I hope Santa was good to everyone this year – he sure was good to me I apologize for the week of neglect, but there was just too much going on! I completed the 12 days of FITmas – including workouts on Christmas eve and Day! Don’t be fooled though – the food consumption was a little over the top so my workouts helped negate some of what I ate.

What we managed to eat on Christmas Eve:

Greek-style riblets

Caprese Skewers:

Spinach and artichoke dip:

Tiropites and Spanakopites:

That was just the appetizers… now, the main course: (mostaccioli, mashed potatoes, mousaka, okra, roasted veggie medley, salad, ham, turkey, filet and roast pig.) You’d think we were feeding an army!

I was so excited about dessert that I completely forgot to take pictures! At the end of the night we played our White Elephant game, which was hilarious! Last year, I decided last minute to take a picture of myself and put it in a frame (it was so funny) so this year, I decided to get really crafty and use the same exact picture, but put it on a T-shirt!

I also added my old scale since Santa bought me a new one this year My uncle ended up choosing my gift and quickly put on the fabulous shirt!

My Uncle and the designer of the Tee:

Apparently snuggies and onesies were a big hit: (my kermit was so comfy)

Christmas morning  we decided to have some dessert for breakfast, so after that I jumped on the treadmill and did a 5 mile HIIT run with my new Dr. Dre headphones – amaze  Christmas day was pretty much the same as Christmas eve, just at a different house and with different food.

Some food images from Christmas day:

My plate: Lobster, cream of corn, double baked potato, brussel sprouts, cauliflower gratin and Ceasar salad

Different angle..

And for dessert I brought banana pudding with the Christmas version of Chessman Cookies:

I guess you could say that I definitely didn’t go hungry this weekend! Oh, and I don’t know if you noticed some of the pictures I took in the beginning were from my new camera (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V) from Santa I am fully stocked with new electronics!! I guess I was on the nice list this year

I apologize for the delayed post, but my face has been stuck in food for the past two days – not even kidding. My little “only indulge on Thanksgiving and on Friday” rule didn’t really go according to plan. Anyway, let me start with my first 10k Turkey Trot!

I woke up around 6 am – this time fully rested – changed into my running gear and headed to the kitchen to brew some coffee and make toast and peanut butter (my running fuel.) Georgia got to my house right on time at 7:15 and I had her folded piece of toast with peanut butter in a zip lock bag for the road. The race was about 45 minutes away in a north suburb of Chicago. I looked at the directions online, but apparently didn’t study them enough because at 8 am  (the race started at 8:25) I realized that I was oh, about 12 miles too north (you’d think I’d put the address in my gps system, but I guess I was just too excited to be thinking clearly!) So, we turned around and made it to the nearby parking garage with 5 minutes to walk run to the start line. Guess you could say that was our warm up!

The course was beautiful, but entirely  uphill and downhill. We started off faster than we anticipated (I guess that typically happens from your excitement.) We managed to run to mile three at a sustainable pace with no walk breaks.

 We kept an average of 11:50 pace throughout the whole race – no walk breaks!

At the 6 mile mark we decided to just sprint the rest of the way to the finish line – I actually captured the sign too and the photographer was making fun of me thinking that I was texting (wouldn’t be that surprising if I was.)

We obviously had to take a picture with the giant turkey…

We could not have asked for better weather! Such a perfect running day – especially because of the amount of food that I was about to consume later on. I started my food-for-all with a peppermint mocha from Starbucks – sugar.com. Got all dressed up (thinking it would prevent me from eating too much – false) I then went to Georgia’s house for pre-appetizers.

New you new “do”

Appetizers included: Tiropites (Cheese Pies)

Homemade real Southern Corn Bread: (the missing piece is mine of course)

Followed by a traditional menu of turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, veggies, corn bread, mashed potatoes, stuffing and the Greek item Mousaka:

and this…

and this…

and it keeps on coming…

The moment I have been waiting for (can you feel my excitement)… Dessert: Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Coconut thing

Cookie Platter: Peanut Butter, Chocolate Truffle, Pupmkin Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

Amazing Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting:

As you can see, I was set up for failure. There was no escaping this paradise! The good news is I did run on Saturday and today. Starting tomorrow there will be no more of this food nonsense! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving mini-vacation!

Last night I ended the month with a mouth full of interesting flavors.

For starters:

*goat carpaccio . tongue-olive vinaigrette . smoked roe (yep, I tried raw goat)

*warm marinated olives (not that good)

*goat chorizo flatbread . ajvar . peppers . green tomato . apricot . fresh ricotta (Delicious)

*hen of the woods mushroom ragout. sweet potato agnolotti . shroom creme fraiche . capers (also delicious)

*braised beef tongue . masa . beef vinaigrette . salsa verde (Not good)

*wood oven roasted pig face . sunny side egg . tamarind . cilantro . potato stix (Delicious)

*roasted cauliflower . pickled peppers . pine nuts . mint (So good)

*confit goat belly . bourbon butter . lobster n’ crab . fennel (One of the best dishes)

*chickpeas fritters . eggplant-tomatillo caponata . crave brother’s mozzarella (One of my favorites)

*ham frittes . smoked tomato aioli . cheddar beer sauce (I mean any type of “frittes” has my heart)

Last but not least – Dessert.

*chocolate bouchon . foie fluff . salted toffee . milk chocolate  sorbet . gooseberry compote

*pork fat doughnuts . honey yogurt . carmelized figs . lemony eggplant . ham streusel

As you can see, the brownie was demolished. The doughnuts not so much. Overall, it was a fun experience! Glad I ended the month with a big overload of sugar and salt – this way I’ll have absolutely zero withdrawal today

*Food description is off of the Girl and the Goat website.