Life is Beautiful

After an especially trying week at work (despite my slow schedule, or maybe because of it...), I was in desperate need of a relaxing weekend.  My idea of relaxing isn't necessarily the same as most people's, but the weekend was perfect nonetheless.  It didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely beautiful after such a dreary week!

I enjoy myself the most when I feel like I'm bring productive, so of course the weekend started with a well thought out to-do list.  The thought of sitting around and doing nothing is absolutely not relaxing.  It is stressful.

I managed to get my butt up at 7 both mornings to run by the river, which in my book always sets a good tone for the day.  Even though I still detest running, starting my day with a workout always puts me in a better mood, and the path by the Mississippi just can't be beat.  Minus the knee pain.

Mike and I headed to the Minnesota Zoo on Saturday to enjoy the beautiful weather and pick out future pets.  Once we're exceedingly wealthy, I feel like we'll be able to have ridiculous animals.  I settled on prairie dog.  Hubby is pushing for a walrus, but I think a village of prairie dogs is much more practical. 

I absolutely ADORE Groupon.  If you aren't familiar with it, Groupon is a daily e-mail service that sends out an awesome coupon for a local restaurant, store, or other business each morning.  I seriously am giddy when I wake up each morning and check my e-mail to see what is offered.  For more details, check it out here.  Anyways, I have lived in St. Paul for almost two years and have always wanted to try Senor Wong, the Latin/Asian fusion lounge and restaurant about two blocks from my place.  Hubby isn't the most adventurous when it comes to cuisine, so until now, it had remained on my short list of places to go.  Luckily for me and my taste buds, Senor Wong showed up on Groupon a week or so ago.  For $15, you received $35 worth of food and drinks at the swanky restaurant.  I couldn't pass that up, so we walked the two blocks to the Kellogg building for dinner. 

I didn't bring my camera to the restaurant, so you'll just have to take my word on how delicious the food looked and how cute the restaurant was.  Definitely worth checking out if you're ever in the Twin Cities area and craving pad thai and/or chicken flautas! 

Sunday was another relaxing day, filled with errands (I love grocery shopping...sick, I know), cooking, and indulging in wine and amazing pizza with good friends.  My favorite gourmet grocery store had Minnesota Bushel Boy tomatoes on sale, as well as the most perfect mozzarella I've ever had.  Triumph of Cheese comes from Wisconsin (Midwest pride!) and has just the right amount of saltiness to add real flavor to a dish.  I absolutely couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a great caprese pasta salad with those, some orichette pasta (everything is better when it's ear-shaped), and basil from my little windowsill garden.  Drizzle on some balsamic reduction and you have yourself a great fresh lunch. 

With my second pound of tomatoes, I made a batch of my world famous salsa.  My friend Megan (finally) turned in her last project of the semester for grad school, so she was free to join us for snacking, followed by several bottles of red wine and two awesome pizzas from Roadside Pizza.  They have a great 2 for 1 special on Sundays, so that has become our little tradition.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend and was able to come back to work feeling completely refreshed.  Oh glorious summer, how I have missed you!

Yet Another Item on the Life To-Do List

The recent lull in my generally chaotic life has let me to seek a new project.  My new kick has been dreaming up ideas for a cookbook.  While I've always fancied myself a pretty good and creative home cook, it has only been lately that I've had aspirations to do more (i.e. when I decided that I wanted to be a caterer after doing all of the food for my own wedding reception - see pictures).

I have a pretty extensive collection of cookbooks, but I often find that I need to browse through pages and pages each weekend in order to find things to make for lunches the following week.  My idea is this: a cookbook full of recipes that busy professionals can make to pack for lunches.  One of my favorite things to do is cook with my girlfriends on Sundays and package everything up for meals during the week.  It saves tons of time in the mornings and, since my lunches are so delicious (and often healthy!), I'm rarely tempted to go out to eat during the day!  

I have tons of ideas for said book, but I don't want to spill everything for the whole internet to steal :)  Perhaps if I get ambitious this weekend, I'll document my cooking day with the girls!