I love Portland

I just adore it...for so many reasons.

#1 The food. (#2 the shopping...but I'm not even going to go there.)

Portland has so many amazing restaurants that offer amazing food combined with an amazing ambiance. It's rare that I am disappointed here.

Eating out can be quite a challenge. So when I know I am going to be on "the road" for a few days at a time I remind myself that I am not on a vacation...I am working and I need to maintain my healthy(ish) lifestyle and (try to) make smart choices on what to eat.

Before I go on long trips I usually try to workout pretty hard the few days before because sometimes I just don't have time to when I am working out of town. This past weekend (with Ryan) I did a 6 mile run, a hike, and then Monday morning a 5 mile run. Woooh. Was hard, but we got it done. I felt great getting on to the airplane knowing I had a good run that morning.

Always be prepared with snacks...in the SJC airport they have an new amazing wine bar. So of course I had to get a glass of wine. I was super hot (maybe because I had to carry my behemoth of a laptop and other carry-ons?!) so I opted for a glass of Pinot Grigio. It was quite refreshing. On the plane I skipped the free soft drink and peanuts and enjoyed a Lara Bar. I'm glad I had it because the wine made me feel very hungry.

I was able to get a short workout in this morning at the gym and plan on doing a 4 mile run tomorrow (early) AM. But the rest of the week looks questionable! Busy busy.

I will stop typing away and let you just enjoy pictures of some of the amazing food I ate today.

Lunch was at Isabel. Great food. Service was a bit slow. Portion was so big I left half of it.

And dinner was at my new favorite hot spot; DEPATURE (it's a restaurant at the top of the hotel I stay at while I am here, THE Nines). I'm lucky to have Lindsay with me!

Early bed time for me tonight. Gotta' get up and run my little heart out tomorrow. I have a VERY long day tomorrow and the rest of the week isn't looking any better.

Let’s Celebrate…take two

I was watching the clock Friday night. As I mentioned my cleanse would be over at 8pm. Ryan and I had talked about either opening a nice bottle of wine or getting a celebratory fro yo. I wasn’t in a wine mood Friday night (I know weird right?) so we chose the fro yo. We went to Yumi Yogurt in Los Gatos. They have the BEST Fro Yo I have ever tasted. They have some non-fat options, but I got the SNICKERS flavor and it definitely did not taste non-fat…or even low fat. I was in heaven.

For about 5 minutes.

You see, I am lactose intolerant. The past few years it hasn't been so bad. I can tolerate some cheeses, yogurt and half and half. But when you remove a specific food product from your diet (especially one that is you are potentially allergic/sensitive too) you will become so much more aware of your bodies reaction to this food once you reintroduce it.

I felt so ill. The morning was worse. Let’s just say it almost kept me from running my planned 6 mile run. After a couple pit stops I was able to make it to the beginning of the Los Gatos trail. It was a gorgeous morning and there were tons of runners on the trail so I was able to focus on just completing the run and not how ouchy my stomach felt.

Take Two…

It definitely was a wine night Saturday night. We joined Alapay Cellars wine club a couple months ago and have been patiently waiting to try a bottle from our first shipment. I randomly found this winery while at my bachelorette party in Avila Beach. They have a small little tasting room that we found and every wine I tasted (which was many) was good! That is a rare find. They have some of the best wines I have ever tasted.

We choose a 2008 Pinot Noir. I’m usually not the biggest fan of Pinot however like I said all of Alapay’s wines are good.

Check out our cool Vinturi Red Wine Aerator This does the same job as a decanter. It really makes a big difference in taste. We’ve done many taste tests ☺

This Pinot almost knocked me off my chair. The flavor was so BIG with hints of cherry and pepper. YUM. The best part is it didn’t make me sick! I felt wonderful this morning.

Ryan and I decided to go down to the Campbell farmers market. Such a good market...I'm glad we brought the camera.

Lastly, it’s my baby puppy Bella’s 2nd Birthday today. I bought her a Cake Cookie Treat and gave it to her before her birthday hike. She loved it!

Delicious dinner!! Ingredients from farmers market!

I’m off to Portland tomorrow for a 6 day work trip. Yay! Eating out for 6 days…I’ll let you know how it goes!

Still working on the new blog...

It's Tea Time

I have had tea the past two mornings! No coffee. Crazy but true. I don't know why but it just hasn't sounded good to me. Maybe it's my body's way of telling me "You are now fully cleansed."

My cousin Jenny (who I look up to in so many ways...even though she is younger) introduced me to a new tea. She's a big tea drinker so I went to her for some advice. She recommended a decaffeinated and naturally sweet tea.

It was so yummy. I loved it because it didn't have the gross after taste that most teas have. Also, it was sweet which is a huge bonus. It's naturally sweetened with Stevia. Stevia is a great alternative to sugar because it has no effect on you blood glucose (sugar) levels. I'll get more into it in some other post...

Yesterday morning I was starving. A smoothie wasn't going to cut it for me. I decided to make a scramble since I had some eggs and veggies that needed to be used up. Unfortunately I put way to much salt in it. Always pour in your hand first!! I did not take this advice and it came pouring out all of my eggs. YUCK.

Lunch was just a hodge-podge of things I had left in my refrigerator. I ended up making a Rice and Bean Salad. I heated the rice and beans and put them on top of lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado. The taste was OK and it was pretty filling because of the rice and beans.

Even though I was full I was craving something sweet. So I popped some frozen mango's in the microwave (30 seconds is enough to soften them and leave them cold). Having them still be cold is the key. I then topped with Artisana's Coconut Butter (I finally took a pic!!). Because the mango's were still cold the coconut butter hardened on to them like the chocolate on a chocolate dipped cone. It was one of my most exciting discoveries ever. So amazingly tasty.

The afternoon didn't go so well for me. I ended up getting a horrid headache. So I had to rest all evening. No working out. No cooking.

Lastly, the cleanse will end tonight at 8pm (perhaps with a ceremonial glass of Cabernet Sauvignon) . I know I said I usually do it for 2 weeks but I managed 2 whole work weeks and 1 weekend so I am very happy with that. I take off on Monday for a 6 day work trip so I want to semi-adjust before I leave. However, I'm going to stay off the caffeine, and not eat much wheat and sugar. I just feel so much better!

This weekend I will be giving my blog a little face lift. I'll let you know when it's ready!

On the Road Again...

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning because I had meetings in Fairfeild and Vacaville. Not my favorite places in California to drive to.

I wasn't hungry at 6:30am but forced myself to eat a big bowl of oatmeal. I packed some road snacks...cashews & dried cranberries, and an apple. For lunch I went to Amichi's East Coast Pizzeria. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to find something to eat because it was a pizza place. OMG they had a gluten free menu! This made is super easy to find something that was "cleanse friendly". I got a spinach salad and added chicken.

When I got home I was starving so I made myself my morning smoothie (at 4:30pm). I knew I needed to eat before my long run. If I run on a completely empty stomach it's a migraine waiting to happen. Blah. So I usually have a small snack about 1 hour before.

My run was a success! 5 miles. The best advice I ever got about running is when my coworker told me "...running doesn't feel good. It will always hurt! But it feels so good when you complete your runs. You just have to push through."

And that's exactly what I did. I just kept repeating in my head "running will always hurt!!" But how good did I feel when I got home? Amazing!

Tonight for dinner I made Cilantro Shrimp. I found the recipe in this months Cooking Light.

I didn't really enjoy it too much. But I think that's due to the fact I had to de-shell and de-vein all the shrimp. It made me a bit nauseous. Overall it's a really easy recipe! I think I would've enjoyed it more if someone else prepped the shrimp for me. So I recommend trying it out.

My wedding prints just arrived. I'm so excited to get them in frames and on the walls!

You know what else I am excited for...only a few more days...

PASTA!!!

Eating pasta is something I do maybe 2 times a year. It's just not really on my list of favorites these days. However, in doing this cleanse I am trying to get creative, so I thought, what could I do with some rice pasta?

I originally planned to make a hot rice pasta dish with sundried tomatoes, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, spinach, EVOO and S/P. However, I was invited to a friends for a BBQ and I thought I'd just make it a pasta salad!

I think I've been scarred from years of eating mayo based or "heavily-drench-in-crappy-italian-dressing" pasta salads, because this one was surprisingly fantastic. In fact, I think I'll be eating pasta a little bit more often in days to come!!

Recipe:

-1 bag of brown rice pasta. Follow directions to cook. Rinse with cool water

-6 TBPS of EVOO

-1 TSP of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (I put a dash more)

-1-2 cloves of crushed garlic (remember this salad is raw so the garlic gives a big kick!)

-3 thinly sliced green onions (mine weren't sliced thin enough)

-1/4 cup of sun dried tomato sliced in thin pieces

-2 cups of roughly chopped spinach leaves

-Sea Salt and Pepper to your liking

Combine EVOO, S/P, garlic and Red pepper flakes in separate bowl.

Put on the chopped ingredients in a bigger bowl. Add the pasta. Toss. Then pour dressing over. Toss Again! Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

So good and so easy!!

My workout today sucked. I did a 10 minute cardio video from ON DEMAND. At least it was something right??

Tomorrow I have a long work day on the road. I plan to eat a big breakfast and bring some good snacks, but I have to go out to lunch with a client. Should be interesting... Stay tuned.

It's a Fiesta!!

Or so you would think...fish tacos last night, a black bean and rice bowl for lunch, and then my "Fiesta" Turkey burgers for dinner!!

Good day today. I woke up craving my Kale Smoothie since it has been a few days since my last one. It was more delicious than ever. It didn't keep me full until lunch so I had to snack on some cashews and a 1/2 of a organic peach.

I threw lunch together really quick. Black beans w/ brown rice, corn salsa, pico de gallo (yes two types of salsa. I love salsa.), and cilantro and lime to garnish. You can put as much or as little of all the ingredients in your bowl. Whatever suits your tastes buds...I apparently put to much of everything because I couldn't finish. Leftovers for tomorrow?

I didn't get a good workout in this weekend (other than the miles I walked in all the shops I went to, and going up and down the stairs 100 times at my aunts house) so I decided to challenge myself today and run some hills! As I sit here right now typing every muscle in my legs are already sore. Hills are so tough, but I know they are going to help with my endurance in the long run.

The hard workout left me with a huge appetite. All day I was brainstorming what I could put in my plain old dry turkey burgers. When I got home I started chopping almost everything in my refrigerator...red bell peppers, red onions, garlic (I use a garlic press), and cilantro.

I also made some sweet potato fries and wilted spinach. I had visions of bright orange fries but alas when Ryan peeled them they were white. I was sad, but moved on because they still tasted fabulous! We cooked them on the grill in foil (one was flavored with salt, EVOO and Cinnamon. The other was salt, EVOO and Garlic Powder).

The turkey burgers were AMAZING! I have never eaten a turkey burger with so much flavor. I was randomly throwing stuff in the mixture so I had no idea how they were going to turn out! Here's my recipe:

-1 package of natural ground turkey meat

-1 brown egg (I don't think the color matters. Mine just happened to be brown!)

-1/4 of a large red onion

-1/2 red bell pepper

-1/4 cup cilantro

-Tons of fresh garlic (i used about 5 cloves)

- Sea Salt/Pepper

- 2 TSPs of AGAVE SYRUP (secret ingredient)

- 1 TSP of Chipotle powder

*Make sure everything is finely chopped. If the pieces are too big I would imagine the turkey burger would fall apart.

Time for bed now. We'll see if I can walk in the morning...

Cake please??

Wow....what a weekend!!

The baby shower was absolutely amazing. For pics check out my Aunt Renee's blog!! One of the most amazing parts of the shower was the food. Which I couldn't eat most of...so sad. I kept reminding myself that there is always going to be a party or a group of friends going out to dinner which makes there absolutely no perfect time to cleanse. I did feel a little "deprived" but there was a sense of pride about being able to follow through. I prepared for the day by making myself a stirfry with quinoa. I ate some before the shower and then some after. It was sooooo good. Or may because I just was so starving from staring at delicious salads with cheese, sandwiches, cookies and CUPCAKES all day?

Ryan and I last minute decided to go to sail the Chardonnay for my cousin Dave's 30th birthday. It was absolutely gorgeous. What an amazing way to celebrate entering into your 30's! They served pizza and beer on the boat...I'm not going to lie. At this point, pizza never looked so good in my life. Immediately after I stepped foot off the boat Ryan drove me as fast as he could to Whole Foods where I got some sushi, black bean soup, and peanut butter (you know from the machine where you can make your own? Gotta love the samples!).

Sunday was a very fun filled day as well!! Well not FUN but it was nice to get a bunch of to-do's checked off the list all the while spending the day with the husband. We went to Bed-Bath and Beyond (gotta love the triple threat), Target, IKEA and then I went to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's while Ryan built his new appliance. "A man' house is not his castle until the supreme appliance hath been installed."

We made a delicious dinner tonight on Ryan's new "appliance". Fish tacos with Chipotle BBQ'd corn. YUM!! Oh and for dessert my favorite BBQ'd Peaches. I was dying to put mine on vanilla frozen yogurt...I'm just dying to eat any sugary substance at this point.

Fish Tacos:

-2 small filets of white fish (I usually use Tilapia, I seasoned mine with lime juice, garlic powder, sea salt and a dash of chipotle powder)

-Pico de Gallo

-Cilantro

-Corn Tortillas

BBQ'd Chipotle Corn

-BBQ corn husk on

-2-3 TBSPs of EVOO

-1 clove crushed garlic

-1 TSP ish of Chipotle (depends on how much heat you like)

-DASH OF SALT

*Remove husk and immediately pour some of the EVOO mixture onto your corn. The heat will cook the garlic a bit.

Nothing beats a jam packed weekend like we just had. I'm exhausted but happy because I was surrounded by the people who I love!!!

I am off to go dream of cake...