Food & Fitness: Real Food and Real People
Hi all! It’s Friday and guess what!? It’s Memorial Day weekend! Woo hoo! Three day weekend AND the kickoff to summer! I’ll be working on my 99 Days of Summer this weekend! What are you up to? Whether you are at the beach, city or countryside this weekend, I hope you enjoy!
Two huge winners this week:
Steak with purple potatoes and “creamed” spinach courtesy of Blue Apron. I loved cutting up the purple potatoes, with their rich and vibrant hue they just made me feel healthier! The spinach was actually made with garlic, red pepper flakes and some parmesan cheese so not really creamed but definitely delicious.
This arugula pizza with sweet potato and caramelized onions. I wasn’t sure about a béchamel sauce on a pizza but it turned out amazing. Also courtesy of Blue Apron.
Tonight we are driving up to my parents’ house on Cape Cod so dinner will most likely be take out. My new favorite is called Dig Inn. They are a farm to table takeaway restaurant and everything there is so good! You pick a size (small or large) and then you get a protein (chicken, beef, meatballs, tofu or just veggies) and then you get sides like brussel sprouts, quinoa salad, kale salad, chickpeas and cauliflower or roasted sweet potatoes, to name a few. It is always fresh and tastes amazing!
I’m committing to walking home from work about once a week now that the weather is nice. Since I live all the way on the East Side, I can walk along the East River and it’s actually quite pleasant. I walked home this week on Tuesday. It takes me almost an hour to go from my office on 47th and 3rd to my apartment on 90th and York. Not too shabby!
Also on the menu this week? Zumba (lots and lots of Zumba!), my last tennis lesson, yoga and pilates.
Have you guys heard this latest controversy? I was interested because it involves dancers. I started training in ballet when I was 5 years old and was in a dance company in college. I danced on pointe for years and it is tough! Basically this ad by Free People Movement for their new clothing line sparked controversy because the model is clearly not a well-trained dancer. I watched the video and it’s true, her feet are terrible and her lines are not great and there is one shot where she isn’t even all the way up on her toes on pointe. I’m no prima ballerina, but even my skills are better than hers. It caused a huge uproar among dance professionals who questioned why the brand would choose a model to achieve a certain “look” over someone who had actual skills.
I think they have a pointe (ha pun intended). If you are marketing dance clothing, best not piss off those you are marketing to. And dancers are notoriously slim and well built, so I’m not sure why the company would not have chosen a dancer over a model. It got me thinking about real people versus models. The article mentions two other instances, one where a model was used and the other where a real dancer was used. It is one thing to be able to see how nice the clothes fit a slim model, but for my fitness clothes, I want to know they work. Plus, I want to be inspired by seeing someone who not only looks great but is doing something great. I love love love getting my Athleta catalog and I read the whole thing just to look at the photos of the models doing yoga and other sports. It is inspiring!
Readers, what do you think: models or real people? What are your plans this weekend? Do you ever walk or bike for your commute?