I'm still here, I promise!

I haven't forgotten about you, blog. There's just been so much going on - lots of work, lots of travel - but I'm here, and I want to share the last few months with you.

I started the new year with a quick trip to New Orleans, where I had some of the best meals of my life. We ate at some amazing restaurants, where I gave most of my hard-earned money to John Besh, and it was totally worth every penny. AND we got to experience my first ever Mardi Gras parade. Our daily activities were planned around our meals (I mean, eating is an activity in NOLA) and in between meals, we explored the French Quarter, the Warehouse Arts District, the Garden District, and lots in between. We decided that five days just wasn't enough, and we'll have to make our way back. 

After returning from NOLA, I ate as much green food as I could - a girl can only eat so many beignets and drink so many cups of chicory coffee. I brunched with friends, explored new parts of the city, and geared up for IIN's annual conference. 

After months of planning, organizing, a weekend of 4:30am wake-up calls, and an overall extremely successful event, I was more than ready to escape for a long weekend.

Miami was beautiful and my body was thrilled to finally experience sun and sand. Highlights included a delicious breakfast, beautiful cocktails, and a morning of solitude on the bay.

After a whirlwind past few months, it felt great to get back to my normal routine. More homemade meals was the goal, and the easier, the better.

Breakfast-for-dinner is a great go-to, whether it's breakfast tacos with scrambled eggs, leftover cabbage slaw, + homemade guacamole, or toasted whole wheat sourdough with almond butter, banana, chia seeds, hemp seeds, maple syrup + cinnamon.

Or, one-pot tofu coconut curry with light coconut cream, vegetable stock, tofu, + all the vegetables I could thrown in.

As I've said in a previous post, I'm continuously exploring my new home of BK (+ NYC). Even though I get to enjoy NOLA coffee here in my own apartment, I'm afraid I've caught the travel bug this year. I can't wait for my next non-local adventure!

Learning to Balance

When I was looking for an apartment, my non-negotiable was a decent-sized kitchen. I ended up with an amazing kitchen, which for the past four months, has been used mainly to heat up leftovers, cook Sunday brunch, and bake the occasional batch of brownies. Whenever I'm in my kitchen not cooking, I feel a pang of guilt: what is this kitchen doing here if I'm not going to be spending my free time cooking, taking awesome pictures, and then posting here for you all to learn new recipes?

But then I attempt to justify: Nina, you just moved into one of the most amazing cities in the country, so why would you spend all of your free time inside when there's so much to explore (and eat)!?

So herein lies my dilemma. As much as I enjoy grocery shopping at local markets and cooking up fun and interesting meals for myself, I also enjoy wandering around my new neighborhood(s) and sampling the amazing food they have to offer.

While I may feel guilty for not cooking as much as I used to, and for not posting here as much as I would like to, I shouldn't feel guilty for embracing my new home. 

Here is my confession to all of you: I, Nina, do not usually cook dinner. I like to eat leftovers from work, often having the same meal twice in one day. I like to go out to dinner, and brunch, and cocktails, and I unapologetically enjoy every single minute of it.

I know that eventually, I'll find the balance that's right for me, and for this blog. But for now, dinner will sometimes look like the above (I mean, who wouldn't want that!?), and sometimes, groceries will consist of a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, two bars of chocolate and a bottle of $5 wine.

This is only the beginning of my adventure and while I have lots of BK terrain to cover this summer, my love for cooking will still prevail.