London Day 2!

So I'm sucking at Europe posts! These posts will just come as quickly as I can get them. Last week I had a crazy busy week at work and then spent the weekend in NY. I can't believe my best and very first friend is heading off to Mongolia for 2 years! She is joining the Peace Corps and I am beyond proud of her. I'm also pretty jealous! These are the types of emotions that make me want to quit my job and move to Tanzania. I'm currently re-looking into Birthright. I wish the trips were a little shorter so I didn't have to take off so many days from work. Ughh!

Okay, so Europe! We started our second day in London a little later because I had a weirdly ill night (this unfortunately was not my only illness of the trip, but more on that later). We left our hotel and planned to follow our "day 2 walking tour" that Maja made for us. We started at Westminster, crossed over the bridge and walked along the South Bank, then crossed the river for more exploring.

The first stop was seeing Big Ben and Westminster up close!

The perfect London photo with the red double decker and Big Ben!

Crossing Westminster Bridge

The view from Westminster Bridge

The walk along South Bank was great. It was pretty touristy near the London Eye but it was great just to walk along the river. Here's just some of what we passed while walking along the bank:

South bank skate park

A cute little alley filled with shops and restaurants

Shakespeare's Globe Theater!

We stumbled upon Borough Market (aka foodie heaven), which I'll go into more in my next post!

Of course we had to stop for a few oysters on the way

Lunch!

The writing on the bathroom door of the bar! Loved it. 

The coolest sparkley toilet ever...hah!

And stopped for a photo with the famous Tower Bridge!

The gorgeous Westminster Abbey from the other side of the Thames

The first thing we did once we crossed over the river was go to "The Monument".

The Monument was built to commemorate the Great Fire which devastated the city in 1666. It is 202 feet high and is the tallest isolated stone column in the world! Of course it offered some great views of the city, our pictures don't do it justice!

At the top of the Monument!

And of course, there was not an elevator in the Monument so you have to walk up 311 steps to get to the top.

Clinging on for life in the tiny spiral staircase!

After the Monument we spent some time walking through "the city" aka the financial district of London. It was around 6:30 at this point so it was fairly deserted. It reminded me a lot of Boston's financial district at that time.

And for the most random event of the trip, while walking through the city we ran into Tom's family friend standing outside of a bar! He lives in London and just so happened to be drinking his pint outside of the bar we walked by. SO weird. We stopped inside to have a drink and get some tips from him and his friend. 

After the run in we continued our walk in search of the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral. From the outside the cathedral is just stunning and I wish we got to go inside!

Maja recommended going over to Madison Rooftop bar for cocktails and more stunning views. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard (the most rain we had on our trip) by the time we got there so we checked out the view then split.

We then headed over to Fleet Street for dinner. We stopped in at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. The pub had an interesting gloomy charm to it (we ate in a dungeon-feeling basement) and had some pretty neat history. Apparently a pub has sat in that location since 1538 and a lot of famous literary figures were frequents of the bar -- like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens (who alluded to the pub in A Tale of Two Cities!).

I ordered a burger and Tom got a steak pie. Obviously he was eating more traditional London fare than I.

Here he is posing with the famous slideshow!

That's about it for our second day in London! Hopefully will have some more posts up soon :)

Kale Chips!

I've been doing pretty well with my eating healthy attempt. Here's most of my meals from the last two days:

Cereal and a banana for breakfasts

Amazing hodgepodge salad

Last night's dinner: turkey burger, homemade sweet potato chips, an orange and a slice of the best bacon ever.

The bottom of a bowl of kale chips! More on this below.

Today's lunch: grilled chicken with hot sauce, brown rice, black beans, guacamole and a tiny bit of cheese.

So the kale chips. I've been thinking about making these since I started reading blogs 4 years ago. All I did was cut the kale off the stems (well Tom did this) toss it in olive oil, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese, then bake them in the oven on 350 for 20 minutes (flipping at 10).

They were so good! I was scared to taste them at first because they smelled VERY vegetable-y. They were so crispy and tasted almost like a super crunchy chip! I think the trick is making sure the seasoning is just right so you get rid of the bitter and vegetable taste. Definitely will be making these again!

Today I was determined to exercise but I just could not get myself to the gym no matter how much I tried. I decided to compromise and created a little interval workout to do in my room.

Here's what I did (each for one minute):
1. knee ups
2. push ups
3. forward kicks
4. squats
5. cross punch knee ups (there is no way to explain what this is)
6. crunches
7. side kicks
8. lunges
9. charlestons
10. planks

I did this twice with 30 second breaks in between moves. The whole thing took me about 30 minutes. This was really an attempt to get myself back into doing some strength moves (literally can't remember the last time I did a push up) while getting my heart rate up with the odd numbered moves. I also had to make sure they were strenuous enough to make me sweat but not crazy where I would knock my furniture over (ha). I think it was really successful and I just feel good to have moved and loosened up a bit.

Now it's time to get ready for bed. Good night!

A Note on Boston

Tom and I were in Brussels on the day of the marathon. We were actually so caught up in our trip (and the time difference) that we didn't even realize it was Marathon Monday. We spent the evening eating, drinking and wandering through the wonderful city that is Brussels. We got back to our hotel around midnight and started to get ready for bed. While I was brushing my teeth Tom put on the TV and I heard the word "Boston." I stuck my head out of the bathroom and excitedly said "What's Boston doing on TV!?"

It took us about 10 seconds to realize what happened. I was immediately terrified and realized that we were about two hours behind when the bombs actually went off. We luckily had internet in our hotel and both checked our e-mail. My friends had started a chain and I knew very quickly that everyone I loved and cared about was safe.

It's still hard to believe that this really happened here. Despite feeling thankful that we were safe and out of the country, I felt this overwhelming desire to be back in Boston. This city has become my home over the last seven years and with the news it felt like my heart just flew the 3,500 miles back over the ocean.

We officially flew back to Boston on Wednesday. The city was kind of eerie, but besides the excess of cops and FBI agents, things seemed to be on the normal side. I went to work on Thursday, had a minor freak out on the T on the way home, and then Friday happened.

It's really hard to even talk about the day. I felt (and continue to feel) such a mix of emotions about the events that transpired that day. What I can tell you is that I stayed in my apartment glued to the TV the whole day, jumping at any out-of-the-ordinary sound. It was impossible to do anything but follow the news.

Marathon Monday is such a celebration of life, health, and community. I can only hope that the day is enriched in years to come and continues to represent a day of strength, perseverance and accomplishment. My heart aches for the people who have suffered from this tragedy. My new office overlooks the incredible Memorial that has been laid out in Copley Square and I make sure to walk by it and spend some time reflecting on what happened each day.

That's really all I can say about this. I love Boston.

A New Pledge

So last night in the shower I decided I was going to reissue my healthy eating pledge. Nothing too strict here -- I am just going to focus on eating as many whole, real foods as I can and watch my portion sizes. Sounds easy enough.

The first day was almost a complete success.

I started the morning with a natural peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread + a banana.

We have this amazing cafe on the first floor of my building that is going to suck all the money out of my bank account. It has so many great options! There is a deli counter, a sushi bar, a burrito and taco area, a huge make your own Whole Foods-esque salad bar, a create your own soup area, a hot food area, a create your own "healthy bowl" area, a bakery and a juice bar! It's so convenient but it's pretty expensive. I may have gone crazy and created a $14 salad last week...

Today I went with the make your own soup bar! I started with chicken broth, added organic brown rice, all the veggies they had and tofu. At the end I added a little sweet chili sauce and siriacha (definitely need more next time). It was great and really filling! I also bought a Spindrift lemonade.

I went food shopping after work to pick up a couple of things for the week. I'm going to keep buying lunch at my office this week -- I'm too excited about the new area to bring lunch and there are TONS of healthy, delicious options all over the place. When I got home from shopping I was pretty hungry so I grabbed a cheese stick before dinner.

For dinner I had half of the grilled chicken breast below, some of the mozzarella tomato salad, and all of the raw veggies:

I don't know why this is so blurry. I have been trying to upload for 30 minutes and I give up!

I also did some prep for the rest of the week. I used my awesome new slicer to slice up 3 cucumbers in like 30 seconds!!

Now I am off to read and get ready for bed. Good night!

The Garden (and other green things)!

Tom bought a plot in the South End community garden and I'm helping him! We planted a bunch of vegetables and herbs in a starter kit and they are progressing so well!!!!

The goods!

Planting the seeds...

Packing the dirt down...

And ready for the sun!

The little squares kind of look like brownies. We know where my mind is eh?

A few days later they started to grow!! It was so exciting to get a picture of the first little buds!

And just a few hours later...

And a few days later....!

Our veggies are growing much faster than our herbs. I can't remember all the herbs we planted but for veggies we planted cucumber, spinach, snap peas, green beans, spinach and sweet peppers. We also have a row of watermelon!

Today we went to the garden to get it cleaned up and ready for planting. Here's how it looked at the start (hard to see the left side because of the huge shadow):

And after we finished weeding and turning the soil (I promise it was a huge difference!):

Right under where Tom is standing is a leftover kale plant! I took home tons today. I CAN'T WAIT until all of our veggie are growing!!

The kale plant

In other news, I've gotten a little plant crazy thanks to Tom. Here are the new additions to my apartment:

New baby for my room

A fern that we grew from just a tiny root! It's gotten so big :)

A big guy that couldn't fit in Tom's apartment so is now mine!

Herbs on the sill -- the top one has basil seeds and the bottom has mint seeds.

And finally, a little guy for my new desk at work!

So cute.

And it wouldn't be spring without some beautiful flowers. Look at these amazing colors.

I can't wait to see how the garden progresses!! I will continue to update as the weather gets warmer.

Creamy Spinach & Sausage Pasta

Happy Friday!! I haven't posted a recipe in a while, and this one is a GOOD one. Like restaurant worthy.

Creamy Spinach & Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:

• 2 sausages sliced (we used 1 portuguese hot sausage and 1 andouille)
• 1 lb of pasta
• 1 bag of fresh spinach
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• ¾ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

For sauce:

• 1 C Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 eggs
• 3 - 4  tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp white wine
• 4 tbsp milk
• 2 C of pasta water
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta and reserve 2 C of the water when draining.

2. In a large pan, cook sausage, then saute garlic and spinach in olive oil. Add salt and crushed red pepper.

3. Add the pasta to the the pan.

4. Whisk 2 eggs into the pasta water and add it to the pan.

5. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and mix until the sauce starts to thicken.

6. Add the milk, parmesan cheese and white wine. Mix well and simmer until the sauce is thick and creamy (about 3-5 minutes).

7. Add salt to taste.

This was sooo good and was a great week night meal. Plus it made for awesome leftovers the next day! :)

Eurotrip 2013!

I've started writing this post probably 20 times since I got back from vacation. Each time I started I either got distracted by something else (hello moving my office) or felt overwhelmed about recapping an incredible filled to the max 10 day trip. So I decided that this is my blog and I write these posts for my own memories, so I'll make what I want of it!

So here's the short version:
The trip was AMAZING! It was 99% exactly what I hoped for (I'll get to the 1% let down later on), was filled with fun, culture, exploration, good food, good drinks and lots of time with my TKO.

And on to the long version...

Starting with Monday, April 8!

I managed to fully pack myself up over the weekend because I  had to go to a full day at work on Monday. I pretty much squirmed in my seat with excitement the whole day until it was time to leave. Our flight wasn't until 10:50 pm so we didn't have to leave until about 8:45. Finally the time came and we were off to Boston Logan Airport!!

The flight was really easy, and with a healthy concoction of wine, Dramamine and Melatonin I actually slept for most of it. In just 7 short hours, we arrived in London for the morning! We took the tube to our first hotel, The Rembrant in South Kensington, got settled and changed, then headed out to explore London! My amazing friend Maja put together a walking tour for us that hit up most of the tourist attractions plus some extra special local spots. We followed it pretty much to the t and it was a really amazing help in such a large city.

My first (and lasting impression of London) was "Holy shit, this city is REGAL." I really can't come up with another word to describe it. I was so overwhelmed by the architecture, and just the whole grandiose nature of the city. Every single building was beautiful. Now, we only explored a tiny part of London so I'm sure it's not like that everywhere, but everything I saw looked like somewhere the royal family would live.

And now, here's what we saw on day 1 (These are out of order and lots are stolen from Tom)!

The Covent Garden market reminded me a lot of Quincy Market here in Boston, but a lot bigger! It was very cool but we didn't do much shopping (here, or anywhere on the trip). Here I am looking out over the balcony at the performers -- there was a group playing orchestra instruments and dancing!

The Prime Minister lives at 10 Downing Street, which is in the photo through the gates. You can't really get close and it was kind of funny to see so many people taking pictures of a black door you can barely see!

We walked down the mall to get to Buckingham Palace. It was lined with parks and I imagine would be such a beautiful and relaxing walk in the springtime/summer. Technically it was spring when we were in London but it felt like winter! I wore my winter coat the whole time and sometimes even needed gloves.

I believe this was our first view of Big Ben! So exciting!! In this picture I feel liek you can get a bit of what I was saying about the regal-ness of London. There were statues everywhere and even the streetlamps looked royal.

We passed by this guy on out walk down the Mall. I can't believe they just stand there with their eyes covered and never move. I also was surprised they had real weapons with them. I guess that's silly because they are there to protect, but I just can't imagine that guy stabbing someone with that sword thing. Does that ever happen? I also feel like they must have mastered the ability to sleep standing up. How can they just stand there all day!?!?

Here I am on our lunch break! We stopped in a little pub (can't remember the name) so Tom could get fish and chips. I wasn't feeling the typical London fare so I opted for a cheese sandwich and chips.

Here is the tube station near our hotel. I really liked the South Kensington area. It was busy but not crazy, and seemed less touristy than the central area we spent most of our time in. Also, we never heard anyone refer to the tube as "the tube" -- they always called it the metro. Does anyone call it the tube?

The London Eye from the Mall. I love this picture with the yellow tulips!

We spent quite a bit of time in the Soho area exploring, getting drinks and eating dinner. We picked a small place called Mother Mash to settle at to east and it was AWESOME. You basically order two bangers (sausages) and a type of mash (mashed potatoes). Soooo good!

Here we are in front of Buckingham Palace! I wish we could have gone inside somehow. This place was ginormous. Tom and I counted 103 windows just on the front!

Here's our drinks during dinner...I like that it says "London Pride" :)

Of course I needed the typical shot in the red telephone booth! These were really all over the place...and they worked!

This was the view outside of our hotel -- the V & A Museum. Unfortunately we didn't have time to actually go to the museum, but it was certainly a nice view! This photo also has one of the very first red double decker buses we saw in London! I always thought the buses were solely tour buses, but once seeing them ALL over the place, realized they are actually for public transportation too. So weird!

Here are the Canada Gates outside of Buckingham Palace. This picture definitely doesn't do it justice -- it was so beautiful. The Gates are part of the memorial to Queen Victoria and form the entrance to Green Park.

London has some beautiful parks and I really wish the weather had been nicer so we could hang out and picnic. We took a long walk through St. James Park which was gorgeous despite the chilly weather. Side note, there were SO many birds in this park.

Trafalger Square (below) was just a very cool, cultural little spot with so much to look at! What you see behind us is Nelson's Column which is "guarded" by 4 gigantic bronze lions.

Soho was a very cool and cute area and I'm so happy Maja recommended we spend some time walking around an exploring. We stopped at one loungey place for 2 for 1 drinks before dinner. Yum.

That's it for day 1 in London! More updates to come soon!