Blogging Challenge

Since I'm still a blogging newbie, I have been browsing around for some sort of challenge to take part in during April, and I believe I've found a winner.  Through Pinterest, I happened upon this challenge, and I can't wait to get started!  There are a lot of interesting prompts, and I hope you all will be entertained as you learn a little more about me.  :)

MóMó Pizzeria & Ristorante

Wednesday  night, I had zero idea what to make for dinner as I had plans to meet up with a couple of friends for sushi.  When said plans fell through, Adam was more than game to try out the new pizza place in town MóMó Pizzeria & Ristorante.  Featuring locally sourced, handmade dishes, MóMó is located in a freestanding building right next to Swimtastic.  All my mommy friends probably know where this is, but for those who don't, the restaurant is on the south side of Pioneers Boulevard and 77th, just off the Antelope Creek Trail.  I didn't see any bicycle parking upon arrival and forgot to look afterwards, so hopefully it's there and I just missed it. 

                                    

Now onto my first real blogging failure:  I neglected to get a picture of the front of the establishment, just a hurried snap as we walked ran through the 40 mph wind gusts towards the welcoming doors!  

Upon entering, we were greeted by a check in stand to the right and this gorgeous bar featuring a view straight into the wood hearth oven.  We were told the wait was 15-20 minutes, which isn't too bad, but we did notice the lack of a waiting area, so we awkwardly stood to one side of the doors.  Another option was to wait at the bar, but the stools were full, and we wanted to wait to drink with our meal. 

 

Gorgeous lighting fixtures.  Simple & modern, definitely my style. 

We started out with a couple of drinks: Hoegaarden for Adam and Zipline's Copper Alt for me.

 

Obviously we had to start off with the Salumi Platter: 3 house cured meats, olives, marinated red peppers, mostarda, and FRESH mozzarella. Seriously delicious. 

Pizzzzzza Time!  Prosciutto and egg for me and Italian Sausage for Adam.

Adam said his pizza was good, but next time he would ask for more char on his crust.  I am in love with eggs on pizza, and this one certainly delivered.  The richness of the yolk combined with the saltiness of the prosciutto and bitter arugula was on point.  It is currently towards the top of my favorite pizzas, and a solid number one on my list of egg topped pizzas.  :)

We weren't sure what to do about dessert.  I'm not a big fan of tiramisu; I've had too many that were dense, gloppy, and/or tasteless, but in the end we decided to go for it, and I'm so glad that we did!  The dish was incredibly light, and I'm not ashamed to say that I did a (hopefully) surreptitious finger swipe to get one last taste from a corner the extra large spoons couldn't reach. 

 

I am not usually this enthusiastic about new restaurants, especially ones on the south side of town.  I don't know if it's college nostalgia or what, but we almost always head down to the Haymarket for our dinners out.  All in all, I am eager to go back.  MóMó's menu had a lot of options, and I saw one particularly delicious looking salad being served to the table next to us.  If the wind ever goes away, we plan on taking a nice little ride on the trails over, so I will update when I figure out what kind of bicycle parking is available.  Thanks for reading, and if you try MóMó out, let me know your thoughts too!

One last thing, here's a shoutout to our waiter, Will, who was knowledgeable about the menu, and friendly without being annoying. :)

Daycare Fashion

Working in the childcare industry is not a glamorous occupation by any means.  In my opinion, it is one of the hardest jobs to dress for!  Ideally, I want to come across as professional and put together.  Realistically, 99% of my work day is spent down on floor level with older infants, so my outfits need to be comfortable, appropriate, and durable.

To be honest, this past winter was rough.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it hard to go shopping when it's cold out.  Peeling off all my layers and seeing my pasty skin in the dressing room mirrors isn't exactly appealing to me.  My lack of desire for shopping in the winter, usually means I have to rely on whatever I already have in my closet.  The frigid temperatures left me longing for comfort, so yoga pants or leggings and soft tees became my outfit of choice...so simple, comfortable, cheap, and easy to layer.  Thank goodness for a flexible dress code!  I really do love that about my job!

As springtime weather has slowly started to emerge, I am feeling more enthusiastic about outfit planning.  Here is what I wore today.  I had my eye on mustard yellow tights for a while and finally picked up a pair at Target a couple weeks ago on clearance for less than $4.  Score!  The kids definitely didn't know what to think about my legs, and I just have to share this story.  A 3 year old little boy followed me around this morning saying, "Liz, what's wrong?  Liz, what's wrong?"  When I asked what he meant, he said, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR LEGS?!"  I explained that I was wearing tights, and he responded with, "But they're yellow!" with an incredulous look on his face, "the color of THE SUN!"  According to his teacher he was concerned about my sunny legs for the rest of the morning.  So sweet!

                                               

                   

I was comfortable and able to move around in this outfit quite easily, as the skirt has just the right amount of length.  Are you as excited for spring and summer weather as I am?  I can't wait to break out more skirts and dresses (pro tip: when you spend a lot of time crawling around on the floor with babies, it's ALWAYS a good idea to wear shorts underneath!), as I find them so easy to wear and fun to style.  What is your favorite season to dress for?


Top: Banana Republic: (last Sept. $17.22 on clearance) seen here
Cardi: Target (old) similar
Skirt:  Banana Republic (Jan. 2014 $14.98 on clearance) available online
Tights: Target ($3.60 on clearance) similar, similar

Crunch Time

In 6 weeks and 6 days' time, I plan on sunning myself on the beaches of Valencia, Spain with my husband.  After enduring a winter of frigid temperatures and my lack of desire to purchase a gym membership, I'll admit my "abs" are a little softer than I would like!  About 2 weeks ago I happened across this pin and decided to give this pre-shower routine a shot.  Let's be honest:  I wake up at 5:30 AM during the weekdays and haven't yet done this at such an early hour.  Nor have I done this every evening (far from).  This little pin sits in the back of my mind, encouraging me to be more active daily.  For example, on Wednesday, instead of driving to the library to return a DVD, I ran!  Although my library is only about 3/4 of a mile away, I turned that short jaunt into over a 2 1/2 mile jog.

I have modified the original pin, doubling the jumping jacks, eliminating the plank, and adding burpees.

 

After doing this, with runs and long walks added in as well, I'm starting to see results already: a flatter tummy and more defined glutes.  Mainly, I'm just happy to have found something to motivate me to turn off Netflix and enjoy the warmer Spring temperatures!  

The Normandy

My mom is a fan of any and all things French, so I knew we had to try the new French restaurant in town: The Normandy.  It's located on the Northwest corner of 17th and Van Dorn, in a quaint little building that many may remember as the former site of El Sitio. Inside, we felt right at home at a table in the back corner.

The menu offered a selection of French comfort foods. Lunch was reasonably priced.  We each chose the $10 option which included an entree + appetizer.  For $15 you receive an entree + dessert.  Aaron ordered from the kids' menu which entailed a choice of entree with either an app or dessert for a total of $10.
Mom, Amy, and I each went for the creamy potato soup followed by the quiche du jour which happened to be Asparagus...a Chin family favorite veggie.  The quiche was served with a small salad of mixed greens and 2 tomato wedges seasoned simply with salt and pepper.

 Adam opted for the boeuf bourguignon, a hearty, classic French stew-like dish full of tender morsels of beef, carrots, and potato in a rich gravy.

He enjoyed the red wine flavor that shone through the sauce and actually admitted the potatoes were "not bad," a shocking statement from a man who has never liked potatoes. 

Aaron went for a grilled ham and cheese sans béchamel sauce. I'm pretty sure the FOUR mini desserts he received were the highlight of his meal!!

Savory or sweet, we all agreed our lunch  was delicieux and plan to return hopefully sooner rather than later!

Family Friday

My mom and brother decided to come down to Lincoln for part of their mid-winter break from school this past weekend.  We had quite a bit of fun planned: my sister Amy's birthday, the first annual PBL/March of Dimes Run/Walk for Babies on UNL's campus, a belated movie date for Aaron's February birthday, Malaysian Night, and my half-birthday.

As per usual, the highlights of my weekend were food experiences.  Friday night, Amy's 20th birthday, we headed out to The Parthenon, a popular local Greek restaurant.  Adam & I had been there once before for a holiday party, but it was the first time for everyone else.  As we were too busy talking, eating, and having a grand old time, I neglected to take any pictures, save for this shot taken by my camera-shy husband.

Note the insane amount of food we received.  Everything was delicious.  The standout dishes were the special lenten sides, most notably the broccoli with hazelnut butter and green beans with lemon-shallot butter.  Lip smacking good.  The standout of the evening was witnessing the following:
Waiter: What about you, buddy?  Know what you want?
Aaron: Leg of Lamb...
For those of you who know my family, this 12 year old boy always, ALWAYS, sticks to some sort of fried chicken or pizza at restaurants.  It made his food loving big(gest) sister so happy to see him brave the unknown!  Even better, he loved it!  Basically, we had the best time telling stories and laughing until our faces hurt.  Next time, we hope to bring Dad along.

Stay tuned, as we move from Greece to France on Saturday.

Welcome!

After giving this a lot of thought (several years' worth), I've decided to start a brand spanking new blog.  This is for my husband who has been encouraging me to put my thoughts about restaurants, food, recipes and travel out there for the world to see (yikes!) and for the 371 people on my Facebook friends list who are probably tired of seeing my poorly lit, sometimes half eaten photos of food.  Make no mistake, the photos featured throughout this blog will probably still be poorly lit, and the food shots may be missing a bite or two.  This is real life, people.  I hope you choose to join me on this journey.  Many thanks to the band Paramore and their song "Misery Business" for inspiring the name of my blog.