A Weekend of Celebrations and Bread Wars

Well I had quite the exciting start to my weekend. You may have seen on Instagram already, but if not, you should really know that I’m now certified to kick your butt.

I passed! That damn NASM CPT test was a beast and I’m so glad to have that weight off my shoulders. It was really helpful to use Julie and Gina‘s study guides along with what I got from NASM to prep. If you’re interested in getting any NASM certification, you can receive a 10% discount by getting in touch with Michael Golembewski mentioning my name or blog when signing up. Just give him a call at 602-383-1263 or email him at Michael.Golembewski@nasm.org and don’t forget to mention Barr & Table!

Clearly, passing the test called for celebrations. First stop was a bar in Berkeley for a couple drinks and to watch our Orioles. They’ve been playing the A’s so we’ve been able to actually watch our guys out here! [Not that it’s been much to watch..]

Then we went for celebratory sushi!

Got a free California hand roll for checking in on yelp. And it was possibly the best California roll I’ve ever had.

I also got a chirashi “bowl” .. typically served in a bowl, but you can’t beat the freshness regardless of how it’s served! Not to mention it’s gorgeous. I also loved this restaurant because Nathan—my non-seafood eater—could get something other than teriyaki chicken.

This pork belly soba dish was so flavorful and delicious!

Saturday we continued the celebrations with brunch and farmers’ marketing.

Pastrami benedict. I don’t think there’s much else to say here. I don’t know the last time I’ve had such a perfectly poached egg.

And we got peaches for days! I’m not even a peach-eater but these were so amazing, we filled up.

Yesterday, we had a fun day at a sourdough starter class. I’ve not had much success making bread at home so I’m hoping these starters work out better for me. I can’t wait to get started!

We were told that to have a successful starter, it needs to have a name. We actually both chose Bertha [we’ve been together too long] but I let Nathan have it. Let the bread wars begin!

I think Nathan’s camera work could use a little help, yes? 😉 He also wouldn’t stop chewing to smile. I promise he was happier than he looks. Ha! And with all of my celebrations, it’s about time to get back to a nice meal plan. Holy moly!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Turkey caprese meatball salad
Monday – Honey ginger chicken and veggie stir fry
Tuesday – Leftovers
Wednesday – Quinoa crusted chicken strips with BBQ honey mustard and asparagus fries
Thursday – Ginger chicken with peaches and onions + roasted broccoli and rice
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

What fun things did you do over the weekend?
Have you ever made bread at home?

What I Ate Wednesday #46: We Drank Too Much

Have you entered my Chobani giveaway?

Asheville, NC is awesome. Nathan and I went down a few years ago for a friend’s wedding and were psyched when my cousin said that’s where she would be getting married. Immediately we started looking up restaurants and breweries that we wanted to try.. turns out there were far too many for the 2 1/2 days that we would be there, but we certainly put a nice dent in ’em!

The wedding was on Sunday so we had planned on leaving Saturday morning around 7 am so we could get there around 3 pm. We wanted to have time to explore and relax. When the groom sent out an email about a brewery tour on Saturday starting at 12 pm, our plans quickly changed. Up a 4 am and out the door by 5? Done.

And so began a weekend of beer.

Saturday

[Breakfast]
On the go! Friday I made 2 batches of my favorite oats and threw one in the fridge to grab and go for the ride. Best decision ever. I topped it with some nut & seed butters and we hit the road.

[Lunch]
We powered through our drive with just a couple of rest stops and made it to Asheville for lunch! Chai Pani was calling our name; we love Indian food! I got the Tandoori Chicken Salad and Nathan had the Kathi Kabab Roll. The salad itself was pretty good but the chicken stole the show. Nathan’s wrap was full of flavor.. I pretty sure he liked it because I only got one little taste.

[Brewery Tour]
First: Wedge Brewing. I had the flemish style brown ale and it was delicious. Nathan had the witbier and enjoyed it equally as much. We quickly learned that we should be ordering samplers.
Second: Pisgah Brewing. A flight of their finest, of course. Not as good as Wedge, but still quite tasty. The barleywine was my fave!
Third: French Broad Brewing Co. They had a huge selection to choose from! We got another sampler but I forgot to snap a picture of this one. I did, however, get a picture of their Eat Bertha’s Mussels bumper sticker on the wall. BALTIMORE REPRESENT!
Fourth: Highland Brewing. Yet another sampler and a blurry one at that! It may have been a little telling of how I was feeling at this point 😉 Good thing you can’t see it on our faces, right……?

The tour ended at Barley’s Taproom where we met up with the rest of the crowd and everyone had dinner. Nathan and I, however, had other plans for dinner. We do our research 🙂

[Dinner]
We were totally stuffed from all of the drinks [and snacks at Barley’s.. whoops!] but we made our way to The Market Place Restaurant for a very tasty dinner. We split an appetizer not on the menu; an assortment of fresh mushrooms baked with a crispy topper. Delish! I had the ahi tuna appetizer for my dinner and Nathan ordered the parpadelle pasta with braised lamb. Both were extremely tasty, I just wish I was hungrier so I could have ordered a full dinner!

Sunday

Clearly after the first day, I needed to get in a workout. Luckily the hotel had a gym.. it may have only been one elliptical and one working treadmill, but how many machines does one person need? No drinking till the wedding. Seriously.

[Breakfast]
Eggs Benny. The beauties in the picture actually had to be sent back though.. they were practically hard boiled eggs! No worries, I got a new order and they were awesome! Served over a homemade english muffin, sauteed swiss chard, and country ham.

[Lunch]
Ok, so we lied. We ended up at Wicked Weed Brewing and had to get a sampler. I was most excited for the Coolcumber and for good reason. So good! I had their smoked turkey sandwich with grilled mozzarella, arugula, and cranberry. It was quite tasty and definitely hit the spot.

[Dinner]
Wedding! Like a bad blogger, I didn’t take any pictures, but there was a buffet of chicken, beef, asparagus, salad, and more. Plus cupcakes for dessert! Yum 🙂

Monday

Again, I had to hit the gym! We had a big day of traveling ahead of us and I wanted to start off on the right foot.

[Breakfast]
Sunny Point Cafe. And more poached eggs! It came with 2 veggie sausage patties that tasted just like regular sausage and a nice flaky biscuit.

Before lunch we took a nice drive along Blue Ridge Parkway. It was beautiful and I wish we had more time [and better weather] to hike, but we had to get to work the next day!

[Lunch]
Foothills Brewing. We’re the worst at avoiding beer but I’ll use the excuse that it was either there or McDonalds. I got an awesome portabello wrap with a little hefeweizen on the side. I had to continue the theme of the weekend.

[Dinner]
We made a pit stop in Richmond to meet up with Brittany and her shiny, new husband, Isaac, at one of their favorite restaurants, Mekong. It’s a Vietnamese restaurant that was named the #1 beer bar in America. I ordered the tofu clay pot and started with an Allagash Curieux. The food was great but the beer was better! And Isaac and Nathan were so cute talking about beer 😉

It was so great to see Brittany again and it was fun to catch up on both of our weddings and honeymoons. It’s a shame we don’t live closer!

After a long weekend of great food, great beer, and a great wedding, it was nice to get back into the swing of things. I’m sure this is why we stayed in so much this past weekend.. no complaints here though!

Food for Thought

When you’re traveling, do you go out of your way to find the best restaurants or bars?

What I Ate Wednesday #38: Luck of the Irish

March seriously snuck up on me! I signed up for the Shamrock 5K months ago and all of the sudden this race was right around the corner. I have no idea how it happened, but it did and I had to be ready! I hadn’t run outside since my last race in October, but I had to suck it up and go for a run!

Typically race-day breakfasts are light; more of a snack than anything else, and I follow up with a nice brunch. But there’s just something about mid-day races that totally screw with me. Maybe I just still want to enjoy the weekend and take advantage of Sunday brunch, but these are definitely not my normal go-to race eats!

[Breakfast/Brunch]
Groupon to the rescue! We went to a new place, Langermann’s on Light.. I had the crab cake benedict, hollandaise on the side, a fruit cup, and a mimosa. Is it just me or do eggs benedict not need hollandaise sauce? I’m totally satisfied with the runny yolks as my sauce.

The crab cakes were good.. the flavor was there, but definitely not the lump crab you should get from a Maryland crab cake. Still, I’d get it again!

RACE TIME!! Check out those lovely ladies I had the pleasure of spending my afternoon with 🙂 [Thanks for the pic, Kate!] And after a new PR of 24:15, it doesn’t get much better than that! Being that it was my first race of the year, I wasn’t expecting much.. really I was just hoping for under 28:00, so when I turned the corner and saw the finish line, I was totally psyched that it was under 25:00. I sprinted.. there was no way was letting that clock hit 25!

[Lunch]
Uhh.. well.. it seems that lunch was taken over by a few beers and some sort of bomb that included Monster. I certainly didn’t mean for that to happen, but clearly I had to celebrate! As did the rest of the sea of green 😉

[Dinner]
VEGETABLES! PLEASE! The lack of vegetables in my lunch [and lack of food..] had me craving some serious greens for dinner. I mixed up a bunch of roasted broccoli, brussels sprouts, and snow peas with some creamy tahini nooch sauce and topped with a little shredded chicken that simmered in Amy’s Thai Coconut Soup. So good!

Food for Thought

What are your typical race-day eats?