Days 5 & 6 - Oh boy...

Yesterday, I did a walk/jog for Day 5. I had a committee meeting and then had trivia later, so I ended up going to the Lansing City Market to catch the River Trail.

1.92 miles

26:43 minutes

179 calories

4.3 miles/hr

Today is Day 6. Between long hours at work, making sure I stick with the Couch to 5K and a lack of sleep, I am looking forward to having most of the weekend to catch up on sleep and clean the apartment a bit. My body is a bit exhausted, and I'm trying to get used to being a bit sore.

I'll finish week 1 of the Couch to 5K tomorrow with another 1.5 mile walk/jog and then start week 2 with a 30-60 minute walk. I'm hoping the weather is somewhat decent over the weekend.

Eventually, the food intake will have to be addressed, because I seem to be going through a junk food phase right now. But, that's for another time.

Day 4 - One thing at a time...

As I've been trying to get into the habit of walking/running with the Couch to 5K program, I also downloaded an app to my phone called MyFitnessPal. It's a way to keep track of what I'm eating and where my calories are coming from, and also a weight loss management tool. It tells you how you'd do in 5 weeks if every day were like today.

Well...while I'm doing well on the walking/running part so far, the food part is not coming together. I'm doing fine for a 2,000 calorie diet, but not so much for the target 1,600 they have me at.

But, I'm ok with that. I've decided I can only focus on creating one habit at a time.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get music on my phone...

Vacation - Sushi Belt

On the way to the coast on Monday of vacation, we had to stop for lunch. Our destination? SushiLand in Clackamas. AKA the sushi belt. This is an amazing idea and I wish we had one here!

Below is the sight when you walk in...

Here is the menu - these were on the tables so you could find out how much each plate would cost, and also so you could tell what was what...

Here are some of the plates we got - salmon, eel, and california rolls. We had lots more, as you'll see further down...

The other very cool thing was that we were able to watch an entire salmon be filleted and deboned with amazing precision...here is the salmon before it produced many yummy pieces of sushi!

And this is the culmination of what Eric and I ate - just the front two piles. For both of us it cost around $20 - not a bad deal at all!

Vacation - Stepping Stone Cafe

On Saturday, July 11th, we took a plane from Grand Rapids to Portland, OR (via Atlanta - yeah, I know, out of the way!) It was a long enough trip between Atlanta and Portland for me to watch two movies (Watchmen and Sunshine Cleaning).

We stayed at a friend's mom and stepdad's house in West Linn for the trip, and after we all got there, embarked on breakfast on Sunday morning. We hit the Stepping Stone Cafe in Portland. Eric and I are big fans of the Travel Channel show "Man v. Food". Adam visits Portland in one of the shows, and visits 3 places while there - Stepping Stone, Voodoo Doughnuts, and Salvador Molly's.

Eric and I outside waiting for a table...

Their menu...

Some of the decorations inside!

One of the things that really caught our eye were the Mancakes that Stepping Stone serves. They are 13 inch pancakes that are monstrous! You can get an entire stack for $4.50. Before we even left for our trip, I knew that we would order one stack of Mancakes, add blueberries, and have a side of bacon with it - for the two of us.

The Mancakes hang over the edge of the plate...we asked for extra plates!

It was like eating a piece of cake!

These were soooo yummy. Between the two of us, we ate the bacon and also half the Mancakes - we took them back to the house to eat later, but because we were gone a lot of the rest of the week, we didn't end up eating them. I highly recommend taking a trip here for breakfast - they have bunches of great food. But, we also had lots more yummy food along the way...

I'm working on catching up on blogs about our vacation, so keep an eye out!

'Twas the week of hot dogs...

So, by the time Saturday the 4th rolled around, I realized that I had eaten hot dogs at some point on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of last week. That's a crazy amount of hot dogs, and I felt it was worth a blog!

Tuesday, I quickly made two Koegel's at home for lunch, since I was really hungry. Not much to be said about that, I guess.

Wednesday, CFreaky and I went to lunch at the Downtown Dog House in Lansing. They don't have their own website, but I've linked to an article about them in the City Pulse. I've been there twice now and have been happy with the food. On this particular occasion, I had the Flint Dog (dog topped with seasoned ground beef, onions and mustard) with fries. There are many dogs to choose from, including the Philly Dog, San Fran Dog, Detroit Dog, Hawaiian Dog and lots of others. I recommend you try it!

Friday I was in Muskegon being lazy, and decided to haul myself down to G&L for a Cheddar Chili Dog Special - two dogs with yummy chili, cheddar, onions and mustard and a side of fries for $3.99 - woo hoo! So yummy...and such a classic in the Muskegon area.

However, the big deal was the Haute Dog on Saturday - yes, you read that right. HAUTE Dog. And I have photos!!!

On my Thursday visit to Mia & Grace (mmmm, buffaloaf sandwich and bacon ice cream...), Jeremy, one of the chefs/owners told me about their 4th special - a Haute Dog (homemade there!) with homemade ketchup and mustard and pickled onion, side of sweet potato chips, half a bread pudding and a homemade soda for $12. We actually only got the Haute Dog and chips because we ended up gorging on dessert (Key Lime pie, Bacon ice cream and Carrot Cake).

While we were there, they SOLD OUT of Haute Dogs - yay!!!! That means they were popular! The bun was homemade in house also - it was just fantastic - and huge!!! I kinda want one now...

Anyway, Eric had bought hot dogs and brats for the weekend, and by that point, we were tired of those, so we got pizza for dinner on Saturday night. But, we also had brats on the grill on Sunday. I highly doubt that I'll be eating hot dogs this week...lol.

Catch up...

First - this:

From girls night out at sushi - all of our orders came out on one plate, and it was awesome.

This past Monday, I went to IKEA for the first time in Canton. My friends Jen, Steph and Amy from Muskegon picked me up on their way there. I thought it was really cool to get to go. So, I took a picture of a room I really liked.

This was in the "Live in 592 sq. ft." room. I love bookshelves.

We had lunch at the cafe there. I had the Swedish meatballs. I couldn't resist - and they were so good. They came with lignonberry preserves and mashed potatoes. Mmmm.

We stopped at the outlets near Howell on the way back, then decided to eat dinner in Lansing at Asia's Finest. Everyone seemed to like it.

However, Eric and I just went to Asia's Finest tonight, and I have to show you his experience with food porn.

Actually, this was Steph's from Monday, but Eric just tried it and loved it. Yum, pho!!!

And, here's my meal (both days!) Mmm, bun dac biet....

I love food.

Weekly planning

I just took a trip to the grocery store. I thought it was a little steep that I spent $62 and didn't feel like I got much. However, on the quick drive home, I started doing the math of how much I would spend in a week without a menu.


So, taking a page out of a friend's blog...I am making a list of things for a menu this week. I am using things that I had and

Monday:

Lunch:
Chef Boyardee

Dinner:
Hamburger Helper
Corn

Tuesday:

Lunch:
Ham Sandwich
Pretzels
Applesauce

Dinner:
Chicken and Mac and Cheese
Green Beans

Wednesday:

Lunch:
Chef Boyardee

Dinner:
Leftover Hamburger Helper
Biscuits

Thursday:

Lunch:
Chef Boyardee (it was on sale, what can I say?)

Dinner:
Catfish
Corn
Biscuits

Friday:

Lunch:
Chef Boyardee

Dinner:
Leftover Chicken and Mac and Cheese
Corn

I had to get something down that I was able to follow...there may be some tweaks throughout the week, but we'll see how I do...

My main goal is to eat at home more, and I'm trying to see what works for me!

Buffaloaf!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Eric and I went to Mia & Grace on Saturday before leaving for Lansing.

While we were waiting for our food, an order of surprise escargot came out to us! We were surprised, but it's not unusual for Jeremy to send food out to us, and I didn't think anything of it...

until I heard the waitress at the table across from us (after we already dug in), say that their order was brought to the wrong table!!! Talk about feeling like an idiot! But, this was soooo good, and it had cloves of garlic on top, and the crackers are just heavenly. But, whoops.

Before ordering, which was pretty easy this time around, we decided that pork on pork action can never steer you wrong. So, Eric ordered the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin.

This was so good - it had a red wine sauce, and it was delicious. They actually ran out of it while we were there, so it was good we went when we did.

I was intrigued by the "Buffaloaf". Apparently, they get buffalo meat from a farm near Fremont, and then mix it 80/20 with bacon. They had me at the word "bacon". This was so good - it was very lean, yet had that yummy comfort food quality. The sauce was a mushroom sauce, and was so good.

And of course, dessert. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake. Heavenly...

Again, if you're in Muskegon EVER - GO THERE!!!!

Always look on the bright side of life

Yesterday, I headed to Ann Arbor with my two football tickets for the UM/MSU game in hand. I was meeting my friend Pav for lunch then the game, and it was quite the wacky day. When I woke up, the weather was nice - cool and sunny. The weather report said it might rain in Ann Arbor during the afternoon, but just showers. So, I packed my extra change of clothes, and my poncho, and headed off.

We went to lunch on State Street at Red Hawk - they have yummy burgers. I got mine medium, with cheddar cheese, bacon and barbeque sauce. They come with a side order of steak fries.

After that, we stopped at the Michigan Union for a bathroom break, and then headed down South University to check out Middle Earth. Except we only made it past the law quad, when I realized that my ticket was no longer in my back pocket...

As we rushed back to the Union, checking the sidewalks as we went, we were contemplating what to do if we didn't find the ticket...we got back to the Union, I checked the bathroom, Pav checked the couch we sat down on. Nothing. So, we went to the main desk to watch some kids arguing with the attendant there about having a non-validated student ticket, and asked if a ticket was turned in. Her first question "did a woman lose it?" Yup. "Which stall were you in?" THE END ONE!!! Yay! Someone turned in my ticket!!!!

It went straight into my zippered pocket, and we headed back toward Middle Earth. We both picked up some buttons, and then decided that it was time to head to the game. It was a fun game - the weather was great, and I had already been resigned to my team losing. But, as usual, they decided to give us glimpses of a possible win, getting my hopes up, then ultimately losing. I am appreciative that they've at least won a couple games (unlike the Lions...), but man, they could at least just strive to look mediocre. With that said, I love my Wolverines, no matter what!

Eric is working this weekend in the Ann Arbor area, so Pav and I walked back to our cars (which were north of campus, while the stadium is south). Then we decided to go to dinner at Godaiko, which is in the strip mall next to the Target plaza off Ann Arbor-Saline Rd.

We ordered an appetizer of edamame, which was much better than what we had a few weeks ago at Jelly's.

We ordered the Ocean Roll, which had tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado and masago:

A piece of fatty tuna (left) and masago (right):

A spicy california roll - a crab salad california roll with a spicy sauce on top:

And the Salmon Fusion roll - Salmon, avocado and masago, tempura battered:

Everything was much better here than what we had a few weeks ago, but still not quite as good as SanSu, Omi, and Ukai in the Lansing area. So, I really need to have some good sushi sometime soon...

It was a great day overall. It was nice seeing Pav again, it was good to get to have dinner with Eric, and I got home close to 1am, which gave me every reason to sleep in as late as I did this morning! Ah, it's nice to be lazy after a filled day!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

I had a mixed day with food today. I forgot my camera, so I had to take pictures on my phone. So, the quality might not be as good as usual.

I went to lunch today with my friend Stephanie, and we were going to try this new sushi bar in Grand Haven, but they were only open from 5-11pm, so we went to Mia & Grace.

And there was a new sandwich! When I walked in, I talked to Jaime, one of the chefs, and she told me about the Duck PB&J sandwich. Of course I tried it! It was SOOOOO good.

I also tried a new dessert - the mile high German chocolate cake. YUM!

I then went to get my hair cut and colored, then called Eric, who had gone golfing. I asked him if he was possibly interested in some sushi, so we decided to head to the sushi bar, Jelly's, in Grand Haven. It's part of a group of other restaurants I really like - including Dee-Lite and Snug Harbor.

My first problem with this place was the service. Our waiter was pretty slow, and it took us awhile to even get an order in. The place isn't very big, so it's not like they were overwhelmed, but it still took awhile. Stephanie ordered the roasted butternut squash bisque, which had a good flavor, but was way too thick for my taste.

Eric and I ordered an appetizer of edamame. Not the best - some of them were mushy, and the salt was a little too much.

And then we ordered two Jelly rolls, and the Futomaki. I also ordered a piece of nigiri - eel.

All I can say is that I've had better - a LOT better. The Jelly roll was supposed to have a "spicy sauce" and we didn't really taste any of that. The eel came on a BALL of rice - and whatever flavoring they put in the rice was way too strong for my taste. For the price, the portions were so small. I'm used to getting a large roll for $11 - not really small rolls for the same price. The eel was COLD (I don't remember ever having cold eel). I'm longing for SanSu or Ukai right now.

All in all, I doubt that I'll be heading back to Jelly's, but I will most certainly be back to Mia & Grace, though I don't know when, because it's going to be awhile before I'm in Muskegon again. I wish I could make another one of Mia & Grace and have it in Lansing.

Photographic proof...

That I cooked something...

Grilled chicken with warm mango salsa. I realize my plating technique isn't good enough for Top Chef, but wait a few more seasons...

Bacon ice cream and a long weekend...

All week I was planning on going to Muskegon on Saturday morning. By Friday night, I was just so spent that I decided to just drive there after my Happy Hour event for the Lansing Jaycees.

On Saturday, Eric, his mom, Nancy and I went to Mia & Grace. I could eat there every day if it were possible for me (since I live in Lansing...)

I had the Roasted Butternut Squash soup, and it was amazing - I dug into it before I took a picture.

I ordered the Chicken and Mushroom Ravioli with Roasted Yellow Pepper and Tomato sauce. It was amazing. The seasoning in the ravioli was great, and the pasta is made in house.

Eric ordered the Cornbread Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with a Molasses Blueberry Reduction...this might be my new favorite...the cornbread didn't overpower the pork tenderloin, which was seasoned perfectly. The reduction was soooo yummy.

Nancy got the Pecan Crusted Chicken...so good.

And of course....dessert! I got the carrot cake...

Nancy ordered the Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream - this was fantastic!!!!

And having this made me order the Creswick Bacon fresh ice cream...

The bacon was fantastic in the ice cream - the ice cream had rum in it also, so the sweet/salty combination was great.

And today, my day off, I'm relaxing, hanging out with the dog, catching up on the blog, and watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann from last week, Dexter Season 1, and I'll probably finish watching a disc of Weeds later. I probably have other things I should be doing, but oh well!!!

What a weekend...

Eric came to Lansing this weekend, and we started Friday night out with sushi. I left my camera home for this weekend. After the Thursday night fried food fest, I was just in the mood to have some sushi.

Saturday, we ran errands. Eric decided that we would go shop for my birthday present, which I told him that I wanted golf clubs and shoes. After a trip to Dick's Sporting Good in Okemos, the Pro Golf Discount store in Okemos, and the Golf Haus in Lansing, we decided to pick up the Wilson Hope set.






I also ended up with golf shoes!





That's right, those are argyle accents...

Now, time to just learn how to play golf! We also both ended up buying bowling shoes, since we're on a league that plays at Royal Scot every other week until April. Before bowling league, we went with Runs with Spatula and Corky to dinner at Ukai West. Again, no pictures from me, but it was day two of sushi.

Today there was much less going on. Eric made breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, and then we got ready and went to Forest Akers for some golf. We were there about 2 hours. I did a lot of putting, and found out I'm not too shabby at it. But, of course that's the easy part! Now, at some point, I'll have to learn how to drive...

Then, came home, read a bit, fell asleep for about an hour, and then went to dinner at Emil's on Michigan Ave. Yay for all you can eat pasta!!!!

I need more days in the weekend...

The Michael Phelps diet?

Not quite, but definitely filled the calorie intake! Last night, 6 of us went to Joe's Gizzard City, including Runs with Spatula, CFreaky, Alex, Sheryl, and Angela F. I'm writing this as I eat my Friday breakfast burrito from Jalapeno's. I'm still in awe that I can eat anything this AM...

And so, our trip to Potterville, MI began.

Random bird cage with chicken....

We ordered mass quantities of beer battered, deep fried food.

Pub Pickles - had a little kick to them, and it was cool to have pickles that weren't the chip size...

The Blue Cheese/Buffalo Mozzarella Sticks - these were sooooo good:

The Gizzard Sampler Platter - with original, garlic and herb, and cajun gizzards. There were not super chewy at all, like most gizzards I've had, and the cocktail sauce was a great dipping sauce.

We also got the Veggie Sampler Platter - I didn't get a picture of it. But, it has fried asparagus, fried green beans, fried onion peels, and sweet corn nuggets (which were AWESOME).

This is the Fried Dessert Platter - including fried cheesecake, fried donuts, fried apple cake, fried Oreos, fried Nutter Butters (with grape jelly for dipping!), and fried Cookie Dough...mmmm. Served with chocolate sauce...

I would highly recommend Joe's - it was on the Food Network, featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. All in all, I'm not feeling awful today, but not feeling too great either. This might take a few days to get over...

Recommended only once or twice a year, with full recoup time afterwards...