Lazy Dog with Friends

For some reason I woke up at 4:30am and tried to go back to sleep, but that didn’t happen. After tossing around for about an hour, I decided to rise up from the bed, played some silly bubble game on my iPod until I got bored. Then I remembered I still “owed” last 2 rounds of the killer 400 reps variations of Burpee workout from Thursday.

Reluctantly, I warmed up then completed the second round. You can read more details about it here if you’re interested

Despite skipping dinner, not having breakfast, I didn’t crash while doing that intense workout, which amazed me in some ways. But worry not, I’m not going to do intermittent fasting way too often as fat/weight loss is not my fitness goal. On the other hand, it feels good to give your body a little “break” from digesting food.

So here’s the breakfast/post workout snack for the champion

Medium size of baked Japanese yam with a tin of wild sardines in spring water. Yay, I got my natural Omega-3 intake of the day, which what I prefer the most. But getting Omega-3 from supplements is not a bad idea either though. Better than nothing, right?

We went to Farmers Market afterward to restock the strawberries and also bought some cherries (it’s cherry season already. Lots of booths selling cherries)

About noon time I went to meet the gals (Hubby K stayed home since he had to go to his parents place for dinner and I wasn’t sure how long this gathering would be) at The Lazy Dog Cafe in Huntington Beach.

The walls are full of dog pictures..haha hence the name!

I’m not a dog person, but those dogs in the pics surely look cute!

Before went there, I did my little homework for some gluten free friendly menu that I could order so I asked The Lazy Dog Cafe on their FB

And I also snacked bunch of macadamia nuts and some banana chips (from Henry’s Market) to make sure I won’t be too starving.

unsweetened banana chips!

Since our group was kinda small this time (2 birthday gals- total 5 people) we decided to share the food. I still ordered that Bacon Wrapped Coulotte and asked for steamed broccoli and gravy on the side. Hm, I forgot to ask the waitress to sub the mashed potatoes with steamed broccoli, but I think she forgot to separate the gravy on the side.

No biggie, I just ate around it a bit.

The rest of the food that Yen, one of the b’day gal ordered (since she’s been there before)
Sweet Potato Tater Tots with some kind of dip sauce – I couldn’t resist to have a little bite of those (no dipping) – pretty good

Pizza Margherita – looks delish but I didn’t have any

Pesto Chicken and Hummus

The pesto sauce was delicious- I didn’t try the sundried tomato hummus since I can’t handle beans (all kinds of legumes) that well.

Spicy Moroccan Chicken and Couscous

My friend M got the spicy kick from this dish while for me it wasn’t spicy at all (or maybe I was lucky enough not to get the spicy part?) Pretty delicious actually.

And the restaurant gave each 2 birthday gals, Ay and Yen a cup of ice cream sundae!

Our organizer, Sweet J bought this nice Oreo and Cream Cheese Cake from a Korean bakery.

I’m not a sweet tooth gal, but didn’t want to be a stuck up not having a little slice of the cake. Thank goodness my gut didn’t hate me too much. The cake was ok, but a little too sweet for me. My taste buds is very sensitive to sugar now (other than fruits).

When the time for 3 of us to split the bills, M was nice enough asking me if I was ok with the amount. Since she’s technically the only friend that reads my blog, she knows the current situation that Hubby K and I now. I appreciate her concern but I assured her I’m fine with the amount. Besides, it’s not like I’m always splurging all the time.

It was such a GORGEOUS day! Sunny, blue sky and cool breeze!

We hung out a bit, just walked around at the Target store nearby the restaurant then we bid our farewell for the next gathering in July. It’s always nice to catch up with friends and in some ways it’s good that we are keeping in touch by having this once a month gathering. After graduating and start working/family, we tend to be busy with our own schedule. It’s all thanks to M’s idea for having this once a month get together.

On the way home, I stopped by Walmart to get some avocados. (Gotta LOVE that 50 cents avocado)

I wasn’t too hungry but I am not intend to do another intermittent fasting since I just did it yesterday. It’s not something that I should be doing too often. So for dinner I just whipped some simple spring mix salad with some protein, avocado and sliced of whole tomato. No pic, but you got the idea.

Have a great weekend!

Btw, does your neighbor usually have a party with loud music when it’s long weekend? When I was typing this post, I could hear my neighbor was playing a loud Spanish songs. It’s always like this when it’s a long weekend. *sigh*. It doesn’t bother me much since my room is facing the other way (thank goodness).
And by loud meaning I can actually hear the music from my room if my window is open. Good thing he doesn’t have that heavy base speaker otherwise it’ll be waay too much!

 

Adventurous Thursday

I didn’t go for a hike in the forest or anything like that though, but I took a train to go to downtown Los Angeles to take care my passport thing.

What’s the better time than right now when I’m not that busy, right? – insert sarcasm

Before I went out, I made another batch of Coconut pancakes. This time I added the Braised Coconut Shredded chicken, shredded zucchini and a dollop of coconut milk into the batter

Breakfast was super yummy!

This was my first time ever to be in LA Union Station. The interior looks pretty cool. I think some movie scenes were actually shot here.

To get to my destination, I had to take a subway. Boy the interior reminds me a lot of any movie scenes with subway

From the subway station, I had to walk about 20 minutes to the building. There was a bus that I could actually take, but hey I won’t refuse any opportunity to move around my body more. Besides the weather was gorgeously sunny and not too hot!

On the way back, I had to be stuck at the LA Union Station for about one hour. Also I regretted I didn’t buy Metrolink round trip ticket. Apparently, the Metrolink ticket works if I need to use any Metro subways, but NOT the other way around. Oh well I just needed to spend an extra $1.50. If I bought a round trip ticket, I’d only spend $14.00.

Funny thing is? I almost could get away for riding the train without any ticket (of course I didn’t do that). Seriously, on my way to LA Union Station, no conductor checked the tickets until when I was in the subway. On the way back? Nobody actually checked the tickets. Hm….

Anyway, when I got back home I was starving and didn’t want to spend extra time for fancy meal. Left overs are my savior!

Yeah I know I’ve been eating that shredded chicken A LOT lately. Still working on those!

Spent the entire afternoon just goofing around and watched No Strings Attached and can I say that movie is SUPER BORING? Both Hubby K and I were nodding throughout the movie. When it was almost dinner time, we just shut it and didn’t bother to finish it. I know the story would be typical slapstick romantic comedy, but it WASN’T even funny at all! None of the scenes were interesting to watch! Even Knocked Up was tons better and funnier!

So after a super boring movie, I had a sudden crave of Thai Food.

Sweetee Thai to the rescue!

I decided at that moment that this would be my MOST ULTIMATE Paleo cheat ever! Usually I only took a small bite of grains/gluten etc, but this time I went ALL IN!

We ordered Pad See Ew with Beef, Pad Thai (no bean curd, peanuts and bean sprouts) with beef, and Short Rib BBQ. - Fully Carbloaded

Hubby K and I shared the three dishes and I ate mine with good spoonfuls of chili sauce!

Gosh, everything with the exception of the Pad See Ew were SO SWEET (is that why they named their restaurant Sweetee Thai?) The short rib was a disappointment. It was doused with ketchup which I had to scrap off cause I just couldn’t stand the sweetness of it! Pad Thai was ok, still sweet but the sour and spicy chili sauce helped balancing the taste.

It’s been a long time for me not having Pad Thai and Pad See Ew and the dinner was totally worth it. Good thing my gut didn’t act up on me. But in the middle of the night, I was awake because I felt super thirsty (Damn MSG!) and had to drag myself out from bed to drink a cup full of water.

Btw I didn’t do any workout today but those walks from subway station to the building back and forth should count right?

What’s the last movie did you watch that didn’t turn out to be what you expected?

 

Desperate Weekend

Thank you everyone for all your supporting and encouraging comments on my last post! This definitely a tough situation for both Hubby K and I but I’ll try to stay positive and keep our heads up. We might want to take this opportunity to take a little break before starting our job hunting. Besides we need to update our info and put our stuff together before applying. Again, thank you.

And despite the title of the post, don’t worry, I wasn’t totally super desperate and down. I’ve been rewatching Desperate Housewives older seasons for this whole weekend. Sort of having a Desperate Housewives marathon. Yes, I am not kidding.

Our weather has been pretty gloomy and cold since yesterday. It was actually raining earlier this morning.

Saturday breakfast: the usual loose leaf tea, 2 slices of Egg Loaf Frittata and some mac nuts plus shredded coconut flakes

Then we went off for our usual grocery shopping.
Lunch was more leftover: char siew slices, one small purple yam and steamed veggies.

After lunch I precut some ingredients for Yellow Tamarind Cabbage soup that I’m planning to make for today. Snacked on strawberries and some mac nuts while watching more Desperate Housewives.

Dinner was steamed spinach with Lemon Date Chicken which I prepared in the afternoon.

Sunday breakfast was courtesy of Hubby K. He prepared this plate in the morning.

Today’s lunch was 2 big bowls of Yellow Tamarind Cabbage Soup that I cooked this morning topped with leftover cooked grassfed ground beef. Kudos for precutting the ingredients on previous day.

Hubby K always loves my homemade whole wheat bread so I made one loaf today (with dried cranberries and almond waste from my homemade Almond milk)

I won’t lie, I had one slice of my homemade whole wheat bread and it was delicious! Super soft and moist. Nothing beats a freshly baked homemade bread. Paleo or not, I savored this a lot.

Dinner today was pretty similar to lunch so no pic. You got the idea.

Well I don’t have the obligation to get up super early anymore starting tomorrow so I think I might wanna stay up a bit and continue watching more Desperate Housewives. Besides, I didn’t feel sleepy yet and it was 10:30pm while I was typing this post. Hubby K on the other hand actually went to bed earlier than me now. Hm what a contrast huh? And I haven’t been working out since yesterday which might explain why I wasn’t as tired. For the whole day since yesterday I was pretty much sitting in front of my computer watching DH. Half of the time, I also made an effort to sit on my stability ball, which gave some good sores to my core muscles. So did it still count as a workout?

Anyway, good night everyone!

 

The Spring Began with a RAIN

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and we the Southern Californians were greeted with a very chilly, windy RAIN.

What was the best dish to have in this weather? Shabu-shabu

I got this Groupon for Ka Shabu months back and trust me we’ve been attempting to go there twice and failed.

First time was back in December and they were closed.

Second time was couple weeks ago, and the timing wasn’t right.

Third time is the charm, huh?

Funny how the restaurant described themselves as Asian fondue instead of Shabu-shabu.

By the time we got there, it was already 2pm so it passed lunch time. We were the only customers there. It could be because of the rain people were reluctant to go out. Anyway, we enjoyed the lunch.

I ordered Angus beef entree – no rice/noodles with extra veggies

They had 2 different dipping sauce – ponzu, peanut but since I swore to stick on my Primal, I told the waitress that I am on gluten free.

**okay I confessed, I am not gluten sensitive – in fact I had this sourdough red bean filled bun for breakfast in the morning**

So she gave me tamari soy sauce.

K ordered 3 item combination of shrimp, salmon and scallops with rice, noodles and veggies.

We had to grind our own sesame seeds with this wooden stick. Instead of pounding the seeds, we just grind them in circular motion in this bowl.

I also brought my coconut aminos, so I mixed it into the grounded sesame seed, some grated daikon and shichimi togarashi (red pepper flakes)

Shabu-shabu is simple: dip the meat/veggie in the boiling soup base, (30 sec), dip in the sauce, eat!

Overall, this place has a nice atmosphere but it’s a little bit overpriced. Seriously, I wouldn’t recommend coming here super hungry because, even when you ordered the biggest meal, you won’t feel stuffed (unless you loaded yourself with lots of rice and noodles). Luckily I wasn’t too starving so it was ok. Besides with Groupon our bill only ended up being $11.00 (+$6 tips – Groupon suggested to tip from on the original price (around $40.00+). I paid $12 for Groupon (worth $25 meal for Friday and Saturday, and $30 if used between Sunday-Thursday). Hell yea I make sure to use it on Sunday to get the most out of it!

Got back home, I had to start prepping the food for the week, so I made 7 spice beef stew and Asian style Cauliflower “fried rice”.

I cut butternut squash in fries styles and roasted them with avocado oil, hoping it’ll be crispy..only turned out they were kinda soggy.

Any tips to make roasted squash crispy like fries? Or there is no such thing?

I’ve seen many Primal/Paleo blogs been raving on sauteing kale with bacon so I knew I gotta give it a try when I spotted a bunch of kale at Farmer’s market on Saturday.

For some reason, the local TJ didn’t have Niman Ranch bacon, so I picked TJ brand beef bacon..it’s cheaper btw ($2.99 vs $3.99)

I gotta say, kale saute with bacon = DELICIOUS! Even hubby who was skeptical of kale being bitter also LOVED IT!

I think I’m gonna make more next time

Those ended up as my today’s lunch

I added the cauliflower fried rice after taking the pic

Tonight’s dinner was pretty random. Some beef stew, a bit of guacamole, left over kelp noodles that I made on Saturday and upictured steamed Chinese veggies.

So now you got all my weekend recap, then for this upcoming week meal should be pretty predictable huh? – beef stew plus whatever veggies I have in hand

Yep, you’re half right. But I am not that boring tho. I had 2 more Bosch pears and made another batch of Baked Stuffed Pears.
Only this time, I decided to be more generous with the guacamole.

Here’s a peek of my packed lunch for tomorrow.

beef stew, baked stuffed pears (notice how much guac there now?) and steamed chinese veggies

Have a great week. **sigh…..weekend is still a loooooooooooong way**