Bosu y Bosu

One of my favorite parts of the weekend is going to the gym. Yes, I said it! I've never been a member of a gym before, but the lack of a free average joe's gym in the basement of my building (as it was at the Fed) has pushed me to break down and shell out the monthly fee.  In November, I joined a women's only gym Healthworks a few minutes away from my house.  There are a few reasons why I picked it:

1. It is not in a basement (you would think this would be a given, but not in my area of town)
2. I don't have to worry about "I Pick Things Up and Put Them Down" guys
3. It has lots of cool cardio machines w/tvs that I can use in the winter
4. It has a sauna and steam room
5. I get free towels which enables me to fit on the T with my gym bag
6 and Most of all. It has a TON of free group fitness classes!!

Because I usually stay at work late, I miss the classes during the week, making the weekend my only chance to try them out.  So far, the yoga classes have been pretty good, but what I've really taken a liking to has been Zumba!  I LOVE to shake my tush!









You can only imagine my disappointment when I woke up yesterday to find the class was already booked! Oh what to do!? Hmmmm, this Bosu Challenge class still has spots, guess I'll try it out... What is a Bosu anyway? Well I found out.









Bosu is half of a yoga ball used as stability for floor exercises and step aerobics. It's great! The class was very similar to the step aerobics class I would take at the Fed so I didn't get lost on the moves. Better yet, I won't have to get up at 9 am on my Saturdays to do it ;-)

Mandatory ME Time

I've missed you bloooog! Oh boy, this year has really started off hectic. In order to keep myself sane, I am officially instituting mandatory ME time (sans work computer) each day. I've always thought of myself as a hard worker, but I never would have imagined that I would become one of those people who let their job take over their life. I'm fighting with all my might!

There's been a lot going on, but luckily I've managed to squeeze in some fun stuff. I made a cranberry cheesecake for Kavan's return. It was super yummy :9 The recipe is from Cooking Light, and the cheesecake is made with 1/3 less fat cream cheese and greek yogurt. I've never heard of greek yogurt being used in a cheesecake, but I am pretty sure that is why this cheesecake turned out to be the creamiest cheesecake I've ever made.

 

My Kuckie Koo made it back safe and sound! =) Shortly after, we had a lovely dinner in the North End with his Dad and Step Mom. It was a treat to finally get to meet them! It was also a treat to finally celebrate Christmas, just the two of us, a few days later. Can I just say Wow! :) It really meant a lot to me that Kavan picked out such thoughtful gifts, and he is most definitely 4 for 4 on picking out jewelry that is both beautiful and "me".

The next day, Kav got to enjoy his Christmas present, tickets to the Bruins game! Ovi and the Caps still hold the keys to my heart however ;)

Onto the practical side of things. Kavan also got me a food processor!! Picture one of those kids in the we're going Disney World commercials, and that pretty much sums up my reaction. hehe I am gonna have some fun with this! First line of business was to make something I would never dream to attempt without a food processor, scalloped potatoes. They are made lickity split with my fancy slicer blade. I am definitely making these again.....

In other news:

There was a blizzard and corresponding work from home day :)

It was grand.

To celebrate her return, my roomie Amelia and I made chocolate port lava cakes.

These little things should be illegal........

Here's to ME time! Thanks for joining :)

NYE Boston Style

Wow I knew it had been a while since my last post, but I hadn't realized it had been almost a month! Because New Years has always held a special place in my heart and because I want to get started off on the right foot, I'm gonna do a quick and dirty blog post before 1/1/11 is over!

I unexpectedly had to cancel my trip to DC for New Years Eve, and instead spend the NYE here in Boston.  Almost all of the people I know here were out of town so on 12/31 I decided to gather supplies and have a wonderful NYE by myself :) First off was dinner, I had a coupon for the local butcher, The Meat House, and decided to see what was on the shelves there. When I arrived there I realized A LOT! I chose the maple bourbon sirloin and was NOT disappointed.  And what would NYE be without some libations? I found a wonderful drink recipe (which I modified) which was basically champagne with some St. Germain. If you have never had St. Germain before, I would suggest going to the nearest cocktail bar and getting a drink with it. It's marvelous :)

An hour before midnight I ventured out to go see the fireworks at the Boston Harbor! They were massive and great ending to the night! Here's some pics of the fireworks and what I found along the way.

 Faneuil Hall :)

This tree has to be the biggest Christmas tree I have ever seen in my life!! The people in the foreground are a good marker for size.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Peace

The Turkey That Keeps on Giving

What a great Thanksgiving break!  Four work-free days of pjs, apple pie, and shameless tv viewing.  This Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Even Kavan took a day off from studying! (which was more than deserved) Of course the holidays aren't complete without barely avoiding disaster, and this Thanksgiving was no exception.  Come Thanksgiving Day around noon -- turkey-less -- I planned to meet Kavan in front of the Shaw's Super Market to buy the turkey that I should have already been cooking. 

CLOSED in big bold letters was printed on a piece of paper taped to the door. There must be another store that's open right? I bet the other super market, Stop N Shop, is open, or Trader Joes, or Whole Foods, or maybe the Greek grocery has turkeys??? Nope. I walked home chilled to the bone still turkey-less with tears welling up in my eyes. I felt defeated. How was I going to break the news to my roomies who were expecting a turkey for Thanksgiving?? Kavan, however, was still out in full force biking to any grocery or convenience store that showed up on the google map search. He was determined to be the victor of this Thanksgiving Day fiasco.  As the day went on, the probability that he would even find an open grocery store was diminishing by the minute.

Who would have thought that the turkey-that-almost-wasn't was the best Thanksgiving turkey I have cooked to date.  A little over 2 hours into the search, Kavan rang with good news. He had found a turkey, and better yet, the turkey had been killed under kosher rules the day before. (The owner of the Middle Eastern hole in the wall grocery had a few no shows for their turkey orders this year.) SUCCESS!!! Kavan saved the day, and in all of the excitement even remembered to get the ingredients for our Salty Chihuahuas and Cranberry Spritzers. That's my man <3

I don't know if it was the salty chichuahuas or the cranberry spritzers, but I didn't manage to get a picture of the crispy brown turkey when it was all said and done. Luckily at dinner Kavan mentioned how his Mom, Kate, makes broth out of the turkey carcass and creates unbelievable soup from it. I had just found my new project for the break! :) Kate was kind enough to send me her recipe on how to make broth, and now I have 5 frozen ziploc bags of yummy broth stored in my freezer, in addition to the broth used in the soup.  For the soup recipe, I didn't really use one. I looked up some recipes online, and kind of did my own mash up of their ideas.  I remembered my mom always fixing soup with wild rice when I was younger so I wanted to incorporate that into the soup, plus of course the usual carrots and beans and chunks of turkey.  Add some seasoning and Voila! Turkey Soup :)

Luckily, I has not had any salty chihuahuas before cooking the soup, and happily captured some images of the after-turkey cuisine. 

Carrots

 and green beans

and rice

 makes TURKEY SOUP!

MMMmmmmmmmm :-9

Museum of Fine Arts: Exhibit A

as in Avedon, Richard Avedon.  One of the most iconic fashion photographers of the 20th century, Avedon's career spanned from the 40s to the early 2000s.  He began his career at Harper's Bazaar and later moved onto Vogue where he produced most of its covers during the 70s and 80s.  His edgy photographs pushed fashion the world over, while at the same time documenting the ever evolving world of celebrity and glamor.  I was amazed the entire time I was touring the Avedon Fashion: 1944-2000 exhibit.  Here are some of my favorites, starting with the picture that towered over me, which literally made my jaw drop.

 I admire any woman willing to make that jump in heels.

 Love the eyeliner and the beehive...

 This lady means business; I wish casinos were still this glamorous.  Did I just come up with my next party theme?

I highly recommend checking out some of the other pictures highlighted at this exhibit at the Boston Phoenix's website, http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/106507-photos-richard-avedon-at-the-mfa/ .

Leeeeaves

So I'm pretty bummed that I didn't make it out of the city to see the peak of the New England leaves this year, but I did manage to find some awesome landscapes on my walk to the Museum of Fine Arts last weekend (more to come on that later). I felt like I was taking a stroll through Sleepy Hollow.... too bad Johnny Depp couldn't join me.

I love the way the leaves scatter on the path.

 

The yellow is so bright!

I usually don't like squirrels, but this one was pretty cute hehe

 The cutest park.....

This was my view when I was walking to work one morning, it's my background on my work computer.

Now I can look forward to the winter wonderland :)

Zaftigs - the only name in brunch

I have quite possibly found theee best brunch place I have ever patronized.  Zaftigs Delicatessen, I know we just met, but I have a crush.  Please don't mind my ogling eyes or the dribble slowly leaking from my mouth.  The thought of your Banana Stuffed French Toast made with boubon-vanilla batter topped with date butter and berries sends my heart soaring.

Of course, the view of across the table might play a part in that as well ;)

Turkey hash, potato pancakes, fried matzo, challah B.L.T..... with so many new and interesting flavors to add to my palate, I am willing to bet Zaftigs will be a weekend staple from now on :)

And really, where else does your busboy have on a t-shirt that says "Knish Me I'm Irish"?