PROHIBITION

Friday Night

Zach and I had a double date tonight!! We met up with my friend Jami and her FIANCE Tim in Indy for dinner. Jami and Tim have been engaged since Zach and I were in Hawaii and this is my first time to see her- crazy!

We got together at The Libertine- a restaurant that I've been wanting to hit up pretty much since the first time I read about it in the Indy Monthly magazine. It's a prohibition era restaurant that is completely centered around amazing cocktails. The bartenders there are insanely knowledgeable and truly put on a show creating drinks! It was really hard to decide what to get 1) because they all looked amazing and intricate and 2) because I didn't know half of the ingredients in the drinks...

I am exhausted and we have an early wake up call to head out to ST. LOUIS!!!! I will leave you with pictures to recap my night and add more text whenever I get a chance to do it justice :)

My first drink: a Chartreuse Smash. I had never had chartreuse before but it was awesome! The mint was an especially refreshing touch :)

Zach and I shared this pull-apart bread to start. Yeast bread, Sun King wee mac, cheddar cheese. It was warm and salty and nice to find little pockets of cheese throughout :)

My dinner- the heirloom tomato tart. It was yellow and red heirloom tomatoes layered with fresh mozzarella cheese baked in a tart topped with arugula and shaved parmesan. My favorite thing of the night. I am really, really glad I ordered this and would most definitely get it again!

Zach's lake trout! Check that out- it's the WHOLE fish!!! He ate very bite except the tail and the tip of the head :)

Nightcap drink was a Pisco Sour. This smelled like fall (due to the nutmeg on top) and tasted like refreshing summer! A wonderful way to end our experience. We will most definitely be back here again!

NIGHT!!

NO TIME!

Friday Morning

It's busy here in the Rabenstein household!! Between breakfast and teaching and plans tonight and preparing to leave bright and early tomorrow morning it's a madhouse :) But I would always rather be super busy than super bored.

Zach picked up biscuits and gravy for breakfast this morning- haven't had that in ages!!!

It tasted amazing :)

Now onward with my Friday!!

TOO MUCH IS TOO MUCH!

Thursday Evening

Tonight was dinner with my Momma and Daddy! We ate downtown at Casa del Sol on the patio. A great night for eating outdoors! Soak up summer while you can...

We started off eating our weight in chips and salsa and cheese dip. I ordered a regular sized raspberry margarita but UGH! Barely drank half of it because it tasted like straight syrup :/ That's why I always stick with regular...

For supper I went with Combo #1! Taco, rice and 2 enchiladas.

Toooooo much foooood. Mercy I could NOT finish this all. Theme of the night apparently! It was fun having dinner with Mom and Dad though and I got to drive by Dad's new music store. He sells keyboards and does a ton of other musical related stuff that I know nothing about at the Muncie Music Center. They are building a new store and it is coming along great!

Now I'm home alone waiting for Zach to get back from *guess what* a soccer game :) The movie Date Night is on tv and I am thrilled! I only ever saw this in theaters but thought it was hilarious and have wanted to see it again ever since.

Goodnight, sleep tight, when you wake up it'll be Friday!

FUJI

Thursday Afternoon

It has been the most lovely half day!!! When I got off work Zach took me out to lunch to celebrate passing my inspection :) We headed to a new *gasp!* restaurant in Muncie called Fuji. It's a Japanese restaurant and despite it having a hibachi grill we went for one thing only- sushi.

I ordered a glass of their house merlot (hello! celebrating! ;) ) and Zach and I got a plate of gyoza dumplings.

The dumplings were very good and we ate our miso soup (that came with our sushi) at the same time as the dumplings.

Finally our sushi came out: a philly roll, hollywood roll and shrimp tempura roll.

Gotta say...disappointed! :/ I wanted to be really impressed and the atmosphere in this restaurant was awesome. They did a great job with it!

But the sushi was lackluster. It all contained similar flavors and nothing made any of the rolls stand out. The philly was too stuffed with avocado and cream cheese and it just wasn't balanced well. We also got a good deal since it was lunch, but the dinner prices looked a bit steep. Bummer!

After lunch we took a lovely stroll by the river and then when Zach had to head off to soccer I headed to the pool! Did some swimming and a lot of lounging (and more "Congo" reading!) and I declare this a fabulous half day.

More fun plans tonight!

DON'T BREAK THE YOLK

Thursday Morning

 Yolk is gorgeous. That's just my opinion of course...

 Cooked two eggs over easy with a side of Ezekiel toast and green apple.

I think I could have eaten about 3 more eggs!!! So, so good. Not to mention I cooked them perfectly today :) When I woke up this morning I suddenly remembered that I have a half day today and THAT, my friends, is a wonderful way to wake up!

Did my arm booty call this morning. Remember I said I was going to start alternating cardio booty calls with strength booty calls? Today I did
-Goalpost Rotation 15 reps (targets medial deltoid, rear deltoid and rotator cuff)
-Tricep Extension 10 reps per side (targets triceps, butt and legs)
-10-10-10's 10 reps per side (targets biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis)

Almost time for the long weekend!

THE CHEESE DOOR

Wednesday Evening

I was folding laundry today and between my pile on the left and Zach's pile on the right, think you can pick out our favorite color??

What's funny is I made him come look at this and realized we were both wearing blue shirts today as well!

Got a text during the kid's recess this afternoon from Zach that simply read "cheese door." I was confused, but took it to mean cheese drawer. When we came inside for snack I checked and sure enough! There was something in the cheese "door" :)

It was a note congratulating me on passing inspection and a bunch of other mushy stuff I won't get into :D He's the best.

After work I headed out on a 30 min. walk/jog with Mom! Lovely, cloudless day for it.

When I got home I wasn't really very hungry. So I sliced up a beautiful tomato from my grandpa-in-law's garden and paired it with 4 Whole Foods crackers.

Good grief these tomatoes are good! Must keep eating them...

Done and done!

Zach is gone with games the whole evening about an hour away and won't be back til late. So I am now heading over to Hillary's to hang out. Time for her to watch the next Harry Potter- we are on movie 6! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

*A scary fact to leave you with. In '91 no state had more than %20 obesity rate. Now no state has LESS. Yikes America.*

{Edited to add}
Well of course I got hungry later!! Especially after I had two of this size "glass" of Catawba wine!

Classy I know :)

So I munched on a few wheat thins (not pictured) and half-way through the movie Hillary and I went to Berrywinkle for a treat. Remember a long time ago me telling you about Berrywinkle's self-serve toppings? I think they all jumped into my cup tonight!

CHEEESY

Wednesday Afternoon

Zach has been working from home all day and offered to pick up some lunch! (Never turn that offer down :)! ) Fast food is pretty much always not an option which leaves a handful of places that are *ahem* the lesser of the evils. Today's pick was Panera. I requested my standby of broccoli and cheddar soup with a whole wheat baguette.

Then got crazy and asked for a side of mac n' cheese! You'd think I would have realized I was ordering TWO cheesy dishes....

So my question is, "Why is cheese not a vegetable?!" Cause I would be really good at getting my daily amount in... :)

A late post today because smack dab in the middle of nap-time my inspector showed! A rather inconvenient time for an inspection. Between going through all my files, setting off smoke detectors and various other things to check out in the classroom almost all of my children woke up. :/ That's the unfortunate part, but the good news is that I passed and am relicensed for another two years!

I shall have to celebrate this evening :)

STRAWBERRY BLISS

Wednesday Morning

It was an oatmeal kinda day!! 

Cooked my usual mix of 1/3 C rolled oats + 1/4 C water + 1/2 C unsweetened almond milk + a pinch of salt. Didn't have a banana to whip in though which I definitely think changed the texture. It was more gummy than fluffy. Not bad, but not as much volume as I am used to!

Added flaxseed, vanilla, honey and strawberries at the end.

Topped it all off with Whole Foods granola crunch cereal and a bit of cacao bliss. Made a wonderful, slightly chocolatey oatmeal with juicy strawberries!

I really think I am pretty much back to normal- hooray! Felt just like myself this morning and really enjoyed my 30 minutes on the gazelle, it flew by. 

Today is the day my daycare inspector is scheduled to come. I get inspected once a year and relicensed every other year. This year I am up for relicensure! I feel prepared so let's hope I truly am. Wish me luck!! :)

HOME-COOKING

Tuesday Evening

Hello YMCA, it's been a while! I was so into outdoor exercise last week that it has been about a week since I was last in my gym. Wasn't there for long tonight, but it was still nice to do a machine. (Though I really do love walking outside the best!) Did 10 minutes on the arc trainer (134 calories) and 15 on the treadmill at an incline (150 calories) all while reading "Congo." Love Michael Crichton!

Then it was a brief shower and off to Mom and Dad's for supper! Zach has back-to-back boys then girls games tonight so I was solo. Dinner in Mom and Dad's diner themed kitchen :) I meant to take a photo of the whole kitchen and forgot! (But there is a jukebox and booth and it's awesome! I will take one next time.) 
Mom made an awesome crockpot chicken with potatoes, onions, oregano, S + P and garlic. I think that was all? Delicious!

Accompanied by a roll and a salad with mandarin oranges/almonds/dried cranberries.

 A great meal followed by a glass of riesling on the porch.

A nice evening and probably heading to bed a bit early again!

WHAT'S LEFT OVER?

Tuesday Afternoon

The last of the tuna barbecue made it's way onto my plate today. Topped off half of an Ezekiel bun with it and had to use a fork it was such a mess!

It was still pretty good, but I think it was nearing the end of it's life, good thing that was the end of it.

I am feeling quite a bit better today, though still a bit worn down. I'm not doing an afternoon workout to preserve some energy, but I WILL be headed to the gym after work! Dinner is out of my hands tonight,  going to my parent's for supper :) It's nice to eat a home cooked meal without cooking...

Counting down the days to our mini-vacation!!

RECOVERING

Tuesday Morning

Wow. I slept almost 13 hours last night!! I don't feel 100% today, but I feel loads better than yesterday. Yesterday was rough. Started off my morning right with some strawberries and a slice of Ezekiel toast with pomegranate Crofters jam. :)

 Yum.

I have decided that two days during the workweek (probably normally Tues/Thurs) I am going to be doing weights for my bootycall. I don't want to hit too much of a plateau since I do the same thing every morning and I also need to incorporate weights more into my day, so this is how I will do it!

On the days I do weights I will do I set of shoulder moves, one set of triceps moves and one set of biceps moves. This morning I did:
-three point row (10 reps each side) for back, medial deltoid and rear deltoid
-triangle pushup (15- tough!) for shoulders, chest, triceps and core
-slingshot (15 reps each side) for back and biceps [used a resistance band for this one]

Here's hoping today goes much better than yesterday!

SUPPER FOR A SICKLING

Monday Evening

:( I haven't exercised today, I haven't really eaten much, I can't really swallow too well, I'm not going to make it to Bible study...I just don't feel like me today!!

Running a low fever now and I am chugging water and taking vitamin C and hoping to kick this so I can get back to being me tomorrow! So what does a sick girl eat for dinner when she doesn't feel like cooking and doesn't want to drag herself out the door to pick something up? Pizza of course. Of all of our (two) types of food you can get delivered in Muncie (Chinese and pizza), I chose pizza. With breadsticks. From Pizza King, where else?!

Didn't eat as much pizza as I normally would though, which isn't all bad (haha) but I expected to be hungrier with what I've eaten today. I think it's just the fact that swallowing hurts that makes eating less fun :/

Going to bed now. Yes, at 6. That's how awesome poorly I feel.

CRUNCHED

Monday Afternoon

A lot of the kids have come in with colds lately and I really think I am at war with one. Just feeling really lousy today! :/

"Lunch"

Tortilla chips and the very last bit of salsa that I had. I ate this as something to crunch on with every intention of fixing myself something more substantial once I got hungrier but that never happened. I never got hungrier and I lacked the will-power to actually make something.

Hoping the rest of the workday goes quickly so I can lie down...

NOT A LOT OF ANYTHING

Monday Morning

Not a lot of sunshine. Not a lot of energy. Not a lot of exercise. Not a lot of breakfast.

Just one of those mornings! It took me forever to get even a little hungry this morning. I think my body is still feeding off of yesterday's calories!!

When I finally was ready to eat a little something I put a couple of handfuls of Three Sisters graham cracker squares into a baby bowl.

Cereal in Vegas!! (My vacation book from last year) Actually at this time last year we were getting ready to go to Vegas. Last Labor Day weekend we flew to Vegas for a whirlwind trip with Kori and our friend Gabe. It was such a blast!

This year it's off to St. Louis in just a few days. Very excited for a mini-vacation and of course, for a day off!!

Not feeling awesome this morning either. Throats a little sore, heads a little achey... Such is Monday.

FUDGE ON THE MAINLAND

Sunday Evening

After Dig IN I rushed home to see my cute husband. Always miss him so much when we have a night apart! I bestowed upon him his gifts from the day:

REAL fudge (since he discovered his love for this on Maui) and a bottle of Riesling from Winzerwald Winery. I have loved this winery when tasting there at both Vintage Indiana and Dig IN, can't wait to visit the actual winery!

Zach was hungry but I wasn't yet, so he broke into his fudge. I did have some and it was fabulous! Almost as good as the fudge from Hawaii. I think Hawaii fudge just tastes better cause you can see the ocean while eating it... We also had little glasses of the riesling while finishing the movie Acts of Valor. I had Zach drink out of a Dig IN glass so he could feel like he was part of something ;)

When I was finally ready for dinner around 8 we ventured out. Found ourselves at Chilis (in honor of Kori) and ate chips and queso.

I got this blackberry drink but just didn't want it. After a few sips Zach downed the rest- he wanted it! :)

I got a shrimp pasta for dinner that I ate a little over half of and didn't really eat the (lame) piece of garlic bread with it.

Enough food now! Have to wait a whole nother year for all the great Indy restaurants to come together again!

FOOD FEST

Sunday Afternoon

Yeah, I am just now getting up this afternoon's post. It has been QUITE the day! If you haven't read this morning's post, do that first. It will explain all about the event Dig IN that Leah and I attended today. Out of 34 restaurants featuring food there, we made it to 13....not even half! But man it felt like a ton. I'll let the pictures tell the stories. Keep in mind that these are pretty small little samples, NOT a full dish!!

White River State Park packed to the brim

 This dish was from the restaurant that Grant (Leah's husband) works at! Duck prosciutto with honey ricotta and persimmon peach gastrique.

 Strawberry and banana soup with a sugar cookie piece on top. My favorite dish of the day!! Not so much a soup as a smoothie really.

 Sun King braised duck fried pie, blueberry bbq sauce and charred sweet corn salad.

 Fermented garden kraut with Capriole Farms Old Kentucky Tomme. LEAST favorite dish of the day, smelly!

 We also got free wine and beer tastings. Of course you know I didn't have any beer, but I did have 4 (I believe) tastings throughout the day. We could have had much more but it was so hot that all we wanted was water! I probably drank 4 bottles of the good stuff today.

 Goat and Indiana ambrosia. Second favorite dish of the day! It was from The Local, that restaurant in Carmel that Zach and I love so much. Not sure what ambrosia is? Don't feel bad, I didn't know either. Apparently it's a marshmallow salad (normally citrusy, this one had orange) and was a crazy good complement to this spicy goat. I know it sound so weird but this dish was awesome!!

 Cantaloupe and cucumber salad with basil infused creme fraiche and watercress pistou. Though this was not like a salad but a cool soup and wasn't great. The flavors just didn't marry that well.

 Carolina pulled pork on creamy vegetable salad. Leah and I actually got the LAST TWO bowls that had pork! They ran out and we were the very last people to receive the meat, everyone else just got the salad part. And we were glad because it was gooood pork!

 House-made ricotta with peach and white corn puree finished with Twisted Sistaz popcorn. You know how sometimes with food people just try too hard? This was trying to hard. The popcorn was savory and good but the puree was a big fail. Also it just made the popcorn soggy... You know I don't like soggy stuff (ahem* girl who won't eat milk on her cereal talking here!)

Bison bratwurst with relishe summer salad and hand-crafted mustard. This was shared with Leah, we were getting pretty full at this point!

 Wagyu tongue & cheek tacos. Don't be afraid of the words "tongue" and "cheek"! It tasted like pork or chicken and was incredible! I only ate half because I was getting so full, but still enjoyed the bites I took. What a "tongue in cheek" name for such a dish ;)

 Caramel, nougat and pate de fruit candy

 Potato, greens and goat cheese quesadilla. This one sounded so appealing to me but I only had two bites. Not sure if it was not that great or I was just getting too full, but this was not my favorite.

At the very end of the day we stopped by the artisan tents at the front and I had an unphotographed teeny piece of brittle, some kind of amazing flame cooked marshmallow and a baby frosted wine cake. It was like a bite size cupcake that was made with a mix + wine. Crazy concept but super good! Hope they come to my winery, Tonne!

It was a super hot day and we were sweating like crazy and we didn't even get to half the restaurants featured, but it was still so much fun! We had a great time and got to eat so much good food. Only complaint? My commemorative wine glass is the EXACT same as last years! Bummer. Maybe next year...