Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Weekend Recap


I am getting a late start on my weekend recap. All I can say is yesterday was a Monday :)  Our weekend started out with a little road trip. We drove about two hours away to find a Best Buy that had the cell phone we wanted for $1. The best we could do around home is to get the phone for $200. I would say four hours of our time was worth $398, right. It was also a nice excuse to take our new car for a longer ride - we still love it.

We knew it was supposed to snow mid-day, so we started out early. We decided to eat breakfast in our destination town before getting our phone, instead of eating lunch after getting the phones. I had looked up breakfast joints online and had settled on a place called the Blue Spoon. It is actually right on the edge of my college campus (new since I went to school though). It looked like a quaint little spot with a variety of breakfast options. I figured it would not be too busy since classes had not yet resumed from Christmas break. Was I wrong!  The place was packed! It didn't help that it was tiny. There were wall to wall people - I am definitely not used to that for a breakfast place. When we were finally seated we were shocked (and a little uncomfortable) to be seated at a four top table with another couple. Yes, they consider their four tops two tables for two. I really wanted to eat there so I was ready to suck it up and go with the flow. But after sitting there for a couple minutes trying to concentrate on the menu we became much too uncomfortable and ended up leaving. I think the other couple was uncomfortable too - they didn't say a word to us or each other the whole time we were seated. 

We did some scrambling and found another cafe to have breakfast. Much more spacious and our own table. We had a super friendly (and genuine) waitress, named Capri. My husband was a much happier camper.
My husband ordered huevos rancheros. I will say they were much more of a chorizo omelet than huevos rancheros.  However, they were tasty so we didn't mind the misnaming. I had a breakfast burrito. I didn't realize it came with home fries too. I ended up eating about half the burrito and all the home fries - they were perfectly cooked and seasoned. The burrito was good but I would have been happy just with a plate of the potatoes :)
As expected, it started snowing on our way home. It wasn't much, but first snows are always tricky. Crazy drivers fall into two camps - "this is nothing - let me drive like a maniac" or they slow to a complete crawl braking every 50 feet.  The normal drivers are caught in the middle.  I was thankful my husband was driving.


We got home in time to see the Saturday Wild Card games.  We watched some seriously crazy games this weekend. Not pointing fingers, but some of those players/coaches need to get their stuff together - that was embarrassing. This was my view for much of weekend.


I have always loved the black markings on Millie's paws. Typically, a Rottweiler's feet would be all brown.
And this is the look I get when Millie is finished having her pictures taken.
Sunday my niece competed in the state cheerleading competition. I watched the livesteam of the event. How cool is that?


I was using my new cell phone camera to take pictures of the computer screen. That is a whole lot of legs!!
I have been concentrating on eating better and that is going well. The exercise is going to have to be worked in soon as this is my current exercise regimen.
I have been studying the Cooking Light magazines I got out from the library. I am trying to decide if I am going to make this for my lunches. I am just not sure the sauce would hold up so well (or the pasta would soak it all up and become dry.)
In the meantime, I had this for lunch yesterday. I was intrigued by the flavors. The salmon burger ended up being super dry. I didn't have any toppings for the sandwich - just bread and dry salmon. At least it tasted okay. The peas kinda freaked out in the microwave. The flavor was okay, but they looked terrible - all shriveled up. I had a serving, but I think the rest will get thrown away.
My husband requested LoMein for dinner last night. It is one of my favorite go-to meals. I added loads of extra veggies to bulk it up.
And for those of you wondering what I am eating today. Breakfast was two eggs scrambled with 1 cup frozen spinach and some turkey sausage crumbles, English muffin with grape jelly, a cutie and of course, a tall glass of water. It was a very satisfying 373 calories.
For lunch I have Leftover Soup. I started with a can of low-sodium chicken broth and added leftovers - chicken cooked in salsa verde (from tostadas), the veggies (not used for LoMein last night) and rice I had served with pulled pork. I am hoping it made a tasty soup :) I did noticed the rice has greatly expanded since this picture, so it might be more like a stew by lunchtime. 
Dinner tonight will be the Bacon Topped BBQ meatloaves I prepped and put in the freezer last week.  Fingers crossed that they turn out well. I plan to serve them with broccoli and a "reasonable" serving of mashed potatoes. Even without the exercise portion, I think my weight might be on a downward trend just from eating better. One step at a time :)


13 comments:

  1. Gosh all your food looks great! You're making really good choices I think (and that breakfast burrito looks wonderful). We call the potatoes hash browns down here. I've never heard it called Home Fries? I love all the neat little regional quirks there are. What phone did you settle on?

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    1. Sorry for the confusion - the picture is my husband's breakfast and those are hash browns. I didn't post a picture of my food cause it didn't turn out so great (and it made me look like a piggy). We got the LG G4s.

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  2. I despise community seating in restaurants, and Portland is allllll about the community seating. It's seriously an introvert's nightmare and soooo weird.

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    1. It is not my thing. Part of what I like about going out to eat is to talk with the person I am am with - if we can't talk what is the point? Even if I were an extrovert who is to say the person I am seated with wants to hear me yap?

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  3. I despise community seating in restaurants, and Portland is allllll about the community seating. It's seriously an introvert's nightmare and soooo weird.

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  4. I would have been uncomfortable too, sitting that close to a couple of strangers! I'm surprised the restaurant doesn't give people the option; I wonder how many customers they lose because of it?

    You are making great food choices, and it's all so yummy-looking! Des's hash browns comment makes me chuckle; I agree, those are definitely hash browns. Home fries are what I call potatoes that have been chopped/diced and then pan-fried, also known as "breakfast potatoes" ;)

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    1. I saw a couple of tables that only had two seats. I think if we had realized what was going to happen we would have just waited for one of those tables to open. The people behind us had 4 people so they got seated at their own table :( Sorry about the tater confusion - the picture is of my husband's hashbrowns. My home fries were more like you described, but they might have been deep fried. I have also heard what I had called cottage fries.

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  5. MMMM...your food sounds tasty! I would have walked from the breakfast place if I had been sat with a strange couple at a four top table. Just awkward!

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    1. Definitely awkward. I guess it isn't hurting their business though.

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  6. I have heard of communal dining, where everyone sits at one big table together, but sitting two couples who don't know each other at a four top is absurd.

    Fingers crossed your meatloaves are yummy!

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    1. I agree the big table would have been much less awkward. The turkey meatloaves were a success :)

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  7. On our last cruise, we were seated with another family and it was SOOO awkward. First their food got held up because of some snafu's with Oliver's food (cinnamon allergy). They wouldn't serve anyone until they could serve everyone, even though I begged them to please just let the rest of the table eat while they sorted out his food. Then another night, the slightly drunken father in law wanted Darrell & I to join in the conversation with his daughter in law (pregnant) about how she should just stay home with the baby. This despite the fact that he knows I am a working mom and make more money than my husband. Thankfully, they didn't show up to the regular dining much after that. This time, we've requested a table alone citing the allergy issue, but really, I just hate the awkwardness of dining with strangers!

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    1. That doesn't sound fun at all! I would much rather enjoy the company of those I choose to dine with :)

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