Saturday: We both slept in and enjoyed a recovery day. This included a quick dash into the city to pick up our latest Craigs List find from Chelsea and hit Pottery Barn for some wonderful accesories that i’d been lusting over such as throw pillows, a comfy throw, and Bo’s beloved bathroom accesories. After doing all that we could handle we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon on the rooftop reading and catching a few rays. In true, Bo and Ashley fashion, around 5 we caught our second win and decided it was time to enter our version of hell- Ikea. While I appreciate the fact that some folks love this place and that it does have some wonderful steals, I can’t handle the crowds or slow walkers. But, we were in and out in no time and found a great 6.5 foot white bookshelf which matches our desk perfectly. And yes, in true Ikea value, it was only $59! That night we relaxed, over indulged on our own inside grill party of homemade wings, chicken sausage, and veggies via our new favorite tool, my cast iron grill pan.
Sunday: Sunday isn’t even worth mentioning as we both had to work after sleeping in so I took to the patio and enjoyed some Vitamin D while pounding out the work while Bo trucked it to Midtown for a few hours at the office. We did however enjoy an AMAZING movie that I highly recommend- Frost Nixon. ABSOLUTELY amazing performances by everyone involved!
Monday: Monday was a perfect day. We woke up early for what we hoped would be a 10 mile run even though we returned home 2 hours later feeling defeated after Mapmyrun told us it was only 8.85. But, I conquered my fear of bridges as Bo convinced me to run the TriBoro bridge the Wards Island Park Pedestrian bridge. Our trail started in Long Island City, progressed to Astoria Park along the East River which was surprisingly interesting, over the Triboro Bridge, through the development and crazy consturctions that appears to be NYC’s newest sports field area, over the footbridge to 101st Spanish Harlem (we think?), uptown until we were both famished and thirsty and caught a cab upon reaching 69th street and THINKING we’d covered 10 miles. Regardless it was a great run together in the sunshine and exploring new areas. That afternoon we treked down to Philadelphia for a fabulous Memorial Day/Welcome home party hosted by one of my best friends, Sarah. It was especially great as her boyfriend just returned from deployment in Japan with the US Navy. It was a wonderful afternoon catching up with our closest Philadelphia friends and enjoying great food. Which, brings me to three fabulous recipes. One is courtesy of Kath, my girlfriend Katherine and Real Simple circa 2006, and the other is from Sarah. I hope you all will enjoy these recipes as much as we did!
Sarah’s Simple Tasty Marinade:
1/2 cup or less of Trader Joe’s Balsamic Vinaigrette
2 Tablespoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning
Sarah says, “I shook the seasoning on, poured in the dressing, just enough to coat, and placed the meat in a plastic container, shook it up, and let it sit overnight-roughly twelve hours. Same thing for the chicken because I only had steak seasoning. I think the dressing really helps.” She created succulent skewers of steak and chicken pieces with this marinade!
Katherine’s version of a Real Simple Classic
Here’s the recipe from Real Simple (circa 2006!) for the salad I brought. I more than doubled it for today, and I think i used less mozzarella than it calls for. Clearly, with something like this, proportions are up to you!
3 ripe peaches (peeled, if desired)
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
8 oz fresh mozzarella, cut into chunks
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (I use Maldon sea salt)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Cut each peach into wedges, then cut each wedge in half or thirds crosswise. In a large bowl, combine the peaches, basil and mozzarella. Drizzle with the oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. You can cover and refrigerate the salad for several hours. Serve cold or at room temperature. This was definitely one of the favorites and absolutely DIVINE! I enjoyed seconds for sure!
Kath’s Greek Quinoa Salad (our new favorite dish)
60 frozen shrimp, thawed
1 cup dry quinoa, prepared as directed
1 bunch asparagus
1/2 a pint cherry tomatoes
1 zucchini, chopped into 1 in pieces
1 cucumber, chopped
1/4 cup chopped mixed olives
2 tbsp capers
1 lemon + its zest
2 tsp olive oil
1 block Fat-Free Presidential Feta Cheese (or your own favorite)
Fresh or dried oregano to taste
Cook shrimp, quinoa, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, zucchini in your method of choice. Toss together with cucumber, olives and capers. Drizzle with lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil dressing.
Makes about 14 cups each of which have 115 calories, 3 grams of fiber, and 11 grams of protein!
YUM!!!
Sorry for the long post but I guess these allergies that i’m suffering, or the Claritin D that i’m on, have me a bit wired and yearning to get out some extra energy! 🙂
