Relaxing with Leftovers

Almost made it through another week and boy do I have a lot to look forward to this weekend. Tomorrow I am going to a Mexican restaurant in Harvard square with a few girls from my internship and Saturday I am attending a celebration for a friend.

What are your plans for the weekend?


I had a nice little workout at the gym today. I did a few bicep, tricep and ab exercises followed by a 3 mile run (about 26 minutes). I felt great doing the workout, but had a little awkward situation while I was there. I have noticed that a man I used to go to high school with has been attending my gym. This male was much more popular than I was in high school, so I was unsure if he would know who I was. Plus, I am usually sweating pretty hard at the gym and the last thing I want to do is get into a conversation with someone. Anyways, today he walked by me and I kinda looked the other way so I wouldn't have to say hi or get into an awkward talk. But, to my surprise, he came over to say hi. I was sweating profusely and totally awkward when saying hi back. Oh well, maybe I will be a little more "cool" next time....

What do you do in awkward situations? Or when you see an old acquaintance?


Once home I had a nice relaxing dinner of leftovers (chicken, mushroom and broccoli pesto), while sitting on my sofa watching Chronicle.

With a little TV.....

Oh YUM, the leftovers were even better than the original!!!!!!!!!

This was the first time I have sat on my couch for dinner, I usually sit at my table. I was feeling extra tired tonight, so I thought this placement was appropriate. And I LOVED it!!! Oh and I also had some pumpkin and cookie dough ice cream for dessert (Also on the couch)!

Where do you eat dinner?

Can't wait for the weekend......

How to Spice up a Wednesday...

WINE!!!! O yea, I went THERE!

Why does wine make everything seem so fancy and great? Weeknight life just seems so repeated lately, so I decided a couple glasses of wine would spice up a Wednesday night! And boy did it. Dinner seemed SO much more fun with a glass of wine. I actually felt like I was out to dinner. Maybe I should implement this strategy more often....... Hmm, this could be dangerous!

My fancy restaurant dinner included Kale Chips, frozen mixed veggies and a chicken sausage.

Simple, yet delicious and fancy because of my glasses of wine! Haha

In other news, I went to a GREAT spinning class today. The class incorporated a lot more intervals than I am use to and instead of going up a large hill we did a fast LONG interval at a moderate incline. I am not sure if I loved this style of class, but I did like the change up from the usual class. Also, and the greatest part of the class, was at the end of class the instructor came up to me and said I looked really strong! This made my night (besides the wine) because spinning is my most challenging workout (harder than running a 1/2 marathon sometimes), so I am SO excited I am improving. I guess practice makes perfect.

What do you do to spice up your week nights?

If I were a Housewife......

If I were a housewife (and had no children) I would wake up everyday at 9, watch Ellen, drink coffee and eat a BIG bowl of oats.

I would spring to the gym in the late morning where I could run (3 miles in 26 minutes) and lift (a bunch of back, abs and leg exercises). I would then come home, shower and get ready for my day.

I could prepare a healthy and delicious lunch that included lots of colors and flavors of the season.

Spinach with grape leaves, Munster cheese, peppers, carrots, cucumber and hummus with a few veggie chips on the side

and Grapes!

After being properly fed, I would do a little writing (started a report for work) and cleaning, so I would feel productive.

Once I tired of that I would engage in a little light reading and satisfying snacking (lots and lots of handfuls of Puffins oatmeal cereal).

When I regained some energy I would start some light cooking, but only something that was not too strenuous to make (Chicken, broccoli and mushroom pesto pasta).

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic
3/4 pound chicken breast
a bunch of broccoli
pint of mushrooms
jar of pesto
whole wheat pasta
veggie or chicken broth
pepper, red pepper flakes, salt
Parmesan cheese

1) Dice garlic and saute in a little pesto sauce
2) Once garlic is heated add diced chicken breast
3) Add a little more pesto
4) Saute chicken in garlic and pesto
5) While chicken is cooking; boil pasta in water
6) Also on the side saute mushrooms and steam broccoli
7) Once all items (Chicken, pasta, broccoli and mushrooms) are done add together and put more pest in (add as much or as little as you like to taste-usually i end up using about half a small jar).
8) Add a little (about 1/2 cup) of chicken (or veggie) broth to the mixture
9) Add pepper, salt, red pepper flakes and some Parmesan cheese into mixture
10) Cover and put on low for 10 minutes

ENJOY!

And finally after a long, hard day, I would watch Glee and eat some dessert!



Mmmmm, black and white cookies!


Oh, what a nice dream; too bad I will have to wake up from it tomorrow (I had the day off from internship due to professional day for the staff). Hope everyone is having a GREAT week!

It Has Arrived!

Happy Monday! A few months back Evan and I ordered a new a new duvet and pillow cases (or shams) from West Elm. All items have been on back order since then and today they finally arrived. Here they are:

It brings SO much color to our drab bedroom. 

What do you think? What are other ideas to revive and add color to a bedroom on a low budget?

In other news, yesterday I ran a glorious 10k around the Boston and Brookline neighborhoods. Here are my stats:

Distance: 6.2

Duration: 52:20

Mile 1: 8:50

Mile 2: 8:12

Mile 3: 8:31

Mile 4: 8:07

Mile 5: 8:23

Mile 6: 8:32

Mile .2: 1:41

I am loving running for just the pleasure of running and without the pressure of a race. However, I am getting a little antsy to find a race to participate in. I am being kinda picky and am looking to run a 10k, but not one that is too pricey. I might have to wait till the spring to find a race like this.

Anyone know any 10K's around the Boston area?

In conjunction with the frigid weather that Boston is having right now, I decided to make a beef stew in the slow cooker (well Evan made it). He pretty much followed the recipe in our slow cooker book (Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss) with the exception of a little less beef and a few extra veggies. Here is the recipe according to the book:

Bistro Beef Stew

1/3  cup flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 pounds trimmed beef chuck

2-3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 strips bacon, cut

2 medium onions, cut

1 large carrot, cut

1 celery rib, cut

5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 cups dry red wine

1 small bunch fresh thyme, tied with kitchen string

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl. Add the beef cubes and toss to coat evenly with flour; pat off the excess flour and reserve the seasoned flour mixture.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in a 2-3 batches, about 3 minutes per side, adding more oil with each batch, as needed. Transfer each batch of meat to slow cooker after browned.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the bacon, and cook until crisp. Add the onions, carrot, and celery and saute until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring constantly. add the reserved seasoned flour and stir until browned, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and heat to boiling. Pour the mixture over the beef in the slow cooker. Bury the bunch of thyme in the center of the cooker. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low, until the beef and vegetables are fork-tender. 

Remove the thyme. Stir in the orange zest and parsley and cook for 5 minutes on high. 

YUM!

Served with some bread and salad. If I was to do this recipe again, I would add some potatoes and mushrooms. However, it was very good; the meat fell apart and the whole stew was spiced perfectly. Excellent dinner on a chilly Fall night!!!

Happy Halloween!!

If you guessed I was a Vampire than you would be right! 

I actually thought my costume came together pretty well, considering that I threw it together at the last minute and at an inexpensive price tag. Unfortunately, my fangs fell out as soon as I left the house and would not secure back in for the rest of the night. Which was kinda my whole costume, so I didn't quite look like a vampire when we arrived at our destination. However, I still looked good for pictures!

Evan was a hunter and had "bite" marks from me, haha

The Girls: We went with our friends Laura and Matt: Laura was a Lobster

 

The guys: Matt was a cop

We arrived at the Cambridge Brewing Company (CBC) around 6:30 thinking we would only have to wait around 30-40 minutes to get in. However, when we arrived the line was wrapped around the corner and they were at capacity inside. Which meant we had to wait till people left for us to get in. Unfortunately we could not buy tickets in advance, so we had to either wait in line or go somewhere else. I kinda wanted to leave because it was freezing out, but my friends felt otherwise. We ended up waiting in line for close to two hours.

The waiting was not horrible, we were able to put our name in so we did not have to wait for a table to eat once we got in. Also, there was another bar next door, so whenever we got cold we went in to warm up for a little. 

We FINALLY got into CBC around 8:30 and we were able to sit right away, but not without getting a beer first. OMG, let me tell the 2 hour wait was WELL worth it, we had entered pumpkin beer HEAVEN!!! There were 32 different pumpkin brews spread out over three beer stations inside and out of the restaurant.

Drink tickets were 4 for $5 and the majority of the beers cost 1 ticket for a 4oz pour. You could also choose a 4, 8, 12 and 16 oz pour with the corresponding amount of tickets. I only had 4oz pours to maximize the variety of beer tastings. 

a 4oz pour in the souvenir glass 

Once we sat for dinner, I started with a Grilled Flat bread that I bought on the patio from the Grill Menu and brought into the restaurant (I am not sure if this was legal, but I was DYING to try this flat bread and it was not on the inside menu). The flat bread contained Tuscan kale, fontina cheese, roasted pumpkin and dried cranberries. HEAVEN!!!!

This is what was left after I inhaled some and then realized I should take a picture

For my main course, I ordered the local honey glazed pumpkin and celery root timbale, watercress, arugula, fired procuitto, and aged gouda salad with a hazelnut-sage vinaigrette. 

The salad was SO fresh and delicious and I LOVED the huge hunks of glazed pumpkin on the bottom of the salad stack. I was very impressed that the restaurant was busy and they were still able to get quality food out. I also had a taste of Evan's roasted sugar pumpkin bisque and grilled pork sausage with braised collard greens and pumpkin mustard relish. 

YUM!

And finally (because we didn't already eat and drink to much) Evan and I split the pumpkin bread pudding with pumpkin ale ice cream and house butterscotch. 

I liked the bread pudding a lot; however, Evan was not to crazy about he thought it tasted to bready. Clearly not a problem for me!!

As for the beers, I had about 8 or 9 tastes throughout the night and the few that stood out to me were: the CBC Punjabi Pumpkin, Iron Hill Bruce Camp-Ale, and the Elysian Hansel & Gretel. I decided I really like pumpkin beers that are more gingery than sweet, so if you are in the same boat these three are great ones to try, although the Iron Hill Bruce Camp-Ale is a little more buttery sweet than gingery, but not overpowering. 

Around 10pm there was the Taping of the GREAT PUMPKIN.

Beer was tapped and passed out straight from the pumpkin. I tried some, but it was kinda watery compared to all the great beers I had been trying all night.

Around midnight the four of us departed home via the T (the public transportation in Boston).

Not really sure what's going on here, but I think Evan might be explaining his pain
from the cycling class from earlier in the day!

GREAT night with GREAT friends, food and drinks! I hope you all are having a GREAT Halloween! 

Now off to do a little running to detox before another yet another celebration:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Restaurant Review

Hope every one's weekend is off to a great start; mine has been glorious thus far! Evan and I just got back from a GREAT spinning class! Here I am pumped up before class:

Haha, I am such a weirdo sometimes!!!

Last night we met another couple to try out a new restaurant: Basho Japanese Brasserie over in the Fenway area. We have heard a LOT of great reviews and love their sister restaurant: Douzo. So when friends called for dinner we knew we would have to drag them to Basho.

Overall, it was incredible, probably my new favorite sushi restaurant. The sushi and meal options were not only VERY creative, but also tasty! However, like Douzo, the prices are a bit high! So, it is definitely a splurge, but a good one if you are into unique and creative meals.

The group decided that we would order one item at a time and see how we felt afterwards before ordering the next item. We dined this way for two reasons: to increase the length of our dinning experience and not to over order. I LOVE this way of dining out because of the reasons above and it really helps with intuitive eating!!!!

I started with a spicy crianza and an order of edamame for the table.

Seaweed Salad

Next up Evan and I split a special: Nigiri style Tuna Pastrami

This was the best meal of the night! It was smooth like tuna usually is, but had a faint pastrami-like taste. We got a few rolls next:

Crunchy Roll 

fried onion, cucumber, spicy crumb wrapped with tuna, tobiko, salmon,  

salmon roe, touch of mango sauce 

Basho Roll 

fried snow crab, lettuce, shiitake, asparagus, pickles with jalapeno  

aioli wrapped with cucumber and soy paper 

BEAUTIFUL!

Amaebi Mango Roll  

mango, cucumber, grilled pineapple wrapped with sweet shrimp  

touch of mango sauce 

The mango roll was a great ending to a fabulous meal. It was very sweet and almost dessert like. GREAT, GREAT restaurant. I highly recommend it if you like fresh, creative sushi and do not mind spending a little bit.

I am currently cleaning, doing laundry and getting ready for a Pumpkin Festival this evening!! Hope you are having a great Halloween weekend!

Is anyone doing anything fun for Halloween?

A BEAUTIFUL Night!

Tonight was just BEAUTIFUL: Beautiful weather, beautiful run, beautiful company and beautiful food. However, I do not have many pictures to document the beautifulness.

Well, I will try to do my best.....

On this gorgeous day, I decided to go for a nice little run by the Charles River...Glorious (minus the hiccups for the last mile). Here are my splits according to my Garmin:

Distance: 51:16
Duration: 6:03
Mile 1: 8:18
Mile 2: 8:23
Mile 3: 8:28
Mile 4: 8:30
Mile 5: 8:24
Mile 6: 8:56 (we will blame it on the hiccups)

It was a great run and it feels good to be getting back into (somewhat) the swing of things. After my run, Evan and I set out on a hunt for Halloween costumes. Boston is crazy and around this time lines are SO long in all the Halloween stores. We found a store (iParty) that did not have a line outside the store; however, the check-out line wrapped around the store. I got a costume for under 20$ (which was my goal), I hate spending SO much money on something I probably am only going to wear once, but tis the season! I am not going to tell you what I am, but I will give you a hint: This character/person has become VERY popular in the last few years.

Are you dressing up for Halloween? If so, what are you going to be??


After a lot of walking and shopping, Evan and I got pretty hungry for dinner. So, it was Whole Foods hot bar to the rescue. Good thing I do not live closer to this store because I would be eating here a LOT more often than I already do.

Anyways, I ended up getting some brown rice with pork, squash and zucchini dish from the hot bar. I also got a little sauteed spinach with garlic and broccoli. I ended up mixing all the food together to make a sort of stir fry. I am SO sorry, I totally forgot my camera and tried taking a picture with Evan's phone, but we are unsure how to put it on the computer. However, I can tell you it was REALLY good!!! I loved all the different kinds of veggies and the pork was cooked perfectly. Yum!

I picked out an ice cream while at Whole Foods because it was on sale:

I put a scope on some of the baked apples I made on Tuesday for dessert. BEAUTIFUL!!!

I swear there were apples under there (hehe):

Currently watch "Food Matters" and relaxing with Evan on the couch (I will try to do a little review on the movie this weekend)! YAYA for Friday!