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Before heading the the airport, we had some breakfast and checked out the famous Eastern Market which features a flea market, farmer’s market and craft fair!

Breakfast was first..at Le Pain Quotidien.

The restaurant is all over the world in various countries, including the USA.  I have been to the NYC location before, so I was excited to see it directly across from our hotel.

They use all local and sustainable ingredients in their meals.

Everything on the menu looked great, but I decided on the Harvest Porridge and some toast.

Farro with almond milk, cranberries, mixed nuts and garnished with strawberries.

And, a side of toast with their amazing hazelnut spread and jam!

A bit later, I ordered a Hot Chocolate while waiting for others to finish up breakfast.

Oh my gosh!  Delicious!

My hot chocolate was served as a cup of steamed organic milk and a side of melted chocolate.

I poured in the chocolate to get the best hot chocolate yet!

Once we were fueled for the day, we headed to Eastern Market.

If you haven’t noticed recently, my favorite thing to do while travelling is to check out the local farmer’s markets.

This one had a variety of produce.

And, holiday vendors.

We strolled through the neighborhood eyeing the adorable houses.

And, our view of the Capital.

And like that, I was off to catch my flight…

It was a wonderful few days in Washington DC!

Don’t mind the half eaten cake!  We forgot to snap photos before digging in.   It was delicious chocolate cake (my favorite!) from Party Favors!  Yum.

We celebrated with a low-key weekend with family.  It was great!

On Saturday morning, Brant took me out for breakfast to The Friendly Toast in Cambridge.

(Source)

I loved the atmosphere of this old school diner and the very extensive menu!

I started with a coconut hot chocolate.

And, ordered the Huevos Rancheros for my meal.  It was delicious!  A thick slice of anadama bread with avocado, poached eggs, melted cheddar and homemade salsa.

Brant ordered the Mexican Mash, which also looked great!  Mashed potatoes, eggs and sausage with cheddar chipotle toast.  Yum!

We will definitely be back for the laid back atmosphere, the great prices and the amazing milkshakes I heard about.

Did you know that over 90% of hazelnuts are grown in Oregon?  I had no idea!  But, once I saw them on every menu, I knew that I have to bring some home.

Back in Seattle, we opted to stay in a different area for this half of our stay – Seattle Center.  After being in the car for 3+ hours, we needed a walk!  So, we walked around the center, which is home of the Space Needle, Monorail and Fountain built for the World’s Fair in 1962 (?).

Walking around Seattle Center reminds me of a carnival!  There are carnival games, like skiball.  There are video games.  There are popcorn carts.

And, there is the Space Needle, which is actually pretty cool!

That night, we headed to The Triple Door for dinner and a concert.  The Triple Door is a fun music venue that serves food from Wild Ginger upstairs, a delicious Seattle restaurant.

The tables are big booths that you can relax in while you eat, drink and watch the concert.

We decided on 3 plates to share – Orange Chicken, Seven Spice Beef and Vegetable Pad Thai.

The show was very fun!  I loved eating dinner while watching a concert.

We jumped on the Monorail to get back to Seattle Center after the show.

We walked back to the hotel with a view of the Space Needle at night!

We started out by exploring the Pearl District and all of it’s loft’s, cafe’s and boutique’s.  And, stopped by Powell’s bookstore, which takes up an entire city block!

After visiting with some family, we hit up another trendy area – North Mississippi Ave.  This street is lined with shops, cafe’s and food carts!

Food carts are a big part of Portland’s food scene.  They are not like any cart’s I’ve seen, but instead, they serve a bit higher end food.  They were all packed!

I decided on something sweet and hit up The Sugar food cart for a brownie sundae!

They had quite the menu for a food cart.

All of the sweets were handmade and everything else used was local.

After some more exploring and hitting up a local farmer’s market, it was time for Brant’s treat – a brewery tasting at Rouge!

As I mentioned before, Portland is known for their brewpubs, so this was a must-stop on our list.

We went with a sampler to make sure we tried a variety.

Verdict?  Everything was pretty good!

We hit up Meriwether’s in NW Portland for an early dinner before meeting some family at a swanky wine bar!

They use only local ingredients, many of which are grown in their garden.

We started with a sampler plate – risotto fritters, lamb meatballs, chickpea fries, tomato ricotta toast and gorgonzola stuffed dates.

And, a salad with ingredients solely from their garden.

For my entree, I chose a homemade pasta dish with mushrooms, tomatoes and Parmesan.

Brant went with the crab risotto.

We had a great time exploring Portland!

Saturday morning we were up early to catch a ferry to the North Fork of Long Island.  If you have never been there, I really recommend it.  Their are quaint towns and lots of vineyards.   Plus, while you are there, you could take a trip across Shelter Island and to the Hamptons for some more fun!

I was feeling like I needed a pick-me-up to get going, so I mixed up a Green Monster Smoothie for the ride.

• 1 banana
• 2 cups frozen spinach
• 1 scoop Sun Warrior protein powder, vanilla
• 1 tbsp cacao powder
• 1/2 cup frozen mango
• 1 cup almond milk

This was not my favorite, but I slurped it down anyways…

Once at the ferry I got out my overnight oats that I had mixed up last night.

Last night, I mixed up 1/3 cut oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, 4 oz vanilla yogurt, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 heaping tbsp unsweetened dried coconut and 1/2 banana.  It sat in the fridge overnight and was a perfect breakfast for our ferry ride.  It really thickens up overnight which makes the mixture the perfect dish to travel with.

Before eating, I topped it with 1/4 cup Kaia Raisin Cinnamon Granola.

We arrived in Greenport, NY and headed straight to the Greenport Tea Company for some tea!

We split the most delicious Orange Cranberry Scone and I had their Secret Stash Tea – a mixture of vanilla, caramel and white chocolate.  Delicious!

I love when tea shops use gorgeous teacups!

After meeting up with Brant’s parents, aunt and uncle, we spent the afternoon at a few vineyards (full posts to come!) and ended up at Chef Noah’s in Greenport, NY for dinner.

It was a very modern restaurant with a lot to choose from on the menu.  I particularly liked it because they offered a variety of ‘tastes’ and ‘small plates’ along with entrees.  The small plates were a decent size for me to order a few for my meal, and there were a number of veggie options!

(I have to show you Brant’s choices too because they looked so good!)

I started with the Roasted Beet Salad served with local goat cheese from a farm down the street!

Brant started with the Crab Taco’s – how cute are they?!

For my ‘entree’, I ordered 2 more ‘small plates’ – Roasted Asparagus, which was super garlicky…

And, the Carrot Risotto served with the same local goat cheese.

Brant ordered the Lobster Roll which looked amazing!

It was a great dinner.  Good atmosphere, good company and great prices!

After dinner we walked around the dock and stumbled upon this cool piece of artwork standing above the harbor.

The bird is an Osprey which stands on one of the posts from the World Trade Center.  It is pretty cool.

More of the weekend to come…

Once I was up, I knew I had to start the morning off on the right foot, so I made Brant and I a treat for breakfast – Pancakes!  Not just any pancakes, though.  These were souped up Banana Almond Oatmeal Pancakes.  And, they were yummy.

I followed the recipe exactly from Fitsugar (see recipe here).  Her recipe makes 12 smaller pancakes, but I like my pancakes thick and filling, so I made the pancakes twice as thick.

I am not a big pancake or waffle eater because I always find that they keep me full for about 10 minutes…there is not much substance or protein in a plain pancake, so it makes sense.  However, two of these pancakes with toppings kept me pretty full for the majority of the morning.  It must have been the oatmeal.

They were fluffy, but dense, so if you like light and fluffy pancakes, these definitely aren’t for you.  I topped my pancakes with a little greek yogurt, banana, chopped almonds and maple sugar.

Next time I would add more banana and cinnamon to the batter!

For lunch, I wanted to do something with the cabbage from our CSA, so I searched for a recipe.  I found the perfect recipe for Japanese Pizza on 101cookbooks.com (see recipe here).  I love pizza and this seemed like a really easy and healthy alternative.

I made sure to wash and dry my cabbage thoroughly, since it came straight from the farm.

The recipe called for shredded cabbage, but I was too impatient to chop it all, so I threw it in my food processor.  It was more grated than shredded, but it worked!

I doubled the recipe to make individual pizza’s for Brant and I, which was a perfect amount (I only ate 1/2 of one).  Once the ingredients are all mixed together, you cook the pizza in a pan on the stove.

Flipping the pizza was easier than I thought.  After cooking the pizza for 4-5 minutes on one side, it was time to flip.  I slid the pizza out onto a plate, put another plate on top and flipped!  Then, slide back into the pan to continue to cook.

Once done, I garnished with almonds and cut it up on the cutting board.

Then, served with a few dipping sauces…guacamole hummus and tomato paste.

It was really, really good!  The pizza itself did not have too much flavor, but it is so basic that you could add anything that your heart desires.  The dippers provided more than enough flavor for me, but I like plain things.

For a lunch dessert, I broke open some chocolate bars that I bought yesterday.  Endangered Species chocolate started selling some new organic dark chocolate, so I picked up one in each flavor.

How good do they sound?!  Of course, I tried a little of each.

It was tough to pick a favorite, but I really liked the Dark Chocolate with Goji Berry, Pecans and Maca!

Have a great Saturday!

Our host, Kirk, was extremely gracious and cooked us a wonderful breakfast each morning, including blueberry waffles on our last day there!  YUM!

Our room was great!  Very spacious with a comfy bed and a jacuzzi!

We spent a lot of time relaxing on the wonderful porch…it sure is tough to be back to reality now!

We headed out for a quick 40 minute run/walk yesterday morning to take in the scenery before we hit the road.  It is so nice to explore a new city by running, I love it!

Before leaving Saratoga, we stopped in town to pick up some sandwiches for lunch.  We decided to try out The Bread Basket Bakery.

It was cute inside…the pastries looked amazing!

But, I went with an amazing sandwich instead – Spit and Spat Special.

And, I bought some freshly baked bread for the week!

We packed up our sandwiches in the car and ate them while enjoying the sunshine once lunch time rolled around.

This sandwich was just as amazing as it sounds!

Then, we hit up our favorite Ice Cream spot while at Union – Jumpin’ Jack’s!!

And, they had our favorite flavor soft serve – Pistachio!!

Happy last day of vacation!

We had a few errands to run on our way home, so we made a quick stop at Upper Crust Pizzeria for dinner – Greek Salad and Pizza!

Back to the grind!

A breakfast buffet was served by our wonder host at the B&B.

Fruit, yogurt, homemade muffins, blueberry cake and egg sandwiches with cheese and sausage.

I filled my plate with some yogurt, fruit, granola, a muffin and blueberry cake.

After our trek up to Lake George for the morning, we headed back into downtown Saratoga for some lunch.  The first day that we arrived here we spotted Putnam Market and had been eying it ever since.  They sell specialty grocery items, but also serve sandwiches, soups and salads.

I decided on 1/2 sandwich and soup which sounded delicious on this rainy day!

The Tallulah Sandwich - raw milk gruyere, avocado, sprouts and herb mayo on a whole wheat wrap (minus the mayo!).  With some veggie chips on the side.

And, the Tomato Parmesan Soup.

Both the soup and sandwich were awesome!  If you are ever in the Saratoga area, definitely hit up this market!

After some afternoon downtime, we decided to head out for some dinner.

First, we stopped at The Local Pub & Teahouse again!  We loved it so much the first time, that we knew we had to go back.  We sat at the bar, sipped some beers, munched on some nachos and just enjoyed each others company on our last night of our mini vacation!

Then, we headed over to our dinner spot – Maestro’s, An America Bistro.

This restaurant received very good reviews, so we decided to give it a try.  They also offer a $25 prefix every night of the week!  For $25, you can choose 1 appetizer or salad, 1 entree and 1 dessert.  They limit the selection to a few of each off of their main menu, but the selection is awesome!

I started with the Spring Field Greens Salad – arugula, pecans, dried cherries and goat cheese dressed in balsamic.

For my entree, I decided on the Risotto – fuji apples, caramelized onions, yellow oyster mushrooms and ribiola cheese.

Brant ordered the entree special of Blackened Red Fish with gruyere polenta cake and greens.

Both of our entrees were unbelievable!  And, we both have 1/2 to enjoy as leftovers today.  We were stuffed…but, still had room for dessert.

We ordered 2 desserts to share since they came with our meal.

The Monkey Bread.  This was basically a cinnamon roll – wow!

And, the Fresh Fruit Cup – with blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream.  Served with a butter cookie which we didn’t touch.  This hit the spot after a full meal.

Then they came out with their platter of house-made dark chocolate with the check.  We politely each took a piece, but only had a small bite each because we were so stuffed!

The chocolate was an awesome addition to the meal!  I love restaurants that leave chocolate or mints with the bill.  It makes you leave on a great note.

We were stuffed!  And, thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Before heading out, I went on a quick 40 minute run to move my legs (about 4.5 miles).

Then, we  mixed up some smoothies and headed out of town…

My smoothie contained:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup frozen mango
• 4 frozen strawberries
• 1 scant scoop Vega chocolate protein powder
• 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (for iron)
• 1.5 cups coconut water

All blended up and ready to go.

Once in Saratoga, we checked into our Bed and Breakfast and set out to walk around town and find some lunch.

We decided on Wheatfields, a fun restaurant that uses all local ingredients!

If you can’t read the sign because of the Fedex truck (!), it says: from local fields to your plate!

I chose the chopped salad with romaine, tomato, cucumber, chickpea, Gorgonzola and a fruity vinaigrette that I requested on the side.  It was delicious.

After lunch, we hit up Betty’s Cakes for a Cupcake Sundae!  They were handing out $1 off coupons on the street, so we had to try it out.

Bettie’s is a bakery set up as a 50′s style diner!  I loved it.

We decided on a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake Sundae – a cupcake topped with vanilla softserve, whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry!

We split it…and we killed it!

For dinner, we went to The Local Pub and Teahouse!  A pub and teahouse?!  What could be better!

We loved the logos.

And, the atmosphere and food were awesome!  We are considering hitting this place up again before we leave…

I ordered the veggie burger.

This was not just any veggie burger…it was a stack of grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, avocado and mozarella cheese!  With balsamic vinaigrette for dipping.  It was out of this world.

Then, we headed to the Dave Matthews band show at SPAC.

No cameras were allowed inside, but we had fun!

We walked all over Saratoga yesterday – and too and from the concert.  In total, it was probably about 6-7 miles of walking!  Phew.

All I could think about was oatmeal. It has been a few weeks since my last real bowl and I woke up with a hungry tummy!

I took the time to make a batch of Steel Cut Oats and boy was it worth it.  Once the oats had about 5 minutes left to cook, I stirred in 1/2 of a mashed banana and a dash of almond milk for creaminess.  I topped my oatmeal with the other 1/2 of the banana, 1 tbsp of chocolate peanut butter and some homemade chocolate banana granola.  Yummy.

Served with a few pieces of juicy watermelon.  Nothing says summer more than watermelon!

Once our guests were ready to go, we headed downtown to walk around.  Around noon I split a Prana Bar with Brant and munched on an apple.

I received some samples of Prana Bars a few weeks ago and am just getting around to trying them.  I will write a complete review once I try all of the flavors, so stay tuned.  I will say, though, that I really enjoyed this Supercharger Blueberry Coconut Prana Bar!  It was the consistency of a Larabar, with the base being dates, but had a bit of crunch due to the puffed amaranth that I loved.  The coconut flavor really stood out and a hint of blueberry came through as well.  The bars contain all natural ingredients and are mostly raw.  Prana has three varieties of bars – PranaBar, Supercharger and Boomi Bar.  The flavors sound delicous, I can’t wait to try them all!

After walking along the harbor for awhile and taking in the sites, we made our way to The Barking Crab for a late lunch.

I’ve never seen the footbridge open before!

The Barking Crab is a Southie landmark that sits right on the water.

We had a bit of a wait with our lobster buzzer, so we enjoyed a beer.

They serve mostly fried seafood, but had a few other options as well.

Brant and our guests enjoyed the fried seafood while I opted for a mixed greens salad with grilled shrimp.

Fried food always sounds great, but I hate how I feel afterwards.  If I ever feel myself ready to order a fried dish, I just remind myself how I always hate myself after I eat it and 99.9% of the time it makes up my mind.  It never tastes as good as it looks anyways.  And, once I am filled up on my healthier dish, I am satisfied with my decision!

The shrimp on my salad was great!  It was seasoned very well.

After lunch, I snacked on some dark chocolate and dried strawberries while I continued to enjoy the weather!

Once dinnertime rolled around, we wanted to keep it really simple.  We have had 4 days of constantly being on the go and eating out, so the last thing we wanted to do was cook!  I took 5 minutes and heated up some Bean Chili which hit the spot.

Served with some Dr. Kracker’s seeded flatbread as croutons in my new Ramen Noodle bowl!

This bowl is perfect for comfort foods because it fits perfectly in your hand.

Those slots in the bowl hold a set of chopsticks.

Of course, I was craving something sweet after dinner, so I decided to whip up some banana softserve!  I made about 1.5 frozen bananas topped with a mixture of melted dark chocolate and peanut butter (probably 1/8 of a chocolate bar and 1/2 tbsp of PB!) and sprinkled with a few cacao nibs.

(and my camera ate the photo!)

A yummy dessert was a perfect end to our Memorial Day!