It's going to be a messy one folks

I love corny Christmas decorations. This lil guy was only a £1.

Lunch:

sauteed spinach and mushrooms in siracha/dijon mustard and chicken breast with sliced beets and mayo on the other.

Scrumptious.

Somehow I managed to put it together and eat it. Don't ask me how.

Clementine for a snack.

The sun was out for a brief moment today. Halleluj-ER! I almost forgot what the sun looked and felt like. :)

Happy Hump Day!

Cubano Boricua

Another successful salsa night under my belt. I'm currently in an improver's cross body salsa class but its almost over so I decided to branch out and try another style of salsa. Enter into picture: cuban salsa. http://www.cubanrhumjungle.com/ . I've noticed that when I go to salsa clubs, people are always spinning me around in circles. Definitely not what they teach you in cross body where you move across the floor in straight lines. Cuban salsa also seems to have more flair, passion, and hip movements. Much more my style :)


After salsa, I met T at Milk and Honey where they were doing a free monthly event. Last night's event was a tasting of four new cocktails. They've changed their menu and decided to invite member's and one guest to try it out. I came just in time to try the last one. It was an interesting cocktail to say the least. Sorry I forgot to take pictures!
http://www.mlkhny.com/home.php

I was starvin marvin afterwards so we stopped at Pizza Hut. This is the second time in the past week I've had Pizza Hut (I hadn't been inside an actual pizza hut restaurant in the States in over 7 plus years). One would think it was my favorite food or something! Maybe they should add pizza as a food group. Just a thought.

Warm cheesy garlic bread. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuumy!!

Ehhhh just so so breaded chicken strips.

The hawaiian is back in rotation baby. It's probably my favorite pizza topping as of late. There's just something about that sweet and salty combination of the ham and pineapple. Makes me very happy :)

Whoever invented this dessert is one smart cookie. heh heh. Get it? Warm baked cookie dough dessert? Oh lordie. It's still too early. Chewy, buttery, chocolatey goodness all over my spoon. Such a simple and amazing tasting dessert *if you're a fan of chocolate chip cookies*

I opted for something a bit more healthy this morning.

Vanilla yogurt w. blueberries, almonds, goji berries, and muesli.

Wholewheat toast w. fried egg and flaxseeds on top.

Off to the gym! On the agenda: Legs

RIP Elizabeth Edwards. You were one brave soul.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/06/elizabeth.edwards.obit/index.html?hpt=C1

Popeye would be proud

Chicken sandwich w. sauteed spinach, siracha, dijon mustard, and light mayo. Very messy but delicious!

More green monster muffins!! I think I overmixed the batter this time around. Apparently, you shouldn't overmix because they won't turn out as fluffy.

Still green and tasty tho. I like having healthy snacks around the house. These muffins are wholewheat and use only 3/4 cup sugar. Handy on-the-go type of snack.

Off to try cuban salsa tonight :)

So fresh and so clean clean

We have a working washer and dryer finally!! Our old one was making this horrendous noise during the spin cyle (as if it was going to spontaneously combust at any second) and THEN it later started releasing this awful chemical smell. So grateful that our landlord was quick in getting us a new unit. We only had to wait a week and a half. Not bad.

Very impressed at my husband's handiness. He should really quit his job and become a househusband. He can cook, clean, and put together just about anything!!

Dinner last night was leftovers because we didn't have much in the house. Our groceries came this morning thankuverymuch.

I ate dinner in front of the tv. I don't think I've turned it on in a few weeks. I'm now caught up on Gossip Girl. Can I get a WOO HOO!!!

A little princess decided to snuggle up next to me on the couch.

Dessert: Smoothielicious

In the mix:

• skim milk
• vanilla yogurt
• handful of frozen blackberries and blueberries
• ice
• water
• splenda
• sprinkle of muesli, almonds and dried fruit mix on top

Breakfast this morning:

I ordered this pancake mix from Ocado and was excited to try it this morning! I'm in a breakfast rut and wanted something different.

Simply add milk, eggs, and oil to the dry mix

Add a sprinkle of fresh blueberries to each pancake prior to flipping

One topped with vanilla yogurt and the other with Vermont maple syrup. Guess which one was the favorite?

Maple syrup of course! The vanilla yogurt was a bit too sour with each blueberry bite but the syrup gave the pancake a nice sweetness. Hopefully this breakfast will fuel me through some French studies, and then Zumba later this afternoon.

I saw mommy kissing santa claus

My morning was spent going over Zumba routines and practicing an entire cd's worth of music. The trickiest part for me will be remembering all the steps for about 12 songs. Lots of rehearsing will be involved before I can even think about looking for a teaching position. BAH hum bug! Anyways, on to things I'm more capable of for now.

I stopped by Sainsbury's for lunch after a kick ass body combat class.

Large tub full of salad bar goodies.

In the mix:

• cous cous
• bean salad
• onions, beets, cucumbers
• potato salad (The potatoes were hard just like the last time so I left them on the plate. As if I didn't learn my lesson the first time around!!)
• Italian pasta salad

I forgot to mention that stockings are up!!

No, the extra stockings aren't there for purely decorational purposes. We are anxiously waiting the arrival of some special guests later this month!

I awoke this morning to find a little surprise on the wall. The little red stocking is actually Sonoma's bandage from her foot that she managed to wriggle off.  he he he he. T is so silly sometimes. Sometimes all you need is just a good laugh :o)

We also got a delivery this morning. Unfortunately, the new washer/dryer is still in its box. Seriously, what ghetto company doesn't install your unit for you? Grrrr... I was looking forward to working on our huge pile of dirty clothes. I think we have about 10 loads worth. No joke. I go through about 2 pairs of workout clothes a day and we haven't had a working washer for over a week. T will be putting it together later tonight so I won't have to wait long to get started. Yippee!!

Song of the day: Mariah Carey "All I want for Christmas is you"

Bachata lotta

Last night I went to my first meet up alone!! Meet up is an online community where users can join social groups based on hobbies and interests.  I recently joined a salsa group hoping I could make some new salsa friends :). Score! I got a freebie salsa lesson and I learned a new dance. We do some bachata in Zumba classes so I figure it's also research for my soon to be career.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachata_%28dance%29

Dinner:

Veggie eggrolls w. unpictured sweet thai chili sauce

Ready made Bigham meal: Indonesian chicken over rice. Hearty and satisfying. It was nice to eat in after a busy weekend of dining out.

Breakfast this morning: I decided to cut into our mixed berry soda bread that we bought at the Taste festival this weekend.

This bread is sinfully good. I don't care if it's vegan. It doesn't equal healthy. It can't possibly taste that good and be healthy.

Two large slices for me 

Off to get registered at my new doctor's office. O goody ;)

Wanna go to Turkey x3?

Nothing beats a lazy Saturday night in w. greasy Chinese food. Time to bring out the elastic drawstring pants!!

Chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce.

Fatty spare ribs in sweet and sour sauce

Veggie egg rolls with crunchy sweetened seaweed.

Chicken curry

Beef w. onions

Lo mein with beef and sprouts

"shrimp fried rice!" "shrimp fried rice!"

Egg and corn soup- we needed something to warm us up because our flat is SOOO FREAKING COLD! We have really high celings so our heat doesn't circulate throughout our house very well. We've already bought an extra heater for our upstairs bedroom. Too bad it doesn't warm up the entire place. It's going to be a verrrrrrrrrrrrry long winter. :/

We got up this morning and were feeling productive so we decided to decorate the Christmas tree!

We're still in the process of building our ornament collection. Our tree is so darn big that this doesn't really cut it.

She's such a curious pup.

 

Unfortunately, our morning of decorating the tree and listening to Christmas carols was cut short due to a grisley discovery. Noma has been favoring her one leg for the past week and we just found out that it's because of her left toenail. Her nail must have gotten a rip in it and poor girl has been getting it caught on things ever since and yelping from time to time. I don't really know how we didn't catch it earlier.

Thankfully a vet was open on a Sunday near us and we took her to get it ripped out. Ouch. :(

Lunch: Turkish food

This restaurant has three different locations all in the same block. The one we went to was the smaller of the three. I loved the decor; the ceiling was decorated in dangling colorful lamps and the walls were plastered w. memorabilia from Turkey and family photos. It felt like we were in someones home. Me likey :)

We ordered the set menu of meza's for two.

cold starters: olives

Black eyed peas. I think I like BYP the least of all the beans I've tried. They were a bit too hard and chewy.

Some sort of sour and tangy chickpeas and vegetable mixture.

Yogurt and cucumber dip.

Hummous- It's good but not as creamy or flavorful as the lebanese version.

Turkish potato salad. My favorite of the cold mezza's. It had a spicy kick to it. Mmmmmm!!

Yogurt dip w. broad beans, olive oil, and dill.

Bread for dipping.

Grapeleaves filled with rice and vegetable.

Chicken

Lamb and mushrooms in a warm delicious sauce. I love how tender and flavorful lamb can be if prepared right. So amazing!

Fried pastry filled with delicious cheese

Kefta

Falafel smothered in yogurt sauce. The outside was perfectly crisp and the inside nice and hot. Yum!

At the end of the meal, they brought out this spoonful bite of cream and pistachio with an apricot on top. Nice way to end the meal.

But who said we were done? Coffee and dessert anyone?

We went to the second Gallipoli location and had profiteroles for dessert.

Yep- these cream on the outside, chocolate filled puffed pastries were gone within seconds. Definitely could have licked the plate if no one was watching :o)

With a bit of Turkish coffee on the side. 

Tonight's agenda: All things ZUMBA and fitness related. Thankfully I have a week off this week. I have lots of catching up to do!

Song of the day: 4ever- "Porque te amo"