Dear NY Restaurants,
When I read your menu and you say “entree sized salad” i expect a beast worthy salad
I present to you “Cinema Cafe’s” on 34th and 3rd, Cinema Entree Salad- from the menu: “blue cheese, toasted macadamia nuts, blood orange, granny smith apples, organic field greens, champagne vinaigrette” I veganized it and skipped the cheese.
Sorry for the crappy picture. Again a beautiful sly picture snapped by my Sidekick as I pretended to text, which is probably equally as rude as whipping out the camera in the middle of the meal, but a lot less awkward! I hate when ppl text during meals!
Let me tell you this salad was 3 bites. 4 at most! I skipped the dressing b/c it was more oil than vinaigrette. I was tempted to order another but the thought of spending another $13 on a handful of greens was too preposterous to fathom. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt since most probably don’t come for the salads. They are known for their sliders and other meaty entrees which from the thumbs up of my dinner companions, are pretty spectacular.
Luckily earlier that day, I had an amazing new salad find. During my lunch break when volunteering at Downtown Hospital, I was heading over to The Country Kebab on Fulton St for some red lentil soup and hummus/pita combo when the heat was so overwhelming that soup was definitely out of the question. I settled for a short walk to Chipotle and grabbed a salad with greens, black beans, fajita veggies, tomatoes and the winner of the dish, guacamole. OK enter in new salad love of my life. Guac + salad= heaven. Why have I not known this? I love avocado in sandwiches as a mayo substitute but this was the kicker! Yum heaven. Sorry no pic, i was too busy drowning in this yummy mess.
Ok sorry for the sidetrack…back to dinner- the place was beautiful despite the lackbuster salad. Interesting concept- they actually had old movies play on the walls of the restaurant. The night was wonderful as I got to meet up with wonderful friends over drinks and dinner, with wonderful weather and some entertaining shenanigans.
Needless to say after a subway ride home, despite the late hours, I was starving and quickly scrounged up some carbo-loading snackage of pretzels, raisins and my newest love- this popcorn from the genius over at Pure Sweets. The creator of this is actually my Uncle’s cousin, and she’s been experimenting with a new recipe for vegan popcorn. I still have yet to meet her (i got the popcorn from my Uncle’s other cousin, who is the doctor that I’m currently interning for. Have I lost you yet?) From tastes alone I believe there is some coconut milk in there for the coconutty taste and some agave nectar for the sweetness and sticky caramel consistency. At first I thought it was a little chewy, but now I’m actually digging the chew! Plus it slows down my treat feasting…ok yeah not really by much though 
Had this box waiting for me when I got to work
OoO a whole bag for me? Ok you caught me, I snapped this pic after having about devoured 1/4 of the bag, so this bag was actually a lot fuller from the get go .
Its got popcorn, a wonderful glaze of sticky heaven, nuts and flaxseeds.
I shared it w/ Mama Bella and Sister Bella last night and Mama Bella enjoyed it since she’s been in a sweet mode lately which is usually not very like her at all. Sister Bella said that the flax looked like bugs but still tried it 
It takes some weedling for her to try vegan treats.
I usually like my popcorn plain- airpopped kernels in a paper bag in the microwave with some cinnamon sprinkled on top, but this is definitely a treat I don’t mind having once in a while. And since the bag is pretty much more than half way gone, we can say that in the past couple of days its a little more than once
Alrighty, my GRE’s are less than a month away, and this Bella has yet to crack open the books. I’m considering rescheduling it despite the $50 rescheduling fee. 50 dollars seems insignificant when compared to taking a test thats going to determine whether or not I get into PA school when I’m not ready. Decisions decisions…
Something thats not too hard on the decision track though…I’m planning a Bellas reunion b/c September is just too far away. Hmm hitting up Michigan for my 21st seems like the perfect solution time to go search for airplane tix….and you wonder why I dont get any studying done when I keep getting sidetracked
Till next time loves,
Bella Lena
I hear you on the salad issues. GREs are so expensive to take anyway that it might be worth it to push it back so you get your best score.
that popcorn looks amazing!!!