barbuzzo short list

Posted on February 4, 2012

The past two weeks were restaurant week in philly and since I’ve been meaning to try Barbuzzo for a while now, I booked lunch. Who doesn’t love leaving work at 1:30 to enjoy a mediterranean feast? After hearing a few thoughts from others on restaurant week, I’ve concluded that a 3-course lunch is the way to go. Plus you have way more room for beer during Friday night shenanigans. I loved all three of my selections and highly recommend each of them!

First: Roasted beet salad with young goat cheese (sooo creamy), grapefruit, tuscan kale, pistachio pesto, sherry vinegar.

Dare I say this is the best salad combination I’ve ever had…must. recreate.

Second: Tufoli calabrese – six hour smoky pork ragu, mozzerella di bufala, broccolini, basil, olive oil bread crumbs.

I love trying simple dishes like red sauce/meat/pasta combinations and this one hit the spot. Little known fact about me…I once visited a buffalo mozarella farm in Italy on an agricultural economics tour back in my college glory days.

Dessert: Salted caramel budino with dark chocolate crust, vanilla bean caramel and sea salt.

OMG. That is all

Restaurant week or not, Barbuzzo is a must-try. And the budino is a drool-worthy-must-post-to-instagram.

philabundance spreading the love with PB&J!

Posted on February 2, 2012

Heyyyyya. I know all my readers love peanut butter (and jelly) and probably love it way more than Valentine’s day, right? [raising my hand, jumping up and down] Well, this V-day, Philabundance is holding a Spread the Love with PB&J fundraiser. By donating just $25, you give some lovin’ to those in need…83 meals to be exact. Plus, you’ll be entered to win a $500 US Airways voucher or a 7 night stay in the Caribbean with Elite Island Resorts. Can’t beat that for a good deed done! Click the badge on my homepage or here to give a little love.

Can’t spare $25? Philabundance is also accepting PB&J food donations at their north and south Philadelphia locations, and if you ‘like’ Philabundance on facebook, ShopRite will donate a jar of peanut butter or jelly in your honor. Further info can be found here.

Let’s get peanut-butter-lover-in’.

neon beer

Posted on January 30, 2012

Another weekend gone in a flash. Weekend gods: more, please?

I finally got a new iphone, woo. Somuchfaster(!!!) than my 3GS, which I inherited from my friend. I was holding off as long as possible, thinking it could tide me over til the 4S came out, but the main button said f. you. no. more. I shove my phone in my sports bra while running and my diagnosis is death by boob sweat. Making it a point NOT to do this with the new one. Ever. That’s how I killed my blackberry this summer too, except that deterioration was way more entertaining since it would just send MASS texts to multiple people at once. Embarrassing when you have work people in there. E E lkdasg E jackass! oops, sorry. my phone is on the fritz…

I had awesome eats all weekend. Visited one new to me philly spot (delicious) and one of my favorite hole in the wall mexican joints for a friend’s birthday in delaware. Rounded it out last night with a scoop of coconut at Franklin Fountain. FIY philly ice cream cravers, they are open til 12am even on Sundays, which is totally genius. I won’t guarantee the employees are sober, though.

Other than dining, I ran 8325932 errands, bought neon…

And beer. When in Delaware…

And had a pretty nice run. I am officially one week through my [super early] broad street training. Starting out with low mileage, this week was a grand total of a measly 9.5 miles. After a bit of experimentation over the last few weeks, I realize I need a full 24+ hours of rest between runs (not including weights, yoga, etc.) to let the inevitable swelling go down. I am not the old me when it comes to running but overall, I feel awesome and content with running 2-3x a week.

I actually haven’t had accurate representation of my outdoor running ability, since I am usually running random routes around the city and fighting cars, pedestrians and red lights. I basically run until I see red, then turn and continue that way for my prescribed mileage. I also take Stella with me which means sporadic pee breaks (for her, people) and the occasional (dreaded) poo. Gotta love when they do that to you, right?

On saturday, I stopped at my parents house and ran there. Stella came with me but we only had one, 20-second stop along an easy route through suburbiaaaaa. Negative splits are good splits. I am now 4 months and 3 weeks post-op, for anyone following the knee saga.

Mile 1: 9:13

Mile 2: 8:54

Mile 3: 8:26

Mile 4: 7:58

Have a great week!!

things that make me wanna de-google reader your ass

Posted on January 24, 2012

Happy Tuesday, folks. What is up!? I am in a happy mood…it’s been a good week so far, just because. I haven’t blogged in errrrrr, 2 weeks(?) because I haven’t felt like it. I am too obsessed with instagram to care about the other forms of social media right now. Plus, I feel like I catch up with my favorite bloggers on there anyway. However, as I was stalking all y’all (shout-out to my Nashvillian) on google reader, it put me in the mood to make a sarcastic list. Yes, I will probably offend people. Sorry, I’m not sorry. = (#1.) OMFG stop saying this. And if _________ is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. WE GET IT. YOU LIKE ________ a [space] lot.

Things that make me wanna de-google reader your ass:

2. You just c’a'n’t seem to differentiate between your and you’re. Whenever I come across this mistake, I say “really???” in my head. You’re turning me into a psycho, people, and I can’t be screaming out loud in my cubicle without a trip to HR.

3. You post 832 angles of your oats in a jar. I mean they are so rare and all, but one pic does the job just fine.

4. Same goes for your vegetables. These kids should probably read your blog though.

I loved that series, whatever happened to it?

5. You copy other recipes exactly, then re-post them as “adapted”. I could care less if someone is inspired by or copies a recipe…just be honest about it! At least change the salt measurement from 1/2 tsp to 3/4.

6. You make me click

through.

Oh wait, I already deleted you.

What makes you wanna de-google reader me? I would suggest my sweaty workout pics, but I’ve had far too many hits from “butt sweat” searches to validate that one. Gonna have to go with my knee rehab recaps…sporadic, repetitive…even I got sick of them ha! The current update is that I am now allowed to GO TOTALLY CRAZYYYYYYYYYY at the gym and I am loving it. Oh, and I can hop. Saweeeeeeeet.

What blogs do I need to have on my reader? I believe after a bit of winter cleaning I will need additional entertainment :-)

pasta with tuna, cherry tomatoes and arugula

Posted on January 9, 2012

Want a supafast, supadelish, weeknight meal? Like tuna? Better say yes…this dish is yummy and I suggest you make it immediately. Mini penne pasta from Trader Joe’s is a nice addition to this rustic ‘sauce’.

Pasta with Tuna, Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula (serves 2)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups dry mini penne (or 2 servings any pasta)
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (enough to fully cover bottom of pan)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
1 can solid albacore tuna in olive oil (use oil)
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
Sprinkle of sea salt
2-3 cups fresh arugula

Directions

Boil a pot of salted water for the penne.
Add olive oil, garlic, and chili flakes to a (cold) sauté pan. Heat on medium until oil begins to sizzle, but don’t brown the garlic! This shouldn’t take long at all – 3-4 minutes tops.
Add tuna with oil and tomatoes, give it a sprinkle of sea salt, stir and cook, covered, approximately 5-10 minutes, or while your pasta boils.
When the pasta is done, drain and add to pan with fresh arugula. Stir to wilt the greens and serve! top with parmesan if you wish, but it’s lovely all by its lonesome.

Simplicity at its finest!

jan…tober?

Posted on January 9, 2012

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good snowstorm and all, but for the most part, snow-less, gray, blustery, cold philly winters make me want to do this:

Except in Bahamas sand. She loves it, but I don’t have a double coat of fur like my 4-legged love…which brings me to my point.

I never make ‘real’ new years resolutions, but I actually did make one this year, and that was to exercise Stella in the morning (aka before work during the week and an excursion or two on the weekends). I walk her every afternoon after work, but the poor thing is stuck home alone (listening to 88.5) all day with not much to do. I always slack on her exercise when it gets cold so I figured this was something I should work on.

Since it was absolutely gorgeous yesterday, I took Stella to the state park, jacked up some tunes and walked my favorite 4.5 mile loop while basking in the sunshine. Does life get any better?? Lucky for us Philadelphians, we are having unseasonably warm {freekkkking awesome} temperatures and I am loving the fall-esque days. I know global warming is bad and all, but maybe notsomuch?

I could be imagining it, but I swear I got an ever so slight tan on my face.

saturday (get. ishhh. done.)

Posted on January 7, 2012

I am so boring my god. Seriously I was in bed (gladly) before 12am last night and spent all of today embracing my virgo tendencies. I deep cleaned the SHIT out of my apartment, got rid of 92302125915 pages of organic chem, physics, and bio notes that I am gladly saying sayonara to, canceled my POS internet provider (thanks neighbor who doesn’t block their wireless heh), paid bills on time like a responsible adult, and finished it all off with my first bridge run since surgery.

Lots of running firsts in the past couple of weeks, huh? I did 5 miles on Thursday morning, too…16 weeks post op officially…I was premature with last week’s 4-miler! I know you’re all sick of hearing about it but it just makes me smile and love life. 3 months ago I was sobbing my eyes out feeling like I would never run again. Dramatic much? But really, major sports injuries are a humbling experience and it’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride. Never take advantage of your ability to move your body.

All my instagram/facebook friends already saw this picture but I am obsessed. SHE IS THE BEST. Stella joined me on my 3 miler this evening, and what a gorgeous one it was! She was dragging by the end because now I’m faster than her hehe.

I took it pretty easy but still clocked in at a sub 9 minute mile pace, totally pain-free. My knee was kind of throbbing for a bit earlier but it went away and I feel good…didn’t even ice it. Time to drag myself away from my new Walking Dead obsession and be social since it IS, in fact, Saturday! Have you guys seen this series yet?? Someone recommended it and I am 100% hooked.

ZOMBIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

kristastes

blogging, living and loving life in philadelphia