Date Night In France
Tonight Neil took me on a wonderful date night to France, well the closest you can get to France in Vermont. We started the night out with a drink at 156 Bistro and then Neil surprised me with dinner at Leunig’s Bistro. We have been talking about going to Leunig’s for months okay years but we just have never gone. It’s a little pricey but we had an amazing meal complete with dessert.
To Start- Seeded Baguette
Cocktail for me: Moulin Rouge and a Beer for Him
Artichoke stuffed with Temeph
Espresso
Vegan Carrot Cake: A-MAZ-ING
Overall we had an amazing and delicious meal. The entree was light, fresh and so tasty. The dessert was amazing especially with the espresso. It was the best espresso I have ever had too. Overall amazing meal, amazing ambiance (it was like you were in France) and I had the best date ever- my husband.
Fitness Friday: Incentives Program Update
Way back in March Neil and I started a fitness incentives program to help keep us on track. This was probably one of the best things that we have ever done for ourselves. You can read more here and here about the program.
So lets talk updates and progress- this was one of the most successful programs that we have ever followed through with. Each month we have achieved our goals and in June we surpassed them- win! I used to have a million excuses as to why I didn’t work out and now I go more than a day and it feels like weeks since I worked out.
We have the entire month of July planned for workouts because we have an upcoming 5k and then we half a half-marathon in January. So many exciting things on the workout front for Neil and I. In addition to creating a successful workout routine we are feeling more energized, we have lost some weight and are looking better.
What do you do to keep motivated?
Dinner and A Movie: The Bourne Identity
Last night started what I hope to be a tradition of dinner and a movie with our friend Laura. We have been talking for months (years?) about watching the Bourne Trilogy because Laura is obsessed and neither Neil or I have seen them. We finally made a dinner and a movie date and watched the first one last night. Laura cooked spaghetti and provided the wine, I brought the salad and the Hubz brought the chocolate. We had a wonderful night of chatting, eating and movie watching. Now we have to set the date to watch the 2nd movie!
Laura Cooking Up a Storm
Salad with creamy pesto dressing
My Plate - YUM
Laura's Cat...this is as close to Neil as she would get- the he tried to touch her...not recommended
CSA Week 2: Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta & a Hail Merry!
Neil and I decided (very) last minute that we would partake in the Pete’s Greens CSA again this summer since we love their produce. Last week was the first pick up because we were away we ended up giving away most of it except the potatoes and garlic scapes that we had for our camping breakfast. This week we received:
- Bag of Mesclun Greens
- Beet Greens
- Napa Cabbage
- Sweet Salad Turnips
- Garlic Scapes
- Scallions
- Zucchini
- Easter Egg Radishes
- Sage
- Potatoes
Tonight is the first of many meals using these amazing organic and local ingredients. Enjoy- I know we did!
Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta with Zucchini
Yields 4 servings
Takes about 30 minutes total to make
Ingredients:
- Garlic Scape Pesto
- 1 cup raw walnut pieces
- 1 bunch of garlic scapes (about 1 to 3/4 cup), chopped
- 4 cups basil leaves
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1t salt
- 1T sesame seeds
- 2T nutritional yeast
Place the walnuts and garlic scapes in the bowl of a food processor and process until small crumble. Add in the basil leaves, turn the processor on low and slowly stream in the olive oil through the feed tube. Add in the salt, sesame seeds and nutritional yeast; process to combine.
- Sauteed Zucchini
- 2 medium zucchini, sliced into half moons
- Cooking Spray
- 1/2t salt
- 1/4t black pepper
- 1/2t garlic powder
- 1t nutritional yeast
Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray and toss in the zucchini and saute for 3-4 minutes just until they start to lightly brown. Stir in the salt, pepper, garlic powder and nutritional yeast; cook for 2 more minutes.
- 4 servings of pasta of your choice
In a large bowl toss the pasta, zucchini and 1/4 to 1/3 of the pesto together. Serve warm, room temp or cold!
The pesto makes a lot more than you need for this dish so place any extra in a jar top with a layer of olive oil and seal tightly. Store in the freezer until you need it again. To defrost move from the freezer to the fridge 8 hours before using.
For dessert we shared one of these wonderful vegan, raw, gluten free tarts from Hail Merry.
It was one of the best desserts I have ever tried and I am looking forward to picking up the other 3 flavors over the next month. It was so rich and the perfect balance of creamy chocolate, cookie crust and almond butter center- to die for.
Wanderlusting: Yoga Fun
Bah! I have been so crazy busy lately between a weekend of backpacking, then trying to get all my work in line before heading off to Wanderlust for the weekend; now I’m back and trying to get myself back on track.
I'm in the middle near the poles- if you look really hard you can find me- Photo By: Arthur Shim
Our weekend was absolutely amazing even though it rained 98% of the time. I started Thursday off with a Kundalini yoga class with Kia Miller; it was really amazing! It was the first Kundalini class I have ever taken and it was hard but so much fun. After my Kundalini class I was starving and took a rainy walk down to the vegan cafe that was onsite for a delicious lunch of Indian curry, rice and salad and a piece of cashew cheese cake that I split with Neil. Unfortunately do to my extreme hunger I downed the food so fast I didn’t get a photo and heads up no photo of any other food #fail. In the afternoon I took a workshop with Desiree Rumbaugh on knees, lower back and hips. Desiree has so much energy and she is absolutely hilarious! I loved her class so much and learned a lot about alignment and ways to relieve pains in the lower back, knees and hips. Thursday night Neil and I had veggie burgers and a beer at one of the restaurants on site and ended up in bed early because we were so exhausted from traveling down, camping out Wednesday night and yogaing all day.
Desiree Rumbaugh Class
On Friday I started the morning off with an early yoga class with Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman- I died a little bit when I saw Rodney Yee. This was the one class I was looking forward to most after years of doing Rodney Yee yoga videos at home I was finally sitting in his presence. The class was amazing! Colleen and Rodney took turns leading the class. To my delight (I died a little more) Rodney Yee adjusted me in a pose- MADE MY DAY haha; I’m totally geeking out as I write this so you can just imagine what I was feeling during this class. After my yoga class I went to a SpeakEasy with Majora Carter who is known for her greening efforts in the South Bronx. I took a break after this and headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit and enjoyed hummus wraps with Neil for lunch. After lunch I had my second yoga class of the day and second class with Desiree Rumbaugh this time a workshop for neck and shoulders. Again I loved this class! Desiree easily became my favorite teacher of the weekend. I learned so much in the class but was sad when it was over so fast. Friday night we met up with our friend Catherine and went to dinner at a restaurant onsite and then spent the remainder of the night working on blog posts and articles; the work never ends.
Stealth photo of Rodney Yee
Saturday was the busiest day of all and the best because I got to take two classes with my husband! It was so nice because our first class of the morning was with Desiree Rumbaugh and it was a playful flow class. In the class we did a lot of partner work and it was so nice to be able to practice with Neil. I even did a handstand with support of Neil. After our class we went to the worst SpeakEasy ever with the author of The Athlete’s Plate; honestly the lecture could have been over in 5 minutes because the guy just kept repeating himself over and over and over. For lunch we had mini Lara bars, tastings of Honest Tea and humus wraps that we made in our room. In the afternoon Neil and I took one of John Friend’s classes which was such a great experience; it started off a little slow but we learned a lot and had a great time. After the class I went to a SpeakEasy featuring the founders of Wanderlust and Neil was lucky and took one of Sean Corne’s classes- he loved it- colour me jealous.
Wanderlust Founders
We ended up leaving early on Sunday due to a few things that came up and I missed out on what I imagined was an amazing class with Brian Kest and one with Schuyler Grant. Oh well there is always next year.
Summary/Wanderlust in Numbers:
- Yoga Classes Taken: 6
- Interviews Performed: 2
- Mini Lara Bars Eaten: 8
- Hummus Wraps Eaten: 3
- Beers Drank: 5
- Favorite Teacher: Desiree Rumbaugh
- Best Day to go to Wanderlust: Thursday; classes are 2 hours and less crowded
- Runs Done: 1; I only got a run in on Wednesday night because well I was crazy busy, it rained all weekend and I wasn’t paying to use the gym
- Hours Spent Blogging: 8
- What I would Do Next Year: I would schedule classes closer together and take 3 classes per day, pack more food and get a condo to cook in because vegan options are limited and CRAZY EXPENSIVE, oh and find more time to sleep.
Wanderlust Photos:
