We pulled up to the Zone and gasped. All the windows were covered with “Store Closing! Everything 70% Off!” signs and we could tell that there wasn’t much left. We raced in and were dismayed to find that the entire store was basically cleaned out of merchandise. We called the other location to see if they were in the same boat, which they were, so we decided to make the best of it.

We walked out with the following. Not a bad haul, all things considered. I felt pretty bad about boohooing to all the store closing to the employees, who I suppose are losing their jobs, but this is really truly a tragic loss for crafters and party-throwers like me. RIP, Paper Zone. I hardly knew ye.

120 pink and purple cups, 5 brown take-out containers, 1 giant red + white takeout container, 4 brown rectangular table cloths, 16 birthday party invitations, 48 black knives and spoons, 48 orange knives and spoons, 48 purple knives and spoons, 1 bachelorette "last night out" kit (watch out boys!), assorted ribons and two blue containers of glitter.

2. Passion fruits are effing EXPENSIVE! If you pick them up at QFC, they’re $3.99 per fruit – but at Uwajimaya they’re only $2.99. Doesn’t really make much of a difference when you need to buy like 10 of them to make one cup of puree. Faced with the prospect of purchasing $32 worth of passion fruits, I took to the internets and found out that at least back in 2008, you could buy frozen passion fruit puree at El Mercado Latino in Post Alley of the Pike Place Market. I immediately called them and found out that yes! they had it and that it was only $4.95! Hallelujah!

Now, I’m not sure why YOU might need passion fruit puree, but we do because we’re making Chocolate Chip Layer Cake from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook. It’s literally a three-day receipe. It’s going to be so delicious. The Banana Cream Pie blew our minds last night.

3. Polish changes in nail salons only cost like $5 bucks (as opposed to $15 manis) and they’ll file and buff your nails and then repaint them. Weekly maintenance like that is WELL worth it, I’ve decided. I’m rocking a hot pink/coral color with a splash of banana yellow on my left ring finger and feel free to compliment me on it because it’s bomb-dot-com.

everything on this list has been accomplished, except "Eliz" because she didn't want to play Just Dance 2. "Mother" is actually "Mother Bread" so that we can make bagel bombs for next week.

1. TOMS is about to come out with ballet flats. Holding my breath until 2/15/12! I will order all of them.

2. The 5th Avenue Theatre is offering free tickets to Oklahoma on Superbowl Sunday! I will definitely go stand in line and get four of them. Would you like to come with me? This means skipping the deliciousness of the Superbowl and having to YouTube the commercials after the fact, but considering that this is probably the best one anyway, you won’t be missing much.

3. There is a free phone service called “Callin Oates” 719-26-OATES (719-266-2837). They let you choose one of four Hall and Oates songs when youre having a Hall and Oates Emergency. I haven’t actually tested this out and I really just copied and pasted this from my friend Jeff’s status update on Facebook but if you wanna try it out and report back, be my guest.

Friends, I am miserable. Not only has Seattle been hit by a “monstrous” (well, not by Colorado standards) winter storm that has shut down the entire city (not exaggerating), being on the cleanse makes the entire experience extra rotten because we can’t do the warm cozy stay-inside activities that we typically would.

We haven’t baked a thing. I don’t even think that we’ve turned on the oven.

We have barely been able to use Heather’s new stand mixer because there’s been nothing dough-y to make and no cream to whip.

I’m so sugar deprived that yesterday I ate like 6 oranges and then caved in and had several handfuls of M&M’s. And just now I had another handful of M&M’s – though I have truly restrained myself because Heather shoots me a nasty look every time I fall off the cleanse wagon.

Our stockpile of butter is still completely intact.

We haven’t made any soup, save for the Morrocan-lamb business from a few days ago, which was delicious but after having it for lunch, I don’t need it again.

We’ve eaten pork tenderloin with roasted grapes, braised greens and leeks, quinoa and coconut tofu.

Meanwhile, upstairs neighbor Jamie has suddenly turned into a Master Chef and whipped up homemade pasta and shrimp scampi last night, as well salmon fritters. She woke up this morning and threw together the batter for blueberry muffins and is currently baking them off. It’s killing me.

So I’ve decided that today, in honor of Snowpocalypse 2012 and because there are ice balls falling from the sky, I will finally bake something from my autographed copy of the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook and then I will eat it and I will LOVE it. And tomorrow I will re-approach the cleanse and hopefully have a better attitude about everything – weather included.

Anyway, my list is 32 places long, and the majority of them are conveiniently located in Capitol Hill, which is fantastic because it will entice people to head over this-a-way. I’ve already made some progress in the past two weeks:

1. Revel - I’ve been reading about Revel for the last year and have desperately wanted to try it, except that it’s in Fremont and was never open when I was in the neighborhood. Kendall and I stopped by the Quoin Bar at Revel for happy hour instead of going to yoga last week, and let me tell you – 90 minutes there was much better than 90 minutes in a Bikram Yoga class. Try the pork belly pancake and the short rib dumplings. No picture available because (shockingly enough) my phone was dead.

2. Taylor Shellfish Farms - this place is delightful! And expensive! But it’s so delightful that I didn’t really care that we paid $20 for some spot prawns that we had to clean once we got home. Because it’s so fun to see the open baskets of shellfish in the middle of the room – ready for you to pick them out. They have crabs and lobsters and GEODUCKS and clams and mussels and oysters and scallops – and a fine selection of wines to pair them with.

3. RN74 – As I mentioned in an earlier post, all the talk and hype around this restaurant, in addition to my experiences in Michael Mina restaurants made me feel intimidated to walk in, but I was pleasantly surprised by their great happy hour. Below, truffle popcorn and tuna poppers.

4. Montana - our new favorite neighborhood bar! It’s a teeny tiny spot on Olive Way, next to Tacos Gringos and The Elite. They have a fantastic little photo booth, a saddle you can sit on as a stool (though I wouldn’t recommend it for an extended period of time) and they’re experimenting with carbonated liquor which meant I had several tasty blood orange tequila fizzy drinks (and then some Bud Light because that’s what Montanans would do). The photo booth also only takes credit cards, which is both awesome and dangerous.

5. The Rock Wood Fired Pizza – hip hip hooray! Our favorite place in Tacoma has now opened up a spot in Queen Anne, attached to the Maxwell Hotel. This means we can have brown-sugar mozzarella bread whenever our hearts desire – that, or the My Generation pizza. OR a bucket of liquor – OR a LAVA LAMP drink in a glass that lights up and has a jello shot in it. I’m collecting the glasses so if you happen to get one, save it for me! 

But overall, save for Saturday night, I’ve been doing really well. It’s quite the exercise in willpower, honestly. I threw all that out the door on Saturday because the Broncos were playing! And then the Broncos were losing! And then Elizabeth dropped a bomb on Kendall and I, and then I dropped a bomb on Kendall and then Kendall dropped a bomb on Elizabeth and I – and suddenly instead of going home we were going to Montana, where there are fizzy blood orange tequila drinks.

So forget Saturday.

There have been some pretty awesome things on the menu lately – in particular, Day 5′s pumpkin and shrimp curry, which was also our lunch on Day 6. Dinner on Day 6 (which I scarfed down at midnight) was soba noodles and clams in a sake broth – light, refreshing and fantastic. That was also lunch on Day 7. Breakfast on Day 7 was pancakes! with homemade applesauce and dinner was a roasted vegetable curry.

Dinner on this cold, snowy and potentially even SNOWIER evening is a warm Moroccan chickpea, lentil and lamb soup which I will happily eat again for lunch tomorrow and would definitely make again. This was served with a side of cumin-roasted carrots and leftover orange-scented bulgur from last night as well. Bulgur! Never had that before. This cleanse is also culinarily eye-opening.

We unfortunately will not be getting our New Roots Organics bin of produce this week on account of the snow, which is frustrating because it means yet ANOTHER trip to the store. I know that when we started I had said that I wasn’t feeling the pinch of the costs for the cleanse, but we had to do all of our shopping for the week at QFC and everything costs more there and I’m super annoyed about it.

Well friends, that’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. I’m willing to bet $100 that she (or any other girl who proclaims that she doesn’t care about Valentine’s Day) will surely care by the time February 14th rolls around and none of the following items arrives at her doorstep or desk: flowers, a card, or chocolate. Especially when everyone around her will be getting all that stuff.

So here’s my advice: guys, at the absolute minimum, buy a frickin’ red rose at the grocery store on the corner or from that guy who walks through Belltown at night selling roses and give it to your girl. Or buy a box of chocolates – chances are you’ll get to eat some of them, so really you’re buying them for yourself.

If you’re traditional and feel like splurging, buy a dozen roses. And go to dinner- but you better make a reservation and be prepared to watch couples who are more in love than you make you feel awkward. Hopefully a few who are less in love than you so you can judge them. But whatever you do, DO NOT propose on Valentine’s Day. That’s tacky and also stupid because you’re doubling up on celebrations.

Now, I’d just like to be clear that I would not be happy with the traditional roses and dinner combination because I like to be different and superior. So if I were celebrating Valentine’s Day, these are items I would like to receive:

Source: fab.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Artisan Marshmallows from 240 Sweet - you bring the mallows, I’ll make the hot chocolate.

Source: oldtomfoolery.com via Sarah on Pinterest

This card because it’s clever and generally how I feel about the words “I love you”. Recommended for relationships of 4-6+ months.

Source: make-it-do.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Red paper. A few rolls of Rolos. A black pipe cleaner. A card. A child could make this. That’s okay with me.

Source: fab.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I mean, this is just funny. You’d have to know how to cross-stich, I suppose, and you couldn’t REALLY hang it anywhere but it’s still awesome.

The evening wasn’t a complete loss: prior to Tour de Vance, I had my second of two allotted cocktails at RN74 with my really really really good friend Dana. I have to admit that I was kind of intimidated by all the hype around the restaurant and had for some reason convinced myself that my wallet wasn’t big enough to afford to go there, but they actually have very reasonable happy hour prices and it’s a great space and the servers wear plaid shirts and jeans so it’s pretty much the opposite of intimidating.

But back to the food for the day. I skipped breakfast because I was running late and couldn’t decide on an outfit that would seamlessly transition from working in the office (in a cubicle, shoot me) to happy hour to the party. It was supposed to be some more of that hot cereal with walnuts and blueberries, but I held out until lunch and had leftover beet soup, a butter lettuce salad with pepitas and cranberries and leftover tofu with bok choy and carrot-brown rice pilaf. It was, as the Bon Appetit blogger writes, a “generous” lunch.

I wolfed down a snack around 3:45 of rye crackers and avocado because I thought it would help stave off hunger pains for the rest of the afternoon, which it did.

After wailing about how we have TEN DAYS left of this, I’m now sitting on the couch watching Teen Mom 2  while Heather makes dinner: apple cider (well, apple juice) glazed chicken with an apple-fennel salad and roasted broccoli rabe.

I leave you with this cute pic from tonight’s event: Support Equal Rights Washington as the Washington State legislature is on the verge of voting to approve gay marriage!

Cherry, Sarah and Dana at Equal Rights Washington's "Engagement Party" at Tour de Vance

Today was yoga day, so two cups of green tea and two bottles of water were consumed before it was time for a leftover lunch. The salmon and pesto/lentil/beet soup combination is a filling one, so I skipped the afternoon snack because it was too close to yoga time.

Kendall picked me up to go to yoga and though we tried valiantly, we didn’t make it in time. All that hydration for nothing! Except, I suppose, for the sake of hydration. Dejected, we headed to Quoin (the bar at Revel) and I had one of my allotted cocktails – an “Afternoon Revival” – a rather appropriate name for my state of mind.

I was in charge of dinner, which was a tofu and bok choy stir fry and carrot-ginger brown rice pilaf. It felt like it took forever to pull it together – the rice took an hour and I was working on each step of the tofu dish the entire time it cooked. It was one of those sort of bland meals that tastes healthy and is satisfying but not something I desperately want to make again (like the pesto and salmon from last night or the lentils in general). The carrot-rice might get a second chance because I’m always looking for something good to do with carrots, and it’s a decent side dish.

Conclusion of the day: I miss sugar, I miss carbs, I really enjoyed my cocktail, and I’m frankly pretty happy to have missed yoga today because I was really afraid it was going to kill me.

Tuesday’s breakfast was a bit more successful than Monday’s, but I’m re-learning what I’ve always known: hot cereals and oatmeal really don’t do it for me. I basically can’t stand them, but I suppose if I had to make a habit of eating them, I would choose to do it in the form of a breakfast museli – in which you throw everything together the night before and it sits in the refridgerator and “cooks” itself so you have cold yogurty cereal when you wake up. Ours, however, was far too sour so we had to add about a teaspoon of honey to sweeten it up.

I had to pack up lunch and take it to the office (yes, I work in an office, 2x/week these days) and so I tupperware’d some of the leftover cod, apples, caramelized onions and sweet potatoes, and also brought a huge bowl of the kale salad in to share with the group. I ended up having two bowls of the salad because it is just SO frickin’ good. Could have used a bit more dressing in this case, but it’s just such a great fresh green and crunchy salad. Trust me and try it – you’ll thank me. (If you happen to be tracking how well we’re doing at following the plan, you’ll notice that we skipped the cannelini bean and tuna salad. I hate tuna and we had too many leftovers.)

For a snack, I had two rye crackers topped with 1/2 of an avocado and sprinkled with salt. So simple!

For dinner, I dirtied up almost every appliance we have by making a toasted pepita pesto in the food processor to go on top of some smoked salmon as well as a Chinese 5-spice beet soup and some leftover lentils.

image via Bon Appetit. Photography by Kimberly Hasselbrink

You cook the beets in the microwave and of course the liquid bubbled over and so there was red juice everywhere. After that, I pureed it in the blender and so that’s another piece of equipement to clean once we finish it up. I had high hopes for the beet soup, but I was a little bit disappointed. I think it’s maybe because I added too much ginger or maybe because I don’t like Chinese 5-spice? I’m not sure. I did enjoy doing something different with beets though, and the salmon was delicious in and of itself, but probably didn’t

For dessert, we had a few pieces of dark chocolate (bleh – I miss sugar!) and a pear. I’ve also made a super conscious effort to stay hydrated because it’s time to integrate hot yoga into all this health-business. I’m already quite sure it’s going to kill me, but maybe I’m so fortified by all these nutrients that it will be a breeze.

Stay tuned!

I washed it down with a 12 oz green tea and a bottle of water and proceeded to wait around for lunch. By 11:30 I was starving but I did my absolute best to wait until noon before serving myself 1/2 a cup of lentils from the pot we made last night and a 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt, and making a butter lettuce salad with orange wedges and 1/2 an avocado. I dressed it with that miso-lime dressing that I’m obsessed with and dug in. It was delicious and filling.

The thought of a pumpkin smoothie  for a snack didn’t thrill me, so we opted for three rye crackers with a tablespoon of goat cheese and an apple – quite satisfying, all things considered. I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten a rye cracker so that’s new.

But dinner! Oh dinner. The blurry photo does not do it justice, but for dinner we made Alaskan cod which was served on a bed of caramelized onions and apples, sweet potatoes with chili flakes and kale and brussels sprouts salad – which was not technically on the menu but I promised to make it for the office tomorrow so we subbed it for the kale salad that was on the cleanse plan.

For dessert, we had two squares of dark chocolate and a quarter cup of hibiscus-juniper sorbet from Molly Moon‘s – not technically part of the plan but our lovely dinner guest Kelly brought it along with her and it was too good to pass up.

So far we’ve noticed that these menus make a LOT of food and most of our lunches will come directly from parts of dinner, but not all. So tomorrow we’re improvising a bit and completely skipping the tuna salad on tomorrow’s menu and going with leftovers. I did whip up the raspberry-hazelnut-hemp seed Muesli for tomorrow’s breakfast and fingers are crossed that it tastes better than this morning’s hot cereal!