First weekend of 2010

The last two days of our break from work was great! Although this probably sounds boring to most, we just stayed home and played the Wii, ate, finished a couple projects around the house and watched TV. It was perfect! I never thought a vacation at home could be so enjoyable!

Saturday morning Matt made me a delicious breakfast. Two over easy eggs with rye toast that my grandmother brought up from our favorite Jersey bakery, Pechter's . Too excited to eat = forgot to take pictures. After breakfast I ran to the grocery store. While there, analyzing all the prices, I decided one of my annual projects is going to be to figure out which grocery store is really the cheapest. I know it sounds geeky but I'm going to create a spreadsheet with the items we buy the most often and price compare the 5 grocery stores that we go to:

1. Market Basket
2. Shaws/Star Market
3. Stop & Shop
4. Whole Foods
5. Trader Joes

My theory is that Market Basket is the cheapest overall for groceries, Trader Joe's the cheapest for wine and Whole Foods (definitely) the most expensive. I'm just curious what the actual spread is.
After grocery shopping I was starving! I made a chicken, cheese and mustard sandwich on Nature's Pride whole wheat bread with a pickle and a Bud Light Golden Wheat. Yum!!! I think the sandwich was gone in a minute. Did I mention I was starving?!


Later in the afternoon while kicking Matt's butt at Tiger Wood's PGA Tour 10 game for the Wii we snacked on chips and salsa with a ginger ale. I love this game! I don't play golf but would like to pick up the sport. I think this game is good practice. I know my body thinks so! My arm and shoulders are killing me!


For dinner that night I served my first recipe over a bed of whole wheat spaghetti, "Chicken with Creamy Leeks" (I thought I had the recipe with me but I don't so it will be posted later tonight):

Lauren's review: Not as flavorful as I typically like in my meals
Matt's review: I don't like leeks.
Final decision: Trash it AND remove leeks from Boston Organics list of items.

After dinner we had some wine and watched some TV. Went to bed late. Perfect!

We woke up early Sunday morning so we could have a nice long breakfast with Matt's parents. They had just dropped off the youngest at the airport and were in town. We decided on Mooo.... Matt and I have been to Mooo.... for drinks and dinner before but never breakfast. We were so pleased with our decision! The service was fantastic and the food was delicious! Again, I forgot to take a picture which is such a shame because it was all so beautiful! Matt and I split two entrees, one sweet and one savory. For our savory dish we had two eggs over easy with extra-crispy applewood smoked bacon and homefries. For our sweet dish we had french toast with a caramelized banana which reminded us of creme brulee. Both of our meals were excellent! They also bring cornbread for the table to share. I am a cornbread critique and I have to say that this was PERFECT cornbread. The right moist consistency and with the optimal amount of sweetness. I love breakfast... and I now love breakfast at Mooo.... which is very convenient because it's right next door!

After breakfast Matt and I played another round of golf. Then we started some projects around the house. I cleaned the living room kitchen while he worked on some things in the bedroom/office. Before we knew it lunch time had passed and we both decided to have snacks so we didn't ruin our appetites for dinner. Snack time consisted of pomegranate Chobani, TJ's sesame sticks and Polar soda water. The yogurt was great, every pomegranate aril that I found was like a little surprise. I also really enjoyed my peach soda water.


For dinner we decided to have left-overs, turkey shepard pie and chicken with leeks. While dinner was reheating we sat down for a 30-minute goal brainstorm for 2010. The list is long, about 60 items, but I think they're all great! Once we were done with our brainstorming session we dished out dinner. Matt and I aren't really a fan of left-overs but we hate wasting food! It was a blah dinner.

What definitely was not blah was the bottle of wine we decided to open. Justin Isosceles 2006 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. It was a bottle that we have been wanting to try for awhile, being highly recommended by Matt's sister and brother-in-law. We decided to celebrate with the bottle our last night off. Matt decanted the wine and tasted it a couple of times before pouring us each a glass, decanting for about 45 minutes. He said the wine was pretty young and had a high alcohol flavor initially that mellowed out after the time in the decanter. It was a great celebration.


We finished the night off watching some more TV. The list of shows and movies that we saw over the last couple days in between our Wii playing:

Glee
Talk Soup
Top Chef (I finished watching the last two shows of the season)
a couple episodes of Dexter season 4
Julie & Julia

Are you a fan of any of these shows or the movie?

It was a great vacation but now it's back to work! Good thing I like my job!