Anyone excited for this?

Winter 2008-2009

Don't mind the sweats.

I love to travel. My bet is that 90% of you guys do too. Traveling abroad, I liked to pretend that my house was 5 minutes outside of the city. Just a quick walk through town to pick up a fresh baguette and a bottle of vino-- home for dinner with the family. You know, I am sure you guys all do that too. I call it cultural immersion.

When really, you are going back to your sketchy hostel in an area of town that is far from homey and cozy. You decide to take chances with the tap water.. one glass won't hurt. What. a. mistake.

Anyway, what I am getting at, is I like to feel "homey" most places I go. However, the only place I have never felt truly comfortable in is NYC. Talk about overload in every aspect of the word.

I bow down to those, like my beautiful friend Kara who have decided to bravely make NYC their home. CHEERS ya crazy hooligan!

Anyway, my recent trip to NYC this weekend was such a blast. Five girlfriends, lots of wine, lots of fun.

After a night out on the town, we decided it was only fitting to try out a vegan restaurant- to you know, detox a little.

We decided on Angelica's Kitchen

Angelica's Kitchen is a vegan's dream restaurant. I am clearly not vegan-- but from time to time eating a complete vegan meal (protein, fat, carbs, lots of vitamins and minerals) can make you feel really damn good.

We started off our meal with "garlic pickled shiitake mushrooms, beets, and other seasonal vegetables". Umm, this was good but maybe it was a little too much pickleyness for me. I love dill pickles, yet this felt strange and foreign to pickle so many vegetables.

For my entree, I chose the Hot Open Face Tempeh sandwich. If you arent familiar with tempeh, it is a less processed soy product. It has a nutty taste to it. I love it.

"Slices of sourdough baguette topped with lightly marinated and baked tempeh, napped with savory mushroom gravy. Served on a bed of raw spinach, garnished with ruby kraut and a scoop of mashed potatoes"

YUM! Everything about this entree I loved. I didnt feel so bad after eating it too. The raw spinach was a nice addition for a little extra nutrition.

We did get two desserts as well- a vegan tiramisu and a maple "whip" which was kinda like a custard. It tasted gross- like the tofu flavor was shining through. I was not a fan- however the tiramisu was pretty good- for a vegan tiramisu :)

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Anyway, blogger is being weird again and wont let me post any pictures. This is getting extremely irritating! Anyone have any advice?

Glad I got to post a little recap though.

Have a great day!

Blogger hates me.

For some reason, Blogger isnt working for me today. Long post about

• A vegan dining experience in NYC at Angelica's Kitchen
• Visiting Dash, my friend Kim's new store.
• And a TJ's Review for pizza pizza.

A smorgasbord of a Post

I feel like I havnt blogged in forever. Its been 6 days. Such is life.

 I won a giveaway for a new Shake n' Bake product and a few other things over at Taylor's blog!!

 Her blog is so inspiring and fun to read-- that girl can run! And she is so so so passionate about pumpkin flavored everything. Considering the fact that 90% of her blog posts she raves about a different product containing the stuff I think thats fair to say :) Love it.
  THANKS AGAIN TAYLOR!

I know a certain someone will be super pumped about the Shake n Bake Crispy Buffalo we shall be getting..His name starts with A..and ends with ndrew. Just sayin.

 Anyway, how was your Thanksgiving? Mine was wonderful as always. I started my day off on the right foot with a nice 5 miler run at the gym. Honestly, I totally understand why people think the dreadmill tred-mill is so boring. I mean, you are essentially like a little rat in his little cage/gym running in circles and not. getting. anywhere.

Im in the red shirt in this next pic. All the way to the right.

source

But whatever, gets the job done without you having to freeze your tush off out in the cold Maine weather! Anddddd best of all,  you get to watch "Keeping up with the Kardashians" without anyone judging you. I love to do intervals to keep my boredom at bay.

Mix it up!! Play with the incline and speed for a better and, dare I say, FUN workout!

Anyway, after a shower and some making up, it was nearly noon in the Martin household so momma broke out the Bellinis.  A Bellini is an Italian drink made with Prosecco (very much like champagne) and peach puree. Cheers to Thanksgiving!

 My Beautiful sister and I:

I must must must give you this recipe for Acorn Squash Soup with bacon. Seriously, this soup is amazingly smooth and perfect for a cold day.

 Ok, there it is. But honestly, I am not gona sit here and lie to you and say "oh yea, acorn squash is so good blah blah blah" because in all honesty, we honestly didnt use any acorn squash. 

I didnt know it was possible to make acorn squash without any acorn squash -- but mom gave me a butternut squash and some cans of pumpkin and you know what I did? 

I made the best soup ever.

Then, after eating so much food, I ate a piece of pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. Yum. Toats worth it.

And if that isnt enough fun for you, we all ended the night with some more fun. I wont say anymore. I wont say who was there but it all fun and no one got hurt. And thats all that matters.

Hmmm....

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Oh yes, I have to give a shout out to Local 188 for making me a delicious and nutritious breakfast the other morning. Their brunch menu is super small, yet still has pancakes, eggs, etc. I was very impressed.

Andrew had the breakfast burrito with homefries which was really tasty and I had a big bowl of plain yogurt with homemade granola and fruit. The fruit was all really fresh and we were both super happy with our choices. And, like a lot of Portland restaurants the coffee was "Coffee by Design" Rebel blend which is a dark roast -- my favorite.

Picture from their website



Have a wonderful night! :)

A Brief Pause

Hi everyone! I have so much to share:

• A restaurant review of : Local 188 restaurant in Portland, Maine 
• My Thanksgiving adventure
• A GREAT treadmill interval workout!

However, my internet isnt working so I am taking a brief pause until it works again! Hopefully by Tuesday!!

What I learned from my Foxwoods Trip 2010

Oh Foxwoods.

I learned a few lessons:

• That busses full of senior citizens are a little LOT crazier, cruder and louder than you may think-- If I didnt think I'd get sued I would put the video of them singing perverted songs on this post.
• However, that same bus full of "joyful" French-Canadians are apparently good luck for me. Or maybe it just my 100% French Canadian Mimi watching down on. I won bingo once and a raffle for a Subway gift card. SWEET!

• I love the great outdoors a lot a lot a lot. Being stuck inside a unnecessarily large hotel/casino for two days drove me crazy. I couldnt wait to get outside.

My mom and aunts are just as crazy and fun as I thought they were.





We Laughed, We Cried, We Gambled....:)


• That you can still find ways to exercise there! The gym, pool, and spa area were beautiful. I even got in a great run and weight training session the next morning!
• That James Dorsey is Hilarious and I must see him doing stand up again in my life.

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Definitely one of the most ridiculous places I have

 been.

Definitely a place I wont be back to for a long while.

Foxwoods

Is it weird that Foxwoods reminds me of the 90's? I guess I'll see for myself tomorrow...

I am planning on bringing 20 dollars. hmph. Let you know how that goes..