FOGO DE CHAO

Tuesday Evening


That ZWOW was KILL-ER today! That along with not having a ton of time before Mom and Dad came over resulted in me doing a lighter workout this evening. Running shoes on, out the door and a hot and sweaty mile around the neighborhood! It was pretty tough, not going to lie. It's crazy knowing I was just running 3 miles at one time a month ago and now it is so much more difficult. It takes a lot of work to get in good running condition (for me at least!) and no work at all for that to die. But at least I am working at it again :)

Tonight I am heading with Mom and Dad (Zach's soccer team has tryouts so he couldn't go... :/) to Indy for dinner for Dad's birthday. We couldn't get a reservation until 9pm so we did the celebration backwards- dessert first!

Shortly after my run they came over and I presented Dad with a triple layer lemon meringue pie. Dad loves ANY-thing lemon. (Zach helped a bit while I made it at nap-time, such a good little kitchen helper :) )

I had a small slice to tide me over until our LATE dinner.

"Ohhhh they both have LAY-ers!" (Said by Donkey in Shrek)

We are surprising Dad with a trip to Fogo de Chao (fo-go dee shoun) (weird pronunciation!) tonight. Fogo is a Brazilian steakhouse which is always such a fun experience! Zach and I have one we adore in Chicago called ZED 451. I actually took Mom to Fogo in Indy for HER birthday this past year and she loved it.

The whole deal with a Brazilian steakhouse is that while they have a couple garden tables (salad, fruit, soup, etc.) it is all focused around meat. There are SO many different types of meat available and you have a token (at ZED it's a stone, at Fogo it's a card) that you put out when you want meat. Servers come around with meats and give you a very small portion of whatever type they have. When you are getting too much meat on your plate and want a break, take the stone away or flip the card over or whatever it is you do at that particular place.

I am not always big on meat, but at a place like this where all the meat is such good quality and cooked so very well I am totally down! :) Looking forward to a good dinner and will be home very late tonight (probably around midnight). Expect my pictures/report and a tired girl tomorrow morning!!

Recap

Dinner was so fun last night!

As far as my "rules"- no bread, check! small slice of pie, check! no drinks...welllll two outta three 'aint bad ;) Okay, I really did have the best of intentions about not getting a drink but apparently my willpower doesn't extend to having to wait a full hour in the really swanky bar area...

(It was totally delicious by the way!!!)
Sad faces since Zach couldn't come with us:

We had a fantastic surprise in that it was "Devour Downtown" week in Indy where a lot of the restaurants have deals going on and the prix fixe was only $35 a person!!

Here is the one plate I got from the garden bar, I ate a good amount of this but left a few things behind.

There is no way I could get a picture of each cut of meat- they come around so fast! But here are a couple of samplings of what we got: (not the best photos- bad lighting!!)

We tried everything from parmesan chicken, bacon wrapped filet, top sirloin, veal, ribeye, ribs, sausage and probably several others I am forgetting!!

They also bring a few big side dishes to share to the table: mashed potatoes (ate a good amount of these!), polenta (2 of these) and fried banana (just 1 bite, was getting too full!!)

A fun-filled family evening :)

THE IMPOSSIBLE

Tuesday Afternoon


"It's kind of fun to do the impossible" -- Walt Disney


Read this quote today and it's been sticking with me so I wanted to share it with all of you :)

Lunch was a plethora of veggies cooked up slightly Asian style! I had on hand: baby carrots, spinach leaves, mushrooms, green pepper, broccoli and cherry tomatoes.

First I mixed the following:
-chicken broth
-sesame oil
-tamari sauce
-red pepper flakes
While sautéing all veggies (except spinach + tomatoes) with garlic in a little bit of oil. When my veggies reached crisp-tender I poured in the liquid mix and added the spinach + tomatoes to cook just until the spinach got a bit wilted.

Topped it all off with a handful of unsalted peanuts!!

This afternoon I was ready for a Zuzana Light workout! Today I decided to go back to the beginning and do ZWOW 1 (which I have never done before). I think she has 23 or 24 out so far??
ZWOW 1:
-10 dive bombers
-5 burpees
-20 squat leg lifts each side
-5 burpees
-10 side plank lifts each side
-5 burpees
-10 pistol squats each leg
-5 burpees
Do All Three Times Through

Excited for Dad's birthday celebration tonight :)

THE SUN STILL RISES

Tuesday Morning


The sun still rises...even after you have eaten terribly! Honestly it has been really tough to get back into a good routine ever since vacation (obviously). Some days are great, others not so much... Thankfully there are no big events/trips in my near future which is exactly the kind of break I need to get back into a gym/fixing dinner/healthy eating schedule again. Tonight we are going to a nice place for Dad's birthday along with me making him a dessert, but I have a plan in place! No alcohol or bread at dinner and only eating a small sliver of his birthday treat!

So on to today and better foods... :)
This morning's breakfast was poached egg whites with a banana.

The egg whites in the glass before poaching...

Then it poofs up all cooked in the microwave and I douse it in pepper :)

A meal I can enjoy along with feeling good about it!!

Also got my 30 minute booty call in this morning on the gazelle along with some stretching. I used to stretch every day and I really need to get back into that habit. I could feel how tight my muscles were today!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF "SWEET ONE"

Monday Evening


Being tired is not a good look on me...and I am not just talking physical appearance-wise. I always make worse choices when I am exhausted/don't feel good. I didn't go to the gym tonight- which that in itself is perfectly fine when I'm in such a poor condition, but not good when coupled with bad food...

Dinner: (if you could call it that...)

Cheese pizza from Papa Johns and a brownie from Concannons... Now I am still exhausted and feeling rough and also feeling icky from too much sugar/fat. Definitely going to bed super early tonight. Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day!!

I'VE GOT A SWEET ONE

Monday Afternoon


I did not feel like fixing anything for lunch today. I did not feel like moving in general. My brain feels so foggy and exhausted and I have not felt well at all today. My loving husband knew how rough of a day I was having and showed up with this:

:) Broccoli and cheese soup from Panera Bread with a whole wheat baguette. The absolute perfect lunch for a day like today!! What a stud ;)

Obviously no afternoon exercises either...at this rate I think my "exercise" today will be walking back and forth from my classroom...

MONDAY BREAKFAST

Monday Morning


I think this must be my breakfast quite often on Monday mornings! I should just call it a Monday meal because I always feel like something simple/not having to cook first thing in the week...

 Same cereal combo you have seen lately: Fiber one bran, cinnamon sweets, graham squares and Whole Foods granola crunch.

No booty call this morning :/. I feel so completely wiped out and with my throat being sore + nose being stuffy I am afraid I am fighting a cold. Taking some Vitamin C and hoping I caught it in time!!

A SHORT FLIGHT

Sunday Evening


Kori and I left the Atlanta Zoo this afternoon and promptly got...a bit lost! Luckily we had left the zoo with a good amount of time before I had to be at the airport so I still made it just fine.

Got in and got my boarding pass and then as I was heading through security little white blinking lights on the ceiling start going off throughout the ENTIRE airport with this message over the loudspeakers "WARNING! An EMERGENCY had been reported. Please stand by while the THREAT is confirmed! WARNING!" Well wasn't that fun for the next 5 minutes... I was looking around furiously hoping that whoever the crazy with the bazooka was was not anywhere near my part of the airport.

Then just as soon as it had begun the message stopped and the lights went off. Weird. I had just a short wait and then boarded my hour and 15 minute flight. Funny that it took less time to get from Georgia to Indiana than it did for Zach to drive to the airport to pick me up...

We headed back to Muncie and went to a breakfast joint called Sunshine Cafe for dinner. I wolfed down a supreme omelette + hashbrowns:

Then we shared these chocolate chip pancakes (by shared I mean I had a 1/4 and Zach had 3/4...)

Welcome Home!!!

PANDA WATCH

Sunday Afternoon


I have always wanted to see a panda bear. For pretty much as long as I can remember. Unfortunately not that many zoos in America have pandas. True story: The zoo in Washington D.C. DOES have pandas. When I was 11ish and we went to D.C. I was unbearably excited to see the pandas at the zoo. We got to the zoo, made our way around, found the panda exhibit!!!! aaaaand...dead panda. No, not right there in front of us (then I would have at least SEEN one!) but rather, just a sign letting us know that their panda had expired but *excitement* they would be getting a new baby panda from China in just a few weeks!!! When...I would be....back home. Biggest letdown ever.

So you can see why I was SO excited to do the Atlanta Zoo- it's one of the only other ones with a panda!  Kori and I started exploring....

 Then finally we came to it: the panda area!!!!!!!

 I saw not one, not two, but THREE adorable pandas!

 Then it was time to break for lunch. I was actually very impressed with the level of choices this place had!! I had a veggie burger (took the top bun off and ate it open-faced) with sweet potato fries. The veggie burger was mostly beans and it was somewhat spicy and so good! Seriously up there in my top 3 veggie burgers!

 We saw a few more exhibits before it was time to leave and get to the airport...

 I had such a good time getting to visit Kori this weekend! It really did fly by :/

MY FRUIT RETURNS

Sunday Morning


This morning I woke up wanting one thing. Can you guess? It's a fruit that I have gone too long without....

Hooray! :) Was very much ready for a lighter breakfast after the past couple of days and this was perfect.

Off to the Atlanta Zoo this afternoon to see a panda for my first time!!!

STRAIGHT FROM THE GULF

Saturday Evening


Tonight's dinner took place at Oyster Bay where fresh oysters are flown in DAILY from the gulf!!

After the river we headed back home and got ready. We had the most beautiful sunset on the way to dinner.

Our supper was all fresh and wonderful tonight! We started out with a bottle of Merlot and a 1/2 dozen baked oysters.

These oysters were the best I have ever had- no joke. Next we shared 5 conch fritters with a remoulade (also good).

Then for the main course we shared a grouper stuffed with crab cakes with a side of mashed potatoes.

So nice to get such authentic seafood, no where back home has anything nearly as fresh! After dinner we went to Chili's (Kori's stomping grounds) to hang out around her friends a bit longer and we shared an oreo molten cake dessert :)

This whole night was just filled with deliciousness!!