Cranberry Banana Muffins

Anyone who’s even been in a hospital for more than a day can attest to the fact that the hospital is the last place you’ll get any rest.  It always boggled my mind how loud everyone could be in the hallway, nurses coming in to check on your bed mate – doctors streaming in and out and hourly vital signs.

So it’s no wonder that Tony has been catching up on his rest this weekend.  He was so cute and wanted to know what I wanted for breakfast.  I told him his only job is to rest, but I appreciated the offer.  This was brunch on Saturday – two pieces of bacon, pan roasted potatoes from half a leftover baked potato and scrambled egg whites.

I try to keep busy while Tony is resting because I am the queen of “can I get you anything, you want water, you want some fruit, you want some ginger ale?!”  So I decided to make muffins.  I had a couple bananas that needed to be used up and I had frozen cranberries in the freezer.  These are so good – a lot of sweet/tart flavors going on – and I discovered a tip on how to get a rounded top on muffins!

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I ended up making two batches – one for home and one for the restaurant.  They were all gone within 15 minutes of me getting to work!

Work was good.  My first table was a young couple.  The woman needed to use the bathroom right away, so when I came to the table the gentleman was like “everything looks so great – tell me about this seafood tower!”  Well, the small seafood tower has 1/2 a pound of king crab legs, clams, oysters, smoked salmon, jumbo shrimp and lobster meat – the small is $65 and the large is $95.  It’s quite a presentation too.  I told the gentleman that I’ve seen couples order the small as their entrée – and then he said but I want to try the gnocchi too – so I suggested they get the gnocchi as an appetizer and then the seafood tower for dessert.  He then ordered two drinks for him and his wife, and said he’d talk to her when she got back from the bathroom.  Well, she shot him down on the seafood tower, saying she wasn’t that hungry.  So she ordered a $10 appetizer as her entrée and he ordered a $15 bowl of pasta with meatballs.  Oh well, maybe next time!

But my last table was great – a 9 top that was super fun, got my sense of humor right away and it was a pleasure to wait on them.  Their tab ended up being $444 and they tipped me $100 – nice!  I was starving by the time I got home though, and picked up pizza bread on the way home – funny that you can be around food all night and be hungry leaving!

I ended up making an egg white spinach pita for breakfast.  Just 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 cup chopped spinach and cooked that in a skillet until set.  Then I put that on top of one of my homemade pitas and topped it with a bit of feta and American cheese and popped it under the broiler to melt the cheese.  This was good, but next time I think I’ll finish it off in the skillet – put the pita on bottom, put the cooked egg on top, top it with the cheese and put a lid on it, so that the pita gets crispy.  Still tasty though!

My meal plan is all about me this week!  Tony still doesn’t have much of an appetite, and wants just simple food – rice, cooked pasta, mashed potatoes, apple sauce yogurt, etc.  Me?  I’ve got bay scallop risotto, pumpkin ravioli with vodka sauce, grilled bbq chicken with grilled zucchini, beef tostadas with a poblano pepper creama, Thai noodle soup, breakfast biscuits – Biz Food!

Before I knew it, it was time to get ready for my firm’s anniversary dinner party.  My boss and I planned it and I am always nervous going in because my boss sets the bar really high.  I got there 30 minutes early, spoke to the GM and our server and I felt confident it would be a great event.  We had it at a place called The Saddle Room.  Obviously horse themed, and they even had a separate super luxurious OTB part of the restaurant.

When Tony feels better I think we should go there – the place is huge and they have a very extensive wine/beer selection.

I curled my hair, wore it down, put makeup AND jewelry on – I am pretty sure the people in my office didn’t recognize me – in fact everyone said to me, I had no idea your hair was so long!  And my eyes look blue in that picture, but they are green – weird!

These pictures don’t do the food justice, but I got the Caesar salad to start and then got the flat iron steak with carrots and mashed potatoes – the steak was perfect and I loved the big shreds of Parmesan cheese on the salad.  In the end, my boss was thrilled with how it went, and that’s all that matters.  We also got word that the new girl starts today instead of tomorrow, so my work life won’t be as hectic as of late – whew!

Saturday since I worked the restaurant, I had no problem getting my 10,000 steps.  Yesterday?  Um, not so much – oh well!  Sunday is my rest day.  Well, I just realized I didn’t work out at all last week since Tony was in the hospital – definitely hitting up the gym today at lunch.

Hope you had a great weekend – what was the highlight of your weekend?  For me?  TONY COMING HOME!  Make it a great day!