The Brunswick

http://www.qype.co.uk/place/93272-The-Brunswick-Shopping-Centre-London

T and I had such a fun filled weekend- We started off at the Brunswick Food market on Saturday afternoon. The weather was sunny and b-eau-ti-ful!!

There were lots of different food stands to choose from. A lap around the market is definitely necessary before making any fast decisions :-) Some of the stands we saw were: Chinese, Paella, Argentinian steak, Indian, Cakes, Desserts, Middle Eastern, Korean, Japanese, etc!

Korean food stand

We decided against the fried dumplings and instead got them steamed with some sweet chillay sauce. Yum!

Takoyaki, Takoykai, TAKOYAKI!!!!! Fried octopus dough balls. Yes Puhlease. They don't quite have enough octopus in them but the sauce and warm dough is so worth it!

The caribbean restaurant that does £3 lunches on the weekends in Chapel Market closed down so I was SO happy to see this at the Brunswick. I love me some Jerk Chicken!

I love the combo of rice and beans w. the chicken.

It wasn't quite as good but still very flavorful.

I kept wavering back and forth on deciding to split a polish dog but the smell of the grilled onions was hard to pass up...

the brat was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Mmmm mmm.. Trick to not getting AS full-don't eat all that carbalicious bread!

We decided against the usual nutella and banana crepe and got cinnamon sugar instead.

Patience is a virtue. That I never sometimes have.

Not the greatest picture but it was filled with lots of cinnamon sugar. Our later afternoon/evening consisted of going to watch England play Switzerland (they tied 2-2) and out to dinner/drinks. The football match was a bit of a disappointment (I wanted to see England WIN!) but it was an exciting match to be at. If I can't watch any American sports, I guess I'll settle for a bit of soccer. :P

Today we went out to meet T's family for lunch. His mom had a lovely middle eastern spread for us. I love the food she prepares- seriously so good!

Cabbage and grape leaves with rice on the inside. If I knew we weren't going to a Michelin star restaurant for dinner, I would have eaten 3 of each!

a cool and refreshing yogurt based dipping sauce with cucumber. Perfect combination w. the Kibbeh

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

Greens to make it healthy! :)

some fried fish and potatoes- his mother gave us a canister of the frying crumbs that she dipped this fish into. It had a really nice flavor so I'm excited to try it on something else... deep fryer chicken wings perhaps??

One thing I couldn't possibly say no to are homemade vegetarian spring rolls. I ate way too much!

Mint leaves growing in the backyard- she plucked and washed

Sigh.. I was I had a green thumb- these flowers were beautiful

She also had miniature lettuce leaves growing. How cute is this little patch!

We were planning to sit outside but the drizzly weather made us come back inside.

T preparing the apple flavored argile for us. Is that the right spelling? I'll just say hookah-he he..

post lunch snacks

Tea with fresh mint leaves :) Is the weekend over already? Awww maaann!!!

Di Monforte

Quick breakfast before hitting the gym

Just finished the last of my apricot/dark chocolate scones. They were definitely a hit.

Gym: 3 sets, 15 reps

• dumbbell curl
• lying dumbbell extension
• dumbbell shoulder press on swiss ball
• abs: reverse crunch, plank for 1 minute, swiss ball curl ups, v-sit twist
• concentration curl
• tricep kickback
• upright row

we started off with a bottle of their house white

Dinner last night was an Italian joint in the Islington neighborhood; about a 15 minute walk from our place. But shhhh.. we decided to cab it since I was SUPER sore from teaching/running/zumba-ing all day!

in house bread with a delicious aubergine* (I think) tapenade. It beats the standard bread and butter!

http://www.dimonforte.co.uk/

I had the calamari to start with tartar sauce. It was the right balance of crispy breading and thick pieces of squid. Yum!

T had the seafood risotto that I kept sneaking bites from. It was super good!!

My entree of seabass and asparagus. It was pretty decent. I wasn't too crazy about it, just your standard olive oil preparation. It might have even been a bit too oily for my taste.

 

T's lamb chops and potatoes. His potatoes were soft and delicious and the lamb was well prepared.

These pictures are about 2 days old. I hate that our internet has slowed down and I can't blog as frequently as I used to. The pictures take forever to load so I just kind of gave up on it .... for now at least. I picked up a salad from Pret a Manger after my workout on Thursday. I love this Superfoods salad. It has a bunch of healthy but tasty ingredients like beets, chickpeas, lentils, greens, and hummus.

I met a friend at Somerset House to browse Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals exhibit. Free to look :)

http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/documents/press-releases/Press%20Release%20l%20Ai%20Weiwei%20First%20Outdoor%20Public%20Sculpture%20in%20London%20l%20Somerset%20House%20l%2012%20May%20-%2026%20June%202011.pdf

It was cute to see all the kids playing in the water. It is really beginning to feel like summer! Yippee!

I was half tempted to grab my swimsuit and splash around in the water ;)

I'm the rat: born in 1984 and is hardworking and thrifty..hmm I don't know about that classification

T was born in 1981 so he is this rooster. It's the ugliest one unfortunately!! It looks too real. ew! He is resourceful and adventuresome.. or so it says-ha!

We got a snack to share from Tom's Deli and sat outside to make the most out of a sunny London day. They may be numbered

carrot and ginger cake

We decided afterwards to take a walk around the Southbank Center

I perused the used book section and bought two books. I love looking for hidden gems among the used books.

New reading materials for me :-). I must be in a somber mood as these books aren't the most uplifting reads. I guess I could use a bit more seriousness in my life.

 

haha too cute.. I think this sandbox is the closest thing these kids have to a real beach in London. 

My dumbbells finally arrived. Happy Friday to me! I'll be using these light dumbbells at home for when I don't feel like going to the gym. I've developed very good habits over the past two weeks. I've been going to gym about 4-5 days out of the week and doing zumba on the side. I can already tell the difference in my mood and I'm beginning to feel that strong and empowered feeling again.

It even came with a chart for any newbie lifters.

Quote of the day:

 "The only way to learn forgiveness is to be betrayed. You might understand the intellectual concept of forgiveness, but you will only learn how to truly forgive when someone has done something that requires you to love them and let it go. Life demands these hurtful experiences for you to learn how forgiveness feels, it could be no other way. If there is anyone in your life that you must forgive, instead of seeing them as someone who has hurt you, try to see them as someone who was sent to teach you forgiveness and thank them for this precious gift - then forgive them, and let it go."

- Jackson Kiddard