I truly could not have asked for a better weekend! It was filled with good friends, delicious food, relaxation, and Artie! Artie used to be my little Pug companion…. now my Cousin Robin takes care of him along with her dog Spanky. She has more time to give Artie than I do and I am so grateful that Artie is happy and healthy! You can see his cute and wonky-eyed little pug face later in this ridiculously long post.

Friday morning I got in a 2 mile run because after work Andrew and I had plans to hang out with our friends Jade and Steph. I made a batch of ‘skinny’ lime daiquiries (Meaning less sugar: Don Q Crystal rum, lime juice, the lemonade flavoured Vitamin Water Zero and some Truvia… these are so good you cannot tell they are lower in sugar!) We played some Rock Band and ordered massive amounts of Chinese food.

I am obsessed with hot and sour soup. I always order it when we get Chinese.

Garlic shrimp swimming in the most delicious slightly sweet and super salty sauce with steamed broccoli… brown rice was somewhere but I don’t think I had added it yet…

The next morning we had a ton of errands to do before my friends Sam and Ricky came up to visit from Cape Cod! We quickly ate breakfast, and got to work cleaning, doing laundry, and shopping.

Saturday was my rest day from running. My legs were really very sore. I know that I pushed myself a little too hard last week… this week I’m going to try to embrace a more sane training schedule.

Andrew’s Saturday breakfast: Omelette of some sort with hot sauce, multi-grain bread with loads of honey.

My breakfast: 2 pieces of Udi’s Gluten free multi-grain bread with Teddy’s peanut butter and a banana. This bread is also AMAZING with some mashed avocado . Seriously it is like pure hedonistic bliss. The bread has this sort of buttery taste already so matched with avocado it is just divine.

I grew up on Cape Cod with Sam and Ricky. They have been together since high school and have a beautiful little 2-year old girl named Zoey. And, two Chihuahuas. I’m SURE they were super excited to get away for the weekend!

We covered A LOT of Boston on foot. Boston is a great walking city… you can explore a great deal of it on foot in a day.

We cabbed over to Harvard Square… which was extremely busy with tourists. We hang out in Harvard Square a lot because it is close and has a lot of good bars and restaurants. It has a much different vibe during the school season. I think I like it better when the Harvard students are around and the tourists have all vacated.

We decided to take the T over Park Street and we walked through Boston Commons, all through Beacon Hill,and into Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market.

We ended up bar hopping (3 bars??) until we finally made our way over to McCormick and Schmick’s for STEAK. I ordered the sirloin tips, medium rare. They came with a side of spaghetti squash and asparagus. These tips totally rocked my world and melted in my mouth. They were perfectly cooked and marinated.

The weather was PERFECT so we sat outside…

A night hanging out in Boston wouldn’t be complete without meeting Ben Franklin!

Sam and I ended the night talking while the boys played video games.

Andrew decided he was still hungry so he grabbed a smore’s balance Bar and dipped it in honey because for some reason he just had an extreme hankering for that combo. He highly recommends it.

Sunday morning Sam and Ricky left to get back to their little girl and Andrew and I decided to head over to our favorite breakfast spot, Soundbite’s

We had so much fun Sam and Ricky! We cannot wait to visit you on the Cape!

My breakfast: An egg white omelette with broccoli, spinach, onions, peppers and feta cheese ( I forgot to add avocado!), a side of salsa and some turkey sausage. i didn’t eat the toast or hash browns. Wasn’t feeling like too heavy of a breakfast.

Andrew’s breakfast: Andrew pretty much ALWAYS orders the ‘Broadway Bowl’ (Soundbite’s is on Broadway in Somerville). It is basically just a gigantic bowl of breakfast food topped with tons of melted cheese. This is totally Andrew’s ideal type of meal. A gigantic bowl of food. The cool part is that there is practically an entire avocado in the bowl! If you order avocado at this restaurant they always give you SO much of it. And, it is always fresh and perfectly ripe :)

When we got home I passed out for THREE hours!!! I guess I really needed a nap? I had no mental or physical energy to do anything.

When I woke up I felt like such a lazy slug. I took a shower and went on a 2 mile walk just to get my blood flowing! I felt stellar and decided to have a glass of vino before we headed out to Constitution Beach in East Boston to see ARTIE!!!!

I love fresh, crisp white wines in the summer. I usually opt for Vinho Verde but decided to get back on the bandwagon of drinking French Whites. I love French wine… The good stuff is not always as expensive as you may think! You just have to know a thing or two about the regions.

Picpoul is a grape variety grown in the Languedoc region of France. That would be the central part of southern France. It comes both dark (noir) and white (blanc). Pic oil de Pinet is a wine made specifically from Picpoul Blanc grapes grown in the commune of Pinet (and a few other designated communes) within the Languedoc region.

It is golden in color, citrusy, tropical even with a full-mouth feel. Though it is full bodied it is pretty darn acidic. Just the way I like my whites! Picpoul de Pinet is VERY affordable. This bottle was only $9.99.

After a bit more Sunday relaxation, Andrew and I headed over to Constitution Beach in East Boston to see my Cousin Robin and my ex-pug ARTIE!!!! Here is a picture of him in his little jacket during Christmas 2010. he was almost 5 months old here. He was the last little guy from his littler and has a weird divergent eye thing going on. But when I saw him yesterday he definitely grew into his eyes!

Though he grew into his eyes he was still his crazy old self. He looked so happy and healthy! Pugs have a propensity to get FAT. They can be inherently lazy and without proper exercise they will pack on the pounds. Robin has been taking excellent care of Artie! He looked strong and muscular and super cool and tough with his new Harley-Davidson collar! It was so good to see him playing with other dogs. I just didn’t have the time he deserved anymore so thankfully Robin was able to take him in and he got to stay in the family!

It was like picking up a dead Christmas Tree! I had forgotten how much he shed! Yikes!! (Poor Robin, sorry!)

My two favorites :)

After the visit with Robin and Artie we needed to do a bit of grocery shopping. This week I am going wheat free and meat free. Last week I randomally ate practically no wheat because of the new bread I bought. I had been eating rice and oats and I realized after the end of the week I felt really different. I mean, I felt amazing. I’m just going with it but don’t plan on cutting wheat out forever. I’m not allergic or intolerant but I think it would be nice to give my body a break. Wheat is pretty difficult to digest in general unless it’s sprouted. As far as the meat thing goes… just for a week. I typically do this a few times a year. I sometimes reflect on the Buddhist philosophy on eating meat… eating dead animals weighs down on your soul. Kinda makes sense in a way. I mean, don’t get me wrong I LOVE steak, and lamb, turkey, etc. but having a meat heavy diet can certainly weigh one down a think. At least it weighs ME down. I always feel a bit more vibrant when I focus on a vegetarian diet.

Anyway, I buy A LOT of veggie burgers so I decided to make my own! I adapted this recipe from Eating Well. For some reason I cannot link it but if you search for ‘Bean Burgers with Spicy Guacamole’ on the Eating Well website you’ll get it!

Pinto Bean Burgers

1/4 Cup cooked quinoa
1/2 Chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 1/2 Cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 Teaspoon paprika
1/2 Teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1-2 Tablespoons roasted and salted sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons cornmeal, plus 1/3 cup for coating burgers
Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Cook the quinoa and set aside, sauté the onions with the garlic until they are almost caramelized, mix the 3 tablespoons of cornmeal with all the spices and the sunflower seeds. Once all the ingredients are prepared, smoosh it all together into patties and dredge in the cornmeal.

Cook them up in a heated skillet with some olive oil!

You should probably make some guacamole to go with these burgers. Simple stuff: Just 1 or 2 avocados smooshed with some diced red onion, diced cherry tomatoes and seasoned with a bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder and lime juice.

Hmmm… I didn’t think through about how I wanted to serve them! The burgers and the guac was as far as I got. Pinto bean burger tacos??? Sure! With pepperjack and guac and salsa and sour cream on the side.

Andrew’s plate:

My salad bowl. Duh.

These were good. but I would have preferred a bit more texture next time! There are so so so many veggie burger recipes floating around the blog world and I feel like I need to make them all. One day. ;)

Had to kill the bad guy first.

Cheers!