My gastronomical travels

I am not a professional chef. I've never cooked for a dinner party larger than four people. I've never even had any training in the kitchen whatsoever. And I've never been in an industrial or a professional grade kitchen.

This image is so foreign to me! (Source)

But I have eaten some pretty damn good food in my life.

I consider myself to be very lucky. I've had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live abroad -- twice. Compelled by my love of the French language, its literature and my French roots, I studied abroad in Nice, France, as an undergrad. Enchanted by the food -- which seriously changed my life -- sights, people and culture, I vowed to return. Upon graduating, I did just that. I taught English to elementary school students in France the year after college, but that was all just a ruse to take my taste buds on a whirlwind tour of Europe. While most people I traveled with shared pictures of world-renown monuments, I snapped photos of my extravagant and beautiful meals. No wonder I'm now actively blogging about foods I eat and fun recipes I stumble across. It was in France that I really spread my wings in my own kitchen and tried recreating magical meals I'd experienced in five-star restaurants.

Before my travels I was on a first-name basis with my microwave just like any college student. That, and frequent trips home to lavish in my mom's fabulous cooking. I can't believe how far from that I came after moving to France.

To say I ate my way across Europe would be an understatement. But looking at some of the pictures I saved from France, do you blame me??

île flottante - meringue, custard and a passion fruit syrup

a typical cheese display at the marché

pizza and wine in Italia

kir, one of my favorite apéritifs in Europe

tabbouleh at a Lebanese restaurant

caprese salad and bread sticks in Cannes, France

Well, after eating, cooking and baking to my heart's content, I eventually had to return home.... with a little more weight than I wanted to carry around. I've always considered myself to be a healthy eater, but the gourmande within got the best of me in France. Though literally meaning "glutton," I'm a little let down that the English translation for does not have an equally beautiful thought for this word. Glutton brings to mind a guiltless pig mindlessly stuffing his face with Lay's potato chips in front of the T.V. Whereas gourmand(e) conjures images of one who appreciates plump juicy berries ripe in their summer prime, the crunchiness of crisp green zucchini, the velvety feel of a rich chunk of chocolate rolling off the tip of your tongue or the fruity, yet peppery aroma of a finely-aged wine accompanied by the perfect blend of creamy cheeses.

In short, a gourmand(e) is one who appreciates the food he experiences on a daily basis. And unlike its English counterpart, to be gourmand is not a sin. Though after my trip, maybe it should have been!

Long story short, when I returned home, I vowed to continue cooking for myself and cut down on the American conveniences of eating unhealthy fast food and microwave dinners. I quickly realized that it's not only easy to cook delicious, healthy meals at home, but also saves me a ton of money! Recently I've begun experimenting with new recipes, tweaking classics and of course, playing with Julia Child's cookbook I received for my 25th birthday. My boyfriend and I still taste amazing food on a daily basis, either plates we've cooked ourselves, or through exploring decadent new restaurants. More often than not, I find myself venturing to try recipes that appeal to my traveler's soul.

I still try to recreate my European gastronomic travels in my own kitchen in Arizona. I've had some pretty amazing meals in my 25 years on this planet. While I still love to indulge in amazing meals and cuisines from around the world, I'm trying to eat healthy and balanced meals to keep the French word "gourmand(e)" in its purest sense -- far, far away from its American counterpart.

By creating my own healthy, beautiful meals inspired by cuisines from around the world, I've been able to drop those extra pounds and decrease my cholesterol. I'm healthy, happy and ready to travel the world with my fork.

I'm Monique, and I would be soooo humbled if you voted for me as the Next Food Blog Star! But then again, if you don't, I'd settle with us having blog exchanges and sharing recipes!

Food is a journey. I hope you travel it with me!

I am not a professional chef. I've never cooked for a dinner party larger than four people. I've never even had any training in the kitchen whatsoever. And I've never been in an industrial or a professional grade kitchen.

What is this even?! (Source)

But I have eaten some pretty damn good food in my life.

I consider myself very lucky. I've had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live abroad -- twice. Compelled by my love of the French language, its literature and my French roots, I studied abroad in Nice, France, as an undergrad. Enchanted by the food -- which seriously changed my life -- sights, people and culture, I had to return. Upon graduating, I did just that. I taught English to elementary school students in France the year after college, but that was all just a ruse to take my taste buds on a whirlwind tour of Europe. While most people I traveled with shared pictures of world-renown monuments, I snapped photos of my extravagant and beautiful meals. No wonder I'm now actively blogging about foods I eat and fun recipes I stumble across. It was in France that I really spread my wings and tried recreating magical meals I'd expereinced in my own kitchen.

Before that I was on a first-name basis with my microwave just like any college student. That, and frequent trips home to lavish in my mom's fabulous cooking. I can't believe how far from that I came after moving to France.

I think the best way to get to know someone is to find out how they eat. Especially people from different cultures. To me, food and cooking will always surpass any language barrier on the planet! With this mindset, I ate and I ate and I ate to my heart's content. I've had some pretty amazing meals in my 25 years on this planet. During my return stateside, I wised up a bit and changed my eating/exercise habits to follow a healthier lifestyle. While I still love to indulge in amazing meals and cuisines from around the world, I'm trying to eat healthy and balanced to sustain training for my first ever half-marathon. Now, if only my knee injury would cooperate...

My grandparents immigrated to the United States from France during WWII. The very first thing I learned how to cook were sugared crepes. Just the smell of crepe batter cooking on a grill takes me back to my childhood. That said, another staple in my pantry is extra virgin olive oil, fresh from the Mediterranean region! Everything my grandma and my mom cooked was always in EVOO. I use it as a dressing base with mustard rather than buy dressings at the grocery store. And last but not least, garden-fresh vegetables. There is nothing in the world like exploring the French markets. Farmer's markets are celebrated and locally-accepted as a daily event and most French food shines around local seasonal veggies. Ratatouille is the first thing that comes to mind in the South of France. I have had the pleasure of traveling to France nearly 10 times in my life, including living there for a year, twice. Nothing excites me more than the passion the French (my family) have for fresh, local ingredients. Dining is such an event, they reserve two hours in the middle of the day to celebrate food. It's no wonder I'm such a foodie, it's in my genes!

I'm Monique, and I would love if you voted for me for the Next Food Blog Star! But then again, if you don't, I'd settle with us having blog exchanges and sharing recipes! Food is a journey. Get lost in it. Lord knows I always do.

No more spooning

Oh, wouldn't you like to know....?

Actually, I'm just not going to have three-consecutive meals that require spoons today. In fact, breakfast started out with a straight injection right into my veins. Why would I write something like that?! You know I'm just kidding ;) Today's meals have started out to be an amalgamation of leftovers.

Remember when I ran my first 5K in eight years (for those of you who've followed me over from blogger), and they had TOOOONS of Muscle Milk bottles? And how I may or may not have dropped a few extras in my goodie tote? Well, I figured now's probably a good time to break back into those bad boys.

This morning I had the chocolate Muscle Milk with some "extra" mini Clif bars from that race.

I kind of liked the bananas 'n' creme Milks, but the chocolate one was just too chalky for my liking. I could only drink a little under half of the bottle before giving up. The Clif bar held me over nicely though, even if it's teensie-weensie.

At work today I started updating all the game schedules on our website for my sports (soccer, basketball, baseball). Here's a note of interest (mainly for myself): from August until May my sports will be going to Costa Rica, Hawaii, Oregon, Las Vegas, Montana, Kansas and Myrtle Beach!!! Oh yeah and since we play home-away with conference teams every other year, this is the "away year" in which all my teams play AT Santa Barbara -- home of my alma mater UCSB!!!!

(Source)

What a CRAZY travel schedule this is!!! During the school year I work these teams over three different seasons (fall, winter, spring). When my teams are home I do stats at all our home games and when they're on the road I travel on the team bus/plane and am their official radio announcer. So I'd be going on allll those lovely trips! Makes for an interesting résumé, but a gnarly home life.

We're still in location limbo, however. As you may have guessed by now, J.D. didn't get the job at Pepperdine, but the two of us have been applying for other jobs. If the next round doesn't work out, we'll be here another year.

After wrapping up stuff for the week I went home from work about 1 p.m. During the summer we work until 4 p.m. M-Th and until 1 p.m. on Fridays to make up for the excessive nights/weekends we work during the year. Actually, it's supposedly a rule because of all of California's rolling blackouts, but I'll justify it as I will, thanks!

Lunchtime came around and I fed the puppy then fed myself. With leftovers. See, only one spoon made its appearance in my meals today.

More leftovers. I originally had planned on finishing off that soup with a Little Caesar's breadstick! But when I opened the fridge they were MIA. I think someone ate them all last night ;) Oh well, I settled for another piece of pizza today. I wasn't, however, going to settle for bland taste like last night's piece so I added some more Tuscan spices to the pizza and a few fresh leaves of basil. Much better! You can also see in the background how I finished the remaining Bossa Nova and also added in a white nectarine.

If you know me, you know I love my sweets. Of course I had some after lunch. This time, it was something new!

Last night I stopped at CVS Pharmacy to pick up some items to clean Woodstock's site of incision and also some more aggressive cough meds to help my sore throat. Nearly $100 later, I came with all of that and more! Like these Three Musketeers Truffle bars! They were buy one, get one free!!!

You know, they were good, but when you crave a Three Musketeers, you crave a fluffy Three Musketeers. This one tasted much more decadent. The "crisp" is more like a dense toffee filling. Good, but not what I was in the mood for.

Now that I'm back home, I plan on rolling up my sleeves and doing some more cleaning. Or more vegging out in front of the TV and passing out ;) Only time will tell.

Either way, I need to do some loads of laundry and also fold the massive pile of clothes that sit on the guest bed. It's going to be a loooong day. At least we have Monday off! I'm going home tomorrow to be with my family in the East Bay. And while I did plan on running a 5k for the 4th, sadly I had to cancel due to my sickly lungs. Instead, I hope to get some long walks in today and the rest of the weekend.

And tonight we're hoping to finally cook up that game hen!

What are your 4th of July plans?!? I hope to catch some of the Tour de France!!! Have a good weekend, everyone!

Eat everything with a spoon

I did just that today. Let's start off with my best of intentions this morning. I woke up after not having slept all night again, it's really not as fun as it sounds ;) Chest and throat sore from my late-night cough fest, all I wanted was something warm and yummy for breakfast.

Good old fashioned oats (haha, get it, that's what the label on my container actually says... ). I was extra nice to myself and drizzled it with a little maple syrup over the half banana, strawberries, flax seeds, omega 3 trek mix and cinnamon. And oh yeah, we were low on spoons, so I had to use a frozen yogurt spoon. Good thing I keep a stash of those in my utensil draw. Does that mean I go too often.... or does it mean I also have a habit of "collecting" plastic spoons in cases of emergency such as this....? You'll never know.

Hey guys, want to take a guess as to what I drank with my breakfast?!?

Another selection from my box 'o tea. I almost went for chai this morning. Almost ;)

Well then I showed up to work fashionably late at an appropriate time for someone of my health, and not even 30 minutes into my day did my boss send me home to rest up. So rest I did.

I first rested by doing the dishes. Then sweeping the entire downstairs. Then vacuuming all the baseboards and cleaning spiderwebs. I'm glad I got to stay home today because I also got to bond with the other sick member of the house. Woodstock's been doing great; he did the cutest thing EVER today. I heard him attempt his first big boy howl. Or, whatever noise it was a 10 lb. puppy produces in hopes of howling. I freaked out and thought he was hurt, but it turns out he just couldn't find his toy. That nasty cone keeps getting in his way ;)

Then my hunger got the best of me. So I heated up some of last night's leftovers. Are you surprised I even had any extra orange chicken to spare?!?!

My usual trio of meal, drink and Rx. Today, I was determined. And due to my stubborn nature, I successfully used the chopsticks with this meal. Take that...... meal?

When I finished, I laid on the couch to watch another episode of Rick Steves' Europe travel videos saved on my DVR. Does that make me a nerd?!!? If it does, I don't care. It was on France's Côte d'Azur and then I watched a second on Provence. Both areas I'm VERY familiar with, after living in Antibes (in the Côte d'Azur) for the better part of a year. Oh yeah, my 101 year old great aunt lives in Provence, so I had a lot of chances to go over there!

Me and Yvonne, my great aunt from France!

And this is where I used to spend a TOOOOON of time when I worked/lived in Antibes! It's a view of La Baie des Anges, which stretches all the way down to Nice, as seen across the water. This picture was taken in October. Ahhh, the good life :) I would certainly like to go back there again.

Well, coming back to reality after that trip down memory lane, I barely got through the second travel show before I realized I'd slept for nearly three hours. Apparently I conked out. And I had an empty carton of ice cream in front of me ;) Don't worry, there wasn't even a bowl left I just wanted to do my part and help clean out the freezer. Or, soothe my throat, whichever you choose to believe!

When J.D. came back home we nixed our original plan to make game hens. Instead, I craved something odd. Soup and pizza! Being the sweet guy that he is, J.D. drove to Little Caesar's to pick up a $5 pizza while I heated up a bowl of Progresso's tomato basil soup. Except, I hate this soup!!! I tried it once and found it waaaay too sweet for my liking. Alterations were in order, so in went some Tuscan herb blend and for some more flavor, a few pepper flakes. Oh and some fresh basil. Muuuuch better. I'm a firm believer in modifying canned soups.

As per usual, I needed some dessert. I bring you Monique's twist on frozen yogurt:

Literally, it's yogurt, frozen. I put it in the freezer for about an hour then topped it with dark chocolate almond spread and some fun, purple sprinkles. It's not exactly like frozen yogurt, but pretty darn close! And chocolate always seems to make everything better ;)

Before I go I wanted to let you guys all know something. I'm moving my site to a new domain name!! So update your bookmarks/readers/other means of stalking me to http://www.shesgoingdistance.com I plan on blogging solely from there now. Still have some work to do on the site, so bear with me! Also, thank you all SO MUCH for all your well-wishes yesterday!! It made me feel so loved :) You guys are awesome.

Question: What's your favorite nerdy thing to watch on TV when you're in veg mode?? Since you already know mine, I'll tell you something else super nerdy. I subscribe to iTunesU podcasts. Like listening to university lectures about French lit, or American lit, German grammar lessons, astronomy, religious studies, you name it. I think it's important to keep educating yourself even after college.

My first time, sadly.

So guess what I discovered at Kaiser today?? I have bronchitis. BOOOOOOO!!!!! I don't think I've ever had it before. Luckily since my cold was nearly two weeks ago -- and the cough has lingered -- I'm in the early stages of acute bronchitis. The positive to take away here is that I am no longer annoyingly coughing, there's a diagnosis and I've been given a prescription now.

After my hour and a half jaunt at the doctor's, my throat hurt from all the coughing. Armed with my new meds, I needed food to wash it down.

You know what I'm going to say, don't you?? I ordered a nonfat frozen chai from Starbuck's ;)

I returned home just in time for dinner... and our weekday dinner plans had already been made in advance! I bought so much fun stuff at Trader Joe's (shocking) that we agreed on trying it all each day of the week. On the menu for tonight's meal was home-made orange chicken sort of like in a stir fry bowl. I bedded mine with brown rice and tossed in edamame, green beans, broccoli and some almonds.

P.S. Trader Joe's orange chicken is DELICIOUS!!! It's much healthier than the Panda Express orange chicken. I did use the chopsticks for a bit, but the edamame proved tricky so I eventually opted for a fork. Usually whenever we go out for Asian food, hot tea is always served out of cute little kettles. I was feeling in the mood -- and so was my throat! -- for some green tea. Enter my giant box 'o tea. From France (also, shocking, right??).

After dinner and getting owned by Jeopardy! (usually it's the other way around, guys!!!) my throat still bugged me. Despite amoxicillin. Despite Robitussin. Despite Halls cough drops. What's Monique's remedy then??

That's right.... frozen yogurt!! I mixed a little bit of blueberry, pomegranate and tart yogurt together and adorned them with dark chocolate chips, blueberries and kiwi at the yogurt shop. When I got home I dumped in the remainder of yesterday's mango. It's a surprise I'm not orange after all the mango I've been eating today!

And that's all she wrote, folks. Hopefully I'll get a better night's sleep now that the dog is accustomed to his cone and I'm on cough meds. (Yeah right....)

What's your favorite fro-yo flavor and topping combination?? I looove anything fruity, tart and dark chocolate-y.

I wanna be sedated (too)

Like my puppy, I've been sort of groggy today with an overall feeling of just  going through the motions. It could be due to Woodstock's lack of sleep and overall discomfort with the cone around his neck. Poor little guy kept me up all night. Well, more like the combination of him moving around and me hacking up a lung. Eventually I fell asleep around 6ish, then slept through my alarm until about 9:30 a.m. Oops.

I told my boss I'd be in late today (he knew about Woody's surgery) and then dozed a bit longer. Then I finally hopped in the shower, braided my hair and assembled some breakfast to bring to work.

Apparently I was in luck the day I went to Trader Joe's -- they just got a first-time shipment in of these little beauties:

Unfortunately, I only bought one. But oooooh my gooooodness, I will be back for more! I topped mine with the last stolen muffin, freshly cut-up mango (has anyone ever cut up mangoes??? that's a chore and a half) and craisins.

I had two decently-sized projects going on at work today to keep me busy until 1 p.m. When I finally reached a good stopping point, I went home to feed Woodstock his first real meal since 10 p.m. the night before his surgery. In case you're wondering, he's doing fine today! He's much more animated and jumpy again -- not too much since I'm supposed to keep him calm -- and he even ate!!

As did I. First, I soothed my throat with some chocolate soy milk... in a "juice box"!!!!

Then I repeated last night's dinner. The microwaved leftovers really weren't pretty, so I'll just show you some photos from dinner. We had peppercorn garlic crusted pork tenderloin, asparagus and rosemary roasted potatoes.

Oh. My. God. I'm not a pork fan (exception being pulled pork), in fact I steer clear of tenderloins and pork chops. But this made me rethink my entire stance!!!!! We plopped it in the oven for 25 minutes and let it do its thang. The result came out being tender and juicy and fulllll of flavor. I'd buy it again!

For dessert after lunch I continued my theme of feeling like a little kid with sliced apples dipped in peanut butter ;) Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

Since I forgot to snap a photo, I leave you with last night's dessert. One of the best things I've had in a loooong time!!!

They're premade sorbets in fruit cups. This one was orange mango in a hollowed out orange. I topped the cups with fresh mango and blueberries. It tasted so fresh and tropical and awesome. My sore throat loved me.... for a little bit anyway. My only regret is that just one cup remains in the freezer.

Anyone with a Costco card want to buy me some new ones?!?!? I'll pay you back, I promise :)

In a couple of minutes I'm actually going to the doctor. J.D. and my coworkers are annoyed concerned with the coughing fits I've been having. One lasted for several minutes last night and left me with strained abdomen muscles. It really sucked, slash, hurt. So I guess I'll go get it checked out just to be on the safe side. I mean, it has been nearly two weeks since I've been sick now.

Banana soft serve fail

I know. Everyone's raving about banana soft serve. With temperatures being in the 100s here, my bananas are turning brown and yucky in less than a day. What's the most obvious solution, then?

Freeze the bananas! Naturally, with frozen bananas, I figured it was finally time to give into banana soft serve.

I don't know about you guys, but I chopped this sucker up into small little pieces and then proceeded to blend it up in my Cuisine Art processor. Except, it didn't get all creamy and smooth. It was lumpy and warm and runny. In the time I tried to process the banana, it basically melted and took FOR-EVER to blend up. I figured I'd try to salvage it with some strawberries, but it didn't help a whole lot.

Look how runny and bubbly it is :( Because the consistency was so lackluster, I eventually left it in the freezer to firm up during dinner. Fail #2: I completely forgot about it until bedtime. By then I started whipping up some overnight oats and realized this blend was waaaay too hard for consumption. Fingers crossed, I put it back into the fridge along with my overnight oats, hoping it'd soften up by the morning.

Eventually it did, but the blend reverted back to its soupy texture by the time I was ready to eat. I half-heartedly mixed up my oats and readied a parfait glass for strawberry banana soft serve overnight oats. Topped with blueberries.

Apparently I'm 0-for-2.... I put a bit too much milk in the overnight oats ;) In all, it tasted fine. Just like fruity overnight oats. Nothing special, or life-changing. I was kind of hoping for something like that. Alas, I may have to try again. Any suggestions as to how I can make this a more enjoyable dining experience??

I went out with some co-workers for lunch, since I didn't have to feed Woodstock for lunch. He got his business taken care of at the vet today and as it starting hitting 98º -- yes like the boy band -- after 4 p.m., I had a craving for some kind of icy coffee beverage. Except, when I picked him up and took Woody home, I saw this unhappy little face.

He's so drugged out and groggy, he's done nothing but sleep all day. I'm supposed to keep a close eye on the pup to make sure he doesn't jump on anything or run around all crazy and fast. I knew I couldn't leave him home alone while I walked to Starbucks, so I got creative and made some iced coffee at home.

I put a splash of milk in a glass in the freezer to let it get all icy and chunky, then French pressed up some coffee. The coffee was waaay too strong for my liking in this application, so I added in a spoonful of home-made caramel, compliments of my sister Aimée!

The caramel iced coffee hit the spot! And it worked two-fold in that I got to stay home with the baby while he recovers :)

Dinner awaits me on the table, so I must go tend to it!! :)

Then I'm from Venus??

Ok, I've been putting it off forever. But guess what kids.... I RAN LAST NIGHT!!! It wasn't that spectacular because my lungs still burned for a little while afterwards. I know, baby steps, I'm trying. I also had to wait until after sunset to run since it hit 102º yesterday, yikes!

Good news about waiting so late to run, however, is that I got to see this (well, not literally, but same thing just on a different skyline):

(Source)

Since the sun sets well past 9:00 p.m. here in California, I get to see Venus setting on the horizon! Venus is distinguishable from all the stars in the sky in that it's not a giant ball of gas, therefore, doesn't flicker in the sky! It's a piercing white light that sets in the horizon shortly after the sun, but on rare occasions it can follow the moon as seen in the photo above. Not too far behind it is Mars, a beaming red point that sets in the horizon. Booyah, freshman year Astronomy!

I don't really know why that pumped me up, but it did! And even though I've steered clear of running for several days now, I got back into it real quick. I just wanted to start light and ease back slowly so I only completed a 2.13 mile loop. But get this, my first mile was at a 7:22 pace!!! Insane, right?!? Eventually I finished the entire thing at an 8:04 minute/mile so do the math and figure out what my second mile's pace was -- I'm not mathematically inclined, so unless my iPhone tells me, I have no clue what my pace is, ha.

On my way back from the run, I stopped to see if I could spot Venus again. Indeed it sat lower on the horizon, but still slightly visible! I was also sort of bummed because the first constellation I ALWAYS can spot no matter where I am, is Orion's Belt. Not this time however. Instead, I located both Dippers and also Scorpio meaning that Orion probably wasn't too far away. It had to have been super clear last night. Pretty cool, huh?

So let's rewind then and go back through my moderately fun-filled day.

It started off with my "stolen muffins" from the Sunday brunch. They were so delicious, I had to snag two! It was some sort of zucchini-carrot hybrid with raisins and cranberries inside and coconut sprinkled on top. It was the inspiration behind my morning oatmeal -- I notice a lot of you guys put muffin crumbles in oatmeal so I wanted to play too!

Inside my BetterOats Raw Chai Spiced oatmeal went blueberries, half a banana, a drizzle of almond butter and of course the glorious muffin!

These, by the way, are AMAZING!!! It's part of the new school of oatmeals which are trying to cut down on packaging usage by making smaller containers. I'm not sure how much we're actually saving here, since the package only includes five oatmeal packets instead of the usual 12ish most boxes offer.

Either way, I love chai spice. I love it so much I eat it in my oatmeal now :) Inside of my travel series London coffee mug, I did not have chai. Sorry to disappoint! Instead, it was Republic of Tea pineapple guava white tea. So tropical and awesome.

For lunch I came home to feed the baby and also myself. I was in a rush to get back to my office so I had a PB&J sandwich on whole wheat bread, pita chips, edamame and carrots all to be dipped in my new olive hummus. The hummus didn't live up to my high expectations, but it was tasty. I polished the meal off with a white nectarine, which was much to my dismay, not yet ripe.

I felt like a little girl with this lunch!

Work was a frenzy of activity and before I knew it, it was already 4:00. So I went home and played with my dog. J.D. wasn't in the mood for dinner when he arrived -- apparently lunch made him sick -- and I still felt congested from my yucky sore throat, so cold cereal sounded good. I'm hoping this weird craving for non-substantial foods ends with my cold ASAP.

I didn't have much time to eat anyways, so the cereal fit the bill. As did the first College World Series game. It felt super weird watching it on TV!!!

Smart Start with craisins and a baseball game!

After my "dinner" we rushed out the door to take Woodstock to his puppy training class. Can't believe he only has three more before graduating!! We both feel super bad at what's going on today so we decided to overload him with all the activities he'll miss in the next week due to his recovery. After puppy class we let him play at the dog park until the sun set and then J.D. even let him sleep on the couch while he watched TV and I ran ;)

Post run, you're pretty much caught up now! I went to work here and then called it a night.

Bet you'll never guess what kind of tea I had while catching up on blogs. That's right, chai spiced tea. I should see a group for this or something.... But how cute is the tea bag platter?!?! My mom bought it for me in France a few years back ♥

Question: What motivates/inspires you to run? Maybe unrelated, but do you like to star-gaze??

Sunday Brunch, Inspired Dinner & Boy Things

Have I ever told you guys how much I looove Sunday brunch? Well if not, consider this me shouting it from the rooftops. Or typing quietly from my dining room. Whichever image seems more appealing to you.

The one yesterday morning was no different, my friends. J.D.'s parents -- whose last name is Fox -- took us to a shocker of a restaurant in Lodi called The Dancing Fox.

I don't lie.

From what I gather, it's a bakery that serves pastries, coffee, sandwiches and also has a wine tasting room in the back. Sundays it shuts down all operations in favor of the Brunch Buffet, which includes their "world famous" bread pudding, pastries, fruits, French toast, bacon/sausage and the omelet bar.

I kept my sampling light opting for half a plate of fruit, sausage and one crab cake eggs benedict. Just like last night, I forwent the egg yolks and also the English muffin below.

Why do you ask?!? Because I was saving up room for an OMELET! I asked if he made egg white omelets and the man, bless his little heart, was so cute. He walked over to the fridge and skillfully cracked and separated the eggs with one hand in front of my eyes, dazzling those in line for omelets. So cute!!! Inside my two egg white omelet went spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, olives and artichoke hearts. DI-VINE!

I may or may not have wrapped some pastries in napkins for a breakfast to come. This chick steals glasses from bars and now pastries from buffets?! Classy. After we filled our bellies, J.D. and I went in search of a car dealer that actually had cars on the lot. I am IN LOVE with the Ford Fusion or the Ford Edge. He thought it'd be fun if we went out and test drove cars, but the puppy needed lunch and I don't plan on buying a vehicle for at least three more years. Have to bum around in the Taurus a little longer than I'd hoped apparently....

Well, we also got serious about cleaning post-vacation when we reached the house. Because a gnarly mess awaited us. I'm not going to lie and say we finished. But it's getting manageable. I cleaned the kitchen, dining room and living room and for the most part, cut back on all our clutter piles that have been neglected due to us working every weekend solidly from August to May. We also dusted top-to-bottom.

After all that hard work and 100° temperatures, a cold treat was very much in order! I went for pomegranate raspberry mixed with blueberry tart yogurt and then topped it off with blackberries, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries and dark chocolate/yogurt chips.

Yes, I ate it ALL!

Oh man the Midwest is missing out on this! We went on a mission nearly on a daily basis and could not find any make-your-own-yogurt shops. Why are you guys hiding them from tourists?!?! No worries though, since I got my fix back home :)

We both came to the conclusion that the best way to treat ourselves after yogurt was to stay inside with the AC on full blast and catch up on all the TV shows we missed while away. Again, not even close to caught up, but we did watch several episodes of Jeopardy! and Next Food Network Star ♥ Then my stomach beckoned to me. I was up to the challenge and answered its call.

Dinner was entirely based around my new find at T.J.'s from Friday:

Unfortunately I subjected them to a horrible fate (other than consumption, duh). Surprisingly the patties were quite large, so I butchered them into quarters and made four sliders for Mr. Fox and myself! Complete with sweet potato frites:

And a fruit spinach salad with MORE basil. I'm on a basil kick, for real. Good thing I've kept the plant alive for several days now, eh? Can we call me a green thumb? Too soon?

And I also poured us a sweet treat with dinner -- gotta love my ever-present sweet tooth!

Trader Joe's sparkling clementine juice. I tried to be good and cut mine with La Croix grapefruit sparkling water, so it was like a half-and-half. But, totally defeats the purpose when you have a refill -- twice. So it was like I had a full glass of the juice and a full glass of the sparkling water. Oh well ;)

After dinner I took the little wiener out for a walk and now that he's learning to go outside without any stage fright whatsoever any more, he's introducing new things into my life. Boy things... Like lifting his leg -- this started about two weeks ago. Today was another new one. Marking his territory. Oh no, what have I done?!?! I guess I should let him, it's the least I can do before we strip him of his manhood tomorrow :-\ Yep, the big boy-cutting day is nearly upon us. Sorry puppy!

Do you have pets?