The Big E-asy Weekend

Helloo hellooo!!! I've been MIA for the weekend because I was 1) sick and 2) in MA at the Big-E all day Sunday! The food, music, arts & crafts, rides, jewelry, vendors, animals... it was all SO much fun!

SO...first things first... Allison (what a lovely name you have, girl!) is giving away Taste of Nature bars to one lucky person! So get on over to her blog and check it out! :)

And, in Big-E news, I even managed to get the boy to pose for a very Autumn style picture:

As you can tell, he's GENUINELY thrilled to do it.... :)

I'm going to warn you right now... you will be bombarded with pictures of both food & other fun things from the past few days all throughout this post... :) It was a very fun weekend and luckily by the time I woke up this morning I was started to feel like I've made some progress with this cold I've been running around with (or NOT running around with, to be more exact) ugh... and just can't wait to finally go for a run today. The weather outside is beautiful and I get very excited knowing I can handle more exercise today physically then I could all weekend...

I was definitely busy enough though! An early work meeting followed by work on Saturday afternoon bartending/serving kept me on my feet all morning and racing around (which didn't exactly help a sickly being like myself) but my hefty wad of $1's and $5's (and a few $10's mighta snuck in there ;) no big deal...) definitely made it worth the hard work!! After work it was PLAY time and I headed up to UConn to see the boy for the night & plan out our fun Big-E trip :)

In other news... after a looooong weekend of endless walking, chowing down on crazy amounts of food I would not usually eat, and a little drinking.... I was more than excited to come home this morning to make a big bowl of OATS!!

Yum yum yum... PB & Jelly style oatmeal! A warm & comforting change to all the other food I had this weekend... And anything tastes good in the BIG BLUE MUG

Tasted just like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich...


I threw in:
1 cup water
1/2 cup Oats
Tbsp of Teddie smooth PB
Tbsp All-Fruit Seedless Raspberry spread
Dash of cinnamon & vanilla extract
Splash of skim milk




And one of these to hold me over for the 1-1/2 hour trip home:

Just what the docta ordered... Grande Hazelnut with cinnamon & milk


Friday morning... was when I felt sickest. No food sounded good to me... everything tasted bland as far as I could tell... and a box of Kleenex was permanently occupying one of my hands (hard to cook in that situation, ya know?) HA!

But something both salty & sweet was what I eventually craved so it was:

2 Scrambled egg whites

Dash of skim milk

Small spoonful of Feta cheese

Side of delish cantaloupe

I tried to sub some tea in for my morning coffee because I knew deep down it's what my throat and nose wanted (ew) but after trying 3 different kinds and just tasting nothing but... blechhh! I caved and made le coffeeee

Yummmm in my Tum

Do you tea drinkers have a go-to tea??
I WANT to find a flavor that I can stick with (it would be great to make the switch from the java to the tea) but they all seem to disappoint! :(




Grabbed something to hopefully give me a little boost at worky!

Odwalla Berries Omega SupaFOOd! Review:
Tasty! Thick... but tasty (obviously)
It did give me a little boost and some more energy... combined with coffee, of course... but I had to keep my fluid intake up so this was a good choice.
I got LOTS of great fruit flavors in each sip.





Picked up a little something new to try since I was still on my No-Meat kick!
I have yet to try them...


What are your favorite imitation "meat" products?

I recently (Sunday) ended my week-long attempt at NO MEAT which was actually easier than I thought it would be!
I was doing it as nothing more than an experiment just to see how my body handled a week without a regular ingredient in my meals... No chicken, beef, steak, or even FISH! that was the toughest part of all....


I did fine all week ... minus ONE incident where I caught myself 2 seconds before putting a slice of ham on my egg & cheese.
I DIDN'T even realize I was about to do it!!!!!!
I would have probably just laughed at myself if I ate it without realizing until afterward what I had done but it was just weird to see that I did naturally go for meat products with my breakfast sometimes.


So needless to say,
the Big E was my ~celebration time~!!!



Onto Dinnna!

My new obsession from The Market is their Mediterranean Eggplant Salad:

Kinda like Eggplant Parmesan...




Treated myself to a FF Raspberry FroYo with brownie pieces after dinner at the place up the road ;)

Get in my MOUF!!


And here's my first posted FAIL of my blogging career.....

Ladies & Gentlemen....
What you see in front of you is ugly, horrifying, and undeniably gross.
A frozen banana!
WITH the peel still on!!
*GASP!*


Yes...I attempted to make Banana FroYo
and threw a banana in the freezer without even thinking
"Hmmmm hey Alli-yo... MAYBE it could be difficult to remove a peel from a frozen solid chunk of ice nanner in a few hours..."

Oh no, of course not.
Ew.








Saturday morning... pre-work meeting, I was craving something warm (it was FREEZING!!!) and made a new concoction with my oatmeal



I had:
1 cup water
1/2 cup Oats
3/4 of a BIG sliced Granny Smith Apple
Handful of raisins
Splash of skim milk
Tbsp. of Teddie smooth PB
Dash of cinnamon


PERFECTION!



Post Work Dinnatime:


Goat Salad from said work place.
IT'S ORGASMIC.
Sorry if that's inapprop....
But its the only word I can use to describe this.

Red & Green Leaf lettuce
Homemade organic ginger-tamari dressing with seasonal berries
Arame seaweed
Organic carrots & celery
Toasted sesame seeds
Local Goat cheese
(& I added organic white mushrooms and kalamata olives to mine)


I shall never quit thee, new place of employment :)








SUNDAY!!!!!!

The Big Day. The Big (Long) Trip. Big-E Sundayyyy!

I didnt have breakfast (minus a cup of joe, of course, because I'm a fiend) ...I wanted to see what they had in store for us breakfast food lovahs in good ol' W.Springy


The Cream Puff Bakery is what I found...


Now MIND YOU... I did NOT just throw my guidelines, health, and waistline to the wind today. Every good, healthy girl has a plan when thrown into these situations.
That plan?


Taste everything, EAT nothing.


I sampled.
Believe you me, there were some treats (see: La Fiorentina Pastry Shop) that were harder than others to not overindulge in but overall, I felt satisfied (and came home without a food-child lingering in my belly) & content, NOT full to the brim about to bust open my skinny jeans!


My friend Britta and I (the only 2 girls along with the 4 slop boys we recruited: our boo's and two young lads we enjoy hanging out with) went halves on just about ALL of the food so that we could have a few (one or two) bites of everything, and then pass it onto the boys who demolished the rest.

Its part of their job.


The cream puff was delicious! Lightest whipped cream you've ever tasted and a very flaky and warm (we got a newly baked one) puff pasty that just melted in your mouth.. Mmmm-mm!

Other Enjoyables:


The Red Sox tree.... future pictures will follow come December when I recreate this in my living room. LOVE IT!!!!!! J.Vtek-love me please.


The Sam Adams Beer Garden:


Vermont Cheese stand...enough said:



Real Apple Cider:

Mmmm...warm, delicious, & made fresh :)



GIANT Whoopie Pies:

This Mini-Whoopie was MUCH more realistic for my liking ;)

Lobster Rolls:

Giant Corn Dogs:

Better known as Heart Attack waiting to happen.... EWWWWW!

Steak Gyro w/ all the fixins:

Marinated and spiced steak

Sliced tomatoes & onions

Cucumber & yogurt sauce

YUM times ten thousand.... I DID manage to make this my lunch and eat half of it myself *brushes shoulders off*

Enjoyed everyyyy single bite!

And ended our lovely adventure with FroYo dipped in chopped peanuts:

Holy bajeeeeeze... fantastic day.

Well.... onto reality & more productive things. Boo!

Don't you hate that????

I'll be:

Running/Getting some Yoga time into my day

Cleaning the house for the madre because I'm such a sweet daughter

Attacking my Mt. Everest style heap of laundry and hope to God it doesn't fall on me leaving me helpless until found

....nice little Monday afternoon, don't you think? :)

What is your favorite "fair food"????

Mine had to be the gyro this weekend... it was A+

Did anyone else or IS anyone else planning on going to the Big E!?

You should definitely consider it! It's worth the trip :) And only $10 admission/$10 parking!!