Robots v. Wrestlers

Dinner @ The Giant Robot
http://www.gntrbt.com/food_menu.php

Chicory salad with beets and gorgonzola cheese. This was such a delicious salad. The beetroot wasn't the normal deep red that I'm used to but it was so tasty. It was crisp, sweet, citrusy, and warm from the cheese. What a perfect combination.

Wild mushroom crostini's w. truffle oil and parmesan shavings. Yuuum. Too bad it was only one heavenly bite :)

Arancini balls- Crispy on the outside and hot risotto rice, spinach, parmesan, and herb aioli on the inside w. pesto dip. These suckers were SO flippin hot but really good once I managed to wait for them to cool.

Rib-eye steak cooked to medium w. argula and black peppercorn sauce to dip. The steak was cooked perfectly to my liking. T would have prefered it a little bit less cooked. The meat was very flavorful nonetheless and the dipping sauce was amaazeballs!!

Creamy EVOO mash on the side.

Spaghetti n meataballs!! There wasn't enough sauce for the noodles but the meatballs were pretty good and the overall dish reminded me of something I would get at a good Italian chain in the States (say Bucca di peppo).

Dessert:

Cupcake from T's cafe. It said Happy Christmas. Isn't it usually Merry Christmas or is that a British thing? :o) :o)

T-minus 3 days til Jesus' birth!!

The Good Life

I wasn't quite sure if porridge oats was the same thing as rolled oats but I just went with it.

Someone recommended that you soak the raisins in hot water prior to adding it at the end. This method plumps up the raisins. I didn't really notice too much of a difference though after the cookies were done.

Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best!! The recipe had some 700 reviews but not all of them were great.

I had to watch them very carefully in the oven to ensure I didn't burn them. SUCCESS!! The cookies were quite tasty.
After scarfing down a few, I went on a run to Regent's Park. Big FAIL

Tip toed my way through the icy terrain :o)

Everything was still very slippery and  snowy. I did manage to find some sidewalks around the perimeter of the park that weren't caution zones. I miss running when the sun is out and I'm not big layered sweaty mess. The less clothing the better :). Oh well! At least I still managed to squeeze out a 45 minute run.

Suprise of the day:

My first set of Zumba instructor cd's came in the mail! I have yet to try them but I'm excited because the DVD actually comes with choreographed moves to all the songs. It takes the guesswork out of the songs for all the "non dancers" aka people like me who find it challenging to come up w. moves on their own. Schaweet! Merry X-Mas to meeeeee!

 

My afternoon consisted of finishing up my last minute Christmas shopping and buying some new toys for the rascal. It's like Christmas every month for her. She's livin the good life I must say! And sneaking her big fat nose in my picture!!!

My family comes in tomorrow. Yippeee!!! 

Song of the day: Ne-Yo ft. Fabulous "Crazy Love"

Santa's cookies

UNO MAS!

Pumpkin is such a wonderful fall/winter flavor.

These cookies turned out very spicy due to the ginger, nutmeg and cloves. The texture was almost cake like so I figure it will be a good oatmeal topping :)

LOTS AND LOTS of cookies for Santa.

add milk to line and microwave for 2 minutes and you have yourself a quick oatmeal breakfast. I added some sliced bananas in there as well.

With a cookie on top. Gotta have that sugar rush in the morning. Yawwwwwwwwwwwn.

Debating whether to make more cookies this morning. I'm making up for this past year that I didn't spend more time in the kitchen. I love baking :). Oatmeal raisin here I come!

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart