Back to the Grind

Well today I headed back to work for the first time since Christmas Eve!! (well I went in for 3 hours on New Years Eve), but that doesn't really count. It was...well, work. Man it wasn't a smooth transition back into blogging as well, I didn't take ANY pictures until dinner!

Brief weekend recap:

I knew I had to have some of my new Great Harvest bread for break fast...A delicious thick slice of Dakota bread, toasted...half with PB and J, the other with smart balance and J. By the way my "J" is really TJ's raspberry fruit spread...its just raspberries...yum!

And a banana...I also got a fun package from Food Buzz...

It was a promotional gift from MOO MiniCards!
Mini business cards for Yogurt and Berries!
The plastic case contains mini business cards each with a beautiful glossy picture of some type of food on the back. I have never seen business cards like this before! What a wonderful idea.The only little problem is that they put my first and last name...not something I would like to make public with the website, but if I decide to pass them out I can just black it out with a Sharpie :)

Saturday continues...

We went to Brian's stepbrother's wedding! It was very simple gathering and the couple paid for everything by themselves so that means they did a lot themselves, but everything looked wonderful.


Sunday...

...involved a lot of shopping. I really wanted to hit up the Nike Outlet for some new sneakers that would work with my new Nike + Ipod! Everything was going well until Brian wanted to check if the J. Crew outlet had any dress shirts on sale. Well they did, as well as lots of other great sales! I got a few things...well 5 things!! Oh well whats done is done.

On the way home we stopped in Manchester, NH where we both lived for about a year after graduation. We stopped at our favorite breakfast/lunch spot. I had a delicious veggies sandwich with a side of fruitThen more driving, more errands and later on made dinner!

We bought a rotisserie chicken...YUM!! I never think of buying one but man I need to do it more often. I also made some broccoli, sauteed in olive oil, garlic, and some whole grain mustard. All with a side of GH Nine Grain Bread.
And a little bbq for dipping...mmm.

Dessert was a fresh batch of No Pudgies!
Tonight: GYM!

Now I think it's really great that people get motivated to workout for the new year...but SERIOUSLY it's annoying! Luckily I left work a few minutes early because by the time I got off the treadmill there were people WAITING for cardio machines!! I hope this dies down ASAP. I did however have a super sweaty workout.

40 min of cardio and 10 min of weights

Totals:
50 min 44 sec
373 cals
Max HR 181
Avg HR 149

I also used my Nike Ipod attachment, but I think I need to calibrate it because either it's off or the treadmill is off, which very well could be. For instance at one point the treadmill said I was at an 8min/mile pace but the Ipod said 7 min/mile!

Currently:

Enjoying Gossip Girl!!!

A Tasting of the North End

But first I'll start with this morning. This was the first morning I've woken up in my apartment all to myself since my "Christmas break" began!! I was so excited to go to the gym and then come back and have Oatmeal!! I've missed it so much!

I woke up around 8am (early enough for a non-work day), had a snack then headed to the gym...I was curious to use my new HRM on the treadmill.

A few things I learned:

• I am still getting the hang of the HRM, I guess I didn't hit the button that one last time before I began because it never started my "workout" and therefore when I looked down I would see my HR but it wasn't recording! Dammit!! So I missed my first 1.5miles and it was definitely the most rigorous part of the whole workout so I am estimating based on the rest of my workout that I would of burned about 200calories. I did 40min total...about 3.4-3.6 miles? Can't remember, it was mostly running with a little walking. I recorded 256 cals, so total probably should of been 456!
• I run faster/harder outside. When I first used my HRM for an outdoors run, as soon as I went from walking to running my HR went quickly up to the 170's, where as on the treadmill it stayed more in the 160's until I was running for a longer period of time. Interesting...now I'll have to start pushing the speed up on the treadmill a little.

I quickly stopped at Wholefoods after for some fruit...Had a few pieces from this, while working on my stovetop oats!

This morning my oats contained:

• 1/3 c. oats, 1/3 c. water, 1/3 c. milk
• salt
• 1/2 of a ripe banana
• 1 tsp pumpkin butter (stirred in at end)
  
• 1 T ricotta cheese (stirred in at end)
• sliced almonds and a few pieces of dried fruit (stirred in at end)

Topped with:

• some chopped toffee leftover from Christmas
• low fat simple cranberry granola from WF's bins
• spoon of White Chocolate PB!

Food From Yesterday

My mom took off yesterday from work, and we decided to pop into the North End (Boston) for lunch. The North End is like Boston's Little Italy...and it's amazing.

I was CRAVING this particular salad from one of my Favorite restaurants...Antico Forno

I love this place, it's cozy (well they just expanded so there's more room now!), delicious, and the prices are reasonable!

Not to mention they make the most AMAZING salad EVER!!

FOCACCINA CON CAPRINO

Flat aromatic bread topped with mixed green salad, goat cheese, fresh roasted cherry tomatoes and grilled zucchini

Mom and I shared this...it's big. The flat bread underneath is incredible, the goat cheese is the creamiest, most flavorful I've ever eaten, and everything about it just blends so well together. It was actually this salad that made me discover my obsession with goat cheese...thank you Antico Forno.

We both could of been completely satisfied after that...but we had more food on the way.

We were going to share both items...the appetizer of:

INVOLTINI DI MELANZANE

Rolled eggplant stuffed with ricotta cheese and basil, baked in brick oven with plum tomato sauce and parmigiano

And a pasta dish...

RIGATONI SALSICCIA E RICOTTA

Homemade style rigatoni pasta with Italian sausage and sweet onions, in plum tomato sauce
topped with ricotta cheese

Seriously though...these dishes are incredible! We only ate a little of each (yay leftovers!), but the flavor is just absolutely delicious. My mouth is actually watering right now looking at the pictures...I wish I still had some!!

After our leftovers were packed up, we walked over to another North End Institution for dessert...Mikes Pastry. This places is always jam packed...and a lot of times its with tourists, but there's a reason for that. HOLY YUM DESSERTS!! Now I know many people have opinions on what the best place for pastries in the North End is...and to each his/her own, but they make my favorite cannoli and macaroons...so that's why we come here!

I had a cappuccino (served with an adorable rock candy stirrer) and mom had tea, and we both ordered a pistachio macaroon for dessert

Of course we got some goodies to go as well

More on those later :)

Now it's time to run errands and do all the wonderful things that you do when your home on a weekday...clean, organize, cook...etc.