Category Archives: Holidays

Finding a Hidden Gem

Posted on May 12, 2010 | 9 comments

Good morning all! Happy Hump Day – hope it goes by quick. Thank you ALL so much for the birthday wishes yesterday. I am admittedly not the biggest birthday fan, but I took your advice and feigned some excitement.

My day started out with a yummy breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries and more blueberries. 🙂

I had a seriously crazy day at work. We are working with a videographer and he was at our office yesterday, so I was running around trying to coordinate and schedule different shots. I managed to squeeze in a late lunch of salad – no pictures. I also snacked on a granola bar and Chobani yogurt during various down-times throughout the day. It was hectic.

And then around 3:30 my co-workers scheduled a “meeting” where instead of a meeting they got together to wish me happy birthday with GIANT cupcakes. They were seriously huge. I didn’t get a chance to snap any pictures of them before they were devoured. Soo good. But also very filling.

After work I headed home to go out to dinner with Hubby. I had decided earlier in the day that I wanted sushi. I came home to find these lovely flowers waiting for me!

So gorgeous!! I love getting flowers. After I got my lovely flowers we headed out for dinner. I had been looking at Japanese places throughout the day and decided that I wanted to try this little hole-in-the-wall place practically across the street from us. I’d walked by it a million times and never noticed it, but I read some great reviews about it on menupages, yelp and Chowhound.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am not the fancy, overpriced restaurant kind of girl. I’d rather find a small hidden gem that has quality, delicious, yet affordable food and I will visit it frequently.  And guess what, that is exactly what we discovered last night. We went to Sushi Suki on York Avenue between 83rd and 84th, and had what I consider to be some very yummy sushi. Mind you, I may live in NYC, but I am by no means a sushi connoisseur. But my personal opinion was that it was delicious.

Hubby and I both started off with the miso soup and it was very good. Then we ordered 4 different rolls: Spicy Tuna Roll (Hubby’s favorite); the Boston Roll (shrimp, cucumber & lettuce); the King Crab Roll (with avocado, cucumber & tobiko); and the Lobster Tempura Roll (with avocado, cucumber, lettuce with spicy sweet sauce). I am pretty sure the Lobster Tempura was my favorite, but they were seriously ALL delicious.

I got the impression that many people from our neighborhood visit this place frequently. The owners said hello to many of the patrons and asked about kids, etc. They also knew what many of the patrons’ “usual” selections were. For its small space (only about 10 tables) and less than eye-catching facade, this place is absolutely the local eatery I had been looking for. I think Hubby and I will definitely go back.

Have you ever found a hidden gem like this in your neighborhood? I was seriously so excited!

After our delicious, yet inexpensive meal, Hubby took me for ice-cream at our favorite place in the neighborhood: Emack and Bolio’s. I was so full from dinner I could only manage a small scoop of the Cake Batter ice cream. Have you ever been to Emack and Bolio’s? It is certainly not a frozen-yogurt, low-fat place. But it is a treat to have it every now and then.

We headed home in the freezing cold (it felt like fall yesterday) and I finished my ice-cream in the warmth of our apartment. Then we settled in to finally watch Sherlock Holmes. We got the DVD probably three weeks ago, but haven’t had time to watch it.

I thought it was pretty good. I was very tired and found a few parts where I struggled to stay awake, but I think that says more about my busy schedule than it does the movie.

We finished the movie just in time to switch over to The Biggest Loser to find out the final four. I was happy with the way it turned out.

And that was my busy birthday yesterday! It was a very good day with lots of indulgences. But now I am back on the straight and narrow for the marathon on Sunday. No more sweet treats. It will be good food and carbs for the rest of the time.

Have a great day all!

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Posted in Dessert, Holidays, Restaurants, Reviews, Uncategorized

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Happy Birthday to Me!

Posted on May 11, 2010 | 12 comments

Good morning all! I feel very refreshed today for two reasons: 1) I went to bed last night at 9:30, and 2) It’s my birthday today!!

To be honest, I haven’t really gotten very excited about my birthday in a while, but I am feigning the excitement for you all. I’m not sure what if any birthday plans I have for tonight – maybe go out to dinner or at the very least, convince Hubby to make me dinner. 

 As far as a recap of yesterday, breakfast was very good. Oatmeal with banana and peanut butter in my brand new bowl that my momma gave me for my birthday (thank you!). The old red ones were looking atrocious and she agreed it was time to retire them.

Lunch was a peanut butter and apricot jelly sammy (I am loving the apricot lately). I also had a side of carrots.

My afternoon snacks were a blueberry Chobani yogurt and an apple. Boring – no pics.

After work, Hubby and I set out for a nice WINDY run along the East River promenade. I swear, every time I run with my husband the weirdos come out: the man talking to himself and gesticulating, the strange girl dancing enthusiastically by herself and singing, the car that veered off the road unexpectedly and came to a screeching halt, etc. Seriously, every time we run together we encounter strange people.

My Garmin was acting up and didn’t start working until more than .5 miles into our run. Here are our stats from our 4+ mile run, of which only part was captured.

Mile 1 – 8:33
Mile 2 – 8:03
Mile 3 – 8:27
.86 – 6:54

Total mileage – 3.86 in 31:59. Average pace – 8:17 minute miles.

I think in total, we probably ran about 4.5 miles. I am taking tonight off as a rest day and a birthday treat.

After our run, I had planned to make chicken and rice and soon realized we had no rice. Second choice was chicken and pasta. I also threw some carrots into the mix as well.

After dinner, Bill proceeded to become engrossed in the Stanley Cup hockey game and I think Murphy wanted some attention. When Bill finally picked him up, he showed off a little bit.

Big kitty stretch!

Like I said, my night ended pretty quickly when I turned in at 9:30 p.m. I was exhausted from getting very little sleep on Sunday night. I am feeling a little more rested and awake today.

So what about you guys? What is the best birthday you can remember? And what do you like to do on your b-day?

Have a great day all!

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Uncategorized

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Long Lost Blogger

Posted on May 10, 2010 | 11 comments

Hi all – how is everyone? I don’t know because I haven’t been able to check many blogs lately and have been so super busy – I have no clue what is going on with people. I am trying to catch up, but I’ve missed so much!

Things with me have been crazy at work and outside of work. Last week I only ran 3 of my 5 training days – eeek! And my marathon is this Sunday!! Can you believe it? I can’t. My nerves are out of control.

This past weekend we headed to Utica, N.Y. to visit Bill’s family and celebrate Mother’s day and his sister’s 50th birthday. Our drive up Friday night was good, the weather was clear and slightly cool, but not too bad.

On Saturday morning, I woke up to some blustery weather – about 37 degrees, overcast and a slight drizzle. I decided to suck it up and bang out my last “long” training run. It wasn’t so long – only 8 miles, but I wanted to make sure I got it in. Here are my stats from the run:

Mile 1 – 8:32
Mile 2 – 8:08
Mile 3 – 8:18
Mile 4 – 8:07
Mile 5 – 8:33
Mile 6 – 8:12
Mile 7 – 8:30
Mile 8 – 8:27
.23 – 1:43

Total mileage – 8.23 miles in 1:08:33. Average page – 8:20 minute miles.

I finished up my last “long run” and felt pretty great. And as I did so, I finally reached over 500 miles on my training plan.  I won’t reach my total goal mileage, but I’m not too far off.

On Saturday night we went to dinner at a Greek restaurant in Whitesboro, N.Y. called Symeon’s. It was pretty good. I had the THRACIAN CHICKEN: Fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts marinated and charbroiled  and served with rice pilaf. I could have gone a more authentic Greek route, but I wasn’t feeling entirely adventurous. I’ve found as races approach, I tend to try to play things a little safe.

What is not so safe is that everyone around me seems to be getting sick! Bill’s one sister didn’t make it this weekend because she was hit with the flu, his nephew’s kids were sick, and then my parents both got hit with a cold of some sort on Sunday just before we were planning to drop by. My mom called to tell me to stay away because she didn’t want me getting whatever they have right before the big race.  Ahhh!!

On Sunday I was originally planning to run 3-4 miles in the afternoon, but I scratched that idea when it started SNOWING!! I kid you not. It was really snowing in Utica. It was insane. It was freezing cold outside and I didn’t have appropriate running clothes with me, nor did I feel like confusing the heck out of my body. I just kept praying that this coming weekend is drastically different. Can you imagine running a marathon in the snow? I’m sure people do it and do great, but those are not the right conditions for me.

The rest of the day Sunday was busy and we didn’t actually get home to NYC until 11:30 p.m. and I didn’t get to sleep until 12:30 a.m., so I am pretty darn tired today. I just keep telling myself that I need to get through this week and power through the marathon and then I get a break!! I need one.

How was your weekend? Do you seem to have busier times during the year? For me, Spring always seems to be chock-full of activities and my free time is non-existent!

I hope to catch up on what’s going on today. Have a great day all!

11 Comments

Posted in Holidays, Restaurants, Running, Travel, Uncategorized

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Cadbury Egg Craving

Posted on April 5, 2010 | 9 comments

Hi all. Good afternoon. Where has the day gone? I didn’t have a chance to blog until my lunch break!

How was everyone’s weekend and Easter?

Mine was very good. The weather in NYC was fabulous, I ran a great race on Saturday and then Hubby and I hit up a local restaurant for a delicious celebratory dinner.

UVA Review

On Saturday, we went to Uva on 2nd Avenue between 77th and 78th, upon the recommendation of one of Bill’s colleagues. We went to celebrate the fact that Hubby recently passed a hugely important test thing at work. Seriously, he was stressing about this thing for months! But he passed and with flying colors (of course I knew he would).

My apologies in advance, there will be no delicious dinner pics, since Hubby gets extremely embarrassed when I snap away in public places. We started off dinner at Uva with a delicious cheese plate with three different selections and we each had a glass of wine. I absolutely LOVE cheese plates. I order one every chance I get when I’m out. I’ve also been known to make a nice little cheese plate as an appetizer when hosting or attending parties. 🙂

Hubby also ordered the baked calamari, which I’d never had before. Have to say it was pretty good and I’m not the biggest calamari fan.

For my entrée, I had the Bigoletti Di Barbabietole – red beet fingerling gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce with baby spinach and yellow grape tomotes. It was DIVINE!!

I also tried a bite of Hubby’s dish which was some kind of ravioli filled with artichoke and something else – his was amazing as well!

Overall, our meal was delicious. It wasn’t exactly inexpensive, since we did order two apps, two entrées and three glasses of wine (of which I had two – hehe). But I think that the price was definitely more worth it than some of the other restaurants in the area we’ve eaten at before.   

I also liked that our server was very knowledgable. I asked her for cheese suggestions and she totally knocked it out of the park.

After dinner, I forced Hubby to stop at CVS while I picked up some half-priced Easter candy. Lent was almost over and my sweets craving was starting to grow.

Which leads me to Sunday, which was a very candy-filled day. I woke up and had a decent breakfast. Oatmeal with mixed frozen fruit blended in and a side of light cranberry juice.

After breakfast we headed to church for Easter mass and then when we got home we went to work cleaning and scrubbing the entire apartment. Seriously, it took hours.

And while we cleaned, I snacked on chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Including my favorite…

Cadbury eggs!

Mmmm so yummy. I ate all four eggs in that carton yesterday. Yes, sickening – I know.  Are you a cadbury egg fan? I think people either love them or hate them. We know how I feel about them – obviously.

I didn’t really eat lunch, since I was snacking on candy all day and cleaning incessantly. So by the time dinner came around, I wanted something über healthy. Hence, my giant salad.

It was so yummy and just what my stomach filled with chocolate wanted. Romaine lettuce, carrots, feta cheese, apple and walnuts with Newman’s Light Italian dressing. I definitely overdid it with the candy.

How about you – did the Easter bunny visit you this weekend and bring you lots of candy? Were you able to use any willpower?

I clearly was not able to abstain. But I do not eat like this everyday, so if I go a little crazy once in a while, I think it’s okay.

That’s all for today folks – I’ve got a 5 mile run on the training plan tonight. Weather.com says it’s gorgeous out – so I can’t wait! I really can’t believe I’m already in week 13 of my 18 week training plan. Scary!! Marathon will be here way too soon.

Have a great day!

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A Bad April Fool’s Joke

Posted on April 2, 2010 | 24 comments

Good morning all – happy Friday! How are you all today? I’m doing okay – dealing with a little work stress, but trying to figure it out.

So confession time – the Hubby and I played a bad April Fool’s joke yesterday. But for the record, it was totally his idea and plan. I may have posted on Facebook last night that I was “due in October and marathon training was over.” 🙂 Oh and the comments came flying in. Again – totally Bill’s idea, I just went along for the ride. But he made me post it on my FB page because it would be more “believable.”

Some people believed it and others called our April Fool’s bluff. So then Hubby downloads a picture of a positive pregnancy test from Google images and posts it on my page! And then I think more people were on the believing end. Our phones were ringing, we were getting text messages – things were getting crazy.

Finally, at about 10 p.m. I couldn’t take it anymore and I let everyone know the jig was up. The thought of going to bed with that big fat lie circling around was stressing me out and I was terrified I would wake up to my mother calling and screaming at me for not telling her first.

So phew – that joke is done and I don’t know if I’ll ever play another April Fool’s prank again. The things my crazy husband gets me in to. He is pretty darn proud of that joke though.

Did you play any April Fool’s jokes yesterday?

My co-worker also almost got me with the one about the Boston Marathon qualifying times being bumped up by 10 minutes. A momentary wave of panic swept my body and I’m pretty sure I started sweating, but then I screamed out “it’s an April Fool’s right?!!” And yes it is, but she was fooled by it!

Breakfast yesterday was some creamy and delicious oatmeal with banana and peanut butter.

Lunch for Thursday was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on an Arnold Sandwich Thin.

Afternoon snacks were unpictured, but they were Chobani with Kashi Go Lean and a small bag of walnuts and raisins.

After work, but before the Facebook fiasco, I went for a 6 mile run on the East River Promenade. It was much windier than I anticipated. Here are my stats from the run:

Mile 1 – 7:35
Mile 2 – 7:56
Mile 3 – 8:23
Mile 4 – 8:03
Mile 5 – 8:21
Mile 6 – 8:36

Total mileage – 6.04 miles in 49:18. Average pace was 8:09 minute mile.

I was running most of that at a good clip, but not too far off from what pace I’d need to run the entire May marathon. That idea scares me a bit. Can I sustain for that long at that pace?

For any Boston Marathon qualifiers out there – how the heck did you do it?!!

After my run, the Hubby concocted our April Fool’s prank and I made myself a yummy dinner of a fried egg with cheese on an Arnold’s Thin with a side salad.

Then for dessert I had an apple with peanut butter.

I certainly had quite the peanut butter-filled day. It played a role in my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m sorry, but I just love me some peanut butter!

And that’s all folks! Tomorrow is the Scotland Run 10k race and it’s supposed to be gorgeous out. Yipee!! And I’m going to try to post a few reviews this weekend as well. Have a great Friday and weekend!

24 Comments

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Spring is in the Air!

Posted on March 19, 2010 | 19 comments

Good morning all. Sorry I have been MIA, but the past few days have been crazy busy with work, St. Paddy’s Day fun and marathon training.

I started Wednesday off with a nice 4.5 mile run with Liz. The last time I ran in the morning we watched as the sun rose around 6:15. This time there was no sun on the horizon – it was a dark morning. Our splits were:

Mile 1 – 9:09
Mile 2 – 8:53
Mile 3 – 9:09
Mile 4 – 9:33
.53 – 4:31

Total mileage – 4.53 in 41:17 

When I woke up to head out for our run my hip was feeling very tight. But as we got moving it started to actually feel a little bit better. I think my body was not prepared for my super fast run on Tuesday night.

I’m not going to post all my eats for the past two days because there were a lot and I didn’t get a chance to photograph many of them.  I did take a few St. Paddy’s day pics though!

Here is me out in my green gear, trying to drink a Guinness.

I say trying because I only drank about 1/3 of it. I poured the rest into Bill’s beer. I really wanted to drink a glass of wine when we went out, but literally, not a soul in the bar had a wine and I knew I’d feel like a fool ordering one.

We went to three bars on St. Paddy’s day because we were searching for food. Yup – while everyone else was focused on drinking, Hubby and I each had our minds on food (Hubby also has his mind on Guinness though). At the second bar we went to, they were serving corned beef sandwiches, which was what Hubby wanted. But I wanted no part of that.

After he finished his gross-looking sammy, we left that bar in search of some nachos for me to snack on. We finally found The Back Page on 3rd Ave, which was serving food. I ordered a giant plate of nachos.

P.S. – these had WAY too much crap on them. We literally had to dig to find the chips. I still like making my own nachos better than I like most restaurant/bar nachos.

Hubby munched on some nachos as well, and enjoyed a few more pints of Guinness.

So much so that he had a Guinness “stach.”

He’s a little silly…

We stayed out with the crazy St. Paddy’s day partiers until about 9 p.m. – I know we’re so old! All in all, I had 1/3 of a Guinness and 1 Bud Light at the Back Page and then we called it quits. I took one “self portrait” before we headed out.

Thursday was a normal day with some normal eats. I was soo busy at work with a big project we are trying to wrap up. I may be a little scarce towards the end of next week as we launch the project and I devote about 4 hours of Wed, Thurs and Friday to it. Eek!

But anyway – after work yesterday I had another 8 mile run on my marathon training plan. Seriously – Hal Higdon is trying to kill me. I used his intermediate plan as a basis for my plan, but moved some of the runs around a little. And boy did these mid-week 8 milers sneak up on me. I still felt a twinge in my hip (p.s. – thanks for the stretching suggestions!), so I wanted to take my run slow. I had mixed success with that:

Mile 1 – 8:32
Mile 2 – 8:14
Mile 3 – 8:26
Mile 4 – 7:46
Mile 5 – 9:00
Mile 6 – 8:32
Mile 7 – 8:45
Mile 8 – 8:52

Total Mileage – 8 miles in 1:08:14

Ok – so I know about half of those splits aren’t taking it easy. And then yes, I know mile 4 is pretty ridiculous, but there was a reason. I ran on the East River Promenade and headed north to about 115 St. As I turned around and headed back, a big group of high school (I assume) boys trotted down one of the ramps and were basically running right beside me. Umm hello – awkward. Especially when I didn’t have headphones on and could clearly hear them talking about me. And then when they began making little yelps and noises, I decided it was time to pull ahead and get the heck out of there. Hence my speedy 7:46 pace. 

And Mom, before you read this and freak out, there were many other people around that area running, biking, etc., so I wasn’t in any danger, just kind of uncomfortable.  

Have you ever had a weird, scary or uncomfortable running experience? How did you handle it?

After my run I felt pretty good – the hip felt okay, but I was tired. Hubby and I did enjoy a nice steak last night with some broccoli on the side, but I forgot to upload the picture. I also had a banana with peanut butter for dessert. Then I headed to bed at about 10:15 and slept like a rock.

I also wanted to post that I finished Angela’s Ashes on St. Patrick’s Day – how appropriate right?! I hope to have a review coming soon, but I also feel like everyone has already read the book. All the same, I like to record my thoughts on it.

My next book is the The Help. I started reading it on the subway yesterday and last night before bed. It’s definitely very different and it was hard to get the dialect at first, but now it’s flowing.

I am definitely looking forward to the weekend and the nice weather we’re supposed to have in the city. I think it’s supposed to reach 72 degrees out tomorrow! Have a great weekend all and get outside if you can!

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Uncategorized

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Ok, Who Put Speed in my Seltzer?

Posted on March 17, 2010 | 15 comments

No seriously – someone must have. I am pushing my daily food recap out of this post so I can talk first and foremost about something magical (or speed-induced) that happened last night. I had an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. run. I actually think maybe my Garmin is wrong. Or maybe it was the stars aligning, the super-charged rice lunch I had, the extra water I drank, the lovely compliment Kelly paid me yesterday (she labeled me as a “real” runner), the fact that it was my first time wearing shorts this season, the balmy temps, the beautiful sun or the plethora of runners out in Central Park. Whatever it was, whatever the combination – I don’t want to lose it and I want it with me on the day of my marathon.

Seriously – I am in shock by these run stats. Here it goes:

Mile 1 – 8:24
Mile 2 – 7:47 (I know!!)
Mile 3 – 7:45 (what, what!)
Mile 4 – 7:59 (oh okay, it’s all over)
Mile 5 – 7:42 (oh no it’s not!)
Mile 6 – 7:54 (hanging in there)
Mile 7 – 7:56
Mile 8 – 8:06

Total mileage: 8.04 in 1:04:04 (maybe 4 is my lucky number?)

I know for many people, these stats aren’t that impressive. I know there are super runners out there that may balk at these times and wonder what I’m freaking out about. But holy moly, for me they are insane. Out of control. I honestly don’t know where this came from or how I sustained that pace.

Have you ever experienced a run like this? Blind-sided by your out-of-nowhere speed?

I’m pretty sure this was a one shot deal and I need to be prepared for the fact that my runs will likely never look like this again. Total fluke.

Plus, after my run I noticed some pain in my hip. I’ve been trying to stretch it out, but that sure is a hard area to stretch. Any suggestions?

I did a recovery run this morning (actual recap to come tomorrow) and that seemed to help a bit, but I know I need to be stretching it some more.

I’m going to forego my food recap for yesterday and just say that it was pretty normal. Oatmeal in the morning, mid-morning snack, leftover rice and chicken dish for lunch (good carbs before my run), Chobani yogurt and an apple around 3:45. Somehow, I guess that fuel combo was the right mix!

Oh and btw – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! I’m wearing green – how bout you?! The Hubby wants to go out for a few drinks tonight and since I got my recovery run in this morning and had an awesome run last night, I think I am totally entitled! Will you be celebrating this evening – or today? I still wish the parade was on the weekend. Have a great one all! 🙂

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“Over Easy” Ain’t So Easy

Posted on February 12, 2010 | 6 comments

Happy Friday and happy long weekend for some! Oh and Happy Valentine’s Day soon. Hubby and I don’t do anything for V-day. Neither one of us has ever really been into it. We’ll actually be traveling upstate this weekend for a quick stop at my parent’s house and then on to his parent’s house. So we’ll be with his parent’s on Valentine’s Day. What are your plans for the romantic holiday?

I hope everyone had a good day yesterday. Mine was pretty decent. I started off breakfast with some boring Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk. Sometimes you just feel like having some cereal – you know?

Work was busy yesterday. After the snow on Wednesday and our office closing early, there was lots to catch up on. I ate my lunch very late in the afternoon and had leftover bulgur with chicken, veggies and salsa from the other night.

My afternoon snacks were fairly light – a pineapple Chobani yogurt and a pumpkin muffin around 4 p.m.

I am loving these muffins as a snack. They give me energy, but don’t fill me up too much. And with that added energy boost, I got myself to the gym right after work to try to squeeze in a 6-mile run.

I’d like to name this next little section: Tales from the Habitual Gym Rule-Breaker…

Well, I did it – I got in my 6 miles, but not without some guilt. Things started off alright when I arrived and saw hardly anyone on the treadmills. But around mile 4 things started to fill up and I realized that 3 of the treadmills must have been out-of-order because people would get on and then hop off after a few seconds. You’d think that during the height of winter the gym would to try ensure that all the machines–especially cardio machines–were working right. So no one was actually waiting for a treadmill until I hit about 5.6 miles. And at that point I was soo close to 6 miles that I could not stop. So I increased my speed to 8.3 (holy cow – I’ve never run that fast on a treadmill in my life!) and finally finished up my 6 miles in 49:12. It is definitely the fastest I’ve ever run 6 miles on a treadmill and toward the end I felt like I was in a race and experienced a minor adrenaline rush. But then when I finished I felt really guilty and actually apologized to the girl waiting in line that took my machine.  

I did some ab work while I sweated profusely and then headed home. I certainly didn’t want that girl to come find me and yell at me. 🙂 

Once I was home and showered I made some dinner. I have been craving eggs recently, and yes, I had them on Wednesday night, so two nights in a row is probably not a great idea, but so be it.

I was picturing a beautiful egg sandwich in my mind and decided to attempt to fry an egg “over easy.” I went through a stage in high school where I ate an egg sandwich with an over-easy egg every morning for a while, but my mom would always handle the egg part. This time it was all on me and I was intimidated. I may have even Googled “how to fry and egg” before I got started.

My first attempt was pathetic. I just plopped the egg onto the skillet from rather far away and watched as the yolk in the center broke and spread into the white area. I contemplated just throwing it on the sandwich and making due, but I wanted to do this right. So I ate that ruined egg (I couldn’t waste it) and set to work making another.

This time I was much more gentle and slow in my release of the egg onto the skillet. I was psyched when it landed gently with the center yolk in tact! I cooked it that way for a bit, added some pepper, and then ever-so-gently flipped it over and let it cook on the other side for about 30 seconds. I flipped it back and let it cook for a little longer and then decided it was done!

My very first fried egg over easy!! I was so proud. I placed it gently on an Arnold Sandwich Thin along with a slice of cheese and my egg sandwich was complete. 🙂

I know – my small feat is probably a mindless routine for many, but for me it was a new challenge and I’m glad I figured it out – all on my own too. I fully enjoyed my delicious egg sammy and have a feeling this little fella will be showing up again soon.  

Dessert was….you guessed it – another muffin. I know two muffins in a day maybe isn’t the healthiest option, but after my super-fast 6 miles I decided I needed it.

What is your favorite way to cook eggs (if you eat them)? And who taught you to make eggs? The over-easy egg sandwich might be my new fave. I was a scrambled egg or omelet girl before, but my heart may now belong to another egg.

Alright – that’s enough rambling about eggs. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Valentine’s Day. Anyone going to check out Valentine’s Day – the movie? I’d like to see it, but Hubby will not be up for that one. That will have to be a girlie movie night. 🙂

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Great Start to 2010!

Posted on January 1, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning – happy 2010! This is going to be a quick post, I just felt the need to write my first 2010 post. Our New Year’s Eve was very low-key, per my choice. The Hubby claims he wanted to go out and party in the city, but secretly I think he enjoyed chilling at home.

I had planned to make risotto, but then Hubby told me he doesn’t like risotto and actually really just wanted to order pizza. I said okay to that because it meant much less work for me and I could just hang out and relax.

I didn’t take any pics last night – I just wanted to unwind and not worry about it. We ended up watching a slew of movies, both good and bad: Stepbrothers (very funny), District 9 (weird), and Body of Lies (a bit disappointing). And then of course we watched the ball drop and had some champagne to celebrate the New Year. It was quiet and relaxing and I was very happy with it.

This morning when we woke up, Hubby decided to make breakfast. What a great start to 2010!! Before breakfast I took another Zicam and made a glass of Emergen-C.

And then came the Hubby-made breakfast:

Scrambled eggs (with my requisite side of ketchup), venison sausage (yes, you read that right – more to come on that in a few days), honey double fiber English muffins with white chocolate wonderful peanut butter and banana, with a coffee and side of Emergen-C.

It was delicious and a great start to 2010! Today our plans are to do a big clean of the apartment (it really needs it), and I plan to go for a run along river because it’s a balmy 40 degrees outside! Hubby will be hitting the gym instead. I don’t feel entirely 100% yet, but I think my self-medicating has been helping. I’m going to continue with my methods.

I hope you had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and that your 2010 has started off great as well – I have to say it was pretty nice not to start the new year off with a hangover. 🙂

Have a great day!

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Happy Snowy New Year’s Eve!

Posted on December 31, 2009 | 14 comments

Happy NYE everyone! Guess what – I have to work on this day too and everyone else seems to have it off. Oh well, such is life. I’m sure the office will be very quiet. And it looks super wintery outside with lots of snow.

The good news is that today is a short work day – I’m out at 3:00 p.m.; the bad news is that I fear I may be getting a cold. But, I am taking all the necessary preventative measures, here is my arsenal of weapons:

Not pictured is the chewable Zycam (gross) and vitamin c tablet I took this morning. There is nothing I hate more than being sick. So, as soon as my throat started feeling scratchy last night I was on high alert.

Speaking of last night, here are yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was boring old Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with skim milk – not almond milk in the house. I originally had apple cider when I took this photo and then I tried it and realized it had gone bad, so I switched to orange juice.  

When packing my lunch yesterday, things were looking bleak. No leftovers and not too much to choose from. So I ended up making some tunafish and bringing it in to put on Reduced Fat Triscuit crackers. I had two clementines as well.

Afternoon snacks were walnuts and raisins and a strawberry Yoplait yogurt with granola. I was really missing my Greek yogurt. Darn you bad Oikos yogurt!

Toward late afternoon I started to notice the scratchiness in my throat, as well as some congestion in my nose. Thoughts of hitting the gym started to fade fast, although in retrospect it might have been good for me to sweat out some of those bad germs.

Around 4:00 p.m. my boss told me to go home – not because I was sick or anything – just because it was soo dead. On the way home I picked up a few things to make dinner. I was in the mood for some comfort food. So here’s what I made:

I adapted this recipe  (Rotini and Cheese with Broccoli and Ham) from Cooking Light, to be:

Penne and Cheese with Broccoli and Sausage
Yields 3 servings

Ingredients
2  quarts water
1  cups  uncooked penne (about 8 ounces corkscrew pasta)
1/2  (10-ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
1/8  cup  all-purpose flour
1  cups  fat-free milk
3/4 cup cubed cheese (cheddar)
1  teaspoon  Dijon mustard
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1/4  teaspoon  garlic powder
1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
1/2  cup  chopped vegetarian sausage

Preparation
Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add pasta; cook 5 minutes. Add broccoli; cook an additional 5 minutes or until pasta is done; drain.

While pasta cooks, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour in a medium saucepan; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat 8 minutes or until mixture is thick, stirring frequently. At the same time, microwave vegetarian sausage and cut up into bite size pieces.

Remove from heat; stir in cheese and next 4 ingredients (cheese through pepper). Combine pasta mixture, cheese sauce, and sausage.

I really liked this dish and the sauce, even though it’s not the healthiest of choices. Hubby liked it as well. I will definitely make this one again.

After dinner, I made some tea to calm my throat a bit.

This flavor was decent, but what I really wish I had was this:

I can’t find this flavor anywhere! I’ve gone to about 5-6 stores in the city and it’s never there. Sadness. I’ve also tried to win this flavor on several blog give-a-ways (but I never win anything) to no avail. But I’ve built this flavor up in my head so much, I’m sure I’ll be disappointed. I just can’t give in and order it online. I won’t.

P.S. – Hubby thinks I have a tea problem. I am always bringing home new flavors and he claims I am bombarding the cupboards with tea. But it’s tea and I love it! (And he secretly does too).

Other evening happenings. Murphy tried on his sweater again…yup it’s definitely still too tight.

He looks like a fat cat in a little sweater. We’re going with dog clothes next year. Bill weighed him last night and he actually weighs less than his norm. He’s usually around 16 pounds, but now he is a svelte 14 pounds.

Hubby and I also watched one of our Netflix movies – UP! I never feel excited to watch Disney kids’ movies, but then he convinces me and I love them. And I loved this movie so much! If you haven’t seen it, you must.

It is stinking adorable and there were definitely moments when I was teary-eyed.

Have you seen UP? What did you think?

Our plans for NYE tonight are going to be very low-key. I don’t feel like fighting city crowds or traffic and not feeling 100% is also adding to my desire to chill. I plan on making us some risotto for dinner (I’ve never made it before), drinking some champagne and maybe some wine, getting a fire going (ok, Hubby will be handling that), and cozying up with my two boys to watch the ball drop on t.v. from our apt.

What are your NYE plans? Has anyone ever done Times Square? Would you ever?

I have no desire. The whole being trapped and not having any bathrooms thing sounds scary. One of Bill’s friends (who shall remain nameless), actually wore a diaper to Times Square once because he wanted to drink. And yes, I think he used it. Gross, right?

Well, wherever you are tonight – I hope you have a very Happy New Years and a great start to 2010! Talk to you next year! 🙂

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