Monday Things {12-10-2012}

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1. On Friday night, Ian and I went to Cafe Iberico and decided to enjoy some sangria, split a few tapas, and then each order our own paella so that we would have leftovers for the weekend.

The first thing we split was the ensalada mixta (Spanish style mixed salad with asparagus, beets, hearts of palm, endive, dressed with our vinaigrette and wine dressing) which was good but I could have done without the iceberg lettuce.

Next we split the gambas al ajillo (grilled shrimp with olive oil, garlic and wine) and Ian tried the croquetas de pollo (chicken and ham puffs served with ali-oli sauce). I really liked the shrimp and thought that the restaurant did a good job of seasoning them.

I decided to order the vegetarian paella and it was overcooked and just okay. I also thought it was weird that Ian’s pork paella had beans in it and mine didn’t. Oh well, I didn’t end up eating that much of it and gave most of my leftovers to Ian.

I think I’d go back to Cafe Iberico but probably only for drinks. The restaurant had a nice vibe and was very upbeat but unfortunately, the food didn’t wow me.

2. I decided to do my long run on Saturday to avoid the rain on Sunday and was unpleasantly surprised to still get rained on and to face some nasty wind. It was quite the foreshadowing run of winter workouts to come. It definitely could have been worse, but I was much happier after I reached my turnaround point and ran home with the wind at my back. Warm oats in a jar was a must after such a chilly run!

3. Saturday afternoon, I went over to Bethany‘s to decorate cookies. Bethany provided the decorating supplies (along with quite a few cookies!) and we brought lunch and more cookies to decorate. I decided to make Emily’s Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Miso Sauce and used half sweet potatoes and half white potatoes. It was really good and I can’t wait to make it again!

After lunching on salad and veggies we got to decorating cookies.

I am quite possibly the least creative and worst cookie decorator of all time but it was still a blast to hang out with the girls and be all festive. Thanks again Bethany for having us over!

4. I was planning on running a few shakeout miles on Sunday morning so after sleeping in until 9, I ate a little pre-workout breakfast, and then convinced Ian to come along to the gym with me (it was raining).

Unfortunately, my gym wanted to charge Ian $20 for a guest pass which is totally unreasonable and not worth it for a 30 minute workout. At that point I decided to forget my run and we did our grocery shopping instead. I felt like a bum for skipping some miles last week but the gloomy weather and my gym’s stupid policies really made me unmotivated.

5. The rain started to pick up quite a bit during the afternoon so after walking back from Trader Joe’s and changing out of our soaking wet gym clothes, Ian and I decided to order in sushi for lunch and watch Netflix. We decided to order from Butterfly Sushi Bar (because they were both open and delivered to our apartment) and were pleasantly surprised by how good everything was!

We each started with a green salad (babymix green, tomato, avocado, sesame seed and mango with asian ginger dressing) and then split four rolls (it was a little much but Ian was really hungry).

We tried the not pictured ninja maki (snow crab meat, seared asparagus, avocado wrapped with seared super white tuna, wasabi and black tobiko, and scallions – we asked for no mayo), the not pictured summer maki (tuna, yellowtail, jalapeno, avocado, cilantro, and chili oil), a salmon and avocado maki, and then a hamachi jalapeno maki.

My favorites were the summer maki and the hamachi jalapeno.

6. By the time dinner rolled around, I wasn’t too hungry and ended up making a kale salad with roasted brussels sprouts, pecans, dried cranberries, and miso salad dressing (I adapted the miso sauce recipe above to make a lighter salad dressing). This was light enough that I still had room for a Christmas cookie afterwards ;) .

7. After buying 3 boxes of Chex on sale (for $6 yo), I decided to use some of my Chex stash to make Ian puppy chow. I’ve never actually made it before but I was shocked at how easy it was.

8. After getting lots of sleep this weekend, I was up and ready to go this morning. I decided to try something kind of new for breakfast and had some frozen waffles with cranberry sauce (made Emily‘s way by boiling cranberries and water until the cranberries pop and then stirring in a little sweetener – I used maple syrup – to taste), banana slices, a little sunflower seed butter, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

I really liked the sweet and tart flavors together, I’ll definitely be having this again!

Now tell me, how was your weekend?

25 thoughts on “Monday Things {12-10-2012}”

    • Stick with “easy” sushi like salmon and tuna rolls (or just do veggie this time). My go-to sushi roll for years was a philadelphia roll- it has smoked salmon and cream cheese and is amazing! The smoked salmon makes it a lot less scary!

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  6. Cafe Iberico was one of the very first restaurants I went to when I did my internship in Chicago! I think we went there on the second day of orientation or something like that…all I really remember is getting off the train and having no idea where I was haha. I looooove tapas so I really enjoyed it, but that was almost two years ago now (geez. That makes me feel so old! It doesn’t feel like it was two years ago!)

    LOVED your potato salad on Saturday. It was so good! Glad you could come :)

    And I firmly believe that puppy chow is the greatest thing of all time, although I do think it should be an illegal substance, given how addictive it is. I’m pretty sure I could go through an entire batch in a hour if left alone with puppy chow haha.
    Bethany @ Accidental Intentions recently posted..Best Body Bootcamp Week 7: Tabat-owMy Profile

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    • Thanks!

      Puppy chow is incredibly addicting! After I ate my fair share, I packed it up in baggies for Ian and put them in the fridge. Officially cut off!

      Reply ↓

  9. Puppy chow = human crack. Soo addictive. I actually find Chex addictive just plain, so I have banned them from my apartment for the past month or so. I have issues with self control around cereal.

    Cookie decorating looked fun! Don’t feel bad about missing a couple miles, you are still going to ROCK the Goofy challenge!
    Sierra @ Posh Meets Pavement recently posted..KLUTCHclub December BoxMy Profile

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    • I have self-control issues with cereal too but I like to keep it around so that I have to not eat it, otherwise I’ll buy it randomly and eat a box in a week. I also sometimes have a small mug of cereal before bed to boost carbs for an early run, it seems to help a lot.

      Thanks, I hope so!

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  13. Pingback: WIAW {12-12-2012} | Running the Windy City

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