Tag Archives: whole foods

At-Home Workout + My First Thai Experience

I’m back from Tennessee and so far have had a bit of an iffy experience being here in New England post-Alfred. Yes, the winter storm was named Alfred.

I had some cozy snacks by the fire last night with my parents, got in bed, and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night though both freezing and starving! I ended up having more snacks by the fire and curling up there in a ball. My bed was not warm enough! My dad woke me up at 5:30 and had me move to my parents’ bed and that was a bit better. Still no power at my office today so I am at Whole Foods charging and have been working on blog stuff all morning. This day is flying!

Whole Foods coffee and the workout I used this morning!

This morning I created my own lower body weights and cardio interval workout. It lasted about an hour (55 minutes?) and was quite good! The key is to move from exercise-to-exercise with NO stopping. I designed it so that different body parts get rest while others are working, so you never have an excuse to not be moving. Those are my favorite kind of workouts! I thought I’d share it with you guys since you seemed to like the last one I posted. This one can be done anywhere – all you need is a set of dumbbells (I used 10 pounders).

Lower Body/Cardio Intervals Workout (always consult your doctor before trying any new workout – I am not a trainer!)

Phew! Re-writing that made me tired, ha! I re-fueled after immediately with a banana and some Cinnamon-Raisin Swirl PB.

 

Switching gears, I’m excited to finally share my first Thai experience today! Last Wednesday night, I continued my wild and crazy streak of going out to dinner after a day of work and the gym. Unfortunately when I arrived at Thai Angel to meet Jeff and Kim (friends, couple, and my favorite restaurant companions), SaveNowCT deal in hand, my appetite was feeling thrown and I wasn’t that hungry. Sometimes this happens to me after I work out – anyone else? It doesn’t make much sense to me!

I still wanted to sample a couple of different items and get in a full Thai experience. My first choice was the Chicken Satae. Looking back, I wish I had gone with something more adventurous – I eat chicken all the time! But the dipping sauces on the side were enough to make even the blandest of chicken (and this was actually quite delicious meat) taste beyond amazing.

The Thai food I was most excited to experience was the peanut sauce, and it didn’t disappoint. This tasted awesome! I’ve already been craving since then. I think I could honestly dip anything in this sauce. No really, anything, try me!

The second sauce was called a “cucumber sauce” on the menu, but honestly tasted nothing like cucumber. It was delicious, a sweet vinaigrette, but I felt a bit misled! I was excited to try a cucumber sauce since I love cucumbers. The dressing was still good and tasted like a typical sweet chicken marinade, but the peanut sauce overshadowed it a bit with its general awesomeness.

I have always wanted to try the Fresh Rolls since seeing them all over blog entries about Thai food. I’ve seen photo after photo of veggies and shrimp wrapped in rice paper, with peanut sauce on the side, and after seeing each photo I’ve been more and more excited to order them. They did not disappoint, but the sauce did. This promised peanut “sauce” was more like the exact same vinaigrette that came with the chicken, with chopped peanuts floating on top. I quickly abandoned it and dipped the rolls in what I consider to be the real peanut sauce.  I really liked the rice paper – such a cool concept!

Kim ordered the Chicken Mango Curry, an adventurous choice for her, since she usually gets the Chicken Pad Thai. The dish came with veggies, mango, chicken, and jasmine rice in a mango curry sauce.  She really enjoyed it and said the mango paired well with the chicken. I was curious as to how veggies and fruit would go together in the same dish, but when I thought about it, I love mango salsa in my salads, so it totally makes sense!

Jeff chose the Squid Red Curry. He had never tried squid, so it was another exciting choice and he was pleased with it. The squid did not look the way he and Kim pictured it (they were thinking of something like calamari), but he still enjoyed its taste. His dish came with squid, red curry spice (dry chili) cooked in coconut milk with bamboo shoot, carrot, pineapple, bell pepper, basil.

Overall I’d say I really enjoyed my first Thai experience, and am excited to go back and try a more adventurous dish when my appetite is behaving. I’m thinking a curry, with squid! Thanks to Thai Angel for hosting a great daily deal and preparing a very good meal for us!

I am so glad the family is moving to a hotel tonight. Can’t deal with another night without heat, and we are near the casino so it means a yummy dinner there!

Please let me know if you use and/or like the workout!

Have you ever had Thai food? What’s your favorite Thai dish?

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday! Yeah, I’m trying to keep it optimistic. I had a great, productive, relaxing weekend though! I’m still feeling very organized and efficient, so I’m even gonna organize this post by subject – oh goodness! Maybe next weekend’s recap will be organized by day – craziness! Or, the exact opposite!

Fitness

I went to Group Step both Friday evening and Saturday morning. I really love the new release, and I can especially tell since I didn’t mind doing the same routine twice in 24 hours! I ran into Lauren and Casey again at the Friday class, so that was fun. And one of my favorite instructors was there Saturday in addition to his usual Friday class. For Sunday’s workout, I woke up naturally at the ridiculous hour of 7am. Luckily there was a Spin class starting around that time, so I headed straight to the gym to get my sweat out of the way. I hadn’t been to Spin in a few months, so it was HARD. It was nice to switch up my routine though – classes like this always remind me how good it is to not get too comfortable with a few types of workouts. Of course, always do what you WANT to do in terms of exercise, but today’s Spin class fit conveniently into my schedule and reminded me of how tough it can be! Despite the fact that I was disgusting afterward, I was in a great mood.

Food

Friday night, I met my former co-worker and friend Tom for dinner at a restaurant in town I’d had yet to try, the Diamond, to use a SaveNowCT deal. I was pleasantly surprised! It’s one of those bar and grill places, so I didn’t think I’d be able to find any options that would be delicious and not too…fried? And salads from those places are never worth the money! But I got the blackened chicken quesadilla with extra salsa and it was awesome! It came on an herb tortilla, a nice touch, and when I asked them to go light on the cheese they definitely complied. The balance between cheese and chicken was perfect. Their salsa was so fresh and chunky, not the Tostitos-style I was expecting! I also had a glass of Salmon Creek Cabernet before my food came, and it really hit the spot. Such a delicious house wine! Sorry, no photos (left my camera in the car because I was running late after Step), but the lighting would have been awful anyway.

I had lunch Saturday at one of my favorite places, Whole Foods, with a couple of fellow marketers. We had a great conversation and already have plans to meet again around the holiday season to restaurant-hop for the blog – they loved it!

Sole cake with spinach and butternut squash puree.

I do love me some Whole Foods trips on Saturdays – they’re always giving out the best samples! I had the above dish the second after I walked in. It was perfect! The squash gave it such a nice, fall feel. Check out the cute little foldable spoon! I also had half of a chocolate chip cookie buttercream sandwich sample from the bakery. WOW is all I can say. I devoured it before I could get a photo.

I’m barely skimming the surface of what was in here but I do remember that there was: edamame, falafel, roasted veg, many bean salads, cabbage crunch salad, and eggplant!

I had to restrain myself once I got to the salad bar, as usual, and get a little container. That didn’t stop me from piling over a pound of food in there and finishing every last bite.

After lunch I went to my favorite package store. I have to be honest that they are only my favorite because I can always count on them to have free wine tastings on Saturday afternoons – and wouldn’t you know it, I found just what I was looking for, a free wine tasting. I rarely buy alcohol, unless I am at some kind of tasting, so I couldn’t leave without a bottle. I went for the most festive bottle, which, ironically, Katie blogged about last night!

Pinot noir!

Fun right? I like to buy a bottle if I find something I like at a tasting, and save it for whenever an occasion comes up, like the BBQ I attended last weekend. Who knows when I’ll break this bottle out, but I now have it and a bottle of chianti waiting in my house’s “Caitlin Reserve”!

Saturday’s dinner came courtesy of my dad and his best friend, who headed to my favorite Mexican restaurant in the state, Loco Perro, to pick up some delicious takeout for the Tennessee vs. Alabama game. I ate my meal on the floor in front of the fireplace (trying to keep warm – dammit it is getting too cold already for me). Unfortunately Tennessee did not fare well against Alabama, but we weren’t expecting a win. Still, there was the usual amount of anger, yelling, and head-shaking that accompanies any game that Tennessee loses. My dad is a die-hard fan – one of his retirement dreams is to live there and attend sporting events every single day. He doesn’t need much to be happy! I guess that’s where I get it from 🙂

Shredded chicken quesadilla, salsa, black beans.

Sunday’s eats were extremely routine (except for dinner, which I will post about later). Of course I spent the morning studying at Daybreak with Toasted Coconut coffee (I had Mocha Java on Saturday). I got so much done, and I’m so ahead of my work!

I did manage to get a photo of a random snack though…Good Neighbors black bean dip and baby carrots.

Fun

On Saturday I did a little shopping and pampering. A cute boutique in my town, Silver Dahlia, was having a huge one-day customer appreciation sale. Everything was 20% off, and all clearance was 50% off. I got two more charms for the charm key chain on my car keys. The books and the Class of 2011 charm are the new ones, and the other four I collected this summer! Unfortunately I now have no more room for charms. Probably a good thing, they’re a little pricey, at $3.95 per charm. I’m not sure what company makes them, but if anyone wants to know I can find out! I got my sister one for her birthday too.

I got another key chain too. I liked its message! And the other side says “Life is Good”.

After seeing an awesome nail color on Jenny’s blog last week, I found out the name of the color (OPI In the Espresso Lane) and went to my favorite nail parlor to get a polish change. I love polish changes – they are $4 cheaper than manicures and I think they look just as good! At the end, I got a little free massage with a warm piece of a plastic-like material around my shoulders. It felt sooo good, since I was already pretty cold.

Thanks to my dirty workout top for serving as my photo background…

I also saw two movies this weekend, “50/50“ and “Ides of March“. I’d highly recommend both! “50/50” was very well done and not too depressing, despite what some (*cough* my parents) may have thought from the premise. “Ides of March” wasn’t what I was expecting exactly, but I still really liked it. I love me some Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ryan Gosling. In terms of female actresses, I really like Anna Kendrick, Marissa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood, so there was a lot to like about these movies.

Today I caught up with a lot of my shows and started a new one – “Revenge“. I LOVE THIS SHOW so far. I’m already almost three episodes in! I’m a big fan of Emily Van Camp from the “Everwood” days, so it’s good to see her back on TV.

That recap ended up being a lot longer than I thought it’d be! Props to you if you read it all. Even if you didn’t, maybe you can answer a few questions for me…

Have you seen any of the movies I mentioned, or “Revenge”? How about “Everwood” – any hidden fans out there?

Are you aware of the money-saving powers of the polish change?

What was your best workout, meal, and/or purchase of the weekend?

Weekend Wednesday

Confusing title, no? But I am super behind on posting photos, and this post on some weekend eats is occurring on a Wednesday. And I need to upload my work week photos next. Bad blogger – I’m workin’ on it.

As long as you have something to look at, right?

Nonfat amaretti cafe au lait, with a side of homework, at Daybreak Coffee.

On Saturday and Sunday morning I set up camp at Daybreak to get homework done. The owner was kind enough to let me ask for a french-pressed cafe au lait on Sunday using whatever flavor I wanted (that they already had roasted and ready to grind). I went with toasted butternut and it was out of this world. Definitely tops their pecan pie flavor. FYI a cafe au lait is just a coffee with steamed milk. At Daybreak they actually call it a blanc, and at Starbucks they call it a misto, if either of those sound more familiar.

Whole Foods salad beast

I moved my study party to Whole Foods later on Saturday afternoon and had lunch while I waited to pick my brother up from work. I could not even begin to tell you what was in this beast, but it included their broccoli/sundried tomato/kalamata olive medley that I LOVE, avocado kale salad, about five different bean salads, pineapple, edamame, artichokes, red pepper fish, falafel, and…OK that’s all I remember but that’s probably only half. This was almost a two-pounder.

Falafel tacos

After the Renaissance Faire on Saturday night, and after my fiber-rific lunch had finally digested, I was ready for dinner pretty late (about 8:30pm) and was feeling particularly lazy since I had already been parked on the couch for over an hour watching “Secret Circle”. And since my parents were out of town, aka Dad the grill man was gone, our fridge was devoid of all meat except my brother’s ham (no thanks). So I went the vegetarian route for dinner (vs. the pescatarian route for lunch) and decided to mix two food “genres” to create some Greek/Mexican magic.

Falafel, pico de gallo, tzatziki sauce in whole grain taco shells

These were SO good! And so easy to put together too – I used a boxed brand of pre-made falafel (can’t recall the name right now) and these awesome whole grain taco shells we have that are less than 200cal for two! The pico I used was the Yummy Hummy variety I got at the Coventry Farmer’s Market. It’s still SO fresh and delicious over a week later!

And since that was not nearly enough for me, I proceeded to go tzatziki-carrot crazy, because once I start with tzatziki I just cannot stop.

Sunday was another day of packed study snacks in the morning, cheese and other goodies in the afternoon, and before I knew it, it was dinnertime and I was craving some take-out. So off to Moe’s I went to get my favorite item on their menu – a burrito “streaker”. Moe’s > Chipotle – who’s with me?!

Chicken with cucumber, cilantro, corn, olives, pico, salsa, black beans, onions, and green pepper.

After I was 75% done, I switched from fork to chips as my method-of-choice for getting this delicious pile of food into my mouth. It was a good decision. And when the bowl was gone, the chip munching continued with some more of the Yummy Hummy pico.

Those are my weekend eats photos – maybe this weekend I will post my week eats photos. No?! OK, I’ll try to be faster than that.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a weekend fashion post! These delays are getting out of hand. I should stop revealing when my photos were taken…nah.

What was the best thing you ate this past weekend? Only half a week left til the next weekend!

Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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