April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~William Shakespeare

(This pic is the view from my apartment window. Yes, I have actual trees in my backyard in Manhattan!)

And we're halfway through it! I can't believe how fast time is flying, and the fast pace of Manhattan life certainly doesn't slow things down one bit. Work has been consuming most of my time lately (but how is that different from every week?) I apologize for not writing for so long. I really had intended to keep up one post a week at least. And now, of course, I have about 18 things things write about. So let's get started!

(I went to the NY Botanical Garden yesterday, and the rest of my floral pics are from that outing. I became a member as well, so anyone out there planning a visit to Manhattan this year, let me know if you are interested in checking it out. I can hook you up.)

SHOWS ATTENDED: NPR recording of Ask Me Another quiz show, Being Shakespeare at BAM, Jesus Christ Superstar (in which Judas's understudy became my hero) on Broadway, and two shows at the Rubin Museum: Falu and Howard Fishman. If there was anything else jam-packed into the last few weeks, I honestly can't remember what it was.

At work, I've been busy working on a new show that's launching on Monday. I can't officially post anything else about it here, but it's incredibly exciting and a huge honor to be a part of that show team. I'm also maintaining my duties on my regular show's team, and so you can imagine how hectic the past couple of weeks have been. It's a good thing though, and I am up to the challenge. At least I think I am...

My beautiful sister-in-law has gotten me to try all kinds of interesting dietary choices in my life, and the last time I was in Austin, she was into raw foods. So this month I've also been exploring vegan and raw foods. Basically I've been having fruit smoothies for breakfast, veggie sticks (carrots, celery, broccoli) and hummus for snack, salads for lunch, and a reasonably sensible dinner these past couple of weeks. No cheese, no meats, etc.

I created a raw "noodle" dish that I'm not sure anyone will want to recreate. It wasn't terrible, but after this week, I realized I am quite partial to hot foods for dinner. But I thought I'd share. It's basically zucchini noodles using a vegetable peeler, and a homemade gazpacho for the sauce.

Gazpacho
2 Heirlooom tomatoes (cut into 1-in cubes)
3 Plum tomatoes (cut into 1-in cubes)
1 celery stalk (cut into 1-in pieces)
1 scallion (cut into 1-in pieces)
1 carrot (cut into 1-in pieces)
1 zucchini (cut into 1-in cubes)
1/4 cup unroasted pepitas or sunflower seeds (I used a mix of the two)
1 clove of garlic (roughly chopped)
1 handful of parsley (roughly chopped)
salt, pepper, & lemon juice to taste

Throw this all into a blender and whir away. I threw some cayenne in there too because I felt it needed a kick. I have to say, this meal wasn't bad at all. I ate the sauce as a cold soup for lunch the next day. And then I made a tomato sauce out of the remaining bit by simmering it for about 30 minutes. I plan to make a pita pizza tonight for dinner with it.

And I'll leave you with some floral pics from yesterday's Botanical Garden outing and a quick bit of trivia. There's an orchid show on display through next weekend which is pretty remarkable. I had no idea there were so many different types of orchids out there. And learning about vanilla production was especially interesting. It's such a labor-intensive process, that I am surprised it's not a more expensive commodity. By the way, all vanilla produced outside of Mexico is hand pollinated because the insects that do this only live in Mexico.

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

Life in Manhattan

The picture above is from a window my pal Jena and I saw during a walk last weekend. It was so odd that I had to snap a photo and share it.

In our ongoing efforts to get in shape, the aforementioned Jena and I have been trying to meet up and go for long walks on the weekend. The weather has been wonderfully cooperative. Last weekend, on Saturday, we did 4.5 miles around the reservoir in Central Park, and then on Sunday, we did 3.3 miles along the East River. The pics here are from that walk, which occurred after a ridiculously decadent & delicious meal at Harley's Smokeshack in East Harlem. Best. Barbeque. In New York.

I've had the opportunity to do a lot of cool things while living in New York. I moved here because I love TV and TV production, and I really wanted to learn more about non-news TV. I've attended some interesting panels and premieres, one of which happened on Sunday. Yesterday, I went to see the "Global Premiere" of Touch at the Natural History Museum (which is also the museum in Night at the Museum.)

The funny thing is that Jena and I walked through the museum's Great Hall and straight into the premiere. We had tickets, but no one from Fox asked us to see them. We walked straight into the LeFrak Theater and sat down, and no one bothered us. We spotted the chairs and screen set up on stage, so we figured we were in the right place. We were sitting there speculating which minor production staff members would be on hand for the Q&A afterward, when a fellow attendee turned around and said that Kiefer was on the red carpet when they came in. Red carpet?? Really? Where? Apparently we'd missed all the hubbub at the entrance to this event by coming in the "secret" way. We got fantastic seats, although my photo above is going to demonstrate my craptastic photo skills above anything else. I promise that is Mr. Jack Bauer himself on the right!

We watched an episode of the show, and it was engaging enough I suppose. I'm going to give the series a shot, but I'm not quite sure how long I'll be interested in continuing to watch it. The Q&A afterward was basically a series of pep rally type questions designed to generate excitement about this show that has been over-hyped already. I feel like I've seen ads for it everywhere, and the pilot has been broadcast over and over and over again. It's popping up constantly everywhere I look, to the point of being annoying. But I'll give it a chance. I wish the Q&A had been more industry-driven though. I would've liked to have heard more about how the production is done, and what inspires the writers to come up with the various storylines. On the other hand, I got to go to a premiere of a new TV show in New York City. And I walked there through Central Park on a gorgeous afternoon and spent some time with a good friend at the same time. Not bad for a day's work.

Radiohead + a recipe!

Attending a Radiohead concert is always a good idea! And seeing as no NYC dates were posted for this year's tour until recently, I wanted to make sure I could see them somewhere in the U.S. on this tour. (Of course, I'm not opposed to traveling for a concert or two, but this trip seemed a little extravagant, even to me!) So I trekked out west for less than 24 hours to see this show at the Toyota Center. And it was fabulous! Honorable mention to my buddy Chris Slack who was kind enough to purchase the tickets and make all the travel arrangements for this extravaganza.

Here's our view of the stage - we were quite a bit closer than this pic indicates. The show was a blend of mostly new songs with a few old tunes scattered here and there. I love how this band is able to recreate their studio sound on stage with a few added live show nuances. They are just remarkable on stage, and I can't properly gush enough about how much I love this band.

I'll stop there and describe the scene which included a massive light set-up behind the band. It was very Muse-like if you ask me, and I certainly don't disapprove of such a thing! Muse is consistently voted one of the best live acts in the U.K. year after year after year. And having seen a show or two of theirs, I'd have to agree. But I digress, Radiohead's stage set-up was very interesting. There were 12 video screens on pulleys that were "floating" above the band showing different shots of the band performing. The whole scene was mesmerizing between the lights, the cameras, & the music. I literally stood there and wondered how I could possibly get a job doing that kind of video production someday. (You catching that, Universe? Manashi needs to work for Radiohead someday.)

And of course, I had to buy swag on my way out. I was leaving with just the ridiculously overpriced bag in my hand, but then I decided I needed that moderately overpriced red t-shirt too. So there's the recap of my frivolous weekend away from NYC to see Radiohead. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

On a completely different note, as the title of this post indicates, I did manage to eek out a new recipe in the past two weeks. I'm kind of proud of this one. It came out really well. And it finally allowed me to finish up that stupid never-ending head of cabbage that was living in my fridge forever.

South Indian Style Cabbage
4 cups cabbage, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp whole mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1/4 cup grated coconut
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Put oil in a large saucepan and let it heat up over medium high heat. Add the mustard seeds (and be careful, it's going to splatter), red pepper, curry leaves, and onion. Put a lid on it for 1-2 minutes, and then it's probably safe to stir the goods. Add the cabbage & turmeric, salt & pepper, and then stir everything to combine. Keep stirring the cabbage every 2-3 minutes while it cooks through, and if you feel like it, turn the heat down and put a lid on it. I kept stirring mine every few minutes till the cabbage cooked all the way through. About halfway through, I added the vinegar. At the end, add the coconut & sunflower seeds, and then mix it all together. This is what it looked like with my poor photography skills. It tasted fantastic! And I'd recommend brown rice, flatbread (roti or naan) to accompany this dish. I'll surely make it again someday, when I'm less sick of cabbage. Sidenote: This dish is totally vegan for anyone following that diet out there.

The Jersey Shore

The location, not the TV show.

I went out to Sea Bright, NJ this weekend to have dinner with some friends from work, and wow, was it worth the trek. What a beautifully quaint town with the Atlantic Ocean on the east side and the Shrewsbury River on the west. There were plenty of local shops and restaurants, tons of docked boats, and beach clubs all along the seaside. My friend even pointed out one of the clubs as being the one to which Bruce Springsteen belongs as we walked along the dunes.

Saturday weather was a bit temperamental which meant sharply dropping temps and severe wind advisories as the sun went down, so I didn't get to explore outside as much as I wanted. But my gracious hosts drove me through their cute little town, pointing out good shops, restaurants, and bars along the way. I wish I'd taken some photos, because the sunset was just gorgeous over the river on the west side. I can't wait to go back in the summer!

While getting back to Sea Bright is simply an easy ferry ride to Sandy Hook from Wall St., I have to say that I should rent a car and leave Manhattan on the weekends from time to time. While the crazy amount of money I spent on gas + tolls was not so exciting, I did really enjoy getting a better feel for the geography in my area. There was an inexplicable thrill associated with driving over the Triboro Bridge (recently renamed RFK, although no one seems to call it that yet) and the GW Bridge and through the Holland Tunnel on the way home. (Tool niche, Kathleen!) I even found myself in the west village by accident instead of the FDR. It was incredibly scary driving home through the surface streets of Manhattan, and I have certainly gained some respect for taxi drivers now.

**Fabulous photos (except for the obvious Google map) by Sam Meyer, my favorite New York photographer.**

This week's triumphs + a couple of recipes

I admit it. I am a stress eater. My job in New York is hectic, chaotic, and demanding, and I've been managing the crazy a lot better in the last year or so than I did when I first arrived. But I do cave into anxiety very easily, and while I hold it together fantastically at work, I can't help but let loose when I get home. Since grad school I've been contemplating buying stock in Frito Lay, because their reduced-fat sea salt Ruffles are my go-to snack when life is rough. And I have consumed a lot of those chips in the past five years!

Anyway, this week, I've been assigned to a show that I don't normally do. It's a difficult program with a lot of technical moving parts, and a show team with whom I'm not particularly comfortable. I definitely haven't been sleeping much, and when I have been, it's been restless and fraught with nightmares about screwing up something technical on air. It's a recipe for binge snacking, in my opinion. I did walk to work on several days, because oddly, the weather in Manhattan was brilliant this week. 50+ degrees in February several days in a row is very uncommon here.

I'm writing this post today because I managed to get through the week without any major missteps. Here are the three accomplishments I was pleased with: 1) I managed to take my lunch to work every day, which kept me from buying food that is calorie-laden but delicious. 2) I loaded up my desk with fruits & nuts for snacking, and I actually ate them instead of visiting the vending machine. 3) I drank a whole lot of water and herbal tea. Whenever I felt the snacking urge come on, I would drink a glass of water or make myself a cup of tea. I know diet plans all recommend this technique, but I found that 80% of the time, it actually worked.

One particularly beautiful day, I sat in Central Park and ate a small cup of almond gelato in the middle of the afternoon. It seemed like something I really needed to do, so I did. But overall, I did really well this week. Lots of water, lots of fruits & veggies, some walking here and there, and no take-out food!

Easy Chicken & Black Bean Chili w/ Cabbage
-1/2 pound of ground chicken
-1 can black beans, rinsed
-1 can tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes
-1/3 green cabbage, shredded
-1 medium onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
-1 cup chicken stock
-1 cup water
-2 tbsp chili powder (the kind with oregano, cumin, cayenne, etc. all blended together - or you can add those spices in individually to make about 2 tbsp of spice mix)
-1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional - add more or less to your liking - or substitute cayenne pepper)
-1 tsp turmeric
-1/2 tsp ground black pepper
-1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
-1 tsp olive oil

Heat oil in a large saucepan or soup pot on medium high heat. Add the onions and red pepper flakes and saute till softened. Add the ground chicken and cook till it's browned slightly. Add the salt and turmeric and cook till chicken is golden brown. (Don't worry about cooking the chicken all the way through - it will simmer for a while with all the other ingredients so it won't be raw when this dish is finished.)

Add the tomatoes or tomato sauce, beans, garlic, chili powder, water and chicken broth and bring to a boil on high heat. Then lower the temperature and let it all simmer together for about 20 minutes. Add the cabbage at the end, and cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft. Then add salt & pepper to taste. This makes about 5-6 servings.

I made a big pot of this easy chili on Monday and ate it for dinner every night when I came home from work. It was hearty and satisfying, and for once, I didn't mind eating this for several nights in a row. (I'm not a big fan of leftovers.) What I like about this recipe is that it's totally customizable - if cabbage isn't your thing, add spinach or kale. (I just like adding veggies in there, so I don't feel like I have to make a salad or steam some veggies to go with it. I'm slightly impatient and usually starving when I get home after work.) If you love super spicy food, add more red pepper and cayenne and black pepper. Have at it!

My Cousin Monica's Super Salmon Spread
-1 can wild Alaskan salmon, drained
-2 tbsp mayonnaise
-1 tsp mustard
-2 tsp Tabasco or hot sauce of your choice
-3 tsp ketchup

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl till combined, and then put it on your favorite bread for a sandwich that'll make your typical tuna seem stale. My cousin made this with tuna when I visited her in Montreal a few years ago, and it knocked my socks off back then. Since I read a health book over the weekend that extolled the virtues of salmon, I decided to try to incorporate some of the heart healthy fare into my diet this week. I ate this with oat nut bread from Whole Foods, and it was delicious.

PS - How in the world does Whole Foods make those vegan chocolate chip cookies taste so darn delicious?

Sticking to it... and more recipes.

Hi folks, I'm definitely trying to keep to the basic constructs of eating well, but I'm not being as strict as that detox plan outlined. I'm trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables, eating as little processed food as possible, and drinking a lot more water. My favorite moment at a Weight Watchers meeting (yes, I have pretty much tried it all over the years to keep the pounds at bay) many years ago happened when a woman said, "None of us are here because we ate too much broccoli." Well said, lady. Well said.

Over the weekend, I finished reading a book by Dr. Nicholas Perricone who extols the virtues of fish oil and omega fatty acids. Whether these experts agree on vegan vs. not, most of my favorite health and food writers (Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, Joel Furhman, Neal Barnard) agree on the same thing - preservatives are bad news, too much meat is probably a bad idea, and you can't go wrong with fresh, healthful fruits and veggies. Incidentally, when I was growing up, my mother said this all the time too...

I wish I had the ability to keep a garden in Manhattan, because there's nothing more inspiring in the kitchen than going outside and picking a tomato or cucumber and some fresh basil from your garden to make a salad. My sister-in-law Sonia has a fabulous garden, and I love to visit my family in Austin for many reasons. But one of them is to see what she's planted and taste what amazing salad or soup or entree that she makes out of her harvest.

I decided to channel my mother over the weekend, and I whipped up some traditional Bengali comfort food. My relatives are going to crack up when they see these recipes, because they are pretty common "everyday" foods for most Bengalis. But I thought I'd share the processes with my non-Indian friends.

Roasted Moong Daal Kitchuri (made w/ cracked wheat instead of rice)
1/2 cup cracked wheat (cooked, per pkg directions)
1/2 cup split yellow mung lentils
1-1 1/2 cup water
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp grated ginger (optional)
1 tsp olive or vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Start your saucepan on a medium heat and toast the unwashed lentils on the stovetop. You have to keep stirring this or the mung pods will burn. It goes rather quickly depending on the heat index of your particular stove, usually within a few minutes, and you'll be able to smell the nutty aroma as they get roasted slightly. When you see the mung daal change color from a light butter yellow to a darker ochre color, you're done. Remove the lentils from the heat and let them cool. Give them a little rinse to remove any grit or dust, and then put them back into the pot with about a cup of water (you'll want to add more if your lentils take a long time to cook). Bring that to a boil, and then lower the heat to medium low and add the chopped tomato, turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, and salt. Let the mixture simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are softened (when you pre-roast daal in this way, the lentils will not melt down completely) and a lot of the water has evaporated. Then add in the cooked cracked wheat and stir it all together. Most of the water should be soaked up at this point.

The next step is the coup de grace really. It's very simple, and all Indian daals end this way. But without this step, this dish would just be so-so. Take the oil and heat it up in a separate pan (I use a small frying pan - and be a little wary, this part splatters a bit) on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, red pepper flakes, and grated ginger and swirl the goods around in the pan. Once you smell the spices cooking (and you will smell it almost instantly, but give it a minute to really dance with the oil), add the spice mixture to the mung daal & cracked wheat concoction and stir to combine it all completely. This makes 3-4 servings.

PS - My mom adds some ghee (an Indian kitchen staple - clarified butter) to this last step to make the dish really rich, but if you are sticking to a vegan diet, you can omit the dairy. There are enough spices in this dish that it tastes pretty great without the ghee. If you are gluten-free, use rice instead of cracked wheat. This dish is traditionally made with the uncooked rice and daal thrown into the pot together and cooked through at the same time. I just find it easier to add the pre-cooked cracked wheat in later.

Bengali style cabbage
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium high heat, and add the whole cumin seeds and red pepper flakes till they jump in the pan slightly and release their fragrant aroma. Add the cabbage and tomato and the remaining spices, give it all a stir, and then put a lid on it and lower the heat slightly. Keep stirring it all every few minutes to keep the cabbage from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Just keep an eye on it, but at this point, you're just cooking down the cabbage. It will let out a fair amount of water on its own, and you just want it to cook in its own juices. Towards the end of the cooking process, add in the frozen peas and give it a stir again. Once the cabbage is cooked through, raise the heat and cook of any remaining liquid in the pan, stirring often to keep the veggies from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the water is gone, you're done. Serve with the kitchuri from above, and you have a pretty hearty, low-fat, & vegan meal.

I really should've taken some photos of this stuff. (I wish my beautiful and talented friend Kenzi lived near me to help me out - my food actually tastes a lot better than MY amateur photography skills make it look. She'd make it sing in photos.)

Breakfast of champions! And the last days of the detox diet.

I started out on Saturday quite well. This bowl of oatmeal with rice milk and berries was my hearty breakfast. Unfortunately, that was the end of my run on this detox diet. I was still pretty good the rest of the weekend, making wiser, more healthful choices than I usually would. The bottom line is that my hormones kicked in, and I really needed some protein.

Over the past few years, I've read a lot about vegan diets, and how they can be beneficial for weight loss and disease prevention. There are a couple of people really writing about it a lot - Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live is pretty influential in this movement. Also, Dr. Neal Barnard is on PBS all the time. He's also created a more formal place to learn about this stuff - the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) that has an organized 21-day vegan kickstart several times a year. There's an iPhone app you can download for free and very easily follow at any time. It tells you exactly what to eat, has recipes, and is very user-friendly.

I grew up practically vegetarian, in an Indian household where fish and chicken were not daily food items. So I wrongly assumed that switching to strict vegan wouldn't be that difficult. I am not a big cheese eater, but yogurt and milk & cereal are my go-to snacks quite often. So it was challenging to think about snacking on other types of foods. Hummus & carrots worked really well, and so did nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pecans) but I wasn't mindful about portions, and I suspect that eating too many nuts is likely problematic in the long run.

Things that I learned from this experience (these are pretty obvious, I suppose) - 1) Eating lots of fruits and vegetables is a really good thing. I actually didn't feel very hungry most of the time because I was snacking on high-fiber, low glycemic index foods. 2) It felt good to be more mindful of what I was eating every day. I didn't just order pizza or Thai food because I was tired and that was easiest. I made an effort to take my lunch & snacks to work and prepare a meal when I got home from work. Yes, it was only for a few days, but those habits have carried into this week. 3) I can drink coffee & tea without sugar now. That's a triumph I hadn't been able to accomplish in many years, and now I'm careful and conscious about my daily sugar intake. That's got to be good in the long run. 4) Moderation is a really good thing. Instead of letting myself have free reign to eat & drink whatever whenever, I am being mindful of what I've already consumed in the day before deciding if I want dessert, another glass of wine, or those small fries with my salad.

That's all for now. I'm going to keep posting healthful recipes and tricks that work for me. I'm thinking about joining a CSA this summer, which will be an interesting experiment in learning to prepare and eat unfamiliar veggies and fruit. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and ideas as well.

Breakfast of champions oatmeal recipe
-1/4 cup oats
-1/2 cup water
-pinch of salt
-1 cup washed and chopped fresh berries (I used strawberries & blueberries)
-1/4 cup rice milk

Prepare oats per package directions. I throw it all (oats, water, salt) in there together, bring it to a boil. Then I let it boil on medium low heat for about 4-6 minutes till it's creamy and cooked through. I used to put some maple syrup or brown sugar in there at the end, but I'm finding I can actually eat this without the added sweetener now. The fruit adds enough flavor. I add a tiny bit of rice milk to cool down the mixture, top it with the fruit, and am full for hours afterward.

Tip: Sliced bananas, mangoes, peaches, apples, pears all work really well with this concoction. Berries are just the easiest fruit to prepare.