Wegman’s Jackpot

We didn’t get in bed until past 11pm and the dog snuggled me awake 10 different times during the night but somehow I did manage to get in a 6am gym session.  Woo-hoo!  30 minutes on the elliptical at level 5.  My feet kill and I was moving pretty slowly, but I got some movement in and spent some time reviewing my notecards.

When I got home I grabbed a coffee for the road but didn’t bother taking a picture because the dog ate my camera cord.  Coffee, English Toffee syrup, Silk Plain Almond Milk.  I think y’all know what that looks likes.  Instead, here is a picture of Webster the Destructor –

I had a nice break between class 1 and 2 because my test only took half of the alloted time.  The test went well, probably not an A but definitely not an F.  We’ve had mostly multiple choice questions for the past year so I need to get used to the short answer, matching, etc. format.

I ate my breakfast on the break (I uploaded my photos after I packed lunch last night).  Mini box of raisins,

serving of Love Grown Granola (HLS swag),

and a Trader Joe’s applesauce packet.

I ended up going ahead and eating my lunch during the same break (phone pic).  I packed a frozen serving of leftover kale and beans which I plated and stuck in the campus bookstore microwave. 

There was a bit of tofurkey sausage and parmesan on the bottom too.  Even frozen and defrosted the bbq kale and beans were still delicious!  I’m sad this is all gone and plan to make another batch soon.

Eating lunch at 10am left me pretty hungry come my second break but I distracted myself with some computer time.  <– I even started writing this post!

After school I had to run to Bagel Jays to pick up some halvah for a school presentation later this week.  They were all out, but the cashier did have a suggestion of where I could find more.  And an epic journey to the Wegmans 25-minutes away with an international section ensued.  In the end that hour was completely worth it though; I ended up finding all sorts of goodies that I haven’t spotted elsewhere in Buffalo!

Adam and I have been searching for everything matzoh every since we left Miami!  And I was excited to eat a snack find right away.

Pizza flavored snacks (chips? crackers?) from Bissli.

Adam and I split the package and we both loved them.  The flavor was pretty mild but the texture was unlike any snack I’ve ever had, very hard and crunchy!  When I turn my epic Wegman’s journey into a monthly event I will definitly be buying more Bissli products.

I also drank a Wegman’s diet root beer and pretty much died and went to heaven.

Sidenote -I don’t show you all of the diet soda I drink (I’d never get off the computer!), just the interesting ones.  Diet cola is my favorite thing on Earth but other sugar-free sodas tend to make me gag.  I’d sooner dehydrate than put Diet Sprite in my mouth.  But this root beer was amazing; perfect balance of sweet and spice, no aftertaste.  This actually was the best root beer I’ve ever had, diet or regular, period.

We ate our snacks on the road because we were out searching for a camera cord replacement.  Many (many) stops later we finally had success.  By the time I had the ability to photograph dinner Adam and I were completely demoralized.  He actually called my mom and begged to charge dinner!  She’s the best lady ever, so out we went.  And wouldn’t you know it, we wandered into restaurant week.

How serendipitous!

My pictures of dinner are all terrible.  I’m hoping it was the lighting because if I need to buy a new camera right after I sprang for a new cord I might just cry.

Course 1 was soup;

a jalapeno cheddar corn potato chowder.

This had a nice spice to it but was too rich for my taste.

For my entrée I ordered the tortellini ratatouille.

That’s not it.  I was two bites in I was complaining about the lack of veggies when I came to a startling realization – this was the tortellini Bolognese.  Pros – my entire pre fixe meal was comped.  Cons – I ate a cow!!?!

Our waiter was apologetic about the mishap and soon enough I had my ratatouille.

Much better, this had tons of veggies.  I ate 2/3 of my meal and brought the leftovers home for a happy husband.  He ordered steak with a Stilton crust and was thrilled.

For dessert I ordered peach cobbler with Grand Marnier and chantilly cream.

I never really consider the cobbler but this was a lot of fun to eat.  I finished all of the peaches and cream and 3/4 of the cobbler.

Not so fun is the fact that my stomach started hurting halfway through dinner.  It was bad enough that the pain was making me sweat (though not bad enough that I’ll skip dessert, apparently!).  The issue was probably the creamy soup, but I’m going to blame the beef!

Are there any foods you don’t eat?  When was the last time one slipped into your meal?  Veggies – how do you react when you accidentally consume some flesh?

Shrimptastic

I can’t even tell you how freaking good it feels to be back to blogging.  I know I don’t always blog everything (though if I blog for a day than I include everything that goes in my mouth) but going extended periods without posting just feels strange!

I’ve got a busy week ahead – 3 tests and 2 projects by Friday – so I set my alarm for 8am to get working.  I got a little distracted by house organizing and puppy training but I got a good bit of work done too.  I was extra fueled by coffee.

Into my big mug (thanks Janetha!) went 2.5 cups of coffee, 2 Tbsp English Toffee syrup, and a big pour (~3/4 cup?) of Silk Plain Almond Milk.

Hello, dog.

I went unorthodox for breakfast because I found the last serving of bacon, corn, and shrimp chowder lurking in the back of the fridge.

Food safety regulations would have called for tossing this but it tasted great and I feel fine.

Around 12:30 I headed over to Delaware Park for a run.  Running at high-noon wasn’t my best idea but this ended up being a terrible workout in general.

  • ran 1.75 mile lap in 19:30
  • paused break for peeing and stretching (I drank a big cup of water with my big cup of coffee; slosh city)
  • “ran” 1.75 mile lap in 24:30
  • walked 1.75 mile lap in 43:30

That’s 3.5 miles in 44 minutes plus 1.75 miles more walked.  This run was pretty much a shitshow.  9 minutes into my second lap my feet went completely numb and I had to walk to avoid twisting my ankle.  Adam had tightly tied my shoes for me but loosening them didn’t help and I wasn’t off pins and needles until I actually took my shoes off.  I wanted to finish my last walking lap because I had my notecards with me to review so I ended up doing 1.75 miles barefoot.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but my gigantic, excruciating blisters indicate that it was actually a terrible idea.  Ouch!

I was at least cheered up by my shower thanks to this lavender soap my mom sent me –

When I was a kid my mother loved lilac (which smells like cat pee, by the way) but my dad and I couldn’t get it together so we’d always buy her tons of lavender-scented goodies.  I teased her for years about being an old lady but in the last year or so I’ve become completely obsessed with all things lavender.  Guess I’m the old lady.

Adam offered to help me hobble through the grocery store so I did a quick-lunch out of hand.  A black plum,

and a Sweet Tango apple.

Holy crisp and juicy, Batman!  I was so thrilled to loudly munch through a fresh apple; Sweet Tangos are divine.

We did Wegmans and the co-op and when I got home I hungrily dug into this container of Dr. McDougall’s Spicy Kung Pow Noodles.

Pretty darn good.  The was a nice amount of spice to these and it felt like a ton of food for 220 calories.

Dinner involved more shrimp and tasted better than it looked.

On the left is a small serving of Cooking Light‘s Bombay Shrimp Curry.  My changes to the recipe included using ground mustard instead of mustard seed, skipping the cilantro, and using a veggie mix with peas, corn, carrots, lima beans, and green beans.  I also skipped the rice because I had just eaten pasta.

Unfortunately, we hated it.  Adam and I both could barely choke this down.  The flavor was strangely flat and it was spicy in an unpleasant way.  Do not recommend.

I know the stuff on the right looks bad, but I promise it tasted sooooo good.

Cheesy baked eggplant!  Using this Italian eggplant I picked up at the farmers’ market last week.

For two – into my mini casserole dish went a thin layer of marinara, a layer of thinly sliced eggplant, a sprinkle of salt, a thick layer of marinara, and 2 slices of 2% provolone cheese.  Baked at 450* for 45minutes.

Gah; this was unbelievable!  The eggplant got soft enough to cut with a fork and baking the cheese intensified its flavor x100.  We are going to make this again as a main meal very soon.

For dessert I used Mixchief Jell-O Mix to make Cherry Coke Jell-O.

How fun!  It wasn’t as strong as I would have liked but I would try it again and substitute more cola for water next time.

That bowl had 2 servings but I only ate one.  To be honest I’m feeling pretty unsatisfied; I think I will most likely end up adding enough dessert to this day while I study.  I’ll update later if I do.

How often do you update your blog?  Does it feel strange to take breaks.

***Updated to add – I did have a 2nd (fiberific) dessert; 1/3 cup of All Bran Bran Buds with 2 tsp of crushed Heath bar.  No picture because the dog chewed through my camera cord.  <– ugh!

Oh, Balls

Oh.  Hello there.  Are you here to hear me talk about my balls?  Well calm down, I’m getting to that.  I do have some exciting ball news but there was lots of excitement today.

Like my discovery of my new favorite smoothie of all time.

I know it doesn’t look like much but this new combination was freaking amazing.  I put 1 cup of lemonade and 2 Tbsp of chia seeds in my blender and left them to soak.  Five minutes later I added 1 cup of frozen strawberries and then blended like crazy.  Here’s an outside picture so you can really see the color –

Un-be-leave-a-bull!  The chia seeds mostly blended but still left a nice chew and their nuttiness was the perfect foil to the sweet and sour of the strawberry lemonade.

Even better, my smoothie actually held my stomach through my 4 hour class.  I attribute this to the chia seeds.  My 2 Tbsp of chia seeds gave my smoothie an extra 140 calories, 5 grams of protein, 11 grams of fiber, and 7 grams of polyunsaturated fats (mostly omega-3s).  source

That’s not to say I wasn’t ready for lunch though.  We had a “welcome back” department lunch today, complete with food.

I took a slice of mushroom pizza,

a few fresh veggies,

and some amazingly fresh strawberries and watermelon.

I also grabbed a 2nd slice later on.

In other lunch news I finally had an apple month win!

This caramel apple iced coffee from my school’s coffee shop totally hit the spot.  I did only drink half of that monster (I thought I was ordering a small) but I definitely made sure to get every last lick of caramel out of my cup.

Fully fueled, I headed to the gym for a L-O-O-O-N-G spells long workout.  I had a time goal and a length goal and I ended up hitting my time goal long before my length one; ie I took too many walking breaks and was slow!  I did a looong warm up and looong cool down with walk/run intervals in between that ended up being a lot of walking. 

In the end I covered 9 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes.  As slow as you can move and still call it running but the distance at least is nothing to sneeze at.  P.S. I’m having some issues with the bones in my right foot but my legs feel great; yay!

Alright already, let’s talk about the balls.

S’mores Oat Balls.  Click here for the recipe link.  I swear to God this recipe was inspired by the S’mores Quaker Chew Bars and not my desire to say the word balls repeatedly after eating and rewatching Schweddy Balls.

The recipe was simple but the end result was delicious yet subtle.  Part s’more, part oat, totally acceptable for breakfast!  I resisted any nibbling while I assembled but I did eat two balls as soon as they were formed.

Make them at home, I promise you’ll love my balls.

Since we ate dessert first dinner needed to be a 15 minute affair.

I prepared 2 servings of spirals pasta, stirring frozen spinach and peas into the mix in the last few minutes of boiling.  Then I made Emily’s Nutritional Yeast Sauce and tossed everything together.

Yum, I thought the nutritional yeast was really good; though that could have been my love for peas with pasta talking.  Head over to The Daily Garnish (recipe link) to see all the benefits of nutritional yeast, but suffice to say dinner was healthy.

Adam has a test tomorrow and I have a really hard time sleeping when he’s not in bed (the upcoming surgical rotation should be fun!) so I’m going to stay up with him.  Studying, blog reading, perhaps a shower; who knows what I’ll get done.

P.S. I used the word “balls” 10 times in this post.  Sorry, Nana!

Bacon, And Corn, And Shrimp, Oh My

Wednesdays are my long days (8 – 4:40 on campus) but today didn’t feel so bad.  I’ve fallen into the swing of 8 am classes and my friend Janessa and I had a group project to work on that filled up our long break between classes.  Throughout the day I did eat all of my packed lunch components.  I also bought a short apple cider from the school coffee shop.

This wasn’t a total fail like the Tim Horton’s cider, but it still tasted a lot like warm apple juice.

I need to find a good cider before the end of September Apple Month!

Adam came to pick me up at the end of the day and wanted me to go to Wegmans with him to pick something up for school.  He plied me with hot bar.

I caved easily.  To be fair, I genuinely needed some greens to go with my dinner.

Plus a few pieces of chicken for good measure.

It’s a good thing I was still hungry when I got home (ha! when am I ever not still hungry?) because I got to work cooking an actual dinner.

I’m not sure what corn chowder is supposed to look like but to me that looks like success.

I pulled the recipe for Bacon-Corn Chowder with Shrimp from Cooking Light last month but I was waiting until it felt more like fall to try it out.  Here were my changes –

  • using 5 strips of (Applegate Farms) turkey bacon and crumbling it all into the soup
  • skipping the thyme
  • throwing in 2 extra cloves of garlic
  • leaving my frozen corn frozen when it went into the pot

I gave myself a large serving and happily tucked into the first soup of the season.

Adam and I thought that the recipe was good, but not amazing like we wanted it to be.  I wanted the flavors to be more vibrant and definitely sweeter.  I think a large part of the problem was using frozen corn; I’d love to make this again but with fresh corn off the cob.  We gave it a 6.5/10 but considering how low-calorie it was (~300 calories for 1 and 2/3 cups) the flavor certainly wasn’t bad.

My taste buds weren’t fully satisfied by the meal though.  I actually ended up making myself an after-dinner coffee.

A little bit of lukewarm coffee, a Tbsp of sugar, and a lotta bit of Plain Silk Almond Milk.  I hope the caffeine doesn’t keep me up!

Serendipitous Stop

Hello from Ohio!  I’m so glad we had this long weekend so I had the chance to get over to visit my grandparents.  My grandpa is in the hospital at the moment unfortunately, but we’ll get to visit a bit and we’re hanging out with my grandma until Monday.

I went to bed at 3am last night this morning and my alarm went off at 7am so you know I turned to coffee.

Adam and I shared this cup, with a small splash of English Toffee syrup and a big splash of skim milk.

Webster had an appointment to get his booster shots so we headed to the vet’s office on the way out of town.  Adam took him alone for the first visit while I was at HLS and I was so impressed today with how brave he was.

He was a total champ on the car road too.  Most of the trip was spent like this,

or like this.

And he drank water out of a glass in the cup holder like a little traveler!

When we weren’t fawning over how cute the dog is, we were eating.  I didn’t get a chance to pack lunch for myself and I got very lucky with a serendipitous stop.  I was hungry and thirsty when I spotted a Chipotle so I asked Adam to pull over,

and then we realized that we were only 2 miles from froyo!

Booyah!  You’ve seen my froyo face, but here is my “froyo and Chipotle?!?” face –

self taken in the bathroom mirror because even I have a little shame.

We actually ate our froyo first.

I stuck with a theme and got a small cup of low-fat mint froyo topped with snowcaps, crumbled Andes, Oreos, and fudge sauce.

Swoon.

Then I ate my Chipotle rice bowl in the car.

They let me do a small scoop of rice topped with black beans, fajita veggies, corn salsa, mild salsa, and a tiny sprinkle of cheese.

I topped the whole thing off myself with TONS of green Tabasco.  Double swoon.

Other snacks included part of this apple which got warm and gross,

and this baggie of snacks (yogurt pretzels!) from my grandparents’ house.

We made it to Ohio in pretty good time and got to spend an hour visiting with my grandpa before coming home to a gourmet dinner.

I swear eating with my grandma makes you feel like you’re at a hotel!

Homemade cole slaw,

a slice of foccacia,

roasted asparagus,

and enchilada casserole.

I only left a bite or two on my plate but I definitely made room for dessert.

Homemade chocolate pie.  I scraped my crust off for Adam (crust is to filling like cake is to icing) but practically licked the rest of my plate clean.

The filling of this was like chewable pudding, so good!

I am stuffed, exhausted, and ready for bed.

Long Run, Long Day, Short Post

My semester won’t be impossible but it does look like shorter posts will probably become a regular thing.  I think adding a dog and adding (back) exercise to my life at the start of a new semester was not my most stress-free idea!

Adam drove me to school this morning – his current rotation is the psychiatric facility that’s near my campus so we’ll probably be carpooling a lot the next few weeks – so I was thrilled that my teacher suggested a 10 minute walk around campus at the beginning of class.

It was fun to get moving and in a 4-hour class any minute out of the room is a godsend.

My breakfast pie held me over pretty well but I did start to dig into my packed food a couple of hours into class.

A sliced apple topped with the 90-calorie Barney Butter packet from my HLS swag bag.

I’m typically not an almond butter girl so I was expecting to be unimpressed but I actually loved the roasty flavor and smooth texture of the BB.  I guess the other bloggers have been onto something!

I also ate this snack pack of raisins,

and a chocolate from my candy box.

Fuuuuun!  I think I’m going to make chocolate boxes a more regular part of my life.

After our class ended I actually hit up the part-time job fair.  I gave a couple of resumes out so please keep your fingers crossed for me, though I’m not sure adding a job to my life is the answer right now.

I ate lunch with friends and grabbed this snack pack of hummus with pita crackers from the book store.

There isn’t a convenience store on campus (or the C Store like we called it in Miami!) but the book store does have some pretty healthy offerings.  My friend Kim was heading to the mall so I group of us ended up going for funsies.  I didn’t buy anything but it’s always fun to walk around.

When I got back to campus, it was time for the gym.  It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty, but I achieved my goal.  Through a strange mix of walking and running I did 7 miles in 79 minutes.  Booyah.  I drank a fruit punch Gatorade-2 and I definitely think it helped fuel me through the longer workout.

Speaking of fueling, Adam went to Saigon Cafe for a work lunch and he brought me home his Pad See Eiw leftovers.  I pounced as soon as I walked in the door.

After a walk home and shower I was ready to face my replanned evening.  We are going to visit my grandparents for the long weekend (fun) but I just found out that I have a responsibility for class on Monday night that will be pretty time-consuming (not fun) so I needed to move around some things.  We ended up heading to the grocery store tonight which will hopefully make my weekend run more smoothly (my responsibility involves making chili).

I shared this frozen coffee with Adam while we shopped.

And made myself the quickest dinner I could think of when we got home, tacos.

I scrambled a big scoop (1/2 cup?) of corn relish into two eggs and then stuffed them into taco shells.  Topped with spicy salsa and a dollop of light sour cream.

I almost never eat tacos, especially hard tacos, but lately they’ve been rocking my socks.

We had to take Webster on a long walk, which took even longer than planned, so clearly I’m not getting up to workout tomorrow.  I’ll have to work on that goal next week. 

This wasn’t really a short post was it?  It’s possible I’m verbose.

Back to School Like Rodney Dangerfield

Today was my first day back in school and it looks like my semester is off to a good start.  Thank goodness too because I was so nervous yesterday that I actually had a teacher nightmare last night!  In my dream I must have quit my program because I had just accepted a job as a teacher.  It was my first day at the new school and I realized that I didn’t have any lesson plans done!!!  I was also freaking out about what to wear (apparently my school had some sort of strange all red dress code) and the whole thing was just fraught with tension.  Thankfully my real day of school as a student went much more smoothly.

I drank some Candy Cane Lane tea with skim milk on my walk to school.

I was a little nervous about giving myself enough time to walk to class so I did breakfast in my first class.

The Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar flavor is so good.  I ate half of the bar and I’m saving the rest for later; my stomach just wasn’t hungry that early in the morning.

I had another class and then a break just in time for lunch.  I am going to post my class schedule but I’m waiting until next week so I’m sure it’s correct.  Lunch was simple but tasty.  Leftover bbq kale and beans, topped with Tofurky kielbasa.

Plus a GoGo Squeeze applesauce packet and a packet of raisins.

This good combination held me over through one more class and a trip to the gym.

My goal for this semester is actually to go to the gym before my classes (which start at 8 M-F) but I figured I’d try that out a night I actually got some good sleep.  My 2pm session on the treadmill went fine though.

I did a 2 minute warm up followed by a “run” that ended up requiring a LOT of walking.  I’d prefer to take fewer breaks but considering that I basically took the summer off exercise I’m happy with any level of fitness.  Including my warm up and all of my walking breaks, I ran 4 miles in 44 minutes 40 seconds.

Now I’m home for the day and I need to go take Webster on a walk.  He was such a big boy on his first day all alone!

Vacation At Home

Some people find that having visitors is stressful, but I think it gives you a great opportunity to be a tourist in your own city.  It does help that my visitors are my (funny, easy-going) parents and they pay for everything!  When you have guests it’s like you get to take a vacation at home because they force you to view your city with fresh eyes.

Let me tell you though, vacationing at home can be exhausting! We’ve been falling into bed after 1 am every night and this post is two days in one because I just couldn’t make myself sit down at the computer before bed last night.  Even with double content I’ve got to keep this quick because otherwise it’ll be another post-1 am bedtime and my parents leave early tomorrow.

Tuesday morning started with a very unvacation-like trip to the orthodontist.  But then I took my parents to breakfast at Sweetness 7 Cafe.

S7C is a totally adorable coffee and crepes place; I plan on bringing a good book and camping out for the day eating crepes very soon.

I ordered an iced black tea,

and my parents and I split 2 crepes 3 ways.

Kiss Me I’m Irish – plain crepes with syrup and a cracked fried egg in the center.

Irish Blessing – caramelized fresh apples with melted brie.

Apparently we went Irish for breakfast, and the choice served us well.  I don’t have much experience for comparison but these are the best crepes I’ve ever had; so eggy!

After breakfast we walked a third of the loop around Delaware Park so my parents could see the Buffalos.

I continued to get my sweat on by taking advantage of their hotel gym while they got ready for the day.  30 minutes on the elliptical at random level 6.  It was amazing to have access to a tv at the gym, especially because I was the only one in there and I could control the remote.

Our next activity was a trip to the Albright Knox Gallery.

I wanted to snap a picture of practically everything, but I controlled myself and stuck to a few favorites.

The first day with a new set of retainers is always super painful so I went with a liquid lunch.

A Vega Vanilla-Almonde Shake and Go Smoothie packet that I grabbed from the co-op on a whim.  The flavor was good but not great, and this didn’t do an awesome job of sating my hunger, but I was definitely pleased with this –

And it’s just as well that I was left a bit hungry, because my best meal of the year was coming for dinner.  Don’t let the pictures fool you (why are restaurants always so darn dark?!), Scotch and Sirloin is basically a must-go!  I never would have ventured there if it hadn’t been for Groupon, but I am so glad that I crossed my fingers and bought the deal.

Adam and I split a bowl of crab bisque to start.

I also got a plate from the salad bar.

Romaine with mushrooms, artichokes, cucumber and French dressing.  Plus a slice of the best bread I’ve had since Great Harvest, super duper doughy.

For dinner my dad and I split the two best things on the menu: Fried shrimp,

and the double lobster tail with drawn butter.

Like butter dipped in butter!  We were so impressed with this meal, I can’t even tell you.  I ended up eating three fried shrimp,

most of one lobster tail,

and all of the veggies.

For dessert we ended up at a candy shop on Elmwood with an ice cream counter.

I went with Ciao Bella Gelato, a half scoop each of key lime pie and malted milk ball flavors.

Fashion note – How cute is the back of this shirt?!

I actually bought this years ago in college but it has a strange, unflattering band around the waist so I’d worn it maybe once or twice.  I can’t believe it took me so long to think of pairing it with a high-waisted skirt.

We sat outside of The Spot to eat our ice cream and I also drank a small, non-fat, iced Chai.

– – – Insert time (not enough!) to sleep. – – –

I picked my parents up bright and early this morning for breakfast at Panos.  I got the 2-2-2; french toast, sunny side up eggs, and hash browns.

I ended up eating one egg, 1 piece (1 half slice) of french toast, and all of my potatoes.  The amount of leftover food was a little annoying considering I ate exactly the portion of the 1-1-1 – from the kids’ menu – that they wouldn’t let me order.  However, after taking a bite of my dad’s blueberry pancakes I decided that Pano’s can do no wrong and a little wasted food isn’t a big deal.

Coffee #1 of the day was a tall iced coffee with skim milk from Starbucks.

Did I mention that I’m exhausted?

My parents are sleeping at our apartment tonight so I took advantage of their gym one last time before they checked out.  10 minutes of walking on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I also carried both of my parents’ suitcases up our three flights of stairs and I’d like to count that as strength training!

Our big activity for the last vacation day was a long walk down Elmwood.  We stopped in to basically every store and I definitely discovered a few hidden gems.

Mid-afternoon we grabbed lunch from the Globe Market.

1/4 lb each peanut noodles and Thai vegetable salad.

Meh.  It wasn’t terrible but I’m honestly not a big fan of Globe.

Whether due to hunger or exhaustion or increased physical activity, hunger hit me hard this afternoon. We ran a bunch of random errands and during that time Adam and I split some new flavors of candy,

and I drank a chocolate milk.

Dinner at Chester’s Cajun Grill was a meal Adam and I had been looking forward to ever since we tried the Smoked Bourbon Chicken Sandwich at the Taste of Buffalo.  Of course we had to get the sandwich.

It wasn’t good!!  I can’t even tell you how said this made us.  It wasn’t terrible, but we could only rate it a 5/10 and the sandwich we tried at the festival was a 9.5/10.  I ate most of my meal but only because I was hungry; even the fries were pretty tasteless.

Thank goodness we had good company.  We ended our evening with a final trip to the Spot to sit and talk; we are going to miss my parents so much when they fly home tomorrow!  Coffee #2 – a grande, iced Americano with skim milk and two sugars – was actually consumed at 11 pm so I could make it through this post.

And I’m done; phew!