Friday Funday After Being MIA

It has definitely been a hectic week.  It was my last week at my current job and I have been going out and eating at night with my friends.  Tuesday, I had a Whole Foods date night Nikki.  We have regular Whole Foods dates and I'm going to miss them lots!  We both hunt around for samples and then load up our bowls to the top at the salad bar.  We usually go to the candy aisle afterwards, but this week we opted for chocolate cake.  It was obviously delicious (let's be honest...there are few things at Whole Foods that are not).

A picture of Nikki and I after a bike ride from the other week.

Wednesday night, I met my friend Nicole (haha guess it was the week of Nicoles) for dinner at Slurping Turtle.  The chef behind Slurping Turtle is Takashi, a current competitor on Top Chef Masters.  Slurping Turtle is essentially Japanese comfort food.  

Our waiter was great!  He was extremely helpful in telling us what was good and telling us about the different dishes (not to mention he also gave us hints about other good restaurants nearby).  We shared two appetizers which were sesame soy marinated salmon and sweet corn croquettes.  Both were amazing and I especially liked the salmon.  For our main meals, we both opted for noodle based bowls instead of soup bowls since it was hot outside (I got the soup based bowl last time and it was awesome).  Nicole got Yaki Udon and I got the Chiyan Pon.  Both were really good and so different! The servings were huge and I definitely had some leftover for the next day.

Nicole and I at St Patrick's Day last year.

This week was only the beginning of so many more incredible meals to come!  Next week my mom is coming to Chicago to help me pack.  I will try to fill y'all in on the move and all the incredible meals.  Sorry for the lack of recipes lately, but I have taken a cooking hiatus these past few weeks.  Once I'm in Houston expect lots of cooking and baking!

And now.....Friday Funday!

Eggplant Stacks: This is a yummy looking summer dish with farmer's market ingredients.

Triple Threat Cupcake: It's every dessert you could want in one.  All you need to do is eat it with some ice cream on the side.

Me In the Winter: This pretty much sums up my winter wardrobe.  I guess this will probably change when I move to Houston.

Palazzo Margherita: I love this doorway.  It looks so interesting having a door within the door.

Foldover Clutch: I love the colors on this! 

Chobani Soho Cafe: What?! I read about this but didn't believe it!

9 Miles on a Treadmill and a Taste of Texas

I'm back in Chicago!  I had a great time seeing my family and friends in Houston this past weekend.  It was so great seeing everyone, especially this cute little guy...

In just one month since I last saw him, he started not just walking...but running!  He is so active, energetic, and happy.  I loved spending time with him and the rest of my family.

Since I went out with friends Friday night, there was no way that I was going to wake up at 5 am to beat the Houston heat and humidity (let's be honest...it was still probably too hot and humid at that time anyway) to run my scheduled 9 miles.  Instead, I did it on the treadmill.  I was dreading running for that long on the treadmill, but it ended up not being so bad thanks to the Olympics.  During the first part of my run I watched men's cross country.  Talk about inspiring and perfect timing!  It was like I was running with them.  The second half was men's beach volleyball and who doesn't like looking at cute guys while they run?!

After 60 minutes (and before resetting the treadmill), went 6.28 miles.

Finishing the last 2.7 miles after another 25:55 minutes.

I felt a little silly (and crazy) having to restart the treadmill since it only runs for 60 minutes.  The girl running next to me definitely gave me a funny look.  Overall, I have to say that I impressed myself.  I kept a 9:30 min/mile pace and felt pretty good afterwards.

That night, I went for some well-deserved Tex-Mex.  Whenever I go back to Houston, I make sure to get some Mexican food.  When we were deciding where to go, I said that I didn't care where as long as the had good guacamole and tortillas.  My sister, brother in law, and I ended up going to El Tiempo...great decision!  We didn't even bother looking at the menu because we knew right away what we were getting: chips and salsa, guacamole, and chicken fajitas.  What else could you want? It was all delicious!  The tortillas were soft and warm, just the way they should be.  The chicken fajitas came on a hot plate along with grilled onions and peppers.  I loved the onions!  I definitely loaded up my tortilla with the onions (good thing I was just out with family haha).  

The fajitas (and Noah peaking out from behind them)

The rest of the delicious meal (clockwise: guacamole, beans, salsa, and rice)

After an impromptu decision, we got a sopaipilla for dessert.  A sopaipilla is basically fried dough...and it's awesome!  It came with a side of chocolate dipping sauce, honey on the side, and whipped cream.  Always being someone who loves to finish off a meal with something sweet, I was very happy about the decision.

Can't resist a little something sweet to complete the meal!

After a weekend of incredible food and eating (including a bagel Sunday brunch, my favorite Mediterranean restaurant, and an awesome home cooked dinner with swordfish and peach sauce), it's back to being healthy!  I hit up the grocery store and got some great staples and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Need for Speed

Tonight I met a some friends for after work happy hour.  We decided to meet in an area that was in between the three of us called Wicker Park.  Finally, after 4 years of living in Chicago, I went to Big Star.  I had heard about it many times and have been wanting to go for a while now.  Big Star is a great Mexican restaurant and bar. We got there at 6:00 hoping for a table on the enormous patio (another gorgeous Chicago night).  No such luck!  There was already an hour wait for patio seats, so we opted for the bar inside.  We all got margaritas, chips, and caught up.

Unfortunately for me, if I had looked at the beer menu I would have seen this:

Lonestar beer! I happened to see the guy next to me drinking a Lonestar beer and immediately got drink envy.  It's not every day that you see a Texas beer in Chicago.

Before meeting my friends at the bar, I went to the gym for my Wednesday training run.  For me, Wednesdays are speed work days.  I always look forward to these runs because they provide a much needed break and change from my typical distance runs.  Speed work days involve one of two types of runs: tempo or HIIT.  Both help increase overall speed, but in different ways.

This is how fast I feel like I am running when I do my speed work training.

Tempo: The purpose of tempo runs are to build your anaerobic threshold, which in turn helps to increase your speed.  Tempos start with a 5-10 minute easy paced warm-up.  You then run for about 20 minutes (varies depending on particular workout for the day) at a pace that is "comfortably challenging".  You then end with a 5-10 minute easy paced cool down.

HIIT: HIIT stands for high intensity interval training.  These runs alternate high intensity, fast paced bursts and short, slow cool downs.  Similar to tempos, HIITs have a 5-10 minute warm up and cool down.  In between the warm up and cool down, there are usually 6-10 repetitions.  For example, my interval this week included 5 minutes of fast paced running with a minute cool down afterwards.  I repeated this 6 times.

Try adding one of these runs into your weekly work out to change things up!  Not only do they help improve your speed.  They also keep you body guessing by stepping away from your typical workout and burn more calories.

Breckenridge Fun

I didn't post at all last week because I was on vacation in Breckenridge with my family.  My family met up in Breckenridge on a Sunday and stayed through the Friday after the 4th of July.  It was an incredibly fun trip filled with lots of family time, activity, and food!

Breckenridge is a gorgeous city with unbelievable weather.  It was in the 70s during the day and cool at night.  The perfect weather for a mountain vacation.  Each morning we woke up bright and early with my wonderful, energetic nephew Nathan.

Some mornings we even had a fox come visit us on our front porch.

After eating breakfast at the condo, we would set out and start our days.  Some days we had planned morning activities like white water rafting, massages, or fly fishing.  There were a pool and hot tub next to our condo that we went to a couple times.  Also, each day we went a long walk (usually several) either on trails or around the downtown area.

We also ate some amazing food!  My favorite places by far were Mary's Mountain Cookies and Park and Main (does not have a website set up yet).  Mary's Mountain Cookies has some of the best cookies  that I have had in a long time and they are probably the size of half of your face.  I got a cookies with COW (craisins, oatmeal, and white chocolate chips).  I also tried the chocolate chip and Scotchie cookies.  All were amazing and I'm hungry just thinking about them.  Park and Main is a great sandwich place that has unusual, gourmet sandwiches.

We were there for the 4th of July, which was a lot of fun!  In the morning there was a parade.  Tons of people on bikes, horses, and trucks drove down the main road.  The wrestlers on top of a school bus and people blowing bubble were some of my favorite parade participants (can't really call them floats). They all threw candy to the kids as they passed by (clearly I was disappointed they were not throwing candy to me too).

At the parade

Cool chalk art for the kids on the 4th

After the parade, we went for an All American lunch of hot dogs at Sloppy Dog.  My dad and brother in law were extremely excited for this place! They have crazy hot dogs like the Fuego (hot pepper relish, Frito crunchies, and yellow mustard) and the Picnic (coleslaw, kettle chips, pickle, spicy brown mustard, and American cheese).

In addition to it being the 4th of July, my dad's birthday was the next day.  Instead of our usual cereal and bum bums (that's what my nephew calls berries) at the condo, we went into town for brunch.  Later  my dad, sister, and I went on a long hike.  At night, we went to a special dinner at Hearthstone.  While dinner was obviously amazing, I want to talk about dessert.  My dad can't have milk and does not get to usually enjoy dessert at restaurants.  My mom called the restaurant ahead of time and told them about my dad's dietary restrictions.  The restaurant went above and beyond!  At dessert, they came out with a 3 tier chocolate cake.  We were a little suspicious of the cake at first because it definitely did not look (or taste) dairy free.  However, we were told that it was in fact dairy free.  It was delicious! We later met this incredible chef and thanked him.

During vacation, it can be easy to overdue it with food and skimp on exercise.  While we ate lots of amazing food, we also were extremely active.  It's okay to indulge when you are on vacation!  Vacation is a break from your day to day life and that includes your regular eating routine.  However, remember to make choices and not overdo it too much (for example: I would have loved to go to Mary's Mountain Cookies every day, but I restrained myself).  Also, stay active!  Vacations are the perfect time to go on walks and explore different areas and cities you wouldn't otherwise.  Colorado is the perfect place for exploring and walking around, but are other places too!  Also, even with all of our walking and hiking around, my sister and I even went to the gym one day.

Have fun on vacation and don't get down on yourself just because you broke your diet or didn't get that full training run in.  You can always get back on track!  I had an incredible vacation with my family and loved the time that I spent with them.

My nephew on his first horseback ride