What I Ate Wednesday #36: It’s Really Real!

First things first, HUGEEEEE congratulations to our WIAW host, Jenn! If you didn’t see already, she spilled the beans the other day and I couldn’t be happier for her.

I’m less than 3 months away from my wedding and weekends have been completely taken over by plans. We have all of the big details done and now we’re just making all of the final decisions. It’s getting really real and Nathan keeps realizing he can’t back out anymore 😉 It’s already been over a year in the making and I can’t wait to see it all come to fruition. But really, I can’t wait to wear my dress, party, and go on my honeymoon. Hey, I’m just being honest!

And speaking of the dress, Saturday was my first fitting; it fits almost perfectly and I’m in love. But that’s all you’re gonna get from me 😉 Afterwards, I headed to a baby shower to spend some time with these lovely ladies..

..and to celebrate the beautiful lady in the black flower dress. It was such a good time.. bellinis, good food, lots of chit chat, and most importantly, no games! Seriously, it was great!

Finally, I ended my day with a date night. Best part of all, other than the company, is that it was at Mr. Rain’s Funhouse; the restaurant at our wedding venue. It was a nice way to tie all of the crazy planning together to a nice, relaxing evening.

[Breakfast]
Slimmed down sweet scramble with fat free ricotta cheese instead of squash. A new spin I’ve been doing for a little extra kick of protein.

[Lunch]
Baby shower eats! Mini crustless quiches, bacon spirals, beet & pecan salad, artichoke crostinis, & a couple pear raspberry bellinis. I’m sorry I didn’t snap a few shots of the food, the hostess with the mostess did such a nice job.

[Dinner]
Started out with an incredible drink.. unfortunately I don’t remember exactly what was in it, but it involved rye, black tea, blood orange marmalade, bitters, and more. Completely out of the ordinary for me but so delicious and accented my entree perfectly.

I always appreciate freshly baked rolls to start a dinner, but even more, I love freshly baked pretzel bites! We also shared a charcuterie plate.. it’s kind of our thing. And there will be lots of charcuterie on the honeymoon!

Nathan got the burger and fries; it was cooked perfectly which is so rare to find these days. My entree choice was decided almost solely on the fact that it included kabocha squash which I’ve been dying to try but can’t find anywhere! The rest included roasted eggplant, bulgar wheat, olives, and lemon. It was so light and delicious!

[Snacks]
We skipped dessert after dinner because we shared a huge Levain Bakery style chocolate chip walnut cookie earlier in the day provided by the host of the baby shower. She really outdid herself with the food and it did not go unnoticed! And you should definitely make that cookie!

Tempting, right? 😉

Food for Thought

What is your favorite cookie? Is it a homemade recipe or from your favorite bakery?

What I Ate Wednesday #11 – Day Tripper

I bet you have that song stuck in your head now.

No? How about now?

Over the weekend, Nathan and I were tasked with seeing 2 wedding bands. The first one was in DC and with that being at least an hour away, we decided to make a day trip of it. Clearly the first thing to do when deciding on a day trip is to pick out where we can stop for lunch, drinks, and dinner. Who doesn’t plan their day around food?

Breakfast

Typical.. a chocolate coconut zucchini protein pancake (similar recipe to this guy!) topped with the new Earth Balance coconut & peanut spread, coconut, and cinnamon. Of course, I ha my Tone It Up Bombshell Spell and Chocolate Coconut coffee with almond milk. Between the coconut & peanut spread and the chocolate coconut coffee, I was in heaven!

P.S. Make sure to check back soon.. I’m hoping to be doing something fun with Earth Balance!

We made our way off to DC where we had reservations at Oyamel, a José Andrés restaurant. I love tapas restaurants and being able to taste a bunch of things makes it such a fun experience. I would definitely go back!

Lunch

We had to do it fancy and got a pitcher of Farmer’s Fresh Mimosas with plum and lemon verbena. Delicious! I could have had the whole pitcher myself 🙂 The fresh salsa was wonderful and the Mexican squash salad was light and delicious. I loved the topping of queso fresco and crushed peanuts. This is definitely a dish I would consider a summer staple.

I followed that up with a chicken taco with their homemade guacamole and grilled scallion. I have to admit, the guacamole might have been my favorite part of the meal (other than the mimosas!) Next time, I’m definitely getting that to start! I also had a fish taco with pico de gallo. Once again, so fresh and light. We each finished off our meal with Mexican coffee. Full of flavor and a nice jolt to our systems! It was a great meal and so nice to have a light lunch before hitting the town!

After lunch, we explored DC a bit. We took a nice walk over to the Lincoln Monument and then found some much needed air conditioning at the American History Museum. The heat must have messed with our heads; once we cooled off at the museum, we realized we’d much rather cool off with a beer. Off to RFD! After splitting the pitcher of mimosas, I decided to keep it at one beer. What was that beer you ask? Oh, I can’t remember because I forgot to take a picture! Professional blogger over here 😉

Don’t you worry though, I definitely didn’t forget to take a picture of my froyo!

Snack

I don’t mess around with froyo (also a very important summer staple.) Mostly peanut butter with a touch of cheesecake, dulce de leche, and coconut. And of course I had to top it with peanut butter cups. I have a slight obsession with chocolate and peanut butter. Can you tell?

Dinner

Since Nathan indulged my obsession, I indulged his and we went for pizza for dinner! Matchbox features tons of pizzas with a thin, crispy crust. We started off with the large apple/pear salad. I would give the salad a big miss next time. I wouldn’t call it a large and, unfortunately, I had no desire to take a picture of it. But at least we got a little veggie!

When it came to ordering the pizzas, we went back and forth with what we wanted to split. They have so many different kinds and they all sounded wonderful! If we could have, I would have gotten a different kind of pizza for each slice, but since we could only split it in half, we went for the Oven Dried Tomato with Fresh Mozzarella (their version of the margherita pizza) and the Veggie with roasted garlic, artichokes, oven dried tomatoes, pecorino romano, and mozzarella. We each tried a piece of each and went our separate ways. He finished the margherita and I finished the veggie. It’s why we work 🙂

And dessert? Oh right.. had that before dinner. Whoops! (I would have had another one if I had my chance!) We did finally make it to see the band, but the food was the real highlight of the day trip!

Speak Up!

Where is your favorite day trip? Do you plan where you’re going to eat before you head out or just see where the road takes you?