Recent Meals + Lunch At The Smith

 

It’s Wednesday already and going to be warm here in New York today!

I have a few recent meals to share today including an extra special lunch at The Smith earlier this week.

Let’s start with pizza!

I added a little bit of extra sauce on top of this whole wheat vegetable slice. While I do love this pizza, I do like a little more sauce than they tend to add to this specialty slice that is loaded beyond loaded with vegetables.

There’s never a need to add sauce to the whole wheat margarita pizza. I really do try to have this pizza and salad combo at least once a week for dinner.

I made this maple raisin multigrain bagel with melted mozzarella cheese, tomato, and avocado — SO GOOD.

While I don’t remember exactly what was in this chopped salad, I’m sure it was along the lines of my usual salad ingredients.

Monday was extra exciting because I had lunch in the city at The Smith with a few people from work for the first time in what feels like forever. I hadn’t seen anyone from work in person since January of 2020! It was so nice (and normal!) to be together again and go out for lunch as we used to do in the past.

I went with the Bibimbap for lunch because it was always a favorite of mine at The Smith.

I’ve always enjoyed everything I’ve ever had to eat at The Smith. In fact, I have a few terrific meals from The Smith recapped on the blog!

My first dinner at The Smith (2013)

My Son’s Birthday Brunch At The Smith (2014)

Dinner at The Smith (2015)

Lunch at The Smith (2018)

 

My Pantone Sweater + The Smith + Quick Bendel Picks

Just like last Friday, I am doing more of a wrapping up the week with a few thoughts/favorites today rather than strictly a favorites post!

First, I’m finding it really funny how last week I complained about the Pantone Color of Year for 2019 AND THEN I went and wore a pretty sweater yesterday in a shade of coral.  While it’s still not my favorite color, I have seen some pretty event set ups using coral since the Pantone announcement and I do like this sweater so I guess it will all be okay.

I had that large mug of coffee at a late breakfast/early lunch meeting yesterday at The Smith. Although I do love The Smith, I was a little upset that we couldn’t get the lunch menu while we were there. I ordered some sort of egg white omelette which was fine but I prefer the lunch menu offerings.

Prior meal recaps from The Smith including this dinner in 2016, brunch with my son in 2014, and dinner in 2013!

Smallcakes had their RAINBOW COOKIE CUPCAKES available yesterday so I made a mad dash to the store late in the day to pick them up. Best cupcakes ever.

It’s been such a busy week that I really didn’t have time to shop or even browse clothing links! But don’t worry, I did have time to remember that Henri Bendel is really closing soon which means I MUST purchase exactly what I may want before I can no longer get my hands on it.

I decided this week that I probably need the treats pin set for the tag that hangs on my Influencer Tote. I used this tote just yesterday (see below) to hold my computer and whatever else as I trekked around the city.

Still haven’t bought the Socialite Charm Necklace but know that I need to! I’m running out of time! The Sequin Party Clutch is a good catch and still think I probably need the Miss Bendel Pouch on a Chain. Going to be really sorry if I don’t make some Bendel moves soon.Check out my Henri Bendel Must-Haves list here if you missed it.

Have a great weekend!

[bctt tweet=”Breakfast at the Smith plus Bendel picks and my Pantone colored sweater on the blog today #bendelgirl #thesmithnyc #nyc @henribendel #pantone2019″ username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Any fun plans for this weekend?

Have you bought anything recently at Bendel since they are closing soon?

 

TOL – Dinner at The Smith & Thoughts While Running

 

When I don’t take pictures of my meals, I feel as though they didn’t happen.

I had dinner at The Smith last week. It’s one of my favorite places to eat in the city and I have not one photo to show for it.

I have posted about my dinners at The Smith before (here and here) so if you look at those posts, you can visualize what we ordered — started with the hot potato chips (OMG so good), had the Bibimbap again as my main course, a side of the roasted brussels sprouts and an ice cream sundae (with flourless chocolate cake on the bottom) for dessert.

There. I feel a little bit better now.

I was asked the other day what I think about while running a race.

Back when I would run way too fast for my own good, my thoughts while running were insane and crazy, thinking things like I absolutely hate running and I must be nuts for signing up for these silly races.

I haven’t had those negative thought processes during a race in quite some time though; I attribute this to getting more comfortable with my quicker paces and not starting out too fast during the first couple of miles.

I use my thought processes as my pace gauge — if I start to think crazy or my thoughts become unclear and not polite, I know I am running way too fast and should slow down to pace myself better.

I was extremely focused during most of Sunday’s half.

I tried blocking out the random thoughts for most of the race because I didn’t want to get lost in my head which tends to slow me down.

I did think for a brief moment about how the people running around me always look like their running is effortless yet we all know, they are working equally as hard.

As I got tired, I tried to think about what I would eat after the race that would excite me but the brief thought of food made me nauseous so I stopped that thought process quick.

During the last couple of miles, I do remember thinking of a few of my training runs, especially the early morning progression runs on the treadmill to remind myself that I can certainly push it at the end when it starts to hurt and you want to stop.

I also thought about how my ability to run half marathons is up there with two other major accomplishments in my life.

Like giving birth. I seriously never thought that I would be capable of pushing a baby out of me. I remember the car ride to the hospital while in labor, realizing that no one was going to be able to do this labor thing for me. My mother couldn’t write me a note to excuse me and I couldn’t pass off the delivery of the baby to my mother-in-law (trust me, I contemplated this during contractions)…there was no way out of labor.

I can’t even explain to you the pride I felt after giving birth to my son. I thought I would faint during labor (I didn’t), I thought I would vomit (I didn’t) and I was convinced that something so big couldn’t possibly come out of me (he did).

I totally thought about giving birth during Sunday’s half to strengthen my thoughts into knowing I could finish this race strong. I reminded myself during the last two miles, just when I thought for a second that I might faint if I ran any faster, that I didn’t faint during labor so I wouldn’t faint now!

I also thought (really quickly, as not to dwell on this) about the day that I signed my divorce papers.

It was one of the hardest things that I had to do in my life. It didn’t go down as I envisioned (I always assumed I would take a friend, my cousin or my mom with me along with something chocolate) and I never expected to sign the day that I did, in the courthouse cafeteria without anyone other than my lawyer with me at a dinky table.

But I did it. And it made me stronger. So strong that I can now run races and believe in myself enough to know that even when it gets really really tough, I can so do it. All by myself.

And because I must really enjoy oversharing my life, my closet has experienced a major running shoe explosion. I am so neat that I don’t even understand what happened. Who did this? Why are my running shoes all over the place? Help!

[bctt tweet=”Thoughts While Running Races #thinkingoutloud #running #races #divorce #halfmarathon #fitfluential” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Do you remember what you think about during a race?

Is your closet neat at the moment or in need of some attention?

 

 

7 Random Thoughts

 

It’s a good thing today is Thursday because putting together a post that flows was not about to happen this morning.

Between juggling my son being home for a few days as I attempted to work while simultaneously trying to become a blog savvy tech person (I am not and never will be but I will keep trying/complaining about it until things work the way I want them to), I am not exactly flowing with coherent words unless I am typing in a live chat.

I have been doing a lot of technological live chats this week. I don’t understand any of the computer lingo they type at me but I try my best to pretend and shoot big words back at them.

And with that warning, here are my thoughts for today:

1-  I can’t recall the last time I had greek yogurt. It’s easily been a month, if not more, which is funny when you consider that it was a staple in morning routine for a really long time.

2 – This headband from Lululemon always falls off of my head when I run. I don’t understand.

3 – My friend Robyn went to Hawaii recently and brought me back this Hello Kitty bag!

Robyn and I met back in junior year of college. I first spotted her in my finance class because she was using a Hello Kitty pencil. I walked over and told her I liked her pencil and here we are, 16 years later.

4- If I ever take a break from trying to deactivate plug-ins and optimize photos (don’t ask, I don’t know what I just said either), I have grand plans for making my chocolate covered caramel apples again.

It’s been a while since I made my own and I even picked up the caramel at Target BUT then I decided I need to make the healthified chocolate covered caramel apples which involve blended up dates. I don’t have dates nor do I have time to go buy dates today but it’s on my list.

I will be following this recipe and will let you know how they come out.

5- I have a few meetings today in the city and one of them is taking place over lunch at my favorite restaurant, The Smith.

I haven’t been to The Smith in a while but that doesn’t stop me from thinking about their roasted brussels sprouts.

How amazing, right? Click here for the flashback post. 

6 – My son’s Bar Mitzvah is exactly one year from today (seriously?!) which means 2016 is a leap year because his party will be a Saturday night.

7  – Last night was not supposed to be pizza night but it became pizza night. We used the Trader Joe’s frozen organic whole wheat pizza crust for the first time and like it much better than the whole wheat dough that they sell in the refrigerated case.

And with that I am off to get my busy day started. Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today 🙂

[bctt tweet=”Thinking Out Loud #random #pizzanight #thesmithnyc #barmitzvah #bloggerproblems”]

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Do you like candy apples or chocolate covered caramel apples?

Is there a food you recently and randomly stopped eating?

Do you make your own pizza crust and if not, which do you buy when you make pizza at home?

 

 

What We Ate – Birthday Edition

It isn’t often that you find people who actually care to hear you ramble on about a fudge cake or a delicious restaurant.

In fact, my friends and family often look at me funny when I take cake selecting and restaurant menus so seriously.

I’m so glad you share in my excitement just so I can recap my son’s birthday with you in food on this What I Ate Wednesday.

Let’s start with Sunday brunch which happened at The Smith in Manhattan. I took the birthday boy to the city for the day to enjoy the fall weather, some good food and birthday shopping.

He is realizing that I am super cool because I take him to trendy places which require reservations even at 11:30 am and serve BLT & E’s on croissants with mounds of French fries.

I went with an Ahi Tuna Salad thing plus the mandatory side of roasted Brussels Sprouts.

I have learned to request my roasted vegetables extra crispy. Make sure you do the same.

I was hoping for dessert at The Smith because I spotted several other tables ordering the plates of warm donuts but my son was full so we decided to start walking around and pick up a dessert a bit later in the day.

After the NHL Store, we found ourselves in the Magnolia Bakery.

I just feel the need to say that every time my son and I walk around the city I make it a point to remind him how lucky he is to hang out in Manhattan as if it is nothing while people around the world dream of coming here and plan travel vacations to do the things we do on a regular basis.

Sometimes people, including myself as a child, take living here for granted and I want him to appreciate and somehow understand this concept.

One thing we don’t do on a regular basis is order banana pudding for dessert but I suggested that he try it since Magnolia is kinda famous for it.

The dessert side of my brain thinks only in chocolate but I must say, this banana pudding thing was pretty tasty.

It was like eating frosting and cake crumbs with a spoon and the banana part didn’t jump out at me like oh, you are eating bananas for dessert. Do I even make sense?! Just try it, you will see what I mean.

If that wasn’t enough for the sweet tooth, we headed to the candy section of FAO Schwartz (FAO Schweetz) shortly after the banana pudding.

I spent more money on a bag of candy than I care to admit but it was for his birthday and I couldn’t say no.

Birthdays mean lots of sweet things which is exactly why I needed to load up the birthday cake pancakes Monday morning for breakfast since it was his actual birthday.

I was short on time so I used Kodiak Cakes pancake mix instead of taking the from-scratch route. I added to the mix some mashed banana, mini dark chocolate chips and lots of sprinkles to make the pancakes look all funfetti and birthday party-ish.

With Mighty Maple peanut butter spread between each pancake layer and extra bananas and chocolate chips on top to make up for the fact that I was out of whipped cream which I usually use on top of the stack for birthday pancake breakfasts.

Birthdays on a Monday aren’t always fun but I made sure that we continued to celebrate after school.

After a trip to the Nike Store so that my son could use a birthday gift card, we stopped at Vincent’s Clam Bar for dinner.

Lots of parmigiana happened on my son’s plate while I opted for the Zucchini Marinara which I requested to include primavera vegetables to make it a bigger and more satisfying meal.

And of course I ordered the Burnt Broccoli (extra burnt) because I am a sucker for roasted vegetables.

It doesn’t matter how many vegetables I consume which tend to make my stomach fuller than full, I always have a separate area reserved for dessert, especially cake.

After serious cake contemplating, I went with a custom-ordered Cold Stone Creamery layer cake.

I know you want all of the details:

The ice cream flavors:

• Chocolate Fudge Truffle
• French Vanilla

The Mix-In’s:

• Peanut Butter Cups
•  Cookie Dough
• Chocolate Chips

The Cake layers:

• Devil’s Food

The Frosting:

• Chocolate Ganache with chocolate shavings

On Top:

• Cookie Dough
• Peanut Butter Cups

Just admit that you want me in charge of your next birthday cake.

I should probably set up a business of cake selecting. I don’t want to be in charge of making it, just selecting, designing and ordering someone else around on how to make it.

Like a cake architect if you will.

The only problem with me in charge is that I will probably help myself to half of the cake.

A few slices (literally) of this cake Monday night fueled me up real nice for Tuesday morning’s run.

Worth every bite.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is eating today!

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Ever have the banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery?

What candy/toppings would you have ordered mixed in to your Cold Stone Creamery cake?

Do you have a favorite restaurant you like to go to for special occasions?

 

What I Ate Wednesday – My Usual Plus Dinner at The Smith NYC

Hello and Happy Wednesday! I am still all giddy after running yesterday morning. That’s right, I ran a little over 5 miles and while I felt some sort of very slight twinge in my left foot, overall I was really fine.

I actually read through some of my past posts and realized that this shin splinty feeling on the tops of my feet is nothing new for me. Isn’t it amazing how blogging helps you to remember things about yourself that you may have otherwise forgotten?

It seems that every so often, I experience some sort of discomfort on the tops of my feet. Why, we don’t really know for sure, but I have come to the conclusion that for me, when I up my mileage or don’t take enough rest days, the tops of my feet are the first to call me out on my rigorous routine.

While going through my posts, I also noticed A TON of repetitive meals or at least repetitive ingredients. What can I say, I am a creature of habit.

I am happy to be able to check in with you on this What I Ate Wednesday to share not just my usual eats but a great dinner from last night.

Let’s take a look!

BREAKFAST:

With each morning that passes, my pancake flipping skills just keep getting better and better. Please note the abundance of peanut butter and jelly on top – winning combination.

I may eat the same breakfast every day but I DO VARY the peanut butter – sometimes I go with Mighty Maple, sometimes Crunch Time, sometimes PB2 and sometimes any combination of all three.

I love this egg/banana pancake. It is filling, delicious and satisfying.

Sometimes I make a second pancake midmorning – all depends upon the day, my appetite and what I am in the mood for come stomach rumbling time.

LUNCH:

Lunch has still been my version of overnight oats. Cooked oatmeal (served cold) mixed with plain greek yogurt, lots of berries and lots of peanut butter. Topped off with KIND granola.

I could easily eat this combo for every meal.

I always cook a big pot of oatmeal in advance and just keep it stored in the refrigerator in servings. I went crazy this week and cooked a mix of steel-cut oats and old-fashioned rolled oats to get a blend of the textures. I love having oatmeal on hand for lunch as well as for those mornings when the little boy requests a bowl of oats for breakfast.

I also made another batch of my no bake trail-mix bites this week.

My son loves them and they are the perfect anytime snack to grab.

After grabbing a Quest Bar for myself yesterday afternoon, I headed into Manhattan for a weeknight treat. There is something so fun about escaping the routine of the week for a night out on the town.

Over the last few weeks, I started noticing a trend of various bloggers on Instagram checking in and posting awesome looking meals at a Manhattan restaurant that I had never dined at before…The Smith.

You would head into the city on a random Tuesday night for house made hot potato chips too, wouldn’t you?

They were amazing. Simply amazing. I don’t often eat chips but I cannot resist the fresh, hot from the oven variety.

We also shared the Tuna Tartare.

The menu at The Smith had so much to choose from but I was super excited to see Vegetarian Bibimbap listed. So many bloggers post this dish and I had never tried it…until last night.

I need to search for some bibimbap recipes so I can try making this at home! It was beyond delicious and filling to the point where even I couldn’t finish my bowl. I actually brought home leftovers. Perhaps eating the giant bowl of chips had something to do with this. Or the side of brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes and I think we ordered grits too.

Not to worry, I always have room for dessert.

See the candle? No, it was not my birthday but I ordered the birthday cake which comes with a candle plus a lollipop that says Happy Birthday!

I love a good hunk of chocolate cake…

I can’t wait to go back to The Smith again. Who wants to meet me there for brunch? Or lunch? Or Breakfast? Or OK, dinner?

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I NEED TO KNOW:

 Have you ever had bibimbap? Do you have a recipe for a vegetarian version to share with me? If so, please post the link in the comments!

Ever been to The Smith?

Favorite birthday cake? Chocolate Fudge cake all the way. Never ever ice cream cake unless it is the Cold Stone Creamery variety that includes layers of fudge cake with the ice cream.