So Saturday afternoon, I'm stuck in the back of a small SUV with 6 people (and a dog). Everyone is having conversations with everyone else. We have 2 different sets of directions and a map that has so many pen marks and circles on it you had no idea which mark was where you were or where you were going. The phrase of the trip was "we need to make a left somewhere." It ended up totally fine and we made it to the restaurant. If not, we would have turned into the Donner party .
We are in DC to run the Marine Corps Marathon Sunday. I have no idea how this marathon is going to go, but I'm here and I am going to make the best of it. This has turned into a nice family reunion for my husbands family. His uncle has run 50 marathons in 50 states and is getting the District of Columbia tomorrow. He has also run marathons in 3 provinces in Canada and is planning on running Vancouver next spring. My husbands cousin who has just survived breast cancer is going to run it too! Which for me is very inspirational.
So I am just chilling now and going to go to get a movie and go to bed for the race. It starts at 8am. Will post a report when we are back.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Atlantic City Trip - Borgata
I had to go to AC last weekend for a "trade show" that lasted, oh about 4 hours at the TRUMP Taj Mahal. What a dump. I felt like I was at a retirement home with gambling. It was so depressing seeing all these elderly people in wheelchairs with oxygen tanks, and some really obese people in motorized chairs tooling around the casino floor. I know they choose to be there, but it still looked very sad, to me.
The parking garage smelled like urine. This was on a Thursday afternoon when we checked in.
The esclators were dirty. There was grime in the marble and garbage everywhere. The staff wasn't very helpful, and didn't seem attentive. Our room was even worse. The fabric on the chairs was fraying, the bathroom was clean, but poorly lit. Our room looked out over the ocean, which was really nice, but they are building a new tower and the construction started as early as there was daylight. The decor was so tacky. Big chandeliers, lots of mirrors, and the Police were playing over every loudspeaker, since they were playing there next weekend. As were ads for the TRUMP Taj Mahal, and a gambling hotline.
I guess I was just very surprised by the lack of quality, cleanliness and attention to detail in the Trump casino.
We went over to the Borgata casino for dinner and that was so much nicer! It was 2-3 years old and looked like a hotel with a casino in it, not a casino with a hotel around it. The lobby was clean, beautiful and full of glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly http://www.chihuly.com/installations/public/borgata01.html
When we walked into the casino, there was a woman at a desk to answer questions. She had copies of all the menus for the restaurants and gave us her own recomendations, which didn't involve pushing the most expensive restaurant on us. She called the Bobby Flay's to make sure we could get in, and then she gave us a map and directions to get there. We got a little turned around and a maintenance person walked us direclty to the door of the restaurant.
Dinner was quite good. DH had the oyster and lobster shooters, I had tuna tartare, and someone had fresh local corn chowder. The shooters were very yummy, but I didn't really get a sense of the oyster or lobster even though I picked out the oyster and lobster to eat seperately. Since you were supposed to "shoot" these like a shot you lost even more flavor of the oyster. BUT I think this could make a great bloody mary or ceviche or gazpacho.
For the entree I had the Hanger steak with Bobby Flays steak sauce wich was nice and sweet with a strong flavor of cinnamon and fruity chiles. DH had a Spicy Southwest ribeye with roasted red and green chile sauce. We had the wild mushroom mashed potatoes with white truffel oil, the cauliflower goat cheese gratin (absolute heaven, soo yummy) and the creamed corn with roasted chiles. The creamed corn was a little dissapointing, I should have ordered the creamed Kale.
The decor was very chic and warm, lots of natural wood & stone and a big bar for watching sports. They have 3 flat panel screens in the bar/lounge area. The restaurant was full, the bar was about half full. The rest of the casino floor was empty, but it was dinner time. Even after we left it didn't seem that the Borgata had as much gambling going on, as the Taj. What I really liked about the Borgata is they had seperate non smoking areas for gambling. That would get me to go there and gamble. I was sad to go back to our hotel after dinner.
So, final review, Taj - thumbs down, Borgata - thumbs up. I would go back to the Borgata.
The parking garage smelled like urine. This was on a Thursday afternoon when we checked in.
The esclators were dirty. There was grime in the marble and garbage everywhere. The staff wasn't very helpful, and didn't seem attentive. Our room was even worse. The fabric on the chairs was fraying, the bathroom was clean, but poorly lit. Our room looked out over the ocean, which was really nice, but they are building a new tower and the construction started as early as there was daylight. The decor was so tacky. Big chandeliers, lots of mirrors, and the Police were playing over every loudspeaker, since they were playing there next weekend. As were ads for the TRUMP Taj Mahal, and a gambling hotline.
I guess I was just very surprised by the lack of quality, cleanliness and attention to detail in the Trump casino.
We went over to the Borgata casino for dinner and that was so much nicer! It was 2-3 years old and looked like a hotel with a casino in it, not a casino with a hotel around it. The lobby was clean, beautiful and full of glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly http://www.chihuly.com/installations/public/borgata01.html
When we walked into the casino, there was a woman at a desk to answer questions. She had copies of all the menus for the restaurants and gave us her own recomendations, which didn't involve pushing the most expensive restaurant on us. She called the Bobby Flay's to make sure we could get in, and then she gave us a map and directions to get there. We got a little turned around and a maintenance person walked us direclty to the door of the restaurant.
Dinner was quite good. DH had the oyster and lobster shooters, I had tuna tartare, and someone had fresh local corn chowder. The shooters were very yummy, but I didn't really get a sense of the oyster or lobster even though I picked out the oyster and lobster to eat seperately. Since you were supposed to "shoot" these like a shot you lost even more flavor of the oyster. BUT I think this could make a great bloody mary or ceviche or gazpacho.
For the entree I had the Hanger steak with Bobby Flays steak sauce wich was nice and sweet with a strong flavor of cinnamon and fruity chiles. DH had a Spicy Southwest ribeye with roasted red and green chile sauce. We had the wild mushroom mashed potatoes with white truffel oil, the cauliflower goat cheese gratin (absolute heaven, soo yummy) and the creamed corn with roasted chiles. The creamed corn was a little dissapointing, I should have ordered the creamed Kale.
The decor was very chic and warm, lots of natural wood & stone and a big bar for watching sports. They have 3 flat panel screens in the bar/lounge area. The restaurant was full, the bar was about half full. The rest of the casino floor was empty, but it was dinner time. Even after we left it didn't seem that the Borgata had as much gambling going on, as the Taj. What I really liked about the Borgata is they had seperate non smoking areas for gambling. That would get me to go there and gamble. I was sad to go back to our hotel after dinner.
So, final review, Taj - thumbs down, Borgata - thumbs up. I would go back to the Borgata.
Winter IM Training, Protein Consumption & blowing off work
So, I am sitting here, (not working) and trying to figure out how much of this winter I will be on the trainer. I have all the winter gear that one would need, but not the heart to go out and put myself through that crap-ola. How can I do intervals while worring if some car sees me all bundled up or not? Hmmm. Maybe the rides outside will be limited to the long aerobic rides.
The other subject for today is protein consumption....i am not very good with this. I really love my carbs and fat. (well, specifically, cheese) Dairy seems to not be my friend right now. I want to eat my oatmeal, but wonder if I can put protein powder in it? I have heard about mixing in cottage cheese (YUK) or egg whites (double-YUK). I am trying to keep the weight in control and have gone back to my plan of no sweets or alcohol during the week. That worked to loose 10#! Now that I have lost the 10# I want to keep them off! (maybe go down a little more, but not too much) I just want to replace the fat with muscle, so if my weight goes up, well thats ok, as long as I get faster and stronger. Foods I love: Grilled cheese, quesadillas, french toast, pancakes, Oatmeal, baked pasta (lasagna, ziti) PBJ on toast..see the theme? ugh!
I have a great blender now and have to get back on the smoothie track for 1 meal each day. So today's smoothie is going to be:
1 banana
1 scoop protein powder (maybe this is how it going to be, for me)
pear nectar
1 cup frozen berries
Favortie Cookbook: Moosewood Simple Suppers - easy and yummy food. Currently since its fall, we are rocking the carmelized onion and blue cheese pasta. I also put mushrooms in it. YUM!
Music listening to: Radiohead, In Rainbows. I love Radiohead, this album is really great. I highly recommend you go buy it. The cool thing is they are selling it for whatever you want to pay. I paid $10.
KEXP - my favorite radio station. Its from Seattle and is a public station. you can listen online, www.kexp.org. Next week is the pledge drive and its actually something to look forward to. John and Cheryl (2 dj's) go absolutely nutz on air. Listen to them, seattle time, 6 am - 2 pm. John is on from 6-10, Cheryl is 10-2, but for the drive they both are on air the whole time. Very funny.
You can also get a FREE song every day through iTunes on the KEXP podcast. Well worth it. I have learned about so many great bands through this station. You should listen to them!
thats all for now. i have a project to get done at work.
The other subject for today is protein consumption....i am not very good with this. I really love my carbs and fat. (well, specifically, cheese) Dairy seems to not be my friend right now. I want to eat my oatmeal, but wonder if I can put protein powder in it? I have heard about mixing in cottage cheese (YUK) or egg whites (double-YUK). I am trying to keep the weight in control and have gone back to my plan of no sweets or alcohol during the week. That worked to loose 10#! Now that I have lost the 10# I want to keep them off! (maybe go down a little more, but not too much) I just want to replace the fat with muscle, so if my weight goes up, well thats ok, as long as I get faster and stronger. Foods I love: Grilled cheese, quesadillas, french toast, pancakes, Oatmeal, baked pasta (lasagna, ziti) PBJ on toast..see the theme? ugh!
I have a great blender now and have to get back on the smoothie track for 1 meal each day. So today's smoothie is going to be:
1 banana
1 scoop protein powder (maybe this is how it going to be, for me)
pear nectar
1 cup frozen berries
Favortie Cookbook: Moosewood Simple Suppers - easy and yummy food. Currently since its fall, we are rocking the carmelized onion and blue cheese pasta. I also put mushrooms in it. YUM!
Music listening to: Radiohead, In Rainbows. I love Radiohead, this album is really great. I highly recommend you go buy it. The cool thing is they are selling it for whatever you want to pay. I paid $10.
KEXP - my favorite radio station. Its from Seattle and is a public station. you can listen online, www.kexp.org. Next week is the pledge drive and its actually something to look forward to. John and Cheryl (2 dj's) go absolutely nutz on air. Listen to them, seattle time, 6 am - 2 pm. John is on from 6-10, Cheryl is 10-2, but for the drive they both are on air the whole time. Very funny.
You can also get a FREE song every day through iTunes on the KEXP podcast. Well worth it. I have learned about so many great bands through this station. You should listen to them!
thats all for now. i have a project to get done at work.
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