For the love of dresses

I didn't have an aha moment. No epiphany during a winded moment on the stairs. There wasn't a sobbing moment of realization that 'I deserved better'. I just got fat and one day, I didn't want to be anymore. *Disclaimer - At the time of this writing, I'm still fat.

You see, I like dresses. I like to dress up. And when I dress up, I want to feel amazing. Like, really amazing. You know, when you get that walk like you're in the slow motion part of a music video and Beyonce is playing in your mind? Like that amazing. And for a long time, I was there. I was feeling myself. 

But recently, I haven't felt comfortable. There's nothing worse than being uncomfortable in your clothes. I could buy some new clothes, but guys, I have some fly-as-fuck dresses. If anyone 'deserves better' it's my damn dresses. That's right spring floral swing dress, I'm doing this for you. Because damn, girl. 

So what is happening to the blog, you ask? I'm going to share recipes and share a little bit about the changes to my lifestyle. I can tell you already, I'm hungry. I've been hungry for days. But it isn't a stomach-growling, hateful, kill-someone-for-a-cookie kind of hunger. It's more like a pushy, annoying little gnawing. I just pretend it's my stomach gurgling all that fat it's burning and that helps.

In true weight loss montage fashion, let's start with clearing out all the 'bad' foods from the kitchen. Turns out, our kitchen is chock full of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, whole grains, lean meat....WTF? With the exception of Oreo thins (because I'm human, damn it), we don't have a lot of processed food in our house. We love to cook and the fresher the ingredients the better. But upon closer inspection, portion control was the enemy. Too much of a good thing. 

We also found that some of our favorite 'light snacks' were super high in fat, salt, and served up ridiculous calorie counts. For example, we love these little whole grain breakfast biscuits. They're lovely with coffee and full of fiber. Turns out, they're also full of crap! While the ingredient list is not alarming, those tiny biscuits packed almost 300 calories in a serving. And we were having them daily as a mid-morning snack! So those are gone. 

Here's another perfect example; sausage and peppers. 

We use turkey sausage because we don't eat much pork or red meat in our house. So how could we have been going so wrong? Well, boys and girls, it turns out those turkey sausages still pack a whole mess of calories. 160 each, to be exact. So instead of eating three sausages, which is what I'm inclined to do because they are DELICIOUS, I opted for one and a half. I sautéed the peppers and onions on high heat with only a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to get that char I love so dearly. It was wonderful and I could have and would have eaten about twice as much. For now, this'll have to do. 

 

Googa Mooga and Homemade Hummus

This weekend we ventured out to the Great Googa Mooga in Brooklyn. If you aren't familiar, it is a food and music festival that allows eateries around the city to showcase their finest eats while guests sway along to the tunes of up-and-coming bands. While there are some booths that cater specifically to foodies (Foie gras donut? Come on.), there was great representation of simple food done very well.

We started on the foodie end of the spectrum - Rabbit and Snail Paella from Toro. Set to open its doors in the Meatpacking District this fall, Toro is hoping to make a name for itself with standout dishes like this. Luckily, they have plenty of time to perfect this dish between now and then. The snails had a muddy taste that did not play nicely with the gamey rabbit.

Some NYC institutions like Big Gay Ice Cream and Blue Marble were representing but I ultimately went with a delicious ice cream cookie sandwich from Melt Bakery. Simple, well-made vanilla ice cream artfully sandwiched between two of the most lovely chocolate chip walnut cookies I've seen in a while.

Then we decided to go traditional and pick up chicken fingers at Dirty Bird. These folks are doing it right. Juicy, flavorful chicken with a light and savory crust. The honey mustard sauce was the perfect blend of sweet and punchy.

As we strolled along and sipped our overpriced Blue Moon, the unmistakable smell of lobster wafted our direction. Red Hook Lobster Pound and The Lobster Place were somewhere in the area, but I went straight to my favorite - Luke's Lobster. These people do a lobster roll right. There's no photo because I did not even care about getting a picture. I just wanted to devour that sweet, buttery piece of heaven.  Why even bother with the others? That would be like cheating on your perfect girlfriend with her evil twin. I'll never stray, Luke's Lobster. You're the only roll for me.

We had a good time eating our way through the grounds - or passing up things that were simply laughable. (Again, foie gras donut? Why?) But honestly, you could get an even better experience by creating your own food safari in the city. Prices at the festival were twice the in-house prices for these restaurants and you'll probably enjoy exploring the city. So make a list of the restaurants you've really been wanting to try and make a plan. Go out and share one thing at each place and enjoy good food and conversation with your best friend.

After leaving Googa Mooga, we decided we'd go exploring. We came upon a great specialty food shop called Sahadi's. They sold zataar bread, a wide variety of spices and some well-priced dried fruits and nuts. We snatched up a little bit of everything and were inspired to whip up some hummus today.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans (14 ounces), drained
1 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 medium roasted red pepper
1 large clove garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend well. You can add more olive oil if you like a creamier texture. Garnish with some cilantro and a squeeze of lemon and it's time to eat!