One of the things that I love most about Georgetown is that there’s always something to do. Not occasionally, not frequently, not sometimes….ALWAYS!

Whether it be good or bad thing, there’s never a day where I have absolutely nothing on the agenda.

While there are some days where my to-do list for the day and calendar for the week become crazy overwhelming, I typically tend to thrive on being busy. This busyness wakes me up everyday—opens my eyes, coaxes me out of bed, keeps me chasing my dreams. I’m not saying zero free time is good (in fact, sometimes it stinks!), but generally speaking, I like having things to do. My mom would probably call that an understatement (hi mom!). I would say that’s who I am. For the better and the worse.

So that being said,  would you like a look at my Wednesday? Let’s go!

Minus a few rare occasions, I never skip breakfast. During high school, I got into the habit of doing that when I didn’t have time; I didn’t like it, but I deemed it necessary. You know what’s necessary?

Breakfast.

It’s my favorite meal of the day, and I take care to make myself a scrumptious breakfast every morning. Oatmeal, pancakes (and more pancakes), toast, eggs, bagels, cereal, and yogurt parfaits go in the typical rotation, with oatmeal being my standard. Speaking of oatmeal…

Wednesday’s brekkie was…carrot cake oatmeal! Carefully guarded by Jack the Bulldog  

Check out this post for more info on that insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanely delicious breakfast.

On Wednesday, I also made myself a cool, creamy cross between a latte and an iced coffee. Caffeine definitely affects me, so I try to moderate how much I drink.

This particular creation was…

• Iced coffee/espresso mixture
• Splash ‘o soymilk
• pinch of stevia
• cinnamon

After French (<—lovin’ that class!), I debated between taking a nap and working out. The night prior, H and I had a lovely chat that ended up lasting longer than either of us expected. I didn’t go to bed terribly late, but it was late enough that I was feelin’ it the next morning. Knowing that a 45 minute nap would probably just make me want to sleep longer, I headed to Yates (the gym) and hoped that some endorphins would perk me up.

Worked like a charm! I read a book for my Business Ethics class, splitting an hour in half with 30 minutes on a spin bike and 30 minutes on an elliptical. I know I should be better about doing strength training, but I find it more difficult to justify a workout if I’m not getting a little work done. Something to work on, for sure.

Post-workout, I made my way back to my dorm in lovely 60 degree weather. Blue skies and sunny, awww yeah! I started to get a little hungry for lunch, so I snacked on an apple after my run through the shower. Soon enough, it was time for lunch.

Lunch

Also known as hugh-jass-salad-time. Said salad included the following:

• Gourmet mixed greens
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Edamame
• Roasted Garlic Zucchini (<—uh-may-zing)
• Basil Barley salad

With a sweet po-tater on the side. I can (and will) eat one of those everyday without question.

My apologies for posting yet another salad, but lately, I just can’t get enough! In fact, recently, I wrote my first post as a freelance contributing writer for Small Kitchen College, an online college eating/living guide written by college students all over the nation.

Naturally, I decided to write a post about my love of salad. And Darren Criss.

Check it out HEEEEEEEEEEEEERE, if you’re interested! (Can you tell I’m excited?)

After lunch, I walked over to my English class, which is a humanities class focusing on the female bildungsroman. It’s kinda meh. (Read: I came this close to falling asleep.) Now that’s what I call a coming-of-age story.

Once English let out, I sprinted over to Uncommon Grounds, the coffee shop at which I was recently hired and ordered a cuppa joe to go. By 3:30 pm, coffee might as well have been my God-given right.

Accounting wasn’t too bad (I didn’t fall asleep. That’s an accomplishment, right?). Following class, I met a group to discuss a group project for one of my classes. I was in and out in about an hour, at which point I made a dash for the dining hall.

Dinner

A smattering of goodies piled high.

Vegan Jambalya with zucchini, tomatoes, and okra. Weirdly, I LOVE okra.

Baby Bok Choy sauteed with Garlic.

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Steamed cauliflower and a vegan BBQ riblet. This was very much trying to be a piece of meat, which is fine. It was good but a bit dry. Oddly, it reminded me of what I was served at the cafeteria in fifth grade, except this one tasted more like meat than the one from my fifth grade days. I find that a little scary…

Braised cabbage with pepper. This stuff looks disgusting but tastes AWESOME!

After dinner, I sprinted across campus for a club (Women in Politics!) event. Thanks to the tireless work of B, we had Courtney Martin speak National Eating Disorders Week.

Martin attended Barnard University and later wrote the acclaimed novel Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. Since this post is a marathon already, I’ll give you guys more deets later She was a great speaker and had some really insightful things to say!

Following the WiP event, I again ran cross-campus to meet another group for an Accounting Case Project.  We cranked out the case and an hour later, I was off again—this time back the coffee shop at which I work.

I did homework for about an hour before helping to cleanup and close the store. Around 12:30 a.m., I visited B, who was working in the newspaper office upstairs, and handed off a granola bagel.

Finally, I headed back to my dorm. Sweet heavens, thank goodness.

More homework and then some cleaning. And thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn,

SLEEP.

What a Wednesday

Oh yes. I am totally not above eating you for breakfast. I would. It’d be like love at first sight all over again.

But unfortunately for you and fortunately for me, I’m cheating on you…with oatmeal.
#sorry I’m not sorry.

We’ll rekindle our love soon, but for now, oatmeal has my heart.

But not just any oatmeal. Carrot cake oatmeal.

Now, that basically means I’m cheating on your with your older brother. Wow, I didn’t even know I had that sort of boldness.

I’m afraid that’s rather risqué. Skanky, skeevy, tore up from the floor up…

But I don’t care. Because I am incontrovertibly in love. With this:

• Old-fashioned oats (I like my men classy)
• Finely shredded carrots
• Chia Seeds
• Banana
• Pumpkin Pie Spice (lots!)
• Cinnamon
• Toasted Wheat Germ
• 2 types of nut butter—sunflower seed and peanut butter because I’m indecisive…

Not to mention a cool, creamy iced latte. Yeah, I’d be jealous too, my dear former lover.

But don’t try to get between us. I got a legit watchdog and everything guarding my beloved.

C is for ceeeeeee ya later!

Lunch & The Like

There’s really only four things you need to know about the past four hours…

1) I may have made history. I think I’m the only person in the history of ever to….grab green beans to- go from the dining hall. In other words, I definitely walked to class with a handful of green beans. Just call me a trendsetter.

2) 12:30 is the most awkward time to have a class. Seriously, way to put a cramp in my lunch plans.

3) Mango tea with soymilk in my trusty re-sealable cup (a.k.a. sippy cup) was the savior of my afternoon.

4) Pita bread & hummus is the most snackable food known to mankind…or at least to me.

This picture kind of represents how I feel this morning.

A little bleary eyed.
Not really sure what’s going on.
Totally unprepared for the fact that my day is planned out until 2 a.m. tonight with meetings.
Craving heaps and heaps of nut butter. (Wait, isn’t that every morning?)

Oatmeal was an unquestionable necessity this morning. My weeklong “Daily Delectables” series is technically over, but I’m trying to stay creative/inventive for your sake. And mine. But really, all I could think about this morning was….

must.have.best.bowl.of.oatmeal.NOW.

Does that ever happen to you? Yeah that’s what I thought.

You know whad’it is:

• Old-fashioned oats…shall we call them vintage?
• Chia Seeds
• Pumpkin Pie Spice
• Fresh banana this time
• 2 heaping spoonfuls of nut butter –> yin & yang, esque!
• Homemade peanut butter (it’s back!)
• Sunflower seed butter from TJ’s

I couldn’t decide on one nut butter this morning….so I had both.

I’m all about problem solving.

It is no coincidence that this iced coffee was empty when I finally had the chance to snap a photo. It didn’t even last my 5 minute walk to class. Oops.

Come at me, caffeine.

Time to get to work….Paper due in less then 5 hours.

P.S. Did ya’ll like the Daily Delectable series? I’m going to try and continue posting my daily eats, but I’d love your feedback on what you would like to see  

Dinner

Okay, so technically, this post is a day late, since my weeklong “Daily Delectables” series should have wrapped up yesterday, BUT I’ve been a busy bee since then. Better late than never, right? I’m frequently (read: almost always) late, so this suits me perfectly For dinner, H and I met up with B & E in front of the Georgetown library. We trekked about a mile-ish in slightly chilly weather with one dream in mind……………

Il Canale!

A well-known Italian restaurant in Georgetown, Il Canale, definitely has a reputation for delicious food in D.C. So with carb-cravings and LivingSocial deal in hand, we decided to make it a girls night. The first thing we noticed when we walked up to the restaurant was both amusing and peculiar—Il Canale is situated within 100 ft of two other notable Italian restaurants (Paper Moon and Restaurante Piccolo). We all thought this was actually rather hilarious. Why in the world would three restaurants with essentially the same cuisine decide to take up business in the exact same area? Weird but entertaining nonetheless.

B was kind enough to make a reservation for four in advance, so when we got to the restaurant at 8 pm, we were seated within five minutes. Huzzah. Gratzi B.

We eyed the Neopolitan pizza samples at the front, hoping to try a slice of the famed delicacy,  but the platter was empty. Hmph. I was determined to try a slice and kept stalking the platter!

No, I am not above stalking food. Some call it stalking, I call it amore.

Our waiter led us to a table upstairs, where the mellow lighting and custom artwork made for a beautiful ambiance. Perfect for a first date girls night for 4. The restaurant was a little noisy but nothing unreasonable. Light conversation was still a’plenty.

Dinner started with a glass of water (so refreshing after our walk!) and a warm basket of french bread with garlic-infused olive oil. There were even chunks of roasted garlic left in the oil. SCORE. Love that. I tried to take an up-close picture for ya’ll, but it turned out rather blurry. Just imagine what garlicky deliciousness looks like..

After two rounds of the bread basket, we ordered our entrees. Good thing too, because I could have subsisted on the bread alone.

No shame.

You would think that each of us ordered something different, but no! All four of us almost ordered the exact same dish: Gnocchi Al Filetto Pomodoro–“Ricotta dumplings, served with a cherry tomato sauce and a touch of imported buffalo mozzarella.” Evidently, we have a weakness for those pillows of eternal glory.

Being that all four of us are vegetarians (or pescatarians), I suppose we think alike. Actually, to be quite honest, I’m relatively convinced that I share a brain with all three of them, so of course, I found this amusing but not at all surprising.

At the last second, our waiter changed my mind though, and I decided to order the Maccheroncini Al Salmone Affucmicato— “Small tube pasta served with smoked and fresh salmon, in a roasted brandy, shallots, and cherry tomato with a touch of cream”—just to branch out and try something a little different than the rest of the table. Pasta diversity at its finest.

Okay okay, maybe not.  Instead, I agreed to swap a few bites of my salmon pasta with B & H in exchange for some gnocchi. The best of both worlds Bee-tee-dubs, that gnocchi photo is totally courtesy of H, who asked, “Do you want my dish, so you can take a picture?” before I could even pose the question.

She knows me too well.

Anywhos..the verdict?

Everything was really good! I loved the big hunks of salmon and cherry tomato in my dish, and the gnochhi were light and well-coated in tomatoey goodness. There’s a few Italian dishes from Mario’s By The Sea (at home in California) with which all other restaurants simply can’t compare, but this was pretty darn delicious nonetheless. After all was said and done, I was glad I ended up ordering the salmon pasta. While the gnocchi were good, I was craving seafood! Sharing a few bites with B & H worked out perfectly because by the end of dinner, I was STUFFED! In truth, I was full about half way through the meal, but it was so good that I kept eating. Plus, I decided that the people sitting next to me in a movie theater wouldn’t really enjoy the pungent smell of my leftovers  

On our way out of the restaurant, we noticed that they replenished the Neopolitan pizza samples at the front door.

Thus, we calmly walked out of the restaurant and didn’t give the pizza a second thought.

UHH yeah right! Who are we kidding? B, H, E, and I all grabbed a slice as we headed out the door. One simply can’t turn down good (free) pizza.

The pizza was good, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best I’ve ever had. I guess I’m just a sucker for saucy, thick-crust pizza?

At that point, we were full. No more bread; no more pasta; no more pizza. F-U-L-L.

But, of course, not too full for dessert…………..

We had about 20 minutes to kill before heading to the movie, so naturally, we decided that a stop at Pinkberry was also necessary, since H and I had been craving fro-yo all day. I almost chickened out, but H proclaimed,“You’re going to bail on fro-yo and get a TINY?!?! Live a little—80/20, remember!” [note: 80/20 to be explained  later ]

I quickly decided she was right—I was full, but at that point, it was all about the experience. We were determined to make this weekend a bomb diggity “staycation,” and I wasn’t about to back down from that promise.

Balls to the walls! No wet noodles here. And so we carried on.

Sipped on some cucumber water. Because clearly, I’m obsessed. I swear it’s delicious and not at all soapy-tasting! Haters gonna hate.

And then we waited. Eagerly. Like 5-year-olds in a candy shop for our magical creations. Like goofballs. Like the yuppies that we are.

Voila!

Half plain tart and half salted caramel (extra sea salt on top!), with strawberries, raspberries, oreo crumbles, and brownie bites. Same for the roomie but with different toppings. We brought our concoctions to the movie theater and enjoyed them as we watched “The Vow.”

DELICIOUS (both Channing Tatum and the fro-yo)… I really love the salted caramel flavor. Maybe even more than Yogurtland?

But really. This was so good. I don’t know whether it was just the fro-yo or the night itself.

What I do know is that it tasted even better knowing that last night meant more than walks down M street; more than bread baskets and gnocchi; and more than frozen yogurt and a chick flick.

It meant discovering the unassuming pleasures that one only finds while traversing the cobblestones of Georgetown.

It meant spending a wonderful night with the three girls without whom I simply can’t imagine life now.

It meant tasting life to its fullest, fully and unapologetically.

I have gotten absolutely nothing productive today…unless you count pancakes. Wait, that counts, right?

Anyway,  this will have to be a quickie catchup post.

Lunner, Dinner, Dessert

Since my stomach is a bottomless pit, I ended up eating another apple and orange after my last post.

I finished up a bit more work and then decided I was still hungry, so I made a quick trip to Leo’s for a “lunner.” Before making my way back to the library, I whipped up a quick salad with…

• Gourmet mixed greens
• Shredded carrots
• Steamed baby carrots
• A tad bit of mushroom risotto
• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Mixed steamed veggies
• Balsamic Vinegar

It was weird eating at 4:30 but with a late dinner in store, I decided it was a necessary pit stop for my ever-grumbling stomach. To round out lunner, I also snagged a half of a roasted sweet potato and a little mountain o’ fried rice. I’m all about sampling everything  

Full recap on dinner at Il Canale + The Vow + a sweet surprise later!!

Even though I got a good night’s rest last night (huzzah!), I slept in a bit later than usual this morning. Since I had work at 9:30 a.m., I didn’t have time to make a real breakfast.

Gasp! Lexi not eating breakfast, her favorite meal of the day?!?!?!?!

It was unfortunate. I sliced up an apple to go. Slice > shaken OR stirred.

And then, I munched on pastry odds and ends at work, while sipping a Chai Tea with soymilk and a mango iced tea. All the while, I dreamt of oatmeal.

After work, I met H, B, and C at the dining hall for lunch (technically breakfast?). In my ravished state of hunger, I made myself a salad with…

• Gourmet mixed greens
• Chickpeas
• Shredded carrots
• Beets
• 1 hardboiled egg
• Light Balsamic Vinaigrette

Of course, like a doofus, I forgot to snap a photo until after I finished it. Go me

After scarfing down my salad in 26 seconds flat, I decided to have a bowl of cereal.

Leo’s food was not the best today…in other words, the options were beef stew that looked like it had already been digested and over-scrambled scrambled eggs. Eww.

Now, I’m attempting to get work done at the library with H & C. So far, I’ve accomplished the tasks of a) eating an apple b) eating an orange and c) looking up movie times for tonight. Productivity at its finest.

Headed to Il Canale for dinner tonight and then off to see The Vow! Oh Channing Tatum, it has been too long

Dinner & The Like

There’s something wonderfully peaceful about sweetly crooned tunes (compliments of DJ L & H); crackers, goat cheese, and hummus; family dinners at a local fave spot; and a spread of graham crackers, dark chocolate, and tea.

Wild and crazy Saturday nights have their merits in adventure and spontaneity.

But these nights are of no lesser value.

I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Because right now, nothing sounds better than tonight.

Quiet, peaceful, and inexplicably lovely.

Good night friends  

Brunch & Stuff

Being that Georgetown life keeps us incessantly busy, it’s not often that I get to spend some 1 on 1 quality time with my roommate, H. But with a bunch of friends gone or busy for the long weekend, we decided to trek out into D.C. and grab brunch for some bonding time together .

After getting back late last night (a dinner post was most definitely NOT happening), I slept in late, while H went to yoga in Adams Morgan. Around noon, we met up for her much-belated birthday brunch at Sticky Fingers Bakery.

Sticky Fingers is an all vegan bakery that specializes in cupcakes (the owner of the bakery won the TV show competition – Cupcake Wars!!!) but also has light brunch/lunch, with dishes like pancakes, french toast, and vegan biscuits and gravy.

Excuse me, did you just say vegan biscuits and gravy?!?! Why yes, yes I did. Nothing quite beats homemade biscuits, but these were pretty darn good. H and I both ordered the platter, which came with tofu “scramble” and “cheesy” grits. The restaurant was pretty full when we got there, but we managed to find a small table for two. Perfecto.

We both had plenty of good things to say about the tiny bakery, though we agreed that it would be even better if they expanded to provide hungry customers (like us ) with more room to sit and enjoy a Saturday morning. Table space was limited and a little cramped, but we thoroughly enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

Being vegetarians, yoga lovers, Buddhist curiosities, and farmers’ markets enthusiasts, we pretty much embodied the stereotype of “yuppie yoginis.” No complaints here  

We’re both hard at work on papers now but are enjoying some green tea, a juicy grapefruit, and the ever-hilarious company of a fellow yuppie…namely each other  

Lunch, Coffee, Snaxxx, and other Thangggsss

What’s that you may ask? Why it’s…

Warm Honeyed Lentil Salad with Beets & Wilted Greens

Also known as my-lunch-that-was-a-total-accident.

Like I mentioned earlier, the fridge in my dorm room got cranked to somewhere between “super chilly” and “Antarctica,” resulting in a whole lot of icy foods.

That’s chill. (But really). What this actually was…A repeat of this amazing salad I made the other day, heated in the microwave. I expected to have to grin and bear this lunch since I didn’t have time to swing by the dining hall before work, but it was actually quite good!

Speaking of surprisingly good..this Split Pea Soup that I took “to go” () from the dining hall and reheated was delicious. It was also really ugly. In fact, it may be the hardest food to photograph because it’s so darn unattractive. But like everything else in life, looks can be deceiving because this soup was just what I needed.

After I scarfed down calmly sipped my soup, I ran to work and got my latte on. The time flew by (i.love.my.job.), compliments of copious amounts of caffeine.

The above photo was a lavender earl gray tea with vanilla and soymilk!  

After work, I snacked on some carrots in hummus. Both were CHILL. (not kidding..)

I’m headed to dinner in about a half hour to meet S. To keep the hunger monster at bay, I just had an appetizer of apple slices.

That sounds fancy.

You know how I roll.

Dinner post? Debatable. But it’ll probably look something like this:

(Hopefully) recreating the masterpiece  

See you soon. Ish? Yes, let’s go with that.