This is when Mister Droid saves the day. Yup, it’s still turned off for money reasons, but I do get Wifi and my camera still works!

Here are some random pics of everything from food to Dwight mugs. Enjoy!

Mugs ah lah the NBC Experience store in Rockefeller Center.

My favorite trio: Sourdough bread, mad expensive salad, split pea soup.

Brooklyn Bridge! Weeeee.

Livin’ the dream!

These chickens and ducks, not so much.

$7.99/lb food from the deli buffet below my work.

I like to call this Keyboard Food.

[Yes, my job includes Tweeting!]

Random craving for Peanut Butter Fro-Yo on a cold, snowy day.

It happens.

This ad teases me every weekday!!!

Seriously, what are the chances of a Clearwater Beach promo in my train stop?

You knew that was coming.

And I’ll end it with my snowy walk to work every morning.

Good times!

***

PS if you want to see what I do all day as a Social Media Associate…

• Like CitySights NY on Facebook
• Like Gray Line New York on Facebook
• Follow CitySights NY on Twitter
• Follow Gray Line New York on Twitter

Basically I get to launch social media campaigns for the two!

(PS I would absolutely love you guys if you followed/liked them… BEYOND LOVE.. I will bake you cookies!!!)

Do you always forget your camera when you’re out and about?

I’ll admit at first I was a little taken aback. It’s fast food.. who doesn’t like fast food? I’m American people.. grease and French fries make me happy!!! I know we’re all on the health trend, but does that inner love for something deep fried ever go away?

Hmm. I definitely admire those who’ve completely broken off all ties with Ronald McDonald and the Burger King himself, but how do you do it??? I need help with the whole no strings attached thing I guess.

To be fair and support both arguments, I’ve done some research on these little guys.

PRO-NUGGETS

The only thing I have to support my Pro-Nugget Argument is that they taste good… in fact they taste darn good. These  hunks of golden, crispy goodness dipped in honey mustard sauce are pure #win my friends.

Juicy Good Evidence:

1. Women Accused of Punching Out Drive-Thru Window for McD’s Chicken Nuggets

2. Women Calls 911 Three Times When She Hears McD’s is out of Nuggets

Not the classiest of evidence, but hey, you get my point.

As a little girl, whenever my mom or dad mentioned McD’s, my heart always went pitter patter for their Happy Meals. And I won’t lie, the toys were pretty sweet too. Lets just say this mad love for the Golden Arches has only grown going into my adult years.

So hmm… my love has grown for these deep fried bad boys, but maybe now it needs to mature. Let’s take a look at the cons for McD’s nuggets.

ANTI-NUGGETS

The first place I visited to research these controversial nuggets was the McD’s website. On their toolbar I clicked on Food -> Chicken which led me to this tantalizing image:

Holy. Yum.

The McDonald’s website states that: “Tender, juicy Chicken McNuggets made with white meat, wrapped up in a crisp tempura batter. Made for sharing, or, if you want ‘em all to yourself, then that’s our little secret.”

Sounds good right? Wrong.

Digging a little deeper I unearthed the ingredients. Yes, all 30+ of them:

White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent

Holy. Crap.

What, do chemists concoct these things that McD’s innocently promotes to children as Nug Nugz? Ok, so this is when panic mode really began to kick in. WHAT HAVE I BEEN EATING??!!

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Furiously I Googled for more information. What I discovered next only added to this foodie freak-out.

Juicy Bad Evidence:

“But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to ‘help preserve freshness.’ According to A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food.. Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.”

- The Omnivore’s Dillema by Micheal Pollan

“McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets, originally made from old chickens no longer able to lay eggs, are now made from chickens with unusually large breasts. (lol?) These chickens are stripped down to the bone, and then “ground up” into a chicken mash then combined with a variety of stabilizers and preservatives, pressed into familiar shapes, breaded and deep fried, freeze dried, and then shipped to a McDonald’s near you.”

- Super Size Me

“‘McNuggets’ sold to American fast food lovers contain dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent used in Silly Putty. They also have more calories and fat than those sold in the chain’s British restaurants, according to a CNN study.”

- Via this article

Wowwwww. Pretty crazy stuff right? I’d really like to thank Lisa at Early Morning Run for commenting and bringing this to my attention. You were dead on the money with this one.

—

If you’re interested, here’s another article from the Los Angeles Times about McDonald’s new marketing strategy. I’m sure you’ve all seen it– it involves cute kids, red Happy Meal boxes, and hope… boxed hope that is.

This commercial is supposed to promote it’s highly successful Ronald McDonald House charity… but honestly, it’s underlying agenda seems to just be targeting young kids.

Are their healthier Happy Meals really taking off? You be the judge.

“Although McDonald’s said the apples are a popular alternative to fries, spokesman Walt Riker declined to provide any figures on Happy Meal sales, including how apples compare with fries in popularity…. ”When customers ask for a Happy Meal, 93 percent of the time they are automatically given fries.”

Epic #fail Mcdonald’s.

Thoughts?

Yes, it’s that stressful time of year again. The time when libraries are overflowing with nervous undergrads, sleep is questionable, and the coffee pot is kept hot 24/7. In my case though, my iced coffee is kept cold.

Yes, I drink my iced coffee in a $1 Walmart Cup with a $1 swirly straw.

And yes, I look like I haven’t slept in three days.. because I haven’t.

Aside from my five million iced coffees in the morning, today I made a spinach omelette stuffed with turkey bacon and ketchup. Don’t you just love ketchup on eggs? I think some people are weirded out by it, but at least it’s not barbecue sauce.

For mid-day snacking,  dried papaya could quite possibly be my number one weaknesses. Maybe it’s just the food blogger in me, but it seriously tastes better than candy!

In Publix a few days ago, I was mindlessly wandering around the produce aisle when I locked eyes with a giant fresh papaya. The adventurous foodie in me instantly decided what the heck, if I’m hooked on the dried version, then I’ll certainly love the real thing. I picked up the bad boy, checked out at the register, and hurried home to dive into the juicy fruit.

The first bite was not that exciting– in fact I was really dissapointed. I think I was expecting that papaya would taste like  a mango, but its aftertaste was just completely off. It looks like I’ll be sticking to the candy-like version instead.

My lunchtime routine this week has been pretty college-y. If you’ve been following my blog for a while now, you know I have a slight obsession with chicken nuggets. On the nugget scale, Chick-fil-a definitely ranks in at least the top three for having tasty nug nugs (dipped in honey mustard of course.)

When the late afternoon munchies hit, Greek yogurt always seems to be a great pick-me-up. Yoplait released their new Greek Yogurt line a few weeks ago and I decided to give it a whirl. Overall, I was really impressed! The consistency was thick and tasted basically like Oikos Greek Yogurt. To give it a fruity flavor, I squirt some Smucker’s strawberry jelly on top. Yum-o!

If you’d like to try this new brand of Greek yogurt, be sure to enter Christina’s Yoplait Giveaway.

For dinner, a hearty steak fajita stuffed with mushrooms, green peppers, and salsa never fails. Thank goodness I have leftovers for tomorrow night!

—

So the calendar says I have less than two weeks left until my college graduation and let me tell you, it is really starting to hit hard. How can four years possibly fly by this fast? It’s madness I tell you, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to face reality yet. I’ve been living in this bubble for four years where I’ve made lifelong friends, attended football games every Saturday in The Swamp, and worked part-time as an ice cream scooper at Ben & Jerry’s. I’ve honestly had the time of my life and I can’t imagine what life’s next chapter has in store for me.

What I’m feeling right now can be best described as: eeeeeek!

Have a wonderful week and good luck to those studying for final exams!

“Egg McMuffin”

Whole Wheat English Muffin Egg Sandwich with Canadian Bacon, Cheese, and Ketchup

“$1 Parfait”

Chobani All Natural Greek Yogurt with Total Cereal

“McCafe Iced Coffee”

Home brewed Iced Coffee with Eggnog Creamer

“French Fries”

Sweet Potatoes with Ketchup

And finally.. “The Real Deal”

McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets and Honey Mustard

Sorry, I had to.

What fast food meals do you reinvent in your kitchen?

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