Sunday, August 9, 2009

Ahhh Sunday!

Hihi! Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends! I had a long overdue relaxing weekend :)

That 3 mile run I considered doing this morning didn't happen. For some reason, I woke up really sore...which had me a little shocked. I don't even get this sore when I go all out for a half marathon...and this was totally a leisurely/slow run. Could the extra time (3 hours) and not the distance (14.45 mi) be the possible culprit?? Bizarre. Definitely had me scratching my head.

I did want to get out and moving to loosen up my legs (I'm also thinking my lack of stretching could have done it too. Oops.) so I convinced Jamie to metro with me to Dupont Circle, walk to the Borders in Farragut North and back up to Dupont Circle to wander around the Farmers Market before metroing home. It wasn't more than a mile of walking, but boy was I sweaty. It was hot and pretty humid out at 10:30 am so I was glad I didn't go on that run.

We hung out at Borders for a bit, having a little too much fun in the travel writing section. I ended up with these two books:
I took note of a couple others I was interested in, but not quite ready to commit to buying just yet. I'm already about 100 pages into Julie & Julia and am loving it so far. Part of me wants to also read My Life in France, which is Julia Child's autobiography and the other book the movie is adapted from. However, I don't see myself zooming through the autobiography in the next week, so I guess I'll read that another time ;)

After pulling ourselves away from Borders, we walked back up to Dupont Circle and braved the crowds at the Farmers Market. This time I definitely had enough cash on hand and we came home with a few goodies.
AMAZING
golden donut peaches. I grabbed a donut peach awhile back from the Giant and let me tell you, these put that one to shame. The description for these golden ones said it had a mango/apricot flavor to it and the woman at the stand let me sample one...I was hooked. It was pleasantly tart and juicy. I only wish they were a smidge bigger ;)

Grape tomatoes in a wide variety of colors! I did a walk by sampling of these and decided I needed a box :)

On our way out of the market, we found a stand with empanadas so we decided to sample two...because everyone needs a snack while walking ;) I got a
Spinach Empanada (which kinda had a kick to it)
Jamie went with the
Smoked Salmon Empanada that tasted like a salmon cake with something smokey/sweet in it.
Once we got back to the apartment it was pool time since running buddy #2 was waiting in our lobby (thank you, metro for your constant delays). Ahh pool time, how I've missed you. This is where most of my reading was done today...along with some napping and floating :)

A few hours later it was time to start cooking the paella and once again Jamie stepped up and took charge. Woo! He was working from the recipe that came with the paella kit his dad got from La Tienda, a company based in Williamsburg, Virginia that we frequently get catalouges from. The kit came with everything needed to make a small pan of paella, minus the chicken and shrimp and any other meat/seafood you want to throw in. Jamie decided on following the exact recipe and used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and shrimp.
Here's Chef Jamie hard at work sauteing some onions, garlic and parsley in the super cute mini paella pan that came with the kit.
The final product...YUUUUM.
Chef Jamie wanted me to show y'all
the WHOLE pan...since I made him hold it in front of the window while I took a bunch of pictures hehe.

For dessert I scooped out some of the fruit salad I made while Jamie was cooking away.
I'd like to say that these fruits were picked up at the market, but no. They are courtesy of the Giant :\ Fruit salad was on our list for the week so I made a HUGE bowl to scoop from for lunches. In the salad:
kiwi, grapes, strawberries, blackberries and pineapple. Since dinner was kinda fancy looking, I decided dessert had to be a little more dressed up than a bowl full of fruit so I topped fruit with a scoop of greek yogurt and drizzled it with honey and ta daaa
Dessert was born. Not quite the same as my breakfast yogurt parfait, but it was pretty yummy!

I'm off to close out my fantastic and relaxing Sunday with some more reading. Maybe you should pick up a copy of Julie & Julia too ;p What's your favorite way to spend a Sunday?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite way to spend a Sunday is definitely not sitting in traffic for four hours, which is what I did! :-( I like pool time though!

Mia {runs and rests} said...

What a wonderful Sunday you had Karena! The spinach empanadas sound so good. Wish I could have joined you for paella party.
My Sundays are best for veg shopping, reading, and baking.

MarathonVal said...

I love reading on my balcony on Sundays, or baking!

I loved Eat Pray Love too - we seem like we may have similar tastes in books, what are some of YOUR favorites? I'm always up for recommendations and I may be making a trip to Borders this week so let me know if you have any favorites!

NY Wolve said...

Wow, that is some good looking food!

Janice said...

I'm reading Julie & Julia as well and I can't put it down. I'll probably get the other book "My life in France" after I finish the book. The paella turned out great, I might look into kits since I've never made a paella from scratch before and I'm afraid I might ruin it. You had a wonderful Sunday.

B.o.B. said...

Paella is one of my all time faves! I am excited for Julia and Julie to come out. It looks very cute! eat, pray, love is a fantastic read.

Anonymous said...

Jealous of your pool time - I haven't been to a pool in ages!

I love the shrimp dish - gorgeous!

I made empanadas for my BSI entry - didn't realize how easy they were to make - loved your entry too! :D

Anonymous said...

OMG - all that foooood? looks Delicious!!! geeze, nice work over there. I'm hungry now. haha.

LOVED "eat pray love" :) good choice!

Julia said...

I SHOULD NOT have read this post while my tummy was already grumbling! Now I am drooling all over the place as well. haha. Donut peaches are the best!! and omg that paella.....seriously. Looks so good!
My life in France sounds like a good one. I think I might have to pick that up along with Julie and Julia!

Selin said...

I want that Spinach empanada! Also, read Julie/Julia AND saw the movie. Thought the movie was better than the book only because Meryl Streep is so fabulous as Julia Child. I cant wait to read her bio now (julia's, not Meryl's)! Tell Jamie to make me some paella and ship it out here.

Jamie said...

selin - find me a job out there and i'll cook it once a month