Tag Archives: Coffee

Restaurant Week {Le Colonial}

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Last night Ian and I took advantage of Restaurant Week and went to Le Colonial for dinner. For those who don’t know, Restaurant Week is an awesome event where for 10 days, over 200 restaurants in the Chicago area offer prixe fixe menus started at $22 for lunch and $33 for dinner (there is also usually a $44 menu). As most of these restaurants are usually pretty pricey, this is a great deal!

Our dinner reservation was pretty early because we wanted to take our time and enjoy a leisurely Sunday dinner but even still we arrived a little early. The restaurant was great and offered us a seat on their heated balcony.

It was really cool to sit up there, but I bet it would be even more amazing in the summer when the windows are open!

I started with a glass of chardonnay and then opted for the $33 menu for dinner. There were pescatarian options on both, but I thought the $33 had better choices overall.

(Just for reference I had the #3, #47, and the macaroon.)

First course was the spring rolls with peanut plum dipping sauce.

They were SO good and the sauce was to die for. They were also surprisingly heavy so I split them with Ian.

Ian ordered off of a different menu and had a beef salad. He loved it and said he’d order it again in a second.

My main was the tofu curry and when it came out I couldn’t believe how big it was. No skimping on food for Restaurant Week at Le Colonial!

It was really good and the tofu was cooked perfectly. It was also really interesting to have asparagus, sweet potatoes, and mangos in curry. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to dig into my leftovers!

Ian ordered the trout. The presentation was really cool but when it came down to it, the meal was really just a lot of fish, no extra veggies and hardly any noodles. It was tasty but pretty one note.

The best part of Restaurant Week is that they force you to order dessert (obviously). It’s so easy to say no to dessert when you’re fairly full after dinner but when it’s already included in your meal, you have to at least try some and will almost never regret it ;) .

I ordered the coconut macaroon.

And Ian ordered the fried banana wanton.

They were both really good and I don’t think I could pick a favorite if I tried. I will say though that Ian’s came surrounded by this light banana-flavored glaze that was AH-mazing!

I also enjoyed a cup of decaf coffee with dessert. I love how coffee cuts the sweet!

Overall we had a great experience at Le Colonial. The service was good and the food and ambiance were both great. I hope to be back again someday, there are so many things on their main menu I want to try!

WIAW {02-08-2012}

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Today is my first What I ate Wednesday post, I hope you enjoy :)

If you’re unfamiliar with What I ate Wednesday, check out Jenn’s blog Peas and Crayons for more information.

7:30 a.m. Pre-Run snack

A peanut butter stuffed date and about half of a bottle of chocolate coconut water. I ususally eat more before medium-long runs but my stomach felt a little off this morning.

9:30 a.m. Breakfast

I was hungry after running 10 miles, so I dug right into the Baked Banana-Blueberry Oatmeal I made last night (recipe credit to Sarah at The Flying Onion). Baking yesterday saved me some time this morning, so all I had to do was warm it up, top it with sunflower seed butter, and enjoy it with coffee and soy creamer (x2!).

1:00 p.m. Lunch

Breakfast held me over for a really long time today! Lunch was zucchini fries (half with breadcrumbs and half without) and a new-to-me type of fake meat, Lightlife chick’n tenders. They tenders don’t have a lot of scary ingredients (always a plus) but they taste a little weird. I probably won’t buy them again.

 I also had a clementine.

2:30 p.m. Snack

After a quick trip to Target my stomach was growling so I had a brown rice cake with cream cheese and fig jam.

6:00 p.m. Dinner

I’m trying to use up leftovers/veggies before going out of town this weekend so I had some cheeze-y kale with wheatberries and cornbread crumbles for dinner. I also snacked on some unpictured veggies with horseradish hummus while making this.

6:30 Dessert

No yogurt yet today so 2% plain greek yogurt, walnuts, cashews, cinnamon, and warmed blueberries.

I usually like to have dessert right after dinner, a “close the kitchen” type of thing, but it’s early enough that I may go back for another snack later.

But that in a nutshell is what I ate today. Have a great night!

Chocolate and Endurance

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The weekend is always too short. Is it really Monday again?

Early Monday’s always call for an easy breakfast (and lots of coffee!!).

Crispy rice cereal; Honey, Almond, & Flax cereal; banana; and raisins. Plus a peaut butter spoon.

Mmmm it’s no  White Chocolate Wonderful but it’s still really good!

And breakfast would not be complete without one two cups of coffee.

Also, in running news, animal studies are indicating that eating chocolate may actually result in increased endurance capacity. What do you think? To me it seems like another great reason to eat chocolate :P .

Have a great Monday!

Boston Marathon: Cut-back Week 2 {13}

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Good morning and happy Sunday! This week was another training cut-back week so my schedule called for a 13 miler this morning.

Before I left I snacked on a small tortilla with sunflower seed butter, chia seeds, and raisins.

It wasn’t as tasty as toast with peanut butter but it sat a lot better in my stomach! Maybe I should switch my pre-run fuel?

The weather was perfect today, no ice or snow in sight, and despite my sore legs, I felt really speedy :) .

Splits

It felt so good to run fast. Especially since my last few long runs have been after (or during!) snow storms or I’ve had to deal with ice. It was so refreshing to not have to spend my entire run staring at the sidewalk looking for hazardous ice patches!

Breakfast
Breakfast was my best version of oat-less oats yet.

I whisked together 3 egg whites, 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1/2 smashed banana, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and 1 tsp maple syrup. I heated it on the stove and stirred in raisins.

I topped the oat-less oats with cashews and cookie butter. I even went back for more cookie butter, it just tasted so good!

Dinner last night
Ian had to run a late errand so we didn’t eat until after 8:30. It ended up working out nicely because he offered to order Thai and pick it up on his way home. Fine by me!

I ordered the Pad Ped Paak with tofu. It was supposed to have a lot of vegetables but mine came with some cabbage, a few pieces of broccoli, a couple baby corn and snap peas, and tomatoes. Not exactly what I was expecting.

It was also very tofu heavy. I ended up eating all of the veggies and saving some of the tofu, it was just way too much!

Dessert was the Sprinkles we picked up earlier in the day.

Salty Caramel on the left and Raspberry Chocolate Chip on the right.

A sugar coma quickly ensued.

I’m off to bake some cookies for a Superbowl party and then get some homework done. Have a great Sunday!

Do you have any Superbowl plans?

Ready-made Oats in a Jar

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I’ve had a jar of peanut butter that has been waiting to be used for oats in a jar for some time and last night I decided that today would be the day. The only problem was that I knew I wouldn’t have time to make stovetop oatmeal this morning. Bummer!

After considering my other breakfast options (none sounded good), I decided not to let time deter me and I tried a little cooking experiment.

Last night I cooked 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup cooked wheatberries, 1 cup water, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 1/2 smushed banana, and a dash of cinnamon on the stove. When it was almost done (consistency just a little bit runnier than usual), I turned off the heat and let the oatmeal cool. I then put it in tupperware and placed it in the fridge overnight.

This morning all I had to do was mix some almond milk into the oats to loosen it up and pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes.

A quick pour into my peanut butter jar and voila, ready-made oats in a jar!

I topped mine with just a little granola. I didn’t want to take away from the texture of the wheatberries. They made the oatmeal really chewy, I loved it!

Of course I also had the usual coffee and an adora disc.

Workout
I have not been making sleep a priority this week and it was really apparent this morning. When my alarm went off at 5:30, I DID NOT want to get out of bed. I even debated skipping my run for an extra hour of sleep. I did end up getting my butt out of bed but only because I figured that even if I did sleep more, I would still be tired today and I would feel kind of crappy about missing a training run.

I expected the worst this morning but my 7 mile run went smoothly. I did negative splits for the second half and finished around a 7:20 min/mile.

I have a busy day today including turning in a paper and giving a presentation this morning followed by work, but at 5 p.m. it’s officially the weekend :)

Do you make sleep a priority? Any exciting plans this weekend?