BLOCHO'S TACOS

I will still be juicin' on one of my favorite days of the year, Cinco de Mayo.  5/5. So harmonious. Obviously I could choose to end my cleanse pre-CdM, but that would open myself up to the temptations of beef, pork, cheese, and copious amounts of tortillas (in various forms).  Knowing the importance of the post-cleasne transition back to real food, I know this is not a good idea. I have decided to celebrate my own Cinco de Mayo on May 25th.  I chose the 25th because 5 x 5 = 25.  I invite everyone to celebrate with me. But with the true Holiday just a few days away, people are getting excited and the recipes are flowing over the interwebs. Today, Refinery 29 featured Elizabeth Bank's Cowboy Caviar Dip .  Upon inital review of the ingredients and the recipe, it seems like a fancy guacamole.  I'm inspired. Cowboy Caviar Dip 15 oz black-eyed peas 11 oz shoe peg corn 2 chopped avocados 2/3 cup chopped cilantro 2/3 cup chopped green onion D...

Today is Monday.  Today was a bizarre-o day. I can't quite put my finger on what it was, but today was not normal. Some good things about today: -I took my first Flybarre class at Flywheel.  Boy, was that hard! I was a sweaty mess afterwards and am a bit nervous I will be immobile and sore tomorrow. -I tried the Juice Press Rainforest smoothie (sans agave).  Yummy.  A little sweeter than I expected/wanted. -I began making my NYC Restaurant Bucket List.  It is super duper long.  Post-cleanse do I start eating out or cooking for myself?   I want to do both! So why was today non-normal?  Dunno. I wasn't getting into the groove with my juices.  Maybe it was because I started the day off so sweet, or maybe because I bought such a random hodge-podge of juices, not really considering a daily "menu".  I also wanted to bring my computer to work for a specific project and I didn't. Juice! And subway feet. Overwhelming things: ...

Today is Day 7 of my cleanse. It is also a beautiful Sunday in NYC and I got up early to seize the day!  Carpe Diem! I walked from my apartment North West through SoHo and the West Village.  I passed plenty of shops, boutiques, restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and shoe repairs.  Some were familiar, others not as much. If I were not cleansing I would have likely stopped in 2 or 3 of these locales for a cup of tea or coffee, maybe a gluten-free treat, or just to browse. Today, I didn't. I do not feel deprived from taste or nutrition with my cleanse, but perhaps a bit deprived in experience.  So much of my life is about trying new foods in new places so now I must focus on just trying new things....new activities, new adventures.  Changing my mindest and adapting is a great exercise. So now, I sit in a Le Pain Quotidien, sipping on a mint tea infusion and I write to you, my elusive reader.  I hope you have a beautiful Sunday filled with experience...

I've tempted myself. On Friday: I arrived at work and my coworker has a massive chocolate bunny leftover from Easter on her desk.  About once an hour we talked about it. My home-baked Passover treats are still in the office and since I've had them before, I know how delicious they are. I sat in a 1.5 hour meeting and was the only one not eating a classic NY bagel with cream cheese and/or peanut M&Ms. I went to lunch with my team for "bonding".  My coworkers ate a cheeseburger with bacon, a chicken club sandwich, and a tuna burger.  And fries.  Crispy fries.  They looked delectable. Colors! On Saturday: I went to Smorgasburg .  This food mecca is filled with things I really love.  Tacos, ice cream, Blue Bottle Coffee, lobster rolls, cheese, you name it!  Luckily, it was a gorgeous day and I had a fine time just taking in the scenery.  Also, you can say I "cheated" because I drank coconut juice from a coconut, but I just su...

When on a juice cleanse, I expect to feel pretty darn great.  In my previous experiences of 3-day cleanses, I have felt on top of the world. Energize.  Clear Headed.  Not so hungry. Light. Flexible. As Day 4 draws to a close, I feel 96% great.  Definitely energized and clear headed.  That 4% of not-so-great is consumed by my stomach discomfort.  Part of what I love about juice cleanses are that they pretty effectively eliminate bloating and gas.  I'm not feeling that way quite yet.  (This is Day 2 of stomach discomfort starting around 5pm). Bottle Service. Today I drank a lot of fruit juices (unintentionally).  Maybe that is why? Also, I wonder how chia seeds are affecting my digestion/stomach.  They're great for a source of fiber, but maybe they are expanding in my stomach or intestine and causing some discomfort.  Yikes! My self-prescribed cured: WATER WATER WATER. Day 4 Menu: Mother Earth Doctor Green (Was amazed...

La Fonda Nolita, Tacombi Tacos.  A Mexican food mecca in NoLita.  The only reason I am writing about tacos while cleansing is that I really love Tacombi and the folks behind the place are opening a NEW restaurant in Flatiron -- Cafe El Presidente. Any time of day you go, Tacombi is likely to be jam-packed with neighborhood regulars, tourists, young, old etc, and all having a wonderful time.  I imagine the same will be said of Cafe El Presidente.  Once I'm eating solid food, this place will be at the top of my "To Do" list.  They even have breakfast offerings (although probably not gfree).   My first time at Tacombi was back in August when I gathered with friends for a late Saturday evening dinner.  It was delicious and made all that much better by the company. Sangria! (They only have Wine/Sangria/Cerveza) Friends! Shrimp and ???? Too long ago to remember, but I loved them both! I also discovered my favorite iteration of ic...

The internet is really cool and you can make it do things for you.  My dad complains because he never remembers to check my blog and I always ask if he's read my latest post. With IFTTT (If this, then that), I created a recipe to send him an email each time I post.  Let's test it! Ping!

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I drink beverages quickly.  Anything liquid seems to be there and then gone in a few seconds.  My friends are always impressed at how I dominate a milkshake in just a matter of minutes. As a little kid, I used to live on lemonade and Arnold Palmer's in the summer.  I would down these drinks at world-record paces and then get the feeling that I had no internal organs, but rather just water in my belly.  Slosh, slosh, slosh. Embarking on a cleanse is a commitment to perpetual liquid belly. Today's menu (so far): 1/2 Spicy Citrus with Chia Seeds Good Weed Gravity

Day 1 of the extended cleanseeee (cleanse with 4 Es for 4 times the impact! Maybe?).  Well, so far, so good.  I think I'll start to really question why I'm doing this on day 9.  All in all this will be at least the 7th or 8th time that I've cleansed, but the first time I've done more than 3 days.  In all the cleansing literature I've consumer, people wax eloquent about the important of detoxing with juice and supporting/optimizing this detox with massages, dry brush scrubs, spending time in a sauna or steam room, and...colonics.  Now, one may wonder, "what is a colonic exactly?".  Think about it.  Google it.  Now you know. I have always understood the theory behind colonics, but they terrified me.  It seems pretty unnatural and uncomfortable.  For the sake of experimenting and really giving this extended cleanse a run for my money (and because a Juice Press store manager and 34-day cleanser recommended it) I will get a colonic.  T...

Dear friends and family and readers, If you follow me on Instagram , you know that I love Juice Press .  I really cannot get enough of it.  There is a Juice Press on Mott Street that I tend to walk by quite frequently, and I've been known to walk past it and turn around to go pick up a bottle of their delicious juices.  Why am I so obsessed?  That's a really good question.  I think a few factors are involved. 99% of the juices I've tasted are DEEEE-licious. They are constantly adding new juice flavors to their arsenal so I am always able to try something new. Their "propaganda" is laugh out loud funny and I use the "You're a Pig" piece as a bookmark. Ginger Fireball . They offer a variety of raw foods including (some of my favorites) a marinated kale salad, chia seed pudding, falafel, and delicious "cheese"cakes and pies.   Juice Press epitomizes a healthy lifestyle brand and they are not trying to push some agenda on their cus...

In honor of the start of Passover, I write about delicious (and gluten-free) hametz . For weeks my coworkers talked about Amy's Bread and the delicious gluteny goodness that is packed into their baked goods.  I tweeted at Amy's to see if they had gluten-free offerings. They do not. Feeling left out, I fired up seamless.com to take a look at what "Gluten Free" + "dessert" places were in the neighborhood of our office.  I will say, that considering I'm between Times Square and Port Authority and out my window I can see Chevy's, McDonald's, Auntie Annie's, Crumbs, and Five Guys, I was not super optimistic about gluten-free eateries....until I found. SCHMACKARY'S Cookie Monster would be in heaven at this place!! Schmackary's Cookies are just about the best thing that ever happened to me, and Hell's Kitchen, and the world of grab-and-go gluten free baked goods.  I ventured out on one of those FREEZING days we had in March ...

The START-UP of YOU By Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha In January, General Assembly began a book club and I joined. I had never been part of a book club before and did not really like the idea of them.  With a good book comes good conversation, but the idea of having to read something within a specific time frame and then contribute to the conversation seemed stress inducing.  Also, the idea of book clubs conjures up an image of a bunch of housewives sitting around reading The Red Tent .  Seeing as for the past few months I have yet to find a novel that piques my interest, (not to mention being less than gung-ho about being "forced" to read one,) the traditional Book Club did not appeal to me.  But I do read.  In fact, I have read a number of non-fiction books recently and have loved them. Most notably, was the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.  I was enthralled from page to page. Although I had such negative connotations with Book Clubs, I ass...

If you do stop, you'll fall behind.  This, my friends, seems to be reality. Soft skills, hard skills, juggling skills. There is SO MUCH INFORMATION AVAILABLE (in books, on the internet, from friends and family and coworkers) and so many things that we can do to learn something new.  This does not have to be learning web design or coding.  I'm talking as simple as a new recipe or a new way of tackling to-do lists. The point is this: There is an entire industry dedicated to giving people easy (and often free) access to classes, workshops, and development "forums".  MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are everywhere -- from Skillshare to Udemy to Lynda.com to University of Phoenix !  Dedicate time to yourself and learn something new every three months.  Why not? A slide from a Project Management workshop I attended Just before clicking "Publish", I was reminded of The New York Times Magazine article from a few weeks ago that addressed the age g...