My MIA Week Part 3: Family Fun

The Post-Thanksgiving portion of my holiday weekend was spent doing homework and hanging with the fam. Ahhhh....

I swear my mom likes me more than this photo indicates...

Hangin' around with my baby sis.

Realizing what a train wreck my hair was...

And getting it chopped! Looks like it needs some color, too, but one step at a time!

Stealing my sister's awesome green and pink Chucks that she's had for AT LEAST 7 years...

Breakfast out with the fam! We hit up Forever Young in Johnstown. Very delicious in a greasy, diner-y sort of way!

Joe and I are a bit scary pre-breakfast...

Forever Young makes their own cinnamon raisin bread- HEAVEN. We always get some to share for the table.

Momma got a belgian wafel with strawberries and bacon.

Joe jammed on a ham & cheese omelette.

Shawn got a bulgogi omelette.

And I get the croissant french toast with ham!

We played with the pups when we got home. Emma is regal and sassy. 

Liam is naiive and bold.

I got to have lunch with some of my high school besties, Christa and Sheena, (aka Donger and Chefna- we had the best nicknames) and Sheena's handsome little man, Lincoln!

Blurry, but I still love it! Lincoln is looking right at the camera! Wahoo!

These girls have been my homies since I was in 8th grade and I'm so glad I got to catch up with them!

After lunch I headed back home to say goodbye to my mom, youngest sister and the pups.

And then we headed to my middle sister's apartment in Albany for the night. 

We made a pit stop at Tierra Farm Coffee. I'm in love.

As I've expressed before, I'm committed to buying Fair Trade coffee, but I'm also a flavored coffee junkie! I was SOOOO happy to see they had both! I got a French Vanilla and a Chocolate Almond to bring home. Reviews coming soon!

 They also had  a whole shelf of yum-in-a-jar, which I happily partook of, purchasing a Maple Cashew Butter (not pictured). 

 The feel is very artsy-student chic. I can see why my sister does homework here so frequently!

I got... an iced coffee! Surprise!

It. was. great.

We stopped at Kieren's apartment (my first time seeing it- it's adorable!) to drop off our stuff and do some homework (Kieren's a grad student too- getting her certification in TESOL- Teaching English To Speakers of Other Languages). Once our assignments were done, we were starving!

Off to Bombers on Lark we went!

I've heard everything here is delish, but I only ever get the burritos, and they NEVER disappoint!

Shawn and Joe had matching grown up beverages.

Kieren and I got fancy with our water.

Someone take the camera from me...

I ordered a "Red Stripe" Jerk Pork Burrito. Heaven.

Joe got enthusiastic about his Pulled Pork Burrito...

Kieren is a slob... or a vampire...

So. Much. Beautiful and Delicious. Food.

Full to bursting, we muscled through to take advantage of my last chance to chow down on some Stewarts Ice Cream for a while. I stuck with my classic- Crumbs Along the Mohawk (Graham Cracker Ice Cream w/ a Caramel Swirl and Graham Cracker Pieces) and mixed it up with a scoop of Pumpkin Pie. My tongue cried happy tears.

And then my sister introduced us to this gem, and we laughed until it hurt. 

After a few short hours of sleep, we were up to catch an early train out of Albany back down to NYC. The sky made waking up at 5-something not suck so bad...

All in all, it was a jam-packed four days full of some of my very favorite people. A much needed weekend oasis from my intense but wonderful life. And now... back to the grind!

Improvisation- The Good and The Bad

 I improvised for lunch and ended up with this delicious fried rice concoction. 

Appx: 1 cup cooked brown rice, 1 egg, 1/4 cup veggie protein crumbles, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1/2 cup frozen green beans and 2 tbsp Sesame Ginger Light dressing. Oh. yeah.

I was fiending for my iced coffee fix and wasn't planning on leaving the house until Joe gets home (we're going grocery shopping tonight). I had some freshly brewed iced coffee in the fridge but had used up the last of my soymilk this AM. What's a girl to do?

Improvise.

Sometimes my culinary bravery pays off. Today was not one of those days.

It looks pretty, but BOY did it taste bad. I only used a few tablespoons because it's so dense- so it did little to cut the coffee's natural acidity and tang. The coconut milk took a while to fully mix with the coffee, and I still ended up with a few clumps. 

I might not have hated this so much if I didn't have a VERY specific idea of what iced coffee tastes like. Sigh. I drank the whole thing, though. An addict's gotta do what an addict's gotta do...

Any improvisation fails recently?