Food, food and more food.

Needless to say, while I was on vacation and newly off my soft food diet I ate a LOT of food.  Some of it was just stuff I missed while I wasn't allowed to eat it - like a bagel! BUT some of it was stuff I just can't find/get here at home.

Let's start with lunch on day one in DC.

Ben's Chili Bowl.  Located a little off the beaten path in DC this place was SO WORTH the extra walking to get here.  After having walked all of Arlington Cemetery we were HUNGRY and this place delivered with gigantic servings and gigantic taste. 

Ben's Chili Cheese Fries

 Marshall and I split this... we couldn't finish it.  Matt took one for the team and finished these off.  Along side the delicious chili cheese fries I had a chili cheese burger and Marsh had 2 chili dogs.  Everything was delicious, fresh off the grill and so bad for me.  Worth it.

The other great thing about the place?  The sign behind the counter that says People who eat for free: Bill Cosby, President Obama and family.  Everyone else pays.  It made me giggle.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

On a slightly healthier note - the three of us hit up a tapas bar called Jaleo's for dinner after we hit the Natural History Museum.

Here's what we ordered:

• Pan tomate - toasted sliced of rustic bread brushed with fresh tomato with fresh cheddar
• Cana de cabra - soft semisweet goat's milk cheese paired with raisin walnut bread and fig jam
• Ensalada rusa - salad of potatoes, imported conserved tuna, and mayo
• Flamenquines - traditional pork meat filled with iberico ham and cheese breaded and deep fried
• Chistorra envuelta en palatable frita - slightly spicy chorizo wrapped in crispy potato
• Patatas bravas - potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and aioli
• Croquetas de pollo - traditional chicken fritters
• Pimientos del piquillo rellenos de queso - seared piquillo peppers filled with goat cheese
• Endibias con queso de cabra y naranjas - endives, goat cheese, oranges and almonds

Endibias con queso de cabra y naranjas, Ensalada rusa, and pimientos del piquillo rellenos de queso

It was all flipping AMAZING.  I mean, damn.  The waitress said to order 3-4 tapas per person in order to ensure everyone was full.  We struggled to get the last two eaten.

My favorites were the cana de cabra, the ensalada rusa, and the flamenquines.  The cana ce cabra was just such an interesting dish.  The cheese was delicious, the fig jam was bold and sweet and the walnut bread was just drool worthy. The ensalada rusa was one I wasn't sure I wanted to try but the combination of the fresh tuna, cold potatoes, peas and the delicious red sauce on top was just mouthwatering.  I would eat just that as a meal it was so good.

As for the flamenquines - holy crapballs.  It was the last dish brought to the table and it was just not fair how tasty it was.  Warm, salty, meaty, the cheese was gooey and the flavors just melded so well.  Honestly, it was worth the 18$ we paid for it.

This was only the second time I've ever done tapas and I'm loving it more and more.  Can't wait to try it again!

On day two of vacation we played our food choices on the traditional side. Starbucks for breakfast, lunch was Potbelly's sandwich shop and dinner was at a Red Robin on the way home.

Potbelly's was a new place for me and I loved everything I ate - a small chicken and cheddar sub on wheat loaded with veggies, a cup of baked potato soup and a bag of PopChips.  I would LOVE to have a Potbelly's here in town! I don't do subs very often but if I had a Jimmy Johns or a Potbelly's I think I would.

Red Robin was a bit of a memory lane moment.  We stopped at the Red Robin near Potomoc Mills.  I spent a good amount of time there with my theater friends during my first 3 years of high school.  I had a delicious burger, we shared onion rings, and I nommed on a hot fudge sundae for dessert.  It was a good stop... and the memories in that place were good too!

As you can tell - I didn't stay on plan very well while on vacation.  I ate all sorts of things I shouldn't have but... it was worth it and I regret nothing.

So now that I'm getting ready to go back to work tomorrow, and I've weighed in, I'm getting back on track by cooking and prepping all of my meals for the work week.  Woohoo!

Vacation!

This past week was my sabbatical week from work.  5 days.  No work.  Ahhhhhh.  Of course, that meant the week before I was working twice as hard to be ready for leaving everything at the office for the week.  I did it though.  I left the office on Friday the 7th and shook it off and went about doing stuff that wasn't work related.

My vacation started off with a day of even harder work.  TurboKick Instructor Training with Mrs. Fatass.  That's right... now not only are we Zumba instructors... we're TurboKick Chicks also!

Now... it was no picnic.  That training was BRUTAL.  Amanda, the instructor, had no mercy and we moved almost constantly for the whole 8 hours.  Ouch! And used arms in a way I am so not used to.  I woke up Sunday and I couldn't lift my arms for all the punching we did.  Totally awesome though.

Sunday was the last Trio Fitness Sunday for the month and we rocked out TurboKick and then I taught Zumba while Sue did Zumbatomic.  Then my 75 minute class at the Y.  Then I wanted to crawl in to a hole and let my arms and legs fall off... and I got to start my real vacation.

Monday was a chill day, prepping for travel and going to pub trivia with the guys.  Awesome times were had.

Then the real fun began.  2 days in the wilds of Washington, DC.

Marshall, Matt and I went to DC and totally did the tourist thing.  First up?  Arlington National Cemetery.

This was not my first trip to Arlington, but I am always shocked at the sheer immensity of it.  The fields of fallen servicemen.  JFK's gravesite and the Tomb of the Unknowns still give me chills.  It's just... moving.  I'm glad we got to go again.

Matt riding the metro for the very first time. He was this adorable the whole time.

After lunch, which we will discuss tomorrow, we did the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

I laughed at this sign for like an hour.

Then we took a nice walk, had an AMAZING dinner and got ready for day TWO of sight seeing.

From afar at sunset.

 Day Two started with a waking tour of the monuments.

Closer, during the day.

World War II

Lincoln Memorial

 This was a big thing for me.  I walked all of those steps and I didn't stop and I didn't feel like my ankle was going to break.  That felt AWESOME.

Vietnam Memorial

Vietnam Memorial Wall

The White House

 Then it was on to the American History Museum.

Julia Child's kitchen!

KERMIE!!

 A quick break for lunch with our friend Todd then it was on to the National Air and Space Museum.

Our friend Todd at lunch.  Looking like an adult!

Coming back home was hard.  Firstly because we walked about 10 miles a day and our feet and legs hurt and sitting in the car wasn't fun but also because there was so much more I wanted to see.  The National Art Gallery, the Holocaust Museum, Library of Congress, the White House.  We're going to make another trip in the spring to see more!

I didn't think it could get any better.

Wow was I wrong!  Friday at the aquarium was fantastic but Saturday and today were so close I can't even point to the best day ever for this vacation. 

Saturday we slept in a little bit and then once we got going the day was just full of good food, good friends and laughter. 

Lunch took us to the Irish Rover Too. 

I started off with this yummy glass of hot cider with rum.  I couldn't finish it.  The rum was SOOOOO strong.

Lunch itself was comprised of cordon blue bites, cottage pie, and sticky toffee pudding. Talk about rich!!! After that it was time to move around.  Do anything!

So we went to the used book store.  I love used book stores, they're like heaven to me.  Yet, somehow, they seem to have lost some of their magic since I got my Kindle.  I found myself checking to see if I could get the books I was interested in on my Kindle and only buying it if I couldn't find an e-book version.  I still walked out of there with three books.  And I grabbed another one today

One of these things is not like the other... I am trying to be more conscious of my spending habits and learn more about different investment options and, in flipping through "Nice Girls Don't Get Rich" and "Get a Financial Life," I found that there was some definite base knowledge in these that I could definitely benefit from.  "Working with You is Killing Me" is about avoiding emotional traps at work and I know I need to work on not entangling my personal life and my professional life. 

"Diary of an Emotional Idiot" is just pure devious reading pleasure.  From the Amazon description:

"As the novel opens, the clean and sober Zoe is holed up in her ex-lover's apartment fantasizing about chaining him up and making him perform menial tasks. From this vantage point, we see flashbacks to her former life as a heroin addict frequently repulsed after a few days with a new boyfriend, writing porn novels for a living, and even cleaning her drug dealer's toilet for a fix."

This may not sound like fun to other people but I love novels that show people just utterly devolving and then, hopefully, redeeming themselves.  I can't wait to get in to reading this so I can see just how "bad" it gets for Zoe.  It's like watching "Black Swan"... but it's a book!

After that we hit up the Peddlers Market which is like a flea market but fully enclosed and you purchase everything through the main desk like a normal store.  The amount of incredibly tacky, racist, and sexist crap we found in that place was just... appalling.  It was also funny as hell. we had a good time wasting an hour walking around and checking stuff out.  It even turned in to a competition to see who could find the most ridiculous item possible.  Chip won.  I was a very close second.  Scary stuff.

From there we drove in to Indiana to do dinner with my other family.  I've known K and J&M since I was like 13.  We met over the internet on a MUD we played on at the time.  They were two of the most caring and nurturing people I'd ever met and they were all the way across the country in California.  We became close over the years and finally got to meet, face to face, 5 years ago.  They now have two lovely children who call me their sister.  I adore them all more than I have words for. 

For dinner we all met up at the Charlestown Pizza Company.  For serious... their food is absolutely amazing.  I think everyone just about licked their plates clean.  I, for one, said to heck with worrying about carbs, and ate MASHED POTATO PIZZA.

DROOOOOOOOOOOOL!

That's a yummy 8" crust, brushed with garlic butter and then topped with mashed potatoes, bacon, cheese and chives and served with a side of sour cream.  I was dead from the delicious.

Dessert for the night was a Butterfinger Rice Krispie treat.  Other options?  Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding and Oreo infused brownies. Talk about a sugar coma! I had half of one of the brownies later in the evening and it was worth the sugar crash.

We spent the evening being silly and celebrating Feztimus.

After dinner, we retired to their house for beer, wine, snacks and gift giving!

I got two more awesome books.

EEEEE!

And the sweetest homemade card from A. 

I totally teared up.  She is by far the sweetest kid on the planet. 

The adults were up until way late drinking and talking and I loved getting to meet one of K's best friends and getting to bond with her and her husband.  So much good times.  K and I finally went to bed near 4am. 

We slept in a bit and when we got up they made a delicious breakfast of french toast and bacon and sausage.  SO tasty!

It was sad to say good bye to my Indiana family.  I can't wait to get to go see them again.  Waiting a full year is just not fair!

After we headed out, we hopped over to the Frazier History Museum to check it out.  So much cool stuff.  I was utterly fascinated by the statues that they used to highlight the big events.

Creepy realistic!

After that it was off to lunch at Qdoba where I ate chicken and veggies and black beans and queso.  Probably the closest thing to a healthy meal I'd had in 24 hours. 

Now we're back at the house hanging out and grilling burgers for dinner.  After dinner I'm going to be working on repacking stuff and getting ready to head home first thing tomorrow morning.  I'm sad to head back to the real world but, dear heavens, if I don't miss my bed and my cats and my own space. 

I also miss routine and being totally 100% in control of what I eat. I'm going to eat nothing but veggies for like 2 days when I get home.  I am craving spinach and squash and zucchini.  I think dinner Tuesday is going to be a giant vegetable stir-fry.  Heavy on the water chestnuts, please!

This has truly been the best vacation I think I've ever had. 

Best. Vacation. Ever.

Yesterday was a lovely, perfect day of just chilling with friends.  When we finally left the house we went out to run errands, picked up a few bottles of wine and some beer, did some Christmas shopping, and came home to relax.

Lunch yesterday was so fricken amazing.  We went to a place called The Cheddar Box and I scarfed down a cup of sausage and bean soup and a plate of black bean ravioli in chipotle cream sauce and ended the meal with an amazing slice of creme brulee cheesecake.

The cheesecake didn't exist long enough to be photographed. Teehee. I will learn to make that ravioli at home.  The chiptole cream sauce was just delicious and the onions and peppers in the mix were still a little crunchy and added amazing texture to the meal.  So good!

After that the day was spent lounging on the couch, talking, and reading.  I read an entire book in one day!

Dinner was homemade whiskey chicken, asparagus, and mac and cheese and was equally as delicious to lunch.

Today was the day to end all day though.  We hit up the Newport Aquarium for a day of me being a 12 year old.  I heard they had an awesome penguin exhibit but was giddy when I found out for an extra fee you could PET. THE. FRICKEN. PENGUINS! That's right.  Pet them. I went for it.

When we got to the aquarium we ate a late lunch of sandwiches while looking out at the levee.

It was chilly but it was nice. Very relaxing.

Then we went in to the aquarium.

Gratuitous self portrait of Matt and I!

We watched the Scuba Santa Dive Show!

I got to sit on a big blue phrog!

Then we went and played with the penguins! Marshall and Chip went and did other things while Matt and I went on the Penguin behind the scenes trip. 

Paula the Penguin

Meet Paula the penguin.  She was very fond of me and spent most of the visit right where you see her.  She loves shadows and we played games and she chased the shadow of my hand around.

I also got to pet her!  Penguins actually feel like kind of oily short haired dogs.  Their feathers are so tiny that it feels more like hair.  On the end of their wings it feels like tooth brush bristles!!!

PENGUIN LOAFS!

I did not know that penguins did the loaf position cats do so frequently.  This made me giggle.

Paula and Simon 4-EVER!

It turns out that all of these penguins are female and they all have their very own penguin BFF.  Paula's?  Simon, obviously.

Penguin conga line!

So cute! Each penguin had their own crazy personality and I loved every second of the time spent with them! 

Matt, Sam and Green Bean the Penguin

This is Green Bean.  Talk about a diva! Green Bean was all about the posing.  It's no wonder she's their picture penguin!

I cannot describe how awesome of an experience this day was.  I love penguins so much and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to sit there, learn about them and play with them.  I so appreciated the experience.  If you're ever near the Newport Aquarium I highly recommend going!

After all the excitement at the aquarium we went out to dinner at Skyline Chili.  I had a 4 way potato with beans and a chilito with habanero cheese.  Unbelievable.

Now we're back to chilling at the house watching some teevee.  Going to hit the sack a little earlier tonight.  Tomorrow is going to be a super full day and I want to be very well rested before going to see my other family in Indiana.

As far as Weight Watchers?  Still working on activity points and my daily points.  I may get out of this vacation with maintenance yet!