Birthday Weekend - Part 1

After last night's eating adventures, I woke up and wasnt really hungry at all. And this is odd for me to say. But I knew I wanted to grab an iced coffee from High Grounds on the corner. About a week ago, this awesome coffee shop was robbed at gun point in the middle of a saturday afternoon. This hits very close to home because I literally live about 5 houses down from the corner coffee shop. All the more reason to go in, hang out, drink some coffee and let the "bad guys" know that they cant take over our part of town. So I ordered a medium, iced, skinny, caramel latte - seriously the best I have ever had. Probably because they roast their own coffee beans right there!

I packed breakfast to go and once I got to work, I added in some hot water to my 1/2 cup oats, 1 small banana, raisins, almonds, a little SF maple syrup, and a packet of barney butter. It was alot and took me awhile to eat it all.
For my mid-morning snack, which i wasnt ready for until about 11am, I had half a cherry pie larabar. Yes - half! Seriously, something was wrong with me today. But I want to try and listen to myself and not eat just to eat. So I stored the rest for later.Since I didnt pack a lunch, I headed over to Buon Giorno and got their lunch special, which was a grilled chicken caesar wrap. It came with chips and a drink - all for $6.95 - which I think is cheap! sorry for the bad quality - used my phone to grab a picture. I didnt eat the chips - just really didnt want them, so I stowed them in my desk for another time.Later in the afternoon, I opened up another 1/2 cup tupperware thing that contained roasted plantain chips (from TJs) and some dark chocolate covered raisins. I didnt finish the container because i just wasnt that hungry. (horrible picture - my camera died immediately after this!) Once home from work, I had one of these cute little babybel cheese - they are so good. Oh and oscar had a little piece too.
Tonight, we celebrated my dad's birthday by heading to Nichi Bei Kai in Columbia, MD which is a Japanese Steakhouse and sushi place. Never had the sushi, but have been there a few times for the hibachi style dinners. We had our own table in front of the big grill, so we got to sit there and watch our entertaining chef, cook our food. He decided to pick on me from the start and literally hit me in the head with a piece of onion (without giving any notice he was going to throw it) and then threw a piece of shrimp at my eye. It was all in good fun - this guy just couldnt throw. ;)

Here is my first glass of pinot grigio - notice the frosted glass...love it. I had another, but forgot to take a picture. They gave a good, BIG, glass of wine.
I ordered the steak and scallop hibachi meal which came with japanese onion soup, salad with house dressing, 3 pieces of hibachi shrimp appetizer, and then hibachi veges with steamed rice. Overall - a TON of food.
The soup was so good, with pieces of green onions and mushrooms hanging out in a light broth. As you can see, I scarfed it down before taking my picture!
The salad's veges were pretty fresh and the dressing had a ginger sesame flavor that wasnt too overpowering. It got to be a little watery in the bottom - so overall - this little salad was just OK.Shrimp appetizer is some amazing sauce - these were cooked perfectly.
Here is a shot of my plate. I probably ate about half of the meat and veges with a few spoonfuls of rice - but all the scallops were definitely gone!
They brought out a slice of cheesecake and sang for my dad, so of course, i had a bite of the cheesecake!

Oh, did I mention that the kid's meal is fried rice with hot dog? how awesome is that? Jenna was nice enough to share a few bites with me! It was SO GOOD.Here is a pic of the onion volcano! Please notice the stray piece of onion laying on my plate - this has just bounced off my forehead. yesss.And here is the family enjoying the show.Back at Kimberly and Steve's house, we had mom's homemade cherry pie with ice cream and some of the leftover cake dad's work had given him today. There was also a strawberry/mango pie from WEIS, so I had a bite of the mango. Anyone notice a pattern here? I always have to try at least a bite of everything!! :)
Homemade Cherry Pie! Here is a shot of my small slice of cherry pie with ice cream. (someone was trying to get their hand in the picture :))
Oh, and I had a small glass of milk - i love my sister's milk glasses - perfect size and shape.Needless to say, i am very full and exhausted. Thank goodness the 1/2 marathon was postponed until sunday!!! The weather that is coming through is supposed to end tomorrow, so we should have a muddy, fun time on sunday! I hope they dont cancel the race!

I couldnt resist posting this - a great shot of my niece and nephew I took while they were hiding in a "fort".
See you tomorrow!