Dates and Almond butter= perfection!

I haven't finished a book in two days for a reaaaallly reaaaaaaaaaaaaaly long time. As in maybe when I was a teenager and into reading like it was my job

Remember these?

Some of my old time faves. Anyway, the book was a very easy read. It's funny, charming, tear jerking at times, and heartwarming. I would definitely recommend reading it! I can't wait for the movie to come out :)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1563738/

I stopped by Pret after teaching Zumba to get a tuna sandwich and some tomato soup.

Their tomato soup is actually pretty good. It has chunks of soft tomato and is not as acidic like most tomato soups I've had. Delish! So I went all the way out to Wimbledon, taking over an hour to get there and was greeted by ONE person. I guess lucky for her it was a one on one class but I seriously think I could hear the crickets, ha!

snack before teaching Zumba class numero dos.

holy crap whoever thought of putting almond butter and dates together is a GENIUS! It's a great tasting combo AND it helped keep me full and provided me with some natural sugar energy for my class.

okay, this eating out business is getting absurd. I'm so lazy!! Maybe because it's almost 8:30 by the time I come home and I really don't want to cook! I stopped by Royal Thai again and ordered the green chicken curry this time. So the curry wasn't so good because it was watery and lacked that thick awesome curry flavor but I love bamboo shoots so I didn't complain too much.

aaaand more fried veggie spring roll goodness.

I awoke this morning to find T working hard in the kitchen. I think I woke up because the house smelled like food. Man, my nose is good! He made us eggs sweetened with mirin, sesame oil, smoked turkey, avocado, and togarashi. It was innnnteresting and pretty good. T wasn't too impressed with himself but I liked it because it was different! 

Agenda: Gym, study, start reading my next book (House at Riverton), teach Zumba, GHOST STORIES! Man, I've been wanting to see this since its been out and we're finally going tonight. So excited that I think I actually had a scary dream last night in anticipation for tonight. NO JOKE!

Young Dealmaker of the Year award

Yay! I was able to find these two books at our local library- saved some money chaching!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Day-David-Nicholls/dp/0340896965

....but I had to go out and buy this one. I don't mind at all because I already can't put it down!

lunch yesterday was oven baked chicken w. leftover coleslaw and brown rice.

I seasoned the chicken w. honey, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and EVOO.

Later that evening, I accompanied the hubs to an awards ceremony. He was honored with a DealMaker of the Year award from Merger Markets. They had a lovely cocktail and canapes reception at the ShoreDitch house. I was a bit bummed we couldn't check out the top floor pool area they have but they did let people use their bowling alley.

I felt a bit awkward bringing my camera into the reception so we made do with pictures afterwards at dinner.

Congrats T!

His hard work finally pays off :-D

more celebratory drinks and dinner at Lahore Kabab House.

We had to wait for about 2 minutes before heading into the dining area. They have a waiting area with a complimentary salad bar that we helped ourselves to.

as always, the food did NOT disappoint. Everything was amaaazing!

lamb chops

pilau rice

king prawn curry

lamb biryani

chicken tikka masala

Breakfast then I'm teaching Zumba all the way out near Wimbledon. Looks like I'll have to take the Underground, Overground, and then a bus to get there!

Agenda: teach zumba, rest, read, teach zumba again!

Tenshi restaurant

Lunch: I made some coleslaw with some prepackaged stir fry greens. I also had some leftover fish and brown rice- I love when leftovers taste better on the second day!

• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• generous tsp sugar 
• 1 tsp djion mustard
• 1/4 tsp celery salt

It was nice and refreshing since our house is still hot from yesterday's blistering heat!!

All afternoon I wanted to do this...

Instead I went over some Zumba moves most of the day and read my Women's Health magazine. Even though I only teach two classes (I'm going to be adding another regular class every Tuesday's- Schweet!!)
I find it necessary to rehearse the steps to the songs almost everyday. I don't have it quite as easy as most people memorizing just about ANYTHING so I have to keep repeating, keep practicing, keep moving, in order for me to remember my moves. It's really rewarding but tiring at the same time! There's no greater feeling than knowing that with hard work and diligence, anything is possible! ***Love**

After teaching yesterday and sweating balls AGAIN, T and I went and grabbed late night dinner at Tenshi on upper street.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=InW&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1284&bih=587&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=tenshi+london&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=tenshi&hnear=0x47d8a00baf21de75:0x52963a5addd52a99,Westminster,+London&cid=16122224033370196559&ei=I-gKTuqvL4TRhAf1suH7Dw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=4&ved=0CD4Q4gkwAw

Everything came out really fast and sort of out of order. We started with out Sushi Set with 7 pieces of pretty small nigiri pieces. The fish portion was small and delicate and wasn't as buttery or sweet as I'm used to but still tasty.

avocado and snow crab california roll

seared tuna and spring onion w. spicy togarashi hand roll

puhlease excuuuse my blurry Iphone pictures! Yes, I'm the weirdo that pulls out her Iphone to take pictures in the restaurant. I guess it beats the huge Nikon camera ;-)

this is similar to the Korean pancake Pajun but instead it has this mayo sauce drizzled all over the top and is thicker and more doughy in texture. It was filled with lots of shrimp and squid and was quite yummy! A bit heavy though.. I think I still would prefer to eat Pajun but that's just the Korean in me!

Takoyaki!!! Octopus fried balls. YUM! These were the best Takoyaki balls I've had here in London and since I've never eaten them anywhere else, the best ever.

So I've realized I have the hardest time sticking to any UNO thing. For example, lets take books, I have about 5 books sitting around the house that I have YET to read but I still want to go out and get more. I'm off to Waterstones to pick up

Really really really want to read this book before the movie comes out! Such a sap for love stories

ditto on this book- the movie looks great!

I saw this book on another blogger's website and its gotten pretty good reviews!

"The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love. Born out of concern for all beings."

- Buddha

Royal Thai restaurant

Holy crappola it was hot as balls yesterday!! It felt like the hottest day of the year in London but don't quote me on that.

Sonoma wanted to tan with me

but she couldn't handle the heat-she kept trying to find some shelter from the sun poor girl!!

I didn't keep her outside on the patio for long. Back into the cage she went!

When you don't have a beach.. laying on hot concrete is a nice subsitute??!! We are fortunate enough to have a small private patio that leads out from our upstairs bedroom. It felt so nice to be in my swimsuit for the first time this summer. Sheesh! A girl will resort to anything ;-)

smoothie to cool me off- the color of the smoothie wasn't as pretty but I'm guessing it was due to the huge handfuls of greens I put in!

• handful of spinach
• handful of kale
• 1 cup milk
• splash of vanilla yogurt
• frozen berries
• ice cubes
• banana
• agave nectar for sweetness
• toppings: raisins, dark chocolate chips, almonds

http://www.royalthai-res.com/

After sweating my ASS off teaching Zumba, I stopped by Royal Thai on Caledonian road for some quick dinner.

crunchy and delicious veggie spring rolls dipped in sweet chili sauce. I think I could dip anything crunchy in this sweet sauce and it would taste amaaazing!

the chicken pad thai was pretty good -nothing to rave about as the noodles were sort of soggy/mushy but I was starving so I had no problems scarfing it all down.

my poor dog has resorted to chillin by the coolest place in the house.

It's definitely cooler this morning, yippee!!
Breakfast:

smoked salmon on top of scrambled eggs w. warburton's seeded toast.

New fitness reading materials-schweeet!

Agenda: Zumba, study Korean, last salsa class (sniff sniff**), teach Zumba