Tasteful Tales

Italy in 3...2...1

2010-07-02T08:12:00.000-04:00

My lists saw me through and I am about 90% packed for Italy :) A car is picking us up at 2p.m. today to take us to the airport and our flight leaves at 5:30 p.m. It is an overnight flight, so hopefully I get some sleep. We should arrive in Rome at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. I am bringing my MAC and will be blogging from Italy. The villa we are staying in has internet, I am just not sure how fast it will be :P

Yesterday was spent running around everywhere getting what we needed for the trip. Derek didn't have a suitcase so I used some of the money we made at the engagement party and bought him a piece of luggage. I figured it was a necessity! I also bought all the toiletries we will need, plus a pair of shoes or two for me :)

My day started with Trader Joe's wheat waffles topped with organic whipped butter and maple syrup. An orange on the side.

After breakfast I ran a quick 4 miles... it was the perfect day to run! Not to hot, with a tiny breeze. It felt great, especially because I downloaded some new music on my ipod. I tend to neglect my ipod and hardly feed it new music, so when I do, it's a big deal!

I also cleaned out our frig yesterday because I don't want anything smelly in there when we get back from our trip. We did a pretty good job of eating almost everything in our frig that was perishable except for these vegetables from TJ's.

I HATE wasting food, so I decided to use these to make lunch. I just mixed the potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower with evoo, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and hot pepper flakes. Then I roasted them for about 20 minutes and......... lunch was born...YUM!

I just wanted to show you these Bride & Groom cookbooks Derek and I got as gifts at the engagement party. They have some cute entertaining ideas in them. Maybe I'll make some of the recipes when I get back :)

Most of the running around was done solo because Derek had to work yesterday. But once he got home we ran to the mall to pick him up a few things and we grabbed dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I haven't been to a CPK in years! It is decent food- nothing fabulous- but good.

We started with the hummus and pita appetizer, and the sesame ginger dumpling appetizer. The sauce on the dumplings was great. I think I liked it because it was sweet and tangy- great combo in my book. The hummus had too strong of a lemon flavor.

As my main course I got the tricolor salad pizza. It was one of their thin crust pizzas topped with salad, Parmesan cheese shavings, tomatoes, and vinaigrette. This was very light and refreshing, I liked it a lot. I ate about three slices and packed the rest to take home.

As I write this post this morning, I am enjoying a cup of coffee and some toast w/ two oranges on the side. Yes two! because I don't want t throw them out :)

Time to finish packing and head to my moms. The car will be picking us up there. Have a great Friday!

List Maker

2010-07-01T12:20:00.000-04:00

I am in the midst of making lists. Lots of lists. When I don't know what to do first - I make lists. I leave for Italy tomorrow and not one thing is packed. But no worries, my lists will see me through!

Yesterday was my last day with the students, it was more emotional than I thought it would be. This class will always hold a special place in my heart because they were my first class. Sometimes, I get lost in seeing how much of an impact I as a teacher have on them. At the end of the day yesterday, I told them how I was honored to be their teacher this year and that I will miss them. The tears that followed were unexpected. Seeing all those six year old tears made me burst into tears... let's just say it wasn't pretty.

It is amazing how as a teacher your students teach you just as much as you teach them. Because of them this year I have grown not only as a teacher, but as a person. Seeing my student's reactions yesterday at the fact that I will no longer be their teacher was one of the most rewarding days of my life. I was expecting more of the "YES! Summer Vacation" attitude. I mean I know they are little and only 1st graders and if I taught 5th grade it might be different, but it still was rewarding.

It was just one of those eye-opening days were you realize what is actually important in life. That you do have the power to make a difference and impact someone's life. I left work yesterday feeling good knowing that even if some of those student's left my class still struggling with writing and reading, they at least knew they were loved by their 1st grade teacher <3

Bug Bites

2010-06-29T07:16:00.000-04:00

My legs are covered in bug bites. I am not sure if it's because of all the excitement over the weekend that I didn't notice them on Sunday... but now as the dust settles, I cannot stop scratching!!! I think I counted 11 bug bites in total on my feet, ankle, and calves. Anyone have suggestions on how to make them stop itching? I am using this Benadryl cream, but it doesn't work :(

How is the week starting out for you? Yesterday was the fastest Monday I have had in a while. I had a half day with my students and then the teachers stayed until 3 to have a chance to clean their classrooms and pack up. The same will go for today and then tomorrow is my last day of school :) It will be bittersweet. I love that summer is starting for me, but I will miss my kids to no end!

My stomach hurt when I woke up yesterday so I didn't eat breakfast. But since my lunch time is 10:45 a.m. I wasn't worried because I knew I would be eating soon. Once lunch time rolled around, I had a piece of leftover broccoli pizza.

After spending the day boxing up my classroom I ran to Hallmark to buy thank you cards to send out to everyone who came to the party on Saturday. I love Hallmark, they have some of the cutest knick knack items in that store. I stopped at the Starbucks next door and got a vivanno to help me plow through the afternoon.

Then I unpacked and cleaned the apartment! I think so much clearer when my apartment is clean!

We leave for Italy on Friday, so when Derek got home from work we headed to my moms to do laundry for the trip. Unfortunately, we don't have a washer & dryer in our apartment and it is a huge hassle. In our next place it is a must!

At my moms I used some leftovers to make a yummy dinner. I used the left over vegetables to make a refreshing salad with carrot ginger dressing. Then I reheated some Cuban slow-roasted pork and put it on whole wheat ciabatta bread to make a delicious sandwich.

Dessert was an orange :P

Question: I plan to go to Best Buy after work today and invest in a new camera. Does anyone have any recommendations for a point and shoot? With the blog and my upcoming trip to Italy, my current camera is just not cutting it. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated :)

Our Engagement Party Recap

2010-06-28T06:39:00.000-04:00

This weekend flew by, but we enjoyed every second of it. The engagement party was a huge success and it was so nice to have all of our families come together for the first time. Everyone got along extremely well and I couldn't believe how fast it flew by! It was like a dream. Now I know what people mean when they tell you to make sure you enjoy the moment... because the moment is exactly just that... one moment. I felt bad I couldn't get around to everyone to talk to them because everyone wanted a piece of me or a picture with me & Derek. It was NUTS!!!! I guess that's what happens when your not used to being the center of attention. :P

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better day with better family, friends, and fiance! It was a day I will never ever forget in my life.

Here is a photo recap.

DECOR

The colors were a hot green and orange to match the invitations. We did this party very bright and modern (It is the opposite of the actual wedding which will be very vintage and muted).

The beautiful collage that my youngest sister surprised Derek and I with.

Below are my homemade centerpieces. I saw a picture of centerpieces made with fruit in the vase online and thought to myself, "I can make something like that!". So I decided to save some money and do it myself. I cut up oranges into slices and filled the centerpiece vases with them. Then put one green hydranga in each, and finally, poked in one orange lily. I loved how they came out!!!

My parents backyard was the perfect setting for the party. We had great weather too which I was very thankful for.

FOOD

Now I must admit, the day of the party I was sooo nervous I did not eat much at all! But no worries, I spent Sunday making up for it eating leftovers all day as I helped clean my mom's house up!

My family is a mix of cultures. My mom is Italian and Brazilian and my Dad is Cuban. Derek's parents are Italian and Ukrainian. For the food, we decided to incorporate the mix of cultures. We had two places cater the food, an Italian/American caterer and my uncle's Cuban restaurant. Everyone raved about the food and how the mix was such a fun add in to the party.

Asparagus and tomato quiche and sausage and mushroom quiche. Delicious & light!

Grilled vegetable skewers and pesto dip.

Chicken and beef empanadas.

Jonah crab claws.

For dinner we had Cuban pork, rice & beans, sweet plantains, crab cakes, chicken parm, penne vodka, meatballs. fillet mignon, mixed green salad, tomato & mozz salad, and bread :)

Dessert was my favorite part. We got the cake made to match the invitation exactly, it was adorable! Inside it was vanilla cake with two layers of filling, a dark chocolate layer and a hazelnut layer.

Our favors were a big hit too. Everyone loved reading the lyrics and trying to figure out which one could be our wedding song :P

PICTURES

Me & my Godmother

Derek & I

Calling up our wedding party...

With my maid-of-honors (My sisters)

Our wedding party... below making my bridesmaids read a "Bridesmaid Contract" I created .... it was so funny.

With my mom...

At night the Cuban side took over and the salsa dancing started :)

And that's all folks.... by the end of the night we all felt like this.....

Have a Happy Monday! Be back later to normal blogging ;)

Today's The Day

2010-06-26T09:19:00.000-04:00

Today's the day of our engagement party. I can't believe it's here! I am so fortunate to have all of these friends and family who love us to be a part of such a special day. I am nervous because Derek and I have to do a little speech but I am sure we will be fine. I will do a full party recap after because we are having some great eats I know some of you will enjoy!

Like I said, I took yesterday off to spend the day with one of my sisters and get ready for the party today. I woke up and had two Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Waffles with some TJ's organic maple syrup.

Then I was off with my sister... we got some relaxing pedicures and the went on the hunt for a dress for me to wear to the party. This took FOOOORRRREVVVER. I was being so picky because I wanted it to be perfect. I guess the problem was I didn't know if I wanted to go fun and colorful or pretty and romantic. Most of my guest are wearing fun and colorful dresses so I went the alternate route. I can't wait to show you my dress. I bought it from Anthropologie, which you will learn is another obsession of mine :)

Since we were runing around I didn't eat a substantial lunch. This hurt me because around 3 o'clock I crashed. I had a horrible headache and all I wanted to do was sleep. All I ate in the middle of the day was a few dried apricots and some pita chips with salsa.

I was in the worst mood from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. I met Derek around 8 p.m. and the minute he saw me and my sad face he knew I needed a good meal. He could tell I had a long day. We were actually scheduled to go to a birthday party at night, but when he saw me he said, "Forget the party, tomorrow is an important day for us... let's relax and get you some good food." I couldn't ask for a better fiance. He knows me sooo well. And he knows when I go to long without food, I become... well... HANGRY! He took me to my favorite Thai place in Ridgewood, NJ called Taste of Thai.

We started with Ka-Nom-Jeep (pork dumplings)

And veggie spring rolls

For my main course I had Mixed Vegetable Pad-See-Ew. This is just mixed vegetables and wide rice noodles in some kind of brown sauce. It was delicious! I loved that the vegetables still had a crunch to them. That really was a nice contrast to the soft noodles. I cleaned my plate in five minutes... guess the lack of food all day caught up to me.

As soon as I finished this meal I felt 1 Billion times better! All I needed was my fiance to put the smile back on my face! All a girl needs is to be fed!!!!

We came home and passed out shortly after this!

Well I am off to my moms now to help set up for the party- All the fun stuff starts now!!!! I have a hair appointment at twelve and the caterer comes with the food at 2! So excited.

Thank you to all of you who have commented wishing me luck today, I really appreciate the support :)

I also want to say congratulations to Heather & Mark over at Hangry Pants on their engagement! I have been a long time reader of their blog and I could not be happier for them! My advice is to enjoy this time because it flies by!!!!

Since today is the day of our engagement party, I thought I would share some photos of Derek and I through the years.

Tre Voce

2010-06-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

One of my students looked at me yesterday while I was filing away their report cards in my classroom and said, "Ms. Perez, take a deep breath. Everything will be fine." I guess my face and body language said it all haha and it took the wise words of a six year old to actually make me realize I did need to take a deep breath.

Yesterday was a great day with my students. We got to watch the second grade put on a great school play, then we organized our classroom, then ended the day watching Shrek 3! I told them I was taking off today (Friday) , it killed me to see their disappointed little faces. But I assured them that next week since we only have three half days left, I will make it a party week to end the school year! That cheered them right up!

When I woke up I was short on time so I did a quick P90X Ab Ripper DVD. This is just 16 minutes of intense abs. Actually as I sit here right now typing this, my abs hurt every time I breathe. Good sign right?
Yesterday morning was one of those mornings where I woke up starving.. when this happens cereal is my best bet! Nothing is faster!

At school lunch was a Trader Joe's find. TJ's baked zita and I thre in some snap peas on the side... it was actually very tasty! My only complaint would be I prefer my tomato sauce a little thicker than this - it was a tad watery. For a frozen meal it was good.

While watching Shrek 3 with my students I ate a peach. My afternoon snack was small because I had made plans to go out with two coworkers after work for an end of the year dinner.

Our early dinner started at four at a BYOB in Ridgewood, NJ called Tre Voce. It was very good and I would go back.

The table was served a bread basket with three different kinds of homemade bread. I chose a piece of the honey raisin bread. It as delicious and just the right amount of sweet.

For my main course I chose the grilled vegetable brick oven pizza topped with arugala and goat cheese. This was amazing!!! I loved everything about it!

I ate about three slices at the restaurant and two more later in the evening at my moms when my appetite returned.

The three of us ordered three desserts to split. This restaurant has an in-house pastry chef so the desserts were very fresh tasting.

Tiramisu

Italian Cheesecake

White Chocolate Tart

I had one bite of each. Tiramisu was my favorite. Just the right amount of soaked cookies at the bottom and just the right amount of creaminess. Delicious. Cheesecake was good too, I prefer NY style cheesecake vs. the Italian ricotta based cheesecake, but this was good. The White chocolate tart was gross. Not sure why but it tasted like candle wax to me. :(

After my lovely early dinner I went to my moms to finish some last details of the engagement party planning and to finish the favors with my sisters (we only got 37 done the other night and we needed 63).

Here are some fun photos of that process. Don't mind how tired I look :P

I am off today and I have a lot to do. My sister is on her maid-of-honor duties all day as she will be traveling with me to get pedicures, dress shop (yes I still have no idea what I will be wearing tomorrow!), wait for the table rental people to come and set up the tables, and make the centerpieces! AH craziness.

TGIF

Al Dente

2010-06-24T06:21:00.000-04:00

Do you ever just wish life would slow down, that it would just stop for a second so that you can take in what's going on around you? That's how I felt all day. So many things happening at one time make me want to capture every second of it. I only have five days left with my class at school and I get more and more sad as I near the end. My party on Saturday is coming together, but I still have not one thing packed for Italy ;) Oh well, one step at a time I guess. I want to make sure I really enjoy Saturday first. Not sure how I feel about the fact that the party is all about my fiance and I. I am nervous about the attention being on us the whole time- just not used to that :)

Work was quick today because I took a half day to get to some appointments I had made. Before it was time to pick up the kiddies I had another juicy peach and organic yogurt from TJ's for breakfast.

Lunch was another organic mac-n-cheese bowl with carrots on the side.

I left work at 12p.m. so that I could get some errands done and I had a nail appointment. After I got my nails done, Derek picked me up and we headed down to Piscataway, NJ to the place where he bought my engagement ring so that we could get it resized and cleaned. The ring has been a bit big for the last few months but we just have not had the chance to make the trip to get it fixed. With the party Saturday and our engagement photo shoot coming up in Italy, we thought it would be smart to make fixing the ring a priority. On our way there I had an apricot.

My uncle owns and is the head chef at a restaurant in Piscataway called Al Dente. My uncle is the best chef I know! So since we were in town we could not leave without grabbing a quick bite after my ring was done.

Finished nails and ring tightened...

Whenever we go to my uncle's restaurant he always sends out appetizers for us to try without us even ordering them. So my the time your entree comes... your stuffed!

Last night I started with a piece of very crunchy bread dipped in olive oil, balsamic, and salt. I was starving at the point!

The first thing my uncle sent us out to try was pan-fried shrimp stuffed with crab meat with arugala, over a lobster creme sauce. I had one. This was amazing. Tasted like shrimp wrapped in a crab cake.

Next, he sent out balsamic glazed figs over procuitto with shaved parm cheese on top. This was one of those savory/sweet dishes. The cheese was my favorite part.

Then, if all that wasn't enough already, he sent out a very interesting risotto. This risotto had fresh strawberries and marscopone (prob spelled wrong) cheese in it. It was also a very interesting savory and sweet combo. I would have never thought to put strawberries in risotto. But it was fabulous. Even Derek was blown away and he is not a fan of fruit in his meals.

Luckily I know how my uncle is and I now know to pace myself when I come to his restaurant. I only eat a very small portion of every dish he sends out. It takes a lot of will power, but it needs to be done.

Next was a citrus salad. This was baby mixed greens, with toasted pistachios, orange wedges, goat cheese, and beets, all tossed in a citrus vinaigrette. It was extremely refreshing.

Then, finally, I received the main course in which I ordered. Grouper over swiss chard and baked beans, and topped with a cherry tomato and onion straw salad. This was delicious and light, the beans had this smoky flavor that complimented the fish perfectly. I couldn't finish it though. Barely, made a dent actually.

Today will be another busy day of work, dinner out with coworkers, and finishing the favors for the party with my sisters. AHHH! All good things though. Have a happy Thursday!

Engagment Party Favors

2010-06-23T06:32:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe it is already the middle of the work week! I knew this week was going to be crazy, but I never expected it to go by this fast! The last two days have been so busy, but as I approach the weekend, I am defiantly feeling better about the engagement party on Saturday. I just want to play catch up on this post... So let's start with Monday....

Monday was rush rush (as always) But I was very productive! I got all my report cards done at school, I bought my students their end of the year gifts, I scrubbed the apartment clean (and I mean deep clean!), and then I ran to Trader Joe's and picked up some fruit and veggies because we had none left in the apartment!
We are trying to eat everything we have in our fridge and pantry because we leave next Thursday for Italy and I hate wasting food... but I couldn't go a whole week without buying some fruits and veggies ;)

Monday eats....

I know this is not a complete breakfast at all... but I was super late and had no fruit in the apartment :(
Lunch was a new find at the grocery store that has been sitting in my pantry for about two weeks already. And in the effort to eat everything I have I chose to bring this to work and try it. It is an organic mac-n-cheese bowl. You just add water and the cheese sauce in the microwave and you get a healthier mac-n-cheese! I thought it was delicious and very filling because the pasta is actually whole wheat pasta. I had carrots on the side.

I had to run around after work so I grabbed a bag of pretzels...

After shopping at TJ's Derek stopped and picked us up dinner from a local pizza place. I had half of an eggplant parm sub.

Derek also made me buy this lovely pie at TJ's. I am not a big pie eater at all. I would much prefer chocolate cake or a CUPCAKE!!! but Derek loves pie's and this one caught his eye.
It was a multi-berry pie with cranberries, raspberries, cherries, and blueberries.

See that big piece missing? That's all Derek ;) At least it's organic!

Tuesday was a fun day! I woke up and right away did P90X Legs and Back DVD. Here is Tony Horton on my TV.

That is a great workout! You alternate doing two leg exercises then one back exercise. You do that the whole video so you really never get bored.

Breakfast...

Juicy peach and peanut butter crunchy granola bar.

Lunch was fabulous... turkey, swiss, baby spinach, and honey mustard wrap. YUM!

After school on Tuesday I got my hair cut and colored. I'll try and get a pic of the new do up today :) I had a vivanno smoothie as I got my hair did.

Last night four of my bridesmaids came over and helped me put together the favors for Saturday. They were a huge help! There is nothing like good friends ;)

The engagement party colors are orange and green, so the favors are orange and green M&Ms with our names on them and our wedding date. We wrapped the baggies of M&Ms with an orange ribbon and then tied a piece of paper to them with a love lyric from our favorite music artists. We used all love song lyrics and every bag has a different lyric. The fun part is that one of the favors has a lyric from our wedding song on it... but we are not telling anyone which one it is :P

I can't wait to show you the decor for our engagment party. It is so modern. I read that your supposed to do your engagement party the opposite decor of your wedding so that's exactly what we are doing. Our wedding is very vintage and classy, so the colors will be more muted. We decided to go modern, bright, and bold for the engagement party. Here are the engagement party invitations. The ring is on the tree because it ties in with how he proposed (see Wedding Stuff page). The top of the invite says "He popped the question, she said yes! Now, we're having a party, so be our guest!"

Here are my bridesmaids Kara& Daniella helping me last night...

All finished! Ugh that feels good! I'll get a better picture of the favors at the party in the daylight.

Unpictured is a glass of Riesling and two slices of broccoli pizza I had with the girls while making the favors.

Happy Wednesday! Be back a little later.

Father's Day

2010-06-21T06:33:00.000-04:00

I had a very nice and relaxing Father's Day Sunday and I hope you all did too! Every Sunday Derek has softball games, so when he went to his game I did what any normal girl with free time would do... laid by the pool! Our apartment complex has a nice big pool and it is probably my favorite part about this place. Before heading to the pool I had a slice of ww toast w/ PB&J. I only had one slice because I new I would be eating a big lunch in three hours.

I tried laying in the sun for about an hour before getting way to hot and decided I could use a dip in the pool. Once I was in the water, I decided to make a workout out of it and swam for about 30 minutes! My legs are so sore from the swim now! I forget how good of a workout swimming is.

I came in leaving myself only 30 minutes to get ready for lunch with Derek's parents. I was starving!!! So getting ready quickly was not an issue! Showered and dressed in 20 minutes....

For Father's Day, Derek and I took his parents to a local Italian place for lunch. The restaurant is called Aldo's and it has very good old school Italian food.
The table started with some garlic bread made with EVOO... crunchy and delicious!

As an appetizer I got the pear, arugala, gorgonzola cheese, and walnut salad. This was even better than my salad last night. The sweet pears and sweet honey mustard dressing complimented the fierce cheese in the best way possible! The walnuts added just the right amount of crunch too.

For my main course I had Whole Wheat Penne Arriabatta. This was a spicy tomato sauce and had just the right amount of kick to it. The pasta was cooked al dente which I love. When I was in Italy two summers ago, all the pasta I had there was cooked al dente and ever since I have loved it that way- Love the chew!

Once dinner with Derek's parents was over, it was time to see my dad. Now that we are engaged we are trying to get used to splitting all the holidays between families.
My sisters came over and we did a small photo shoot before heading by our uncle's house to see our dad.

I have two sisters. Amanda is 24 and Kristie is 21. I am the oldest :)

There was a ton of food at my uncles, burgers, chicken, sausage, hot dogs, rice & beans, etc. But I was tooooooo full from lunch. At like seven at night I got a little hungry and opted for two chicken legs.

Here are some pics from the day.

Derek with my step-mom Amerilis.

Me and my sisters with my dad.

Me and my sisters with my little cousins. They will be the flower girls and ring bearers in my wedding :)

Aren't they the cutest!

Derek and I got home around 9 p.m. Just in time for True Blood! I had a lime whole fruit bar while I watched.

Ok, got to get to work.... Happy Monday!

Halcyon

2010-06-20T10:14:00.000-04:00

How was everyone's Saturday? Mine ended up being productive and helped relieve some of the pressure I was feeling. I also had a VERY delicious dinner which always helps :)

My day started with the usual organic raisin bran with skim milk. I buy this brand because I like it and because it has Box Tops for Education on it and we use them to help our school :)

After breakfast, I cleaned the apartment and then did the Cardio X dvd of P90X. This is by far my favorite dvd because it encompasses a little bit of all the P90X dvd's. The dvd starts with about 10 minutes of yoga, then has about ten minutes of KenpoX, followed by 10 minutes of Plyometrics (jump training), and ends with ten minutes of core work. It is the shortest P90X workout which also helps it in being my favorite :)

I new Derek and I had a lot of errands ahead of us so I ate a quick lunch so we could get on the road.

Derek and I went to Target, Home Depot, Micheals, and Party City to get things we needed for our engagement party next week. We got tiki torches to keep the bugs away since it will be outside, the materials we need to make our favors, vases for the centerpieces I also will be making, some scrapbooking materials for after the party, and cards for Father's Day :) While running around I had a chocolate vivianno from Starbucks. I ordered a grande but they gave me a venti. This is how much I drank of it.

Once we were home, I had to quickly get ready because we were heading out to dinner for our friend's birthday. Our best friends Andrew and Monet live in Montclair, NJ. Montclair has a lot of great restaurants and shops so you will see me in that town a lot!

Here is the birthday girl, Monet. She loves dogs so as you can see everyone got her puppy birthday balloons and cards. Derek picked out that balloon for her :)

We decided to try a new place tonight called Halcyon. It is a seafood brasserie.

Monet & I before we went in.

I absolutely fell in love with the decor of the place. It had a lounge feel to it with low couches everywhere and dim lighting. It had a downstairs with a half circle bar and more traditional seating, and an upstairs with all couch sat tables. We sat upstairs. The walla were lined with very cool mirrors and drapes throughout the whole restaurant.

I drank water tonight only because I knew we would be going out tomorrow for Father's Day and didn't want to feel crappy. I love wine but I am not a big drinker :)

Starters:

Derek ordered steak tacos. These were extremely tasty! Derek still not has stopped raving about them. They were perfectly seasoned and had huge chunks of steak in them with fresh toppings of salsa, guac, and some kind of hot sauce.

Monet and I both had the special beet, arugala, and warm goat cheese salad to start. It was bigger than I had expected- but that's ok by me! The warm goat cheese was wrapped in grilled zucchini- yum!

Entrees:

Derek got the most beautifully presented pork chop. It was standing on it's side. It came with cheesy potatoes and string beans. He let me try a little piece and it was cooked to perfection, it was extremely moist which is very important to me when eating pork! I have had some dry pork in my day :p

Monet got the scallops. They were perfectly sweet with exactly the right texture. They almost tasted like french toast.

Andrew got the Paella. I didn't try it but he loved it.

For my main course, I got an app and a side. The salad was big and I new I wasn't hungry enough for a full meal. I got the Alaskan King Crab Legs with a side of broccolini. Both were perfect. I love broccolini because it's not as bitter as broccoli rabe. Tonight's was delicious as it was sauteed in garlic and olive oil- simple but fantastic.

After dinner, while we waited for dessert, Derek wanted to take a photo shoot of us ladies. He asked for "Action shots" haha.

The people sitting next to us thought we were crazy.

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Monet!

Cake Batter ice cream cake... I had a very small sliver ;)

Group shot to end a wonderful night....

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Pressure

2010-06-19T10:22:00.000-04:00

Happy Saturday Morning! I am sitting here on my couch catching up on blogs, watching Friends (my all time favorite show), drinking coffee, and worrying. Why worry? Well, I am feeling pressure and a lot of it. You know when you have a lot coming up and you should be excited but instead your stressed and worried? Well that's where I am right now. I have 7 more days of school with my current class. This class holds a special place in my heart because they were my first class. I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that our time together is ending. I have so many "characters" in my class right now, and well, I will miss them. I guess that's the hard part of teaching- the attachment. While trying to soak up the last week or so with my students, I also have to pack up my entire classroom! I have boxes filled but I still have a long way to go.

I also am trying to get everything finished for my engagement party next Saturday. Most of my to do list is done, but I still have to make the favors, buy & create centerpieces for the tables, make the alcohol lists, and find something to wear!!!

Did I mention that 5 days after the engagement party and just 1 day after my last day at school, I LEAVE FOR ITALY!!!! I know this timing is crazy... what was I thinking haha. So if trying to end the school year and planning/executing the engagement party wasn't enough... I also have to pack/plan for our family Italy trip. And while in Italy we hired an Italian photographer to do our engagement photos. -Talk about pressure to look my best!

I am going to admit what is actually bothering me the most. Through everything I have going on in the next three weeks, I am feeling the pressure to look my best. I know I try to have this great balance between working out and eating right and everything, but in the end, I AM A GIRL! And I worry about what I look like and how I feel. Especially, when pictures are going to be taken of me during one of the most important times in my life. Between the photos going to be taken at the engagement party and the engagement photo shoot in Italy... I am feeling pressured.

I know that this worry is just a state of mind and I need to take a deep breathe and embrace these times that are ahead of me. I need to remember what everything is all about... I am engaged to the man of my dreams, a man who would do anything for me, and this is a time to celebrate that engagement. Also, I am taking a trip to Italy with my whole family, and this is a time to cherish my family and enjoy our culture.

Wow, I actually feel better after writing this. In order to try and feel my best, in the next three weeks I am going to try and up my exercise and eat a bit cleaner. I know by doing this I will feel better. I am not trying to lose any weight or anything, just feel a bit better through this stressful/exciting time. Thanks for reading :)

Now onto my Friday eats:

On my way to school, I was actually early, I stopped at Starbucks and got a Strawberry Vivanno Smoothie... verdict = delicious & filling!

Lunch was the usual for this week.... Pita chips, fresh salsa, carrots, & string cheese.

My classroom was freezing today! While the students watched Shrek (Friday afternoon movie time) I packed boxes and had some coffee.

Derek was a nice fiance and brought me home my favorite CRUMBS cupcakes. One is vanilla and one is almond. The almond was to die for! I ate 1/3 of each (they are huge).

At night, Derek and I went to the mall to get him a new pair of sunglasses and I purchsed a few new pairs of shoes and a purse (my two shopping obsessions). Hey I am going to Italy in two weeks and a girl needs accessories! Then, we went to Cheesecake Factory for a quick bite. I wasnt that hungry due to the cupcakes so I ordered their spinach dip.

So blurry. Do you guys use flash when you take pictures at restaurants and the lighting is horrible?

Ok off to enjoy this lovely Saturday!

Facing My Fears of Popping Balloons

2010-06-17T20:10:00.001-04:00

Good evening! I am absolutely exhausted. Today's school bbq/carnival went great and the kids had a blast!!! Me and one other girl pumped out 730 animal balloons between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Can you believe it? Well that's not including the many I popped :|
I am proud of myself too ... I mean two days ago I would have never thought I could make these - especially because I was so scared of popping balloons haha. Talk about facing fears ;)

An example of my accomplishments today... I call this masterpiece The Rainbow Hat

Well let me rewind to dinner last night..... Derek got home and we did the Biceps and Back DVD from P90X. Between that DVD and pumping a million balloons today by hand, my biceps (esp. my right one) are on fire!

After P90X, I made dinner of turkey cutlets, string beans, and roasted potatoes. The dinner started with organic turkey cutlets...

some ww flour, egg, and whole wheat breadcrumbs. I seasoned the breadcrumbs with cheese, oregano, basil, garlic, and pepper. I pass the cutlets from flour, to the egg, then coat in the breadcrumbs and put in a baking pan. In the oven they go with potatoes I coated in evvo, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper.

and when it came out..... YUM

This morning I was running late again so my triple berry mini muffins came in handy.

Since I was making balloons all day I hardly got a break. When I did I ate a few pita chips, salsa, and a string cheese.

I got home from work at 3:30 and CRASHED!!!! Being in the sun all day making balloons beat me up. HAHAHA I realize how silly it sounds, but it's true. Anyway, Derek worked late and I never took anything out of the freezer to defrost for dinner this morning.... so I ordered a pizza. Half plain & half broccoli.

I ate one plain slice and one broccoli slice. Sorry for such a blah post but I am off to bed!

That's Just Not Right

2010-06-16T18:24:00.000-04:00

Woke up this morning to there being no hot water in our apartment. Yea, there went my plan for a morning workout. So I changed gears and worked on some details for the engagement party.. can't believe it's less than two weeks away! While I worked on some top secret details that I will share after the party ;) I ate a bowl of organic raisin bran with skim milk.

Work was hectic today... our school carnival/BBQ is tomorrow so everyone was running around trying to get that set up. Meanwhile, I am trying to pack up my classroom and try and keep summer hungry 6 year olds at bay!

I actually have a funny story for you that has to do with my post title.... I taught a lesson today on mammals. I was bringing up pictures of different animals as examples on the smartboard from National Geographic Kids. I brought up a picture of a camel. As soon as I brought up the picture one of my little boys looked at me with this horrid confused face. Like he was mortified or something. He looked right at me and said, "Ms. Perez, that's just not right". I asked him what he meant. he said, "It's just not right! What happened to that horse?" HAHAHAHAHA it took everything I had not to laugh. I did the right teacher thing don't worry and taught him that it was a camel and not in fact a deformed horse. Just thought I'd share.

Anyway, this was lunch. Leftover pasta and fresh strawberries which were delicious!

When my kids went to gym I practiced my balloon animals for tomorrow (still can't believe I offered to try and learn this). But turns out I am getting better- not great- but better.

Giraffe

Dog of some sort

My afternoon snack I ate around 2 p.m. This was my last Honest Tea :(

Currently, I am waiting for the fiance to get home so we can get some strength training in. As I read blogs I am snacking on 1/2 cup Nature's Promise Garlic Parmesan pita chips with 1/2 cup fresh salsa in my favorite YUM YUM Bowls (they measure out a 1/2 cup).

and they let you know when snack time is over ;)

Purpose

2010-06-16T05:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't mentioned it yet, but teaching was not my first profession of choice. I graduated college from Quinnipiac University with a B.A. in Public Relations and Business Management. I actually got a job straight out of college and worked in P.R. for almost three years. I hated doing it, I was very good at it, but dreaded going to work everyday. I was constantly traveling... may sound interesting to some... but I hate traveling alone and when it's weeks at a time for business, it's all not that fun. It took me about a full year after realizing I wanted to quit my job to actually do it. The money and perks were really good and unfortunately those are the things that blind a lot of us from finding true happiness.

Once I came to the realization that this is MY life and I have the power to take control of it and be happy... I got the guts to quit and enroll myself back in school for my teaching certificate. I have ALWAYS wanted to teach, but because of money and other things I was guided in the wrong direction. Ever since my first teaching class - I HAVE NEVER LOOKED BACK! Yes, I make a lot less money then I was in Public Relations... but I don't care. I wake up everyday and I can't wait to get to work. Some things in life are more important than money... I just had to learn that the hard way. I mean at times I miss my weekly massages, my free gym membership, and all the gorgeous cloths I was able to buy... but now I have 24 wonderful students who make not having all those things worth it.

Sorry about my rant but something happened at work Tuesday that made me think about all this and how life has changed for me. Three of my students won awards in the Science Fair!!! Two took third place and one took first! I was so proud. One of the students who took third was such a struggling student when he came to my class in September. He has come so far! When he came back from winning yesterday I gave him a big hug and said "I am sooo proud of you! How did you become so smart?" ... and you know what his response was? Well, he said, "It's because I have the smartest teacher in the world!".... I ALMOST CRIED! Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what life is about.. purpose. Today I felt like I have a purpose... forget the "perks"... this is what makes life worth while.

Anyway my food today ....

Breakfast: Three triple berry mini muffins crumbled in yogurt.

Lunch: Sweet potato nuked.... string cheese, and my last juicy peach.

When I got home from work I was sooo excited to see nice weather, I went on a three mile run. It was lovely but HOT!

Then I cooked dinner... A very easy dinner! Whole wheat pasta with roasted broccoli in tomato sauce, garlic whole wheat ciabatta bread, Caesar salad. I roasted broccoli first with evoo and salt and pepper. Then I heated up sauce and cooked the whole wheat fusili. Once everything was cooked I just mixed it all together and added Parmesan cheese. For the salad I used the Whole Foods light Caesar dressing... this stuff rocks! Even Derek loved it (shhh don't tell him it's light). The garlic bread was easy too... Evoo, garlic, oregano.

There is a new show on Food Network called Cupcake Wars... I am in love! It is so intense and some of the flavors in these cupcakes are so unique. Squid ink cupcakes? Salmon cupcakes? Seaweed cupcakes? I mean really! The show made me crave a delicious cupcake, but I settled for these.

I hope everyone has a Happy Humpday!

Science Fair, Balloons, & Burgers

2010-06-14T22:59:00.000-04:00

I am always late on Mondays. No matter what time I wake up, somehow, I am still late. Today I woke up @ 5 a.m. with the intention of working out... that didn't happen. But I did do my lesson plans for the week, so that's a positive. Since I was running out the door at 7:30 (I need to pick up my students at work at 8:15), I just grabbed six mini muffins that I made last night and ate them in the car on my way into work for breakfast.

Today my first graders had their Science fair. I used to dread doing these projects as a kid. I think it's so funny how when your six, something like a science fair project can seem so hard. Now I look back on it as a teacher and think it's the coolest thing ever! One of my students made this great solar system... Next to every planet she wrote what she thought was the "coolest" fact about the planet. I was super proud :)

Another student made a great volcano too but my camera ate the picture... I'll take another tomorrow.

We are having a school wide BBQ/Carnival on Thursday and one of our administrators asked me if I would be willing to try and learn how to make balloon animals for it. Any normal person would have said no... but not I. I am not tenured.. therefore I said "sure I'll try". I also didn't have the heart to mention my grand fear of popping balloons. After about five tries I ended up with a dog that looks like this...

Yes I am aware that no real dog has a tail that long. I am working on it.

I normally eat lunch at my desk because I like to get work done while I eat, and the teacher's lounge is full of gossip I just don't want to be a part of. Today I had a Dr. Praeger's Tex Mex Veggie Burger with a slice of organic cheese on a whole wheat ciabatta roll. I also had a great juicy peach on the side. There is nothing like fresh in season fruit.

I should also tell you that my lunch is at 10:45 a.m.! Yes it's true- since I teach first grade they have the earliest lunch, which means I have the earliest lunch. Now that its June I am fairly used to it, but it will be nice to go back to eating when normal people eat lunch during the summer. And since I eat so early towards the end of the day I get very hungry. Sometimes I can sneak in a snack around 2 p.m. like I did today. I had a Honest Iced Tea and a new organic pretzel peanut chocolate bar... it was very tasty. I will buy these again.

After work I went home and had a snack while I commented on blogs. It is taking me a while to get used to commenting on blogs. I have been a silent reader for so long that I am just used to keeping my thoughts to myself. It feels good though to actually speak out and let other bloggers know how much I enjoy reading what they write! My snack was pita chips and salsa.

Once Derek got home we had to run to my moms to meet the caterer for our engagement party on the 26th. She was the sweetest lady and had such fabulous ideas on how the food should be set up and where to place the tables in my moms backyard. She seems very type A personality which I love because I am the exact same way! I feel safe knowing she is there making sure everything is perfect so that I don't have too.

While at my moms I had half a burger and a piece of corn. Veggie burger for lunch.... Angus beef burger for dinner - Guess you can say it's the day of burgers.

We stayed and chatted with the caterer for two hours!! I can tell we are going to get along very well. I didn't get home until 10:30 and was actually very hungry. I am not the type pf person that can go to sleep on an empty stomach. I had a very small bowl of organic raisin bran with skim milk as I finished this post. Now off to dream land so I have energy to practice my balloon animals in the a.m.

Night ;)

Productive Sunday

2010-06-14T05:47:00.001-04:00

I was on a mission to get a few things out of the way that have been on my to do list for a while now. Sundays are perfect for that sort of thing, especially rainy Sundays. Even though the weather was crappy, Derek still had his softball game in the morning. Once in a while I am a supportive fiance and will go watch him, but definitely not when its raining :)

As soon as I woke up I started on my to do list while eating a bowl of TJ's O's and some fruit. Since the weather still wasn't outdoor exercise worthy I stuck with Kenpo X. I really like this workout, it might be one of my favorites from the P90X program. I feel like you work your total body and according to my heart rate monitor I burn a ton of calories. This is the one DVD in the P90X program that Derek refuses to do... he says he is not coordinated enough to do it. It actually reminds me a little when I used to do those old school Billy Blanks Tae-Bo videos - loved them!

After my workout lunch was simple, mainly because I had absolutely nothing left in the apartment but I didn't want to go food shopping on an empty stomach and spend triple what I would normally spend because I was hungry!

Grilled cheese and half a can of Amy's low sodium tomato soup.

Once my stomach wasn't growling anymore I headed out to Stop-N-Shop. Derek was really excited I went food shopping without him this time because he says I am the most annoying person to go with due to the fact that I read the ingredients and labels of everything in the store - haha. I love food shopping! Especially with the self scanner and my reusable bags- no waiting in lines at the end! I also got this cute "All Out Of" pad from Anthropologie that hangs on the frig and makes it easy to mark when we run out of something.

I also like the self scanner as you go method because you can keep track of how much you have spent so far during your shopping and put things back if necessary.

I spent a good portion of the afternoon organizing pictures in my iphoto. It had been a while and at the rate I take pictures- let's just say it was out of hand. But it felt great once it was done.

I started to boil water to make a pasta dinner when Derek made a craving request we go out for burgers because he had been sitting on the couch watching Man vs Food for about two hours and decided he needed a "big burger for dinner". Not have to cook? Ok I was in...

We went to a local burger place in Wayne called Burger Deluxe. It is actually a burger diner started by two men who owned and cooked in high end restaurants in NYC but wanted to start a more low key place where they lived in NJ. They have everything from your regular cheeseburger to more exotic ahi tuna burgers, California salmon burgers, lamb burgers, & veggie burgers. We have been here a few times and it never disappoints.

The place has a very cool retro feel to it.

Derek went with the American BBQ burger with bacon. I decided against a burger tonight because I wanted to get in some veggies and I just really wasn't in the mood. I went with the Mediterranean wrap which had grilled eggplant, grilled zucchini, red peppers, lettuce, artichokes, and a Greek yogurt sauce in a sun-dried tomato wrap. I had sweet potato fries as my side... these are to die for! So crispy and fresh, not oily at all!

I basically cleaned my plate, the whole meal was great. I know it hit the spot for Derek because as he ate he just kept saying how delicious everything was. "This burger is great, it's delicious"...."These fries are delicious, best sweet potato fries I have ever had"... "This pickle is delicious" ... hahah I swear!

When we got home I was really trying to stay up for the premiere of True Blood on HBO. So I decided to bake some Triple Berry Bran muffins from Trader Joe's. I have made them before and I like them a lot for a quick garb-n-go breakfast.

I ended the night watching the premiere of True Blood and eating a handful of dark chocolate covered raisins from Whole Foods. All-in-all I was happy with how much I got done. Now it's time for the work week to begin :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!

First Post

2010-06-13T10:47:00.001-04:00

So here is my first post! If you are reading... thank you! I have been reading a handful of food blogs daily for the past two and a half years and I am really excited to take this step to becoming an "active" member of the community now. I also hope that by starting to actually comment on some blogs that it opens my eyes to knew blogs to read that I have not known about because I know there are so many out there.

My Saturday started with a quick bowl of TJ's O's with skim milk. Then I spent about two hours working on this blog followed by some indoor exercise since the weather wasn't so great. I try and do outside activities on the weekend with my fiance, Derek, but unfortunately the weather wasn't conducive. We decided to do the P90x dvd Chest, Shoulders, & Tri's. We don't follow the actual 90 day program for P90x because it is a little intense and time consuming, and like I said I prefer outdoor activities on the weekends when the weather is nice. But we do like the workouts and use them regularly. I feel like you have your own personal trainer with the P90x dvd's.

We had an appointment with the cake place to discuss and order our cake for our engagement party which will be on June 26th, so we showered and had a quick lunch of an Amy's tomato and pesto pizza. I ate half.

We then made our way to Sweet Craft Bake Shop in Glen Rock, NJ to
order our cake.

The main baker was laughing because Derek and I couldn't decide on a filling. I guess we need to get used to this comprising since we have a lot of planning ahead of us! She was very sweet and offered to do a dual filling so that half of the cake was the filling I wanted (Dark Chocolate) and the other half was what he wanted (Hazelnut). She is a terrific baker and will be decorating the cake to match our engagement party invitations. I actually used her to make a cake for my best friend's bridal shower last week and it came out fabulous! They are having a beach theme wedding and he actually proposed on the beach, the cake imitated how he proposed. Here is a picture...

Once our indecisive cake consultation was through, we made our way up to my mom and step dad's house in Mahwah for a World Cup U.S. vs England BBQ! My mom always outdoes herself when she has people over, but that's good for us! She has a wonderful backyard that we will actually be having our engagement party here.

She grilled up some clams, corn, hotdogs, salmon, burgers, and asparagus. She also made her famous rice & beans.

I actually don't eat clams, but they were a big hit. Wine is always flowing in my family but I stuck to Pellegrino with lime & lemon. Here is my plate.

Rice & beans, kale with garlic and evoo, asparagus, and corn that was rubbed with butter and paprika before it was grilled. It was great. When we were in Italy two summers ago we stayed at this villa in Tuscany on this vineyard that made this wine. Tonight we opened it to celebrate the fact that we are going back to Italy this summer. I had a small sip as I prefer white wine.

The night ended with a trip to Van Dykes Homeade Iice cream in Ridgewood, NJ. I got the strawberry cheesecake flavor but was very disappointed in the lack of actual strawberries in the ice cream. The cheesecake flavor was spot on but due to the lack of strawberries I only ate about 1/4 of what you see here.

I usually use my Sundays to get myself set up for the week. I need to do a big food shop and get organized for this party in two weeks, so hopefully I use today to be productive! I will probably be posting at the end of everyday or the morning after as do daily recaps only because it might be hard for me to do three times a day posts, but we will see. Hope you enjoyed my first post!