What's in a Name...or Post Title

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My yard. 

A.k.a, the Gillianasana photography-practice site.

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 w/ Flash.

Couldn't decide.

All my mother. I bake, she gardens. Hobbies are important.

Especially when they become your career! Yesterday I zipped down to Providence, Rhode Island to check out the Johnson & Wales culinary school campus. It hopped to the forefront of my list when I read about their Culinary Nutrition program and decided it was definitely worth a visit. It was indeed, and I got a lot of really good information and now have way too much thinking to do. I'm going on a college tour road trip with my brother (a senior-to-be in high school) and madre this coming week, and on the way back we are stopping in Hyde Park, New York to check out the holy land  CIA - Culinary Institute of America. It's the big one, where you go to be in the food industry. It scares me. 

That said, tomorrow we leave for Philadelphia and will be on the road until Friday night! I am bringing my mini laptop and will hope and pray to find hotels with wireless access or computers - but just in case I can't, I promise I WILL return! With pics. LOTS of pics. I'm looking at this trip as a good time to practice my [food]photography skillllllz. 

Speaking of which...breakfast anyone?

Melon is one of those foods I could (and often do) eat every day and never get sick of it. Especially this kind:

Tuscan melon!

It is a lot like canteloupe, only smaller and I find a little sweeter and stronger in taste.I had this in, where else, Florence, and fell in love. Look for those indented lines in the rind. It's amazing.

Blueberry Acai Dannon Light & Fit

Yes, another new flavor I was powerless to try. I actually really liked this - I could actually taste the acai and it blended wonderfully with the sweet blueberry! It's kind of a hard flavor to pinpoint, but I find it a little tart and a little sweet at once, a bit like pomegranate. The only issue, other than the ingredient list, is the awful fake-sugar aftertaste. WAY too sweet. I wish it had just been sweetened with real fruit! Oh well, I 'll just have to do it myself.

Nothing like a waffle on a Saturday morning (er...afternoon...)

AB-squared: apple butter + almond butter. A perfect combo.

Did some shopping at Old Navy. Ugh, shopping. I can never find exactly what I want. BUT, I did get a pretty cute dress 50% off because one of the straps was broken! Sewing won't even be necessary. LOVE that!

I came ravenous. Nothing a smoothie can't fix - especially when it involves this:

Amazing Grass's Amazing Meal Chocolate Infusion protein powder.

I used half the packet + 1 c. frozen mango + 1 c. almond milk + splash vanilla. I should have added a little extra cocoa powder, but didn't.

Aglow with healthy goodness!

I didn't love the Amazing Meal - it was a little too spirulina-y for me. But I didn't hate it either, and liked it with the mango very much. Of course, I like pretty much anything with mango....Either way, as far as Amazing Grass goes, the Kidz Wildberry and Original Superfood powders are in the lead.

The liquid health theme continued with this:

I got it on sale at WFs last week. As usual with Kombucha, I have no idea what to make of this! What I love about it is the complexity of the flavor - it changes every second it's on your tongue and definitely keeps me interested. This one went from berry-sweet to flowery and then very pine-y. I probably wouldn't but it again, but it was a fun try. I wish the Honest brand would go on sale again!

Because my mother, brother and I hit the road tomorrow, we had to have Father's Day a little early.

Dinner on the patio!

Including:

My grandmother's salad: romaine, tomatoes, avocado, red onion in red wine vinegar+olive oil and S+P.

Grilled eggplant, marinated in balsamic + olive oil. Melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Probably one of my favorite things.

Roasted taters

Fresh pasta in a vegetarian sauce for me, lamb for the fam. [Don't worry, I had some tempeh for protein ealier!]

And my present to the man of the day:

Chianti, straight off the boat plane.

YUM!!

Tippy agreed.

For dessert, I whipped up some peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies (Dad's fave)  using the Supercharge Me cookies recipe:

The first batch was gone before the second even left the oven. I think they liked them. 

Dessert also included this newbie:

Chobani Champions honeynana!

It's not thick at all; it's basically like regular yogurt, but I suppose that could very well be more appealing to kids which I assume are the target consumers here (although I know plenty of "grown-up kids" who would be attracted by the cartoony design). The flavor is great though! Unlike the chocolate, the cane sugar taste blends  in very well. It reminded me of a yogurt I ate all the time when I was little, but I can't remember exactly which one - I think it was Yoplait Custard-Style Vanilla. SO good. Gotta love nostalgia foods :)

Time to go pack, pack, pack! 

~Namaste!~

P.S. Remember that surprise I mentioned? Check out the sidebar --- I'm a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher!!! Dancing most definitely ensued when I got the email. I love Foodbuzz, and my absolute favorite blogs are all a part of its awesome community, so I'm super excited and proud to be too. Share the foodie love!

For the Love of Anchovies and Flowers

Oy. I have been thinking about changing the blog layout...and after 4 hours of clicking, copy-and-pasting, and tearing my hair out, I think I give up. Too...many...choices....

I didn't end up having to babysit this AM, so I went back to bed and made AM turn into PM! Does anyone else get a lot of crap from other people about sleeping late? Somedays it seems like everyone's favorite joke is how late Gillian sleeps and I gotta say, it gets old. I am perfectly aware it is because I stay up late, but that is simply because I am most productive from about midnight on. Always have been, too. I think it's something about the total quiet and solitude that just frees up a certain part of my brain and lets me think more clearly.

I'm so excited to hear from those of you thinking of/going to Italy to study abroad!!!! Italy is just a magical, wonderful place. DisneyWorld ain't got nothin on Tuscany. If any of you have any questions or concerns about it - or just want some sweet restaurant tips - please email me! It literally makes me giddy when people tell me they are going to Italy now. I'm ready to go back, like, right now.

Recently, I have been trying every fun flavor of Stonyfield Farms yogurt I can get my hands on. It may or may not be a coincidence that this week they were 2 for $1 at Whole Foods. So, on with yogurt week!

This morning included:

The likes: Very creamy, not fruit-on-the-bottom. For lemon yogurt fans, you can't go wrong with this. And it tasted sooo good this hot & humid morning!

The not-so-much: Kind of had a weird aftertaste after I finished it. Can't really relate it to anything, maybe I was just thirsty. Other than that - YUM!

Next up:

Maple Vanilla!!! 

The likes: Very creamy, and the flavors were definitely there. Would be ca-razy good on pancakes!

The not-so-much: Had an odd tang that didn't so much appeal to me. Also, this is a limited edition "seasonal" flavor - what is summery about maple-vanilla? Hell if I know. My real problem with that is it means it will go away - this should clearly be kept on year-round!

And finally, my addiction continues:

Yes, another Pomegranate Berry.

The likes: No fruit on the bottom, yet the flavor was not fake at all. Probably because none of the ingredients are...imagine that!

The not-so-much: The berry flavor is, well, just that - vaguely berry-like. I wish it was blueberry pomegranate; that is one of the most genius fruit combos ever. That's pretty much my only problem :)

Breakfast this morning also included this beauty:

Blushing!

And this guy (too hot for toast or oats and I was too lazy to whip out the blender):

Odwalla's Superfood bar

Yes, it is green! It contains spirulina, a blue-green algae with a whole bunch of good whole food benefits. It has a very...interesting flavor. I go through the same cycle every time I eat it: I hate it, then like it, then end very confused. It has this weird stick-in-the-back-of-your-mouth thing that I find it hard to get over, but the flavor is very complex and earthy kind of like green tea, which I like. [Hence the confusion.] This bar was nothing if not complex. Every bite was a different flavor - from dates, to banana, to raisins. And that is what the bar claimed its flavor profile was, so I guess mission accomplished? It also had little bits of little rice crispies that added a nice crunch for texture variety. Would I buy it again? Honestly, I have no idea. It's the type of thing I would never buy, but could get a random craving for and nothing else would do. Ya know?

I dragged my brother out to walk the dog with me - mostly because I wanted to take pictures, and as I discovered last time, that's not so easy to do when you are on the other side of a leash from a very eager, excited dog.

For once, I was off pick-up patrol!

Tell me these are not the coolest flowers ever?!!! The colors are like crayons!

Flowers = the non-edible fruits of summer.

We came back just in time for dinner - Friday=Pizza night! I was pretty excited for this:

Broccoli + Anchovies. Italy changes a girl. At the very least her tastebuds! The broc worked really well with the anchovies, too - earthy matched with salty, and the mozzarella added just the right sweetness. Oh anchovies, where have you been all my life?

Dessert was one of Bertucci's (Italian/pizza classy chain in New England - their pizza is exactly what I had in Italy. Che buono!) rolls. They are famous for their complementary dinner rolls, and once you taste one, you know why.

Doughy and delicious. I eat them plain - they don't need anything.

Dessert also included this:

A Raspberry "Sherbetter" Bar!

It's a little too "milky" tasting for me, but the texture and creamy flavor is enough to overcome that little detail. I'm way more of a sorbet fan than sherbet (the milk thing again), but this is really quite tasty! I will enjoy the rest of the box, but not really sure I'd buy it again unless I was craving it in particular.

This is a pretty exciting weekend for me...but you'll just have to wait to see why! Here's a hint: I've been brainstorming new names....

~Namaste~