A Very Good Wednesday

Where to begin?!!  A fab new Halifax restaurant find?  A teen dream movie adventure?  A quick & sweaty workout?  An exciting delivery from Boston?

Yesterday was a grrrrrreat day!!  I guess I’ll tell ya in order…

1) My conference call ended at 3:54pm!  So you know what that means… I finally got to the gym!  (I say finally like it hasn’t only been 5 days…lol).  Time was short so I pushed it hard and got a good workout in.

• Treadmill: warm up, 2 x 10:1, cooldown = 1.75 miles, 225 cals, 25 minutes
• 2 sets of 15: plie squats with 2 kg ball, squats with 2 kg ball, calf raises, deadlifts with 10 lb bar, crunches on bench, reverse crunches on bench, 1 minute plank on bosu.

Admittedly I shouldn’t have used the bench…it’s too hard on my lower back…and I did end up with a spasm on the drive home which is crazy painful today.  Booo.  But whatever, I had a great workout!

2) I received my fun package from Elizabeth.  We did a cross-border product exchange and I was dying to see what she sent. 

I’m going to keep you in suspense so I can write a whole post…but how’s this for a teaser…?  She lives near a TRADER JOE’S!!!

3) Girl’s night out.  What started out as my friend Sarah and I saying “we should do something Wednesday night” turned into dinner and a movie for three Twilight dirty old ladies diehards.  :)

Dinner at Brooklyn Warehouse:

I’ve been hearing about this restaurant since a few months after we moved to Halifax.  For some reason I thought it was only a lunch place, but just recently realized that I was wrong.  We checked out the menu online and were quite excited to try it out.

Thankfully our waitress was incredibly helpful and gave us a couple of suggestions because Sarah and I were both stumped as to what to order.  Everything sounded soooo good!  I had originally thought I would order the Warm Mushroom Salad and an appetizer (mmmmm mussels…) to make my meal, but after listening to our server recommend a couple of entrees I knew I had to order one.

She recommended the Pork Chop, the Fish Dish, and the Rabbit.  She was pretty excited about the rabbit, and since that is something I would never have at home I decided that was the way to go.  Sarah opted for the pork chop, and Joanne ordered the Fatouche Salad.

All of our meals were excellent.  Joanne’s salad was beautiful, leafy, green and bright.  She said is was very good.  Sarah’s pork chop was gourmet comfort food at it’s finest.  The chop is brined in local Propeller Root Beer…how yum is that?!  I tried a bite of her risotto and I was sold.  I loves me a great risotto!

My rabbit dish was lovely and comforting as well.  The leg pieces were so tender the meat was falling off the bone.  I’m not usually a leg fan when I eat chicken, but in this case it was just so meltingly good I really enjoyed it.  There were also a few slices of stuffed loin, which I didn’t like as much but they were still yummy…especially with the au jus on the plate.

Typical of me though, I thought the mushroom mashed potatoes were the best part.  Leave it to me to love the carby goodness!  Loaded with chunks of juicy big mushrooms and mashed with butter…deeeeelish.

With my meal I enjoyed a Brooklyn Dark Ale.  It just seemed like a beer night and when our server described the Dark Ale I had to try it.  Not too thick, but slightly chocolatey and very tasty. 

I also tried a sip of Sarah’s Wasabi Caesar.  Lightly spicy and yum.  I’d want that with a hearty Sunday brunch for sure!

For dessert we haggled over the three choices but in the end I was outvoted on the chocolate so we tried the Scottish Shortbread.  Amazing.  Tart berry sauce, lemon curd, and perfectly flaky shortbread.  A fabulous finish to our meals.

All in all, a great dinner experience.  I only wish I had better photos, but dimly lit crowded restaurants just aren’t good picture taking situations.  Ah well.  Go try it.  :)

4) The Twilight Saga: New Moon!

It’s confirmed.  I’ve been saying for weeks that if I have to pick a team, I pick Team Jacob.  This holds true.  And if the amount of giggling and carrying on in the theatre is any indication I am NOT alone!

In this instalment in particular…if you’ve read the book…Edward is a dirty bugger that leaves Bella in a crazy depression and Jacob is a warm, comforting, supportive friend. 

And yes, it helps that Jacob becomes a buff, shirtless hottie. (Please no comments about his age.  He’s fictional dammit!)

While Edward is a pale, scrawny, sulky, whiner. 

The movie itself is terribly acted and totally campy…but they really embraced the cheesiness this time and made good fun of themselves…so it worked.  You couldn’t watch the movie without having read the books though I don’t think…they really leave a lot to your existing knowledge of the storyline.

It was fun to be in the theatre with other fans. I am not usually a big giggler but because so many other people were laughing out loud and making little jokes we got into it too.  It wouldn’t have been near as enjoyable without that.

We all giggled all the way to the car.

Holy marathon post!! 

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!  Enjoy your day!!