Travel

Do You Want a Small Chicken? or Big Chicken?

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Neil and I have been so crazy busy this week that we just haven’t had a lot of quality time for each other so last night Neil proposed that we find a patio to go have dinner on. So I did my nails and put a cute dress on and we headed downtown to find an outdoor dining spot.

New nail color thanks to Beauty Without Cruelty– review and giveaway to come

Apparently everyone else had the same idea, to head downtown and eat al fresco.  So we finally settled on Italian and waited a bit for a table.  When we finally got a table we ordered a small chicken of Chardonnay to share and decided on salads and flatbread.

Neil's Arugula and Apple salad with candied walnuts and maple-sherry dressing

My Arugula, Apple and Strawberry Salad with candied walnuts and raspberry dressing.

Our flatbread with leeks, lemon, shiitake mushrooms and micro greens.

How we felt about the flatbread and the service.


Overall we had a nice night together but the service was awful! The waitress got our flatbread order wrong and then she disappeared for most of the time and it was just not ideal. The salads were good but Neil’s was way better. The flatbread was blah not great, really dry and boring.

Guest Appearance

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Hope you all are enjoying the new July Newsletter that went out this morning! If you didn’t receive it and would like to check out the sidebar where it says “Subscribe To My Newsletter” and submit your preferred email.

Also today I have a great guest post about Healthy Traveling up on Eating Bird Food so go check it out.

Restaurant: Mint- Waitsfield, VT

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Neil and I spent most of the day running around visiting farmers markets (we visited three) and we finally needed to fuel ourselves. After leaving farmers market number three in Waitsfield, VT we decided to try out Mint a vegetarian restaurant in Waitsfield. We tried it a last winter and we thought it was really delicious but we just haven’t made it back until today.

We were seated outside in Paris and after reviewing the menu we decided on two dishes to share- the Falafel Plate and the Tempeh & Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich.

The sandwich was good but it wasn’t great.  It was a little bland and I would have loved for it to be toasted because it got a little soggy. The greens were wonderful dressed with a lavender-herb vinaigrette; so different but so good.

Now as for the falfael plate- yes it tastes as amazing as it looks.

Look at how crispy these little falafel balls are but how moist and wonderfully tasty they are in the center. Everything was amazing! The pita and falafel were warm and delicious with the tahini sauce.  The hummus was so tasty especially on the pita with a piece of roasted red pepper.  What can I say it was so good I could eat it every day.

Overall our second experience at Mint was just as good as the first- well probably even better. The only downfall of the place is the service is fair but the food is wonderful.

A Single Pebble

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Good Morning! This morning started out wonderful with a mug of coffee and a toasted French Meadow sprouted 16 grain and seed bagel with Toffuti. I enjoyed it out on the balcony and read a little bit more of The Hunger Games; so far I am loving this book- have you read it?

Wednesday Morning Breakfast- YUM

Breakfast Date

Lets rewind to yesterday:

Tuesday Breakfast

Lunch: Crackers & Hummus because we had no food

After work I went for a run and did my best pace yet, a 12 minute mile! So far I have cut over 2 minutes off my mile – WIN! It was a really great run.

Follow my workouts on Daily Mile

After my run Neil and I met up with friends from for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, A Single Pebble.

A Single Pebble is a tasty family style Chinese restaurant with some of the best food in town. We chose two small dishes, a large dish and a noodle dish to share between the four of us. We washed it all down with some local brews.

Vegetable Potstickers- These were pretty tasty

Double Garlic Broccoli- one of my favorite dishes on the menu. This is a must order at each visit.

Rice of Course

Sesame Buddha's Beef- this is also a suggested must order dish- it was absolutely amazing. We also had a vegan noodle dish with crispy tofu; it was meh not my favorite but it was okay.

After dinner we went out for one more beer at The Farm House Tap and Grill with this cute couple:


We had a great night out with friends, one of whom is currently living in DC. Now we are looking forward to our August couples trip to Philly. What are you must see, do, eat, ect for Philly? We are looking for suggestions.

 

Pizza or Indian….How About Both?

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Happy Sunday (2nd Saturday)! I love long weekends! This morning Neil and I spent a few hours doing laundry and and caught up on some reading. I finally finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest and started No Meat Athlete’s Half Marathon Roadmap.

After our laundry date we headed downtown to the water front for a walk; we did 4 miles in 68 minutes and it felt great. We are right on track for our 5k in three weeks and then it’s on to our 10k in September and then our half in January.

After our walk we headed to American Flatbread for a beer and flatbread of course. Neil and I both got a Long Trail Brewmasters Double IPA. It was so good.

For lunch we split an Evolution salad and a Revolution flatbread hold the cheese add olives.

Evolution Salad: Organic Sweet Leaf Lettuce & Mesclun Greens w/Organic Carrots & Celery, Arame Seaweed, toasted sesame seeds and ginger-tamari dressing

Revolution Flatbread: Homemade organic tomato sauce, caramelized onions, fresh herbs and kalamata olives

We also shared a half of a stout for dessert:

After lunch we did a little window shopping and restocked our beer selection; I can’t wait to try them over the next month. Now it’s time to relax with a little left over Indian food recipes from The Asian Vegan Kitchen (made last night) and a movie or two. GOODNIGHT!

Leftover Indian YUM

Date Night In France

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Tonight Neil took me on a wonderful date night to France, well the closest you can get to France in Vermont. We started the night out with a drink at 156 Bistro and then Neil surprised me with dinner at Leunig’s Bistro. We have been talking about going to Leunig’s for months okay years but we just have never gone. It’s a little pricey but we had an amazing meal complete with dessert.

To Start- Seeded Baguette

Cocktail for me: Moulin Rouge and a Beer for Him

Artichoke stuffed with Temeph

Espresso

Vegan Carrot Cake: A-MAZ-ING

Overall we had an amazing and delicious meal. The entree was light, fresh and so tasty. The dessert was amazing especially with the espresso. It was the best espresso I have ever had too. Overall amazing meal, amazing ambiance (it was like you were in France) and I had the best date ever- my husband.

Wanderlusting: Yoga Fun

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Bah! I have been so crazy busy lately  between a weekend of backpacking, then trying to get all my work in line before heading off to Wanderlust for the weekend; now I’m back and trying to get myself back on track.

I'm in the middle near the poles- if you look really hard you can find me- Photo By: Arthur Shim

Our weekend was absolutely amazing even though it rained 98% of the time. I started Thursday off with a Kundalini yoga class with Kia Miller; it was really amazing! It was the first Kundalini class I have ever taken and it was hard but so much fun.  After my Kundalini class I was starving and took a rainy walk down to the vegan cafe that was onsite for a delicious lunch of Indian curry, rice and salad and a piece of cashew cheese cake that I split with Neil.  Unfortunately do to my extreme hunger I downed the food so fast I didn’t get a photo and heads up no photo of any other food #fail.  In the afternoon I took a workshop with Desiree Rumbaugh on knees, lower back and hips.  Desiree has so much energy and she is absolutely hilarious! I loved her class so much and learned a lot about alignment and ways to relieve  pains in the lower back, knees and hips. Thursday night Neil and I had veggie burgers and a beer at one of the restaurants on site and ended up in bed early because we were so exhausted from traveling down, camping out Wednesday night and yogaing all day.

Desiree Rumbaugh Class

On Friday I started the morning off with an early yoga class with Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman- I died a little bit when I saw Rodney Yee.  This was the one class I was looking forward to most after years of doing Rodney Yee yoga videos at home I was finally sitting in his presence.  The class was amazing! Colleen and Rodney took turns leading the class.  To my delight (I died a little more) Rodney Yee adjusted me in a pose- MADE MY DAY haha; I’m totally geeking out as I write this so you can just imagine what I was feeling during this class.  After my yoga class I went to a SpeakEasy with Majora Carter who is known for her greening efforts in the South Bronx. I took a break after this and headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit and enjoyed hummus wraps with Neil for lunch. After lunch I had my second yoga class of the day and second class with Desiree Rumbaugh this time a workshop for neck and shoulders.  Again I loved this class! Desiree easily became my favorite teacher of the weekend. I learned so much in the class but was sad when it was over so fast. Friday night we met up with our friend Catherine and went to dinner at a restaurant onsite and then spent the remainder of the night working on blog posts and articles; the work never ends.

Stealth photo of Rodney Yee

Saturday was the busiest day of all and the best because I got to take two classes with my husband! It was so nice because our first class of the morning was with Desiree Rumbaugh and it was a playful flow class. In the class we did a lot of partner work and it was so nice to be able to practice with Neil.  I even did a handstand with support of Neil.  After our class we went to the worst SpeakEasy ever with the author of The Athlete’s Plate; honestly the lecture could have been over in 5 minutes because the guy just kept repeating himself over and over and over. For lunch we had mini Lara bars, tastings of Honest Tea and humus wraps that we made in our room. In the afternoon Neil and I took one of John Friend’s classes which was such a great experience; it started off a little slow but we learned a lot and had a great time. After the class I went to a SpeakEasy featuring the founders of Wanderlust and Neil was lucky and took one of Sean Corne’s classes- he loved it- colour me jealous.

Wanderlust Founders

We ended up leaving early on Sunday due to a few things that came up and I missed out on what I imagined was an amazing class with Brian Kest and one with Schuyler Grant.  Oh well there is always next year.

Summary/Wanderlust in Numbers:

  • Yoga Classes Taken: 6
  • Interviews Performed: 2
  • Mini Lara Bars Eaten: 8
  • Hummus Wraps Eaten: 3
  • Beers Drank: 5
  • Favorite Teacher: Desiree Rumbaugh
  • Best Day to go to Wanderlust: Thursday; classes are 2 hours and less crowded
  • Runs Done: 1; I only got a run in on Wednesday night because well I was crazy busy, it rained all weekend and I wasn’t paying to use the gym
  • Hours Spent Blogging: 8
  • What I would Do Next Year: I would schedule classes closer together and take 3 classes per day, pack more food and get a condo to cook in because vegan options are limited and CRAZY EXPENSIVE, oh and find more time to sleep.

Wanderlust Photos: