How Your Diet Influences Your Good and Bad Habits

Eating right is one of those good habits that some people seem to stick to naturally while others struggle. But the truth of the matter is that good habits gain momentum. And the more good habits you have, the more good habits you’re likely to adopt.

And if you’re looking to turn over a new leaf, diet is a great place to start. Good nutrition can actually have an impact on your ability or likelihood of adopting more good habits.

In this post, we’re going to explore how your diet influences good and bad habits.

May282020

Tavolino’s is Open!

No need to add any fluff to this one; we’re getting right to the point. Tavolino’s, one of our favorite spots in New Orleans, is open for take-out. They re-opened yesterday and we were there to greet them. Alana has been craving their goods for quite some time and I don’t think anyone can blame her. They make some of the best pizza in the city, their drink selection is one-of-a-kind, and the atmosphere is hard to match. They have a few socially distanced tables available out front, but take-out was the most popular option, according to our observations last night.

Feb142020

Be Your Own Valentine!

Every single year, we take a glimpse on social media and see our streams filled with a complete variety of statuses on Valentine’s Day. They range from extremely happy to very sad. Fortunately, for us, we’ve been able to share the past nine together. While we usually avoid presents (since we go so crazy on our birthday and Christmas), we’re not shy about enjoying a really nice dinner together. Last year we enjoyed a meal at celebrity chef Scott Conant’s The Ponte in Los Angeles. (I just learned that is is permanently closed.) It was both romantic and delicious. This year, tonight, we’re going to Gabrielle Restaurant, here in New Orleans. We’re looking forward to it.

Whether you have someone to spend the night with, and regardless if you do or don’t have plans, we want you to take a moment to value the most important person in your life… YOU!

May072019

Dumpling Monster (WeHo, Los Angeles)

Head over to Dumpling Monster while you still can; soon there will be lines out the door and prices will increase! Years and years ago, we wrote one of the first reviews for Sunny Blue. Even though we don’t (and shouldn’t) take any credit for their success, when we first started going there, there weren’t any lines whatsoever. Once it got popular, there’d often be a thirty minute wait and eventually the quality even dipped a bit. The two founders opened another location in Culver City and were rarely at the Main Street Santa Monica location ever. We were thrilled for their success, but it lost the magic it once had.

Something similar might happen with Dumpling Monster. The prices are great and the food is both fresh and flavorful. Most dumpling spots are either dirty hole in the walls or really high-end spots with long waits, like the two in Century City Mall. This is the perfect middle ground. It is clean, well organized and easy to access. It isn’t very busy because the shop is hiding behind a pet boarding facility on Santa Monica Blvd, but once people discover this spot it will be busy.

We first tried it for delivery and were thrilled with the price and quality of the food. We decided to go into their physical location and found the overall experience equally exceptional. My only issue was that the crispy beef roll was served with a side of sriracha. Since their other dumpling dipping sauces are complex flavor profiles, this was disappointing. Fortunately, the roll itself was so good that it didn’t need sauce.

It is only a matter of time before their delivery wait times increase, their small seating area is packed and their prices go up. It is hard to predict if the quality goes up or down, but you should definitely try it sooner than later. Being on top of the game, or in front of the pack, helps you stay hungry and fit.

They travel really well! We recommend delivery for those lazy nights.

And make sure to ask for extra dipping sauce. I usually run out halfway through an order.

Sep232018

Instant Pot Fish Curry

If you’ve been anywhere near Fit’s social media recently, you’ve noticed she got an Instant Pot for her birthday! She is equally terrified and excited by it. An Instant Pot is basically a pressure cooker. For example, it typically takes 30-50 minutes to cook rice in a traditional rice cooker. With the Instant Pot, it takes four minutes. FOUR MINUTES. WHAT. Yeah. Very exciting. But also terrifying because…explosions. As long as you follow directions, you’ll be fine! So Fit’s been experimenting with it for a bit, and trying different recipes. Using Instant Pot’s included recipe booklet (recipe by Laura Pazzaglia), she made a scrumptious fish curry! I had already made brown rice before and wanted something healthy and flavorful to go with it. What better than wild caught white fish? This curry has a coconut milk base with different flavors like bay leaves and tomatoes to freshen it up.

Remember, with an Instant Pot, follow the directions!

May292018

Easy Chickpea Curry

Watch out, another “Indian” recipe! This time from Martha Stewart (ha!). Though nobody would venture to say Martha Stewart is Indian, I also think nobody would say she’s a poor cook. She’s legendary. I’ve wanted to involve more chickpeas in my diet for a while, but laziness prevented me from actually looking up recipes and finding ways to use them. Sure, I could use them in salads, but what about cooked recipes? I did a quick search and came up with Martha Stewart’s EASY chickpea curry. Like really easy. Like just throw spices and cook chickpeas together easy.

I altered Martha’s recipe into my own easy chickpea curry that would fit my needs and–more importantly–my ingredients. This recipe is a great whip-up-at-home-quickly-after-work dish when you don’t have a lot of time but would like to have something tasty and nutritious. I felt great about eating it! And curry is a heavy word for this dish, it’s really just stewing chickpeas in spices and liquid. Let’s get cooking.

May272018

Easy Mushroom Coconut Curry

Yeah, I’ve been on an Indian food kick lately. I mean, I’m always on one as a consumer, but in the past week, I made three different Indian dishes. Hopefully, you already saw the delightfully easy and delicious naan recipe I put out. And today…I bring you a delicious mushroom coconut curry! I really really enjoyed it. We received Vegetarian India (a cookbook) by Madhur Jaffrey, a well-known Indian chef and cookbook author, as a wedding present. I’m really loving this cookbook and can’t wait to try more from it.

This recipe is based off of her recipe called “Kodava Mushroom Curry with Coconut,” though I deviated quite a bit. Get her cookbook if you want the exact recipe–she’s a genius! Apparently, this dish comes from a more meat-eating region in India and thus she was fascinated by their vegetarian dishes. It’s rich, scrumptious, and filling. She suggests to have it with rice, but we had it with quinoa. I think it would go well with anything–rice, quinoa, naan, paratha, you name it!

Mar102018

Gwen: LA Restaurant Review

Not everything goes according to plan, and when you go to restaurants “on your list” for dinner one night and lunch the next day, it can really throw you for a loop… and this did! I was planning on a romantic (and expensive) dinner at Gwen, but what we never expected was to discover that Gwen is one of LA’s hidden LUNCH gems! Some of the highest quality meats in the city at reasonable prices?! Yea, actually.

Even though the restaurant’s tall ceilings, accented by incredible design and elaborate chandeliers, are still present, this is actually a very casual lunch spot. You order at the counter, take a number (I’m not sure if we actually took one) and the wait staff brings your food to the table when it’s ready. It wasn’t immediate, since they clearly cook from scratch, but it was relatively empty in there and didn’t take long at all.

Sep252017

Our Weekend in Pictures

We had a busy weekend!

May122017

Healthy Homemade Pizza

Sometimes, you just want an easy, delicious recipe that won’t take forever and put on the pounds. Something you can just whip up and throw onto the stove or into the oven. And what’s better than PIZZA on the weekend?! However, this isn’t just your Dominoes-esque pizza–this is on the healthier side! We are using whole-wheat flour here, better for your insulin intake, and more fiber. The recipe for this healthy homemade pizza is simple. It’s a riff on one of my other homemade pizza recipes. It’s simple, you don’t need any yeast, and it can be made in less than thirty minutes. All you need is flour and cheese (basically).