this has gotta be a record

Morning #5 of oatmeal for breakfast.

This time: Citrus Steel-Cut Oats with Apricot and Cinnamon, from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

I was on a mission this week to use up a sandwich baggie filled with steel-cut oats that I brought with us from OHIO! Thankful oats don’t really go “bad”…

I used most of them in the baked oatmeal from the other day, and the last 1/2 C made two servings of oatmeal this morning.

I prepped the oats last night by par-boiling them with a cinnamon stick, then removing them from the heat and covering for an hour while they absorbed the water. I refrigerated overnight, then all I had to do this morning was add milk, water, cut-up apricots and orange zest.

You can see the golden raisins (added last night) and apricots in my bowl. Andrew is more of an oatmeal “purist,” so he wasn’t a huge fan. Not to mention his aversion to apricots in general. Oh well–more for me! Up to this point, there wasn’t any sweetener at all in the oatmeal, so I sprinkled about a teaspoon of brown sugar along with some ginger maple syrup on mine.

Yum! I paired the oatmeal with some plain yogurt and half a grapefruit. This breakfast kept me full from about 7 – 11:30, when I was hungry after my workout. I snacked on a couple honey wheat sticks and an orange while my brown rice cooked for my leftover Beef and Broccoli from Steamy Kitchen. (Which was a HUGE hit by the way… Andrew loved it!)

After this it’s HOMEWORK CENTRAL for me!

moog bash & breakfast

Here we are, at the Moog MId-Winter Bash. I had SUCH FUN getting dressed up and socializing with Andrew’s co-workers.

I even got my hair done! My hair hasn’t been long enough for an updo in AGES (if ever, really), so I was excited to get a french twist for the occasion. Doesn’t it look awesome? Like I actually HAVE hair?

Can you believe just a few hours earlier it looked like this??!?! She had to tease the heck out of it in order to get it to stay.

I don’t have any other photos of the bash, unfortunately. It was really neat–TONS of food, multiple bands in different conference rooms of the hotel, as well as a couple comedy shows, too–but it was a little chaotic, too. There were people everywhere; it was a wonder we ever ran into anyone Andrew knew.

Side note: Interestingly enough, we actually bumped into the company CEO! I has interviewed him earlier in the week for a human interest piece for the Advertiser, so it was actually really neat to see him again and chat for a moment or two. And introduce Andrew to him–certainly can’t hurt his career;)

We stayed the night at the hotel (it’s so nice to get away sometimes), so of course we were excited to come up with a place to eat breakfast the next morning. The Lake Effect Diner is one we’d been meaning to try–it’s one of the places in Buffalo featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives–and we weren’t disappointed.

It’s in a silver train car and it was standing-room only for a few minutes while we waiting for some spots at the counter.

“Guy Ate Here” emblazoned on the wall and a made-fresh OJ machine.

I don’t think we look too worse for the wear after our (relatively tame–we are old and married, after all) night of partying. Note Andrew’s teal shirt and the teal stripes on my cardigan–we didn’t plan it, I swear, but I had to take a photo.

Here’s a shout-out to my dear friend, Emily, who gifted me with this purse hook for Christmas. I don’t use it often (I prefer to use an empty chair next to me), but it was a life-saver this morning.

I was only somewhat indecisive this morning; as usual I wanted to try a little of everything, so I opted for an omelet and added a pancake. I chose the banana and candied pistachio pancake (I mean, where can you get that combo?) and the Greek omelet.

It even had chicken souvlaki, the leftovers of which I used to top my salad tonight. Home fries were pretty good, too.

The Lake Effect Diner is known for their smoked meats, so we had to try a couple varieties. I chose the ham, since Andrew opted for the bacon.

Andrew had plain pancakes…

…as well as my toast and a side of bacon.

Like a good little healthy eater, I halved all my food (except the pancake) and loaded up a to-go box right way. The box got even more full before I was finished–pancakes don’t keep well, so I opted to finish that instead of the rest. It was SO MUCH FOOD.

Check out my two additional breakfasts, happily sitting in the fridge 🙂

how we spent our saturday

There was baking. There was snow. And gym-going. And car-repairing. And cake-tasting. And, finally, a little ice skating.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Andrew’s truck had been on the fritz since Monday morning, and in the course of the week, Andrew and his friend Bart (featured here at Waldfest and here at the ‘beach’), diagnosed the problem as being the fuel pump. (Bart used to work on race cars in college–like, REAL race cars–and is an engineer at Moog and one of those super-brainy-but-cool types, so I felt like we were in good hands.)

So, after lots of research and You Tube “how to replace a fuel pump” video-watching, Andrew and Bart made plans to replace the part Saturday morning.

Company on Saturday morning = BIG BREAKFAST!

I decided to make pancakes AND waffles (waffles keep better in the freezer) and maple-roasted bacon.

Bart and I like chocolate-chip pancakes, so I added mini-chocolate chips to ours. I even had whipped cream on hand, too–SCORE!

Waffles staying warm in the oven… Side note: I’ve been doing this for awhile now (using the oven to keep waiting waffles crisp and warm) and in just this past issue of Cuisine At Home, someone wrote in and offered this EXACT TECHNIQUE in the reader advice section, and got $100 for it!! Note to self: wrack brain for something to suggest.

I set the table with three kinds of nut butters, Kefir, plain yogurt, orange segments, pineapple, butter, maple syrup, ginger maple syrup, orange juice and bananas. And that’s not including the main courses…

We all enjoyed breakfast before the boys headed outside–did I mention it finally snowed–to start the car project while I tackled clean-up.

Look! They’re twins! Bart brought over some extra work clothes and gloves (he does this kind of thing a lot), which was nice since the cold weather necessitated multiple layers.

…and multiple trips inside to warm-up and read directions. (Not sure why Andrew looks pregnant here, but since it’s him and not me, I’m happy!)

Bart, complete with knee-pads…

…Andrew, who was probably wishing it were just a bit warmer. After our mild week, they certainly did not luck-out on weather for the project.

After I took a snow-filled walk with the dog and went to the gym for a run, I rushed home to shower and get lunch ready for everyone. Thankfully, I had a great assortment of leftovers (I felt a little guilty serving guests leftovers, but by now, I feel like Bart is almost family, and Andrew’s dad–who had come over to watch the snowy repair job–IS family, and the leftovers WERE pretty special) like homemade coleslaw and roasted potatoes, along with homemade rye bread and sandwich stuff.

I dashed out the door after my last bit to meet Abigail, Carolyn and Andrew’s mom at Butterwood’s, a local bakery for some wedding cake-tasting! This, of course, would have been a perfect opportunity to take some photos for the blog with all the beautiful cakes and desserts, but, alas, I did not. I really waver between wanting to be a hard-core food blogger and photo-ing EVERYTHING, and on the other hand, trying to not let it take over my life. So, no pretty cupcake photos here.

We stayed afterward and got desserts and drinks–I chose a red velvet cupcake that was just gorgeous and tasted completely divine–thankfully, I still have half to enjoy another time 🙂

With the sourdough starter that I left out from making the pancakes and wafflers earlier, I made this focaccia.

We didn’t end up eating any that night, because Bart talked us into going out with him to ice skate! I so tried to stay behind to do the myriad things on my to-do list (you know, like take a chem quiz, finish two labs, write an article, write two blogs, not to mention a million other things), but at the last minute I couldn’t say no. I threw on some long underwear and ran out the door with Andrew!

We headed downtown for some ice skating (there is a free rink on the main thoroughfare in the city) and to check out some of the snowboarding at WinterFest.

Don’t you just love my scarf? Andrew got it for me to go with my coat for Christmas–beautiful! I’m LOVING the J.Crew Stadium Jacket we scored on Black Friday… It cinches at the waist and is SO FLATTERING. And it has a hood. I have never wanted a hood more than I have since moving here.

After skating, we headed to Pearl Street for dinner, and to warm up! My fingers were just about frozen, despite the awesome glove liners I got recently. I enjoyed their Cherry Wheat beer, some onion rings (really hit the spot), a roasted veggie sandwich and their completely splurge-worthy fries. Seriously, I could really just have their fries for dinner and be happy.

Bart recently discovered a new bar downtown that has a trivia night, so he brought us to check it out. It’s called Founding Fathers and IT IS AWESOME. I mean, the proprietor was wearing a tie–is that my kind of place, or what?!

There are flags and U.S. presidential history everywhere–it’s a smart-people bar (I may be a little rusty on my history, but Andrew and Bart aren’t!). Andrew and I have never really felt “at home” (well, who does, really?) at a bar since we choose not to drink all that much, but we (well, really just me, probably) have always wanted to be a “regular” somewhere, and this is the kind of place I could see us going to often. I’m not saying we’re going to go every Friday, but we’d like to give their trivia a try (it’s the first Tuesday of the month), and it just felt like somewhere we’d fit in.

It’s pushing 10 p.m. and I still haven’t taken that Chem quiz…