Lunch

Shard of Glass

Posted on May 13, 2012 | 3 comments

My weekend didn’t exactly go as planned. After all that talk of de-stressing (thanks for your comments, btw!), I totally de-stressed on Friday, and then woke up with a bad cold on Saturday. Sadly, I wasn’t up to doing all the things I had planned:( But I did eat soup and sleep for 12 hours straight!

Rewind to my relaxing Friday – I had given my Mom a coupon last Mother’s Day for a fancy lunch out in Durham, and she just got around to redeeming it! I took her to the cafe at the Nasher Museum of Art for lunch on the patio.

We shared:

the yogurt curried chicken salad with grapes and walnuts along with dill quinoa salad. The food was absolutely perfect – so fresh and bursting with flavor. Matt and I have eaten at the Nasher once before and I think it may be my favorite place for brunch/lunch.

After lunch, my Mom redeemed a gift card I had given her for her birthday for a manicure. I got my toes done for the first time since last year! It felt wonderful to be massaged. And then I took a brief nap before meeting one of my friends for live music at the American Tobacco lawn.

We watched the crowd of dancers in the front,

sipped wine,

ate fried pickles,

and saw a cat at the bar!

All night, I felt like I had food stuck in my throat and I just couldn’t get it out. I woke up around 2am with a horrible sore throat. It seriously felt like there was a shard of glass in there. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well. When I woke up though, the rest of me still felt ok so I went out on a bike ride. I felt horrible by the time I got home, but I was too sad to cancel brunch with friends who were just in town for the weekend.

We tried the new Another Broken Egg Cafe and it was great! I had a shrimp omelette with pesto sauce and really enjoyed it.

I thought I might be able to rally for a trip to the pool and a fun girls dinner with my good friend from high school, but just couldn’t do it:( I watched Sarah’s Key (read the book this year) on Netflix and slept.

The shard of glass is thankfully gone today, but I’m still feeling under the weather. I got chicken noodle and corn bread from Whole Foods, which was fun. Matt just got home from his high school reunion in Maryland, and he’s gonna help me make a mother’s day meal for my Mom.

Happy Mother’s day to all the Moms!

Take A Hike

Posted on Apr 5, 2012 | 3 comments

Despite some looming showers, my mom, dad, and I made it on a hike today. We did a damp three mile loop at Umstead Park and emerged from the woods to sunny skies! It was nice to be out in nature and there sure weren’t many other people out hiking on a chilly Thursday morning.

We were hungry for Mexican food afterwards, so we went to Dos Perros in Durham for lunch. I’ve only been once before, but I loved it! ‘Upscale’ Mexican food is one of my favorites.

My mom and shared a Pacifico (on draft!).

And the table shared the sweet potato empanadas with fig jam. I had this last time and enjoy the combination of sweet jam and cilantro. My dad is one of those ‘cilantro tastes like soap’ people…glad I didn’t inherit that because I love it.

I wanted to order a salad with a taco on the side, but the waitress informed me that they actually ran out of taco shells! I was disappointed, but just asked her to throw the taco on the salad. Taco salad was born. This was braised beef over spinach with roasted peppers, queso fresco, and pumpkin seeds, in a roasted tomato and serrano vinaigrette. I didn’t like that the beef made the spinach warm (my fault), but the flavors were great. The chips at Dos Perros also come with a really thick and flavorful salsa verde which I ended up drizzling over my salad.

After lunch, I went on a mad cleaning spree because I recently got a new vacuum. Once I started cleaning, I couldn’t stop until every room was clutter free. It looks soooo much better. Then I got an email from Matt suggesting we go out for a bite to eat!! Yay. We walked to Bull City Burger in the cold night air. I can’t believe I was ever able to walk in 30 degree temperatures. I’m such a wimp now.

Enter the beer sampler with stout, brown ale, and a golden ale.

And a juicy burger topped with green chiles. I wish this didn’t go down so fast:( Guess I’ll have to go back sooner rather than later.

Tomorrow marks the end of this nice break in work, but I have an exciting Easter weekend to look forward to. Is anyone expecting a visit from the bunny?

Saturday

Posted on Jan 28, 2012 | 8 comments

A girls lunch with my mom and probably the best seasonal risotto I’ve ever had

A new shirt from the clearance rack

Sunshine, a 60 degree day, and a clean apartment

Opening this with friends momentarily

Sweet Saturday

I Need More Boxes

Posted on Jun 23, 2011 | 3 comments

It’s freezing and rainy today and I can’t get to the window to close it!

But, I’m making a lot of progress! I’d say I’m more than half way packed, but I keep finding piles of stuff hidden away in cabinets and corners…and I’m out of boxes.

I went to the gym for a quick run/stair climber combo and then had to go to city hall to get a moving permit. It was quite the interesting experience, but I left $60 poorer just to get a sign that says I can park the moving truck for 12 hours.

It was worth it though because Matt took me out to lunch! We had to go to b.good one last time and figured it would be a good opportunity since I was in Matt’s neck of the woods. I got a burger with avocado and salsa and we split the wonderful sweet potato fries.

Delish and I love that most of the ingredients are local. I only wish they had locations in NC:(

We’re down to the last three days here, so things are going to get quite busy with goodbyes, dinners, and final packing. I hope to continue with regular blogging and stay tuned for my Best of Boston list.

Fruity and Giddy

Posted on Jun 20, 2011 | 0 comments

Happy Monday. I was just giddy last night with the thought that I didn’t have to get up and go to work today! I slept till 9 (!), worked hard on a cover letter all morning, and went to noon time spinning.

And the best part was coming home and being about to make whatever I felt like for lunch!

I made a big old salad with banana chips, cherries, strawberries, and blue cheese. So fresh and summery.

Plus this guy.

I usually make my own dressing, but, in an attempt to use up stuff in our refrigerator, I’ve been mixing this Annie’s mango with my new balsamic. It makes for a perfect sweet salad topper!

I’ve also been enjoying the unique flavor of this box of crackers we got at whole foods.

I just love the freedom of making lunch at home. And then I keep remembering that I’ll have to make lunch for eternity once I find a new job:(

The rest of my day looks like this:

And then I’m going to dinner and a bowling party with the school psychology interns and supervisors! Wish me luck, I’m a terrible bowler

All By Myself

Posted on Jun 5, 2011 | 3 comments

Hello, Hello. I’m just getting around to posting because I’ve been busy as a bee today. Matt was out of town at his 5 year college reunion so I had planned on doing a lot of lounging around. I started the lounging with a rum, triple sec, and lemonade cocktail creation (the only options in house) on Saturday, which was surprisingly fantastic.

And a good ole helping of veggie burger + fries for dinner.

Plus some amazing graduation cake from the freezer.

And then I got tired of lounging! I ended up tacking a million projects this weekend, and I finally feel like I’m on top of things. While I missed hanging out with Matt and doing fun things like eating out and drinking pints, I feel like I actually took advantage of free time for once and didn’t waste away on the couch. I used to be more of a project person, but since beginning to work full-time, I’ve found myself craving couch time even more than I used to and I haven’t been very productive on weekends since last fall.

My apartment was a mess, as I sorted through three years of graduate work. I kept the most important things, but took three bags work of paper to the recycling bin.

Looking back, I did a TON of work for this degree!

I also sold my couches this weekend, so when I was ready to take a lunch break this afternoon, I realized there was no where to sit.

So I had a picnic. It was fun at first, but got old quickly.

I ran a bunch of errands this afternoon, including recycling my broken dvd player and old running shoes, returning a pair of flats that gave me horrific blisters, and hitting up the grocery store. Warmer weather = summer salads. This was phenomenal….simply goat cheese, raisins, strawberries, and banana chips in honey, balsamic, and olive oil. I loved it so much, I made the same thing for lunch tomorrow with the addition of cinnamon almonds. Piling spinach high with sweet stuff is about the only way I’ll eat it…

And luckily, I thought of this solution for the living room. It actually wasn’t bad.

Seeing my apartment half empty is making me a little sad:( But then again, all the open space is making me excited for the increase in square footage in the new place.

After a hectic May, I’m organized and ready to finish these last two weeks!!!! Night.