Panera and Pinkberry

First, great ideas from the blogvine on how to “get out of my rut.”

Some of the most tangible ones were:

• Going out to lunch midweek vs eating at my desk (suggested by http://secondcityrandomness.wordpress.com/)
• Take a cooking class one night a week (suggested by Alyssa, Fashion Fitness Foodie)
• Join a book club (suggested by Beth, Embracing Twenty Something)

The other great ideas included mixing up eats and scheduling meals with friends.  All WINS!

One thing my hubby and I’ve been doing to avoid the homebody rut, is to go on midweek date nights.  Last night we kept it easy, fairly light.  And we managed to only go places that started with “P”.  Now only if we had got some coffee at Peet’s, we’d be all set

As with every restaurant, I scan the menu before arriving to pick out my meal.  Panera also shows nutrition stats. WIN!

I was psyched to get the mediterranean veggie on a tomato basil roll:

My sandwich

Notice anything off about this? Yeah, not a tomato basil roll.  They ran out (???).  FAIL!  So asked for honey wheat, methinks this is potato.  Sigh.

To make matters worse, the hubby ordered steak and cheddar Panini and, err, well, the cheese was missing, as in nonexistent.  I convinced him to say something and the replaced the sandwich.  How can you forget half the ingredients?  Another FAIL!

Want to know what the WIN was?

Going next door to Pinkberry.

Hers and His

This was our first time to the hotspot franchise out of LA.  Since we were newbies, we got huge tastings of any flavor we wanted.  We split four tastings: original (so good), mango (awesome), coconut (bland), and pomegranate (subtle and good).  Finally we settled on a small each with toppings.  Mine included half original / half mango with granola and pineapple.  Zach’s was pomegranate with granola, kiwi, raspberries, and blueberries.  You want to know what else is a ginormous WIN?  A small cup is 180 calories (sans toppings).  That’s amazingly nuts!

Pinkberry is way better at making me happy

What’s your favorite mainstream “fast-food” chain?  Mine would be Specialties Bakery (a Cali thing)

Routine Rut…help!

As the days get longer, it is becoming increasingly clear that I’m in a rut.

Stuck in a rut

Here is a glimpse into my schedule — and let me tell ya, it looks eerily similar every single weekday.  Ugh!

612am: Jolt out of bed when alarm goes off. (Yes it is one of my neurotic ways to set my alarm on numbers not ending in 0 or 5.)  Next I shower, take out Naava, check email, turn on coffee machine, dry hair, grab lunch.

704am: Arrive at work.  Check work emails, get up to speed, prepare for 730am meeting.

730am: Have my first sip of coffee, sigh with relief at the sweet nectar.  Continue plugging away at work, mostly AM meetings.

9am: Eat my oatmeal (1 packet TJ’s cinn-apple oatmeal with 1/8 cup of old-fashioned oats, dash of cinn).  Keep working…

12pm: Lunch, woohoo.  I tend to eat the same thing at least 3 days a week — this week it is broccoli slaw, orange peppers, and chickpeas with pepitas and TJ’s fat-free vinaigrette.  Oh and yes I work while I eat.  Usually I’m on a telecon.

3pm: Snack time, which is either a granola bar, Chobani yogurt, granola and a latte, or a serving of jelly beans (nom!).

5pm: Head home, change in clothes to walk Naava for 20 minutes.  Feed Naava, Myko, and Neci.  Work out for 45-60 minutes in my apartment complex gym.  Check home emails, blogs, etc.

630pm: Start making dinner.  Simultaneously put away dishes, sweep, clean up the house. Field work emails — work from home as necessary.

7pm:  Eat (usually by myself since I can’t wait until >745p when the hubby finally gets home).  Next I lay out my shoes and jewelry for the next work day as well as pack my lunch.

745pm: Grab a glass of vino and catch up 2-3 DVRed shows.

9pm: Get in bed with kindle.

930pm: Drool on pillow, passed out.

I’m not kidding you when I say this is what nearly every single day looks like.  I have this extreme desire to check everything out off my checklist as soon as possible, and then when I’m done, I’m bored.  I’m also lonely.  My schedule opposes the hubby’s quite a bit so really we have about an hour each night together.  I miss my bestie time that easily filled those voids, but alas she is in Boston.

So HELP ME!

What are some steps I can take to get out of my routine rut?

Are you a creature of habit, living the same schedule day after day?

Beatnik Club BBQ

Curious title, no?

On Saturday as part of a Birthday outing for our friend Jesse, we planned to go to the Forage SF’s Underground Market…whatever that is, right?

The downstairs was less crowded...meep

The SF Underground Market was conceived of by Iso Rabins in early December 2009. Frustrated by his inability to get a booth at legit farmers markets  (to be in most farmers markets in SF you need to be certified as the primary producer of the food you sell, and since wild foraged food grows on its own, there is technically no producer), as well as amazed by the wealth of delicious professional quality food being made in Bay Area home kitchens.

The first market was held in a private home in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco, with 8 vendors, and about 200 attendees.  Now at number three (at the time of this post) , It has grown to 47 vendors and over 1,200 people attending.

The SF Underground Market is an incubator. A place where budding businesses can get a leg up on their road to legitimacy.

You can also read about the NY Times description of the “renegade” market here.

Is it weird that my first thought was what the heck do I wear to this thing?  Is it granola-y?  Artist-y?  Grunge?  Hippie?  Dressy?  So I went tried and true with jeans and boots (it was chilly in SF). 

Can’t go wrong with jeans and a tee right?

I was extremely hesitant to eat anything at all, but decided if I did, I would stick with veggie items only.  

Here are some eats:

Veggie red curry tofu

Zach's spicy meatball slider (they had basil mushroom balls for vegetarians)

3 (of 12) varieties of bread pudding: maple, PB, and death by chocolate. Such a brilliant idea

And the shining star:

Suite Foods belgian waffle (the remains)

If I could have this as my last meal on this earth, I would.  Only it would be quadrupled in size.  Rather than batter, they used a dough, which made the waffle cake light and oh-so-glorious!

Have you ever heard of an event like this?  Did you go?

What would your last meal include?   Or if that’s too morbid, your most indulgent meal?