|
|
I tweeted this morning that I had a positive feeling going into my doctors appointment for my knee this morning. There couldn’t have been anything serious going on (at least I was telling myself that) because the pain only occurred when I attempted to run and following that attempt.
I had a lovely 45 minute wait at the doctors office before the doctor made it to the room I was patiently waiting in. Might I add, I have a severe phobia of the doctors office and hospitals which made for a very calm 45 minutes.  The doctor had a sidekick intern which made me feel like I was totally living in a Grey’s Anatomy world. The doctor was great but I totally felt like a science project. He was talking to the intern about all the different parts of my leg, how he can tell if the areas of the leg, knee, etc., are in good condition or not, etc. All the while, the intern just gawked at me like I was some alien. Anyways… moving on.
After a few minutes of questioning me about my pain, when it occurs, how long it occurs, yada yada, he didn’t even think twice about telling me I had something called Iliotibial Band Syndrome, aka, overuse of the IT band. IBS occurs when one of three things happens. 1) You increase your mileage too quickly, 2) You increase your speed to quickly or 3) Hills. Pick your poison. My poision was #3. The Minneapolis Half Marathon was full of hills, hills that I did not train for. Errr, oops. My own fault. I remember somebody telling me after my half marathon how impressed they were that I picked that as my first half because it is the hardest, most hilly race that they had ever completed.
So we’ve got the good news in the fact that it is nothing serious and no further medical treatment or guidance is needed. Also, I can continue to exercise and there is no need for me to cut back my physical activity. The bad news? Well, I can’t run from anywhere from one month to upwards of 4 months. Tell that to somebody who adores running and used it as an outlet/stress reliever and it isn’t pretty. However, once I’m healed, I’m completely healed and I can jump right back into running and build my mileage back up. So there you have it. As the doctor said I’m damaged goods right now; down, but not out. :mrgreen:
My dinner was a high note of the day, too. You would think that I’d be scrapping the bottom of the barrel for food around here and resorting to a package of Ramen that has made it from house to house, dating all the way back to my college days. Luckily, I don’t have said package of Ramen nor did I have to resort to anything like that for dinner. Instead, I made myself this beauty…
All I can say is thank goodness for my stop at the Farmers Market last Thursday. We’ve got a salad that starts with a bed of lettuce and has the following toppings: green beans, green bell pepper, onion, peach dices, blueberries, cherries and homemade croutons. We had a few leftover bread sticks from a weekend meal so I just cut them up to cubes and placed them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Nothing is going to waste in this apartment!
I also managed to scrounge up a frozen loaf of bread from the freezer with the butt intact. Score!
And with that, I am out of here. Last day of work for the week tomorrow and the family arrives from Texas. See you later, gators!
I admit it. I have been a bit M.I.A. from blogging and the blog world lately. Why? Well, mostly because I’m just a busy bee right now and any downtime that I do get I have been trying to just relax. The other reason? Well, I just don’t really have anything too fun to talk about! I’ve been packing, hanging out with Petrie and eating random, unattractive food from our freezer and cupboard. I know, be jealous. Well, at least about the Petrie portion because she is a pretty awesome dog, talk about a personality
Anyway, to give you an idea of what we spent our weekend doing…
Bare to the bones. We’ve only left out the necessities for the next few days. See mom? Aren’t you proud?
There are a few things that I wish I would have had the ability to photograph this past weekend. Friday night we went out to a restaurant in Uptown called Wakame which had a menu item after my heart…
|
|
|
Panang Curry
|
|
stewed with our delicious coconut milk and peanut butter sauce, bell peppers and kaffir leaves
|
In case you didn’t catch it… peanut butter sauce people. I ordered my dish with tofu and a spice level of 3. Mike lived on the edge and got a heat level of 5; one bite of his dish and I was tearing up. I couldn’t do it.
During dinner Mike asked why I order tofu instead of chicken or beef when we are out for Chinese or Thai which I thought was very observant on his part, dang! There is something about how the Chinese/Thai restaurant cook their tofu that makes it perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I’m thinking they may crisp the outside by cooking the tofu with a solid amount of oil. Maybe we’ll just keep it at that, I probably don’t want to know how it’s cooked!
Saturday included packing, delicious burgers and ended with a firework show put on by the city that we watched from our roof. What a great memory to leave with! It also made up for our firework-less 4th of July. Oh, Saturday also included trying coconut water for the first time… not a fan. Maybe I have to try it again but definitely don’t get what all the rage is about.
Sunday included more packing, purchasing a sleigh bed (!!) and finally hanging out with Petrie and eating a McDonald’s ice cream cone. Don’t hate, they are seriously legit.
So what does this week hold for me? Well, ready? Here we go…
Tonight- Bachelorette, Men Tell All. Priorities people.
Tomorrow- Orthopedic appointment for my knee. Finish any last minute packing needs.
Wednesday- Last day of work for the week which makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. I should note that a bunch of my big projects have big things falling while I am out Thurs/Fri. Fun Monday next week I bet for this girl. Also my brother and mom fly in. Yayyyy! 
Thursday- Moving boxes and smaller things to the new pad.
Friday- The movers we hired move the rest of our load and the cleaning lady comes to clean our old place. Yes, we are that lazy.
Saturday- Drive to my cousins out of town wedding and boogy the night away.
Sunday- Unpack and get settled in.
Monday- Mom and brother leave.
WHEWWW. Long rambling post. Nope, definitely not mentally here. Okay, with that, I am off to decompress from the day.
Who is excited for The Bachelorette tonight?? Have you tried coconut water? What are your thoughts?
HAPPY FRIDAY! Did this week fly by or what? I think my busy as a bee week had to do with that just a bit. It’s really weird to think that this is my last Friday living in our downtown loft. In one week from today our belongings will be moved from downtown to Uptown. In five days from now we get our keys and my mom and brother arrive. Exciting things ahead people.
Let’s quickly rewind to last night when Mike and I attended The Mixx. Remember yesterday when I joked that Mike may be the only male in attendance? Well it wasn’t a joke, he really was. Poor guy.  What a trooper though, he stuck with it and we had a blast. The class felt like boot camp- jumping jacks, push-ups, jump rope, stations, sprints, step routines, kickboxing… whew. My body gets exhausted just thinking about what we went through. We left the class dripping with sweat and even more important, no knee pain for me! Mike joked that he wasn’t going to speak to me for a week due to what I put him through. Ohh, the things you do for love.
One last thing about yesterday, the Blueberry Crumb Cake donut review. Again, two thumbs up from both Mike and I. The blueberry filling was thick and plentiful which was great to see. There actually was a very thin icing glaze in between the donut and the ‘crumb’ topping, but just not enough to fulfill my needs. I would definitely say these are one to give a try if you are going to order Holey Donuts. I may just be partial to the Raspberry Vanilla Truffle due to it being a sibling of my favorite fried bismark. Stay tuned, we still have donut holes to try!
Now on to the most important thing on a Friday… scones. Scone Friday at that. Last week I was a tad bit lame and went back to a tried and true favorite, Blueberry Lemon with Lemon Glaze.
I”m going to try to not be as lame this week. Once you get up to the counter to order you scone it is an experience of intense pressure. You have about 30 seconds to decide what you would like when you really would like to spend a few minutes deciding. I know, tough life, eh?
Question for you. Did you hear about the new invention, Candwich? I was reading this article on MSNBC the other day and thought it’d be an interesting topic to get peoples opinions on and if you would try a Candwich. The basis of the product is that the ingredients for a PB&J, pizza pocket, BBQ chicken, etc., sandwiches are placed in a can that you then assemble your sandwich from. There is no refrigeration needed and they have the potential to even be sold in a vending machine. Starting in August the product will be launched in select markets across the USA. So what do I think about this product? I think it has the potential to catch on for busy moms and I think kids will definitely will be requesting a ‘Candwich’ just on the basis of how different and unique it is. However, I am a bit skeptical on how long this product will last in the market, I just don’t see the demand being too high. Petrie is a bit skeptical, too.
But she’d still eat one…
Sometimes the best meals come from the times where you throw things together on the fly. They also get pulled together from the times that you have to be creative when you are trying to eat up your freezer and cupboard and are severely lacking any form of fruit or veggies.
I stared blankly into the freezer and the cupboard for a good 10 minutes before pulling out a bunch of random foods that I figured I would make work together somehow. I pulled out the following: chicken broth, a box of wild rice, raisins, black beans, marinara sauce and the last bit of a bag of frozen mixed veggies. Talk about random. I knew the wild rice and raisins would work together. Rice and beans? That works, too. Veggies will fly with anything and of course my creation needed a sauce of some sort.
Here is a pointer for flavorful rice, cook it up in broth of any variety (chicken, beef, vegetable) and it will take the flavor to the next level. You’ll be surprised! So that is what I did. I cooked up the wild rice according to the package. With about 10 minutes left I added in the raisins so that they could plump up as well as the bag of veggies. This mixture was layer #1 of my dinner creation.
I have a big package of black bean cans from Costco in the cupboard so black beans it was for layer #2. Beans are a great way to add in additional volume, protein and fiber to any savory creation.
I topped the first two layers with a lovely layer of marinara sauce for layer #3…
And just as any last layer should be, layer #4 was cheese, feta cheese. Although, I was really wishing I had goat cheese on hand.
Dang, this layered creation WORKED! It was actually pretty fun to challenge myself by placing a bunch of random ingredients out on the kitchen counter and making myself use each and every one of them to come up with a meal. I had little hope for what I was about to put together and consume but I would eat this over and over again. Two thumbs up for the meal that anything in the freezer or cupboard was fair game. If you are ever bored, lacking groceries, or just want a kitchen adventure, do what I did. Pull a few random things out of your cupboard and freezer and create and interesting, unique meal. Add in an extra challenge by pulling out both savory and sweet ingredients. Most of all, have fun!
Other Thoughts:
1. Breakfast this morning is in the form of a Blueberry Crumb Cake donut from Holey Donuts. Will it give the Raspberry Vanilla Truffle donut a run for its money? From the looks of it, I doubt it.
That does not mean that this donut doesn’t look like it has great potential. I mean, look at it, it looks pretty scrumptious but it is definitely lacking the icing that makes me fall so hard for the Raz Vanilla Truffle. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome of devouring this goodie.
2. Tonight Mike and I are attending a group fitness class together. Ever since my knee injury I have been complaining to Mike that I haven’t been able to feel like I’ve gotten in a sweaty, invigorating workout that I experienced when running. He pretty much told me to get my act together, stop complaining and try out a few new group fitness classes. Tough love, I love it. It always works with me! Mike has been a trooper and has already attended spin class with me and now he is taking it to the next level by attending the following class…
Combine cardio kickboxing, athletic drills, high-impact move and low-impact/dynamic moves and you have one, high-energy, tough cardio workout. Sprinkle in some fun, stimulating funk moves and you have The Mixx.
Ohhh yeah. I owe him BIG time. I hope he isn’t the only male in the class, errr. I doubt he will be but can we give him some props folks? He had one request and that is that I do not make fun of him. Little does he know that there is about 0% chance that I can fulfill that promise. Muahaha.
What is your favorite group fitness class? Is anybody else a Lifetime Fitness member that knows if there is a similar class to Body Pump?
I bet you can guess what we are doing over here tonight. Yep, packing! We want to be able to ‘play’ a little bit this weekend so you know what we’ve got to do… we’ve got to work hard to play hard!
Packing will sure take a lot out of you though so you’ve got to make sure you break for food as well as entertainment. My entertainment is in the form of catching up on the Real Housewives of New Jersey. My food is in the form of Kitchen Eat Up!
That would be a veggie burger served on top of half of a whole wheat bun with a side of fruit salad. What can I say, I felt the need to ‘fancy’ up my veggie burger and make it look pretty due to the lameness of my meal.
Who says you can’t mix canned fruit in with fresh fruit to create fruit salad? Not this lady.
Of course I went back for seconds, thirds, even fourths of the fruit salad. I swear I nearly ate the whole cantaloupe by myself!
So, remember the glorious Raspberry Vanilla Truffle donut that I spoke of this morning? The one that I was hoping would give my best donut friend, the bismark, a run for its money? Well… it rocked both Mike and my socks off. Seriously! I could have sworn that I was eating a donut fresh out of one of the local super markets pastry cases.
At around 8:30 I got a call at my office from Mike. I picked up the phone and got no form of ‘hello’ or ‘how are you?’. Instead, I got the following:
‘This is the best tasting ‘health food’ you’ve ever forced me to try. Can we order more? I call dibs on the rest of the box.’
Ha, sucker! He totally got sucked in by Holey Donuts, too! I immediately told him he was smoking something if he thought he stood any chance in eating the rest of the box himself. That’s just not even funny. Nice try. Although now I’m starting to question if getting him hooked was a good idea because by no means do I plan on ordering more Holey Donuts for, mmm, about 6 months. That is, unless they have a killer deal sometime soon, we shall see.
Are you a donut, muffin or bagel person? Once you select either ‘donut, muffin or bagel’, what is your favorite variety or flavor? Sorry, I can’t decide, I love them all!
Holey Donuts people. Life is like a box of Holey Donuts… you never know what you’re going to get.
You place your order and forget the varieties you bought until they come perfectly boxed at your doorstep and brighten your day!
Need I say more? Well yes, I should actually. I should explain my love/hate relationship with Holey Donuts. My first experience with Holey Donuts was back in February when the company shipped me a few boxes of their donuts to sample. I started with their cinnamon rolls which ohh my, were love at first bite. The fudge crumb donut was excellent as well, but some of the others in the variety pack were just ‘meh’. Overall though, my first experience with Holey Donuts got two big thumbs up (love).
Once my stash dwindled down I thought about ordering some donuts. That is until I went out onto their website and about died at how expensive these gems were (hate). Once I thought about it though I started to understand why they are so expensive- handmade, perfectly boxed, small company who has to ship perishables to people all over the country. Still though, I couldn’t justify the order. A few weeks ago they had a special for 50% off which struck my fancy and I caved, which you can obviously see.
**Disclaimer. For those of you who are expecting to taste the sinful, fried dough goodness that makes a regular donut oh so good… don’t expect to get that. You’ll be disappointed. Holey Donuts does a good job of capturing the overall taste of a donut, the textures and the satisfaction, just without the greasy oil bite. Both Holey Donuts and real donuts have room in my life as I couldn’t ever give up the once in a while bismark donut.
Speaking of bismarks, I went with the Raspberry Vanilla Truffle donut for breakfast this morning. Raspberry filling with an icing glaze? Yep, that is calling my name.
I left one out for Mike this morning, too, so I’ll let you know what we both think this evening!
Last night’s dinner was pretty epic. After searching the freezer high to low to continue on the Kitchen Eat Up track, I decided to cook up some Tempura Chicken from Trader Joe’s. We had previously been disappointed with one of their other frozen Asian meals (the chicken was funky) so we didn’t have very high hopes for this variety.
To bulk up the chicken I added some canned pineapple (one less can in the cupboard, whohoo!) and some frozen peas. In order to ‘healthify’ this meal, I served my Tempura Chicken atop leftover salad from Sunday night.
No words. This chicken was too cool for school. If you are ever looking for the sinful fried Asian chicken flavors with just a wee bit healthier nutritional stats, check out TJ’s Tempura Chicken! I’m already looking forward to my leftovers for lunch.
What is your favorite guilty pleasure Asian/Chinese food? Cream cheese wontons and orange chicken have my vote.
We had the perfect summer night last night. The weather was perfect (okay, maybe a tad on the humid side), we took the dogs on a long walk, sat outside and enjoyed a beer and finally cooked up one delicious dinner! I even forgot that it was Sunday night… now that is saying something!
Not to sidetrack, but I believe part of the reason that I’ve been at ease and forgot it was Sunday is because we were out of the city. In our current place, we can see both of our offices from our windows. Yeah… you never really get away from the ‘go go go’ mentality. Only 10 more days of the current digs and boy is it bittersweet. We are actually back at our place tonight as Mike’s sister is returning today. I’ll be glad to be back surrounded by my own things but not happy about having to leave Petrie and PACK! GAH!
Anywho, dinner last night. Let’s chat about it, shall we? We wanted to make something healthy and a bit more fulfilling then the dinners we had been having the past week. Let me tell you, we were very successful!
For me, the star of the show was the salad I put together. On top of a bed of spinach I chopped up some carrots, orange bell pepper, broccoli, corn fresh off of the cob that I boiled up and goat cheese! A few months ago if you would have asked me if I like goat cheese I would have laughed in your face. Oh, times have changed. It is really growing on me!
Mike had to go back downtown yesterday to grab a few things so he picked up some pork loin that we had in our freezer. Kitchen Eat Up can even take place when at others’ houses! I made a ‘marinade’ of ketchup, sweet and sour, bbq and brown sugar. Asian BBQ anyone? It sounds gross but it was actually a pretty killer sauce.
I called one of the end pieces as soon as I saw how perfectly crisp it was getting in the over. What can I say, I love the burnt goodies!
A big hunk of a ciabatta loaf rounded out the meal. Not pictured is the big slab of butter I smeared it with. I couldn’t help myself.
The party didn’t stop after dinner, oh no. We curled up on the couch and started the series Prison Break. I’ve never seen it but Mike has always talked so highly of it. What a guy, he is going to watch the series all over again with me!
Have you seen Prison Break? Did you like it? What is one series you could watch over and over again? For me, it’s Friends!
Howdy. How is all y’alls weekend going? Ours has flown by, and I can’t wait to enjoy the last bit of it but just had to stop by and check in with the blog first! **Warning** This post is going to be a bit of a novel, feel free to just look at the pictures, I won’t be offended.
I’ve been a ‘bad blogger’ this summer, as most of the time, I am just living life and forgetting to photograph a majority of my eats and activities. Although, there is something to be said about just living and not having to worry if you have your camera, if your camera is fully charged, what others are thinking (which I’ve kind of gotten over), yada yada yada. You know the drill. I don’t think I’m alone though, I think blog land is a bit of a ghost town during the summer if you haven’t noticed. More power to us!
With that said, what has my ‘living’ looked like this weekend? Well, it has really revolved around two things… music and dogs. Mike’s dad is in a band, too, and on Friday night there were playing at a local city festival called Duk Duk Daze. Mike and I headed out to enjoy the night, listen to some music, ride a few rides and even eat cotton candy (!!!!). I don’t remember the last time I had cotton candy, I’d have to say at least 5 years. When we were walking into the festival, Mike said he saw me eyeing up the cotton candy stand and I have to admit, I was. I definitely enjoyed the cotton candy, but not nearly as much as I did when I was a kid!
Last night, Mike’s band had a gig at a bar near the University which was a hit. I enjoyed a Blue Moon and a PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) while listening to the tunes of the evening. Yes, PBR, I caved and gave into peer pressure. What can I say, I’m a classy lady.
Then of course, we have the two puppers who have enjoyed multiple walks and the dog park. Petrie seriously is the most social dog in the world and is all about hanging out with the large dogs. I think she thinks she is a 100 lb. dog. Little does she know, she only weighs 20 lbs. She really is quite the diva and is all talk. We jut got done with a doggie Glamour Shot session (not actually, but she ‘poses’ for photos, it is hilarious).
Seriously. She belongs in Hollywood.
I have managed to take a few photographs of my weekend eats. When I say a few, I mean hardly any. Yesterday was kind of a snacky day so lunch was a bit on the smaller side.
I pressed some tofu for 30 minutes. For those of you who are in my club in not having a cool tofu press gadget, all I did was place the tofu in between a towel in a bowl and place another, heavy bowl on top. Works like a gem. I marinated the tofu in a mixture of sauces I found in Mike’s sisters fridge and I honestly don’t remember what went into the mix. I believe it was a combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, sweet and sour sauce, honey and maybe a few more splashes of another mystery sauce. Baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes a side. I served my tofu open sandwich style with a toasted piece of bread, hummus and a layer of my baked tofu.
I know my mom is going to cringe at the above creation! Mom, it was actually really, really good, I promise.  I had some red velvet cake on the side. 
Gotcha. I wish it was really red velvet cake, too, but instead it was in the form of yogurt. I suppose that will do.
Fast forward to this mornings breakfast, I threw together some oatmeal for Mike and me. Into the mix for 2:
- 2/3 cup oatmeal
- 1 2/3 cup water
- Dash of cinnamon
- Handful of blueberries
- 1 banana
- 1 small spoonful of sugar and brown sugar
- Strawberry jam and peanut butter for topping
I get giddy for cooked blueberries that burst in your mouth, it’s fantastic. It had been a while since I had oatmeal, so welcome back, oatmeal. I forgot how much I love you and how filling you are. Really, it has only been a few days, maybe a week, but that is a long time to not make an appearance in my life!
Last piece of info! I promise! Update on my knee… Mike and I went to spinning yesterday morning and I am pleased to report NO PAIN! Yipppie! I am happy to have found at least one form of exercise where I really feel pushed but that doesn’t present pain in my knee. Just over one week until my appointment and am crossing my fingers that I don’t get the ‘no exercise’ diagnosis, which I am already prepping to receive. Gah!
Okay, now that I wrote a novel, I am signing off. If you made it through this post, props to you! Adios!
Can I get an AMEN that today is Friday? I sure am doing the Friday dance in my cube. I can’t complain though, this week seems to have flow by; I love when that happens.
One reason in particular that I don’t mind if the week whizzes by? Two words… Scone Friday. Yes my friends, I look forward to it Monday through Thursday each and every week, no lies. Last week my friends over at Allie’s were featuring a new scone flavor that I jumped on board to try. Any guesses?
Chocolate chips… marshmallow fluff… summertime… hmmm… SMORES! I died and went to heaven. A-mazaing. Of course it didn’t have the graham cracker taste, but whatevs because it still was full of carbs which made a lovely substitute.
Here’s a warning: I am going to vent for a minute. Feel free to skip over this little section, kapeesh?
Last night we received our energy bill for the previous month and I almost had a heart attack. For those readers who are new to the blog, I currently live in a downtown Minneapolis loft. Of course loft = mega high ceilings. Because of this, it takes A LOT of energy to cool or heat our unit. Being the smart people that we are (not to toot my own horn or anything ), we have kept our AC at 77 degrees for the past few weeks, trying to conserve energy. We turn the AC on an hour before we go to sleep and then turn it off when we wake up. Wellll, apparently our AC takes up so much energy that is works up a $230 bill for our 900 square foot apartment. Sweet.
While I’ll miss our loft, I won’t miss the unreasonable heat and AC bills. One of the great things about our new apartment building is that it is Green! How sweet is that? Bring on the lower utility bills, please, I’m waiting for you with open arms. Okay, end rant. Thanks for listening.
Have you ever experienced high utility bills? What is the highest bill you’ve seen?
I’ve had quite the perfect evening tonight. Got off of work, stopped by our apartment to pick up my shipment of Holey Donuts (!!), went on an hour walk with the dogs, ate a fabulous dinner and am now just hanging out on the couch, blogging. The only thing that is missing is an ice cold mojito. Seriously, that would put me over the top with joy. How I wish I had the ingredients. Bummer. Oh well, maybe this weekend? What is your favorite drink?
Dinner was thrown together with some random ingredients from Mike’s sisters as well as a few fresh ingredients that we brought from our digs.
Ahh yes. On the left we’ve got a ‘taco salad’. For the base we used up a bag of coleslaw, topped with ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese, onion, green bell pepper, one crushed taco shell and taco sauce. As a side item steamed broccoli with ketchup, of course. What… you don’t have have ketchup accompany your Mexican meals? Is that odd or something?
We are seriously lacking in the food department over here right now so we are trying to be creative these past few days. I think we’re doing great for what we are working with! Eh? I have a serious itch to bake but don’t know if that will take place or not, I think I am missing a few key ingredients, grrrr.
I’ve been a bit MIA from blog land due to all of the summer fun I’ve been having so I think tonight is the night that I try to at least attempt to catch up with a few of your lives! Have a wonderful evening!
|
|
