Category: Wine

Beef Burgundy: Sometimes I crave red meat

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Whenever I’m scheduled to go home, my mom always asks me to think about what I would like her to make me for a special meal (I know, I’m spoiled!). Well, as soon as she asked me this question a few weeks ago, I immediately responded with: Beef Burgundy. Sort of a strange request, right? I don’t know why I was craving it, but I was totally in the mood for red meat and hadn’t had beef burgundy in a while so I thought it was a great idea.

Lucky for me, my parents always have every type of meat imaginable in their freezer, so this wasn’t a problem at all! And, for once, I sat back and let my mom do all the cooking. I drank bubbly and blogged, while chatting with her and keeping her company in the kitchen.

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I forget the name of the cookbook that she used for the recipe, but I did take a picture of the recipe and instructions since I thought it was good enough to share.

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Instead of using egg noodles, I requested that we use potatoes from my dad’s garden and make garlic mashed potatoes (my fav!). We also baked broccoli and had steamed carrots and parsnips.

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This meal was absolutely delicious and I’d love to say it was easy, but I have no idea how easy or hard it was to make since mom did everything 😉 Sometimes there’s just nothing better than having wine and a nice meal on a Sunday night, especially when you know you aren’t going into the office the next day 🙂

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Thanks for making such a nice meal for me, mom! B2B readers- if you’re looking for a change up to your normal meal rotation, I highly suggest adding this!

Questions for you: If someone offers to make you dinner, what do you usually request? What’s your idea of a perfect dinner? Red meat- fan or not?

Family Road Trip: Recap {Day 1- Boston to Buffalo}

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Hi, friends! Phew, does anyone else feel like after a long, indulgent weekend, it’s harder to get up and get going on Tuesday than it is on Monday? My 1/2 mile walk to the T in crisp, morning air definitely helps to wake me up, though 🙂

As most of you know, last week/weekend I went on a mini road trip with my parents to Michigan for my cousin, Mary’s, wedding. I took Thursday and Friday off from work since we planned to do the trip in 2 days (so happy we did- 16 hours in the car in one day would have literally caused me to go even more crazy than I already am!).  Mom and dad picked me up around 8:30 on Thursday and we wasted no time hitting the road!

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I drove the first and last legs of the trip, dad drove in the middle and mom didn’t drive. No shocker there! The trip actually went incredibly smooth, except I quickly realized that I forgot my freshly charged iPad at my apartment. I was so mad because I had just downloaded Gone Girl the night before. Womp, womp.

Traveling with my parents is great because we take lots of bathroom stops and there is never a shortage of treats 😉

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Day 1 went incredibly well and fast! We stopped for a picnic lunch around 1 and made it to the hotel around 4:30. I had been waiting for lunch ever since my dad told me all the things he bought. I was absolutely blown away with how thoughtful his food shopping was! Seriously, when he saw the snacks that I packed for myself, he said I didn’t need any of them because he had already gotten them all… and more! Trail mix, granola bars (4 different boxes), crackers, deli meat, chopped veggies, dips, sandwich thins and every type of fruit you could imagine. What an amazing dad, right?!

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In typical Monique fashion, I think I had a bit of everything 😉 The weather was gorgeous, wine tasted delicious and it was a great little break from driving!

The second big leg of the trip wasn’t bad at all, and before we knew it, we were at the hotel! Since my sister travels so much, she has lots of points at various hotel chains. She set us up at an awesome Residence Inn in Buffalo, NY. I asked if there were any upgrades available and lucky for us, they did! This place was seriously like an apartment (what I would do to live in an apartment like this hotel suite!).

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Downstairs there was a mini kitchen, living room (with a real fire place), dining room area, bathroom and a Murphy Bed (which was surprisingly SO comfortable). Upstairs was a loft-ish bedroom and another bathroom, so this was a perfect suite to share with my parents since we had entirely separate sleeping areas.

Not long after we arrived, mom gave me my “special” bottle of wine (Estancia Chardonnay- right up there with J. Lohr for me!) and we headed out to the pool to relax and soak up the last of the sun for the day.

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As I mentioned yesterday, I instructed my mom through a water aerobics workout which was a blast!

Once the sun went down, it started to get a little chilly so we meandered over to the hotel’s complimentary cocktail hour.

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Boy do we have fun together! After the happy hour ended, we decided to order in since no one felt like getting back in the car. We went with Greek, but unfortunately, it took forever for the food to get there and by the time it eventually got to us, it wasn’t very warm or fresh. Womp, womp. Overall, though, it was a solid first day and we had lots of laughs and good conversations.

Since this post is already quite lengthy, I’ll share the rest of the trip in another post.

Questions for you: What’s the longest road trip you’ve ever been on? Nicest hotel you’ve ever stayed at? For us, it is Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City- Ahhhh mazing hotel!

Road Trippin’… With my parents…

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Yes, you read that correctly. Next week, I’ll be embarking on a very long car ride with Sue and Al. My cousin Mary is getting married and she lives in Michigan (as does her whole family. Her dad is my mom’s brother… in case you wanted the whole story!) and when my sister and I decided that we wanted to go, too, I started looking into flights. Mom and dad were planning on driving all long because they love adventures like that, but since I’m not retired and don’t have as much time as they do to have extended vacations, I figured I’d just fly and meet them on Friday.

Well, roundtrip flights were outrageous, so when I started to hint to my dad about potentially hitching a ride with them to Michigan and taking a one-way flight home, he couldn’t have been more excited. To quote him, the convo went like this “Nickie, you have NO IDEA how much I would love for you to do the trip to Michigan with us. Really, it would mean the world to me. We’ll have a nice picnic lunch and if you just chip in for gas we’ll be in good shape.” So, I mean, how could I not agree to that?!

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So, mom and dad are picking me up next Thursday morning at 8am sharp and we’ll drive until our picnic lunch (which, when you’re with the Gagnon’s, is always an event with lots of snacks and fun things to eat… and plenty of wine!) and then keep driving until we get to the Buffalo, NY area (I think). We are spending the night there and then getting back on the road early Friday morning to make the final trek to Sterling Heights, MI, making a pit-stop first at the Detroit airport to pick up my sister (she’s flying from a client site).

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In all honesty, I’m really excited about the trip- even the ridiculously long drive! I always have such a great time with my family and I love weddings because there is so much love and so much dancing!! 🙂

But, here’s where I need your help… I’m bringing my iPad and am in need of a good book or two to download. In addition, I’d love to download a movie to watch. So…

  1. What’s the best book you’ve read lately? I need help picking one!
  2. Can you rent movies from iTunes? Or do I have to buy them? What movie should I buy/rent?

I could really use your help, so please leave your suggestions in the comments 🙂

also, don’t worry- I’ve already decided that if I get bored, I can raid the cooler and snag some vino to keep things interesting… or put me to sleep 😉 jk… kind of…

Settling in: First weekend in my new place

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I finally feel like I’m starting to get settled in to my new place. It was such a great feeling going into the weekend knowing that I had loads of time to get my “to-do” list in order.

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After work on Friday, I headed back to Somerville since I needed to go back to the Christmas Tree Shop and Home Depot (I should get a frequent shopper card for all these stores. Either that or buy stock in them since I think I’m keeping them in business with my recent purchases). I decided to get my coffee table and end table (that I’ll be using as a TV stand) at the Christmas Tree Shop, not because I was looking for outstanding quality, but more because I don’t want to spend a lot of money on furniture until I buy a home and won’t be moving for a while. At this point, my furniture gets very dinged up every time I move, so it’s not worth buying nice stuff right now.

I also planned on spending the night at my old apartment to hang out with my sister and keep Charlie company until she got home from her week of travel. I had a bunch of things to do at the apartment and near the apartment, so it made sense to stay there! I couldn’t wait to open some wine- it had been a long week!

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Although I contemplated chips and wine as my dinner, I decided to get some real food in my system and made a quesadilla with chicken and peppers and onions. So good and perfect for a quick and easy meal!

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I woke up on Saturday and had extra time before BodyPump, so I finally cleaned my old room. It was really weird seeing it so empty, but Charlie was having a field day with all the extra space!

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Since my sister was going to Country Fest and left at 8am, my plan was to hang around the apartment and keep Charlie company (I know, totally a crazy cat lady move, but I feel bad that he’s been alone so much lately!), however, when I got a text from my friend, Athena, asking if I wanted to join her at Winthrop Beach, I quickly changed my plans, packed up and headed to my apartment to drop everything off and meet her. Winthrop Beach is less than 15 minutes from my apartment and it’s a really nice, quiet beach! We spent a few hours chatting and catching up about all things fitness, work, blogging, etc. It felt great to relax and not feel bad about it!

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When I got home, though, I got into serious productivity mode. I opened a beer and put furniture together and organized my apartment for two solid hours. I couldn’t believe it!

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My place feels SO much better now that I have furniture set up, curtains hung, and closets organized.

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Looks good, right?! To reward myself, I met my friends out at Pier 6 in Charlestown. It used to be Tavern On The Water, but recently opened as Pier 6. I took PT into the city and decided to bring a little road soda, errr, road wine. The ol’ Dasani water bottle trick isn’t hiding anything from anyone, but my mom is convinced it works.

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Although I went to hang out with my friends, I ended up spending the whole night talking to Jean’s niece, Michelle, and her cousin Hilary. I couldn’t believe it when I ran into them, but Michelle is basically the Mayor of Charlestown so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised to see her on the opening weekend of Pier 6 😉

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These ladies are a blast… I better get that pool invite, Michelle- don’t think I’ve forgotten about that!

Even though I could have chatted with them the entire, time, I did break away to hang out with the birthday girl!

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And, did you know all the fall beers are out?? I’m not really ready for summer to end, but having a sip of this Shipyard reminded me of how much I love fall!

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YUM!! Such a fun night 🙂

I woke up Sunday feeling like I had had a liiiitle too much wine the night before, but felt much better after an English muffin and lots of water! I had very sad looking bananas, so I decided to make some banana bread… with a twist! I’ll post it later this week. So yummy. While the bread was cooking, I tried to get caught up on blogging. I have a number of draft posts for lots of different topics so it was nice to have time to develop those posts a little more.

Around 11, I decided to get out and go for a nice walk. I’m loving the neighborhood near my place! It’s so nice to have a good place to walk/run.

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Danielle came over shortly after I got back and we headed back to Winthrop Beach since the weather was so nice! Couple of hours at the beach was a very nice treat!

And, that about sums up my weekend! Be on the lookout for a recipe or two this week! 🙂

Questions for you: Have you been to Tavern on the Water or Pier 6? What’s your favorite fall beer? What was the best part of your weekend?

Shopping, Girl Time, Celebrations, Workouts- Another Busy Week!

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Hi friends! Happy Friday! For some reason, I have had an incredibly busy week. It’s been fun, but I’m beat! Doesn’t end today, either. I’ve got work until 4:30, then I am subbing my old Friday night class at the Allston BSC (all my old regulars, please come!!!) and then babysitting! Phew! Let me tell you that a well deserved trip to Lululemon will be happening 😉

Let’s catch up, shall we?! On Sunday, on my way back to MA, I decided to make a pit stop in Kittery since I was tired of sitting in massive amounts of traffic. I have a bunch of work trips this month and wanted another suit, so it was a great time to check that off my “to-do” list. 45 minutes later, I walked out of Banana Republic with a new suit and a new dress- for $72!!! Long story short, I had cash rewards from my BR card and then had to open another card for some reason so I got the 15% off, too. Definitely a great pit stop!

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I didn’t end up making a big meal on Sunday night since it was so hot, but I threw together a pretty tasty quesadilla! Shrimp, peppers, onions and feta- delicious!

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On Monday, I went to The Studio Empower for an awesome class and was greeted with a salmon dinner prepared by my roommate when I walked through the door! Love that.

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Tuesday was a really awesome day! I forced myself out of bed for an early run. It wasn’t fast, but I covered 3.4 miles in 30 minutes which I was very happy about. After that, I did 15 reps of biceps curls balancing on 1 leg, upright rows, triceps dips, pushups, and an ab ladder. Nothing like being finished a workout by 7:15am!

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After work I met up with someone for drinks at Legal Harborside Roofdeck. I couldn’t believe how packed it was for Tuesday. Apparently people have a life outside of the gym after work; who would have thought?!

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From there, I headed to Amy and Sheila’s for a girls dinner party! Instead of going out, they offered to cook for us which was a nice treat. It’s so hard to catch up with people while in a restaurant at a big table; I’d much prefer a casual setting at someone’s apartment. Our friend, Kelly, was also visiting from San Francisco so our group was even bigger than usual! Unfortunately, Kia couldn’t come because she had her puppy to tend to, but other than that we were all there!

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Amy grilled up chicken, steak, shrimp and veggies. Jess and I cooked rice and green beans and Sheila prepped the salad. Pair that with a big ol’ glass of vino and you’ve got a happy Monique 😉

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After dinner, we brought out the desserts for some birthday celebrations. If you remember, I severely cut back on eating desserts a few weeks ago, but I most certainly had desserts on Tuesday. I mean, funetti cake and peanut butter rice crispy treats with chocolate and homemade berry ice cream?! I was in sweet tooth heaven!

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And, throw some bubbly in there and you’ve pretty much got a perfect night!

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On top of all of that, just when we thought it couldn’t get any better than good food, good drinks, tasty desserts and long overdue girl time, Sheila surprised us with her recent engagement!!!!! Somehow, we had the whole ‘toasting to champagne’ thing on video and it’s literally the best video I’ve ever seen. All you hear in the background is “wait. WHAT?!” from me and screams from Lauren. It.was.awesome! We all couldn’t be more happy for Sheila and Bryan!

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Beautiful ring unlike anything I have ever seen!

Wednesday I ended up teaching a double to help a fellow instructor out- phew! I was on another level that night; that is what happens when I go too long without teaching 😉 My Thursday double was a little tough to get into, purely because my legs were tired! What made everything better, though, was coming home to pizza fresh out of the oven!

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Man did THAT hit the spot!

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Questions for you: Tell me- what’s on the agenda for tonight? How have your workouts been? What’s was the best part of your week? Drinks on a weeknight- do you do that often?