Same cart, different breakfast.

Meal: breakfast (Thu 10/28)

From: the breakfast cart around the corner from my office

Cost: $2.50 (with coffee)

Location: Lower Manhattan

I woke up late and felt the need for a breakfast cart breakfast. I decided to try something different though.

Chocolate Swirl Pound Cake

Taste: absolutely delicious.

Conclusion: I will definitely get this again

Drink: large coffee with milk and sugar.

Chinese Takeout Dinner (I forgot to take pictures...)

Meal: dinner (Wed 10/27)

From: a Chinese restaurant

Cost: N/A

Location: Chinatown

I was at the office a little late, so I did not go to the gym after work, but since it was around 8pm, I was starving nevertheless. My parents were gracious enough to bring me home some Chinese takeout. I forgot to take pictures, because I was so hungry I ate everything in about 5 minutes.

Above is a picture of the empty box, but it was rice rice with steamed chicken, chinese sausage, a fried egg and steamed Chinese vegetables.

Taste: delicious, always one of my favorite dishes.

Conclusion: I will try to remember taking a picture next time.

Drink: ice water (Brita filtered)

Spicy Bulgogi Part II

Meal: lunch (Wed 10/27)

From: my fridge (via my girlfriend's kitchen)

Cost: N/A

Location: my place

I took the other half of the container of spicy bulgogi my girlfriend made me and put it with some brown rice and some Korean side dishes I had in the fridge.

Taste: still pretty darn good.

Conclusion: I think I have run out of leftovers, so Thursday's lunch might be a burger out.

Drink: cold water (Deer Park)

Breakfast from a cart.

Meal: breakfast (Wed 10/27)

From: the breakfast cart around the corner from my office

Cost: $2.50 (with coffee)

Location: Lower Manhattan

I was not feeling so great in the morning, so I decided to make it a cart style breakfast. I went with my old reliable standby, a chocolate croissant.

Taste: you can never go wrong with the combination of a buttery pastry with chocolate.

Conclusion: it definitely tasted better since I have not had it in a while.

Drink: a large coffee with milk and sugar.

A Mix of Stuff

Meal: dinner (Tue 10/26)
From: my kitchen
Cost: N/A
Location: my place

I got home from the gym pretty hungry. I heated up some of the fish from the night before (fish is a good source of natural protein). There was some Chinese soup my mom made on the stove, so I grabbed a bowl of that.

A little while later my parents had made some stir-fried shrimp and Chinese vegetables, so I put a little brown rice with that.

Taste: everything was okay to good.

Conclusion: it felt like a healthy meal, not sure if it was though, Chinese food can be deceiving in that way.

Drink: a nice glass of orange juice (Tropicana Pure Premium with Calcium).

Pre-Workout Snack (Take 2)

Meal: snack (Tue 10/26)

From: Costco

Cost: $0.86 (after tax)

Location: Queens

Having a decently filling protein/"nutrition" bar a little bit before doing some heavy lifting on Monday was quite effective. So I decided to do it again on Tuesday since I would be doing some heavy deadlifting after work.

Taste: the "fudge graham" flavored bar was pretty good.

Conclusion: I have some "chocolate peanut butter flavor" bars which I will try for my next pre-workout snack.

Drink: cold water (Deer Park)

Spicy Bulgogi Part I

Meal: lunch (Tue 10/26)

From: my fridge (via my girlfriend's kitchen)

Cost: N/A

Location: my kitchen

So my girlfriend made me a good sized container of spicy bulgogi, enough for 2 meals. I took half of the container and put it with a bowl of brown rice.

Taste: pretty darn tasty. The ample amount of onions gave it a good crunch.

Conclusion: a pretty filling me.

Drink: cold water (from the office water cooler - Deer Park). I have decided to cut down on the amount of soda I drink, because regardless if it is diet, it is still bad for you. So unless I am at a burger joint or something, I will be drinking water.

Big Meal (Fish edition)

Meal: dinner (Mon 10/25)

From: my kitchen

Cost: N/A

Location: my place

I got back from the gym pretty hungry. My parents were prepping dinner, but the Giants (football) game was about to start. I threw in some frozen mini tacos into the microwave. Grabbed them and sat down for the first quarter with my dad.

Two Giants turnovers later I went to check on dinner. We got a big fish...

(Before and After)

The game was not looking so good, the Giants were getting spanked. I plated my food and went back to the game.

(Chinese Sausage, Chinese Vegetables, Brown Rice)

WHAM! Tony Romo potentially out for the season, because his O-Line could not black a giant's DB. NICE! Giants roll.

Taste: the fish was really good.

Conclusion: a good game and a good meal.

Drink: ice water

Costco Croissant Part 2

Meal: breakfast (Tue 10/26)

From: Costco

Cost: N/A

Location: Queens

This was the second of the 2 croissants my girlfriend gave me from the giant pack we got from Costco. Again, I was too tired/lazy in the morning to put anything with it, so I just popped it in the microwave for but this time for 20 seconds and ate as is... buttery goodness plus HEAT!

Taste: again, it tasted really good, but would have been better with ham and eggs...

Conclusion: still not very healthy...

Drink: cold water from the office water cooler (Deer Park)...

My New Pre-Work Out Snack

Meal: snack (Mon 10/25)

From: Costco

Cost: $0.86 (including tax)

Location: Queens

Although my right leg is still on the mend, that has not prevented me from maintaining my fitness through upper body exercises (primarily deadlift/bench press etc.). I have noticed that I am exceedingly hungry after I get off work and while I am lifting, and those cheap granola bars have not been cutting it, so while at Costco I picked up a box of these bars, hoping they would do the trick.

Taste: surprisingly good
Conclusion: my workout went much smoother since I was not starving through it.


Drink: cold water

Korean Leftovers for Lunch (Kalbi edition)

Meal: lunch (Mon 10/25)

From: my fridge (via my girlfriend's kitchen)

Cost: N/A

Location: my kitchen (via my fridge)

Leftovers are always great, mainly because they tend to be significantly better than bland sandwiches. Leftovers that include kalbi are among my favorites.

All those Korea side dishes are hiding something special.

There is some kalbi under all those side dishes!

Taste: 100% good, I was happy.
Conclusion: my goal is to avoid "blandwiches" this week.


Drink: cold water

Costco Croissant Part 1

Meal: breakfast (Mon 10/25)

From: Costco

Cost: N/A

Location: Queens

My girlfriend gave me 2 croissants from the giant pack we got from Costco. I took one of them to work. I was too tired/lazy in the morning to put anything with it, so I just popped it in the microwave for 10 seconds and ate as is... buttery goodness...

Taste: really good, but would have been better with ham and eggs...

Conclusion: probably not that healthy...

Drink: coffee from the office communal coffee pot (Starbucks blend today)...

Kalbi bi@tch!

Meal: dinner (Sun 10/24)

From: my girlfriend's kitchen

Cost: N/A

Location: my girlfriend's place

During our brief stay at Costco we bought some beef... used to make kalbi!

Korean Side Dishes

Kalbi (Korean BBQ Beef)

Taste: absolutely delicious!

Conclusion: you can never go wrong with Korean BBQ!

Drink: a can of Orange Fanta Zero with ice.

Lunch at Moe's (Southwest Grill)

Meal: lunch (Sun 10/14)

From: Moe's Southwest Grill

Cost: $12.04 (total!) for 2

Location: Queens

As everyone knows I am a big fan of saving money. A new restaurant opened up near my girlfriend's place, and they were handing out buy one entrée and a drink get another entrée and a drink FREE! You really cannot beat buy one get one free deals, especially when you have 2 people! So we gave the place a shot, it appears to be another chain restaurant similar to Qdoba or Chipotle.

I got the steak fajitas. I got a nice platter with 3 tortillas.

Taste: the food surprisingly tasted better than I expected.

Conclusion: without the coupon the prices at this place would probably have been too steep. The place was relatively empty, probably because there is a Five Guys next door where you can get lunch for about two-thirds of the price.

Drink: medium soda (Coke Zero with free refills).

Homemade Breakfast Sandwich

Meal: breakfast (Sun 10/24)

From: my girlfriend's kitchen

Cost: N/A

Location: my girlfriend's place

We got some croissants from Costco, stuck in some turkey bacon and eggs... YUM!

Taste: absolutely delicious
Conclusion: wish I could eat like this for breakfast everyday... and not die of a heart attack.


Drink: orange juice (low acid Tropicana Pure Premium)

Back to Basics (Korean style)

Meal: dinner (Sat 10/23)

From: my girlfriend's kitchen

Cost: N/A

Location: my girlfriend's place

I had some good old Korean food for dinner...

Taste: pretty delicious

Location: no complaints

Drink: ice water

No breakfast... BUT A COSTCO LUNCH!

Meal: lunch (Sat 10/23)

From: Costco

Cost: $4.49 ($4.89 after tax)

Location: Queens

Anyone that knows me, knows that I enjoy a good deal. My girlfriend got a free one day pass to Costco in the mail. There is a Costco near her house, and she wanted to take advantage of the pass and get some grocery items for her house. We also decided it would be a good opportunity to get some of the cheap Costco fast food.

All Beef Hot Dog (soda included with free refills) - $1.50 ($1.63 after tax)

Churro - $1.00 ($1.09 after tax)

Combo Pizza Slice - $1.99 ($2.17 after tax)

Taste: absolutely delicious!!!
Conclusion: a crap load of food for not that much.


Drink: 1 cup of soda (free refills, I drank Diet Coke).

SCALLOPS!

Meal: dinner (Fri 10/22)

From: my girlfriend's kitchen

Cost: N/A

Location: my girlfriend's place

I LOVE scallops!

Scallops! 

Korean Side Dishes

Taste: the scallops were cooked in a butter garlic sauce, absolutely DELICIOUS!!!
Conclusion: I LOVE SCALLOPS!

Drink: ice water

The blandness continues...

Meal: lunch (Fri 10/22)

From: my fridge

Cost: nearly free (I paid for the mustard and bread)

Location: my kitchen

Another bland turkey and cheese sandwich with spicy mustard on wholewheat bread. I decided to use three slices of bread so it would hopefully fill me up more... boy was I wrong.

Taste: blandness level #1

Conclusion: yuck...

Drink: a cold can of Coke Zero.

"[A] cart breakfast kind of morning..."

Meal: breakfast (Fri 10/22)

From: the breakfast cart around the corner from my office

Cost: $2.50

Location: Lower Manhattan

I woke up late and tired... it was a cart breakfast kind of morning...

Cherry Cheese Pastry

Taste: pretty good since I had had any pastries in a while.
Conclusion: I knew I had a crappy @$$ lunch awaiting me, so I went this route.


Drink: a large coffee with milk and sugar

Pick 4 Things (leftover edition) and Leftovers...

Meal: dinner (Thu 10/21)

From: my fridge

Cost: N/A

Location: my kitchen

I got back from the gym, yet again starving... what would I find. I found a half eat box from one of those Chinese pick 4 things takeout places... I ATE IT ALL!

It was a mixture of greasy crap with rice.

To my delight (but not surprise) the remaining small portion of my pasta dish was there

Taste: I was starving after coming back from the gym, so the grease and everything tasted good.
Conclusion: it is almost Friday...

Drink: ice water

I AM THE FOOD MONSTER!

Meal: lunch (Thu 10/21)

From: my fridge

Cost: N/A

Location: my kitchen

Apparently my mess of stuff in tomato sauce did not seem appealing enough for the other food monsters in the house (I have come to the conclusion that I am indeed just a food monster living amongst other food monsters). Honestly, the concoction I made does look a little disgusting, but it tastes pretty good.

Taste: yummy

Conclusion: the one downside of eating stuff with tomato sauce, is the tendency for the sauce ending up on your clothing...

Drink: a cold can of Coke Zero.

Jimmy Dean Fall Back Breakfast

Meal: breakfast (Thu 10/21)

From: my freeze (via Costco)

Cost: N/A

Location: my kitchen

I woke up late, and I am trying to save some money until I get my next pay check at the end of the month, so I grabbed a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich from the freeze and scooted off to work.

You cannot see it but inside there is sausage, egg, and cheese...

Taste: buttery, greasy, tasty, filling, but not great.

Conclusion: how does my brother subsist on crap like that, better yet how come he has not had a coronary yet?

Drink: coffee from the communal office coffee pot... could be better could be worse (Starbucks blend this day).

The Food Monsters Strike Back?

Meal: dinner (Wed 10/20)
From: my fridge
Cost: N/A (i.e. FREE!!!)
Location: my kitchen


The question of the night was would the food monsters retaliate for my preemptive strike against the leftovers I had for lunch? In short, kind of. There was absolutely no food to poach, I would have to make stuff from scratch.

After returning from the gym (the first time in a week, with my leg still ailing), I quickly microwaved up something to hold me over while I made a real meal.

Bourbon Chicken (frozen then microwaved)

Assorted Vegetables (frozen then microwaved)

I decided that if I needed to make something, I would make sure it would be enough for several meals. I boiled up an entire box of wholewheat penne. Then I took a can of string beans and threw it into a sauce pan along with:
-Fresh chopped garlic
-Fresh Thyme
-Fresh chopped green onions

I sautéed that all up in extra virgin olive oil then dumped some bottled marinara sauce along with some frozen meat balls from Costco (defrosted via microwave). I made enough for 2 large portions and 1 small portion. I ate one large portion for dinner.

My REAL Dinner

Taste: I incorrectly followed my friends suggestion and drizzled a little olive oil on the pasta before putting the sauce on it. Surprisingly it gave it just the right about of flavor and kick and made the whole thing taste delicious.
Conclusion: I was full... the question was would the remaining portions stay safe from the food monsters?

Drink: ice water

Dessert: there was a small piece of Chinese cake lefts in the kitchen at the end of the night, I saw it and gobbled it up.

Remarks: maybe I AM the food monster? Or am I just one of them?

"Stolen" Homemade Chinese Leftover

Meal: lunch (Wed 10/20)

From: my fridge

Cost: FREE FOR ME

Location: my kitchen

So... I woke up and scoured the fridge for lunch and basically put all the leftover food I found into a container and took it to work to eat for lunch. Basically, what I took was the leftovers of my parents dinner (explicitly told I could not eat it for dinner). However, the house rules are that once it enters the fridge it is pretty much fair game. That did not stop my parents from offering their disappointment that I ate ALL of the leftovers. It was not like there was really that much leftovers anyway. At least for one day I beat the monsters that eat all the good food in the fridge. They made the house rules, not me. I guess me eating all the leftovers makes up for the fact that I was stuck eating pizza bagels for dinner instead of real food. I felt pretty ill after eating the pizza bagels, I have no idea how my little brother eats that stuff regularly. 

Shrimp, some kind of Chinese vegetable, some kind of ray fish, and brown rice.

Taste: the fact that I beat defeated the food monsters made this taste extra good.

Conclusion: as delicious as this lunch was I knew dinner might be disappointing...

Drink: a nice cold refreshing can of Coke Zero.

New Beginnings?

Meal: breakfast (Wed 10/20)

From: my fridge

Cost: free for me!

Location: my kitchen

I was exhausted for many reasons, so I went to be about 1-2 hours earlier than normal. The end result was that I woke up about an hour earlier than usual (I was hoping to sleep an extra hour, but I could not fall back asleep). This gave me a little more time than usual to make some breakfast.

I toasted an English muffin and put a large piece of cheddar cheese on it with 2 slices of turkey. Surprisingly it was delicious and did not really need any condiments.

Taste: surprisingly delicious

Conclusion: I have 5 more English muffins in my fridge and barring food monsters eating them all, I hopefully will be able to have at least 2 more solid breakfasts this week. This brings some renewed hope to my food world.

Drink: water, just water.

Crappiest Dinner this Month

Meal: dinner (Tue 10/19)

From: my kitchen (via Costco/Target)

Cost: I only paid for the granola bar

Location: my apartment

The Yankees keep getting owned by Texas and my meals keep getting worse and worse. Is it Friday yet?

Frozen Bagel Pizzas

(Rhis is what happens when my 23 year old brother gets to choose what food my parents buy at Costco.)

Same old crap...

Taste: this food makes me question why I post what I eat.

Conclusion: I later ate some microwaved frozen BBQ chicken strips, they were slightly better (sorry no pictures, I was too depressed about eating such crap and the game I forget to take pictures).

Drink: ice water

Craptacular Lunch (no pictures)

Meal: lunch (Tue 10/19)
From: my fridge
Cost: I paid for the bread and mustard (only)
Location: my kitchen

You guessed it, I had another crappy turkey and cheese sandwich with mustard on wholewheat. I was so disgusted by the prospect of having to eat that blandness that I completely forgot to take a pictures. Not that anyone give cares...

Taste: just above crap.
Conclusion: people please give me suggestions on how to improve on the crappiness...

Drink: a cold can of Coke Zero.
I am running low on cans of soda down to my last 3 cans (all conveniently stored in a draw of my desk at work). The question is do I buy more (thus spending money and subjecting my body to more diet drinks) or do I just drink water from now on...

A Jimmy Dean Breakfast.

Meal: breakfast (Tue 10/19)

From: my freezer (via Costco Brooklyn)

Cost: N/A

Location: my kitchen

Part of the freezer restock included Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches.

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Croissant

Taste: it tasted all right, kind of greasy, but was filling enough.

Conclusion: probably not so healthy.

Drink: some coffee from the communal coffee machine... not that good.

Frozen Dinner...

Meal: dinner (Mon 10/18)

From: my freezer (all bought from Costco Brooklyn)

Cost: N/A (i.e. free for me)

Location: my kitchen

I am still nursing a leg injury so no gym for me for a couple of days. Plus the Yankee game was on after work. The freezer was nice and stocked from a Costco run so at least there was something to eat.

Meat Lasagna 

Mini Chicken Tacos

While I was waiting for the frozen stuff to cook I at some random Chinese sugary thing I found in the kitchen.

Taste: delicious

Conclusion: probably way too much sodium

Drink: ice water

Korean Leftovers for Lunch

Meal: lunch (Mon 10/18)

From: my fridge (via my girlfriend's kitchen)

Cost: N/A (i.e. free for me)

Location: my kitchen

Per usual on Monday, I had some nice left overs from Sunday night dinner at my girlfriend's place.

Korean Food

(there is some bulgogi in there)

Taste: I did not eat breakfast so I was starving, and this was definitely good.

Conclusion: I wish I could eat like this everyday...

Drink: a cold can of Coke Zero.