Tag Archives: restaurant food

New Favorites for a New Year

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If the first day set any sort of precedent, 2010 is going to be a great year!  And in case I forgot that it’s not 2009, we got lots of new calendars for Christmas.

Today was all about errands; Office Max, grocery restocking, present returns.  I have my foot surgery this Monday so I’m trying to get all standing activities out of the way.  In between errands I had a lovely late lunch –

The pasta was a Lean Cuisine.  I love how packed with veggies it was, lots of zucchini and the marinara was delicious.

The bread made the meal however.  I don’t know how I managed to only eat half of this cheddar and jalopeno bialy!

Spicy and cheesey and yum!  I also had a tasty bite of Adam’s cookie.

Our final errand took us to the mall, where I discovered my new favorite restaurant – Jack Astors.  There were about 80 things on the menu that sounded good and pretty much everything was affordable.  The booze prices were ridiculous low.  Plus, they let you draw on the table!

Adam’s art was a bit less 6th grade than mine –

I promise I did my drawing before my drinking,

Raspberry Lemon raspberry vodka, lemon, sprite, and soda.  Yums, my favorite drinks are always sour.

And dinner was a Chopstick Chicken Salad Grilled chicken breast on a bed of mixed greens, red pepper, cilantro, toasted sesame seeds and cucumbers, drizzled with zesty sesame soy dressing.  Topped with crispy wonton strips, spicy pecans, and sun-dried cranberries.

Ah-maze-ing!  Next time I would ask for dressing, etc on the side but it tasted awesome.  We were running a bit late to see a movie and I ended up bringing the second half to the theatre and eating it with chopsticks mid-show.  Strangest movie snack ever?!  I also split a small popcorn with butter with the husband.

The only thing that could have distracted me from that salad was an incredible movie, and Sherlock Holmes delivered.  It was my new favorite movie!  It was funny as hell and fully captivating for 2hours.  I love love loved the costumes and setting and artistic shooting.

Now I’m planning on settling in to fill out my new planner before bed.  There is something deeply satisfying to me about a fresh, crisp planner and I’m so excited I could burst!  

Do you use a planner to keep track of your life?  Love or loath it?

Monday Night – Tuesday Night

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Yikes, this is going to be a looooong recap.  And that’s if I keep the details breif!  We’ve had lots and lots of good food and fun the last couple days.

After my last post we drove out to Ashley’s to get chicken patties.  They were beyond delicious, but my camera seems to have eaten the picture, whoops!  Then my parents, Adam and I went out to The Point to explore a bit.  We sat and watched the waves hit the rocks and it was wonderfully serene.

For dinner we went to Lotus, my favorite restaurant on St. Thomas.  We took my parents along, even though it was our anniversary dinner!

First we stopped at Fungi’s for a beer,

and then we went to Lotus.  We did lots and lots of sharing and it was a pretty fabulous meal.  Uptown Wonton Soup chicken/cilantro/crispy shallots/white truffle oil.

We got some amazing rolls to share – 1. Joe’s Stoned Crab sea scallop/jicama/scallion/topped with sesame seeds and hot sesame oil.

2. Shaggy Dog tempura shrimp/scallion/avacado/topped with spicy kanikami crab mix/sweet amai yuzu drizzle.

3. Soho House smoked salmon/spicy blue crab/asian slaw/scallion cream cheese/entire roll tempura/spicy yum yum and amai yuza glaze.

Here are all of my servings –

I also had a few small bites of my parents Green Apple Pad Thai,

and a few bites of Adam’s Muy Thai Tofu.

For dessert we I got the Blond Brulee white choclate ginger mousse/crisp banana brulee.

I let everyone else take a small taste but mostly I dominated this, I was swooning!

When we got home I also had a small slice of my dad’s Lindt Sea Salt bar.

We got up beyond early Tuesday morning to join my aunt’s family over in St. John.  Due to our lack of planning and 7:30 ferry time breakfast ended up being less than stellar –

No matter, it’s hard to be hungry when these guys are staring into your car!

My family picked us up and we drove to Ram’s Head Bay for a day at the beach and a hike.  The hike was 1.6miles each way and absolutly amazing.  These are only a tenth of my fabulous pictures.

The hike was very, very hilly and quite a workout.  I drank water on the way and had a few big swigs of Adam’s soda and a cheese cracker when we got back.

Then I spent hours shell collecting.

Before we took a second shorter hike over to Drunk Bay.  The beach is covered with rock sculptures people have made over the years.

Adam added a unicorn before we left.

I was burnt to a crisp at this point – in spite multiple applications of 70spf – so we headed to Skinny Legs for lunch.

My Painkiller was nasty so I ended up leaving most of it.

But my sandwich hit the spot.  I got the grilled cheese with tomato and onion and asked them to add as many veggies as possible.

Devoured.  Then we went back to their rental house for showers and naps.  And more cheese crackers.

My parents came over in the evening and we got take out from “The Chicken Man.”

Plantains,

coleslaw,

small piece of white meat,

fries with amazing bbq sauce.

Mmmn.

My portions were pretty small and I definitly ended up getting nachoes once we got back to St. Thomas!

Finally, just so you know I am “skipping” the last two days of December.  I have a long flying day tomorrow and don’t want to start my new year with an “old” recap.

Rocked Recap

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‘Tis the season for recaps!  We are going home tomorrow for Christmas and since my parents don’t have internet the posting schedule will be a little off.  I’m going to school with my mom several times so there will be some loooong posts coming sporadically.  Yesterday’s recap is due to sleepiness not internet though.

After my exam – which I think I did pretty well on – Adam picked me up and we did our final bit of Christmas shopping.  By the time we got home at noon I was starving.  I had these two samples from Sabra to try, so they were the basis of my lunch.

The animal plates I bought for Adam’s surprise party actually have dipping wells, so I knew they would be perfect for this lunch.

Half a yellow bell pepper,

3/4 of a cucumber,

1 T Sabra Jalopeno Hummus,

and 1 T Sabra Classic Babaganoush.

Yums, Babaganoush is so tasty and it’s creaminess with the fresh veggies went so well with the Jalopeno hummus.

It was a pretty light lunch though, so I ended up drinking 3/4 of this Odwalla Vanilla Al’Mondo Protein Super Protein drink.

It was delicious, and I needed protein before our next adventure, ROCK CLIMBING!

Adam and I went to an indoor gym with some friends and we all had such a good time.

We were there from 2:30 – 5 and it ended up being such a great work out.

Afterwards we headed to the mall to catch Avatar.  It was good, but not great, in my opinion.  I was captured for most of the 3hours, but towards the end my large diet coke caught up with me and I just wanted it to be over!

By the time the movie got out it had been hours since we had eaten so the four of us went to TGIFriday’s for dinner.  I got the bbq chicken salad.

It was only ok.  The menu listed tons of veggies, but the real thing was mostly iceberg lettuce with too much dressing.

I was so hungry that it got devoured anyway.

After dinner our friend Benji came home with us to watch a movie.  I think I was on the couch for 5minutes before I went to the bedroom and passed out.  A combination of studying from 10am – 2am the day before, the stress of taking the exam, the rock climbing work out and being up from 6 – midnight was just too much for me.  Adam said he found me on the bed in my winter coat with my sneakers still on!

That tiredness continued through the day, as I slept all day long.  Seriously.  I haven’t eaten anything yet and my suitcase is empty.  Time to get cracking!

Before I go, the winners of my Amy’s giveaway are –

  1. (#1) Katie – winner
  2. (#4) Katie Moo – runner up
  3. (#11) Traynharder23 – runner up
  4. (#13) Jessica – runner up

Ladies, send me an e-mail at emilyhwaxATgmail.com with your address so Amy’s can ship out your prizes!

Jam Flavored Stuffing

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The title is what I imagined when I put these two phrases together:  1.”Running around like a chicken with its head cut off;” 2.”Jam-packed.”  I guess you could pack the chicken with the jam?  Consequently, those phrases also both describe my day today.  It’s been go-go-go!

First, I went to my pt appointment.  Good news, I can run again!!!!  Only a few days a week and I have to start slow, but it’s great news.  I ran a mile during my appointment and it felt glorious!

I had some time between that appointment and my doctor’s appointment so I ended up killing an hour in McDonalds.  I bought some apple dippers to tide me over.

Yums.  And I loved most of the nutrition information on this packaged for kids item.

The only downpoint in my opinion is the zero grams of fiber – the apples had fiber to begin with if they’d just leave the darn skins on!  I guess I shouldn’t have nutrition outrage when I’m guzzling a diet coke at 9am.

I also started a new book – Under the Table, by Katherine Darling.

I’m loving it!  Darling is a good writer and culinary school is my ultimate dream.  I had to wait for more than an hour at the doctor’s office and normally I’d have been seething but today I was just glad to have an excuse to read!

I also got some news from this doctor.  2 out of 4 plantars warts are gone (for good hopefully!).  The other two I’m going to continue with the home-acid for, and I now have a prescription for an oral medicine that boosts your immune system – part of the reason I’m having such a problem is because mine isn’t responding properly.  I’ll take the medicine over break and I’m scheduled to have the wart cut out on January 4th.  This will most likely keep me immobile for a week or so, and could possibly keep me from running for up to a month.  It’s pretty devastating that training (which has barely begun) might break 2 months before my half, but it’s better than running the half with my foot hurting.

After that appointment I went to two separate pharmacies and then drove home for the quickest stop in ever.  I didn’t even take a shower, just washed my face!  However, I got two blocks from my house before I realized the reason I was in the car wasn’t in the car with me!  I left the giant bag of stuff that needed to be dropped off at Goodwill at home!

FYI – we designate a spot in our hall closet for things that can be donated.  Old clothes, free products, gifts that aren’t our style, etc.  Once we’ve got a sufficient pile we drop it off at Goodwill rather than throwing those things in the trash.  It’s better for the enviroment and our society.

When I went home to pick up the bag I realized I was clearly a bit distracted by hunger so I grabbed the can of soursop juice I bought the other day.

YUM!  Handsdown, sour sop is one of my very favorite things.  It is one of my favorite childhood taste memories and I was so excited to see some form of it sold here in Buffalo.

[I told you I didn’t shower!]

After Goodwill I went to Target for some Christmas-ing, and then finally the grocery store.  On my way out I hit up the salad bar.

I filled the small top halfs with yummy things – pesto pasta and mac and cheese.

And the larger bottom half with healthy things – baked tofu and brussels sprouts.

I didn’t say healthy isn’t yummy though, the brussels and tofu ended up being my favorite part!  The tofu was unbelievably chewy, I’m dying to know how they cooked it that way!

I gave myself some time at home to relax while I ate (and typed this post and watched some tv), but now it’s time to get back to jamming the headless chicken – lordy that sounded dirty!

Hopeful list of to-do’s from tonight

  1. put away laundry
  2. clean up the kitchen
  3. Chemistry reading
  4. e-mail regarding class scheduling trauma
  5. dinner?
  6. pt exercises
  7. go back to pharmacy
  8. shower – this one isn’t optional!

How do you say you’re busy?????  I usually go with busy beaver, but I’m also partial to “busy, busy, busy, busy*.”  *Said in the magician voice from Frosty  the Snowman.

*****Update – I managed not to do a single to-do.  I did, however, finish my entire 400+ page book!  And yesterday?  I watched Rose Red; a 4.5hour Steven King mini-series 😉

Celebrations Galore

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What a fabulous Adam’s birthday – Christmas – 2 year anniversary day!  We had celebrations galore!

We started the festivities with Adam’s 24 birthday (actually taking place next Friday) –

Barb made a yummy looking cake.

I passed, I had my dessert for the day already picked out, you’ll see later.

Next up was Christmas.  Among a bunch of fabulousness – most of which I’ll be showing on the blog over the next few weeks – were some awesome drawings from our niece.

Smurfs!

Finally our 2-year anniversary.  Adam and I celebrated by making matching fools of ourselves.

Aren’t our race windbreakers awesome?  I will certainly be wearing that.  And I scored the very last extra-small so it fits perfectly.

Adam’s choice for ‘birthday dinner’ was Red Robin, so that’s where we headed.

We ordered chips with salsa and guacamole for the table, here’s my plate –

I always ask for side plates when I’m sharing an appetizer, if I picked I would have eaten 4x as much.

Here is the reason I passed on birthday cake earlier in the day –

Oh yeah, that is a gingerbread milk shake!

So yum!

I ate some grown up food too.

Jamaican Jerk’d Chicken Burger spicy Jamaican Jerk’d chicken breast, topped with pepper-jack cheese, grilled pineapple, cool mango mayo, and lettuce and tomato; served on a jalopeno cornbread kaiser roll.

I ate about 3/4 of my sandwich and 2/3 of my fries.  Running kills my appetite sometimes.

The family is safely headed home and we are settled in for the night.  Adam might actually go see a movie (Ninja Assassins, gag) but I’m all set to curl up with some recipe planning.  Have a great night!

What month has the most holidays for you?  December is our busiest month.  We go Adam’s Birthday, Christmas, Wedding Anniversary – 11, 25, 28.  And we celebrate Hanukkah in there too!

Kicking Off the Season

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Let’s see – my house is decorated, I’ve had lots of good tidings and cheer, I’m super busy and stressed – yep, it feels like the holidays!  Due both to some good news and a few mishaps today was jam-packed.

I am one of those people who gets really (really really really) into holidays.  I manage to keep my purchasing under control, but I’ve had my red and green outfits outlined for weeks!  Part of my excitement involves keeping each holiday carefully guarded and away from the other holidays.  I do NOT wear red with green outside of December, I won’t drink eggnog ’till there’s snow on the ground, and I do my damnedest to stay away from Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving.

Today was not only December 1st, it was also the day of our first snowfall in Buffalo, a near perfect time for holiday decorating.  So after I got a few to dos of lesser importance out of the way (registering for classes, calling for pt) decorate I did.

[Thanks for the package mommy!]  Bring on the Jingle Bells!  I even – accidentally – included some snazz in today’s outfit.

Don’t worry, the overall effect was less than elvish.

Why the yoga pants in the snow you ask?  Because I managed to book my first physical therapy appointment!  Fortunately I called right after a cancellation and they were able to squeeze me right in.  I was a bit rushed so I made breakfast to go –

1cup frozen blackberries, Dannon Lite and Fit Blackberry Yogurt, 1/2 scoop Chocolate Amazing Grass, and about a 1/2 cup of water to ease the blending along.

Physical therapy (pt from now on) was everything I could have ever dreamed of!  My doctor was knowledgeable and understanding, and more importantly he says my half in March shouldn’t be a problem!  He watched me walk and twisted my ankles and it took about two seconds for him to see the problem.  I have tendonitis in my right shin.  Most likely from a bad sprain I got in high school, but also because I walk and stand like a duck. 

The doctor gave me pt moves to start doing at home and I have the green light to elliptisize and start doing cardio again.  I’m getting on the treadmill at his office on Thursday and will figure out the running situation from there.  For now the assumption is that I will go twice a week for pt for the next month or so.  My fingers are double crossed that I can start running again this Friday!

The excitement was majorly lessened on the drive home.  What should have been a 30minute trip to meet Katie for coffee took 2+ hours.  Ugh.  I did get to stop at the post office on the way – and picked up some fun – and I did finally make it for coffee.

Another seasonal must, my first red cup!

A tall nonfat eggnog latte.  I snacked on a Coconut Acai Prana Bar alongside my coffee.

And Katie and I had lots of good chatting.  🙂

Afterwards I picked up Adam and we drove to Wegmans for some kitchen restocking.  Did you miss my Thanksgiving Challenge Recap?  I had big plans to cook a fancy dinner tonight, but my 2hours of fun on the highway ate up that time.  Adam ended up going to a study session until 10:30 anyways so it was for the best.  Instead we got salad bar.

Oh how I’ve missed Wegman’s salad bar!  My excitement was bigger than my stomach, I left several bites of everything on my plate.  And it was pretty clear from my choices that I’m not over the brussels sprouts I was planning on making with dinner!

Curried chicken salad,

barley with brussels and pumpkin seeds,

roasted brussels sprouts and blanched broccoli,

small mac and cheese square.

Normally I would demolish the mac and leave veggies but I was proud of myself for leaving an even amount of everything today.

Adam had to rush out as soon as we got home with the groceries so fridge duty fell entirely to me.  Once I put everything away and cleaned up the kitchen I actually worked up another appetite!  I broke into two purchases that I dreamed about all November –

My onion bagel with reduced fat onion chive cream cheese was everything I’d been thinking of!

While I ate I worked on my Chemistry homework.  And then I kept working long after.  Class is getting hard!  I have a quiz this Thursday that I am in no way ready for and I’m getting a little nervous.

It’s after 11 and I stil have my pt exercises and a shower so I’ve got to scadaddle.  Visions of sugar plums kids!

What’s your holiday celebration mo?  Have you started on Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza yet this year?  We don’t have any Hanukkah decorations per se, but I usually don’t but the menorah out until it’s time to light it.

Worth It

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Hey guys!  I feel bad about breaking the challenge (not that it’s the first time we’ve cheated!) but it was so so so worth it!  I had such a great time catching up with my cousin.  She is pregnant with her second child and I’m glad I got to meet the first baby before she has the second one.  She and her husband are so nice and fun and we all had a good time.

They needed to meet somewhere close to the highway so we ended up at the Galleria Mall.  Adam and I showered and did our best to pretty up.

He was a bit more successful than I, it’s pretty obvious I’m sick!

PF Chang’s had a 5minute wait so that became our lunch spot.  I ordered the Vegetable Chow Fun.

It was only ok.  Way too much food and pretty bland.  I ate about 1/3 of it before I packaged it up for leftovers.

After lunch we walked around the mall and Dairy Queen just seemed right.  I got a small Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard with chocolate froyo.

Mmmn.  This made me pretty happy.

From there Adam and I hit up the movie theatre.  Sharing pretzel bites seemed like less of a good idea, but still an irresistable one.

We saw “Old Dogs.”  It was pretty terrible, but movie dates are always fun 🙂

Not surprisingly, I was not hungry for dinner after all my mall food.  I got unpacked and did some cleaning this evening, but mostly Adam and I spent a looooooong time discussing my life choices stagnation.  Some tears later, I think after a meeting I have this week things will be a lot more clear.

Just as it is clearly time for bed!  Sweet dreams.

Seen any bad movies lately?  What would you NOT recommend?

An Early Thanksgiving

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I’m too stuffed to be sad!  I have so much to talk about in this post and I’m so excited (and so drunk) that I know things will be left out.

This afternoon I picked up the husband and we headed to my imaging appointment.  We were in the waiting room forever so I ended up snacking on an Apricot Pumpkin Prana Bar.

Good.  And the good – but not surprising – news is that I don’t have a blood clot.  Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t really get more information.  I don’t know how I feel about the doctor who saw me yesterday so I actually made another appointment, this time with a sports medicine doctor, for Monday.  Sadly, I decided to push back training one more time, so that I will have still been on a break when I meet with this new doctor.  😦

When we got home I started packing and one of Adam’s friend’s came over to hang out.  He gave the buffalo blue bean patties a rave review!

Once he left it was time to get gussied for date night.

When I introduced the Thanksgiving Challenge I warned you guys that we had a dinner out pre-planned, a reward for a check from my old job.  Tonight was the night.

We went to Juniper, a place on Elmwood that serves 100% local food.  Nothing comes from more than 50miles away.  Their menu changes seasonally, and the entire concept has had me in a tizzy for months.  Our date did not disappoint!  For starters, I was in love with the ambiance.

I even loved the look (and labeling!) of the menu!  [i. porridge / ii. relish / iii. bird’s work / iv. aristology / v. fixations]

I actually don’t like Turkey Day food all that much (gasp) and this ended up being my mini-Thanksgiving.  We ate so much food!  I am beyond sad that my camera isn’t better, because my shots aren’t that great.  It feels imperative that y’all understand how fabulous this was!

I started the evening with a glass of Dr. L, reisling.

Yums, I thought I wasn’t a wine drinker but I really really enjoy reislings.  Wine hits me pretty hard though, halfway through dinner I was definitely nearing wasted.  Adam got a beer made with Kona Coffee that was pretty kick ass as well.

And soon homemade foccacia and evoo were delivered to the table.

I ate the piece shown x2, dipped in oil.

The husband went soup and salad for his appetizer route.  romaine ‘taco white anchovy, oven dried tomato salsa, peccorino.

I only took a small bite but it wasn’t really my thing.

mushroom pearls miso, ginger, barley.

This soup was fabulous.  I only took a few bites because I knew he loved it but it was so nice and meaty!

For my appetizer I went slightly less traditional, bobo’s not wings eggplant tempura, vitamin f, grilled celery.

Ohmyfrickinggod!  This rocked my socks.  I would eat chicken wings every meal if the chicken wing part of the equation didn’t slightly skeeve me out, so this was perfection.  This appetizer made the top three list of best things I’ve ever eaten.  It was spicy and crunchy and perfect.  I demolished it.

For entrees Adam got the chicken little poussin, chevre, rosemary smokies, fig jam.

Delish.  The meat was super succulent and the fig jam was as good as you would imagine.  Adam said his favorite component of the evening was the dark meat of his chicken.  He ate every single scrap of meat he could find, and even did the wishbone with me!

I won!  I wouldn’t have mattered though, I definitely have everything I could wish for.

I ordered the ponzu salmon bok choy, forbidden rice, pickled lime.

I was pretty stuffed at this point so I only ate about 1/3 of mine.  I asked for my fish well done and I thought it was cooked perfectly.  The lime flavor on the veggies was out of this world.

Honestly though, the best thing on the table wasn’t even the entrees.  It was this random bowl of roasted squash.

Holy frick!!!!!  This is literally the best thing I’ve ever eaten.  When I took my first bite I made Adam stop talking for a minute so I could just sit there.

We were pretty stuffed at this point but we knew we had to try dessert.  Adam got the chocolate ‘bomb.’

I know this sounds crazy from a food lover, but I really don’t like chocolate cake!  I took a small nibble, and I could tell it was good, but it just wasn’t my thing.  He loved it though.  It had Grand Marnier and candied orange peel on top.  The homemade lavender chocolate ice cream was ridiculous.

I went with my favorite, trio of creme brule vanilla bean, cinnamon, pumpkin.

Gah!  Indescribable.  I don’t know how I managed to let Adam split this with me.  I was most excited for the cinnamon, but pumpkin ended up being out of this world.  This was another moment when I just had to sit in silence.

I honestly can’t describe how much I enjoyed this meal.  I must have thanked Adam 20times during dinner for putting up with my out of control joy!  I was in love with everything in my mouth.  I felt so thankful.

Now that we are home I need to finish packing quickly and get to bed.  The plan is to leave before 7am tomorrow and I do not want to be a sleepy driver.  I will hopefully be doing regular posts this weekend but depending on the internet situation there may just be a big recap.  Whatever may happen, I hope all my readers and their families have a fabulous Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite restaurant?  I loved everything about Juniper – the decorations, the flavors, and the ideals.  The only other place I feel so strongly about is Serendipity in New York City.