Warming soup!

Fall is here in NYC which means it's soup weather! I love making soup because it's filling and also is so easy. This soup was inspired by random items that i had in my fridge.

I needed to use up Brussel sprouts so I roasted them up in the oven for 35 minutes at 450. Then I simply sauteed up half an onion in the bottom of a stock pot. Filled the stock pot with veggie broth and tossed in the brussel sprouts and a can of white beans. I added a bit of cumin and black pepper. I let it simmer for a while and let all the flavors chill together.

After about 10 minutes, I used my immersion blender and smooshed (that is the technical term) up the chunks.




I put the soup in a bowl to enjoy and topped it with some shredded cheese. Easy, healthy and delicious!

Coney Island fun

Sorry my poor neglected blog…

This summer has been amazing and full of fabulous only in NYC experiences. This past weekend I went to Coney Island with a friend who had never been there before. I was meeting my entire family there for a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game. The Cyclones are the Mets minor league baseball team and they play in this fun little cute stadium very close to the world famous Cyclone roller coaster. As I ticked down the subway stops until we arrived, I texted my food order to my parents for them to get at the World Famous Nathan’s. The original Nathan’s is located across the street from the subway station. This food was waiting for me when I arrived. (The original nathan’s has seafood!)


There were two people at my table who had been at the beach all day and gave us beers that they weren’t going to drink. Score!

The baseball game as starting soon so we went into the stadium and met up with my family. The game was filled with cheesy cheerleaders, hand painting, giveaways and rain booo. I totally rocked my bright orange poncho.

I didn’t really watch the game but was super excited for the after game fireworks. Before the fireworks started they played all sorts of cheesy music which my insane family and I danced to and videoed. Then BOOM there were awesome fireworks!

After saying goodbye to the fam, it was time to start the rest of my night. A second meal was in order… raw clams and hot dogs and candy apples for my friend! Then a ride on this insane slingshot ride… 150 feet in the air at 90 mph. Amazing and I did not puke or pee my pants as I feared.




After the ride, we took the train back into the city and went out to a bar. We clearly had not had enough beer and def not enough food. Because then we had more drinks and became friends with the guy at the bar who totally owned the pizza place next door and brought us each two slices with requested toppings!

After a few more drinks, it was time for bed. What an adventure-filled day!

Tofu is yum

Cooking for one,
is never any fun.
But cooking tofu
that’s the thing to do!

I crack myself up! Anyway, I wanted to share my lunch today because not only was I proud of the fact that I made it for dinner last night, but because I styled it to enjoy at my desk.




Last night, I baked up the tofu with this awesome sauce I randomly found in my supermarket. It had a bit of a sweet spice to it and it’s fabulous. I found myself dipping the roasted potatoes in the sauce as well.



I also sautéed some zucchini, so that my meal would be balanced. I tend to not get enough protein in my diet and baking the tofu is a way to enjoy it without the squish factor.

I am usually not too excited about sauces but after trying this one I have come up with lots of ideas on how to use this sauce. I want to mix it into a quinoa salad to give it a fruity kick.

I am hoping this is a start to blogging about the food I eat. So join this NYCBean as I eat my way through the city!

Craigslist and the 5 boro bike tour

The tulips are out which means biking season has started again. I sadly missed the sign up for my usual first ride, the 5 boro Bike tour. This ride is 42 miles on car free roads in the 5 Boroughs of NYC. I realized that the ride is the Sunday and I had no plans so I went to craigslist to assess the selling of the bibs situation.

Since the ride is 32,000 people, there are tons of people who can’t make it last minute and want to sell their bibs to get back the cost of the ride. Some people suck and were selling their ride packets for well over the $80 it originally cost. I emailed a few of the more reasonably priced offers. I noticed there was one by where I live and he was selling it for $65!

I emailed back and forth with the guy and told him I would meet him at 7:30 on a street corner. Of course President Obama decided that he would like to visit NYC at that exact hour so I had a bit of a difficult trip driving home. I parked the car and decided that the subway would be a fast way of getting to the meeting spot. I was right but as soon as I got out of the subway I realized that the street he had picked was the street Obama’s motorcade was driving down. There were barriers up on both sides of the road and tons and tons of cops milling about. Then about 7 cops cars, sirens blasting, screamed down the street. Pretty intense.

I texted the guy and we met on the corner and did the exchange in front of a group of about 20 cops. That was the safest craigslist exchange ever!

Wish me luck on my ride on Sunday!