Weekend Recap: Hawaiian Fusion Edition

Friday night we headed over to the JW Marriott to eat dinner at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion.
I'm tellin ya, I'm gonna get spoiled if he keeps taking me out to these fancy dinners all the time.

Ashley had kept on raving about her St. Germain drink from her step-sister's wedding so when I saw The Hummingbird on the menu I had to order it. It did not disappoint. St Germain, sparkling wine and club soda. Poured over ice and fruit.  Light and refreshing. Perfect for a summer evening spent dining on a  patio.


We ordered everything but the kitchen sink. Lobster California rolls and seared ahi for appetizers. Then our meals consisted of lobster, filet mignon, crab, crab cakes, scallops, pesto risotto, poblano mash, asparagus and chocolate souffle. Yes, we ate our little hearts out and it was fantastic. 


After dinner we went to walk around the grounds. There were two lawn chairs in the courtyard and we sat and talked (while sipping our beverages that we may or may not have snuck outta the restaurant... classy, I know). I highly highly recommend both the restaurant and the hotel. 

The Hummingbird

Front row seats.

Perfection.

Cute walkway (ignore the awkward hand pose).

I sat down to take a picture and some dude said "play something!"
So I hit some keys. Note to self: shoulda paid more attention during piano lessons.

How was your weekend? 

Personalized Herbal Tea

Remember when I told you about my trip to the ChineseCultural Center to get a personalized herbal tea?  I keep forgetting to share how it all turned out.  

In order to make the tea you boil the bag in 4 cups of water, and then put the pot on simmer until all but one cup of liquid remains. Then you strain out the backyard herbs and “enjoy”.

 

Let's be honest here... it literally tasted like I boiled my backyard. Nice and sludgey. Mmmmm.

But this tea was not created to taste good. It was intended to "increase circulation and give me more energy." I really have no quantitative way of measuring that... but I think I felt more energetic... ?
Or maybe that was the exercise... I don't know really.

Would I purchase this tea again? Probably not. It was gross. 

But hey, it was an adventure, and I wouldn't change that. 

Fight Club

since robin went and done shared her secret fight club training
i figured i ought to share mine, too

i love the gym i go to
and, honestly, it's the only time i've been able to stick with a fitness routine

this gym is small
the trainers know my name
and they probably know my phone number by heart
since they call almost everyday to check in
and make sure i'm not bailing on class

(oh how they know me...)

anyway, i cannot say enough good things about smaller gyms
go to one
you will love it.

this fight club actually has a name:
FGT
which stands for functional group training.

each day is something different
so our muscles never get used to the same moves

we do things like flip huge tractor tires
use the TRX straps
and other normal things like sprints,
bear crawls, and crab crawls.

basically, it's using your body weight
which is fantastic because hello, you could do most of the moves anywhere!

and there's nothing like feeling how strong you are..

so i tried to remember the moves from an earlier class
because today's would have been impossible to describe...

obviously, your ten minute warm up should be done in ten minutes, not one minute...

you should know i'm ALWAYS drenched in sweat after fight club.
like, dripping in it.
like, it sometimes grosses me out...

but, then i remember that i worked my ASS off
and i SHOULD be sweating.
because this shit is hard
and that's why it works!

(:

Gchats with the sister...

So, um... THIS happened today... 


Scene: it's a Wednesday afternoon and I am gchatting with my sister while trying to wrap up stuff at work. Sister starts telling a story... 


(begin quotation)
My friend Chris just posted this on Facebook: I do believe today, and all of the BS that rode in on it, may go suck my dog's adorable fuzzy ball-less scrotum. 


My comment: wait, did I just read that right... you think your dogs scrotum is adorable?


Chris: It is without a doubt one of the things I adore about him, its so tiny, and fuzzy and you're just all like. "hey, you got no balls in there silly pants!" 
(end quotation)


I seriously LOL'd. Like a lot. Good thing I was the last one left in the office. 

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. 

[via]

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!)