Recent Favorites

It’s been a while since I have shared a bunch of random favorite things, and I have been collecting photos for just that purpose. Look at these crazy leggings. . . they are actually one of my recent favorites, picked up on super sale at American Eagle on Martin Luther King Day weekend. They’re comfy and bright, and I love wearing them around the house with an oversized sweater and slipper booties while I work, because I can quickly go straight into workout mode if I get a break in my work day.

I’ve been working with Barre & Soul yoga and barre studios, and as part of my work with them, I get to take classes. Their virtual classes are amazing; you get a Skype call right on your computer and take the class from home. The instructor can see you, and you can see her, so there’s plenty of motivation and form correcting. I love starting my day with one of their Vinyasa yoga classes, and their 11:00 am Cardio Barre on Sundays kicks my butt.

On the workout front, we’ve also joined the YMCA in Dorchester, which is a really impressive facility that is incredibly reasonable. It’s $53/month for both of us! It has a pool, classes, spinning, a great fitness facility, sauna, steam room, etc. I can’t believe I used to pay $95 a month for just myself at a downtown gym!  I want to get more into a schedule with classes at the Y, mixing in a few Barre & Soul classes in, along with a few runs per week.

In addition to the Y, we also became members at Hand and Stone Massage. A monthly payment of $49.95 includes a massage and some really great discounts. I find that massages really help me physically and mentally, and now it will be guaranteed that I go for one every month. I will definitely look forward to that day!

On the food front, we’ve been eating a lot of delicious things. Too many. I haven’t done very well on the healthy eating front. If abs are made in the kitchen, mine are made of brioche and Nutella these days.

Nutella and Bacon French Toast at the Plate in Milton. . . do I need to say more?

We love The Townshend in Quincy, and on a very cold Friday night, we had a cozy date at the bar, complete with an incredible polenta and wild boar ragu. I think this would be on my top 10 comfort foods list.

The Daily Table continues to be a favorite spot for finding great ingredients. The above tuna steak was perfection with veggies and a sesame/ginger marinade that I threw together. Dinners picnic-style by the fire are also my favorite; they’re cozy and romantic and turn every night into a date night.

My chicken parm is another date night at home favorite. I love skillet meals that start out on the stovetop and then finish in the oven. This one isn’t breaded; my homemade tomato sauce smothers pan-fried chicken, and fresh mozzarella and basil top it off. Another top comfort food for the winter!

I recently also finally got to the brick-and-mortar location of Mei Mei Street Kitchen, and it was incredible. I loved the spiked Fire Cider cocktail and this charred cabbage salad, which was crunchy and cozy and tangy, delicious.

I can’t finish this post without a mention that this past week I lost one of my favorites of all time, our cat Smuckers. Since the day we adopted her over 11 years ago, she was a constant companion and source of laughs, a cat-dog in her behavior, loving, full of purrs, but only for me and Eric. Anyone else she would try to kill.

She had a larger-than-life presence, and it was hard to watch that slip away Friday night, but we loved her so much we knew we had to let her go. Smuckers was adopted from the MSPCA, and I can’t stress enough how incredibly grateful rescue animals are to be yours. A little piece of my heart is missing these days, but I’m also just trying to be grateful that we had her in our lives.

xoxo