It's All Random

When Jeremy was in Amsterdam he brought back these two presents for me:

A jacket that says Amsterdam.

A spoon holder (if you don't have one, they are a serious counter saver!)

At the farmer's market, I saw this little musical performance.

The best part is the baby on her back.

French toast, strawberries and a green monster.

Pork carnitas from Chapala's (best Mexican restaurant in Boise)

Oh yes I did. Mushroom and swiss burger and sweet potato fries from Smashburger.

Fried pickles? With buttermilk ranch? Greasily good.

Jeremy got a bbq bacon burger.

At Chili's.

We split a full rack of ribs. OH yeah.

Splitting an order of snow crab and shrimp scampi at Red Lobster. Isn't splitting stuff like this just the best bang for your buck?

Home made blondies.

Angel food Heath cake shared with friends.

Sometimes we even ate healthy. Special K red berry with lots of fresh berries.

Today, Jeremy and I went to the gym and we worked shoulders and back. I love working out with him, because he really pushes me! Then we went for a little run with Hunter. I got the best runner's high I had in a long time. Sweet!

Do you ever split meals with friends/significant others?

What the best thing you've eaten recently?

Hanging with the Hubby

Hey everybody! I've gotten a little sidetracked from the blog world. I've been reading some, but not much commenting! My hub-bub is on vacation so we've been playing!

On a random note, here's Hunter pretending to be a chicken. This dog is a crack-up!

Tuesday morning, we woke up early. 8 am qualifies as early right? I rarely make interesting breakfasts when he's working, so we made it special with whole wheat pancakes loaded with fresh blueberries, potatoes, eggs and fresh strawberries.

Here's my plate.

Playing with my food!

Hey, who isn't a little goofy in the morning? Hee.

Then we went furniture hunting and we were able to snag an awesome armoire for and a mirror for our bedroom. I love that I'm at the age where furniture buying is exciting. A friend of mine said to me "You know you've arrived, when you buy furniture that doesn't have to be assembled." How true!

Later that day, we happened to be near the Great Harvest and I said we had to drop in. We left with these beauties:

A loaf of asiago sourdough. Normally I don't like sourdough, but this was very mild and very tasty! Also a loaf of cinnamon burst bread. I can't make to make French toast with it!

We were so full from breakfast that we skipped over lunch and had dinner later in the evening at one of my favorite restaurants, Goodwood Bbq. I got the honey stung chicken sandwich, and Jeremy had the salmon. I almost always get that or the grilled chicken wrap. Some restaurants I just know what I like and stick with it! Unfortunately, pictures were completely forgotten, but it was very very good.

After our tummies had settled, we went to Sub Zero for a cold treat. This place is so fun. You pick out your ice cream type (premium, half and half, frozen yogurt, soy or rice), then your flavor, then your mix-in. They mix it all up, and then freeze it with liquid nitrogen. A bit pricey, but seriously fun.

I got white chocolate with cheesecake pieces, and Jeremy got cheesecake with strawberries.

Nom, nom.

Jeremy says to me, "You know all the best places." Aw. Yes I do. And then, to really make the night wild, we went to the Home Depot in search of patio furniture. Yes, we live on the edge.

Well, that's all for a little bit. Tonight, we're going for Mexican. Mmm! Extra guac please!!

What's your favorite item from Great Harvest?

Favorite ice cream flavor?

Scones Take Two

Before I headed to the gym Thursday night, I made these:

But we'll get to them in a second.

I made it to the gym for my run the other night. Let's just say that ice cream was NOT a good idea before. I totally cramped the last half of my 3 mile run. Thankfully, I still pushed through and accomplished what I set out for. I came home famished. Randomly, I was craving orange.

Carrot and sweet potato fries! I had three plates just like that. There. Hunger satiated.

The next morning I woke up surprisingly craving a sweet breakfast. As big as my sweet tooth is, I always reach for savory in the morning.

Whole wheat waffles! One with almond butter one with Brummel and Brown butter spread, both topped with sliced strawberries and plenty more strawberries on the side.

And a blueberry scone. Carbolicious.

And what's a scone without tea? Green tea in fact! With a little sugar in the raw.

Hunter is a shameless beggar.

For a snack later, I revisited the PB & Co. White Chocolate Wonderful. Ok, NOW I taste the white chocolate.

Perfect on a pink lady apple.

Are you ready for scones?!?

Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

2 tbs granulated sugar plus extra for sprinkling

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter (I used unsalted)

1 heaping cup fresh blueberries

zest of one lemon

1/2 c. buttermilk (plus extra for topping)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 375.

Whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and blend with a pastry cutter. Gently stir in blueberries.

Note: these scones have much less sugar than the previous ones I made. If you like them sweeter, add another 2 tbs or so of sugar to the dry ingredients. These are more biscuit-like which is how I prefer them.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together lemon zest, buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until almost all combined. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gently knead once or twice to incorporate the rest of the flour.

Pat dough into a 1-inch thick round. Cut into wedges, brush the tops with buttermilk and sprinkle on sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden. Transfer scones to a wire rack to cool.

Viola!

Hmm, I made myself hungry. I think I'll go have one right now!

P.S. Does anyone know what I should do with my zested lemon?

What's your best post-workout fuel?

What's your favorite item to bake/cook?

My Butt Is Big

Thanks everyone for your tips on Google reader. I must be getting the hang of it because...

When I saw this pop up, I knew it was time to write my next post.

Um, THANK YOU!!! Ok, Nike, you might pay little kids ten cents a day to make your shoes but at least you just made a total kick butt (pun intended) advertisement. You see, I very much relate to this. I'm a pear shape and I carry my weight in my trunk. I've spent far to long wishing I had a cute, tiny butt. Then one day, I got over myself. Who cares? I love myself just the way I am! :)

Ok, onto my day. My best friend Audrey's birthday was a few days ago, so I took her for lunch today to celebrate. We went to a local pizza/pasta place called Smoky Mountain Pizza.

Everything on their menu is so good. It was very hard to decide.

We started with a house salad with their house dressing on the side:

Their house dressing is like a creamy raspberry vinaigrette which is SO good.

Audrey cutting into her salad, isn't she so cute?

Then, they brought out our bruschetta appetizer:

Mmmm. The bread was the right balance of crispy and the toppings were very flavorful.

We split the Spicy Chicken Linguine:

Onions, garlic and red peppers sauteed and tossed with spinach, chicken breast, parmesan and linguini. Somehow, we expected it to not have so much spinach, but it was still quite good.

Afterwards, we perused Sephora for a while. Talk about a grown woman's candy shop. It's sad to say that I feel it's a big deal when I leave spending less than $100. I (almost) always something I NEED from there.

Today it was a bright red/coral. Lost Without My GPS.

After we picked up some groceries at CostCo, we got a treat. Dessert (and dinner) was a chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream.

Perfect pre-workout fuel right?

But seriously, I haven't gotten my run in yet today. So despite that all I want to do is zone out in front of the TV, my big butt (I can honestly say that with pride) and I will be heading to the gym in a little bit. Step 1: put on workout clothes. Ok, go.

Hope everyone had a FABULOUS day! I know I did.

What are your thoughts on this Nike ad?

What's your favorite item to order from a pizza/pasta place?

Festivals and Fridge Cleaning

Thank you everyone for your running comments and tips! All of you inspire me so much!

Hunter looking out the window at the rain.

Ok, I admit, I didn't go to Body Pump. I slept in. When I finally woke up, I woke up to the sound of thunder. Thunder? I listened again. That's either thunder or a LOT of rumbly trucks going by. Even my dog, who is so laid back was looking around wondering what all the ruckus was. When we got up to investigate, sure enough, there was a storm a brewing. However, 15 minutes later, it had passed by at things were bright and sunny again!

Let's rewind just a little bit. Last night, I headed downtown to the Basque festival with Sara and two of our friends. It was fun listening to music, catching up and of course eating authentic cuisine!

Basque flag.

Authentic music. There's two of them under the white tent. One is wearing a green shirt. See them? It's like Where's Waldo?

Some sort of wooden instrument. Sounded sort of island-y. They actually came from Colorado to perform at the festival!

Kyla and Sara enjoying some croquettas. Mmm.. fried cheesey goodness.

I got myself a lamb sandwich with sauteed onion and red pepper. Yum!

Some mornings, I forgo breakfast and skip right to brunch. But this morning, I was feeling like some yogurt, granola and peach. With some green tea of course.

Breakfast while catching up on blogs.

My plan today was to clean out the fridge. Lunch was the rest of my yellow farmer's market beans and a meatball burrito. Yes, you read that right.

I'd been enjoying some homemade bean burritos for lunch, they're such an easy fix! I just take a can of refried beans, add some green chilies and zap it in the microwave. However, I didn't have quite enough beans so I cut up a few left over meatballs that needed to get eaten and stuffed those in too. It doesn't look too exciting but was quite satisfying.

I also had a simple spinach salad with feta and grape tomatoes.

I've been lacking in the vegetable department but I definitely made up for it today!

Dinner was a new twist for me on a sweet potato.

I added some Bees Knees PB & Co. Mmm!

Here's an interesting tidbit for you: when I was younger, I was allergic to tomatoes, nuts and citrus fruits. Thankfully, I outgrew my allergies. To this day, however, peanut butter is something that isn't a big deal to me. I like it, but I guess I'm one of the few who isn't crazy about it!

Tomorrow is running day!

Hunter hanging out with my running shoes. He likes to use them as a pillow.

I'm trying to figure out Google reader, anyone have any tips? Please?!?

What cultural events do you enjoy in your city?

What interesting meal have you made from your leftovers?