Woop Woop (1.18.2009)

This weekend has been full of great eats.

Friday

Friday night, Kevin brought me these......and then surprised me by taking me out to dinner at The Bicycle. But first, I had to get in my Key Run Workout #2 at the gym.

I ended up doing 2 miles less than I was supposed to because I just couldn't get into the run and I was excited to see where we were going for dinner.
Key Run Workout #2: 2 miles warm up, 1 mile Tempo, 1 mile cool down.

When we got to The Bicycle, which is a very cool place in Federal Hill - I started with the Roasted Beet Salad, which had baby spinach, warm bacon-sherry vinaigrette, goat cheese, hardboiled eggs, and fried shallots. It was HUGE, but I ate every bite because it was incredible and I was starving.

For my main dish, I chose the Vegetable Stir Fry with Tofu, which had tofu w/ spicy lemongrass marinade, shitake mushrooms, eggplant, carrots, red onions, green peas, rice. The flavor in this dish was great, but I was full from the big salad so could eat much. Kevin was happy to help.

We decided to split the Banana Foster Bread Pudding w/ banana nut ice cream for dessert, but this was disappointing. The bread was hard and we couldn't get our spoons through it to get a bite.
Saturday

The long run this morning called for 8 miles at Marathon Pace + 20 secs. Since it was 8 degrees outside, we headed to the gym. I ended up running 6 miles on the treadmill in an hour. This was tough to do on the treadmill because it started to get boring and my legs were dragging from the squats and wall sits I did on Thursday and then running the night before. I was happy to complete 6 miles because I wanted to quit a few times.

After running errands all day Saturday, we were excited to head out to dinner with friends Frank and Kristy to Rocket to Venus in Hampden. Frank is a chef and actually started a blog today - so check it out at http://tasteyeats.blogspot.com.

They both love food as much as we do, so I didn't feel weird taking any pictures because they were taking them too. It turns out that I didn't take as many pictures of our dinner as I thought I did. I am blaming it on the 2 bottles of Woop Woop.I ordered the Potato Gnocchi - Gnocchi, shitake and button mushrooms, butternut squash and leeks sautéed with sage in brown butter, garnished with asiago and pumpkin seed oil. The sauce was more like a broth and the combination of flavors went great together.The waitress told me it was considered an appetizer, but was larger than normal ones and smaller than a main dish. The portion was just right after eating roasted brussels sprouts and pork dumplings for appetizers.

After dinner, we headed to the SideBar... ...to see a great band (Lazlo Lee and the Motherless Children) play and then went down to Fells Point to meet up with a friend of mine who was in town from Philly. Overall - it was a fun night!
Sunday

Kevin and I have been to this one breakfast spot a few times on the weekend and every time - I forget my camera. I would consider The Morning Edition Cafe to be a hidden gem in the city. Camera in hand - we were really excited to take Frank and Kristy there.

The one drawback of this place - slow service. Kevin got a glimpse in the kitchen at one point and said it looked like one guy was back there doing it all. I promise that the food is worth the wait though.

After being seated, our coffee cups were quickly filled and they brought out warm, complimentary banana bread for the table. mmm.The menu is handwritten and they have some of the most interesting ingredient combinations you will see in a breakfast spot. I decided to go with the classic eggs benedict.Served with steamed broccoli and fresh fruit, the hollandaise sauce was light with a strong lemony flavor. The candy cane was a cute touch.

I am a proud parent and need to show off this note from the dog walker. He loves Oscar and this note made me so happy. :)To make sure Lucy doesn't feel left out - here she is curling up near Oscar on the steps. Lucy adores Oscar and it is so fun to watch.I hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for some football! Cant wait to catch up on all your blogs tomorrow!