WIAW: Wine and Gold for the Cavs

June 8, 2016June 5, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

Phew. Why is it that the week after a short week always seems the longest? In any case, this What I Ate Wednesday is in celebration of the Cleveland Cavaliers. We’re in the finals (a rematch against the Golden State Warriors – ugh) and this day of eats included a celebration in honor of the Cavs – including a wine and gold-themed happy hour!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with the morning. For breakfast I was seriously craving some fruit. Like big, juicy, melon. Thank goodness we had some watermelon in the office and I had just cut open a cantaloup the night before – I made myself a large fruit salad (watermelon is hiding below) and some overnight oats.

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For lunch, I had plans to meet up with B and we had a lunch date at my favorite bakery/sandwich/salad place downtown – Stone Oven. Janea’s salad will forever be my favorite.

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Then, the happy hour I was talking about! Our office had a Wine & Gold-themed Happy Hour to celebrate the Cavs getting into the finals and that meant some wine/gold food, drinks, etc. I baked red velvet cupcakes with gold frosting to contribute.

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We also had a dunk contest – I came in 2nd somehow! No doubt it was for creativity – and lucky (I somehow got it in).

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Dinner plans had to get changed – B and I were going to go out with friends on E 4th while the Cavs were on but we were starving and places were too crowded – so instead we just heated up some leftover quinoa enchilada casserole and ate it with avocado, sour cream (leftover from the red velvet cupcake recipe) and plenty of tortilla chips.

E 4th street getting crowded

blurry dinner pic (many more tortilla chips consumed but not pictured)

And that sums up my day of eats! Now, some questions for you:

Are you rooting for anyone in the NBA finals? Who?
What’s your favorite fruit? Least favorite?

TGIF Eats (WIAW:TGIF edition)

February 10, 2016February 8, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 4 Comments

Happy Wednesday! I hope that I didn’t confuse you by calling this TGIF edition – it’s not quite Friday yet, sadly – instead, these are my eats from last Friday.

The day started with a chocolate protein shake. I’m typically a vanilla shake person, but I’ve been much more in the mood for the chocolate flavor lately and it hit the spot Friday morning. I topped it with a few slices of banana.

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I had some tea on the side. I love herbal tea and had bought this tea when B and I were in Mexico and it was delicious.

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Lunch was leftovers. I had leftover spaghetti squash with homemade tomato sauce, along with leftover homemade chicken gnocchi soup.

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And a giant grapefruit. Because I love grapefruit.

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I also snacked on some hard candy in the afternoon.

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I had a coffee meeting in the afternoon and enjoyed some of my favorite local tea from Phoenix. Ruthie’s Tea with honey is my idea of perfection. I also was able to enjoy a macaron.

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I got hungry a few hours later and had some peanuts to tide me over until dinner, which I knew we wouldn’t be eating until at least 8

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Friday night, B and I had plans to go to the Cavs game with some friends and get drinks before the game and dinner at the game. So dinner was less-than-healthy, but pretty delicious – Lola fries (thin fries with rosemary) and a chicken avocado sandwich while at the game. The food was good – but we lost the game in the last second.

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And that was about it! Not a bad Friday.

Some questions for you:

What’s your go-to stadium food / game eat?
Tea drinkers – what’s your favorite tea?

December FLEW by

December 21, 2015December 20, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

Whew. I don’t know about you, but the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Between holiday parties, cookie exchanges, dinners with friends, baking, and more – the past month has flown by. And I’ve loved every minute! We’ve had such a great December – here are some of the highlights from this past weekend, week and month:

lights in playhouse square

Running with Nicole! Me and my running bff finally got back outside and enjoyed a few runs the past few weeks. Some were incredibly warm and I wore shorts! Others were more seasonable. But it was great to get out there again after a few too many indoor treadmill runs and enjoy the morning and sunrise. And stop and take pictures of the Terminal Tower all lit up for the holidays!

running-tower city

Going to a Browns game for Monday Night Football! On one of the seasonably warm days, B and I snagged suite seats to a Browns game thanks to his work. The game wasn’t that great – we ended up losing at the last second and it ended after midnight. BUT, it was still fun to enjoy live Monday Night Football and inside the warmth of a suite.

browns suite

Going to the Cavs game. And having suite seats (yes, again). Through B’s work, we were able to enjoy a Cavs game. I prefer basketball to football (inside, faster paced, better fans, shorter games…) and had a great time. Even the food was good! Seriously – look at that grilled cheese. At a game!

cavs game

cavs game food

Celebrating the holidays with coworkers. Our office holiday party was at a fun restaurant/bar this year, Happy Dog, that features hot dogs and tater tots with tons of toppings. And arcade games. t was fun to celebrate the season (and a great year!) with my coworkers. Their hot dogs are really good – especially their vegan dog, which tastes more like an Italian sausage. I had a really good vegan dog with a garlic sauce, mozzarella, bacon, onions and mushrooms. Plus some tots!

office holiday party

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Ringing in the holiday season with other BC grads. B and I are in charge of our alumni association and planned this year’s holiday party. We were excited to go to a new place – Bold Food & Drink on the East Bank of the Flats – and had a great turnout. I love meeting new BC grads living in Cleveland – they’re here, but not so easy to find!

bc holiday party

Enjoying the final Ladies Craft Beer Society of 2015. This year, we opted to do a holiday dinner to celebrate a great Ladies Craft Beer Society and wish good luck to the three ladies in our group who are pregnant. One of them – Reanna – is due any week (!!) so it was great to see her and the other girls and enjoy a night out. And do a final craft for the year 🙂

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Dining out with the Carney ladies. Each year, my sisters-in-law and I opt to celebrate the holidays with an experience as opposed to gifts – this year the holidays snuck up on us and we only had time to plan a dinner. Still, it was a great night for wine and pizza and fries (dinner of champions!) at Bar Cento and to catch up before the craziness of the holidays sits in.

girls night dinner

We did quite a few other things this month – going to see the Cleveland Orchestra, out to dinner in Uptown, grabbing drinks with friends, seeing the From Monet to Matisse exhibit at the Cleveland Art Museum and more .. it has really been a great month! I can’t believe December is nearly over and we’re already talking about 2016. Which undoubtedly will be a great year 🙂

holiday flowers

Some questions for you:

What are you most looking forward to about the rest of December?
Have you ever been to a Monday Night Football game?

Linking up today with Erin for my weekend snapshot post, Katie for MIMM and of course, the weekly wraps.

Can I have another 3-day weekend?

May 26, 2015May 25, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Happy unofficial start of summer! It was the perfect introduction of summer this weekend – a 3 day weekend filled with family, food and pretty much perfect weather. Prepare for a post filled with lots of photos!

Friday night my parents came into town from New York! They got into town just in time for dinner and we walked around downtown for a little (I got to show them the new Heinen’s!) and then headed to Uptown. We had reservations at L’Albtross and the food was soooo good. I seriously love Zach Bruell restaurants and my parents were impressed with their food. After dinner, we walked around Uptown for a second and got dessert at Coquette Patisserie – it was a French food filled evening, I suppose!

My parents enjoying dessert

All the sweetness!

Saturday, we typically hit up the West Side Market, even when my family comes into town – but this weekend, instead, we decided to try something new – and this meant going for a hike in the ‘burbs. We headed to Squires Castle for a few photos and a nice cool hike in the woods. A little different than our typical more urban walk throughout downtown!

B and I – in nature!

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After our hike, we stopped off in downtown Willoughby for lunch at the Willoughby Brewing Company – it was my first time there and we all enjoyed our meal.

By the time we got downtown again, it was almost time for our late-afternoon plans – Indians game! We didn’t have 4 seats tighter, but instead had 2 sets in the 2nd row behind third base and 2 seats in the upper deck. B and my dad got the good seats, and I got the super high seats with my mom. What a fun afternoon! My mom and I enjoyed watching the game, chatting and of course taking selfies.

our super high bird

Baseball game selfie!

We hadn’t been hungry for food during the game, so we opted for Vietnamese for dinner. I love me some Vietnamese cabbage salads – we also feasted on Bun, Pho, spring rolls and more.

ginormous salad

My parents typically only spend one full day in town when they visit, but since it was a 3-day weekend they were able to also stay for half of the day on Sunday! We started off the day with a visit to the Sunday Market in Hingetown.

Dad and I at Cleveland Tea Revival

After walking around and of course a few purchases, we hit up brunch in Ohio City at Heck’s.

Cheating on Phuel with another yogurt parfait!

And then my parents were off 😦 During the afternoon, B and I ran a few errands, spending waaaay too much time (and $) in Target, before feasting on leftovers and heading to the bar to watch the Cavs game. Thank goodness we brought home a win!

A porter during the game

Time for a win!

I need a cavs shirt

Monday morning started off with a longish run – now that I’m not training for anything right now, it’s somewhat enjoyable not to have any scheduled long runs; however, I do miss them sometimes! I got in 7.5 miles before B and I hit the driving range.

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I don’t actually know what I’m doing when I hit golf balls … but B does!

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Then it was time to prepare our contribution to our Memorial Day BBQ – an appetizer from our Recipe Girl cookbook – and then it was cookout time!

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My plates from the barbecue – definitely enjoyed chicken, ribs, pork tenderloin, potato salad, and of course ice cream, cookies and local beer. Hope you had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend!