Food(less) Journey

Ruffage is a restaurant and grocery store. It's "store" area is not very big and yet they had everything i needed to stock my hotel room kitchen (which consisted of a mini fridge and a counter) This is something I ate there on one of my visits: It was not my favorite dish, but it was very tasty. They had the yumiest smoothies made with fresh fruit, raw nuts and dates. I was afraid of dates until I had their smoothies. Those little bits of chewiness were amazing! If you are ever on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii and anywhere near Waikiki you must go here. It's literally 3 blocks from the beach.

There was way too much snow hate going on yesterday. And it was a very sunny day today, so here is a post about snow love. Because.... Snow + Love = Sno Cone Sno Cone + Polynesian Love = Hawaiian Shaved Ice There is this amazing treat on the Hawaiian Islands known as shaved ice. They have a block of ice that they quite literally shave and then douse with delicious fruit flavored syrups. But not the weird technicolor sugary stuff we have locally. Their syrups taste like they were actually fruit at some point. Add to that some amazing flavors that a uniquely island related and you have upped the yum factor to seriously tastebud shattering proportions. Before I even arrived on the island of Oahu, Hawaii I heard about the deliciousness of the Shaved Ice at Matsumoto Grocery Store in Haleiwa on the North Shore of Oahu. It's right on Kamehameha Highway Extremely unassuming looking. Aside from the crowd hanging out outside the front door. I mean with that many people hanging out there mus...

Look at it! Sitting there all smug and defiant. Well, I can fix that...Die snow die! Mwah ha ha hahaha! Okay that was really mean. And for the record I really don't hate the snow, but it's February and I need to let off some steam. But its so cold the steam turns to water and freezes to my skin and is then reabsorbed. So, you see its physicaly impossible to let off steam the natural way. That's why I write. *sigh* I need to burn some candles and have a nice relaxing cup of tea. Im going to go do that now. See ya later!

Pasta again??? Yes, pasta again. What can I say, I live in the North East United States. Its cold and I am stressed. Healthy carbs do wonders for the stress levels and a warm plate of pasta knocks the chill off almost as good as cayenne pepper. On top of that I will admit to having an inordinate passion for Italian food. And sometimes I dont want to wait for things to bake. I want to heat up a pan and cook so that I can eat sooner rather than later. So, I really like to deconstruct baked items. I've made pancakes in the microwave. Cookies in a pan. Casserole in a pot. And now it's lasagna's turn. Hello, my name is stephanie. Hi Stephanie! It's been 3 days since my last hit of pasta. The last time I ate it was as deconstructed lasagna. I wanted some so bad I couldn't wait for it to bake in the oven, so I made it stove top. And the next day I did the same thing. But now I'm determined to resist the siren call of blatant carbitude She's so brave! Deconstructed...

Don't you love it when you think something is going to be really really bad and it turns out really really good? Quite honestly that is precisely what happened when I tried Almond Dream Cappuccino Swirl. There is nothing really on the carton to make me feel this way, but I have had some less than stellar experiences with the Dream (think Rice Dream) people in the past. Put even upon popping the top off the carton my doubts started receding. It looked creamy and upon dipping my spoon in a chocolaty ribbon appeared just as promised. Into my mouth the spoon went and all my doubts retreated like Bonaparte at Waterloo. It is somewhat hard to describe, but eating this is like having a frozen cappuccino that is drizzled in chocolate syrup. But unlike a regular cap the chocolate doesnt melt so every once in a while you get a strong, delicious hit of chocolate. Wonderful mouthfeel. And as it melts a little the flavor improves even more (I was eating it right beside a heat register. What?? I...

I can probably guess what you think this post is going to be about, but you would be so wrong....mwa hahaha...cough..... One of the absolute perks of exercising (outdoors especially), is all of the wild and wonderful things you happen to see. Exhibit A: Isn't that just great? It was definitely worth walking home from work just to be able to see that bit of neighbor(hood) weirdness. Before it started snowing and icing I was walking home from work quite a bit becuase of the hike in bus fare. Don't you love it when mismanagement of funds puts a crimp in your routine? I know I do! (insert fake smile here) But on the positive side (I always look for the positive side of EVERY situation) it inspired me to walk and its a rather hilly 30 minute walk from home to work. 30 minutes in each direction equals 60 minutes of exercise. Isnt that great? I would probably enjoy the walks more if I wasnt so fatigued from sleep deprivation, but still they are an excellent diversion. So yay for misma...