a mini vacation weekend!

Mark and I had an EXCELLENT weekend, it was my only "vacation" trip this summer- short but sweet.
We left super early on Saturday for NYC- got there around 10:30- I had found a cheap coupon for 24 hour parking at a lot across from our hotel, and when we pulled up to drop our car off this family was waiting for their car. Some attendant drove up with a big grey SUV, and the family stated it was not their car. It was hilarious when the attendant said "Really? This is not your car?!" almost arguing with them as if they did not know their own car. Hilarious! Didn't instill much confidence in us, but our car ended up surviving its 24 hours.
We checked in to our hotel- The New York Inn; it was $130 a night, which is the cheapest hotel I could find on Manhattan (on 9th and 47th in Broadway)- and it turned out to be te SHITTIEST hotel we have ever stayed in, but we had to laugh about it. The room was smaller then a dorm room with a full size bed, we barely fit, but it served it's purpose.

We then walked several blocks to the pick up for our living social deal. There were about 30 people in our group. We were driven 2 hours to Pennsylvania where we got in to the Delaware River. We kayaked with the group down the river for a little less then 2 hours. It was BEAUTIFUL weather. The river was crowded with tubes (which Mark had never heard of tubing, hilarious, he thought it was the laziest activity ever). There were a couple spots with rapids. It was super fun and relaxing.

When we got to the take out they had lunch waiting for us. We ate lunch and then the bus drove our group another 45 minutes to Crossing Vineyard, a winery in Pennsylvania. There the co-owner talked us through a wine tasting of 12 different wines of theirs. None of them really stood out- they weren't bad, but they weren't exceptional, esp. for their price since Mark and I are such winos and we buy all our wine on price these days. The owner was great though- quite a salesman and had lots of fun stories. He taught us a lot about paring wine with food which was nice. Showed us around the winery too and how they make their wine. If I was ever to try a different career I think I would like to go in to the wine business. I would love to live on a vineyard.

We ended up buying 3 bottles and got a good group discount. Then the bus drove us home, we got back to NYC at 10pm. I bought vegan asian food from Zen Palate for dinner.

On Sunday we slept in and then drove to Central Park. Visited the Central Park Zoo (which is one of my favorites since it is so small and quaint) and then headed home.
Got home about 5pm. It was a great, but short, trip.

wow it's been a busy week...

This last week really feels like summer with all that has been happening.
Last week I was on "PD" which stands for personal development. Basically I spend the week working on reading literature and working on any presentations I have coming up. However, on Wednesday it was "The Roast" which is the big party they throw for all the graduating interns and residents. One of the second year residents would have been working so I switched with him and worked 1p-1a on Wednesday. I came in to work the next day at 9:30 so that I could attend the official graduation for all the leaving interns and residents. Then I put in a full day's work and at 6pm went to a local bar with Quinny to discuss potential research projects. We came up with a decent amount of ideas.
Got home at 8pm. On Friday I put in a half day and Friday night was wine night. It went well, except for the first time ever I ran out of food and felt horrible about it. Everyone left at 10pm except Ryan and Julie too, which was weird.
On Saturday we drove to Maine to see Mark's family, we left at 10:30am and got there at 1:30, then stayed until 6pm.
We came home and at 9pm went out with some more of Mark's friends for drinking and dancing. It was a little tiring, stayed out until midnight.
Then on Sunday we relaxed a bit. We saw Super 8. We got asked to go out again but called it a night at 10pm.
On Monday I didn't get home from work until 7:45, but then we packed up some stuff and went to the Esplanade. We watched the fireworks on a blanket surrounded by thousands of people with Josh and Caitlin. Despite being SO tired, it was worth it, although not sure if I will go next year. They estimated somewhere between 400-800,000 people there, and walking home was a bitch- didn't get home until 12:30am.
Tuesday I worked another full day, getting home at 7:30.
Then on Wednesday we went to visit Mark's dad in the hospital after his surgery and grabbed some drinks with Gersh in the evening.
Today (Thursday) has been the first low key day this week. Didn't get nearly as much work done as I wanted with regards to stuff from work, but I hopefully will have more time next week on elective.

For food at the wine night I made two dishes from Vegan Yum Yum.
The first was an asparagus tart: http://veganyumyum.com/2008/09/asparagus-and-white-bean-pesto-tart/
I personally didn't think it was that great, and the puff pastry burnt a little.
But then I made the classic pistashio pesto pasta, and it was a hit, good as always:
http://veganyumyum.com/2007/05/pistachio-arugula-pesto-with-penne-and-sauteed-broccolini/

experimenting with non-traditional salads

I have been wanting to eat more salads, but am very bored by the classic salads everyone eats. So I have turned to vegan yum yum and tried two of their salads in the last week.

Last week I made this avocado salad: http://veganyumyum.com/2010/01/avocado-wasabi-salad/
The dressing ended up looking more like hummus but once you mixed it up with the salad it had a cheesy element to it, and the taste had a little kick too.

Then this weekend Danielle and Courtney gave me a ton of kale (their friend own's part of a community garden and has more kale then what she knows to do with.
So I tried this recipe:
http://veganyumyum.com/2009/07/blt-salad/
I made some modifications: I used Trader Joe's Teriyaki flavored tofu- I cut it in to small pieces and fried it in a little olive oil. I also added some broccolini- I cut that up in to small pieces and mixed it in with the salad.

Both turned out super tasty, but something tells me they are not the most healthy salads.

lime cashew tofu tacos

This recipe is a new one and I have to say I am quite proud of it. When I was in Hawaii I had lime cilantro tofu tacos that were delicious, so I decided to look for a similar recipe here on the mainland. My googling did not find one, but I found a couple other recipes, and I modified several elements of a couple recipes and ended up with this new creation of mine.

Ingredients:
soft tacos (I had 8 and this dish makes enough for 8 tacos, but Mark and I at two each for 2 nights)
For the tofu:
1 block extra-firm tofu
olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp cilantro spice
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Whisk together all the liquid ingredients.
Place the tofu on a stack of papertowels above and below it for 45 minutes (this sucks a lot of the juices out making it firmer).
Cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes and place in a container with the marinade overnight.

The next day, for the cashew slaw, ingredients:
1/8 cup lime juice
1/8 cup vinegar
2 TBsp soy sauce
2 tsp agave nectar
1 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp mirin (found in most whole foods stores)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup cashews
1 TBsp cilantro spice
1 package pre-shredded coleslaw

In a food processor blenderize all the ingredients except the slaw. Then use the liquid to coat the slaw.
Take the marinaded tofu from the day before and fry in a small amount of olive oil.
On the taco shells place several pieces of tofu and then top with the slaw mixture. Roll up and enjoy this delicious tofu taco dish! (I think this is one of the first times I cooked the tofu and liked how it turned out).

raw tahini noodles

I recently made this dish from vegan yum yun:
http://veganyumyum.com/2008/07/nearly-raw-tahini-noodles/
The nice thing about it is it makes TONS of leftovers, and the recipe is right, it really is a cool, refreshing meal on hot summer days!