Caramel Crab and Beef on Weck Roll

It’s been a busy past 24hours, the husband I have managed to pack in a LOT of fun!  We started by staying up half the night watching “Dollhouse;” what are we, in college?!?  Adam shared one of his Kashi cookies with me around 1am.

This “morning” didn’t begin until after 10am 😉  But I did start the day off right with a tasty breakfast sandwich.

An onion roll topped with Crofter’s Superfruit Spread, a slice of reduced fat colby jack cheese, and 2 eggs.

I use the microwave method for the eggs (which I whisked a bit of Buffalo sauce into) and they came out so fluffy.

Then we piled in the car for another mini roadtrip.  Adam’s friend from his lab invited us to her wedding reception and it was held upstate.  They actually got married in St. Thomas (hometown represent!) a few months ago, so the party had a tropical theme.

The husband and I split a strawberry daquiri,

and a small plate of chocolate fountain food.

We actually cut out early and missed dinner, so we decided to get sushi once we got back to Buffalo.

The husband has been craving sushi so we checked out a place we walked by a few weeks ago, Sea Bar.  They had great aqua accoutrements,

and complementary spiced popcorn.

For our actual appetizer the husband and I split a Miso Caramel Crab roll.

So tasty!  The roll was tempura’d with cream cheese, green onions, and crab, then topped with miso spiked caramel.

The four bites were enough to satisfy my sushi fix, so I went with salmon for dinner.

It came well done with roasted pineapple salsa and egg fu young.  I passed the eggs to Adam but devoured my fish.

Among other things, the husband ordered a Beef of Weck roll.

Fun!

After dinner we kept the date going with a trip to Delish for ice-cream.  I got a Love Potion # 9,

sweet cream raspberry ice cream with lavender.  Swoon, the lavender gave such a great aftertaste.

The salmon and ice cream were quite tasty, but honestly, I’m still flipping starving!  I’ve been hungry since I went to bed last night and it’s been driving me crazy.  Once I get this published I’m actually going to go get a sandwich!

What is your favorite type of sushi roll?  I’m not often brave enough to go beyond veggies, but one time in Brooklyn Adam and I had a roll with bananas in it that was divine.

Dinner at the Dollhouse

I think I actually did pretty well on my test 🙂  But the amount of work to be done in the next three days is frankly a bit scary.  I’m decompressing before my nose hits the grindstone by watching Dollhouse with the husband.

Did you catch my vegan challenge recap?  This breakfast is so tasty that even though it’s vegan it’s the only thing I wanted.

A serving of Van’s Buckwheat with Berries waffles with my Berry Breakfast Topping.

I used Silk Almond Milk, a peach and some blueberries in my topping.  It is just so good!  Like at how juicy and big the berries get –

The rest of my day was decidedly UNvegan.

While we were out getting his new phone the husband bought me Coldstone.  I went with a kid’s size Oreo filling ice-cream with a Reeces Peanut Butter Cup mashed in.

It was the perfect amount, I’m so glad they let me get a kids instead of the “small.”

We still haven’t gone to the grocery store since our roadtrip, so dinner came courtesy of the bar downstairs.

My turkey grill had turkey, tomatoes, jack cheese, and 1000island dressing on sourdough; no butter on the bread.  With fries.

If I’m getting fat it’ll be on french fries please, not soggy fried bread; don’t be afraid to request modifications when ordering in a restaurant.  I was a bitter waitress for years but I never minded when people championed for their health.

What modifications do you make to restaurant orders?  I usually just throw away the bread, but when I plan on eating it I ask for no butter.  I also ask for things like Hollandaise sauce on the side.

Best Day in Boston

Today has been our best day of vacation yet!  We’ve done all sorts of Boston things and did lots of walking.  We’ve been doing some serious eating too.

After everyone was showered and ready this morning it was almost noon by the time we left the apartment.  The late hour makes it far less strange that we started the day with froyo.  I think I’ve found my heaven –

The flavor choices, oh the flavor choices!  I went with oreo, cookie dough, nutella.

It was amazing but I still only managed to eat half of it.  We’ll be back tomorrow!

Then we headed into the city to wander through Quincy Market.

We did some people watching and walked around the piers,

before setting on the Barking Crab for lunch.

Check out the view from our table –

It was a great choice, I finally got my seafood fix!

I ordered the fresh lobster roll, which came with fries and cole slaw.

Everything was fresh and wonderful.  My lobster roll had huge hunks of meat in it and I drowned my fries in malt vinegar.  I ate everything except for my bun.

Next we hopped on the T and headed back up to Harvard Square, where I spotted a Ben and Jerry’s truck.

Free ice cream?!?  Who turns that down.

I only ate half of it but it was still pretty exciting.

Our friend Ian rejoined us (with his roomate) and that point and we ended up in an outside cafe with a pitcher of sangria.

We took the party to an (inside) bar so the boys could play pool once the rain threatened our fun.  FYI – other than what I show in booze I stuck with diet coke and water for most of the day.  I also munched on an apple I had in my purse.

Doesn’t everyone do that when they’re in bars?

For dinner we headed to Deep Ellum, our friends’ favorite spot in their neighborhood.  They had an impressively innovative drink menu, lots of absinthe and elderberry liquor.  I went with the Vanilla Flip.

Brandy, vanilla syrup, egg, bitters.  It was shockingly good, it tasted just like Christmas!

For an appetizer Nikki and I split a soft pretzel.

And apparently I was hungry for dinner because I was halfway done before I remembered to take the picture!

That’s the last 1/3 of my vegan seitan burger and fries.  Again, I ate everything minus the bun.

We did a lot of “vacation eating” today; fries and ice-cream x2!?  As I mentioned before, I’m not going to miss out on fun foodie chances in Boston, but I did try to keep things in check by doing lots of walking, not drinking too much booze, and skipping the caloric items that don’t excite me (like sandwich buns).

We are actually heading back out in an hour or so because Ian’s friends are having a party, but I’d rather not deal with my camera this evening.  You can assume I’ll have 1-2beers and then stick with water.  Tomorrow we are squeezing in as much as possible during the day and then driving back to Buffalo in the evening.  I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to post again.

Are there any items you always skip when eating out?  I love bread bread – bagels, our sourdough loaves, or naan – but since sandwich bread doesn’t rock my socks I’d just as soon skip it.

Boston, Bubbles, and Boats

It’s been another fabulous day here in Boston!  I’m feeling much better, thank goodness.  I was nervous that my episode last night was the start of some sort of illness but it seems like I just reacted to something I ate.

Nikki had to work today so Adam and I were on our own in the morning.  We wandered around Coolidge Corner and ended up stopping in at b.good for a late breakfast. 

I’ve seen this fresh fast food spot on blogs before and I was thrilled to get to try it myself.  Adam and I split a meal because we were so close to eating lunch at that point.

We got a turkey burger west side style (avocado, cilantro, tomato, and chipotle salsa).

And steamed veggies.

The husband got an amazing tasting chocolate shake,

but I went with water to try to rehydrate.

Afterwards we met up with our friend Ian and hopped on the T.  We wandered around Kendall (?) and saw some fun buildings.

And ultimatly went to lunch at The Black Sheep in the Kendall Hotel.

They had cute sheep decor,

and we sat on the porch in the sun.

I went with the Kendall salad – “baby spinach leaves tossed in our tangy maple vinaigrette, sprinkled with candied pecans, crumbled blue cheese, and marinated green apple slaw”

Delicious!  I think the combo of strong cheese and candied nuts on salad is perfection.

Next we headed up to Harvard Yard.  It was a gorgeous day and the geese were out with their babies.

We ended up laying out in JFK Park and goofing around.

Finally we headed in to explore civilization.  Adam got an amazing looking cupcake at Sweet (highly recommended by Tina),

but that wasn’t an option for me because I’d already spotted the…..bubble tea!

I got a frozen chai tea with boba.

So cinnamony and delicious!  It was pretty sugary though and I was trying to be careful with my stomach today so I deeply enjoyed half of it and threw the rest in the trash.

We headed up to Copley to pick Nikki up from work and went to sit outside Cafeteria for drinks.  I went with Diet Coke,

but I did steal the olives out of the husband’s martini.

We went from one adult activity to the next, Duck Tour!

The Duck Tour involves a land-water bus tour of important historical sites in Boston.  It was fun, but by the time we were done at 7:30 I was more than ready for dinner.

A final trip on the T took us to Common Ground where they, gloriously, had Abita Strawberry.

Sadly I wasn’t as impressed with the food selection.  I ended up ordering a fried chicken sandwich with honey mustard and swiss cheese.

I threw the bread away but finished 90% of the meat and fries.

Finally we headed back to the apartment to watch the Celtics game.  We might head out to a bar and I’m trying to convince everyone that frozen yogurt is in order but otherwise we’ll be having fun here.  Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Sheetz Envy

The weekend is coming to an end, and it’s been a long but fun day.  I have a lot to do before bed so I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet.

As predicted I did some snacking last night; the boys were eating jalopeno poppers and they sounded to good to resist.

It was 1am though and I wasn’t even really hungry.  All of which is yet another testament to why I should stop doing things like staying up until 2:30 in the morning!

This morning I got off to a healthy start with some from-home-food; 1cup Kashi h2h with skim milk.

We slept in, and my almost 5 year old niece of course did not, so lunch came very soon after breakfast.  Her choice was Arby’s, so I went with a turkey bacon ranch sandwich.

I wasn’t all that hungry so I ate half of my food and gave the rest away.

We went out in the yard for a game of catch and some bubble blowing and by the time Adam on I were on the road at 2:30 I was finally feeling my lunch hunger.  I did some nutritional sleuthing online before we left and found that my brunch (cereal + sandwich) had ~400 calories so I aimed for a 500ish calorie car snack.  I do NOT count calories, but I do think they are usefull data for abnormal eating situations.

Can I just say, I am sooooo jealous of anyone who lives near a Sheetz!  I managed to cobble together an amazing, healthy meal for the car.  A Naked coconut juice box.

A Sabra hummus and pretzel pack.

And a small fruit and cheese plate.

I can’t even explain how thrilling it was to find this type of food at a gas station.

By the time we rolled back into Buffalo it was after 7pm so we stopped in at Moe’s to pick up dinner.

Jr sized burrito with pino beans, a smidge of rice, cheese, pico, guacamole, and cilantro.

The texture was good, but this was actually a little bland 😦  I’m feeling hungry still and I’m going to be up late so I’ll almost definitely eat something else later.  My camera needs to charge so no pictures, but I’m eyeing my CF spicy chicken leftovers.  Hope everyone else’s weekends got wrapped up nicely!

Is Your Choice Behind Door A or Door B?

It’s been a great day of family fun; we played board games, watched the Discovery Channel, and I got to see my niece get her ballet pictures taken.

I brought my own breakfast from home (picked up from the hospital cafeteria at volunteering) so I was sure to have something healthy to start my day.

Quaker Instant Oats Express in Baked Apple.

This was actually seriously delicious.  I tend to avoid instant oats unless I’m traveling because of the added sugar but this ended up being a really nice treat.  And the fiber/protein content led to enough fullness that it was almost a trade-off for the sugar.

Unfortunately I just can’t jive with the waste of packaging or I would make this a regular thing.

Lunch was a 6inch turkey sandwich from Subway.

Topped with pepperjack, lettuce, tomato, green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, pickles, cucumbers, and honey mustard.

The worker was annoyed that I packed so much on but my sandwich ended up being tasty and filling.

I ate part of a small bag of Cheetos with my sandwich.

I only ate half, because I realized that with Cheetos the enjoyment-to-unhealthiness ratio quickly shifts from left to right.  I’m never going to stop eating crap completely, but I’m really trying to make an effort to regularly check-in with myself about whether or not the treat is worth it.  I think it’s (more than) ok to occasionally eat things with no health benefit, but it only makes sense if there is a happiness benefit.

On the way to the mall I sucked on a blow pop.

Why were we at the mall you ask?  Black light mini golf, duh!

They managed to squeeze 18 holes into the course.

I have a dorky child-of-the-80’s obsession with black lights and the aquatic theme was pretty tacky-fabulous.

After we worked up a sweat, of sorts, we headed to dinner. 

The in-laws’ pick was Cici’s Pizza, which was a new experience for the husband and I.  I was excited about the buffet aspect (I loooove choices and small tastes) but pretty disappointed in the lack of veggies.  I genuinely don’t understand only offering iceberg lettuce at a salad bar!  I will admit that I was pleased to see everything small-sized; the pizza pieces were tiny so you could try a bunch without eating too much.  I was super hungry but I didn’t want to go crazy so I decided to do two runs of healthy food first.

Small plate of salad.

Small bowl of chicken soup.

After I filled up a bit on soup and salad, then I got pizza.

Sadly I wasn’t really in love with either of these, the crust was pretty soggy and disappointing.  I ended up picking at 2/3s or so before moving to dessert.

Dessert, however, was pretty darn good.

I skipped the soggy crust but I loved eating the strusel topping and the cinnamon roll was great, super duper cinnamon-y.

Unfortunately I did too good of a job not overeating; I ended up not eating enough!  When I got home I broke out a Fruit and Nut KIND bar from my from-home-snack stash.

Holy yum!  KIND bars are always good but this flavor was socks rocking delicious; I love that the use apricot in addition to dates for stickiness.

There will most likely be some snacking tonight, I’ll recap in the morning.  Hope everyone else is having a great weekend!

Veggies eaten today: ~2cups

What is your thought on “treats” (candy, cookies, chips, extra cheese, or whatever your preference is)?  Should you cut them out completely, enjoy in moderation, or go hog-wild?  What works, or doesn’t work, for you?

Boo Hoo Hoo

The husband got up extra early for school today so I decided to get up too ….. and watch some tv!  Seriously though, I watched the season finales for “Mercy” and “Private Practice” and sobbed at both.  I am not even much of a crier but for some reason these both really got to me!

Between tears I ate a nice juicy breakfast.

0% Oikos with blackberries, a bit of honey, and fresh mango.

This combination was perfect, my berries are a bit under-ripe and very tart but the sweetness of the mango helped to balance it out.

Breakfast also helped fuel me for another treadmill visit.  10minutes walking + 5minutes jogging + 10minutes walking = 1.64miles and 25minutes.

Afterwards I headed home and put lunch into the oven before I did 25minutes of strength training and final packing.  While I continued sweating, some fresh green beans with salt and a portobello mushroom cap with balsamic vinegar were roasting up in the 450* oven.

The green bean fries made a great side,

and my ‘shroom was served sandwich style on a ww bun with miracle whip and a sprinkle of 2% Colby cheese.

Now I’ve got to hurry up and shower before I make us late!

Veggies eaten so far today: ~1.5cups

What was the last tv show or movie that got you teary eyed?

Breaking the Fourth Wall

I’m very open on my blog, probably to a fault.  I share about my lady business and even my fights with the husband.  There is nothing in my personal life that I chose not to share with the blog.  However, I did manage to mature before Facebook, and there are things from my business life that I have the savvy not to share.

Which in general wouldn’t be a problem, except that sometimes these things involve frustrating long errands and news that makes me irritated and sad.  And these feelings and errands do end up impacting what/how I eat, which is the focus of the blog.

For today, I’ll apologize for being vague, and ask that you don’t request an explanation for my strange eats and short post.  Thank you.

Breakfast = vending machine pastry while I was stuck waiting for an appointment.

This actually wasn’t terrible, but I was pretty annoyed to not be filled up by a 450calorie “breakfast.”

Starbucks for caffeine.

Grande iced Americano with skim milk.

{insert 4 hour nap here}

Dinner = grilled turkey sandwich on sourdough (no butter) with swiss, 1000island dressing, and tomatoes.

Veggies eaten today: 1cup, of potatoes, which count but still boo.

If you are a blogger, are there any parts of your life you choose not to share?  Why or why not?