"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

Hello pretties, and happy humpday! My title is a quote printed on the menu at Candle 79, where I went tonight for my birthday dinner...but let me start from the beginning!

Last night ended up being so fun! We went to a great little Italian restaurant in the Bronx to celebrate with a bunch of friends. I ordered an individual pizza margherita (my favorite!), and also munched some awesome bread dipped in olive oil and a few glasses of wine :) The only bad part was that the service was horrible- the restaurant was empty and it still took over an hour to get our food. Upside to this? We were comped two bottles of wine and a round of limoncello shots. Score! The only foodie pic I took was of my (first) slice of cake:

Chocolate mousse cake, made by my friend who goes to the French Culinary Institute. She is now my idol.

Overall, it was a great night! I made it home pretty early and woke up blessedly hangover free. (I'm not a big drinker, but I'm a huge lightweight.) Breakfast was a new kind of cereal:

Nature's Path SmartBran cereal with blueberries and Almond Dream

This cereal is delicious! It tastes exactly like Rice Krispies, only with super impressive nutritional stats (only 8 ingredients and 13 g fiber per serving? I had two!). Plus, the fiber makes it way more filling than the usual puffed rice cereals. Definitely a keeper.

After breaky, I headed to the gym for 15 min on the elliptical and another round of Gina's Winter Shape Up. Is it bad that I get seriously sore from doing this? My mom has osteoporosis, so my parents keep telling me how important it is to strength train!

Lunch was a a blog favorite that made a perfect celebratory lunch: oats in a jar!

Remnants of a jar of Maranatha PB (a little more than 2 T, maybe?)

  

Steel-cut oats with 1 c Almond Dream, sliced banana, and raisins

This definitely lived up to the hype! The last few bites were the best- full of sticky PB goodness! I need to get cracking on some more jars! I also ate a Fuji apple and some baby carrots for fruit + veg intake.

Between my two afternoon classes, I made myself a salad snack:

Baby romaine, large tomato, crumbled Mary's Gone Crackers and 1/4 c Tribe Hummus

I was still a little hungry on my way to class, so I grabbed an unpictured vegan chocolate chip cookie at a deli...hey, it's my birthday!

A few hours later, Mike came down for my birthday dinner. His mom had recommended Candle 79, a vegan restaurant on the Upper East Side, and I'd been looking forward to it for weeks!

Let's just say it definitely did not disappoint. I can't even begin to describe how creative and delicious everything was. Even Mike loved it, and he loves his meat! To start, I had a cranberry lemonade made with cranberries, lemon and agave. So. Freaking. Good. The food only got better:

Vegetable Nori Rolls: pickled ginger, avocado wasabi, chipotle aioli and tamari-ginger sauce

Mike's Fall Harvest Paella, with valencia rice, seitan sausage and red pepper sauce; my Live Celeriac Ravioli (which was raw!) with spinach-cashew ricotta, pine nut peso, sundried tomato sauce and broccoli rabe; onion rings with chipotle aioli to share

Dessert (best part by far!): Mike's Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss with chocolate and PB mousses, a chocolate shell and raspberry sauce; my Mexican Chocolate Brownie, with carmelized banana, coconut ice cream, toasted pecans and chocolate-ancho sauce

Holy. Yum. This was seriously some of the best food I've ever had! The brownie especially probably made the top 5 desserts I've ever eaten. And it was all natural, vegan goodness! Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in NY!

After dinner, we came back to my apartment and Mike gave me the perfect present: a sterling silver necklace with a Titanic charm! Anyone who read Sunday's post knows how perfect this was. He also gave me a few jars of baking supplies (cinnamon, vanilla, ginger and an apron), as well as some chocolate. He knows me too well :) I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

The quote on the menu at the restaurant made me think a lot about the choices we make and how they affect the future. I'm by no means a passionate environmentalist, but since becoming more educated about food production in America, I've come to realize that eating local and organic foods, as well as cutting back on animal products, makes a huge impact on the environment as well as on our bodies. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with eating meat or processed foods- heck, I love to eat junk sometimes as much as the next person, and even though I don't eat meat, it's more for taste than anything else- but making an effort to eat the way nature intended us to is beneficial both for us and our surroundings. One of my favorite quotes is Michael Pollen's "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I'm not claiming to be any kind of environmental saint, but the quote made me think about how I want my children to be able to enjoy the same kind of earth I do!

Well, I'm off to bed! After last night's fun, I definitely need a good night's sleep! Have a great Thursday!

What is your favorite quote? What inspires you to go above and beyond what's expected of you? And what was your most memorable birthday?