weekend review

It's official! All documents confirm that we are now Maryland residents. We continuously delayed getting our tags and registration, but Kent's tags finally expired at the end of February, so legality gave us the push that we needed. And by "us," I mean Kent because we all know that I nagged him for months. 

On Friday night, Kent and I tried a new restaurant called Bond Street Social in the neighborhood of Fells Point. This neighborhood is located on the opposite side of the harbor from where we live. Our temporary housing was located near the restaurant, so it was fun to return to our first "home" in Baltimore. We enjoyed this dinner so much, and we'll definitely return with friends and family. It has a really cool, upscale, modern atmosphere that promotes "social dining." You're encouraged to order a variety of plates that allow for you to sample and share with friends. The menu offers a variety of global cuisine from Asian to American that is all delicious. The dinner was so enjoyable that I provided a more extensive recap in pictures than usual.  

The restaurant is located right on the harbor and faces Under Armour.

It has nice outdoor seating that will be fun to take advantage of during warmer weather.

We were greeted with complimentary mini cornbread muffins. These paired well with wine and beer, so we say.

Mac & Cheese Bites- goat cheese, gruyere, aged cheddar, and truffle oil

We almost opted for the recommended duck spring rolls because we're trying to branch outside of our usual eating habits, but I'm so glad we ordered these dreamy cheese balls 

We were seated next to the most delightful fire pit. I wish I was always seated next to one when dining out.

Asian style chicken lettuce wraps with carrot and cabbage slaw

Bloody Mary Mussels- garlic, vodka, tomato, & old bay

Not at all annoyed by my incessant photo taking as long as I let him eat

Miso glazed salmon- served over sautéed spinach and topped with shiitake mushrooms

Chocolate ice cream sundae with cookie crumbs

We clearly indulged, but we figured why not? A food coma put us on the couch for the remainder of the evening, so we watched a movie and called it a night. Oh, and I also baked banana bread. It was a decision made under in the influence of wine, but it turned out deliciously and will be coming to the blog soon.

Saturday was a fairly uneventful day. We took care of the tags and registration, then ran some errands. I had my best elliptical workout since starting on this new machine. I did 9.5 miles in an hour with a five minute cool down. That holds about 215 strokes a minute, so I was pretty pleased with the total mileage. I alternate between using the arms and peddling backwards while holding the grip at a level 9. It's very challenging.

I made "brinner" (breakfast for dinner) that night. It was my first attempt at making pancakes from scratch. They were buttermilk pancakes that were fluffy and tasted quite good, especially when drizzled with maple syrup, so I consider the experiment a success. I served them alongside omelets with peppers and mushrooms. 

Today was designated as the day we plan for our trip to Italy in May. We spent most of the afternoon looking through our books and constructing a rough draft for our itinerary. We decided on how many days we will spend in each city and then booked our hotels. I could have easily spent days considering potential hotels, but Kent is decisive and made me commit after a few hours of comparing hotels. The next step will be to decide what activities are most important to us and book advanced tours. We'll tackle that another day because reserving hotels was so exhausting. 

I had another great workout today! I ran the longest mileage since moving into our new apartment. I ran 8.2 miles in one hour. I know that treadmill mileage isn't as difficult as pavement, but I was proud that I ran so long. For those interested, this was the speed pattern that I followed: 6 minutes at 7.8, 12 minutes at 8.0, 12 minutes at 8.2, 12 minutes at 8.4, 6 minutes at 8.6, 2 minutes at 8.2, 1 minute at 8.0, 2 minute at 8.4, and finally 1 minute at 8.6. I walked for 5 minutes to cool down. I wasn't in the best mindset for a long run, so I'm happy that I pushed through.

My girl Kyle Richards of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills helped me get through my run. Excuse my excessive sweat- I don't look pretty after my workouts.

Tonight, I made individual flatbread pizzas- chicken, bacon, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, & mozzarella cheese. Delicious! We'll enjoy our Sunday TV lineup and relax. Baltimore is expecting some snow this week, which I'm not too excited about, but as I mentioned in my Friday Favorites, Daylights Saving is next weekend, so that's something to look forward to! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I have a winning dessert recipe to share on Tuesday, so look for that this week :)