another cardinal

guess i found a spot for cardinals in central park now.
almost every morning, exactly the same spot, i see a few : )

snow storm in NYC

cardinal in central park

and other snacks

friends brought nice wines and some hummus, and even sugar free vegan cakes!
about 20 people came, and had a great time : )

whole wheat couscous salad

curried tempeh pate

sort of like curried chicken pate, except, i used steamed tempeh.
good to make sandwich with this : )

mixed rice stuffing

instead of bread crumbles, i used brown rice and wild rice.
turned out pretty good : )

health-ier party

i made several dishes.
this is bean and root veggie soup. seasoning is miso and tamari. (one guest was gluten intolarent, so most of the dishes i prepared was gluten free)

holiday party

asked friends to bring "healthier food", and requested "no meat no white sugar".
turned out, a great party that everybody loved and enjoyed!

cold night

holiday seasons!
love this time of the year. so festive and all the decorations, holiday markets in parks...
and this cold weather!
look at the icicle in the fountain!

this is bryant park.

stayed in weekends

usually, i go out on weekends, but because of the heavy rain, we stayed in, and i made baked acron squash with mixed grain stuffing squash.
simple, but so yum!
squash is super sweet, almost like a dessert : )
mixed stuffing is made of whatever in the fridge, but all local from union square market : )

Quick complete meal

before going to my friend's birthday drink, fixed a quick dish.
rice bowl is an easy, yet complete dish, with miso soup : )
sauteed tempeh(w/ onion, brussels sprouts, carrot), steamed kale and radish, and wakame on top of mixed grain rice.

Cold cold winter day...

below freezing, in new york...
on such evenings, Nabe soup is a perfect dish : )
fish and lots of veggies in miso soup.
so warm and heatry...

Sugary blood attracts...

if you get mosquito bites, don't blame them!
that is your own fault.

in fact, i got hundreds of bites in this botanical garden.
too much wine, and dessert (doesn't matter even if it was not white sugar!), my blood must have been so sugary and acidic, attracting those hungry vampires!

at least, one thing i did after that was eat umeboshi to neutralize(alkalize) the blood, and prevent strong allergic reaction...

Epiphyte

in tropical climates, this phenomenon called "epiphyte" is very common.
different from parasite, different plants grow on different tree, but they do not take or exploit nutrients from the "home" tree.

we had a great time in this botanical garden near honolulu.
it was like a real jungle, and a good hiking, too.
the tour guide was so knowledgable and i leaned a lot about tropical plants : )

tempeh sandwich

very tasty and fullfilling : )
i went back to this cafe a few more times during the stay : )

Curried chick pea and brown rice

this one was not overly spiced.
and brown rice! i so needed it!!

they also sell rice ball so i got some for next few days' breakfast : )

Miso Soup

so this is the miso soup, using local organic veggies.
taste so "kind" : ), i could tell that my body was so happy!

Peace Cafe

dining in honolulu can be challenging if you are looking for healthier choices.
ive found several good places.
one of them is this cute, organic vegan cafe, Peace Cafe.

they have daily miso soup,which was such a treat and relief for me : )

sunset from the air

From a distance...

a view from the seat.
somewhere near west coast.

Upgrade!

traveling on thanks giving day was so smooth : )
and using millage, i got upgraded to business/first class!!

but....
when a flight attendant came to my seat to take an order for meal, they said they had just run out of pasta, which was the only no-meat dish!!
then i explained that when i booked--which was economy class--, i ordered vegetarian meal, and they must have it in the back.

after a few glasses of wine and apetizer, they brought this special dish, made of my original vegetarian meal and several side dishes, making it a complete vegetarian dish!!

how nice : )
so i truly enjoyed this rare-luxury travel.
thank you so much, Continental!

and more...

they say that when you see a rainbow, that's a message from God or universe that you are protected.

i felt protected, a lot : )

and another...

another rainbow

another day in waikiki

over the rainbow...

went to hawaii for a week.
this time, only on Oahu island.
low key, sort of...

we saw rainbows almost every day while there!