I Love Food and Weekends

This weekend was a little uneventful....but sometimes those are the best kind of weekends.

Pat and I tested out our new lens by taking pictures around the house. (A post about our new lens to come later in the week).

I started my Saturday morning out with a simple but tasty breakfast....toast. I like my toast with cream cheese and jam. And as you can see, I occasionally have cheese whiz. I know that's bad, but it tastes so good on toast.

 

This breakfast of champions was followed by a mani-pedi. My nails look great, but the whole experience could have been longer. When I get a pedicure my favorite part is the foot massage and this pedicure was lacking in that department. But, I guess I can't really complain because I bought a groupon for the mani-pedi for only $18.

 

Pat and I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon watching HBO's (ridiculously long named series) - 24/7: Penguins/Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic. It's a four part series that followed the Washington Caps and Pittsburgh Penguins, giving an inside perspective leading up to the Winter Classic game.

We really enjoyed the series, which was evident because we watched all four episodes in one day. It was well shot and edited, interesting, hilarious at times, and very entertaining. They mic'd the players and the refs during games so it was particularly interesting to hear their comments. If you haven't watched it already and you like hockey (even if you don't follow hockey), I completely recommend it! (as long as you don't mind the massive amount of F-bombs and the occasional bit of blood).

Sunday morning I made our traditional (as of lately) Sunday breakfast of pancakes. I think we need to cut back on this tradition to keep our waste sizes from growing. But they were delicious!

After breakfast, Pat and I ran a few errands. First stop was Barnes and Noble, so Pat could pick up Settlers of Catan....a very addicting board game. I headed straight for the cooking and discounts sections. I stumbled upon The Pioneer Woman Cooks, which was on sale, so I bought it.

Recently, I've been following the Pioneer Woman's blog. She's someone every woman can aspire to. The Pioneer Woman, if you haven't already heard of her, is a city girl turned rancher's wife. She homeschools her four kids, makes home cooked meals, dabbles in photography, has made a business out of her wonderful blog, and is now an author of two books. Her cookbook has some of her best recipes and gives some insight into her life on the ranch.

While Pat was busy washing our car, I stayed in the car and read her book. (Washing the car is really a one person job, I would just get in the way, right?). The Pioneer Woman has some really great ideas, so good in fact that my mouth was watering the entire time. I made an ingredient list on my phone and our next stop was the grocery store.

Last night I made the following recipes from the book:

Pico de Gallo

added avocado to make Guacamole

PW's Potato Skins

Perfect Pot Roast

I loved how the Pioneer Woman's book had step by step pictures for each recipe. BTW, she took all the pictures in the book herself.

All the recipes I tried were delicious. The guacamole was fanatic! Pat devoured it! The potato skins were perfectly crisp. Although the potato skin in the picture looks somewhat like a baked potato, it wasn't. I scoped out the middle to make mashed potatoes.

Finally the pot roast was tender, flavorful, and fragrant. I love using rosemary with meat, the aroma and flavor it ads are amazing. Aside from the recipes, I used the broth from the roast to make gravy; it's not difficult to make, like so many people make it out to be, and it tastes so much better than making it from a package.

The Pioneer Woman definitely doesn't hold back on the use of oil and butter in her recipes (although not as much as Paula Dean); when cooking for a ranching family the focus isn't really on fat-free. So this book might not be for everyone. However, I enjoyed it and will keep in my repertoire as a go to for good old fashioned comfort food with a twist.

Trip to Maine

Last weekend was a busy one! We went on the MIT ski trip! 500+ people all went up to Sunday River in Maine for the weekend. We took over the resort. We left Friday night and returned Monday night. Although there were buses driving up, we opted to drive ourselves because I had a work party Friday night.

My work party was a blast. It was mardi gras themed and they really went all out. They provided masks, feather boas, hats, and beads. The appies, meal, and drinks were delicious. We left early so we could drive to Maine that night, but it's too bad we didn't stick around because we missed out on the dancing and karaoke haha. I didn't take any pictures that night! I KNOW!?! We were too busy chatting. So here is a picture of the mask, beads, and boa to make up for it.

The drive to Sunday River went pretty quickly considering it was late; it took about 3 1/2 hours. On the way, we stumbled upon a TIM HORTONS!! I've never been so excited in my life! (well that's probably a slight exaggeration). mmm.....earl grey tea and a sour cream glazed donut. We bought a box of donuts to bring to our group at Sunday river - the OMG PoNiEs - Americans group and Canadians group (we had to pick a group name for room purposes and this name has a long story behind it). We wanted to introduce the Americans in our group to these delicious treats....but we (the Canadians group) ate them all. I guess they were just too good to share.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to start boarding. The area received a bunch of snow before we arrived so the conditions were pretty good and it wasn't very icy at all. Sunday River is a very wide resort. We stayed on the mountain and our condo was on the far left side of the resort. To get to the runs on the opposite site of the resort took a while. We had to work our way over in a zig zag fashion....up a lift down some runs, up another lift, down some more runs, etc. There was also a lot of traversing on flat runs, which is not fun on a snowboard; but besides that, the resort was great!

Here are some pics from our first day:

 

Sunday we took skiing lessons. They were free with the trip! The lessons were a good choice. We learned a lot and our teacher was amazing! She wasn't afraid to tell it like it is, which is so important when learning something new. I like feedback!

I was also fortunate enough to get a pair of skis from Pat's mom! She wasn't using them anymore and sent them to me as a surprise. The skis were the right length and the boots fit perfectly. They arrived just in time for the trip! Pat didn't have skis so he rented for the day.

Photos from our wonderful friend Yildiz who braved Sunday's weather to take pictures:

Our day of skiing was a lot of fun and there were no major wipe outs. After skiing we went to the Foggy Goggle to eat and have a few drinks. They had a draw for a bunch of stuff and Pat won a pairs of skis! Now we both have skis :) Hooray!

The final day on the mountain was a coldest one yet. It was -32F (-36C) with the wind chill at the top of the mountain. It was COLD. Fortunately, Pat and I had purchased masked the day before, we looked like "Jason" but it was worth it!

This was the only picture we took on Monday...and it was in the gondola:

I also want to talk about Sunday River's Chondola...yep that's right chair lift/gondola. For every four chairs there is a gondola, it is actually a pretty neat system. Apparently these lifts popping up all over European resorts. It worked out quite well for us. The first two days we took the 6 person chair because we didn't want to wait in the gondola line and on the last day we took the gondola because it was so frigid!

Chondola

I will finish this post with a random fact for you: I was perusing perez and learned that the father from both Seinfeld and King of Queens is Ben Stiller's dad (his mom is also a comedian)....who knew! haha

Day Off

Today is a holiday in the US; Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday observance to be precise.

I started the day off by going to HOT power yoga; an hour and a half of hot, sweaty, bliss. Today was particularly difficult because I haven't been to yoga in a couple months. I love hot yoga, and loved going to Bikram and Moksha when I lived in Edmonton. But I never tried hot POWER yoga until I moved to Boston. I went to my first class of power yoga back in September and immediately loved it. But when they say POWER they mean it. It is one heck of a work out. It's almost impossible to keep up during your first class. I don't think I've ever done so many sun salutations in sequence in my life!

So in summary my class today was good, but it kicked my butt!

Since I moved to Boston, I've tried out a few different yoga studios. The first studio I tried was in Boston, let's call it "Yoga 1" (I won't name names). It was quite large; they have several yoga rooms within the studio and offer a variety of classes. They have large change rooms and the price is competitive. I enjoyed my first class at this studio; however, I found it wasn't hot enough for me. I like it tropical! I bought a pass for five classes on groupon, so I will be going back for more. They also offer a yoga to music class and an arm balances and inversions class that I would like to try.

I've also gone to several classes at another yoga studio in Cambridge, "Yoga 2". They offer hot power yoga. They also have a variety of classes and the temperature is tropical! (Just the way I like it). The studio is a decent size with two yoga rooms, but not as large as Yoga 1. However, there were two things that I did not care for:

1. They did not have change rooms, only a couple washrooms with showers. When I finish my practice, I'm sweaty and I want to change, but I don't want to wait for a washroom to free up. It's nice to just have a big change room.

2. Talking in the yoga room before class is acceptable. What??? Every hot yoga class I've ever attended has been very particular about NOT talking once you're in the room...and I like this rule. Before my practice I like to lie on my mat, meditate, and stretch. I want to be in the moment, acclimatize to the heat, relax, and mentally prepare myself for the class. When people around me are gossiping and talking loudly it really takes away from the experience. I found this to be really distracting!!

"Yoga 3" is the studio I went to today and is the same company as Yoga 2. However, it is in a city that is closer to where we live. It's also on my way home from work, which makes it very attractive. It's in a quiet area where there is plenty of parking unlike, Yoga 1 and 2. The studio is roughly the same size as Yoga 2, maybe slightly smaller. However, it has sky lights, which lets in a lot of light. The temperature is great, the teacher was fantastic, and the only talking was faint whispering (but maybe I was just lucky this time around). The only downfall....it doesn't have change rooms, only a couple washrooms.

If I could combine all three of these yoga studios I would be SET! But since that is not possible, I think I will use Yoga 3 as my main source to stretch and sweat it out. It's the most convenient, since it is on my way home from work. I will most likely go to Yoga 1 on weekends, when I have more time to take the train into Boston. I'm also going to check out some of the local Bikram studios, but from what I've been reading I think they all still have that horrible thin smelly carpet that I despise. So I guess I'm still out the lookout for that "perfect" studio.

So after my yoga bliss this morning, I came home and made myself a yummy smoothie with milk, OJ, a little bit of protein powder, frozen peaches, mangoes, strawberries, and raspberries. It was awesome! I drank it while reading the latest issue of Popular Photography magazine.

For dinner we made whole wheat linguine in a spicy tomato basil sauce with shrimp, squid, and mussels and salad on the side....and a glass of wine :)

I'd say it was a pretty good day :)

Winter Wonderland

Here are some pictures that we took around our snow covered city. The pictures are mostly around MIT and our place. Pat took the majority of them, I took the last four. Enjoy :)

Click on the picture to see a larger version!

My favorite :)

Pat's favorite

Stata Center @ MIT

@ss Ave haha

Memorial Drive

Charles River

Partially frozen Charles River

View of Boston from MIT

Snow couple @ The Great Dome

Killian Court @ MIT

Our place

Pat's walk to the train

Icicles outside our place

More Snow!

We got another dump of snow today! Growing up, I never once experienced a snow day. No matter how much snow we would get, school and work were never cancelled. Canadians will pretty much trudge through anything to get to where they need to be!

But in the last couple of weeks I've had TWO snow days! Crazy!! When we get his much snow, the city basically tells people to stay home so they can plow the streets. There is so much traffic here that it would be a disaster otherwise.

So I listened to the recommendations and worked from home. I love working from home. I get to sleep just a little bit longer and I can wear sweatpants, which is always a bonus! AND there was no way I was digging myself out this morning. This storm seemed worse than the blizzard we had two weeks ago. Last time it was incredibly windy so our car wasn't as snowed in as it was today. The snow also seemed to be much more wet and heavy this time around. Luckily I have my man servant husband to dig it out for me.

Our Car

The plows are working like mad in our parking lot as I type this. They have been out there since before 6am this morning and it is now almost midnight! They did take a break in the afternoon, but still!

Oh and here is proof that I was working for any skeptics our there....please mind my haggard appearance!!

Pat and I were thinking about taking a day trip to do some snowboarding this weekend, so all this snow will make for great conditions! Speaking of boarding, today we booked a trip to Lake Tahoe for next month! Three days of boarding - I am super excited!!!

Goodnight :)

New Year's in New Hampshire

My apologies for the late post....

For New Year's weekend we went to the Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. We booked this trip very last minute (earlier that week); therefore, there was no availability to stay Friday night for New Year's Eve. But that was fine. We decided to drive up Saturday morning and then leave Monday night.

Because we were leaving earlier on New Year's Day, our plans for New Year's Eve were pretty low key. We went to watch the fireworks in Boston, which were phenomenal. To avoid the crowds, we decided to watch from East Boston, which is across the harbor from downtown. It turned out to be a great place to watch and there were only a handful of people around, so we could easily set up our tripod and take some pics.

 Anyway, back to our trip...

I always love the drive to New Hampshire. The view is so beautiful and there is actually some distance between cities, which is a nice change. We arrived at the hotel on Saturday afternoon. The hotel was built in 1900 and is one of the last Grand Hotels in NH. This hotel is so beautiful and the customer service was fantastic. The staff really went above and beyond. We felt pampered all weekend: from the valet parking and bellboy service, to the fresh juice and tea brought to our room each morning. Our room was very nice and larger than I was expecting. We also had a fantastic view of Mount Washington.

Hotel from the back

After we settled in, we wanted to explore the hotel. The lobby sort of resembles that from the Shinning....but don't get your hopes up, it's not where the movie was filmed. The hotel is apparently haunted though, and it was featured on Ghost Haunters, which is pretty cool. However, we didn't experience any hauntings.

Next we went for a late lunch of pub style food at Stickneys in the hotel. The hotel was extremely busy, and the restaurant was packed, so we ended up eating at the bar. It was actually great. The bartender gave us impeccable service (he kept topping up my wine).  Our meal was delicious too! We ordered some clam chowder, mozza sticks, and some seafood sliders. mmm delish! Lunch was followed by more exploring...

Hotel from the front

Later that evening we watched the Winter Classic from The Cave, which is the hotel bar. It is a cellar type looking place. It was also somewhat colder in The Cave, which was nice because the rest of the hotel was quite tropical.

Watching the game at The Cave

Sunday morning, we had room service for breakfast and then took the hotel shuttle to the ski resort. I must say this whole resort is pretty incredible. There are several hotels, as well as snow shoeing, skating, sleigh rides, cross country skiing, dog sledding, and of course skiing.

Anyway, the skiing area was very close to the hotel, so it was a quick hop on the shuttle and we were there. It actually rained a bit in the morning, which didn't turn into snow on the mountain. The rain made for very sticky snow, and if you've ever been on a snowboard, you know sticky isn't fun. The area had been dumped on a week earlier, so although there wasn't powder, the snow was still fairly soft and the coverage was pretty good.

After our day of boarding we headed back to the hotel. The previous night, we attempted to watch the Winter Classic on the tv in our room, but it was very fuzzy. We called up maintenance and they couldn't fix it. So what does that mean you ask????

....It means upgrade to a corner suite!!! So when we returned from boarding, they moved us into this new suite. It was amazing!! Comfy king bed, a fireplace, and lots of room. We loved our room so much that we decided to order up room service and eat dinner in our room, in our plush robes.

Later than night we went down to the lobby, which was much more quiet than the night before. There was a singer and pianist in the conservatory. We sat and listened near the large fireplace, while playing scrabble. We also wondered around the hotel and took some pictures, which I love to do in a place with so much character.

 

Gingerbread town

Monday morning we left for our second day of alpine exercise. Only this time we decide to ski! Pat and I have been talking about learning to ski for a while now. We figured it would be a great time, since the resort was dead....meaning less people to collide with.

After we rented our skis I was a little apprehensive. I put them on at the base and felt completely out of my element. It was to be expected I guess, but not really welcomed. I wanted to be an expert already. We had to maneuver ourselves slightly uphill to get to the "learners" chairlift. We should have really just taken of our skis and walked, but it didn't seem that hard.

Let me tell you, it was quite a sight! I felt pretty stupid...decked out in my boarding gear, but could barely ski a few feet. My legs were as far apart as they could get, while trying to dig my edges into the snow, so I could make my way up this tiny hill. I'm sure the chairlift operator has seen it all, but I'm sure he still found it amusing. We finally made it onto (and off of) the mini chairlift, without any accidents.

Our first trip down the "learners hill" was not exactly pretty. I knew what I needed to do, I've seen countless skiers make parallel turns, and I wanted to do the same. I am stubborn and had already made up my mind that snow plowing didn't cut it! So I was SLOWLY making my turns, but every turn my back foot wanted to stay behind and not meet up with my front foot. But after a few more times down, we started to get the hang of it and both felt more comfortable. So we decided to take the next big step and take the regular chairlift up to do some runs.

The first part of our first run down started out a little shaky! We were moving at a snails pace....especially me. But then all of a sudden, about half way down, we both turned into superstar skiers. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was like night and day.  We were both making parallel turns and were moving at a decent speed. It was like someone flipped a switch. I was pretty impressed with our new found skills! The rest of the day was pretty fun, even though it was a little icy. We really enjoyed skiing and will definitely do it again.

And here's proof:

A return to the Mount Washington Resort will definitely be in our future. Maybe next time we'll take a trip during the summer to take advantage of that wrap around veranda!