Monday, December 29, 2014

Home for the Holidays


I've been home for nearly a month and we've been traveling up and down the East coast with my family. We had great pre-Christmas celebrations in Delaware and Virginia and here are few pictures from the trip.

My family has a summer home in Rehoboth, Delaware which is a sweet little beach town with tons of designer outlets. We decided to take advantage of the sales and squeeze in some R&R.
  




My Tia Norman raved about this Mexican restaurant in nearby Lewes called Agave and it was one of the best I've been to. Needless to say I broke my diet and devoured these cheesy nachos. And although I didn't eat the meat and chicken dishes, they did look damn good.




Afterwards we went shopping which was a success.


Our final night was spent touring the town and walking down Penny Lane towards dinner.






We grabbed amazing grub at the Henlopen City Oyster House where Hub had the "best pulled pork sandwich ever." I had a delicious beetroot salad with spiced candied almonds. Yum.

  


It's family tradition to always end Rehoboth with brekkie at hillbilly trucker spot Cracker Barrel


When we got to VA we caught up with our dear friends Annie and Josh who recently moved back to the US. Annie is the talented chef from that fantastic curry night in Rio. We went to Izakaya Daikaya in Chinatown which serves an interesting mix of creatively textured Japanese tapas.

  








Back at my Mom's house we relaxed, cooked and played with Luna, the cutest Yorkie ever.




Pre-Christmas with the fam was fantastic. Next stop was Nashville, Tennessee so stay tuned for Honky Tonks and BBQ sauce.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Post Holiday Burn


Happy Boxing Day everyone! Apologies for being a little MIA, but Hub and I have morphed into gluttonous sloths whilst relaxing with family. I don't know about you, but I'm definitely feeling the ramifications of all this holiday feasting and have the itch to torch this extra Christmas pudge.

When we first moved to Rio our local gym was too expensive so I searched YouTube for workouts to do at home. They've been handy on this vacation, not only on days when it's freezing outside but also when I'm spending QT with the family at home. It's hard to leave the nest. Here are my favorite exercise videos that I plan on using to jump start this post holiday burn. Let's shake our tushie and burn off something - chocolate covered pretzals, second helpings of pecan pie... 

I love Fitness Blender, they're videos are easy to follow and the audio/visual timer is a great feature. I like the Body Firming HIIT Workout for Beginners which is short & effective (22 minutes) and the HIIT Cardio & Abs workout for something more intense (45 minutes).

I'm a big fan of Jillian Michaels and I got amazing results from her 6 Week Six-pack Abs (35 minutes) and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism (55 minutes) workouts.

To burn off my muffin, Fitness Blender's 10 Minute Abs is great for starting out and How to get a Flat Stomach at Home by Insane Home Fat Loss is freakin' cray cray.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Drinking Light


I love my wine and equally I love a creative cocktail. Since I've been home for the holidays I've been indulging at any appropriate time - tamarind margarita for lunch, champagne cocktail aperitif, red wine for dinner and post dinner. It's been wonderful. 

However, I'm well aware that my extra boozing could lead to unwanted pounds. Well that and all the dining out I've been doing. Don't worry this post is not about avoiding alcohol. I'm not insane, but I thought I'd look into low-calorie options and we got options for those office parties and holiday get togethers coming up. 

If you're into cocktails, Glamour has a great list of classic low-calorie options. I love gin & tonic and it's only a little over 100 calories!

Although I will probably always gravitate towards bold and heavy reds, this is a great post about calories in wine. I also love the look of these "light" whites.

I'm not a big beer fan and the beer I do like (sweet, strong, Belgium) will give me a beer belly. Light beers are boring, but Men's Health has an interesting list of brews that are light yet interesting.

Here's a thorough list of common drinks, spirits and beer and how they measure up on the caloric scale. 

Monday, December 8, 2014

Home Sweet Home


I'm back in New York and it feels wonderful, even though it's absolutely freezing and I hate feeling cold. However, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else even warm sunny Rio. I will be home for about a month, but I'm moving around so much it feels like there's not enough time. This is the longest trip home I've ever had, but my time in New York already feels like it's slipping through my fingers. It makes me sad and yet, it's only the beginning of the trip. I guess it's just home sickness and every time I get a taste of home, it never lasts long enough. 

So far I've been indulging on the best vegetarian food ever, so vegan food porn post coming up soon. The only exception of course were these amazing homemade peanut butter cookies that my brother-in-law left for me on the kitchen counter. They were devilish and buttery rich and I've been desperately trying to sweat them out in Bikram yoga. So here's to holiday feasting! 

I look forward to sharing more posts with you whilst on our American holiday adventures.

Love,
L
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