Candle 79 and my first half marathon!

Whew! Can it really be Sunday night already? The past 24 hours have been quite packed, and as much as I’d like to slow down for a moment, I know there won’t be much relaxing in the next 11 days. Time for the finals push!

Yesterday afternoon I headed uptown to meet my parents at their hotel. My dad brought up one of the packages that had arrived at home since Easter, which turned out to be some samples the nice people at Kardea sent me to try. My mom and I dug right in and split the cranberry almond flavor:

 

It was yummy! My mom absolutely LOVED it, and while it wasn’t the best bar I’ve ever tasted, it was still pretty tasty. I liked the texture most; it was dense and sticky, kind of like caramel. It was a very melt-in-your-mouth kind of bar, and though the ingredients list wasn’t as good as a Larabar, they weren’t bad either. It was something I’d buy again if I needed a snack in a pinch! I’m excited to try the other flavors. Thanks, Kardea!

Last night’s dinner at Candle 79 was incredible, to say the least. I’d loved the restaurant the first time I visited on my birthday, and my second visit was just as amazing. I know not everyone shared my opinion, but I think it’s the best vegan restaurant in New York!

While my parents split a bottle of organic wine, I chose a Green Goddess juice instead, No need to dehydrate myself before the race! It was a perfect blend of mixed greens, apple, lemon and ginger; I could definitely taste the greens, but the apple gave it just enough sweetness, as well.

To start, we got a complimentary tasting of the chef’s Arancini, a vegan take on the traditional Italian pork and rice balls:

These were made with tempeh, rice and Daia cheese, topped with some kind of tomato sauce. My dad was obsessed, and I couldn’t blame him!

We ordered two appetizers for the four of us to share: Angel’s nachos, and the special of the day, which was some kind of oyster mushroom fritter with pesto sauce.

Corn chips, cheddar and mozzarella, tomatoes, refried pinto beans, chili-grilled seitan, guacamole, salsa, tofu sour cream, romaine lettuce

Oyster mushroom fritters

We all know I passed on the fritters, because of my slightly ridiculous hatred for mushrooms, but I absolutely owned the nachos. How could I resist? I loved that they added chunks of seitan to the mix- most vegetarian nachos are kind of lackluster without the meat!

For my entrée, I chose the Mediterranean Tempeh Cake:

With truffled new potatoes, seasonal vegetables, preserved lemons, artichoke & olive salad

Holy yum. Tempeh is definitely my favorite vegetarian “meat replacement,” and this was the best I’ve ever had it prepared. It was creamy and flavorful; my dad kept commenting on how he couldn’t believe there was no butter or dairy in any of the dishes! I don’t think he’d ever believed me when I insisted that vegan food could be just as good as mainstream dishes.

The other entrees were a hit as well:

My mom’s ravioli filled with spinach and tofu ricotta cheese

My dad’s seitan piccata, with creamed spinach, grilled potato cake, oyster mushrooms, lemon-caper sauce

Mike’s pecan-crusted seitan with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus

Despite already being full, we each ordered a dessert as well. I broke with my normal chocolate obsession to order the strawberry-rhubarb pie, since it’s my favorite flavor!

With phyllo pastry, almond crumble, vanilla ice cream, berry coulis

Unsurprisingly, it was also delicious. Strawberry-rhubarb pie is one of my favorite warm-weather foods, so it was a great springtime dessert. I also sampled my mom’s Mexican chocolate brownie (which I ordered last time), and my dad’s chocolate-peanut butter bliss (which Mike also got). Overall, it was an absolutely excellent meal…I told my parents that Candle 79 is my favorite restaurant. Any place that can convince omnivores to enjoy vegan food is amazing in my book!

Mike and Me

I spent the night at my parents’ hotel in midtown so I would be closer to the race. Before I went to bed I made sure to get everything ready to go for the morning!

I woke up and had my usual bowl of cereal, which I’d brought from my apartment:

Kashi GoLean, sliced banana and Almond Dream almond milk

Funny sidenote about the bowl and spoon: when I was getting ready for bed, I realized that I didn’t have any utensils to eat my breakfast with. My dad went in search of some, but since the hotel’s restaurant was already closed, all he could find were some dirty ones left on a table. He brought them back anyway, and we washed them in the sink! Kinda gross, but I think I’ll live J

Unfortunately, as soon as I looked out the window, my spirits were dampened a bit (har har). The forecast had been predicting rain all week, but I’d held out hope that it would be wrong…

47°F and pouring? Not so much. We got to the race, and I was freezing within minutes. I tried to ignore the chill and focus on the race!

I forgot a raincoat, so I had to use my dad’s, circa 1990. Stylin’. I also look like I’m about to fall asleep.

I started off slowly, mostly due to the huge crowd at the beginning, then sped up a bit and kept a pretty consistent pace until mile 9, when I started to tire out a little. I managed to pick up the pace a bit towards the end though, and in the last .1 miles, caught a glimpse of the timer above the finish line counting up from 1:59:51. I absolutely sprinted out the last few yards, and crossed the finish line at 2:00:00 exactly. I’m still waiting on the official time to be posted, but I was excited to finish within two hours!

Butt shot- I’m in the light blue sweatshirt and black shorts

The first thing I did after finishing was to chug four cups of water, grab a bagel and a banana, and whip off my freezing and soaked sweatshirt and t-shirt. Mike generously offered me his fleece so I wouldn’t freeze. I gobbled down the banana and half the bagel before chucking it- I love bagels, but this one tasted like cardboard. After a warm shower to thaw out, we had a late breakfast at my parents’ hotel:

Three mini chocolate croissants (one of my favorite childhood foods!)

Fresh fruit salad with strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple

This afternoon, I would have loved nothing more than to curl up in bed and spend the afternoon drinking tea, napping, and watching The Hills marathon. Unfortunately, that evil little thing called school is still hanging around for the next two and a half weeks, so I got to work writing a French paper.

Strawberries with homemade chocolate sauce

Almost the entire five-serving bag of trail mix. This stuff is like crack, and when I’m hungry, there’s no stopping the addiction!

Despite the snack action, I was hungry again by five. I made the beastliest salad I’ve ever had:

 

Lettuce, two tomatoes, a cucumber, baby carrots, sliced green olives, half a block of baked Lightlife tofu, humnut sauce and salsa, all atop an Ezekiel tortilla

Apple with unpictured Maranatha PB for dipping

Baker’s dark chocolate block

Now it’s off to an evening church service, and then back to the grind…this week is going to be another rough one. Only 11 days until I’m officially done for the summer! Enjoy your Mondays!

Have you ever been to a vegan restaurant? What did you think of your experience there? Like I said, everything at Candle 79 was flawless in my opinion, but I’ve definitely had some “just okay” vegan meals.