Tricking Tulips

 What a week it has been so far! We'll start with last weekend. I went on a hike with Ashley and two guys from work, Marven and Zaúl  I started work at 4 that morning which meant I was up at 2 and 12 hours later I was starting out on an uphill hike. To say the very least, I was not in my peak performance mode. Ashley was way ahead of me half the time and Zaúl finally got tired of hanging back too. :) Something exciting happened on our hike though.... 

A spontaneous proposal from this girl!! Haha

Then we took a normal picture which is hard for us to do because... well, we aren't normal.

Marven met us halfway through the hike with his little dog Pepper and she impressed me by finished the entire 5 mile stretch on her own. Those short little legs of hers did better than my short little legs or at least better than my mind did. Fatigue is a nasty ailment.

It was a fun day despite my early morning.

Saturday I had made plans to catch up with Roger and unofficially celebrate our birthdays. He suggested "Portos" a cafe and bakery that he and his family really enjoy. 

Turns out... I do too now!

 Like any sane person would, we started with dessert. Mine: a scrumptious fruit tart

His: Guava Strudel

Then... sandwiches! His: Papa Preparada which features Portos' famous potato balls. 

I'm not going to lie, I was a little jealous when I saw Roger's sandwich. Then I took a bite of mine. 

Nope! I made the better choice!

Torta de Pollo!

grilled chicken breast, black bean spread, goat cheese, lettuce, tomato and red onion on french bread, freshly baked, oh-so-soft french bread.

Those yellow strips of heaven are plantain chips. They are really good and borderline addictive. Good thing they aren't bottomless. :)

After lunch we strolled through the Glendale Galleria which is well known although I had never heard of it. It's kind of a strange mall. Anyway, Roger ventured into an Apple store for the first time and decided to open this website on the biggest Mac screen we saw.... 

Yup! one of the leading websites on everything android. :)

On a spontaneous whim I decided to make my own peanut butter yogurt one morning. I used the last of my greek yogurt and just whipped in peanut butter until it seemed to be all mixed in. Then I topped it with granola and banana and enjoyed it with a mug of tea. 

It was pretty good but I think it would be better if you re-refrigerate it after whipping it. Working it that much kind of made  it room temperature and that's not a good temp for yogurt. 

As you can see, I've really been trying with breakfasts this week. I had a couple of later shifts so I had some time to do something other than nothing. Here is my omelette day. I think I threw in scallions, bell pepper, and tomato. On Sunday I made that awesome bean salad thingy and I threw a couple spoonfuls of the leftovers into the middle before folding it over and topping it with cheese. 

Grapes on the side and a half piece of toast with my favoritest ever apple butter which I recently learned was discontinued from Trader Joe's. I'm ready to revolt! I just found this gem of a fruit butter and it's not available anymore!!! WHAT?! Where do I sign the complaint/petition/political measure to bring it back?

Speaking of that bean salad thing, I also took the leftovers for lunch (2 days in a row). When I made it this time, I used red quinoa which was a new discovery to me. It seems very different than the common yellow grain quinoa. Different texture (more crunchy) and I think maybe a more nutty taste. 

Breakfast this morning was a fruit/granola parfait. Banana cream yogurt, trader Joe's apple granola, and a blood orange. I would like to say it kept me full until lunch, which it did, but that might have something to do with the fact that I ate my parfait breakfast closer to 10 than I care to admit.

 I had intended to do some cooking today but by the time I got back from the gym around 5, Mom already had a meatball dinner 75% done. I just didn't plan my day well enough. I volunteered to take veggie duty to semi-satisfy my cooking cravings. I didn't do anything special with them. Saute'd in OO, and garlic with some fresh rosemary.

I love these colors. They weren't so beautifully contrasted after I finished burning cooking them so I'm glad I have this picture.

I made some red quinoa too. I don't think I like it as much as the yellow but I'm still giving it some time.

The Tulips are blossoming beautifully and we have had such awesome weather the last week. We really are spoiled here in SoCal. We don't know what winter is. Luckily, we have freezers and we can trick our tulips into thinking that we do. 

:)