Shopping Success

First I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the family…and no it’s not a dog (yet)…

This past weekend was mission: “Mama needs a brand new bag!” I would like to thank the gorgeously stocked handbag department at Nordstrom, and my wonderful husband for keeping himself occupied in the Men’s section while I “wandered” around for a bit. This lovely is by B. Makowsky, and BONUS: it was on sale :)

I was really hoping for the double whammy: new purse AND sunglasses weekend…but I forgot how much I loathe sunglass shopping. I love sunglasses, but I go, try on 20-30 pairs, and call it a day. Oh well, still a successful shopping weekend.

Other than that, it was a pretty low key weekend, which is a RARE occurrence for us so it was very enjoyable.

Saturday we slept in (for me that means around 9am), and I made us some French toast! The bread was Pepperidge Farm Soft Honey Oat bread. We needed a break from the Arnold Double Protein, and this was a superb choice. It’s super soft, and a touch of sweetness :)

I used 2 eggs, skim milk, vanilla, and cinnamon for the French toast.  With banana slices and cantaloupe.  So fast and easy. 

topping options

I just stuck with my maple syrup…pure and delicious. 

Iced Cap. with lots-o-foam

After digesting, Brian and I headed out for a run to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather! We did a 4.7ish route down to a nearby pond, around the pond, and back. We stopped a few times to walk, more than I’d like lately, but his pace is faster than mine so even though I try to keep a slower pace I always end up running faster with him! I guess this is good, but does make me lose steam faster. Either way it was a gorgeous day and I did better than him anyways ;)

The various errands + Bridget’s shopping mission commenced after running (and showering…etc, of course).

Even though I had snacks after the run: nineteenth hole trail mix

and a Strawberry Oikos with Kashi Autumn Wheat

we made a trip to the S-Bucks!

His and hers Vivano Smoothies :) The strawberry and chocolate smoothies looked very pretty together…I heart Pink + Brown (they were my wedding colors after all).

Later that night we hit up Border Café to fulfill our Mexican Food craving!

Chips + salsa

Chicken + Veggie Fajitas…they have the BEST fajitas, and I always have lots of leftovers.

Sunday was pretty uneventful again, aside from a trip to visit the grandparents…and actually purchasing my purse (yeah I slept on it).

However I had a super relaxing breakfast, waking up 1+ hour earlier than the husband.

Iced cappuccino + banana oats

Other eats that day included a ripe red grapefruit, segmented.

TJ’s Reduced Guilt Brownies and some new icy treats!!

best low-fat brownies ever!

For the first time EVER, our grocery store had Coconut Milk ice cream on sale! (now by sale I mean $4.50/pint as opposed to the usual $6). They only had 3 flavors…vanilla, chocolate, and coconut so I went with the vanilla to enjoy with the impending brownies that night.

However at the end of the grocery trip I happened to notice this guy…

Unlike me to every buy 2 ice creams…but I have a mild (ok not so mild) obsession with Almonds and almond flavored…anything! This sounded like heaven.

And it was…I obviously took a little spoonful out of the container as soon as we got home. Smooth creamy base with swirls of marzipan and pockets of almond cookie!!

However I had my brownie with a smear of PB and vanilla coconut milk ice cream…SO GOOD!
                   
I was a little skeptical because the time I tried coconut milk yogurt I was grossed out, but that was more of a texture issue. Anywho, the Coconut Milk ice cream is delicious…initial taste of vanilla bean followed by a subtle coconut flavor.

Work is really interfering with my workouts this week:

Sat: 4.7ish mile run

Sunday: did some strength training at home

Monday: Body Combat – kicked my butt per usual

Tues-Wed-Thurs – nothing, various classes/work things after work…
                                         grrrrr.
Possibly a morning workout Thursday, we’ll see…I’m a newbie when it comes to working out before work.

Friday: Gym – probably a treadmill run

Anyone else just itching to buy all the adorable spring/summer clothes that are coming out NOW?  It’s such a tease…  well I did buy a dress at Target that I clearly can’t wear for another 2-3 months.

Domestic Goddess Day

I was all super-domestic wife this past Monday. I use “domestic” in a good sense though…I love it sometimes! I had President’s Day off while the boy went off to work.  I woke up to what almost felt like a mini-hangover from my “heavy” drinking at Valentine’s Dinner…I’m such a light weight, that champagne cocktail + glass of wine had be buzzin all night!

First task at hand was to get my butt to the grocery store for some milk, we ran out Sunday and I was not spending my day off without a cappuccino!

As soon as I returned I made a super creamy bowl of banana oats and a comforting cappuccino.

The Oats:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 c. skim milk
• 1/3 c. water
• 1/2 ripe banana
• pinch of salt
• dash of cinnamon
  

Toppings:

• Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax
• shredded sweetened coconut
• bit of trail mix (including some choc. and pb chips)
• spoon of raw crunchy almond butter

Mmmm perfect breakfast.

The rest of the day consisted of errands and things, including trips to a some of my favorite grocery stores :) 

One thing I picked up was this:

I’ve bought this before and totally missed blogging about it, Chocolate Oikos!!!!!  I was a little skeptical at first.

Looks like this when you open it…

the chocolate is hiding on the bottom

Stir it all up real good.  My very first bite was interesting.  I didn’t know what to make of it, but couldn’t stop eating it!  Tangy yet rich and chocolaty!  I’ve decided now that I’m kind of OBSESSED!  I couldn’t put the spoon down :)

I made it into even more of a treat with some natural marshmallow cream, and crushed graham cracker.

Now onto dinner.  I wanted to make a classic home cooked dinner, and decided on a delicious roasted chicken and roasted vegetables.

I picked up baby Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts and onion.  Tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I based my chicken of the recipe for “Perfect Roast Chicken” from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.  I heart my cookbook stand :)

The chicken was stuffed with lemon, garlic, fresh thyme, and fresh rosemary.

Brushed with olive oil and added kosher salt, black pepper, and more herbs to the skin.

 

It was now time for Body Combat…hey it may have been a day off from work, but I wasn’t about to miss my new favorite workout of the week.

I left Brian nice detailed instructions for when to add the veggies to the oven, and to check the temp of the chicken when the timer goes off. 

When I returned, the house smelt amazing and this was waiting on the stove.

Mmmm juicy chicken!

I even got ambitious and made a batch of the infamous Super Charge Me cookies!

Love these!

Hope you’re having a great weekend.  It was unseasonably warm today (by warm I mean high 40’s)…so I got in a great run with the boy.  It’s almost bed time…yeah it’s a low-key weekend.  I’d love to post about today…today, however I think that’ll have to wait until tomorrow :)

Good Night!                  

Fried Banana Love

Oh yes, I told you there were fried banana’s involved, but first lets start at the beginning of Valentine’s Day. 

A friend of mine gave me a loaf of this delicious, dense, rye bread with lots of nuts and seeds, made at her bakery.  This bread was the inspiration for a delicious Valentine’s Day Breakfast!

We picked up a package of smoked wild salmon, some fresh chive cream cheese, and red onion. 

Including our delicious Santorini Capers, we had a fabulous breakfast on our hands.  Plus it’s something we don’t have often at all!

This bread was hearty and dense and my 1 slice was plenty to fill me up and keep me full til lunch. 

We also enjoyed iced lattes with cinnamon :)

Then we headed up to Portsmouth, NH to spend the day and to have our Valentine’s Day Dinner.  Originally I was thinking about making reservations at The Oar House because that was our very first Valentine’s Day dinner together senior year of college :)  But, I quickly got over that because I wanted to try something new!

Once we arrived it was lunch time and we headed into one of my favorite little cafes downtown called Popovers!  I had a cup of tomato bisque and half of a roasted veggie sandwich! 

My soup came with a small popover…I LOVE popovers…crispy, light, eggy batter.  After our meal, we share two small cookies…1 chocolate chip and 1 oatmeal raisin. 

              

After some walking, shopping, a trip to a local brewery so Brian could fill up a Growler of beer, and driving around our old alma matter (UNH!), we headed back in Portsmouth for dinner at:

The Black Trumpet

I had checked out the website before making reservations and knew it sounded like a place we’d love, and I was right.

We were a little early, so we went upstairs to have a cocktail while waiting for our table.  I ordered the Lava Lamp: champagne, pomegranate liquor, and pomegranate molasses.  Tangy, tart, and refreshing!  They even put a few pomegranate arils in the glass.  This picture is once down at our table because it had better lighting than the bar.

 

Once at our copper covered table, we perused the menu they had “little dishes”,”medium dishes”, cheeses, salads, soups, and main courses.

 

We opted for 1 little dish, 2 cheeses, and each a main course.

Our little dish was:  Marinated White Asparagus, Crispy Ventrêche and Grapefruit in a sumac béarnaise  

Ventreche is pretty much pork belly…like little morsels of the best bacon you’ve ever tasted :)

This had so many interesting flavors and they all tasted amazing together.

Next was cheese.  I was worried about getting full off cheese, but no matter if you chose 1, 2, or 3 different types, you always get 2 oz. total. 

We chose the sheep's milk, and goats milk. 

The sheep's milk was served with a sweet onion jam which tasted like a little cup of caramelized onions!!

The goats had a truffled chestnut and date molasses.  I wasn’t wild about this goat’s cheese by itself, but with the crostini and molasses it was delicious.

I also love the slate cheese board with the name of the cheese written in chalk!

we clearly hated it…

I enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc with the cheese

Both of our entrees were specials for Valentine’s Day.  I had the:

Oven-roasted Gulf of Maine halibut with Maine shrimp fritter and black venus rice, served with fava bean puree, and spice soy aioli.

Brian had the short ribs…they were delicious.

My fish was perfectly cooked, simple, but great flavor!  The little shrimp fritter was DELICIOUS!  The rice and bean puree were good, not amazing but at that point I didn’t even need them. 

Then came dessert…oh yes, what you’ve all been waiting for. 

Now I usually shy away from “deep fried” items, but after reading this description there was no WAY I was leaving without trying it!

um…yes please!!!

yes, that would be a deep fried banana, cut into 4 pieces, with marshmallow on the left, peanut butter mousse on the right, and all drizzled in delicious chocolate sauce.  The chocolate tasted like melted semi-sweet chocolate.  A-MA-ZING!!!!!!!!!!  The banana was hot and gooey and eaten with a bite of all components was heaven in my mouth. 

Since Brian was driving home, he opted for a cappuccino as well…

Thanks, Black Trumpet, for making our first Valentine’s day as husband and wife a memorable AND delicious one!