Poco-Cocoa

Today I took a yoga class. It’s been forever since I’ve taken yoga, and it was so great. The teacher introduced a few Tibetan poses, which were so much fun. Afterward, I came home and scarfed an Amy’s burrito and a bit of green juice leftover from yesterday.

I worked at the studio and snacked on a banana and blackberry-sage tea. This is one tiny bit of the prop stash that we have at the studio.

I met my friend Rebecca at the farmers’ market, and then we hopped over to Houndstooth for some coffee and a cranberry-white chocolate-pistachio cookie. Lovely.

I brought home quite the stash from the market – eggs, beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus. It doesn’t fit in my tiny fridge.

Let Birthday Week begin! Each year, around this time, Justin and I celebrate my birthday week by eating lots of delicious food at our favorite restaurants. Tonight we walked down to Clark’s for oysters and tiki drinks (mai tai for me, fogcutter for him).

We had to get our favorite things – crab shells and cheese for me, gravlax for him, though we shared both.

We also had a bit of dessert – key lime tart and madeira. We got to visit with our friend Alex, who is a manager there, so it was a great night.

It was a perfect night for a walk and oysters. Then again, isn’t every night?♥

So on Tuesday I went to Zumba for the first time! My friend Rebecca has been nicely inviting me to join her there for a while now, and yesterday I finally did. It’s so much fun – and (this is really going to show my age) it’s a lot like Jazzercise, which I used to do about 15 years ago (God, I’m old). Except in Zumba you don’t do specific core work or arm work, which would be nice. Anyway, I got home and had a banana with a smidge of peanut butter on each bite. (One of my favorite combos = banana + peanut butter.)

I made us each a green juice – apple, celery, Swiss chard, cucumber, ginger, and lemon. Turtle Power!

I’ve been combining weird things to make meals lately. This was a late lunch of adzuki beans, fried egg, salad greens, cherry tomatoes, and cold sauteed Brussels sprouts. So good.

I had my usual margarita while finishing up some evening work.

For sunset patio time, we had some rosé with chips and salsa. These are the brands I like.

We decided to watch movies – The Hobbit and Brave. Justin whipped up a salty snack – carrots, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, and bread with butter, olive oil, and salt for dipping.

I of course loved the Hobbit, and especially Thorin Oakenshield, but I was sad to realize I’d have to wait for the second half to be released. This one didn’t seem to flow as well as the LOTR trilogy, which I adored. Also, Brave was sweet and made me cry, but it was a weird story with creepy wisp things and the moral seemed to be “you’re a bad daughter.” So meh.♥

Oh, Monday. Why are you so difficult?

I was rushing out the door, so breakfast was a cup of coffee (or a half a cup, which is all I had time to gulp). I took a jar of sprouted almonds for a snack.

After some work at the studio, I hopped over to JuiceLand for some sustenance. This is the Ninja Bachelor Party (one of my favorites). My pal Kate had the Berry Godmother and a Medicine Man shot, since she’s feeling under the weather. Then more work at the studio.

I stopped at Central Market for some groceries. I was hungry by this point, but had no time to eat, so chocolate Zico to the rescue!

I dropped off the groceries at home, then whisked over to Casa de Luz for some book talk. This is hibiscus peppermint tea, creamy cauliflower & summer squash soup, and salad greens with sunflower-cilantro dressing.

More talking, and then dinner: brown rice with pumpkin seeds, blanched greens with walnut-pecan basil sauce, sauteed mixed vegetables, red beans, and red sauerkraut. YUM.

This is probably the first time I had dessert at Casa – this is coconut cream with cherry kanten. It’s like jello, but vegan. Pretty good, but I was too full to eat much.

I made it home just in time for our sunset ritual of snacks or drinks on the patio. A margarita toast to our green trees and beautiful sunset.

Dark chocolate sea salt caramel. Zomg.

My new favorite snack: Ak Mak sesame crackers smeared with a bit of whipped feta and topped with raw sauerkraut kimchi. I have no idea how this started, but it was a good thing.

How was your Monday? I hope it was dreamy.♥