What can I say?

This weekend was just plain awesome.  I don’t know what else to say.  My sister came to visit.  My friends threw me a baby shower.  And I just felt so loved.  And fortunate.  Things are good.

Thursday night was tree decorating and burrito bar.

On Friday, my sister arrived!  Hooray 🙂

 

While she was doing the oh-so-hideous I-5 drive, I woke up early, made breakfast (the standard egg and GF bread with Earth Balance), and read.

 

I had a snack a little later.  Rice cakes with nut butter & dried fruit is becoming a regular for me.  These are Lundberg Farms brown rice cakes (gluten free), which I bought because I wanted a change up from GF bread.  They are healthier (less processed) and cheaper than other wheat-less options, like Blue Diamond almond crackers and Mary’s Gone Crackers and the likes.  I topped two with cashew butter, dried cranberries, and cinnamon. 

 

My next snack (a couple hours later) was toast with avocado and daiya mozz on top (they were selling the big chunks at WF, which I hardly find anymore, so I took advantage). 

 

And later on, a Sun Cup with dark chocolate and sunbutter. 

Marie arrived in the late afternoon and so we vegged out until Kyle got home from work.

 

For dinner we went to Hummus Bar Express, a new place I’ve been eyeing throughout the construction process.  It opened relatively recently on the 3rd Street Promenade (I think they have one other location in LA), so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try it out.  My sis and I are both big fans of Mediterranean fare. 

I got the veggie platter to share with Kyle.  It had hummus, babaganoush, and falafel (in pretty sizable portions) and came with a whole wheat pita too.

Creamy, dreamy, thick hummus.

Rich, tangy, flavorful babaganoush.

Warm, perfect falafel (fried and crispy on the outside, light and soft on the inside).  Not dense or crumbly at all (my two biggest complaints about falafel). 

Kyle got a side of mashed potatoes (which he loved, thanks to the mega garlic action).  I got a side salad (with the oil dressing on the side).

 

I used the tahini that came with our veggie platter as dressing instead – way good. 

Marie got a chicken shawarma. 

I was really pleased with Hummus Bar Express and will definitely go back often (hooray for walking distance hummus bars – like New York days!).  I was thinking it was going to be similar to Maoz (which I’m also a big fan of, as I’ve shared a few times on the blog), but it was better because it had more options.  Like Maoz, you can get stuffed pitas (build your own style sandwich or not), or salads (on a plate) with the same.  But then they have lots of signature menu options and sides and stuff. 

Post grubbing, we went to see Silver Lining Playbook (thumbs up).  And some dessert action went down once we made our way back home.

The next morning was leisurely.

 

I made us all hash browns and eggs for breakfast. 

 

I microwaved the taters first for ~4 minutes so they wouldn’t take as long to cook in the pan.  Then I chopped them and fried them with olive oil and Sabra’s roasted garlic salsa until they were brown and crispy. 

Later on we swung by the SM Farmer’s Market.  As much as I try to avoid impulse buys, I couldn’t say no to some fatty avocados and cute little fingerlings.  I incorporated them into the weekly menu though, so no worries.

 

Kyle sniffed out the Border Grill truck and got a cheese quesadilla with guacamole.  We also chatted it up with Susan Feniger – Kyle and I are huge fans, obvs, and she may have convinced us to dine at Street for their New Year’s Eve murder mystery themed dinner.  I mean, it sounds pretty awesome, right?

 

Side note: my sister and I both thought these things reminded us of the baby screaming mandrake roots from Harry Potter.

Next up, it was time for us to celebrate our little one!!

 

My besties, Alene and Ethel, hosted a completely perfect baby shower for Kyle and myself. 

 

Lots of hippie eats…which warrant a separate post (to come).

 

Too.  Dang.  Cute.

We got home around dinner time, and despite snacking on so much delicious food throughout the afternoon, I was ready for a solid meal.

 

Fresh Brothers is a pizza place that just opened a few blocks down the street.  Saturday night was actually their opening night.  Kyle and I have been watching this structure go up, and while I initially wasn’t thrilled by it (more apartment high rises/less parking), they also opened a Starbucks!  I’m never going to be upset about a new Starbucks, especially one that’s a mere 4 blocks from my front door.

Anyway.  Back to Fresh Brother.  It opened right next to the Bux, and I didn’t pay much attention to it, until last week when I saw a menu posted on the (still under construction) window that had gluten free and vegan pizza options.  Yes!!  And they use Daiya cheese!!  Double yes!

So that’s how our Saturday dinner plans came to be.

 

We ordered pick-up, but they have a million TVs in the place, which will be great for football viewing.  I’m so happy to be getting more vegan friendly places that are walkable, and the fact that this has sports is just icing on the cake.

 

Large daiya cheese pizza (kinda weird how they cut it right?).

 

Farmer’s Market salad with oil and vinegar dressing on the side.

 

All shared three ways.

I had extra helpings of salad.  And I added Girard’s Light Champagne dressing to it since the simple oil and vinegar they provided wasn’t cutting it.

 

The pizza was 100% awesome.  I’m sure this Fresh Brothers will become a staple restaurant in our rotation, especially once February rolls around and I’m tired, exhausted and too lazy to cook.

 

Even with three of us there were still leftovers.

We all popped out pretty early that night.  In bed by 9:45 pm.  But then I slept horribly all night.  I was awake from 1:45 to 4:15, going completely crazy.  Around 3 pm I had a spoonful of almond butter and some dried blueberries, but whatever.  I was still tossing and turning over an hour afterwards.

When I woke back up at 7:45 am, I just gave in.

 

Made Kyle breakfast.  Corn tortillas with black beans, avocado, salsa, and a fried egg.

 

And because I’m a multi-tasking machine, I made him the same thing for the next day’s (Monday’s) work breakfast.

 

Straight to the fridge it went, until I packed his lunch later that night.

I had the standard.

 

My sister woke up a little bit later and hit the road.  🙁

The rest of our Sunday was spent doing nerdy crap that Kyle and I both get off on.  Like cleaning out our closets (to bring to Goodwill), organizing (new) file cabinets, shredding (way old) documents, and basically purging stuff that’s somehow avoided the trash for far too long.

Then we had a three hour birthing class (#2 of 3, but I doubt we will go to the final one because they suuuuuck).  Followed by errands and grocery shopping.  And finally some Packers football.  Phew!