The good things

Celebrating 60 or so hours of sobriety now.  No more having a beer or mixed drink next to me that I sipped as I fell asleep, no more waking up to mimosas or bloody marys.  Good grief, I know those kids don't live like that on a daily basis, but I just can't imagine that for more than a weekend.  What craziness...

Anyway, I'm still waiting for enough time to get together a solid photo-heavy post about the bachelorette party, but there have been a few kind of cool body-related occurrences in the last day or two.

First, I had a good hair day on Monday and Tuesday.  Of course those were days that I basically just went to work and no where else. 

Second, the many extra pounds that seemed to have appeared on Monday morning are gone again.  I'm a daily weigher and I usually stay in the same 5ish pound range.  I'm at the very very top of that range, maybe even just outside of it, and I have been since post-marathon, post-Italy, post-2.5 weeks of no working out.  I have been trying hard to work out a lot and eat fairly cleanly to get back to the middle of my usual weight range.  Well, Monday morning, I was in for a huge shock.  Probably the most I've seen on the scale in years.  A weekend of candy, chips, popcorn, cheese and crackers, beer, mixed drinks, sugary mixed drinks, smores, and lots and lots of other food did not bode well for my already tight work wardrobe.  And I got home (after having a very interesting conversation with a pilot who sat next to me on the plane ride home) Sunday night and just didn't have the energy or desire to make a decent late dinner -- so I walked down the block to Chipotle.  Oh my.  All in, I guess!  But seriously, Monday morning was scary.  No doubt lots of random sodium, whatever.  But after two days of not eating garbage, I'm at least back to where I was before the weekend started. 

Third, for the first time in months (since probably a week or two before the marathon), when I worked out this morning, I felt like I pretty much kicked @ss.  At boot camp, I was of course tired when I started, but fairly early on, we were sent on our 1 mile run and I felt so strong.  I finished way near the front.  I was pushing myself very hard and sweating like crazy.  Much faster than I usually run.  At about the half-way mark, I felt like I couldn't sustain the pace, and I was a little embarrassed for just having passed two people and then suddenly wanting to slow down, but I told myself to keep pushing for as long as I could, it would only be a few more minutes.  I was willing to crash and burn -- and surprise, it didn't happen.  I finished strong.  The rest of the main part workout was okay, I did fairly average, but I was grouped in with the other people who finished way up front, so I was comparing myself to a stronger bunch than the average boot camper.  My heart rate was very high.  Usually my heart rate is highest when I'm running -- in the heat and pushing hard (which is fairly rare).  But during things like cherry pickers today, I was working hard enough that my heart rate was hitting running levels -- not common at boot camp.  Then we ended the session with weights and abs and again, I finally felt strong.  It was like the muscles were growing and fat may be burning off.  I feel like finally, after 2 months of trying to push myself hard, I might be getting back to where I was about 3 months ago. 

What a long road!  No question it was worth it, but I'm glad I'll be ready to let myself start relaxing a little bit more.  But suddenly for the first time, I'm feeling like I might be ready to bring it in San Antonio for the marathon in November. 

So 3 good things, plus the sobriety, that are making me feel better lately!

Alive, just not Kicking

I survived the bachelorette party weekend, though I am feeling every day of my age.  Seriously, I know 35 isn't old, and I don't think 45 is either, but 35 is not the same as 25, particularly when it comes to alcohol consumption.  I'll have to do a post with some fun pics later this week, right now just trying to make forward progress toward the office. 

Highlights:  On our beer pong team, I was the only one to sink shots.  Some very considerate person had to yack when she was in bed and knew she wouldn't make it to the bathroom, so she went for her own suitcase so she'd make as little mess as possible -- and that wasn't me.  A random guy showed up at the house looking to party (I think the house was lit up like a torch and the music was pretty loud), and while all of us bridesmaids are looking at each other to make sure none of us knew him, the bride-to-be was being a good sport, asking him if he was her surprise (he would not have been a hot stripper).  I met about 14 girls who will all be at the wedding, plus a couple I already knew, so that will make the wedding tons more fun.  I managed to get in 2 runs with the aforementioned yacker -- 10 miles one day, 9 the next (and needless to say a big 0 after the yacking) -- but it was so much fun to talk to her and she was fast, fast, fast, which was a fun challenge. 

Ready to Go...

Getting ready to head out of town for the bachelorette party.  It should be a very interesting weekend, and I'm so excited about spending the time with my two future sisters-in-law.  I'm also super excited for the cool weather for running.  And I've planned next week to include several nights of laying low, just in case there is a hangover that lingers for days...

I'm going to try to work remotely during the day tomorrow.  I've got a few portable projects, and that way I don't have to take vacation time that I don't really have. 

The struggle is going to be to get all my last-minute stuff into my briefcase-sized bag.  And to see if caramel brownies will make it through security screening! 

Rainy Rest Day

Crazy thunderstorms here this morning, so I'm getting a second rest day.  I was already planning to take one this coming weekend, probably on Sunday, b/c I'm expecting I may be hung over from my future sis-in-law's bachelorette party (though if the weather is as awesome as I think it will be, I might just attempt a hung-over workout).  And then this morning I did nothing.  Got up, checked the weather, put in my contacts, checked my email, then went back to bed for 2 hours!!!  Oh, so nice...

The extra sleep was good today.  Tonight I have a law school alumni group happy hour, tomorrow night after work is a social run at a micro-brewery after work, and then Thurs night I'll be flying to Detroit, so it's going to be busy -- plus I have to squeeze in time to finish packing and to bake some awesome caramel brownies to take with me for the weekend.  Hopefully those will make it through security...

Swimsuit Shopping ... ugh...

So this weekend was painful.  I fly to "the Other Big D" (Detroit) on Thursday for a long weekend for the bachelorette party for one of my two sisters-in-law to be.  Both my youngest brothers are getting married this year, one in Detroit in a few weeks.  I think I posted pics of the dress and the shoes already.

Anyway, I wasn't originally planning to go to her bachelorette party.  I adore her, and I think she is an awesome match for my baby brother, who is far and away the sweetest one of all of us.  But I don't really have any vacation time left at work (that whole "going to Europe for a few weeks right after you've started a brand new job" thing).  Plus, I'm about 10 years older than her and all of her friends.  And do you really want your fiance's older sister at your bachelorette party?  Like if she kissed some random guy, or had someone sucking off one of those necklaces, maybe it would bother me, I don't know.

But she has repeatedly been telling me how much she wants me to come.  I figured she'd invited me somewhat out of obligation -- as a member of the wedding party, and as the groom's sister -- but that she really didn't care too much if I wasn't there.  But she convinced me otherwise just by the fact that she kept asking and asking if I was coming.  It made me feel reallly good, and I decided to go for it.  I figured since she kept asking, it meant she actually really wanted me there, it would have been easy enough to let it go when I said I didn't have the vacation time if she didn't want me to come.

So I bought my plane tickets.  Going on Thurs, coming back late on Sunday. 

And then I got the invitation in the mail...

"One Last Fling Before the Ring."  Cute.  "Come join us for a relaxing weekend of fun in the sun and sand."  Cool.  It's at a family cottage a few hours north of Detroit along one of the Great Lakes.  Awesome!

But also enclosed was a packing list:
Bikini
Flip-flops
Sun tan lotion
Towel
Pillow and blanket
Toiletries
Panties (small) for a game
A bottle of your favorite liquor

Ugh!  Almost every single thing on that list makes me think I shouldn't have bought plane tickets to go.  I'm way too old for this stuff.

Bikini -- well that's not going to be fun for anyone.
Flip-flops -- not a good idea for me given my history of foot problems and the fact that my mileage is climbing
Sun-tan lotion -- NOT!  I used to love tanning but the skin cancer hype is finally getting to me, so I'll go with sunscreen and a huge hat instead
Towel -- this I can handle, though of course it's horribly inconvenient when you're flying and trying to cram everything into a small suitcase
Pillow and blanket -- does this mean sleeping on the floor?  Because I am WAY WAY too old for that.
Panties for a game -- sure, but I have to focus on ignoring the mildly creepy fact that my sweet little baby bro will be seeing this stuff (needless to say, I bought something fairly conservative for her)
Bottle of your favorite liquor -- I think I'd be down for the count for all of next week if I drank that much.  Way too old to be drinking like that anymore.  When I was 25, like all of them, it might have been fun occasionally, but not so much at 35 when I feel like it kicks my @ss for about 3 days later.  It's just not worth it to me anymore.  I still drink some, but less and less it seems.  Wine at dinner less than once a week, sometimes a drink at a happy hour less than once a week.  I'm just not so into it.  But since we're staying at the cabin almost the whole time, I can't even make my light-to-non-existent drinking useful by offering to be the designated driver.

So I'm positive I'm going to have fun spending the extra time with both of my bros' fiancees, I'm just not so sure I'm going to really enjoy this weekend. 

It makes me feel old.

But I decided to go bikini shopping anyway, in case I didn't feel old already, and still carrying a lot of post-marathon/Italy pounds.  What a great way to make me feel even fatter and older.  Yikes.  Those girls are going to get quite a reality check when they see me.  It could be like one of those "scared straight" programs for kids.  Like girls, don't eat too much crap and drink a lot, and sit on your @ss hanging out w/o exercising, or this could be you one day... 

I've been trying to work out a lot lately.  Trying to get rid of the post-Italy pounds (and after I get rid of those I can get back to trying to get to where I'd like to be in the ideal world, but one step at a time).  But there is no question that it was a mistake to get measured for that bridesmaid's dress 2 months before the Boston marathon.  I should have known the combo of post-marathon weight and weeks-in-Italy weight would substantially change those measurements. 

But even though I haven't taken a single rest day in a couple weeks, it doesn't seem to be helping much.  I dropped a couple pounds really fast when we got back to the US (I gained about 7), but nothing seems to help with the others.  I finally am starting to feel like I'm toning up a bit and getting a little stronger, but I'm still running slow (on purpose partially, just starting to bump up the miles). 

I think my big problem is eating.  I'm eating like I'm still in marathon-training mode, and it's worse b/c I think being with hubby's family for Easter, which is a HUGE holiday in Italy, substantially stretched out my stomach.  I haven't had the will-power to cut back lately. 

So I'm going to focus on trying to eat pretty clean this week and hopefully I'll feel less bulky when I put on that first bikini on Friday -- but the bulky feeling will come back as soon as I'm around all these 25-year olds!  Maybe I'll have to get drunk so I don't feel so awkward!

Vacation Eats: Pizza in Pittsburgh

This is the last post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Having grown up in Pittsburgh (more specifically, in Dormont), hubby has some long-standing favorite pizza places, but we've been a little disappointed in going to them over the last few years.  Places like Fiore's just aren't as good as he remembers (and not at all impressive in my mind).  But nonetheless, since vacation means pizza, we ate pizza in Pittsburgh, still trying to find something wonderful.

Delivery, which was nice. 

My pizza toppings of choice are (and always have been) mushrooms and olives.  Hubby usually chooses just mushrooms, or sometimes mushrooms and jalapenos, but he's also content to eat olives.  Glad he's a veggie pizza eater!

I think this concludes the vacation eats series.  Since we flew back to Dallas separately from Pittsburgh, we went out for a final splurge meal in Dallas the night hubby got home.  But no photos of that.

This blog post series was intended to serve as a good reminder to me why I came home carrying these extra pounds.  I seriously need to work hard to get them off.  A few pounds came off fast when we got home, but the last few seem to be sticking around.  And I don't like it -- my husband might like my having a bigger chest, but ugh, it feels uncomfortable when I run, and my clothes don't seem to fit right.  I've also got some extra thigh and belly inches to eliminate to get back to normal, but we really had an amazing trip and I don't mind working off some of the wonderful stuff we ate and drank!

Now that I'm starting to really gear up my running though, I think it will get much easier to get rid of the last few LBs to be back where I was before the trip.  I'll just not think about whether that's where I really want to be or not.  One step at a time!

Vacation Eats: Sweets with the In-laws

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Our trip ended in Pittsburgh, and my mother-in-law made this awesome cauliflower pasta that I forgot to photograph.  But I took a pic of my dessert plate! 

She made a carrot cake w/o nuts but with raisins, exactly the way I like it (and the way that won't kill me).  Plus there was a ricotta cake with strawberries over it.  Very good!

Vacation Eats: Homeward Bound

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

We flew back to the US on Delta.  Ugh.  It was so funny to compare the flight attendants on Alitalia, going over, on Air France going to Paris, and then on Delta coming home.  By far the oldest, most unattractive, and rudest flight attendants were on Delta.  Just funny how that works.  It's like you have to beg Delta for a glass of water on an international flight.  Compare that to Alitalia, when you get on the plane and you ask for an early glass of water, and then you mention you're a thirsty person, and surprise, they keep coming back to make sure you have or don't need water.  Anyway, I put my better representative Delta customer service example below!

The food, however, seemed to be roughly equivalent on all of them.  My meal on Delta on the way home:

It was some kind of cheese tortellini.  Pretty good.  Dessert was sorely lacking.

Then a couple hours before we landed, we got a snack (hubby is indicating with his hands that it's pizza no. 10 of the trip).  Pizza that was surprisingly good!

One anecdote that captures my frustration with Delta: 

On the trip from Dallas to Pittsburgh, I had a connection.  The flight crew had the same connection as me, same crew for both flights.  We landed in Atlanta, I walked to my next gate, pretty far away.  I made a quick stop for a sub sandwich that I got to go.  Got to the gate and started waiting, though it was just about time to start boarding.  The gate person made an announcement:  the plane was there, everyone had gotten off, but we couldn't board until the 2 remaining crew members arrived.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  It was basically departure time, and we're still waiting for 2 missing crew members before we can board.  Eventually, the 2 crew members came strolling up.  I recognized both from my last flight, so I knew how long they'd been on the ground (and of course I know that they were the last ones off the plane, but they weren't far behind me).  The best part though, was they both walked up with ice cream.  One with a cup, one with a cone.  So glad we all had to wait for them to order their ice cream, and our flight was late leaving the gate b/c of them.  Delta Airlines sucks.  I wish I'd taken video of it.  They can eat all the ice cream they want if there's sufficient time, but when all the passengers and everyone else is waiting for them, that's not the time to stop for ice cream.  Basic customer service here. 

But whatever, we made it home!  We'd never flown internationally into Pittsburgh before.  It sucks -- you have to go through customs and then go through security again, even if you're leaving the airport!  Colossal inefficiency!  But there's a cool Statue of Liberty replica that you see as you come through international arrivals. 

Here are a couple fun shots playing with the zoom on the camera in the air.

Vacation Eats: French Breakfast

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Under-photographed, again, camera fatigue at the end of the trip.  It was funny to hear my husband, who does not speak French but speaks Italian well, attempt to order a cappuccino in a restaurant for breakfast.  Fortunately the bartender was able to correct him and say cafe au lait.  Haha.

We also ate several delicious rolls with our cafe au lait. 

And yes, you can see from the remains, our delicious rolls included chocolate.  We ate pain au chocolat, and then we each chose one other breakfast roll. 

So good!  I think of all the typical European breakfasts, French is my favorite.

Life in a Sports City as a Non-Sports Fan

So everyone here is pretty much going crazy over a basketball win last night.  Even crazier than when the Dallas team made it to the World Series (where they didn't win).  And way more hype than when the SuperBowl was here a few months ago. 

Another crazy thing is how little I care.  I mean, I'm so happy that all my friends who care so much are so happy, but part of me really just doesn't get it.

I had a brother playing professional baseball a few years ago, and I was definitely willing to travel across the country to watch the games and I cared A LOT.  But I'm not related to anyone who plays for the Mavs, or the Rangers, or the Cowboys (though they didn't get to play in the SuperBowl even though the game was here). 

Like what is the point in spending so many hours of your life staring at a tv screen and cheering for some highly paid athletes?  And even worse, when the team you like loses, being in a pissy mood afterward?

In my mind, watching a game live is completely different.  That to me is like regular entertainment.  Kind of like going to a concert or a movie.  But it's not something I'd want to devote most of my free time to.  I could see going to a game every week if there was a team you loved, but with baseball especially, what a beating to be spending so much of your free time watching others be out there doing stuff.

I don't get my guy friends who this morning were talking about having a sportscry.  What does this have to do with their lives?  Really?

But the other odd thing is that I felt like I was starting to get a little more into sports when I was dating the last guy I dated before my husband who loved college basketball.  How different my life would be maybe if that relationship had kept going instead of ending.

I'm really happy to have found someone as a husband who is almost as mystified as I am about how much people seem to care about how well athletes do their job.  There have been a few very rare occasions where he's wanted to watch sports, and I try not to complain.  He likes watching several sports in the Summer Olympics, so every 4 years that's fine.  And he likes watching World Cup soccer, but mostly just Italy's games, so again, every 4 years that's fine.  And occasionally if he finds college wrestling on tv, he likes to watch that, but since we don't even have the sports channels saved in our tv guide list, it seems like he watches wrestling about every 3-4 years.  That works for me. 

And I'm also glad he's not a golfer.  While it would be cool if we both golfed, I have so many friends who feel like they're basically single on the weekends b/c their hubbies spend the days w/o them, off on the golf course.  That I certainly understand as a hobby/passion, but at the same time, I'm glad it's not my hubby's hobby. 

Anyway, the Mavericks won and people here are happy.  I don't really get shaping your mood based on the outcome of some sports game, and I don't get spending so much of your time watching others "do" instead of doing yourself, I'm happy that the people I like who care are happy.  What an awkward sentence! 

Vacation Eats: French Dinner

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

My favorite restaurant meal in Paris was definitely our dinner in Montmartre, a neighborhood near Sacre Coeur.  It was very small.  We can't say for sure if it was filled with locals, but we were certain everyone there was speaking French, that the group next to us at the communal table were all Parisians (though some were transplants from elsewhere in the country but living there for years), and that the menu was only in French.  My menu translating skills were completely put to the test because the waiter didn't speak English either.  We picked the restaurant largely because I'd translated one entree and it was vegetarian and exactly what I wanted.  Hubby, surprisingly, had more trouble finding something.  Lots of the menu was either sausage, pork/ham or beef, all of which he tries not to eat.  He settled on duck confit.

Above, outside the restaurant.  La Cave a' Jojo.

One side of the menu, on a chalkboard above the bar, we had the 4th thing listed as an appetizer.

The entree side of the menu.  Toward the bottom was my choice, the reason we ate there. 

Our appetizer:  Embeure'e de Roquefort.  Bread with a cheese spread.  Goooooood.

Hubby's entree:  Confit de canard.  Duck confit, with white beans, salad and more.

My entree, one of my favorite foods on the trip:  Tourte aux Legumes.  Vegetable tort. 

I wish I'd paid more attention to what was in my tort.  I remember olives, which make everything better, but the whole taste was just spectacular.

Vacation Eats: McDonald's in Paris

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

This is a little misleading, because we didn't actually eat at McDonald's in Paris.  We were walking along the Champs-Elysees, and hubby needed to find a restroom.  Not knowing where else to go, and knowing we were in the land of the pay toilet, we decided to duck into the McDonald's.  I was willing to buy something if the restrooms were for paying customers only, but the restrooms were open, so we didn't buy anything. 

But the menu was quite interesting!

I hope you're able to zoom in on the menu.  Featuring items like Croque McDo, the Royal-O-Fish AND the Filet-O-Fish.  They also have what appears to be a side dish of "small tomatoes" on the menu, plus what may be translated as skin-on fries.  But my favorite French McDo menu items were at a special counter closer to the exit:

McCafe cupcakes!  I was tempted to try one, but couldn't bring myself to eat McDonald's in Paris, particularly since I only eat it at home about twice a year, and on those occasions it's just fries or ice cream. 

Anyway, it was a fun potty stop in Paris.

Vacation Eats: Snacks in France

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

We have a long tradition of eating crepes on vacation.  We can't say exactly when it started, but when we were in Colorado (Colorado Springs and Breckenridge) for my cousin's graduation from the Air Force Academy, we ate them every day.  On our big trip last year (Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, DC, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Moscow), we ate them in Charlottesville during our first stop and then in almost every other city (though none in Pittsburgh, and in Russia, they were more like blintzes).  On our honeymoon in Greece and Turkey, we seemed to find at least one crepe each every day. 

So of course we were quite excited to be in the crepe capital of Paris.  I wish I'd taken more photos, but by the end of the trip, camera fatigue was setting in.  I had a cheese one, and I think all the others were sweet (sugar and lemon).  Anyway, this is a guy making my cheese crepe. 

Vacation Eats: Take-Out, Lecce Style

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

On our last night in Lecce, we had pizza for dinner, delivered!  I don't know how common this is in Puglia, but we've never had it with hubby's family over in Calabria.  But Lecce has a lot more American influence.  There's a McDonald's and lots of military personnel, so maybe the pizza delivery industry is driven by that.

My pizza (above) was 4 formaggi.  4 cheese.  Very, very yummy!

Vacation Eats: Ristorante Alle due Corti in Lecce

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

We went out to eat for lunch one day in Lecce, at a restaurant that had been written up a few years ago in the New York Times, Ristorante Alle due Corti.

The restaurant's sign, attached to one of those typical Lecce walls of limestone.

A portion of the menu.  Hopefully you can click to enlarge.  Yes, it features horse meat and baby goat entrails... I got the second option listed (artichokes) and hubby got horse.  Oh, I hate thinking about it.  Usually I'm so happy to know that he's not officially a vegetarian, but that he eats meat free a lot (though he does seafood pretty often) and he really won't eat beef or pork unless we're at someone's house and that's what's offered (and that's rare since they'll usually have veggie options for me).  I was thoroughly appalled when he mentioned he was considering horse, but I bit my tongue -- it's his choice.  I can just withhold kisses saying I don't want to taste horse! 

We got all the vegetarian antipasti (except the stuffed mushrooms at the very front of this pic had meat in them).  I especially loved the beets, on the left in this pic.

My first plate of antipasto.

Our pasta course.  It was house-made tagliatelle with a special tomato-based sauce.

My friend Anna's entree -- eggplant.  She didn't love it.  Too much sauce, it overwhelmed the eggplant.

Hubby's entree -- the horse.  Ugh.

My entree, the artichokes.  Very good.

Just walked after the meal and eventually got some gelato for dessert.  An amazing lunch at a restaurant I'd highly recommend!  

Vacation Eats: A less over-the-top meal

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Continuing the vacation meal recaps, here's a dinner "in casa" in Lecce.  Again, the meal was made especially for me -- all meat-free!

Above, to start, brocoli rabe?  Rapini?  Lost in translation.

Followed by peas, fresh mozzarella, olives, and an olive-bread.  Oh, and I ate about 10x what's shown on my plate. 

Dessert was fruit and whipped cream.

I chose pears, kiwi, oranges, strawberries and whipped cream.

Another Easter cake, home-made.  I couldn't eat it b/c it contained almonds.  But I was full enough!

 The Easter lamb cake after several portions were cut out!

The wine we had with dinner.  Different from in Calabria where they drink wine that isn't sold in stores.  Not sure if it's a regional difference, or just different families do different things (like some Calabrians maybe buy bottled wine?  Or some Pugliese drink homemade wine?). 

All in all, another completely amazing meal, probably the healthiest of the trip...

Vacation Eats: Santa Maria de Leuca Restaurant

This is a post in my "Vacation Eats" series. I'm posting about various eating and drinking experiences I had on our 2011 Vacation Extravaganza -- Pittsburgh, Boston, Italy, Paris, Pittsburgh. A link to all posts so far is available here. The idea is to lose all the pounds I gained by the time I'm finished with this posting series!

Another restaurant post where I can't include the name.  We were just north-east along the coast from Santa Maria de Leuca, but it was getting very late in the day, and these beach-side downs are largely deserted anyway this time of year, so we stopped for lunch in what seemed to be a hotel restaurant.  My favorite part was probably the dessert.

First, a few pictures from the drive from Lecce, down to the coast, to Santa Maria de Leuca. 

And then some pictures from Santa Maria de Leuca.  This is where the Ionian and Adriatic seas meet, essentially the tip of the heel of the Italian boot.

And finally, lunch.

Hubby's calamari, which he enjoyed.  I had a salad I think.

My pasta with red sauce.  Good but couldn't compare to what I'd eaten in homes on this trip.

Dessert.  Warm pineapple, topped with vanilla ice cream or gelato, and then a fruit sauce.

After lunch, we went to Gallipoli.  Not the famous WWI Gallipoli, but Italian Gallipoli.  A fun food pic from the parking lot there -- seafood being sold on the street.