Weekend Wrap Up
This was one of those weekends that I might not believe if I hadn't actually lived it. I'm sitting here on Monday morning with a clear calendar, which I am desperately in need of after the last three days!
Friday - We woke up and got ready early in order to drive to Temecula, about a 90 minute trip, and attend a winery event being hosted by one of the entities we do personal business with. It began with a tour of the winery's growing and production facilities, then moved into a private room for a series of wine tastings paired with charcuterie.
One of the wines we tasted was a Cabernet sauvignon that we both loved. So we knew it was going to be pricey, lol. And it was, at $90 a bottle. However, if we found someone to go in with us on a case, the price dropped to $55 a bottle. We chatted with the business contact that had invited us, and he said he and his wife would love to share a case with us.
Then they ended up comping us our six bottles. Totally unexpected, but very, very, very much appreciated!
From there we returned to Orange County, and headed to a new steakhouse near us that was getting rave reviews. We were primarily interested in their Happy Hour menu, not one of their pricier full blown meals, and had read that we needed to get there early if so, right at or before their 4:00 PM opening. So we got into line at 3:40PM, and were first to do so. However, by 4:00 PM, as they opened their doors, the line was long, and every table in their beautiful bar area, where Happy Hour was held, quickly filled.
We ordered the wedge salad, and then their house made burger, both to share. The salad was lovely, but the burger blew our minds. The restaurant compile their burgers using leftover trimmings from the various prime sides of beef they cut on site, including Wagyu. Plus the burger came with a generous smear of truffle aioli. And the total bill, including a beer for my husband, plus tax and tip, came to just under $50, which I was super pleased with. See later for where I am happy to spend money, large quantities of food just not being it for reasons of my scale. 😊
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The beautiful bar area. We were happy we were able to snag a private table,
but the folk sitting directly at the bar seemed happy as well. |
Saturday - My mom came over to spend the morning walking the beach and visiting a surfing festival with us. The walk was lovely in that the skies were just clear enough for a little sun to come through on an otherwise brisk morning. The festival was a lot of fun, with oodles of vintage surf boards, a classic Woodie car show, and live music that included a ukulele band . . . the later of which I loved, and have decided to join after chatting with some of the musicians!
Although I don't currently own or play a ukulele, the group encourages and welcomes new players. And because I do already own and play a guitar, I've read that the transition should actually be fairly easy.
So, another fun activity to dive into, which makes me quite happy!
After returning home, my husband and I got cleaned up and then headed to a Hawaiian themed dinner at a cooking school we both much enjoy. As usual, we had a lot of fun with the chefs and our fellow students, all couples this particular evening, and made lots delicious food. The chefs seat us at a long table after we cook the meal components, and then serve us, which is also so much fun. My favorite item of the night (they always ask) was the sweet potato and ginger soup. My husbands was the Luau fried rice. Both remakes here at home for sure, once they send out the recipes a little later this week.
Sunday - Spiritual services, then off to the ballet to see Swan Lake. And here is where I can state that I am happy to spend money! We had front row seats, and to me they were worth every penny. The ballet was absolutely gorgeous, and we were close enough to feel the passion and energy coming from the performers on stage.
Gosh, I just loved it so much. We'd seen Swan Lake in Russia when we visited St. Petersburg some years back on a cruise. However, not only were we not even close to being in the front row, we realized after seeing the full four act production on Sunday, that what we'd seen in Russia was simply a sampling of Swan Lake. It wasn't remotely the full length version. It was apparently the Russian tourist version!
We returned home to a simple dinner of Curry Vegetable pot pie that I'd bought and frozen last week from the Pop Pie Co, plus salad.
Today, Monday, I'm thrilled that my weigh-in this morning indicates I didn't gain any weight over our fairly food centric weekend, meaning my daily calorie planning on where to cut back calories early in the day, in order to enjoy more later in the day, appeared to work. I'm thus fired up to dig deep this week, in order to be back in the 'teens' by Friday.
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How was your weekend???
