15-Minute Chinese Eggplant with Spicy Garlic Sauce

I was in line at a major retail the other day and there was this woman in a courtesy scooter with a basket full of groceries.
The clerk picked up the groceries and started scanning them, entering the code for the veggies that had no barcode to scan.
When he reached the eggplant, he put it on the scale and entered the code.
The eggplant was big, at $3.49 per pound it cost almost $6.
As the clerk put in the bag, the woman became livid.
She started arguing (more like screaming really) that eggplants are not sold by the pound, but by the piece. She threatened to take her complaints to the store manager.
The poor clerk - a young college kid - didn’t know what to say and was clearly shaken.
I tried to calm her down explaining that he had no control over pricing and that he just rang up the items.
But she was so mad, she left swearing she would never come back and shop only where the price was “fair” (her words).

Easy Paleo Strawberry Crisp

Ever seen those runners during a race who so effortlessly can drink water out of those tiny paper cups without spilling a drop?
I'm not one of them.
I can’t even count how many races I’ve completed in my life: Ironman, Triathlons, marathons, half-marathons, 10Ks, 5Ks, etc.
Not a single time I managed to drink from those paper cups.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Chocolate Ganache

Sometimes a guy just needs a cupcake.
I don’t care if cupcakes are considered the height of femininity. If they are manly as a bag full of rainbows. With all their beautiful decorations, dainty, sparkly, tiny, fierce, and fabulous — hours spent to get each exactly right even knowing that they will be eaten in a couple of bites. I don’t care if cupcakes are “ars gratia artis” [see David? I know my latin!] which can be translated — in the syntax MGM employed — as “art for the sake of art”.
Sometimes a guy needs a cupcake, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Tuna Quinoa Salad

“How much canned tuna can I safely consume a week?”
I get asked this question a lot — particularly at this time of year.
When it’s hot outside and we don’t feel like cooking, nothing is easier than opening a tuna can and chopping some veggies to make a great salad.
Not to mention that tuna is pretty cheap and a good source of protein and omega-3s too.

Super Simple Smoked Paprika Chicken

Yoga is a very humbling activity. At least to me it is.
After 5 years of practice, it still feels like learning a foreign language as an adult: suddenly I’m unable to communicate in even the most basic terms.
And you know what? It sucks. It royally sucks.
I've always excelled in sports. I was convinced that somehow I was naturally born that way — but yoga has taught me a different lesson.
Suddenly I’m the slow kid in the class, and that’s a first for me.

3-Ingredient Strawberry "Ice-Cream"

In grade school, my teacher taught me to use quotation marks to mark a dialogue.
A quotation is something somebody once said somewhere.
But with the introduction of sarcasm in our lives, quotation marks have found a whole new purpose. They’ve become the body language and facial expressions of the written word and they can make any word sarcastic or ironic.

Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

I know this recipe seems a little out of place in May.
The weather is getting warmer, the summer is getting closer, we put away the boots, and got the flip flops out.
Yet, here I am, presenting you with a classic winter comfort food when I should be making ice-cream, granita, or sorbet instead.
But you see, sometimes after a long run (a very, very long run) a guy needs carbs, good carbs.
And sweet potatoes are among my fave carb.
They fill me up without giving me the food hangover feeling, all the while being so freaking healthy, it's almost silly.

(Paleo) Almond-Chocolate Skillet Brownie

What do you hate with a burning passion?
I know hate is a strong word, but what infuriates you the most?
I have a couple of favorites.
For instance, lately I’ve been having huge problems with my phone’s autocorrect. It’s been acting up on me and I have the distinct feeling that it’s trying to sabotage me.
The other day I tried to type “welcome back” to my friend and it corrected to “suicide neck” (what is a suicide neck btw?)
Also it changes “well” to “we’ll” and “their” to “they’re” all the time. So small but so infuriating.
I know the savvy thing to do would be to turn the autocorrect off.
But I have this love-hate relationship with it. Half the time it works, half the time it butchers everything. That good half is the only thing that keeps me from turning it off.

Chopped Nicoise Salad

You can never go wrong with a classic.
We all have a favorite classic movie, song, and book. They may depend on the generation we’re from, but we can all agree on some. Like Someone Like It Hot, Born To Run, and On The Road.
They are classics with good reason. They have endured the test of time, proving their greatness over and over again. They bridge age and generational gaps and they’re awesome, just like that.

Pineapple Teriyaki Glazed Chicken Skillet

When did you realize you were becoming old and uncool?
All it took me was spending an afternoon with 12-year-old niece.
Until yesterday, I was the young/hip uncle, and all of a sudden I’m an old fart.
When and how did that happen?
I know it’s silly to say but it bothers me. It really bothers me.
I loved my status of “cool uncle” as opposed to the “uncool parents”.
I was not ready to let it go. But times have changed and apparently there’s nothing I can do about it.