Tag Archives: seafood

Our Outer Banks Vacation

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My first trip to the Outer Banks was a raging success!  We saw, tasted, and experienced so much.  Adam’s family has traveled to OBX in the summers for ages and it was great to finally see the setting of so many family stories in person.

We got home from our trip on Sunday night but I haven’t been blogging because I took the last few days to decompress.  I’m excited to post again today but I needed some time sans camera.  Trying to recap my whole vacation seems silly at this point, so I’ll just share some of the highlights.

A few of my favorite OBX experiences –

We…

Laid in the sun.

Stuffed ourselves at an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet with both lobster tail and stone crab.

Discovered self-serve froyo (of course!).

Walked many miles on the beach.

Found my favorite beer at a random bar.

Climbed a lighthouse.

Ate authentic (i.e. with tons of tangy, red sauce) North Carolina BBQ.

Came home full, tan, and happy to pick up our favorite dog.

I’ll be back next year, OBX!

The Last Three Days

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The last three days have been great. Summer school is over! I’m a senior! (again!) We went to Ohio! Yep, I wasn’t blogging because the summer of weekend fun has officially begun. Let’s back up to Friday morning first.

I stayed up late on Thursday (Adam was studying and I was doing nothing) so waking up was rough. Somehow I did manage to get out of bed and make it to the gym. And then I did strength training! I walked on the treadmill for 7 minutes to warm up and then spent 30 minutes rotating though a cycle of strength machines plus stretch moves on the mat.

Since I actually did weights work it seemed like the perfect time for the Honey Core Power protein drink I bought on sale.

It was fine, not great, but 26 grams of protein in a few minutes is nothing to sneeze at.

To celebrate our last day, our teacher brought in garden chili.

I had a bowl topped with cheddar,

and another glass of lemon sweet tea.

When the day was over a few friends and I celebrated on our own. First we grabbed the dog,

and then we walked to Dolci,

for bourbon cinnamon gelato.

Eeeeee, this tasted so good! The cinnamon was pretty subdued and it had the best texture, almost airy.

Then Adam and I were in the car for weekend #1 of summer fun.

I packed us leftovers for dinner.

Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta.

We both agreed that this dish is one of best things I make.

Saturday morning I managed to sleep until 11:30 …on the living room floor …while people screamed at the top of their lungs playing Battleship! Tired much?

For lunch I did my best to pick and choose a meal from McDonald’s.

Two packs of apple slices,

and a fruit and yogurt parfait.

Plus a (mini) S’more Monster Cookie for dessert.

I thing I like these cookies even better when they are regular sized.

We spent the afternoon at our niece’s dance recital. There were kids of all ages, including a class of three-year olds twirling around in giant tutus. And now my ovaries hurt!

Dinner was re-dic-u-lous.

Salad with honey mustard dressing.

French fries. With butter for the …

Crab legs!

All you could eat. Apparently I could eat five clusters. And then I was very, very full.

Though not too full for candy at the movies a few hours later.

We saw Prometheus and I do not recommend it. The “Alien” nerds on all of the forums were right, the characters are dumb and I didn’t care what happened to them.

The parents made us all breakfast this morning before we had to hit the road. I had a glass of skim milk,

and a pancake (with butter and syrup) and fresh fruit.

The opposite of fresh, Adam and I snacked on this cookies and cream Chex Mix on the road.

I ate ~2 serving’s worth.

We had to stop at the mall on the way home to get the husband new sandals so we got froyo too.

I got a tiny bit of tart yogurt with tons of fruit and popping boba.

We we’ve been home about an hour and I’ve already eaten two of the Hawaiian rolls that Adam brought home.

Clearly it’s time to rustle up dinner!  See ya tomorrow.

Off Plan

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Adam was on call last night and sleeping by myself did not go as well as planned.  To start, the dog and I stayed up until 1 am painting my nails and watching “Drive Me Crazy.”  And it didn’t seem like I was sleeping poorly but when the alarm went off this morning I wanted to punch it in the face.  I knew by the first snooze that I needed to update my workout and breakfast plans.

Instead of a run, I did 10 minutes of strength and stretch moves.  Not gonna lie though, I don’t think I could have done more than 10 minutes even if I’d had the time!

Instead of a yogurt bowl at home I took breakfast to-go.  A Naked Green Machine that Adam brought me home from the hospital.

And an Apple Turnover Larabar Uber.

The bar was tasty though a bit stickier than I’d like.  The flavor wasn’t really apple, instead it was chock-full of raisins.

Lunch was simple but good.

Roasted broccoli,

topped with Makhani sauce.

With Junior Mints (Canada style!) for dessert.

When I got home from class I snacked on mango slices.

Yuuuuuum!  We almost never buy mango (and Adam has to cut it for me when we do!) but it is the perfect blend of tart and tangy.

Plus bread with olive oil.

And a small slice of pizza.

It was less than a dollar but it wasn’t very good and I shouldn’t have eaten it no matter how hungry I was.

I had homemade soup planned for dinner but then the husband ate a bunch of food and came home stuffed.  I moved the soup to tomorrow and instead I got a $6 fish taco for dinner.

This was more enjoyable than the soup would have been anyhow!

Did you follow your meal plan for dinner this evening?

We’re Home From Toronto!

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Did you know we were away?  I hope not, I tried to keep that under my hat.  We found a great deal for hotel/dinner/a movie on Living Social so we took a quick trip.  After two glorious days of mini-vacation now we’re home again!

We actually got back to Buffalo this afternoon but the day’s been packed and I’m just now sitting down.  I’m going to do a mega vacation recap tomorrow, so for today I’ll stick with things consumed on US soil.

Like the medium Americano with skim milk and two sugars that Adam and I split just minutes after crossing the border.

For some reason I’d been craving milk and coffee all weekend and this hit the spot.

We also split a pack of Snyder’s Bacon Cheddar Pretzel Pieces.

They were okay, but basically tasteless compared with the honey mustard ones.

On a healthier note, I drank this sludge.

It was actually delicious.  I mixed this pack of Amazing Grass GREENSuperFood into orange juice and a bit of Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.

I got the idea from the way Jamba Juice used to sell wheatgrass.

Most of the afternoon was spent on errands but I did sneak in a stroll.  We did a ton of walking this weekend but my legs wanted to stretch out after ride home.  Plus, I spotted this from the car and I really needed to check it out –

Awesome.

Our late lunch was stir-fried rice.

Into the pan went varying amounts of –

  • evoo
  • sliced carrots
  • frozen peas
  • leftover rice
  • eggs
  • tomato
  • pineapple
  • rice vinegar

Topped with Sriracha.

It was quite good.

With two gummi bottle candies for dessert.

The red and blue was disgusting but the cola one was great.

We weren’t ready for the fun to end so we headed out to dinner.

Adam opened up my “Buffalo to Try” bookmarks and picked at random.  We ended up at Black Rock Kitchen and Bar.

It was fun but the final consensus is that we won’t be back.  Everything was good-ish but somehow not quite right.

We started with a cheese plate.

And I ordered the shrimp po’ boy.

I traded half of my sandwich for Adam’s eggplant panini with tomato, pesto, and marscapone.

All total I ate the equivalent of 3/4 of a sandwich.  Nothing was bad but the flavors were all slightly too strong; lots of pepper.

We split a bowl of mint chip when we got home.

This wasn’t quite right either.  You can’t win them all!

Funtastic Friday

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Today has been the best day ever!  I mean, not running my half marathon good or getting married good, but pretty damn good.  Exploring, delicious food (seriously, seriously delicious), time with a friend, surprises for the husband…

I spent my afternoon exploring East Aurora with Holly.  It was great but getting there was a trip.  <– that’s a pun.  10 minutes into a 30 minute drive my phone (and gps) shut off.  Apparently my hour at the Sprint Store was not well spent.  The rest of the drive was like a scene from the 90’s, except I didn’t have the prerequisite skills of phone number recall and map reading.  Somehow, and I seriously don’t know how, I ended up exactly where I needed to be.  Phew!

And I was rewarded for my navigation magic with lunch at the festive Arriba Tortilla.

They had fancy lights and they let me order from the kids’ menu so they were 2-for-2.  I got a kids’ taco platter with two fish tacos.

My fish tacos had mahi mahi, corn salsa, black beans, and zesty cole slaw.

I ate 1.5 and was covered in sauce and grinning from ear to ear when I was through.

After lunch we spent a couple of hours strolling around the adorable town.  When Holly told me that EA was awesome I didn’t think that she was lying, but I didn’t actually expect it to be quite so amazing!  Tons and tons of cute local shops and great walkability.

I grabbed an iced coffee with skim milk from Taste, the local coffee institution.

And we ended our travels at Firefly, a gorgeous cupcake shop.

It was a difficult choice but I ended up ordering a key lime pie cupcake.

Yellow cake with a graham cracker crust, key lime buttercream and key lime curd filling.

Ridiculous good.  The frosting may have been the best I’ve ever had.  I definitely closed my eyes and swooned at the first bite.  I ate 90% of the cake and every last lick of the frosting and filling.

I’m glad we did lots of walking because the day’s dessert consumption wasn’t over yet.  Holly told me something very exciting about our mall.  Something very exciting that I managed to keep to myself long enough to surprise a very happy husband…

Buffalo now has self-serve froyo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m so embarrassing; when Holly told me this morning I got so excited I could actually feel my heart speed up.

I got plain tart and coconut froyo topped with some fruit and sprinkles and tons of popping bobba.

Now that I can have it every day more often I’ll need to watch the portion sizes, but I wanted to enjoy the bobba just in case it didn’t make it on the long-term menu.

Adam and I ran errands into the early evening and then settled on the couch to cry hysterically watch the “Grey’s” finale.  Dinner was pretty much identical to lunch but I had a coupon to Moe’s so I just went with it.

Two fish tacos, one hard and one soft for variety’s sake.

Plus chips with queso.

I thought the crunching would stop the crying but that was a lost cause.  If anything, screaming at the screen helped me to eat less chips.

Which show finales have you been freaking out about this season?

Cinco De Mayo Surprise

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I had big Cinco de Mayo themed plans for today but unfortunately they fell through.  It was a good day regardless, just not themed.  <–  I love a good theme, I sort of can’t believe I didn’t rush a sorority in college

Friday was good in a “day-off” sort of way.  Thursday night was ridiculous; I woke up a little bit before 4am and never went back to sleep.  I tossed and turned, got up to pee, got up to get a drink; nothing worked.  Which is how I ended up eating blondies and watching “Private Practice” at 6am.  I knew I would be cranky and unproductive so instead of trying to fight it I spent my day eating Indian food, watching dramatic tv, starting the latest Kathy Reichs book, and going to see “The Avengers.”  Sidenote – “Avengers” was great, I am thrilled that I got to see two Joss Whedon pieces in the same month!

I spent this morning finishing up Flash and Bones in bed (loved it!).  My mood threatened another day off but I knew I needed to get my butt in gear and face the world.  I set out on errands and ultimately finished most of next week’s to-do’s as well!  I was out later than expected and ended up grabbing lunch at Moe’s.

A Moo Moo Mr. Cow (kids’ burrito) with rice, black beans, grilled veggies, corn salsa, and pickled jalapeños.

I didn’t eat 90% of my chips and queso but they were nice to have after particularly spicy bites of burrito.

I had a blondie when I got home.

Adam came home from his shift at the hospital this afternoon with his black dress shoes completely spent so we headed off to the outlet mall.  It was crazy and crowded but we rewarded ourselves for our efforts with Ben and Jerry’s.

I got a small cup of Schweddy Balls and Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz.

Mmmmn!

During our travels I also had these Jalapeño Cheddar Combos.

Our evening plans included a surprise party for our friend Ethan.

The event was held at Torro, a local tapas place.  They brought us bread with oil and vinegar upon arrival.

And Adam and I split the Tempura Shrimp – “skewers with napa salad, miso dressing, and sweet Korean chili dipping sauce.”

This dish was great!  I ate two with sauce, plus all of the cabbage.

Of course there was cake.

I had half of that small piece, I’m in more of a savory than sweet mood.

We’ve had tapas before, so we were aware that one plate wouldn’t be enough for two people but there was an issue and we never got our 2nd plate.  No big deal though, the boys all came back here for an impromptu poker game so I’m cuddling up with some chips and dip.

Did you drink any margaritas today?

Epic Meal Time

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I’m not talking about the Epic Meal Time, though those guys are awesome.

Muscles Glasses is a hottie.

I’m talking about yesterday’s meals.  They were literally epic (you’ll see).

Breakfast was more nonexistent than epic, because I stayed in bed reading a book until the last possible minute.  When I was utterly distraught over finishing Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan series my mom bought me the first book in several murder mystery lines.  Yesterday I was finishing up Tess Gerritsen’s The Surgeon.  It wasn’t terrible – I loved the way she switched point of view with each chapter from a different character’s perception – but I don’t plan on reading any more of hers.  I actually have the latest TB book now but I’m making myself wait to savor it.

I had to be out of bed and out the door at a specific time because my friend Hillary and I were presenting our research on Ginkgo Biloba at a poster presentation.

Last major assignment of the semester, done!

After I changed out of my suit Adam and I went to lunch.  We took a nice walk down Elmwood (a little over a mile) to Nickle City Cheese & Mercantile, an adorable new cheese shop.

The space looks great and they carry all sorts of cool lines that I’ve read about and wanted to try.

Adam and I got lunch and had a picnic outside.

We had a Sprecher Cherry Cola,

Mac and cheese with gouda,

and a grilled cheese of pimento cheese on pumpernickel with red onion.

Everything was great, but the pimento cheese didn’t have as much flavor as I was hoping for.  We definitely plan on going back for fancy cheese.

On the walk home we stopped at the neighborhood candy store for mint M&M’s.

They are one of my favorites but I was feeling pretty satisfied from lunch so I only ate half of them.

The rest of our afternoon was spent running the rest of our weekend errands.  Many took us to the mall.

Our final errand was at Cold Stone (legit!) where Adam and I split a kid’s chocolate frozen yogurt with butterfinger.

I like that Cold Stone has an option with less than 200 calories per small serving but this tasted a little “empty” somehow.

For dinner we went on a fancy date night!  We had an amazing Groupon for Epic Restaurant and Lounge.

They brought us bread with oil to start.

And Adam ordered the Filet Sliders – with house-made sea salt and vinegar potato chips and smoked gouda fondue as an appetizer.

I ate a few chips dipped in the fondue and it was awesome.

Per usual, we did some sharing with dinner.  I got the Grilled Rock Lobster Tail  – with lemon and asparagus barley risotto drizzled with a garlic shallot butter and brocoli rabe.

He got the Cedar Plank Salmon – maple candied carrots, fresh arugula, smoked gouda mashed potatoes.

Gahhhh!  Everything was sooooo good!  Adam’s favorite bite was the lobster tail and my favorites were the broccoli rabe and the fatty end of Adam’s salmon.  It was a great meal and a great time.

We extended the fun with Monkey Bread for dessert.

Oh, and we ordered a bottle of Prosecco with our meal.

Which is why you’re getting this post in the morning 😉

Sugar Saturday

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Today’s been sweet, literally.  And it’s not over yet; I’m having a bowl of ice cream the minute I publish this post!

Breakfast was another fabulous yogurt-cottage cheese mix.  A Liberte Coconut Yogurt served over the 1+ serving of 1% large curd cottage cheese.  Plus a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

I don’t really enjoy cottage cheese by its lonesome, but mixed into yogurt or oatmeal it’s the bee’s knees.

We ran errands for what felt like forever today (3 stores for groceries?!!) and for lunch I introduced Adam to Manhattan Bagel.

I had a toasted jalopeño cheddar bagel with lox cream cheese.  The bagels were great, nice and chewy, but the service was so bad I doubt we’d ever go back to that location [the Delaware location for any reading locals].

A frozen iced coffee was split at Wegmans.

Plus 4 pieces of salt water taffy from the bulk bins for dessert.

Watermelon was a favorite but I also enjoyed cherry cola and cookie dough.

For dinner we cashed in a Living Social deal for Thai House.  We tried a lot and overall it was good but not great.  Our appetizer was little fried cups with crab meat.

Meh.  I only ate two but Adam did finish the rest.

Our meals came with soup so we both ordered Tom Yum.

Yum indeed; (jeez that was corny!) the soup was perfectly sour.

Another plus was the 2-1 deal on “thai-iced” beverages.

The husband did coffee and I did tea.

Delicious.

And for my meal I ordered the House Noodles, extra spicy.

Broad rice noodles with brocoli, boy choy, peppers, and egg.  The extra spicy was actually spicy, a major plus over other local Thai places.  But the noodles didn’t have the amazing “marshmallow” quality that I look for in good broad rice noodles.

Now we are home enjoying Cokes with lime.

And ice cream soon!  Tomorrow brings lots of studying for Monday’s exam and a visit to the theatre for The Hunger Games!!!