Weekend Recap

I am so happy I am back to strength training!  I am loving week one so far – and have to tell you, other than my little mishap on the assisted chin up routine, I’ve been able to do all the workouts, and surprisingly I am not as sore as I have been before getting back to strength training – who knew?!

I was a day behind in my strength – its 5 days of strength, 2 days of abs, and some type of cardio each day.  Last week it was mostly walking outside, or on the treadmill.  Saturday morning I was up at 8:00 a.m. – so unusual for me!  I did some computer work, and figured out I could do the arms routine and abs routine just using my 4 pound hand weights.  25 minutes later I was done!  No bra, no makeup = #klassy.

I had a taste for pancakes, and ironically after I made them, I didn’t even eat one!  I’ll be posting the recipe later this week, as I will be having these for breakfast a couple times this week, and I’ll freeze the rest – each pancake is 92 calories and so fluffy!  Tony was making fun of me on the size of these pancakes – he said if he ordered these in a restaurant he’d send them back!  Me?  I think they are the perfect size!

We went to the store, and The Fresh Market for ahi tuna and shrimp.  The shrimp was for shrimp cocktail for our Papa Day dinner and the tuna we’ll have grilled with sesame seeds Monday or Tuesday.  I think it will still be fresh by then?  We ended up eating Jimmy John’s for lunch, and before I knew it, it was time to get ready for work.

We only had 93 reservations on the books, but I had a six table station, with an 8 top coming at 7:15 – nice!  Well, turns out the 8 top was the same reservation as another 10 top – two separate people made the same reservations, so my 8 top was non-existent.  Oh well, I walked with $60 bucks and made it home by 8:30 – nice!  Although Tony was a tad bit disappointed, you know, sending the hookers home early and all.

Our special salad last night looked amazeballs – burrata salad with sweet peppers over mixed greens with a pomegranate dressing.  Yum!  I suggested it to all three of my tables, and two of them ordered it and loved it.  What’s not to love – its got cheese on it!  Oh, and fried prosciutto which acts like a crispy bacon over the top.

We ended up watching 21 Jump Street which had some funny parts in it.  I went to bed at a decent hour but ended up not waking up until 10:30 – holy cow!   I had thoughts of making a breakfast casserole, but that late in the morning, I decided to change it up and make breakfast casserole muffins.  Could not be easier!  The best part is that it’s super inexpensive – I buy Jimmy John’s day old bread for .50 cents a loaf.  It’s actually still pretty fresh for a couple days after for sandwiches, but it’s perfect for breakfast casseroles and bread pudding.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:51]

At first Tony was like “what is this?”  When I explained that it was a breakfast casserole in muffin form, he said “it actually turned out really good – I like it!”  #winning  And I have a breakfast for later in the week.

I asked Tony what he wanted for his Papa Day dinner, and he asked for shrimp cocktail, escargot and Cobb Salad.  Done!  If you haven’t tried making shrimp cocktail at home, it’s so easy.  This method works perfectly with any size shrimp.  The secret is to pull the shrimp out when the water temperature reaches 165 degrees, and then put them in an ice bath right away to stop the cooking process.  Look at how gorgeous these are!

20 shrimp to a pound.  I like to make them the day before serving – just store in a ziploc bag with a paper towel to absorb the moisture.  Serve with your favorite cocktail sauce.

The weather was perfect outside.  We listened to music and just hung out.  Tony enjoyed a cigar and I enjoyed this impulse buy from The Fresh Market.  Carrie, have you heard of this wine before – it’s from Argentina.   It’s actually a sparkling white wine with a blend of sauvignon blanc.

We enjoyed the shrimp cocktail outside.

The peanuts are a defense for the squirrels in case they want to join us – ha!  The Fresh Market sells escargot for .89 for two – not bad since Tony loved them!   This is what they look like before going in the toaster oven at 400 for 5 minutes – the herbed butter just melts and I served them on sliced Jimmy John’s bread so he didn’t miss any of the buttery goodness.  The shells are actually reusable.  I can use them several more times although not as good as the pre-made ones.  The Fresh Market also sells canned escargot, but I think their herbed butter is amazeballs.  I’d keep the butter and skip the escargot, thank you very much.

We finally ended up eating our salad around 8:30!  Super simple and delicious.

I hope you had a great day Tony!  Speaking of Tony, we haven’t talked about Tony’s health in a while.  The reason being is that we are scheduled to go to the Mayo Clinic next month in Rochester, MN.

They plan on doing 4-7 days worth of tests to see what exactly is wrong with him and what the plan of action is.  Our question to any of you out there – have you ever been to Mayo and do you know of a reasonable place to stay?  I think most of the hotels in the area have shuttle buses to the clinic.  Tony went to Mayo in his early 20s, so it’s been a while.  Any help you could provide would be appreciated!

And Happy Father’s Day to my Dad, who would have been 76 years old this fall if he were still alive.  For Christmas my Mom put all of our VHS tapes on DVD and I found this gem from Father’s Day 1992.  I was 24 years old then.   What’s weird is that I am only 8 years away from being my Dad’s age in this video – time flies!   I hope you were able to spend your Papa Day with your Dad – next time give him an extra hug from me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Vzsgprr2o

Make it a great day!