Tag Archives: the slurping turtle

Monday Things {12-03-2012}

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1. On Friday night Ian and I decided to take it easy. We had simple dinners (salads, smoothies) and watched Netflix for most of the evening. After a week of feeling exhausted, the downtime was much needed.

2. Saturday morning I ran the Schiller Chiller. I woke up early on the early-ish side for a Saturday, had a big breakfast of waffles and coffee, and then headed over to Kelsey‘s to catch a ride.

I’m planning on doing a complete race recap this week but I will say that even though the 10k course was a mile short, I had a lot of fun. I met some new bloggers, got to spend some time with the girls I already know, ran in an ugly Christmas sweater, and got in some good miles. It was the perfect start to my Saturday.

3. After the race, a few of the Schiller Chiller runners went back to Kelsey’s to get ready for book club. Last month we read The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz and while not all of us loved the book but we did have fun with the french theme.

We had a wonderful spread of brownies, trawffles (courtesy of Irina), baked mushrooms, bread, cheese, salad, a fig spread, peanut slaw, and macaroons. There was also plenty of wine.

We mingled, ate, and then did a white elephant gift swap. I brought a Harry Potter pen that was shaped like Harry’s wand and after having two gifts stolen from me, I ended up with a Beatles cd.

Of course, we all hung around longer than planned catching up and chatting. It was so nice to see everyone and to finally meet Irina and Katy. Thanks Sierra for hosting us all!

4. I wasn’t super hungry Saturday night but I knew with a 20 mile run in the morning I should eat some dinner. Ian and I have been talking about grabbing thai at our favorite Chicago spot, Sticky Rice, for awhile, so we decided to bite the bullet and drive over. To start we split sugar cane shrimp.

And then I had the veggie pad thai without egg. I remember the pad thai being good because you get soo many vegetables with the order but while that is still true, the flavor of the dish just didn’t seem right to me.

Maybe about half of this was consumed and the rest was saved for post-20 miler.

5. Sunday I woke up early to prepare for my long run. I had the usual pre-run snack + a few bites of a Heart Thrive granola bar before heading out to run.

I knew I was overdressed when I started to overheat at mile 3. I also had trouble with my fuelbelt riding up and I ran out of water with 6 miles left in my run. Not an ideal run. However, I like to think that toughing out the “bad” runs builds character. Not every run can or will be easy!

6. By the time I got back to my apartment, I was feeling really out of it. I was slightly dizzy and the bottoms of my feet were killing (I think I need new shoes?) so I laid a towel on the couch and drank glass after glass of water until I felt better. After a shower (alternating hot water with very cold water for muscle recovery) and some oatmeal, I was ready to start my lazy Sunday on the couch.

7. After hours of Netflix, Ian and I got stircrazy and decided to leave the apartment. We walked a few errands and then made plans to meet friends for dinner. On our way to meet them we passed Boss Bar, one of the first places Ian and I ever went together (and frequented quite a bit during the first few months we dated). I don’t think we’ve been there in over 3 years so we decided to stop in for a quick drink.

Glass of wine for me and a beer for him.

8. Dinner was at Slurping Turtle, a Japanese style restaurant in River North. I didn’t take any pictures but Ian and I split a few things from the bincho grill and then I ordered the Slurping Noodle which came with rice noodles, clear shio broth, tiger shrimp, napa cabbage, and cilantro (I asked for no tofu). It was really good AND I have leftovers for lunch today. After dinner we headed home and prepped for the start of the week.

How was your weekend?  

The Bristol and a Busy Weekend

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This weekend was one of those unexpectedly busy weekends that was filled with lots of fun but little productivity. *Sigh*. Hopefully the break from homework will serve me well and I’ll be incredibly productive this week :)

On Saturday night Ian and I went out to dinner to The Bristol, a restaurant that boasts a locally-sourced and seasonal menu with mediterranean roots. The dinner was actually a gift and we were told to try as many menu items as possible. Obviously we were incredibly excited!

I started with a handcrafted dark and stormy. It was definitely one of the better cocktails that I’ve had.

We also split their monkey bread, pull apart bread with dill butter and sea salt, and Ian ordered some scotch olives. At first I did not realize these had meat in them!

Next we ordered salads, Ian had a salad with shaved beef and I enjoyed the salad of chicories, sunchoke, and crispy cheddar. Unfortunately, at this point my stomach started to hurt and I was only able to eat about half of the salad. Too bad because although it was bitter, it was really refreshing!

For my main I tried the handmade raviolo, ricotta, egg yolk, and brown butter. It was absolutely fabulous but I hardly made a dent in it due to my stomach ache.

Even a stomach ache can’t stop me from trying dessert so Ian and I ordered a carrot cake (carrot cake, more carrot, tonka beans, and pecans) to split and then asked them to pack-up a basque cake (poached apple, cider sabayon, and cinnamon walnuts) to go.

After dinner we walked awhile and then headed back to the apartment to watch more X-files :)

I wanted to sleep-in Sunday morning but the furball had other plans and I was up and out of bed by 7:30. Geeeze, thanks Sonic. It ended up not being too awful and I took full advantage of being up early to make egg white pumpkin oats for breakfast.

I ate them with a furball purring in my lap, apparently someone was feeling a little guilty about waking me up so early.

After running 16 miles yesterday my legs were pretty sore, so after studying, I headed over to my new gym to check out their salt water pool.

Oh my gosh salt water is sooo much better than chlorine! I felt so much faster and better swimming than I ever have before. Plus, salt water is supposedly good for your skin, hair, and muscles. Can’t beat that :) I intended on only swimming a few laps to stretch out my legs but I didn’t want to stop and before I knew it, I’d knocked out 1,000 yards.

The rest of my Sunday included a quick lunch of leftover pasta on top of corn with a side of carrot fries, coffee with an old friend at Argotea, grocery shopping, dinner at The Slurping Turtle with one of Ian’s friends who just moved to Chicago, and more homework.

When we got home from dinner, we dug into the leftover basque cake from The Bristol. Delicious!

Today is a complete and much needed rest day, so I slept in a little bit and then enjoyed a pumpkin breakfast cookie for breakfast.

I think I must have added too much pumpkin and my cookie never really set but it still tasted delicious. I topped it with greek yogurt mixed with peanut flour and a few drops of maple syrup, banana slices, and walnuts. Yum!

I’m off to start my busy day of work, school, and a sports med doctors appointment. Have a good one!