NYC Trip, New Year, Gifts and Celebrations!

Hello to everyone! I wanted to share some of my experiences and gifts from our NYC trip. We were lucky to get together with our friends in NYC for 5 days, including New Year's Eve! It was such a fun trip, lots of memories were made and of course lots of belly filling with all the delicious food from the red apple was done. It definitely was a nice break from our everyday lives...

This was not my first time in NYC but you can always find something new to do there. We had so many places to visit but so little time...We got up early everyday and were outside before we had breakfast. Going around this big city, where everyone must visit at least once in their lives, observing the breathtaking views, taking many many pictures in case our memory failed us was our job for 5 great days...

Let me write down the places you need to visit to make your belly very happy :).
1) Chelsea Market
2) Shake Shack
3) Extra Virgin
4) Lombardi's (America's First Pizzeria)
5) Murray's Bagels

But note that you may need to wait for your food. As expected there are almost always long lines to wait so be prepared for that and don't give up!

And of course if you have the time you need to go to the MET but I doubt you'll be able to see all the exhibitions and collections at the museum in a single day. So if you love history and do not want to miss anything I suggest you dedicate two days to the museum. However, if you don't have that much time I think getting your picture taken in front of the MET will also be memorable since the building itself is very very beautiful.

Now onto my gifts... We (me and my husband) love to give small gifts to our friends to celebrate the New Year and well maybe just to create an excuse to buy gifts :). And getting gifts is not too bad either :). Here are my gifts for this year,

Thank you Gokce and Korhan! A great memory from Bryant Park, NYC

My pink, comfy and warm slippers. Thank you Gonca!

A great gift for a book worm like me. Thank you Ezgi!

My kindle touch from my lovely husband. Thank you husband!

I have to tell you a story about my kindle touch. My best friend was thinking about getting me a kindle and she appointed the job of  "secretly asking" my thoughts on the new kindle touch to my husband. At the time I told my husband that I loved holding the books while I was reading and didn't think that I would want to buy a kindle. However, my thoughts changed after I learned that my best friend was thinking of buying one for me. At the end my best friend got me a very special gift(s) that was not a kindle which I adore and love :) and my husband ended up getting me the kindle :). We laughed a lot about me changing my mind and starting to love the kindle touch. By the way, if you're in doubt I think you should definitely get it because it is really light weight (which I was really surprised about), you can store thousands of books in it (knew it), the E ink technology is brilliant(knew it but hadn't tried it out for myself) plus it is touch screen(really got used to that after using an iPhone for a while). How can you top that for a book worm?

Back to our NYC trip. One last thing I want to share with you. Our marble coasters we got from Soho.

Coaster 1

Coaster 2

Coaster backs

Have a great 2012! Let 2012 be the year that you make your dreams come true, be good to yourself and enjoy life to the fullest!

Barefoot Contessa - Ina Garten

I have to admit I am a food network junkie. I can watch food network all day. I love cooking and I have learned so much by watching the different shows on the network that is all about food :). From blanching vegetables to how to use the -so many- kitchen utensils that are on the market... 

My favorite show is Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa. I love her talking style, bright kitchen and how she balances the flavors, texture and color in her recipes. She currently has 7 cookbooks and I think if I had the time I would buy all of them and would go through all the recipes.

I already enjoyed cooking but seeing her in the show inspires me a lot. I wrote some of her recipes that I tried out. Of course I didn't have everything on the ingredients list for most of the recipes but I think you can always change a recipe. Add something special and make it your own recipe :).

Try,

1) White Chocolate Lollipops
2) Croissant Bread Pudding
3) Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
4) Zucchini Gratin

and Enjoy!

My favorite trail mix :)

While I'm sitting at my desk and working I always have to eat and drink something. However, it is really easy for me to snack on "empty" calories like lots of chocolate. That's why I've been preparing myself a custom trail mix that consists of all the things I love and by this way I can keep track of the calories and nutrition value that I gobble up.

Here are the ingredients for the trail mix:

1) 5 reduced fat Ritz crackers (70 cal)

2) 1 tablespoon of Nestle Premier White Morsels (70 cal)

3) half a cup of dried cranberries (65 cal)

 

4) 15 kernels of unsalted pistachios (60 cal)

This trail mix has 265 calories and you can snack on it in the afternoon until dinner time. Of course a hot cup of coffee will be great with this :). Enjoy!

And take a look at YouBars where you can create your own shakes, trail mixes, cereal and bars. You can also put your own name on the packages which makes it really personal :). I love it when you can make something special for yourself.

The Hunger Games

Me and my husband decided to exchange books to make it more fun. In other words, I buy books for my husband and he buys books for me so we each get a gift about twice a month :).

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The first "book" my husband bought me was the "The Hunger Games Trilogy". Well, it wasn't a single book, it was actually three books. I love sci-fi series so I really enjoyed them. I actually finished all three books in less than a week. Well I have to admit being on holiday may have helped :).

The story takes place in the future where in place of North America there is a  nation called Panem that consists of the Capitol and 13 districts. The book starts in district 12. As a punishment for a previous rebellion to the Capitol by the districts the Capitol organizes "Hunger Games" each year. One boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen from each district for these games. These selected "tributes" have to fight to the death in an arena prepared and controlled by the Capitol until only one remains. The last living "tribute" is declared the winner. A 16 year-old girl, Katniss Everdeen, (heroine in the trilogy) from district 12 volunteers for her younger sister. In the first book we follow Katniss Everdeen in the arena. I don't want to talk about the 2nd and 3rd book because I don't want to give any spoilers but I believe all the books were fun to read. However, I believe the first book was the best one and the worst one was the second book. I think the story has a different ending then you would guess. I suggest you read the series if you have some time to spare for fun. You will enjoy Panem if you're into sci-fi books and liked the movie "Gladiator".

Additionally, there is a film adaption of the first book and it will hit theaters this year on March 23rd. I will definitely go and see the movie.

Salmon and Salad

Hi, everyone! I've been gone for a very long time. At first I didn't have enough time with all the classes I was taking and going to the gym. Yes, I started going to the gym! I realized that I like yoga and rowing. Anyway I really do want to continue posting on my blog so I am back again :).

Today is the first day of our Winter Quarter and I got up at 7:15 am. It wasn't pleasant when the outside temperature was 17 F (-8 C) but we need to go to work right?

I am thinking that everyone ate a lot over the holidays and looking to lose a couple of "holiday" pounds. I made a salmon salad today and I wanted to share it with you. I believe it is very healthy and you remain satisfied for a longer period of time. Unfortunately, I had started eating the salad when I thought about putting it on the blog so no pictures of my salad.

Salmon is a very nutritious fish and almost everyone knows that fish is very good for you. However, salmon also contains a lot of fat but don't be afraid now :). It contains fats that are good for you. More specifically, salmon contains Omega-3 Fatty Acids. These fatty acids are responsible for benefits such as lowering blood pressure, triglyceride (fat in the blood) levels, and blood clots.

Smoked salmon

I used smoked salmon in my salad. I had bought them earlier in the week because they were on sale in the supermarket. Here is the recipe.


Ingredients:
1) 2 oz of smoked salmon (90 cal)
2) 10 cherry tomatoes cut in halves (30 cal)
3) 3-5 kalamata olives (45 cal)
4) 1 oz of feta cheese (75 cal)
5) 5 cups of Italian salad mix (30 cal)


Dressing:
1) 1 tablespoon olive oil (119 cal)
2) 1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup (60-90 cal)
3) salt according to taste (I usually don't put salt because of the feta and olives)


Total calories in the salmon salad recipe is around 450 calories. However, you can adjust the ingredients for lesser calories, i.e. reduce the amount of olive oil, remove feta cheese etc. Calories in pomegranate syrup depends on the brand.
This is a single serving and I think it can be eaten for lunch. You can prepare the dressing and the salad in the morning and put them into different containers and take it to work. Before eating put the dressing on the salad and enjoy!