FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Squares At Square One

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For weeks, I’ve been excited about the Tampa Food Truck Rally.  And as we pulled into the Hyde Park Village parking garage, it was apparent that the rest of Tampa was excited as well.  The pictures don’t quite do it justice, but it was CROWDED!

Like… Really crowded.  And the combo of crowd and heat and vendors running out of food and our extreme hunger, well, it wasn’t good.  We headed out, but I must point out that our trip wasn’t a waste.  Val, Amber, and I were all a tad bummed that we didn’t get to chow down, but we were more excited to see such a turn out – Tampanians are eager for cultural opportunity!

We consolidated cars and decided on Square One for lunch.  Might as well cater to our fried cravings, right?

I ordered the portobello burger that was topped with lettuce, avocados, and sundried tomato mayo.  It was one of the more perfect shroom burgers I’ve had.  I’ll definitely keep Square One in mind when looking for a lunch place with a meaty crowd.

Val had the French onion soup, which looked super tasty as well.

And then we got our square on at Square One.  Amber pulled out her mustache app while we were waiting for our food to arrive and this is what happened…

Why is the mustache thing so overdone but still so funny??

A Couple Things

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Sooo…. The storms last night were out of control.  It took me over an hour to drive to Whole Foods, which is only 4.7 miles from my house.  I tried to outsmart the commuter crowd by taking back roads, but due to extreme flooding (there was a car window deep in water!) all navigable roads were jam packed.  I called my mom to pass the time and she texted me this picture of how terrible Tampa looked from across the bay.  Creepy skies.

Needless to say, I wasn’t able to finish Day 3 of the 5k Program like I had anticipated.  But I was able to buy a ton of fresh fruit at Whole Foods.  I had decided earlier on in the day to try eating two apples and a grapefruit in between meals to keep ravenous hunger away.

Today, I felt abnormally energized after work (thanks fruit!) and rushed home to tackle Day 3, which ended up being the easiest thus far.  And I wasn’t disappointed with any of the songs on the Day 3 playlist either!

I’m really, really, really excited for Week 2, Day 1 because after Week 2, Day 1, the workouts intensify each time and no longer repeat themselves. Plus, I’m impatient and would like to rush ahead to the point where I’m ready to start the 10k Program!

Have you implemented any fresh fruit rules for yourself lately?

More Gasparilla, In Pictures

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Breakfast: Leftover Pancakes with Raspberry Jam

Lunch: Veggie Chili Salad with Avocado

Various Gasparilla Cookbook Snacks

Krista and Me with Mrs. Gasparilla!

Cocktail: Gasparilla Cookbook Rum Punch

Real Dinner: Spicy Kale (sans pasta) x2

After typing away on the computer all day, I headed over to Datz for The Junior League of Tampa’s second event celebrating the 50th anniversary reprint of The Gasparilla Cookbook (check out the first event here).  Krista and I had been planning this week’s Datz events since early this summer and it was nice to have another successful event under our belt.

I snacked on some veggies and homemade chips/pretzels during the event, but I was ready for something substantial by the time I got home.  I made a huge bowl of spicy kale and sat down to watch the season premier of New Girl (whether or not I dig the show is TBD) and ended up making another batch during a commercial break.  Yum!

Did anyone else watch New Girl?  What did you think?

A Rapid Do-Over

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Yeah… Not really the happiest of campers when I pulled coupon-attached noodles out of the fridge today.  And the thing is, I don’t care so much about this 50 cents.  This 50 cents wouldn’t be frustrating if I didn’t pull coupon-attached X out of the fridge 99% of the time I buy something with a coupon attached.

I wonder if I totaled all missed coupon opportunities over the years, if I’d have enough for something like… these boots that I want oh so very badly!

I bet I would.  I also bet that I knew recreating my souped up soup was going to be a huge fail before I even started.  You see, shirataki noodles are pretty gross. They are entirely too slimy and tasteless for soup.  Depending on kale and miso to liven up slimy and tasteless wasn’t my finest idea.

I strained, rinsed, and topped with jarred marinara.  Do over!

The noodles were MUCH better with the flavor of the sauce and the crunch of the kale.  I ate the entire bowl and could barely tell I was eating funky 25-calorie-per-serving-noodles.

Have you ever tried shirataki noodles?  What are your thoughts on these slimy, low-cal critters?