Samba Swirl

http://www.sambaswirl.co.uk/index.html

Frozen yogurt my love!!!

When I went back to Chicago in May, the only thing missing in my life when I came back was self serve frozen yogurt and my family. I had a hunch that it would come over to London soon enuff and here it is! Sweetness!!!

We just happened to be on a bus on our way to lunch when I saw someone handing out free yogurt samples. I told T that we would be making a stop here on our way back but little did I know that it was going to be SELF SERVE (or else I would have made him get off the bus at that moment! ha!).

flavors- peanut butter, dulce de leche, and vanilla
toppings- strawberries, mango's, pineapples, pecans, dark chocolate chips, and sprinkles

YUM, IT WAS JUST AS I HAD EXPECTED IT TO BE-----AMAZEEBALLS!!  :-) :-) :-)

Dinner last night was takeaway Korean food. Everything was good but not great.

We had dak bulgogi (Korean style bbq chicken), beef bi bim bap, and shrimp tikka masala that the hubs prepared on the side.

spicy veggie sides because of course what would a Korean meal be without the staple kimchi!

Our night consisted of watching The Other guys and then falling asleep reading in bed :).

cheesy but I found myself laughing almost the whole time!

Breakfast then its gym time!

I tried another GF bread but this time it was from Sainsbury. I think I almost prefer this one to the other brand because it didn't have a strong rye bread taste like the other one did. I appreciated the more subtle flavor.

I swear I'll master sunny side up eggs one of these days! I almost always end up undercooking the egg whites and overcooking the yolks.. bah!!

At the gym yo: I concentrated on my legs and shoulders, 3 sets, 8-10 reps

• step ups 
• seated dumbbell overhead press
• walking lunges
• barbell upright row
• standing hip extension on pulley machine
• standing dumbbell lateral raise
• quadraped hip extensions
• rear deltoid flyes on stability ball

 

Check out that amazing purplish/blue color! In the mix:

• almond milk/soy milk
• frozen banana
• 3/4 cup blueberries
• agave nectar
• scoop of chocolate whey powder
• toppings: 2 tablespoons of maple cranberry muesli and a tablespoon of dark chocolate chips

sigh... no more beer (Gluten alert!!) for me but at least T still gets to indulge..We tried a new Japanese restaurant in Angel on Essex road called Akari . He was super excited because they had Japanese beer on tap.. psh! Ask me why I care :-P Okay, it was still pretty cool because Akari used to be a pub and it still looks like one from the inside out. Quite an interesting Japanese dining setting.

 

We started with a wonderful strong flavored miso soup

deluxe sushi platter- fresh fish nigiri that included UNI!!

I ate everything aside from the fried shrimp tempura roll (fried foods=gluten!)

spicy tuna handrolls- It tasted differently than all the other spicy tuna handrolls I've had. T mentioned that it tasted pretty vinegar-y but I still thought it was delicious!

boiled chicken bowl with a sweet, amazing tasting broth and caramelized onions.

I stopped into Planet Organics to do a little perusing of the aisles for GF products. God, I love health food stores.. aaaand did I tell you how much I love health food stores?? If T wasn't with me, I probably could have spent hours in this tiny grocery store (lots of different and unique products!!)

I only bought 2 things (I could almost feel the hubs gawking, mouth gaped open at all the higher marked goods)

I bought coconut oil to try out because I read and heard nothing but great things about coconuts. Here's some health benefits of CO! 


Song of the day: Beyonce "Best Thing I Never Had"

I'm going back to school ma!

Lunch yesterday was seabass filets seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, olive oil, and siracha

sauteed mushrooms and courgettes

the garlic powder gave the seabass a nice crust- yum!!

In the gym: I focused on bi's, tri's and abs since that was the only part of my body that wasn't sore from Wednesdays workout.. Ouch.. I did 3 sets of 8-10 reps

• close grip bench press (T)
• barbell curl (B)
• lying barbell tricep extensions (T)
• hammer curl (B)
• tricep pressdowns (T)
• Incline dumbbell curl (B)

Gym gripe: As most lifters are familiar with, the bench is extremely useful for a variety of exercises. It definitely helps to have the right set of dumbbells within arms reach when doing supersets. A recent gripe of mine is that my gym removed the lighter dumbbells from the main guys weights room and into the gymfloor. I understand this was probably due to not many people using the lighter weights (yes macho men, I know you don’t use 3kg weights for your dumbbell flys like me!!) but it honestly puts people like me (mostly women that don’t lift very heavy) at a disadvantage. I have to take extra time to plan my exercises and make sure I have the right set of dumbbells prior to starting my workout. This wouldn’t be a problem if my supersets didn’t call for multiple weights! I.e.: I like to use 3kg for my flyes, 4-5kg for my bicep curls, 6kg for my close grip tricep presses, etc!! I may sound lazy but who honestly wants to disrupt their workout by lugging weights around the gym after every exercise!? and why return the weights you ask? Do you really think I want to be that crazy person that hogs all the light dumbbells at her bench station?

My night was spent eating and sitting in front of the telly because the hubs is busy at work this week.

I had another buffalo burger for dinner with some roasted broccoli and kalamata olives (random!!) on the side.

I kept the burger open faced and doused it with ketchup, dijon mustard, and siracha

It was a satisfying dinner :)

Breakfast then it's off to the gym -- I have a sexy date with the treadmill, ow ow!

Holy cannoli I'm going back to school!!! Starting in October, I'll be doing a Sciences Extended degree in Biology/Chemistry at London Metropolitan University. If all goes well and I pass all my courses, I'll apply for the Human Nutrition and Dietetics program next year. I'm a ball of emotions from excited, happy, and extremely nervous!!

Walk like a duck

I've been on a fish kick lately. I bought these two tilapia filets yesterday and was scared they would spoil right away so I ended up cooking both of them.

• garlic chunks
• honey
• olive oil
• soya sauce (GF and tastes like the real thing!)
• siracha
• salt and pepper

with sauteed mushrooms and brown rice on the side.

tilapia itself doesn't have much flavor so it helps to have a really flavorful marinade/sauce. Mine was really delicious!! Excuse the huge chunks of garlic but I actually like it that way. Mmmm...garlic nom nom nom :)

cup o' grapes for dessert

and since the grapes didn't satisfy my sweet tooth, I decided to break out one of these bad boys. Gluten Free Coconut Macaroons (not be be confused with these delicious macaroons).

sweet, slightly chewy in texture and a very strong coconut flavor=one delicious macaroon!

My workout yesterday was my weekly PUNCH class at Virgin Active. PUNCH is a boxing class mixed in with body conditioning exercises. Yesterday's circuit in between the punching combinations were some killer exercises done across the gym floor such as duck walks, lunges, push ups, crab walks, and bear crawls.
The hardest exercise for me was probably the duck walks. Who honestly came up with this brutal exercise?!!!

http://www.laverstokepark.co.uk/burgers/buffalo-burgers.html

After teaching Zumba, I threw in a buffalo burger from Laverstoke Farms in the oven. Buffalo burgers are leaner than regular burgers and this one was extra special because it was deemed gluten free and contained no artificial colorings or preservatives.

I needed a substitute for a regular hamburger bun so when I found these, I was super stoked. Unfortunately, they didn't taste that great and I didn't really like the texture.

gluten can appear in the trickiest of places like regular condiments!

with sauteed mushrooms and red onions

I topped the burger with ketchup and dijon mustard.. YUM!!

Bowl of fruit, eggs, and toast for breakfast then its gym time!

For my your viewing pleasure

we played a rowdy game of fetch at 8 a.m. this morning

I love my boo bear too much!! Now if only I had her tenacity and spirit in me all the time... :)

Agenda: gym, lunch, take dog to the park, go to library and study (I'm too distracted at home!!), chillax!
Such a touching video tribute: 
http://whiteonricecouple.com/films-documentaries/video-creamy-peanut-butter-pie-mikey-jennifer-perillo/

Zumba clothing love

I may have an addiction to Zumba clothing.. it's nothing serious.. YET...

I ordered these on Sunday and got my shipment on Tuesday. Holy schmokes that was fast!

After 3 orders, I've learned that all the tops run a bit small. I'm normally a medium and sometimes a large if the chest area is too tight but in Zumba gear; I'm an extra large baby!

I ordered 6 new tops and some bracelets

hahahhaa... I feel like I'm back in middle school w. these bracelets.

When I ordered this on Ocado, I thought they were for adults! Little did I know that they are specifically for little children. Organic chilli yum yum-- can't get more obvious than that..

the portion size was reaaaly tiny but the chilli flavor was spot on! I might have added some hot sauce for an extra zing ;)

GF jammies for dessert

aaand an extra portion of leftovers since I was still hungry at about 4 p.m.. No way I could get through teaching Zumba AND going to a salsa class on an empty stomach!

I got home at 11:30 after some drinks with friends and T got home at around the same time=perfect time for an almost midnight snack! Cheese and prawn omelet deliciousness..

Breakfast this morning for two..

hoping this apple with peanut butter will keep me satiated til after PUNCH class this afternoon.

Agenda: I've decided to find a football (soccer) team to follow this year. I've been in London for almost 2 years and still haven't gotten into the scene here and I'm asking myself WHY NOT!? The hubby is heavily pressuring pointing me towards supporting the Tottenham Hotspurs but I'm not sure yet.. Gotta do some of my own research!

New workout music (if you like rap!)- Bad Meets Evil 

*****Sending my love and warm fuzzies to my childhood bestie in Chicago who just gave birth to a beautiful daughter!*****

Naked, I mean Nakd

I love when I accidentally discover delicious gluten free snacks. When you are forced to follow a certain diet, it's always comforting to find foods that resembles what you were used to eating so you don't feel like you're missing out. Since I liked the cashew Nakd bar so much, I decided to try the cocoa bar and it was just as good-- it had a nice, sweet balance of chocolate and dates.

Gym time yesterday: Chest/Back/Abs, 3 sets, 10-12 reps

• Seated row (15 kg)
• DB chest press on a stability ball (5kg weights)
• Lat pulldown (20kg)
• Pushup
• Assisted pullups
• DB fly on a stability ball (3kg weights)
• side plank dips
• reverse crunch 
• straight leg up and down
• regular crunches

okay.. I might be overdoing it on the GF snacking but I can't help it! Whenever I try something new, I like to try it all :) These jammies were really good- almost tasted like the real things but this cookie was a lot more crumblier in texture.

lunch was leftover shepherd's pie and sauteed bok choy- my fav!

afternoon snack- GF veggie chips, refried beans, and salsa. My version of nachos w. out the cheese :)

Dinner: I ate this while watching Jennifer's Body- The movie was quite cheesy but I actually found Megan Fox's acting to be alright!!

leftover lamb w. brown rice

I also threw together a sloppily made caprese salad because I was too lazy to cook some vegetables...

my botched attempt at cinnamon/allspice sunny side up eggs!

After breakfast, I trekked out to the gym in the gunky weather (it's raining!!!) and ran for 45 minutes on the treadmill. I was quite happy because I got to watch rerun of the Man U vs. Tottenham football match and run. Call me a weirdo but I luuuuuurve <3 watching sports when working out. It almost beats watching Sports Center.. ..almost... It was nice doing a longer run today. I think my plan is to incorporate more cardio. Here's my tentative workout schedule for the week.

• Monday- Weights (Chest, Back, Abs)
• Tuesday- Run
• Wednesday- Punch class, weights (Legs-hams, glutes, Shoulders, abs)
• Thursday- Run
• Friday- Weights (Biceps, Triceps, Legs-quads, abs)
• Saturday- Run
• Sunday- Day of rest :)

Yuuuuumm- my smoothie was extra delicious and sweet today. I think I might like my smoothies more when I don't add any spinach to them. I'm sort of over the spinach for now..

• almond milk
• frozen banana
• frozen blueberries
• scoop protein powder
• ice cubes
• squeeze of agave nectar 
• sprinkle of cold water
• Toppings: Muesli, almonds, dark chocolate chips

 

Agenda: Study Chemistry- Hip Hip Hooraay! :-P, teach Zumba, salsa class, relax