xoxo

I spent the day hiding from London's rain and cold in my flat. It's VERY cruddy outside.

What to do. What to do. Watch Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill of course!! CW shows are like soap operas to me. With Gossip Girl, I can tune in the first season, not really watch the second and third and very much enjoy the fourth.

Lunch:

I marinated the chicken in honey,soy sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic, and siracha.

Mixed whole wheat pasta with leftover potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, and onions sauteed in Dijon mustard, sweet chili sauce, and lemon juice. Weird combination but it worked.

Our trip for home has been booked for next year!

My friend is getting married in May and my brother's law school graduation happens to coincide in the same month. So excited to be fortunate enough to attend such huge milestones. I also received a $250 United Airlines voucher (since they were a pain in the bootay during a recent trip) so we're thinking of booking an additional trip to Texas.

Hot diggity dog! All of my favorite things: Football, country music, cowboys, and bbq! Oh yeaaa....

Fall Dinner Party

T and I are slowly working our way through our local pizza joints. Still haven't found "the one"

The pizza was alright. I compare every delivery pizza to Papa Johns and this didn't measure up. You know it's bad mediocre when I don't eat all the wings. I usually have a no chicken wing left behind policy. :P

Dinner party theme: Fall/comfort food. T cooked while I putzed around.

Seasoning of the brisket

 Lots of veggies for the vegetable stock

Roasted butternut squash

I helped out by chopping the peppers. Phew. A hard day's work!

Butternut squash soup before it was pureed in my handy dandy Vitamix

Seared brisket

This amuse bouche was supposed to be a twice baked potato but in my frenzy to clean up after T, I threw away the potato skins. Rookie error. DOH!! T'was delicious anyway.

 

Salad w. peppers, avocado, and mozzerella cheese. A simple dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of half an orange.

They seem so intrigued..

Spicy butternut squash. Perfect soup consistency. It proved to be too spicy for some of our guests. Guess they don't have my unusually high tolerance for spice. :o)

Mac n cheese w. salami. My favorite course. So cheesy and salty. Mmmm...

Brisket with some sort of tomato based sauce on top.

Breakfast this morning: Toast w. a fried egg and grapes.

Someones trying desperately to sneak in the picture

Maybe if I get a running start...

I was sososososo tired this morning that I barely made it to Box Fit. Didn't help that it's cold and dreary outside. My umbrella was going all sorts of crazy on me. Glad I went to class but I didn't have much energy for today's combinations. Talk about the Monday bluuuuuuuuuuues.

Post workout smoothie:

Milk, yogurt, berries, banana, carrot, agave nectar, ice, protein powder

1 more week of freedom til my PT program starts.

Song of the day: Gyptian feat Nicki Minaj "Hold Yuh (remix)"

Feeling so fly like a G6

Date night started with some champagne. Love the pink Moet label.

Steaks apparently make me a very happy girl 

http://www.thehawksmoor.co.uk/

Hawksmoor known for their steaks and fun cocktails

Pineapple and sage mint julep. Very sweet and sour but delicious

First mistake- eating a red (sour) berry. I should have known they just make the drink look pretty!

The board tells you what they have left. Our reservation was at 9:30 p.m. so a lot had sold out.

silly cow plates

Appetizers:

Crab and samphire salad. Mehhh.. I was too busy salivating over the other dish to really bother w. this one.

Bone marrow. Oh my bahgeebers. So flippin good. The idea of bone marrow is quite frightening but if you can get over that hurdle, it is truly a delicious experience.

Scoop out the marrow and slather it on your perfectly toasted bread. The marrow is so smokey and sweet from the caramelized onions. This whooped some butt on the crab.

Sides:

Mac n cheese.

 Field Mushrooms

Mash and gravy

Half a lobster and rib-eye for T. I totally forgot to take a picture of my filet!! I was too distracted because T's had come out before mine. We were patiently waiting forever a few minutes. I had asked for mine medium but it definitely came out rare. I'm not one to cause a fuss so I just ate it instead of sending it back. Hands down the best steak I've had in London thus far

After dinner, we went dancing at
http://www.kinglyclub.co.uk/
I was definitely digging the music. T and the DJ had a sort of bromance going on. We were given one too many free drinks.

Morning cocktail:

Ingredients: Skim milk, ice, vanilla yogurt, frozen berries,banana, water, and 1 med carrot. Yum.

Note to headache: please GO AWAY!

Jazz hands

Bran flakes with raisins and half a sliced banana

Quick breakfast of cereal before heading to Body Attack this morning.

I don't know what it is about certain gym instructors and their need to dress like Richard Simmons. Didn't think his shorts could get any shorter. Eeewww.. Thankfully the class was fun! We were kicking, punching, and dancing. Like jazz showtunes style dancing. :-D

Post workout smoothie:

Into the vitamix: skim milk, ice, vanilla yogurt, half a bananer, frozen berries, 1/3 cup water, protein powder.

Cocoa cherry granola was so delicious and crunchy. The cherry bits reminded me texturally of the marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal.

Scrambled eggs w. a bagel for T.

We spent the afternoon cleaning because we are hosting a small dinner party tomorrow. My back hurts from all the leaning over and vacuuming. I felt like a cleaning machine.

Lunch: I had an itch for Korean grub that needed scratching!

 Kimchee restaurant in Golder's Green. Cute name huh?!

Upon arriving, we were promptly greeted, seated, and this coleslaw type dish placed in front of us.

Small bowl of seaweed soup to start. Similar to getting miso soup at Japanese restaurants.

Side dishes that came with our main entrees. Of course, T and I ordered 3 main's and a starter. Typical!

Bulgogi- beef w. carmelized onions.

Seafood pajun- disappointed w. the flavor and lack of crispiness. There was too much dough and it wasn't properly cooked. Even the soy dipping sauce lacked any flavor. It's supposed to enhance the pajun but it was just bland.

My dish and my favorite. Jampong soup, a spicy noodle dish with seafood and veggies. The broth was so spicy and tasty. The best thing to do after you eat most of your noodles and veggies is to put white rice in the leftover broth.Yummm...

T's dolsot bi bim bap. A stone bowl with rice, beef, veggies, spicy paste, and a fried egg on top.

All gone!

As if I hadn't eaten enough

Hummingbird's carrot cake cupcake with strawberry cheesecake ice cream.