Weekend Recap: Melting Pot Edition

Friday night was date night at The Melting Pot! Since he was treating me to a fancy dinner, I figured I would spend a little extra time getting ready... curled my hair.. put on a classy dress... put on make up...

...and still looked like a 16 year old. Haha oh well, can't change the face my momma gave me. I know I will be thankful for this face in a few years (yes, I still get carded when I buy Nyquil... yes, Mr. Manager, I am over 18). 

I had never been to The Melting Pot before, but man, oh man, was it delicious. 

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I mean, you dip bread in cheese... IN CHEESE! Then you dip fruit in chocolate... IN CHOCOLATE! We actually got a four course meal so we had soooo much food. Luckily, boyfriend and I prefer different foods so I ate (most of) the cheese fondue and salad... he ate (most of) the meat and the dessert. Perfect!

Veggies! Yep, we asked them for extra broccoli... those 4 pieces weren't going to cut it.

Meat! I ate only a few pieces, but I was told it was good. 

I missed pictures of the cheese fondue, salad and the dessert, because I was too busy shoving it into my mouth as fast as possible eating like a lady. 

Then Saturday, I literally spent all day on the couch in my pajamas watching tv. 

We watched a marathon of Auction Hunters, then Storage Hunters, then Finding Nemo and then Aladdin (two of the best Disney movies? I think YES!). 

That's how I roll. 

Sunday, I met up with the lovely Kristi for lunch at Cowboy Ciao. I had never heard of the place, even though it's only a few miles from my house, but she recommended it and it was delish! We met and ended up chatting for hours (the waitress actually kicked us out cause they were closing... whoops!) Extra bonus: Kristi signed up for my Fight Club with me and has been going so far this week - woohoo!! 

And that was my little weekend. 

Have you ever been to The Melting Pot? What's your favorite Disney movie?

Dino Monday :)

I will return with a "real post" soon. 

Til then, I hope my little friends make you smile :)

Food & Beer Friday: Double Take Amber Ale

Last Friday night, me and the boyfriend went out to dinner at Grassroots, an awesome little restaraunt in Scottsdale that works with local farmers and vendors to serve fresh food and support the community. I had the Clubhouse salad and it was amazing (no picture, sorry). The "creamy garlic" dressing was to die for. Afterwards, we went to Safeway to get a Redbox, pick up some cookies (him) and beer (me). 

We know how to party ;) 

Truth be told, I'm a sucker for picking beer and wine solely based on the label. If beer companies new what was good for them, they'd forget about perfecting the taste and focus on the label. Just sayin'. So while perusing the refrigerator section for something that looked like fun, I stumbled across this Double Take Amber Ale. I just loved the label... so it was my beer for the night.

I'm typically a fan of amber ale, and this one did not disappoint. Very drinkable and the perfect third wheel to my couch date. In case you were wondering what movie we got, the Redbox was lame. Lame I tell you!

So we watched an oldie-but-goodie, that I had never seen before. 

David Spade AND Jeremy Piven?! Yes, please.

PCU

Back to the beer... the website describes it like this...

And I promised Kristin a graph because the last Food and Beer Friday she totally showed up my math skills with her fancy schmancy graph... so here's my fancy schmancy graph... I spent hours minutes on it... 

Yes, this chart definitively shows that I drank a beer on Friday. 

And yes, I have my Bachelor's degree in Math. Look what I can do!

Our tax dollars (and my student loans) at work. 

To summarize, I approve of Double Take Amber Ale. Perfect for a Friday night on the couch (or a sunday by the pool... or a party... or a a dinner out... or wherever you want to drink beer).

Apparently, it's a head snapper.
Also, does that globe in the background make me look smart?

Fight Club: June 5

For the past few weeks, my stupid alarm has gone off at the ungodly time of 6am and I have been going to bootcamp Fight Club.

Oops.

We typically do about 2-3 circuits, 3 times each. Then on "Fun Thursdays" we usually have some sort of obstacle course race. Which actually is fun (and not "fun" in the way that some sadistic trainers use it).

We did this this circuit this morning and it should take about 20 minutes (15 if you don't take any breaks, but let's face it, sometimes you gotta breathe move to the next position). I think he times a 15-30 second break between each move and maybe a minute between each repetition.

• 1 min jumping rope: just to get your heart rate up
• 1 min plank: on your hands, not on your elbows aka push up position, butt down.
• 1 min alternating curtsey squats: right curstey, middle/regular squat, left curtsey, middle squat, etc... we held a dumbell at eye level while doing this. don't let it drop, you'll get a nice shoulder burn while doing the squats.
• 1 min '180' burpees: burpees (with a push-up, no girly ones ;)) but when you jump up, turn 180 degrees. alternate which direction you turn (i.e. don't always go clockwise)
• 1 min bicycle crunches: because, what's more fun than riding a bike?

What's your Fight Club plan for the summer? 

Stuffed Artichokes

I made this recipe a few weeks ago, but I am finally getting around to posting this.
I had never cooked artichokes before, and this was a wild shot in the dark.
I think it turned out pretty, pretty, pretty good.

.........

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

Ingredients

• 2 artichokes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 1/4 teaspoon dried ground fennel
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Vegetable broth

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a skillet, saute the garlic and onions til soft. Stir in the thyme, fennel, breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. Stir often and cook until the breadcrumbs start to brown. 

3. While the breadcrumbs are cooking (or after if you aren't the best at multitasking), prep the artichokes. Rinse them and pull off the outer layer of the leaves. Chop off the top and bottom of the artichoke... the bottom so that it will sit flat and the top inch or so to get rid of the sharp pointy thingies. Take some scissors and snip off any remaining pointys.

4. The original recipe has some crazy instructions here on removing the choke from the center of the artichoke... I didn't do this. I couldn't spread the leaves enough to get to the center... so I cooked it as a whole and just didn't eat the center... taadaaa! Lazy person instructions. 

5. Take the stuffing and start stuffin'! Starting from the outside in, gently pull back a leaf and put some stuffing inbetween the layers. Continue doing this to each leaf as far in as you can. My artichokes didn't want to let me into the middle too much... but such is life. 

6. Line a baking dish with foil (for easy clean up... read: lazy), place artichokes upright in said dish. Pour broth into the dish, about an inch or so high. Cook for 60 minutes.

7. Enjoy! 

Cave Exploring

A few weekends ago we went camping in Flagstaff. 

B-E-A-uuuuuuutiful! 

Technically we camped in Sunset Crater, which is just north of Flagstaff, but Im sure you'll forgive my generalities :) 

We spent Saturday grillin and drinkin some beers.

Our campsite. 360 degrees of beauty.

The ground is black volcanic rock/ash. I love the contrast of colors.

 Then Sunday we woke up bright and early (when some rogue quad riders accidently "got lost" in our campsite), so we headed on over to the lava tubes to go cave exploring. 

Yes. 

Cave exploring. 

You see, I had asked around for suggestions of things to do in Flagstaff and Diana recommended a handful of lovely trails. After reading their descriptions, I started to give the boys a synopsis of each but as soon as they heard "this one goes into a cave" they tuned out. 

They were sold. It really was the only option for this weekend.

"Have gun will travel reads the card of a man...."

The entrance to the cave.

Yep, see him crawling into it?

Making the descent.

If you look closely, you can see the boys at the bottom.
Red sweatshirt and flashlight waaaaaay down there.

Last glimpse of sunlight.

Inside the cave - giving a geology lesson?

I don't have any more pictures from inside the cave, because, well, it was basically a dark tube of rock. Most of the pictures did not come out. It was definitely an experience when we shut off all the flashlights, and just stood there. In the dark. Complete dark. Let's just say I was glad I had three bodyguards there with me.

Such a great adventure and a fun start to that Sunday!

(Thanks again, Diana!)  

Solar Eclipse of the Heart

So by now, I'm sure you've seen every one's pictures of the solar eclipse that happened on Sunday. It was an awesome view from all over the Western United States.... but I'm just gonna brag for a minute and say that the views from Northern Arizona were the best. We had been camping up in Flagstaff area for the weekend, having fun cave adventuring and aboriginal ruin exploring (but more on those later), so we stuck around to view the eclipse from the Wupatki National Monument. 

My boyfriend is a bit of a space nerd, so he brought his telescope with a solar filter along. (I'm sure you heard a million times by now, you should not view an eclipse with the naked eye or through normal binoculars/telescopes. Safety first!). Several other people had the same idea of watching the eclipse from this spot so we made friends, shared solar viewers /glasses, and took lots of pictures. And yes, several people felt it necessary to sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" very loudly for the whole 1-2 hours. (Can't really say I blame them).

All of the pictures below are from the boyfriends camera, the pictures of the sun were taking using a small digital camera pointed at the eye piece of the telescope.

gettin' ready

Shadows created by pinholes in a posterboard. They mimick the shape of the eclipse at that point in time. This was taken during the "ring of fire".

Sun is starting to set... see the outline of the trees in the bottom right?

My favorite picture, this photo was actually featured on Universe Today. 

 

I have many many more pictures from the weekend - but I am still playing catch up between work, fight club, and packing/planning my next adventure.They will be posted soon as soon as I can.

Did you see the eclipse?

You guys know Ashley... right? 

That's her face over there --->>

Well she is off having a gand ol' time in Maui right now, 

so I hopped on over to her blog to share about one of my favorite adventures. 

Head on over to her blog to check out my Epic Road Trip.

(some hiking included)

Or if you're coming here FROM her blog... introduce yourself! 

Then keep reading the next post below for an awesome link up with yet another lovely blogger 

Kristin @ Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte.

So glad you stopped by :)

Food & Beer Friday: Sonoran White Chocolate Ale

So there is this chick named Kristin. 

And she's pretty rad. 

She likes Law & Order and food and beer.
Three of my favorite things!!

And she started a "Food & Beer Friday" link up.

But no Law & Order link up?? Where's your priorities, girl??

So yeah - today I'm linking up with Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte for Food & Beer Friday's. 

But, before we go any further, I must warn you: 

I am no beer sommelier, don't expect fancy words, 

I'm just gonna give you my uneducated opinion :)

First off, lemme say I'm a big fan of checking out local breweries. I love Four Peaks down in Tempe and might even rank Kiltlifter as one of my favorite beers. So when I walk through the aisles of the
grocery store/gas station/liquor store I love to see unique locally brewed beers.

The other night, I found this gem.

Lemme tell ya something, it was amazing. 

I'm not usually one to drink dessert beers, but I just had to try this one. 

It tasted very much like white chocolate. 

The bottle said to pair it with lobster or shrimp. 

"Inspired by the beauty of the White Mountains; the Sonoran White Chocolate Ale is a light, refreshing and completely unique wheat beer. Like a fine chocolate, this brew has a delicate aroma and a subtle taste of white chocolate, which is truly astonishing! For the ultimate experience; pair it with coconut shrimp or lobster. Enjoy one with your meal and another for dessert."

But I was fresh outta lobster (who'da thunk?), so I just drank it AS my dessert.
Mmmmm. I wish I bought two bottles.
Drink it in... it always goes down smooth.

So if you are ever in Arizona, or have access to beer from the Sonoran Brewing Company,
please try this beer. You (and your taste buds) will thank me.

Also, please note this post maybe should probably be called "Beer Friday" since I didn't mention food. Whoops.
If you really need a foodie fix check out my Cauliflower Pizza Cups or Healthy Curly Fries.

Happy Weekend! I'm off to Flagstaff to hike relax and watch the solar eclipse.
Cheers!