I did something this weekend other than “oh ya know, just layin’ low…” !!!
Not that there’s anything wrong with laying low (after all, I love kicking up my feet after work these days). But it’s nice to exit the abode and live a little, especially when the weather is as gorgeous as it was this weekend!
Friday
There’s nothing really to share about Friday except that I worked, ate my favorite dinner of the week, and went to bed at 9.
brown rice with eel + avocado = all the good things in sushi, amplified in a bowl
Also, BEN CAME HOME FROM SPAIN! He completed El Camino de Santiago, which is historically a Christian walking pilgrimage. There are many routes, but Ben did a super long one that totaled 890 km (553 miles) within 32 days. Casual.
Congrats, Ben! YOU ROCK.
He actually came home at 2 AM Saturday morning, but I snuck into his room later in the morning to say hi to him before I left for NYC.
Saturday
Since I went to bed so darn early, I woke up at around 6 AM for some sunrise moves and grooves!
100 burpee workout // 10 reps of each // Click here for demos!
- 10 tuck jump burpees
- 10 T pushup burpees
- 10 candlestick to chair burpees
- 10 alternating side burpees (this one actually hurt my shoulder a bit because the pushup becomes kinda awkward, so I would not recommend this variation)
- 10 broad jump burpees
- 10 spiderman pushup burpees
- 10 handstand burpees
- 10 superman burpees
- 10 dive bomber burpees
- 10 plank jack tuck jump burpees
I tried to do some new/weird variations to keep things interesting, so it was definitely a fun (and tiring) one!
banana bread baked oatmeal with plain peanut butter + “My Maine Squeeze” almond butter from The Peanut Principle
from the farmers’ market 😀
Plus a couple pieces of my mom’s egg white pork bake.
After washing up, Pop dropped me off at the train station to head down to the city! Cue this Tori Kelly song (because she is the soundtrack to my life).
First of all, I saw an extraordinary number of dads with their kids on the train/in the city that day, and it made my heart explode.
Secondly, Park Ave looks so clean and luxurious, but it honestly just smells like manure. #overrated
First stop of the day was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Can you believe I’ve lived in NY for 11 years, and this was my first time going there?
I guess if you don’t live in NY, you don’t really see the big deal. But this is one of those “must see” attractions in the city.
I did my tourist thing while waiting for my friend, Christine.
Squealing greeting + photos in front of the MET, because we’re bananas (yellow on the outside, white on the inside, in case you haven’t seen me make that joke 100 times on the blog).
apparently this is where Gossip Girl cast ate lunch in the show??
In we went!
We interspersed our “ooo’s” and “aaah’s” with some serious girl talk and some attempts at reading our people’s language.
My contribution every time: “I have no idea what it means, but it looks familiar.”
At least we’re proficient in fit fam culture.
Art eventually drains ya girls, so we headed over to lunch at
Bluestone Lane for some Australian fare at around 1 PM.
the restaurant is an extension of an Episcopalian church!
I spy vegemite toast and the word “brekkie”
Christine got the egg and bacon roll + I got the Aussie meat pie with mint pea puree
dynamite
Our waiter was Australian, which really added to the experience.
Arman, I could not stop thinking about you.
We made it our mission to find both ice cream and Levain Bakery for dessert, so we took the scenic route and walked around the Central Park reservoir. It was the absolute perfect day to do it! Hot, but not unbearable, and bluuuuuue skies.
We didn’t know where to get ice cream, but we happened upon
Amorino Gelato, which is famous for making roses out of their gelato! That stuff is expensive, but it is undeniably pretty and delicious.
Christine got fruity flavors + I got pistachio, black cherry, and a cookie butter flavor!
That cone was tiny and that gelato was melting wicked fast. You would think I was a magician, that’s how quickly I made it disappear.
We continued walking and found the legendary
Levain Bakery. I had been hearing about their incredible chocolate chip cookies since I moved to New York, basically. This was THE DAY.
But first, a short wait on a line that spanned half the block. Expected.
this is my “THIS IS BETTER THAN DISNEY WORLD BUT I’M TRYING TO BE CIVILIZED” pose
We descended into the little bakery…
…I bought one chocolate chip cookie and one oatmeal raisin scone. We desperately needed to charge our phones, so we walked over to a Starbucks, where I finally unveiled the glory…
these are both HUGE
…wait for it!!!
You have no idea how long I had been waiting to take that money shot. Ladies and gents, this was one of the best things that my taste buds have ever encountered. I’m not even a big fan of chocolate.
Warm.
Crispy on the outside.
Slightly under-baked and gooey on the inside.
Melted chocolate chips.
Rich walnut chunks.
Thick and decadent.
– a poem about Levain’s chocolate chip cookie by Alison
Christine and I split the mega cookie, and we had a few bites of the scone, which was fantastic as well. Not too sweet at all, but BUTTERY. The bag smelled like buttered popcorn. Mmmmm.
Afterwards, we walked back around the reservoir to where we started, and continued with some more girl talk until Christine had to leave. Next museum of the day was
Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design with one of my high school dance company mates, Susie!
had to take a pic of this
This is probably my favorite museum of all time. It’s so interactive, and the vibe is an intersection between classical architecture and modern technology.
They give you this high tech pen that acts as a memory stick. The pen has a “+” sign on the back that synchronizes to the “+” sign on each description panel on the exhibits. When you go home, you go onto their website and enter your unique code that they gave you, and you can see pictures of all the exhibits you saved via the pen. MAGICAL.
This immersion room is your childhood dream. You basically design your own wallpaper with the pen, and watch it come to life in front of your eyes.
Five stars for Cooper Hewitt! Thank you so much, Susie, for suggesting it!
We worked up a good appetite playing around in the museum. Susie chose an excellent Greek restaurant called
Korali for dinner.
a rare moment when no cars are about to run you over in the city
beet salad with grapefruit, pine nuts, goat cheese, fennel, dill and scallions
when the manager walks up to you offering a FREE platter of melted Greek cheese, you do not refuse (such a nice gesture of them!)
soup of the day: lentil
Susie gave me a bite of her lamb shank, which was heavenly
We also walked by this gem of a Citi bank sign (great eye, Susie).
This is Gabby Douglas, US Olympic Gymnast. But peep the caption in the upper left hand corner…
THIS is Allyson Felix, US Olympic Track and Field Runner:
Alright, Citi Bank.
And then I bid NYC a good night.
Ben picked me up at the train station, and I was all excited to tell him that I walked 11 miles that day (according to the Apple Health app), but then I remembered that he had been walking an average of 20 miles per day for the past month. Overachiever.
I still gave myself a foot massage before bed.
Sunday
I got up a little past 7 to get ready for Mass and say goodbye (already!) to Ben and Madre. Not for long though. Pop and I will meet them in Florida soon for our big family vacation next week!
Breakfast after Mass:
I also had leftover roasted broccoli while cooking this. Cravings, man.
I watched some gymnastics, read some blogs, and napped before getting up and eating again. Sundays, man.
smoked salmon avocado toast + unpictured carrots and hummus + half a frozen banana
Then I started this blog post and FaceTimed with my beautiful friend, Briana, from college. Followed by some killer moves and grooves in the basement (which I have deemed to be my “pain cave”).
60 seconds strength/45 seconds cardio/20 seconds plyometric/15 seconds rest
3 rounds of each block, 1 minute rest between blocks
BLOCK #1
BLOCK #2
- pistol squats (30 sec each leg)
- jumping jacks
- broad jumps over a step, lengthwise
BLOCK #3
BLOCK #4
I hadn’t done a workout that made my quads cry in a while. I stretched out before Pop and I went to one of our favorites for dinner— Bareburger!
I made my own burger: turkey burger, spinach, sprouts, tomato, pimento cheese on sprout bun + ketchup and mustard
sweet potato fries with their curry ketchup + special sauce
the inner beauty of my burger
Pop’s “Hog Wild” burger: wild boar burger, pimento cheese, frizzled chickpea onions (!?), fried egg, and pickled green tomatoes on a brioche bun
Decadence once again.
We picked up some groceries afterwards, and now I’m finishing typing this while watching sports on TV (← yay for Olympic season coming up!). ‘Twas a fabulous weekend filled with good food, great conversation, and even better people.
Back to the grind today, but one more week until vacation! Hope you all have stellar Monday. Give yourself a foot massage. You deserve it.
So tell me:
Two things you did this weekend!
What is your favorite museum?
What is the best cookie you’ve ever eaten?
Are there any sports you are following currently?
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