So, remember when I was saying last week how I’m incredibly socially awkward at bars, never know what to order and end up with an icky rum and coke and a headache?

NOT ANYMORE.

It all started when we were in Austin over New Years and ate at the fabulous Justine’s Brasserie. We were with our friends, Morgan and Stephen, and since they don’t take reservations, we opted to hang out at the bar until our table was ready. (sidenote: they quoted us an hour and a half wait and it ended up only being twenty minutes <—go there!). Well, the thing about Justine’s is that on top of their wonderful French food, they have probably the most amazing bar and cocktail list that I’ve ever seen. Let’s just say it was waaaaay too cool for me. When it was my turn to order a drink, I almost froze like usual. Maybe I should just order a safe glass of red wine, I thought to myself. However, I was wearing white at the time. So instead, I decided to just pick a totally random cocktail from the list and go with it. I think it was called “L’Enfants Dangerous” or something along those lines.

Long story short, they gave me the wrong drink! Instead of the dangerous child that I had ordered, I got my very first La Paloma—a fizzy, grapefruity tequila cocktail.

It was love at first sip.

(...)
Read the rest of la paloma (144 words)

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Okay. I know I don’t normally post cocktails on this blog but this one really needs it’s own special section and recognition. Seriously. Two days ago (I’m losing all track of time), Morgan and I made blue cheese burgers, a yummy Cape Cod salad with apples, cranberries and feta, and……blackberry margaritas.

The burgers were fabulous but the real star of the evening were the blackberry margaritas.

Do you have a tequila horror story? Let’s hear it.

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Rascal Flatts was a success in all its country boy band glory! It made me SO EXCITED for the upcoming Kenny Chesney concert in two weeks!!!!!! Yehaww!

Before the concert we walked across the street and had a light dinner + glass of wine at The Wine Exchange. I had a glass of a super dry Riesling and DELICIOUS veggie quesadillas!

The quesadillas were awesome but were also about the size of my whole body. I ate two pieces and felt stuffed!! They were stuffed with veggies, grilled shrimp and a mix of feta and cheddar cheese. Yum!

I brought us some wine to-go (obviously)—

But unfortunately it was pretty gross and I didn’t drink my cup. It went out the window instead. Oh well.

Once AT the concert I bought one drink since they were $8 each! I ordered my standard “party drink”, which is vodka with soda and a splash of cranberry…..I sipped it super slow and made it last all night. Drinks at concerts (including water!!) are just waaaaay overpriced!!!

Unfortunately ALL the atm machines and credit card machines were down so instead of listening to Darius Rucker (from Hootie and the Blowfish!), Erin and I waited in the longest line possible to get some cash.

Now, I’m not going to even bring up how the drink 15 year old behind me spilled ranch dressing ALL over my chair. Yuck.

We still had a blast though and poor Derek must have felt a little out of his element with three screaming girls. He’s a good catch, Meghann!! I honestly think the funniest thing was at the very end, during the encore, Erin started screaming her head off and some backstreet looking boy hopped on stage. Turned out it was Tim Tebow, who is basically a national celebrity here in Florida. He “hummed” a little bit with Rascal Flatts then tossed a football down. It was hysterical!

We got home around 11:30, and I’m not going to lie, there were a few bites of ice cream eaten straight from the container. I’m so crazy, right?!

This morning I woke up around 8:00 and made a yummy breakfast. About a cup of Oikos with Nature’s Path Granola, MojaMix and blueberries!

Dexter in his box—

And I’m about to head out the door for church! I hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday!

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Post tags: cocktails, dinner out, friends, girls nights, wine

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Can’t talk long, gotta hit the sack!!!!! Lets all say a quick prayer that Jenna actually falls asleep tonight……!

Ryan and I had an absolutely fabulous meal at Bonefish tonight! He kept saying we were celebrating and I guess we are but the REAL celebration comes on Tuesday if I actually get the job………Regardless, tonight I “celebrated” with an Ocean Trust Martini with mango puree, fresh squeezed orange juice and vodka. It was killer!

And a petite version of the Chilean sea bass with pan asian sauce and double the veg

SImply awful

My hot date had bang bang shrimp + saucy shrimp. I had a few……plus schmeared my bread into the sauciness

We split creme brulee for dessert!!

And now I feel like a stuffed piglet. Ryan, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, is drawing me a big, hot bubble bath and I’m going to chill out for awhile. I’ve been known not to sleep a wink on nights like this so I’m tylonel pm-ing it just to be sure .

EEEK!!!!! See you all from the air tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Well there was certainly a lot of THIS last night:

Yes, we had a fun time for sure!

Here’s a full recap:

Yesterday afternoon as I was getting dressed I made a cocktail

Mmm mmm MM! This combo of bell pepper, mini carrots, beet, apple and celery rocked! On the side, I had one of Ange’s granola bars:

The ceremony was a 6:00 Catholic Mass, however it was much abbreviated and was only 20 minutes long! Sweeeeet! Not that I don’t love the formality of long weddings but when you don’t know ANYONE in the wedding party sitting through a long wedding can be painful.

The reception was at the Venoy Golf Club and was very nice but very hot since the cocktail hour was outside! I literally had sweat running down my legs (tmi?). To cool off I had a cosmo

And then a glass of cabernet—

(um yeah, that was full at one point)

Around 8:00 we all piled into the dining room for dinner and by that time I was a hungry beastie!!! When piping hot rolls were passed around I became a maniac and tore into one with much gusto, almost swallowing it whole.

Caesar salad was then brought out and I destroyed that as well—-

And then the entree. Steak!

And then when MJ came on we hit the dance floor hard! I can’t help it. When the hot pink shoes go on, my feet just start a-dancin’!

Wedding cake came out later—

I’m sort of a cake snob…this wasn’t my style. Ryan and I split this piece though.

And then we got home around midnight! My feet were KILLING me but it was worth it!!

Since its already almost 10:00 I’ll just add my breakfast post in here as well. I didn’t wake up this morning until 8:30 (!!) and the options were either rush up to the gym for a workout or make waffles and relax. I choice the latter.

I made blueberry waffles for Ryan and I using, errr, the heart smart bisquick mix. I usually use a whole wheat mix but I was all out and we needed waffles ASAP! I topped mine with earth balance and pure maple syrup and had a Morningstar Farms soysage patty on the side. With lots of water

Ryans:

He had a scrambled eggie!

So today I am “playing golf” (aka driving the golf cart) with my dad, Ryan, Ryan’s parents, Ryan’s sis, Erin, and her boyfriend Clark. Its a gorgeous day outside but HOT, HOT, HOT! Since I didn’t hydrate enough yesterday (and proceeded to dehydrate myself further last night), I will be packing bottle upon bottle of water today as well as a plethora of snacks. Then tonight, I’m going to the baseball game with my dad. Unfortunately there’s a very, very small window of time between golf and the baseball game so I’m not sure if I will have time to blog lunch so my next post might not come until AFTER the game tonight around 10:00. Sorry guys! I shall tweet though while I preform my duties as sole golf cart driver.

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Post tags: Breakfast, cocktails, dessert, Dinner, dinner out, friends, wine

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I’m back! I have a super long recap of the GORGEOUS wedding and this morning but first off let me say to the Madison girls that I am so sorry I wasn’t able to meet this morning! I emailed you guys but family stuff came up and it was just too crazy and busy for me to sneak away. I thought I would have time and I would have loved to but I needed to spend some time with my grandparents before we headed back to Milwaukee. I really wish I could have gotten the chance to run outside though–what a gorgeous day! Instead, I had to resort to waking up at a very, very early hour and hitting the hotel treadmill for a 3-miler. Meh.

Anyways, I’m going to start from the beginning yesterday because I have so many awesome pictures and the eats were SO good!!! I think I left off yesterday after we ate brunch. The wedding was scheduled for 1:30 outside in this beautiful garden on University of Wisconsin campus. My cousin, Matt, is in the process of getting his PhD from the college. He’s actually working on finding a cure for malaria—how crazy and interesting is that?! Its sort of a genius to say the least.

Here are my parents and I before the ceremony in the hotel lobby (I love this picture of us!):

And father daughter shot because I matched his pink tie

I was worried it might rain but it was actually really nice and not too hot at all. There was a breeze and we were under a tent surrounded by tons of gorgeous flowers and veggie plants! Here are some pictures from the ceremony:

Katie’s dress was antique lace and was absolutely breathtaking! The veil she is wearing is my aunt’s (her now mother-in-law) and my aunt is passing it down to me as well when I get married!

After the ceremony we had a photo-shoot of sorts while the wedding party took a million shots all over the garden.

And then Ryan made me walk with him to go see Camp Randall, the football stadium. It was actually quite a hike and we were super dressed up so it was a little weird but he was excited.

And I had fun because I found one of those milk thistle thingys the size of my HEAD!

My dad picked us up on the side of the road and since we had two hours to kill till the reception, we went and sat outside and got a beer!

I had a blue moon with an orange slice but LOVED Ryan’s spotted cow that was served with a lemon slice!!!!! Wondering if I can find these in Florida? Definitely my taste in beers….light with no bitterness and served with fruit!

I only drank half because this was HUGE!

We also got bruschetta since brunch was a long time ago and we needed a snack before cocktail hour!

The bruchetta was aaaaaamazing! I had one bread slice and tons of tomato topping. The bread was grilled and it was just so good.

Speaking of good food—the appetizers during the cocktail hour of the reception were probably the best wedding reception appetizers that I’ve ever had! Check out this phenomenal spread!!!

I LOVE European style tapas and my favorites include fancy cheese, proscuitto, olives and crusty bread. Ryan and I loaded up this plate to share full of everything!

I had a small glass of red wine, then a small cosmo while all this happening. The cosmo was pretty tiny but awesome!

Around 5:30 we all moved downstairs for dinner. We started with a beautiful salad with light dressing:

And I had pre-ordered the seared salmon. Guests had a choice of chicken, seared salmon or fiet. The salmon was actually out of this world!

I feel like a lot of times wedding food really isn’t awesome because kitchens are mass-producing meals for a crowd. However, this was awesome and was cooked to perfection—I thoroughly enjoyed every last bite!

Saving room for wedding cake, obviously…..

Katie and Matt had different flavored layers of their cake—they had a red velvet layer, a poppy-seed layer (which was the best I think) and a white cake layer. The red velvet layer had chocolate ganache in between, the poppy-seed had almond filling and the vanilla cake had raspberry filling. Ryan got red velvet, my aunt got poppy-seed and I got vanilla. I had a bite of each (and ate all of mine)! It was very, very, very yummy!!! Worth every darn bite, especially the fondant icing!

Here’s Ryan’s red velvet–

With dinner, I had another glass of wine. Oh, how I love weddings!

After we ate we headed back upstairs for dancing! Ryan and I snuck out though to go watch the fireworks outside on the roof level of the hotel.

And then we were huge dorks and went to bed at like 9:30 because poor Ryan had to wake up at 4:30 to catch his early flight back to Tampa!! Of course I didn’t wake up at 4:30 with him but I did wake up soon after to get a 3 mile run on the treadmill in because plans had changed and I had family time all morning. I wish I could do a reader meet-up everywhere I go because I want to meet you ALL! However its just tough when you are with, like 50 extended members of your family

Before my run I had the other half of granola bar from yesterday morning and afterwards I spent time with my grandparents before they headed out and went out to breakfast. I had a cup of Moroccan Mint tea and an egg white veggie scramble with whole wheat toast—-

The egg white scramble was awesome and only made with a bit of cheese and tons of veggies. I ordered it to be made “spicy” and then totally doused with Sriracha (aka heaven on earth) and inhaled every last bit. I was STARVING!!

And that pretty much sums it all up! I’m currently packing up and waiting for my parents to get ready so we can head over to Matt & Katie’s apartment for a wedding present opening brunch. After that I have a super long day of travel as we head out of Madison back to Milwaukee then fly through Atlanta to get home to Tampa around 10:30 tonight. I’m trying to figure out though where exactly this Trader Joe’s is in Madison because I convinced my parents that if we have time, we MUST stop!!!!

I’ll be blogging from Hot-Lanta! See you in a bit!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 54 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Breakfast, cardio, cocktails, dessert, Dinner, Exercise, musings, Snack, Travel

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HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Someone is not used to central time and woke up at 6:15! Muhaha Ryan and I are getting ready for a workout then THE FARMERS MARKET (!!) but being the sweet girlfriend that I am, I am giving him 15 more minutes in bed while I blog. lol

The rehearsal dinner last night was beautiful! We ate at Tutto Pasta, a great Italian place right on what seemed to be “the strip” of downtown Madison. There were about 40 of us and everything was just gorgeous with candles hanging down from the ceiling.

Where’s Waldo?

When we all arrived there was the most delicious white sangria waiting for us!

Dad and Nick—

Katie and Matt (the cousin that IS getting married!)—

They are absolutely adorable together!!

I started out with the minestrone soup for something light. I also switched to red wine ’cause one sweet drink was enough!

For my entree, I actually chose something I have NEVER ordered at a restaurant before—Lasagna! The vegetarian lasagna just sounded really good and it ended up being a very good move because it was the best lasagna I’ve ever had.

It really wasn’t heavy at all, if you can believe that. The cheese was pretty light and it wasn’t loaded with it. The veggies were not mushy and overcooked as most pastas unfortunately have, instead they were still slightly crisp and totally delicious! I ate about 80% of this and didn’t feel bloated, heavy or anything afterwards!

Ryan beat the system and got meat lasagna, which totally was NOT on the menu but they gave it to him! oh boys

And then there was dessert………………….

It was awful!! I hated it!!! Someone force fed it to me!! LOL

Tiramisu is actually one of my favorite desserts ever and this was fantastic. It was so incredibly light and seemed to be made with whipped cream instead of mascapone cheese, which only added to its light factor!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel, very sleep indeed from a loooooong day of travel. Through the course of the night I had that one glass of sangria + 1.5 glasses of wine and it was Jenna sleepy time. hahaha (they poured the largest glasses of wine I have ever seen and my mom took half of my glass). Overall though it was a great evening and I am so excited to see my cousin get married to sweet Katie today! The wedding is a garden wedding at 1:30 on the University campus, which I hear is very pretty!

Time to work out! Enjoy your 4th!!!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cocktails, dessert, Dinner, dinner out, friends, traveling, wine

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Wow! Sorry I was MIA last night but we didn’t end up getting home from dinner until 11:45 and I thought it was in my best interests to go straight to bed rather than stay up till 12:30 blogging! I didn’t want to be totally exhausted today!

Here is a full recap though, starting with yesterday afternoon’s snack. Yes, I was hungry after that indulgent brunch. I can’t help it–I just get hungry! Good thing I snacked though because we didn’t end up eating dinner until 9:30!

Banana with PB2:

Sugar snap peas:

And then around 5:00 we headed over to North Tampa to Ryan’s aunt and uncle’s house. The occasion was that Ryan’s cousin, Chris, was home for the first time in awhile. He lives and works out west and rarely gets to come home—even on holidays! They live in a gorgeous area right on the river.

And when I got there I was immediately handed a mojito!

Yum-O!

There were wheat thins, whole grain tortilla chips and an array of Sabra hummus out for the pickins—

I definitely helped myself to a few, as my drink was rather strong and chips just look so good after a cocktail!

Before dinner we took a nice boatride down the river. Scenery was gorgeous!

We had TWO boats filled with people! Ryan has a huge family!

Erin, Grandma Dot and I (love that wind swept hair!)—

Erin and Clark—

Ryan and I—

It was a love boat!

After the boat, we all hung out and chatted while the fish was cooking and finally ended up eating at 9:30. I was very ready for dinner!

Here’s my plate loaded with Cuban rice & beans (with raw onions and plenty of hot sauce), a small piece of fish, plantains and salad (I didn’t end up eating the salad). I had water to drink!

Special Costa Rica hot sauce on EVERYTHING!!

Apparently there was key lime pie for dessert but I passed. I was quite full!

Overall it was a fun night with good friends. I’m anxious to get back to my routine though this week of eating super clean and working out because I have another indulgent wedding weekend coming right up and I want to feel and look my best!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 42 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cocktails, dessert, Dinner, family

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I’m very happy to say that today went great, or as good as it could possibly go. Of course we were all thinking about my brother but we managed to stay busy and have the best time possible. John wouldn’t want us sulking around and we did our best to honor him.

Here we are!

I had two of these because these glasses were so teeny-tiny. Each martini glass only held about 1/4-1/3 cup of cocktail!

Yummy!

And for dinner, I made one of our favorites— caramelized scallops with smoked chili cream sauce from The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard cookbook (one of my favorites!).

My mom and dad got potato pancakes but I chose a sweet potato instead. This is the easiest recipe ever but so tasty! Pretty healthy, too, since I used only a bit of olive oil to caramelize these suckers and reduced fat sour cream in the sauce. I wasn’t stuffed afterwards, which is a good sign of a balanced healthy meal!

I SO wished I would have had time to make a fun Father’s Day dessert but since I didn’t, we each had a little ice cream instead

This is the last of the So Delicious mocha almond fudge coconut milk “ice cream” and, to be honest, I’m glad its gone! This still is like crack to me and I was constantly in the freezer for “just one little spoonful”. Very dangerous to keep on hand

TOMORROW:

The Easy Weeknight Dinner E-Cookbook will be going on sale!!!!!!!!!!!! The price will be $10 and like last time, just donate the money into my Team in Training account and then email me at HelpJennaRun@gmail.com to just real quickly let me know you made the donation. In the response to the email you send, I will attach the e-cookbook. Trust me guys, this one is even BETTER than the dessert one—-its about 100 pages!! I definitely have my work cut out for me tonight (it might be a late one) but its so worth it. I do hope you all will make an effort to pitch forward the $10 and purchase one. Its for such a great cause and I don’t know anywhere else you can find 100 awesome dinner recipes for only $10. Really, now.

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 35 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cocktails, dessert, Dinner, musings

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Oh my goodness, it is 6:30 on Friday morning and I am STILL full!!!!!! Dinner at Fleming’s was phenomenal. Absolutely wonderful and perfect in every way.

First of all, the DRESS:

I felt so trendy except for the fact that the front of the dress is totally taped on my body with fashion tape, every girls best friend!

Before we left, I was presented with my birthday present from Ryan—--tickets to go to Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney this summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you KNOW how excited I was??!!! I’ve seen Rascal Flatts live before, three years ago, and it was the best concert of my life. I’ve only been wanting to see Kenny Chesney since I was 14 years old!!! Ryan was a smart man to get me tickets for my birthday and Erin (his sister) tickets for her birthday so we could go together. These concerts definitely call for more of a girls night!

After the shrieking had died down, we set out for dinner. We had a cocktail first in the bar since we got there pretty early. I had a white cosmo!

I always have cosmos on my birthday; its a tradition!

A little while later, we sat down for our delicious meal. I started with a glass of pinot noir that I slowly nursed all throughout the meal:

And Instead of an appetizer we both decided to get soup. If you have been reading my blog for awhile you probably know my obsession with French onion soup. The story is, when I lived in Paris I became absolutely addicted and would order it at every single cafe and bistro that I ate at. I had never had it before and was absolutely intrigued by the ooey gooey cheese layer!

I’ve ordered it at a few American restaurants since I’ve been back but the only one that comes close to the Parisian version I know and love is Fleming’s! Seriously! The French onion soup at Fleming’s might even be better than some of the soups in Paris. It is a rich beef broth full of onions and topped with thick bread and a delicious layer of gruyere cheese. I order it every time I eat there because its so special!

Here I am in Paris….exactly two years ago!

Last night!

I didn’t finish it, of course, because I wanted to be very ready for my entree!

Can you guess what I ordered?!!

Yep, lobster for the birthday girl!

I NEVER order lobster out just because it is so expensive and at most places I don’t really feel like you get a good bang for your buck. I absolutely hate prying apart a lobster tail at the dinner table only to extract about two tablespoons of meat. THIS lobster, on the other hand, was prepared with Jenna at heart.

The lobster meat was taken out and mixed with a deliciously spicy sriracha sauce then served atop orzo in the shell. It, without a doubt, was one of the best meals of my entire life and will remain in my memory forever. I asked for extra spicy (obvi) and it was soooo perfect. I can’t even put into words how wonderful it was and I raved and raved to the manager about it. Worth every single penny!

Ryan ordered one of Fleming’s signature items—steak—and enjoyed every bite!

And what we both love about the restaurant so much is the ability to customize your side dishes. I ADORE the stir fried sugar snap peas so that was a must. And we also ordered sauteed spinach and Ryan got his favorite mac & cheese. Yep, it was quite the indulgent evening!

In the end, I couldn’t finish my lobster (it was SO BIG!) and I had only a few bites of sugar snap peas + one bite of spinach. All the food was so deliciously wonderful and as much as I wanted to stuff it all in to savor each bite, I just couldn’t!

Even though Ryan and I were both holding our stomachs at this time, what’s a great meal if not followed by dessert? As birthday girl, I was given the choice of anything on the menu and I chose my favorite indulgent delicacy—-creme brulee.

Really. Is there anything more perfect in life than a creme brulee well made? I know this very well since I had a class at school dedicated to the art of it. Its very hard to do right, you know, since you have to bake it to perfection so it still is creamy inside and not overbaked or underbaked. It took me a good 50 times before I got it perfect myself. Last night Chef Ryan customized our creme brulee by reducing down a tantalizing mixture of grand marnier and white chocolate and drizzling it over the top. It was to die for. Simply said. Ryan had a few bites but I finished it all!

And I of course had a decaf espresso, my favorite way to close out a stunning meal. Reminds me of Europe!

So now at this point we were both rather hurting from being SO FULL. When I got in bed, I could only lay on my back because I was SO full. A HUGE thank you to Keith and Chef Ryan for making this a night to remember and the best way possible to ring in my 24th year!!!!!!!!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 85 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cocktails, dessert, Dinner, dinner out, restaurant reviews, wine

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