Whew Wednesday.

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

AND HAPPY WEIGH-IN WEDNESDAY!

ANNNND HAPPY WHAT-I-ATE-WEDNESDAY!

Today was such a particularly packed Wednesday, I think I’ll rename it Whew Wednesday Smile

The day started off with a handful of Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins:

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I affectionately call this the Cereal of the Gods.  It really is THAT good.  I also hear Barbara’s now makes chocolate peanut butter puffins.  Don’t worry.  I’ve added finding the new cereal to the weekend to-do list.

After I popped the puffins, I headed out for my interval run (which consisted of a short 2-interval series of 1 minute walking and 9 minutes running).

Post run, it was time for eggs and bacon … sprouted 7 grain bread.  Mmmmmmm Smile

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These are the eggs I make pretty much every day.  I call them my fake out dippy eggs because it’s actually a 3 egg white scramble topped off with 1 dippy egg.

When you poke the yolk it oozes down over the egg whites and tastes just as darn good as a plate full of dippy eggs. Thumbs up

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After the eggs, I headed to work (insert 2 hours of number crunching here) and around 10am it was time for Breakfast #2!

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Overnight oats, my friends. Overnight.Oats.  Yes, I STILL love and adore them.  Yes, I STILL eat them every day.

(insert two additional hours of number crunching here)

2+2 = Lunch time.

Today’s lunch consisted of some leftover ground turkey taco meat that I threw onto a bed of lettuce along with some tomato, onion, black beans and corn:

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If you are looking for a tasty side dish for Mexican food, try out this recipe for Corn and Black Bean Salad.  I made it over the weekend, and it was super tasty and SUPER simple.

Afternoon snack consisted of an un-pictured apple and some cocoa roast almonds….

After work, I headed to Dandelion Market for happy hour with some coworkers:

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The Dandelion Market is a tapas restaurant that serves up a variety of intriguing small plates.  The atmosphere in the restaurant was rustic, yet chic.  Dimly lit and extremely cozy.

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I’d of felt equally comfortable sipping a cup of coffee in a chair in the corner as I did sipping a glass of cabernet at a table near the window.

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Tonight I had the pleasure of sampling two of the tapas.  First was the pepperoni flatbread.  Isn’t it beautiful?

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Don’t be fooled.  This was not your typical peperoni pizza.  This flatbread had cured peperoni, ricotta salada, a rustic tomato sauce, and BASIL.  It was light and delicious, and honestly I think I could have ate three of them.  The basil was the perfect finishing touch.

I also sampled the grilled steak skewers:

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The steak was cooked PERFECTLY medium rare and was incredibly juicy.  But what REALLY made the dish was the sweet and spicy honey soy marinade that came along side:

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Coming from a lady who puts A-1 Steak Sauce on EVERY steak that goes in her mouth, you KNOW it must have been amazing if I devoured the entire plate without even pausing.

Dandelion Market on Urbanspoon

After dinner, I headed to TCBY for some froyo with the Charlotte Food Bloggers!  Now, truth be told I am an ice cream snob.  I worked at the world’s most fantastic locally owned and operated creamery throughout all of high school and college (biased much?), and during these years I had the opportunity to taste, sample, and create some of the most outrageously delicious ice cream concoctions.

So, frozen yogurt?  Meh.  Doesn’t really do it for me.  Which is odd, given that this town is littered with Fro Yo joints.  What DOES do it for me though is the crazy assortment of toppings all these frozen yogurt places have.

Here’s my combo of the evening:

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PB and Cake batter froyo…. with a little cookie dough, some heath bar, a little brownie, mochis, Peanut Butter drizzly drizz, and some blueberries for good measure.

Let’s focus on what’s really important here:

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Who’s with me?

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Smashburger VIP

This weekend I got the VIP treatment at Charlotte’s soon-to-be opened SMASHBURGER.

I’d never been to a Smashburger before—and had to do a little googling to learn the story behind the name.

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My research tells me the name Smashburger comes from the process used to cook burgers, which entails smashing a ball of 100% Certified Angus ground beef on a grill to sear in the juices (thank you Wikipedia!).

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Nix

The first time I saw Nix, I got the vibe that it was some crazy heavy metal bar.  A biker bar perhaps.  Well, at least a place where short skirts and sleazy guys might hang out.

I mean, they DO have FLAMES in their logo:

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So fresh and so (not) clean

I’ve been in Charlotte for nearly 2 months now, yet my place is still in disarray.  So, my primary goal for the weekend was to be OOBER productive.  Looking back I’d say I did a fairly good job of meeting that goal—good enough that I may even be able to post some pics of the apt in the next week or so Smile

Amidst all my oober productivity, I squeezed in a Body Pump class Saturday morning and a “run” (Ah! more on that to come) Sunday morning.

After the Body Pump class, the instructor called me a “real regular”.  I know it seems silly, but her little comment and acknowledgement that I’ve been body pumping on a regular basis gave me this sense of pride and accomplishment.  I guess it’s because I’ve NEVER been able to stick with any sort of strength training program.  I’ve tried.  I’ve failed. Annnd repeat.  I mean, you all remember my strength training powerpoint, right?  Fail.

The hard part for me was finding something I could stick with, and something that I KNEW wasn’t a waste of time.  I’m happy to report I’m four months in to Body Pump and going strong!  So strong in fact, that today without thinking I flexed my biceps in the bathroom mirror at work.  Who does that?!  Luckily no one walked in on my “which way to the gym” routine Smile

Anyway, after body pump Saturday I headed home for a quick shower and scooted out to run some errands.  I was about 5 centimeters down my street when I realized that I had not only forgotten to shave my armpits, BUT I’d also forgotten to put on deodorant.  I slowed the car down to a crawl contemplating on whether or not I should turn around.  On one hand I had my goals of oober productivity. On the other hand I had my newly formed goal of not ruining my chances of making new friends in Charlotte because I smell like B.O..  Now if it had been my cell phone I’d forgotten, you’re darn tootin I would have turned that car around.  But hairy au naturale armpits?  Not so much.  I guess we all have our limits Be right back

I hit up Lowes, Target, and Trader Joes before rolling my famished self (neglected armpits included) into my first ever visit to Zoe’s!

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Simple.Tasty.Fresh!
My strength training obsessed BF tells me I need to make sure I get bookoo protein in after body pump, so as I perused the menu for something meaty I giggled when I saw they had a dish called The Protein Power Plate.  Really?

REALLY??

As unappetizing as the name sounded, the description really hit a special place in my heart.  Flat-grilled chicken, caramelized onions, and slaw.  Say it with me.  CARAMELIZED ONIONSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the dish was sprinkled with a bit of feta.   You know what they say. Feta makes everything betta.

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This was one DELICIOUS dish.  One that I’d eat again regardless of my body’s protein replenishment needs.  Zoe’s has a ton of other things on the menu that look worthy of a taste – several sandwiches, kabobs, salads… not to mention the hand-made chocolate cake and homemade cookies.  Can’t wait to go back!

Zoë's Kitchen on Urbanspoon

After lunch, I headed back to the apt where I unloaded my booty…  as in all the goodies I scored shopping… not as in #2… ummmm moving on….

One thing I scored was this lamp shade from Lowes:

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I love the color and pattern.  Yes, I plan to take the plastic off.  Please note the pile of crap on my nightstand.  Now envision a 1,000 square foot apartment filled with similar piles of varying heights.  That’s what I’m working with, folks.

Slowwwwllyyyy but surely Smile

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Bask on Seaboard

Last weekend, the BF and I decided to dig into my Living Social / Groupon stash and head to Bask  on Seaboard at the NC Music Factory in Charlotte.

Bask’s website touts the restaurant as chic and comfortable – and I’d agree.  I also add “swanky” to the description.  Partly because it’s perfectly fitting, and party because I love that word Smile

Prior to leaving, I tweeted Bask to let them know I was on my way and soon after got a response:

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This is a perfect example of why Twitter is awesome.  I know I was late to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, but over the last year I’ve really grown to love it!

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After perusing Bask’s menu, we decided to go with the Black Bean and Roasted Garlic Hummus for the appetizer:

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The hummus was DELICIOUS.

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The pita chips were still hot and were especially yummy dipped in the cool hummus (even though I wasn’t expecting them to be fried).

Of course the BF got a Caesar salad.

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If he were to have  “signature” dish, I think it’d have to be the Caesar.  He gets them everywhere we go.  EVERYWHERE.

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Mwah haha… Unsuspecting photo shoot subject Shifty

I went with the Spinach Salad with grilled Shrimp for my dinner:

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LOVE me some grilled shrimp.  The lemon vinaigrette dressing was very good – and I also asked for some of the spicy thai sauce (that comes on their shrimp appetizer) on the side.  It was pretty spectacular.

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Two thumbs up on the salad, but what REALLY put a smile on my face was the delicious mac and cheese:

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Mmmm I’m a sucker for a cheesy noodle.

I stole a (rather large) bite of the BF’s chipotle chicken sandwich too:

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He said it was the best chicken sandwich he’s ever had.  I’m not gonna lie.  It was STELLAR.  Pico di gallo, ancho chili, and AVOCADO. Yesssssssssss.  This sandwich alone will ensure our return to Bask.

There was a music event going on at the NC Music Factory the night we visited Bask, and since we chose to sit outside we had prime seats for enjoying the live music and people watching.

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Last but not least, we decided to grab a dessert.

I REALLY wanted to try the chocolate brioche bread pudding (chocolate and bread both hold VERY special places in my heart), BUT we compromised and got the apple turnovers:

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This was tasty (especially the rum ice cream) – but next time, the bread pudding will be making a visit to my belly.

Bask on Urbanspoon

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