Disappearing Act

You will have to excuse my absence from the blog world this past week. I made a surprise trip to see my sister and her family for her birthday. It was well planned because she was very surprised to see us. Kudos to Jordan for keeping the plans on the down low and pulling off a successful surprise visit!

A well-known local burger joint gives free burgers on your birthday so of course.. we headed off for dinner. Their burgers are scrumptious and waaay too much for one person my size. I split one with my mom and splurged on a fountain drink. Soda in a can is nothing like soda out of a fountain. :)

Of course... if you're getting a free burger, you also wear the hat. :) The restaurant kindly takes your picture and posts it on the wall. Excellent!

The Hana burger in all it's juicy glory.  Do not plan to keep clean hands when attempting to eat this burger. Just dig in and wash up later. 

After stuffing our faces as politely as we could, back to the house we went for some presents and homemade cake. Of course baby girl got to help with the candles. She has to practice for her own birthday.

She then demonstrated to us what gift bags are really for: filling with every item you can find including shoes, brooms, tissue paper, birthday cards, instruction manuals, pads of paper etc.

(demonstrated below)

So hard to leave but also necessary. What a great way to spend my precious time off. I'm looking forward to my next trip to see them.

Until then, it's back to my normal posts about food. :)

Bowl full o' burrito

This morning I took a bike ride over to see the new Veterans Memorial in our little town. I've been wanting to visit since the unveiling ceremony months ago. My grandpa's name is listed as well as our good friend Steve. Both of which are gone now. It's very special to see their names in print, honored among heroes.

The pavers surrounding the memorial are also inscribed with personal messages from businesses, schools, family members and friends. Eventually there will be a fountain in front but fundraising is still in progress.

The bike ride there is mostly downhill. A very easy ride. But that means the way back is uphill. Nothing too steep just a very consistent steady grade. Good warm-up for the morning!

Leftover burrito makings for lunch. On top of greens with avocado, bell pepper, tomato and salsa. 

Un almuerzo muy bien!

Now, I need to go hunting for new tennis shoes. I've had my eye on a pair that I want to try. Maybe I'll be breaking in some new shoes for tennis tonight!

Still not sure about those darn leeks. 

Brrrrrr-itto

What an awesome store that Hobby Lobby is! Mom and Dad both went with me. Dad found a couple of things for his garage and was done in about 15 minutes. Mom and I meticulously walked the ENTIRE store and two hours later... we finally came back to the front.

There were so many things to look at! I picked up several things that I ended up putting back because I couldn't justify storing the materials for crafts I won't be able to do at the moment. I ended up with 3 yards of fabric that I intend to sew into placemats. 

I just looove these colors and the print is pretty fantastic if I do say so myself. 

I can't wait to work on these much less use them. I will definitely post pictures when they're done.

Dinner was a pork roast cooked in the crock pot. It was just perfect. Moist not soupy. 

Homemade brrr-itos!
It's mid-July so you would think that it would be pleasant if not hot outside. Instead... I found myself quite chilly by the time I was done with dinner and ready to go inside. What?! but it's July! Apparently the weather just doesn't know that yet. SHHH! Anyway, that's why they were brrrr-itos instead of the traditional burritos. :)

I stir-fried some bell peppers as a topping and was given a little surprise. That green bell pepper started as a purple one. Yes purple... like this:  

Then after cooking for about 2 minutes I realized they had turned completely green. So weird. 

It was a very yummy burrito and the bell peppers set it off nicely.

I also cooked  a leftover red potato in a skillet with some olive oil and added those in. Nothing like using leftovers in different ways. :)

Notice anything? No leeks like I promised. They just don't really go with burritos. Ya think?

 Maybe tomorrow...

Other exciting news! During dinner my sister called to ask if I wanted her amazing Panini press since she doesn't use it and is getting rid of it. Ummmm YES! I love paninis and I love her panini maker. I'm excited! Thanks Kim!

An after dinner walk was in order as well as a Lindy visit to see progress on her construction project. The last leg of our walk was in the semi-dark. Late summer sun is already fading. =(

For now, I'm going to get some work done on my recipe page. (Yay!) You'll have to excuse the dust from the pages under construction. ;-) I did happen to finish my reading page if you want to see what other blogs I read for inspiration and ideas. I'm sure I'll be adding to it as I waste time on pinterest. :) 

Have a great evening!

Curry up!

Well, lunch was very short but enjoyable nonetheless. A few of the guys are pretty quiet but they seemed to enjoy the conversation and the food anyway.

Chicken curry on rye for me!

Granny smith apples, dried cranberries, curry powder, chopped walnuts, grapes, and chicken. I used sour cream instead of greek yogurt because.. I'm all out. =(

Dijon mustard spread lovingly on one side and topped off with some red leaf lettuce.

Had to have some of these awesome grapes on the side. They're just how I like them, crunchy and sweet. 

Now, I'm off on my first excursion to the Hobby Lobby. Not sure what I'll find but I'm excited to look. I'm thinking of finally making those leeks for dinner so we'll see if those turn out ok. I love new recipes!

I promise I'm going to work on my recipe page (hopefully tonight). At the very least, it will be nice to have all of my recipes in one place. Easily accessible! 

Off I go on my hobby lobby hunting trip!

Brunchfast

Good morning!

I had an EXCELLENT weekend. I hope yours was just as great. After my busy but wonderful Friday, I spent the major part of Saturday at the day spa. It was beyond amazing. I don't have any pictures for you mostly because you just don't think about things like cameras and phones while you're there but also because they are NOT ALLOWED! :-) Lunch was delivered to us in the main lounge.

I was not impressed. They could have at least put it on real plates or something. The sandwich was good and the salad was wilted. So sad looking.

I did bring home the other half of the sandwich and had it for dinner.

Turkey with swiss on what looked and tasted like some kind of cheese bread. Red onion and avocado. Funny note: all three of us ordered at different times but ended up with the exact same meal with the exception of our salad dressing. We must be related :)

I got to bring home the awesome aromatherapy lotion they used for my massage. It goes a long way so the bottle is nearly full. Woohoo!

Suffice it to say, the three of us (Mom, sister and I) were treated like royalty. I can hardly wait until it's justifiable to go back. Birthday maybe??? or celebrating my acceptance into an awesome dietetic internship next year??

Sunday was very laid back. Our wonderful friend and neighbor (and my second mom) Lindy came over for a quick Subway lunch followed by several hours of chatting and laughing. 

Now, it's Monday again and I'm looking at the beginning of several weeks of no work! Woo!

I woke up pretty late this morning for unknown reasons. Considering that I went to bed around 10 last night and had few reasons to be that tired.... it's a mystery. 

I threw together a smoothie in a bowl that turned out pretty good. My breakfast was nearly brunch but not quite so...brunchfast. Does my headline make sense now?

I really need to get my recipe page up and running. 

Strawberries, 1/2 a banana, 1/2 a nectarine, chia seeds, milk and my poor greek yogurt that got frozen in the back of the fridge.

 I think the frozen yogurt made the smoothie even better though. Thicker consistency which always works for a bowl. The other half of the banana was used for topping as well as granola.

My brother's construction company is working on Lindy's house and because we know more than half of the guys on the crew, they're coming for lunch! Should be fun!