I will never go back to microwaving my oatmeal.

I don’t know how it took me this long to cook my oats on the stovetop. I guess I was so into the ease and quickness of doing them in the microwave. But oh my goodness, stove top oats have so much more “oomph” to them.

These are my oatmeal ingredients.

I boiled up one cup of water, then mixed 1/2 cup of oats. Once most of the water was absorbed I added in a pinch of chia seeds (I didn’t measure; I just literally pinched some seeds and dropped them in) and then crumbled a banana in it. Once everything was absorbed, I took it off the heat and added in about a dozen fresh cranberries. Then it was topped with the crunchy peanut butter and granola.

Look at how fluffy that is! So fluffy, I could die! And it was stick-to-the-ribs good! I had it alongside a cup of Eight O’clock coffee with 2%, sugar and some organic French vanilla syrup.

Seriously, best breakfast ever. I don’t know what I was missing!

What is your favorite breakfast?

Oh, and PS: Do you like my new layout?? Thank you to Julie at Savvy Eats for creating my new page! I love it.

Oh Forum, Forum.

I really want to like you.

Your atmosphere is simple and chic. Your cocktails, beer and wine list are extensive without being overwhelming. And your menu is tasty and intriguing.

But your service…oh your service needs work.

Sunday, after the Home Show, David and I decided to use up some of my gift cards that I had received for Christmas. Since we’re moving away from the city, now is the time to use up the gift cards while we’re still close. I had a few from Forum, so we decided on that spot.

When we arrived, at first, the doors were so heavy that I didn’t even think it was open. Someone finally came out to “check out the weather” and we were led in. The bar was busy, since it was the NFL playoffs, but the dining room in the front of the restaurant was wide open.

I liked the little pops of color.

For a beer, I had asked for the Rapscallion Honey Ale. The waiter left, then came back to say that the tap had been dry since the night before. Ok, no big deal. My next choice, I actually can’t remember the name, and the beer list isn’t on their website. But it was a nice and light beer.

For a starter, I decided on the Boston bibb lettuce with white balsamic vinaigrette, pickled red onions, goat cheese, toasted almond and fine herb.

Again, I LOVE Boston bibb lettuce! It was so butter and delicious and the dressing covered it perfectly. The goat cheese and almonds were the perfect touch.

Not too long after, and while we were still eating our starters, our dinners came out. No big deal. We were hungry. I ordered the braised Cornish hen in red wine with confit of heirloom potatoes, celery root puree and carrots.

I loved the slight gaminess of the hen and it complimented wonderfully with the cool, refreshing flavor of the puree. I’m sometimes cautious when ordering something with bones in, in case I can’t get all the meat with a knife and fork. But this dish was fall of the bone and delicious.

At this point, I was all for getting dessert, so we asked for the dessert menu.

Then we waited…and waited…and waited. It was probably a good 5 minutes before he came back. By then, we just wanted to go home and decided to get a pint of ice cream at Shaw’s and share, instead of bothering with dessert.

I then gave him some gift cards to ring through. That alone took about 5 minutes as well. Then he proceeded to tell me that the way the gift cards work was that he would have to manually put in the tip so that he can deduct it. He asked me what I would like to leave for a tip. I told him we were leaving cash. Is it just me, or is that just something you don’t ask a guest? We asked to just have our final check, but that never even came. We finally gave up and left. As we were leaving, we told him that he didn’t have to bother with getting us the bill; he was reading a magazine.

When all was said and done, I was so disappointed in our experience. I had heard good and bad things about the restaurant, but with the delicious food, I was so hoping for the complete package. Maybe if they can improve their service, it will be.

Forum is located at 755 Boylston Street in Boston’s Back Bay.

This was the only week where it actually felt like winter in Boston. There was snow fall when I was coming home from work on Monday and Thursday, and then about 4 to 5 inches of accumulation on Saturday. That, along with some tight thigh muscles, made for a bit of a low week. I’m optimistic that the rest of the month will look better.

Monday: Recovery from the 9 miles on Sunday
Tuesday: Same upper body workout that I did last week
Wednesday: 4 miles @ 36 minutes @ 9:07 pace
Thursday: 2 miles with Grace @ no timing
Friday: Closed on the house!!
Saturday: 1.42 miles in the snow
Sunday: 8.5 miles on the treadmill

Week mileage: 15.92
Total mileage: 129.71

And the Sunday long run was supposed to be 10 miles, but dang, treadmills are tough.

We’ll get ‘em next time!

Dinner tonight was supposed to be TJ’s frozen Mandarin Orange Chicken, but when I went grocery shopping, these were on sale.

And dinner was scrapped. I made baked pork chops instead. With these as side items, along with some broccoli.

For the pork chops I dunked them in a mixture of 1 egg with a bit of milk, then in some Italian style breadcrumbs before placing them in a sauté pan for about 5 minutes on both sides until they browned. They were then transferred to the oven at 325* for 25 minutes. They came out so moist and delicious! I’ve never been all that successful with baking anything that has breadcrumbs so this was a win for me. And the sides were great. I loved the tater tots! Brought me back to my cafeteria days.

Hope everyone has a great week! I have a 7-day work stretch before my next days off. This Friday, David and I are going to another home show! Love it!

I’m sure we’re all familiar with Monday Musings, Tuesday Things and What I Ate Wednesday. It’s the fun idea of taking a day out of the week to always have something to talk about. Well, I’m starting my own: Sunday Stuff. My life during the week certainly isn’t as exciting to write about it 3 times a day, but I’m sure enough goes on for 7 days, that dedicating one day to talk about it could be fun. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Today was my long run day and the plan was to run 10 miles. Weeellll, it snowed yesterday and accumulation was significant enough for me to move the run indoors. Bally Total Fitness lets you try out their facilities free for a week so I decided to print out the coupon and walk over this afternoon. Thankfully there were treadmills available but it was HAWT inside that gym. For the first 6 miles, things were going well, and I was hanging on to a sub-10 minute mile pace. But the machine stopped me at that point and I decided to take a little break and then hop on another machine to finish out the 10 miles. The next machine I got on was rattling and I only got about 2.5 miles in before the heat got to me and my left ankle was bothering me. So 8.5 mile was it for me. But these runs definitely make the good runs look great. And I still have a month out before the half so I know I can get the proper mileage in.

David and I decided to head to the Home Show at the Hynes Convention Center to get some ideas for the house. On the way, I snacked on some quinoa with black beans, salsa and crushed tortilla chips.

We were there for about an hour looking at flooring, windows, siding and so on.

After the show, we went to dinner but that will be in a separate review.

Cameron over at Cheapsally.com e-mailed me with this infographic about marathon training and running. Some great information! And I really thought that the #1 running injury was knee injury’s.

5 Random Facts about Me

(I also love these kind of posts because I can be as random as I want!) Hmm, now what can I think of that you don’t know about me? Or that I would want you all to know.

1) I’m a huge fan of the heavy metal band Disturbed. I’ve seen them twice in concert and think David Draiman is the sexiest man in rock and roll.

{Source}

Yep, I dig the chin piercings.

2) I was born on March 18, 1984; my great-grandfather was born on March 20, 1884. Not the same day, but pretty close, 100 years apart.

3) If I wanted to live in any era in any part of the world, it would be Spain in the 1920s, just like The Sun Also Rises.

4) My favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption and my favorite song is “Push” by Matchbox 20.

5) I have never been to the Grand Canyon.

Oh yes, and um…

THE PATRIOTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!!

How has your weekend been? Any fun fact you want to share?

Three things have taken over my life right now: work, training and designing for our new house.

Work

Our holiday party was this past week and even though I had to work, I still was able to join in on the delicious dinner and the fun photo booth! I was also up for employee of the year, but didn’t win. It was still a great night though!

Because the hotel I work at is turning 100 years old this year, the theme of the party was Titanic. Hence, the lifesaver and the Irish immigrant.

Training

It’s been a pretty uneventful week with running. It’s actually starting to feel like January (colder weather) and the tops of my thighs have been super tight lately. I’ve been taking it pretty easy this week since I have a 10-miler planned for the weekend. With my experience in half marathon training, sticking to the long runs is what I know will help me the most.

House

David and I stopped by the property today. I don’t mind showing you what the house looks like now since we’re going to be tearing it down! But it is a nice little plot o’ land that we got.

And I’m super excited about some floors that I found! I was unsure what to use since our cabinets are going to be dark, but I didn’t want too light of wood for the floors. I was able to find the best of both worlds:

{Source}

It’s the the look of wood grain that David likes and it has differing stain colors to help pull the look of the cabinets without matching it entirely. I get so excited about this stuff. Hey, David has his tools, I’ll have the wood.

Although I think the most exciting thing is that WE CLOSE TOMORROW!!! So after that, the property will be all ours. Then we wait on the permits to tear down the structure and we are good to go! So much to do, and only till the end of May to do it in.

What type of style do you like? I’m really into some of the craftsman styles but also like clean lines and brushed nickel.

A chill has finally come to Boston! And apparently the northern part of the state got some snow. Of course, nothing but rain fell here in Boston. I’m not complaining though. Although yesterdays 9 mile run was like a slap in the face with those wind chills! But I made it through and had another successful week.

Monday: The lovely 7-3 shift
Tuesday: 4.5 miles @ 40 minutes @ 8:54 pace
Wednesday: 3.02 miles @ 28 @ 9:20 pace
Thursday: Did this awesome upper body workout from Hillary’s blog
Friday: 7 x 400 interval run @ 4 miles @ 36 minutes @ 8:52 pace
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 9 miles @ 1:29:55 @ 9:59 pace

Week mileage: 20.52
Total mileage: 113.79

Woo-hoo! What a great week that was. Hopefully weather won’t be as bad as Sunday was, but you never know living in New England!

On Sunday, I had to venture to the North End to use a Groupon I had purchased for some cupcakes. Since we were already going to be in that neighborhood, David and I decided to have dinner there. I checked my gift card stash and settled on Trattoria Il Panino.

David was looking for something that was quick dining, nothing too intimate or loud. On a Saturday night, I was hoping that this restaurant would deliver. And it did! We were seated immediately and we perused the menu. It took about 5 or so minutes before anyone approached us, but the service was quick after that.

I decided on a glass of cabernet sauvignon which was nice and spicy. For a starter, we both had the Boston bibb salad with candied walnuts and aged balsamic vinegar.

It was the perfect little salad. I love the buttery-ness of Boston bibb lettuce and the salad was perfectly coated with the dressing

For dinner I chose the fettuccini with pesto. David got the ricotta-filled ravioli.

This dish was so good! The pasta was thick and perfectly cooked; not too soft and not too crunchy. And even though it looked like a small portion, it really filled me up! I had to have David finish it for me.

The service was prompt and friendly. The food came out quick, yet piping hot. I asked David about his impression when he left and he said that it was exactly what he was looking for. Who’s a good concierge? Haha!

All in all, highly recommended for a casual dinner out with very reasonable prices and delicious food.

Trattoria Il Panino is located at 11 Parmenter Street in Boston’s North End.

Evening all! Right now I’m standing here at the desk at work and there is not much going on. Winter time is pretty slow here at the hotel. So I’ve been going through my calendar to see where I may be able to fit some races in for 2012! I already have two that I’ve signed up for: the Half at the Hamptons on February 19 and the St. Pat’s 5k on March 10 (fourth year running!) I’m on the fence about the Run to Remember 5-miler in May. Last year I ran the half marathon and as much as I enjoyed running through Boston, the heat and humidity was just too much. I’ll look forward to running the 5 miler instead.

There is also an amazing trilogy of races coming up that is being put on by the Boston Athletic Association (the wonderful people behind the Boston Marathon!). You can sign up once and be registered for the 5k in April, the 10k in June and the half marathon in October. I ran the BAA 10k last year and loved it! I hope to be part of the first year that they are putting this on. The only downside? It’s $165 to register.  And we do have this whole house thing to consider. I’ll have to see how the funds work out.

If the half does happen in October, then I may have to reconsider doing a marathon this year. But maybe a late November/early December race is in the books? Who knows! I would much rather run marathons in the fall, if anything.

There is also the CVS Downtown 5k that I’ll be doing again this year too! I missed out last year because of work, but I love running this race with my parents and David. When it comes to 5k’s, besides the St. Pats and the CVS, I will usually register at the last minute. My schedule is so up in the air that I can never really plan every single race. But the big races I like to get the time off and train for. I am so looking forward to this year for running!

The first portion of this post was written at work, but right now it’s 8:30PM on Friday night and I’ve spent the entire day with David.

It was a “home-décor-hunting” kind of day. I started off the morning with a 7×400 interval run which took me 4 miles in 35 minutes. Then David and I headed to a kitchen and bath shop in Watertown where we looked at some fixtures and sinks. Here are two that stood out as a design that I’m leaning toward.

I love the brushed nickel for the fixtures; apparently the one we liked up there is $1180! It’s like the Ferrari of faucets. And I love the bathroom sink with the bright white and long sink.

What kind of style do you like?

Then we went over to Wild Willy’s for their amazing burgers! I had the grass-fed beef patty with smoked cheddar, lettuce, pickles and ketchup. Yum!

The rest of the afternoon was spent looking at cabinets, appliances and tools. We’re leaning towards all stainless steel appliances and cherry cabinets with a chocolate colored stain. And the big ticket item? A stove with an induction cooktop! We’ll have pasta cooking in no time.

We also stopped by the local wine shop and while David stocked up on his Original Sin, I picked up some water-crackers and Cotswold cheese with chives to go along with some salami I already had. It was a perfect snack to go along with a glass of cab.

Tomorrow David and I have plans to go to Foxwoods with my parents; we’re going to see the Diana exhibit!

Do you have any races planned for this year?

There has been no snow in Boston.

A part of me is missing the white winter that comes this time of year. However, deep down, I’m glad that I’ve been able to get outside and run without having to worry about snow drifts and icy roads. Let’s see how long it lasts!

Monday: Work 7-3 (I’m always so tired after that shift)
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 36 minutes @ 9:01 pace
Wednesday: 2.06 miles @ 19 minutes @ 8:59 pace (it was FAH-reezing this morning!)
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: 3.11 miles @ 30 minutes @ 9:29 pace
Saturday: 10k “race” @ 57:34 @ 9:17 pace
Sunday: 2.6 miles @ ~24 minutes @ 9:31 pace

Week mileage: 17.97
Total mileage: 93.27

Good stuff, good stuff. Alright, who wants some cookies?

Oatmeal Pear Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 can or fresh Bartlett pears (1 1/2 c. diced)
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. sifted flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 c. uncooked oatmeal
• 1/3 c. raisins
• 1/3 c. chopped nuts

Directions
1. Measure butter, brown sugar and honey. Add egg, beat until fluffy. Add vanilla.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture.
3. Stir in oatmeal, pears, raisins, nuts. Drop by teaspoons on lightly greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

These came out really good! Because it was brown sugar instead of granulated, the taste was less sweet but still very good. A bit gummy, but tasty. I also used my new Silpat and the bottoms came out perfectly cooked and there was no problem getting the cookies off of the pan! I approve this product.

I’m also in the process of updating my recipe page with the Recipage layout! I’m so excited to use it to organize my recipes. They were all over the place before, so it’ll be a bit before they are all back up again.

Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week!!

Hello all! How has your first week of 2012 been? Sorry for the disappearing act. It’s been a crazy week with working, training, spending time with David and oh yeah…

BUYING A HOUSE!!!!!

Well, technically it’s a piece of land with a “house” on it, but the house is a tear down so we get to build brand new!!

We’ve been visiting Home Depot and Lowe’s to check out cabinets and fixtures (me) and tools (David). There’s so much to think about! But I’m so excited to be designing our new place.

I’ve been pinning my little heart away on Pinterest to get ideas for the place. My biggest excitement is the kitchen! I’m loving dark, chocolate colored stains on cherry wood with lighter countertops and brushed nickel handles.

I tried to make the picture bigger. Click if you would like to see it better. Or follow me on Pinterest!

We had some headaches with the house since we were buying from the bank, but thankfully it all went through and we close on the 20th! And since David is building it net zero (or as close as possible we can get), be sure to follow whatever blog he’ll come up with to document the process!

My training has also been going very well. My speed workouts haven’t been too consistent but I’ve been killing the long runs each week. This morning I had a 10k in the plan, so I decided to run the 6.2 miles the best that I could, despite the stop lights along the route.

Woo-hoo! And if that does include stoplights, I would have to guess that that was my best 10k time ever! And the Garmin is awesome! I don’t even have to plan a route anymore; I just run until I reach my mileage. And hopefully I’m close enough to home.

This afternoon, David and I met with my parents for lunch and to show them our ideas for the house. We had lunch at the Rattlesnake Bar & Grill in Boston.

For an entrée, I ordered the chicken quesadilla. This was by far the best quesadilla I have ever had! There was chicken, cheese, mango salsa, regular tomato salsa, even cilantro! And it had a kick to it. I gobbled it up; washing it down with a Sam Adams Winter Lager.

And now, I am off to bed since I have to be at work at 7 tomorrow morning.

How is your weekend going? Have you had the chance to build/design your own house? How was your experience? For the next few months, could this be The Designing Concierge?

Here are the January songs to kick off your new year! And this time, I actually know more than one artist.

Fort Wayne, IN – Jan 2, 2011 – Kicking off the new year is a wealth of tracks from all over the charts. Daughtry checks in with stripped down rocker. Rihanna gets the remix treatment. The Downtown Fiction try a pop/punk version of Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass.” Avicii turns in an instrumental club banger. Grouplove pop up from under the radar with a buoyant track. And Ke$ha trades dance grooves for a straight bass—dropping a posse cut, with some famous friends.

Here’s the full list, according to votes placed at Run Hundred–the web’s most popular workout music site.

Lady GaGa – Marry The Night – 132 BPM
Rihanna – We Found Love (Cahill Club Remix) – 128 BPM
Avicii – Levels – 126 BPM
Grouplove – Tongue Tied – 113 BPM
Daughtry – Renegade – 157 BPM
Hot Chelle Rae & New Boyz – I Like It Like That – 104 BPM
Mary J. Blige – Ain’t Nobody – 107 BPM
The Downtown Fiction – Super Bass – 118 BPM
Gavin DeGraw – Not Over You – 71 BPM
Kesha, Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, T.I. & Andre 3000 – Sleazy Remix 2.0 – 86 BPM

To find more songs–and hear next month’s contenders—folks can check out Run Hundred’s database of workout songs. Visitors can browse the song selections there by genre, tempo, and era—to find the music that best fits with their particular workout routine.

As always, I have not been compensated for this post. RunHundred is always free to use.