Culinary diversion

I was a little apprehensive about spending 5 days in NYC because I wasn't sure what I was going to eat. Firstly, I didn't want to spend a small fortune dining out, and secondly, I didn't want to stray from the progress I made with the Whole 30. Technically I could've cooked since I was staying in a cute apartment on the Lower East Side and was in walking distance from WF, but I didn't have time to meal plan, nor did I want to soil the neat little kitchen.

Thanks to my friend, yelp, and some pedestrian exploration I managed to do just fine in the food department (and I didn't break the bank).  Friday my friend and I stumbled across the NY Tofu House (korean)...it was delicious, and although I had a rice dish, I didn't feel like I had gone too far, perhaps because it was nicely balanced with vegetables.

My daily breakfast plan was yogurt parfait (yup, dairy)...plain Liberte yogurt with almonds and berries...

Saturday I had an udon noodle soup for lunch at Cafe Zaiya, once again I didn't feel bad but I knew I didn't want to make a habit out of it. Saturday night my husband and I tried Cafe Himalaya (Nepalese), I was careful not to do noodles or rice but nobody goes to a Nepalese restaurant without trying the mom (dumplings) and paratha bread.

Sunday was Bareburger, we shared a Roadhouse bison burger and a Mediterranean lamb burger and only ate half of the gluten-free roll, but did have a homemade soda because of the yelp check-in offer.  Sunday night we took it easy with a premade salad from WF to which I added almonds and robusto cheese. We had wonderful chocolate chip cookies from Tate's Bake Shop that we also picked up in WF.

I convinced myself that the grains and dairy were balanced by the miles of brisk walking I did throughout midtown. Today it was Gaia for lunch, an intimate Italian cafe with quality food and prices I haven't seen in a decade...not to mention authentically delicious paninis...we did some walking around LES to work off the thin bread and stopped at il laboratorio del gelato for desert (honey lavender, apple calvados & espresso, banana chocolate chip).

We are heading back to Philadelphia and will have to forego some of these indulgences if we settle back into our sedentary auto dependent lives...