Moving Weekend

Hell week is over! Somehow I came out of it in one piece and ready to tackle all of the unpacking to come this week. We lucked out and had a beautiful weekend for all of the running around and I think we’re already getting comfortable in our new place.

I’m loving the HUGE sliding glass doors that we have!

This place definitely has more character than our last. It’s a 2-bedroom which is really going to come in handy with all of the visitors we’re having this year. Not to mention, it’s in a great area and walking distance to so many amazing restaurants! So many new places to try again, it’s like a whole new adventure.

I’ve also started working at a new gym which is now right around the corner. Seriously, it takes 5 minutes to walk there. Amazing! We’ve started a new California chapter this past weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing where this year takes us.

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite place you’ve ever lived?

Don’t forget to enter my She’s Losing It! giveaway!

What I’ve Learned From 1 Year in California

Happy [waddle] day after Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday and were able to spend time with your friends and family. I ate entirely too much [who doesn’t?] and I fully intend on doing the same thing tonight!

Trust me. There was WAY more food!

The Friday after Thanksgiving last year, Nathan and I packed up and shipped out to California. Thanksgiving was certainly an emotional day and I can’t believe 1 year has already passed. It’s pretty ironic that we’re back in Baltimore this week but it definitely feels good to be home. Over the past year we’ve had our ups and our downs. Nathan and I have had so many new experiences together that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I’ve learned so much in that time.

1. Nathan is my best friend.
   We couldn’t have done this without each other. We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders and strongest support systems. Moving away from all of your family and friends into an unknown world is scary and trying. Like I said, we’ve had our ups and downs, but ultimately, this experience has made us stronger and grow closer.
   
2. Making friends is tough!
   For real, I don’t know how kids do it. There has been a lot of trial and error and I’ve had a few people stick. I’m not really sure why they put up with me, but they do!
3. I’ve done a lot of growing up.
   I haven’t had much of a choice. Before Athleta and personal training, I spent a lot of time at home by myself. If there’s one thing that really makes you think about what you’re doing with your life, it’s spending hours of time alone. Sure, I may still question what I really want to do when I grow up, but hey, I’m only 27. I still have some time to figure that out.
4. California is a pretty cool place to live.
   Nathan and I have gone on so many mini road trips and fun adventures that we couldn’t have done in Maryland. From wineries to beaches right around the corner to incredible hikes to eating our way through the city, we’re certainly not taking our surroundings for granted.
   
5. Home is where the heart is.
   After everything is said and done, I love just being home. Every time we come home, it feels like we never left. The time that I’ve been able to spend with my family and friends is unbeatable. I cherish every minute with my grandparents and it’s so fun watching Jilly grow. Staying with my parents has been fun too; any extra time I can get with them, I’ll take!
   

It’s been a hell of a year and I can’t wait to see what the next year holds for us. I have a good feeling about 2015; it should definitely be another learning year but I think now that we have our feet set a bit more, things will fall into place.

Food for Thought

Does your family have a second night of Thanksgiving?
Have you moved far from your family before? What did you learn from the experience?

We’re Going to the ALCS!

If this weekend wasn’t already pretty fantastic, the Orioles swept the Tigers and are going to the ALCS! I may or may not have been jumping up and down. And Nathan may or may not have picked me up as I was yelling “ALCS! ALCS! ALCS!” in celebration. It’s a good thing he’s just as weird as I am..

The weather was absolutely incredible over the weekend. Actually, it really has been for at least the past week, but Saturday was especially beautiful. Saturday was also Yom Kippur but I was not about to let fasting get in the way of enjoy the weather. That said, I really tried to pack in the calories Friday night! I loaded up on beer, brick oven baked chicken wings, salmon salad, a little pizza, and of course, pumpkin pie gelato.

Cheers to the Orioles!

The homemade ranch really kicks it up a notch.

I stole all of the warm ricotta off of Nathan’s pizza 😉

I had to go with the seasonal flavor.

We also stopped for a bit to listen to the awesome live music on the street. They had a pianist, drummer, trumpeter, and clarinetist. So bizarre and so wonderful.

Fabulous live music on the streets of Berkeley!

Saturday we spent much of the day at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I made a huge effort to explore the area when we first got there and we took a walk over to the Sutro Baths. It was worth all of my strength that went into it for such gorgeous views.

Stunning views.

Couldn’t ask for more beautiful weather.

We made it!

I was also rewarded by taking a nap on the beach afterward. I pretty much laid down and didn’t move for hours and it was glorious! After a few hours, we made our way back home where I took another nap. I swear, I have no idea how people ever fast. I need me some food! And after 23 hours, Nathan convinced me to break the fast.. with a shot of bourbon. Usually in my family we break with a shot of scotch, but bourbon was all we had. What a terrible problem to have, right? Then we went for dinner!

I needed to get my hand in for size reference.

Worth a second view!

You bet that salad bowl was completely empty along with more cornbread for Nathan’s salad. Whoops 😉 I was a happy camper after all of that food though.

Yesterday was pretty quiet with the exception of the excitement of the Orioles game! It was a sports day around here and I had a work meeting [and got to check out the new equipment!] Nathan cooked dinner while I was gone, so I figured I could work my magic with the rest of the week’s menu..

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Cajun chicken with Israeli salad
Monday – Chicken and easy broccoli stir fry
Tuesday – Indian-style chicken satay with curried cashew sauce
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – 20 minute Thai basil chicken with lemongrass rice bowl
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

There’s also a chance I’ll make these roasted sweet potato black bean burgers to have in the freezer. Don’t they look delicious?!

Food for Thought

If you were fasting or even had to fast, what would be your break fast meal?
What’s on your menu this week?

Fat and Happy

You know that feeling of being wonderfully full after a delicious meal? That’s what Nathan and I call fat and happy and it was our motto back in the day. Now, I wouldn’t say that we spent our whole weekend that way, but we definitely finished it of that way! There were lots of smiles.

I celebrated the weekend [both days] with pancakes.

Morganne’s coconut protein pancakes are fabulous and I’ve been enjoying the day after day, sometimes with figs, sometimes with banana. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

Nathan and I celebrated Saturday with a little bar hopping.

Hers: Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break | His: Malka Blonde

We started out at The Trappist Provisions—the fanciest of the bars—continued to The Gradute, and finally, Barclays. We stopped at the Ramen Shop for dinner afterward. I wasn’t feeling ramen at all so I went for the salmon salad appetizer with an egg.

It was beautiful! But next time I need at least 5 of them to fill me up and about 10x less salt. Oh well, live and learn.

Sunday was spent strolling through neighborhoods of Berkeley and Oakland. We stopped at Elmwood Cafe for lunch; I’d been wanted to try it since Gina wrote about it and it did not dissapoint!

Here, take my picture. But please don’t wait till I’m ready.

People call this the latte soup. It was huge!

I got the smoked salmon sandwich with cream cheese, cucumber, pickled onion, and lemon pepper on Acme levain bread. It was so good. I’ve really been feeling smoked salmon lately and this was nice and light. Which saved room for a shared strawberry and sour cherry turnover and..

.. homemade peanut butter crunch ice cream in a homemade chocolate-lined waffle cone from Ici. It was every bit as delicious as it sounds. Nathan told me I was smiling too hard, but really.. do you see what I’m holding?!

As we walked around town, we stopped in other patisseries, meat and cheese shops, and grocery stores, tasting our way through. There are so many restaurants and ice cream shops we found [including a liquid nitrogen ice cream shop!} and have a lot more tasting to do. But for now, I don’t think we can thinking about more food! Ok, that’s a lie. Give us an hour..

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Herbed turkey burgers with Nathan’s homemade onion jam, roasted tomatoes, and arugula on cauliflower rolls
Monday – Lentil ratatouille
Tuesday – Moroccan-spiced chicken with roasted cauliflower and farro salad
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Winging it!
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

What fun stuff did you do over the weekend?
What’s on your menu this week?

Colorful Weekend Antics

What a fun weekend! The weather was so nice and, despite our Friday night antics and an early Saturday morning, it was actually pretty relaxing. But of course Friday is our night out on the town which started with a couple brewskis, baked garlic wings [with amazing homemade ranch!], salmon salad, and pizza.. with potatoes~! Plus, outdoor seating makes everything better too.

We decided to walk the streets of Berkeley after dinner and ended up at another bar with cocktails that were only $6.50 a pop! With a deal like that, you can’t say no, right? We also were chatting up the bartender, being another east coaster, so I asked him for the obligatory “look, we’re drinking!” picture. Or 10.

We’ve been meaning to actually explore the nightlife around us and I’m glad we finally started to. We also happened to walk by a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop and after reading a couple of Tina’s recaps from her visit, I had to go in and try the Coconut Seven Layer Bar. It was a good choice. A very good choice.

Maybe I should have said no to the $6.50 cocktails because I had a 6 am wake up call for the Color Run. I did it last year in D.C. and was looking forward to meeting up with another Tone It Upper for this one.

It was so great to meet Lisa and we got a nice, early Saturday morning run in and were done before 9 am! I also stocked up on a couple bottles of ZICO.. I love a good race sponsor 😉

The rest of Saturday was pretty quiet [may or may not have been because of our rowdy Friday night] but we made up for it yesterday. For breakfast we tried Bartavelle Cafe, a small coffee shop next to Acme Bread Company, which just so happens to be our favorite bread in the area. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and because it’s what they’re known for.. and because I’ve never had it, I got their avocado toast and an egg. The toast absolutely lived up to the hype! In fact, it might just change my breakfasts for a little while.

We also took a little cruise down to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. The weather was too perfect to ignore and I found a cute spot with outdoor seating, awesome salads, and wine in a mason jar. Right across the street, there was salsa music playing and people were totally impressive with their dance moves. Despite the terrible traffic getting there and home, it was such a great way to spend the day.

I’m loving this weather and I’m so glad I was able to spend so much time outside this past weekend.

Weekly Meal Plan

Monday – Buffalo chicken/tofu, baked onion rings, and roasted brussels sprouts [moved from last week’s menu]
Tuesday – Spaghetti squash casserole
Wednesday – Corned beef with spiralized carrots & cabbage
Thursday – Korean BBQ chicken stir fry
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Cauliflower crust pizza
Sunday – Lentil vindaloo

We had tons of leftovers last week and were able to stretch things a bit more than expected which was awesome. I’m hoping this will be another good week for leftovers too! If you’re looking for meal plan help, shoot me an email.

Food for Thought

Have you ever had avocado toast?
What’s on your menu this week?

Delicious Food and A Cute Little Nugget!

Hi, friends! Happy Monday 🙂 <– Is that an oxymoron?

Are you aware that Saturday was National Peanut Butter Lovers Day? I was especially excited so I decided to double my favorite PB mug cake recipe for breakfast! And a side of iced coffee in my fave glass [GO O’S!]

MONSTER MUG CAKE!!

It really was a monster and of course it was topped with extra peanut fluff. Because how could I not?

It rained on and off all weekend, so both days were pretty relaxing. I definitely needed that after my parents’ trip. I don’t know if they were even as exhausted as I was!

Recently, we’ve been going out for lunch instead of dinner on the weekends since it’s much less busy and cheaper. Saturday we had absolutely no desire to move around lunch time so we whipped up lunch at home and decided to swap our time out for dinner. I made, what was supposed to be an egg wrap. Except I got a little too excited with the stuffing..

This was supposed to be an egg wrap..

For dinner, we hit up Rangoon Super Stars, a Burmese restaurant that has practically the exact same menu as Burma Superstar. It’s closer to us and got great reviews so we had to do the comparison.

Mint Jalapeno Chicken

Garlic Noodles

We also ordered a pickled mango salad but the waiter wasn’t too sure what to make of me trying to take a picture before he mixed it up, so I’ll spare you the one I actually took. In the end, I vote Burma over Rangoon. The mint jalapeno chicken could have definitely been spicier and the garlic noodles could have been more garlicky. Also, Rangoon doesn’t have their liquor license yet.. so there’s that.

Saturday night ended with some fun picture texts from a cute little nugget and her Bubbie who was happy to be babysitting. Three generations of redheads 😉

It’s cuter when she does it..

Love that little bug!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Out with the girls!
Monday – Baked Chicken Pesto Parmesan with wedge fries and spaghetti squash
Tuesday – BBQ Chickpea and Crispy Polenta Bowls with Asparagus + Hummus
Wednesday – Beer Glazed Citrus Chicken with Orange Arugula Greens
Thursday – Epic Crispy Quinoa Burgers Topped with Beer Caramelized Onions + Gruyere .. or whatever cheese we have and possibly more wedge fries?
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Chipotle Mango BBQ Chicken Salad

Have you noticed we like chipotle and BBQ around these parts? If you’re ever looking for help with meal planning, shoot me an email!

Food for Thought

Did you celebrate National Peanut Butter Lovers Day? Let’s be honest, I celebrate everyday!
What’s on your meal plan for the week?
Do I have the cutest niece or do I have the cutest niece?! You have no choice in that answer. What’s true is true!

Mom and Dad Do San Francisco

I’ve been a bit MIA on the social media scene for the past few days since my parents have gotten into town, but I make up for it with pictures!

Wednesday

Biking is good for your ass.

First view of the bridge!

Biggest sweet potato I ever done seen!

Thursday

Feeding the fam before a day of drinking. Killer frittata!

Bear Republic beer samplers! #1 and #2 for the day.

Cheers!

Doin’ wine country.

Mom and Dad doin’ wine country.

Lagunitas beer sample #1.. #3 for the day.

Lagunitas beer sampler #2. Made it #4 for the day and Dad could hardly wait 😉

Friday

Dragged em to the beach.

The boys went climbing and we took a sit.

One of the many beautiful dishes at Iyasare.

Saturday

Ran around town with Mom while the boys took a rest day. So much good food!

Sunday

GET ME OUT! Oh.. there’s the door.

He looks a little too happy to be behind bars. Ha!

Blueberry kombucha on tap to top off a delicious lunch at The Plant.

Buena Vista Cafe. Home of the original Irish coffee.

Cheers! Again!

We may or may not be drinking and walking them into the ground. And you bet your butt we’re headed to more breweries and doing lots more walking tomorrow. But we’re having a great time and I love having them here!

Food for Thought

What is your favorite thing to do when you have out-of-town visitors?

Beer Me!

Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you had a fun weekend just like we did. After I was sick 2 weeks ago and then it rained all last weekend, we were ready to get out of the house and spend some time outside. In our world, that means we need to find a place for a drink 😉 After hearing everyone in the East Bay rave about Drake’s Brewing, we knew it was time to give it a try.

The barrel house.

The place was tucked behind a building but that didn’t stop people from getting there. The barrel house has about 10 small tables inside and huge doors that open up to a few more picnic benches outside. They only serve snacks there—pretzels, nuts, etc.—but every Saturday, fiveten burger, a food truck, sets up to feed the hungry drunks crowds.

L -> R: Spicy Chocolate Alliance, Bourbon Induced Fowl Play, Hefe, IPA, Hopocalypse, Bourbon Barrel Jolly Rodger 2012, Denogginizer, Face Palm, Rakish Rye.

We loaded up! Everything was so good but my favorites were definitely the Bourbon Barrel Jolly Rodger and the Rakish Rye. The Spicy Chocolate Alliance was their Valentine’s brew; it was definitely chocolatey and had a little kick at the end. Very interesting and very good! I was a little disappointed in the lack of bourbon flavor in the Bourbon Induced Fowl Play, but it was still a solid beer. I’d get them all again except Face Palm, it just didn’t have enough flavor.

I got an awesome grilled chicken sandwich from fiveten burger, Nathan got a burger, and we shared an order of garlic fries. But halfway through those beers? Yea.. I forgot to snap a pic haha.

For dinner, we met up with Nathan’s aunt and uncle for Spanish tapas at Duende. Since we were sharing [and they not everyone knows about my blog], I opted to leave the camera in my bag. Until Nathan mentioned it.. then of course I had to get a picture of the last dish, canalones.

Vegetarian canalones.

Everything was so tasty! We also had brussels & sunchokes, swordfish, cabbage salad with walnuts and olives, goat cheese fritters, veggies with a mango pistachio salsa, patatas bravas, and osso bucco over creamy polenta. I think the osso bucco was my favorite, but I was really surprised and pleased with how light everything was!

After dinner, we went to see Gravity in 3D. We also got there a few minutes before the movie started so we were in the lower section. It was an interesting movie and I enjoyed it but it’s not the kind of movie that you go see to relax. It was a stressful movie and I definitely found myself gripping the armrests more than once. Side note: Sandra Bullock is almost 50 and she’s smokin!

Sunday morning, I woke up, got in a great workout, and housed a delicious stack of pancakes! We were heading to brunch later, but I knew we wouldn’t be eating until closer to 12 so I knew I needed something in my stomach. I’m so glad I did, it held me over until I got to devour this bit!

Baked quinoa with asparagus, tomato, arugula, poached eggs, & parmesan.

Poached eggs are the best, yes? It was nice to find something light on the menu for once. After brunch, we headed home and relaxed the rest of the day. I think running around [and drinking] on Saturday did a number on us! We’re old. But it was fun and it was a great weekend. Now to prepare for my parents to get here on Wednesday! WOO!!

Food for Thought

How did you spend your weekend?
What’s the best movie you’ve seen lately?

Five Things Friday

Happy Valentine’s Day! Have any fun plans for tonight? We have done good stuff coming up in the next week.

1. My parents will be here in less than a week! I realize I mentioned this yesterday, but can you tell I’m excited?!
2. I stocked up on our Valentines Day dinner/dessert ingredients yesterday. On the menu:
   Appetizer: Truffle gouda with crackers and balsamic jam [from Italy!] .. Entree: Seared lamb with a cherry port sauce, Moroccan rice with pistachio and dried apricot, and roasted rainbow carrots .. Dessert: Cheesecake squares. But I can’t tell you the flavor because that’s a surprise for Nathan. There may or may not be pictures to share later 😉
3. I miss the snow a little bit but I have to admit it was awfully nice to be able to take a walk this afternoon when it was 65 degrees.
   
   My parents just got a little dusting.
4. Nathan surprised me last night by picking me up after work to go out to a point near our place and watch the sunset.
   
   It was a really crisp, clear night and such a nice way to end the day. Doesn’t hurt that he’s cute too!
5. This weekend is Belgian Beer Fest at Max’s. It is, by far, our favorite bar in Baltimore and Belgian Beer Fest is the best. Definitely missing that this weekend. We’re going to try to make up for it this weekend and while my parents are here.. I’ll report back.

Giveaway Winner!

Congrats to Tiff at Love, Sweat, & Beers! You’ve won my Peanut Butter & Co. 31 Days of Dark Chocolate Dreams giveaway!

Food for Thought

What are your Valentines Day plans?
Are you being hit by the crazy weather?

Sometimes You Just Need to Rest

Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend and didn’t have too hard of a time staying awake during that rousing game last night. I also hope you’re not a Broncos fan.. eesh! Sorry about that..

We didn’t have much planned for the weekend, but ended up really relaxing. Friday I went to another awesome yoga session with the SweatGuru team.

Rooftop yoga in the sunshine.
Source: Sweat Guru Facebook

Nathan and I went out for dinner and drinks. And despite the fact that I mentioned feeling “off”, I thought it was a good idea to have a couple beers with my smoked bbq tofu sandwich. Which was awesome.

They LOADED that bad boy up with avocado! Part of it fell off the other side 😉

Fast forward to Saturday morning, 4:30 am I decided I should be nice to Nathan and lay down on the sofa instead of continuing to toss and turn. Turns out that “off” feeling I had Friday night was me getting sick. Go figure. Luckily I had a rest day planned already but with my morning starting as early as it did, breakfast came at a whopping 6:45! Oats, of course. And coffee.. LOTS of coffee.

My fave.

A couple hours later, I saw a tweet from Nicole with this recipe. Holy cannoli I needed that in my life! I had to sub some ingredients, but it ended up being a darn tasty snack.

And looking a lot like my breakfast.

Lunch time rolled around and Nathan had been dying to try the famous fried chicken sandwich from Bakesale Betty. I opted for a salad from The Mixing Bowl and I would definitely go back! Nathan, on the other hand, felt differently about his sandwich. Unfortunately it wasn’t a hit for him.

The salad didn’t come with kabocha squash. I just saw it elsewhere on the menu.

My weekend excitement kind of ended there going out, but luckily the good food didn’t end. The rest of Saturday and pretty much all day Sunday was spent on my butt trying to beat this cold. Or flu. Or whatever it is. At least I got some fresh air on Saturday though!

We did make our pizza and wings for the game yesterday and it was awesome! The naan pizza worked out great and the wings were incredible. You’ve never seen such clean chicken bones.. the meat literally fell right off the bone. We demolished a good 2 lbs.. whoops! Haha can you blame us?

These wings could be famous. Seriously.

By last night I was feeling a lot better and I’m hoping that all that rest really helped me kick it. Two days off from workouts and I’m ready to kill it at the gym.

Weekly Meal Plan

Saturday – Leftover spaghetti squash casserole for me. Leftover mango beef stir fry for him.
Sunday – Korean BBQ chicken wings & naan pizza.
Monday – Grilled jerk chicken for him & mahi mahi for me with roasted asparagus and plantains.
Tuesday – Green chile turkey burgers with cajun roasted potatoes for him and zucchini noodles for me.
Wednesday – Vietnamese Bun Cha Gio’
Thursday – Black rice salad bowl with chipotle orange chicken, cashews, & feta.
Friday – Going out!

By the way, the Move Nourish Believe Challenge with Fit Approach and Lorna Jane starts today! Have you joined yet?

Food for Thought

What did you do for the Superbowl?
What is your favorite comfort food when you’re not feeling well?