One of THOSE days

There’s really no other way to put it. Today was just one of those days where you’re ready for it to end and the next to begin. A day where nothing seems to be going right and anything you do just seems to go wrong. Yup, one of those days.

It all started LAST NIGHT. Everything was just going peachy, really. I cooked up a nice shrimp stir-fry for dinner and enjoyed it while watching Modern Family re-runs all by my lonesome. Sometimes it feels so good to be alone.

shrimpies, veggies and whole wheat couscous. The grain so nice they named it twice!!

I started to doze off at about 11:30 (which is like hella early for this girl) and I was all set on getting a fantastic night of sleep and waking up refreshed and going to an awesome Zumba session before I had to head to class.

Well, that plan was a major fail.

I ended up tossing and turning allllll night with nightmares about a helicopter crashing into my house. If you hadn’t read my previous post, a helicopter did, indeed, crash into my neighbor’s back yard yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, none of the three people in the helicopter survived the crash and it’s been quite solemn around these parts. Now that most of the debris and damage has been cleared away, a candle memorial has been set up down the street and people are constantly driving and walking by. It’s enough to keep to you awake at night, that’s for sure.

To make matters worse, I kept receiving phone calls from unknown numbers at all hours of the night. It was a bit too much for my tired brain to handle. Needless to say, Zumba did not happen this morning.

I tried to start the rest of the day off on the right foot with a healthy breakfast. I tried a new product from Whole Foods.

cha cha cha chiaaaaa

This stuff was bangin. Let. Me. Tell. YOU.

I’m a huge fan of the chia seeds in smoothies, in chia pudding, on chia pets…heh, heh 😉

So when I saw this at Whole Foods, I knew I had to give it a try. It is a mix of chia seeds with buckwheat, hulled hemp seeds, dehydrated apples, almonds, raisins, a teeny bit of sugar and a dash of cinnamon and sea salt.

If you’re not familiar with the chia seed, allow me to quote the people from “Chia Goodness”

“…the modest chia seed (salvia hispanica) is quite possibly the most nutritious seed ever. Lactose free, chia contains more than five times the calcium of milk. It is a excellent source of fiber, and contains no gluten. With more Omega 3 than flax or salmon, trace minerals and protein, it is an all-around superfood.”

Call it good advertising, but I was sold.

1/4 cup mixed with soymilk and peanut butter

The rest of my morning consisted of a two-hour lecture on childhood nutrition and the prevention of childhood obesity. Boy, was that an ever-popular topic. The lecture turned into more of a widespread discussion on the problems with our society and, mainly, poor education and parenting. It was probably the most in-depth and valuable lecture I’ve gotten out of this class, so far.

After class, I headed up north to the fancy schmancy AJ’s fine foods store to meet up with Reggie, Kittykat and Reggie’s mama and g-mama. We all chatted for a while over iced soy lattes. This was probably the highlight of my day.

Later, after stopping at the Apple store to try and get a cd un-stuck from my lappy (major fail btw. Gotta go back on Sunday), I picked up Go-go boy to keep me company as I headed to an auto-repair shop to fix a broken tail light.

You see, this was just one of the many tasks on the agenda for the day, the broken tail-light. Had I known what an utter catastrophe it would turn into, I would have simply said “Ah, the hell with it” and jumped to the next task. BUT NO.

While the car was in the shop, Go-go boy and I stopped by a motorcycle shop next door and checked out some street bikes. He has one of his own, but is super in love with Ducatis. I get it. Motorcycles are oh-so sexy. *swoon*

Next, we hit up Mama’s pizza joint for a little bit of the Italian pie. We were originally planning on having sushi, but the place was closed :(. Unfortunately, I had left my camera in the car during this little lunch-outing so I don’t have the ginormous slice of pizza that was approximately the size of my head to show you. I didn’t end up finishing it, but every inch of cheesy, mushroomy and olivey goodness, I ate with gusto. It was worth every calorie, I suppose.

…Until I felt sick later. Bah!

After chowing down, Go-go Boy and I headed back to the repair shop to get my car. It was then that things started to get a little fishy. The auto technician informed me of the million things that were wrong with my car (I feel like this is stereotypical of an auto place, no?). Since I don’t have a $1000 bucks lying around, I chose to go with the option of having the car fixed later, perhaps when I am in Spain. After all, all of the things he told me were not crucial (he said so, himself).

So, I paid for the brake light, got my keys and went on my way. Until I couldn’t. The car wouldn’t start. Awesome.

I went BACK into the shop and the man told me that “Oh ya, you also need a new alternator.”

Cool. I’m glad you failed to mention that part about my car not starting.

I informed him that I have my own mechanic and would rather take it to him, but if he could just start the car so I could make it home that would be great. He told me I would make it home. He SWORE I would make it home.

Guess what.

I didn’t make it home 😦

In fact, not even ONE BLOCK down the road, the car died. Right there. In traffic. On one of the busiest roads in Tucson.

Thank the lord that Go-go Boy was there to help me push it off into an empty lot, followed by a random man who jumped out of his car TRYING to be a good samaritan and push the car with us. Major fail. The man ended up pushing off the spoiler to my car. Yup, ripped it right off.

AS IF MY CAR DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS.

Sorry, I’m getting a little heated.

Needless to say, I had the car taken back to the repair shop and many many moons and dollars later, I was able to get my car again…5 hours later…making me miss work…and packing my house…and writing a paper….

…Am I annoying you with my complaining?

Ok, I’ll stop.

Let’s just say, I think some wine is needed tonight. Or vodka. And I rarely drink vodka.

Moving on.

For dinner, I wasn’t feeling so hot after the whole pizza-making-me-sick fiasco, so I reheated a little bit of my Mama’s homemade lentil soup.

lentils, edamame, carrots. Simplicity.

I’m not gonna lie, this made me feel a little bit better ;).

Tonight I was supposed to go to a party in the celebration of one of my good friend’s finishing the MCAT. As much as I want to go and not be a total lame-o, part of me really wants to just stay in and cuddle up with my pup, facing a whole new day tomorrow, with (hopefully) a lot less car issues.

One can hope ;).

Hope this rant post didn’t scare you away.

Have a fabulous evening dolls.

xoxo

MM

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KABOOM!!!!!!

Hello. Have you forgotten about me? I haven’t forgotten about you ;). Sorry I’ve been MIA. I’ve just been having too much fun I suppose!

What a day! Suuuuriously. It’s not every day that a helicopter crashes in your front yard.

…No, I’m not kidding.

It was a day just like any other, at first. I went to class, had a quiz, ate some fake chicken, went to the pool and got my tan on…and that’s when it happened.

I drove home from the pool (excited to try a new smoothie concoction compliments of the Regster aka Reggie), when I saw the bright flashing lights of a police car. Then there were 35 more police cars and cones and yellow tape and fire trucks. I drove up to the corner of my street where I was stopped by a policeman who informed me I was not allowed into my house. The reason? He wouldn’t inform me. It wasn’t until I called my cousin (who was inside my house at the time) that I found out a medical helicopter had crashed into a house a few houses down and they weren’t allowing anyone to leave or enter the neighborhood.

Horrid, no? Although I was quite relieved it wasn’t my house that was up in flames, I am still completely devastated for the poor people both in the helicopter and the house. No word on the injuries/casualties, but I’ll keep you guys posted. I was finally allowed back into my house after I taught Zumba tonight (thank goodness for Reggie and her willingness to provide clothing) but there are non-stop cop cars circling the neighborhood and I had to park wwwaaaayyyy the heck on the other side of the world…ok, street. Sometimes I exaggerate.

Anywho, that’s what has been going on around here. Ya know, just crashing helicopters and burning houses. No big. Sheesh.

I feel a little bit silly posting my food after a post like THAT, but that’s the reason you stopped by, no?

Alright then. Here are the highlights of my weekend, since I last posted:

Dinner at Sur Real for my mama's b-day!!! Here I am with little miss Ecuador 🙂

I think my mama had a good time, but she won’t allow me to post her semi-tipsy pictures of her on here because she doesn’t find them “flattering.” Whatev.

Here is the pops with my Zumba instructor/mentor/amazing zumba goddess from the zumba heavens…etc.

We had about 15 people in our group and we all shared a bunch of appetizers (think chicken tacos, jalapeño quesadillas, quacamole, etc.)

I stuck to a piece of quesadilla and the quac. Can’t go wrong with avocado, even in a milkshake.

More on that later, though 😉

Another highlight?

SCHLOTZKY'S DELI

Bless your soul if you’ve never had the privilege of biting into a warm, delicious, Schlotzky’s Deli sandwich. I pity you, really I do. You see, Schlotzky’s has been a typical meal in my household, growing up as a child. And although I used to drool over the meaty, cheesy, melty sourdough sandwiches (oh how things change), now I stick to the veggie on warm, delicious rye.

Unfortunately, when my Dad picked up the family sandwiches after my Zumba session and ordered a veggie with no mayo and only mustard for his darling little princess daughter (that would be me p.s.), to my horror they gave him a turkey on rye with ONLY mustard. *enter sigh of sadness here*

Never fear, I scraped off the turkey carcass and made my own damn sammy on the stinkin’ rye bread. Humpf.

To the bread, I added some hummus, 1/4 of an avocado (see, avocado really does go good on anything) and some sliced horse carrots. It was perfecto.

Another highlight??

BIRTHDAY CAKE

CHEAAAA BABY

chocolate and REAL whipped cream with REAL strawberries (as opposed to fake strawberries?)

Oh, and thick chocolate ganache layered on top. I practically died and went to chocolate heaven.

Some other randoms:

Breakfast Sammy with 1 egg, Daiya dairy-free cheese, soy sausage and smashed avocado

…can you tell I’m in an avocado phase?

Lots of soy lattes around hurr:

Some beautiful breakfast crepes with the mumz:

You can find this beautiful breakfast delight at Blue Willow (for all my Tucsonans out there)

the last of my baked fake chicken patties. Sad day :(...oh, with bbq

And the drumroll for one of the best things I slurped this week?

Yes, it has avocado in it. Duh.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

…and they’re like…

It's better than yours

Damn right, it’s better than yours. I could teach you, but I have to charge.

Ok, ok so I’ll post the recipe on here for free for all of you brave souls.

Amazing “I can’t believe this has avocado in it” Milkshake:

-2 cups milk of choice (I used unsweetened soy)

-1 scoop of strawberry protein powder (I used Jay Robb’s strawberry whey protein, but you could use hemp or brown rice if you’re a vegan)

-1/2 cup frozen strawberries (or fresh, if you prefer)

-1 tablespoon sweetener of choice (I used sugar-free Torani vanilla syrup because it’s all Reggie had, but usually I’d probably use agave nectar or stevia if I have it on hand)

-a handful of ice

-1 super ripe bananer

and here’s the kicker…

-1/2 avocado to make it extra thick, rich and creammyyyyy. Oh baby.

I topped this one with a little Kashi berry cereal and ate it with a spoon. It kept me full for about 4 hours AND fueled me through a Zumba class. I call that a winner.

I dare you to try it. Just once ;)…but I bet you’ll come back for moreeeee.

Now, I am trying to type as fast as possible because I’m starving again, having freshly Zumba’d, lifted some weights and showered. Time to go raid the fridge.

Have a lovely evening pumpkins 🙂

xoxo

Munching Mamacita

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10 things I thought I’d share…

1. I forgot my camera at the restaurant where my mama had her big b-day celebration, so no new pictures will be up until later tonight or possibly tomorrow! Sorry folks 😦

2. This weekend has been such a blur (and not because off intoxication, thank you very much). So many places, so many friends, so many beautiful people and moments. Although nothing amazingly eventful occurred, it was one of those weekends that made me think, “I’m so lucky to have these people in my life.” 🙂

3. I slept through Zumba class yesterday. My alarm went off and I must have pressed the off button in a completely unconscious state because I woke up 15 minutes past the time my class started. I was MORTIFIED, but luckily, nobody is getting fired around hurr ;).

4. Avocado milkshakes are my new obsession. Reggie is now also obsessed and has been experimenting for me. Protein powders, strawberries, flavored soymilks. All are fantastic add-ins to the original. Yesterday I made a chocolate cherry concoction with frozen cherries and chocolate hemp protein powder. Ya, it was awesome. I’ll post the recipe once I put up a pic.

5. 36 days to Spain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! …but who’s counting 😉

6. Oh ya, and 19 days till my birthday Vegas bash. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that yet on the blog :).

7. 11 days till Lil’ N comes to visit me in Arizona!!!!!!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

8.ONE WEEK until Seester gets back from her journey in Spain. Expect much wine and chocolate to be coming your way.

9. I’m moving out of my beloved downtown home this next weekend and back to the parental’s until I leave for Spain. Oh vey. This is gonna be a toughie for me. Although my big, burly man-friends are gonna help me do the dirty work of moving all the heavy stuff, I still don’t want to move out of my little home :(. So many memories here, so many fun times. Also, moving back with my parents isn’t too bad (I mean I love them and they are fabulous and all) but sometimes I like my space and that is one thing that is hard to come by in their house. Eagh we shall see.

10. Song obsession of the moment:

These guys opened up for The New Pornographers at the concert last week. They were phenomenal. I’m in love.

My tummy is now grumbling. Time to go make a noon breakfast.

xoxo

Munching Mamacita

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To my Mama

You are possibly the most amazingly talented, beautiful, kind and warm-hearted person I know. You have taught me to be the person that I am today and without you, I’d be nothing. Thank you for being the most wonderful mother in the universe. I dedicate this post to you.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you don’t mind the mushy post of the day, but sometimes a little mush is needed.

This day has already been a bazillion times better than yesterday. Yesterday was an awkward day. Why? Let me count the reasons.

1. It all started at the Starbucks drive-thru when I was on the phone with my mama, gabbing away about who-knows-what. I ordered my iced soy latte, pulled up and gave the lady my money and drove away. Yup, just threw my money threw the window and drove off without any iced coffee in hand. It was only until about…ummm…2 miles down the road that I looked down thinking “Oh, hey, where’s my coffee?” DEERRRRR!!!!!

I drove back to the starbucks, head down with shame and embarrassment in my eyes, only to have the woman laugh at me for being such a space cadet. Sadly, I feel like things like this happen to me all the time.

2. Next, I went to the bank to deposit a check. I realized I didn’t have a pen with me and asked the teller to send me on through the nifty little money tunnel (I always think those things are sahweeeet). She sent me a pen, I looked down and realized “hey, my check is gone.” Yup, that’s right. My check seemed to have defy the laws of science by evaporating into thin air in a mere .5 seconds. So, after much time searching my car and having the teller lady wait for me to endorse my non-existent check, I awkwardly drove away without saying another word to her.

…I found the check later underneath the seat. Awesome.

3. Yes, there’s more. Later that day I had to teach Zumba. Not only did half of my class decide to not show up, but the other half of my class spoke not one word of English. They were all from France, had never done Zumba before and seemed less-than-thrilled to be there (their family member signed them up as something to keep them occupied during their visit). They refused to speak or make a sound during the entire class. It was by-far the most quiet class I had ever taught. Again, awkward.

Sure, it wasn’t a BAD day, but it was one of those days I would’ve rather stayed in bed than facing society. You know, a loner day.

So, by the time I got home I was ready for some comfort food.

Enter giant pot of ooey gooey vegan cheesy goodness.

vegan mac n' cheese. Holla!

Goodness was this ever good. I bought this box of gluten and dairy-free mac n’ cheez the other day at Whole Foods.

I followed the directions on the box (using plain, unsweetened soymilk for the liquid) and then tossed in some peas and meatless meatballs for protein. I also added in a couple tablespoons of Daiya soy and dairy-free cheez for extra gooeyness.

I ended up eating half this gigantic pot and probably could’ve eaten more, but I wanted to save room for a very special treat I had been meaning to try.

Hours later, having digested and indulged in a completely ridiculously awful movie circa nineteen eighty something (never watch Jersey Girl. Just don’t do it), I decided to whip up a new creation using THIS RECIPE.

The Avocado Chocolate Milkshake

(Pause for cringe of disgust)

I know what you’re thinking. Avocado? In a milkshake? Disgusting. Why don’t I just vom right here, right now. Anna, you have officially taken things to another level of vegetable nastiness.

Wrong.

So wrong.

This was possibly the best chocolate milkshakes I’ve ever had and it’s completely VEGAN. Alright, so maybe I haven’t had a real milkshake since the age of 5 (yeah, it’s been a while), but this one was top-notch. You would have never known there was an ounce of avocado in it.

It was pure, rich and creamy chocolate bliss.

I followed the recipe for the most part, using soymilk for the liquid and replacing the raw sugar with agave nectar. I also added some ice cubes into the blender for a thicker shake.

I WILL DEFINITELY BE MAKING THIS AGAIN.

As for this evening, I am looking forward to a salsa-dancing, latin-filled, birthday bash for the madre. We are having a great big get-together at a latin restaurant called Sur Real.

I’ve blogged about it before here.

I believe Banana Boy’s sister, little miss Ecuador will be joining me (and hopefully Banana Boy after he gets off work)

There are also possible fiestas at la casa de Reggie and Kittykat, as well as Kev’s house tonight.

I don’t know where I’ll end up but one thing is for sure.

Tonight’s gonna be a good night!!!!

I hope it is for all of you, as well 🙂

xoxo

MM

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New Pornography and Food Pornography

Oh hello there beauties of the blog world!!!

Today is a glorious day so far…simply because it merely just started and I have the whimsical events from last night still bubbling up in my head.

On the way back from teaching Zumba last night, Banana Boy called me and invited me to The New Pornographers concert. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this Canadian indie-rock group has melodies that sends the ends of your lips into the curl of a smile and bring pure bliss to your ears.

Sit back, relax, and let these melodies float in…

You likey? Here’s another…

The group has about 8 band members that can sufficiently rock your face off, have your hands thrown in the air, eyes closed, swaying side to side and just feeling the music. At least that was us last night.

The gig was played at the venue, “The Rialto,” which is quite famous in Tucson for holding a lot of underground music, as well as many well-known artists. The theater is downtown, smack in the middle of all that is happening on a good Saturday night.

We enjoyed ourselves before the show:

My dates for the evening: Banana Boy (in red), Kev, and Jolene

a decent picture for the books

We enjoyed ourselves during the show:

"I took a plane, I took a train" "Who cares you always end up in the cit-y"

…I said to carl look up for once, see just how the sun sets in the sky…

"I said to John do you think the girls here ever wonder how they got so pret-ty?"

…ah,well I do. Look out upon the myriad harbour. Look out upon the myriad harbour. Look out upon the myriad harbour.

can you find us in the dark?

After the show, we all got a little picture-crayzay.

who needs a cab when you have a piggy back ride?

Banana Boy's finest

After our photo-shoot, we headed over to “The Grill,” which is an old diner downtown that feeds all the hungry children (aka 20-something year-olds) after shows at the Rialto, after the bars get out, and at any other hour of the day.

No picture was taken of the grilled cheese that was split between Jolene and I, nor the handful of tater tots so delightfully dipped in ketchup that brought me back to the good ol’ days of sitting in the cafeteria chatting with my other teeny tiny friends, all sipping on their chocolate milk cartons. Oh, the good days.

Bellies full of food and ears full of the after-concert buzz, we all went to our homes to cuddle up in our beds, with thoughts of pornography floating in our heads.

I awoke this morning completely refreshed, although, now I’m starting to want that afternoon coffee.

My breakfast was an idea I stole from Reggie, that many of you might find weird, and others delicious.

Breakfast Sammy. Tofutti cream "cheese", superfruit jam, and vegan sausage.

smashed together to form a vegan love child. Food Porn.

It was scrumptious. Now I’m off to find some java and face the rest of the day with a Zumba class, maybe some time at the pool, and lots of New Pornography tunes playing in my head.

Question 1 of the day: how many times can I get away with using the word “pornography” in a post? Ok, but seriously.

Question 2: How many new readers do you think I’ll get simply because of searching the term “porn.”

Question 3: Are you really going to answer these questions?

…Alright, I’ll stop.

xoxo

MM ❤

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“You can milk just about anything with nipples”

Hola Amigos 🙂

Como estas?

After spending the past two hours reviewing my visa application, making phone calls to health insurance companies and trying to finalize a purchase of my ticket to España, I’m starting to feel like it’s all really happening…and thinking I really need start practicing my Spanish more. Ay yay yay.

Other than that, it hasn’t been too exciting around these parts. Tucson is gray and gloomy today. Darn monsoons. I love the thunderstorms, but just can’t stand humidity.

Get me outtah here already!!!!!

Yesterday, before I went off to teach Zumba (second Zumba sesh of the day), I snacked on some more of my homemade hummus and Mary’s crackers.

who needs a bowl when you have classy tupperware 😉

I still managed to leave quite a bit of hummus left, but I have a feeling it will slowly be gone by tomorrow. What can I say, I’m crazy for the chickpea.

After Zumba, I stopped by my parent’s to see the pops. He just returned from a week back east with our familia. I miss them so. It was nice to see pictures of their bright and smiling faces.

For dinner, my mama had picked up some Greek salads from a little place down the street, since she got home late from work. Everyone else got meat on their salads, but lucky me got some dolmas.

my big fat greek salad

Dolmas, if you are not familiar with them, are little bunches of rice and herbs wrapped in grape leaves and dressed in olive oil. They’re quite delicious.

I got plenty of my good fats in on this meal. Mediterranean diet, anyone?

This morning, I woke up early to get in some extra study time for the exam I had today in my Nutrition through the Lifecycle class. The exam was on nutrition during preconception and pregnancy, specifically pertaining to diseases such as gestational diabetes and PCOS. I gotta say, I’m really enjoying this class. Today we learned about lactation, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds. I’d go into detail, but I feel like this is not the time or place to talk about boobs. We’ll save that for a later day, perhaps.

Moving on.

First things first this morning.

java, puppy, lappy and an unmade bed

Check out the lovely mug my mama bought me:

'tis a fact. I woke up in a much better mood today than yesterday.

I wasn’t starving this morning, which tends to happen when I have an exam or presentation. So, I grabbed a mini-breakfast while running out the door.

soy sausage. mmmmm so meaty.

I realize these are rather unattractive photos. I apologize.

After the exam and human milking lesson…

(Pause for Meet the Parents movie quote)

Ben Stiller: “Oh, you can milk just about anything with nipples.”

Robert Deniro: “I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me?”

…I met up with my Dad for some lonchi.

We went hurrr:

The Garland Bistro "Outstanding Vegetarian Options"

This was obviously my choice, but my fasha is not a picky-eater and did not argue about going. What a guy 🙂

For my meal, I ordered the Veggie Sauté, which was basically a large variety of veggies, baked tofu and brown rice. I know I’m boring but gosh I love this combo.

I did work on this fa sho

My Dad chose the eggplant tahini salad, which was AAAAHHHHMAZING. I’m so ordering it next time we go.

Isn’t it marvelous? It tastes even better, I assure you.

Now, it has only been a mere 3 hours since feasting and I’m already starving. What’s going on with me? I think it’s time to bust out the cereal, then I’m off to teach Zumba.

A few things to look forward to for the rest of the week:

– No more assignments or tests due 🙂

-Thunderstorms (minus the humidity) aka free car wash

-My Mama’s b-day FRIDAY woop woop…turning 35 again, of course!!!

-Going to one of my favorite restaurants ever for said b-day

-Party at casa de Reggie and Kittykat

-Chiropractor appointment Friday (I’m such an old lady but I look forward to this)

-Having a booked flight to Spain (hopefully by tonight) hoorayyyy!!!

…that’s all I can think of.

Have a lovely evening!

xoxo

Munching Mamacita

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Hummus, Babies and Stir-fries. Oh my!

I’mma just start this post from where I left off last time…

…PHoenix was PHabulous 🙂

My mama, brother and I hit the road a few hours after lunch-time, but not before picking up some soy latte lovin

grande soy latte. 1 pump white chocolate. Superb.

If you’re wondering WHY we went to Phoenix so randomly, it was simply to pick up a car. My fasha drove up there about a week ago to catch a flight to NYC, but his returning flight lands in Tucson. So, it was up to my mama and I to find his car in the maze also known as the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport garage, which we did…and then we went and had fun 😉

First stop was an early dinner. We were all starved and couldn’t agree on what to eat (their omnivorous preferences sometimes clash with my vegetarian likings). We ended up choosing Claim Jumper, because it was right around the corner from our next point of interest and has a huge menu with it’s own vegetarian list of options.

I’ve only eaten here once before, and from what I could remember last time, I wasn’t all too impressed. I find the “bigger is always better” mentality that Claim Jumper seems to advertise a little too artery-clogging for my taste. After all, who REALLY needs a piece of 13 layer chocolate cake drenched in chocolate ganache and smothered with walnuts? I mean, wouldn’t a FIVE layer cake be just-as sufficient? Not that I’m encouraging that many layers on a cake, either, but honestly.

Alright, perhaps it’s just my food snobbishness peaking through. Don’t get me wrong, I lurrrrrveee chocolate cake and we definitely didn’t leave this place WITHOUT dessert, but as Americans, I’d say we’ve earn our reputations as being a “large and in charge” country for a reason…one of those reasons being our obesity epidemic. Just sayin’.

Ok…

Moving on.

I started out with a cup of vegetable soup

Apparently salt is the new IT flavor? This soup had serious potential of being absolutely delicious. There were chunks of veggies, a little bit of a rice but wayyyyyyy too much salt.

Eat this and you turn into a puffer fish in about 5 minutes.

For me entree, I ordered the vegetarian stuffed baked potato, but not without making some adjustments. I don’t think my waitress seemed to mind my pickiness :/. I subbed the baked potato for a sweet potato and ordered it without any cheese.

Aka…a plate of veggies 🙂

with a side of salsa that I didn't even touch

Just a little pepper was all I needed to make the veggies taste great. Sweet potatoes have so much flavor, as is, so why ruin it?

Then…there was the grand finale…

Death by over-consumption of bread pudding. It's possible.

This ooey gooey delight was absolutely to-die for. When scoping out the dessert options, my mom, brother and I just wanted a little something to cure our sweet teeth. Little did we know we had ordered a dish that would cure the sweet tooth of a family of 10. Needless to say, we did work on it, but left PLENTY.

Here were my dinner dates for the evening:

Take 1

Take 2. Aka the cleavage cover-up

...and third time's the charm

After dinner, we all headed next door to the IMAX theaters to watch “Inception.” It was brilliant and I totally understood why it got so much hype after premiering. I’m a huge sucker for dream interpreting and evaluating different dreams and their hidden meanings. This movie took that small thought to a whole other level.

Note to Leonardo: you can be in my dreams anytime you want, good sir. MMmmmhmmm ;).

The next day, once back in T-town, I was running late to class and grabbed a pb and j on whole wheat bread to-go. No picture was captured, but I feel like you can imagine that one on your own.

After class, I picked up my friend Go-go boy for a little hummus party. As in, he sat and talked to me about his women problems as I made hummus and played therapist.

The end product?

smooth, rich and creamy hummus

What’s that? You’d like the recipe? Well, of course!!!!

ANNA’S EASY CHICKPEASY HUMMUS:

(These measurements are estimations of what I actually used, since I pretty much threw everything together, but the ingredients are so simple that you can adjust them to your liking)

-1 can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans (15 oz)

-1/4 cup tahini

-a few shakes of the good ol’ sea salt shaker (to your liking)

-3-4 tablespoons garlic (I used minced)

-1/2 large lemon

The process is as follows: throw the chickpeas, tahini, salt and garlic in a food processor (or blender), add the juice of the half lemon and blend until creamy.

Yeah, it’s that easy.

…and you’ll never want to buy store-bought hummus again. Trust me.

I ate the hummus with some herb Marys Gone Crackers and paired it with a side of this Whole Foods buy:

multi-grain veggie sushi

I’ve tried Whole Food’s brown rice sushi before, but never their multi-grain. I love this one so much more! There are chunks of grainy goodness in each bite, and it’s a little more more nutty. Just like I like it.

Once my face was sufficiently stuffed, I realized what time it was and just about jumped out of my socks. Go-go boy and I had gabbed away for so long that I completely forgot I had to work! Go figure. So, I jumped into some work out clothes, sent him on his way and met up with Reggie so she could join me for one latin infused sweat-fest.

This Zumba class was quite special for me because my Zumba mentor, Issa was able to attend. I’m not gonna lie, I was almost a bit nervous for her to come to my class because she rocks the house with her Zumba moves and I can maaaybe shake a room…if I’m lucky. Her classes also have close to a hundred people in that, at times, whereas I teach in small gyms with a very small crowd. Regardless, it was a fantastic class and she was in high spirits and totally gave me the confidence I needed to finish it out with a bang.

Afterwards, Reggie and I stopped by my parent’s house for a little post-work-out smoothie and gab it up with my mama and Issa (she and my mom are pretty tight).

Issa brought her baby, Tristan, who is an absolute DOLL. I’m in love with him. Sort of obsessed, really.

isn't he precious?

Reggie and baby Tristan

Me and baby Tristan. Don't mind my post-Zumba grime.

While chatting it up with everyone, I made a giant batch of fruit smoothie to split between Reggie and I.

frothy fruity goodness

In the concoction:

(to serve 2 ravenous Zumba-addicts)

– 2 cups of vanilla soymilk (I prefer unsweetened, but my mama only had the pre-sweetened stuff)

-1/2 cup blueberries

-about 8 medium strawberries

-1 large banana

DONE!

On the way home, it was decided that Reggie and I simply needed some more fitness in our lives…or at least that evening. So, when we got to her place, we hit the mat and grabbed some weights to do some Jillian 30-day shred.

Holy kicked my booty. Jillian, you biatch, you get me everytime. Today, my shoulders are feeling it.

We showered and made dinner. Stir-fry was on the agenda.

can you tell what I am?

I chopped up some organic bok choy and stir-fried it with about 1/2 cup of mixed veggies (think corn, carrots, green beans, etc.). I didn’t use any oil, but simply added some Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki to the mix. Once starting to heat up, I added some cubed baked tofu (I bought it pre-baked) and stir-fried it all together into one big, steamy mess.

While that was cooking, I cooked 1/4 cup of dry quinoa in the microwave with water, until all the agua was absorbed and the quinoa was nice and hot. I covered the super grain with the veggie-tofu mix, stirred it all together and called it dinner.

The rest of the night was spent with Reggie, Kittykat and our fellow friend, Lance (he doesn’t have a nickname yet) watching the crazy monsoon that swept over Tucson last night. We sat on the porch of Reggie and Kittykat’s house, which covered us from the thunderstorm and talked for a few hours before calling it a night.

This morning, I woke up nice and early with just enough time to grab these little babies while heading out the door for Zumba (taught by Issa):

banana babies!!!!

Zumba was fab, as always. I had to skip out early, though to shower at the gym and change in time to make it to class. Less than 15 minutes to shower, lather up with lotion, dress, make-up, scrunch hair. Holla!!

On the way to class I ate this, just to hold me over:

Smores!?!?!?!? Oh ma lanta!! <--name that movie

Dear Clif bar company, you never cease to amaze me with your organic energy bars. I’m in love with you.

Oh, ya, I also ate one of these pre-Jillian last night, but it seemed to slip my mind earlier in the post.

Class was long and brutal today. I hate to complain because we’ve been getting out so early most days, but today seemed to drag on and on and on….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

We’re learning about nutrition during pregnancy. Holy fat ladies. There is so much to remember and learn and teach and memorize for when you are ready to conceive. I suppose I’ll wait a while, thank you very much.

After class, Go-go boy invited me over for a little brunch and to chat about his crazy night of events that I apparently missed out on the evening before (because only the cool kids party on Mondays and I’m not cool).

Only a true man-friend offers to make you a veggie egg-white scramble.

work that skillet boy

He will make one lovely housewife husband one day to some lucky lady.

mushrooms, onions and tomaters + ketchup = ok we can remain friends

I also ate an orange after this, but it escaped my lens.

Now it is time for this nutritionista to get down to work and study, study, study for my exam tomorrow. Yup, that’s right, as if watching a live birth wasn’t traumatizing enough for one week, we have an exam on the beautiful miracle of life, known as birthing a live human being and how we should feed both it, and the person birthing it. Oy vey.

Hope your Mondays are off to a great start bloggers!

xoxo

Munching Mamacita

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Gotta make this quick!

I’m getting ready to go play in Phoenix for the day so I must make this a quickie post.

So, I’m just going to let the photos do the talking.

Dinner and Luna Bella with the mumsies and broski

two words: fried squid

pre-Zumba

Post Zumba

afternoon snack.

pre-Zumba part deux

Nothing like a Tofurky, hummus and spicy mustard sammy to fuel an hour of straight booty shakin’ 🙂

And post-Zumba (for the second time in one day):

organic soymilk, rasberries, blueberries…dats it

I was craving a little smoothie but nothing protein-crazy or bulked up. This was perfect.

tofu veggie stir-fry over brown rice with tropical soyaki sauce

The highlight out of all these meals was OBVIOUSLY the beautiful, masterfully-created dishes at the beginning. To celebrate my little brother’s amazing guitar performance (he had a concert for the ending of his guitar camp), my mama and I decided to take him out for dinner. My Dad would’ve loved to be there, but he’s back in Maryland visiting some familia for the week.

For our entrees, my mom and I split the top two (and went home with PLENTY of leftovers). The first dish you saw was a sea bass with roasted veggies. It was laying on a bed of roasted tomato risotto and topped with avocado and hearts of palm salsa. It was absolutely AMAZING.

The second dish is a rigatoni and sausage plate in a spicy marinara. Obviously, I ditched the sausage (gag me) but I did eat a few pieces of rigatoni and some of the surrounding veggies on the plate.

I ate that stir-fry last night over at Reggie’s house, before getting ready to go out on the town with some friends.

This is what it looks like BEFORE we get all dolled up:

blanket attire

And Mr. Grem really wanted to share with you his “I can touch my nose with my tongue” trick:

Ain’t he just so talented?

Reggie and I went out to a few different get-togethers.

We played a little of the great American past-time:

sans-blanket

Kev and Banana boy doing what they do best

Reggie and I were on fiiiiree, until the boys stole our thunder and we lost :(.

The highlight of the night was having Banana boy’s sister here in town from Ecuador!!! She is such a darling and just moved here for school and was still taking it all in.

We originally went out with the boys to a party that turned out to be super lame-o, so Reggie and I stole little miss Ecuador (I think we’ve found a nickname) to go find some REAL fun without her protective brother watching her every move ;).

We found a dance party and all hell broke loose

This guy really knew how to work it haha

Reggie and I with little miss Ecuador 🙂

It was a fabulous night with fabulous people ❤

This morning, I woke up to eat at IHOP IHOA…International House of Anna 😉

This crazy mess of a breakfast would be three medallion-sized pancakes, which happen to be dairy and gluten-free, compliments of Trader Joe’s topped with one plain greek yogurt and some microwaved frozen raspberries that turned into a saucy syrup. On the side, I also had a morningstar vegan sausage patty.

Now, I’m off to the hella hot city of Phoenix.

Have a wonderful Sunday love pies!

xoxo

Munching Mamacita

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Do I have to get out of bed?

Hello.

It’s almost 10 am and I am still half asleep, having just played taxi cab driver at 8 am this morning after staying up till the wee hours of the night writing a paper.

Therefore, this was the first thing on my mind this morning:

soy lattes are my life saver

I can’t even tell you the last time I ordered a hot latte. Living in a sauna, I don’t really crave the hot stuff. This morning, though, I was in a different mood. It’s very overcast and gray today. Reggie and I were planning on going to lay by the pool after class so this weather better change it’s attitude or I am not gonna be one happy camper!

After leaving you yesterday, I made a giant plate of randomness.

Let’s start at the top and go clock-wise, shall we?

Top: different types of seaweed salad (leftover from lunch the day before)

Next: 5 meatless meat balls from Trader Joe’s. I wanna say something completely inappropriate here but it would just be too obvious.

Next: a teeny bit of leftover takikomi rice with two pieces of leftover ginger tofu

Next: 1/2 cup of steamed brown rice, topped with peanut sauce and nutritional yeast.

This plate kept my taste buds quite excited.

Later, I headed up north to my parent’s place of residence and took a nice little nap before heading off to teach Zumba.

Zumba was a little brutal because the air conditioning at the facility where I teach is only sub-par and we were sweating buckets. It has been so dang hot here lately and HUMID. Ugh, so HUMID. Whoever said Arizona has a “dry heat” is biting their tongue. Ok, so I’ve said that a million times in defense of my home state, but you know what Arizona? You’re on your own now. I’m done with this hellacious weather.

When I arrived back at my parent’s, my mama had a glass of wine and dinner awaiting my arrival.

Bless her soul.

Syrah ❤

Sicilians know how to do it up. Perhaps I am biased, though ;).

My mom had ordered take-out from this upscale little seafood restaurant in town. My Dad is visiting family out in New York and Maryland this week, so I guess she decided to go all out for us ladies.

While the Dad is away, the girls will play ;).

Dad, I hope you’re reading this.

See food? Seafood!

Alright, so this is far from vegetarian. Don’t hate on me. As long as it doesn’t moo, cluck, oink or walk on land then we don’t have a problem.

On this plate we have one blue crab cake (which was to-die for btw), a sliver of seared ahi tuna and two different types of salads: chinese ginger cabbage and carrots and mango chickpea spinach salad.

It was all awesome.

After dinner, I had planned on going back down town to meet up with “da boyz,” specifically for banana boy because his sister just moved here from Ecuador and he didn’t want to bring her to a household full of men as her first outing. They tend to drool.

But, after a little discussion with señor banana, we decided we’d get together this weekend, instead because I had some other priorities to get done, such as staying up way too late watching the corniest horror movie ever called, “The Haunted.”

I also had a paper to write, which I finished most of, but still have a little more work to get done on it before it is due later this evening.

Now, I am off to class for a few hours and then back home to get sh*t DONE son.

I’m sorry if this was the most boring post ever created. I’m not feeling inspired this morning. Someone needs more java.

Hopefully I’ll be back later with something witty and more fulfilling.

Love you

xoxo

MM

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Hello Class. Can I have your attention please?

Good afternoon hunnybuns!

Guess who got out of class an hour early and is super duper happy about it?!? THIS GIRL!!!.

Although we only spent a mere 60 minutes in class discussing preconception, I learned some very interesting facts. Allow me to share them with you.

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES (all the single ladies) ALL THE SINGLE LADIES (all the single ladies)…

… ok, and for all my non-single lady readers…and maybe a few male readers, as well….

DID YOU KNOW….

– Vegetarians typically have decreased levels of estrogen, which leads to irregular menstrual cycles (earmuffs, males, earmuffs) and decreased fertility. For people like me, who are not trying to conceive, this is a happy fact. For others out there trying to pop a bun in the oven, this might be big news for you.

-Having 4 or more cups of coffee a day can decrease the rate of conception, because caffeine prolongs the time it takes to conceive. Interesting.

-MALES THIS IS FOR YOU (and for all you women out there tired off popping the BCN pill): scientists have finally found a birth control method for men that has shown to be 99% effective. It is in the form of injection, but will most-likely take another 5 to 10 years to hit the shelves.

-Alcohol has toxic effects on the testes (yup, I just wrote testes on the blog. Get over it). Therefore, it is much more likely that alcoholic men have problems with fertility.

-If you are on a contraceptive (ladies), eating licorice can raise blood pressure AND fluid retention. If you’re gonna eat the licorice, be prepared to bust out the elastic waist pants. Fluid retention sucks.

…that’s all for now, but I hope you got your fill of random info for the day 🙂

Now, on to the real reason why you even read this blog…

I call this dinner

This amazing masterpiece (created by both Mr. Trader Joe and myself) that you are looking at, is a fig and goat cheese pizza.

Now would be the appropriate time for “oooooo” and “ahhhhhh”

I wish I could say I spent all evening pounding out the dough and handcrafting an authentic, rustic tomato sauce and then strained the cheese fresh from the cheese cloth, having just milked the goat in my backyard after picking the figs fresh from my fig orchard…

Ok, lets be real.

Here’s what went down.

Step 1. Buy the beloved pre-made goat cheese pizza at Trader Joe’s.

Step 2. Slice up fresh figs, also bought from TJ’s and place on prepared pizza.

Step 3. Follow the instructions on the pizza carton and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Hi, dinner is served.

Take a bow.

The combination of the sweet figs with the buttery goat cheese probably tops my list as best use of goat cheese, next to making beet and goat cheese salads. So, needless to say, this pizza was BOMBDIGGITY.

I ate half and saved the rest for a later time…which I’m surprised didn’t turn out to be an hour later.

Since I was a starving little miss piggy last night after teaching a hardcore Zumba class, I also made a little side fixings to go with the pizza. They were random and pretty much just what I had in the fridge.

beans and corn topped with nooch and hot sauce. Arugula salad with balsamic drizzle and…more nooch

And that’s that.

A little while later is when the party really got crackin’.

Reggie stopped by and we went to Trader Joe’s to pick up a few bottles of vino.

I also picked up this:

for the antioxidants, clearly 😉

Regg and I had a little wine and chocolate in my backyard by the candlelight.

We’re so romantic.

poppin the vino

Are you diggin the train conductor-esque jumper? 😉

Cab Sauvignon. Ugh, LOVERRRRR

I’m a huge fan of Cabs. Usually, I much prefer a Cab Franc if it’s available, but this Chilean bottle still hit the spot just fine.

The outside set-up:

My date:

And since I know all of you are going to ask…if you’re wondering where you can find such divine patio furniture like mine, I would highly recommend Wal-mart. Possibly a garage sale…maybe on the side of one’s sidewalk about to get picked up by the trashman.

College class. Gotta love it.

About 1/4 of the way into the chocolate, I went into tastebud sensory overload and put the rest of the bar into the fridge.

Then, Go-go boy called and invited us over to his friend’s place for a wee get together.

We hopped over, but not before taking advantage of a in-car photo op:

It was a college night like any other.

Don’t ask.

Before leaving for home, there may or may not have been the splitting of a bean burrito and some guacamole and copious amounts of chips between Reggie and I.

I arrived home safe and sound around 2:30 am with Jorge, my Mexican food child settled in my stomach.

At 8:30 am, I awoke with the dire need to sweat Jorge out of me.

I packed up the essentials, and headed out the door to possibly the best Zumba class known to man, taught by the Zumba goddess, herself…my Zumba mentor.

I sweat out every last inch of wine, mexican baby, random rum and coke that somehow made it into the mix the night before that I failed to mention…

Then, I showered at the gym, threw on some clothes, and headed to class.

Before leaving for Zumba, I packed some fuel on-the-go to eat after my sweat-sesh.

Left to right:

Puffins and blueberry mix (that I didn’t end up eating and am saving for later), Blueberry crisp Clif bar, one annabanana, and a hard-boiled egg.

You might be asking yourself, “How did she keep a hard-boiled egg ever so fresh during an hour Zumba class in her car in 12837793 degree weather?!”

Well, it wouldn’t have been possible without my handy dandy thermal tupperware.

This tupperware is glorious. I found it at Ross, of all places. It has a pop-out ice ring that you stick in the freezer and then place back into the lid when you want to keep something fresh for up to several hours.

Whoever comes up with this stuff is pure genius.

When I got home from class, I wanted something icy cold, but slightly sweet.

Fruit popsicle!!!

This was from a pack of “Caribbean” popsicles that I bought from Whole Foods a while back. They are all-natural, with no added sugars and have a mix of strawberry juice and real pieces of coconut mixed in.

Oh, and bikinis are standard attire in this house.

I’m off to go make some lunch because my stomach is growling again and then I am going to run some errands and write a paper on the roles of food during different stages of life. I also teach Zumba tonight (woop woop for Zumba twice in one day!).

Shall be fun!

xoxo

Munching Mamacita

Here’s a question of the day for YOU: How has the role of food changed during your lifetime? Has your relationship with food changed at all since you were a wee kidlet? I know mine has. It used to be about bringing the coolest lunch to the cafeteria and avoiding eating the mystery meat in the lunch line. Now, it’s all about what the food can do for my body and my tastebuds, more than anything. Although, I suppose food has always been a huge aspect of my social life. Think of how lame socializing might be without food!? No BBQ’s, no dinners out with friends, no pot-lucks! Gimme your thoughts :).

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