The Black Pearl!

I just got back from my annual trip to Boston, well this was actually my second trip in one year ;) I just LOVE Boston and of course visiting my dear friends the Mullins!

This trip was no different than the others… lots of eating! I enjoyed many delicious meals over my stay and will be hitting up hot yoga this evening to attempt to sweat them all out.

Anywho, by suggestion from my co-worker and good friend Christy, who used to live in New England, Stacie and I ventured to Newport, Rhode Island for the day and stopped by the Black Pearl Tavern for lunch. The Black Pearl is wedged in between two piers on the waterfront and is apparently known for their clam chowder (“chowduh” as said in a Boston accent). It is totally a hole in the all type place, complete with a full bar. Needless to say, it was packed at 1:00pm.

I am not really big on ordering soups when I lunch, but, when in Rome….. I ordered a yummy side salad with a light blue cheese dressing, Boston chard, radicchio, walnuts and granny smith apples, followed by their famous chowduh. It was pretty good; I can’t deny! Very buttery and light, with just the right ratio of potato and clams.

I will admit, I don’t have a lot to compare this to, as I am no chowduh expert , however, it was mighty tasty and totally worth the trip! They have a lot of other yummy items on their menu as well. Our neighbor was enjoying fried brie which of course looked amazing.

For more information, visit http://blackpearlnewport.com/.

Snack Attack!

See how many you have tried! Bolded/underlined are the items I have tried.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka + Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Dairyliscious!

I am sure all you ladies out there have heard it time and time again.... but you really should be eating yogurt daily! And this is why....

Yogurt has nutritional benefits beyond those of milk. I, thanks to my dear friend Shelby, drink a glass of 1% milk after dinner every night on weekdays (weekends = wine or beer J). BUT, the nutritional value/effects of milk for women decrease as we age, so it is super important to find other ways to incorporate dairy, specifically calcium, into your diet in a healthful way.

Yogurt is a great way to do this! It comes in so many different flavors and types i.e. low fat, low sugar, sweetened, unsweetened, Activia, etc. My personal favorite of late, is Weight Watchers. They have really yummy flavors like Lemon Cream Pie and Cheesecake and they are of course low fat and low sugar. And, they don’t have the fruit chunks = Blech!

FYI: They are always on sale at Safeway.

Yogurt also has many health benefits, such as, for a variety of gastrointestinal conditions, preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea and even the dreaded yeast infection. Yogurt also promotes good gum health from the probiotic (probiotic = dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeasts) effect of lactic acids present in yogurt and helps in some cases, with appetite suppression.

Here are some suggested ways you can eat yogurt:

- Breakfast with granola or fresh fruit
- Frozen!
- Unsweetened and strained with a little fresh dill, lemon juice and S&P = great on a Greek salad, in a pita sandwich or with cucumbers
- Smoothies!
- Mid-morning snack

Even if you are one of those folks with consistency issues like myself, try a few different brands until you find one you like; try it for a week and see you how you feel!

Happy yogurt hunting!

Saturday Nights In!

As many of you know, during the football season I don't often emerge from my home on Saturday nights due to the fact that I awake at 5am, to get to work by 6am, to get everything I need to get done by 1pm (kickoff). Whew....

Well, this weekend was an away game (an ugly one at that) but I decided to hang in anyway. It was the perfect night for cheesy romantic comedies (which I typically loathe) and some of my favorite things!

Against all my rules on film selection, I opted to watch "Definitely Maybe". This is a terrible movie, but I'll admit that I enjoyed it a little. The wine I was guzzling helped a bit.

So the wine... if you read my silly little blog, you'll know that I just love Trader Joes. I like to try different wine each time I go there. However, last week I made a poor selection - a chard from Santa Barbara. It was way too bitter for my taste but the treats I ate along side of it cut the bitterness a 'bit' (pun intended) and I was able to get through two glasses.


Treats...If I could eat really good cheese and fruit for every meal, I surely would. I would then however be overweight :) So on occasion, I like to put together a plate of my favorite cheeses (usually gorgonzola, Cougar Cheese, goat cheese or Irish cheddar), along with granny smith apples, grapes and dried fruit, a meat of some kind (usually kilbasa but I bought some of that yummy low fat turkey pepperoni so had that instead) and crackers or fresh bread with olive oil. MMM!

After I enjoyed my gourmet plate for one, I splurged (which is also something I rarely do) on some heavenly coconut sorbet. Coconut anything is my favorite. I just love the smell and taste of it... and clearly someone else does too ;) Ice cream isn't bad for dogs is it???



Heres to cozy nights in this Fall with YOUR favorite things ;)

"WHOA, these suckers are hot!"

This was my response when I thought I was tossing a candied almond into my mouth and as soon as I bit down, realized othwerwise. Although frightened at first, after a few chomps I decided what I was eating was rather enjoyable... wasabi almonds!

Im sure anyone who has dined on Asian cuisine has a tale of wasabi. The stuff is absurdly hot but only at first... leaving you then confused but happy you narrowly escaped a wasabi overdose. I remember the first time I had it and I was trying to act all tough like I could handle more than a teaspoon at a time...boy was I wrong.

Alright, so what is wasabi? According to my favorite source at Wikipedia:

asabia japonica - is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish and mustard. Known as "Japanese horseradish", its root is used as a spice and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard than the capsaicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that irritate the nasal passages more than the tongue. The plant grows naturally along stream beds in mountain river valleys in Japan.

These things are actually quite addicting. They taste great with a glass of Sapporo ;)

Another little treat I recently discovered are wasabi coated peas! They are so yummy and I could honestly eat an entire bag in one sitting. They are really good on Asian salads (instead of those cracker like noodle things). They are much less expensive at Trader Joe's FYI.

Marge's Zippy Asian Salad Recipe (Serves 2):

1/2 head of green or red (or both) cabbage shredded
2 grilled chicken breasts sliced
1 tbls. toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 cup of your favorite 'peanut' dressing or sauce
1/2 cup wasabi peas

Toss and serve!