A Day of Firsts

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Jordan

It’s not every day you find your core muscles again, relax in bubbles, conquer a kitchen appliance and bake the perfect holiday cookies. Saturday was that day.

I started my morning with a half hour core workout class at my YMCA. I’ve been building my core through swimming, spinning and planks, but yesterday was the first time since pilates that I truly focused on my abs with crunches and leg lifts. Let’s just say that I am feeling every inch of my core today and I am inspired to do some moves of my own every day – I’ll let you know how that goes…

After some more time at the gym and a long walk in the beautiful February Bay Area weather, I found myself with some time before my next weekend activity. I needed to shower off the lovely apres gym smell and decided to draw a bath instead of my run of the mill shower. I got the bubbles going, I set up my laptop so I could watch a little netflix and enjoyed the time to myself reclining in the tub. The tub might have to become a weekend ritual.

Once I was all clean I was off for an afternoon of kitchen adventures, including mastering a pressure cooker. Have you ever tried one of these? Well we had not and Mr. Pressure Cooker almost won.

But despite a slight malfunction the meal was saved.

After the intense pressurized experience we decided to move to more familiar kitchen tools and turned to baking Purim cookies – hamantaschen!

It was our first time and they came out beautifully and sooooo delicous!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 c flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 c sugar

Mix together.

1 cup margarine

4 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1/4-1/2 c pineapple juice

Cut in margarine into flour mix. add egg yolks and egg. add juice. Mix all together and then roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Then use a glass or cookie cutter to cut out circles.

Place a teaspoon of filling (jam, preserves) or sprinkling of chocolate chips, nuts…

To shape into triangle, lift up right and left sides, leaving the bottom side down and bring both sides up to meet the center above the filling. Lift bottom side up to meet the other two sides.

Brush the tops of the cookies with egg and then bake for 20 minutes.

A successful day of firsts.

WIAW – eating go-to meals

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Jordan

I love going to the grocery store and shopping for fresh ingredients to use in new recipes. Even better is going to the farmer’s market on Sunday morning and buying right-off-the-farm veggies to cook up during the week.

Well this weekend I did have a chance to fill my reusable bags with beautifully fresh foods, however I did not have time to imagine creative recipes and had to default to some old favorites and easy go-to meals.

For lunch I enjoyed simple ground turkey and tomato sauce over zucchini shredded into spaghetti:

And even though the sun had set, for dinner I was craving some eggs, so I enjoyed another easy meal of eggs, avocado, salsa and almond cheese:

I am determined to come up with some new and exciting meals by the end of the week and seeing these sorry pictures of boring repeats inspires me even more to get creative in the kitchen.

Falling off the wagon and getting back on the horse

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Jordan

Between traveling for work for 10 days and having a fabulous visitor for the weekend my gym routine has been far from normal. Before the big NYC Toy Fair I was going to spin class twice a week, swimming twice a week and doing some strength training. Since I boarded the plane to the east coast two weeks ago I saw the gym 3 times and did a ton of walking, but no real cardio in sight.

Just as my workouts slipped away, so did my positive eating habits. It’s hard to eat balanced meals when you are on your feet all day at a trade show and have to eat out for every meal.

And even when entertaining friends for a long weekend, most meals are enjoyed at the pricey hands of others, of course the good company is always a welcomed addition

So, even though I miss having my clean hotel room prepared every day, the complimentary hot drinks in the lobby each morning and my best bud by my side, it felt good to get back into a routine yesterday.

However, the getting back into the routine part is not easy and I was struggling with each pedal stroke in my spin class last night. But I survived, I felt good afterwards and I was proud of myself for climbing back onto that horse, I mean spin bike.

How have you convinced yourself to get back into healthy habits after straying?

Traveling

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Jordan

While this little one was not thrilled to reside at the vets for over a week,

I at least got to shack up in these digs on my latest business trip working at the NYC Toy Fair:

No, I did not run away to a far away land, nor did I forget how to type. I was simply working 14 hour days at a trade show and did not have time to wash my face before bed let alone share my long days with all of you!

Traveling for work for over a week is exhausting! You are constantly on point, you cannot escape your coworkers and you don’t even get to eat at regular times (and those meals you do eat are far from nutritious).

For example, these muffin tops were lunch one day.

And this trip involved lots of heavy lifting – those are just a few of the boxes…

In addition to all day workouts of manual labor moving cardboard, I craved some cardio and tried to fit in a few mornings on the stationary bike in the hotel gym, along with some strength training exercises ripped from magazines.

Let’s just say I was thrilled to land yesterday back home with no tape gun, box or toy in sight! And my return was made even sweeter with a very special guest waiting for me at the gate:

There just happened to be a Valentine’s Day wine tour in my neighborhood that evening and what better way to reunite best buddies than over some sips of fermented grapes?

And finally, we enjoyed a healthy balanced meal (my first one in over a week!) together.

I am overjoyed to be back home and swing into my routine again. So stay tuned for more posts and updates as I detox from work overload and continue on my healthy living path.

WIAW – Quick and Easy

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Jordan

I like to cook. I really do. But that doesn’t mean that I slave over a hot stove for hours with countertops of ingredients. I like to use as few ingredients as possible because the shorter the list the faster I get to eat. The simpler recipes also give me less of a chance to make a major gourmet faux pas!

For instance, I baked some simple chicken in the oven with some spices and then cooked up some bokchoy with lemon, green onions and garlic. I added some brown rice to balance out the meal and topped it with some balsamic vinegar and I was all set to eat in about half an hour. For dinner I was really hungry and had no intention of getting creative in the kitchen or trying to heat up something fabulous, so instead I made sure I got some protein. I cooked up some egg whites and ate them with peanut butter on rice cakes and it was delicious and satisfying! A bit odd for dinner, but I am all for eggs at any time of day and I have a long loving relationship with peanut butter, so I’m happy whenever I can work it into a meal What are some of your go to easy-peasy meals?

Staycation

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Jordan

It would be lovely to dip my toes in the warm lapping waters of the Caribbean right now, but unfortunately I do not have the money or the time to escape on that kind of weekend adventure. I can, however, explore the Bay Area and all it has to offer with the wonder and awe of a tourist.

I have lived in San Francisco for 2 and half years now and the people, scenery and atmosphere never gets old. This weekend my parents came to visit and we traversed the city and surrounding towns with the wide eyes of foreigners. There are always new places to explore and beauties to stumble upon including,

delicious food

stores with a view

and scenic lookouts

If you are in need of an escape just look to your backyard and turn over one stone you have never noticed before. I’m sure there is a neighborhood you have not visited, a building you never realized was of historic importance or even a patch of land you have never taken the time to appreciate. So go out and enjoy your Sunday discovering all the adventures right in front of you!

WIAW – an ode to eggs

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Jordan

I love eggs. I usually have them for breakfast every morning in some fashion, but I am also a huge fan of eating them for dinner!

I love…

Eggs with salsa

Fried eggs

Facon and eggs

Eggs with greens

Even made into a pancake!

How do you like your eggs?

Hello Friends

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Jordan

First, let me apologize for my absence. Last year when I started this blog I was dedicated to posting something every day, and I did. This year I am still very adamant about keeping up with my writing, however with all of the things going on in my life I have decided to only post when I have time to write informative and substantial posts. This might be posts a few days in a row or posts every few days, but either way I will continue to share on Almondjay as long as you enjoy reading.

And with that, let’s start here – howdy there.

This weekend has been full of friends, near and far.

My best friend in Chicago (you can check out what she is up to over here) sent me these very delicious, but rare, biscotti.

I used to eat them all of the time when I lived on the east coast, but over here my Wholefoods, while full of Cali grade produce, lacks these gems. NOTE: fabulous card not included with purchase. Thanks Erika for satisfying my craving!

And on the home front, there was a birthday celebration for my dear friend, the lovely Elisette – Happy Birthday!

I also invested in my health this weekend, laying down some cash on these beauties.

Since spinning has found its way into 2-3 days of my week I decided to get some kicks that will motivate me to pedal stronger and faster. I can’t wait to use them on Wednesday’s spin class!

And to end my full weekend on a high note (unfortunately I do not have MLK Day off) I enjoyed a tasty brew and made these easy, baked turkey burgers.

Extra lean meat, green onions, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Mix together and bake for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

I ate mine with plenty of ketchup – Yum!

I hope you all enjoy your long weekend!

What have you been up to lately?

WIAW – On a very long day

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Jordan

It’s rare that my office has very long meetings, but yesterday was one of those days where I entered the building at 7am and did not leave until 5:30pm. We had an all day meeting with a handful of 10 minute breaks to stretch our legs and snarf down a snack. I was so tired and hungry by the end of the day that I almost didn’t make it to the pool, but I had to move my body after sitting in a chair for over 10 hours!

Pizza was ordered in for lunch, but I was smart enough to bring some leftovers from the other night so I had something to eat (I didn’t feel like picking off all of the cheese and eating soggy bread).

It was painful to drive past my apartment after work and head on to the pool, but once I jumped in it felt so good to stretch my arms and legs and glide through the water. Of course the whole time I was trying to figure out what to eat for dinner and I came up with this combination:

Egg whites, broccoli, smoked salmon and avocado with some ketchup.

I survived the day and managed to stay awake through dinner, but then I crashed. Thank goodness today will not be as long. However, I will probably still need to convince myself that heading to the gym, no matter how hard of a work day, will always make my body feel better.

How do you convince yourself to get in some exercise after a long day?

Things that make me smile

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Jordan

Trying to pull out of a parking spot with a “not-so-cute” red car pinned behind me does NOT make me smile.

But being physically able to walk all over the city for 3 hours certainly makes me smile

Trying to reconnect my DVD player with possibly the wrong wires, leaves me with a frown. (and no, I have not figured out how to make it work yet.)

But making a delicious meal of veggies, shrimp, taco seasoning, avocado and brown rice turns my frown upside down

And living very far away from some of my most favorite people in this world makes me sad, but planning trips and scheduling dates to see these people puts the biggest smile on my face
What makes you smile?

Almond Jay

I don't cry over spilled milk – almond milk is a whole other story

Tag Archives: food