Home for the Holidays Two-a-day

12/24/12

The eve of Christmas was more mellow than the rest of my days home, but I still had a brunch with friends scheduled for the morning.

Kyle and I met up with Marisa and Heather (my girlfriends with whom I had monthly dinner dates in NYC) at La Boulange in our home town (I’ve known these girls since kindergarten).  Somehow I’d never tried the place out, and if you’re wondering how that could be, it’s because La Boulange opened pretty recently (full disclosure: I don’t know if it was actually recent or not, but since it wasn’t there before I left to go to college, I’m calling that recent).  I just realized that leaves a 12 year window of time.  Whatever.  I guess I tend to stick to my old faves (like Millie’s) when I go home.  Who doesn’t love the classics right?  They’re the places with all the memories, after all. 

So anyway.  I got a bread basket (with a TON of different breads all warm and toasty), which I then enjoyed with various jams, jellies, and nut butters.  The best combo was the nutella (obviously) with the apple, apricot, hazelnut breakfast roll.  But I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite bread – just look at all the yummy treats they make!  The basket was massive and I didn’t want to put myself in a wheat coma so I had a lot to take home, too. 

La Boulange reminds me of LPQ (fresh baked goods, quick ordering with dine-in or take-away options). 

Later on I make banana bread for my Aunt and Uncles (I make it for them for Christmas every year).

Banana bread with cranberries & walnuts

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• optional: 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup fresh cranberries

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients (flour through sugar) in a large mixing bowl. 

In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients (bananas, eggs, oil).

Add wet to dry and stir until batter is entirely incorporated.  Fold in walnuts and/or cranberries (if using).

Pour batter into greased baking pan (I used two small loaf pans, but they had massive tops so you could also use one large loaf pan).

Bake on 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool.  Dig in.

I made five loaves, so by the time I had finished I was definitely ready for lunch.  I had eggs with avocado and more of the bread from La Boulange.  Followed by chocolate covered pomegranate seeds (new obsession alert) and salty almonds.

Since neither Kyle nor myself had done much in the fitness department, we decided to walk the res.  It’s 2.7 miles around, which we did in a leisurely 50 minutes.

 

It was crisp, but nice, and I was happy that I didn’t have any cramping.  My diaphragm feels like it’s in my throat lately, though, but who needs to breathe? 

Once we got back home, I showered and ate an early dinner (avocado toast and a veggie burger) before heading to an annual Christmas Eve caroling party.  This event (and it’s definitely “an event”) is one of my favorite holiday traditions.  It’s silly and fun and ridiculous.  My mom was in charge of bringing a veggie dish so she made these brussels sprouts (minus the quinoa), which was basically the only veg friendly item there (I had some salad too, but picked around the cheese).  I knew this was likely to be the case, which is why I ate beforehand.

We got home so late, we didn’t even have time to read The Night Before Christmas or set out cookies and milk for Santa.  Fail.