I’m a Big Dill + WIAW

July 2, 2014 By Laura

I’m a big dill.

In my head.

Really though. I posted the pic below on Instagram heading into leg day on Monday, but there’s a reason other than humor. Legs days with my trainer always kick my butt. He’s brutal… in a good way though. One of the reasons I love training with him is that he pushes me to do more than I even imagine to be possible.

When I walk into a session with him, I psych myself UP. So much of lifting is mental. If you tell yourself you can and approach the weights with confidence, you’ll be amazed by what you can do. That’s also a good example of how I #MoveHappy. 😉

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This WIAW I was STARVING from leg day. I wanted a little bit of everything, so that’s what I had!

Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else’s delicious creations!…

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?

Eating with a Top Chef

July 9, 2012 By Laura

OK, maybe not with…

I did eat AT Richard Blais’ new Atlanta restaurant, The Spence. ~~God bless cheat day~~. Chef Blais was the runner-up in season 4 of Top Chef, and then went on to win Top Chef All-Star season 8. He’s famous for his use of molecular gastronomy and ambitious flavor combinations.

His fearless approach to food was evident throughout The Spence’s menu:

Even the Parker rolls were presented with pizzaz (good thing, because I’ve always found their taste to be blah).

Dinner Rolls with a schemer of butter sprinkled with sea salt

For my appetizer, I couldn’t resist the gazpacho. It was listed on the menu as “Canned Soup of Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho.” I’d take this over Campbell’s any day. It was served atop radishes, smoky-toasted croutons, and what I think was a horseradish granita.

The presentation alone was worth the choice:

My friend and dining mate, Kathleen, chose the beet salad. It was a mix of roasted and raw beets, blue cheese, soft-boiled egg, and wasabi. The textures were perfection, though I could have gone for more heat… but you guys know how I am about fire.

On the to main event. I need to preface this by saying there are dishes the menu that were much more ambitious that what we ordered. The menu needs some explanation and – oddly enough – our server wasn’t recommending the more unusual items, even when asked. Did she not trust our pedestrian palates?

If I go back, I’m throwing caution to the wind and ordering the pork belly. It is brought to the table under a glass dome of rich smoke and unleashed for your viewing (and smelling) pleasure. The people next to us were over-the-moon about this dish. ~~It smelled so good I almost jumped into the guy’s lap when they removed his lid.~~

I selected the Cobia (a mild white fish). It was cooked to perfection – done sous-vide and finished on the grill to give it a nice crust. It was topped with a salsa of kaffir lime, pineapple, capers, and crisp green beans. Even better was the pine nut cream – it was like dinner-appropriate nutty whipped cream.

Kathleen ordered the Spatchcock chicken with asparagus and sea beans. The chicken itself was ho-hum (again, we should have ordered better), but the sea beans and a peanut dust served alongside the chicken were fantastic.

Last but not least: dessert. I had been looking forward to the carrot cake and peas, but it wasn’t available that evening (they change the menu weekly).

No matter, one bite into my selection and I forget the cake. I chose the Burnt Banana Ice Cream served with chocolate mousse mixed with lightly candied peanuts and drizzled with caramel. I could have licked the plate. The ice cream was just as good as it sounds, and the mousse was thick yet not too sweet. The well-balanced dessert that left me feeling satisfied rather than gluttonous.

Kathleen was craving cheesecake. She ordered what was listed on the menu as “Ricotta Cheesecake, Blackberry, and Graham.” This looked NOTHING like a cheesecake, but was impressive, nonetheless. It was incredibly light and was easily the most creative cheesecake interpretation I’ve seen.

The bill was presented with an old-fashioned key resembling the restaurant’s logo. I wonder how long before all of those are stolen?

It was quite pricey, but you will leave with a smile on your face once you eat the gift from the kitchen – a tiny creme-filled spiced cookie sandwich.

You’ll leave with an even bigger smile if you ~~man-up~~ boldly interrupt Chef in the middle of dinner service for a quick photo-op. In all seriousness he was very gracious, stopping to chat with several tables and patiently posing for photographs.

He asked if I was a “good blogger or a bad blogger.”

I think I’m good… I’m certainly not mean. ~~Most of the time.~~

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I almost forgot the workout recap time! Figure competition training is still ON and I am loving it. It is taking a massive amount of discipline, but I know the reward will be well-worth it. Ever try doing barbell squats with a heinous sunburn on your shoulders? I don’t recommend it.

I think there are a few noticeable changes in muscle-size. Or at lease that what my mom and my BFF tell me.

Workout Recap (7/2- 7/8):

Monday – Back/Triceps, 2 mile walk
Tuesday – Shoulders/Glutes (w/ trainer), 3 mile walk
Wednesday – Chest/Biceps, 3 mile walk, jet-skiing
Thursday – Legs, 2 mile walk
Friday – Back/Triceps
Saturday – Shoulders/Glutes, 2 mi walk
Sunday – 15 min bike ride, 2 softball games

***

Thanks to everyone for their positive thoughts, comments, messages, and tweets after Friday’s post. It was a tough day, but you all put a smile on my face. 🙂

Have you ever eaten at a “celebrity” chef’s restaurant? Did it live up to expectations?

What was the best thing you ate this weekend?

I’m a Big Dill + WIAW

Making Monday Marvelous

Eating with a Top Chef

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