Tofu House

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Lunch today was an adventure! The law clerks wanted to shake it up a bit by going to Belly Time, but it appeared to be closed so we went into Tofu House instead. The sign on Tofu House had tons of writing in Korean and most of the menu was in Korean so we weren’t totally sure what we were getting into and thus I do not have names for the dishes. They were good though, I can tell you that much.

These appetizers were brought to the table after we ordered and came with the meal. We noshed on them while waiting for the entrees. We had no clue what most of them really were but that’s always a fun experience, right? Dan and Diana are more adventurous than I am and actually ate some green jello thing. I was not that brave.

Then we got this rice and soup thing. Again, I don’t know what it is but I know that it was delicious.

And then it was time for the entree… bring on the beef!

I would like to now state that I ate like, 1/3 of the food maybe? It was A LOT! I actually didn’t eat very much and I didn’t eat until I was stuffed. I barely snacked at work today minus 4 salt water taffies. Gotta give love to the treat jar.

Work it Out

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

This was my week in workouts:

Monday: 4.1 mile run

Tuesday: 3.5 mile run, stair work, weights, triceps dips, crunches

Wednesday: off

Thursday: Power Yoga

Friday: Off

Saturday: 4.1 mile run

Sunday: off

This week I am going to be heavy running at the beginning of the week and then ease into yoga and arms at the end of the week in prep for my 5k race on Sunday! I can’t believe my first race is almost here!

The Thirsty Crow

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Sorry for the blog break. The holiday weekend was calling me and I neglected my camera. However, before I put the camera down my friends and I went to The Thirsty Crow in Silver Lake for drinks to celebrate Emily’s birthday.

The Thirsty Crow is a whiskey bar, of course Catie and I ordered champagne cocktails!

Catie got a champagne and lavender and I had St. Germaine and prosseco. They were delicious!

Thirsty Crow was awesome! Great small bar which awesome drinks and a good vibe. All my friends really liked it and we will be back in the future.

Before we had birthday dessert. Catie made a delicious creation. It was malanos, chocolate pudding and raspberries!

Yumm! This was a great dessert and a great start to the long weekend! It was fun to go out with Catie, a lot like college, but I’m single now which is exciting. We were basically holding court while at the bar so expect more Katherine and Catie bar hopping in the near future!

Bite Bar & Bakery

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

Happy Long weekend!

My long weekend started with another LA initiation, my first fender bender. Don’t worry “Ryan” and I are fine. A little shaken but were OK. What was your first fender bender like?

I was lucky enough to get to leave work today at 12 pm. After I figured I deserved a treat so I decided to try Bite Bar & Bakery in Santa Monica.

I decided to try Bite after I got a discount code from Blackboard Eats. Blackboard Eats is a great website that provides discounts for various restaurants in LA, New York and San Francisco. They send emails out that allow you to access a promo code which is good for a month. Lots of the restaurants are more expensive so the 30% discount makes it easier to afford. Thanks to Rachel for tipping me off to it several months ago!

I really love the vibe here! All the sandwiches are $10 and under but you still get to sit down and be served which is just what I needed today. I had no problem getting a table, but the restaurant wasn’t empty. This is a great place to dine alone with a book. The service was excellent and right after I sat down I got some olives and the iced tea that I ordered.

Can I just say that I love this? Luxe extras and simple touches are kinda my favorite. I asked the waitress what in her opinion was the best sandwich because there were 4 that looked amazing (all under $10!!). I settled on the grilled asparagus and sun dried tomato pesto sandwich.

This sandwich was so yummy. I love a pressed sandwich, the asparagus was perfectly roasted and the sun dried tomato pesto gave a great, but not overwhelming flavor. The bread was perfectly toasted and the service was fast!

I was having such a great time just sitting and reading that I decided I had to have dessert. Plus, I figured after the kind of day I had, that I deserved it. There were a lot of delicious goodies to choose from but I had no problem settling on a chocolate ganache and cocoa nibs.

Mmmmmm. This was well deserved and so delicious! The chocolate was the perfect consistency, moist and rich. It totally hit the spot after a stressful day.

Overall, I loved my experience at Bite and I will be going back for sure! I got a nice, sit down meal and before the discount my meal was only $12, and after the discount it was less. It’s so great to be able to go to a nice, relaxed sit down restaurant to be waited on and not have to pay tons of cash for the experience.

After lunch I hit the Santa Monica Library and Coffee Bean. I got an awesome combo of chick lit and books about education, race, and housing issues. Cannot wait to dig into them tonight. Also, my knee is feeling much better and my arms are super sore from power yoga so I’m taking it easy on my knee for one more day with the hope that my knee problems will be resolved for my race a week from Sunday.

Happy long weekend everyone!

Yoga brings me home

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

You know what the best destressing technique is? Sitting with one hand on your heart and one hand on your stomach and deep breathing. Yoga taught me this little move and it has always helped me when I feel overwhelmed. That is my tip of the day.

Today I actually took a picture of everything I ate. It is harder to do then it might seem! Here we goooooo!

Breakfast:

I had a super filling Cinn breakfast cookie!

AM Snacks:

In the morning I snacked on a piece of candy and some Trader Joe’s Fruity Flakes…

Check what we found in the candy dish today! Hangen’ Tough!!!

Sweet!!

Lunch

For lunch I had a homemade salad, pop chips, and one slice of Ezekiel bread…

On my salad I used hummus instead of dressing which is lower in calories and also had protein and, I think, tastes better.

Only 100 calories!

I only had one slice out of the two. I was so full!

And to drink? I had a non fat sugar free iced latte from Coffee Bean! WEEEE! I love Coffee Bean!

PM Snacks:

Throughout the afternoon I had a zbar (because it tastes like dessert!)

On the way to yoga after work I had a larabar. I was really stressed during the final hour of the day and, despite having lots of filling food today I was starving because of the stress! Today was a little “bar heavy” but its easy and quick. I packed an apple bar being its my favorite flavor!

Workout:

Power Yoga tonight was awesome! We did a ton of arms stuff, push ups, and hip openers. I loved doing frog pose. We also did tons of abs work including a crunch where we were lying on our backs with our legs in butterfly and then doing crunches! Holy lower abs! Then we had to lift our legs off the ground by 1 foot and continue crunches. Yowza, I will feel that tomorrow.

We also had an awesome meditation. This teacher actually plays a song on his ukulele and sings while we meditated. I love meditating after a good sweat. It always puts life in perspective and calms me down. Overall, a wonderful yoga workout.

Dinner:

I had a conference call after dinner so I had a quick dinner:

Trader Joe’s tomato bisque

During my meditation my mind kept drifting to Brussels Sprouts so I just had to have some for dinner.

I’m exhausted and off to bed! Who is getting excited for a three day weekend? Do you have any fun 4th of July plans?

The End of June Gloom

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Katherine Swanson

When I say June Gloom I mean both the LA weather and my bad mood! I got a great nights sleep last night and when I woke up today I was in a much better mood. Thank goodness. Bad moods can be really trying sometimes.

Today at work I did a good job of controlling my candy cravings. At my workplace there are several dishes of candy sitting out. I’ve been eating 5-8 pieces a day. $:\$ Oh well, can’t win them all! Today I was much better and one had one piece. I need to keep this up! I have a definite propensity to over eat, especially when I’m stressed, in a bad mood or bored.

After my glorious success at work I came home. Today is an off day for workout and I simply put some ice on my knee. I decided to have a “catch as catch can” type of dinner. About a 1/2 portion of leftover mac and cheese and this salad…

What can I say, I was craving a salty meat. The arugula in this salad was super spicy. I bought from a different vendor this week and I think it made all the difference.

For dessert I had a “new invention”

Peanut butter spoon! So so delicious. One tablespoon of peanut butter and a small amount of chocolate chips. Can’t go wrong. Plus the peanut butter is filling so I can’t just snack on chocolate chips all night.