48hours of Fun

by Emily

Aaaargh! Two (FULL) days worth to recap? I actually debated not writing this post but I’ve blogged every single eat since my 25th birthday and I’d like to keep that streak going. I’m keeping this one pretty dry though.

-~-Sunday-~- We did lots of sharing so my photos are more of a basic representation than a spot on accurate one.

We started with breakfast from Pano’s.

I ordered the Artichoke Omlette, which came with fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, and a a touch of basil pesto. I also requested that they add broccoli and only use half cheese, pepperjack, i.e. there is cheese on the top but not the middle.

With some hasbrowns,

and a slice of sourdough.

Delicious, but I couldn’t come close to finishing; we packed up the second half for the husband.

By the way – our leftover situation this week was ridiculous, at one point our fridge had 8 to-go boxes in it!!!

We spent a looooong time at a nearby outlet mall, which was tiring but amazing. At some point I ate this baggie of dried fruit (kiwi, apricot, hibiscus).

And we had to at least get appetizers at Cozumel’s.

Complimentary chips and salsa,

Maryland Blue Crab and Avocado Handrolls.

I love how Cozumel’s has healthified Mexican food; the rolls were not fried, contained no creaminess or cheese, were stuffed with sprouts, and were totally tasty.

My plate –

Dinner ended up being a bit of a fiasco, everything closes on Sunday here! We drove around for hours looking for a place and the husband’s new phone came in totally handy. In the end we headed to Jack Astor’s, which was the perfect choice.

We shared lobster and crab dip as an appetizer.

For my meal I ordered the chicken fajitas, which came with cheese, sour cream, onions and peppers, lettuce, salsa, and smokey bbq sauce.

I never order fajitas but assembling my own meal was totally fun. I ate two fajitas and then packed the rest up to add to our to-go boxes.

-~-Monday-~- We had to get up super early to take my parents to the airport (boo!) so Adam and I stopped at a bagel place on the way home and got a tomato pesto bagel with salmon shmear to share.

We also split the leftovers of my omlet from Sunday.

It was actually a pretty great breakfast.

I was starving (all day, it was insanely annoying) so I also finished off the rest of my chicken fingers from the other night.

The husband headed to work and I passed out. I didn’t wake up until around 1 and then I spent the rest of the day sneezing. It was out of control, I sneezed at least 50times yesterday! I don’t know what allergy flared up but I felt like death warmed over and even had to skip a friend’s birthday party last night because I couldn’t control all the snot running down my face (gross, sorry!)!

Mid sneezes and tissues I did find time to eat a bunch of crap. Strawberry yogurt bar from Lindt.

This came from the outlet store and rocked my socks. It was a single serving (love) and was creamy, and tangy, and crunchy, and perfect.

A piece of whatever this is –

my parents brought it; sort of tastes like a dried crepe with sesame seeds?

An entire bag of chips!

A small piece of banana bread with Smart Balance Light.

Dinner was at least healthy (and epic).

I topped a small bed of lightly dressed spinach with roasted yellow beets,

purple tomatoes,

crumbled goat cheese,

and candied pecans.

OMG!

The combo was out of this world, yellow beets are 10x better than regular ones.

Oh, and I also had a bowl of SmartPop kettle corn.

-~-Today-~- I’m not sure what the day holds. I have a terrible case of grumpies for some reason. I have a dinner I’m excited about cooking and a trip to the gym is definitely in order because I haven’t worked out in 2 days. We shall see….

48hour recap = 4 reader questions

Have you ever tried beets? Yellow beets?
What is your favorite appetizer to order at a restaurant?
What is your favorite flavor of Lindt truffle?
Are you attending BlogHer this weekend?

29Jul2010

Mixed Metaphor Magoo

by Emily

Our evening plans ended up all wonky, but you gotta roll with what life throws you! <– mixed metaphor much? We had to go get some keys made at the last minute (don’t ask, I am a bit irritated with our new apartment) and I had to scrap dinner and workout plans. Here’s what I did do –

get to take a walk with the husband
make the tastiest eggs I’ve ever fricking eaten
bake up some banana bread

I don’t know what my problem is today, I’ve been sooooo hungry! Perhaps delayed hunger from two days of hard workouts? I’m going to bust my butt tomorrow morning so I guess that means I’ll be extra hungry for yummy meals during my parents’ visit 🙂 I made a big (random) snack bowl this afternoon.

A mix of sour cream and onion Goldfish, cinnamon chips, dried kiwi, and dried apricots. Bowls like this make me adore my kitchen scale with tare function all the more – if I had to eyeball those servings I would have ended up with a much larger bowl!

Dinner was basically epic. <– Caitlin is right, sometimes this is just the only word.

I melted .5T of butter in my skillet, cooked up some chopped green tomato and avocado, then scrambled in two eggs. I tried to scramble the whites and leave the yolks alone until the last minute and the dish ended up being amazing. Topped with some Newman’s Own Chunky Salsa.

On the side I had some Boulder Canyon Balsamic Vinegar and Rosemary potato chips; I did not measure that serving and I’m pretty sure I ended up eating more than recommended.

For dessert I ate a slice of banana bread fresh from the oven.

The recipe comes from Cooking Light but I added some chocolate chips to appease the husband. Very tasty. Note – if you decide to make your own beware, an hour cook time was way too long for our oven.

I also got to try another one of blogland’s obsessions –

PB cups made with MaraNatha.

The husband and I split the cups and we do NOT plan on spending $6 to get a jar, I just don’t see the obsession!

Do you have a kitchen scale? What sort of things do you weigh with it? Also, can someone explain the MaraNatha obsession to me?

27Jul2010

The Devil Went Down to Georgia…

by Emily

We have internet! And I cooked dinner in my oven! A banner night all around 🙂

On my walk home this afternoon I realize that it had been 6hours since breakfast and was going to be another 4 until dinner, definitely time for lunch! I made a stop into Subway.

I got a 6inch tuna salad sub with oil and vinegar and red onions. I think the combo of tuna salad and red onions is just to die for!

I got a meal (hello, fountain diet soda!) so I also got some Baked Lays.

I took me a while to get hungry but once I was I got HUNGRY! I also ate a serving of Goldfish,

and two cookies (yes in my Goldfish bowl, we have a tiny dishwasher I can’t be dirtying things left and right!).

Thankfully I was still hungry for dinner because dinner was a freaking masterpiece!

Every single component was through the roof tasty and the combination all together rocked my socks. Plus, you know any meatless meal that the husband raves about is a winner.

My Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers,

Unfried Green Tomatoes from Cooking Light,

and 2 deviled eggs, recipe below.

Made for quite the pleasing meal.

The husband is obsessed with deviled eggs and since I won a year’s worth of Eggland’s Best it’s hard to turn down his request. Tonight I tried out a new recipe that I thought up at the bar at Cheesecake Factory the other night;

Dirty Martini Deviled Eggs

1 dozen large eggs
2T olive brine
2.5T blue cheese crumbles
2T mayo
6 pimento stuffed olives, halved

Hard boil your eggs. My method is to place the eggs in water in a big pan, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover for 15minutes. If you run cool water over the eggs when the time is up they will be easier to peel.
Peel eggs and slice in half lengthwise.
Dump yolks into a medium bowl and mash together with brine, blue cheese, and mayo.
Spoon the yolk mixture back into the whites and top each egg with an olive half.

I’ve got my 2nd shower of the day and I’ve promised my pack-mule of a mover husband a back massage. Then it’s off to bed so I can hopefully make it to an early morning tomorrow.

Deviled eggs; like ’em, love ’em, or hate ’em?

P.S. I apologize for the brain worm title, I’ll be singing that song all night too!

25Jul2010

On the Move

by Emily

Thanks for all the birthday wishes guys! Even though it didn’t feel very celebratory, I ended up having a pretty good 25th birthday; I like things low-key. We are 99.9% moved but the last two days have been H-A-R-D! We did everything but the kitchen yesterday, the kitchen today, and our pictures need to be hung sometime this week.

I must have been nervous/excited because I slept maybe 40minutes Friday night. I actually got out of bed at 3:40am to take a shower. Our U-Haul pick-up was at 7am so it was an early morning. Don’t we look excited?

I did manage to have a pretty good breakfast though.

Fage with Strawberry,

and some blueberries (I didn’t eat the whole pint, but I didn’t want to diry a bowl to put them in).

And I even managed some birthday flare – glitter painted nails.

We were 100% focused on moving so breakfast ended up having to hold me over until late evening. I did grab a few chunks of watermelon mid-morning though.

And I drank this G-2 throughout the day.

Moving was a serious workout and the husband and I were both sweating bullets so we knew we’d need to replenish some electrolytes.

We moved and we moved and then we moved so more. Then finally (8pm!) it was time for dinner. It was my birthday so we got a little gussied.

But after some rain, and some raising of fists to the sky and proclaiming that it shouldn’t rain on birthdays, we moved the party to Cheesecake Factory.

There was a 60minute wait (keep in mind that we last ate at 8am) so we found our way to the bar. I got a passionfruit mojito because it was made with Cruzan rum.

And then I was drunk. The combo of not sleeping, not eating, busting my butt all day, and then booze was just too much for me, I could barely keep my eyes open at the table!

We finally got seated and Adam and I practically cheered when the bread basket was brought to the table.

He also shared one of his avocado eggrolls with me.

Dinner –

I ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich,

with a green salad on the side.

At that point I was too tired to be very hungry, so I ate all of my salad but only 1/3 of my sandwich. But what’s a birthday without (cheese)cake?

We got the caramel pecan turtle cheesecake to split.

It was tasty but too much, I took 3 bites and wrapped the rest up for Adam. Bed never felt so good!

This morning I took a walk in search of breakfast. The co-op is only .9miles from my new apartment, this could be dangerous! Sadly the co-op wasn’t exactly bursting with fruit that didn’t require a utensil so I headed to Starbucks. It might be baby food, but it’s still fruit!

I also got an egg white, spinach, and feta wrap.

Again today we were too busy for lunch, but I did grab some chocolate chip cookies (baked fresh for the husband prior to the move).

The only real snafu in the move so far is that when I turned on my oven to make dinner this evening the fire alarms went off. Fun fact: the alarms in our apartment are electronic so taking out the battery doesn’t shut them up 😦 We turned it on twice and both times there was no smoke but still deafening noise. We called to have it taken care of tomorrow and I plopped my “oven roasted” asparagus into a pan to cook on the stove.

I also ate the rest of my buffalo chicken sandwich (with blue cheese dressing).

Not a bad dinner at all.

We don’t have internet set up yet so the husband dropped me off at the Spot so I could blog. We should be getting it hooked up on Tuesday but I’ll be checking in sporadically until then. Be on the look out tomorrow for pictures of the new apartment and a giveaway!

What’s the worst moving snafu you’ve encountered? Last year our BUDGET (hate them) truck leaked and ruined our matress, but other than that we’ve been pretty lucky.

22Jul2010

Pros and Cons

by Emily

Today was the day of my final exam. My big, important, time-sensitive final exam. First my computer went all wonky and I had to run a complete security check. Next our internet inexplicably required me to use our password, and thus spend an hour digging through all of our packed boxes. Finally, after 10minutes of blissful functionality, POOF, the internet wasn’t working.

Wah, wah, wah!

Those are my “wtf?!” faces. And yes, I did dress like a watermelon to cheer myself up.

It wasn’t all bad though. I walked the .62miles to The Spot, bought a diet cola to gain access to their wifi, and then rocked my final. I’m pretty sure I aced it! I also got to get a Mike’s Bagel Sandwich for breakfast.

Gooey gorgeous.

And I’m going to get something decadent from Starbucks for my .62mile walk home (birthday week!). Now that I’m done with school the rest of the day involves baking cookies and doing lots and lots of packing. I’m hoping the husband will work his boy magic on the internet when he gets home but otherwise I’m not sure when I’ll post next.

I’ve gotten a few questions about the move – which is just across town – so I figured I’ll leave you with the pros and cons of our spot-to-be. You’ll notice one list is much shorter 😀

cons –

the whole apartment, while still a 2bedroom, is a bit smaller than our current place
the kitchen is tiny; like laughably tiny – we had to purchase shelving just to have a place to put our plates

pros –

the apartment managers don’t seem like evil, irresponsible morons who will let dirty dish water leak through our ceiling for two days in a row (ahem, Clover Management)
we live one block away from Elmwood Ave, the “cool” spot in Buffalo with all the bars and restaurants
it’s an 8minute walk from our front door to my campus, I’ll never have to drive again
the walls are a calming blue green color
there is exposed brick in the kitchen and living room = love!
we have a fireplace and a mantel
it’s a fresh start!

Where do you live? An apartment, a condo, a house, a houseboat, your parents’ basement?

21Jul2010

Greens, Beans, and Time Machines

by Emily

I am officially caught up with school and ready to take my final exam tomorrow 🙂 I’ve definitely disliked being blog-neglectful, I can’t wait to get back into a schedule after the move is over. For now, even though I love you it’s got to be another quickie (TWSS!).

Breakfast/lunch were sort of spread out in three courses throughout the morning and afternoon. I managed to get enough to eat, but consume in shifts that allowed me to study. #1 A big bowl of fresh watermelon chunks.

#2 A serving of Barbara’s Shredded Oats topped with Silk Almond Milk and blueberries.

By the by, I hear a lot of people talking about binging on cereal and if you are one of those folks I highly recommend this stuff. It is not very tasty dry from the box but fantasmic with some Silk Almond Milk.

#3 A long overdue green monster; 1frozen banana, 1cup frozen spinach, 1cup calcium + vitamin d oj.

When Adam got home this evening we played hookey from moving and instead took a long walk. Our long walk was supposed to be an hour or so, to the ice cream store and back. Instead we fell into a pointless fight and spent hours huffing and crying (who me? I’m not stressed about moving!). Don’t pointless fights just feel like you accidentally fell into some sort of time machine? It’s like you can’t even believe how late it is when it’s over. We did make it to the ice cream store eventually, but they were closed. So instead we split a slice of melty pizza to hold us over for late dinner.

The husband had chicken to use up and I made myself a Mexican bowl of sorts.

Into the skillet went 2tsp evoo, chopped shallot, a small chopped potato, half of a chopped green pepper, black beans, 1egg and 2egg whites, 2T shredded cheddar, salt and tons of paprika.

I also had some green bean fries on the side.

It is late late late, Futurama–> bed –> goodnight!

Do you ever have pointless fights with your SO or do you bottle up your emotions and save them for times that actually count?

P.S. I also enjoyed a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Lara Bar, yum!

19Jul2010

Distractable Me

by Emily

The range of activities today mean that I have very few pictures, but considering the late hour it’s just as well. We did a lot of indulging today too, but since we move on my 1/4 of a century I’m basically declaring it Birthday Week! 😉

Yesterday I had breakfast for lunch, and today I had lunch for breakfast.

I ate the 2nd half of my tasty turkey sandwich,

alongside three carrots.

We ended up not moving at all today, which was great because moving yesterday was even more of a workout than I had thought; I’m so sore! My legs practically feel like they did after my half marathon, which is I guess is what living on the top floor without an elevator will do to you. I’m always glad to squeeze in the incidental exercise, and today I was glad to squeeze in more time finishing my paper.

The main reason we switched our plans is that we were off being *movie stars!* Some of our friends are involved in shooting an orientation video to show to first year medical students and they called this morning to ask us to help out. Adam and I got to shoot a library love scene ❤

Afterwards we were in a movie frame of mind and we ended up heading to the theatre to watch Despicable Me. The husband and I split a big tub of popcorn but it was too dark to photograph. Poor nutrition aside, the movie was a good decision; it was so cute! We highly recommend it, even to grown ups (although it’s also worth noting that it is a great kid’s movie, it was funny without relying on inappropriate adult humor).

When we got home I made myself a sliced Gala apple with 2tsp of TJ’s Sun Butter.

Dinner got out of whack because of my paper writing, but we did make a trip to DQ for (16oz) Oreo Cheesequake Blizzards.

What can I say, it was another bogo birthday week coupon! I did manage to control my spoon and only eat half though, the rest is in the freezer waiting for me for another day.

When I did finally finish my work the husband threw me together a quick dinner.

Nobody makes sunny side up eggs like Adam does! The bread is from a thin sliced loaf of rosemary and olive oil; we tasted a sample on Saturday and it was so good we knew we had to buy it.

Can you keep it to one day or do you celebrate a Birthday Week as well?

16Jul2010

Culinary Confusion

by Emily

I ate a sundae for breakfast and breakfast for lunch, how’s that for traditional? Really though, it doesn’t matter how “normal” a meal is, as long as it is healthy and tasty. And breakfast and lunch both were!

My sundae bowl yesterday was so wonderful that I had to do a repeat.