Studying, Snacks & Tea

My afternoon was full of studying, snacks, and "Mint Magic" tea. I was wrong about not being hungry before dinner. About an hour after my huge breakfast, I made some tea and ate an Adora disk. (I've been low in the calcium department lately.) 

A little while later, my stomach started to grumble. I have no idea how or why after that enormous breakfast, but I made a fresh cup of tea and had 1/8 cup of walnuts and 3 dates.

After 3 hours of studying, I decided to bake some Olive Oil Cake from the Vegetarian Times Cooks Mediterranean Cookbook. (I found this recipe on Jenna's blog: Eat, Live, Run.) The recipe called for white flour, but I substituted whole wheat flour, which came out great! It smelled so wonderful when it came out of the oven; of course, I had to try a piece! I ended up have a second piece a couple minutes later! Mal loved the Olive Oil Cake too. In fact, we have already eaten half the loaf! I highly recommend this recipe. It's absolutely scrumptious! 

My first piece of Olive Oil Cake...

1/8 cup walnuts: 80

3 dates: 65

2 pieces OOC: 310 

Snacks total: 455

Wheelhouse Diner

My day started with a tough free weight workout and some light cardio. I lifted my chest and triceps for about 45 minutes and then walked on the treadmill for 30. 

After exercising, Mal and I decided to go out for breakfast to celebrate his last day of February vacation. (He's a teacher.) The Wheelhouse Diner is right near our apartment, and it serves the best diner food that I have ever eaten! I would never consider the food "healthy," but it's wonderful if you are in the mood for a greasy diner breakfast and a calorie splurge. 

The mugs at the Wheelhouse are so cute; I just had to take a photo of my coffee. The decor inside the diner kind of reminds me of what you'd see on Cape Cod; very "beach-y" and coastal-inspired. 

There was wait at the diner, so we didn't end up eating breakfast/lunch until almost noon. By then, I was famished, especially after my workout! I ordered an egg white broccoli and cheese omelette, which came with homefries and raisin toast. I ate the entire omelette (amazing!), 2 pieces of the raisin toast, and about half of the homefries (Mal ate the rest). It was quite the big Sunday breakfast; I don't think I will be hungry again until dinner time. 

My pre-workout snack was a piece of Yoga bread with 2 tsp of almond butter. 

Yoga bread: 70

2 tsp almond butter: 70

Pre-workout snack total: 140

Coffee with 2 oz. H&H: 80

Egg white omelette w/ cheese: ~200

Broccoli (~ 1 cup): 60

1 piece of raisin toast: 100

Homefries (~1/2 cup): 160

Breakfast total: 600

Grendel's Den and Tim Blane

What a blast! I had such a fun night! The evening started off with dinner at the Grendel's Den with Mal. It was freezing outside, so I thought a mulled hot wine would be the perfect way to warm me up. I had never tried mulled wine so before ordering, I asked our waitress for a description-- mulled wine is basically steamed red wine with cloves and cinnamon and a slice of orange. Sounded delicious to me, and it was!

Just a warning-- this meal did not photography very well, but it tasted pretty good. For dinner, I ordered the "Natural Disaster" turkey burger with swiss cheese, chutney, avocado, and Cajun dressing. I had ordered the sandwich on multigrain bread, but I instead got a yucky bulky roll, which I didn't end up eating. I ate all of veggies, about 1/4 cup of the coleslaw (it wasn't that great), and just 1 of the 2 turkey burger patties served to me.

After the Grendel's Den, we stopped next door at Wagamama to say hi to a few of our friends, who were having dinner there. Wagamama looked like so much fun and smelled wonderful! It is a noodle bar, relatively new to Boston. It has received stellar reviews, and I think it needs to be next on our list!

After a brief stop at Wagamama, we headed to Johnny D's to see Tim Blane's show. I wasn't in the mood for beer, so I ordered a vodka martini with olives. The olives were huge! I sipped on my martini for a couple of hours then drank three glasses of water at the bar while hanging out with our friends and listening to Tim play.

Tim's performance was amazing, as always! He had a horn section play with his band on a few songs last night.

Here we are at Johnny D's just before the end of the night. We had to leave around 12:30 to make sure that we got the last T home.

Cardio Crunch

This is the 60-minute treadmill workout that I did today; it can be shortened to a 20 or 40-minute workout. It makes running on the treadmill a little more interesting!

Time Speed

0:00-3:00 4.0 

3:00-6:00  6.0

6:00-6:30 8.0

6:30-7:30 6.5

7:30-10:30 Repeat minutes 6-7:30 twice

10:30-11:30 7.0

11:30-12:30 6.5

12:30-16:30 Repeat minutes 10:30-12:30 twice

16:30-18:30 7.5

18:30-20:00 6.5

Repeat 1-2 times. 

Super Saturday

I have been a busy bee today! After studying for 2 hours, I ran 6.5 miles on the treadmill, showered, made lunch, and we just ordered our Tom Petty tickets (very exciting, but Ticketmaster is such a rip-off!) In a few minutes, Mal and I are going to drop off our dry cleaning and get an oil change for my car. I have almost checked-off everything on my list-- just need to decide on the wedding invitations. 

Lunch was a salad with a random mix of things from our fridge... greens, tomato, green peppers, onions, jalapenos, black beans, olives, guacamole, and balsamic vinegar. 

My treat: rice cake with 1 tbsp of peanut butter and chocolate chips. 

While I was studying this morning, I had a mug of TJ's English Breakfast tea and a piece of Yoga bread (only half pictured) with 2 tsp of almond butter. 

We finally figured out our plans for the evening. Mal and I are going to dinner at one of our favorite places, the Grendel's Den in Harvard Square. The Grendel's Den is our "go-to" restaurant when we want to go out, but don't want to spend a lot of money. It's a really warm, laid-back place, and they have 1/2 price hours where all of the food on the menu is 50% off. The food definitely isn't "gourmet"-- I'd say it's probably a step-up from pub food, but the atmosphere is really fun and relaxed. After dinner we are meeting up with some friends to see Tim Blane again! Twice in one week! I'm a happy gal! :)

Veggies: ~100

4 olives: 25

1 tbsp guacamole: 25

1/8 cup beans: 30

Rice cake: 40

1 tbsp PB: 90

1 tbsp chocolate chips: 70

Lunch total: 355

Yoga bread: 70

2 tsp almond butter: 80

Morning snack total: 150

**Update**

1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch: 70

1/2 cup hemp milk: 65

Afternoon snack total: 135

Lots To Do Today

I woke up bright and early this morning-- lots to do today! On the agenda: work out, study for my certification exam, drop-off dry cleaning, get an oil change for my car, make a final decision about wedding invitations, order Tom Petty tickets, dinner and drinks with friends tonight, and possibly another Tim Blane concert.

Breakfast was an oatmeal pancake with banana slices and an iced coffee with hemp milk. I am loving hemp milk. My iced coffee tastes a little nutty this morning!

Oatmeal pancake: 150

1/8 cup syrup: 15

Banana: 110

1/2 cup hemp milk: 65

Breakfast total: 340

Snowed In

I am so glad to be at home, warm, and out of the snow! I'm not at all a fan of winter and the cold, but I love snowy nights like this... so relaxing and peaceful. 

Dinner was a veggie and black bean quesadilla with guacamole and salsa. I also poured myself a small glass of pinot noir. It takes me a lot longer to drink red wine; I slowly sip and enjoy. I'll probably finish the rest of my glass on the couch while watching License to Wed. :) 

After dinner, I had a small bowl of chocolate chips and walnuts. It was such a yummy treat! 

Whole wheat wrap: 80

1/4 cup shredded cheese: 110

1/8 cup black beans: 30

2 tbsp guacamole: 50

2 tbsp salsa: 10

Veggies: ~50

Wine (3 0z): 75

1 tbsp chocolate chips: 70

1/8 cup walnuts: 100

Dinner/dessert total: 575

Granny Smith apple 

Afternoon snack total: 100