Back to Yoga!

More and more little pieces of my "normal" life are coming back! I finally went to my Yoga studio tonight and when I looked at my class card the last time I went was March 19!!! Way too long!

I went for Hot Yoga but there was a substitute teacher who does more of a Vinyasa class, but the room was already hot from the class before so it was kind of Hot Vinyasa which was awesome! The normal Hot Yoga doesn't have much down and up dogs or planks so I this was great! My arms were getting so tired from all the low planks!!

So my roomie and I have officially made the switch to morning iced coffee!! I made a pot of Spring Blend iced coffee Sunday and it was A-MA-ZING! To make iced coffee we just brew a half pot of double strength coffee and then when its finished add enough ice to bring it up to the normal strength water level.I packed a KICK ASS salad today!
The goods:

• baby spinach base
• cucumber
• red bell pepper
• carrots
• red onion
• corn OFF the cob (the leftover grilled corn from last night)
• grilled asparagus from last night

I also packed a fresh tomato and avocado to cut up just before eating :) I don't like to refrigerate tomatoes if possible, it just ruins a good tomato.
I also made a quick dressing with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic, honey, and Dijon mustard.

I also enjoyed an Ellie's Cherry Walnut Bar that the roomie made last Thursday night! I've said it before but these things are SO good.
After Yoga I had a leftover Spanikopita Turkey Burger, YUM! And apple sauce...
Then maybe I had a Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie to round out the night.

AND I'm finally catching up on some TV! Watched Gossip Girl from like THREE weeks ago and a couple episodes of The Hills.

Family Brunch and Grilling!

I have to say I am SO lucky to have my family!! Every family function is a foodie's dream :)

Sunday's Birthday Brunch for my grandmother was no exception...although I was slightly disappointed that there were no scones, but I got over it real fast when I had one of these:

Homemade caramel rolls!! Caramel Rolls (or sticky buns as we like to call them), are a family staple...even 1 of my uncles makes homemade dough to whip these babies up! Usually they involve a sweet yeast dough, rolled with cinnamon sugar, and placed in a pan with a mixture of brown sugar, butter, maybe Caro syrup? Which caramelizes on the bottom while baking then the whole pan is flipped over after they are done to let the caramel drip down.

THESE however, were made with HOMEMADE CARAMEL!!! Don't know what she did (My aunt...one of them, I have 5 on this side of the fam)...made a caramel for these and they were AMAZING!!! Thank god I split it with Brian.
Other DELICIOUSNESS from the day:

Asparagus Frittata

A spinach and cheese frittata with potato crust

Poached salmon with a yogurt dill sauce
the BEST roasted vegetables I've ever had...must of been roasted at a lower temp for longer because they were SO caramelized! (potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, Brussels!)

1/2 of a chocolate croissant (I think it was Nutella in there!)...mmmmmm

One dessert: A wild berry tart by my pastry chef aunt (it was at her house)

There were also 2 black bottom pies and a gorgeous rum cake with whipped cream frosting! I wish I could have one of these at the wedding but they need to be refrigerated up until it's served so it wouldn't work out on display.

My only gripe I ALWAYS have is that I eat too much!! Oh but its SO worth it :)

Brian and I had big plans to take advantage of the GORGEOUS weather and grill out! (Hard to believe I was grilling outside yesterday when it was SNOWING all day today...grrrr).

We had a big package of chicken tenders marinating in:

• olive oil
• cider vinegar
• lemon juice
• lime juice
• brown sugar
• salt & pepper
• garlic
• I think that's it...Brian made it
  
  

It marinated overnight which made the chicken SO flavorful. We also amazingly saw some corn on the cob at WF's!! SO excited! We threw that on the grill as well.

I also FINALLY made KALE CHIPS!!

• Kale
• Olive oil
• salt & pepper
• freshly grated Parmesan
• 375 for 15 min

AWESOME!!! Now I see why these things are so popular. Brian even loved them...said they were a great substitute for potato chips and obviously much healthier :)

We were still not that hungry from Brunch but we had a little; my plate:1 1/2 pieces of chicken, corn, Kale! With a POM cocktail (Pom, lime seltzer, lime wedge)

COME BACK WARM WEATHER!!!

Yoga Update:

Finally got back into yoga on Saturday (work just gave me no time Thurs and Friday).

Brian and I did Yoga for Runners after our run! Yes it was his first time...pretty funny, but he did good. He said it was REALLY hard and he probably wouldn't normally have the patience for it. I was happy he tried it though :)

Sunday morning I did 30min Morning Flow.

Tonight I went to my 90min Hot Yoga class...I think the 90 min can make up for missed yoga last week :) Man it was SO Hot, a lot hotter than normal!! Sweaty sweaty!!

Hot and Cold

It's freezing cold here!! Today was a high of 27, Wednesday it will be in the teens and Friday it's going to reach a whopping 11 degrees!! Yesterday morning I went out to shovel the driveway and I felt like Ralphie's little brother in Christmas Story when he get's bundled up for school! Haha!To counter act this COLD I decided to get HOT...Hot Yoga that is! When I went to my first class on Saturday, I found out that new students can get a week long class card for only $20 (when a usual drop in class is $14), so I took the opportunity because even two classes would make the card pay for itself. Well I thought it was just me (but after heard others say), that it was EXTRA hot and sweaty tonight!! Man I was just drenched (sorry for the details). At least it kept me warm for a long time afterwards too.

So my dinner consisted of chilled items...

A few bites of my favorite sea food salad from Russo'sA ginormous carrot!
slicedAt this point my sweaty shirt was starting to make me cold, so I took a hot shower. Then I had what I really wanted...a serious bowl of cerealThis medley consisted of:

• Kashi Vive
• TJ's Frosted Wheat bites
• PB Puffins
• skim milk
  

Rewind to breakfast (lunch was provided at work because we had a sales person in talking about a product...I had the inside of half a turkey wrap and half a veggie wrap, I don't like those big restaurant wraps)

Thick slice of Great Harvest nine grain bread, PB, raspberry spread, and a large bananaDelicious and filling. Of course I put banana on the PB during the breakfast eats.

Wedding Season 2009

Many weddings this year, mine included, and I am in 3 others! Sunday we did some dress shopping for my friend Jen...her's is in April.

First let me show you her dress! It's SO beautiful!! Very her. So we wanted to find something to complement it...flowy, pretty... We ended up with these!

Me and roomie modeling!They will be in a latte color...the back is really pretty there are 3 straps that criss cross.

Sorry I will not be sharing my dress until after the big day, but I will start giving bits and pieces of info now and then.

Sweat it out!

I got back from my first Hot Yoga class a little while ago that I took at a studio about 3 min from my apartment in Davis Square called Yoga in the Square! I must say, I feel great! I'll admit I wasn't too too thrilled about getting up at 6:45, but once I was out of my warm bed I was fine :)

The class was pretty crowded (I heard someone say more than usual), but I'm sure that's also the whole "new years resolution" thing. I have only taken yoga once; I did a few power yoga classes in college with some of my roommates...it was fun, but at the time not my thing. Now that was about 5 years ago, and I was very happy that this class was not hard for me to pick up. The room is heated to around 90 degrees F, which I love...I love being warm (esp since it was like 15 outside this morning!!), and yes you do sweat a lot, but for me that's a great feeling. I'd say the only struggle was after a while it was hard to keep a grip on my leg or foot because of sweat.

I think the fact that I am a dancer also helped me a lot. A lot of the same principle in yoga are principles in dance, like holding in your stomach, pulling up through your head while pushing down through your feet, using opposite motions to hold poses...etc.

I felt limber, flexible, and refreshed afterwards. I'd say the only "bad" thing is towards the end the combo of hot room and sweaty people doesn't make for the most refreshing smell...but it wasn't too bad haha.

I wasn't sure what to eat before class, so I had half of TJ's chocolate PB granola bar. I think next time I'd have a little more...there were a couple points in class that I felt slightly light headed but only for a few seconds here and there...I'm sure that's also from the heat.

After class I hit up Starbucks for a non-fat cappuccino with caramel drizzle on top! I had also planned to make my oats I never ate yesterday but I was still warm and craving cold cereal...so the oats will just have to sit until tomorrow (has anyone ever done overnight oats for two nights??).

My cereal was awesome. It was a nice Quad Mix:

• Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax
• Kashi Autumn Wheat
• Kashi U!
• PB Puffins!!
• Skim Milk

I was contemplating trying dance class today as well, but I got a great workout with the yoga so I am going to do some laundry and errands around here instead.
Last Night's Fajita Left Overs!

One of the BEST things about Border Cafe Fajitas is the leftovers!!! You get two solid meals out of one order!

My roommate and I just pretty much set up our leftovers on the counters and just eat right there while its all assembled!

Process:

• heat tortillas in a damp paper towel
• slightly warm up filling (Chicken, onions, peppers), and sides (rice and beans)
• assemble some filling and cheese on tortilla
• heat again for cheese to melt
• add other cold toppings (tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole)
• ENJOY!!!!
• Repeat for second tortilla

Just as amazing the second time around.

Enjoyed with a little white wine. Another bottle the roomie brought back from a winery in Connecticut.I only had a small pour

Update: I just got up to go get my camera and my legs are definitely shaky!! I have a feeling I am going to be sore tomorrow...but I like that kind of sore :)

Enjoy your Saturday blogland!!