Wow.

I’m all clean! No major revelations while I was doing the juice cleanse. Just a few little revelations and reminders:
- Mealtime is sacred.
- Fresh bread smells amazing.
- Food and eating are meant to be inclusive.

What was it like?
I wrote about Day 1. I didn’t write about Day 2, because it was a breeze. And today was more of the same, though I think I said “Hallelelujah!” when I finished the last green juice.

I can honestly tell you I was not hungry. The one time I felt hunger was tonight, and that was a function of having to go too long between my fifth and sixth juices (long days at office). The only aspect that I felt changed, health wise, is that I can breathe through my nose clearly for what feels like the first time all year. My sinuses have been jacked, though I don’t have any known environmental allergies. So, that was nice.

Yes, I lost weight. I’m not even going to bother mentioning the number, as I’m positive it was water weight. Weight loss is not why you should pursue this if you’re thinking of doing it yourself. I expect some of that to come back as soon as I start eating.

How will things be different tomorrow? Well, this has helped me get my appetite back in line so that I can eat smaller portions of everything. That, for me, is the thoughtful way to mind my waistline, as I hate HATE any way of eating that bans whole food groups or types of food.

And I do feel more centered and focused. Just a bit more peaceful. I’m looking forward to salads and seafood. Not so sure how I feel about the booze. I have a feeling that first drop of vodka’s going to hit my tongue over the weekend and I’ll be done for. Which is totally fine … I have a bed, and nice people who will make sure I find it.

On that note, I am going to go get in mine. I know this is sort of an anti-climatic end for anyone who thought I wouldn’t stick with it. Sorry. It was worthwhile for me.

Questions? Ask away. I’ll try to get back here and answer them tomorrow night.

That said, being HONGRY did not add a nice point to the situation. I’m not actually hungry. I have a faint feeling that I should be eating something, but my hunger is all mental.

Here’s a little vid I made before I left feeling like a traveling juice smuggler this morning: http://flic.kr/p/7PowXk

Notes from my day:
8:30 a.m.: Juice #1 (Green Lemon) tastes like garlic or cayenne, but there isn’t any.

10:30 a.m.: Juice #2 (Green Ginger) I think it’s the ginger and cucumber that stand out. (I was drinking these without their names right in front of me, so I was going off taste alone.)

12:38: Juice #3 (Green Apple) I realize all the green juices list the same ingredients outside. I experience a moment of despair.

2:30 pm: Juice #4 HOORAY, SPICY LEMONADE! That was the only thought in my head at that moment.

2:43 Coworker comes back to the office carrying a small box stuffed with two slices of pizza from my favorite no-name place down the block.

I shoot her an email. No subject line. No punctuation. Only, “Why must you torture me so”

4:45: Juice #5 (Green Parsley) Tastes like tomato, though it contains none. I think I’m hallucinating pizza.

5:47 Direct message on Twitter from a friend: “Mmm. Druse & beer. had some plans cancelled, you around and hungry?”

I tried to respond graciously, directing him to view my tweets about my juice fast.

He responded that he missed them, he’d been “oddly focused” that day. Yeah, focused on failing. Then he asked, “Does chocolate counts as food?” So, I killed him. Just kidding.

I had the poor sense to mention that message publicly, resulting in super clever, highly original text messages from friends.

Him: Could really go for a big steak right about now….

Me:

Him: Kidding! :) hope the cleanse is going ok!

Me: Not even a little bit funny.

Him: Aw .. You’ll feel awesome when it’s over

Me: I’ll feel awesome when I’m not mid-cycle, running on 3 hours of sleep, buried at work and fielding txts from friends who talk about steak.

Him: Indeed! Maybe sunshine would help too. Good luck!

Me: That was my textual equivalent of a snarl. Pls hold remaining steak txts until next wk. I know where you live.

Him: Okee!

And finally I’m home. (Juice #6: Cashew Nut Milk! Amazing!) I closed a deal (yay) and have a pounding headache from exhaustion (boo). I live a life of extremes.

Which brings me to my friend Sarah’s comment yesterday when she saw I was doing the cleanse. “I’m surprised you went for Level 3.”

Really? I do pretty much everything all out. I’m an All Or Not at All person. Despite the fact that I’m not one for Things In Moderation, I’m very serious about my health and about everything I put in my body, all puns intended.

When I cook at home, I strive to eat gluten free and eat mainly whole foods. I don’t have celiac, but just feel lighter and like things are clearer when I don’t have wheat or processed-food products. I cook meat rarely, because hormone and antibiotic-free meats are expensive. I like when the person selling it to me can tell me exactly where it came from and how it was raised.

So, yeah. I want the Full Cleanse Experience. Bring it on.

I’m most interested in how I feel during this, not how I look or if I’ll lose weight. And today, what I feel is angry and irritable. I’m chalking that up to a huge sleep deficit, not the juice.

Tomorrow will be better. I’m going to sleep before 9 p.m. Not a bad life.

Juice Delivery for Blueprint Cleanse

Did I mention tired? Since the new year started, I’ve been trying to be more mindful of input vs. output in my life, and the scales have recently tipped towards too much input again. I’ve had too many nights out on top of stressful days at work, resulting in zero downtime. I love my friends, and you can’t reschedule birthdays, the first day their new bar opens or their black tie party in a fancy suite at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. And that’s just in the past three days … this is really my life.

Last week I hit a wall and stopped wanting to talk to people, to answer text messages or to answer the phone. Here’s where the Blueprint Cleanse comes in. Luckily, I was smart enough to schedule delivery of their “Excavation Cleanse” as soon as I got back from SXSW.

I learned about Blueprint Cleanse back in December 2006 during my first week in New York. My friend Todd, who is consistently in amazing shape, was raving about it. He said he did it once or twice a year. I checked out the website and while it looked interesting, it was too expensive for me at the time since I moved here without having a job lined up.

Fast forward and I need that cleanse. I need it a lot. I need to detox from all the food and booze and, even more than that, I need an excuse to say no to every single invitation I receive this week. And since I can’t eat or drink booze (or even caffeine), this cleanse suits me nicely.

Want to see what I’m going to be drinking for the next 3 days? Watch my YouTube video below (it’s a little over 5 minutes, just short enough to squeeze into your lunch break).

I’ll have six different juice blends for three days and hopefully emerge lighter (emotionally speaking), healthier and a bit less wound up. Wish me luck.

For more information on Blueprint Cleanse, visit their website here.

For more information on using juice cleanses/fasts for detox and health purposes there is some good information on Steve Pavlina’s blog here.

My options were dwindling in terms of impressive recipes since he’d recently given up red meat, so I whipped up a quick but simple menu: Salmon en Papillotte with cherry tomatoes, bright yellow and green squash, a little grated ginger, lime juice and sliced oranges.

I served the delicate parchment-enclosed packets of fish and vegetables over quinoa in place of rice. As I watched Harrison take his first bite, I imagined myself a tiny person in his mouth, seeing the first hot cherry tomato burst, its juices pooling on his tongue and mixing with the fragrant ginger, curling into a drop of lime juice before finally connecting with the silky, fork-tender morsel of salmon.

To read the rest of the post and comment … see the piece in today’s issue of NY Press.

*Comments are closed on this post. Please post them to NY Press page linked above.

$21.67 for 8 servings. Cat food not included

I was recently approached by the marketing folks behind Philadelphia Cream Cheese to test one of their recipes and blog about it. The recipe naturally calls for me to use their cream cheese along with other food products from their parent company’s family of brands.

I told a friend about it and she said something to the effect of “Ironic that you’re getting approached to write about pizza and cream cheese when your whole deal is exploring the most authentic foods ever.” She couldn’t have shone a brighter light on the reason for my hesitance.

I am biased against processed foods. That doesn’t mean I don’t ever eat them or preach to others about what they have to eat in their own homes. In my home, though, there are very rarely any processed food products. When I cook for myself, I also tend to avoid foods that include gluten (a wheat protein), which rules out just about every processed food. I don’t have an allergy or intolerance, I just find that I feel better and have more energy when my diet is heavy on proteins and produce. But I do love me some pasta, and will indulge from time to time.

One of my main goals in bringing people stories on my food site Mouth Of The Border is to show you how ethnic neighborhoods all over the city create healthy, delicious and endlessly exciting meals, usually doing so on less money than the average New Yorker spends on takeout food in a week. It’s also my goal to show you how to recreate those meal using items they can buy in your own grocery store (which is why testing this Philly Cream Cheese recipe is interesting for me).

That said, there are more people reading this site who don’t cook due to lack of time, not lack of money. Many of you won’t go to Chinatown and pick out fresh poultry and vegetables. You won’t come home and break down a chicken and marinate it and spend the balance of an afternoon chopping and julienning vegetables. You just won’t, no matter that it would only cost you $15 to feed a family of 6.

For you guys, you don’t mind cooking if you must, but the recipe better be quick and super easy.

For both groups – those who don’t cook for lack of money and those who don’t cook for lack of time – there are recipes that will get you in and out of the kitchen in no time that are cheap and flavorful without tons of additives.

As an experiment, and to prep for testing the Philly recipe, I wanted to see what I could get at the grocery store that would yield at least six servings for under $30.

I flipped through my friend Emily Farris’ cookbook “Casserole Crazy,” and found what looked like the perfect target: Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas. It called for the following:
Chicken breasts
Pureed tomatoes
Garlic, oregano, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper
Onion
Bell pepper
Sour cream
Cheddar cheese
Tortillas
Taco sauce

One could use organic products to make this recipe more healthful. I didn’t. The only thing I looked at was the poultry. I chose hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken that had been “minimally processed” (which means very little in this country, but I was sticking to the budget).

It took about 20-25 minutes to put everything together. I poached the chicken breasts in water in the microwave while I let the onion and green peppers soften. I shredded the chicken, then added the meat and everything but the dairy products to the pan. Once everything was well-mixed and cooked through, I stirred in the sour cream and shredded cheddar (shredded it myself – blocks of cheese are almost always cheaper).

Below are some photos from putting dinner together. All the way at the end, I made you a video that shows you in under a minute how to make these enchiladas.

All the fixins (and nothing's fancy).

Tomato puree and shredded chicken

Cheesy enchilada mix and one sad enchilada

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas ready for the oven.

Dig in.

What are your thoughts on processed food? Do you think it’s better to cook at home, even using processed food products, than to eat out frequently?

Domino's New Pizza

A few weeks back I read this article in USA TODAY about how Domino’s was actively implementing social media to promote their new pizza formula. This line caught my attention: “Domino’s will reach out to food bloggers and others who have criticized the brand in the past and ask them to comment live on the Domino’s website about the new formula.”

I tweeted a link to the article because several of my connections on Twitter are involved in studying the uses of social media for marketing and advertising. The people who run the Domino’s account on Twitter saw my mention of them and asked me to follow them, so I did as I was curious to see how they were using Twitter. They also were kind enough to send me a coupon for a free pizza so I could try the new pizza myself.

First of all, I will put it out there that it’s almost blasphemous that I’m reviewing Domino’s pizza here. I live in NYC, specifically in Brooklyn, which is known the world over for having amazing pizza provided by locally owned establishments. My favorites for whole pies are Lucali in Brooklyn and Two Boots in Manhattan. By the slice, my favorite place is a hole-in-the-wall joint near my office on W. 40th St. called Siena’s.

But every few weeks, my boss will order up a few pizzas from Domino’s for the office for people working late because there is one nearby. I figured I should see if the pizza was markedly improved since I do find it on my list of food options every so often. Also, a lot of my friends don’t live in a city with a lot of options when it comes to pizza but almost all of them have access to Domino’s. I thought they’d appreciate it if I tested it out for them.

So I ordered up a pie last night with pepperoni. After doing a little research, I saw that Domino’s truly made a commitment to rebuilding their pizza formula. Everything is new – new crust, sauce and cheese blend. The impetus behind the pizza makeover? 2010 marks Domino’s 50th year in business. I also think the nightmare earlier this year in 2009 with the gross video of their employees on YouTube (I’ll spare you the link) probably drove them to think of innovative ways to improve their image and their market share.

I got a kick out of using Domino’s Tracker to see where my pizza was last night. I didn’t know there was a franchise in delivery range of my apartment, so I learned something new because of all this. It took about 45 minutes for the pizza to arrive, which was inside the delivery time range they promised. The box clearly proclaimed the contents inside:

Domino's New Pizza Box

For starters, I never thought the “old” pizza was horrible. I’m very picky about pizza sauce and I always thought their sauce was fine. Based on the what the box was promising, I prepared myself for more cheesy, more spicy, more garlicky and then dove in. I had two slices to make sure I really got my tongue around what was going on there.

Verdict: The new pizza was good. Not amazing or a revelation, but good. It’s an improvement. I felt the biggest difference was in the crust. It is markedly more flavorful. Actually, it was almost TOO flavorful for my taste. I prefer thin crust anyway, so I wouldn’t typically be eating this style of pizza from them. The crust was soft and chewy and very garlicky and buttery. If you like saving all the crusts for last and dipping them in sauce, then this may be your perfect pizza.

Regarding the sauce, it is still good. I can’t remember the flavor of the old sauce well enough to say whether this new sauce is much spicier, but I still like it.

And as for the cheese blend, it does taste a bit more flavorful. I think the old pizza’s cheese was bland, but it was usually covered in a mix of veggies, so it wasn’t as prominent a part of the taste for me when I ate Domino’s. But here on the pepperoni pie, the more flavorful cheese was noticeable and appreciated.

So, there you have it. The new pizza is a better pizza and if you enjoyed Domino’s before, you will most likely like this one. If you didn’t like Domino’s before, I think you should give it another try and see if you like it now. Unless you live in NYC.

If you live in NYC, I think you should go support your family-owned shops and get a real New York slice.

Thanks to Domino’s for the opportunity to try the new pizza for free. I appreciate your efforts to use social media to reach out to people and let them know what you’re up to!!

So, what are your thoughts on pizza? Where is your favorite place for a slice or a pie? How many times do you order pizza for delivery. Leave me a comment and say hi!

More on Domino’s New Pizza:

Domino’s New Pizza Recipe: What Does it Taste Like? – Review on the Slice blog at Serious Eats

The Pizza Turnaround – Domino’s website with info on their new recipe and a display of live tweets on what people are saying about them.

Flourless chocolate cake at Chez Oskar, my favorite summertime brunch spot

I love everything about it. You can eat breakfast foods and lunch foods and usually quite a bit of booze is involved. More than the food itself, what makes brunch one of my favorite occasions is the pace of the meal and sharing it with friends. On a Sunday morning, there are few things I enjoy more than quiet time around a table with close friends catching up with them and hearing about their weeks (and even more interesting weekends).

Some of my brunches have gone on for eight hours. It starts with the meal at the little French bistro then moves to a bar and ends at another restaurant over more food and drinks. The wee hours race to catch us. Even while going our separate ways home, we devolve into fits of giggles over texts with inside jokes and catchphrases from the day.

Me being broke and two friends who wanted to brunch equaled the perfect scenario to have people over to my new apartment for an impromptu get-together today. I moved into a garden-level apartment a few weeks ago, and now that I have a beautiful kitchen and a backyard, I’m really excited to have my home be the place where everyone loves to visit.

New Kitchen/Living Room and door to backyard

I let friends on Facebook and Twitter know my doors were open for brunch at 1:30 today and that it was potluck. It couldn’t have worked out better.

Arriving first was Emily, who I met through my friend Katie a couple of months ago. Since then, Emily and I have bonded over our love of cooking. She also lives in my neighborhood. She came bearing cold brewed Gorilla coffee, cupcakes and a delicious quiche.

Next my neighbor Rima came over. She brought all the fixings for pancakes, an espresso machine and a board game. I spent much of brunch obsessing over her moonboots.

My former roommate and friend Guilherme arrived with tons of sweet strawberries and blueberries for a fruit salad, and then he popped out to pick up some prosecco for us at Olivino, my neighborhood wine shop.

Katie came with everything you need to make brunch right, namely orange juice. She also brought crackers, goat cheese, honey and the essential eggs and bacon.

Topping off our bring-whatever-you-want brunch menu were the chocolate Donettes and two different kinds of bacon my friend and neighbor Patrice brought.

I scrambled the eggs and tossed the bacon in the oven so I didn’t have to constantly tend to it, and within minutes we had a full spread on the table and settled in for some conversation.

Happy Brunchers

It was wonderful to have everyone over and relax. Today was another example of not needing money, even in an expensive city like NYC, to have a great time. All you need are people whose company you enjoy, great food and enough time to really appreciate both.

Throw My Brunch

Soundtrack: “Hang On Little Tomato” by Pink Martini

Quiche: “Seriously Good Quiche” made by my friend Emily

Cupcakes: “Chocolate, Whiskey & Beer cupcakes” made by Emily, recipe by Smitten Kitchen

Libations: Ombra Prosecco

Dresscode: Sweatpants. (My favorites are these from Abercrombie & Fitch.)

That was my Sunday. How was yours?

You can view all my photos from this event by clicking here.