Mon 21 Sep 2009
Best Week(end) Ever
Posted by runnerskitchen under Favorite Posts, daily recap, long runs, restaurants, running, travel, yoga
[14] Comments
Friday after work I hit the road and headed North to Boston. My bus left at 6pm and so I channeled my inner 3rd grader and packed a lunch box. On the menu: leftover homemade pizza and carrot sticks with a lil container of peanut butter. 4 hours is a long time to be on a bus – this girl needs her snacks!
I arrived in beantown shortly after 10pm and was met by the 3 smiling faces of Anj, Hannah, and Agnes (college housemates from senior year!). After much catching-up and some homemade chili popcorn (must get Anj’s recipe!) we hit the hay. Yes, I’m 25 and still absolutely love sleepovers 
The four of us were up early on Saturday and after the obligatory coffee and a bite of bread pudding, Hannah and I hit the road for a run.
Even though I ran 11 miles last weekend, there were small breaks in between the warm-up, race, and cool-down, so I was a tad worried about doing a continuous long run. However, I needn’t have worried – Hannah is magical and the run was the best I’ve had in maybe a year The weather was beautiful – bright sunshine and 60 degrees. We ended up running 9.25 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes. My hamstring/IT band/knee felt amazing! I’m still wearing the pre-wrap on my knee – I’m not sure if it’s actually doing anything, but it kind of feels like a security blanket.
After a fabulous run, Hannah and I returned to an impromptu yoga sesh. Pajamas are a perfect choice for warrior pose!
Check out the giant jar of peanut butter Hannah and I found!
After a pretty basic re-fuel (banana, yogurt, peanut butter) we showered and headed to Cambridge.
After a bit of exploring, we happened upon Darwin’s Cafe. Fair trade coffees, yummy sandwiches, and a case of delicious baked goods.
My sandwich was two pieces of freshly baked whole wheat bread stuffed with hummus, avocado, carrots, sprouts, tomato, granny smith apple, and honey mustard. It was packed full of veggies and I ate every last bite!
After a few more hours of exploring Boston (I love fall weather!!!)….
we made a pit stop for pumpkin lattes!
Invigorated by caffeine, I was ready for an adventure. Someone special was celebrating a birthday on Saturday and per his request we trekked out to Bob’s Food in Medford, Mass. Back in college Bob’s Foods was THE destination for post-track meet sustenance. This little Italian grocer/sub shop was always on the cool-down route for the Wesleyan track team and returning to Bob’s brought back good memories. This place has a ton of yummy food, but the vegetarian selection was a bit sparse.
I managed to find something veggie though – roasted red peppers, grilled eggplant, and provolone on a roll. Nate and I took our sandwiches to a grassy field on the Tufts campus and made a pic-nic of it. Twas delightful!
Despite ordering the small, my sandwich was bigger than my head. Loved all the roasted red peppers and ooey-gooey provolone!
Nate ordered something involving a lot of turkey and melt-y cheese.
With New England-themed chippers for a side dish.
My tum was full and happy by the end of the pic-nic, but I was still tempted by all the delicious foods that Anj had back at her place. Had to have a little taste of everything!
Check out these garlic & parsely sweet potato fries:
homemade nachos!
And Individual chocolate souflees:
Unfortunately my camera battery died at this point, but the night concluded with some Shipyard pumpkin ale, wine, and lots of reminscing about our college years
Saturday morning brought another lovely run with Ms. Hannah (5 miles!) and pumpkin pancakes (2 cups pancake mix, 1.5 cups water, .5 cup pure pumpkin). They were perrrrrfect with brown sugar and peanut butter. I’ll have to make these again and photograph!
The rest of Sunday was a glorious mix of long walks, sunshine, raw-organic Kombucha (my first!), and a life goal of mine – ice cream from JP Licks. After missing out on the Healthy Living Summit excursion to JP Licks in August and reading about all the yummy flavors on Tina’s blog, I knew I had to go there someday. I ordered a small cup of 1/2 oatmeal cookie, 1/2 oreo cake batter and it was delicious! So glad I finally got to try it – thanks for the company Hannah
I’m on the bus back to NYC as I write this and am about to dig in to the other half of my red pepper-eggplant-provolone sammie from Bob’s. Hope your weekend was as good as mine!
Question: What food brings you back to college/highschool?
P.S. Decorate an e-cupcake for free and $1 will be donated to children’s cancer research!
14 Responses to “ Best Week(end) Ever ”
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[...] Saturday started off with the usual cup of 1/2 decaf and a banana. Perfect prep for a long run with my beantown running buddy. [...]
As soon as I read you were going to Boston I knew you were having a good weekend. But what could be better than food and friends! Looks like you had the bonus of beautiful weather.
Glad to see you had such a great weekend! I Can’t resist the peanut butter soft serve from JP Licks, it’s just too good
ohhhh looks like a fabulous weekend with friends, food and Nate! yeah…i am so glad you had a good time. those weekends are the best – they leave you feeling happy and rested up
happy monday dear
Looks like you sure had some good eats while in Boston! Love the yoga pose in pjs.
My college food is definitely Snyders cheese sandwiches. Little pretzels with just the right amount of cheese…yum!
Glad you had fun in our lovely city of Boston. Great weather for it this weekend!
a lot of my friends from college live in boston too (we went to PC) and its always fun going up there and reminiscing about college. we always say we wish the state of CT didnt exist (sorry those who live there) because it would be so much closer!
Looks like a lot of fun. The food that brings me back to high school will have a to be cheese, cucumber and tomato sandwiches. I still love it.
Pizza and chips w/ queso dip DEFINITELY remind me of college! Not very healthy, but soo good. I don’t even remember the last time I had queso dip at a Mexican restaurant though. Queso and margs were a Thursday night college tradition!
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your adventure to Boston looked like so much fun. My favorite park is that you got to go to JPLicks, and it makes me want to go there so so bad!
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FYI the best kombucha EVER is G.T.’s guava goddess…it’s bubbly perfection with NONE of that vinegary flavor kombucha often has.
That is definitely a ton of great looking food! Please do us a favor and get that popcorn recipe. Popcorn is my addiction!
So glad to hear your knee and IT band are working out; it’s such a great feeling to be running well again isn’t it?
My college food is most certainly pork BBQ sandwiches. My friend and I drove 7 hours through the night once just to get one from NC, then turned around and drove home! It’s one of very few foods, like buffalo wings, that I really miss now. But of course there are decent no-meat substitutes to feed the occasional craving.
Back in Boston, eh? Glad you had a fun weekend!
This seriously does sound like the best weekend ever! I am majorly impressed that you went on two (what are to me) long runs! The first one, followed by yoga and in the 60 degree sunshine sounds like perfection!!
So glad you got to hang out with your besties and Nate – what an awesome time! And hurray for ice cream! I can always count on you for some gorgeous ice cream action!