Summer salad

http://www.eatliverun.com/black-bean-quinoa-and-citrus-salad/#more-24971

Prepping to make a healthy summer salad courtesy of Eat, Live Run. All the ingredients in this salad are so simple but sometimes I just need a reminder to put them all together to create something delicious and light.

2 cans of black beans rinsed and drained of all excess liquid.

it took me a while to prep the veggies- I'm a super slow chopper!

a little more than 1/2 of a medium red onion diced. I put in extra because I love the taste and crisp the onions provides in a dish.

For the dressing:

• 3 limes juiced
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp cumin
• liberal sprinkle of salt and pepper

Even though I rolled the limes on my counter top (to help release the juices)- these limes were a bitch to squeeze out! lol excuse my language. I ended up feeling like I could have done without so much lime juice because the dressing turned out a bit too citrusy.

•  1 cup quinoa cooked
• 1 haas avocado diced
• 2 large red grapefruit cut into large chunks (maybe next time I'll use smaller chunks and 1 1/2 grapefruit instead of 2)
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 2 cups sweet corn kernels
• a generous handful of cilantro (this herb really gives the salad a nice finishing touch!)

Yum! The salad turned out to be really filling and tasty. I never even thought to put grapefruit in a salad let alone a quinoa salad. Sweet! I had about 2 bowls throughout the day AND I have a whole container leftover :-)

When I leave T to his own devices, he steals his MY camera and begins to take pictures of the love of his life. ha!

"I wanted to take a picture of how depressed she looked!" - Well I think he did a good job.

The Star of Kings- our local pub that is literally right next to us.

Regent's Canal

The canal would be so much more beautiful if there wasn't litter and dog crap scattered all about. It's really disturbing how negligent some people can be with their trash- its not like there isn't a trash bin literally a feet or two away from you!! Grr..I digress

PARTY TIME!

After my Korean class, T & I went over to a friend's house for an impromptu party that she threw together in one day. I give her mad props because everything was so lovely!

I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with my arm sticking out like that. I dig that its gotten more toned though- it was starting to look flabby from not lifting in 3 months!!

I felt like sort of a geek taking pictures of the food so I just snuck one in. The picture doesn't really give the spread any justice. There was a few Iranian dishes and some hummus, cheeses, bread, pita, veggies, grapeleaves, chips, and fruit.

I was digging on the furniture a bit.

and this cool looking light fixture.

She sure knows how to pick the right flowers. I need to become a flower person! I love flowers but I never know how to pick them out or arrange the m to look as pretty as other peeps.

Dessert table- cherries, strawberries, cupcakes, and the most delicious baklava that she picked up from a Turkish restaurant. It was dripping in honey and so amazing!! T and I ate two like we were little kids sneaking in dessert before dinner. hehe.

Breakfast prior to going to the gym:

I used this as a topping on my scrambled eggs for some Omega 3,6,9 action.

I'm so excited about tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Two Michelin starred restaurants in ONE week? Holy Smokes it must be my lucky week! Get ready for lots of pictures....
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=murano+dining+london&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=murano+dining&hnear=0x47d8a00baf21de75:0x52963a5addd52a99,Westminster,+London&cid=6827725631825339392

Chocolate protein oat pancakes

Gotta love the first Tuesday of the month because it's Milk and Honey's free tasting for members plus guest! We stopped by Kati Roll first to grab a meal snack before the tasting because the free samples leave you pretty tipsy if don't have anything in your tummy!

We got two sandwiches to share: the chicken tikka and unda beef roll. They were quite flavorful with a bunch of spices I couldn't pinpoint.

http://www.thekatirollcompany.com/

The menu isn't very complicated AND they have a Chana Masala roll for vegetarians. I might have to come back to try that one.

"Tarek go pose in front of the black door!!" The entrance to M&H is really inconspicuous; you have to know where you're going in order to find it. Buzz and you'll be let in! It's actually quite swanky and nice on the inside. Dim lighting and speak easy music to get you in the mood :)

Every first Tuesday of the month, they have a different liquor tasting. Tonight was Grand Marnier and its sub parts.

I always dug the red ribbon that gives the bottle a classy look

Grand Marnier is used in a lot of drinks such as margaritas and cosmopolitans. I love margaritas :)

Grand Marnier is a blend of cognacs and bitter orange. It was created in 1880 by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle. Fun fact: His friend Cesar Ritz came up with the name Grand Marnier and Alexandre then helped him promote and buy his Ritz Paris Hotel.

We were the first to arrive and the first to get a fruity tasting cocktail. There was a hint of absinthe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Marnier

We were given a presentation on the history and makings of Grand Marnier. It was quite interesting. It also helped that the guy doing the presentation was pretty funny!

We tried a bunch of different cognacs that go into the making of Grand Marnier. They were harsh to the smell and burned when going down the throat- not surprising for a 60 proof alcohol! Not the most pleasant sensation but the overall taste that was left in the mouth was a fruity one.

Near the end, he gave us a sample of the final product: Grand Marnier. It tasted like orange candy after all those harsh samples. I would even dare to say it was yummy (or the liquor might have gone straight to my head!).

One last final fruity drink made from GM before heading out!

We walked out of M&H and saw the cutest dog and owner selling The Big Issue. I begged T to donate some money so I could get a picture of this. hehehe.. I'm such a sucker.

Dog lovers beware! Hey. It worked on me.

After the tasting, we stopped by Arirang to grab an actual bite of dinner. We weren't too thrilled with the service or the food. T proclaimed he would never go back even if it was the only restaurant open! Now that's a bold statement.

http://www.ariranglondon.co.uk/

The sushi wasn't very fresh but I guess you can't really expect that much out of a Korean restaurant.

Jap Chae- There were lots of veggies but the flavor was a bit too peppery

BBQ- Pork and Beef. The portion was good but the pork was too fatty!

Bibimbap- According to T, there weren't enough veggies and the flavor wasn't as good as some of the others we've had in London. I would have to agree! Oh well- You can't win everytime!

Breakfast this morning: Chocolate protein oat pancakes. I went trolling online for a recipe for pancakes and this is what I found. There are a bunch of them on the web but I didn't have some of the ingredients they called for. I was still waiting on our Ocado order this morning for the ground cinnamon.
http://amerrylife.com/food/chocolate-protein-oatmeal-pancake-recipe

• 1/3 cup oats
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• I didn't add the 1/2 tsp cinnamon or cocoa powder because I didn't have any cinnamon and I felt that the cocoa powder would have made this pancake too chocolatey!

Thoroughly mix the ingredients together

Place on a hot skillet (but at least attempt to flatten them out in a circular shape-oops my bad!)

Topped with maple syrup. I gave T the sloppy looking one- I love having him as my guinea pig. muahhaha!

and I made mine more pretty! So, overall I thought it was good for a "healthy" breakfast. There is no flour or any obvious binding ingredient but the texture was still very hearty. I think that came from the combination of the oats and protein powder. I would definitely recommend putting something sweet on top because of the thickness of the pancake. I think I'm going to try putting fruit and maybe flavored yogurt next time. The possibilities of toppings are endless.

Agenda: PUNCH class, Korean studies, salsa maybe?

Clean house

I picked up some sushi yesterday after the gym because I was SO hungry! I also went to Sports Direct and bought 4 new pairs of workout pants :-D I was only wearing the same three pants to the gym and two of them I discovered have holes in them... in the most sensitive area. Doh! I hope I wasn't giving anyone a free show.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=the+angel+curry+centre&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=the+angel+curry+centre&hnear=0x48761b5dedeb3be5:0x54f085cb18ec65c9,Islington&cid=9397569837787187582

We ordered greasy Indian delivery from Angel Curry Centre because our fridge was empty and it reaked!! Time to clean the fridge again. It's crazy how fast things start to smell. I could have sworn I cleaned the fridge out a few weeks ago. Blegh. How unappetizing.

Some sort of potato and greens dish

lamb with green peppers

"special" fried rice. I'm not sure what is quite special about it but it was pretty tasty!

I swear there was a salad under that pile of food! I can't ever seem to eat Indian in moderation. I scarfed down like it was my J-O-B.

T sure knows the way to my heart: Green & Blacks chocolate and a celeb gossip magazine!

Bowl of oats for breakfast:

• 1/3 cup milk 
• 1/3 cup water 
• 1/3 cup oats
• sprinkle of raisins
• whole banana mashed
• dash of vanilla
• tablespoon of honey
• drizzle of almond butter

In da gym: I love this workout. I'm seriously sweat laced when I leave the gym and a tad bit sore. Lurve that feeling!!
http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Bikini-Workout-with-SELF-Magazine-5090

I'm really hoping this protein smoothie will aid my muscle recovery because I'm really looking forward to my virgin active PUNCH class tomorrow!!

This was 3 cups of kale maybe? I sauteed it in a weee bit of olive oil and the rest olive oil spray. I'm going to try and cut down on my oil usage. I haven't been measuring my pour and even though olive oil is heart healthy; it still has roughly 120 calories per tablespoon. I don't even want to know how many calories I've been using up with just the oil itself!

Reheated leftover Indian food. And yes, that is all we had left!

with lots of kale smothered on top. This gives me the illusion that I'm eating a lot more than I really am.

Agenda: A new cleaner came today. Yippee! She's giving me a much needed break from the housework AND helping me out since we have very important guests coming next Monday. The house sure smells clean!

Song of the day: Cheryl Cole- "Hummingbird"