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My yard. 

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

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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!

All My Single Ladies

I think it's about time I introduced some of the ladies in my life:

Daphne, the newest addition to the Gillianasana family. We even like the same music ;)

And a traveling chica of a different sort:

Isabella the Polka-Dotted Moka!

I bought her in Florence because we had one in our apartment and these seriously make some incredible coffee - and it's TOO easy!! I almost squealed out loud when I saw Whole Foods actually sells them. I highly recommend if you only drink a cup or two a day, because they're easy to clean (NO soap, just good rinsing), fast, and the taste is bravissima! Unfortunately, they only have the regular one here, no polka dots...all the more reason to pop over to Italia, no?

I've met a couple other singles...

Raspberry Goji Dannon Light & Fit

Unfortunately, I did not like this enough to put a ring on it. It was just kind of a vague berry flavor. Admittedly, I can't think of what gojis alone taste like - haven't had them enough - but all I could taste was a strawberry-raspberry-ish flavor. Oh well. Made for a decent enough snack.

The next one was slightly more likely to be a keeper:

Chobani Champions! I guess these are the greek-yogurt-for-kids attempt. I personally am a fan of the starburst design.

Normal Chobani consistency - not super thick, but enough to be called a respectable Greek yogurt. The flavor was, well, cocoa+vanilla+cane sugar, which is pretty appropriate considering that's basically what it is. I liked it and it made for a fun little dessert, but to be honest, I could make this on my own by just mixing in cocoa and vanilla to plain yogurt and be just as happy, if not more (the cane sugar taste was a little much for me). But, the package also comes with a "honeynana" flavor which sounds quite promising, so stay tuned!

And finally...

This Odwalla Sweet&Salty Peanut bar may have been single, but I wasn't really lovin' it. It had a very peculiar flavor that reminded me exactly of spirulina? It was muted but strong enought o distract me with every bite from the sweet & salty peanut goodness. I was in my car when I gobbled it down, but it looked pretty much like a wider, flattened Kashi TLC chewy bar. This was odd. And when I wasn't distracted by the mystery flavor, I noticed it was almost all sweet and very little salty. Oh well. 

Being single is all well and good...but couples can be pretty cute too.

What could be mingling with the Fage?

MANGO!!!! Oh, yum. These were perfectly ripe and juicy and wonderful. Despite my obsession with them, I don't often buy them fresh because they tend to be pricier. But as I walked into Whole Foods, lo and behold - cart after cart of mangoes on display for 5/$5!! It was a good day.

That mango is a bit of a philanderer - he was also seen canoodling with oats last night:

[Almond milk, flaxmeal, and cocoa powder may or may not have also been involved.]

And he didn't leave 'til this morning!

Scandalous!

Ridiculously long-stretched metaphor aside, this was a seriously delicious bowl of overnight oats. Mango + chocolate=love. Maybe star-crossed lovers?

The next mingler was:

Amazing Grass Green SuperFood in Lemon Lime - the "energy" drink powder.

Schmoozing with frozen banana and cherries, almond milk, spinach, vanilla and a dash of cocoa powder.

I actually kinda liked this. The combo wasn't perfect (but actually I liked the cocoa powder), but it was pretty tasty. I definitely think it gave me energy, though - I drank this before leaving for a dinner party I was helping the caterer with (serving, plating, etc.) for some more food service experience. When I came home, I was still pretty wired and not as wiped as I expected for being on my feet for 4 straight hours! Quite impressive, Amazing Grass!

Speaking of that dinner party, please at some point this summer make these:

Grilled peaches. Cut in half, place on grill. Easy, pretty, delicious. Emphasis on the latter.

On with our couples!

Justin's Honey Peanut Butter.

First spotted with sprouted-grain toast and cinnamon...

Then getting friendly with a cracker...

 The verdict? I liked this much more than the honey almond butter - I could taste the honey a little better. Overall, it's a really decent peanut butter. Nice mouthfeel, and a very classic taste - you think peanut butter, this is that flavor. But, it wasn't good enough to knock over my dear Naturally More, so I probably won't be purchasing the jars. Those packets sure can be handy, though! And I've heard about Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut butter...NUTELLA with natural ingredients??? YESPLEASE.

I have also discovered that tempeh makes a wonderful sandwich.

Just a leftover block of tempeh with spinach, mustard and S+P on sprouted grain bread. This is my favorite kind of thing to eat because it does leave me full, but not heavy. It lasts me a long time but I never have that super-full-feeling in my stomach. Love that :)

Single Taken Smoked Salmon salad:

Spinach + arugula + smoked salmon + tabbouleh + capers + mustard + balsamic. The only thing it was missing was goat cheese...other than that, yum. Sure made this single girl's tastebuds happy!

Now puts your hands UP!

~Namaste~

Behind the Scenes

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day...but let's be honest, dessert is the most exciting. So why not combine the two?

Best of both worlds: chocolate-blueberry oat bran. With a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, for good measure ;)

The majority of my Sunday was spent playing waitress at a "tea" for a ritzy-ditzy house tour my mother had helped organize as a member of the Historical (or as my father lovably dubbed it, Hysterical) Society in our town. Basically, my job was to take the massive quantities of donated food in various tupperware containers and make it look like this:

I could complain, but in all honesty...I love this stuff. Y'all know me and my pretty food - it tastes better! I've always really liked being that "behind-the-scenes" person who makes stuff happen, but no one really ever sees it. I don't know, must be some crazy spy thing. When I was in high school, I played in the pit orchestra for the senior musical twice and loved it. No one could see us - but we were the music. I like that that's kinda the point - striving to be so good that it's effortless, no one thinks twice about it. It's such a feeling of accomplishment for me. Catering really would be a fun job for me. I think it's so cool how there really is a job made for everyone's personality - from the star in the spotlight to the shy kid making the music. The real trick is finding that job, I guess.

Wow. You know you've been watching Glee for 2 days straight when the stage is a metaphor for everything. Oy.

That night was a lot of fun - we went here for dinner:

Pretty gorgeous, right?

That would be the back yard of family friends who used to live right next door. Saying he has a knack for gardening may be the understatement of the decade.

An "Italian style" dinner was planned, so of course I was super excited. And the best part was I got to help make it! Man I love working in the kitchen. It's like therapy.

It was a truly beautiful meal.

(LuLu must have been PMSing or something, because the pictures are a bit subpar - girlfriend needs some camera Midol.)

We started with a caprese salad:

Chop up fresh tomatoes. Chop up fresh mozzarella. Chop up fresh basil. Toss with olive oil and S+P. Drizzle with a little balsamic. And take a trip to Italy in one bite.

I suppose "traditionally" it's a slice of tomato, a slice of the mozz, then a basil leaf and the drizzling and sprinkling, but this is easier to serve, and just as tasty. It basically depends on what you are going for with the presentation. Experiment!

Now, no Italian dinner is complete without...

Pane. Bread. And lots of it. I'm not talking Wonder White here, people - go for the good stuff. Crusty, soft, doughy goodness. Heck, it's easy to just make yourself!

And, of course, the pasta.

Ohmygoodness, please go make this pasta right now.

We used fresh pasta (if you can, do it - it makes a huge difference!). This is trofie, that kind of stretched-and-twisted shape (we used it in my cooking class and it rocked!). Pasta shape is actually pretty important - the shape of the pasta will hold the flavors of the recipe differently. If you've got a pasta with a lot of stuff, short, fat and textured is probably better, like a rigatoni or fusilli (the spirals). Spaghetti, however, is good with the perfectly simple (and simply perfect) marinara sauce.

This pasta was SO EASY:

To start, take a big slice of Italian bread and pulverize it to bread crumbs. Gotta love that Cuisinart! If you don't have a food processor, I would try toasting it juuuuust slightly, then just chopping the crap out of it. This part was done before I got there, but I would say it was 1/4-1/3 cup's worth, so add more if need be.

In a skillet, heat up some olive oil (we used about a quarter of a cup; I find you can really play around with the amount of olive oil in recipes and see what result you like best) and toss in a LOT of garlic - we used 4 cloves. Yes, that's 4 whole cloves. Just go with me.

When the garlic has turned golden brown (it probably won't take long), add capers (maybe 1/3 cup?), slightly chopped would be good, and 1/4 cup of parsley to the skillet. Then, add those bread crumbs. Stir it all around until the bread crumbs have turned golden and toasty and have soaked up all the oil. Toss in your pasta - if you are using fresh, you really only need to boil it for about 3 minutes. Throw it in a fantastic bowl and serve.

I know, too easy, right?

This was soooo yummy! I have plans to make it again - with a little added lemon and maybe some prosciutto. Speaking of which...

Our main course was just lovely - turkey stuffed with fontina cheese in the middle and wrapped in prosciutto. Really, truly wonderful. Crispy, smoky prosciutto, juicy turkey, melty smooth cheese. Paired with some green beans on the side, the meal could only be described as...bellissima.

(I had a LOT more turkey than that. I repeat - so.good.)

And then dessert.

Strawberry shortcake. Alright, it's not exactly typically Italian, but it is summer, aka strawberry season! Roll with the punches. Would that all punches were this sweet.

We ended with a glass of prosecco, a cheese plate, and good conversation. Yup - that's Italian!

And while we're on the topic, I got myself a little treat at the grocery store today:

Ciao Bella is a gelato brand that I tried last summer for, what else - the mango sorbetto. And it's good. Actually, it's the best mango sorbet I've had this side of the Atlantic. And I when I saw this little baby container, I just couldn't resist. 1 dollar for 100 calories of mango-y goodness? Yes please!

Complete with cute spoon under the lid!

For size comparison. It's a baby!

(P.S. - NO idea what the significance of the mangoes bearing the name Alphonso is. When it comes to mango...I'm not too picky ;)

On a separate note - does anyone know why Blogger uploads some of my pictures wrong-side up? I can not for the life of my figure it out. When I got through my pictures on My Computer and rename them, I make sure they're all right-side up but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Grrr. I'll get to the bottom of this. Bring. It. ON.

I have a teeth cleaning tomorrow (and I'm just thrilled...NOT), but I will be back - with a theme of the week and everything!

~Namaste~