My Three Favorite Foods: Eggs, Shrimp, & Doughnuts

Since moving to New York, I have noticed a decent number of Mexican-Chinese fusion restaurants scattered all across the city. You heard me right: Mexican & Chinese are together at last. These are places where you can order a chimichanga with a side of egg drop soup, and if you're into it, you can order sesame chicken and ask them to put it all in a flour tortilla. It's kind of amazing.

Via Food Republic

And while these two cuisines may have seemingly little do with each other (besides the fact that they both serve rice), the plain truth is that they are both delicious. I appreciate this business model because I enjoy imagining that it was created when someone thought aloud to themselves, "You know what I like? Egg rolls. You know what else I like? Flautas. Hey, wait a second..."

The idea of combining favorite foods into one culinary experience is a great one, but unfortunately, I may never find a restaurant that heavily features all of mine. For inquiring minds, here are my top 3 favorite foods -- by far:

Eggs

Shrimp

& Doughnuts

Brooklyn food vendors, listen up: If any one of you ever decides to create a restaurant called "The Egg, Shrimp, & Doughnut Shack", you better believe I will be your number one customer. I will pay good money to eat a shrimp frittata and follow it down with some sweet, fried dough. No shame whatsoever.

But even I know the concept for this restaurant is unlikely. These foods really just don't fully belong together (shrimp and eggs maybe, but it's definitely not the most conventional choice). Still, I'm an optimist, so if anyone ever does decide to create the restaurant of my dreams, I want them to be ready. Here are some delicious versions of these three outstanding foods (and pssst...you can just make these at home if you're into that kind of thing):

Eggs

Simple Poached Egg & Avocado Toast via Pinch of Yum

Pan Roasted Asparagus with Fried Eggs via Shutterbean

Tortilla Española via Saveur

Shrimp

Spicy Shrimp Corn Chowder via Playful Cooking

Garlic Butter Shrimp via Damn Delicious

Prosciutto Wrapped Garlic Shrimp via BS in the Kitchen

Doughnuts

Black and White Baked Donuts via Joy the Baker

Baked Apple Spice Donut Holes via Chew Out Loud

Doughnut Pancakes with Doughnut Glaze Syrup via Cooking Classy

So there you have it. Nine representations of my three favorite foods which should probably never be paired together, like, ever. Still, I'm hoping and praying for the grand opening of The Egg, Shrimp, & Donut Shack.

Do your favorite foods pair well together? Would the restaurant of your dreams be as weird as mine?

A Public Service Announcement About Breakfast

Did you know that there are people in this world who voluntarily skip out on eating breakfast? Not because they don't have access to it or because they are on some kind of cleanse. They. Just. Don't. Eat. Breakfast.

Image via fifichannel.net

Frankly, this baffles me. It really does. I mean, I can hardly even process being a person before getting some food in my body. I was thinking about all of this today as I was chowing down at 10:30 AM, which, by the way, was WAY too late for me to be eating breakfast. It's usually the first thing I do in the morning, but today I'd had to forgo it for a while. Up until I got some food in front of me, I had basically been a walking nightmare. I was slow and angry, like some hybrid of a sloth and a honey badger, and my head felt like it was made of lead. It was a terrible feeling. How do these breakfast avoiders do it every day?!

They say that breakfast is the meal of champions (or is that just Wheaties?), but for me, breakfast is the meal of a functioning human being. Of course, there is tons of science to back me up, and your mother has been telling you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day for years (not my mother though because she skips out on her breaky on the reg). Still, you're not eating it. Why? Why?!

Image via theguardian.com

One reason is that you're busy. I don't super care about this reason because we're all busy. Next.

Another reason is maybe that you don't love the feeling of heavy food in your stomach first thing in the morning. May I recommend some yogurt then? Next.

Or maybe you have just lost all romance for this once-beloved meal. Remember when you were a kid on Saturday mornings and aromas of sausage and biscuits would waft into your bedroom, and you just couldn't imagine not having a great day? Now as an adult, breakfast seems like just one more thing to do before heading to work, and if you are going to suffer the burden of eating it, it better be healthy. 

In college I remember having an existential crisis in the cereal aisle. While surveying all of my options, I knew in my heart that what I wanted was a family-sized box of Cinammon Toast Crunch, but in my head I was thinking, "You're an adult now! Have some self-respect and get a cereal with wheat germ in it or something." In that moment, my breakfast-eating habits felt like they needed to reflect a higher level of responsibility. What was once a meal full of sugary cereals with prizes inside was now a statement of my maturity. I can see how these sad thoughts could make someone want to skip out on breakfast all together.

But you know what I did? I bought the Cinammon Toast Crunch, and I ate it every morning for a week while doing a little happy eating dance. Oh, by the way, I have a happy eating dance, and it looks kind of like this:

Image via brookenotonadiet.com

Some part of my brain has not allowed me to forget how important eating in the morning is, and for that I remain puzzled by the people who deliberately skip out on this celebratory meal. For me, it's an outrage similar to watching someone walk through a blizzard without a coat. In the same way that just looking at them makes me feel somehow colder, just knowing that you haven't eaten breakfast makes me wildly hungry.

So for my sake, friends, eat your damn breakfast. It's delicious, and it helps you to not die. Here are some wonderful options, some of which are healthy, some of which are definitely not, all of which will hopefully remind you what a joyful meal breakfast can be:

Power Granola via Our Neck Of The Woods

Breakfast Tacos via Barefoot In The Kitchen

Fresh Lemon, Blueberry, and Honey Yogurt Breakfast Bowl via Wandering Spice

Easy Cheesy Breakfast Casserole via Give Me Some Oven

Toast with Avocado and Sea Salt via Heather Bullard

Baked Vanilla Bean Donuts via Cooking Classy

It's a magical meal, folks! Give it the respect it deserves. For the record, while I was writing this post, I became incredibly hungry, so I'm going to go do something about that. While I'm taking care of that, let me know what your favorite breakfast is!

An Honest Account

The other night, I went to a little party to honor my friend Rebecca on her birthday. It was a small ladies' get-together in her impeccably adorable apartment. I just now realized we didn't take any pictures which is a crime because we all looked really cute. I'll just have to substitute one with this picture of The Golden Girls.

Pretend this was taken at Rebecca's 23rd birthday party. Also, pretend I'm Dorothy. I would be, right?

Anyway, when I arrived at this party, little did I know that I had brought with me the best conversation-starter imaginable.

Ignore the man (I know. It's hard. He's so handsome) and focus on what he's holding.

This mason jar full of green liquid opened a floodgate of conversation at the party. And why shouldn't it? I'm sure you are gazing at this picture in wonderment right at this very moment with questions like:

What is that?

Why would Christy bring this to a party?

Wait. Is that the slime stuff from Troll 2?

"Half man, half plant. A goblin's favorite food"

These are all valid questions (especially that last one). The short answer is that the mason jar full of green liquid was, in fact, my dinner. It's a juice, actually. I brought it to Rebecca's party to consume. Also, it had nothing to do with Troll 2.

The long answer is a lot more involved, but considering how much conversation it brought up at a small get-together, I think it might be a road worth going down. 

---- ---- ---- 

For the past 10 days, Daniel and I have been on a program called Reboot Your Life. In this program, you eat nothing but fruits and vegetables for 5 days. Then for 5 more days, you consume nothing but juice. Then for another 5 days, you are back to fruits and vegetables (total of 15 days). It's based on the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (available on instant Netflix, by the way).

This poster is too genius.

In the film, this Australian gentleman (Joe Cross) decides to road trip across America while taking part in a 60 day juice fast. He meets a lot of cooky Americans, including gun shop owners and truck drivers. 

At the end of his 60 day juice fast, guess what happens! 

spoiler alert...

He loses weight!

Surprised? Of course you're not. You would have to be the Hamburglar himself in order to assume this guy wasn't going to lose weight after 60 days of drinking pure juice. 

I'm assuming the Hamburglar has no concept of calories, but that might not be a fair judgement.

He lost a ton of weight, but that is not what interested me. This is:

Before Joe started his juice fast, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called chronic uticaria. You can look it up on google images, if you dare. Actually, don't -- It's disgusting. But basically it created a super painful rash all over his body that flared up upon human contact.

By the end of his juice fast, he had no outbreaks and his meds had been significantly decreased. After continuing a vegetable-based diet, he is now off of his medicine completely. 

For me, this was intriguing and seemed like something worth evaluating. 

For the first couple of months of this year, I felt inordinately tired. Like, so tired I often felt like I was walking around in a dream. I couldn't really fathom a logical reason for this shift in my energy level. I was happy. I was exercising. I had my best friend Diet Dr. Pepper by my side at all times. How could this be?

I explained this situation to my employer/Health Mentor/Wisdom Provider, Michelle. At the time, she was doing the Reboot, and she was using words like "alert" and "energetic" and "great" to express how she was feeling. This seemed like the opposite of what she should be experiencing (I hadn't seen the movie yet). I thought that she must have meant to use words like "awful" or "garbage" or "death-like", but I realized after looking at her, that she clearly was feeling awesome. This is when I decided to give it a try.

Knowing I would have absolutely zero willpower, I asked Daniel if he would do it with me. Now you understand his facial expression in this picture.

The beginning was really tough. The week before, we were supposed to be preparing ourselves by gradually eliminating animal protein, processed foods, sugar etc. The hardest for me was letting go of caffeine. You guys, I will say with both shame and pride that I was absolutely addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper. She was a dear friend and saying goodbye to her was painful.

Literally. The headaches I felt on that first day of my Reboot were unreal. Like some elderly vampire, I spent the day cloaked in a blanket, hissing at the light.

It was also difficult to get myself super psyched to go grocery shopping all of the time. I hate going to the grocery store. I would rather have an annual root canal than ever have to go grocery shopping again. It was especially bad because we looked like an absolute freak show in the produce section.

People probably assumed we were shopping for our 50 rabbits.

As the days passed though, I was definitely starting to feel the benefits. It was amazing to not need caffeine. By day 5, I was on fire for veggies.

Then the juice came. 

Day 6 (Day 1 of drinking only juice) was for the most part alright. That was the day of Rebecca's party where I got to gladly share information about the Reboot. That night, however, right as I was supposed to be falling asleep, I started to get the weirdest cravings. 

You know how when someone is like "Hey, don't touch your face", all you want to do is touch your face? It's the same thing here. When this program said "Don't eat garbage", all I could think about was eating the most decadent, outlandishly terrible foods ever. This was my stream of consciousness:

Pizza, Calamari, Bread, Bread, Bread, Chick-Fil-A, Popcorn, Fried Shrimp, Fried Onion Rings, Fried Anything, French Fries, Spaghetti, Fried Oreos, Cookies, Cookies, Cake, Cookies, One of those chickens with ham and cheese in it, A whole fondu pot for myself, 8 Footlong sub sandwiches, Potatoes, Bread, One of those burgers with three patties and bacon and like a bunch of mayonnaise, BREAD!

As juicing went on, it got easier...I guess. That is, until I got sick. 

PAUSE.

I've had a lot of people tell me that I probably got sick because of the juicing. Juicing does not give you a viral infection and fever. I just got a virus that I would probably have gotten anyway. It is possible that my defenses were down, but think about all of the awesome vitamins going into my body. Not. The. Juice's. Fault.

But being sick has made it a lot harder. I will confess that the other night, I caved and ate a big bowl of pho just to get some extra calories in my body. I think it was the right decision. 

Anyway, my thought on the juicing portion of this whole thing is this: my body really didn't like it. Maybe if I spent a little more time juicing, I would get used to it, but I have been crazy hungry and not particularly energetic. That's not completely fair for me to say since I'm sick as a dog. It's just bad timing, really.

The upside though is that I am super excited now to get back to fruits and veggies. The movie talked about that. It talked about retraining your body to crave micronutrients (vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans) instead of macronutrients (everything else). I'm excited to finish this program and think of my meals differently. 

Anyway, five more days left and it seems like a piece of cake (or kale, I guess) because I'm back to eating what I now love. 

A new favorite. Acorn squash with portobello mushroom.

There have been a ton of different opinions when I tell people about the Reboot. Some people think I'm clinically insane. Others say I'm crazy, but I can tell they kind of want to try it. A small portion think it sounds like an interesting idea.

To all of these opinions, I say I totally get it. Had I not felt this need to regain my energy, I would never have thought to do something like this. I would have considered this to be starving myself and super unhealthy. 

However, after having made it through these last ten days, I can say that if you are anything like me, if you feel like your quality of life might be affected by what you're eating, this might be something worth entertaining. It's fifteen days. You won't die. Trust me.

Siri is My Nemesis

This is one of those "I haven't written in so long" type of entries. It's going to be slightly void of words because after a month-long hiatus, I am hardly ready to start writing the next great American novel (that will be my next entry). Plus, I just got an iPhone, went on a trip, and got the Instagram app all in the same week. Who needs words?

I used the Instagram filter "Toaster" - arguably the most pretentious

This is a picture of my new iPhone. It's an early birthday present from my parents. I'm unreal excited about it. This is probably old news for everyone else, but for me, this is huge. A week ago, I had this terrible LG number that literally smelled like burning flesh when I charged it and is probably the preferred cellphone of Moses (get it?...cause he's old...and dead...and biblical...you know...and like...burning bush..............beard....). Now, I have this gorgeous, all-knowing device at my fingertips at all times of the day. I am never going to take it for granted. 

There is a function of the iPhone 4S that is pretty cool, but also super mean. It's called Siri. It's basically this lady who lives in your phone who hates you. Let me explain. Wait no. That's the best explanation. 

Basically you ask her things with your voice. You could say "Hey Siri, what is the weather like outside?" and she'll tell you the weather, or you could be like "Hey Siri, where can I find a cupcake shop within walking distance?" and she gives you a list of cupcake establishments. Basically, she is supposed to deliver on your commands (this video will probably explain it better than I can. I'm really tired). When I first heard about her, I thought it might be the closest I would ever get to having a genie. 

But Siri will not be ordered around. No sir. For example, just a minute ago I asked her if she would make me pancakes and she was all "no". Typical Siri. Too high and mighty to make anyone else pancakes. Fun fact: when I asked Siri to make me pancakes, Daniel was in the living room, unaware of why I was asking this, and he responded "now?"...Love him. If Apple replaced Siri with Daniel, it would be a win-win.

Then Siri and I had a conversation that went like this:

Me: Who am I?

Siri: You're Christy, aren't you?

Me: I want you to call me pickle pants.

Siri: OK, from now on I will call you "people pans", OK?

Me: No.

Siri: OK.

Me: Call me pickle pants.

Siri: There are 25 stores that match "pickle". You may want to call them.

Me: That does me no good.

Siri: Christy, I don't really like these arbitrary categories.

Me: Do you hate me?

Siri: That may be possible. 

So I've got this mean lady living in my phone who hates me and uses my name only to emphasize her annoyance. Siri makes me miss Smarter Child AND THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING.

I'm not going to let her spoil my iPhone experience though (that's probably what she wants). This thing is still opening all kinds of doors for me.

Yearning

This is the first picture I ever instagramed (is that a thing? How should I say it? Look. Just let me be me). Instagram, by the way, for those who don't know, is a hip app you can get that makes all of your photos look like they've been aging in a box in your prone-to-flooding basement for the past 20 years. 

Anyway, the picture above is a lantern on my desk in my apartment, but I've titled it "yearning" because I like to think that the lantern is longing for it's freedom. Thoughts? Should I enter this in photo festivals? Just kidding. I'm not doing this for the fame. 

Wait. Should I be doing this for the fame?

I'm also playing Angry Birds and I am finally understanding the things people were talking about in 2010. Pigs, man. They are the worst. Their defense system is completely penetrable, but often not on the first try. (I just realized my mom might not understand a lot of what I've written in this entry. Sorry, Mom.) 

Anyway, back to Instagram. This past weekend, Daniel and I went on a mini-vacation to Fort Worth. I instagramed every picture we took so that it looks like we actually took the trip in the 1970s. You're welcome.

Dan driving. The year is 1977. Jimmy Carter has just been elected president.

Vanity Shot #1. Don't worry. Plenty more to come.

We stopped in Waco on the way. I cried a little. It was a little strange.

We stopped at the Czech Stop in West, Texas. I got this evil bear. Don't worry. He can't harm your children. I ate him.

Vanity Shot #2. This helps assure me that I must look like this all the time. 

Delicious food. Circa 1977.

More delicious food.

Trippy lights. Like we're at some disco...like it's 1977.

Daniel eating a burger at In-N-Out. He ordered off the secret menu like he's better than me or something.

This is when I noticed that the camera on the front of my iPhone flips the image. My bangs go the other way. 

Daniel standing in front of some fancy art.

My most pretentious instagram yet.

I'll leave it at that. If you want to see more pictures from our trip, you are probably my Facebook friend and you've probably already looked at them, so I probably should delete this sentence.

In summary: 

1. I like my new iPhone.

2. If I am mysteriously murdered, interrogate Siri.

3. Instagram is kind of dumb and I hate myself for loving it.

4. Pigs and birds will never be peaceful. You're living a lie if you think that sort of thing is possible. 

5. Fort Worth is a great little town. We'll be back. 

6. I used way more words than I thought I would in this post. 

Sedentary to Not-so-sedentary

Today I'm going to write a blog entry. I haven't in a while, so I'm going to start out slow. See, sometimes I go a while without working out and then I go running and I renounce exercise forever. I don't want to do that with this blog. No sir.

The best way to start out slow is to just post a bunch of pictures. I've heard they are worth a thousand words, so get ready.

This is a picture of our jack-o-lantern. But wait a second, Christy. It's Christmas-time! 

Oh. 

Deal with it. 

All lit up. Impressed?...Daniel did it. 

Here I am holding the magnificent creature. Daniel says I look very wifely in this picture. I will open that up for discussion. 

So this entry is taking on a Halloween-theme. So sorry about that. It will be changing soon, but I just have to show you our Halloween costumes.

I was a Kitty Cat Nurse Practitioner. You know...like a nurse...who can prescribe certain medications and treatments...but it's a cat...

I get costume-anxiety.

Daniel was Aladdin. Obviously. 

Alright now, let's see. What else can I show you without having to write that much?

Kaley and I had a book burning! 

Whoa...just kidding.

Obviously we celebrated Baylor homecoming with the traditional bonfire! This was my first night since being married to sleep away from Daniel, and Kaley made it an easy transition by telling me a supposedly true story about a little person in a clown costume who sneaks into your home and watches you sleep. Thanks, Kaley! I owe you one...

This is Daniel with a pot that Santa Anna used to pee in. History!

I've been cooking. 

This is Daniel and I in front of Target on Black Friday (actually, it was Thanksgiving day, but they opened at midnight). Dan says the line was about half a mile long while I would compare it to the length of the Atlantic, but whatever. It was a really long line, but we were very near the front. When the doors opened, we dramatically ran in. I distracted everyone around me by falling all over the place while Daniel gracefully ran and got us a 46 INCH HD TELEVISION. It beats that shoebox we used to call a television, that's for sure. 

Daniel had a birthday, so I made him this cake. It took me forever. Don't show this to The Cake Boss. He'll probably just be jealous.

This is Patrick and Lya with a llama. Don't worry. She bites. This is the day Dan and I went to the Christmas Tree farm with our friends Patrick, Lya, and John. It was raining the entire time and everyone's hands turned blue, but we all agree that it was the best decision we ever made.

This is my first real Christmas tree. Isn't she gorgeous? I retroactively-tweeted about the experience of setting her up. Oh, also, I'm tweeting. http://twitter.com/#!/christianalizla 

Anyway, that's it. I hope you weren't expecting some kind of thoughtful metaphor in this conclusion. If you are absolutely craving it, then I guess...life is like a pizza...because...the cheese...

Forget it. I'm starting slow.