Giving Thanks :)

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving. I went home to Worcester Wednesday afternoon through Friday afternoon.

Thanksgiving was super mellow. It was just my immediate family: Dad, Mom, Tara, and my Grandmother for some of it.

My sister also brought home my "neice" Snuggles, which is always a treat. She is growing up and learning so many new things! She now sits, stays, gives her paw and dances... I've been trying to teach her roll over for quite a while but she just rolls over on her back and wants her stomach patted.

I started off the afternoon/ breakfast with some cheese and crackers:

For Thanksgiving dinner we had far too much food especially considering the number of people present. We had: Turkey, asparagus, green beans, squash, salad, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and
blueberry pie.

The only thing I cooked was the asparagus which I just put a bit of salt, pepper and olive oil on and steamed it in the microwave. I do not come from a very "culinary" family so overall most of the food was very standard-- so no fun recipes to share unfortunately.

This year is was a big deal that I "had to" eat turkey. I did try some, it was ok, but I still prefer the vegetables. I also determined I only like the unhealthy parts of the turkey, the dark meat. The white meat didn't really taste like anything but it was unpleasant to chew. I'd really rather just stick to the greens and squash :P

I learned that Snuggs takes after her Auntie, and not my sister- She loves green beans!!

Tara's plate was slacking heavily in the vegetable department.

One of the best things about having Snuggles around was that I got to take her for walks! I love to walk, but sometimes it can be boring to just go for a walk by yourself, so having an adorable lil pomapoo to join you makes it all better. We went for a walk before and after dinner, probably doing about 3-4 miles total, which is pretty significant for lil Snugs considering her size! Plus Tara barely ever walks her, so I definitely wore the lil pup out. We even ran for about half of each walk... which made me feel rather pathetic when I was having trouble keeping up with Snuggs.



At any rate, Thanksgiving was a nice little "break" and I tried to enjoy the home cooked food and being around family and friends. I'm rather excited for "Christmas break" to have a little bit more of a legit break. But must be Thankful for everything :)

An Ominvores Adventures

As my three readers probably know,

I have decided to leap (er, baby step) back into omnivorism after my 7 or so years of vegetarianism.

The reason: basically I realize I am often an unhealthy vegetarian. Especially when I am at home, and at the end of December, I am moving back to Worcester. Most of my Worcester friends are the complete opposite of my Boston friends in that they are horribly unhealthy and could care less about nutrition, health, animal rights and environmentalism: all of my main reasons for being a vegetarian. They love chain restaurants: TGI Fridays, Unos, Friendly's etc. Unfortunately, I often wind up with the option of grilled cheese with french fries, or a horribly bland side salad. I know there are ways to tweak orders, which I do a lot, but half the times they wind up coming out messed up, and I hate paying the majority of the check for the meat I didn't get.

So, I realize, I would probably be healthier if I just had the salad with grilled chicken instead.

Furthermore, I love food. I do not per say want to limit myself.

One of the main reasons I became a vegetarian was because of animal rights, which for some reason or another lately just has not been getting my goat as much as usual. I do not know why. I will probably have a revelation in a couple of months and feel absolutely appalled about the fact that I have regressed back to eating animals, but until then, I'm giving them a second try.

So far I have been taking my adventure back into the world of meat eating slowly.
I started off eating approximately an ounce of chicken on a salad that I split with my sister. I have since eaten at "Wings over Somerville" with some of my guy friends, which again I split a meal.

This past week, J and I tried out Temple on Mass Ave in cambridge.


I mentioned that I thought the appetizer called "Figs in a Blanket" (Buttermilk Blue Cheese Stuffed Black Figs, Wrapped in Bacon, Balsamic Syrup, Creamy Cider Blue Sauce) had an adorable name. He decided to order them despite the fact that I said I would not be joining in that.

I decided to try half of one anyway. I will say, most of it was quite good, the blue cheese, fig and balsamic vinegar was very delectable. however, EWWWW BACON!! Despite being at a relatively fancy restaruant, I had spit it out. It was pure fat in my mouth. If you like bacon, this would be a great appetizer to try.

Other than the bacon experience, Temple had a very nice decor, our waiter was very friendly and J got a burger that he said was delicious, and they had very good french fries which I sampled.
I got the Frisse and Pear Salad: Honey-Walnut Vinaigrette, Truffled Mascarpone Crostini, it was Ok. They do offer sparkling or still water, and serve it with a lime which was pretty fancy and quite tasty. The prices were pretty high, which is partially why I just went with a salad- not that I do not generally love salads, but the options looked pretty good.

We didn't try any drinks, save the sparkling water, so I can't comment on that, but overall, not a bad place.

I shall keep you all posted on any more exciting meat eating adventures, and for now I shall steer clear of bacon!