Weekend Musings …

Another weekend come and gone … it was a little breezy here in Upstate NY … which made me continue to wish for more like spring-like weather, but it’s coming, I think 🙂 The flip flops did make it out on friday afternoon! (I so need a pedicure in a BAD way)

So, this weekend’s happenings included:

– On friday, I volunteered at the DSAHRC Family Dance so that I could finish off the 50/50 raffle fundraiser that I was heading up — the whole process ended up being a little irritating, but it was really cool to see many individuals with Down syndrome (and their families) all hanging out together! Plus, I got to meet Chris Burke! He is an actor with Down syndrome, and is most famous for playing “Corky” in the hit series Life Goes On — it came out shortly after Craig was born, and we used to watch it as a family.  Plus, the raffle was a big success 🙂

Chris Burke with the Raffle check 🙂

– We had some new baby trees planted in our front yard, as part of a program that looks to “re- tree” our city! The 2 new trees replace 2 of the ones that had to be taken down since they were rotten and broke our house in hurricane Irene.

– Went to last hockey game at the local arena, had a long chat with my mom, changed the sheets on the bed, started packing away parts of my winter wardrobe and took Fiona for a walk

However, the highlight of the evening was easily our dinner out of Saturday night. We decided to try out a new place that I had heard about called Risotto — now, first of all, I am a HUGE risotto fan.  It’s one of my favorite things to eat and if it’s on the menu anywhere, I’ll pretty much have to order it! We have finally mastered it at home — our first attempt took us about an hour! — but it is definitely a lengthy process! Risotto not only as risotto on the menu (duh), but they also have a ton of different tapas, which meant that P and I could try a bunch of different things — SCORE. We decided on three different tapas, and then also split a full size entree as well! The place was small inside, but the decor was pretty cool 🙂 The only thing we would have chosen was the oldies music that was playing!

Our three chosen tapas were:

• Trio Bruschetta– a trio of classic bruschettas including traditional napoleon, mushroom duxeiie and balsamic artichoke.
• Primo Risotto– chicken, cappicola ham and swiss cheese stuffed in a fried risotto shell. served with hollandaise sauce.
• Tortellini Fresco- sautéed sea scallops, oyster mushrooms and broccoli tossed with tortellini in a light garlic oil. finished with pink peppercorns and shaved goat cheese

Risotto Primo

The Bruschetta was nothing special — I was really looking forward to the mushroom one — but I did try artichoke for the first time — and really enjoyed it. The balsamic that was drizzed on the top tasted burnt to both P and I which kinda killed the experience — but when we asked the waitress about it, she said that she and the kitchen didn’t think it was burnt….

anyway, the next two tapas were amazing. The Primi Risotto were formed into balls, and they were crunchy on the outside, and creamy and a little bit spicy on the inside. so, so, good. The Tortellini Fresco was by far our most favorite tapas though — the flavors were amazing — it sounds so simple, but I guess sometimes the tastiest things are!! The scallops were underneath the broccoli and tortellini so it was like searching for treasure!! The tapas also come with homemade pita wedges, which were also delicious, and also perfect for mopping up the garlic oil!

We finished off our meal by splitting a Risotto Entree which was descibed as “sautéed sea scallops, grilled corn and bell peppers tossed in a sweet corn risotto. finished with a prosciutto crumble and lemon gremolata.”

Amazing. Risotto.

You guys. OH MY WORD. This stuff was amazing. P thought that the rice was a little undercooked (aka crunchy), but I liked it that way. The corn flavor was awesome with the scallops, and if i could have dived into the stuff, I probably would have. We didn’t even mangage to finish the whole dish! We were so stuffed that we couldn’t even manage dessert — but we promised that we’d be back again to try it 🙂  I felt like I needed to be rolled out of there!! All in all, an awesome experience, and I’m so glad that we gave the place a try 🙂

I may have laid claim to the leftovers…;)

All in all a great weekend 🙂 I hope your weeks are off to a great, fresh start. I certainly needed a reminder that today was a new day, and a new week. BBB week #4 starts this week — I can’t even believe that I’m almost halfway through that program!! I’m still loving it though 🙂 And I’ve changed my goals up for this week! The week I will be focusing on 1) Making sure that I am being mindful anytime I want to eat after 8:00 – I have a bad habit of uneccessary nighttime snacking, so I want to be very mindful about it, and only be eating if I am truly hungry! and 2) I will be writing down 5 positive affirmations about myself each day. I “borrowed”this idea from my amazing pal, Gina. She used it last week – and did a great job with it – I have been stuck in insecurity/negativity more than I would like to admit, so I want to try to use this goal as a way to pump myself up 🙂

So, Monday’s positivity:

1. I inspire others to  make healthy living decisions
2. I did not miss a day last week on the BBB plan
3. I tried a new- to- me food this weekend!
4. I had some good counseling sessions with students today – they are showing me they are learning what I am teaching!
5. I helped out a friend at work

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