Tired Travel

by Emily

Hello from Charlottesville! The last 48 hours have been a total whirlwind, but a little sleep deprivation is definitely worth the family time.

Yesterday afternoon we had to finish packing, and Adam had to shave, and we had to drop his car off, and the clock ticked ominously as it got later and later. By the time we actually hit the road it was after 6pm and we knew it was going to be a long night.

We dinnered on sandwiches from home as we drove.

I assembled Nature’s Pride bread, Applegate Farms Organic Roasted Turkey slices, 2% Swiss cheese, and honey mustard; wrapped in tin foil for easy road munching.

Adam and I also split a Starbucks Double Shot drink.

Caffeine was a very good idea (and it continued to be good all today as well) since we pulled into my in-laws’ house at 4:30 in the morning!! I’m not sure how we managed to be so chipper for our 9:30 wake up call, but I think that vacation excitement always overrules lack of sleep. I can’t even tell you how crazy the drive was though, between the thunderstorms and the fog we were pretty sure we were driving through the apocalypse.

Breakfast called for carbs, protein, and bacon. Half a bagel with strawberry cream cheese,

1 scrambled egg,

and 2 slices of turkey bacon.

Moving was not as bad as I was anticipating at all (it probably helped that I was responsible for packing up the pantry and not carrying the couch!), especially since my brother-in-law drove down to help as well. At some point in the afternoon I was sent into town for packing supplies and Starbucks for my mother-in-law; I grabbed a grande iced nonfat latte for myself.

Lunch was one of those random simple meals that ended up being extra delicious.

This veggie pizza was something my MIL found in the freezer section and it was so dang good; she was worried that the crust started to burn but it was crispy and crunchy in the best possible way.

And this was the best (only?) watermelon I’ve tasted all summer.

The melon was supposed to be dessert but my MIL and I found ourselves stuck at Wendy’s while the moving truck was returned and Frostys were calling our names. The new Caramel Apple Parfait looked too good not to try.

Oh my gosh guys, props to Wendy’s because this was delicious! I only ate ~ 1/3 because I didn’t want to overdo it before dinner but I was seriously impressed. The caramel had great mouth feel and the right balance of sweet and salty.

Adam and I stayed in town after the moving was done so we could have Fathers’ Day dinner at my FIL’s favorite restaurant. Clearly it was a day of hot work because I drained my beer before it even occurred to me to snap a picture.

This might be the first time I’ve tried a Shock Top and I was surprised by how much I liked it, light and refreshing.

I also nibbled on a complimentary cheesy biscuit.

Think of the biscuits from Red Lobster, but better.

Sagebrush isn’t the type of restaurant that I typically love but my dinner ended up being amazing.

I ordered a side of the veggie medley (without butter)

and a side of sweet potato casserole

to go with my Mountain Trout.

Trout! This was my first time trying trout and I think it might be my new favorite fish, it was so buttery. The menu said flash grilled but I’m pretty sure this was fried. I scraped off the skin but other than that I cleaned my plate.

After dinner we had another late, rainy drive. I bought this huge (half-sweet) coffee for the road.

I hope the caffeine doesn’t keep me awake but traveling makes my stomach upset and I was hoping coffee would help me feel better.

Tomorrow we’re spending the day exploring Charlottesville and then driving to DC in the evening. My best friend just texted to let me know that her apartment doesn’t have internet so my posting schedule might be a little off.

Can anyone recommend any “must go” spots in Charlottesville or DC? Other than frozen yogurt we don’t have much on the agenda!

15Jun2011

Boarding Time

by Emily

I started my morning with a shot of the Orange Dream Machine knock-off I made Adam.

He takes the Step I Board Exam on Saturday so we are testing out different breakfasts to find the perfect one for test morning. This is a big-time important exam so he needs a breakfast that leaves him full and doesn’t make him have to go pee. We’re also making sure he eats the perfect night-before dinner. It’s the little things people!

The Step I Board Exam is similar to the MCAT exam, but more important and taken after your 2nd year of medical school. Your Board score basically determines the rest of your career so, no pressure Adam! Taking the exam also marks the “end” of your 2nd year of medical school. The 3rd and 4th years you leave the classroom for rotations in different clerkships, ie hands-on experience. In 3rd and 4th of medical school Adam’s schedule will be similar to what’s coming during residency – basically I’m becoming a single mom to Levinson.

Since Adam is taking his exam this Saturday, we have exactly one week of freedom before he starts back for his 3rd year of school (Adam is hosting a student clinician ceremony the Saturday before school starts). Since I’m not dramatic at all, I’m calling this “the last week of our marriage.” To celebrate/spend as much time together as possible, I took the week off of work and we are going on vacation!

1 day in VA helping my in-laws move
1 day exploring Charlottesville (a lot of programs on Adam’s list are at UVA)
2 days in DC visiting my best friend from high school
2 days in Maryland visiting family

It’s going to be a whirlwind and lots of driving but we are so looking forward to it!

Apparently I’ve also been looking forward to bed, because that’s where I spent my entire day! I stayed up until 3 am last night because I have some sort of mental problem and then I napped the day away. I did finally get up around 4 because I needed to make the husband dinner. I nibbled on more mini candy bars while I cooked.

I wasn’t eating dinner at home because I had a date with Katie. She’s moving at the end of the summer so hopefully we will get in a lot of meet ups before then. We went to Saigon Cafe and split a spring roll for an appetizer.

I ordered the Spicy Rainbow – an assortment of vegetables stir fried with basil leaves in a hot sweet basil sauce, with white rice.

The dish is marked with two stars (= extra spicy) on the menu and I asked the waiter for “Thai spicy” and he grimaced like my face was going to fall off. After the grimace, but before tasting my food, I ordered Thai Iced Tea to combat the spice.

No ~~dice~~ spice. The veggies were good, but this wasn’t even close to being a little spicy, let alone Thai spicy. So disappointing!

I ate about 2/3 of my food but after this and last week’s bland meal I’m going to take the hint and stop going to Saigon Cafe. Can any Buffalo readers recommend a local Thai spot that actually brings the spice???

After dinner we took a nice walk down Elmwood, stopping for Ciao Bella gelato.

Key lime pie and dulce de leche for the win.

I actually walked Katie all the way back to her apartment where she loaned me some books so … I could get in bed early and read! Be back in the am!

What time is your bed time usually? What’s the stupidest reason you’ve stayed up too late recently? I think reruns of Food Network Star takes the cake for me.

8Jun2011

My Friends, Ben and Jerry

by Emily

I know I said I was excited about blogging again, but I was more excited about sharing dinner with my friends in less than ideal table lighting.

I met up with a group of girlfriends from school and we had a great time playing summer catch-up. I ordered a tuna melt (sourdough, no butter; with cheddar cheese).

I ate half and then brought the rest home to the husband.

Such a random diner order but it definitely hit the spot. Sidenote – once I occurred to me to ask for no butter on my bread I started enjoying restaurant sandwiches 80% more.

Adam and I are spending the rest of the evening watching “That 70’s Show” with our new best friends.

I know, I know; it’s totally time for us to stop splitting a pint of ice-cream like that’s normal healthy behavior, but Maple Blondie?!

What’s your favorite flavor from Ben and Jerry’s? Bonaroo Buzz is topping the charts for me, but I’ll let you know in the morning if Maple Blondie edges it out!

3Jun2011

Bad Decisions Brew Bad Outcomes

by Emily

I’m going to be honest from the start: this is a fairly whiney post. In fact, I’ve got a pretty fun recipe post coming this evening (hopefully!) so you may want to just wait. If you’re still here, I’ll tell you that I’ve been in a rotten mood for the past 24 hours. It’s been a very frustrating day, not without a few high points though.

I’ll be honest; yesterday afternoon when we went to the Co-op what I really wanted was nachos. I talked myself out of them in the interest of attempting to actually be healthy this summer, but it was a big mental battle. <– I shared the play by plays with the husband too, fun for him. So when I was hungry within 5 minutes of arriving at work yesterday (the hot bar wasn’t very good) I had some regret about my choice. It doesn’t help that my workplace serves some amazing looking nachos that make me green with envy every time I serve them.

Anyway, I was at work getting hungrier and hungrier, when we had a terrible string of customers that made me question humanity. Sidenote: to the woman who requested a private room for a birthday party, brought in her own cake for me to serve, received amazing service, and then tipped me $20 on a $245 bill – I hope someone punches you in the face. I’m thinking about doing a mini-post on tipping actually, would anyone be interested in that?

As my mood got worse and worse, I knew nachos were the answer. When I got cut 20 minutes early (ie before the kitchen was closed) I knew it was a sign from the cheese gods. Nachos.

I realize that bad lighting / the to-go container / the fact that these had to sit and wait for me to finish work makes these look less appetizing than they could, but let me assure you these were a high point of the day!

The nachos were ridiculous good. Housemade chips with poblano peppers, mango salsa, and smoked gouda? Heck yes!

I brought the nachos home to share with the husband but I ended up housing 80% of them myself. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, consuming that much smoked gouda made me sick to my stomach. Totally worth it, but this combined with my bad mood did keep me up past 3am. When I did finally get in bed the husband tells me that I thrashed about and made noise all night.

I didn’t get out of bed until 10am this morning and after sending a few e-mails I realized that I was a) still in a terrible mood, and b) still exhausted. Back to bed I went.

I got up around 3 with the goal of cashing in on free donut day at Dunkin, and getting in my 5miler. I ordered a small iced coffee with skim milk,

and got a free Boston Cream donut out of the deal.

Goal #1, check.

Goal #2 = massive fail. Probably in part because I fueled for the gym with a freaking donut. Probably also in part because my sleep schedule is that of a college student or a crazy person and I’m in fact a 25-year-old sane person. I got to the gym, suited up, bought a Gatorade, then got on the treadmill and died. I was too tired to physically make myself run in the proper form. I couldnt’ even walk at a pace about 3.2 miles per hour. It was ridiculous.

I’m so mad at myself! I realized from the start that I might not be able to actually do the half (especially when my knee started hurting) but I didn’t realize that it would have anything to do with being lazy with my training plan. What has my problem been the last few weeks?! As I yelled at myself I did at least come to two realizations –

I need to do better at the grocery store so that there aren’t so many mornings where there’s nothing healthy in the house for me to eat. Even without sleep, my gym trip would have gone better if I was properly fueled.
I have to get serious about sleeping like an adult. When Adam’s working at the hospital our hours will be crazy and there’s nothing I can do about it, but right now I have control over the situation. I don’t get out of work that late, if I came home and went to bed it’d be all good. But instead I come home and get sucked into the computer/tv and am tired and frustrated all the next day; not good!

What’s a bad decision you’ve made lately? What can you do to help yourself in the future?

30May2011

They Were The Worst Of Plans, They Were The Best Of Plans

by Emily

Contrary to this morning (when my grand plans were thwarted), my terrible evening plans failed for the better. Sometimes when things run off course you end up in a much better place.

I needed a win after my lame shift, so I decided to spend time on an activity I knew I could do well –

reading magazines on the couch. I also lifted my mood exponentially by breaking in to my Co-op best-ever candy bar stash.

I ate it slowly, with a fork, over 45 minutes of magazine reading and was practically in heaven.

But I guess I wasn’t feeling angelic, because the end result of our dinner plans was me getting in a screaming match with Adam over the best way to measure flour. Seriously.

I stormed out of the house in a dramatic huff and ended up at Talking Leaves, sitting a table on the sidewalk with my book and a drink.

Like I said, a better place. Though it was even better once the husband joined me, finishing off the other half of my iced coffee with Irish Cream.

We sat long enough for me to finish my book. <– not Sloane Crosby’s best showing; I Was Told There’d Be Cake was far superior, How Did You Get This Number? was more whining than funny

It was too late to make dinner at that point, so instead we headed to Saigon Cafe for Thai food.

I strayed from my go-to order of broad rice noodles and went with Pad Krapow – chicken with spicy basil sauce.

I asked for extra veggies and extra spicy.

I got enough veggies, but unfortunately the spice level was much closer to bland than “Thai spicy.” I housed the entire plate, but my spice tooth is still begging to be satisfied.

Actually, I was randomly so I hungry that I surprised the husband with how much food I wolfed down. I shared most of my rice with him, but I killed my meal and stole several bites of his Pad Thai to boot.

Adam and I wandered down Elmwood in search of chocolate ganache (I’m not sure what sparked the craving but my spice needs seemed to be linked to a desire for deep chocolate) and finally settled for a Starbucks salted caramel bar mini.

I’ll let the chocolate thing go, but I still need to find something to smoother in Sriracha, soon!

Instead of dinner at home we somehow ended up with drinks, dinner, and dessert; at three locations natch. Regardless of the fact that he knows nothing about flour, I think a date with the husband is always a better plan!

29May2011

At Least It Wasn’t An Egg Salad Sandwich

by Emily

Our evening plans took a sharp turn, and this is a much different blog post than I planned on writing. I’ll have to make/blog my dessert idea later this week, but we had a great time.

We walked down Elmwood, then walked back to the apartment before we decided that we were hungry for sushi. After a slightly longer walk, unfortunately we were greeted with this –

No matter. A slightly longer walk still and we made it to Tokyo Shanghai Bistro.

We’d never been to TSB before, and picked it on a whim, but the complimentary appetizer was a good sign.

I knew dessert was in my future so I went with two small rolls for dinner.

A shitaki mushroom roll,

and a veggie roll with crab and egg.

It wasn’t the best sushi I’ve ever had – both rolls were strangely chewy – but I slather on so much wasabi it barely matters! I probably wouldn’t go back for sushi, but we spotted some great looking tofu at another table so I think we’ll try again next time we’re in the mood for Chinese.

By the time we were back home from dinner we’d walked another 2 miles. Bringing our grand total to 6+ miles walked today.

At one point early in our travels I decided that it was absolutely essential that we buy the locally made mini cheesecake we’d been eyeing at Wilson Farms.

We both took a few bites but it wasn’t very good.

What, you mean you wouldn’t look for quality cheesecake at the gas station?!?

What’s the strangest thing you’ve purchased at a gas station?

29May2011

Walk It Out

by Emily

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, readers! The holiday doesn’t mean much to me (I didn’t even know tomorrow was Memorial Day until a few hours ago; I was so confused the last two days at work when my manager said we were ‘slower than usual because of the holiday weekend’) but I imagine it’s exciting to those of you with real jobs.

Since I hadn’t eaten since 3pm yesterday I made sure to fuel up with a big Granny Smith Apple and a packet of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter before we set out this morning.

It’s funny that the Justin’s website referenced the fact that most other choc-hazelnut spreads have more sugar than frosting, because the flavor and texture of this goodness totally made me think of frosting!

I ran yesterday on my off day and I felt pretty sore from work so I decided to do a long walk today. Adam and I headed to Delaware Park for an hour of walking while I quizzed him on pharm. questions. We walked ~ 2miles.

After a super quick shower I met up with my friend Katie for lunch and ended up walking another ~2miles in the process. Our final destination was JP Bullfeathers for brunch.

I ordered two poached eggs, cooked dry.

Which came with a side of fruit,

and rye toast (I ate 2 half slices).

Dipping thick toast into drippy egg yolks might be my favorite restaurant food sensation. Poached eggs are the perfect dish in my eyes (dippy yolks but much healthier than fried eggs because not cooked with any sort of oil) but I can’t get them right at home so they are the perfect restaurant food for me.

Katie and I also split a side of sweet potato fries, which were sadly sort of awful.

Soggy fries aside, it was nice to get out and about and to see Katie. I also grabbed a cup of coffee and a Lindt truffle for dessert.

This afternoon Adam and I decided to split a slice of buffalo chicken pizza.

I realize we eat this pizza a lot (it’s possible we fall into food ruts, Wegman’s hot bar much?!) but it’s something we both love. Plus, at least we always split it! However, it’s after 6pm and we’ve both determined that we’re really not hungry for dinner so perhaps we should have skipped it today!

We’re going to take another (short) walk and see how we feel about dinner when we get back. Either way, I have a fun dessert recipe I plan on posting (and eating!) this evening. See you then!

What is your favorite food to order while dining at restaurants?

21May2011

Pretty Good

by Emily

Hello there; I hope everyone’s having a nice weekend. It’s been a good Saturday around here, I spent lots of time with the husband, I got to take a few walks, and I received some good news I’ll be sharing later.

Our plan this morning was to cash in a Groupon for brunch, so to kill time while the restaurant opened I headed out to the Farmer’s Market and the Co-op.

While I was up on that end of Elmwood I stopped in at Wilson Farms for my new favorite coffee.

Half Jamaican Me Crazy Coffee (regular) and half Jamaican Me Crazy Cappuccino (sweetened).

Adam and I also drove over to the lake to check out the crazy fog.

Spooky!

Then it was time for brunch at Empire Grill.

But apparently brunch is only a Sunday thing, boo. And the bad news didn’t stop there, Adam and I hated our ~~brunch~~ lunch order. I really don’t want the blame the restaurant (the food wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible either), we just made really bad order choices for our preferences.

We split a Blue Point Toasted Ale,

the Caribbean Shrimp and Mango Salad with mixed greens, mango viniagrette marinated jumbo shrimp, black bean and pineapple salsa and a mango viniagrette,

and the California Turkey Wrap with coleslaw, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, onions and a chipolte aioli.

I sort of hate raw spinach and I hate wraps so, again, it wasn’t really the restaurant’s fault. Nonetheless, I ended up eating basically nothing for brunch.

Thank goodness for Banana Split Cupcakes!