meal plan monday: july 30.

so... honesty time: last week's meal plan was kind of a bust. i mean, it was a great plan, but i kind of failed HARD when it came to actually following through with said plan. i think the only meals from the plan that we actually ate were the quesadillas and the frozen raviolis, because they were quick and easy, and because i was super lazy. the rest of the week, we managed to survive on leftovers, chick-fil-a, and a family birthday party, which all made for some pretty good eating... but i'd have to say the low point of the week was definitely the night that i ate some grapes and a brownie for dinner.

but even though dinner last week was a flop, breakfast turned out to be a major win. i needed to use up some of the rotten bananas that were chilling on my counter attracting fruit flies, so i tried a pinterest recipe for banana oatmeal muffins.

for being gluten free-ish (well, they dont use any flour, so if you use GF oats, then i guess they count) they were pretty delish. Mark and i have both been eating them for breakfast all week, even though Mark is not usually a fan of banana-bread-type-things. two thumbs up from each of us.

 

so since i could only get it together enough to cover breakfast and lunch last week (2 outta 3 meals aint bad, right?) this week's plan is basically a carbon copy of last week's, just slightly rearranged to make the best use of previously purchased perishable ingredients, which is thankfully going to make for a super-easy grocery trip today.

Monday: vegetable tian.
Tuesday: tilapia with cucumber salad.
Wednesday: cilantro lime chicken with rice.
Thursday: crock pot beef burgundy.
Friday: leftovers.
Saturday: frozen raviolis.
Sunday: tacos.

Birthday Weekend NYC

 yes, my birthday isn't for another 8 days. BUT my BFITW's birthday was 8 days ago. which makes today, the day right in between the two, the perfect day to tell you all about our most wonderful birthday weekend adventures! (also, because i forgot yesterday)(alsoalso, today is Pi Day. coincidence? i think not!)(sine cosine cosine sine! 3.14159!)(wow, nerd much?) 

we're turning 25 this year. (or 52, depending on how you hold the balloons)



apparently at 52 your back just gives up

turning 25 is the last birthday with any real reason to look forward to (cheap car insurance FTW!) so we decided to celebrate this year in style. New York City style. we made a few plans. but our overarching plan was just to wing it and have a good time. our good friend Nadine suggested that we make a list of 25 things that we wanted to do on our 25th birthday weekend. so we did.

and then we did all of the things on it.

1. Anything Goes. the main event of the weekend, and the one thing we had to plan in advance. we bought our cheapseat tickets and sat on the aisle in the next to the last row AND WE LOVED IT! seriously, there are no bad seats at these shows, and this one was freaking fantastic. the music was awesome, the premise was hilarious, and the dancing - can i just say "entire ensemble tap number?" dang, that was impressive.

2. Central Park. granted, we spent most of our time walking around looking for a bathroom, but we did manage to cover an impressive amount of park in our wanderings.



  

  

3. Times Square. is way cooler at nighttime than during the day. so glad that our random wanderings managed to get us there at the right time to enjoy all the lights. 

4. Toys R Us Ferris Wheel. for as many times as i have been to the city, i have never rode the big ferris wheel inside Toys R Us. and for as many times as Julie has been to the city (more than me) she had never even been inside the store. so yes, we were those girls who were obviously too old to be so excited to be riding in a Cabbage Patch Kid gondola and we didnt even have anyone under the age of 10 with us to use as a cover. i have no regrets.

5. Empire State Building. this part of our adventure included my sister with the babies (who are like all growed up into full-fledged kids!) and her husband. we bypassed all the lines with a VIP pass and took in the sights from both the 85th and 102nd floors. it pays to have an awesome brother in law who works in the Empire State Building.

6. Exchange Presents. this was the first thing we did, because we love presents and also because we didnt want to have to carry them around taunting us all weekend before we could open them. best friend necklaces, a pink sparkle clutch, and some gorgeous painted wine glasses were exchanged. happy birthday to us!

7. Go Out To Dinner. on our way to Times Square we stopped in a little cafe to eat. it wasnt a fancy dinner, but it counts.

8. Drink Something Alcoholic. thank you Jimmy! whatever it was that you mixed together in those glasses, it was delicious!

9. Minion Cupcakes. ok. so we saw this picture on Pinterest and decided that we absolutely NEEDED these cupcakes. they were fun and surprisingly easy to make, and they were some tasty artery-clogging goodness. note for next time: invite people to help you eat them all, and cover them overnight unless you really like super crunchy twinkies.

source



10. Shamrock Shakes! because its March. duh.

11. UnicornHockeyPuckMonkeyMonkeyUnderpants. is a mix CD we made in college. full of songs with wonderful keychanges. we made several of these mixes over the years. this was by far our best effort. also, wonderful tunes for driving, and an amazing Gilmore Girls reference.

12. Take at Least 25 Pictures on Each Camera. the last few times we've been together, we've forgotten to take any pictures. not this time. no way.

13. Eat Good Bagels. Abi went out on Saturday morning and got these from the best bagel place in the city, which just so happens to be in their neighborhood. ours had vegetable cream cheese and Lox. which is salmon. and surprisingly delicious.

14. Go For a Run. its been forever since we've run together, and it felt good to burn off those minon cupcakes from the night before. by our best estimate we did almost 3 miles without even realizing it. yay us!

15. Eat From a Street Vendor. the worst soft pretzel we have ever had.

16. Buy (think about buying/haggle for) a Knock-off. he just wouldnt budge on his price. so i walked away. i'm only a little sad about it.

17. Sushi. oh yes we did. Jimmy took us to a buffet right around the corner from his office. there were a few that i tried and did not care for, but for the most part everything was delicious and filling and the desserts were so tiny and adorable!

18. New York Pizza. remember that random place that we stopped for dinner on our way to Times Square? yeah, we count a slice of pizza and some mango snapple as going out for dinner.

19. Ride the Subway. we did it twice. all by ourselves. Jimmy pointed us in the right direction to get us down to Lower Manhatten, and when we wanted to get back we just picked a random subway station and it just so happened that we picked a good one and we rode it back north to Central Park.

20. Stop at a Convenience Store/Rest Stop. ok so at this point we were struggling to come up with things to finish our list. but we did it, both on our way to and from the city. and it was fun. honest!

21. Try Something New. for me, it was the sushi. for Julie, it was fish on her bagel. 25 things is a lot for one weekend, ok?

22. Get Gas in Jersey. we almost missed our chance on the way in, but stopped at the last rest stop in New Jersey for a snack and for gas that we didn't have to pump ourselves.

23. Ride the Train. Abi and Jimmy rode the train into the city with us in the morning. later after the show, we had to find our own way back. we only got a little bit turned around, (we were NOT lost) but we had to run through the station to catch the train back to Queens. so what if we added it to the list just to cross it off? it was all part of the adventure.

24. Parallel Park. in between two cars. go ahead. be impressed. i know i was. (Abi fixed it for me later. shhhh... dont tell!)

25. Sign the Brooklyn Bridge. this one was kind of a happy surprise bonus for us. we were trying to go to the 9/11 Memorial, but by the time we realized that we needed to get tickets to get in, we would have had to wait 2 hours just until we could get in line to get into the memorial, and we didnt have that kind of time. so instead we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. (confession: we really only did half of it.)

and on our way back, we decided to sign it. just to let people know we had been there. you know, in case we ended up getting shot on the subway later in the day, we didnt want to be forgotten.

so that was our epic 25th birthday weekend celebration! sorry for the long post and the millionandahalf pictures, but it was a jam-packed weekend and i wanted to tell you all just how awesome it was! sometimes facebook albums just dont quite cut it.

if you're looking to have an epic NYC weekend, i know a place with a couch and an air mattress where company is always welcome as long as you dont mind being woken up by a 4-year old tickling your feet or a 2-year old jumping on your bed. but make your reservations soon, because they won't be in the city much longer!

so, anyone have any fun plans for Pi Day!?

let's do the time warp again.

time warp - (n) a hypothetical eccentricity in the progress of time that would allow movement back and forth between eras or that would permit the passage of time to be suspended.

we spent last weekend in the most delightful time warp at my sister Stasi's house in WPA.

when we woke up on Saturday morning, it was Christmas all over again! there was a beautiful tree, an abundance of presents, and the best sisters, brothers-in-law, and niece and nephew who were all VERY excited to be all together in one place.

presents were opened in an unorganized flurry of wrapping paper and boxes and shouts of joy and excitement. the spoils included all sorts of happy things: tailgating stuff, bike stuff, sewing stuff, sleeping bags, a new camera, games,  toys, and enough chocolate to keep us all nice and hyper for at least a week.

and if that weren't awesome enough, we also got to celebrate New Years all on the same day! we spent the afternoon preparing for the big party full of family and friends and food and drink and games and even a fancy cake. because a party just isn't a fancy party without a cake. a fancy cake.

Claire designed it. Aunt Stasi baked it. Nick helped with the icing.

it was one of the fanciest cakes i've ever seen. just check out those delicate piping details and the way the flowers just pop right out at you. and it was delicious too. really, what more could you ask for in a cake?

it was a very great, very fancy party with fabulous people. we played fun games and ate good food and laughed til our stomachs hurt and almost lost track of time. but we managed to squeeze everyone into the same room just in time to watch the ball drop at midnight.

it was a fantastic way to end 2011. it was a fantastic way to kick off 2012. it was hard to come back home to my quiet house with its piles of laundry and dishes. it was sad to look at my Christmas decorations and know that i will have to take them down soon. i miss my sisters. i miss my BFITW.

let's do the time warp again. soon.

how to make the most amazing birthday cake ever.

a little while back, i mentioned my pinterest-inspired art project and how it turned out. this weekend, it was my sister's turn to attempt something that she had pinned for my niece's 4th birthday: the cake. it was quite an adventure, and we think it is only fair to everybody else who has pinned this cake that we share our experience of attempting it.   

8:00 pm - put the kids to bed. it's time to get your bake on! you have inspiration and a recipe and are ready to knock this thing out!

8:35 pm - realize that your organic from-scratch cake batter is looking more like cookie dough. this may not have been the best time to try a new recipe.

8:37 pm - consult with sister as to the best course of action.

8:38 pm - shrug, add some more milk, and carry on.

8:43 pm - gather every large vessel you own. split batter into 6 equal parts to dye all the colors of the rainbow with food coloring gel (except for indigo, because is that really even a color anymore?)

8:54 pm - abandon all now-dirtied large pots in favor of dirtying all the cereal bowls instead.

9:15 pm - put first four layers into parchment lined pans. cross your fingers and close the oven.

9:21 pm - ignore hubs inquiry as to whether or not he smells fire.

9:30 pm - confirm that something was indeed burning. but at least it wasn't the cake! make a mental note to trim the parchment paper to fit the pans next time... 

9:32 pm - express disbelief that this is really how your awesome cake is turning out. 

9:45 pm - try to determine how to proceed from this point. does a birthday party really NEED a cake?

10:05 pm - do not even bother to attempt to bake the final two layers. just trash it all. curse pinterest for putting this idea in your head.

10:14 pm - head to the grocery store.

10:22 pm - semi-seriously consider just buying a generic grocery store birthday cake.

10:23 pm - pick up boxed cake mixes and two cans of white buttercream icing. ready for round two.

10:45 pm - mix up cake batter in no time flat.

10:58 pm - use two cake mixes to make six layers of multi-colored cake. bake in oiled-and-floured pans in lieu of messing with parchment. they all turn out great.

11:45 pm - use both cans of icing to stack and dirty ice the cake. make a mental note to get more icing before the party.

12: 10 am - put cake in fridge for the night. vow to clean up the kitchen in the morning.

12:13 am - go to bed.

1:12 am - wake up, confused to hear a soothing woman's voice crooning something about BEEP BEEP BEEP CARBON MONOXIDE BEEP BEEP BEEP

1:13 am - turn off the detector. contemplate just going back to sleep.

1:14 am - figure it's probably in your best interest to call the fire department instead.

1:17 am - two firetrucks bearing some of New York's finest arrive. they inspect the house, and take readings to determine the source of the elevated CO levels.

1:23 am - the source is determined to be the oven. apparently extended baking with all the windows shut will elevate levels just enough to trip the alarm. stupid cake.

1:24 am - realize the disastrous state of your kitchen while the firemen wander about your house. kind of regret decision to clean up in the morning.

1:25 am - open all the windows and wait for CO levels to normalize. 

2:03 am - firefighters leave, looking a little disappointed that they didn't get to rip down any walls or anything.

2:05 am - go back to bed.

6:28 am - the kids wake up, because they somehow managed to sleep through all the midnight excitement.

11:45 am - husbands return from their morning excursions (on which they took the car with the carseats and ALL THE KEYS) with two more cans of icing, among other things.

12:03 pm - use another can and a half of icing to cover the cake. (that's three and a half total, if you're counting.) decorate with skittles, a detail you added yourself to give the cake more flair.

2:32 pm - light the candles. sing happy birthday. 

2:33 pm - the birthday girl makes a wish, and blows out the candles.

2:35 pm - cut the cake. jumping up and down while shrieking "ohmygosh it looks so great!" is entirely optional and might get you some wierd looks from other partygoers, but it's also completely appropriate behavior. honest.

2:37 pm - serve to the birthday girl with pride and ENJOY!

so the moral of this cake story is that it can be done, but you might want to have a backup plan. and plenty of icing. and a few hours to kill. and some firefighters on speed dial, just in case. 

so now that you know just how exciting a pinterest project can be, who's next?