What I ate

I can't resist chocolate chip cookies. Or any cookies, really. With a tall glass of milk, it's just the most perfect night time snack.

After a particularly blah day, I treated myself to sushi for one. I deserved it, and I felt super great afterward because I wasn't embarrassed or anxious to be eating by myself. I went to Hoshi in Stony Brook and ordered a crunchy spicy tuna roll and a Philadelphia roll. Both delicious, though next time I'm going to think outside of the bento box and order something completely new to me. Gotta keep expanding those horizons.
Because Andrew and I live together, and he's a star employee at the Whole Foods in our neck of the woods, I get a discount card! I went on a mini shopping trip the other night for some coconut oil and pumpkin seeds and such. Saw these babies sitting on the very top shelf of their section and brought them down to my cart. Fall is fast approaching, and I think these bars might become my healthy alternative to all of the pies and pumpkin cream cheese muffins and pumpkin breads that are going to start making their way to coffee shops (that is not to say that I won't be sampling all of those treats.. pumpkin time is the most wonderful time of the year). Delicious.
Another Whole Foods treasure is Guayaki yerba maté. I've been weaning myself off of caffeine, but yerba maté contains a naturally occurring, "clean" caffeine, so I figured it'd be okay to cheat a little bit with this. The bottled kind wakes me up, but for some reason these cans make me feel euphoric for at least an hour. Weird? Maybe. Awesome? Yes.

Okay check this out:
- 365 brand Oats & Flax instant oatmeal
- Fresh cut strawberries
- 1/2 tbsp. coconut oil
- Sliced almonds
- Sunflower kernels

I brought all of the ingredients to work with me and mixed em up at lunch. Definitely fueled me with enough energy to make it through the rest of the work day and then some. Super food!

I've found myself making open face tomato sandwiches for the past few days. I did this all the time when I was a kid because of Harriet the Spy. She really opened my eyes to a lot, but especially this great simple snack.

sapsuckers saturday

for the first time in what felt like forever, i had the weekend off from work, and took full advantage of it with a bunch of friends. on saturday, we drove around and found some out of town garage & estate sales (it still amazes me what iPhone apps can help you do). i picked up some fun stuff, but really i love these trips because i, for some reason, thoroughly enjoy rummaging through people's garbage.

afterward, we headed to centerport to the vanderbilt estate and planetarium! we watched a light show that used songs by the beatles as inspiration and then we roamed around the grounds. the vanderbilt estate is a super interesting place. it's incredible what people used to do with their money. lots of freaky taxidermy and beautiful architecture.

after spending half the day entirely too active for long island's recent heatwave, we were all starving and met up with some more friends in huntington for dinner. with the help of yelp (once again, iPhone to the rescue), we all agreed to try sapsuckers (which was especially exciting for me because new restaurants give me more to do now). it was awesome! thanks yelp!

the menu was short but sweet, with some creative takes on old favorites and a bunch of vegetarian options. sapsuckers is well known for their beer selection also, and half of the restaurant is actually a bar. i decided on some summer blend of dogfish head (the. best. beer.) and the veggie burger,

which was less burger, more chopped spinach and artichoke and mushroom and sheer deliciousness topped with melted cheese and a tomato slice. oh man, it was great.

then, chris had a groupon for a dozen free cookies at a chocolate shop nearby called chip'n dipped. like a good dad (my cell phone service is under his family plan), he let all six of us choose which kind we wanted. i, being me, chose chocolate chip.
and it was yummy, as all cookies should be.

the rest of the night was spent in a swimming pool and in port jefferson eating the frozen goods of our choosing (i went with my tried and true red mango). i slept like a baby well into sunday afternoon.
next entry: cake pops and trader joe's thai!