Sugar Bowl

Hi and welcome from our couch! We’re currently relaxing and watching Michigan in the All State Sugar Bowl. We don’t look too hot right now (and neither does my hair but nobody said you have to look cute to watch football ;))

We’re such a football Michigan “family”, even the little guy is watching the game

Anyway, to rewind a bit…

It took a little while to get back in-sync at work. I had half-finished projects to pick up and e-mails to respond to. I’ve also started getting messages from my professors for next term with textbook lists and other information. Christmas break really is over isn’t it.

Lunch was the last of the stroganoff leftovers. Again, I added some spinach and cheese to doctor it up a bit. In my opinion, it is much better this way!

I balanced the pasta with two delicious clementines.

Mmm, I love clementines, I wonder why I rarely ever buy them?

I took a break around 2 and went out searching for caffeine. Well not really searching because there is a Dunkin’ Donuts like 100 feet from my office :P. I also stopped at Jewel and picked up some healthy snacks to keep at my desk. I also grabbed an apple that I ate with my coffee as an afternoon snack.

Did you know an apple is more efficient at waking you up in the morning than a cup of coffee? Crazy right?

For some reason Dunkin’ Donuts’ hot coffee makes me nauseus everytime I drink it, but I’m totally fine with the iced version. I really can’t figure it out. Today was a little bit better but I still had to munch on some crackers to soothe my stomach.

Ian requested pasta salad for dinner so I cut Heather’s mexican pasta salad recipe in half and served it cold while we watched the pre-game.

Because I had pasta for lunch, I served my portion over a huuuge bed of spinach and some mushrooms. It was truly a pasta salad 😉

Completely satisfied, I waited awhile before having an unpictured rice cake with ricotta cheese and apple pie preserves.

Football is calling my name and maybe a glass of wine or a beer. Hey it’s the last Michigan game of the year!

Go Blue!

Boston Marathon: 12 miler take 2

I had another 12 miler on my schedule this weekend in order to offset the extra mileage during the week. This really wasn’t smart. I totally violated the 10% rule and increased my mileage from 32 miles last week to 42 this week. What can I say, I’m a total idiot. I felt the difference today and my run was not as good as last week.

Live and learn, even marathoners aren’t superheros :P.

I woke up around 7 to get ready to go. Pre-run fuel was a small piece of strada.

This was a bad decision, oregano burps while running are really unpleasant.

I actually really enjoyed my run. I ran over by where I used to live, went for a stretch on the lake shore trail, and then headed through downtown. The streets were pretty empty and the sun was out. It was gorgeous! The only problems were the small patches of ice on the sidewalks and bridges. While yesterdays snow might have melted, the ice stayed around! I managed not to slip (yes!) and finished 12.3 miles in 1:35.

Splits-
1- 7:30
2- 7:42
3- 7:46
4- 7:54
5- 7:38
6- 7:32
7- 7:55
8- 7:50
9- 8:01
10- 8:22 <– garmin crapped out under the ‘l’
11- 7:18
12- 7:57
.3- 7:34

Overall I’m happy with this run considering the drastic bump up in mileage. I plan to take it easy today by foam rolling and maybe even visiting my gym’s hot tub. We shall see, but today is all about recovery.

Breakfast when I got home was the oats I wanted to make yesterday

I whipped up some banana custard oats with raisins and egg whites and topped them with some granola and Trader Joe’s cookie butter (please buy this now!)

I also had some coffee with soy egg nog and an adora disk. Perfect recovery breakfast!

Last night
The original plan last night was to eat leftovers for dinner and relax, but after hanging around the apartment for a couple of hours, both Ian and I became antsy and decided to go out for dinner. We wanted to go somewhere within walking distance but also wanted to try a new restaurant. After some yelping, we decided on The Scout Waterhouse & Kitchen, a relatively new bar in the area that boasted good food.

The Scout also had an extensive and reasonably priced beer list (win!) so I started the night with a Goose Island Sofie.

I really want this glass! The beer wasn’t so bad either 😉

For my main I ordered the seared scallops. They came with a sweet corn garnish and fried carrots.

I also split some fries with Ian. Ian ordered this amazing looking mac and cheese dish with bacon, asparagus, and mushrooms. He loved it.

I have to say I think we’ll be back here again!

After dinner we watched a movie on Netflix, apparently I didn’t make it through the whole movie because Ian managed to take this picture. Oh well, Sonic was just so comfy and warm!

I really have no plans for the afternoon besides relaxing and reading. There may even be a nap in my future!

What are your plans for the day?

 

Veggie Guilt

Does anyone else suffer veggie guilt? Generally my body craves vegetables, so I rarely go more than two meals without eating something veggie-centered. But days like today, where I snacked my way through the afternoon and wasn’t hungry for dinner, I feel guilty for not eating vegetables at dinner.

Am I crazy? Does anyone else feel this way?

My solution tonight was roasted vegetables. It seemed to make sense- we had a lot of random vegetables in our fridge that would most likely go bad over the weekend.

I chopped carrots, jalapenos, celery, onions, and mushrooms and coated them lightly with olive oil, salt, pepper, and some chili powder. I threw all of the veggies (except for the mushrooms) on a foil lined baking sheet and popped them in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

After 20 minutes, I stirred the veggies and added the mushrooms. I put them back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

I had a small bowl with some ketchup and put the rest in my lunch for tomorrow.

Ian brought this home today

I may not be a vegetarian tonight 😉

Have a good one!

Piece

Yummm, I just got home from one of my favorite restaurants in the city- Piece Pizzeria. Piece is an awesome spot to get thin crust pizza and have a beer- they’re also a brewery.

Ian and I got there a little after 6 and there was already an hour wait- wowza! We ordered some beer and stood by the bar to pass the time until our table was ready.

I ordered the Camel Toe.

Even though I normally love Piece’s beers, this beer did not go down smoothly. I sipped on it for most of the evening and happily passed it over to Ian once he finished his beer.

For dinner we went with the usual. We started with a caprese salad. It was so good- I love how there is a good amount of lettuce to balance the tomato and mozzarella.

Next we split a small red pizza with mushrooms and bacon on one side (for him) and mushrooms and broccoli on the other half.

I had one small slice and then a huge one. I started to get full after the second piece and decided to stop. I knew were had big plans for dessert and I love having pizza leftovers.

For dessert we went to Scooters Frozen Custard! One of the best ice cream/custard places in the city. I had a small pumpkin concrete, which is pumpkin flavored frozen custard blended with pie crust and topped with whipped cream. Sooo good.

I can never pass up a trip to Scooters!

What an awesome Saturday night. I feel so lucky that not only did I get to spend the evening with Ian but I also got to go to two of my favorite places in Chicago!

Now I’m going to go relax on the couch and watch some Rescue Me with the boys. I’m hooked on this show- is anyone else a fan?