Thursday, July 23, 2009

Multi-tasking at its best!

This might be the most productive weeknight I've had in months!

I got home at a fairly decent hour and decided to get a
quick 3 mile run in on the treadmill since it was POURING by the time I got home. Not going to lie, I kinda love when I'm the only girl at the gym and I end up out running all the frat-tastic guys :) Broke in the Inspires, paid close attention to my form and knocked those miles out in 27 minutes! Woooo :)

I finished just in time to switch my laundry over to the dryer, popped in a new load and got started on my
Sushi Bowl dinner. It's essentially chirashi but with no raw fish because I don't trust myself with raw fish.
I followed this recipe for the sushi rice and then topped it with some
toasted nori, cucumber, shrimp, tamago, avocado and a spicy crab mixture.
When it comes to sushi,
I'm very anti-brown rice. I've tried brown rice sushi and I don't think the flavor is bad, but the texture is just a little off. The balance of white rice, sweetened vinegar, fish and seaweed is perfect as it is and I think it's just a bit wrong to alter it. But that's just me.

This totally hit the spot after my run...the combination of salty/sweet, spicy, briny, and creamy made my mouth soooo happy :) I finished my meal off with
two juicy pieces of watermelon. Mmmmm!

So now that I'm all settled and caught up with things (sort of), I can FINALLY write about yesterday.
I sarted the day off with my new breakfast of choice - Fage Total 0% Yogurt
with honey, granola and slivered almonds. I also brought a banana (too ripe for me!) and a Chocolate Chip Zbar to tide me over since I was meeting Sophia and Rebeca for a late late lunch.

I cabbed over to Busboys & Poets a little before 2 when it occurred to me I had no idea who I would be looking for. I just remembered reading on Sophia's blog that she was a skinny Asian girl, but that really wasn't much to work with ;p

This was my very first blogger meet up so I was kinda nervous. I stood in the vestibule for a bit, texting Sophia that I was there and noticed there was another girl just standing in the vestibule as well. I felt REALLY WEIRD asking her if she was there for the blogger meet up (because what if she wasn't? I didn't want her to give me the shifty eye!) so I kept to myself. Thankfully she got on the phone and (nosy me ;p) overheard that she didn't know who she was looking for either! So I turned to her and asked her if she was there for the meet up and SUCCESS!

Rebeca and I chatted for a few minutes as we waited for Sophia and it turned out that we had each been to Busboys before. I went post bevvies one night and Rebeca had stopped by for a poetry slam awhile back...so it was like we were checking it out for the first time.

When Sophia arrived we headed straight to our table and started chatting about everything and anything, including how overwhelming the menu was. I had done some reading earlier and a lot of people raved about the Avocado and Roasted Red Pepper panini. So what did I get? Yep.
It was ok...a little bland - I think my tastebuds were thinking roasted red pepper HUMMUS. oops. You know what DID taste delicious?
My heaping pile of sweet potato fries! Oh my goodness, I could have eaten a whole plate of these!

We had tons of time to chat about blogs and life in general. Sophia is just as sweet and genuine as she is on her blog :) She's quite the roaming gnome lately with trips to California and NYC so be sure to check out her food adventures (pretty sure she's in NYC next weekend NY area bloggers)! I'm hoping I can meet up with her again before she leaves us east coasters for sunny California in the fall! Rebeca (whose blog I had not read before, tsktsk!) has a background in elementary education and came to DC to take on the DC public school system. She mentioned some of the tough situations she's seen her kids in and I admire her patience and persistence. We totally need more teachers like her!

My sandwich managed to keep me full well through job number 2 so I just had a small bowl of Lentil Salad for dinner.
Lentil Salad
1 c dry lentils
3 cups water
1 small tomato, chopped
1 handful arugula, chopped
1/3 c reduced fat feta, crumbled
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice

Boil 3 cups of water and add lentils. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain and toss with remaining ingredients while still warm.

Jamie made this before he left for the weekend, so all I had to do was scoop and eat :) Snacked on some watermelon, watched a sappy movie and crashed fairly early. Exciting evening, right?

I'm off to finish up the laundry, foam roll and sleep. Long day ahead of me tomorrow that I hope will end with a delicious broccolicious creation for this week's BSI :)

I will leave you with the answer to Monday's question: we're spending Labor Day weekend in Budapest! Has anyone been? Any suggestions for things to check out? I'm already excited about all the architecture and river views I can photograph :)

Almost forgot! Check out foodwanderlust's post about some great pre-DC restaurant week deals...I know I've got my sights set on The Source's lunch deal ;)

6 comments:

Paige@ Running Around Normal said...

Great job on the sushi! That's awesome you had your first blogger meet up. Sounds like ya had fun :-)

Mia {runs and rests} said...

Sushi looks so good!
I'm totally jealous I can't do blogger meet ups. Glad to know you ladies had a great time. Busy day but you've accomplished lots of stuff. Love days like that. :D

Anonymous said...

I had a blogger meet up today too!!I met up with Lauren from Healthy Delicious!! Amazing!! I want to meet you though!! Let me know the next time you'll be in NYC!

MarathonVal said...

What fun! I may have my first blogger meet up too and yeah it is a bit "blind date-ish" to be meeting up with strangers!

Your sushi bowl looks great..... and I am soooo excited to hear about Budapest!!! Lucky girl!

Rebeca said...

awww thanks! you're too sweet!

I had fun meeting you too!

Your sushi looks incredible...I have tons of lentils and have been looking for something new to do with them... now I have an idea... thanks :)

Julia said...

Budapest? DAAANG that is exciting! Wow, talk about food adventures!

Glad you had a fun, and non-awkward blogger meet up.

Being Japanese, I know that the rice in sushi is so important. It cannot be brown rice! sushi apprentices work for YEARS just to get the rice right. Haha, foodie tid bit for ya!