This Needs to Be a No Crap Zone

by Emily

I’m a little drunk and have a scary amount of work to do tomorrow so I’ll keep this speedy.

I might not have gotten much work done this afternoon but I did have a very calming snack.

A Tazo tea sample pinched from my hotel room and Frog Hollow Farms cookies.

And I baked a pie!

We had an extra Wholy Wholesome WW Pie crust and Adam is a crazy person who has been requesting ‘smores pie minus the actual ‘smores crust. I followed my grandmother’s recipe, but subbed chocolate chips for bars since that’s what we had in the cupboard. You better believe I did some nibbling while I cooked.

Finally, it was time for showers and gussying. I straightened my hair for the first time in my entire life and I think I like it.

The semi-formal was at the Samuel’s Grand Manor, which ended up being a very nice spot. Dinner was actually a sit down meal and the company was great. Adam is so lucky to be in school with such a great group of people.

We hit up the open bar when we arrived; whiskey sour. [I started drinking and the lights went down so my pictures were pretty much doomed at this point]

And I had a small appetizer plate.

Before the bar closed for dinner I had a bourbon and ginger ale.

Yummy salad.

Bread and butter.

Vegetarian entrée.

Since I don’t eat steak the waitstaff hooked me up with this veggie pasta plate. I ate all the veggies but pretty much ignored the pasta.

There was ice-cream for dessert but it didn’t look exciting so I gave mine to Adam. I did however, break into the centerpiece.

We totally took that candy cane home with us too!

After dinner Daniele delivered the bourbon and ginger that put me over the edge.

We hung out for a bit, but my foot hurts from my doctor’s appointment and without dancing we ended up leaving before 10:30. We were actually almost to our house before I had the world’s most intense craving for chicken fingers. It’s possible we drunkenly made our way to Denny’s (ew!) and I decided that this wouldn’t count towards the Challenge because I didn’t get enough dinner at our pre-planned event.

The craving –

I ate three and then decided I should probably be done. P.S. I am totally sick. Every time we’ve eaten crap this year it’s been confirmed for me that I just can’t. I didn’t overeat at all (in fact my dinner all total was probably on the small side) but I feel like I’m going to explode. My body can not tolerate fried food.

I also got embarrassingly excited about this –

Peppermint hot cocoa? Yes please! Honestly, it was worth Denny’s food to be able to sit with my husband. We talked about my goals and possible plans for next year. He is so busy and it’s hard to focus at home, it was nice to just sit and talk.

Now I’m going to brush my teeth (and possibly puke) and collapse into bed. Please, God, please let me wake up and get some work done tomorrow!!!

8Nov2009

Dinner with Outstanding in the Field

by Emily

Tonight was amazing! I am so sorry for another lame post, I truely truely am. I get so excited about food but I have so much to say that it is too much and I’m exhausted.

Dinner was put on by Outstanding in the Field (a very locavore, farm to table, excited about sustainability organization) and was held at Greenleaf Warehouses. The setting was legit a warehouse, I love industrial/fashionable settings.

You can just go ahead and multiply this glass of vino by 3.

And I had 1 shrimp crisp,

and a whipped tuna cracker.

Dinner was family style, so we got to serve ourselves. First was a pickled veggie plate Ahi tonnato on pain de mie with gochukaura and parsley.

I loved how spicy everything was.

Next was soup Mushroom dashi, maitake, shimeji, enoki mushrooms.

It was very similar to a miso but the mushrooms had an insanely lemon taste. This was the only thing I didn’t love.

Then they brought out udon noodles with fresh calamari Udon, grilled Monterey calamari in a browned butter ponzu reduction, cucumber, kaiware, frisee & yellow pear tomato with chojang & sesame vinaigrette.

I was very nervous about it but Jenna convinced me to try a taste.

So glad I did! I actually really liked the calamari but the soba noodles were the best, very doughy and raw. Plus the dish had a good spice kick.

Then came salmon and mushroom risotto Salmon baked with dashikombu, fried garlic and Japanesse curry powder / Mushroom risotto with koshihikari rice, crispy maitake mushrooms.

I don’t know why I took such a tiny serving, but it was delicious. I love love loved the curry powder.

There was oxtail, but I obviously ignored it, and then came out a platter of brussels sprouts Roasted brussels sprouts, ponzu fried garlic, guanciale, bonito flakes. Jenna told me there was short rib in them, so I resisted. But brussels sprouts are in my top five all time food favorites, so I finally said f’ it and ate one. Delish. Then the waitress came by, and said “vegetarian.” So I loaded up a plate.

So.Fricking.Fantastic. They tasted like McDonald’s fries, which sounds awful but was just amazing. However, apparently, so not vegetarian. They definitly had pork in them. Which makes me quite sad 😦

Finally, dessert. Ah dessert Koshihikari rice pudding, cookie crumble, and warren pear.

I love rice pudding, but the pear, oh the pear! I had a bite of pear at the farmer’s market this morning and I’ve been telling people all day that it was seriously the best thing I’ve eaten out here. The dessert was from the same farm!!! I was in heaven.

Before we headed out they did Foodbuzz awards which was a lot of fun. I definitly congratualate some very deserving winners!

A bus ride later, Camile and I walked the mile back to our hotel for the last time. On the way home I just might have seen a 7-11 and shrieked at the top of my lungs. Bosenberry and cola, oh yeah.

Even more exciting? Getting in bed now! Tomorrow morning there is a goodbye breakfast and then I fly all day long and get back home at midnight! I have a big test on Monday so I’m not sure what the posting situation will be. I hope everyone else’s weekend ends well!!

Challenge Balance – $31.71

1Nov2009

Happy 80th Nana!

by Emily

Hello, hello, hello! Sorry to skip out for the weekend but I had a fabulous time. I flew to Ohio (with a bunch of other family members) to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday. We did party/family time all weekend, which meant TONS of cake! I missed the husband a lot but I had a great time, my family is so funny! This post won’t be as detailed, due to length, and if you get too bored skip to the bottom to find the winners of the Zevia contest.

Friday we had to get up nice and early to make it to the airport for my 6:35am flight. I was hungry when I got to the airport but it seemed early and I knew I would sleep my first flight so I decided to wait.

On my layover I got egg and cheese on a cheddar jalopeno bagel.

It was very tasty but I dropped half on the floor so I only ate half of it.

I was so excited when I finally got in to the Dayton airport!

My mom and grandma picked me up and we drove over to Tipp City to do some shopping (also the location of my grandmother’s surprise party!). We saw all sorts of fun things.

Nana (grandma) was impossible to get to her surprise party, she kept insisting the chosen restaurant was too nice, too slow, etc. I finally had to pretend I was going to pee my pants if we didn’t at least go in to the restroom! When she saw all of her friends she was so surprised she cried!

My mom and my aunt (who flew up with my mom a few days earlier than me) did such a good job planning and decorating!

We did a party lunch at Coldwater Cafe and it was very nice. I got a bloody mary to drink.

And for lunch I split – more halfs! – a turkey pannini (with artichoke spread and cheese) with my mom.

I ignored the chips but the sandwich was great.

My grandmother cried when she opened her presents and again when they brought in the cake!

I am not really a chocolate cake fan so I took a small bite and then packed up the rest to bring home to Paps (grandpa). I also packed up all the bread from the table baskets. My family teased me but they are either going to use it again, ewww, or throw it out, wasteful.

We got to go home long enough to pick up my grandpa and then we – me, my mom, my aunt, my grandparents, and the dog – squeezed into the car for a long drive to Toledo where my uncle lives. I seriously can not handle how funny my family is, we had such a good time!!

We were running late when we got there so we had a quick dinner from Wendy’s. I got a baked potato with broccoli and cheese.

I also ate one of my pumpkin cheesecake cupcake/muffins, so good!

My uncle is a high school football coach so we went to watch his team. It was their last game of the season, against their biggest rival, and they whooped them, so it was a lot of fun. My uncle had the marching band play happy birthday to Nana and she cried again!

After the game we went to a ‘end of season’ party my uncle was throwing for the other coaches. I had a small vodka and coke,

and a small slice of pizza.

And then there was more cake and more tears!

Quite a night was had by all 🙂

For Saturday breakfast I had an English muffin with homemade strawberry jam and scrambled eggs.

We spent the morning having family time before we headed to another birthday party, this one for my cousin’s baby! Lunch was buffet style at the party.

Cheesy potatoes,

fruit,

and veggies.

And of course more cake – I just ate the icing off this piece.

Over the course of the party I sipped a beer

and had a good time hanging with my mommy and grandma.

My mom, aunt, and I (all Virgin Islanders) walked to and from the party because it was so exciting to be cold! It was sad saying goodbye to my cousins but then the six of us packed back into the car and headed back to my grandparents’ house. More uproarious fun was had, including the hilarious/horrifying realization that my grandmother – who was driving – talks with her hands a lot!

It was Halloween, so I broke out some fancy chocolate I bought for the occasion.

We all had a small piece.

When we got home we had to rush to get dressed before meeting my grandparents’ best friends for dinner. It was a great last meal. I had a bloody mary again, to which I added a ton of Siracha and sizzled my mouth off!

My grandmother shared her side salad with me,

and she and Rose gave me their martini olives.

They are both amazing and both happen to read the blog, hi guys!

I also had a small piece of bread.

I was torn on ordering but when the waitress said unlimited toppings on the flat bread pizza I was sold! I asked for roasted red pepper, green peppers, red onions, caramelized onions, tomato, spinach, and mushrooms.

Mmmn. I ate 3/5 pieces.

It was another late night and I think we left my grandparents thoroughly exhausted!

This morning my mom and I both had 6:50 flights so it was another early trip to the airport. Goodbyes were easy; I see my grandparents for Turkey Day and my mommy and aunt for Christmas!

For reasons explained in the next post, I packed my own breakfast. A banana from my grandmother’s house,

and a seasonal Pumpkin Spice Cliff Bar from home.

My flights were all blissfully uneventful. I was very excited to see the husband at the airport. Apparently he went to a Halloween party last night so I’ll have to track down some pictures of his costume. He made himself spaghetti this weekend so I had a big bowl of that (doctored with mozarella and red pepper flakes) while I wrote this monster post.

My fingers are exhausted, it is definitely time to say Goodbye! I will “see” you all this evening, hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Zevia Winners

I used a random integer generator to choose the winners.

Runners Up who receive a mixed six pack

(#18) Annalene – i actually have tried Zevia before & I have to say that while they may take some time to getting used to the flavor after the initial drink or 2 these are actually quite good! my favorite is the lemon lime
(#5) Jenny – I would love to try the all-natural diet sodas. I work the night shift, and am obsessed with my diet Pepsi….but always feel guilty about the weird ingredients and colorings.
(#17) Erin – I really want to try this stuff since I love the occasional diet coke.
(#2) Holly – I’d love to win – this soda has been all over blogs and I’ve never tried it!
(#14) Erin– Zevia sounds great!

Grand Prize Winner who receives a mixed case

(#9) Molly – Sounds good!

Winners – shoot me an e-mail (emilyhwaxATgmail.com) by Tuesday morning to claim your prize!

24Oct2009

Visit from the In-Laws

by Emily

Don’t forget to enter my Zevia giveaway!

Today was quite a day. We had a great time with my in-laws, I’m so glad our families all get along! They came over to see the house and brought me a gift that shows just how much they know me –

awww 🙂

Before we left the house I actually grabbed a 2nd Zevia for the road.

‘Twas good. Not as good as my awesome new hoodie though, nice and warm!

We took them to school (my m-i-l’s best friend was with us too) to see Adam’s campus and the husband and his dad played ping pong for awhile – I’m married to a dork! Our friend Benji came by for a while too so there were quite a lot of balls flying around!

Afterwards we drove to the mall for dinner and a movie. The wait for a table was 60minutes so Adam and I went upstairs to get ice-cream (life’s short eat dessert first, he says). I have been craving a pumpkin pie blizzard since I saw it advertised last time I was at the mall. I actually was in line to get one and then the woman in front of me ordered exactly what I planned to order (small, pumpkin pie blizzard, no whip cream). As I watched them make it I had two thoughts – 1) that’s not that small, and 2) that’s not that exciting. I am all for indulging and having fun with food, but it’s only fun if you indulge when it’s really worth it. Like the dinner I then ate 🙂

My m-i-l ordered an appetizer platter for the table that was quite tasty. I ate the small plates shown, but multiply the bread times two and add a few bites from Adam’s plate.

For dinner I got the Spicy Cashew Chicken.

This is basically the only thing I ever order at Cheesecake Factory. It isn’t the healthiest but we don’t go all the time and I love it. I ate half and then boxed the other half for lunch tomorrow.

It was starting to rain pretty hard at this point (6pm) so our visitors actually decided to hit the road. They sweetly gave Adam and I movie $ before they headed out so we stayed at the mall and watched “Law Abiding Citizen.” The movie had good moments but I thought it was pretty sad.

Now my plan is to curl up with some magazines and hopefully fall asleep before 11. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I sleep through the night!

What was the last thing you decided wasn’t worth it?

20Oct2009

Ice Ice Baby

by Emily

It’s been a busy, but random. I had plans of getting up early but the husband felt like studying until 1am last night which totally threw me off. When we were in the city and my job was crazy he was always mad at me for staying up until 4am while he tried to sleep (especially difficult in our one room apartment!). Here, where he is in medical school and I do nothing am not, the situation is reversed. We have multiple rooms now but I’ve found I have a hard time falling asleep without him around – cheesy relationship moment alert!!!

When I did get up at 10 this morning I went straight to the phone for the next 3 hours! I don’t know if I actually accomplished that much, but at least I got the ball rolling! My hunger was totally off and I ended up eating the last serving of pretzels for breakfast!

Unhealthiness aside, here is a healthy tip: buy a food scale! I’m not saying you need to be obsessive and measure everything you put in your mouth, but things like pretzel nuggets add up faster than you think – a serving of those bad boys is ONE ounce. Once you are eating pretzels straight out of the bag for breakfast, there is no way you are going to pull out a measuring cup. But plopping the bag on the food scale? Easy. (P.S. My scale read 1 and 1/4 oz, so with the weight of the bag I had a perfect serving left)

At 1pm – once I had at very least left a message with every single number on my list – I set out for the gym sat on the couch and kissed Adam and stole some slices of his turkey pepperoni. I ended up pushing the gym back to the end of the evening in favor of going to the post-office and being dropped off at the Spot. I worked on Chemistry by myself for a while before Caroline met me for some group studying. By myself I got a late lunch.

A big diet coke and a turkey cajun wrap (turkey, lettuce, tomato, pepperjack cheese, cajun sauce, ww wrap).

The salad looked over-dressed so I didn’t even taste it, but I demolished the sandwich.

During my social studying I also had a medium pumpkin pie latte (pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon; 1pump syrup, skim milk).

Yums.

Caroline dropped me off at home at 9 and after so very brief glancing at the magazines I got in the mail we set out for the gym. It was about time too, I’d been rocking this look since 10am!

I always work out in baggy t-shirts but I went ahead and bought some running tank tops last weekend. Somehow I feel more “official,” not that I look too fine in that picture!! I’ll show you all of my new finds as I wear them; this one was $4 at Target.

On the treadmill I did 10minute warm up – 20minute run – 5 minute cool down. In the end the totals were 3.25miles and 361 calories. My legs are still crazy bothering me (my knees, hips, ankles often hurt but lately it is an intense pain in my calves!). I did a lot of stretching when I got home and now I am trying icing them.

We’ll see how it goes.

I can’t believe I’m doing such a late recap post but considering that dinner just kind of never happened I guess it’s not that surprising! I got a lot done today, but tomorrow is still going to be jam-packed. We just found out our in-laws are visiting this weekend which makes this week even busier. I’ve got to go deal with my ice bags and take a shower, see you in the am!

Do you ice? Any tips for me?

28Sep2009

Travel, Treats, Time

by Emily

Today was frustrating but fruitful (oh man, continuing with that alliteration!). Everything took longer than planned and I have been crazy hungry all day but we did have fun and most of my to-dos are done. I feel bad for the string of recap posts and/or quickie posts, but it’s almost midnight so I gotta do it.

I woke up early this morning to pack up so I could join my sister-in-law for church. I ate half of this Lara Apple Pie Bar on the drive there.

After some reflection, we met the boys at Shoney’s for breakfast. This spot would not have been my pick, but my eating style is pretty different from my husband and his family. We all did the breakfast buffet.

I ate a plate of fruit,

and potatoes, scrambled eggs, and a biscuit.

I was annoyed by the lack of healthy choices, but the food actually did taste pretty good. I haven’t had a biscuit (w/honey!) in years so that was fun.

After breakfast we set out – in the pouring rain – for home. We stopped on the way for gas and I spotted this –

I’m sorry, I realize I’m 24, but I’m not from the states and I think stuff like this is frickin’ thrilling! I totally had to make myself a milkshake.

Cookie Dough was tasty and I grinned for the next 80miles 🙂

Once we got home I started (still have to finish, whoops!) unpacking and snacked on a 100calorie Popchips sample.

I think salt and vinegar is my least favorite flavor.

Adam and I ran out to Wegmans for a grocery mission around 5. That meant I had food, but still no time, so we decided to get dinner on the drive home. Husband’s choice was Boston Market.

I got a half bbq rotisserie chicken sandwich on multigrain bread,

and a side of green beans.

I had never tried Boston Market before but I was pretty darn impressed. The options were healthy (my meal had 475calories total) and tasty but quicker than you could do at home. I thought the beans were delicious.

I had a serving of Lindt Sea Salt Dark Chocolate for dessert.

This is my new favorite chocolate, the saltiness adds so much depth to the flavor.

And then I spent 7-11:30 working on my Chemistry homework. Yes, you did read that right: it took me 4.5hours to complete one homework assignment. This class is kicking my butt! I was starving again during my work so I made a quick snack.

I sliced a small potato, spritzed with evoo and sprinkled with dill and salt, and baked at 500* for 20minutes. With ketchup.

Yums. Homemade oven “fries” beat real fries any day!

The husband stayed up until 3:30 last night playing x-box with his brother so I am super excited to snuggle tonight! Sweet dreams.

What is your favorite brand of chocolate? Do you prefer milk or dark? I don’t mind milk chocolate but I like dark a lot better.

26Sep2009

Queso Queasy

by Emily

I was starving this afternoon (my brunch really wasn’t enough food) so I ate a small plate of Chex Mix to tide me over until dinner.

I love the crunch/spice of Chex Mix but I wouldn’t never buy it because it’s almost impossible to stick to a serving. I was very proud of myself that I didn’t get another handful.

For dinner we hit up a local Mexican spot that the husband is obsessed with. It was very very typical American “Mexican” food. Adam is a cheese-hound though so I could see why he was obsessed with it. I ordered a vegetarian platter.

Chile Poblano, cheese enchillada, rice and beans. It was waaaaaaay too much cheese. I adore peppers so I scarfed the Poblano but I left most of everything else on the plate. I actually stopped eating way before fullness because I knew I would get sick from queso overload.

I’m still hungry and we will be hanging out until late tonight (and drinking) so I am sure some serious snacking will be done! Tomorrow morning we are making the drive back to Buffalo so we can get our homework done for Monday. I was planning on getting up to run but my left foot feels pretty bad (the warts, the insane shoe blister, and now the whole foot feels sore) so I think I’ll be smart and take a day off. It’s tempting to (over)train because I had to take so many days off, but I know another injury will just mean more days off. I’m going back to the doctor for more painanother treatment on Thursday so I know I’ll be out of commission again soon. I’ve just got to do my best and stay positive. See you Sunday!

What is your favorite Mexican food? I love chile relanos; I always wish they were less cheesey but the chiles themselves are so tasty.

*****11pm Update

Crap eaten? Check. After I put my camera away I ate 2 jalopeno poppers and 3/4 of a bag of popcorn.

25Sep2009

I Was Just Brought a Bellini

by Emily

We made it! I felt the need to bicker instead of pack, so we ended up slightly off schedule, but we made it to Ohio by 9o’clock.

The drive up was pretty painless (especially for me because I was only in charge of the music!). I ate a very late lunch once we got on the road.

2% Fage with jam, sooooo good. I do like fat free the best but these mixing ones are to die for.

Once we reached our family’s house and did some hanging out we ran out to pick up a late dinner. Hardee’s was the best we could do, but it ended up being a good meal.

I got a bbq chicken sandwich.

I order it because it was the only nonfried chicken on the menu but it ended up being pretty good. It was a grilled chicken breast with bbq sauce on a ww bun.

I supplemented with a popchips sample I brought from home.

Salt and Pepper was a little spicy, but a great compliment to the sandwich.

For dessert I had an apple.

And as I started blogging my sister-in-law delivered me a bellini!

It’s family time, gotta drink run!

What do you pack for roadtrips? I had it in my head that I was packing dinner but then I realized we had no food! Popchip samples, Lara Bars, and apples seemed like a good idea to me.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: restaurant food

This Needs to Be a No Crap Zone

Dinner with Outstanding in the Field

Happy 80th Nana!

Zevia Winners

Visit from the In-Laws

Ice Ice Baby

Travel, Treats, Time

Queso Queasy

I Was Just Brought a Bellini