Charleston, Day 1 And 2

by Emily

Hello from the South! I’m blogging in a spring-ish 50-something degrees (it’s better than Buffalo!). Actually, I’m blogging from Adam’s computer this trip, so I’ve got to keep things quick. We are having a terrific, delicious time.

Breakfast day 1 – brunch at the famous Hominy Grill.

I got a(n extra spicy) bloody mary.

And a bowl of she crab soup.

Charleston is famous for its she crab soup; this bowl was super creamy and loaded with pieces of crab. I adore anything with sherry.

We ordered a piece of buttermilk pie for the table.

But it was much drier and less custard-y than we were hoping so we all just took a small taste.

It was a rainy first day so we did lots of inside and driving activities. We got in some good sight-seeing and scoped out a few spots to hit up during the rest of our trip.

One of our stops was Whole Foods for stocking up on goodies. <– chocolate coconut butter packets, it’s good to have you back in my life!

There was froyo next door.

I didn’t really love any of the flavor offerings so I got a small cup of cheesecake yogurt with tons of popping boba.

Can’t go wrong with boba.

We went to Hyman’s Seafood for dinner and they brought us complimentary hush puppies.

Best hush puppies ever; they had the perfect amount of sweetness.

We also started with fried pickles.

Lots of fried food in that dinner. I got french fries as my side,

with steamed shrimp.

Every component of my meal ended up smothered in tartar and cocktail sauce. I’m a girl who loves her condiments.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and crashed into bed hard. Let’s pretend it was the 20 minute stationary bike ride I started the day with, and not the heavy dinner!

Day 2 we skipped the gym and slept in. Instead I made it a healthy morning by starting my day with an apple.

Then we headed to Bakehouse for breakfast.

The offerings were as delicious as the space was adorable. The cookies and bars looks amazing but the closest we came to them was splitting a caramel marshmallow.

I also did a toasted marshmallow cappuccino.

Adam and I shared breakfast.

We had a mixed berry scone.

And a piece of Greek turkey strata.

It was a great breakfast.

We spent our second day exploring on foot. King Street and Meeting Street provided lots to look at.

We even got to see dolphins!

I couldn’t get a picture to save my life, but we saw lots of waving flippers and even a mama/baby combo.

Tastes from the day included…. Praline,

a drop of the spiciest hot sauce available (I stuck a toothpick in it and touched it to my tongue; I honestly didn’t think it was that hot!),

honey,

an Earl Grey macaron (<– squeeee!),

a KIND bar,

and some watermelon Zots from one of the many old-time candy stores.

All good, but I am definitely a lunch eater; when we got back to the hotel to change for dinner I was starving. Enter the perfect snack –

Diet coke and Cacao Bliss? Yes please!

But I sure was glad I saved room for dinner. We had an incredible Southern meal at Magnolias.

Bread with ridiculous cream cheese herb butter came when we sat down.

And we ordered a pimento cheese plate to start.

Sadly, the cheese wasn’t quite as sharp as I was hoping for, but everyone else at the table loved it. Pimento cheese was at the top of my to-do list for the Southern vacation though, so I hope to try again tomorrow.

I ordered a Bellini to drink (champagne/peach nectar/and a touch of grenadine),

but ended up swapping with Adam halfway through for his vodka/creme de cassis/pineapple juice martini.

For dinner I went with the “Fresh, Local, and Vegetarian.” You can’t go wrong with a name like that!

Sautéed spinach, fresh corn salad, roasted carrots, fried green tomatoes with jalopeño pimento cheese, and mashed potatoes.

We were too stuffed for dessert, though the menu listed a cream cheese pecan brownie with white chocolate ice cream that I’ll probably be dreaming about!

In fact, I’d like to be dreaming now; goodnight!

Have you ever been to Charleston? Is there anything we just can’t miss on our last day?

21Mar2013

Eggstra Special

by Emily

This is an extra-special post – it’s the first one I’ve managed to get up all week!

I had a giant presentation to give on Tuesday, an important quiz on Wednesday, and on Monday the dog had another series of 2 am seizures. Yay. <– sarcasm

Since the start of this rotation all of my classmates have reported getting to bed by/before 10pm but I’ve stubbornly, stupidly stayed up until at least 12. I’d been doing ok, but my weeks of lost sleep and this week’s trifecta of late nights hit me hard on Wednesday. I wandered around in a daze all day yesterday and then hurried home and got into bed at the record-breaking hour of: 7pm! I got up for an hour or so around 9pm, but went back to bed for an amazing 10 hours total!!!

I felt much better today. So of course I’m staying up late. What can I say, I’m an idiot.

After that long introduction, let’s do this quickly… Coffee at the hospital.

Dark roast with french vanilla creamer. The sweetened creamer is not a habit I want to get into, but while I’m somewhere without milk it is fun.

I had cafeteria pizza for lunch, but I didn’t think about taking a picture until after my plate was bare. Whoops.

Plus candy.

And when I got home I had this bowl of goodness.

A serving of Liz Lemon Froyo, a Dannon Oikos Toasted Coconut Vanilla Greek Yogurt, sliced mango, and fresh blackberries.

It was yumtastic.

For this evening’s fun, we dyed Easter eggs.

Except that it wasn’t fun at all.

Because my “hard-boiled” eggs were raw. And we were all hungry.

But they were pretty, and Adam salvaged a few by breaking the partially cooked eggs into a skillet and making us dinner.

We had fried eggs,

with white toast with Earth Balance.

And big salads – baby spinach, pink salt, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and homemade maple vinaigrette (1 tsp sweet hot mustard, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, 2 Tbsp rice vinegar; shaken and split into two portions).

With quinoa dark chocolate for dessert.

Goodnight, Webster!

18Mar2013

I Forgot A Title Again!

by Emily

It is problematically late, but tomorrow’s exhaustion will definitely be worth it. I spent the first half of the day cuddling in bed with husband. Literally, the first half. It was fabulous. Then we went to lunch and ran a few errands, and I spent the remainder of my day working on a giant project for my internship. I am 100% finished with it, wahoo!

Brunch from Pano’s.

Chicken slavaki wrap,

with french fries.

I ate half of each. I’d been craving french fries like crazy but the sandwich wasn’t as exciting. Not bad, but I’m just not that into chicken; the feta made it.

Iced coffee with Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and sugar.

The coffee was salted caramel flavored from Wegmans and it was yummy. I have a little bit of my cup left and I’m looking forward to it for breakfast.

A giant bowl of Lays’ Chicken and Waffle Chips.

This finalist flavor was pretty good; the flavor was definitely “chicken.” Embarrassing sidenote – I was talking with Adam about the dog and I heard “I usually just shake my bag of chips at him,” come out of my mouth. The juxtaposition of usually with my bag of chips may have been my come-to-Jesus moment about how fat I’m getting.

At least nibbling does help me focus on work; I am 80% more productive with food next to my laptop. Final snack plate.

Honeycrisp apple,

with ~1/2 serving of Alter Ego Quinoa Dark Chocolate.

The chocolate was fun. I’m excited to have Adam try some because he adores quinoa.

Dinner was a bit of a failure. I sautéed frozen carrots and Wegman’s Japanese Stir Fry mix with a packet of Naysoya Shirataki Fettuccine in canola oil, then tossed in a serving of my peanut sauce and let it get nice and crispy.

Sauce was great. Veggies were great. “Noodles” were slimy and terrible. I ate ~half then gave a bite to Adam who promptly spit his chewed-up mouthful back in my bowl.

It ~~was bedtime two hours ago~~ is time for bed!

11Mar2013

Almost Spring And Almost Celebrating

by Emily

Today has been just fantastic, one of those days that reminds me how happy I am with my life. I felt totally blessed.

First, lunch. I was too busy for breakfast but I did have a nice noon-time meal. Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt. So smooth and creamy, and the flavor was better than any other coffee yogurt I’ve ever had.

Cascadian Farm Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar.

GoGo Squeez Cinnamon Applesauce.

’twas a good lunch.

But the news I got just before lunch was even better – Adam is going to be a surgeon! Ok, so it wasn’t surprising news, but it was good to have things confirmed. Today is the first half of Match Day and on Friday we’ll learn where (and if) we’re going to move. So exciting! I opened the e-mail and burst into tears, right there on the Neuro floor. Apparently I’ve been a little bit stressed. But I can’t stress enough, how proud I am of my husband!!!

I got home before him this afternoon so I got him a few congratulation gifts.

I may have stolen a few bites. 2 dumplings,

and 2 big bites of frosting.

Yum!

And I got more good news this evening – my night class was canceled! This meant I had free time to celebrate the real news with Adam. The past two days have basically been Spring so we took a long walk up Elmwood, in sandals natch.

My taste buds are even more ready for Spring than my feet. We wanted to get take-out so we could go home and watch “The Nanny” and I had the hardest time choosing food because I had to have something fresh. I couldn’t stand the thought of cheddar, popcorn or runny eggs, my usual favorites!

I ended up getting a green juice for our walk.

And bringing a salad from Ashker’s home.

I added banana peppers, tomatoes, and kalmata olives to the Roasted Turkey, Apple, Walnut Salad; which also came with spring mix, feta, craisins, and Vidalia onion dressing. It was exactly what I’d been craving.

Dessert was something amazing.

I’ve been stalking local freezers for weeks and I squealed with joy when I finally spotted Ben and Jerry’s Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yogurt last night.

Three things you should know:

I adore both lemon and lavender in dessert
I have a legit problem with Ben and Jerry’s ice creams
I recently decided that Liz Lemon is my spirit tv character

I had 1.5 servings and loved every bite.

Buffalo people – I found my pint at the Elmwood Tops.

Have a great night!

7Mar2013

An Alarming Morning

by Emily

So… My alarm didn’t go off this morning. I woke up naturally, 5 minutes after I was supposed to have been taking my coat off at the hospital.

Eeeeek! It was a stressful morning. And I may not have brushed my teeth yet today (don’t worry, I chugged mouthwash!) but I did have a good shift at the hospital. I worked on some really interesting patients and managed to get all of my work done on time, in spite of my late start. <– real talk though, I was only a little bit late; I’m basically a master at speedy dressing. I even looked sort of cute!

I clearly didn’t eat breakfast, but I did manage to grab my packed lunch out of the fridge. More black-eyed pea salad.

A new variety of apple.

And a half serving of dark chocolate.

I had a little more chocolate after work too, in the form of a caramel marshmallow egg.

The Cadbury eggs have nothing on this guy.

Dinner ended up being a slice of buffalo chicken pizza (that’s actually a half slice, I split with Adam) with baby carrots and blue cheese.

So good. This was actually just supposed to be a snack but I never could motivate myself back up off the couch again. I guess that means today’s workout will have to be a Friday affair.

When was the last time your alarm let you down?

6Mar2013

Loaded

by Emily

I’ve made it halfway through the first week of this rotation and I only sort of want to nap for a million years. The teachers have warned us for years that this is the placement that makes everyone get in bed at 9 pm. I’m crazy, so I’m still staying up ’til midnight, but I’m definitely tired!

I’ve been eating breakfast at the hospital but I need to figure out a new system because the cost of bars is going to add up. This one was a free sample at least.

And tasty too. Cascadian Farm Crunchy Peanut Butter Granola Bar.

Lunch was more black-eyed pea salad (beans, green pepper, cheese, smoked almonds).

The Talenti gelato pint made an awesome leftovers container; gotta love that screw-on lid.

Plus a pear.

I skipped the dark chocolate today because I knew we were planning a big dinner.

Of course, then I decided to get a milkshake on the way home.

You have to do a yearly Shamrock Shake! This was so good.

I also had a bagel thin with smoked salmon cream cheese when I got home.

I’ve been so hungry today, I want to say it was yesterday’s workout but let’s be real, I only did 4 miles.

Dinner was fantastic; loaded baked potatoes for the win.

Toppings included turkey bacon, mushrooms cooked in turkey bacon drippings, Smart Balance Light, shredded cheese, and green onions.

We were both practically licking our plates.

And I had a Toasted Onion Sea Snax while we watched The Nanny.

Love that show! We’ve got two more episodes to go and then I’ve got to get to bed. Good night!

4Mar2013

Poor Puppy

by Emily

I had a few silly things to complain about, but the dog had another seizure today so that kind of all pales in comparison. He’s doing ok now but we are going to have to meet with the vet soon and possibly rethink our strategy.

Regardless, it’s been a long day and just want to go to bed. Keeping this quick…

Kit’s Organic Chocolate Almond Coconut Bar.

Pear.

Honey wheat Sandwich Thin with white bean truffle spread and tempeh. (I ate the tempeh raw and I am officially never doing that again – I am still sooooo bloated and sick.)

1/2 serving Green and Black 70% Dark Chocolate.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt with Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola. Both are heavenly and the combo was fantastic.

Leftover stir-fry. The last 2 servings each of roasted broccoli, white basmati rice, and copycat CF spicy cashew chicken went into a skillet with 1 tsp sesame oil and 2 large eggs.

Ridiculous cookie.

Please go give your pets a big smooch for me.

3Mar2013

Copycat Cashew Chicken

by Emily

Today’s eats have been mighty tasty. I could wax poetic about flavors for hours, but we saved up the last two weeks of Castle and are in the middle of a very tense marathon!

Bagel for breakfast.

A Garlic and Italian Herb Bagel Thin (a new flavor!) with smoked salmon cream cheese.

Fruits and vegetables for lunch, split up before and after work. Roasted broccoli with lots of melted sharp cheddar before.

Honeycrisp apple with 1/2 Tbsp melted peanut butter after.

The apple was good, the cheesy broccoli was better.

Dinner was an absolute success.

We followed this copycat recipe for Cheesecake Factory’s spicy cashew chicken. We doubled the sauce and subbed Sriracha for cayenne pepper but otherwise followed the recipe.

Flipping amazing! Served with white basmati rice,

and more roasted broccoli.

We loved every bite and are eagerly awaiting leftovers for dinner tomorrow.

Single-serve cookie dough for dessert.

Also amazing.

And with that, I’ve got to go – Castle is blowing my mind.

Do you watch Castle?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: sweet

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

Eggstra Special

I Forgot A Title Again!

Almost Spring And Almost Celebrating

An Alarming Morning

Loaded

Poor Puppy

Copycat Cashew Chicken