Personal Training
Ah What a Weekend!
Happy late fourth of July!!! I hope you all had a lovely, fun, family, friend filled weekend! I had a great long weekend! It started off on the right foot with a DELICIOUS dinner Friday night. I had been craving caramelized onions for so long, and finally I realized I may as well try my hand at making them! They turned out so perfectly, and who knew they were so easy to make!
I just took 1 big, sweet, vidalia onion and sliced it up. I sprayed a skillet with some olive oil spray and when it was hot, I threw in the onions into the hot skillet. As soon as they hit the skillet I turned the heat to medium and cooked them more ‘low and slow’ so they didn’t burn. For some sweetness, I added about 1/2 T of agave and a squirt of sugar free maple syrup. I just contunied cooking the onions on low/medium heat for about 12-15 minutes and voila! Caramelized onions!
Of course there was kale chips!
The final product of the carmelized onions..YUM!
Fresh grilled corn (the best!) and sliced, white meat bbq chicken breast!
Skillet sauteed (with garlic, salt, pepper and EVOO) broccolini and mushrooms
Oh it was a delicious, summer plated dinner
Oh hey, beach!! Yes I finally made it to the beach! It was the most picturesque day you could imagine on Cape Cod
Iced Coffee because what is a hot summer day without one? Oh and I have gotten some comments on my hat…Do you like it? I felt sort of strange at first beacuse I am not really a ‘hat’ person, but after a little while I got used to it and actually find it a really fun summer accesory! I got it at Target
The Cape was packed. Everywhere, every restaurant…There were people everywhere and the best part was that everyone was so happy. Smiles everywhere, kids walking around with melted ice cream all over their hands and faces and happy parents sipping white wine and enjoying the atmosphere. I looked around and couldn’t help but smile myself. It was just the perfect evening and made me feel so excited for the remainder of summer
My lovely Mama. We got so many comments that we look exactly alike!
Then, it was dinner time! The Fishmonger cafe is a quaint little spot in Woods Hole (where the ferry’s leave for Martha’s Vinyard!) It is very ‘Cape Cod’ in nature, casual, yet rustic, situated on the water, overlooking the harbor. We started off with a couple of appetizers. The meditterean plate was a HIT!
Fresh vegetable salad, warm pita bread, hummus, grape leaves, artichoke hearts, pepperocini’s, tomato/roasted red pepper spread.
The tomato and roasted red pepper spread was SO delicious! It had a bit of sweetness but yet still had the strong flavor of the vegetables and fresh garlic coming through. It was perfect atop the warm pita slices
Baby spinach salad with goat cheese, slivered almonds and marinated peaches! The peaches were good, but I could tell they were not ‘fresh’ they had a bit of a syrupy flavor so I assumed they came from a can or jar, but the herb and lemon dressing made the whole salad come together beautifully!
For my entree, I went with the pan seared scallops. They were served atop eddamame beans, grape tomatoes and corn. The whole dish was topped with micro greens. It was an entree to die for because it was the perfect combination of sweet from the corn and beans and savory from the seared scallops.
The scallops were a bit more well done which I like so to me, they were perfect, sweet, succulant and summery! I really do not like when restaurants take something that is so in season and fresh such as scallops and cover them in butter or salt. I love when they are left somewhat basic so you can really taste the flavor of the fresh fish.
Okay, honestly…what is a hot, summer, Cape night without ice cream? To the Polar Cave we went for some serious, fresh, homemade ice cream!
The polar Cave is a quirky, small typical “Cape” ice cream shop. The entire place is filled with trinkets, signs, old Cocoa Cola Bottles and of course Polar Bears of all types!
Not to mention the flavor list was out of this world!
Look at all of the polar bears! So cute, Right?
I went with the low fat ice cream. Half black raspberry and half chocolate chip complete with rainbow sprinkles!
I was one happy gal.
This place was packed!
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While I enjoyed the delicious foods, drinks and ice cream…and entire weekend for that matter…I still did make time to get in some exercise! What I love most about summertime is taking my workouts outdoors. Nature has so much to offer that we do not take advantge of nearly enough.
On one of the mornings I was in Cape Cod, I woke up and enjoyed a 30 minute run, complete with some intervals. I would seek out a sign and every 5 minutes or so, complete 3-20 second sprints. I also found a little area near a wooded path and completed a plyometric body weight circuit that looked like this:
10 walking lunges (each side)
10 jump squats
20 seconds high knees
20 body weight squats
10 push ups
REPEATED 3x
I also completed an abs circuit:
10 Russian Twists
10 v-ups
10 plank twisters
30 seconds bicycle crunches
10 reverse crunches
REPEATED 3x
People, I cannot stress enough that you literally can work out ANYWHERE! Backyard, porch, inside, outside..There are tons of ways to utilize what you have without a gym membership!
If you do happen to have time to get to the gym, but once you are there complain about how little time you have. If you have 30 minutes…You have time for an AMAZING workout
Another amazing dinner I enjoyed while on Cape Cod was at Bistro 36, a new, super chic, somewhat upscale Bistro that featured a wide variety of items on the menu ranging from Steak and Ahi tuna to thin crust pizza and homemade pasta dishes.
We started with a couple of appetizers. The Mediterranean Dip Sampler: Hummus, Muhammara and Moutabel (this was a red pepper dip and olive tapenade)
We also split the Roasted Beet Salad: Butter lettuce, orange segments, goat cheese, balsamic vineagrette
For my entree, I had to go with the Ahi Tuna which is one of my all time favorite foods!
Roasted beet salad which was amazing! I loved that it was not at all coated in dressing. In fact, it really only had a drizzle of fresh olive oil and balsamic glaze atop the tender Butter lettuce leaves. The goat cheese, orange segments and beets worked wonderfully together and made for a perfect true ‘summer’ salad.
Honestly, the best part of this plate was the crispy lavash wedges. The dips were ok, but nothing special. They tasted out of the jar from Trader Joes–Don’t get me wrong, There is nothing wrong with that, but I think we were all expecting it to taste more ‘homemade’ And the dish that looks like hummus tasted just like pureed garlic with no true hummus flavor. The winner was the beet salad for sure!!
Ahi Tuna!! The tuna was out of thsi world!! It was crusted in a flavorful and spicy rub. I could not tell exactly what was in it, all I know was that it made the outside of the fish crunchy and spicy! The tuna was served over pureed celeriac root with roasted red pepper sauce and arugula. I learned that when celeriac root is pureed like this, it makes for an amazing alternative to mashed potatoes! It was so buttery and smooth.
Amaze.
The weekend was perfect, the weather was perfect and it was so nice to get away, even for the long weekend! I have lots going on in my little life and a lot on my plate right now, so I apologize that my posts are not so consistant. I will try and update as much as I can LOTS OF LOVE!!
This picture is to be continued on my next post…Any guesses?!
Questions:
What was your favorite part of the weekend?
New Workout songs?
