So the highlights were basically from Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday. Please excuse the pictures. I took them all with my phone. I just didn’t feel like lugging my camera to all the places we were at this past week. I’ll try to do better in the future. Oh! If you want to participate in What I Ate Wednesday, head on over to Peas and Crayons blog and join in! :)

For dinner on Thursday night, REB and I met up with a friend from high school who also lives in Ann Arbor. The last time we had dinner with this fella was about 2 years ago! So it was long overdue. He had made reservations at a Thai place downtown called Marnee Thai, and we’ve been there before so I was pretty excited. REB and I were good. We each got soup and then split an entree so we wouldn’t over eat!

The soup I chose was the Tom yum hed, a super spicy soup with mushrooms, lemongrass and cilantro. It was incredibly good. They weren’t lying about spice. I don’t think I needed to order it medium, because it was soooo spicy, but I couldn’t stop eating it!

Then for the main dish REB and I split the Tofu pad meng mamuang (tofu with cashew nuts). We got it with the brown rice. It was sweet and nutty (of course) and also spicy since we asked for it a little spicier. We hadn’t gotten this before, so I’m glad we tried something new! There are more things to be tried there ;)

When we got home, I was craving some kind of dessert. Then I remembered that we had bought some Skinny Cow popsicles.

Mint truffle and white chocolate popsicles to be exact. At only 100 calories a piece, these were the perfect chocolate craving I needed to end the evening! I highly recommend almost anything Skinny Cow makes. They’re all low cal and help give you the fix you need.

Let’s move onto Friday.
Most every day for lunch at work, I eat soup. I buy the little cartons of Pacific Natural Foods soups, which have two servings in each carton, and eat that for lunch. So a cup of soup (one serving) every day for lunch. It’s low carb, full of protein and it fills me up! I usually pair it with string cheese, fruit or a half serving of whole grain goldfish crackers. However this past Thursday the soup I had was abysmal. I got a different brand thinking “Well it’s Minestrone! It can’t be bad!” I was ridiculously wrong. It was watery, thin and looked like tomato water with a few carrot bits. I ended up throwing it out.

Working in downtown Ann Arbor has a lot of perks. One of those perks happens to be working across the street from Jerusalem Garden. Hands down they have the best falafel in town. I got the small falafel plate with two sides. That includes two falafel pieces and two sampler sides of your choice. I chose the fattoush and hummus. It also came with one piece of pita, halved. What did it cost me? $5.05 – tax included! You really can’t beat that. It was filling without feeling like too much. Total win.

That night I met my friend Kelly for dinner before she and I went to the Ann Arbor Folk Festival. We saw a number of bands, but the main headliner was Ryan Adams! It was a great show. We’re already making plans to see some of the bands we saw that night, who will be back in Ann Arbor in a few weeks.

Anyway, I met her at a restaurant we both hadn’t been to before: Red Hawk Bar and Grille. We both had a pretty hard week at work so we decided to get some cocktails. We also ordered an appetizer of Halloumi cheese, which came with spiced walnuts, bread and some kind of cranberry chutney.

It was…meh. The cheese looked like chicken and was grilled up and sliced like it, but it was most definitely cheese. It was a little on the rubbery side though and didn’t exactly spread on the bread that well. The cranberry chutney was NOT good. We were both pretty disappointed with that. But the bread, spiced walnuts and our drinks were deeelicious!

For dinner, my friend Kelly got their mac and cheese with crumbled sausage on top. It looked delicious, and I don’t even eat meat. I was happy that this place had a few vegetarian options so I opted to try something unique that I didn’t think I’d find any where else in the city.

I got their potato, feta and poblano taquitos. They were unique and really, really good. I was a little disappointed that they were fried. I should have guessed they would be but it wasn’t stated on their menu that they would be, so I guess I just thought they weren’t going to be fried. The rice was good but I didn’t eat the pinto beans since I’m not the biggest fan of those. The flavors of the taquitos weren’t bad though! There was a smokey taste to them from the peppers and spices they used and then salty from the feta.

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. We met up with some of our friends (the friends whose son I just took photos of :)) for brunch on Sunday morning. We went up to a place near their home called Zoe’s House of Pancakes. This place is so good!! They have a lot of sweet and savory crepes, egg specialties and too many options for pancakes. REB got the red velvet pancakes, which were…OH..MY..GOD..oh so good!

I got the Baja Benedict, which was their spin on eggs Benedict. But they were vegetarian! It was a poached egg served on tomato, guacamole, lettuce and English muffin and hash browns. It’s weird. I really hate runny eggs. I always order my eggs scrambled or overhard, but I liked poached eggs. I’ll never order them over medium or over easy and do the whole sop-the-yolk-up-with-bread thing, but poached eggs? Fugettaboutit! I love it. I wish I knew how to make a poached egg, but the idea of having to swirl water and crack an egg scares me too much.

For lunch on Monday I went back to my soup routine as usual. I tried another new brand (I know, I know…) but it wasn’t bad! It was the FIG brand and I got the split pea and potato. The carton said it was lightly salted, but it wasn’t really. Luckily I keep Franks Red Hot in my desk so I was set with the salt and spice factor. What I really need to do is get another bottle of Sriracha and chili flakes in my desk too ;)

This time I paired it with the Frigo-brand light swirled cheese stick (cheddar and mozzarella) and then some yogurt! I need to get my Fage or Chobani because Yoplait really doesn’t compare in terms of flavor, fruit and protein. But you make do with what you got, right? Right. The great thing was my lunch was super low-cal and totally filled me up!

So anyway, there’s a week of eats from my neck of the woods!

So what about you?
Is there is a favorite way you take your eggs?
Are there favorite Thai dishes you absolutely can’t go without when you go out for Thai food?
What is your go-to lunch each day at work or home?

I don’t always eat exciting things, but this past Saturday, I feel like we had a nice spread of good eats!

We started the morning off by heading up to Flint, MI to visit one of our really close friends, Amber. She was celebrating her birthday in true fashion: calling it the birthday freakend (celebrating from Thursday – Monday!). We couldn’t make it up for her actual birthday on Friday, so we went up early on Saturday to meet her and the rest of the gang at Flint Crepe Company in downtown Flint.

Now most people in Michigan know that Flint has really run down in the past years due to General Motors closing its plants and people losing their jobs. This place is a true gem and really brings the downtown back to life!

 The place is eclectic and has an industrial feel on the inside. They also feature posters and paintings of local things around town, cyclists, local artwork, etc. It’s awesome!

This is Crepe master Oakland. He was extremely friendly to all the customers, did custom orders and made sure everyone was happy. The entire staff was wonderful and friendly. The best part is that this place uses locally-grown ingredients and can make anything gluten-free or vegan. They also take the scraps of food leftover that people might otherwise throw away and they return it to the farmers for their compost piles.

The crepe company featured lots of savory and sweet crepes. I had my eye on one item I saw on the menu: Samosa crepe! It was like the place knew I was coming. The guy who took my order asked if I wanted it to be extra spicy. Duh! Of course.

This was a good choice in my opinion. It had a dollop of raita on top and came with three different chutneys. It wasn’t as spicy as I would have liked, but it can be hard to satisfy my spice level. It tasted like a soft masala dosa, it was so good! Accompanied by a non-fat vanilla latte, this meal was perfection and a great start to our Saturday.

On our way home, we stopped at a local cafe in downtown Ann Arbor that we found out sold macarons. We had been trying to find a bakery that sold them for a while (since returning from our honeymoon) and weren’t successful. We actually found a place in a nearby city, but we didn’t have time to drive all the way out there. So when I found out this cafe down the street from my work sold them, and the French lady who sells them at the Farmers Market every Saturday morning sold them to the cafe, we tried our luck and went there on our way home. We ended up buying some pumpkin macarons and also some white chocolate raspberry ones. They were also featuring heart-shaped eggnog flavored, but I’m not a big fan of eggnog, so we passed on those.

They were so light and fluffy and extremely flavorful! It was a good snack to have with an afternoon cup of tea. And as you can see from the photo, they were the star of my Project 52 weekly photo (along with Danbo of course). It sure beat trying to make these delicate cookies. The process seemed like a bit more than I wanted to handle for the weekend. One day I’m definitely going to try to make them – when I have time, which is apparently one of the two things you need in order to make these! Time and patience!

So then to continue our faux-Parisian lifestyle, we re-created the warm goat cheese salad we had in Paris. We’d made it once before, but decided to change a few things and try again. We blew it out of the park this time! It turned out even better and the re-vamped version of this recipe is officially the go-to. I’m pleased to see it has gotten some awesome reviews and general interest already!

So there we have it! My first ever What I Ate Wednesday! Hopefully I can keep up with this every week. I already track my food and calorie intake on my phone daily, but this sounds like a fun weekly thing to do to really showcase some good eats when they come along.

I’m actually looking forward to having some good eats this week and weekend too.

Are there any go-to recipes  you rely on? Share them below if I should try it too!

]]> http://notaleaf.com/2012/01/25/what-i-ate-wednesday/feed/ 4 http://notaleaf.com/2012/01/07/accent-vlog/ http://notaleaf.com/2012/01/07/accent-vlog/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:41:56 +0000 Aparna B. http://notaleaf.com/?p=3173 I never knew what a vlog was, but then I went over to Sarah Learns and saw her post about doing an accent vlog, so I decided I’d give it a shot, too!

So here’s how it works. I’m supposed to record a video of myself saying the following words:
aunt, route, wash, oil, theater, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet, new orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pajamas, caught

And then I’m supposed to answer the following questions:

• what is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
• what is the bug that curls into a ball when you touch it?
• what is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
• what do you call gym shoes?
• what do you say to address a group of people?
• what do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
• what do you called the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
• what do you call it when rain falls when the sun is shining?
• what is the thing you change the tv channel with?

I’ve lived all over the country – twice now in Michigan (I used to live in the U.P.). There was a time where I lived in Mississippi, but I wonder if I truly have a “Michigan accent” or not. You be the judge and let me know!

Additionally, I have this dialect survey REB showed me once and I’ve kept the link! It’s interesting to see how people say certain words or phrases from all over the country. You can check that out here.

Lastly, I’m chillaxing in bed, so excuse the backdrop and if I look like a hot mess. I also don’t know why the sound went from uber loud to uber soft…so I apologize in advance if it’s hard to hear!

Here we go!

So what do you think? Northern accent or not? I think I definitely have on! I hope you all give it a shot and then come back and share it! :)
A big thanks to Sarah for sharing hers!

But first, I had some pretty good moments and unforgettable memories of 2011! Here’s a recap of my year:

•I got married in August. It was hands down one of the most amazing days of my life. Not only did I marry my best friend, but he was gracious enough to let us have an Indian ceremony because he knew how much it meant to me. I couldn’t ask for a better husband. He’s considerate, caring, loving, supportive and encouraging in everything I do. I’m excited for our adventures this year!
•I quit my job. It was something I had said I was going to do since December 2010: I’m going to quit. I’m going to quit. And I never did. I had my breaking point in December and somehow stayed there until August. While I enjoyed the travel, I was getting sick of it at the same time. I wanted to be home with my family and move forward with my life. I didn’t want to worry about having to leave before a holiday, miss out on family events on the weekend or anything else. It wasn’t a lifestyle I was comfortable with anymore and it was time to move on.
•I started a new job. On that same note, I started a new job. I got a job working in downtown Ann Arbor for a not-for-profit company and love it so far. After my first day of work, REB noticed I looked happier and seemed happier. My stress level went from full to virtually nothing. It’s been a nice change for sure :)
•Friends. I made some incredible new friends this year. I also became closer with current friends and felt so honored to be part of their life events. At the same time I lost some friends, or at least felt like I did. It’s no one’s fault, but it became clear to me that not only had I changed, but they had too and maybe we were both better off.

So anyway, I always have a hard time coming up with resolutions because I almost never complete them. I’d like to change that this year and hopefully I will! Here we go:

1. Keep positive energy in, shoo negative energy out:
I had mentioned that this would be my #1 goal for 2012. It was something I felt was simple and something I should be able to do. But I have a feeling it’s easier said than done. I’m a pretty emotional person. I let things get to me and let emotions get in the way and it brings out the bad in me. And I hate that. I’d like to focus on being positive, calm and not getting overly worked up about stupid stuff. I also want to keep negative people out. I don’t need that kind of thing bringing me down, and don’t want to let it either. I’m sick of having to make an effort with people and not see it follow through. I just think that kind of thing brings me down more and it hurts and I don’t want to have to worry about that. So positive energy in, negative energy out! Maybe our country should make that resolution too.. [DEEP] lol…

2. Read 30 books.
So, I noticed Amber said she was going to read 50 books. I’d love to think I could do that. I do love to read. A lot. But I found myself using my camera more this year than picking up a book instead. So I’d like to try the book challenge but start with a goal that I might be able to do. Thirty books in 12 months. If I can’t do that, then I should probably re-take the 11th grade.

I’m going to start with the Game of Thrones series. REB got this from my sister for Christmas and we’ve both seen Season 1 on HBO (and impatiently waiting for April for Season 2 to begin!). I’d love to finish the series before April too. And if I do, I’m already four books into the goal!

3. Starting another Project 52.
I’m starting another Project 52 on Flickr! I did the Project 365 two years ago when I got my DSLR as a way to learn my camera. I’d like to think I learned it pretty well. Then last year, I participated in Project 52 with the MCP Actions blog. So this year, I’m doing my own Project 52. And the theme?

DANBO! I got a pair of Danbo’s from REB as part of my Christmas gift and I decided I’d do a year of Danbo. It’s not anything new. There are tons of people on Flickr who do this kind of project. I just figured I’d like to do it too as a change from the normal kind of project I’d do. I did my first photo yesterday, too! So I hope you all start following my Flickr photostream to see the photo each week! [Shameless plug]

4. MCP Actions Project 12.
While I do my own Project 52 this year, I’m also going to be participating in MCP Actions Blog’s Project 12. It’s a little easier than last year. Instead of doing a photo a week based on the theme they pick, it’s a photo a month. They give a theme at the beginning of each month and we all have a month to brain storm, get our photo and upload it! It should be fun and easier but also give us a chance to be really creative! If you want to participate, head on over to MCP Actions to check it out!

5. Continue my goal to that number.
I’ve been on the weight loss track since April of 2010 when REB and I made the decision to be healthier. While it was mostly for our wedding, I kind of fell off the wagon after our honeymoon. I took advantage of all the yummy foods in Europe and didn’t do anything about it when we came back home. So it’s back on track for Aparna! I still haven’t reached that number I have in mind, so here’s hoping I can make that happen this year!

I’m going to make sure I do it the healthy away again. Trying to lose 1 1/2 – 2 pounds per week. Keep track of what I’m eating, and keep the junk out!

6. HOUSE.
There is no way I want to stay in this apartment for another year. We need a house. It’s a new chapter in our lives and I want more living space for it! Above all, we need a house with a yard so the four-legged one can have a place to run around freely. We want a house in Ann Arbor, too. We’re both very happy with our jobs and love living in Ann Arbor, being part of this little city. We could see ourselves being here for a least 5 years, so we’re ready to make the commitment to own! We’re so excited! We’ve already done our homework and now it’s time to start making this a reality. Who knows what will come with the house? A new puppy perhaps? :)

So there we have it! My goals for 2012. I hope I can at least tackle half of them. I want to stay calm and carry on! I hope you all had a safe and fun holiday and New Year. Happy New Year to all of you! Here’s to 2012 and the adventures it will bring!

The lovely and beautiful Amber over at Amber Herself bestowed this award upon me. I’m not sure what I did to get this award, but I’m honored nonetheless!

So the idea here is to say 7 things about yourself and then pass the award onto fellow bloggers and have them share 7 things about themselves. I like it! It’s a great way for me to get to know a little more about each of the bloggers whose blog I admire and I absolutely love to read on a daily basis! So here we go.

1. I love pickles. It’s a crazy,  scary obsession I have to admit. But I love them. I love them as chips, slices, spears, whole, fried… what else can you do with a pickle? You should share if there is a way I should have them ;) But the truth is, pickles are just delicious to me. It kind of grosses REB out the way I drink pickle juice right from the jar. I am not ashamed.

2. I wasn’t born in America. A lot of people think that because I have a pretty good American accent, that I was born here in America; some think in Michigan. The truth is, I was born in India in New Delhi. My family and I moved to America when I was 3 years old, to Columbus, OH (BLECH) where my dad taught at OSU for two years. When I moved here, all I spoke was Hindi even though my parents speak Telugu (South Indian language) at home all the time. I grew up in northern India (well for those first 3 years haha) so I spoke Hindi. The teachers here told my parents I would never succeed in this country if I didn’t speak English, so they told them to only speak it at home and refrain from speaking Hindi or Telugu at home. Because of that, I do not have an accent at all, but I also don’t speak a lick of Hindi or Telugu anymore :( I understand Telugu completely. When my mom speaks it to me at home, I know exactly what she’s saying (even the swear words lol) and I can understand a little Hindi here and there…but I don’t speak it. It’s really sad and makes me sad. I can’t even respond to my mom in Telugu. What sucks is now schools encourage that students learn one other language and practice it :\

3. I’ve been to every state in the U.S except for two. You heard me right. I’ve been to every state but two! The two I need to visit? Utah and Hawaii. As a kid, I moved around a LOT. I’ve lived in OH, WA, the U.P., MS and now back in MI in the lower peninsula. And we drove to each location and stopped in many states along the way to visit national parks, hike up volcanoes (Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier baby!) and I’ve seen some amazing stuff. Fast forward to 2007, I landed a job with a software company where I traveled almost every 2 weeks to a different newspaper in Random Place, USA. Not every trip was great, but the ones that were, I’ll never forget and feel fortunate for being able to go there!

4. REB and I went to high school together but were never close friends. I knew REB’s brother before I knew him. I had a few classes with his brother so I only knew OF REB. I knew he was a studious kid, a nice guy and he had the same friends I had, yet he and I never hung out together. It would be almost 10 years (after freshman year of HS) before he and I would ever hang out, start going steady, realize our undying love for each other and get married. It’s funny how things work out. I feel so incredibly lucky though <3

5. I want to be cremated. I say this here and now and hope anyone who reads remembers this last wish for my life. I want to be cremated. And not just because it’s more common in Indian tradition. Truth is, the idea of being underground in a box totally freaks me out. I know you can be buried where ever you want, but I’d rather my ashes be scattered in places I love or loved visiting with REB, my family or friends. OK, this is kind of morbid but Amber started it! ;)

6. I can recite The Cutting Edge word for word. It’s still one of my most favorite movies. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was about 8 or 9 with my best friend at the time when I lived in the U.P. After watching it, I not only wanted to date Doug Dorsey (what a hottie), but I tried convincing my parents I should probably be a professional figure skater.

7. I’ve lost almost 30 pounds since April and I’ve kept it off. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. After REB and I got our engagement photos back, we made a choice to change our lifestyle and be healthy. We didn’t want our wedding photos to look like that. I’ve tried Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers and even telling myself “I can eat what ever I want as long as I work out.” It really came down to a completely reduced calorie diet and working out. Every day. I hate it, and there are days I don’t, but I can honestly say I DO feel better (damn you doctors and being right!) and I’m so proud of REB and me. I still have another 10 to go so I can reach that number I’ve been wanting to reach, but I’ve heard the last 10 are the hardest to lose. But I’m not too worried. I know I’ll get there :)

—-

Sorry these were so long! So here’s the deal. I’m supposed to link 15 blogs I love and pass the award on and see what those lovelies will say about themselves! Unfortunately, I don’t know that many blogs, so I’ll just list the ones I read on a daily basis and hope they participate! Oh and by the way, if you aren’t already following Amber on Twitter, you probably should. She’s pretty rad.

Keep It Simple Foods
Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives
Corgi Butts
Veggie Next Door
Schwedskala
Life’s a Feast