Reunited, and it feels so good....

Yesterday, while I was picking up Turkey Hill decaf diet iced tea (there was only one half-gallon left!), I happened to spy....OKRA! Finally! Of course Whole Foods wouldn't have it (there it was locally grown!), but ShopRite would. Hopefully I can find a place near my apartment when I get back that has them regularly.

And so I made okra fries with my dinner! I also had some yellow squash, zucchini, onion, and feta cheese for part one of my dinner. Part two consisted of a salad and a slice of bread.

People either have no idea what okra is, or they think it's slimy and disgusting. Obviously they have never made okra fries! I bought enough for two different meals.

I should also point out that I have a slight obsession with squash. It's just soooo good! I tend to put a lot of pepper on it, but this time I waited to put some on after I cooked it, because my mom doesn't an epic amount of pepper on hers. Though she says she's getting used to having me home to cook meals. Surprisingly she's never sauteed squash before! I told her it's the easiest thing -- but she may miss my omlete-making more. :)

My cat decided to join my laptop on my make-shift desk//tray, conveniently placed in the living room. I also caught him drinking out of my glass of water this morning! Silly thing! Luckily after 11 years, my dog no longer tries to steal food...except for the pieces of lettuce that dropped on the floor yesterday. Though he wouldn't eat the red lettuce. He left that on the living room floor.

I bought a small green container, with a fold-up spoon/fork - not a spork - that I can't wait to use to bring my lunch/snack in between classes.

In other news, last week I went to work with my mom, and helped stuff 844 envelopes with schedules and introduction letters to the parents of 5th and 6th graders. My mom moved from an elementary school to the brand new 5th/6th grade school. It's so new that it's still a construction site -- I'm one of the lucky ones to get one of the first looks inside! For about 3 hours, I was stuffing on my own. I thought that it was silly for the secretaries to spend hours stuffing envelopes while they had other work to do. The envelopes had to be sent out that day. After a while, they came to help me. I stuffed over 350 of them myself. I was doing this completely voluntarily - but yesterday my mom came home with an envelope from the principle. She was so grateful for my help that she gave me a thank you card and gift cards! Seeing them, I though it would be for $10/$15 dollars -- but she gave me a Starbucks card for $25(!!) and one for Panera Bread ($30!!!). I feel like I should write her a thank you card for the thank you card!

Today I plan to do some outlines/planning, in preparation for the last semester and grad school applications. Fun fun!

In Search For Okra

Since I have August off from work, my days have been very...lazy. I'm trying to stay in Astoria as much as possible, because I don't want to buy an unlimited metro card, or any metro card for that matter. My days have consisted of some form of exercise, going to the grocery store, and sitting on my ass.

Today I got up around 7:30am, which is the latest I get up. I turn on the TV and realize that it's not a weekday, so Live! with Regis and Kelly wouldn't be on. I turned it to NBC while I ate my traditional corn Chex + Chiobani yogurt breakfast. I read some blogs and ended up doing 20 minutes of yoga and some resistance training. I continued to watch TV and web-surf until a little after lunch.

While I could do my grocery shopping in Astoria, I had one main reason to leave: okra, or rather whole okra. See, I have just discovered the wonder that is okra fries, but they don't have them at my grocery store! I knew that they had them at Whole Foods (at least the one in Chelsea, when they aren't sold out), so I decided to wander around.

Whole Foods is a place I can endlessly wander. I'm not sure of the reason, other than its awesomeness.

After finding out that they didn't carry it at Columbus Circle (which is sad), I pick up some other things I regularly eat, and I decided to pick up one special treat: gluten-free cheesecake.

I love cheesecake. I remember my first time having cheesecake, back in 9th grade. It was a wonderful love affair. Sadly, it had to end, once I discovered my gluten-intolerance. I had seen this little container of cheesecake in one of the gluten-free sections and I waited until now to try it. I didn't want to be disappointed, and so I waited until I had an intense yearning for it (it must have been that one Friends episode, with the cheesecake Chandler and Rachel steal and eat).

Side note, Friends is my favorite show of all time. I can not remember a time where I couldn't quote Friends.

Back to the cheesecake:

(I should note that this was AFTER I ate the cheesecake, so there's plastic wrappers inside the container)

I picked up the "New York Style" and decided to spend some time eating it in Whole Foods. Let me tell you....it was so creamy, so rich, so amazing. Apparently you can order 7" and 9" cakes on the website -- but they don't have the "New York Style," unless that's just plain? Regardless, it was so delicious that I know that I'll have to refrain from buying it each time I go. I can always remind myself that while insanely delicious, it's not worth shelling out $4.29 each time I go to the store. However, if there's any special occasion coming up... :D

I know I'll have to go to Manhattan tomorrow, but hopefully I can refrain the rest of the week. I mean, I'd totally walk if there was an easy way! That's something I'll have to look up.