Tag Archives: booze

A Pre-(Impromptu)Party Post

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Ooof!  So far we have packed this winter vacation full of fun.  I’ve been AWOP (<–away without posting) so I’d love to give you guys a full recap, but frankly, we’ve got a party to throw!  Yes, the party is tonight, and yes, it was planned, um, today.

Yesterday evening we took my in-laws out to dinner at Pearl Street.  (No you didn’t miss a lunch post, I just didn’t eat lunch.)  I ordered a turkey reuben.

There isn’t actually a turkey reuben on the menu, but PS is fabulous so when I asked to sub turkey for corned beef they happily complied.

With cole slaw on the side.

We had some time to kill so we headed to Starbucks where I ordered a short, skim, salted caramel hot chocolate.

Then we headed to see….. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra!

No photography was allowed during the show, but I promise you it was as aesthetically pleasing as it was easy on the ear.  I didn’t recognize all of the music but the show closed with scores from “The Nutcracker” and “Messiah” and everything was wonderful.

During intermission, the husband and I split a cranberry juice with champagne.

Fast-forward to a morning that came way too quickly, and the husband and I were out the door to see his parents off.

We were out and about too early for Target, so while we waited for paper plates and napkins to become available we stopped into Bagel Jays to split a rye bagel with lox spread.

Delish!  The rye bagel was a pretty exciting concept.

During the fray I did take time to cash in a Groupon for a mani/pedicure.

And to grab lunch from the Wegman’s hot bar.

But then it was back to work!

We’ve got things mostly done now, so I took a break for blogging and dinner.

The other half of my turkey reuben was delicious.

But this microwaved frozen okra was not.

Even spicy paprika couldn’t save it.  I forced down half to get in my greens, but this was slime city.

And now I’m looking forward to seasonal beer, mint chocolate cake balls, and hot pepper peach cheese-ball!

Ten Things

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1.  I stole this post idea from The Daily Garnish.  I had fun reading hers, and knew it would be a fun post to write.  Plus, with a name like hers you know she’s a smart cookie!

2.  I always try to dress professionally for school – a lot of students come in sweats but our teachers have already told us that they watch our every move before we apply to the next level of our program – but my hair looks like this pretty much every day.

3.  Adam said that my Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Brownies are the best brownies he’s ever had.  I’m over the moon; I have a tendency to get inappropriately excited about making things he likes.

4.  I really like pigs.  I want to own two, and I’ve already got names picked out – General Sow and Sir Francis Bacon.  I want a piglet the way other women want a baby; in fact, I regularly tell the husband that “my ovaries hurt for a pig.”  He hates me.

5.  We both really want a hedgehog.  Did you know that the spiky darlings are illegal to keep as pets in both New York and Miami?  Adam’s not entirely convinced our inability is a bad thing.  He thinks that just because I’ve prenamed our future hedgehog “Sonic,” that I plan on dying him blue.  He’s right.

6.  Contrary to the image #2 belies, I do own some hair accessories.  I store them in a refurbished fruit basket.  I came up with that idea all on my own, and I think this is far more clever than it actually is.

7.  The parking situation is the only thing we don’t love about our neighborhood.  For no discernible reason, there is M-T-W and T-F parking on opposite sides of the street.  Adam is so on the ball, that he kept us from getting a ticket today (Thursday) by moving my car to the Thursday side of the street in the morning.  Yesterday (Wednesday).

8.  Sometimes I have so many clever ideas – pet names, interior design, world domination schemes – that I stress myself out and can’t sleep.  So I put a notepad and pen at the head of my bed.  I’ve never written in it.

9.  I’m most excited that school is over because now I have time to work on my magazine binder projects.  Our dining room table (our only table) has looked like this for months.

10.  This will be my only post this evening.  Dinner was candy and booze.

What’s 1 thing about you?

Pasta Perils

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Good news!  I scored an A on my take-home final, which means I ended up with an A in that nutrition course.  Ever better news – I ended the semester with a B in Organic Chemistry; whoop whoop!

We’ll call it “celebratory,” but it was mostly hungry, I did some snacking before dinner.  A cinnamon double chocolate brownie.

A Pumpkin Ale from Buffalo Bill’s Brewery, split with the husband.

And a pickle.

Dinner was based around this Suddenly Salad Basic Pasta box (free from BlogHer).

However, the seasoning packet was very sodium heavy, so we threw it out and just used the pasta.

Instead we seasoned the noodles with Smart Balance Light and some Kernal Seasons.

We also stirred in frozen artichoke hearts and green beans during the last few minutes of boiling.

The mixture ended up being very good.

So good in fact, that you should picture this bowl times two because I ended up going back for seconds!  Actually, I’m still pretty hungry, which is irritating; this is why we don’t eat much pasta.

One exam (and a presentation) to go!

What’s your favorite pasta topping? 

Moe’s Who?

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It’s been quite a night for a Thursday, quite a night!  In addition to making a banging dinner and a revolutionary dessert, I also managed to get some school work done; booyah!

On the agenda for tonight were quick and easy quesadillas.

But you know I did some snacking first.  Adam and I split some fun – a snowman cookie from Sweet Tooth,

and a Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin Beer.

Both were quite tasty; I ate a little less than half of the cookie, and a little more than half of the beer.

Wokka, wokka, wokka, wokka…..

In between sips, I sautéed up 1/2 cup each frozen corn and black beans in some tomatillo salsa.

This was delicious, and what didn’t fit on my quesadilla was eaten out of a bowl with a bit of sour cream.

I topped a tortilla with my veggie mixture and 1.5oz of sharp cheddar, folded, and gave a quick spin in a greased frying pan.

To die for!  This was cheesy and melty and salty, all while still being healthy.  I previous thought that nothing could top Moe’s, but this was definitely better!

Dessert was pretty darn good too.

That would be low-fat cottage cheese, topped with half a banana, drizzled with caramel sauce.

Sometimes I even impress myself.

Eaten whilst watching “Modern Family,” which seriously slays me with how funny it is!

What do you put on your quesadillas?

Spooky Saturday

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It’s been a full and fabulous day!  A race, some shopping, good eats, going out with friends; yup, it was pretty perfect!

Our morning started bright and healthy with the Jack O’ Lantern 5k.

The course looped 3.1 miles around Goat Island (Niagara Falls) and was beautiful.

I split a Cliff Crunchy granola bar with the husband on the drive up.

Today’s race had everything going against it – I had to run alone (Katie had to back out at the last minute and the husband wanted to actually run), the lack of bathrooms meant my full bladder bothered me the entire course, I was slow as all get out, and it was frigid out.

But you know what?  Even a terrible run is still a great one!

I don’t know my exact time but, it was something less than 31:20, I’ll take it!  I was terrified of coming in last (ask me to tell you that story sometime!) but I ended up only coming in behind 75% of the racers.

We hit up the food tent afterwards – Adam housed at least two sandwiches – and I ended up eating part of an ice pop.

I didn’t really it get it together to eat a real meal after that and my hunger ended up hitting hard later in the day.  The husband requested a pumpkin chocolate milkshake (he’s a genius!) and I did take a few sips of that before we headed to the grocery.

Adam had to go into the lab in the afternoon so I went with him and did some school-work.  I packed a snack for while I studied.

Apple slices and baby carrots dipped in a serving of sun butter.

Unfortunately this was around the time my hunger hit and I ended up not getting much work done.

Afterwards we headed to the mall to pick up a few things.  We must have done at least 4 full loops of the mall and by the time we stopped at Cheesecake Factory I was ready for diner!

Bread, x2 with butter. (Sorry for the blurry pictures, I don’t know why CF is always so darn dim!)

I ordered off of the appetizer menu for dinner and my salad was still huge!

The Fresh Vegetable Salad – Asparagus, Green Beans, Tomato, Cucumber, Roasted Beets, Apple, Edamame, Radicchio, Romaine and White Cheddar All Chopped with Pomegranate Vinaigrette.  I subbed in spicy peanut vinaigrette for my dressing, which somehow also got me edamame; score!

This is sooooooooo good.  <– That’s what I said to Adam at least 10 times during dinner 🙂  Huge as it was, I still managed to finish 2/3 of it.  I have a nice takeout container for lunch tomorrow as well.

I stole a few of Adam’s french fries too.

After we got home a couple of friends came over and we hung out for a bit before heading out to some nearby bars to check out people’s costumes.  We had a lot of fun, but I didn’t bring my camera so you’ll have to take my word for it – I’ll show you my “costume” tomorrow!

While we were out, Adam and I split a Woodchuck Cider.  And once home I ate part of a vegan pumpkin pecan blondie.

What a day, what a day.

Going on Walkabout

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Walk to The Spot

Katie and I were supposed to meet this morning for breakfast and a study session,

but we spent most of our time talking, whoops!

We did manage the breakfast part though.  A grande iced (it was so warm here today!) coffee with skim milk,

and a thing of artichoke and spinach humus.

I know that humus is a strange breakfast but it sounded so good I just couldn’t pass it up!

Unfortunately the flavor was too garlicy for my taste buds, but it was nice to get some veggies into my morning.  I finished about half each of the humus and the bread sticks.

Walk to school

I had a busy time on campus today – a meeting, two classes, and another meeting, all back to back.  I snacked on a small vegan pumpkin pecan blondie before my first meeting.

And during Anatomy I ate this Balance Pure Cherry Pecan Bar.

I was a little unsure about the flavor – I got it on super sale at Wegmans – but I ended up being a fan.  It wasn’t as amazing as the cookie dough variety, but it also wasn’t as caloric and had fewer grams of saturated fat.

School fun facts – 1. They recently discovered taste buds in our lungs.  2. I did such a good job on my Orgo homework (rewriting the class notes) that he gave me extra-credit points!

Walk to Wegmans

I knew I needed to get in a couple hours of solid concentration with my Orgo notes, so I headed to the Wegmans’ Cafe to study.  And to get a tasty dinner.

Veggies, veggies, everywhere,

and green beans and chicken and eggplant in garlic sauce.

Since I was alone, and therefore wasn’t sharing a drink with the husband, I decided to try this fun looking drink.

I don’t know if it tasted exactly like chai OR cola, but the flavor had a nice spice and wasn’t too sweet.

Walk Get picked up and drive home

I covered more than 2 miles just in transit today, but canceling my run was Adam this evening wasn’t an option.  We ran one mile out and walked one mile back, with a very exciting destination in the middle –

One morning few weeks ago, I was taking a walk and talking on the phone with my mom when I spotted that window display…..and I made such a loud exclamation of glee that the owner (who was in his car outside) asked me if I’d like him to open up the shop specially for me!  Excited much?  I told him I could contain myself, but my mom told me that for my ‘fall gift’ (yes, she’s crazy) I could go charge a couple of pumpkin brews.

Nice!  We are very excited about our selection.

A sampling of pumpkin/seasonal beers,

a Root beer from Abita (one of my top 3 favorite beer companies),

and a few Tuskers, our new favorite beer that is almost impossible to find in Buffalo! 

The Village Beer Merchant is awesome about having a great selection of things that are absent elsewhere in Buffalo, and the employees are all super nice and helpful.

Adam had to crack open a Tusker the minute we got home, and he saved a few swigs in the bottle for me.

Ahhhh.

What is your favorite type of beer?  I actually don’t like beer that much, but I have three obsessions – 21st Amendment, Hell or High Watermelon; Abita, particularly the strawberry and winter brews; and Tusker.

Happy Birthday Danielle

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It’s been a busy day and I’ll keep this quick. I have an early morning tomorrow so I’m already up way too late.

I was not feeling the gym this afternoon, I wanted to play with my new phone, I wanted to play with Adam, my leg hurt… But I’m learning that for me one day off exercise turns into twenty, so I hauled my butt to the gym. 30minutes on the elliptical, level 6, random. In the end I loved it; I’m not sure how I managed to skip the gym so much this last year, exercise makes me so happy!

It was our friend Danielle’s birthday today and by the time I was out of the shower the boys were in the kitchen baking burning some cupcakes. I put myself together a snack while they cooked.

Pomegranate and Passionfruit Siggi’s, Stonewall Kitchen Mimosa Jam, and crunchy peanut butter.

I still cannot get over how much the Siggi’s yogurt looks like a big scoop of ice cream, it is so aesthetically pleasing!

We had to pick up beer before we headed to Benji’s house and I brought a soursop nectar to drink along the way.

Sadly it had added sugar and was way too sweet, I tossed it after just a few sips.

I was starving and cranky by early evening but thankfully Benji is practically a gourmet cook and he hooked me up with this plate of awesomeness.

That is sunflower bread from the co-op with strawberry balsamic vinegar,

and homemade gazpacho.

Yum! It was such a fresh and tasty way to satisfy my hunger.

We spent a large portion of our evening at Wine Thief, where I in fact passed on wine in favor of a Labat Blue with Lime.

I also snagged a small slice of communal pizza.

The pizza was good, and upon perusing the variety of the food menu Adam and I declared that we have to go back for dinner soon.

The rest of the evening was spent in a wicked game of Pictionary.  Fyi – my team won 😉  I didn’t partake in any more booze, but I did nibble on this Strawberry Soy Joy bar from BlogHer.

Can how many days can you take off from the gym before you lose your motivation?

Five Words or Less

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In NYC, Yippie!  But yawn….

Caffine to drive = skim latte.

Mike’s split with Camile, yum.

WW Foccacia, egg, cream/cheese.

BlogHer reception, vodka diet coke.

Big movie popcorn bites = dinner.

Dinner for Schmucks was hilarious!

Give me 5 words to describe your day.