No Internet and Berkeley

So sorry for the lack of posts- my new apartment in Berkeley (!) lacks Internet for another week or so. Heres a few pictures of the hikes I've been taking to get exercise.

Once I get Internet I'll post more- for now- I'm going to go hike more :)

one armed cooking- stir fry

While still in recovery, it is a bit hard to cook for myself. This weekend my twin came home to help me recover, so I ended up cooking stir fry with her help. Although I did the cooking one-armed, she helped chop up the vegetables. Many thanks to her!

This stir fry was very simple, and didn't take long to make.

Ingredients:
-sprouted tofu
-bell pepper
-green beans
-zucchini
-garlic
-spices
-salsa

Method:
-turn on heat, spray pan with olive oil or other oils, and toss in tofu
-break up tofu with spatula
-when tofu is softer and more broken up toss in all vegetables
-stir occasionally, and cook until tofu is a bit brown and vegetables are soft
-throw on some spices (I used chili powder and paprika) and stir in some salsa
-eat plain or with tortilla chips!

before the spices and salsa

with spices and salsa

I enjoyed this since it was simple, easy to make, and healthy! Thanks to my twin sister for the help this whole weekend, from getting up at 4 AM to help me take pain pills, to strapping my seatbelt in since I can't.

I also had help from lots of friends and family, but most importantly my two beautiful dogs:

Wendy watching me cook

Bevy helping with the dishes

Wendy and my twin Carolyn in the background eating some bread

Bevy just being really cute

I may go bike at the gym today, but besides that not much is going on in my life. Just trying to eat healthy, stay hydrated, and rest when my shoulder hurts. :)

recovery!

Folks I'm on the first step of recovery!!! Had my shoulder surgery yesterday.. feeling ok today, sore, in pain, but totally psyched I'm a day closer to climbing!!!

Check out that sexy sling with my gluten free waffle!

I'm planning on resting, riding high on my pain killers, and eating well the next couple of days- will post with updates sporadically. :)

Goodbye NYU!

I finished my finals, and just waiting for my grades before I can officially be a Sophomore in college! Crazy! I go home in less than 8 hours, so I'm off to sleep for a bit before I have to haul ass to JFK. Here's a few pictures of what I've been eating (or treating myself to) these last couple of days:

vegan gluten free canoli!

acai soy yogurt with rawnola and bananas

vegan gluten free thin mints!

lula's sundae- drumstick scoop, butter pecan scoop

twin sundae with my friend Janelle!

I have totally been eating salads, vegetables, and healthy things as well, but the above pictures are more picture worthy.

The vegan gluten free thin mints are from Goodie Girl Tribeca, a local baker who is super dietary restriction friendly. I tried these cookies at the Vegetarian festival awhile ago, and then on a whim remembered them on Sunday. I immediately emailed Shira (the owner/baker) and asked if I could pick up a dozen. She was super helpful, and when I got the cookies today I totally ate two. DELICIOUS! I remember loving thin mints.. and these are perfect. I plan on eating them after surgery to help keep the pain down. If you order from her (she ships!) make sure to say vegan or non-vegan! There's tons of other cookies on her website, along with other sweets. Totally worth every penny!

I'm sticking those delicious cookies in the fridge as soon as I get home, along with my gluten free loaf of bread. Then I'm running on dirt, visiting Berkeley, food shopping, and unpacking before I have my shoulder surgery on Thursday. Hope everyones eating as delicious as I am :)

Great day, great ride

Yesterday was a great day! I walked over 15,000 steps (according to my pedometer watch), biked almost 18 miles, and saw lots of great people and things. I didn't study one bit for my finals, but everyone deserves a day off to relax, right? I started off the day with a great workout at the gym with my friend Lucy, which always just sets me in a great mood.

After that I walked the two miles up to meet my Cousin Eileen for lunch. We went to Le Pain Quotidien, which is a chain of restaurants that I really can't pronounce. We both had a great salad, and I really enjoyed her company. Having family in the city has been awesome, and Eileen is one woman to look up to.

After our goodbye I decided to walk back downtown to my dorm, since it was beautiful out yesterday. From there I grabbed my bike (for the last time in NYC) and headed off to Brooklyn to meet my friend Mac from WE Bike. We rode over to Queens, then to Roosevelt Island. I've wanted to go to Roosevelt Island for quite awhile, but never really took the time to make it there (nor did I know you could bike there from Queens). It was still an awesome day, and spectacular to see this tiny island before I left. It's very green and peaceful.. and I totally like it.

The island is also very historical, which was cool to see. Super super serene!

I hastily got ready when I got back from that ride, to get ready to go see RENT with a friend! I know the entire soundtrack by heart, and have seen the movie countless times, so it was really exciting for me to go see RENT in New York. I've never seen a show here, nor do I have much desire besides this production! It was totally on my bucket list too, which is good! The show was fantastic, and I'm glad I went before I left.

Today I'm studying and had to leave my bike at the store to get boxed and shipped home. Because of my shoulder surgery, I can't ride my bike for 5 months.. which makes me one sad camper. No time to think about that since I have to study for my nutrition final! 5 days till I'm home in California and done with my first year of college!

5 boro bike tour

I made it! I completed my goal of seeing all five boroughs of NYC before leaving- and did it with 31,999 other people (or some variation of that number). Yesterday (Sunday the 6th) I rode in the 5 boro tour with WE Bike- and had a blast. I started out the day somewhat early, after getting a night of no sleep, and got to Battery Park at 7 AM. From there, WE Bike started at 8:30 with the red group. Since 32,000 people ride in the tour (biggest tour in the nation!) it got pretty crowded at times..

I rode with a few women in particular, and my friend Laura said: "feels like the 40 mile walking tour to me". We got off and walked our bikes sometimes, so all in all we didn't get to the end of the tour in Staten Island till around 2:00 PM which was ok since it was for the experience. Another favorite quote of mine from the day was from an official in Central Park who yelled to all the cyclists "Halfway there! only 33 miles to go! It's all downhill!" which was hilarious because we had only gone 4 miles, and the tour had 5 bridges to go over which was certainly not downhill. I really enjoyed what he said though since it was so funny.

It was really really pretty out yesterday, and the scenes were aewsome. For the tour they close off some of the freeways, so we rode on highways and on five bridges, which was neat. I really enjoyed seeing people driving north on the FDR, while we all rode South. I wonder how people got around yesterday... all I know is I rode 46+ miles! It was awesome, and I'm not even that sore today!!! The worst part of the whole day was waiting to get back to Manhattan. My friend/fellow biker Mac and I left the finish festival at 2 PM and didn't get back to Manhattan around 4:30 on the ferry since there were so many people. The tour was well worth the whole day though, especially since I rode with so many cool people. Here are some pictures to feast your imagination  :)

WE Bike

WE Bike

START!

walking our bikes to get onto the bridge...

Staten Island is pretty!

view of Manhattan from Staten Island

me in Staten Island at the end!

Overall the day was great, and the ride was awesome even if it took awhile. I slept 11 hours last night and woke up feeling all the endorphins from the day before. I'm even done with one of my classes! check out my final project for my writing class. We had to connect the past and present in NYC with a specific thing, so I picked cycling. :) I have a final in two days, then two next week, then lots of eating NYC food, seeing RENT, and going home to have surgery. :)

Vegan at NYU 104

So I realized that I've been talking about making soup, but I never showed my sneaky techniques to doing so! Once again, the dining hall pulls through for me (surprisingly). Especially during the last few weeks of last minute projects, papers, and studying, soup is really easy to make, and even easier to eat. An added plus is, since I make it myself, there's no weird preservatives or additives such as buying a canned version.

I also can eat a side of my favorite local vegan gluten free bread, and enjoy it since I'm having my side of vegetables. The steps are so simple to making this soup, I hardly have to write them.

Ingredients:
-take out box full of vegetables and protein if so desired (or, if not at NYU- simply vegetables)
-tomato sauce (optional)
-toppings such as salt, ground pepper, diaya, nutritional yeast, quinoa

Method:
-simply boil all vegetables and protein until soft and mushy
-blend in a blender
-serve!
-make sure to keep left overs in the refrigerator until consumption

ignore the cereal in the top left corner! In my soup I had, chickpeas, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, and spinach!

This soup is not gourmet in any sense, or spectacular. For me, it's a simple way to get my daily dose of multiple different kinds of vegetables with a little protein. It's also so simple to reheat, no need to prepare a huge thing.

Last time I made this soup, I blended it, then put it back on the stove with some quinoa. I topped it off with daiya which stretches with the soup when heated :)

hope this brings some of you back to your cheap, easy, fast college years :)