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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Daily Moves and Grooves 
That sounds like such a fun weekend!!! And white chocolate blueberry almond butter?! Yes please.
Two things I did: check out a new brewery and try our weight lifting! Haha
You rocked that weight lifting, Liz!
Ok it’s official I’m bringing lactaid and we are replicating that day in the city 😏 that cookie! And that dinner 😍 AND PEEP THE SCONE hehe. Also I am obsessed with eel, where did you buy it???
Haha YES YES YES. And we bought this eel at H-Mart (bae Asian grocery store where you will definitely also find red bean buns haha)!
crazy but I have one of those right near me!! guess where I’m going 😍
So glad you had an awesome time in New York! The Metropolitan museum was so much fun as well! 🙂 have you heard of Chelsea Market, Hu Kitchen and Momofuku? Those places are so cool too! Anyways, I went to two group workouts this week: one on Saturday hosted by WayofGray and then one yesterday hosted by Kayla Itsines! So much fun and I got to sweat twice!
I’ve been to all those except Hu Kitchen! What do they have there??
The moves. The grooves. The eats… They all look SO GOOD. I love buttery scones that aren’t too sweet. And browsing museums (especially interactive) ones is so fun! 🙂 It looks like you plotted out an amazing day. It’s neat that you live so close to NY and that you take advantage of it by ‘legging’ it all over the city. That Australian restaurant sounds cool! I’ve heard their meat pies are really good. Two things I did this weekend?
1. Put our house back together after our wood floors getting re finished.
2. Went to church… 🙂
I saw some videos of Gabby Douglas. She is AMAZING!
Church is always a highlight! 🙂
I am a huge fan of kitchen sink cookies. They have chocolate chips, peanuts, potato chips and pretzels mixed in. I am all about the sweet and salty! You walked so far, I would definitely have blisters too. The best past of my weekend was my Friday morning running group. I like spending time with friends outside of work and it’s not something I indulge in regularly. Speaking of, that you for your post about Colbie! We’re making plans to meet up 🙂
Have a great week!
I’ve never tried a kitchen sink cookie, but they sound amazing! Love that you and Colby are going to meet up! 😀
What a freaking fantastic weekend! I baked a lot and saw Finding Dory this weekend – and next weekend I’m headed to Chicago with my mom to explore more than I do during the school year and show her some cool stuff. 🙂
That cookie looks like dreams. I’d go to NYC just for that 😉 My best cookie was a skillet chocolate chip cookie stuffed with Reese’s cups. Allll the chocolate + PB love. Have a great Monday, Alison!
How was Finding Dory!? People say it’s fantastic! Oh my goodness your skillet cookie sounds incredible *drool*
First of all, the comment on the statue about doing squats made me laugh so hard! The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is pretty cool! it’s very modern and does a lot of stuff that is “out there.” But I’ve also gone to the Louisiana museum in Denmark and that was BEAUTIFUL. My favorite cookie recently is an oatmeal chocolate chip one my friend made, otherwise any snickerdoodle will do. Lastly, love hockey but baseball is a classic.
Louisiana Museum in Denmark… sounds interesting, and I’ll take your word that it’s beautiful! I do love me some snickerdoodles too 🙂
Gosh, you had an eventful weekend! I cannot believe that you did ALL THAT in one day, haha. That chocolate chip and your dad’s sandwich both had me drooling… the best cookies I’ve ever eaten are my mom’s chocolate chip oatmeal ones. Simple, but there’s nothing like a gooey cookie fresh out of the oven! 😀
Ahh homemade cookies are the best!
I have so much to say.
1. I saw an extraordinary number of dads with their kids on the train/in the city that day, and it made my heart explode. – But you don’t have a heart.
2. How CRAZY we were just talking about vegemite and then BAM. You go to Bluestone.
3. I love the MET….gift shop. 🙂
4. I was giggling like a tool over the snapchat of that creepy baby shot you got at bareburger.
Well now I don’t have a heart, because it exploded.
HAHA but that baby was ADORABLE. *still creepy*
The gymnastics was AMAZING from this weekend. Okay, that cookie looks amazing. Need that ASAP! Your oats always look so yummy too. You are most definitely the oat queen! I’m so glad you had fun with your friend and your family this weekend 🙂 And that the weather was nice for you! xoxo
Yes you do need that cookie! I think every human should try it. Hope you have a great week, Lyss!
Sounds like an amazing weekend with so much good food! I totally recognize those “Gossip Girl steps.” And go Ben! 553 miles in 32 days is amazingggg!
That poem on the Levain cookie was awesome. Totally making me jealous with that cross-shot of the cookie. Favorite museum I’ve been to is probably the National Gallery of Art in DC and the Hirshhorn coming in a close second. I was obsessed with Gossip Girl in high school and when we visited New York, I actually went on a GG tour!
That’s so funny that there’s a GG tour! I’ll have to tell Christine about it 🙂