My Year With Eleanor

Ever since I graduated, I have been reading more than I did while I was in school. I have come across some amazing books lately that I want to share with you. Every couple of weeks I'm going to share some of my favorite books I have recently read. I just finished reading My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock. I began reading this book after my friend Alexa gave it to me and it is AMAZING.

It is about a woman who lives in New York and was laid off from her job as a celebrity blogger. After writing about other people's lives for so long, she realizes she has forgotten how to live her own life. Over the years she had allowed fear to control her life. It got so bad to where she was afraid to go to dinner parties with her boyfriend anymore. One day on the chalkboard in her local coffee shop she saw the quote "Do one thing every day that scares you." by Eleanor Roosevelt. This simple statement resonated with Noelle and she decided to dedicate the next year of her life to conquering her fears. 

While reading her book, I not only related to her, but I also began to think about all the things in life that scare me. Reading her book was very inspirational and has been encouraging me to force myself out of my comfort zone and do things I normally wouldn't do. (A blog about some of these things will be coming shortly.)

I highly recommend everyone read this book even if you don't have a problem with fear. It is relatable, hilarious, comforting, encouraging and purely entertaining. You won't want to put it down, I promise.

Today my salad was comprised of broccoli rabe, quinoa, cranberries, tomatoes, grilled chicken and raspberry dressing. It was delicious!

J. G. Melon's

In past blogs I have told you how much I have wanted to try J. G. Melon's, well it finally happened. It has been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Burgers by Bobby Flay. This past Sunday Erica and I decided to walk a few blocks over from our apartment and wait the 30 minutes for a table to finally try it.

When we walked inside, it was very crowded. We found the man at the end of the bar taking people's table requests. He was not the most polite man I have ever met, but then again I am in New York. The restaurant is very small and has a cozy feeling to it. The place is decorated in an old school way that is nostalgic and comforting. The kitchen is set up to where it is across from the bar and you can see them cooking. We waited by the bar (the only place you can wait inside) and stared as we saw all the food come out. Since we were both starving, this was probably the hardest part. About 98% of the food that came out was hamburgers, so we instantly knew that's what we wanted.

When we finally sat down, all the tables were pushed as close together as possible. Luckily we were in the corner so we had a little more room than the people next to us. When the waitress came to our table, Erica and I immediately ordered. She ordered a plain hamburger, I ordered the cheeseburger and we split an ordered of cottage house fries. We were so hungry and ready to try these burgers all we could talk about while we waited was the food. Every time a waitress came into the room with food we were desperately hoping it was ours.

When ours finally came, we instantly started dressing our burgers and fries. Between the first and last bites, literally the only words that were spoken were "oh my goodness this is amazing" and at the end we both agreed it was the best burger we had ever had. It has to be true because I don't think I have ever gone a whole meal without talking because the food was so amazing (actually I don't think I have ever gone a whole meal without talking period). Oh and sorry the pictures are so dark!

After the burger, we decided to split a piece of pecan pie. The waitress brought it out and we quickly devoured it as well. The pie was warm and gooey, but still had the crunchiness of the pecans. The only thing that would have made it better was a big scoop of Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream.

On most occasions I am not a huge hamburger person. I don't enjoy ordering them at restaurants because they always fall apart on you and are never overly amazing. J. G. Melon's forever changed my mind.

Erica and I can't decide if it's a good thing we live so close or a bad thing. I think I could have one of their hamburgers every week, but I don't know how much my body would like that. We decided it would at least become a monthly tradition to eat there though.

Today I decided to eat my salad in Central Park while I read my new book Alexa bought me. I had a salad with spinach leaves, blackened onions, watercress, beets, cannelloni beans and Italian dressing. To my amazement I found out I actually love beets!

Earthquakes & Hurricanes

As many of you have heard over the past week there was not only an earthquake in New York City (technically the aftershock of the one that happened in Virginia), but also a hurricane headed our way as well. While most people in the city freaked out, being from Texas I didn't really let either one phase me too much.

First I'll start with the earthquake. Despite New Yorkers freaking out, nothing really happened. I was sitting on the roof at work eating lunch and the building started shaking. As I sat there with a few people we wondered what could possibly be the cause. About 30 seconds later, it stopped and we went on with lunch. A few minutes later a friend from Texas texted me about it.

Here is how the conversation went: Him: "Earthquake much?" Me: "Ok was there one just in New York? I felt it and had no clue what it was." Him: "Haha yeah the news is already all over it." And that was about as much as I freaked out. While yes I understand earthquakes aren't supposed to happen here, I don't really understand why everyone else here freaked out so much.

Growing up about 20 minutes from the Gulf Coast taught me in a way to be numb to hurricanes. This past week was no different. While the rest of the city (along with my roommate's family) was worried we were going to lose power and the city was going to flood, I continued to think it wasn't that big of a deal. I know the weather man's tricks to scare everyone into thinking they are going to be without water or electricity for weeks and to stay glued to the television to make their fears even worse. We don't have TV at my apartment, so I didn't really have to worry about that thank goodness. Also, I knew by the time it reached us it would be so much weaker nothing was really going to happen.

I did the necessary precautions of buying some dry food, water (to humor my parents), chocolate and about 6 bottles of wine (you can never have too many). Erica and I hung out at home Saturday night thinking it would begin to rain or something would happen since most of the city had shut down. We drank wine, ate chocolate and watched movies on her computer. By this point we were dying for a TV. After a very uneventful evening, we went to sleep hoping more would happen tomorrow.

Not only was the hurricane not a big deal like I had predicted, I slept right through it without even knowing it happened. I woke up and was still waiting for it to come and Erica told me it already had. I was in a way slightly disappointed because I was hoping for at least something semi-dramatic since there had been so much hype in the city. Also, we were hoping we wouldn't have to go to work on Monday.

After being in our apartment for so long we were going a little crazy. We decided to walk around the city to see if we could find any damage. We walked about 45 blocks south and over to the river. Most of the city was still closed and it was extremely eerie to see the streets so empty. The weather was nice and cool with a strong breeze. The walk felt amazing and afterwards we ate at J.G. Melon's for dinner (another blog will come about this place later in the week).

I understand that the hurricane was devastating in some areas and don't mean to make light of it in any way. It's just that in our area, absolutely nothing happened and with all the hype by media and New Yorkers I was slightly disappointed. I am happy that Erica and I are both safe and nothing happened to our apartment. I'm also happy I bought food I will eat either way and now I hope they'll let me return the flashlights/batteries.


I already had one friend inform me he didn't really care to read about my salads, but it's only day two and I already tried to get out of eating one for lunch. I decided I would post what I ate at the bottom of each entry to hold me accountable, so if you don't care, don't read this part. Today I had spinach leaves with garbanzo beans, sunflower seeds, green olives, and roasted tomatoes, onions, cauliflower and mushrooms with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was much better than yesterdays choice.

A Salad A Day

This week I decided to challenge myself to eat a salad a day. While this might sound strange to most of you, first let me tell you I'm not a huge fan of salads. I just can't wrap my mind around them being a "real" meal. To me a salad is like an appetizer. Something you eat, but it doesn't fill you up and it is never really overly satisfying.

I have really tried to like salads in the past, but I have never been successful. I love trying new foods and ordering a salad off a menu is not my idea of enjoying a delicious meal. I can eat a salad and afterwards be completely full, but to me it is still a waste of a meal. It never gives me the feeling of being like "oh my goodness that was amazing" or "wow that was so delicious" or "that was one of the best things I have ever eaten." Instead my responses are more like "why did I just waste my meal on a salad?" or "I'm full, but now I want something that is actually tasty" or "I don't understand how people eat this and feel satisfied."

When I go to the cafeteria at work there are two rooms, the room with hot food and the room with the salad bar. Usually for me it's a no brainer to go into the room with the hot food. I mean who wouldn't rather have pork tenderloin, fried chicken, pizza or pasta over a salad? Surprisingly though, the salad line is always the longest. It made me begin to wonder what everyone finds so amazing about them (besides them being healthy). This is when I decided I needed to change my perspective on salads.

Since this is my last week at work, I decided I am going to eat at least one salad every day. (I'm still debating if I want to do it for two weeks because I don't know how much that will cost when I don't have a job, but I'm for sure doing it this week.) I am going to try one with different toppings and dressing each time. I figure maybe I can train myself to enjoy eating salads. I mean they are healthier and more nutritious than most of the other foods I eat, so why not. I am determined to at least learn to appreciate salads and who knows, maybe one day they will be my go-to meal at restaurants.

Today I ordered a salad with artichoke hearts, black olives, mushrooms, purple onions and fresh mozzarella with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. It was ok I guess. The best part was the free bread roll and lemonade that came with it.

Name Change

I was bored at work the other day and decided to explore other people's blogs. I mean I always want new people to read mine, so why not read someone else's right? As I was doing this I realized how many blogs there really are out there. Obviously I already knew there were like a million out there, but just clicking "next blog" over and over because they all looked uninteresting and weird made it even more real.

As I was clicking through blogs, I saw many that had to do with families, food, health, etc. I would read each title of the blog and then what it was about. I found some to be very clever and some very lame. It made me wish I had been more creative with my name. I started my blog the night before I moved to New York and only did it because my mom kept begging me to. I figured I wouldn't keep it that long and no one would read it but her.

Well now that friends (at least the ones I force to) read it, I decided it was time for a better blog name. I brainstormed with Alexa the other night and we came up with "Life North of the Mason Dixon." It may not be the best name ever, but I figured I could try it out and see how I liked it.

Now that I renamed my blog, I also want a better background and header. I unfortunately have no idea how to use html or how to make my blog look awesome. I have an idea of what I would like it to look like, but I don't know how to do it myself. So if there is anyone that would like to help me, by all means, let me know!

Long Week Ahead

Ever since I moved I have been the farthest thing from healthy that's possible. I have been eating any and every kind of sweet known to man on a daily basis, I have been eating all other sorts of unhealthy food and I haven't worked out once. I have been trying to ignore this because I wasn't really ready to give up chocolate yet. Well after being sick of waking up and feeling disgusting, it finally changed. Sunday I started a Total Body Rapid Cleanse.

There are a couple dozen different types of cleanses ranging from liver to smoking cleanses and they can last from one week to a whole month. After reading up on them, I found out they not only help get rid of toxins, but also help with dry/oily skin, fatigue, low energy, weight gain, headaches/migraines, brain fog, allergies and more I won't go into here.

 I decided it would be a good idea and help give me a fresh healthy start for Fall. I went to the health food store across the street from my apartment to look at the different types they had and to finally purchase one (I had been putting this off for like two weeks). The cleanse lasts for seven days and eliminates every impurity/toxin from my body. I figure having never done one, there is plenty of stuff I could get rid of that has built up over the past 22 years.

I take two pills in the morning and at night, along with a fiber powder mixed in water. This part really isn't so bad, except for having to drink water nonstop throughout the day. (In case you didn't know, I'm not a huge fan of water and only really started drinking it semi-consistently within the past year or so.) What's the not so fun part is the diet. There is a great deal of food I'm not supposed to eat and very few things I can eat. I can eat eggs, fruits, vegetables, fish, almonds, organic chicken and pasta made with buckwheat. So that means no sweets, no milk (I'm dying), no cheese, no starches, no carbs, no caffeine (it's already killing me at work), no alcohol and a whole bunch of other delicious stuff is off limits too. While the diet isn't required, following it will help ensure the cleanse works properly and I get my money's worth.

I'm halfway through the cleanse and I'm slightly dying. Not having coffee in the morning is probably the toughest part. I pretty much live off my skinny caramel latte from Starbucks. (Unfortunately I used up my last gift card. I have gone through $75 in about four weeks if that tells you anything.) Every day at work it takes all I have to be able to focus on even the tiniest tasks. The cleanse says it's supposed to give you a metabolic jump start and energy, but I'm not seeing it yet. I'm exhausted constantly and just want to crawl in bed and sleep all the time.

Also, every time I drink a glass of water at home, I crave a tall glass of milk. I pass by bakeries and it takes everything I have not to go buy a Black & White cookie. Yes I know I sound semi-pathetic, but I think it's just because I know I'm not supposed to have any of it that is making me crave it even more.

Tonight is Alexa's birthday celebration, so I'm going to cheat a little bit and have a drink or two. I already cheated this morning, too, and stopped at Starbucks for a tall coffee. I decided it was either that or I was going to make up an excuse to leave work early to take a nap before tonight. Plus to make myself feel better, I said it was in honor of Alexa's birthday.

I hope it will get better and if not, at least I tried. I'll let you know at the end of day seven how I feel and if you should go purchase one for yourself!

Another Week of Soup

After looking through multiple recipes, I decided to cook another soup this week to take to work. I understand summer isn't exactly the best time to be cooking soup, but it's inexpensive and lasts a while. Once I get my food processor, I plan on making Gazpacho. If anyone has a good recipe, please send it my way! 

After looking through The Family Chef cookbook, I finally decided which soup I wanted to make. Below are some pictures and the recipe from the cookbook. It's very healthy and almost tastes like a pasta fagioli. There are things I would do differently next time, but overall it was yummy. Enjoy!

Jewels' Favorite Soup Jill Makes

Serves 6-8

3 15-ounce cans of cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed

6 cups of chicken stock

4 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped in a medium dice

2 ribs of celery, chopped in medium dice

4 ripe large tomatoes, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Place beans, stock and garlic in a large pot on the stove. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and continue to cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the skillet is warm, add the olive oil and saute the onion and celery for 5-6 minutes until soft and translucent. Next, add the tomatoes and salt and continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes.

3. Add the vegetables mixture and parsley to beans. Cook another 15 minutes or so to meld the flavors together. Serve with Parmesan cheese. 

Tips: 

-Feel free to add leftover chicken or small pasta noodles to the soup as well. 

- Add some spice by throwing in 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper when cooking the vegetables. If you don't want something that spicy, be sure to at least add salt and pepper or it will be bland.

-If you don't have fresh tomatoes, chop up some canned San Marzano tomatoes.