WIAW: Every Day Should End With Ice Cream

April 20, 2016April 19, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

It’s Wednesday, it’s Wednesday … woopwoop! Which means it is a day for sharing eats and seeing what other people eat. Yup, I love What I Ate Wednesday and all the foodporn that it results in!

Here are y eats from earlier in the week – a pretty boring weekday. But on a non-boring note, spoiler alert – the day DID end with some ice cream!

The day started with some of my favorite overnight oats. Same as last week but no yogurt this time – just oats, almond milk, banana, honey and some peanut butter. So delicious.

20160418_085606

I had an apple and some nuts as well for a mid-morning snack.

20160418_113808

20160418_093903

Lunch was a mishmash of random things. I had plans to eat lunch out with coworkers at a new BBQ place (which would have made for a WAY more interesting WIAW post), but I ended up getting pulled into a few meetings and having to work through lunch. Luckily I had a random assortment of food at my desk – leftover tabbouleh and baba from Friday night, carrots, plus a sweet potato (half with honey and cinnamon) and half an avocado. YUM! It hit the spot.

20160418_143802

I had some assorted hard candy for snacks that afternoon. Per usual.

20160418_161553

And a pear. Because pregnant Melissa LOVES FRUIT.

20160418_150957

B and I had our hospital tour after work that night. We got a quick tour of where I’ll be giving birth – wow. Somewhat made things a little more real to us! Anyway, that meant a late but quick dinner was needed – so we stopped off and had dinner at The Soupermarket. I had their jambalaya soup, some amazing bread and B and I split the Market Greens salad.

20160418_192930

And I pulled the whole “I’m pregnant and want ice cream” and we stopped off at Sweet Moses on the way home. B got a root beer float and I got some salted caramel ice cream with toffee topping. SO GOOD. But I was stuffed!

20160418_200510 20160418_201330

I tend to get VERY full during pregnancy – I’m well into the third trimester now and after some meals I just can’t get comfortable. That was the case after the ice cream. But so worth it! A perfect way to end my What I Ate Wednesday day.

Some questions for you:

Do you need dessert every night? What do you have?
How much fruit do you eat on a daily basis? I eat fruit at least 2x a day.

WIAW: Typical Eats

February 3, 2016February 2, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

Well, after last week’s WIAW featuring some meals in Mexico, I feel like this week is a little weak. And I should apologize to you in advance. But you know what? This week’s entry is pretty typical. It’s a typical day of eats for me. So here you go – a pretty typical day:

Breakfast – egg whites, veggies. Always love this. And typically have some salsa or hot peppers with or in my eggs 🙂 And lately been loving some citrus with my breakfast – so I had a cutie.

20160201_084317

For lunch I had a pretty awesome homemade salad. It was spinach, chicken, sweet potatoes, artichoke hearts, avocado, feta cheese and olives. SO good!

20160201_124815

And a pear. This pear was pretty awesome. 20160201_153240

For a snack later in the day I had some carrots and mixed nuts. Love the combo of the salty/nutty and carrots.

20160201_170457

And some tea in the afternoon. I bought this tea in Mexico City and the mandarin lichi tea was great!

20160201_104012

For dinner we had spaghetti squash marinara with cheese and meatballs. B made meatballs and they were so so so good. I may have had some mozzarella cheese on the side (not pictured).

20160201_193519

And I like to end the day with something sweet – a few spoonfuls of this ice cream was SO good and hit the spot! And that was the full day. 20160201_190325

Some questions for you:

Do you typically end the day with something sweet?
What’s something you like to put on salads that may not be typical? I’ve been told sweet potatoes are not typical but I love them!

WIAW #27: NOT healthy eats

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 14 Comments

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Be forewarned – today was NOT a very healthy day. No zoodles. Not many vegetables. AND – beer and ice cream for dinner. Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. Today’s eats are pretty fun, for me at least and really weren’t that bad. It’s not my typical workday where I bring my own food and prepare my own dinner. Nope – I had lunch AND dinner out!

The day started out with an interval run, the last of my training for the Cleveland Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Half. After the run (about 5 miles total), I was pretty hungry and very grateful for this ginormous breakfast from B. Those eggs were massive.

My breakfast – courtesy of B:) Yes, it started off healthy …

I had a snack of some homemade granola as well.

Confession – i made this to share, but I’ve eaten most of it.

For lunch, I had a meeting out of the office. We went to a Vietnamese place – I love Vietnamese food! I enjoyed a cabbage / shrimp salad and fresh summer rolls. My FAVORITE!

20150503_183256 20150811_131856

Afternoon snacks included some grapes, a plum and some zucchini (not pictured).

20150811_152209 20150811_093028

AND some homemade oatmeal peanut butter cookies (yes, plural) when I got home. Sweet tooth was happy!

20150811_153810

At night, B and I had tickets to see the Indians play the Yankees! Though I’ve lived here 7 years and am now for sure an Indians fan, it’s still a weird feeling when I see them play the Yankees. I was born in New York and lived there for more than 20 years, so there’s a part of me that will always love seeing any New York team play.

Dinner was at the game. I typically go for a veggie burger or a pretzel, but I wasn’t really that hungry after all my snacking. So after having a beer, I went straight for dessert- soft serve vanilla. Can you believe this was a small?

20150811_184232 20150811_205351

So yes, my dinner was ice cream and beer. And yes, I’m not proud of it, but I’m publicly sharing it on WIAW. Ahh well – there’s always tomorrow!

Some questions for you:

Do you ever have super snacky days? What do you snack on?
Favorite baseball team?
Ever had beer and ice cream (or insert other not-so-healthy combination here) for dinner? Come on, I can’t be the only one ….

Don’t forget to click on the badge below to see what WIAW is all about. And thanks to Clean Eats Fast Feets for hosting today!

WIAW #26: Sundaes on Saturday

August 5, 2015August 4, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

Happy What I Ate Wednesday, folks. It’s one of my favorite days of the week – seeing all the great eats that everyone has to share, plus sharing my own. AND today’s is an especially fun day of eats, because it was my SATURDAY eats. Which meant ice cream, kombucha, popcorn and more fun stuff. Are you ready?

The day started out with a nice 5k with B and myself. After the run, it started to get hot off and I was craving some fruit and something fresh. The cure? We stopped off at one of my favorite downtown breakfast spots, Restore for some avocado toast, a smoothie AND an acai bowl. Don’t worry, we split the three between us:

IMG_20150801_120936 IMG_20150801_121328

After breakfast, we headed to the West Side Market to pick up groceries. I was still feeling in the mood for fruit so I grabbed this bad boy and some grapes to snack on during the day:

After the Market, we headed out to Hingetown, where B got coffee and I got – you guessed it – kombucha at Cleveland Tea Revival. I can’t get enough of this stuff! 20150718_105202

We had a relatively lazy afternoon after that and ended up going out to dinner, to the movies, and then out for dessert.

We had a gift card to Town Hall and enjoyed an appetizer of lettuce wraps (sorry, forgot to take a photo before … you can see some remnants below).

20150801_175049

And I got this massive kale, beet, goat cheese, almond and veggie burger salad for dinner. I ate leftovers for 2 days 🙂

20150801_175044

We then headed to the movies and saw Trainwreck. B got popcorn, and I had a few handfuls. NO – I did not take any pictures during the movie 🙂 But AFTER the movie, we went out for ice cream. Holy cow, was this sundae delicious. Salted caramel ice cream with toffee bits and a bit of B’s whipped cream and cherry. I had a long run planned for Sunday morning, so of course I had to count this as part of my cargo-loading 🙂

1438481678507

That concluded my Saturday. Wow, looking at this, I want to go back! So much good eats in one day!

Some questions for you:

Do you tend to splurge more on weekends?
Do you like sweet/salty combo? Yes! Salted caramel ice cream – chocolate covered pretzels – i want it all!
Have you seen Trainwreck? What did you think?
Runners – do you have any go-to eats the night/day before a long run?

Don’t forget to click on the badge below to see what WIAW is all about.

WIAW #21: Ice Cream For Dinner

July 1, 2015June 30, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 13 Comments

I have a confession. These eats are from my Monday, and I had ice cream for dinner. That’s right – for this week’s What I Ate Wednesday, I’m putting it all out there and sharing with you a day with dessert for dinner.

The day started out healthy enough 🙂 B made me breakfast, which was great. I had some great egg whites with hot peppers, spinach and other assorted veggies.

20150629_083507

I was hungry a little after that and had a nectarine. I saved the apricot for later 🙂

20150629_092438

Lunch was a salad I had made ahead of time. Yay for Sunday meal prep! Grilled chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, pepper, olives, beans and roasted sweet potato.

20150629_124037

Snacks during the day included a sweet/salty bar (okay, actually 1.5 of these. I had started one Friday and forgot about it and found it after I ate the full one…)

Screen Shot 2015-06-30 at 10.03.13 AM

And some cashews. And the above apricot! Yum!

20150605_174334

After work, I had plans to meet up with a friend and take a walk and grab ice cream. We walked to Ohio City from downtown and went to Mitchell’s. I got a cup of their Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel. Peanut butter yogurt with chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels. Oh my goodness.

Dinner.

I just hit a milestone birthday and am officially – and more than officially – an adult. Which means that sometimes, you just gotta have ice cream for dinner – because, well, you can. And that is what I did on this fine Monday. Peanut butter chocolate pretzel ice cream for dinner. #Noregrets

Was it a super healthy day? Not at all. But was it delicious? Yes! Well, that concludes this week’s WIAW! Click on the badge below to see what WIAW is all about.

Some questions for you:

Have you ever had ice cream for dinner?
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

Wine Night! And a nearly photoless Sunday

July 22, 2014July 22, 2014 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 1 Comment

We’re at the point of the summer we’re I inevitably start to panic that the warm nights and beach days are going to be ending soon and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I try to soak in as much time outside as I can, drink a few too many fruity drinks or summery beers, get in as many outdoor runs as I can (even when I haven’t taken a day off in weeks) and wear shorts even when it’s a little too cool or buggy outside. Am I the only one who does this? Am I the only one who really really loves summer and doesn’t want it to end?

Anyway, for the first weekend since May, B and I didn’t have any plans going into the weekend. A few things on our to-do lists, yes, but no concrete, must-do plans. Which meant that we could do whatever we want! And we did.

Friday started with happy hour with a few coworkers. After happy hour, I found myself doing something I hardly ever do after a drink or two – went back to work and THEN made dinner. We had found ourselves with a TON of zucchini from our CSA and overzealous farm stand visit and they had to be used. So I cooked some of those and the pork tenderloin we had gotten at the West Side Market the week prior.

tomatoes and zucchini mostly from Fresh Fork

The finished meal

Pretty low-key night, followed by several episodes of Orange is the New Black. Shh, don’t tell me how it ends (I’ve heard this season’s ending is cuhh-raaazy) – but we only have a few episodes left.

Saturday started off as usual. Started off with a nice 6 mile run with B, followed by a trip to the Souper Market, the West Side Market and then Cleveland Tea Revival. Yes, I’m a creature of habit.

Jambalaya soup @ Souper Market

So much local stuff @ the Market this time of year

After the Market, it started raining a little bit so we spent the afternoon indoors. Meaning I got in some baking. Whatchamacallit bars (peanut butter rice krispee treats with caramel and chocolate – SO GOOD the recipe is here) and lemon blueberry bread!

just finished baking ….

Later that afternoon, B told me to grab a light jacket because we were going somewhere. Where? I had no idea. A walk? A picnic? We had bought some cheese and bread at the Market so I was sure we were going to walk to the water for a snack. Was I right? Not really – we ended up getting in the car and driving to Wine Country in Northeast Ohio!

First stop – the Red Eagle Bar and Distillery next to our favorite winery. We did a tasting of their bourbon, rye and vodka. I ended up getting a ginger bourbon drink they had on special which was great!

What we tasted

B at Red Eagle

Red Eagle Distillery

View of South River from Red Eagle Distillery

Next stop – South River Winery. South River is my favorite winery that B and I have gone to together and we enjoyed some flights, our bread & cheese and a great night to sit outside. The Polar Vortex (yes, it’s back) hit us this weekend so it was a little chilly but the rain had let up for us. The South River property is beautiful – it’s a nice somewhat quiet winery (they don’t allow tour buses, etc.) and it was great to enjoy a snack and some wine on a relaxing Saturday night.

Wine flight @ South River

Enjoying the warm weather and scenery at South River

A few hours later we decided it was time to head back downtown and grab dinner. We stopped by Sushi 86, which pretty much made my night. Baking, running, wine, cheese, and sushi? I think I had the perfect Saturday.

20140719_212534

Sunday was another relaxing day- I went to watch B play softball, but the game was cancelled. So we decided to use the time to clean the apartment (meaning B cleaned the apartment) and I got to go for another run, this time about 7.6 miles and around Ohio City. I ran to the Hingetown Market which had a great showing.

7 20 run

After a lazy Sunday, we enjoyed a perfect summery meal at B’s parents house. Ribs, corn, and ice cream.

B’s mom’s homemade frozen yogurt and ice cream (raspberry cheesecake frozen yogurt and coffee almond ice cream)

Is there a better end to a no-plans weekend?

Now it’s your turn! Some questions for you:

When was the last time you had a no-plans weekend? What did you do?
Do you make your own ice cream? What fun flavors do you make?
What’s your favorite type of sushi?

Do you have a favorite wine?

Do you like bourbon or rye?

San Francisco! (Part Two)

September 25, 2013September 25, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

After spending a pretty full day exploring San Francisco, we still had a few more items on our to-do list – including meeting up with one of my best friends, Melgar! Melgar lives just south of downtown and was going to take the train in so that we could spend some time sightseeing with her, and then we would stay with her in her new apartment in Mountain View (she just moved to Cali from the East Coast a few months ago when her fiancé got a job at Apple). Melgar and I have been friends for 16 years, which is truly weird to think of – AND I’m going to be in her wedding in a few months!!! Anyway, I digress. Our last day in the Bay Area included:

Exploring the Castro

Harvey Milk’s Camera Shop

20130910_115521

20130910_113625

Trying to watch a sailing race in America’s Cup

IMG_20130910_143402

Enjoying some awesome fish tacos (and an unlimited salsa bar!!) in the Mission

Nom nom shrimp tacos!

Ready to eat!

LOOK AT ALL THE SALSA!

Spending the night at Melgar’s – we enjoyed a home-cooked meal (her fiancé is not only amazing because he works at Apple, but he apparently also is a great cook!)

Sorry, Jon, but Instagram doesn’t do this meal justice. IT WAS AMAZING.

And then dessert at my new favorite place Cream! Why is it so awesome?, because it combines my two favorite desserts – ice cream AND fresh baked cookies!

IMG_20130910_213711

I enjoyed some awesome peanut butter ice cream, in between a chocolate chip cookie AND a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. OH MY GOODNESS. It is a strong competitor to fro yo for my favorite.

Melgar and me before Cream! (I told you, no sweaty running pics!)

No sweaty pics, but we also got to go on a short run with Melgar before we left for LA. Which was fun – Melgar likes to sprint so she definitely pushed us on our 3 miler around Mountain View!

After a quick trip, we were on our way down the coast – to L.A.!

Some questions –

Have you ever been to San Fran? The Bay Area? What do you like about it? Not like about it? The weather is typically just so-so – as was said on an old episode of 30 Rock “Aww poor baby. Can’t hack it in the big city, gonna move to the Bay Area now and pretend that that was your dream the whole time? Have fun always carrying a light sweater.” We lucked out – again – and had gorgeous warm weather most of the time in San Fran. The locals were commenting how it was seasonably warm, which I enjoyed, very much!
What’s your favorite dessert? Ice cream, cookies and candy. I love baking cake/cupcakes, but would prefer to eat cookies!
Do you have friends that live on opposite coasts? Yes. Sadly, it seems that quite a few of my friends moved out west after college (in Boston). But it makes for some great people to visit and vacations to plan!

More vacation recaps from our West Coast Adventure can be found here:

Weekend Update – the Carney Games!

August 12, 2013August 12, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments

My whole body is SORE. Not from a super hard weight lifting/pump/workout class – but from a run and softball game. That’s right – softball. I played a sport this weekend that required hand and eye coordination – both of which I don’t have (which is why I run). And I’m paying for it now. Ouch!

This weekend, B’s family got together for their sorta-annual Carney Games! The Carney Games does not sadly, involve any cool carnival games – but it is a big family reunion/engagement party for his cousin/sporting competition/lots of eating and drinking. I admit, I was somewhat nervous. I’m not a softball player. I’m not an athletic person. Well unless you count being able to run athletic. But even that is debatable. But it was actually a great weekend with some fun activities, great food and good company. Here are a few highlights:

Right before the weekend started, B and I snagged awesome seats (fourth row behind the dugout) to the Indians game. It was a gorgeous night – sadly the Indians didn’t do so well …

B and I enjoyed an Indians game. fourth row seats ... but caught a loss. But a gorgeous night!

Then Saturday morning our alarm went off at 6:15 a.m. (too early for a weekend in my opinion) so we’d have time to get in a training run before the Carney Games began. We had 7 on the schedule and ran it with B’s sister Mary throughout the beautiful University Circle and Cultural Gardens. Definitely nice change of pace and it was another beautiful morning – upper 60s, partly cloudy – perfect for a run!

7 miler

Then it was time to get on the road for the Carney Games and play some serious softball. I was nervous. What if we lost — because of me? I was catcher, and actually sorta knew what I was doing! AND I ended up hitting the ball each time I was up. Pleasantly surprised!

Then it was time for some softball. I was catcher, and actually sorta knew what I was doing!

B and me post-game. We have actually a super similar picture from the last time we played softball together! I’m surprised – I had a really good time. I didn’t suck terribly, and wasn’t in a high-pressure position, so that made me relax and actually enjoy the game. Plus, B loves softball so I know it meant a lot to him that I actually played.

B and I have a very similar picture from the softball game two years ago. <3

Photo of the winning team. B’s family and extended family. I’m actually standing next to his cousin Michele who said she reads this blog! Hi Michele 🙂

The winning team! Yup. That's us. I think we won like 16-2?

The not-winning team. I think the final score was 16-2? See how serious it is – we all have matching shirts!

After the games there was an impromptu pool party back at B’s uncle’s house. They live on a sorta farm – they have horses, lots of land, some plants and a pool. A great place to host a family celebration!

Isn’t Oliver the cutest? He didn’t play but looks adorable in that t-shirt (this picture is before he got in the pool). Oh and he’s holding up a #1 because our team won of course.

See all that land in the background? Anyway, that’s the poor pig that was roasted to feed us. There was tons of awesome food – fresh pork, pasta salad, veggies, buffalo chicken dip, cake, cookies, and more.

That is my plate of food. I’m sorry that i’m not sorry that I ate every single bite. Plus a cookie.

my embarrasing plate of food

The next day B played some more softball with one of his leagues and they won their first playoff game! Woohoo! He’s played in this league for years and this is the first time they’re past the first round in playoffs. Exciting, I know.

While B was at softball I decided to go for a short run to loosen my legs. I was super tight, and I’m not sure if the 2 miles helped. I then hit the gym for the elliptical and some weights. I typically just use the weight machines but since my quads were tired from squatting while catching, and right arm was super sore from throwing all the balls back to the pitcher, I decided to do something different. I downloaded the Nike training app and decided to try out an arm workout and core workout. It wasn’t bad – it was kinda hard but probably because my arms were already so sore. I can’t wait to try it out again after my body recovers.

Yes, I started the “Butt Buster” workout but some of it (aka the thrusting) felt a little strange doing it at the gym so maybe I’ll do the rest of the 15 min workout in the privacy of my own apt… or gym.

Screenshot_2013-08-11-21-25-53

After working out, B and I grabbed some coffee and started packing. That’s right – we’re moving in just a few weeks and finally started packing! Well … we put together half a box and got rid of two giant garbage bags of stuff – one to donate (I got rid of a ton of stuff – sweatshirts, coats, more).

We opted for sushi for dinner now that our favorite sushi place downtown is open 7 days a week!

SUSHI 86

And any weekend that ends with sushi and fro-yo is a good weekend in my opinion 🙂

Hope you all had a great weekend! Some questions for you:

Does your family have a big family get-together or family reunion?
What’s your favorite fro yo topping? I chose mango balls, a gummy worm, cookie dough and my favorite – HEATH bar!
What’s your sushi order? I got (not pictured) a rainbow roll plus a few pieces of just the fish – mackerel and salmon roe. YUM!
Any tips for packing/moving? No – that’s why I’m asking you!

Free Stuff!

September 8, 2008 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Especially when the free stuff is ice cream!

I just got an e-mail from Coldstone Creamery, saying that on September 25, they will be holding their 7th annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social and featuring two new ice cream creations (“Make-A-Wish Creations” inspired by Jack and Emily, two Wish Children) for free! I love it when companies decide to try out some cause marketing and we (the public) benefit 🙂

The two free ice cream creations are:

Jack’s Creation – Marshmallow ice cream with OREO® Cookies, Chocolate Chips and Fudge
Emily’s Creation – Nutter Butter® ice cream with White Chocolate Chips, Kit Kat® and Yellow Cake

Emily’s creation sounds right up my alley. I love white chocolate and peanut butter and cake. Too bad there isn’t a Coldstone closer to me! Anyone wanna pick me up one?