Bizzy Day Yesterday!

Holy cow, was yesterday busy – but in a great way!  First of all, I started with a simple breakfast, 1 scrambled egg, 1 whole wheat toast, cantaloupe and breakfast sausage.  But this was no ordinary breakfast sausage, it was homemade sausage made my my friend Christina’s Dad! It was SO GOOD!  Not only extremely flavorful, but hardly any fat rendered out as I was cooking it!  Christina, tell you Dad it was awesome!

Then I went to meet my Mom and twin sister for lunch!  She works at an architectural firm in Oak Park, and we went to one of the new restaurants by her office.  And I don’t mind eating Bento Boxes two days in a row, and I think my friend Mara would agree!  We went to Sushi House on Lake Street in Oak Park.

I went with the Vegi Box.  I had to ask what Goma Ae was – turns out it was sauteed spinach with a ginger sake dressing.  I was surprised that it was a cold dish though, but it was good!

I knew my roll was going to be mixed vegetable, but I forgot about the mushroom factor.  So I started picking them out – when the server came over and asked what was wrong.  I said, “I don’t like mushrooms so I am picking them out.”  She then told me “its a radish!”  Sure enough it was!  But it was dark like a mushroom!

Then we walked around the mall a bit and stumbled upon an organic bakery.  I picked up a walnut scone for Hannah, which she must have liked because she ate half of it for breakfast this morning – it was huge!

Since they only use organic ingredients, the prices were pretty steep – the scone cost $3.50 and cookies started at $2.50 EACH!

After lunch I went back to my Mom’s house and hung out for a while.  She has this cat named Lucy.  It’s probably six months old?  Anyway, every time I picked her up she tried to put her tongue in my mouth and then would start biting my hand – it was so funny!

My father was an avid photographer and my mom has quite possibly THOUSANDS of pictures in her basement.  My dad had his own dark room in the basement and kept every single negative!  She’s been painstakingly putting the pictures in albums.  She just finished another book, and I had to post this picture.  I love how my Mom and I are wearing rainbow shirts!!  My brother Charlie is on the left, then Jennifer, me and my Mom.  We were at Great America – my guess is around 1984 based on Charlie’s bandana on his head!  And why did glasses back then have to cover half of your face??

And then this picture of my Dad.  He went back to school to go into restaurant management.  It was an unrealized dream that he would open a restaurant someday.  That didn’t prevent him from wearing a Chef’s uniform though!

Then it was time to head home.  I still had to work out before Tony and I had a date night! 😀  Guess who ran another 5k today??   That would be me!  It took me 41 minutes though, and I realized I should have been running at 4.7 mph instead of the 4.5 I was at, but I am still thrilled that I ran 41 minutes without stopping!  And had I not been on a time crunch, I was going to see if I could run for 60 minutes!  Maybe today?

Tony and I had tickets to see this movie at Gold Class Cinemas.  Yep, we are spoiled and pretty sure we can never see a movie anywhere other than this place!

I am kidding!  While I know the 20-somethings who read this blog are enthralled with this movie, pretty sure its a generational thing!  Nope, we saw the George Clooney movie Men Who Stare at Goats.  It’s a hard movie to describe, other than to say its quirky!  I loved it and I think Tony just liked it – but he knows I likes these kind of movies, so that’s reason # 1,010 that I love Tony!

And on Tuesday nights they have $3 dollar drinks and a half price menu – score!  We started out with this:

The brie was the star on this plate – so fricken good!  It’s a good thing I burned 460 calories earlier in the day, because we also got this to share (no picture because it was served during the movie).  Yep – homemade chips with blue cheese fondue!!

Then for my entree, which I get almost every time, is this:

And I may have had a couple glasses of pinot grigio!

My step-son Joe was working last night.  Here is his professional look:

Then Tony being scared!  Luckily we were the only ones seated when I took these pics! 😀

And by the time I got home it was time to watch Biggest Loser!  I am so happy that Amanda is in the top four!  Also, I am curious to see the Where Are They Now show tonight at 7:00 p.m.  Curious to see who has kept it off and who put it back on!

This will probably be the only post today, since I am going to be cooking my ass off in preparation for tomorrow and don’t have any exciting eats today – although, shhh, don’t tell Tony but I am making pizza for dinner tonight! 😀

Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving and remember that it’s not all about the food, but time spent with family and friends.  Stop on back tomorrow night for my Turkey Day recap!

Off to brine my turkey and make some pies!

I am thankful to everyone who stops by my little piece of the blog world – it means a lot! 😀 😀