Running in the Cold

Saturday morning I was planning on going to the gym, because it seemed cold and windy outside.  On the way to the gym I changed my mind and continued driving to the Quannapowit Lake.  Quannapowitt lake is a little more than 3 miles long, and it's often used for 5ks.  Hello! Perfect training opportunity. 

A few weeks ago I realized that I should be training more outside, to get used to running in the cold.  Since this morning was about 45 degrees, and really windy, I knew it wouldn’t be pleasant.  I decided to buck up and give it a try.

It wasn't too bad since I was dressed warmly.  During the first mile, the balls of my feet became numb, but they warmed up in mile two.  In the third mile, it got super windy and I felt like I was running against the wind.  I thought I was going slow, but when I plugged in my Nike+, I saw that my pace wasn't slow at all.  Go me!

In fact, I ran the second mile in 8 minutes and 11 seconds.  Not bad at all!  My total time for 3.28 miles was 30 minutes and 16 seconds.

I'm so glad I chose to run outside instead of the gym.  I was proud of myself for not wimping out.  

Today, I had big plans to go for a run around the city in the neighborhood where I was dog/house sitting, but when I woke up, I just wasn't feeling it.  You know when you just want to lay around, drink tea, and read every magazine you can get your hands on?  That's the kind of mood I was in.

I went to the gym a little later in the afternoon to do some weight training and to run a quick mile on the treadmill.  I realized, running outside > treadmill. 

Can't wait for the Jingle Bell run!

Red Bones

Tonight I went to dinner with my good friend.  She wanted to go to Red Bones, a popular and delicious Barbeque place in Somerville.  And while my bf is away enjoying authentic Philly cheese steaks in Philly this weekend, I decided to indulge in some Southern Barbeque.  I've only been here once before and I was excited to try it again. 

I was hoping this blog would be more about what I cook and bake, but it seems to be more about the restaurants I go to.   Hmmmmm, an honest reflection of my life?  I'd say so.  I'd like to cook more, but I always seem to end up eating out.  I eat my paycheck!

I promise more recipes in the near future.

At Red Bones, my friend got the pulled chicken and I got the pulled pork, and they looked identical!  Luckily the server could tell them apart, because we couldn't.

With the drinks served in mason jars, and the decor, Red Bones had a charming diner feel.

I drank a Smuttynose Pumpkin

 The Smörgåsbord

 

We got a side of mac&cheese (of course)

I liked Red Bones a lot.  The dining area is really small and the tables are super close.  We overhead a family sitting next to us having a funny conversation about beers.  The dad was explaining about different beers to his son.  He said, "the worst kind of beer they have here is P.B.R, it stands for Pabst Blue Ribbon, and I don't know why it's popular right now."  We were chuckling to ourselves and wondering the same exact thing.

Fajita's and 'ritas!

Last night I had dinner with my Aunt. We went to Border Cafe, famous for its giant neon "EAT" sign and it's $5 Maaaahgaritas (as I like to call them). We started of with a bowl of baked tortilla chips and salsa, and two Margaritas (house for her, strawberry for me). As usual I spilled salsa all over my menu (hey that's why they're covered in plastic right?)

 For my meal I ordered the vegetable fajitas, and she got the shrimp fajitas.
They came to our table still sizzling in their skillets.
The lighting wasn't very good for pictures, but here's what I got:

When I got home, the bf asked what I got. When I told him it was veggie fajitas he said, "Babe.......did you stop eating meat again?"

Last time I gave up meat, he couldn't understand why, and made fun of me for months! Why do men love meat so much?

Today at work was our monthly birthday lunch. But like a dummy, I forgot and brought my leftover fajitas. oops. I guess I'll have them for dinner.

This month's lunch was make your own sushi. I've never done it, so I was super excited.

We had all sorts of fun things to add:
ham, avocado, pickled radish, eggs, beef, chinese spinach, carrots, wasabi, and a few other things.
we spread rice out on seaweed papers and then added the toppings, then we used the bamboo roller to roll them all up.

My boss said the trick is to add a variety of colors so it looks pretty.

Mine came out like this:

I didn't spread my wasabi very evenly and I got a big bite that burned my nose and made my eyes water. That will clean out your sinuses!

 AND today was our office bulding's tenant appreciation day. They were serving pies and baked goods. Here's my loot:

 Pumpkin Pie topped with whipped cream and cranberries.

I was in a food coma for the rest of the afternoon.

I must be prepping my stomach for Thanksgiving.

Sometimes I eat like a five year old...

It's way harder to eat healthy away from home.  Today I didn't pack a lunch so I went to the MIT Food Court to pick something up.  I ordered some Orange Chicken and fried rice.  Boy, was this a mistake.  The rice was OK, but I got one gross piece of chicken and I think I'm scarred for life.  It made me want to stop eating meat again.

During my junior year of college I was a vegetarian for 5 months.  I must admit I didn't do a very good job.  I lived off on peanut butter and pasta and ended up gaining weight instead of losing weight like I had expected.  I had no idea what to cook.  Without meat, I didn't know what to center my meals around, and I was always hungry.  Towards the end of the semester with the stress of finals I broke down and got some chicken fingers from the dining hall.
 
Nowadays, I don't eat too much meat.  I rarely eat red meat, but I do eat some seafood and turkey and chicken.  Lately I've been asking my mom (yes I still live at home, but what can I say, it's free food!) to pick up some Tofu and I've been trying to make some dinners with that.

Tonight's dinner would be perfect for a 5 year old.  I made a grilled cheese and had some baby carrots on the side.  I also ate the rest of my salad from last night which consisted of mixed greens, sauteed tofu, black olives, feta, green peppers, and chickpeas.  I mostly eat whole wheat bread, but tonight I used white Italian bread from Pace's.  I like to have it once in a while because IT'S SO GOOD.

 
After dinner I went to the gym for a quick workout.  My legs were a little tight from yesterday's marathon 3.4 mile run so I ran a quick mile and the did a nice long stretch.  After that,  I did some crunches, and arm exercises with 8 lb weights.  When I got home from the gym, I was a little hungry, so I had a Blueberry Chobani yogurt.  Yum.

A Lovely Sunday

I started the day off right with a veggie packed breakfast.  I made myself a veggie scramble, a deconstructed omelet, if you will.  It was loaded with spinach, red yellow and orange bell peppers, and onions.  I sprinkled reduced fat cheddar and Frank's Red Hot sauce over the top.  Delish!

After breakfast and a few episodes of Project Runway Accessory,  I went for the best run I've had since I started training.  The weather was perfect, 60 degrees, breezy, and sunny.  I Ran 3.39 miles in 31 minutes.  I felt really good about this run.  I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged my Nike+ band into my usb port and logged onto the website to check my pace and time.  The first mile took me 9:09 minutes.  The second mile was even faster at 8:45 minutes!  I didn't even know I could run that fast.  The third mile was slower and it took me 9:52 minutes. 

This is week 7 of my 5k training.  Even if I haven't been following my Smart Coach plan exactly,  I do feel confident about running the distance.  I'm honestly more worried about running in the cold weather.  From now on I'm going to try to run less on the treadmill and more outside.  I recently read that when you run outside you run at a steadier pace and get less bored than when on a treadmill. 

After the run I stretched and showered and headed out for lunch with the boy.  We went to Creations Cafe.  I ordered a Eggplant Balsamic panini, and a Nantucket Nectars Pomegranate Pear.   He ordered a Blackberry 50/50 Smoothie (I think the 50/50 meant if was made with half juice and half yogurt.) 

 My sandwich was delicious.  I am definitely getting all my servings of veggies today.

I got a Chai Latte after my meal.  I love the designs they put in the foam.  The barista added cinnamon and honey.  It was perfect.

Overall a very lovely day. :)

Bagel Pizza Party!

On Friday, my dear friend/old roommate from college threw a bagel pizza party at her apartment.  I was really excited!  She was supplying the bagels and the guests had to supply the toppings.  I stopped by Whole Foods on my way there to pick up some baby bella mushrooms and fresh broccoli.  I remember as a kid I used to LOVE mushroom pizza, but then as I got older I forgot about it, and now I'm just rediscovering my love for it.
When I arrived they were just setting up the spread.  People brought some awesome toppings!  In addition to my mushrooms and broccoli, we had sliced ham, pineapple, caramelized onions, smoked and un-smoked mozzarella, Monterrey jack cheese, Vegan cheese, fresh tomato, green peppers, olives, basil, rosemary, home made pesto, avocado, and fried eggplant.  My friend made the sauce from scratch and it was perfect, I love when there's a hint of sweetness in my tomato sauce.

The bagels were an assortment from Whole foods, there were plain, wheat, and everything bagels.  We set up an assembly line and then placed the bagels on a baking sheet and put them in the oven until there were nice and crispy with beautiful melted cheese.

Here's how mine came out:

It was amazing!  If only I could learn to eat slower so I could have savored it more.

I drank my wine out of this glass. I'm in love with it:

Another reason this party was so great is because my other old roommate from UVM came down, and I hadn't seen her in over a year.  When she came through the door we just hugged each other for fives minutes and kept saying "I can't believe you're really here!!"  It was such a happy reunion.

This party really got me thinking about moving out.  I can't wait to have my own little dinner parties at my own humble apartment.  What's better than wine and friends and food?

Lunches taste better when they're free

Today was my lucky day!   I didn't brown bag my lunch so my coworker and I decided to go to the Clover Food Lab truck. As we got closer to the food truck we saw some people wearing boston.com t-shirts and holding balloons. At first I thought they were handing out balloons, for me that was exciting enough! But then we got an even better surprise while waiting in line. We were told the first 50 people in line today would receive a free lunch from Clover Foods courtesy of Boston.com. The reason being it's Boston.com's sweet 16 and they are celebrating all over town. Wahooo! After I spent all morning being a human pin cushion getting skin tested for a bee sting allergy, this was just the pick-me-up I needed.

I ordered the Chickpea fritter, (which I call felafel) and even though they ran out of tahini sauce, it was still delicious. I considered ordering the BBQ seitan, but when I asked the guy taking my order about it, he said it was an "acquired taste" and I didn't feel like taking any chances. I stuck with something I knew I'd like. And it was a good decision because we were soon told that anyone who ordered a BBQ seitan would have to wait at least 15 minutes.
I also ordered a cinnamon lemonade for my beverage, a very interesting flavor combination. It was very refreshing! I let my coworker try it and she remarked "I think this is an acquired taste." Must be the phrase of the day.

So, a big Thank You to Boston.com and Happy Birthday! I hope you have a super sweet 16.

Be on the lookout for them, they will be popping up at 16 different locations and handing out gifts.

Oh no, It's November!

The only bad thing about Halloween is that November 1st is the next day!  And we all know what that means, christmas music on the radio and Santa at the mall.  Poor thanksgiving, it never gets any credit!

Here's a recap of my Halloween weekend:

- I carved super cute pumpkins.  I found the pattern for the large pumpkin online from searching Google for  "Cute Owl Pumpkins," I kid you not.  I carved the small pumpkin free hand.  Here's my masterpiece:

 Can you even handle how cute it is?


















Momma owl and Baby owl!

 Look at him! I can't even take it.  I could barely fit a tea candle in him.










- For the parties I went to, I dressed up as Joan Holloway, Mad Men's red head vixen.   Here's the proof:

What do you think?   And how about my Don Draper?  Not too shabby, huh?

- On Monday (actual Halloween), I went to a restaurant dressed as Ginger Spice.  Unfortunately there's no proof.  I know what you're thinking, (Pics or it didn't happen) but believe me, it really did happen, and I felt incredibly awkward in my British flag mini dress and go-go boots. 

In Other News....

My brother and his girlfriend have decided to run the 5K with me.  The more the merrier! Literally.

My training has been going really well.  Last night I ran 3 miles on the treadmill. Go me!  I always have a better run when I have a really good playlist on my iPod.  This time my playlist consisted of a single song:  "We found Love" by Rhianna.  On repeat.  12 times.  I'm obsessed.

Also, If you haven't yet, get to a DD and try the Mint Hot Chocolate. It's really really good.

Halloween Cupcakes and Jack-Owl-Lanterns

One of my very dear friends was born on Halloween.  How spooky.   Last year I made him these adorably sweet Halloween cupcakes.  I made my own butter cream frosting and used food coloring to make it green for the Frankensteins.  I used regular frosting and gels from the grocery store for some of the details.  The cupcakes were made with regular boxed cake mix, not sure which brand.

The Vampire is my favorite.  I dripped red food coloring on him to look like blood. Mmmm he reminds me of Edward.  See the resemblance??


Are you scared yet??
The Frankensteins are made with gum drops for their....uh...things on the side of their heads.  The mummy had gum drops pushed into the cupcake for eyes.  I used different tips for the frosting tubes to make the different designs.  I used a flat one for the mummy's wrappings.  I had a lot of fun making them (and eating them.)  Sorry for the horrible quality of the photos!










Today I was looking for cute ideas for carving a pumpkin.  Tomorrow I'm going to a Pumpkin Carving party.  How fun!  I found this idea on Martha Stewart's website (and no- i don't usually go on that website.)  I LOVE owls, and I thought these were just too precious.

This morning on the way to the train, I stopped into my favorite little place, The Busy Bee Bakery.  I was glad to see they were in the Halloween spirit.  They had these creepy things on the counter.  They are made of Bread with candles inside! Bread-o-lanterns if you will....

They also had themed cupcakes such as Boston Scream Cupcakes complete with green slime(a.k.a frosting)!

I love Halloween. :)

Ima Vermonta, I do what I wanta...

Well I'm not actually a Vermonter, but I did feel like one last weekend!

Things that happened:

 1. I took a million pictures of the scenery in Vermont, and I went a bit overboard with the macro setting. Can you blame me? It was so pretty! See for yourself....

 2. The power went out in the cabin and we had to light 100 candles and oil lamps and huddle by the woodstove.
 3. We made tons of delicious food using pie crusts. Mini chili pies and corn beef hash and egg hand pies? Yes please!
4. We also made a ton of yummy drinks including:
      a. White Russians
      b. hot mulled cider with rum (heated on the woodstove, how rustic)
5. I discovered my love for Frank's Red Hot sauce
6. I drove a quad/four-wheeler through a muddy field and have never felt more like a "Vermonter" in my life.  I believe they call that "muddin'"

Can't wait to head back up there in the winter!

Excuse me, have you seen my motivation?

This week I learned:

1. I do not like schedules!  I can't stick to one.  So much for my smart coach training plan....
2.  Even though there is a treadmill in my basement, that does not mean I will use it.
3. I am now paying "the fat tax"  (a monthly fee for a gym I barely use)
4.  I have completely lost the motivation I had two weeks ago!
5.  I'm addicted to groupons!  I  bought two this week...
6.  I'm also addicted to Beyonce's new song "Love on top"

that is all....

This weekend I'm going to Vermont for a lovely rainy fall weekend.  I promise to take lots of pictures!

The Ugliest Smoothie

This morning I woke up craving a smoothie.  Our fruit supply was limited so I had to do a little scrounging to find appropriate items to add. Here's what I came up with: OJ, cranberry pomegranate juice, ice, pomegranate nonfat yogurt, and chopped frozen spinach.

Once I blended everything it looked like this:

ewwwwwwwwwwwww..... but once I tasted it, I was in heaven!!!

 I couldn't believe my taste buds.  I had always wanted to try spinach in a smoothie and but I thought it would taste bad.  I love finding new ways to sneak veggies into foods!

I also really wanted an omlette (even though I had one for dinner last night too).  My go-to omlette is spinach and shredded mozzarella cheese. Can you tell? I <3 Spinach!

Here's the final product, a satisfying and savory breakfast!  Now I'm off to attempt a 3 mile run...
wish me luck!