Tag Archives: restaurant food

Resoultions Check In: March

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Hello, weekend!  Another week ends and another visitor rolls into town, my brother-in-law is with us until Sunday afternoon (whee!).  But the fun began before he even arrived.

First, not fun – I didn’t post yesterday because I was so tired I felt practically brainless.  I made it through school, and a meeting, and a night shift at work, but when I walked out into the snow at 9pm I burst into tears and proceeded to cry the whole way home!  I knew it was insane but I just couldn’t stop.  On the drive I even said aloud through my tears, “you are crazy cakes, cut it out before you get pulled over.”  Then I came home to the boys playing poker and I stayed up until midnight watching terrible made-for-tv movies and eating Easter candy.  We have our final week of work coming up but I am going to do my damndest to catch up on sleep this next week.

Now, fun – we got to go indoor rock climbing this morning.

We bought a Groupon with another couple and even though Michelle and Patrick made Adam and me look like fat losers we all had a great time.

We were there for two hours before all four of us cried uncle.  I was terrible, weak and flailing, but I loved every minute of it.  I want to focus on arms for the next few months and then go back and try again.

We were near the “good” Wegmans so we stopped on the way home for lunch and grocery shopping.

Fried food abounded but I managed to put together a healthy lunch.  Chicken pot stickers.

Asian style veggies, brussels sprouts, butternut squash.

Pineapple, watermelon, and grapes.

And then we shopped and I didn’t buy Ben and Jerry’s because they didn’t have the new Greek yogurt flavors and I’ve decided that next week I’m going to buy like a million flavors of B&J’s so my freezer is full of choices.

After decorating my blog with run-on sentences (see above) I decorated the apartment for Easter (see below).

I can’t wait until we live in a grown-up house and I can really decorate for holidays.  The main thing holding me back now is the lack of storage space for decorations.

For dinner we broadened my brother-in-law’s horizons and took him to the Indian place.  He’s a fan!  Adam and I split a mango lassi.

And we had paneer pakora (fried cheese) to start.

I ate what’s shown plus another half piece with sauce.

For my main meal I ordered extra-spicy chicken vindaloo which came with rice and a side of veggies.

Here were my servings –

I also ate all of the veggies minus the potatoes and a small piece of stolen naan.

After dinner the boys dropped me off at home alone.  The reason my BIL came into town this weekend was to see The Wrath of the Titans with Adam.  The plan was for me to stay home and get some work done but instead I took a freezing walk and made Katie’s Chocolate Toffee Pretzels.

But the night’s not over yet; I may do some work or drink a beer or both!

Resolutions Check In: March

Um.  Meh?  Not a good month.  But on the plus side I did identify a few things that are holding me back.

1. Workout a minimum of three times per week.

Fail.  Total fail.  I have an old issue with my foot that has been a problem lately and my foot hurts and it’s numb and it’s scary but really that’s no excuse.  I did my typical routine of “Oh, I can’t run?  Guess I better sit on my ass and do nothing.”  I think, thankfully, that I can run again now though.  My specific goal for April is to workout every Monday of this month.  I need to get my weeks off to a better start.

2. Continue to read at least one book a month, for a minimum total of 30 books this year.

13. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Win.  I wish I had read more but I fulfilled the minimum and I’m well on my way to 30 books this year.  Plus I adored The Hunger Games.

3. Put the time and effort into my school work that I can be proud of each week.

Pass.  I got a 98% on my stats test and I scored well above the average on my other exams.  But I haven’t been working ahead as much as I’d like.

4. Continue working on being a positive person.

Pass.  My specific goal was the March Back Home No Take-out Challenge.  We met our goal but we only did the challenge for three weeks which isn’t all that impressive.  For April – eat breakfast every day.  I know how important breakfast is but lately it’s been eating lost in the shuffle.  I’ll be happier and healthier if I at least shove half a Lara Bar into my backpack.

Tired Haus 3

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Man, oh man, am I tired!  My insomnia seems to be coming back but for now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the problem is just the vacation/visiting/excitement.  It’s my mom’s last day in town and we are heading to the airport at 4am.

On a short walk with the dog, Starbucks dopio espresso with the rest of the cup filled to the rim with skim milk.

Wegman’s hot bar for lunch with my mom.

Veg – roasted veggies, asparagus salad, a piece of chili garlic eggplant.

Protein – a piece of fried tofu and 2 steamed chicken dumplings.

I had to go to two classes today but this afternoon we took a nice walk down Elmwood.

A pear was eaten on the walk,

along with two Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies.

Plus two more cookies that snuck into my mouth while I was in the container.

During our walk we also stopped at Organic 3 Cafe for juice.

My custom blend was carrot, cucumber, double spinach.

We headed back to Lagerhaus 95 for my mom’s final meal in Buffalo.  Good food was eaten, with lots of sharing.  Basil truffle fries.

These were fine as far as fries go but not amazing; nothing like the truffle fries here.

Haus Cheese Board.

The four cheeses were provolone, smoked gouda, dill havarti, and a sheep’s milk cheese.  It was good, but that’s obvious because it’s cheese.

And speaking of cheese, I got the special for dinner – Crispy Duck Mac and Cheese.

The mac was made with smoked gouda and was topped with panko, truffle oil, crispy duck, and goldfish crackers for crunch.

Mmmmmn!  Smoked gouda is always a win and the goldfish ended up being surprisingly nice.  I usually shy away from duck but I did enjoy the few bites I took that included it; it was a lot like beef jerky!  I finished half of the dish or so and the husband is very excited to have the rest for dinner tomorrow.

I also had a few bites of his truffled wild mushroom panini.

And we split a side salad with lemon caper vinaigrette.

The dressing was good but my salad was missing the herbs from last time.  All in all it was a fun “last” meal.  Quite decadent too, what with all the cheese and truffle oil!

And now I’m getting up in 5 hour so I should skedaddle!

I Have To Grudgingly Admit

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… I love, love, loved The Hunger Games!  We are reading it for book club and I’d been resisting, but I got in bed with it last night at 11 and couldn’t stop reading until I was done!  My late night meant I missed my run this morning but it was still totally worth it.  I need to get my hands on the next two books asap.

Breakfast was a bowl of cereal (a mix) with vanilla almond milk.

Plus a pear.

We ran around all afternoon, including a trip to the mecca.

Squeee!  I didn’t buy even a tenth of what I wanted but still came away with a few goodies, including this Zico Chocolate Coconut Water.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but I think this might be my new favorite thing.  The taste sort of reminded me of a chocolate egg cream.  I hope this becomes available in Buffalo soon!

Our meals for the day were eaten at chains, but both were good.  Lunch came from Panera Bread.

I got a soup and salad combo.  A half serving of brocoli cheddar soup.

And a half Thai chopped chicken salad.

With an apple as my side.

And part of a cookie to finish.

I made it through the drive back to the house but then my late night hit me hard and I ended up taking an afternoon nap.  I’m still feeling pretty tired and my mom and I have another 7-hour drive home tomorrow so I’ve got to get to bed early tonight (as in the minute I publish this post!).

Dinner was at Red Lobster.

I started with a side salad with balsamic vinegar on the side,

and of course a cheddar biscuit.

The salad was watery so I ignored it in favor of the biscuit which was delicious (of course!).

I did another combination for my main meal.

The stuffed flounder – which wasn’t as good as my meal last night at Outback,

and coconut shrimp – which came with tasty piña colada sauce.

I wasn’t expecting to get such a platter of food!  I managed half of the fish and 4 of the shrimp, plus all of my side of cole slaw.

All that’s left to eat is sugar plums!

Road To The Outback

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Hello from Ohio!  I left my boys back in Buffalo and I’m missing them like crazy but I’m having a great time here with my grandparents and mom.

The drive takes 7 hours so our morning started early with Starbucks.

A venti skinny cinnamon dolce iced latte.

I packed my mom and myself sandwiches for the road.

Mine was a cinnamon raisin Bagel Thin with Laughing Cow light french onion cheese and Applegate Farms turkey bologna.

Tasty and easy to eat one-handed.

When we got to Ohio I had a Dove chocolate,

and a Buttered Rum Raisin Cookie.

The afternoon was spent visiting with my grandpa and driving around (I can’t believe they got me back in the car!).

My grandma chose Outback Steakhouse for dinner and I ended up having a great meal.  I got a blue cheese pecan chopped salad to start.

And the tilapia with lump crab meat.

“Tilapia crowned with crab stuffing, pure lump crab meat and sliced mushrooms, finished with a drizzle of light lemon butter Chablis sauce.”

It was served with mixed veggies.

The seafood was all amazing.  Butter sauce requested on the side.

I left about half of the tilapia but devoured the crab.  Yum!

Our evening ended with a trip to the store (my parents stock up on products like batteries and razors when they are in the states) where I snagged this bag of jelly bellys.

I guess I have a kids’ palate because the flavors were right up my alley.  The watermelon was my favorite.

What is your favorite jelly bean flavor?

Spring Break Has Begun!

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Actually it began yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to blog until today.  I don’t have any big spring break-y plans, but it’s always enjoyable to get some time off.  My mom is coming to visit next week for her spring break though and we are driving over to Ohio to visit my grandparents.

Yesterday morning I walked to school in just pants and a long sleeve T-shirt (spring came just in time for its break!) and ate breakfast during class.  A GoGo Squeez Apple Strawberry pouch,

and a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo Bar.

Both were good and the combo of salty and sweet was great.

For lunch I had a Simply Asia Spicy Mongolian Noodle Bowl.

I guess it was the morning of packaged foods?

Other than the sodium content (which is something I don’t really worry about within my diet) the nutritionals on these bowls are pretty good and they allow you to get food in a hurry when you’re hungry.  1g of saturated fat and 13g of protein in under 3 minutes?  I’ll take it!

The afternoon included an unsuccessful baking attempt.

My goal was Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey’s Buttercream for a St. Paddy’s Day treat.  But I hate chocolate cake and I really hate Bailey’s Irish Cream so it actually wasn’t too big of a loss.

Since we won’t be telefundraising over break I volunteered to work the final shift last night.  I drank a ProBugs Strawnana Split Kefir on the walk back to campus.

Work went well and at 8:30 it was officially the start of spring break!

Adam and I cashed in a meal out (and a Living Social deal) for dinner at Lagerhaus 95.

There, I drank water at a German beer house like a total loser.

We had an amazing meal and are planning on going back next week with my mom.  Adam and I split three things to maximize tastes.  We started with the Camembert Fondue – Franziskaner infused camembert wheel / crisp apple slices / crusty sesame bread.

Fondue is Adam’s and my favorite dish to share at new restaurants and this one did not disappoint.  The Camembert was served on top of sautéed sweet onions and the flavor mix was magical.

Next we had the special, a Crab cake Sandwich.  It was served with vinegary cole slaw and crisp green apples on a brioche bun.

I hate crab cakes that are full of breadcrumbs and this guy was super meaty and perfect.  The bun was almost sweet which was an interesting contrast.  It came with a trough side of clam chowder that Adam devoured.

Finally we had the Truffled Wild Mushroom Panini – Haus blend of fresh wild mushrooms / white truffle oil / cippolini onions / fresh arugula / gorgonzola / pressed on foccocia.

Everything was great,but this was the best dish of the night, hands down.  Adam doesn’t have a sense of smell and I was dying the whole meal that he couldn’t experience the scent coming off the truffled mushrooms.  The earthiness with the creamy gorgonzola – which was far creamier than any other gorgonzola I’ve tried – was great.

The panini came with a side salad that was also impressive.

There were several herbs, I couldn’t identify which ones, mixed into the lettuce and it had the most unique flavor.  The honey mustard champagne vinaigrette (unpictured) was nice too.

Overall we had an amazing experience at Lagerhaus 95 and I can’t wait to go back!

Sometimes great flavors seem to make you even hungrier for more and Adam and I stopped on the way home for a box of chocolates.

I ate half of every flavor, or two servings.  A little excessive because they weren’t even that good but I kept thinking each flavor would be better.

This morning I tried a Chobani 2% Passion Fruit Yogurt.

So good, my favorite Chobani yet!  I love passion fruit in general but this one had the perfect balance of sour and sweet.  If you’ve never eaten a passion fruit before the crunchy seeds might seem a little strange but I promise it’s worth a try.

Now I’ve got to shower and then I’m off to get my green on and make a trip to the grocery store.  Are you wearing green today?

Thank Goodness It’s Tuesday

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The title’s not sarcastic, we have a difficult assignment due this Thursday and I’m glad to still have a day standing between me and it!

My shift at work went well yesterday but when I got out at 9 I was just too tired to photograph, or blog, or think.  We do not do Daylight Saving Time where I grew up and my body still hasn’t quite gotten used to it.  Every year I am so exhausted for the weeks immediately following the time changes.

I needed a little extra help this morning too.

The vanilla flavored Doubleshot was very tasty.  I’d drink it for flavor alone if it weren’t for all the caffeine.

Solid food was good too.

I had a Siggi’s Strawberry topped with two sliced yellow plucots and a drizzle of maple syrup.

The yellow plucots were good but I think I prefer the dapple variety.  These were more tart.

When I walked to campus for stats this morning I was almost too hot in my winter coat.  And I definitely had to fan myself when I saw my score on the first exam –

Woot!

Clinic was good too.  I had my first teenage patient (I’ve been with adults and infants previously) and it was a different sort of interviewing experience.  We also met as a group for some interesting mini-discussions on anorexia nervosa and cystic fibrosis.

I was hungry and short on time after clinic so I made myself an Annie Chun’s Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl.

I added a big handful of shredded carrots on top for veg.

It was good, and I very much liked the amount of heat to the sauce, but desperately in need of a crunch factor.  I have a few other flavors that I purchased on sale and I might stock up on peanuts to top them with.

Dinner was actually a blogger event.  T.G.I.Friday’s invited a bunch of local bloggers to try out their new menu.

The plates were portioned for sharing (and the light was pretty bad) so the media contact actually requested that we not take any food photographs.  Instead I’ll do a recap of what I thought of the dishes I tried when she sends me press info/high-res photos.  I will say for now that I was surprised and impressed.  It felt very strange to not be photographing though!

I brought my friend Kim with me and we ate ’til we were stuffed and a had a lot of fun.  It was nice getting to meet some of the other local bloggers.

I came home from the event planning on working but instead I’m hurrying to bed.  Adam baked up a ton of food to pack for his lunches this week (eggplant, zucchini, tomatillos, mushrooms, rice, and a bunch of seasonings and sauces) and the apartment is permeated with a smell that’s making me ill.  It actually smells delicious, but the sensory overload has given me nausea and a headache.  Tomorrow will be insanely busy but hopefully oder-free!

Weekend Woot-dates

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Did everyone have a good weekend?  I didn’t get much work done, but the food and fun categories were filled to the brim!  We are starting another take-out reduction challenge and we definitely made the most of purchased meals this weekend 😉

Saturday morning I got up and went for a run!

The gym wasn’t open yet so I did my CT10k workout out in the wild at Delaware Park.  I forgot my watch at home and ended up having to count to 150 in my head as I switched from walking to running intervals.  I’m not sure how accurate I was but it was a great way to keep my thoughts occupied.  All total I did 4 miles in 53 minutes.  The wind was out of control and it ended up being a resistance workout of sorts; it was actually super fun to keep pushing through.

I drank the 2nd half of my G2 during my run.

And then I had a big iced coffee with English toffee syrup and Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk in the car.

In the car because we were heading to Toronto!

Last month I promised Adam all-you-can-eat sushi as a reward for participating in vegan month.  We failed at vegan month (recap post to come), but I figured he still deserved his reward for trying, especially since our fails were mostly due to my fat/laziness and not his lack of committment.  My parents sent us $ for Valentine’s that perfectly covered the cost of our fun international date, so off we went.

Lunch was delicious, way too many bites to even attempt to recap.  Adam and I did a lot of sharing, but the spread below shows everything I at least tasted.  Adam had many, many, other bites that I didn’t photograph.

Yum!  I’m still a little stuffed just thinking about it.  But we did find room for dessert.

Thank goodness, because this was actually the best cup of froyo I’ve ever had.  I thought I was going to die from a happiness overload.

A small serving of tart plain yogurt topped with fruit, sprinkles, and a huuuuuuge pile of popping boba.

I was grinning wider and wider with every bite.

After our drive home and an extreme shopping session at Wegmans, I did end up with room for a late dinner.

On that plate was a buffalo chicken sub with blue cheese and an order of fries.  Devoured.

Sunday has been spent on the couch.  Adam is starting a new project this week, in addition to the general being a med student craziness, and we took full advantage of today’s free hours for cuddling and sci-fi.

I did venture outside for brunch though.  My old friend Katie was back in town for a visit!

That sort of fun calls for a Bloody Mary, extra spicy.

Finding a Sunday brunch spot without a 45 minute wait took some doing, but we ended up having a great meal at Panos.

I got the kid’s meal 1-1-1.  A sunny side up egg, a pancake, and hash browns.  Then I smothered everything in syrup.

Every bite was delicious and I seriously considered licking my plate clean!

During the afternoon I ate a bowl of Malted Heath Bar Toffee Blondie 2-Ingredient Ice Cream.

x2.  That stuff is ridiculous good.

Adam had an evening meeting so I pushed back our dinner plans and ordered Chinese.  Told you I was taking advantage of my last days with take-out!  Once our food gets here we are watching our last ever episode of Stargate: Universe and eating crab rangoons.  Yippee!

Are you a sci-fi tv fan?  Did you watch any of the Stargates?

I Need A Plan

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I’m a girl who needs a plan. I am obsessed with my day planner. I make weekly meal plans in bed as I fall asleep. As you’ve seen, if my workouts don’t follow an exact schedule they tend not to happen.

That’s why, without a 10k in sight on the day planner, I’ve decided to follow this Couch to 10k Plan. Not because I’m signing up for a race, but because I hope it will get me back to the gym and back in my running groove. I decided to start at week 4 because I was reasonably certain that I could handle 2 minute spurts of running.

But I also need to follow the plan. I didn’t this morning and it cost me an hour of time and aggravation. I had three things to do in the morning – errands, moving my car, and my first CT10k workout – and the plan was to leave with Adam. But I had weird, vivid dreams all night and a 6:30am rousing made me feel like throwing up. I ended up waiting in bed until 8:50, getting up just in time to move my car. I drove to school, no spots. Went on one errand and back, no spots. It wasn’t until my third return to school that I finally found a place to park. Arrgh!

But my treadmill workout went great. Week 1.1 was 11 sets of 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking. With warm up and cool down it came to 63 minutes and 4.5+ miles. I don’t know the exact distance because a guy walked by and kicked the plug out of my machine just as I was finishing up.

The rest of my morning/afternoon involved a lot of hurrying to get to class on time and not a lot of feeding myself.  Whoops.  After class I had a mock interview to go to.  The interview was required for a class assignment but I’m really glad to have the experience.  It was video-taped (holy crap, that zit on my chin!) and getting to actually see myself in action was helpful.  My interviewer said I was great, by the way.  Woot!

Then Adam picked me up and this happened –

Hello, lover.  Going two weeks without diet soda wasn’t impossible but it wasn’t fun either.

But while we were at 7-11 something scary happened too.  A major head-on collision right across the street, complete with fire and explosions.  Adam run over to help and I’m not going to lie, it was kind of sexy to see him in action.  (<– I can say that now because everyone involved was ok)

Adam reeked of smoke and I hadn’t eaten all day so we told ourselves we were in shock and headed out for Thai food.  Such a good decision!  And they must have still had lunch pricing going because it was super cheap too.

The husband and I split two dishes, pretty much equally.  Cashew nut tofu, which came with rice.

And Pad See Ew, without egg.

Both dishes were great.  You seriously can’t go wrong with broad rice noodles.  Both dishes were sadly lacking in veggies though, and I was glad that this meal was “lunch” and not “dinner” so I could squeeze more produce into my day later on.

Several hours and some school work afer my late lunch, it was time for late dinner.

I had a baked potato topped with Smokey Maple Baked Beans.

And a side of roasted green beans.

Much better.

Have you ever witnessed a scary car accident?