Fabulous Trial Mix

I am fascinated with dry fruits right now and seem to be gathering bags of them wherever I go. 

I picked up dried mango slices, dried cranberries, dried black raisins from a Indian grocery store the other day. Also picked up dried apricots and figs from a middle eastern grocery store. In figuring out what to do with these, I looked up trail mix recipes and came up with one. You have to try it to know how great it is... beats  the urge for candy at my 3pm slumps. 

Mix

1/3 cup of dried mango slices chopped

1/3 cup of dried apricots chopped

1/3 cup of dried figs chopped

1/4 cup of dried cranberries

1/4 cup of dried black raisins

1 1/2 cup of roasted unsalted sunflower seeds

1 cup of walnuts

Makes about 16 servings of 1/4 cup each, which comes to about a 100 calorie snack. 

I'm sure any fruit and nut combination works here, so try this and let me know if you try any other fabulous variations. 

Akoya@Pearl in Philly

Went to Akoya last night. A true "fusion" restaurant. I would say a classic American menu with Asian twist. You can get sliders with wasabi mayo. Sangria with Sake, tacos with sushi grade whitefish tuna on top and so on. We had the tacos and the sliders to start. My hubby got crab green curry pad thai which I thought was amazing. It had very profound taste of ginger and the sauce was very light and not overpowering. 

I got crispy orange duck with bok choy, which I was not very impressed with. The duck looked like it was done a little rare and was not crispy.The rice had a bite to it. I would have just preferred bok choy without the rice.

We got Creme brule and chocolate cake with mango icecream for dessert. They were good but not great. 

For drinks I got Kakujo Sake which had caramelized pear and ginger flavour. I love anything fruity or flowery so I loved this. I also got the Sake Sangria which was full of berries and not bad but looked slimy. I probably would have enjoyed their cocktail with Champagne, pear absolute and elderflower water better, coz I love the bubbly. 

Chocolate in SOHO...

If you are ever in SOHO, NYC and love chocolate, you have to try this place...

mariebelle.com

They have  a store which sells chocolate in the front, but if you walk back u'll see a nice cafe with marble tables and Victorian chairs. The spicy Hot chocolate is ultimate and their molten chocolate cake is excellent. Worth one week of dieting I'd say. 

Ultimate Peanut Butter...

I've become a peanut butter junkie lately. I have it for lunch or straight out of the jar on my 'dieting can wait' days. In the process I tried this place. Love their peanut butters.

http://www.spreadtherestaurant.com/

These are the ones I tried so far and loved them

No. 100: Dark Chocolate Lavender Peanut Spread
No. 45: Milk Chocolate Cherry Almond Spread
No. 94: Truffle Peanut Spread
No. 5: Hot Chile Peanut Spread
No. 32: Cinnamon & Silver Goji Berry Peanut Spread
No. 37: Mexican Chocolate Almond Spread
No. 7: Dark Chocolate Espresso Peanut Spread
No. 68: Dark Chocolate Chile Peanut Spread
Herbal Therapy Gift Pack

Let me know if you guys know of any other great nut butters to try...