Weekly Gratitude

Oh my, my head is spinning this week! It has been an intense week of trying to meet a deadline, and knowing that following this deadline there is yet another one. I have stayed sane by making sure to get in a couple of runs and sweat sessions at the gym, as well as trying to go to bed early (when possible)

I am thankful for:

• Cajun Shrimp OPI nail polish. As much as I've used my little fingers this week typing away on the computer, at least they look sharp! This color is a bright pink/coral and perfect for Spring!

• A lovely afternoon shopping sesh with a friend that I fit in in between work and a softball game. This spur of the moment trip was awesome because I found not one, not two, but THREE summer dresses! Score! Usually I have trouble finding just one thing I like!
  
  

  • And....an ah-hah moment when I went home to my closet....I decided to get rid of 3 of my old dresses to make room for the new and realized I have way to many. Like 49 too many. Yes, you read correctly. I counted forty-nine dresses. Not including the 3 I got rid of. Yes that includes mostly sundresses, and probably 4 LBD's, 5 or 6 cocktail dresses and two casual dresses that I wear to work, but mostly sundresses. I.Have.A.Problem.

  
  

  • Thankful for my really good friend Lauren who loves to do fun stuff with me! This week included attending a wine tasting/appetizers event at my work this week and jetting off to Pilates immediately after! What a fun night!

  
  

  • I am thankful for the weather in Portland which has slowly started improving...we may even see 70 on Sunday!

  
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PDX food cart: Burger (s) or Bus(t) Cafe

I visited Burger(s) or Bus(t) Cafe on NE Albert St for lunch the other day. The cafe sits inside an old painted school bus and offers hormone free, grass fed beef. The menu offers hamburgers, cheeseburgers, bacon cheeseburgers as well as veggie burgers and gluten-free bun options. I ordered a hamburger and fries and watched and waited while the friendly employee made my fresh burger and fries.

you can actually dine inside the bus...look how they created the tables in here! awesome!

It was worth the 15 minute wait for this fresh burger and fries!

29 week baby bump

Sister at 29 weeks! Here she is on Easter. So cute!

Easter Egg Hunt!

One of my good friends hosted an Easter brunch along with an adult Easter egg hunt in her backyard. What's better than a kiddie egg hunt than one for adults!? We had so much fun stuffing the eggs the day before with candy, scratch-its and other prizes. It sounds silly but we enjoyed acting like kids!

Open face egg, avocado and basil breakfast sandwich

Another weekend breakfast to share with you! Easy as it sounds. My secret for the egg is to leave the yolk untouched until the last second before flipping it. Then just poke it lightly with a folk and flip. That way the yolk is soft but not runny. We were on the go this weekend getting ready for Easter activities so this one was quick and easy.

I used a loaf of multigrain crusty bread with flax seed from Trader Joe's

Fresh basil leaves and avocado add a punch of flavor

Weekly Gratitude

My Weekly Gratitude

• I am thankful that my awesome boyfriend got us tickets to the NBA Playoffs last night...we went to the Blazer game at the Rose Garden and cheered our booties off! Blazers WIN!! It was so much fun and we had GREAT seats!

• I am thankful for my community garden. I can't wait for fresh, organic veggies! Read my post here

• Easter Sunday! I am thankful that my family is getting together for an afternoon Easter dinner. My good friend Lauren is hosting an "Adult Easter Egg Hunt" in the morning. She's hiding plastic eggs with things like scratch-its, money and candy inside, plus hosting breakfast. What a FAB idea!

• I am thankful that my family and friends finally encouraged me to seek treatment for my stomach issues. Terrible stomach pains at seemingly random times have been happening for 3+ years, but I thought I had figured out the triggers and was dealing with it on my own. At this point I don't know what the triggers are anymore, so I finally went to the doctor this week and was tested for Celiac's and other issues. Results TBA. Just hoping to get some answers so I can give my body the best diet it needs! Once I find out what it is, I know I will be able to find other bloggers with similar issues, as I've found there are bloggers who support each other for so many different things! I've already seen many who suffer from Celiac's sharing gluten-free recipes and how to deal stories. I'm hoping that's not what it is, but it very well could be.

• Eggs Benedict Fridays. My co-worker Tiffany and I have made it a tradition to get breakfast at the cafeteria at our work on Fridays when they are serving eggs Benedict. It's almost every Friday but not every single one. I love our tradition and I love eggs Benedict! We are so lucky to have a gourmet cafeteria two floors below us.

What are you thankful for? Link up with me or Love, Life, Lace!

My Community Garden Plot

This is a snapshot of my garden plot about a week after I planted the seed. The second row from the left is spinach and I can see the little seedlings coming up! I also have sugar snap peas, kale and chard planted and I can't wait to make fresh salad and saute kale and chard when it is ready. Once these early crops have produced I plan to plant heirloom tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini.

I joined the community garden because I live in an apartment in downtown Portland and my porch not does face the sun, so I can't even have little herbs or anything. I love fresh, organic vegetables and knowing where my food comes from. Plus, it was time I grew my own because I think my parents were sick of me going to their house to raid their garden....

My "Spring in Oregon" outfit. Rainboots: Cole Haan. Umbrella: Target. Peacoat: Zara. Jeans: William Rast

A shot without the Peacoat. Spring cardigan: Old Navy. Blue tank: Nordstrom Rack

I share my plot with my friend Kristen. It's pretty small but we are both usually cooking for one and last year we had more than enough veggies from this small plot. I think we both have a lot to learn about gardening but that is why we wanted to have the plot!

P.S. Kristen, you haven't planted your share of the plot yet. I know its early so I'll cut you some slack. But I started now because I'm going to replant this stuff or different veggies after it produces in a month or so! It's all about maximizing the little plot!

What about you? Do you have your own garden, a community garden or are you a part of a crop share program? Or do you get your fresh foods at the grocery store?

Kale Chips

I picked up a bunch of Kale at the Portland Farmer's market on Saturday and made Kale Chips for the first time. They were super easy and really good! Not only that but Kale is considered one of the healthiest vegetables. It is high in beta carotene, vitamin K and C, as well as rich in calcium.

before baking. simply rip the kale apart, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper and bake 10-15 minutes at 350

after and ready to eat! They tasted a little better than they look! Crispy and salty...yum.

Running Season is upon us...

I'm excited for the 2011 running season! I am registered for a few races and wanted to share that with you, but first I want to share my relationship with running so you know where I am coming from.

After college I really got into running, and pretty quickly. Where before I would run for 30 minutes just for cardio exercise, after college I began training for races and tried to get faster. My co-workers at my summer internship encouraged me to run and train during our lunch breaks, and honestly without them I don't know if I would have ever started running in this way. My first race ever was the Human Race 10k in August 2008. I ran my first half marathon shortly after in October 2008, the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon remote race in Portland, Oregon, which Nike allowed other cities to participate in through Nike plus even though the race was held in San Francisco. I totally killed it--running through Portland's springwater trail and beyond at an 8 minute pace, faster than I've ever run a full race to this day. I ran my second half marathon in April 2009, the Portland Race for the Roses. That summer I trained for my first full marathon! I trained with a running group in Portland as well as a friend from high school who I ended up running the entire race with up until the last couple miles. During training, I ran 3-4 days a week and then a long run on Saturdays, getting up to 20 miles in the final weeks of training. In October 2009 I ran the full Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. My amazing boyfriend traveled down there with me and cheered me on along the course. It is my proudest accomplishment to date. Read about it here and here. Unfortunately, shortly after running the marathon, I suffered a pretty intense injury in my left posterior tibialis (basically left ankle tendon in plain English). I didn't run for eight long months. The recovery was painful and expensive because treatment on that area is considered experimental and therefore not covered under insurance. After injections, physical therapy and plain old time, I came back just in time for Hood to Coast in 2010 and have been back at it ever since!

This year I am SO READY to run more races! I ran in the Shamrock Run in March and I am now registered for Hood to Coast, The Oregon Wine Country half marathon and have entered in the random drawing to run in the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco. So many people want to run in the NWM that they have to do a random drawing of about 25,000 people. I really hope that I get in!

I don't consider myself an excellent runner, just because I never really ran until about 3 years ago and am still not very fast. I do it just for fun and because I love it. I love the feeling I get after running, and I love how it has changed my body. I don't run sprints although I have been told it will make me faster. I prefer to run at the same 9 minute pace throughout my entire run. I run to sweat, to be fit, to be free and to be healthy. I run to please myself, and nobody else.

Happy Birthday to the love of my life!!

Yesterday Shane turned the big 3-1. He has been traveling for work so much this month so it was such a treat just for us to spend the day together! Part of his gift was this cheesecake I made with a family recipe that has been passed to me. He loooovvvesss cheesecake and this time he requested blackberry.

Shane, this post is for you! You always encourage me to do the things I am passionate about and are the most supportive person in my life. I love you so much and I look forward to making you many more cheesecakes in the years to come:)

Weekend Breakfast...Pearl Bakery french toast

This weekend I picked up a loaf of challah bread from Pearl Bakery while running errands in the Pearl neighborhood of Portland. They were out of Brioche for the day, so although that is the best bread for french toast, I went with the second best, challah bread, since I had my heart set on whipping up some french toast. 

This traditional Jewish bread is good for french toast since it is made with lots of eggs and is a lighter, fluffier bread.

french toast ingredients: eggs, milk (or coconut, rice or soy milk) vanilla and cinnamon

dip bread in batter and cook on medium-low for a few minutes--flip and repeat

put powdered sugar through a sifter and add agave syrup or your choice of syrup

yum

and find your way to a man's heart through his stomach:)

Weekly Gratitude

April Showers bring May Flowers.... Here's to hoping that's true in rainy Portland, Oregon!

I am so thankful for:

• Although I love playing on my softball team and I hate the Oregon rain, I was secretly thankful that our first practice was cancelled on Monday evening due to the rain! I was super stoked to go straight home after work, make a delicious dinner for one, and catch up on my DVR. TV Shows like Kourtney & Kim, Desperate Housewives and Dancing with the Stars are huge time wasters but so addictive!

• My girls dinner group:) A group of 7 or 8 of us girls that went to college together have started a tradition where we get together about once a month for a themed potluck dinner. Most of the time we hold it in honor of someone's birthday, but there are some months when there is no birthday and we do it just because! This week it was my former roommate Shanti's birthday and we had a
  

  Hawaiian themed dinner. I bought macaroni and potato salad from my favorite Hawaiian place and the girls made dishes like pulled pork, rice with teriyaki sauce, fried tofu, shrimp, mango and pineapple sorbet and more hawaiian inspired fare. It's so fun to cook together and just have girl time!

• Golf lessons. Cindy Lincoln from Redtail Golf in Beaverton, OR is the most amazing golf instructor. She has turned my non-swing, hitting about 20 yards in weird directions, into perfect posture and hitting the ball long, straight and high and up to 150 yards. I'm not perfect or even that great, but it is amazing how much she has transformed my swing and given my the confidence to play! I love golf.

• Thankful for doctors and children's hospitals. Last week I heard bad news from a great friend who is living in Kansas. Her one-year-old daughter had a mysterious bump on her foot and there were possibilities of a maligant tumor. By the grace of God, it turned out to be an infection and she is going to be fine. So. Relieved.

• Thankful for my sister and her little daughter who is 6 months along in her belly. I loved sitting with her on Sunday night on the couch at my parents house, just feeling for her little girl to move around or kick. I felt a little bit but no huge movements. I think she was full and tired after the yummy dinner my mom made us. I love family dinners.

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Dream Closet

This closet is a dream come true!! Putting it on my list for my future home wish list...

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PDX restaurant: Trebol

Sooo as you can see my blog is slowly becoming very much about food! It makes sense since I love cooking, trying new recipes, restaurants in Portland and of course, eating! Don't worry--I'll still post about other stuff! My family and I tried Trebol, a NE Portland restaurant on Alberta & Albina St. I loved the Margarita Azul and the following courses! We all ordered something and then stole bites from each other to see what we liked the best.

Fish tacos with drunken beans

Atun a la parilla (Albacore tuna)

Enchiladas (This one was my favorite of all)

Layuda con frijoles negros (grilled flatbread with black beans)

House-made guacamole with garlic chips. So. Good.

Weekend Breakfast at Besaw's

Besaw's is a quaint little cafe down toward the end of 23rd ave in NW Portland. It was once just a bar but has transitioned into a lovely place with great food and hour long waits for breakfast tables on the weekend. Can you believe this cafe is 107 years old!? It was part of the original NW neighborhood.

Shane and I waited about 40 minutes for our table around 11am. Since most of the brunch hotspots in Portland require this kind of wait, we like to people watch and tell stories while we wait, as well as discuss the menu in detail and debate about what is the best choice. I love how they offer Stumptown coffee while you wait, and once in a while they even have waffle squares to munch on. Check out the specials they had on Saturday:

 

Of course we had to start out with the homemade cinnamon roll, OJ for Shane and Stumptown coffee for me...

We got the last cinnamon roll of the day:)

I am an eggs Benedict girl....Shane converted me when we first started dating. It's my usual, and Besaw's Tuscan version with fresh sage and prosciutto was amazing, and the waiter actually told me it was life changing. I agree!

to-die-for

Shane ordered the 3 step breakfast of scrambled eggs, honey cured bacon and rosemary potatoes, with a side of french toast.

these potatoes are so good!

french toast on Brioche bread...yum

We have been to Besaw's multiple times but I am pretty sure the Tuscan Benedict is the best thing I have ever had from their menu. Other favorites are the oatmeal pancakes and the salmon scramble. They offer gluten-free pancakes and french toast as well! I love when restaurants have that option. Check out this restaurant in Portland on NW 23rd & Savior...your tummy will thank you!