Restaurant of the Month: G

This month dinner club coincided with St. Louis Downtown Restaurant Week. This is a great event where patrons simply attend the participating restaurant of their choice and select from a special 3-course dinner menu for $25 per person. Luckily, there was a "G" restaurant participating so it made the choice pretty easy this month!

Gio's Ristorante and Bar is located in the heart of downtown on Market and 7th. Neither Kelly or I had actually ever heard of it so we were anxious to try it out. It's a relatively new restauarnt (it's been open for about a year and a half) and we were a little surpirsed at how empty it was on a Friday night. At one point we were the only table on the patio and there didn't appear to be too many more people in the dining room. Regardless we enjoyed the view of the Arch and the Old Courthouse from our table on the patio.

Happy Hour was from 4-8pm so we were able to enjoy some inexpensive drinks throughout dinner which was nice. The restaurant week menu consisted of 3 courses: Starter, Entree and Dessert. Kelly and I both chose the Insalata Caprese (sliced tomatoes, fresh Mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic syrup, topped with fried basil leaves) for our starter. The tomatoes were fresh and sliced thick and the dressing was not overwhelming. The fried basil leaves added a nice crunch.

Kelly had Pollo Con Melenzane for her entree. This chicken dish was lightly breaded, charbroiled, topped with grilled eggplant, tomato, and Mozzarella cheese. It also came topped with a birds nest of fried spaghetti. It looked cool but Kelly opted not to eat it. I chose the Braciole Napoletana - Thin slices of beef stuffed with prosciutto, pine nuts, raisins, Mozzarella and bread crumbs, braised in red wine and tomato sauce. Both came with a side of veggies and potatoes. Kelly's chicken dish was very good from the bite that I had. My beef dish was good and different from anything I'd had before. I liked the sauce and the raisins added a slight sweetness. I thought the beef was slightly overcooked for my taste, but I still cleaned my plate!

Next came dessert! We chose two and shared - Strawberry Bruschetta and Tiramisu. Both were delicious! The triamisu was light and creamy and gone within a few bites! The Strawberry Bruchetta was a completely different taste. A slice of grilled bruchetta was topped with straberries and ice cream. The grill flavor really came through and was so unexpected in a dessert.

We definitely got our money's worth this month! 3 courses for $25 is pretty much unbeatable as was the view from the patio. Gio's would also be a great place to go before or after a Cardinals game to grab a drink and an appetizer. They are within walking distance of the stadium and they validate parking. Again you can't beat that!

Luau

Jason and I had our family and friends over to celebrate my birthday with a backyard Luau. It's been almost a year since Jason and I went to Maui for our honeymoon and I want to go back so bad. That's not going to happen for a while so we figured why not have a Luau here instead. We had so much fun! We started with dinner and cake with our families before our friends joined us for the "real" party ;)
On the menu:

• Chicken Enchilada Roll-Ups - This was the second time I've made this recipe and it was a huge hit again!
• Roast Beef Roll-Ups - an old standby recipe that I got from Jason's mom. Again very simple to make and always a hit.
• Aloha Chicken Kabobs - We added red peppers and bacon to the skewers. Delicious!
• Aloha Sweet Potatoes - This was the first time I made this recipe. I'm not sure it came out exactly how it was supposed to but it was still good!
• Pasta Salad - I revised this a little bit. I used a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette and ran out of time so I didn't skewer the ingredients. I let the tortellini, tomatoes, and mozzarella marinate in the dressing for a couple of hours and then served it in a big bowl. So simple and I got tons of compliments on it!
• Fruit Salad
• A delicious black bean, mango salsa that my brother-in-law made. I need to get that recipe!
• And of course cake! My mom made a yummy Almond Cake with Strawberry/Rhubarb topping.
• Oh and how can I forget the Mai Tais! Jason made these up and they were tasty but whoa they were strong!

I found this apron at Party City and just had to get it for Jason.



After dinner I opened gifts. Of course I had my trusty helpers, Millie and Merrill, by my side :)

Candles and lotions from Erin!

How cute is Merrill in her hula skirt that we got for the girls in Maui?! We had a cd of Luau songs playing and she was dancing around the house all night!

Love these lanterns from Jason's parents

Sisters :)

Jason's dad and sister

My favorite little girls

Millie and Erin were friends ;)

Later in the evening our friends joined the party. We had a great time catching up with everyone and playing around with this:

Another Party City find. How could I resist?
Emily and Joe

Jake and Shannon

Scott and Millie

Me and Jason

Jason and Pat

It was pretty entertaining!
Of course no party at our house is complete without a trip to the karaoke bar down the street Double D's.

I had a great time celebrating my birthday with our friends and family. Thank you to everyone who helped make it such a fun day!

1/2 Marathon Training Week 6

6 weeks down, 6 to go. I can't believe I'm halfway done with my training program. Each week I get a little more nervous thinking about the actual race. I've never run a race before (unless you count 6th grade field day!) and I don't really know what to expect. I know it's going to be a completely different experience than my everyday running though. I will be in a new environment although I hope to scope out the course before the race and I will be surrounded by thousands of people. I read this morning that they are expecting around 8500 participants this year! This is probably what makes me the most nervous. I'm used to running by myself or with Jason and I think I will get very claustrophobic and anxious when I'm in that big of a crowd. I know the crowd will thin out eventually but I'm nervous about the start. Part of the training program is to do a 5k and 10k race. I was supposed to do a 5k race this past weekend, but didn't fit it in due to too much celebrating of my birthday ;) So, hopefully we can find a 10k race to do in a couple of weeks so I can at least have one race under my belt before the half marathon.

This week's training brings another increase in mileage and I will have a 7 mile run on Sunday! I'm anxious to see how I do - that will be more than half of the total distance of the race!

Happy Birthday

Happy 28th Birthday to my beautiful wife, Lauren. I hope you enjoyed your Luau.

Home Improvement

We've been in our house just over a year now and while we did some work on it when we first moved in, we haven't done much since. We got lucky that the house didn't need a lot of work when we bought it but we had our first major repair last month. We knew that the roof would need to be replaced within the next few years but due to some hungry squirrels that day came a little faster. We noticed some shingles on the front porch and later found out that apparently squirrels like to sharpen their teeth on a part of the roof and they were tearing up the shingles in the process. So we finally got someone out to assess the damage and he confirmed that we would need to replace the entire roof. Not fun, but now it's done and we won't have to worry about it again.

The rest of our improvements were by choice and more enjoyable.

We painted the bathroom on the main level. We chose a dark brown thinking it would make the white tile really pop. This is the one room that Jason allowed me to make a little girly by adding some pink accents ;) I really like the way it came out.
Before:

After:


Next we tackled the guest room. I love the way it came together! We chose 'Almost Charcoal' for the walls and accented with teal and yellow/green.
Before:


After:

Jason refinished an old dresser, book shelf and end table that we had. He did an awesome job!


Love this rug I found at Target!

Jason and his dad also spent a couple of days power washing and staining the deck. It looks great!

Jason and I love our house and have enjoyed making it our own over the past year. I have lots of other big projects in mind to tackle next!

1/2 Marathon Training: Week 5

Another week of running down. I got a little off schedule but managed to complete all of my runs for the week. Jason was out of town over the weekend and I had a very lazy, unmotivated couple of days so I did my long run, 6 miles, Monday night. It worked out well because it finally cooled off! It was really nice running outside after being on the treadmill for the majority of the past couple of weeks due to the heat. I get a little nervous each time I have to add mileage but I surprised myself again and ran the entire 6 miles without stopping - almost half of the total mileage of the upcoming race - in a time of 1:04:53! When I started training I didn't think there was any way that I would be able to run the entire half marathon, but now I'm beginning to believe that I just might be able to do it. Running is definitely mind over matter for me and I came to the realization that my legs will keep moving as long as I tell them to. I have learned to focus on my breathing and pace to tell me how I'm doing and kind of go into auto pilot after the first couple of miles. I don't even think about what my legs are doing - I just tell myself to keep going until I reach my goal mileage. I'm hoping this mindset will carry me through 13.1 miles!

I'm still having the weird tingly sensation in my left foot around 2.5-3 miles. I've learned to deal with it by running up on my toes every so often and although it's incredibly annoying (and other runners probably think I'm a weirdo!) it seems to eventually start feeling better around the 4 mile mark. I've also been taking Glucosamine for a couple of weeks now and have noticed that my knees and heels aren't quite as stiff. A good dose of Advil after a long run helps keep me loose too.

All in all I'm very happy with how my training is going. I really am proud of myself for coming this far. I would not have guessed that I would get so into it or enjoy it as much as I am. It's been a long time since I've trained for any kind of physical competition and I forgot how much an end goal can motivate me.

1/2 Marathon Training: Week 4

One month into my training and I am really starting to feel like a legitimate runner. Here are a few reasons why:

• Friday evening I ran 3.5 miles like it was no big deal.
• I ran on a Friday evening.
• Sunday morning I ran 5 miles and dropped almost 3 minutes off my time from the previous week.
• I got up early on a Sunday morning to go running.
• I am craving meat. Maybe this is not a sign of becomming a runner as much as just increasing my activity in general, but I have never craved meat so much in my life! Example: Last week Jason and I went to grab a quick dinner at Bread Co. before going to the Cardinals game. I foolishly ordered a veggie sandwich while Jason ordered a roast beef sandwich. I was eyeing Jason's sandwich so bad that we eventually switched. I needed that roast beef!
• I feel guilty if I miss a run.
• I'm starting to really enjoy my runs and look forward to them. I'm really starting to feel that "runner's high" I hear about. I enjoy running outside much more than I thought I would and hope that it's something I continue after the 1/2 marathon.

8 weeks to go til race day!