needed, so for my birthday this year I asked my parents for my grandmother’s ring.
I’m not much of a jewelry girl, but I’ve always loved this ring.

For Birthday Cake
9 more days!  But who’s counting?!

What do you love about this time of year? (It’s okay to be corny, the cornier the better)

Oh, right, and there’s the regular ole everyday eating:

Breakfast

Whole wheat English muffin with cottage cheese and tomato
Pineapple

Lunch

White bean and spinach soup (this was so good I’m planning on emulating at home next week)
Fruit salad
Whole grain bread

Dinner

I might be a little obsessed.
Homemade hot and sour soup.

Kim

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Relatively Wordless Weekend: Flash Mob Saturday

December 4, 2010 by 1 Comment

Since last night I posted a Hanukkah song, I figured I’d keep things mulit-sectarian by offering up a Christmas song today.

Here’s an awesome video of a flash mob Hallelujah Chorus in a food court.  I love this song.  Every year my high school chorus ended the winter concert with this song.  It sounded amazing from the audience.  Personally, I always felt like a screeching banshee come the high notes…lucky I wasn’t mic’d.  These ladies don’t seem to have my problem.

Note the fellow holding up the ‘Caution: Wet Floor’ sign.  I’m sure this was just how Handel pictured it  when he composed the song.

Kim

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Hanukkah Drinking Game

December 3, 2010 by 2 Comments

I love dorky Jewish boys, can’t help it, it’s in my blood.  I love when the guy spills jelly on his lap!  I would totally do that.

This is a fuzzy picture of my dreidel.  I was not drunk, but my camera was.

With this dreidel I made up a Hanukkah drinking game at my friend’s birthday party last night. (The one where I was giving her a dude as a present, but I’ll get to that later). It’s all part of my resolution to be holidayrific. I was creatively drinking Fresca from a champagne glass to conceal my teetotaling ways.  Shhhh, don’t tell my secret.

Here’s how it went down for future Hanukkah party fun.

Spin the dreidel.

This is loosely based on the children’s game where you gamble with gelt (chocolate coins).  I’m especially good at making up drinking games when I’m not drinking.  When I am drinking I avoid them like the plague.  Below each letter on the graphic above you can see the traditional rules to playing with a dreidel.

In my version it went something like this:

Nun: Don’t drink
Gimmel: Drink twice
Hay: Drink once
Shin: Tell someone else to drink

So, in actuality I hate drinking games.  Even when I was younger and they were the standard I never liked being pressured into binge drinking.  If I was going to binge drink, I wanted that to be my decision ;) (Errr, please drink responsibly.  Obviously by my creative ploys to “look” like I’m drinking while really throwing back grapefruit soda, I do not make heavy drinking a regular practice in my life.)

All in all this was a fun little bonding activity for a group of strangers at a party.  Next time you’re bound for an awkward social situation, why not bring a dreidel? Dreidels are a totally underrated ice-breaker.

Everyone had a good time.  I think I’m keeping that one for the books.

Oh, yes, and I gave my friend a guy for her birthday.  I don’t think there was a love connection, but he was a new person for her to meet and that’s what she asked for.  I hope he didn’t feel awkward.  I would totally have felt awkward.  He is way braver than I. I’m still amazed that he agreed to be given as a gift.

Breakfast 1

I was running a little behind this morning and just downed a yogurt on my way out the door.
I should have known that wouldn’t keep me satiated for long because two hours later I was starving.
It was time for…

Breakfast 2

Whole wheat toast, egg whites, American cheese, turkey bacon

Lunch

The last of my Thanksgiving leftovers.  Turkey and sweet potato pie

Dinner

I decided to be a little more adventurous with dinner and make one of my favorite take-out staples at home.

Star players

Tada!
Hot & sour soup

Here’s the recipe if the pictoral didn’t do it for ya:

  • 4 cups of broth (chicken or vegetable)
  • 12 oz block of tofu cubed
  • 2 cups shiitake mushrooms
  • 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp hot sauce
  • 1/2 cup bamboo shoots
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch, diluted in 2 Tbsp cold water.

Mix broth, hot sauce, vinegar and soy sauce in a pot.  Throw in tofu, bamboo and mushrooms.  Bring to a simmer (do not let boil) and then allow to cook there for five minutes.  Add the cornstarch mixture and cook for another 2 minutes.  Serve and never buy takeout again.

This weekend I’m going to finish wrapping holiday presents and put up my Christmas tree.  Yup, that’s how I roll, I’m an equal opportunity holiday celebrator.

Kim

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