Candle Cafe Feast

Hello everybody! Happy Humpday:)

Last night I met the Madre at Candle Cafe to celebrate mother's day and finishing school. We began with a house salad with ginger soy dressing, which was simple yet good.

For our entrees we shared the Indian platter and the Farmer's Market plate. Guys, I cannot rave enough about this Indian plate. I ordered it three years ago and have been dreaming about it ever since. Last night it tasted just as fabulous as last time, if not even more so! I would say this platter (which contains daal, sauteed cabbage, eggplant seitan curry, rice and naan) rivals even a traditional Indian restaurant. If you go here you MUST order this dish.
The dish of veggies was also extremely good, particularly when drenched in their carrot ginger vinaigrette. That stuff is so good that I could drink a whole bottle of it.
Candle cafe is not just one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants, it's one of my favorite restaurants period. If you come to New York seeking tasty vegetarian food, Candle Cafe should be first on your list.

This morning I arose bright and early and headed to swim practice. The workout was not very yard-extensive, but extremely challenging due to the speed work. Practice consisted of:

Warm Up:

300 freestyle swim

200 freestyle kick

200 freestyle pull

Main Set:

3X300 50 back, 50 free/25 breast, 75 free/100IM X3

9X100 freestyle pull (this was the most difficult set, since the interval dropped down to 1:05 pace!)

4x25 sprint free

50 sprint free

50 easy

Repeat 4 times

4X125 kick

12X50 IM

Total yardage: 4,400

I actually got today off from work because I had some loose ends to tie up at school and had a couple doctors appointments to attend before the throes of summer begin. I finally got an appointment with the sports doctor who wants me to get an MRI of my foot to see if there is a stress fracture.

When I returned home from swimming I gobbled up this yogurt before heading to el medico.

With an iced coffee in a jar, por supuesto.
The doctor was conveniently located within close proximity to Whole Foods, so I ran in and grabbed a couple items including this beet salad
which I gobbled down with some more yogurt before rushing out to my next doc appointment. This yogurt was vanilla flavored Chobani mixed with Grape Nuts flakes and dried cherries.
I also had some fresh strawberries on the side.
I returned home from the doc around 2PM and had some mid-day noshes of Edy's mint chip ice cream
And fresh watermelon
I the tied on my metaphorical apron and got my bake on. I wanted to make goodies to bring to the ER nurses since they have been extremely helpful with our internship. Nurses seriously deserve all the credit in the world, they work so hard and selflessly and hospitals would certainly not function without them.

I began concocting some chocolate chip cookies, but realized I ran out of butter. Tragedy! I dug within the annals of my fridge and discovered a lone container of plain Greek yogurt. I decided to try the substituting the butter for it and was actually successful! The cookies turned out quite well, but were a bit hard so I'm deeming them "scones" instead;)
I also made oatmeal chocolate muffins, which were a real winner.
The best item, however, turned out to be my whole wheat banana bread. I was shocked that it actually turned out well since I did not use a recipe or any measuring utensils. I simply mixed a bunch of ingredients together until the batter appeared the correct consistency. The ingredients included:

-two nanners

-whole wheat flour

-almond milk

-baking soda and baking powder

-pomegranate juice as sweetner

-LOADS of chocolate chips:)
While I baked, the pooch snored.
After indulging in numerous baked goods (I had to ensure they tasted ok. . .) I craved something light for dinner. I whipped up a salad containing lettuce, broccoli, red onion, tomato, yellow pepper, cheddar cheese, and egg. I then seasoned the mixture with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.
This two pound container of strawberries (on sale for four dollars!) definitely constituted my best purchase of the day
I utilized the luscious berries in an after dinner fruit salad which also contained kiwi and banana.
In my list yesterday a reader noticed that I mentioned I hope to start my own business. This has been a dream of mine for many years now, though I've lacked the tools to actually jump start the entrepreneurial endeavor. I'm hoping that this summer I will at least get the ball rolling. I cannot divulge any details yet, but I will say it involves my strong desire to impact the world in a positive manner and help others.

I hope everyone had a great day!