Marvelous in My Random Monday

March 25, 2013 By Laura

Warning: This post is totally random.

Making it reflective of the thoughts that run through my head.

I’m really loving the idea of focusing on why life is good on my (former) least favorite day of the week. Katie’s Marvelous in My Monday link up is a great reminder to keep the good weekend-vibes up!

There was a lot of awesome this weekend. Most of it is completely unrelated… if you aren’t a fan of unfocused posts this will drive you nuts. #sorryimnotsorry 😉

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At the end of last week I was inspired by a FitFluential twitter chat to make my own standing desk at work. I’ve long been a fan of sitting on a stability ball at work, but I still dislike sitting ALL day. In a big company it’s hard to get approval for a fancy standing desk, so I did a little improv:

Much better use of those Girls Scout cookies, no?

Side note: I made it through cookie season only having eaten 1/2 of a Samoa. I would have eaten a Tagalong, but never did find a box of those lying around. No one wanted to share the best flavor ever?!

Saturday morning called for pancakes. I finally got around to trying out the Strange But Good pancake recipe Alina shared a couple of weeks ago. Her Chocolate Chip Cookie Pancakes were inspired by my Oatmeal Cookie Shake! I loved the creativity. Please overlook my inability to make brown food look appetizing. These were amazing.

(Shameless plug: Go back and check out last Friday’s link up – it was the biggest one yet!!!)

My only modifications were to replace the 2 T of banana with more pumpkin puree and to use carob chips instead of chocolate chips. The nutritional yeast in these (and the shake) may sound strange, but it makes the recipe!

I topped them with sugar-free syrup, but they honestly didn’t need it. Next time I’m eating them plain like a cookie.

After my workout, I did a little shopping. I don’t know what happened, but over the past couple of years I have totally lost interested in clothes shopping. I’d rather buy workout clothes and fun groceries! Saturday’s goal was to buy new clothes for work, but instead I found a jacket and some lip plump.

This jacket was on sale and then an addition 40% off at Banana Republic – $180 jacket for $90. Score.

Photo from bananarepublic.com

And the lip plump… that was an impulse buy at Sephora. It added a little more pout to lips, but it tingled more than anything!

I’m pretty sure I bought this for the name alone.

Saturday night I had a date with my best friend for the first time in MONTHS. I really missed her! We had a fabulous meal at Miller Union. One of my favorite ways to eat is to order a bunch of small plates and a single entrée to share. I have to try everything!

This is round 1 of the small plates. A kale salad with pecans, fennel, and orange and grapefruit segments, massaged with creme fraiche dressing. In the middle is a feta cheese dip with fresh veggies. And wine.

Sunday was going to be a rest day… but I got restless. ~~And I had some wine to sweat out.~~

I popped in my old DVD standby – P90X Plyo. After all that bouncing I had to get a calf shot. My trainer has had me doing weighted calf raises 3x a week to elongate my calves… but I never really believed it was possible. Now I think it actually worked!

I refueling with an old favorite: my Carrot Cake Protein Smoothie. Xanthan Gum is one I’ve used for a long time to thicken smoothies up, but after this Butternut Banana Shake post I took several of your suggestions and bought Guar Gum to use too. What resulted was a creamy concoction so thick I ate it from a bowl with a spoon.

Xanthan was great for getting smoothie thick, but that Guar really amped up the creaminess. Definitely worth a try if you don’t already use it!

After my workout I heard a massive thud. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I live in a city. I have become accustomed to tuning out noise. I’d totally forgotten about it until I left for the farmer’s market. That noise was this happening:

After days of rain storms, this huge old tree split at the base. The marvelous part? That building is abandoned and no one was hurt!

Finally, one of my favorite activities. Kombucha brewing! I love kombucha, but it does get pricey. Months ago I purchased a Brooklyn Kombucha home-brew kit on Open Sky and I brew my own stash every week. It’s unbelievably easy. Click here to head over to Open Sky if you’re interested in starting!

Recycled ACV bottles are perfect to store it in!

This week’s flavors:

Blood orange with cinnamon and ginger
Rosemary with cinnamon and ginger
Chili pepper and ginger

***

One more marvelous: today is leg day with my trainer. #hurtssogood

Does sitting at a desk drive you nuts? How do you stay active at your job?

Do you like kombucha? What flavor would you like to brew?

Marvelous Monday Meals

March 18, 2013 By Laura

Rainy Mondays can be hard.

Ok, always. Rainy Mondays are always hard…

A few weeks ago I committed to making an effort to be more positive on this most glorious day of the week and joined the diva-licious Katie in her Marvelous in My Monday link up. This week I need to get back on that train.

What a better way to do it than recap some tasty food? I’ve been eating good this past week, and I have a LOT to share. This is a long one. ~~That’s what shai said.~~ Sorry… but not really. 😉

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To start it off, last Sunday my friend Kathleen and I went to an underground supper club hosted by Souper Jenny. she does these once or twice a year; the secret location and chef is announced the day before the event.

Our surprise chef was Omar Powell! He is the Chef de Cuisine at my favorite Indian Restaurant, Cardamom Hill (a James Beard nominee!), yet he is Jamaican with a French culinary training. I was beyond excited to see what he came up with!

We arrived at the secret location (a local pasta shop, Storico Fresco) and were immediately blown away by the stunning table setting!

Before the meal, we had the chance to walk around a bit and I ~~got in the professional photographer’s way~~ snuck behind the counter to grab a shot of Chef Powell and Chef-Owner Asha Gomez discussing a dish.

The first course was a small treat that left me ~~way too~~ excited for the rest of the evening. Soft farm eggs with ackee, cod, scallions, and bacon. The flavors could have easily over-taken the egg, but they were perfectly balanced in the delicate shell. There is nothing more fabulous than a perfectly cooked egg.

Next we were presented with a brown stewed chicken served over tun cornmeal, pickled onions, and fin herbs.

We questioned whether it was really chicken – I’ve never had a more rich, flavorful piece of chicken in my life. This could have easily passed as a tender piece of red meat. It doesn’t even look like chicken, does it?

I almost asked for seconds… and I did ask for the recipe!

The third dish was a Jerked Pork served with yellow yam augratin, mango, papaya jam, and all spice oil.

The flavor combination in this dish was perfection. The jerk was just the right amount of heat against the sweet fruit, and the creamy augratin. Augratin can often be too rich for me, but this yam was restrained and didn’t take away from the other components.

This next dish was my favorite of the night. I think… it’s hard to choose! It was a oxtail agnolotii (agnolotii is a stuffed pasta, like ravioli) in a pumpkin soup laced with all spice and black pepper tulie.

I’m a huge oxtail fan, and the agnolotii did not disappoint. However, what made this dish for me was the soup. I admired his use of all spice here because it is one I’m timid with. A little bit can go a long way. The burst of it here gave a depth of flavor to the soup, allowing it to stand out against a big flavor like oxtail.

Lastly, we enjoyed a sweet and savory dessert. This was a cornmeal pone with comte cheese, “drops,” and thyme honey.

I had not heard of drops before. Apparently they are a Jamaican street food candy. It’s a sugar-glazed, chewy piece of coconut. That sweetness with the thyme honey and the more savory pone and cheese was a storybook end to a memorable meal. I’d like to say I was too stuffed to eat it all… but I ate mine and half of Kathleen’s.

#sorryimnotsorry

Yes, I ate the flower too.

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I had another awesome meal with my mom last friday night. We went to a family favorite, Everybody’s Pizza.

This place is one that will forever have a place in my heart. They have been open since 1971 and this coming Tuesday is their last day in business. My parents used to go on dates there in college, and later my dad would take me as a treat on Friday nights.

He’d tell me stories about what it was like “back on the day” when then had communal seating and tables of strangers would share pies and pitchers of beers. We would eat an entire pizza and then polish off a giant order of bread pudding. There are staving kids in Africa, right?

In honor of my dad, my mom and I had one last meal there. We toasted my dad’s memory with beers and shared a giant pizza. Half cheeseless veggie, and half with extra feta cheese, portabello mushrooms, jalapenos, and meatballs. And then a bread pudding. We were only going to eat half… ~~but you know that didn’t happen~~. 🙂

It was a great night sharing stories and eating one last meal at a local haunt. Everybody’s, you will be sorely missed.

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What do you do the morning after carb-loading? You take a trip up Stone Mountain! Mom and I met up with my friend Kathleen the next morning for a hike up the mountain in the gorgeous spring weather.

They were great sports, cheering me on as I ran my sprints up the steep part. They even joined in for a couple of rounds!

Where’s Waldo?

The refuel was classic. Fro-yo from Yoforia for lunch! Fruit, dairy, protein… I got chocolate and Irish cream flavors with kiwi, strawberries, pretzels and a Reese’s egg. Is that not the BEST topping offering?!

This deliciousness fueled my trip to the gym for a killer shoulder and glute workout. Sprints + glutes in the gym = one tired butt.

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Finally, on Sunday, I rounded out the marvelous with a day of softball. My women’s softball team beat both male teams we played!

I think it was the lucky socks.

After the game we had a social, and I brough a St. Patrick’s Day treat for the team: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!! These cupcakes are an annual request… they don’t have to twist my arm too hard to oblige. 😉

This is a fantastically indulgent cupcake. The base is Guinness chocolate cake. I fill them with Irish whiskey ganache and then ice them with an Irish cream frosting.

I’m too late to post a recipe for the holiday… but if you’re interested I may do a post later this week. Let me know!

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It was a bit of a gluttonous weekend, but coupled with a LOT of activity. No regrets, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to normalcy this week!

Does your family have a nostalgia restaurant? Is it still there?

What is making YOUR Monday marvelous today?

Making Monday Marvelous

February 4, 2013 By Laura

Mondays are not my favorite.

They are second only to Tuesday in their suck-factor.

This week I’m making an effort to be more positive about the start to the week and joining up with the diva-licious Katie in her Marvelous Monday link up.

After an awesome weekend, I think the glow should carry over to Monday!

It all started Thursday night with a ATL blogger dinner. I met up with Lee, Kat, Heather, Alayna, Stacy, and… HEATHER and her boyfriend, who are visiting for the weekend from Tennessee!!! We ate at a local Ethiopian place called Desta (3086 Briarcliff Road Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30329; 404.929.0011).

If you’ve never had Ethiopian food, think of Indian food… but without the cardamom and coconut flavors. And with fingers – you scoop your food with injera, a bread made from teff flour. (No worries – they has hand sanitizer at the table.) Injera is just teff flour and water mixed together and left to ferment for 2-3 days. It has a light, spongy texture and a slightly sour taste due to the fermentation. I know that sounds odd, but it works. Kind of like kombucha. It’s also really rich in iron!

I ordered the Fish Tibs, which were excellent! The injera are the things that look like rolled washcloths in the background:

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Round two of the marvelous happened Friday night. After a looooong day, I met up with Heather and her boyfriend again for a fun dinner at The Spence (75 5th St NW, Atlanta, GA 30308; 404.892.9111). I don’t repeat restaurants often, but this one is in the rotation. It was started by Richard Blais of Top Chef fame, and actually lives up to the hype!

Here are a few of my favorites from what we ordered:

Clockwise, left to right:

Fois gras with 5-spice and candied quince
Butternut squash agnolotti with pig trotter, brussle leaves, and parsnip puree
Blood orange and champagne cake
Milk chocolate, peanut, and burnt banana ice cream (I can’t eat here without ordering this)

The icing on that cake came when I checked my mail that evening. Not one but TWO special deliveries. Nuttzo sent me an entire jar of my favorite nut butter (I’m not just saying that). This stuff is pricey, but I SWEAR it’s worth every penny. It was my first “treat” after my figure competition last year.

The second package was from Chobani. They sent over a sampling of their new flavors and a spoon. I was probably too excited about getting a spoon in the mail… but it’s a really nice, heavy spoon. I normally don’t eat flavored yogurt due to the sugar content, but I’ve been using these as condiments and eating these 1/2 at a time. My favorite flavor? The fig with orange zest – I love that it has real pieces of fig!

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The awesome didn’t stop there!

Saturday night I took my broccoli Heather, her BF, and another friend to a place I’ve been really excited to try. 7 Lamps (3400 Wooddale Dr NE #217, Atlanta, GA 30326; 404.467.8950) was opened by one of my favorite local chefs, Drew Van Leuvan. I used to eat at ONE Midtown all the time when he was at the helm.

Heather and me

This was one of the best meals I’ve had in recent memory. It was a TON of food, but it was great to get to sample a little bit of everything:

Clockwise, from the top left:

Butter-dipped radishes with mustard aioli and pickled Fiddlehead Ferns
Smoked ruby beets with medjool dates, bacon jam, oj fennel, and bucheron
Mortadella mousse in Sicilian pistachio macaroons with grilled baguette, bourbon mustard, and pickled grapes and celery
Sashimi of smoked Wild Salmon with navel orange, grapefruit, avocado, and pea shoots
Lobster roll with celery aioli on a steamed brioche bun
“Off the Menu” burger that is 50% brisket, 50% top round, and topped with housemade Thousand Island, caramelized onions, B & B pickles, and a grilled cheese gratin… and served with hand cut cottage fries
Spicy lamb meatballs with adzuki beans, sage, and brasied pearl onions
Savory crepes with wood grilled tuscan kale, vidalia onion, gruyere gratin, smoked vinaigrette
Red Dawn – Four Roses bourbon, pur likor spiced blood orange liqueur, benedictine, and black walnut bitters

The beet dish was a fantastic combination of flavors and textures. You all know I love salty and sweet, so the bacon with the dates was a huge win for me. It was well-balanced with the tangy OJ fennel. The creaminess from the boucheron against the still-firm beets made the dish that much more fun to eat..

I’m sad that my favorite dish was the worst picture. I was too excited to eat it! The mortadella mousse macaroons were out of this world. It was you childhood bologna sandwich, all grown up. A little sweet, a little salty, and a perfect chew from the macaroons. I could have eaten plates of these.

The burgers were ordered by the boys, but they shared a bite. This may be a contender for the best burger in ATL (certainly better than H&F, and right there with Bocado). It’s not on the menu and they don’t like to serve them during dinner service… but you should order it anyway. My eyes rolled back into my head upon taking a bite of the juicy burger. It was the sort of burger that gets all over your face, but you don’t care because you’re too busy reveling in its deliciouness.

There is room for improvement on the salmon dish and the lobster. Both were missing something… the smokiness wasn’t apparently in the salmon, which I think would have made the dish. As it were, it fell flat on my palate. The lobster claw meat itself and the steamed bun were both fantastic. It simply needed something else to lift it. A little bit of heat or tang added to this would make it close to perfect.

The service was great. Or server, Joseph, was attentive and clearly passionate about the menu. “Head Mixtress” Arianne was slammed behind the bar, but took the time to talk with us about the drink selection. Her suggestions were spot-on! I’d come back just for a cocktail… but I’d probably have to order more macaroons too…

The night wasn’t over yet! We moved on the Victory Sandwich Bar, where we met up with a friend of Heather’s BF. Here’s the thing about Victory. They have Jack & Coke slushies. A victory, indeed.

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Sunday… I needed some down time! I enjoyed a luxurious day in the weight room and some green!

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It’s going to be a crazy week. I may have to re-read this post a few times.

What was your favorite part of the Super Bowl? As a former advertising major, I dig the commercials!

What was weekend memories are making your Monday marvelous?

Marvelous in My Random Monday

Marvelous Monday Meals

Making Monday Marvelous

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