Organic, Summer Fridays and Joah

I saw two articles on Friday, one titled "The Clean 15: Foods You Don't Have to Buy Organic" and "The Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods to Buy Organic." I wanted to document those foods here for future reference for myself.

The Clean 15:

1. Onion

2. Avocado

3. Sweet Corn

4. Pineapple

5. Mango

6. Asparagus

7. Sweet Peas

8. Kiwi

9. Cabbage

10. Eggplant

11. Papaya

12. Watermelon

13. Broccoli

14. Tomato

15. Sweet Potato

The Dirty Dozen:

1. Meat

2. Milk

3. Coffee

4. Celery

5. Peaches

6. Strawberries

7. Apples

8. Blueberries

9. Nectarines

10. Bell Peppers

11. Spinach

12. Kale

13. Cherries

14. Potatoes

15. Grapes

16. Leafy Greens

17. Carrots

18. Pears

19. Tomato (this was on the dirty list in prior years but is on the clean list this year so I think I will stick to organic on this one).

As I numbered these, I realized that there are more than a dozen on the dirty list. That is due to some items which were on the list in prior years, but are not on the list this year.

One of the (many) perks in working at Pfizer is Summer Fridays. The name is a bit misleading, as they last a lot longer than summer - anytime we are on Daylight Savings Time, then we have Summer Fridays. So, from April through October we are done by 2pm every Friday. Obviously if we are in earnings season than we work until we have our work done, but the rest of the time we take advantage of this policy. A few Fridays ago I spent my afternoon just walking around the Upper West Side since I have not spent a whole lot of time in that part of Manhattan. This last Friday I took a book and my Bible and headed to Central Park. This was my view for the afternoon:

And then on Saturday night I got to hang out with this guy:

His mom turned 30 last week, so his parents went out to dinner to celebrate. Joah is almost two months old and I love holding him since he is so little right now.

Black Bean Confetti Salad

Now that I have a "normal"job and work "normal"hours, I have been cooking a bit more. Also with my new job, I am able to have more of a life outside of work. On Thursday nights, a couple from church has what is called "Family Dinner." Basically, someone makes dinner or they order out. Eric and Laura (the hosts) also have a sweet apartment WITH a backyard so we get to eat outside on these nice summer nights (and watch fireflies while we are eating).

Given my diet (which is about to become very strict starting in September) I made my own dinner for tonight. I was looking on the internet for something different, and I found the black bean confetti salad:

2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and well-rinsed

4 bell peppers, a mix of colors, chopped into a small dice

1/2 super-large or 1 medium white onion, chopped into a small dice

Juice of one lime

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Optional: If you’re the kind of person who loves cilantro, it’s a great match for this salad.

Mix beans, bell peppers and white onion in a large bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk remaining ingredients into a vinaigrette. Ideally, you’ll have a 1/2 cup of dressing. Pour it over the bean mixture, toss it well and adjust seasonings to taste.

I obviously didn't make the amount called for above, and I added ingredients like mango, avocado and tomato. I also did no measuring on the dressing ingredients, but I did use all of them.

It looks like confetti to me and was very good.

My July

Here is a recap of highlights of July:

July 2nd - My last day at KPMG.

July 3rd - One of my co-workers from KPMG is a professional lacrosse player. He plays for the Chicago Machine and he was selected to be on the USA team for the Lacrosse World Cup in Manchester, England. Mike was one of the associates on my main NYC client and our engagement team spent a LOT of time together. The Machine were in Long Island for this Saturday so a group of us from work all went to watch Mike play.

Nico, Younes, Raghav, Chris, Mike, Dan and I - we were all on NexCen together last year and this year. Dan had our shirts made for the game.

July 4th - we went to the West Side Highway to watch the fireworks. We got there early and got all set up. As soon as we were sitting on our blanket, the NYPD came over and was telling everyone "no blankets, no chairs." Everyone thought that was ridiculous and no one moved. We still wonder what the issue is with sitting on a blanket on the ground???

Jeff, Adam, Lauren and me.

Almost dark. Lauren and Adam are friends from church - they moved to the city from Louisville a couple of months ago.

July 17th and 24th - Long Beach. These two Saturdays are at the top of my list for my best summer Saturdays in NYC. Long Beach is on Long Island, and it is only about a 45 minute train ride from the City. We meet at Penn Station at 9am for the 9:45 train. On the first Saturday we brought the 6:30 train back and the second Saturday we brought the 5:30 train back. They were both such great days!

Julianna, Me, Joe, Jessica Joy and Amanda - Joe and the ladies :)

Jessica Joy is a really good friend of mine (and she is my cat-sitter when I go on trips).

Jessica Joy and Joe.

At the end of the day, we were all sitting there chatting before it was time to go. Suddenly, I feel something hit my face - thank goodness I had my sunglasses on, otherwise I think it would have been in my eye. GROSS!!!

Once we got back in the City, this was the 6 train that I took back to my stop. It is advertising the new (and first) Target that just opened in Manhattan. I made my first trip today.

Part of our group the second Saturday at the beach.

July 31 - Diamondbacks - Mets Game. Even though the D-backs are awful this year, it is still fun to go watch them play at an away game.

Jon, Me, Zach and Tina. The "Big Apple" that is in front of the stadium.

Tina, Elina and I. Tina went to ASU for about a year, and Elina grew up in Chandler and is a graduate of ASU.

I can't believe it is already the middle of August. When I was at Target and Costco today, they have all of their winter coats and boots out - the summer is almost over :(

Honduras - June 23rd

This was our last full day in Honduras. We got up early and went to the beach one last time for a couple of hours. Kyle and I got in a good snorkeling session. We came back and packed up to go to the ferry back to the mainland.

One last picture on the balcony.

We took the ferry back from Roatan to the mainland, and then we took a taxi to the bus station. We caught a bus from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula. This was a pretty long bus ride - we bought some mangoes from this kid at one of the stops. The kids would all come up to the side of the bus and sell various things.

We made it to our hotel in San Pedro Sula around 10pm. The next day Mom, Dad and I flew back to NYC and Kyle took a bus back to his site. It was a fun trip - thanks Kyle for hosting and translating!

Honduras - June 22nd

On this morning, Kyle and I went back to the West End because Kyle wanted to do a dive, and they said that I could go out on the boat and snorkel. After scuba diving and snorkeling, we walked back to West Bay and met mom and dad at the beach. We stayed there for a bit, and decided to go back to the hotel to relax for a while. We came back down to the beach later in the afternoon because we wanted to watch the sun set from the beach.

This is the life...

Family picture at sunset.

Watching the sun set on another great day of vacation.

charity: water

Tonight at church we had a guest speaker, Scott Harrison, from charity: water. He founded this organization in 2006, and it has been able to provide about 1 million people in developing countries with clean water. He talked about his story and how he got started - you can hear him give a short version of that here (I know it is 15 minutes, but it is well worth the time). There is also a public service announcement that they put together here - it shows people in NYC walking with their jerry cans to Central Park to get water.

After being in Honduras, that brown water is what really comes out of the faucets there (and in other developing countries). And I saw numerous people walking around with their jerry cans looking for water during our trip. Fortunately where Kyle is at, there is a well somewhere because he can go to the store and buy drinking water. We were so careful in all the Honduran locations we visited to not use the tap water to brush our teeth, wash vegetables and of course we would never drink it. BUT, 1 billion people don't have any other option - I was so thankful to get to my apartment in NYC after being in Honduras and having to worry about the tap water.

I have already decided I will be giving up my birthday this year (if you watch Scott's story you will know what I am talking about).