Qi — Sleep and Repeat

July 24, 2012 at 9:39 am

1. My new camera and photography

My dad just got a brand new D7000 a few months ago so I bought his D80 off him. Then around Father’s Day, I saw a Groupon for two photography classes in Central Park and bought one for each of us so we could take it together. We just took the second one together on Saturday and I loved it! I learned a ton. Here are some photos taken on my D80:

Look forward to some better quality (AKA not taken on my iPhone) pictures around here soon!

2. Qi

Qi’s the name of a Thai restaurant in New York with two locations. I went to the one in Times Square last last Saturday and my dad and I went to the one in Union Square this past Saturday after our photography class. It’s official – this is one of my new favorite restaurants. I love the atmosphere and decor of the place and the food is awesome and reasonably priced.

On Saturday, my dad and I started with the Herbal Coconut Calamari. I feel like calamari is usually a hit or miss for me – I either find it really oily and heavy or light in a you-can-barely-tell-it-was-fried way. This was the latter and I really liked it! Super flavorful and the sweet chili sauce it came with complemented it perfectly.

My dad ordered the Gai-Yang & Som-Tum. It came with two huge pieces of perfectly tender chicken with a dipping sauce, a pickled vegetable and papaya salad, and black forbidden rice. It was delicious!

I had the Triple Mushrooms Gravy. I absolutely love mushrooms so I knew this was what I wanted when I saw it on the menu. It was really flavorful and full of mushrooms, so of course I loved it. I will say that it kind of struck me as just a generic Asian dish though, and not particularly Thai. But it was still good and we finished every bite.

3. Eating clean

The last two dinners I ate at home were both clean and tasty. First up, a roasted zucchini cucumber hummus wrap:

And a black bean burger with zucchini fries. Yum!

I also bought this Muscle Milk last night so I could get my protein fix this morning and it’s not bad! I still prefer my own protein shakes, but this isn’t bad for when I’m trying to clean out the fridge.

4. The fact that I will be in Hawaii in less than 48 hours!

This is why I’m working on cleaning out the fridge. I cannot tell you how excited I was to put on my out of office and get out of the building yesterday at 6 pm! Hawaii, here I come!

Weekend Catchup

July 21, 2012 at 10:46 am

I’ve been MIA all week! Has it really been a week since I posted? Whoopsh.

Life has been pretty uneventful for the past week. I’m just counting down the days until I leave for Hawaii – for the record, there are five left with only one workday! Yay!

You know how knowing you have a day off makes the days before go so much slower? Well, considering this is my first vacation all year, the slow day feeling has been times a million this past week. I leave on Wednesday!

On another note, I’ve been eating out more than I should considering I’m about to go on a week and a half long vacation to Hawaii that costs a little bit more than chump change. But it’s been delicious!

Last Saturday, I ate at Qi in Times Square. It’s a Thai restaurant with good food, fast service, and reasonable prices! Total win. I got the tofu pad thai and loved it. My dad and I may be going to the one in Union Square tonight.

On Wednesday, I went to Raaz in Newport for dinner. It’s one of my favorite Indian restaurants, but I usually go for the lunch buffet which is a good deal. For dinner, I ordered the Veg Jalfrezi, a mix of veggies cooked in a tomato-based curry. We also had a basket of naan for the table. I’m still working on those leftovers!

I had two spectacular lunches at work this week. The first: romaine lettuce with corn, bell peppers, quinoa, hummus, and grilled chicken. Loved this combination!

Second: tofu with a sweet chili sauce, hummus with toasted pitas, and roasted zucchini. The tofu was especially good!

At home, I’ve been eating some good stuff too. The other night, I made a veggie burger and roasted zucchini hummus wrap for dinner. Definitely a combination I will have again! And some Rainier cherries on the side, which I recently realized I’m no longer allergic to. I can’t get enough of them now!

Lots of corn. It’s so sweet this time of year! Though I read that the prices will be going up soon due to the drought.

And yogurt bowls whenever I eat breakfast at home. I had this one this morning! Greek yogurt, blueberries, homemade granola, raisins, chia seeds, and peanut butter. I need to figure out a way that I can have this breakfast at work too.