Me on the other hand, I am getting a good exercise by walking between the refrigerator and the pantry instead of doing the laundry, folding the said laundry, setting up the guest bedrooms, unpacking, etc. Current distraction - Samoas girl scout cookies and ice cream. This delicious piece of heaven is a vanilla cookie coated in caramel, sprinkled with toasted coconut and laced with chocolate stripes. Have you joined me in the cookie heaven yet? Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Distractions, Samoas cookies, and ice-cream
Me on the other hand, I am getting a good exercise by walking between the refrigerator and the pantry instead of doing the laundry, folding the said laundry, setting up the guest bedrooms, unpacking, etc. Current distraction - Samoas girl scout cookies and ice cream. This delicious piece of heaven is a vanilla cookie coated in caramel, sprinkled with toasted coconut and laced with chocolate stripes. Have you joined me in the cookie heaven yet? Monday, April 19, 2010
You Win Some, You Loose Some
The weekend started off with a visit to Paulo. That man does magic with my hair...I feel like a new person every time I leave the salon. I could only wish when I move that I can take Paulo with me. A girl could dream. So not only do I have an incredible hairstylist, but amazing friends. They all knew chef was out of town, and made sure I had a hot meal every day.
It all started on Friday night with a Shabbat dinner at Jen's - sorry no pictures. I love Shabbat dinners - sharing a meal with those that you love, honoring the tradition and religion, absolutely beautiful. The curiosity of course always gets the better of me and I had 1 million questions about Shabbat....I will learn one day, I promise.

Since the race was in honor of the Earth Day, there were a lot of "Green" companies showcasing great innovative products and different charities, among many was the South Plantation High Animal Science and Horticulture Program showcasing all of their "pets": Baby Goat (the actual name for a 3 week old goat), snakes, possums, lizards and some other creatures. Obviously I felt in love with the Baby Goat. I have about 20+ pictures of this little goat. He was quite shy and wasn't a fan of my camera in his face, but I managed to get some good shots. There were many different ECO/GREEN/SUSTAINABLE vendors and my favorite was the Fetch Branding marketing company promoting "GREEN" messaging with a slogan "I am NOT thrasy".... so cool....wish I was that clever to come up with stuff like that...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Catch Me If You Can and Small Victories....
The 15K course featured spectacular beach start and finish, all kinds of entertainment along the way, refreshment stations, but no clocks. Well into my drive to Clearwater, I was mentally going through all the stuff that I packed, when I realized I left my beloved GARMIN at home. The panic set in as I am not used to running without my Garmin. I figured a race like this would have clock(s) on the course and that should get me through my time obsession. Well, that never happened and the whole time I was stressing out about my time. I was so desperate that at one point I asked a woman who was running next to me if she can tell me the pace we were running, but she said she doesn't want to know. My only thought was why is she wearing a Garmin????
So as of today, here is what I have accomplished:
5K - 29:29
10K - Will be running on April 25th
15K - 1:35
1/2 marathon - 2:20
During the race, all I could think of is ordering Lox and bagel when I got back to my room. But I got so distracted that I missed the cut of breakfast time. I was meeting couple of friend bloggers for lunch around noon, but I needed something to tie me over till than, so I looked deep in my backpack and found a banana, GREEN SuperFood chocolate whole food energy bar (who doesn't like chocolate for breakfast) and ZICO Coconut Water. It was a perfect post race breakfast enjoyed on the hotel room patio. Can I just say that my room, actually I was upgraded to a junior suite, was incredible.
I leave you with a great quote I heard on the podcast this weekend:
"We run because it makes us feel like winners, no matter how slow or fast we go. "
- Florence Griffith Joyner and John Hanc
* Iron Girl Photos Courtesy of Iron Girl Series Events
Monday, April 12, 2010
Weekly Menu
I am sad to report that the last week's menu felt apart on us some time around Tuesday. The chef mixed up the days and the menu, so we really didn't follow what was planned. Though we did manage to eat all the fresh stuff we bought, so I guess it wasn't a total loss. Nedjelja: Thailandska pasta od kikirikija sa piletinom
Pondjeljak: Piletina sa maslinovim uljem, ljutim paprikama, paradajzom u pita kruhu (ako je ovo na jelovniku, onda znate za sigurno da se to vecer igra poker)
Utorak: Grilana piletina sa pastom i umakom od bosiljka i hladnom grah salatom
Srijeda: Njoki sa umakom od bosiljka
Cetvrtak: Bitka u kuhinji (ja kuham)
Petak: Sabat vecera sa Jen
Subota: tko ziv, tko mrtav.....
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Let the Celebrations Begin!!!!!
Do you know what April means? No, not the April Fools Day or the Tax Day or the April showers, but MY birthday. Coincidentally, I share my birthday month with 13 other family members and friends, but somehow I still manage to make it my month. Yes, you read it correctly, my birthday month. Oh people, if you haven't figured out by now that this blog is about ME....you should probably stop reading about now....Ever since I can remember I always loved celebrating my birthday and the older I get the more I enjoy it. Birth marks a new beginning, and so with every birthday I feel as though I have a chance of a new beginning. It's a new window to the chance of a lifetime. I guess, birthdays are for me what New Year and New Year Resolutions are for others.
The most magical moment of birthday celebration is when I close my eyes, make a wish and blow the candles. In that split second the future or at least the next year magically appears in front of me and all is good. My heart is warm. I know I will have another extraordinary year full of great experiences. The more candles I have to blow out, the longer I can feel what the future holds for me...or at least hope.
Birthdays are truly magical. My birthdays are all about ice-cream, joy, chocolate cakes, happiness, champagne, hope, colorful candles, birthday cards, and most of all love. But let's not forget presents...I love, love, love presents. Ah the more, the merrier, and the smaller the box, the better the gift. And yes, I am spoiled, and I can only thank the chef for that because he gives me a present every week of the birthday month though he complains that it is called a birthDAY for a reason and not a birthMONTH, ... oh well, I keep on celebrating.
On those milestone birthdays, like 25 and 30, I received a blue box and a red box, but this year started off with a a flash back to my teenage years - a black box - CONVERSE original sneakers...I felt like I am 16 again. What would a birthday celebration be without a little bit of chocolate. But this time, it was a lot of chocolate - a double fudge chocolate cupcake. This cupcake was so dense, even I couldn't finish it, but now I can savor it for the rest of the week. Tiny little pleasures - Yum!!!
I have no idea what he has planned for the rest of the month (considering we won't see each other until the wee end of the month), but even though this is no milestone birthday, it will be a big one. For the first time in 15 years, my mom and dad will be with me and of all places, we will be in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Being with la familia is really the best gift of all.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easter Brunch at Michael's Genuine
It's safe to say, we did not like this cupcake at all...Yeah right!!!!!! Don't you worry, I ate all the crumbs...there was nothing left on that plate but the paper.
Of course, the outing would have not been complete if we didn't have another parking situation, this time with the parking meter. Since we were running late, and surprise, surprise it was not my fault, I ran into the restaurant so they wouldn't give our table away, the chef was left outside to take care of the parking. According to chef, the parking meter charged his credit card but did not give him the receipt to display in the window so he had to purchase it again and now he is disputing the charges with the City of Miami....Perhaps I should start a blog on parking, valeting, meters and such....it's always an adventure.
Weekly Menu - Cleaning the Pantry
Since I love food shopping almost as much as clothes shopping, but not as much as shoe shopping, lately our refrigerator and pantry have been bursting at seems. So in honor of the project "Cleaning out the refrigerator and pantry", this week's menu is inspired by the food that we already have. Bringing the creativity to the new levels;) The only thing that we are buying this week is the meat since the chef does not like to keep any meat except the chicken in the freezer. I was also forewarned that the chef may not be available for the whole week, so there is a good chance that things may change and breakfast menu or hummus will make the appearance.Sunday: Tomato, asparagus and egg pizza on naan bread
Monday: Turkey/Beef (not sure what chef will pick) burgers with roasted peppers and sweet potato fries
Tuesday: Turkey/Beef (not sure what chef will pick) meat balls with wheat spaghetti and steamed broccoli
Wednesday: Grilled mojo chicken + pesto wheat pasta + black bean/red onion salad
Thursday: Pesto sauce gnocchi
Friday: I will be on my way to Clearwater for the Iron Girl 15K so something nutritious
Sunday, April 4, 2010
How did we do...A+
Sunday: The Red Light Benefit Soiree
Monday: Kitchen Wars -Ravioli with Wilted Spinach and Sauteed Mushrooms
Tuesday: Tilapia with Quinoa, Feta and Cucumber (the chef never made it last week)
Friday: Seared Scallops and Spring Veggies - since this was prepared on Thursday, chef made a mish- mash of everything in the refrigerator that was leftover from the week - chicken, sausage, asparagus, peas, carrots, feta cheese and eggs. It was a great dinner to fuel me for the 8 mile run next morning.
The chef would like me to clarify the "we" in all of the cooking posts...I thought it was obvious - he cooks and I provide the entertainment!!!!! I am usually standing at the bar, taking numerous pictures or playing on twitter (not sure which bugs him more, photos or twitter), and than I set the table. After dinner, I do the clean-up of plates (tw0), since chef does the cleaning while he cooks, all else is pretty much done.
So, yes, I still say "we" as I am there cheering him on, or as he would say bugging the crap out of him with my photos. Each dinner is usually 20+ photos of food and another 10 or so of him making faces at me. On occasion, I will stand beside him and cut up some vegetables or stir something, but like I said, those are very rare occasions. Plus, we are better off if I am standing on the other side of the bar, the kitchen is too small for two of us....
Fundraising Soiree at the Red Light
When we arrived to the RED LIGHT, we were greeted by the lovely @4theloveoffood and @barefootcount. Since the SFL Foodies know each other by twitter or blog names, they decided to give the chef a twitter name so he wouldn't feel left out - meet @chefnada. Let's just be clear that chef is still not a fan of twitter and does not understand my obsession. But than again after 12 years he still doesn't understand my shoe obsession either, so this may take some time.
I was so happy that I attended the event as it gave me a chance to finally meet so many of the amazing foodies and chefs in person. No matter how much I love twitter, blogosphere, facebook, emails (aka the 21st century), there is nothing like meeting people in person. The evening wouldn't have been complete if the chef (my chef) did not get into an argument with the parking attendant....There is something about the parking garages and valeting that irks him every time we go out. Without the fail, this time was no different.... Nonetheless, it was a beautiful evening that I was glad to be part of.
Red Light Little River
7700 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33138-5132
305-757-7773
























