Tuesday, July 5, 2011

July 4th weekend recap and Uncle Sam Cereal Giveaway Winner!

Hey all. Hope you all had a great July 4th weekend! Alright, first thing's first. I am going to announce the winner of the Uncle Sam Honey Almond cereal giveaweay courtesy Attune Foods.

I compiled the following list:



Then used random.org to generate:



Congratulations to Sofia! Please email me your mailing address at momatthebarre@gmail.com and we will get that box of cereal over to you as soon as possible!

So the weekend was pretty relaxed but highlights included:

1. Dinner at Rouge Tomate with a friend.
 
The space is gorgeous. Clean and minimalist.



The food? Phenomenal! The seasonally inspired menu is Modern American with a strong emphasis on fresh and locally sourced ingredients.

To start, we shared the Chickpea hummus with sweet pepper, house-cured olives and flat bread crisp.



Then, for my main course, I had the Grass Fed Lamb Loin, with fennel, turnip, Beldi olives, bing cherries and Greek yogurt. It was lip-smackingly good! Also, not a huge portion, which I am often afraid of whenever 'Lamb' and 'loin' are on the menu!

Yum!

For dessert, I decided on the Passion Fruit Tart with pineapple, mango, coconut and pink peppercorn. This I could probably have done without. The first few bites were heavenly but it became a little too sweet afterwards. Gorgeous presentation though, no?



A lovely evening with great food. Highly recommended if you are ever in New York!

2. Worked out on each of the three days of the Holiday weekend:
- Tried Core Fusion Sport for the first time on Saturday-which I shall review soon. I bought a $25 certificate on Gilt a few months ago for two weeks of unlimited classes at Exhale Spa. I thought it was an amazing deal! So I am looking forward to trying all this studio has to offer.
- Took a Physique 57 class on Sunday when it was pouring. I got to the studio drenched and grumpy but once we got started I fell into the groove and had a fun class! I tried a new instructor and thought she was great (thanks Brigitte!). I love Physique 57 so much.  It really is like my therapy.
-On Monday I tried Exhale's newest class, Core Fusion Bootcamp-which is also to be reviewed in the near future.

3. Spent some quality time with friends and family in the Park.
With the exception of Sunday, the weekend had some gorgeous weather and we were able to take advantage of it and spend some time in Central Park, where we caught the roller-bladers in action. Check out the guy roller-blading while balancing bottles on his head!



Ah, love New York city in the summer!

Question: How did you spend your July 4th weekend? 

11 comments:

sofia said...

ahh, restaurant week. i always feel like one of the three courses falls a bit short, but luckily the rest of this meal besides the dessert looks and sounds great. i love the cherries and yogurt sprinkled on for good measure - i'd never think to pair those ingredients with a hearty piece of meat. yum!

$25 for two weeks at exhale? how on earth did I miss that deal?? looking forward to hearing about CF bootcamp, and to hear your impressions on core fusion yoga, if you get to one of those classes too!

YAY for winning! thanks so much! i'm excited to try this cereal. will send you an email :)

Ameena said...

Rouge Tomate sounds exactly like the type of Seattle restaurants I've been enjoying for the last few days. I love the organic concept that seems to be taking off everywhere.

I can't wait to hit NYC in a couple of weeks to try this place and of course to meet you!

Sam @ Mom at the Barre said...

Sofia: Congrats! Isn't it a steal? It was on Gilt a few months ago and I figured this is the time for me to finally try out CF. I do hope to try CF Yoga-I've heard great things about it.

Ameena: It is fabulous! If you can you should try it out! So looking forward to seeing you!

Sid said...

Sounds like a lovely weekend. I went to the Music City Hot Chicken Festival. The lines were hundreds deep for the two top vendors (Prince's and Bolton's) so I decided to try Otter's. It was so spicy that it burned my tongue. Being a sucker for pain I dove into a habanero key lime pie next. Heavenly!

In the evening I headed to Riverfront Park where Darius Rucker performed the most awesome cover of Purple Rain. The firework display was next! The hours spent fighting the crowds in the blistering heat (and accompanying olfactory offenders) were well worth being right under the fireworks. It felt like a sci-fi movie in IMAX 3D.

Pink Lady said...

Congrats Sofia! Sam, that was very "professional" of you to include the details of the voting process.I do not think many people would have done that. It sounds like you had a great weekend. Spent some time in the CP as well. Too bad we didn't bump into each other. I went to Williamsburg on Saturday and checked out 3 new restaurants that I think you may be interested in Peels, Veselka, and Spot Dessert Bar.

cameo said...

Rouge Tomate is one of my favorites! I love the ambiance, the food, and the vino! I did yoga/ran on Saturday, then took Sunday and Monday off of exercise. Needless to say I was hurting a bit on my run home after 2 days off! Great to see you in Core Fusion Cardio!

Sam @ Mom at the Barre said...

Sid: What a fun weekend! Habanero key lime pie??? That sounds crazy and oddly delicious!

Pink Lady: Well the list was short enough so I thought I would just put it up. I try to be professional! :-)

Cameo: You were a warrior in class today! I was barely keeping up with my 3lbs weights! And yes, I shall be back to Rouge Tomate. It's really quite the experience.

Amy B @ Second City Randomness said...

That dude with the rollerblades is sort of awesome. I love the random "street performances" people come up with!

Sam @ Mom at the Barre said...

Amy: Tell me about it. It was kind of surreal. All of a sudden a boombox started belting 80s Soul and these guys started their 'performance.' Kind of fun!

jess @ Fit Chick in the City said...

I've been dying to get to Rouge Tomate. Good to hear it gets a good review. I spent my weekend getting over that relentless cold, sleeping in, going to the MET and just hanging out in a quiet NYC.

Sam @ Mom at the Barre said...

Jess: Yes, the key is a "quiet NYC"! Don't you just love NYC in the summer? I must get out to see the McQueen exhibit also.

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