Tervis, Tastes, TV

by Emily

Today was a perfect day with the husband and dog! Especially the walk we took around a new block (as in new to us) this morning, pictures to come tomorrow. I did not do any school work though I did deal with the laundry and eat some veggies.

I even got some veggies into my breakfast, via pumpkin hot chocolate!

To back up, here is the Tervis tumbler I received via the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program.

I grew up with glasses from Tervis and when Adam and I started living together they were one thing I was sure I wanted and was willing to spend money on.

Even though I’ve used them forever and know how great they are at keeping drinks cold and not sweating all over the table, until I received my letter with the package I’d never thought about putting anything hot into a Tervis. Thankfully I had a fantastic recipe to try out.

Pumpkin Hot Chocolate, serves 1

1 cup skim milk
2 Tbsp milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Heat milk to simmering in a small pot. Whisk in chocolate chips until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin and spice and continue to simmer 1-2 minutes. Serve, preferably topped with whipped cream!

It was a lazy sort of day and somehow Adam and I made it until 2:30 without eating anything outside of hot chocolate (he doesn’t like pumpkin so I made his with booze!). We were running errands by the time that we realized we were long overdue for a meal.

So we went to India Gate and had the best meal we’ve eaten yet in Buffalo!

The service was great, the food was healthy and packed with flavor, and the location was footsteps from our apartment; we’ll be back!

We started by splitting a mango lassi.

It was pretty good, but the last (first) time I went to India Gate I had a fig lassi and there was just no beating that!

Adam and I wanted to try several flavors so we made sure to both order things the other would enjoy.

Chicken Makhani – boneless, skinless tandori chicken breast prepared in tomato, butter and cream sauce and garnished with cashews and raisins – for Adam,

and Bhartha Paneer – fresh eggplant cooked with home-made cheese and special house sauce – for me.

Plus rice.

Here was plate #1 –

Adam’s sauce was so rich and creamy! And my eggplant had the perfect amount of spice. The homemade cheese was pretty fantastic as well, Adam actually thought it was tofu the first few bites!

And plate number 2 –

Another scoop of Bhartha Paneer plus a bite of rice with Makhani sauce on top. The husband and I were practically swooning by the time we finished! Everything was so rich without being too heavy and it was tons of fun trying a few new things.

We also tried a handful of this spiced lentil mix (I think?!) on the way out.

The only meh. All this did was make it essential for me to buy Good & Plentys at the store.

Speaking of sweet, after we dropped off the groceries and picked up the dog we headed out for this –

I had Coldstone’s pumpkin ice cream in my head all afternoon and was thrilled to see that they had caramel frozen yogurt to mix it with! Plus graham cracker and caramel sauce.

It was wonderful. And the price was wonderful too; Adam and I both ordered kid’s sizes and we ended up only paying $3.20 total.

We are finishing our wonderful day by cuddling on the couch and catching up on TV. Note – major props to “Modern Family” for the funniest (and most tasteful) gay joke I’ve ever seen on tv!

Since our 3pm lunch was also basically breakfast and dinner – minus dessert! – I’m going to grab something else to eat but I’m done blogging for the day so I can cuddle. Either an English muffin, a cookie, or both. Happy cuddling, readers!

What’s your favorite Indian dish to order?

26Sep2011

Wegman’s Jackpot

by Emily

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?

25Sep2011

Shrimptastic

by Emily

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!

12Sep2011

Full Court Press

by Emily

Yikes! The semester is starting to get real and today was just a bit stressful. I’ll keep this post quick because I have to get in the shower by 9 pm to have any chance of getting in bed in time to workout in the morning.

We finally got some info on due dates in class today (we still have several assignments that are unknown though frustratingly) and as of right now here is what I have on tap of this semester –

15 exams
4 personal papers (2 of which include presentations)
4 group papers/presentations

That’s in addition to quizzes and homework assignments. Fun. I originally said I was going to aim to finish all assignments by October but clearly that goal is shot!

During class 1 I ate this Nature’s Path Peanut Choco bar from my HLS Swag bag.

A bit sticky for my liking but it was packing a great amount of chocolate and peanut butter, especially for 150 calories. I actually enjoyed it so much that I tried to buy more at Wegmans this afternoon.

After class 2 and I headed to the gym for a quick (quick!) workout. 1 mile run and 10 minutes of strength/stretch moves.

During class 3 I ate this mini pack of dried cranberries and pineapples.

After school I drove a friend to work, went to the tailors, and did a grocery run with Adam. Thank goodness we had a free coupon for hot bar because getting to 4pm on 200 calories made me just a bit cranky.

Garlic eggplant, garlic broccoli, roasted veg, and some sesame chicken.

Plus h2o-melon, pineapple, and a few berries.

I was freezing this afternoon so I made a mug of hot chocolate to sip while I worked.

I wish I could say I had gotten more done but it’s hard to study when this is your scenery –

I love my boys! Actually, I told Adam the other day that sometimes I think about leaving him so I can get away from the dog but that’s a fleeting thought when I’m cleaning up after 1 or both of them and in general I think I’m the luckiest lady on earth.

Dinner was a Panini masterpiece.

A sandwich idea was sparked by my desire for this combination –

Trader Joe’s mango butter with brie. Plus Applegate Farms Organic Sliced Turkey on rye bread.

The sweet brie pairing is always a winner (see baked brie with dried cranberries) but turning this into a sandwich took it over the top.

Yum!

Plus a side of roasted green beans which sadly seem to have gone bad and were mostly left uneaten.

Rotton beans can’t put a damper on that sandwich though, dinner was still considered a success.

Do you like brie? What’s your favorite way to pair it?

11Sep2011

More Sleep More Hunger

by Emily

Apparently my body didn’t get enough sleep or food the other day because it demanded more of both in large quantities. Good thing it’s the weekend and I had time to indulge in both.

Adam and I actually got out of bed at 8 am this morning but when the dog got back into bed we thought we’d cuddle with him, just for a minute. 4 hours later it was noon and we were waking up for lunch.

Adam made chicken salad my favorite way; shredded chicken with grapes, walnuts, and Miracle Whip.

Grapes totally make chicken salad. But apparently this didn’t fuel us that well because we totally went back to sleep until 2:30!

When we got up and set out on errands I was starving. We stopped at Tim Hortons on the way to Goodwill for a caramel apple cider. On Friday I was bemoaning the pumpkin options I can’t try until Pumpkin Month (aka October) and my friend Kim convinced me that September should be all about apples. Another theme? I’ll take that challenge!

That happy face was before I actually tasted the cider sadly, yuck city. It tasted like it was made with fake apple flavoring.

I chucked my cider after 1 sip but I did eat 2/3 of this filled maple doughnut.

This was a very out-of-character thing for me to eat but I was low on options and we were running late for our afternoon activity.

The Bison Ballpark Brew Bash is a craft beer tasting event whose proceeds benefit Cystic Fibrosis research.

We got our tickets 50% off with Groupon so it wasn’t a big deal that I didn’t end up drinking that much. I ended up taking a few sips of a few things and calling it a day.

Buffalo Brew Pub’s Oktoberfest.

I don’t really remember this one; not bad but not my style. I drank ~1oz.

Ithica Beer Co’s Smoked Porter.

Eek, not my thing at all; one sip was enough for me! The smoked flavor was almost meaty, I imagine drinking a full one of these would feel like eating a meal.

Rohrbach’s Brewing Company’s Vanilla Porter.

For a porter the flavor was nice and light and I liked the vanilla scent. ~1.5oz.

Post Road’s Pumpkin Ale.

Ewwww. The smell of this was good but it was way too sour for me, I was sad that I even took one sip.

Six Point Brewery’s Sweet Action Cream Ale.

Yum! This had a great light fizz and almost orange-y undertones. I drank 95% of my pour happily.

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale.

Now this is what pumpkin brews should taste like! The smell was pumpkin pie and the taste was pure pumpkin. I am definitely going to be on the lookout for a bottle of this before ~~October~~ Pumpkin Month.

I ended the day with Heineken Light.

I know most people who drink craft beer would call this a low note, but don’t hate, I love Heineken Light. The flavor is mild enough that it’s sort of like drinking water, but the brewery is quality enough that it’s not like drinking dirty water (my thoughts on Bud, Miller, and Blue Lights).

The most exciting taste of the day was this soft pretzel – covered with mustard – that I split with the husband.

We took the train to the event but ended up walking back to our car in Allentown afterwards. When we lived in Allentown I used to walk down to The Spot all the time and it was great to do some Delaware ambling again.

Adam and I were both still starving when we got home and we weren’t quite sure what to do with our evening. Thankfully our friends Patrick and Michelle had just headed to dinner and invited us to come along. We ended up at Gin Gin for Chinese food. They had bobba!

I got a taro milk tea with tapioca.

I got the chicken and eggplant in garlic sauce with rice.

I also took several bites of the table’s order of bok choy.

The food was good but my meal was pretty heavy so I started feeling sick before I felt full. I ate about half of my food and boxed the rest up for Adam’s lunch this week.

Finishing out my day with dessert, I split these Panda Yummies with Adam,

and ate a mini sundae whilst watching “That ’70’s Show” and blogging.

Today’s been fun, hopefully tomorrow will be productive!

3Sep2011

In The Zone

by Emily

My plans for the evening got a little thrown off when I decided to go to the gym come hell or high water. And my plans for dinner got a little thrown off when Adam ate himself sick snacking while he waited for me. Everything worked out in the end though.

I was in the study zone this afternoon, working until 6pm before I decided to head to the gym. Side note – we have a ton of busy work assignments this semester so don’t expect me to do well or anything just because I’m working a lot! The gym was quick and easy, 30 minutes on the elliptical at random level 6. I had to stay up super late studying because I went (obviously, you guys see the timestamp!) but I’m glad I got in some movement before our 7-hour drive tomorrow.

I had to go buy notecards and we walked around Elmwood trying to feed me for a while and it got pretty late. At least I discovered a new favorite when I ended up in front of Zonies.

I split with Adam but gave the larger half to myself (that’s a small plate).

The owner was super nice and let me combine two different calzones in one; they make each order fresh. I got the eggplant parmesan (baked eggplant, mozzarella, marinara) with spinach and broccoli added in.

The bread was nice and doughy, the marinara was zesty, and they provided me with veggies; I call that a new favorite.

I also bought this Tazo black tea and mixed it with lemonade we had in the fridge for an Arnold Palmer.

We had to wash the dog, and I still have to wash myself!, and by the time I finished with all of the work I planned it was pretty darn late!

Speaking of school, my goal is to read over all my class notes (and make notecards where needed) at the end of every week. Since I’m doing that, I thought it’d be fun to compile some of the more interesting things I’ve learned each week to share with you guys. Welcome to –

Fun Fact Fridays

Iatrogenic is a term that means inadvertently induced by medical treatment.
The preventative and traditional approaches to health involve reducing risk factors before disease occurs or after symptoms appear, but the wellness approach involves positive lifestyle choices that enhance physical and mental well-being.
Food Processing is the largest manufacturing industry in the US.
In the 1800’s “smouch,” made of dried ash leaves, was routinely added to tea leaves to extend the food profits and supply. Pea flour or mustard husks (aka “pepper dust”) were also added to pepper.
Probiotics naturally live in our guts but need regular replenishing. Want to replenish yours? Stonyfield contains four more active cultures than other yogurt brands.

P.S. Can any one who’s ever seen Eurotrip hear the phrase fun facts without thinking of this quote? “Here’s a fun fact – you made out with your sister, dude!”

22Aug2011

Sweetness

by Emily

It is important to note – 2 hours changing a tire + 2 long drives in pouring rain + 2 late nights staying up talking in your hotel + 3 anxiety inducing days of talking to new people = a very tired Emily. I like to call other people out when they’re being bat shit crazy, so I’m going to cop to the fact that I had a total meltdown this evening. Lots of sulking and several tears later, I think I’ll try to keep this post quick.

I knew my monster recap was going to take a little time so I got up bright and early (7:40) with Adam to get working. I had brunch plans with friends at 11 and I didn’t want to eat breakfast so I made myself a mug of Starbucks hot chocolate (stolen from HLS breakfast).

I finished my post just in time for a final meet up with friends before we head back to school.

Sweetness_7 Cafe is only .9 miles from our apartment so I decided to walk and bring the little dude with me.

This was the first time Kim or Anna have seen Webster and of course he totally stole their hearts. Sweetness_7 was very sweet about letting me have the puppy on their porch and I was so glad I brought him. Though it was a little hard to eat with him squirming in my lap.

For lunch I ordered the # 6 without mayo.

A turkey, mozzarella, tomato and caramelized onion panini,

with a simple greens side salad.

I usually forget to add it at home but there was salt on my salad and that definitely elevated it. My sandwich was good too, nice and melty. My stomach was feeling funny though (I think from being so tired!) so I ate exactly half and brought the rest home to Adam.

It’s so cool out it is actually cold, so I got to order a hot drink.

I asked for black tea with steamed skim milk and when the barista said “like a London fog?” I just nodded. Upon close sipping it seemed as if the drink had been sweetened (though steamed milk does taste sweet?!) so now I need to Google London Fog.

Apropos of nothing, I’m going to show you my outfit because I think my new dress is so cute.

This was a J.Crew sale birthday score and the bubble hem makes my heart happy.

I spent my afternoon running errands and getting more and more exhausted. I tried to hit the ground running from my trip and took care of the bank, post office, tailor, and grocery. I was starving from my small lunch so I picked up hot bar around 5:30.

Ratatouille plus a few random veggies,

and broccoli macaroni and cheese that was totally swoon worthy.

The broccoli was cooked into the sauce and there was cheese nestled in its nooks and crannies!

Just as the meltdown began I also ate all of the toppings off of this mini sundae.

And end scene on my self-control. We did manage to take Webster on another long walk, but dinner never happened because I just couldn’t deal with it. I’m not sure if Adam was hungry or not but I think he’d rather just not deal with me. And on that note, I’d be silly not to hop into bed!

Do you know what a “London Fog” is?

22Aug2011

Healthy Living Summit 2011 Mega Recap

by Emily

This post is going to be huge, so there are a few facts I want to establish before I begin –

* The Healthy Living Summit (HLS) was fabulous and I had a wonderfully fun time. However, since I didn’t have internet all weekend this is going to be a monster post and I’m not going to include as many details as I’d like.

* I met and hung out with some amazing people. So many, in fact, that I think it makes the most sense for me not to link back to anyone.

* I snapped a photo of every piece of food that went into my mouth but I wasn’t so good on people or places; I was too busy enjoying those things to photograph them.

Okey doke, let’s start from the beginning…

So, this happened exactly halfway between Buffalo and Philly –

Usually a picture of a flat tire would be followed by many four letter words but the only one I could think of was l-u-c-k. My trip to Philly was greasy, two hours longer than planned and completely exhausting, but I actually started crying because I felt so grateful. The things I am thankful for –

It rained 70% of my trip but not a drop fell during the two hours I was standing on the side of the road changing my tire.
My tire blew on a small side road and not when I was going 70 mph on the highway.
I was able to take off the nuts and jack up the car all by myself, and if the tire hadn’t been completely rusted to the axle I probably could have done the entire thing myself like a total badass.
The nicest man on earth not only stopped to help me out, but drove back to his house for the sledgehammer it took to get my tire off.
The nice man gave me directions to his nice friends’ body shop, where they replaced my tire and fixed me up for only $20.

Isn’t the world amazing? Before the whole debacle I drank a guava Rockstar for breakfast,

and afterwards I shakily ate the half turkey sandwich with cheese and cranberry mayo that I packed from the Co-op.

And I made it (with aching forearms) to Philly with time to shower and change before the HLS cocktail party.

The drinks, provided by Drink Chia, were super tasty.

This cocktail was a mix (I believe) of Drink Chia, strawberries, and vodka. It tasted sort of like a bubble tea with mini bobba!

The food was pretty good as well.

I had a corn and crab fritter, a piece of pretzel crusted chicken, a few small bites, plus another piece of the chicken.

Everything was tasty but there wasn’t quite enough sustenance for dinner so a few of us ended up in the hotel restaurant for a late night snack.

I went with the s’mores mousse shooter.

Plus I scarfed up one of the Lindt truffles they brought with the bill.

It was a sweet end to the first day.

The next morning (Saturday) we were up bright and early for breakfast. Cereal with skim milk,

an Oikos drinkable yogurt with a juicy plum – sidenote, I feel like I had food dripping down my face this whole weekend! –

and a much-needed coffee.

Around this point I realized I probably should be snapping more pictures like a good blogger.

Though I did snag a shot of me with two of my roomies.

I didn’t love the Quaker Smashbar provided on the snack break so I only ate half of it.

But I did love the RD Quaker provided as the key-note speaker. She wrote a book on being a flexatarian and I loved her points about embracing plants more than avoiding meats. In fact, all of the sessions were pretty darn informative and inspirational.

Before I knew it, it was time for lunch.

Side salad for greens,

quinoa salad, which had some sort of acid component that took it over the top,

and half a tofu sandwich on Great Harvest bread, squeal!

For dessert I grabbed a milk chocolate crunch Attune probiotic bar.

I had no idea these would be so delicious! I was very excited to see some coupons in my swag bag.

After the sessions we went to do some city exploring.

Here are all my roomates,

and here is the Liberty Bell.

I’m glad we sight-saw in the way that we did, because our travels took us to Farmacia for dinner.

Yum, seriously just yum x 1000. The wait staff was so sweet and accommodating of our 12-person party, the space was adorable, and the food was delicious.

I was ravenous and I think my heart actually skipped a beat when this bread and herbed butter were brought to the table.

I ate this slice times two.

Since it was a vacation I went with a John Daly to drink.

Sweet tea vodka and fresh squeezed lemonade, yes please! A few people sipped my drink and we all agreed it was the best Arnold Palmer ever.

And then came the food. Which was basically ridiculous.

I ordered the sweet corn and risotto croquettes. Which came with garden veggie ratatouille,

and sautéed spinach that blew my mind. It must have been the butter sauce that was floating on my plate.

The spinach was the best thing I ate all weekend, but the croquettes were perfect too; crunchy and creamy all at the same time. I ate 1.5 croquettes and all of my veggies and was basically in heaven.

You know I have to get self-serve froyo if I’m in a new city.

I got peanut butter, cream cheese (!!), and tart, topped with all the berries, caramel sauce, and sprinkles.

Fueled by sugar, a group of us stayed up until practically 3am! Normally a 3 am bedtime and 8 am Sunday workout would feel brutal, but I think I was too excited to be tired. I don’t have any pictures, but I did participate in the HLS 5k. A huge group walked/ran around the city including the Rocky steps.

When we got back it was time for oatmeal.