Beer and Blunders: A Weekend Recap

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  The weather here in Mass was AMAZING.  Dry, sunny, and in the low 70’s. 

Our weekend was moderately busy.  A lot went on, but I still felt relaxed. 

Friday started the busy-ness with the first run of one of the pieces my dance company is doing!  We have a show in September, but our director was involved in a showcase at a high school in NH where she coaches the dance team, so we decided to perform a piece!

It’s a long 12 minute number, but it’s really interesting with a LOT going on so you don’t get bored.  Anyways, it was fun being on stage again, the dance still needs some work, but I can’t WAIT for September for the full show!! 

On Friday, Bromely and I also saw a cute Swan Family on our long walk:

The mom kept diving for food to feed her babies

 

It was so cool to watch!!  Then we continued:

And took breaks in the shade

 

Saturday involved a pretty lazy/awesome morning.  Sometimes you just need to not rush, have a leisurely breakfast, and maybe even watch the Food Network. 

p.s. iced lattes taste even better in fancy beer goblets ;)

Our favorite French Toast!  With fresh strawberries, sliced peach, and a dollop of TJ’s non-fat Greek yogurt with homemade blueberry sauce.

Blueberry sauce – this is a great way to get rid of berries that are past their peak, but not quite bad enough to toss. 

• Place berries (any kind) in a sauce pan, add water but just to the point where you’re not fully submerging the berries.
• Add a squeeze of fresh lemon, and 1-2 T of sugar or sweetener of choice…I used maple syrup.
• Bring to boil, and then reduce to low and simmer until berries cook down and liquid is reduced.   

Brian had the blueberry sauce on his French toast.

Finally broke into my gallon of happiness:

 

The rest of Saturday was great…well until we missed the Red Sox game, but let me rewind.

After a 4-mile run, we got changed and headed into Boston.  I had gotten Brian Red Sox tickets for his birthday (which was May 23).  We planned to stop by Mead Hall in Cambridge for a beer and maybe a snack before the game.

Brian’s been dying to try Mead Hall.  It’s the latest craft beer bar/bistro boasting 100 different domestic and international beers on tap.

They weren’t kidding:

After perusing the menu and having a few samples I decided on the Bacchus; a Belgian sour ale from Van Honsebrouck.

Really enjoyed this beer.   It’s not as sour as some of the other sour ales I love (like Cherry Woods), but it had a mild sourness and was very refreshing. 

We also ordered a cheese plate (which went unpictured).  It was OK, still needs a little work.  Actually too much cheese, not enough accompaniments.   You know how much I love cheese, but I also love the different flavor combinations you can create with a nice cheese plate.

Overall I really liked Mead Hall and we are looking forward to returning.  I loved this huge bar area, with big windows to let in the natural light.  I feel like so many beer bars in the area are so dark and cramped.  This is nice and open with high ceilings and an upstairs with couches and flat screen TV’s.

Back to the story, the “blunder”.  After Meadhall, we headed over to the Fenway area to look for a parking spot. 

Found a spot a little too easy, but maybe just our lucky day.  Then as we’re walking towards Fenway, I’m oddly noticing some groups of people in Red Sox attire heading away from the ballpark!? 

Then it hit me.  I didn’t even think to check the game time as the tickets say 7:10, but as the Bruin’s playoff game started at 8pm, the Red Sox had moved their game up to earlier that day.

We missed the whole thing :(    So frustrating…not so much missing the game, but wasting the money and the fact that we had to miss one of Brian’s friend’s housewarming party for the game as well.

Boo Red Sox Boo.

The weekend wrapped up Sunday with the first EVER Woburn Famer’s Market!!  The best part is that it’s like a 5min walk from our house!!

Kringle from Danish Pastry House

Bees.  Frightening.

Purchases:

• Kringle
• Almond Croissant
• “pop tart”
• strawberries
• hummus
• iced coffee

Home to enjoy my treats.

Brian’s pop tart from the Danish Pastry House

       

Next up was a graduation party for a few of my cousins and my aunt made a spectacular candy themed cake!

How freaking cute is that!??

Sadly we had to leave before eating any as I had dance rehearsal to get to, but I had some candy :)

Phew!  That was a long post!!!

I’ll close things out with the winners of the
AllMenus.com giveaway!

Using a Random Number Generator, the 3 winners are:

1. Shannon
2. Erica Thomas
3. Jocy

Ladies, email me and I believe I can have your $10 coupons emailed to you!!  Hope you have a yummy take out dinner soon!!

Thanks Signpost for letting me host this giveaway!

Winner + Weekend Recap

First things first, the winner of the Michael Chiarello Cookbook and Lemon Pepper Panko!

Turns out to be fellow Bostonian…Michelle!  Email me your contact info and I will be sure the prize pack gets to you!

I really can’t wait until I have a weekend with NOTHING to do, but that rarely ever happens, so until then I’ll keep trucking along :)  At least my weekends are fun…fun and busy!

It’s Sunday night and this girl needs sleep ASAP!  So I’m going to do more of a list-like recap of the weekend (and beyond)

Footie Pajamas.  Yeah I got a pretty stellar Valentine’s day present and wasn’t I shocked when I saw that Tina got the SAME thing…I mean, what are the odds???

H.O.T.

Who doesn’t love soft fuzzy adult sized hoodie-footie pajamas!?

But it doesn’t stop there, Brian got the package deal from pajama-grams…  Hoodie Footies AND Pajama Jeans

Ok, no, I can’t bear to show the picture…didn’t get my good side ;) 

They are basically thick-stretch material…denim-esque, with the faux stitching, and even though I’m only 5’6”, they are too short on me haha!

Leftovers.  I love my once a week day where I come home at lunch to walk the dog.  I get to eat at my table, in the sunlight, and enjoy things like chicken pot pie, out of my own bowls. 

(I wasn’t in love with the pot pie recipe, so you wont be seeing it as of now)

Saturday Morning.  Brian had to go into work, so I had a quiet breakfast with the pup before he went off to the groomer!

Citrus.

Cappuccino

TJ’s Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin British Muffin.  Half with cream cheese, the other with some nut butters

Bromley before.  The long hair + melting slushy snow = DIRTY dog!!  He looks like a ragamuffin (whatever that really means)  

(hehe love when the under-bite comes out) 

They took off a little more than I was thinking, but I am seriously loving his puppy cut!

After:

So sweet and innocent ;)

 

Pineapple (on sale at Whole Foods!)

Babies

I FINALLY got to spend some quality time with my good friend’s baby, who was born at the beginning of January :)

Isn’t she precious…

Pastries :)

Picked these up at the Winter Farmers Market.

Some of my favorites from the Danish Pastry House!

Cinnamon Brioche (in-freaking-credible)

and my favorite, Almond Croissant

Cut up to share :)

With cappuccinos!

       

The rest of today consisted of another Off-Leash dog training session, which was cut a little short as the temps + wind made it pretty unbearable outside!!

But we were up in Gloucester, so we warmed up with chowder and seafood

Picnic in the car of course, since we had the pooch!  I had clam chowder and a salad

Brian opted for the fish sandwich!  Both were delicious and hit the spot :)  Looking forward to WARMER temps to return to the beach!

Lookie what I found…

Bad news I tell you. 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I really hope those mild temps from the end of last week return!  I had a GLORIOUS run outside Thursday and it felt like Spring :)  But that half-marathon is going to sneak up on me so I better start to enjoy running in the cold for now.

Good night!