… we’re going to go to Home Depot… Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don’t know, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time” – Old School, Frank the Tank.

Saturday Breakfast:

Aria Smoothie!
 
So this was my first try of the Aria Protein. I decided to buy it because 1. The brand is Designer Whey and I usually enjoy their products. 2. It was on sale ….

I used some frozen mango, frozen blueberries, half a banana, frozen pineapple, ground flax seed, organic milk and 2 scoops of the Aria protein.

We had to take it with us on the way to helping our friend #1 move ( Hi Hanz!). The smoothie was okay, the aria protein was very powdery. Sometimes you can get a very chaulky protein taste- and it was not a strong protein flavor. The texture was very powdery and did not dissolve as easily as other proteins I have tried.  It wasn’t bad- it really didn’t have much flavor despite being “chocolate” so I will continue to use it but I probably wouldn’t buy it again.

and then we stopped to get Starbucks ( venti Cafe Estima)…on the way to helping our other friends move.

We got back home and I threw together a pizza that was incredibly easy and fast:

Lunch:

Whole Wheat Trader joes pizza dough
NOO Dried Apples
NOO Dried Berry Blend

Goat Cheese
Goat’s Milk Brie

I just threw everything on top.. Whole grains and organic fruits- I would say that is pretty healthy!

Baked for less than 8 minutes at 450* in my toaster oven. Voila

It was FABULOUS! Hit the spot completely! I had a third of this and also had a salad on for some veggies…

After lunch, Jeff and I did a ton of yardwork. We organized a rock garden, got rid of our old firepit, cleaned out the horseshoe pits and the shed foundation, and added a patio set to it for the mean time

( Thank you Timmy and Brittany for giving it to us!)

Melting Pot for Dinner.

We were out for my brother’s girlfriend’s birthday  ( Happy Birthday Rachael!).

Since my blog also addresses how I make choices rather what my choices are for the meals and foods I eat, I wanted to preface that this menu was pre-chosen as we were a large party group. I enjoyed the meal very much (it was nice not to have to decide for a change) but I may or may not have chosen all of this for myself.

We sat across from some of Rachael’s friends, ( Hi Jenn and Courtney!). Of course, I mentioned the blog because I was going to be taking pictures any minute. I’ve noticed it has been much easier talking about the blog before I start snapping away. It was an interesting night of “conversation” if you will- So let me just go right into what we ate…

Glass of house merlot..

It was not too dry nor too sweet. I knew there would cheese fondue and red wine with cheese goes so nicely together!

Starter:

A wisconsin cheddar and a fiesta cheese fondue… To dip: apples, veggies, bread cubes, and chips ( I ate all of the apple cup and I ordered more veggies too but they took FOREVER to get!) 

I really enjoyed both cheeses. We specifically make the fiesta cheese “very hot” but it was still not too spicy. I didn’t expect the spicy fiesta cheese to go well with the apples. I tried it anyway and I think it was the base of cheddar because it was really a tasty combo.

A mixed green salad with tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles and raspberry vinegarette.

I  personally do not enjoy raspberry vinegarette so I would have much preferred they ask your dressing choice.

Entree: Meat Fondue, a selection of meats and vegetables, with vegetable broth and a burgundy broth for cooking.

We threw in the veggies right away…

I’m allergic to shellfish and everyone was so NICE to decide on one separate bowl for their shellfish and meat touching it. I really appreciated that beyond belief (Thank You!). I had to order a separate plate of meat because they brought out the plate with shrimp touching two of the meats I could eat. I don’t think the server understood that I was allergic. I felt bad because I basically had one bowl to myself but its better than taking a chance and getting sick right?! I had ate a few pieces of the beef, the salmon, and a piece of the chicken.

What I enjoyed: the meat was really nice quality meat and the cooking broth was tasty. I think fondue meat is a great “idea” but in reality….

What I did not enjoy: We had no idea if our meats had cooked long enough! You are told how long to cook your meats but none of us had a watch on nor did the Melting Pot provide us with little timers. It would be a nice idea to get timers for their guests because undercooked meat is no joke ( we just finished our week of class on meats too! how conincidental). I had no idea if my meat was cooked long enough but I made sure I kept it in longer than I thought was “2 minutes” etc.

Dessert, Tiramisu Fondue, Smores and Flaming Turtle

I kinda wish they had wiped off the table from the cheese and meat course.

We had a plate of sweets for dipping: strawberries, cheesecake, rice krispie treates, bananas and marshmallows. Doesn’t it look like there are pieces in the middle missing or  at least disheveled ?? I mean, it is a plate of goodies so how can it look bad right? But it does to me, it looks like it was already picked at but we hadn’t touched it yet.  Here is, what I thought, was a more appealing angel…

The burner had not been turned on for the tiramisu, so it was cold. Once we had reminded the server, it melted very quickly but started to burn at the edges. Although we shared the fondue, Jeff and I had our own plate of dippers to split as did each “couple”. Ours, I noticed after, did not have graham crackers but another couples did have them.

Overall, I was happy to be there with my brother and Rachael for her birthday celebration. Unfortunately, the quality of service I think was probably the poorest I’ve seen in awhile. Although they were quick to fix their mishaps- there were mishaps with every single part of this meal!  They didn’t realize we had the large party menu so it took awhile to get everything out to us, they didn’t ask for choice of dressings so those salads went to waste from a few of us, they didn’t realize there was a shellfish allergy, we didn’t have any idea how long to cook our meats, they didn’t turn on the burners for dessert.

This was my second time going there and it really will be my last for anything other than desserts or a drink. I hope that doesn’t bother ( Matt or Rachael) because I love them, I just was not happy with the service (among other things!)

Body:

I wanted to get in a run today but with TWO sessions of Jillian 30 Day Shred yesterday and all the lifting/moving of this morning, I was not feeling it at all! My neck hurt, my knee felt rickety, and I was just blah. I did one loop ( 2.92 ) miles at a slow jog, walked a little more and called it a day.

I was happy to take it easy and finally feel up for a true “rest”. Tomorrow (sunday) I am planning on a nice long run ( 9 miles- 3 loops)

Mind:
I just looked over the first section of material for the exam but will get much more going tomorrow and monday.

Soul:

Out with my brother, for a birthday celebration!

And, I love helping people move.

The yard is looking much better too so it was great to get in some outside, active time as well.