For the past week, various packages with delicious goodies have been piling up in the kitchen at my office. A big basket of chocolate covered nuts, lemon and berry cookies, and pralines direct from Savannah, Georgia have been calling my name ever since the holidays arrived… and it’s very easy to get my attention since my desk is right next to the kitchen!

When I was growing up, the holidays were always a point of sour deprivation. My parents tried to maintain a firm hand when it came to both  my brother and myself, but truth be told, my little brother was not much of an eater and I was. I loved food, especially sweets, and I would do anything to get what I wanted. I was a classic cookie smuggler, and I learned how to deftly uncover saran wrapped plates of cookies to sneak just one more. A tip: Don’t deny your child a cookie if they want one, because they’re probably going to eat it anyway. Just sayin’.

Truth be told, it probably didn’t matter if I had diabetes or not – little kids really don’t need that much sugar. It just isn’t healthy. But boy oh boy, the idea that it might actually be bad for me really made me want it even more!

My family was pretty good with adding insulin to cover any dessert I wanted. Although I’m sure my 9-year-old self would argue otherwise, I was probably not as deprived as it seemed. I remember when my doctor raised my dinner carb allotment from 60 to 75 grams in order to cover the 15 grams of vanilla ice cream that I was basically eating anyway at the expense of my actual dinner. But it never mattered, because I always wanted one more cookie!

When it came to the holidays, whether it be Halloween or Christmas, life was pretty much the same. For Halloween, we stuck to the simple sugar cookies, because they were easy to count carbs and add into an existing, albeit strict, meal plan. We also usually saved our cookie-making for the few days before Christmas, in order to minimize the length of time they were actually in the house. Our goal was to not prevent me from eating anything, but to make sure that what I was eating was going to work as best as possible. I became real friendly with food labels and learned how to plus or minus what I was eating to accommodate.

Every year, my friends and I would gather at my friend K’s house for a Candy House decorating party. Of course, there were loads of different kinds of sugary morsels lying around. By the time I was a teen, I was on an insulin pump, so those indulgences were a bit easier to manage because I could bolus like crazy and go to town (not that I am recommending anyone do this – it usually doesn’t work as well as you’d think and you ALWAYS eat more than you think). When I was a kid, though, I wasn’t on a pump and after decorating, I usually collected a small bowl of my favorite candies and brought them upstairs to K’s room where we hung out with our friends. I have no idea when the insulin taking took place. But I do know that these decorating parties almost always preceded dinnertime and I think I usually just gave extra insulin at dinner. But since most of us are either on Lantus or a pump, I recommend calculating the best you can, and cover more later if you need to.

J and I decorating our candy houses in 2005.

Remember, traditions always trump diabetes. Do your best.

Another sore spot for me was egg nog. Oh dear God, how I love egg nog. L-O-V-E. There were definitely times where I literally poured a gulps worth of egg nog into a tiny juice glass just so I could have a taste and not take insulin for it. Egg nog has about 30 grams of carbohydrates, and you can bet it’s all sugar. It also has like 87 million grams of fat in it, so my parents really didn’t want me drinking too much of it because it was just bad. We only ever bought one container of it and it probably lasted us the entire month.

We also did the Advent calendar, which I still do as an adult. The chocolate candies are ridiculously small. I can’t imagine they are any more than 5 grams of carbs, so it’s a safe way to get your child into the holiday spirit of indulging in bad food without actually going overboard. Of course, it’s a little late to start that, unless you’re OK with your child eating 15 pieces at one time.

The holidays are a stressful time when it comes to having diabetes, but I also try to think of it like I do the rest of the year. I always have temptation. Temptation and I are not friends. I give in a little too easily. My A1C and waistline will attest to this fact. I will say that it’s very easy to blame the holidays for our trouble managing our diabetes. But moderation is still key. It’s still important to exercise. It’s important to recognize the important parts of the holidays, and to not focus so much on the food and commercialism. It’s important to enjoy yourself, and to take steps to manage things well. Cookies and candy are not bad in and of themselves, but they can cause bad things to happen if you’re not prepared.

Always bring extra test strips and never sit down to dinner on an empty insulin pump. Test early, test often. Bolus early, bolus often.

Bon appétit!

Posted in Diabetes, Food, Health, Identity ]]> http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/ho-ho-how-many-carbs-did-you-say/feed/ 1 Allison n11500124_30155564_736 http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/a-quick-trip/ http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/a-quick-trip/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:00:30 +0000 Allison Blass http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/?p=2173 ]]>

One of the perks of living on the East Coast – as opposed to the far distant West – is the relative ease of moving between major metropolitan areas. When I first moved here, I was shocked at the amount of people who had not a clue as to how far the major cities of the West Coast are. I found out that K, a friend of mine from high school was visiting Washington D.C. on a business trip. I asked her how long she was going to be there for. When she told me, she asked, “Do you live close?”

Well….

Sort of?

Washington D.C. is a four hour drive from New York City, but Erik and I weren’t really interested in a long car trip full of gas stations and expensive tolls. I had heard about Bolt Bus from my friend J who had used to it to visit me over the summer and how inexpensive it is. So I hopped online and found a great deal that would bring Erik and I down to D.C. for $38 per person. Who could ask for a better deal? After consulting with my wise council of advisers (aka Twitter and Facebook), I picked Hotel Lombardy, which had a great deal for a room for only $100.

Although our weekend getaway originally was meant just to see K, we ended up seeing a few people and doing a ton! After checking into our hotel and grabbing some grub from a dive bar near George Washington University, we meandered up to Dupont Circle in the freezing cold. Seriously, I forgot how cold the East Coast can get – especially when it’s snowing! We met up with a friend of Erik’s from college, and then afterward headed to Union Station to meet up with K.

While we waited for K, we snapped some shots of the beautiful Christmas Tree.

After dinner at an Indian restaurant on Massachusetts Ave, not too far from Union Station, we meandered – again in the freezing cold because we’re idiots like that – along the Mall, passing the Capitol (so beautiful!), the Smithsonian museums, the Washington Monument (which looks like an evil monster because of the red anti-airplane lights shining from the top), and the National Christmas Tree and White House.

Please note that the National Christmas tree is lop-sided.

On Sunday, we met another of Erik’s friends who had recently moved to the D.C. area back in Dupont Circle for brunch. Dupont Circle is one of the cutest neighborhood’s and I really should spend more time there, but it was SO COLD that we really could barely stay out. We did walk around Embassy Row, taking pictures of the embassies of Turkey, Ireland and the ENORMOUS Greek embassy that spanned four buildings!

Once we were on our own, we went to the Holocaust Museum which isn’t exactly the most uplifting of museums, but considering Hanukkah starts next week, I thought it was an appropriate time to remember the past.

Our trek back to New York City was uneventful, but we managed to make it back half an hour early. We really had a lovely time in D.C. and hopefully will make it back down in the next couple of months, possibly even to throw one of my famous DOC meet-ups! Thanks again to all my Twitter and FB friends who helped with some of the arrangements!

And it’s a Monday of a three-day weekend which means it’s an AWESOME week. But I have so much going on it’s not even funny.

Tomorrow, my boyfriend’s mom is coming into town for the week, and we’re going out to dinner after she gets in. On Wednesday I have to go to JCPenny’s and buy at least one, if not two, new holiday dresses for my company party in VEGAS next week and then my boyfriend’s company party the following week. And shoes. Have to remember the shoes.

Then on Thursday, we’re planning on staking out some space in front of the biggest holiday tourist trap in New York City: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But it’s on my 101 Things to Do List which means I HAVE to do it and then I never have to do it ever again as long as I live. Or at least until I have kids. But I live 3 blocks from the parade route so I feel like I should at least try to see it, you know? I mean, I could probably stand in front of my apartment and I would be able to see it. (Not really, I’m not that close). Afterward, I might go run around Central Park or something in order to bottom out my blood sugars before scarfing down as much as I can at dinner. Not really. I would never do something so stupid as to make myself have a low blood sugar (or would I? … No, I wouldn’t. That’s… dumb. Really.). Then on Friday we’ll be doing some touristy stuff around town before we go to the OPERA. Which is another thing on my 101 Things List! I am on a roll! With butter!

Then on Saturday I LEAVE FOR VEGAS. And I get to see MY BEST FRIEND FROM HIGH SCHOOL. Which means I am SO FREAKING EXCITED I CAN HARDLY STAND IT.

!!!!!!

CAP LOCK FTW!

And I’m there until Wednesday, when I take the most horrendous flight ever because the only flight that leaves in the evening from Vegas gets me into J FREAKING K airport at MIDNIGHT. And I have to work the next day. Which makes me kinda sad, except my commute is only like 10 minutes so I should still get like 6ish hours.

So that’s not quite as suck-ass as it could be… But then I only have to work Thursday and Friday before it is the weekend again! Yay!!!!!!!!! Exclamation mark x 1,000.

Lots going on. I hope everyone else has a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving weekend and I’ll catch ya tomorrow.

There’s a Thanksgiving meme floating around these parts, so I figured I’d jump in and share my own! Gobble gobble!

1. What are the traditional favorites?

Turkey, stuffing, candied yams and marshmallows (my favorite!), and pumpkin pie.

2. What new recipes will you try this year?

I’m not trying any new recipes this year because I’m not cooking! But we’ll be visiting my boyfriend’s half-sister and her husband, so there may be new foods on the table yet.

3. What part of the meal do you never compromise?

Pumpkin pie. Last year, at my cousin’s house, they didn’t have pumpkin pie and I was distraught. So afterward, I went to my local A & P and bought a pumpkin pie for myself. I didn’t eat the whole thing in one go, of course, but it satisfied my need to pumpkin pie. I only eat it once a year and I’ll be damned if I miss out!

4. Who gets to carve the turkey?

The one who won’t cut off their arm in the process (basically anyone but me). Usually the “man of the house.”

5. Family style around the table or buffet style and everyone sits wherever there’s room?

A mix of both, mostly because our dining table never had enough room for everything. Items that were on the stove were usually left on the stove, while other things like salad, cranberry sauce and rolls were on the dining table. But there’s nothing like seeing a long dining table brimming with yummy food! I feel like that’s part of what makes Thanksgiving special and not just any regular dinner that is dished up in the kitchen.

6. How many will be at your table this year?

Five of us – me, my boyfriend, my boyfriend’s mother, his half-sister and her husband.

7. Three best pies for Thanksgiving dessert?

Pumpkin pie. Anything else is a waste of perfectly good insulin, as far as I’m concerned.

8. Cranberry sauce… yay or nay?

YAY! Luuurve cranberry sauce of any kind. 

9. What time do you eat Thanksgiving Dinner?

Dinnertime? Is this a trick question?

10. Favorite leftover?

I don’t usually like leftovers, actually. They never taste as good as the original meal, so I’m always left feeling disappointed (it’s also why I never make big meals to have leftovers for lunch – I just don’t like leftovers!). But pumpkin pie usually tastes the same, since you’re not reheating it, so I’ll go with that.

If you know me, then you’ll know that I use just about any excuse to turn diabetes from a sucky thing to a fun thing! And this National Diabetes Month is no different! If you live in the tri-state area and want to hang out with a bunch of awesome people with diabetes on one of the biggest days in on the diabetic calendar? Then YOU’RE INVITED to the World Diabetes Day NYC Party on Saturday, November 14. We’ll have pizza (both regular and gluten-free), birthday cake (it’s Frederick Banting’s birthday, dontcha know), diet soda and more! This is definitely pot-luck style, so feel free to bring chips, veggies and dip, or other desserts should you feel so inclined.

I may even bring balloons…

It’s from 12 p.m. until 2 p.m. at the North Star Fund, which is approximately half way between Penn Station and Times Square (two major transportation hubs). You can walk to it from nearly all the subway lines, Amtrak and NJ Transit, and it’s not that far from Grand Central either.

A $10 donation is REQUIRED as I will be paying, out of pocket, for the venue and food. Any proceeds will be donated to Life for a Child.

Space is LIMITED so please RSVP by emailing me so I can keep tabs on our capacity. Feel free to bring family, friends, Type 3s, etc. This is open to anyone.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? You know where I’m at.

While I love living in New York City and have easy access to Central Park, there really is no comparison to the true New England outdoors, which is why I was so excited to visit my friend Wendy’s farm yesterday. It’s a tradition of mine (actually, I’m pretty sure it’s the ONLY tradition of mine at this point) to visit her farm in October for the annual Harvest Festival. Wendy’s farm is only about an hour from the city, but it feels a million miles away as it’s in a quaint, rural part of western New Jersey. It was a gorgeous day, too. Not too cold, but not too warm either, and the sky was perfect: bright blue with just a touch of puffy white clouds. And the foliage was perfect.

Lots of families gathering on the farm for a good time

Erik and I drove down for a get-together with some other families with diabetes. Wendy, as some of you may know, used to blog, but stays active on the CWD and insulin-pumpers forums. She’s also been to a handful of my diabetes meet-ups. We were a little early on arrival, so we grabbed a bite to eat from the barbeque tents they had set up, with the Long Valley Fire Department grilling burgers and hot dogs and serving up yummy french fries (who better than firefighters to handle flammable objects, right?).

Afterwards, we went on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out this year’s pumpkin.

With our pumpkin

Since I live in an apartment complex without any porch or balcony, there really isn’t anywhere to put a pumpkin. Our dining table is too small, and the hallway is too narrow. So Erik will be taking the pumpkin to his apartment, which has a bit more space. I, on other hand, purchased three small pumpkins (the kid-sized version) for myself and my two roommates. Gives the apartment a fun, festive feeling. I also bought some yummy apple butter and an apple crisp. Yumtastic.

Posted in Favorite Things, Food, Friends, Jersey, Photos, Relationships, Touristing ]]> http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/fun-festivities-and-fall-foliage-on-a-farm/feed/ 2 Allison DSC_2415_1743 DSC_2484_1685 http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/welcome-to-autumn/ http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/welcome-to-autumn/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:40:06 +0000 Allison Blass http://lemonlemonade.wordpress.com/?p=1846 ]]>

I can hardly believe it’s already October. Where has this year gone?? It’s certainly been a busy year for me. New boyfriend, new apartment, lots of traveling. I can only imagine what’s going to pop up in the next three months before this decade officially comes to a close and we enter the teen years of the 21st century.

Although it’s a little late in the year to call this a New Year’s Resolution, it’s never too late to make a commitment to do something good for yourself. In my case, I have become a steadfast tracker of my finances. It’s really important to do this, obviously, but like anything else (especially a certain other kind of logging…), doing something you don’t want to do is tricky. I spent weeks downloading Excel spreadsheet budget tracker thingermajigs, opening accounts on profiles and reading personal finance blogs to figure out what my approach should be. And I started, on September 1st, to actually track every. single. thing. I spent. Which, unsurprisingly, is a lot.

I started tracking my income and expenses in an Excel spreadsheet for the entire month of September. This is what happened?

My income:

Income $2281.00
Babysitting $172.00
Savings Transfer $245.00
Birthday Money $50.00
Freelance $500.00
Travel Reimbursement $60.00

Total Income: $3308

My Expenses:

Rent $1,050.00
Cell phone $79.00
Electricity $32.00
Cable $60.00
Monthly Credit Card Payment $140.00
Savings $65.00
Medication $25.00
Gym $15.00 (this is actually what I pay to have my account on hold for a couple of months while I get my finances figured out).
Groceries $290.00
The $60 Weekend Experiment $30.00
Laundry $13.00
Dining Out $324.00
Household Items $21.00
Gifts $14.00
Entertainment $92.00
Pay back Erik $74.00
Misc. Credit Card Payment $573.00
Transportation $39.00
Clothes $293
Children’s International $22.00

Total Expense: $3425

So you’re probably thinking, “Allison, you spent more than you earned this month. THAT’S BAD.” To which I would say, yes, it is. But I made a flaw in my calculations at the beginning of the month which affected the rest of the month. You see, I only put in the income from this month, September 15 and September 30, plus all my other little sources of income. But the September 30 money doesn’t actually show up until the END of the month, thus, it’s more of October’s money than anything else.

Lessons Learned:
#1: I eat out too often. Social activities for New Yorkers (well, for anyone, actually) usually revolves around food. “Let’s go out for drinks!” “Let’s grab dinner!” “Let’s do brunch!” Seriously, it’s like eating is the only thing you’re allowed to do with other people. I have always spent too much money on eating out. I hate to cook. Eating out is fun. You have other people making food you love that you would otherwise burn, melt or destroy in the process. It always comes out just right and it’s delicious. What’s not to love?
#2: I don’t account for clothes. I like to shop. I don’t do it a lot, but I like to do it. I never have a shopping budget, and when I do go shopping, it’s usually after months of pent-up lusting after shoes, bags and blouses and I go NUTS! And end up spending close to $300. Whoops…
#3: I don’t save enough or pay off much on my credit card: The way I have it laid out, my credit card won’t be paid off until somewhere around 2012. I’ll be almost 27 years old by then. That’s just no good. So I’ve upped the amount I’m paying each month to $400. I have no idea how I’ll be able to afford it, but the truth is, I really can’t afford anything else because I’m in so much debt. I WANT IT GONE.

October is shaping up to be a pretty slim month, financially. Hopefully I’ll be able to see my way through the month and into October, where hopefully I’ll be more accustomed to being frugal. Don’t most changes take two weeks before they become habit?

Somebody better come check on me around the 15th…

A couple of nights ago I finally finished the Omnivore’s Dilemma, a book by Michael Pollan that I had borrowed from Erik and started way back in late June. But travel schedules and bike training managed to prevent me from finishing the book in a timely manner.

The book is complicated and intense to sum up in just one blog post, so I’ll probably have a handful of posts related to the book in the next week or so. For those of you who have never heard of it it, here’s the review from Publisher’s Weekly, courtesy of Amazon.com:

Pollan (The Botany of Desire) examines what he calls “our national eating disorder” (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It’s a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You’ll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again.Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: “The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world.” All food, he points out, originates with plants, animals and fungi. “[E]ven the deathless Twinkie is constructed out of… well, precisely what I don’t know offhand, but ultimately some sort of formerly living creature, i.e., a species. We haven’t yet begun to synthesize our foods from petroleum, at least not directly.”Pollan’s narrative strategy is simple: he traces four meals back to their ur-species. He starts with a McDonald’s lunch, which he and his family gobble up in their car. Surprise: the origin of this meal is a cornfield in Iowa. Corn feeds the steer that turns into the burgers, becomes the oil that cooks the fries and the syrup that sweetens the shakes and the sodas, and makes up 13 of the 38 ingredients (yikes) in the Chicken McNuggets.Indeed, one of the many eye-openers in the book is the prevalence of corn in the American diet; of the 45,000 items in a supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn. Pollan meditates on the freakishly protean nature of the corn plant and looks at how the food industry has exploited it, to the detriment of everyone from farmers to fat-and-getting-fatter Americans. Besides Stephen King, few other writers have made a corn field seem so sinister.Later, Pollan prepares a dinner with items from Whole Foods, investigating the flaws in the world of “big organic”; cooks a meal with ingredients from a small, utopian Virginia farm; and assembles a feast from things he’s foraged and hunted.This may sound earnest, but Pollan isn’t preachy: he’s too thoughtful a writer, and too dogged a researcher, to let ideology take over. He’s also funny and adventurous. He bounces around on an old International Harvester tractor, gets down on his belly to examine a pasture from a cow’s-eye view, shoots a wild pig and otherwise throws himself into the making of his meals. I’m not convinced I’d want to go hunting with Pollan, but I’m sure I’d enjoy having dinner with him. Just as long as we could eat at a table, not in a Toyota. (Apr.)Pamela Kaufman is executive editor at Food & Wine magazine.

- Reviewed by Pamela Kaufman

Lately I’ve been having my own dilemma with food. I’ve decided it’s in the best interest of my bank account and my waist line if I start (again) bringing my lunch to work instead of relying on the cafeteria in my building. But I have to say, the thought of eating yet another turkey sandwich makes me want to vomit (sorry). I have actually thrown out sandwiches because I couldn’t bring myself to eating them anymore. But what else can I bring?

Some have suggested leftovers, but I don’t typically make large scale dinners that provide leftovers. Most of my dinners are raviolis and frozen chicken, just enough to feed myself. Sometimes I do frozen dinners or deli chickens from the grocery store. Toss in a vegetable and a dessert and I’m done.

I get tired of eating the same things over and over again, so I wanted to inquire to you, my wonderful readers, about what the heck you feed yourself with everyday? What do you make that you don’t get sick of? Making food is certainly complicated, as proven by Michael Pollan, but choosing and making food is also complicated! I need a refresher course in how to eat. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Our first trip to Oregon was a wonderful whirlwind, taking Erik and I from downtown Portland, to the Oregon Coast and then up to the Mt. Hood in the Cascades. We did quite a bit of driving for a four and a half trip but it was a great way to ring in my 24th year (I still can’t believe I’m in my mid-twenties…).

The flight out of Newark was at 7 a.m. which meant getting up so early there wasn’t any traffic on my street (NEVER happens), so despite arriving early enough to enjoy a full day, Erik and I succumbed to a two and a half hour nap. Wednesday, therefore, was a simple day, chatting with the folks and enjoying dinner with my parents and younger brother, who was in town for my birthday (he is spending the summer in the town where he goes to college, about an hour from my parent’s house). My parents had done some SERIOUS redecorating of our house, to the point where it doesn’t much look like my house except for the layout (no walls were knocked down… yet).

Thursday was my birthday! Erik and I spent the better part of the afternoon meandering around Portland, buying books at Powell’s Bookstore, drinking coffee at Peet’s, and taking pictures of some Portland landmarks. Since the weather was kinda crummy (low 70s, but overcast), we canceled our reservation for a restaurant on the 30th floor of the U.S. Bank Corp building and instead went to Claim Jumper over by Clackamas Town Center. It’s a great restaurant, and although it’s a chain, there are none near me so I don’t feel too guilty about it (it’s not like Applebee’s!).

On Friday, my dad drove us to Thrify, where Erik and I picked up a car to use for the weekend. My parents have one car each, plus my brother’s car, so we would have left someone stranded if we didn’t get one for ourselves. Erik and I drove to Tillamook, where we hung out at the cheese factory for awhile before driving to Rockaway Beach to take some pictures, then Cannon Beach to buy taffy and look at art galleries, and then finally to Fort Clatsop, which, historically, is the final destination for Lewis and Clark (you know, those guys who discovered Oregon?). After that, we drove back to Portland for dinner at Montage, a funky cajun restaurant with family-style seating and an art-deco mural of the Last Supper that features a flying saucer. I love Montage.

Erik and I at Rockaway Beach

My brother had already left by the time we got home on Friday, so on Saturday, it was just my parents, Erik and I who drove up to the Gorge and Mt. Hood. We saw Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam (where we said hello to some rainbow trout and sturgeon), Hood River, and the historic Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood, before driving back to grab pizza at a new pizza parlor across the river from my hometown.

Erik and I at Multnomah Falls

The sun FINALLY came out on Sunday, so we were able to enjoy a nice warm day at the Bite of Oregon and Portland’s Saturday Market (which, yes, operates on Sunday, too). We also grabbed a few donuts from the infamous Voodoo Doughnuts (don’t worry, we split one and saved the others – we didn’t want to spoil our appetites before dinner!). Afterward, inspired by our trip to Bonneville Dam, my dad cooked up some salmon, sturgeon and oysters for dinner, which, coupled with all the chicken and pork I had at the Bite of Oregon, was way more protein than I needed, but at least my insulin intake was lower!

Listening to some musicians at the Saturday Market

Our flight out of Portland was delayed a couple of hours on Monday, so we managed to get home just after one in the morning. I have declared I shall never take a flight scheduled to land after 6:00 p.m. The extra hours of vacation are seriously not worth the sleep deprivation.

Bye-bye Portland!

So that was my birthday trip, and Erik’s inaugural trip to Oregon (and his first time meeting my mom and brother). He liked Oregon. And my family. Both very important things.

Erik, who is allergic to cats, also managed to survive Emma. Not an easy accomplishment…

Yesterday was my seven month anniversary with Erik, and to celebrate this momentous occasion, we dined at the elegant restaurant One if By Land, Two if Sea in lovely Greenwich Village.

OK, honestly, it’s NYC Restaurant Week from now until the end of the month (yeah, I don’t know why they call it Restaurant “Week” either), so we decided to take to use our “anniversary” as an excuse to have dinner at a restaurant we NEVER would go to ordinarily. Why would we never go there? Because the prix fixe dinners there are $78! Who has that kind of cash? Not I (or Erik).

Restaurant Week dinners, however, are a measely $35 for a prix fixe dinner (don’t scoff – that’s half the price, and what a normal Manhattan dinner costs anyway). When we arrived, we were escorted upstairs to the quieter (and slightly warmer) dining room. As we sat down, the hostess little the candelabra on the table. Another host came over and brought me a bouque to flowers from Erik (cue the “Awwwwws”). Our waiter brought over the menu and wine list, asking if we wanted anything from the bar. We knew this meal was going to be expensive as is, so we requested just tap water to start.

Erik and I have amazingly similar tastes in food, so it took all of a minute to decide what to order (not to mention we both have a habit of checking out menus online before we arrive, making it that much easier). The Restaurant Week menu had 3 options for each of the 3 courses (appetizer, entree, and dessert). Tax and beverage not included. We chose the Mushroom Tart and the Tomato Gazpacho for our appetizer. But before that arrived, we were given a bowl each of this lime green substance that neither Erik or I could figure out what it was for. A quick lick of it left me practically gagging – it tasted sour like lime, but it had several other flavors in it as well. We assumed it was some sort of palate cleanser, but it was simply disgusting. Erik joked that we were being punished for ordering off the cheap menu.

The appetizers, however, were delicious, especially the mushroom tart. The gazpacho was good – it came with crab and avacado, which I love – but I don’t think I’m a huge fan of the whole “cold soup” concept, so I ended up eating more of the mushroom platter. Anyone actually a fan of gazpacho? And if so, why??

Our entrees were the Pan Seared Red Snapper and the Roasted Chicken Ballentine, which we split evenly (Erik actually made me cut the third piece in half to make it fair). I loved both, though the Roasted Chicken was more my style. What can I say? I love chicken and chicken loves me. Of course, with most fancy-schmancy restaurant comes the incredibly small portions. I think we finished our entrees in under 5 minutes. I had to consciously slow myself down and take more sips of my wine in order to not inhale the whole thing.

For dessert, we ordered the Nutella Cake and the Blueberry Composition. The Nutella Cake was fairly simple: it had some popcorn and chocolate covered popcorn with a vanilla-like cake and ice cream. The Blueberry Composition on the other hand? Woah. First, it comes in a round glass. The first layer of it is this retro lime-green jello (rosemary flavored, of course) with several layers of blueberry tapioca, yuzu curd (I don’t even know what that is, I’m reading off the menu online) and some blueberries tossed in for good measure, plus a couple other things. Erik and I couldn’t figure out what it was but we really, really liked it! As we left the restaurant, we kept saying to each other that we had no idea why we liked it, but we really did! It was one of those mysterious things where you just keep eating something even though you can’t really identify what it is about the flavor you like. Have you ever had one of those experiences? It was so strange! It was very smooth and light, and the flavor was such an interesting combination of blueberry that it totally put the Nutella Cake to shame, despite my ardent love for popcorn.

So that was our trip to One if By Land, Two if By Sea. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend taking advantage of the HALF PRICE deal they have with the Restaurant Week deal. We left feeling full, but not stuffed, unlike most chain restaurants. If you’re wondering if you’re spending a lot of money and will leave feeling unsatisfied, but those worries to rest. One if By Land, Two if By Sea comes highly recommended by the reviewers at Lemonade Life.