Another whirlwind day at the office. Although I love days like that – I actually felt like I was contributing to something rather than my usual work days where I sometimes make scratch paper pads out of printouts that nobody picks up! “Brief Day” is never the same day twice. Sometimes when my boss has a brief due, there aren’t many exhibits and she handles everything herself. Yesterday was not one of those days. The brief was 40 pages long, and I had about 200 pages of exhibits and I needed to make five sets of those and have them spiral bound at Office Max.
I hit the ground running so I ended up eating a Chobani and an ounce of horseradish cheese – OMG, I love this cheese! I plan on making twice baked potatoes with some of that cheese next week.
All was going well when at about 10:00, the copier kept jamming up – no!!! I quickly called service and told them I needed some sooner rather than later, and luckily, within an hour the copier was fixed and my boss had no idea it was ever down. I kept whispering into other people’s offices saying “don’t use the copier until I tell you!” Meanwhile, she kept feeding me exhibits that were ready to print (our copier is also our big printer for everyone in the office and I knew I’d catch up once the copy guy left. Whew!
I go to Office Max, they can’t bind it all together because it’s too big. We need two volumes, but now I needed to go back to the office to correct the cover pages and then bring it back. By now, it’s nearly 1:30 and I hadn’t eaten anything, so I picked up Panda Express. Okay, I learned a lesson about this place. Don’t go after the lunch hour rush because the food tasted like it had been sitting there for hours. I got the beef and broccoli which they claim is 120 calories (I agree, only 2 small pieces of beef and mostly broccoli) and the Kung Pao Chicken which was 260 a serving. That was easily 2 cups of brown rice in my container – I only ate 1/2 a cup. I usually like Panda express, but this wasn’t that great. Oh well!
Then on my way home from work I had to go to the post office, pick up my contacts at the eye doctor, go to Jewel to pick up some steak and then to Fed Ex to get the brief to the court for filing today. It was nearly 6:30 by the time I got home. I was pooped!
But, since I didn’t get my salad at lunch like I wanted, I had a taste for steak salad. Specifically steak salad with blue cheese, some blue cheese crumbles and French fried onions. I know I am going to get shit about that one “hey Biz – you abhor onions, so why the hell are you eating them??!!” Um, because French fried onions don’t taste like onions – it’s salty and crunchy to me. Tony felt like have a vinaigrette dressing – only one slight problem, I only had blue cheese and ranch dressing. I did a couple quick google searches and most of them said 1 part vinegar to 4 parts oil, so I went with that.
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:19] Tony loved it! I think the saltiness of the cheese was a nice balance to the vinegar.
I love how the vinegar sinks to the bottom and the lemon juice are just droplets in the oil before it gets shaken up.
I am trying to give kale another try. I loved this mix – it was on sale for $1.99 marked down from $3.99. When I opened the container, even though the sell by date is February 12 – most of it was already turning, so it took a while to pick out the good pieces – I would definitely try this again though.
My Bistro Steak Salad – 2 cups mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles, 4 ounces of grilled steak and French fried onions on top. I ate every last drop!
Stats for the Day:
- 1612 calories, 106 fat, 125 carbs, 77 protein and 20 fiber
- no exercise
- average blood sugar 99
I am SO hoping I don’t have to work at the restaurant tonight – I am “on call” so I can call at 2:00 to see if they need me or not. Next weekend is Valentine’s weekend and the week after that is our “Grand Opening” and after that it’s going to be crazy busy. If I don’t have to work, Tony and I are going to go out for beer and pizza – a date night!
Also next week? I need to go back to going to the gym in the morning – life got in the way this week and I need at least that one workout before work gets in the way.
Alright – time to shower and warm up the car. Yep, it’s – 5, but with the wind chill it feels like –21. Lovely! Make it a great day!
I’m so childish…..I was thinking “brief day” should be a day where you go to work in your briefs. sigh. Fran’s comment is hilarious too! Guess I’m punchy, I’m laughing at anything right now. Have a great weekend Vat!
Ha – that’s funny Roz! 😀
I love Cabot cheese and I really want to try that horseradish! I also like a simple vinaigrette. Salad is one of those things that I never really want, but once I start eating them I’m like, why don’t I make salads more often?!
We say the same thing – we tend not to eat much salad in the winter, but it’s so refreshing – add a little protein and it’s a meal!
In my first three years of WW, we ate Panda Express about three times a month. We would get a double order of mushroom chicken and half chow mein and half fried rice. I really enjoyed those meals. Fast forward to this past Christmas when we went there during the evening rush and the food was fresh and hot, but it just wasn’t good to me anymore. I thought it was way too greasy and I probably won’t go back. I was actually surprised that I didn’t like my meal. Oh well. 🙂
Thank you – the kung pao chicken was really greasy. And after I ate it I thought to myself, I can make it better myself at home!
The chobani okay, but with horseradish cheese? LOL
I know Lori, weird combo, but it worked for me 😀
You lost me at blue cheese!! I love Penzey’s ( and the spice house) salad dressing mixes. Check them out next time you’re there. The peppercorn ranch is fantastic as is the creamy Italian. I hope you get your date night, those are so important!!
I’ll take your blue cheese and you can keep the onions! Hope you are feeling good Randi! And I’d be all over the peppercorn ranch – yum!
That salad looks delicious! I’ve had the same disappointment with Panda Express. I usually like it, but if it has been sitting around for a while . . . in fact, my husband will change his order depending on what looks like it was most recently restocked. Probably not a bad idea, but hard when you are trying to avoid all the deep fried items.
Yep, the only fresh looking stuff was the breaded stuff – and at 650+ calories per serving, I passed!
That steak salad looks fantastic, I love a good vinegarette! Have you tried white balsamic vinegar? I just discovered it, and I LOVE it. So light and crisp, try it if you haven’t!
Cold weather here , ( for us!) and we had to get the ice off the furnace thing outside, brrrr! Have a great day, hope you get the night off!
You know, I bought a bottle of white balsamic one time and I loved it, not sure why I didn’t buy it again though? I’ll have to pick some up. 😀
Yep, that seems to be a recurring event at our house too – knocking the icicles off the furnace thing on the side of the house – can’t wait for summer!
I love those fried onion rings!!
I hope you get the night off – it would be awesome for you and Tony to have a date night!!!
No such luck, but we will go out one night next week for dinner and a movie – it’s all good!
Giving you a pass on the deep-fried onions – they’re awesome and besides, they’re a healthy veggie 🙂 Good job on the salad dressing – I love to make my own too – it’s so easy and fresh! I’ve got a couple of Penzey’s mixes(herbs & spices) that I like, but sometimes just good ole vinegar or lemon juice and EVOO with my favorite herb is all I need. Still cold and wintry 🙁 – calls for lasagna soup this weekend 🙂
There’s a Penzey’s in Oak Park – next time I visit my sister I’ll have to check out their spices.
Hooray for Lasagna Soup! I actually think I may make a chicken enchilada soup this week just to switch things up.
Ooooh! I haven’t heard of horseradish cheese but need to look for it. Considering my favorite is pepper jack, this might be a close contender. 🙂
Hope you get the night off from the restaurant – have a great weekend!
Check for it in the deli section like Helen finds it if you can’t find it in bulk – it may become your new favorite!
I love vinaigrette, will have to try your recipe.
Let me know what you think – have a great Saturday!
I can get horseradish cheese in my deli sliced thin (Boar’s Head brand). So a couple weeks ago on a Friday night, I made us panninis with that and thin sliced roast beef and roasted red peppers. HOLY YUM. So good!
Have you seen that Boar’s Head also makes a spicy buffalo cheese? It’s so good!
Horseradish cheese?? That sounds awesome! How have I never seen that?
That steak salad looks awesome! And I agree about the fried onions – they’re just like chips to me. I love those things!
Enjoy your date night!!
Courtney – find it if you can – even my deli sells it and it’s delicious in grilled cheese!
Man, your work is lucky to have you – you’re always putting out fires left and right!
Happy Friday, Biz – I hope you get your date night!!
I like to think of myself as the glue that holds everything together!
What you ate my boyfriend? 🙂 Romano is his first name 🙂
Ha – that is so funny Fran! BTW, your boyfriend tastes delicious – ha!!!
I LOVE that Cabot Horseradish cheese! We can’t always find it in the grocery store so I always pick some up when I got to Vermont in the summer. Wow – your day was crazy hectic – I don’t know how you keep it all straight. Nice job getting everything done! Even without going to the gym sounds like you kept moving. 🙂 Now that I’m back at work I’m back to sitting all day. 🙁 Yesterday I set my laptop on top of some storage containers so I could stand – was interesting. I’d really like to get a treadmill desk but they are too pricey. Have a great day! 🙂
It’s weird, but when I am extremely busy is when I focus the most!
Yep, I think I make up for the walking around the restaurant for my sitting on my butt during my day job!
Deep fried nothings, that is what I call those onions. I’ll give you a pass. 😉 Have a great day, hope you get the night off and enjoy some time with Tony.
Exactly – just crunchy goodness, but not really onions!