Dinner in NYSea

[This is my second time typing this up.  Just as I was about to hit "Publish," the entire thing wiped clear, and the draft that was saved was a blank page with 0 words. Boo hiss.]

Happy Humpday, everyone! This is actually a pretty good Wednesday for me… I have a day off, and have gotten a run in, a doctor’s appointment out of the way, and stocked up on groceries.  I hope you’re having a great day, too!

Ari and I both ate Jim for breakfast yesterday.

This wiped out the last of my PB… is there anything more satisfying than finishing a jar of this? Probably, but this is up there.

I ended up using half PB2 for the cookies, half regular peanut butter… the result was a thicker, creamier cookie.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 TBSP almond milk
• 1/2 tsp peanut butter
• 1/2 TBSP PB2
• toppings: cinnamon, dried fig (1 each per cookie, sliced), raisins

I brought my lunch to work and on my break, went to Starbucks to get out of the torrential downpour.  I had leftovers:

Almond soba noodles:

Crudité (radishes, yellow pepper, tomatoes, carrots):

Sweet white cherries, courtesy of Daddy-o:

I ordered a Grande Skim Misto:

I ended up saving the coffee and bringing it to work and heating it up in the microwave around 3:30 (breaking my new no-caffeine-after-3 rule), when my eyes were drooping.

At 4:45, I snacked on an apple to hold me through the workout I was getting ready for.

I had more time than usual, so I took things slow and enjoyed not feeling rushed.  I did 35 easy minutes on the bike (30 + 5 minute cooldown),  10 minutes on the treadmill at 4.0 mph with a 4.5% incline, arms, and legs.  I’ve been having some lower-back pain recently (probably from standing up all the time) so I didn’t want to be too hard on my arms; I only did 3 machines.

Total time: 1 hour 4 minutes
Maximum heart rate: 160 (80%)

Average heart rate: 122 (61%)

Calories burned: 384

After showering, I hustled to Rockefellar Center to meet my parents and Ari for dinner at the Sea Grill.  This place holds a special place in my memory; my parents and I used to go almost every year on Christmas Eve for lunch, watching Santa skate on the ice. We were thrilled and jumped on the chance to eat here again when we (er, Daddy-O) saw that they were offering a Restaurant Week menu.

We ordered a bottle of Alsatian Pino Blanc for the table.  This was scrumptious… I haven’t had wine (or any alcohol, for that matter) since I was in Michigan.

The bread plate was lovely:

I chose the chunkiest, grainiest piece of bread on the platter.

The amuse boûche was a creamy smoked fish.

My parents and I all started with the East Coast Oysters with Cabernet-Pink Peppercorn Mignonette; Ari ordered the Tomato Gazpacho with Thai Basil (and the boy claims he’s from Maryland!):

Ari and I split two fish- Brodetto de Long Island Bluefish with Cockle Clams, in a lovely lobster broth:

Grilled Arctic Char with Corn Succotash:

Both fish were delicious; it’s too hard to pick a favorite! I wasn’t able to finish all of mine… this was a lot of food! I didn’t get to try any of the corn succotash, so I guess I need to make some of this soon! Shouldn’t be a problem

Ari and I split both dessert options- Chocolate Brownie Sundae with Vanilla Ice Cream & Sprinkles (we held the whipped cream… too “white and creamy” for A):

Dulce de Leche-banana filled crêpes with Chocolate Malt Ice Cream. This was really the star dessert… the sundae was good, but the crêpes were really something special.

With the check came some more goodies.  I was beyond stuffed, but I had a bite of the dark chocolate ball, which was stuffed with hazelnuts, and the white chocolate truffle, which was filled with PB&J. Genius.

It was a great meal.  I’m so happy we got to eat at the Sea Grill again, and even happier we experienced Restaurant Week! It’s continuing on through next week, so there’s a small (small) chance we’ll be able to go again.  A girl can dream!