#WIAWRD 1

WIAW = What I Ate Wednesday
WIAWRD = What I Ate Wednesday Registered Dietitian

So now that we got the hip Twitter lingo out of the way, I was tagged to participate in #WIAWRD this week by Aaron Flores, a fellow RD whom I met through Dietitians for Professional Integrity. Like Aaron, I was hesitant to document and share my day's worth of food because I honor my cravings and have indulgences, just like everyone. But due to my profession, I was anxious that my colleagues and readers like you will be shocked by my imperfect food record and that I'd be seen as not walking the talk. Many seem to think I eat nothing but carrots and kale, sprinkle flax seed on everything, and have perfectly balanced intake every day. I don't mind going along with that assumption but that's not really who I am.

But here I am sharing my day's intake. It's less scary than I thought and I really enjoyed getting back to writing. Who knows how many times I've attempted to re-start my blog (4 and counting?) and ended up just going on another hiatus. I think this tag is what I need to help me resume blogging more regularly (let's hope!).

So here we go...

To start, I utterly forgot that I had to take photos for the blog until lunch time. So I have nothing to show for my breakfast except a written account of it.

[--] Mango and strawberry chia pudding yogurt with a sprinkle of cereal from Nature's Path. Here's an older post showing a similar rendition of today's breakfast. 

[--] My usual 8 oz. coffee with a splash of half and half and sugar in my trusty Zorjirushi Tuff Mug.  

Lunch:

I packed a light, portable lunch since I had to facilitate an on-site Lunch & Learn that was about 1 hour and 15 minutes drive away from my office. I had a PB and honey sandwich and 2 hard-boiled eggs but ended up only eating 1. 

The unexpected splurge was an iced latte with 1% milk from an independently owned coffee shop in Rancho Mirage called Koffi. Did I need another coffee today? No. But I wanted to satisfy the lover/supporter of well-crafted coffee in me. Plus 2 minutes after I bought this and started my drive back to Riverside, Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games with My Heart" came on the radio. Oh, fellow children of the 90s, you know how exciting that is! Or maybe it's just me. Anyhow, I'm so glad I got to lip-sync to BSB while sipping on delicious coffee. 

$5 Challenge

I had looked forward to Slow Food USA's $5 Challenge for weeks. Partly because I was excited to get some of my closest foodie friends together, also because I knew it would be a delicious feast, but mostly because I corralled my foodie friends together for some delicious food that cost (+/-) $5 each!

As I had hoped, it was an evening with good friends, good food, good wine, and good times. Now I have to add a new "good"- good intentions! It proved that eating well doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Although we did end up with a bunch of carbs and starches, I'm confident that we'll get more creative in making well-rounded dishes as we practice more with $5 Challenges.

An Edu-cation

Yay for organic farming practices!
Healdsburg, CA 

It sure is nice to be back on HEALing Foodie after such a lengthy hiatus! Now that I've wrapped up the grad school chapter of life, the next to-do is passing the registered dietitian exam. But first up is a week-long trip to NorCal where I got an edu-cation - "educational vacation"!

Places I Went and Things I Saw:
[-] Intensive monoculture along the I-5. Endless fields of corn (pretty sure they're all GM), strawberries, oranges and other vegetation.

Hello, my fuuuury friend. 

[-] Who can forget all the cows in the blazing sun, eating GM feed, and standing in dirt laced with their own feces? Sad and gross.

[-] An up-close encounter with the biggest 2-year old St. Bernard!
[-] Biodynamic farms in Healdsburg where holistic approaches are used along with an astronomical calendar for sowing and planting. Astrology for plants!
[-] Biking 12+ miles in the hot sun to see the wine country. It wasn't easy, but it's one of my most memorable  (and low ecological impact) adventures to date!

Leafy Sea Dragon!

[-] The majestic sea life at Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's time to stop polluting, clean up our messes, and save these amazing creatures!
[-] Getting my set of Eco Quiz Deck!! It turns out to be a fun way to pass time during road trips.
[-] Last but not least, amazing meals with amazing friends! Vegan enchiladas and a fantastic pork chop with fingerling potatoes and fava bean "succotash". YUM-O!

So now I'm super refreshed and inspired after this awesome trip. Can't wait to recreate some vegan goodness and adopt more eco-conscious lifestyle habits! Stay tuned for more sustainable and sensible eating updates, folks!

Tea Party

Not the right-wing, anti-government type.
But not quite the mad tea party with Alice and the Hatter either.
Just the kind of fun afternoon you'd expect to have with friends...
and of course adorable kitty teapots! 

Singapore Eats

To travel is to experience a culture through food.

As much as I don't care for the daily sudden thunderstorms and tropical heat/humidity (my fight against frizz was an utter failure), Singapore has some of the most flavorful and memorable cuisine on this planet.

A get-together with good friends and good food is one of the best ways to reminisce and share the nostalgia.

Rules to Eat By

It's no secret that I'm an admirer of Michael Pollan. He is a journalism genius and the voice of reason when it comes to America's conflicted relationship with food. So I was semi-bummed to stumble upon his "Food Rules" reader project on GOOD the other day because I had let a WHOLE YEAR go by without knowing about it. Well, my consolation is that it's better late than never!

Scarily Tasty Treats

Question: What's has dots of blackish blue with orange and is tasty?
Answer: Blueberry and Apricot Rice Mallow Treats!

I first learned to make Rice Krispie Treats in my 6th grade Home Economics class. Loved the overly sugary treats back in the days, but my versions of these crispy snacks have come a long way since then.

I've experimented with Khalua, freeze-dried strawberries, almonds, granola, green tea powder, and flax seeds just to name a few. The latest endeavor is with freeze-dried blueberries and dried apricots- totally matches the color scheme for Halloween but tasty enough for whenever!

When Coffee Meets Almond Milk

As much as I enjoy almond milk, there are certain places (foods) that it should never go into. Case in point, coffee. The milk completely separated into a heterogeneous mess once it hit the coffee. Thankfully it didn't alter the taste of the drink!

From Blue Bottle Coffee cart at Vermont Farmers Market

Another food to avoid using almond milk for is frittata (or any egg dish for that matter). It doesn't fluff right and leaves the eggs a funny grey tinge. Eek.

With that said, almond milk fairs much better when used in fruit smoothies. Now that the thermostat is starting to drop, it's time to experiment with hot chocolate a la almond milk!

HEALing Foodie in San Francisco

The past weekend was the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival. While the Los Angeles Racing Dragons (LARD) and other teams paddled their heart out at the Festival, I was eating my heart out around the city and documenting delicious findings.

Click to enlarge photos for deliciousness-overload.

LA Street FOODIE Fest!

As LA Street Food Fest came to an end on Saturday night, my foodie half and I were content with the exorbitant amount of food in our tummies and the bursts of flavors rendered in our mouths. Thank goodness for stretchy pants! They totally facilitated my penguin-esque waddling back to the car.

From the 23 or so stalls we visited, here are our top-picks:

Most Healing Foodie-licious:

Tied between The Vegan Joint and The Gastrobus
Healing Foodie is all about clean, fresh foods that embrace the Earth without compromising flavor. The Vegan Joint put forth a most savory tofu pad thai while The Gastrobus just wowed us all evening with their use of organic ingredients- plum and cucumber salad, popcorn topped ceviche, and a one-bite wonder called coconut and pineapple dulce de tres leche. Someone please pass me the drool bucket.

Funnest to stand in line for:

Starry Kitchen
Owner Nguyen dressed as Mr. Banana Dude and chatted up with everyone in line. He also told everyone to enjoy the crispy tofu balls in their mouths. 'Nuff said.

Best Asian flavor:

Manila Machine
Pork belly and pineapple adobo transported us out of LA into the streets of the Philippines. While we were on a flavor trip, one bite of the super crispy lumpiang shanghai shook us back to reality.

Most generous portion:
Maggie's Fritatas
Not sure if we got THREE fritatas along with a shot of Andalusian-style tomato Gazpacho because we were there early. Either way, 3 cupcake sized 'tatas were more than enough to satisfy our tastebuds and tummy! YUM!

Biggest fiesta-in-my-mouth:
Chef Danhi's Southeast Asian Flavors- Explosive Thai Bites
True to Chef Danhi's word, the flavors in these bite-sized morsels were truly explosive. Not really sure what was inside the leaves, but my palate registered the clean and crisp leaves then a pang! from the intense sauce followed by some crunch and ended with a puckering element. Yup, pretty sure that's how an explosion feels like.   

Hella clean culinary skills:

Monsieur Egg
Perfect poached eggs are hard to make to begin with. Add 5000 eager-for-food attendees and a make-shift aluminum party tray stove. That is some mad skills.

Most bomb-diggity dessert:
Tied between Coolhaus and Sweet Lucie's
It's hard to beat Coolhaus's ice cream sandwiches with flavors like strawberry with candied jalapeño and dirty mint chip. But somehow Sweet Lucie's whipped up some delectable palate-cleansing mint lemonade sorbet that can sure rival unusual exotic flavors any day!

Visit lastreetfoodfest to get the latest and greatest on the next foodie event! 

Ice Cream: Part of a Healthful Regimen

Someone from my workplace once asked if I'm a hater of red meat and a lover of V8 because I'm an almost-dietitian. Umm, no. At times, nothing beats a (small) piece of buttery grass-fed beef, and I despise V8 with vengeance.

Some may mistake me for taking the fun out of food because I care about nutrition. That cannot be further from the truth. I enjoy indulging in the finer foods in life as much as the next person- wine, cheese, anything with chocolate, you name it. My latest indulgence being artisan ice-cream.

Recently, I had the pleasure of stumbling (technically it was a premeditative excursion) into Lake Street Creamery. My encounter with the owner Beth and her ice-cream have reaffirmed my passion for quality, hand-packed frozen delights that are made with love and creativity.

Frozen treats rarely take residence in my freezer. It's far too easy to overeat if it's within reach. And as the name implies, frozen treats are treats. They wouldn't be treats if I have them all the time. For this reason, I'm only willing to spend my hard-earned discretionary calories on truly extraordinary food- like the amazing ice-cream from Lake Street Creamery!

This whimsical ice-cream truck offers one-of-a-kind combinations that pack serious flavors. My foodie half and I tried the Pancake Breakfast and California Zephyr which were both as memorable as they were delectable. Imagine condensing pancake, maple syrup, coffee, and a side of bacon (yes, bacon!) into a scoop of creaminess. But the vanilla base with Meyer lemon and mint in California Zephyr had me at hello. It was just the right amount of freshness and smoothness for a sunny, idyllic Saturday afternoon.

Scoops are served in waffle bowls and eaten with wooden spoons. Not only are the ice-cream creatively delicious, the wooden spoons added a hint of nostalgia to the whole experience. I cannot wait to see Beth again at Lake Street Creamery for my next frozen treat fix (donut-flavor ice-cream!!!).

Follow Lake Street Creamery on Twitter!

Meatless Monday: The Ultimate Food Truck

Gourmet food trucks have swept LA in a big way, and I've been on the prowl for these "gourmet on wheels" for months. My experience with them can only be classified as failed attempts. Either I don't know where they are (because I'm "tweet"-less) or the lines are so long that the closest I got to trying the food is getting a whif of the exhaust coming out of the trucks.

But a new kind of food truck is taking shape in Brooklyn, New York. Truck Farm takes small scale farm and local produce to a whole new level. With some creativity, ingenuity, and lots of love, an old Dodge pickup truck is transformed into a mobile farm that aims to tackle the lack of farmable land in a crowded neighborhood. 



Farm truck is a splendid celebration of human creativity in the form of vegetables that is fit for a Meatless Monday, or any other day of the week.

P.S. My heroine, Marion Nestle, makes a cameo appearance at the 2:20.

Meatless Monday: Green Eggs but No Ham

Eating out can make staying healthful hard sometimes, but it's so much fun when my dinner teaches me a thing or two about new culinary techniques or some creative innovations.

Case in point: green eggs! The mossy-looking clusters are actually egg whites with some spinach juice beaten in. Instead of having all ranges or beige and white in the soup, the specks of green make it refreshing both to the eyes and the palate. How simple yet genius!

Instead of using food coloring to make green eggs for next St. Patrick's Day, try adding spinach juice instead for a fun and nutritious twist! Or have a little fun with eggs in the morning or lunch on Meatless Mondays!

Pictured above is a broth with white fungus, tofu, and green egg whites from Chang's Garden in Arcadia, CA.