- No doubt dinner at Bombay Club. We had a Groupon for $40 and that almost covered dinner with a half carafe of Pinot Noir! What a deal! Best of all – Bombay Club just made it to the top of our list of Indian restaurants in the area. There were so many creative dishes I’ve never seen before (and a giant selection of vegetarian dishes) that I had a hard time choosing. My final dish – Navrattan Korma (nine select vegetables cooked in a mild cream sauce with almonds and cashews) was really fantastic. The owner even stopped by to chat with us and the whole experience from service to food, price, music was just fantastic. I love Indian food!!

- Getting free basil at the farmers market. I love talking to the farmers!! After buying a bunch of stuff I noticed the basil on the side (which was also on my list). The guy “made” me take 3 bunches and didn’t charge me for it. He wasn’t twisting my arm too hard.

- Getting another sweat sesh in. I am feeling a million times better about my endurance compared to even a week ago. Yesterday was a spin class. My 3-2-1-1 plan is going great!

- Our carpet is 100% dry!! We’re going to have it professionally cleaned next Tuesday. Hopefully that will be the end of this nightmare.

Yesterday in pictures…

Indian pickled veggies – really weird. I think you have to be Indian to like them

Have a great weekend!! I’m off to work (and I already fit a bootcamp class this morning. Weeeee).

- It was my aunt’s birthday yesterday (thus leaving work early) – happy birthday, Dodina!!

- Roasted rhubarb is genius. I added it to my salmon/hummus/avocado wrap and it contributed a fun sour/tangy flavor to it. Yum

- Dinner at my first Persian restaurant, Lala Rokh, (remember it from here?) was not as great as I hoped it would be. Too much lamb, not enough vegetarian/seafood options as legit meals (lots of vegetarian apps though!).

- It is possible that I can get used to the taste of caramelized onions!!!! They were added to the bulgur with my dish and I didn’t even taste them. The bulgur was delicious! I need to research this one a little more. This could be a pretty awesome discovery (I hate my serious aversion to onions. Maybe there is hope for me after all )

- The look on my aunt’s face when the waiter brought out a giant chocolate cake that had her name on it (I pre-arranged that, brought one from Whole Foods) was priceless. I love surprising people with things I know they’ll like! Dodina is her nickname btw (doda = aunt in Hebrew, many years ago we just made Dodina into a word and called her that ever since).

- A spontaneous stop at Charlesmark Hotel for another drink with the hubs (because we were having too much fun on our walk home and didn’t want it to end) was one of the reasons I love living in the middle of a City. There is always something to do, you just have to get away from that office desk!

- Not randomly going for more food because I wasn’t stuffed (something I’m supposed to feel after a restaurant meal?) was my most proud personal accomplishment of the day.

- Bootcamp at lunch rocked (I’m getting better already!!). I told you I’ll make it there!

Thursday in pictures:

We shared the appetizers. The mushrooms and eggplants were phenomenal!

Have a great weekend! I’ll be working but I’ll definitely try to spend a little time in the kitchen so please stay tuned

- A good dress is powerful. I was tired, stressed yet I felt fantastic. That’s because I knew I looked good. No, I did not instantly drop those damn 15lbs but the wrap dress I had on today hugged me in all the right places and was very forgiving in others. I felt FIERCE. So fierce that when I encountered a very abrasive co-worker, I gave him the verbal equivalent of a middle finger and moved on. Three years ago (or even last week on a bad day) I would have probably cried in the bathroom (or at least wanted to). Today the dress gave me the power that I needed. Go dress! But since this is a food blog, let’s see what else I got going…

- b.good mango smoothie, blended with Amazing Grass chocolate powder, extra ice, milk and some gums makes for a kickass breakfast. I was impressed.

- Sometimes a brownie makes it all better. Today’s fudgy brownie from Whole Foods was not on my “planned” list but it was my one and only dessert. I don’t regret a single bite.

- Sushi bento boxes from Haru make one amazing dinner. I almost didn’t mind that I was eating it at my desk at 10pm instead of being at home with the hubs (not true actually but it was good). I hope I can expense that baby.

- No gym today. Nearly 14 hours of work and yet I feel like I got nothing done. I think my new goal is to hit it every other day. Those reports don’t write themselves and financial statements cannot be analyzed while kicking butt in bootcamp. I AM making it happen tomorrow though. Promise.

Today’s eats….. (oh and last thought of the day - I hate my tripod!!… you’ll see why)

Ok, I have a 7am conference call tomorrow so I’m off to get my beauty sleep. It never stops, folks. Seriously. See you with a Thursday recap tomorrow night. I’m kind of liking this format for super busy nights. You?

As you may have guessed, we spent most of the afternoon/evening trying to clean up the mess. We extracted over 10 gallons of water just out of our carpet in the hallway. Thankfully Adam built up this little barricade between the living room and hallway so at least it prevented the water from going too far into the rest of the place (our bedrooms are dry). Our living room floors are 100% okay (we are still trying to figure out whether there is a risk of mold growing under there, but the carpet is soaking wet days later. The shop vac is unable to extract that much water at this point so we’re not sure what to do.

Anyways, we’ll get through it, I’m sure. Maybe we’ll at least become friends with our new neighbors out of this. They were extremely helpful – unclogged the sewer drain, brought lots of towels and around 7pm on Saturday even brought us dinner, fresh out of their oven. How incredibly nice is that?!!!

We weren’t going to stop until the mess was cleaned up, but when she came over with a hot pan of lasagna and meatballs, we realized we were actually starving. Talk about a random act of kindness. Adam and I couldn’t get over this. Definitely one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for either one of us.

By the way, my laptop charger got submerged in water and is not currently working so I’m using Adam’s laptop which is painful (switching from a mac to a pc is not as easy as one might think), so I’ll try to keep it brief. Basically, this whole flood in our condo is a metaphor for my life. It been ridiculous at work, I feel like I can’t catch up with anything at home and the last drop in the bucket which I can’t ignore is that I gained so much weight recently that it’s affecting everything from how my clothes fit to my fitness level at the gym and how I generally feel about myself. I stepped on the scale last week and let’s just say that I haven’t seen that number in 4 years (!!!). I’ve been ignoring this issue since then but it’s time to clean up the flood mess!! I am not going to feel bad about myself, I’m going to do something about it. The plan of attack:

- Plan meals for the week and stick to the plan!! It’s ok to make minor adjustments based on taste preferences at the moment but I will stick to 3 meals + 2 snacks + 1 dessert (in moderation) equation until some progress is made in the weight dept.

- No mindless snacking/eating. My hours at home are going to get all out of whack over the next few weeks as I spend majority of my time in the office. That usually means stress eating. As mentioned above, I will make sure to stick to the pre-planned meals and snacks only. When life gets crazy like this, structure should be a good thing. I can do this!!!

- Continue making exercise a priority. I’ve been pretty good about this recently. I hope I can continue to keep it up despite the longer hours at work. I usually need a mental break mid-day anyways. A good sweat session should kill 2 birds with 1 stone (or something along those lines that’s less gross ).

How does this sound? I think it sounds good. I did A LOT of prep work last night for the next few days. Hopefully this builds up the momentum I’ll need.

So since I haven’t blogged in a few days, here are the highlights of this weekend’s eats.

Iggy’s ww bagel with olive jalapeno cream cheese and tomatoes

These tasted like sugar cookies with a pomegranate twist. Amazing!!

Beet/pesto/goat cheese and pecan panini + leftover b.good southwestern chicken salad

Spinach/artichoke hearts and mushroom calzone from Mangia (a treat on Friday night)

It was really delicious. We’ll definitely order from that place again!

I had the leftovers for lunch on Saturday. Yum!

+ Carly’s Confection 7 layer bar with a twist. So much white chocolate goodness. Another amazing treat for sure.

Sunday brunch at Sel de la Terre

Virgin bloody mary (I had to go to work!)

I had 2 of these. They weren’t very spicy but were definitely delicious.

Bread basket - I helped myself to a mini cinnamon roll and a cracker

For my entree I ordered the brioche French toast, strawberries, honey roasted almonds and vanilla butter.

It was really fantastic!! I removed that big butter blob and didn’t use any maple syrup because it was already rich and flavorful on its own. The strawberries were amazingly fresh and sweet as well. The sides of the french toast were perfectly grilled and the middle was kind of goey (souffle like) which normally would gross me out but it was so tasty that I didn’t care about texture. I would order this again in a heart beat (I ate half for brunch and then ate the other half later in the day as a “snack”).

Garlic/thyme smothered pork chop over qunoia and roasted rhubarb (adopted from this recipe).

It was great having a home-cooked meal again! Adam and I ate every morsel of our plates and I can’t wait for leftovers which I plan on making into a sandwich tomorrow.

All right, time for work! I apologize in advance for my random blogging schedule. I’m thinking of doing a picture collage at the end of each day and noting how my plan of attack is working so far. What do you think? Are you up for it?

I’ll be back with a bang in a few weeks. I have some giveaways in the works and a few posts that just need a little more research time. Happy Monday!

So here we go, nice and simple today. Work is crazy but I still found time to take a minute and mindfully enjoy some very delicious foods.

BREAKFAST

Breakfast started with a little help from this weekend’s trip to the City Market in Burlington, VT. This is a community-owned grocery store, which means that many products from small local producers were available (for a few pictures of what it’s like inside the market, check out my previous post – you can click on the pictures to enlarge). I came in to find Liz Lovely cookies, which I discovered just days prior to our trip to Vermont through the Foodzie blog (which is very dangerous by the way, I’m a sucker for all the cute stories of small producers) and ended up clearing out their dessert bar. Ok, this may be a slight exaggeration but you better believe that the only thing that stopped me from doing exactly that is the expiration dates on the products. They were freshly baked and clearly should be consumed asap. One of the products that I just could not resist was this package of Butterfly Bakery raspberry apricot breakfast scones.

I absolutely adore apricots and these plump cookie-like scones (looks-wise) were a love at first sight. The first bite sealed the deal for me. Soft and buttery, with real raspberry and apricot chunks – this is the best scone I’ve ever tasted and I don’t think any future scone can stand a chance. These are perfect! I think I may freeze one and see how it preserves, because I’d love to stock up on a future trip to Burlington. And there will be a future trip. I’m obsessed.

I enjoyed the scone with coffee and an oikos (this batch is the best for some reason – so fluffy!). I didn’t end up eating the strawberries until dinner time. This was one good breakfast!

LUNCH

Lunch was pretty special too. I had a lunch date with Lauren and Shannon. It’s been forever since I’ve seen Lauren and I’m so glad that Shannon keeps popping in during lunch to my neck of the woods because that means we can see each other more often. Caffe Jaffa was our meeting place.

Look who I spotted already at the table… hi, Lauren! (hehe, I was trying to be sneaky but she noticed me)

Caffe Jaffa features American and Middle Eastern fare. I wanted nothing more than hummus. So that’s pretty much what I ordered – a hummus plate that came with a Greek side salad.

The lettuce was fresh, the feta and dressing (which I had on the side and just dipped my fork into) were both delicious. A great simple starter!

Mmm, hummus! Standard stuff (maybe even a tad too grainy for my liking). I ate about half with a warm pita.

The girls both ordered the hummus/baba ganoush/falafel platters (which is SO the way to go!) and I snuck a taste of Lauren’s baba ganoush and had one of Shannon’s falafel balls. Both were outstanding! The baba ganoush was very creamy, the falafel was flavorful and not at all greasy (although of course, it is still deep fried so one should enjoy such things in moderation).

This lunch was so fun! We chatted for a while, only stopping to take bites of our food. It was hard to go back to work, I’m not going to lie.

SNACKS

Before heading back to the office, Shannon and I did stop by the Copley farmers market. I bought more shelling peas. I think I have a problem (good thing they’re just nutritious peas).

Snack of champions!

DINNER

Since we’ve been out all weekend, there was not much in the fridge for groceries (I bought beets and greens at the farmers market – these would take too long to cook for a weeknight). I’m still impressed with how I pulled dinner off. And it was a good one, let me tell you!

About 3 weeks ago, Jen posted this recipe for salmon with strawberry and tomato salsa that I’ve been dreaming of ever since. The only problem is – wild salmon is expensive. I was waiting for it to go on sale but the day never came. Strawberries are only going to be in season for a few weeks and I happened to have some amazingly sweet ones from Quebec on hand. We also had half a container of grape tomatoes in the veggie drawer in the fridge and wild salmon burgers in the freezer. Hey, how about a salmon burger with strawberry and tomato salsa? Oh yeah!

The strawberry tomato salsa is the prefect balance of sweet and savory with balsamic vinegar’s acidity balanced out by the smooth and creamy laughing cow cheese I topped the ww burger buns with and of course by the incredibly juicy wild salmon burger (the burgers were from Whole Foods by the way – I highly recommend them!). Adam and I couldn’t get enough of this – so unique and fresh. Summer fare with a twist. This recipe is definitely going on the favorites list!! Thank you, Jen, for the inspiration!

Dessert was another City Market purchase.

Think 7-layer bar but better. I ate 1/2 of the package and it took a lot of will power not to go back to the kitchen and finish the rest. The white and semi-sweet chocolate chunks worked beautifully with walnuts, almost short bread-like crust, and of course the toasted coconut. I’m stopping now because the kitchen is not that far away.

The little pleasures in life. I don’t hate this.

Have a great day! And say hello if you have a second to spare. I was feeling a bit abandoned earlier but something tells me these yummies will bring you back.

Now, let’s talk about something a little more exciting – I’m going to Montreal TOMORROW. Yesterday the entire day I kept thinking it was Thursday, and getting more and more excited about our trip. Nope, I have to wait just one more day. Silly, Elina. This also gives me one more day to plan everything. Hopefully the internet is back up tonight and I can research my little heart out (I did make reservations for an awesome dinner… you’ll have to wait until Sunday to read about it ). Also, I guess Jazz fest is this weekend as well (completely coincidental). Hopefully it’s not too crowded.

I don’t have anything too insightful to talk about today so let’s dive in to yesterday’s eats. Some were good, some where… well, we’ll get there in time.

BREAKFAST

Good! Siggi’s vanilla yogurt with strawberries, kiwi, TJ’s American trek mix and Kashi GoLean cereal

This was my first time trying Siggi’s vanilla flavor and I absolutely loved it. Definitely my favorite. It tasted like real vanilla beans were added, not just vanilla extract. Now I see why the stuff ain’t cheap. Have you ever purchased a whole vanilla bean? Last time I had to buy one, it was $6.99 for ONE. Yeah, that’s how you get $2.79/yogurt.

Did I mention this bowl was awesome? Oh right. I did.

MID-MORNING SNACK

WORKOUT

Did anyone notice I haven’t been running lately? I haven’t really (just maybe as a quick warmup before a class if I’m early). I just don’t really enjoy it anymore so I stopped. At least for now. I still feel like I should be running. That was my primary cardio source (with spin usually once a week) and I‘m still trying to figure out how to stay fit without it. Any tips? I can’t really see myself spinning every other day either. I guess I just don’t love cardio in general. Give me weights and I’m a happy girl though. Is that weird? I feel like most girls (at least in the blog world) are really not into strength training. I loooooove it.

Anyways, yesterday was spin day. I love the instructor on Wednesday so I reminded myself this when I was having second thoughts about going and already started working up a “plan B.” “Just do it” mentality came to the rescue this time and the class was great. I’ve been feeling out of shape this week for some reason but I guess that’s why I’m there, right? Practice makes perfect.

LUNCH

Mixed greens, heirloom tomatoes, avocado, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, sauerkraut, pine nuts, hummus and feta. Say that 10 times fast.

This was a great loaded salad. So many textures + flavors. I was even too lazy to go to the kitchen at work to grab a dressing and ended up eating it without it. The hummus + feta + sauerkraut actually coated all the greens and the dressing was completely unnecessary. Awesome!

Oh yeah, I did pack a cookie-to-go. And yes, I ate it.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Leftover shelling snow peas. I still can’t believe I ate nearly 3/4lb the day before.

DINNER

Dinner was quite the adventure. We had another Groupon to G’Vanni’s expiring on Friday, and since we were going to be out of town, we decided to have a mid-week date at the North End (Boston’s Italian neighborhood). Sounds good, right? I made reservations for 6:30, thinking we’d have plenty of time to have dinner and do our usual mid-week post-dinner errands, including planning the rest of our trip. Well, North End is notorious for this – regardless of whether you have a reservation or not – you’re going to wait for your table. We arrived at the restaurant early, the hostess checked our name off and suggested that we go to a bar around the corner to have a drink while we wait for our table (which supposedly was going to be ready in 20 minutes). Ok, drinks it is.

I had a glass of Riesling, which was sweet and fruity (no picture – the bar was tiny and I would surely bump into someone with my camera). Twenty minutes later we decided to go back and check on our table. The hostess was a complete scatter brain… she definitely did not have a grip on who’s there and who’s going to be seated next (and as we found out later, whether tables were even ready – there were empty tables for way too long while we were eating, and people were still waiting outside!). After nearly 45 minutes (in total) we were finally seated.

G’Vanni’s has been around for 30 years, and the decor was definitely not updated since opening. Everything about the place felt and looked like a tourist trap. There were cheesy puns (“a veally good deal,” “taco bella antipasti” really?), Adam’s menu actually had a cover of a completely different restaurant in Rhode Island (I’m guessing they own it too?) and then the specials menu had a whole line of completely unrecognizable symbols (like their printer freaked out on them and they just left in there). Yeah, classy. So we decided to just laugh everything off. It was going to be quite the experience. We were ready!

Did I mention the super red lighting? Here is what our bread basket looked like. I kid you not.

I played with my camera, adjusted the white balance and did a little bit better this time (although more natural looking, that’s not what it really looked like to us).

The bread was soft and quite nice actually. I had a little piece. Adam finished the rest.

We also ordered a carafe of house Chianti. It was the same price as 3 glasses so we figured it was the way to go. Apparently a carafe is nearly 1.5 bottles!!! They kept re-filling our glasses nearly to the rim (and these are large glasses). Again, classy. The wine was quintessential house wine – totally drinkable but nothing to write home about.

For my entree I wanted a seafood pasta. I asked the waitress for a recommendation and she highly recommended the shrimp guiseppe – angel hair pasta with jumbo shrimp, organic tomato, prosciutto, white wine butter sauce. To be honest, it didn’t even sound great to me but she hesitated when I asked for another suggestion and after re-assuring me that it was not greasy, I ordered it after all.

Sorry for this atrocious photo. It was dark and the lighting was just washing everything out (read: made everything look one hue of red which I adjusted but it was still pretty much one hue of gray now…). So how did it taste? Blah (not bad but not good for sure). It tasted like buttery noodles with a few add-ins. Trust me, I wasn’t expecting something fancy or overly complex but I thought the food would be tasty. G’Vanni’s consistently has lines out the door, it has good reviews online, and the place has been around for 30 years surviving fierce competition in a neighborhood with 99% Italian restaurants. And it’s not cheap. In fact, it’s especially expensive for the quality of food you get. This dish was $26. Yeah, disappointing to say the least. I should say that Adam’s chicken dish (he actually doesn’t even know what he ordered – chicken with penne and spinach…) was pretty awesome. He gave me a few vegetarian bites and I really did love it (as he did, he polished the whole thing off). If we ordered the same thing (his), I’d write a different review I suppose. But this was the waitress’ recommendation!! Is this the best they can do with seafood?

We had enough of our entrees (I picked off the topping and left most of the pasta) and still had way too much wine to finish. I didn’t have high hopes for dessert (and the waitress admitted they were not home-made) but Adam encouraged me to get something since we were going to be there for a little while (and I did want dessert!). I very hesitantly ordered the tiramisu (because that’s what I was craving… although one waitress suggested the molten chocolate cake and another the mudslice pie. Again, can you say tourist trap?). Here is what we got:

Sorry, I forgot to adjust the lighting again (it looked fine on my camera, haha) but it was actually really good. I’m sure they get it frozen and then just dump a bunch of cinnamon on top and a dollop of whipped cream but hey, I couldn’t tell from the taste and that’s what counts.

This dinner was over $100 (we paid less with the Groupon) and I can definitely say it was NOT worth it. I am still shocked at how crazy busy it is (seriously, the lines are insane!!) – I even ran into 2 different people I know there (they were not together!) – that’s how popular it is. Clearly I’m missing something. Or maybe I’m a proper snob at this point. Haha.

How was your hump day? Did I mention we’re going on a mini-vacation TOMORROW? Oh yes, I did.

So get ready – you are about to go on a fun long ride with me. Let’s start with breakfast. You’ve heard it’s the most important meal of the day, right?

BREAKFAST

French toast with yogurt cream and fresh local strawberries + coffee

I made the french toast by dipping 2 slices of bread in 2 egg whites, beaten with a splash of milk, salt and cinnamon; the yogurt cream is 2% greek yogurt with 1t of maple syrup. Yum!

The bread was not just some ordinary bread, this is When Pigs Fly maple, pineapple, raisin with toasted sesame and ginger bread. Oh yeah! See the pineapple chunk in the corner there?

After blogging about our dinner at L’Espalier the night before, I cleaned the house and got ready for the American Craft Beer Fest. I also made lunch to-go: fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomato & sun-dried tomato pesto sandwich.

I ate most of it on our walk over to the beer fest. Unsurprisingly my craving for dessert hit immediately. The best part of it was that we were right by Flour Bakery in Fort Point. Sweet.

This location is so much bigger than the South End one. There was still a line for the goods, but at least I wasn’t elbowed every 2 seconds. I LOVE the giant windows too. Gorgeous space for sure!

So much to choose from… I changed my mind 4 times before it was my time to order.

It was definitely a tough choice but I finally decided to try the vegan low fat chocolate cake. Isn’t it pretty?

It was more of a double chocolate muffin in my opinion. It was moist and delicious. I picked at it throughout the afternoon. Thank god I plan these things because food offerings at the beer fest were pretty much my nightmare.

The fest was crazy. SO many people. This was taken about half-way through the line. At least it was moving the entire time.

Inside it was even more crowded. There were more than 400 beers available so I guess a lot of people are into that.

There were lines for every booth but we still got to taste quite a few beers (I usually just took a sip or 2 and dumped it out).

My favorites:

-> Kinda Blue blueberry wheat beer by Boulder Beer

-> Jah-va coffee stout by Southern Tier

I think it’s around this time that I ran into Sues from We are not Martha. So fun. She quickly busted out her camera for a picture together. I followed suit.

Other favorites…

-> Sour beer from the Haverhill Brewery. I enjoyed it “straight” and with some raspberry syrup. It was very light and refreshing.

Left Hand Brewing Company had a pretty smooth milk stout

The Blue Hill brewery had a yummy watermelon wheat beer. I love 21st Amendment watermelon wheat beer as well (it’s in a can!). I didn’t do a side-by-side tasting but they tasted similar to me by memory.

A few random pics from the event…

Pretzel necklaces are awesome. I am doing this next time we go anywhere.

We also saw another blogger celebrity. Hehe. Josh from Lost in the Beer Aisle.

He was working hard so we didn’t bug him too much. He did stop for a quick photo-op. Hi, Josh!

The event was 3.5 hours and let me tell you – that’s a long time to drink for… especially when you have to work for it. My feet were killing me from standing for this long. I was trying to be a good sport but Adam knew I was running out of fuel. Overall, I’d say this is a great event if you are a huge beer fan and want to sample lots of beer in several-hours’ time span. I am not much of a beer drinker so the crowds and long lines got to me. I think Adam (and our friend Gary who came with us) had fun but still prefer the more intimate atmosphere of the Extreme Beer fest at the Cyclorama so they most likely will not be back to this event next year.

By the time we walked home in the 90* weather, Adam and I were beat. We plopped ourselves on the couch on our patio and nearly fell asleep. A well air-conditioned apartment woke us up a bit and after a few hours we were finally ready to get out again for some Thai tapas at Ronnarong in Sommerville. We had  a Groupon to use.

Wait, wait – I did have a piece of cookies ‘n cream cheesecake first….

Ok, now we’re at Ronnarong!

They had a little patio outside and we chose to enjoy our meal (and the beautiful weather) out there.

Have you ever had Thai tapas? I’ve never even heard of this concept and was very intrigued by it. We orderd 5 tapas to share (they came out to roughly $35 which is what our Groupon was for… we paid just $15 for it!). The menu was very creative and the presentation of every dish was gorgeous (as you’ll see in a second). Not to spoil the surprise, but we really loved the place!

I ordered some jasmine tea to have with our tapas.

Homemade shrimp curry cakes – shrimp ground in patties, served with cucumber sauce (Tod mund)

These were a great texture and very flavorful. The sweet and spicy sauce was fantastic as well.

Ronnie’s spicy squid with Thai herbs and chili

The sauce was flavorful and I loved that the squid was grilled, not fried. Adam didn’t care for some of the herbs so I ate most of this dish.

Papaya salad with string beans, ground peanuts and tomatoes

This is a dish I always order at Thai restaurants to compare their quality. I just love it. It’s so refreshing and spicy. This is the best papaya salad I’ve had in the Boston area!!

Tofu satay with grilled vegetables and special spicy sauce

Simple fried tofu with a spice rub and really yummy zucchini disks. I liked this but wish that there were more vegetables as the description suggests.

Tasty pork bbq

Adam picked this one and basically ate it all. I had a tiny bite and didn’t really care for it. It seemed pretty bland and of course the fact that I didn’t know the source of this meat did not help me enjoy it either. Adam said that the spice really built up as he ate. He was sweating bullets by the time he was done with this one.

Overall we really loved the restaurant. I wish we ordered the pad thai too but we tried to stick to our groupon budget. I hope they open another location in Boston. Going to Sommerville is a bit of a pain for us.

And so, with satisfied bellies, we headed home and watched 3 episodes of Entourage season 6. What a fun day! I’m still recovering from it.

Have you ever been to a beer or wine fest? Any Thai food lovers out there? Have you ever had Thai tapas?

I’m off to taste test some treats for my dad.

L’Espalier is a French restaurant, with an emphasis on New England ingredients. The restaurant defines fine dining. Everything is perfect. Staff is so polite and aiming to please, I felt like they almost feared the guests. It was a bit awkward at first. We were greeted by at least 5 people before sitting down (the elevator guy on the first floor, the woman greeting us upon our “arrival” on the second floor, the Maitre D that took us to our table, a bus boy that was standing on the way to our table and finally our waiter).

We arrived a little before 7pm (we both got hungry before our 7:30 reservation so we figured we’d just head over there and have a drink at the lounge area if our table wasn’t yet ready – this wasn’t necessary); the restaurant was relatively dead. It’s a good sized restaurant and maybe five tables were taken. I think the staff was close to outnumbering the guests. The music was on very low… it was a strange vibe of zen yet eery. This changed when the restaurant got busier.

After a few minutes of being seated, a runner came over table and offered a few amuse bouche.

Smoked salmon, cheese and prosciutto (?) stack

Goat cheese puff

Both were little bites of heaven.

Adam decided to ask for the sommelier’s help with the wine list. This was the first guy that gave us some personality – he seemed to have a genuine smile and was extremely knowledgeable. He also suggested something we’d never think of – to go with two half-bottles – a lighter Chianti to start and a more full body Bordeaux with our entrees.

Our first half bottle – cheers!

The staff was definitely first-class. I asked our waiter where they source their meat from, and he went through the menu – item by item – describing each farm and feeding process (where applicable) in detail. I really appreciated this information – most of their meats met my humane treatment requirement. We ordered accordingly.

Another few bites, complements of the chef – grilled squid with fennel, cabbage and carrots, finished with a sesame oil vinaigrette

I love when restaurants do that! I feel like we got to taste so much more of L’Espalier’s offerings than just the 3 courses we ordered. I loved the strong aroma of the sesame oil in this little dish but I think there was something oniony about it (shallots in the vinaigrette?) and the squid seemed to be slightly overcooked. Not bad though. Not bad at all.

The most amazing fucaccia bread ever! We could choose from four different breads (fig anise, fucaccia, brioche and soft pretzel) – both Adam and I picked this one and thought that it was just a pillowy perfection.

The anticipation for our meal was definitely building up! Here we go…

First course: fried soft shell crab withe heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumber foam and house-made relish

This was interesting. The soft shell crab was lightly fried. I realized recently that I should not fear the word “fried” on menus at high quality restaurants. They do it right – it’s never greasy or overpowering. With that said, I think I also realized that I’m not the biggest soft shell crab person. I know you can eat the shell but I’m just not crazy about its texture. This is not L’Espalier’s fault though. Obviously it’s a preference thing and I did order it. The cucumber foam kind of tasted like nothing and I didn’t care for the tomatoes (they were stewed?). Adam ordered the slow-roasted pork belly that he could not get enough of. In fact, he ate every bite and didn’t stop talking about it until our main courses arrived (and then he couldn’t stop talking about his entree ).

Our second half-bottle – Saint-Julien Bordeaux - it was very different from the first bottle (a little fuller and more complex) and worked beautifully with the rest of our meal. That sommelier is a genius.

Main course: farmstead Amish chicken with fairy ring mushrooms, native strawberries, and sorrel; smoky bacon broth

See that chicken bacon on top? Very cool!

The spaetzle that came with the mushrooms was a surprise. I love those little guys!

My thoughts on this dish: the strawberries were a necessity here. They broke up the somewhat one-note flavor profile. Chicken, bacon, spaetzle were all in a bacon broth and took on the (delicious but still) same rich and smoky flavors. The strawberries freshened and brightened this dish up.

Once again, Adam’s entree was to-die for. He ordered the duck, which came with a side of duck/cherry lasagna (finished with truffle oil). He proclaimed that it was the best thing he’s eaten in his life (and although he says that a lot, I think this truly was it) and noted the date. June 18, 2010 – best meal of Adam’s life. It was rich yet so well balanced. This was definitely one of the best things I’ve eaten in my life as well.

Dessert time!

Black and white chocolate gateau, cocoa nib croquant, muscat gel and raspberry ice cream

The gateau was fantastic!! It was creamy and rich. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was good and I think I’m pretty high maintenance when it comes to chocolate desserts. The raspberry ice cream I didn’t care for. It tasted fake. Adam’s deconstructed tiramisu was also not my favorite.

Chocolates to finish us off. The white chocolate/raspberry ones had a jello-like consistency (not a fan); the dark chocolates had a creamy center. I was *this* close to asking the waiter whether they make them in-house or whether I could buy them elsewhere. They really were the perfect way to end a meal!

A few photos of me on our long walk home. hehe

We also each got a French macaron on our way out the door (that lady by the elevator has 2 jobs I guess!)

I haven’t tried it yet but I’m sure it will be superb.

Our overall thoughts: L’Espalier is definitely a special occasion restaurant, not just because of the price but also because of the vibe. It is very formal and a little stuffier than we like although you certainly can’t say the service was not top-notch. The whole experience was by-the-book perfect. I wasn’t blown away by every dish but I’m a tough critic and in all honesty after tasting the amuse bouche and six dishes ordered (between me and Adam) it is clear why this place has won numerous awards. I would definitely go back but not for a little while.

How do you feel about super formal, fine dining restaurants?

PS – L’Espalier’s website states that “jackets and tie are most comfortable but not required”; Adam and I were joking that that it should say “Sweats are most comfortable but not permitted.” Wouldn’t it be awesome if it said that? Ok, I think I just lost any credibility I may have had.

… and I’m off to get ready for the American Craft beer fest. Quite the opposite experience.

***

For other restaurant reviews, check out my Restaurant Reviews page. Have a great weekend!

Anyways, long story short, my sister ended up canceling because she didn’t have clean workout gear and we both realized how sore we were from bootcamp on Saturday. Rest day it is! What did I do instead? Went out to brunch with Adam at Toro and had a real bloody Mary with vodka. Ha. Quite the switch.

Toro is a famous tapas place in the South End, and has been on our “must-go list” for ages. Unfortunately they don’t take reservations and we rarely have the patience to wait for a table, let alone wait for 2 hours (which is what happened on our last attempt to go there for dinner). So when Adam suggested brunch, and I remembered about Toro, we thought we’d give it a try. Plan B would have been brunch at many other restaurants that are right there in South End. Luckily, at 10:40 am, there were plenty of tables. Sweet!

Toro is very “New York” – modern space with high ceilings. Definitely our favorite kind of vibe.

As mentioned, I couldn’t help but order a Bloody Mary. I mean I’ve been drinking the virgin ones all week long.

To tell you the truth, I prefer McClure’s bloody Mary mix. It has more pickled flavor which obviously I love. I still drank the whole thing… of course!

For my entree, I ordered the huevos rancheros – eggs over easy, black beans, crispy tortillas, salsa roja and cotija cheese

This was different. I didn’t see any “roja” in the salsa – it was kind of like runny eggs in a pool of black beans with some soft corn tortillas for dipping. It was more flavorful than my description but the consistency was “off” for me. I enjoyed it overall (maybe ate 2/3?) but I wouldn’t order it again.

With my eggs, I also ordered a side of grilled avocado:

The enchilada-like sauce was a surprise and I really liked it.

And then I saw the waitress walk by with these gorgeous corn on the cob plates. This wasn’t on the menu but I ordered one right away. This is a half serving – 2 pieces.

Checking their dinner menu, I see that this is a house specialty (I think I’ve heard of it before and maybe that’s why was subconsciously attracted to them) and is called Maíz Asado Con Alioli Y Queso Cotija – grilled corn with alioli, lime, espalette pepper and aged cheese

This was cheesy and rich yet sweet and fresh (with corn kernels exploding in your mouth). I was already pretty full from eggs + avocado (working on stopping before I’m uncomfortable) so I only managed a few bites. Adam polished the rest off and declared it was the best thing he’s ever eaten. He says that a lot but these really were great!

Oh, what was also great was his home-made chorizo. It was so fresh and tender and flavorful. I had a few bites, feeling a bit guilty about breaking my self-imposed rule about not eating “conventionally” raised meat. And then I found out from the Toro website that they are a green restaurant and do many things to support the environment, including using mostly local ingredients and humanely raised meat. What? I am going back to Toro tomorrow and ordering a side of chorizo to go. I’m so happy right now. Thank you, Toro, for being so awesome. I can’t wait to go back!

So that was breakfast. Lunch was a few hours later – also known as froyo from Red Mango. It was Adam’s idea. I promise.

Small original froyo with mango, watermelon and almonds

I tried watermelon in froyo because Janetha swears by it. It sounded weird but was really not bad. Kind of fun for a change.

Topping close-ups….

Dinner was simple – I utilized 2 products I received through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

Buitoni Riserva – quattro formaggi agnolotti

+ Bertolli arrabbiata – spicy tomato and red pepper sauce

I bulked up the ravioli, um excuse me, the agnolotti, with steamed broccoli and sauteed mushrooms, and finished the dish with some shredded prosciutto.

Sorry, this is SO not photogenic but it was incredibly delicious. The agnolotti was very cheesy so a little bit really does go a long way. A serving is 360 calories and nearly 30% of daily sodium so I ate a little less than 2/3rds (or 4 agnolotti) and it was plenty with all the other add-ins. I also really enjoyed the Bertolli arabbiata sauce. It wasn’t really spicy but it was flavorful and tasted homemade to me. You could tell they used good quality tomatoes.

A yummy dinner for sure!

I ate a little less than an ounce of roasted almonds later at night and taste tested the frozen yogurt I made. More on that in the next post.

Do you keep a “must go to” restaurants list? If so, how many have been on there for a little too long? I encourage you to take the plunge. You’ll probably be sorry you haven’t tried it sooner.

A giveaway coming tomorrow…..

FRIDAY

Breakfast:

Ok, I guess a bloody Mary is not really a balanced breakfast. I was craving nothing else so I grabbed some random stuff on my way out the door to enjoy at work when hunger strikes:

The siggi’s yogurt was not bad. It’s definitely a lot more tart than most greek yogurts, but I’m pretty hardcore in that dept so I don’t mind that. The pomegranate and passion fruit flavor was pretty mild. I still prefer oikos but I’d buy siggi’s if it was on sale (or like in this case, if I had a coupon for a free one ).

FRIDAY WORKOUT

I was really feeling Thursday’s pilates class and was hoping spinning would get the lactic acid out of my muscles. It was a great class (one of my favorite instructors is back after a long break) and I was so happy to have exercise back into my life.

BROWNIES!!

Remember this post? The brownie bake-off was this Friday!

As you know, I’ve tested a few recipes for the bake-off. For mother’s day (before I even knew of the contest), I baked rocky road bars, which came out too dry but I was impressed with the topping. Then a few weeks later (based on your suggestions) I baked some Baked brownies and declared them to be the best brownies I’ve ever had, which I find a bit funny since I’ve actually had the real Baked brownies before (yes, straight from the Baked bakery in Brooklyn). They were moist and chocolaty without being too fudgy (the kind that actually shows teeth marks when you bite into them) or cakey. Basically perfect. I didn’t know that was my ideal brownie (before that I’d say “fudgy” was my favorite) but here it was, made by yours truly. I also baked a batch of the King Arthur brownies (again based on your recommendations) for a Memorial Day pool party and everyone loved them, but my heart belongs to Baked brownies. I made a batch for the contest, topped them with marshmallows, roasted pecans and chocolate chips (just like the rocky road bars) and they became THE WINNING RECIPE at my work!! So cool. There was some very tough competition too.

Btw, I baked the plain baked brownies for 23 minutes and then after topping them with the goods, baked them for another 3 minutes. I’m telling you this because you should baked them. Asap! This day was going well so far… and then Friday night happened. Yay!

FRIDAY NIGHT OUTING

Adam and I had a party to attend later in the evening, but instead of sitting at home on our favorite night of the week, we decided to look through our groupons and such and went out for (a nearly free) dinner instead. A glass of wine + pizza at Cafe 47 was definitely a great way to start the weekend!

This was a glass of montepulciano – it was nothing special but still hit the spot. For my pizza I got an individual sized vegetarian pie with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, spinach and artichokes. I really LOVE artichokes on pizza.

I liked the chewy crust – this pizza was not bad but not the best I’ve had in Boston either. Nonetheless, slowly but surely I still ate the whole thing. Pizza is one of my favorite foods for sure!

Party time! I had 2 Magners…

… and some homemade mint julep ice cream. Classy pic, I know. The ice cream was awesome!!! I am SO making ice cream with booze for my next party. Brilliant.

SATURDAY

… was a lot classier. I started the day by meeting my sister for the aforementioned bootcamp class (had an orange and a coffee before that – unpictured). This class is great – she doesn’t do anything crazy, which is good because I don’t fear the class but it’s still very effective. Since I was already pretty sore from Thursday’s pilates (seriously?!) I was feeling every move. It was glorious. Inna loved it too!

LUNCH

A feast with local produce. Mixed greens from Silverbrook Farm (I buy my eggs from them too), fresh strawberries from Spring Brook Farm, feta from Narragansett Creamery (best feta ever!!), pecans, dried blueberries and pickled jalapenos, dressed in basil EVOO and strawberry balsamic vinegar.

Sweet, salty, spicy = amazing

+ an egg (for protein – I know random!)

Lunch was on the light side because we had a bbq to attend at 4pm at Adam’s boss’s house. The bbq was moved indoors due to the rain (we actually ended up canceling our own bbq on Sunday for the same reason ) but everything inside was still so beautiful and summery!!

During the cocktail hour I had a glass of Jordan Cabernet Savignon and munched on quite a few pita crackers with hummus and a bit of cheese.

This is my favorite Cabernet but it’s quite pricey. Basically we only drink it when we are around Adam’s boss. (i.e. Christmas and summer parties). I probably had 2.5-3 glasses throughout the evening. It’s so complex yet drinkable. Definitely one of the best.

My dinner plate…

+ some more corn salad which was phenomenal (I need to get the recipe) and a slice of bread with hummus. I left half of the cheese off. I was getting full and leaving room for dessert was a priority.

Pies! Let’s see if I get them straight – blueberry…

Peach:

Raspberry/blackberry:

I had a little slice of the apricot and the raspberry pie with vanilla ice cream of course. Pie has to be accompanied by ice cream at all times. Right? Right. I left with a bit of a stomachache (the second slice of pie was probably a mistake but I have a problem with delicious desserts, what can I say). I’d say it was worth it.

How was your weekend? I’ll recap Sunday’s eats tomorrow. It was another good day!