First Giveaway!

Hey blogettes!

Thank you so much for your kind words on my last post. I truly appreciated everyone’s commentary, I could tell that you all put a lot of thought in your comments. and I concluded that I want to keep blogging fun. That is my number one priority. I hope to gain more readers and I would love to ignite interesting conversations in blog land, but at the end of the day I need to enjoy this process. In the past I haven’t been the best about replying to comments, which I will definitely begin to do because I get the most insightful comments sometimes and I’d really like the dialogue on certain issues to continue. So I’ll just keep doing my thing and hope that you guys like what ya see!

I’ve been getting my Chobani on lately:

This was my attempt at a waffle. I always make my own waffles, but I saw this multi grain mix and thought it would be good for a weekday morning. Except it turned out more like a pancake. It’s cool, I like pancakes, but I was craving a crispy waffle. I topped this deflated waffle baby with bluberry chobs, frozen raspberries, sliced banana, and coconut.

This morning I was going to make a decadent oatmeal creation until I learned that one of the girls needed to bring in a baked goodie for her class but failed to tell anyone. I was asked to bake something and bring it to her school before noon, only I planned on hanging out with a friend on the windward side and I wanted to leave asap after dropping off Silvino. So at 7 am I DEAB aka Dropped Everything and Baked. I decided to make Ghiradelli brownie mix cupcakes because they would cool much faster than pan brownies. In forty minutes I concocted the following:

Is there a Baking Olymics? If so I’d totally be eligible for that.
Anyway due to the olymic games that occurred in the kitchen this morning, I had less time for my planned indulgent breakfast creation (the horror!) so I got my Chob on again:

Which I used to make this:

A breakfast parfait with honey chobani, hemp plus granola, and sliced banana (ps loved the granola, it’s probably at a health store bulk bin near you).

After three Chobanis I have included that Chobani is the perfect Greek yogurt if the intense thickness of Fage and Oikos is too much for you, as was the case for me when I first tried Greek yogurt. It’s like the GY gateaway drug–it’s a nice thick step up from standard yogurt but not quite as hardcore as other brands. I really like how smooth it is, and will definitely be purchasing it on my own. I can’t wait to try the other flavors!

Plus I have to respect a company that really goes out of their way to create a positive costumer experience. Morgan at Chobani was quick to respond to my emails, sent the Chobanis in less than a week of our correspondence (in a refrigerated case! It’s no joke sending yogurt all the way to Hawaii!), and offered my readers a giveaway!

Comment on this post for one entry, and mention the giveaway on your blog for another entry. I’ll close the entries at Tuesday on midnight EST (this is important as I’m six hours behind the east coasters!) and announce the winner on Wednesday.

In other news…

Today I had no idea what to have for dinner when I remembered that I had a few TJ peanut butter filled pretzels left and some tofu begging to be eaten. I remembered that Caroline posted a recipe for pretzel coated tofu. It involves coating sliced tofu in a dijon mustard/agave mixture and then dredging the slices in crushed pretzels and baking at 375 for 20 minutes. Honestly I didn’t have very high expectations, I thought it would be a bit bland, but I had no other ideas, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

How silly! It was delicious! The mustard/agave combo gave a sweet, spicy mellow flavor to the tofu and I loved the peanut butter pretzel crunch. A definite must try! I had broccoli in soy sauce/hot sauce and grapes on the side. (btw the kitchen lighting is crap…apologies)

I’ve been eating broccoli on the daily (thanks costco bag) so I was getting a little tired of it. Though hot sauce and soy sauce sounds like a simple combo, it really made the broccoli pop, and I really enjoyed it.

Alright must be off, I just got back from an hour+ walk (after running the past two days) and I have a few things to do before I go to bed. Which includes some happy baby yoga posing on my bed while listening to music. My thighs will be very happy. Don’t forget about the getaway to get your own Chobani loot!

A toute a l’heure!
Maya

3 Euro Night

Hey! It’s felt like so long as the past couple of days have been really busy!

One of my best AFS friends spent the night on Sunday after the family barbeque at the end of stay orientation. I’ve been thinking a bit lately about intuitive eating, which has been discussed a lot in blogworld and something that I’m trying to work on. Listening to your body could never be a bad idea, right? At the barbeque I did NOT feel hungry at all, even though it had been a while since I’d had my last meal. I guess it was because of a lack of activity over the weekend–we mainly sat around in our groups. Even though there was a delicious quiche for vegetarians, couscous salad, and a large array of veggies in the salad bar I was just not feeling dinner at all, so I had an apple. But on the other hand, I woke up at 4:30 am starving, so I made a really early breakfast of a toasted roll with walnut butter. The power went out before my toast finished, and I had to fish it out of the toaster with a knife in the dark and then eat it in the dark. Classy. Needless to say there were a lot of crumbs on the counter in the morning.

Anyway! When I woke up at 9:30 I could still feel my early breakfast so I kept my pre exercise meal simple:

Fresh canteloupe and watermelon. My friend doesn’t run as much as I do, so I told her that I wanted to complete at least 5 miles, and I would be comfortable walking them all, so she could dictate when we jogged and when we walked. We ended up jogging for 10 minutes and then walking about 6 miles. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time talking about our years in Belgium.

I needed lunch when we got back (and lots of water!) so I heated up celery root soup, added wilted salad greens to it (making it like a stew) and put some of the goat cheese from the market (which I didn’t realize until today is actually raw) on a whole wheat baguette.

Not photogenic, but delicious. I have been needing a pedicure like whoah, and while walking home from Delhaize I found a poster on the window of a house in the neighborhood advertising inexpensive salon services such as manicures and waxing. 15 euro pedicure? So there. I made an appointment for Monday and it was one of the best things I’ve done for myself in a while. My friend scored a pedicure, too, and we gabbed while she massaged our feet and peeled off entirely too much dead skin. I keep rubbing my toes together and marvel in their softness. After our pedicures we napped for a bit, and after I nap I always need something sweet, which I kept to fruit on Monday, and had a fruit orgy of strawberries, frozen grapes, and a bit of watermelon. We took the train to my friend’s town, Liège, because one of the American exchange students organized a goodbye party of sorts at a bar. Liège is famous for the carré, basically a neighborhood of all bars. I packed a veggie burger and an apple for dinner because I figured drinks would factor into my meal, so I kept the eats light. And boy, was I right.

The bar we went to, Cuba Libre, has 3 euro ladies’ night on Mondays, meaning you pay 3 euros ofor a red bracelet and can basically have as many drinks as you want. The only catch is that you have to wait in a separate line from the bar and it can get packed. I’ve heard there’s been a lot of cat fights that have gone down. I kept waiting for a catch of some kind, but I guess they do this kind of thing to compete with the many other bars in the neighborhood. I also feel like maybe the alcohol was a bit diluted or cheaper because after 3 tequila shots and 3 mixed drinks I felt relatively fine, when usually a couple glasses of wine are enough to make me tipsy. But still gotta love the 3 euro price!

We may or may not have taken those feathered toothpicks from the bar.

A little bit after this photo was taken the bartender had a blending mishap and we got a little frozen beverage on our backs. As a condolence he gave us 10 free tequila shots, which though we could have had them for free, it meant we didn’t have to wait 20 minutes in line! I’ll happily get a little ice in my hair for tequila shots!

Just so everyone knows that AFS was at Cuba Libre.

I spent the night at my friend’s house as she lives outside of Liège. I’m so glad that I had the liberty of grocery shopping and cooking as I please this year– her family eats a very typical Belgian diet which means little fruits and vegetables, a lot of white bread and cheese, and a lot of potatoes. Breakfast was whole wheat bread with nutella/peanut butter/banana and coffee. The fact that they even had whole wheat bread was fortuitous enough. For lunch we had baguette with cheese and sliced tomatoes. As soon as I got home from her house I craved a run, so I went for a 3 miler and made a cereal mess when I got back of a serving of Special K honey and oat flavor, Fage 0% Greek yogurt, and sliced strawberries.

 I made a cauliflower/whole wheat pasta risotto like concoction for dinner, which I served over lettuce/spinach for me.

I made oatmeal chocolate chip raisin walnut cookies afterwards, as I had oats and wheat bran to use up before I leave Belgium this weekend. Host mama MC doesn’t touch oatmeal due to bad childhood memories that not even the most creative of my oatmeal concoctions can reverse and she would have no idea what to do with wheat bran. I baked them while I started packing and had about half a cookie once they cooled. Fortunately my packing is going really well, I’ve done most of the difficult parts and I’m almost all packed besides what I’ll need before Sunday. Since most of my things are already in my suitcase I can see what is still lying around the house in the meantime and pack that as well. At least I don’t have to send anything home, which is very expensive, and I’m pretty sure I won’t have excess baggage. While baking and packing I talked to one of my friends on the phone about her psuedo short lived relationship with her Belgian best friend that ended with him cheating on her over the weekend. Boys. Still up to the same immaturity, even in Europe.

So a lot of people have been talking about clean eating lately, and I gotta say, after this week I could definitely use a few days of much more conscientious eating. I’ve actually lost weight this year (many exhcnage students gain weight) but it isn’t a question of weight. I’m still the same weight after these last two weeks but I just don’t feel so good, which is more important than a number on the scale. I do have to admit, though, I still feel guilt even though I weigh the same. I’m really looking forward to eating well and listening to my body (meaning less ice cream and mixed drinks) before I leave for the States because it makes me feel better.

What do you guys think of indulging? Do you still feel guilt despite what the scale says? Before I would have only felt the guilt of gaining weight after “indulging” and though as I said I still feel some of that guilt, I mainly feel off track and now look forward to balanced eating to feel happier and healthier!

P.S. Emily from Curly Top is hosting a blog makeover giveaway. Check out the the makeover she did for Shelby. Love the banner, much more original than my google search for maps!

A toute à l’heure!

Maya

Getting Back Into the Rhythm

Good morning! I love trips and parties, but I also love getting back into the everyday rhythm. I definitely did so yesterday (with the addition of an intense nap) with my usual meals.

I got home at 10 am from my friend’s house. The Wednesday market closes at noon, and I knew I wanted to nap but I didn’t want to miss the farm fresh goods, so I made a detour on my walk home from the train station. I love fruit/veg vendors– when I asked if the melons were good he gave me a sample and I enjoyed a fresh apricot while I waited. I picked up half a watermelon, 2 of the melons, and strawberries, the sweetest I’ve tasted in a while.

Just look at those beauties.

I had breakfast at 11, which was my version of Greek oat-gurt. I cooked 1/3 cup of oats in the usual 2/3 cup of water and splashes of milk with a thinly sliced banana (adds sweetness, learned this at KERF) and made them super thick. When it cooled a bit I beat in 1/2 a serving of Fage greek yogurt and topped the bowl with straberries and globs of peanut butter.

I caught up with the blogworld after breakfast and did some blogging of my own. I also watched the Daily Show, aka my main source of news while abroad. Three hours of sleep is definitely not enough, so I crashed for a three hour nap. My exchange student bff’s call woke me up, and we gabbed about plans for this week and his experience at a Belgian “prom” (my school didn’t have one), which they called a bal. He said the guys were jeans and alcohol was served (way different than the U.S. experience of breathalyzing the students before coming in!). While on the phone my arm looked more and more appetizing, so afterwards I heated up some carrot/ginger soup and grilled a goat cheese sandwich for lunch.

I'm going to get better at this whole food photography thing, I swear

 Once lunch digested for a bit, I went for a three mile run and blasted this tune:

When playing this song it is absolutely compulsory to turn up the volume as loud as possible.

By the time my run was over it is was already 6:30 and almost time for dinner. I hate that the day after a blowout party is basically wasted. I spent half of it sleeping! Anyway host mama MC cooked up some veggie couscous, which they eat a lot in Belgium with the addition of meats sometimes. There’s a lot of immigrants from Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria in Belgium and couscous is pretty popular. You can buy the coucous veggie mixes frozen, which we jazzed up with leeks, canned tomatoes, and veggie boullion. It’s like soup over couscous, I love it.

To digest  after dinner and French dubbed Gilmore Girls I took an hour walk with Harry Potter. Currently the gang are camping around England and being b!tchy to each other. It was a quiet evening, MC brought home work to do and I watched NYC Prep on youtube while enjoying a sorbet Greek yogurt creation:

Over which I added chopped apricots. I loved this simple summer dessert, it was like smoothie ingredients in a bowl, the strawberry sorbet went really well with the creamy yogurt. I’m not a big fan of reality shows, but as a Gossip Girl fan and hopefully future New Yorker I have to admit, I liked NYC prep.  I then FINALLY talked to my mom for more than five minutes on the phone. That lady is wonder woman, I don’t know how she manages her intense schedules yet still manages to drop everything and help me when I need her even across the Atlantic.

Do you watch reality shows? I try sometimes to watch a reality show, but they don’t really grab my interest. I might stick around for this NYC Prep, though.

A toute à l’heure!

Maya

To Market

Can’t you just feel the weekend around the corner? I can’t wait , I’m going to Milan this weekend! Italy is one of my favorite countries.

I just couldn’t sleep last night. I have no idea why, but I tossed and turned. I went to bed at 12:30 and woke up at 5. Urgh. I never really fell back asleep so I threw on my running shoes and pounded out a 3 miler. T-Pain inspired me with his message “I ain’t dead (nah) I ain’t done (nah), I ain’t scared (of what), I ain’t run (from who), still I stand (yeah), no matter what here I am.” It did wake me up a bit, and after my shower I headed to the Wednesday market in my town square. It’s basically me and the moms/old folks at the market. The merchants expect to see me and greet me with “Des betteraves?” (Beets?) No beets for me today, I picked up a kilo of spinach for some green monster goodness, raspberries, and cherries. I breakfasted on the same Swiss oats as yesterday, only with Activa mixed berry yogurt, so I didn’t take a picture (Next time!)

Today was my science exam, which had components of biology, physics, and chemistry. My teacher is a sweetheart–she looks like she’s at least 65, has TINY bone structure, and has rich chestnut brown hair which surely comes from a bottle by the looks of her wrinkles. She reminds me Yzma in the Emperor’s New Groove, only she isn’t diabolical or conniving.

She also likes to tell a lot of random stories that are science related, but that don’t have to do with what we’re learning. And she likes to burst out singing.

Anyway, she said I could use my notes. I haven’t taken bio in a long time, but I remembered how interesting it is. I find evolution and genetics fascinating. Physics and chemistry are still not so great, though.

I finished around 11 and watched the new episode of Weeds online. Weeds has a lot of great life lessons, today I learned not to get knocked up by the ringleader of a Mexican drug trade, because sh!t hits the fan.

I met a friend at the movies in the afternoon, and before I left I had a bowl of veggie soup. I packed a veggie burger with the last of the hummus spread on top and an apple for the train.

The movie theatre my friend and I go to is in Charleroi, which is um a ghetto charming! city. Don’t let that picture on wikipedia fool you, Charleroi is like the butt of Belgium, but it’s in between our houses and a good site for the movies. From the train station we took a metro to the theatres, and my purse got stuck in the closing doors. I squealed “My purse! My purse!” and somehow believed that yelling STOP IT to the doors would help me get my purse. I grabbed at it while the doors continued opening and closing, while my friend said “uh, just press the door open button” and my purse was saved. I entertained the metro car though, that’s for sure. I had a banana milkshake before the movies started. We couldn’t decide on what movie to see, and we finally picked 17 again (17 Encore). Totally not a movie I would see in English but we figured the plot would be easy to follow in French and we could laugh at the Disney-ness of the movie. There were only two other people in the theatre on the other side, so we talked loudly and laughed at Zac during the movie. He’s definitely a cutie, though, that Zac Efron, but he seems to…flawless, you know? Like Nate on Gossip Girl. The movie had a bangin soundtrack though–the Kooks, Santogold, Cat Power, Spoon, the Helio Sequence, the Virgins…not bad at all! I love that Kooks song, Naive.

Our trains on the way back both ended up being late, so we talked about how we felt about going home in a little over two weeks. I’ve been looking forward to it–I spent almost a year in Belgium. But I feel very anxious lately. A lot in my life will be changing this year, and this summer will be very busy. I wish there were an in between Belgium and going home, where I can completely clear my head and take everything in. But really, I’ll be happy to go home.

By the time I got home at 8 I was ravenous. I liked my sesame noodle spinach bowl yesterday, and did a twist on that idea tonight. I sauteed onion and zucchini and added grilled vegetable tomato sauce and shredded carrots (random) to the pan while it cooked. I tossed it with whole wheat spaghetti, and served the pasta over 3 cups of spinach.

With a little parmesan sprinkled on top.

I’ve been craving frozen yogurt lately, which I can’t find here. So I froze a container of 0% fage by stirring it every 10 minutes or so to avoid iciness. Turned out just really cold, but with some fresh fruit on top, it eased my fro yo craving!

Apricots and raspberries stirred in! Which resulted in:

Peaks of raspberry tinted bliss.

Sleeping 4 1/2 hours is NOT okay. Hopefully, as I am exhausted, I will sleep well tonight. German exam tomorrow! Shiza!

A toute à l’heure!

Maya