Life Happenings Lately

Hello Hello! It's been a while since I posted. Life has been a little bit crazy lately.

I thought I would catch you up on recent travels and a few of my meals (because homegirl has been eating gooood!). Two weekends ago I traveled to St. Louis with my boss to check out two inpatient eating disorder facilities, McCallum Place and Castlewood, and to attend an eating disorder conference that Castlewood was sponsoring.

It's nice for me to be able to visit various facilities so that I can better understand their structure and approach for whenever I may have a client that needs a higher level of care. Thursday my boss and I arrived in St. Louis and visited McCallum Place and then had the rest of the afternoon to explore. St. Louis has this massive park that has their zoo, a science museum, boathouse, playground, museum, tennis courts, along with a bunch of other things. If I had kids, I would totally take them there for the day.

That night we got dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was dark outside, so I didn't get to take a picture of my meal, but I had a delicious kale salad with goat cheese, fresh fruit, walnuts, and grilled chicken. I wanted a shrimp dish, but recently discovered that I think I'm allergic (I've been offered shrimp dishes multiple times these past two weeks and it's KILLING me!!!). 

The next day we went to Castlewood for various sessions on eating disorders and treatment as well as got to tour their facility. Let me tell you, the food was incredible!! I took a few pictures of the meals, but the lighting and such did NOT do the food justice.  Those roasted sweet potatoes though....

We headed back to Tulsa on Sunday and I prepared for another short week of work. Thursday morning I flew out to Arizona to visit another inpatient facility, Rosewood. The resort we were staying at was about an hour and a half from the airport. I could NEVER live in Arizona. It's way to hot and dry. And not enough green. However, I could live at this resort ;-). They had incredible golfing greens, horse rides, nature trails, tennis courts, and a pool. Not to mention the cutest little cottage rooms!

The afternoon that I got there, I had some extra time before anything was scheduled. So I checked into my room, hit the pool for a little bit, and then freshened up for the evening. That cactus below was just one of MANY massive cacti in their landscaping.

The next morning I woke up super early (my body was two hours ahead) so I went for a run. It was INCREDIBLE!! Somehow, it was cool, the sun was rising, there were mountains in the horizon, there were bunnies and deer, and the golfing greens were so lush and green. It was such a great run! And then it wasn't. A little advice to new runners: don't go for a run in a new place without mapping it out first. I got a little lost and ended up running WAY longer that I wanted!!

I got back late, showered, and then headed to breakfast. The hotel's breakfast and lunch buffet were spot on. Have you ever been offered dragon fruit or baked oatmeal at a hotel?? I got some freshly made scrambled eggs at the omelet station too :-)

After breakfast, we toured both their inpatient/residential facility and their partial treatment facility. I was really impressed with both their facilities and how their staff approaches treatment. Once we got back, we had lunch at the hotel and I made a delicious salad with a bunch of veggies served with a sandwich on the softest roll ever and a little fruit. They had a really great selection at the dessert bar, but I was too full to eat any.

That afternoon they had staff come in and explain more about their facilities and approach to medicine, therapy, and nutrition. Afterwards, we packed up and headed back to Pheonix for the evening.

On our drive back, I remembered that a friend from college lives nearby, so I called her up and we ended up getting together for the evening. She was having dinner at her parents house, so I just joined in. Her mom made a halloween themed dinner, complete with jack-o-latern stuffed bell peppers, frankenstein cheese dip, and apple, peanut butter, and marshmallow mouths. Beyond cute. 

It was so great getting to catch up with my sweet friend. She took me back to the airport and I headed to bed for an early flight. Saturday morning I woke up super early and headed to the airport for my flight. I got uber hungry once I was there and thankfully found the BEST airport coffee shop ever. Seriously. They make legit coffee there. You really should try it :-)

I got back that afternoon and was finally reunited with my husband after being apart for 10 days! It was a great trip! Anything exciting coming up for you all?

*GIVEAWAY*!!! How to make an iced latte with an aeropress

Although Aeropress is sponsoring this giveaway, I was not compensated for my time and all opinions are completely my own. 

If you've followed me for a hot second on instagram, you know that I love iced lattes. I can't think of a meal that an iced latte wouldn't make complete. Iced lattes all day, every day :-) However, at $5 a drink, it's not a habit I can afford to keep regular. I mean, Isaac only lets me allocate $40 a month for blow money #budgetprobs. So awhile back I started to experiment with making my own iced lattes. 

Then came a string of very disappointing iced drinks. I tried brewing strong coffee over ice, cooling brewed coffee and adding milk and ice, instant coffee with ice and milk, and even tried making espresso with a mokapot. All resulted in watered down coffee/milk (or a disgusting, bitter product with the mokapot) that I always poured down the drain. Wah wah.  Then an amazing thing happened. My husband bought me an aeropress (and burr grinder--fancy fancy) for our anniversary. Really, I think it was more of a gift for himself than for me (sorry, babe), but it turned out to be the best. gift. ever. After a few failed attempts, and reading multiple blogs and watching several youtube videos, I finally came up with a delicious drink that strongly resembles an iced latte made with espresso! 

Now, this can't be considered true espresso, because apparently there are strict guidelines for the temperature and pressure in order for it to be considered espresso, but this tastes pretty darn close. (in my opinion at least). The secret is to use freshly ground espresso beans, press the grounds tightly in the aeropress, and to add a filter on top of the beans (in addition to below the grounds). This increases the pressure needed to push the water through the aeropress, which I'm pretty sure allows it to extract more flavor. 

The aeropress can be used to make more than just espresso. I think it was originally intended to make regular coffee. It just happens to be the perfect tool for making espresso :-). The great thing about it is that it takes up barely any space, it's portable, it's super affordable, it makes great coffee/espresso, and all you need is boiling water and coffee grinds. Two thumbs up. 

So I wanted to share with you all, the how-to on making this perfect iced latte. Aaaand, the makers of the aeropress were generous enough to offer a free giveaway for one lucky reader!!! See below for how to enter!

The first step is to make ice cubes made from brewed coffee. This isn't absolutely necessary, but I think it's much better because I don't like watered down iced lattes. I bought the ice cube tray in my picture on clearance at target. Isn't it so cute??

Once you have coffee ice cubes prepared, you're ready to get started. Pour 2/3 cup of milk into your cup and add 2 tsp of flavored coffee syrup. I'm personally a fan of vanilla, but you choose whatever flavor is your favorite. Oh, and go with cow's milk if you can handle dairy. It is waaaay better. Why drink something you don't even really like?! (I'm looking at you almond milk)...Then add a few coffee ice cubes and a few regular ice cubes. Place your cup in the freezer (that way your milk gets niiiice and cold). 

Next, set-up your aeropress. Place a paper filter in the black filter basket and wet with water. Screw it onto the bottom of your aeropress. 

Grind your espresso beans finely with your coffee grinder. You'll need the equivalent of 4 cups, which is 1/4 cup finely ground espresso beans, or 16-17g. Place your grounds into the areopress.

The next step is to place another filter on top of the grounds and to press it down firmly. Be sure to shake the aeropress a little before you tamper it down so that the grounds are even. I use a spice bottle to press the filter and grounds down because it happens to be the perfect size in diameter and length. Now you're ready to make your espresso! (see picture above)

Boil 1/3 cup water and add to your aeropress. Place the plunger in and slowly press down until you reach the bottom. You will hear some hissing. I've read instructions that say to stop when you hear this, but I've had better luck pushing until I hit the bottom. I've been able to almost get a crema doing that. 

Congratulations! You have just made a shot of espresso!!! Add to your cold milk, stir, and enjoy!!! Just an FYI, if you want a hot latte, just heat and froth your milk before adding the espresso instead of chilling it. It's delicious that way too. :-)

Gosh, I just think the coffee is just so beautiful! Don't you agree??...I know, I'm ridiculous. As far as the giveaway is concerned, the drawing begins today and ends Sept 26 and you can enter two different ways. The first way is to comment below with your favorite coffee drink (make sure to put your first name and last name initial). The second is to find my instagram giveaway post and comment by tagging a friend! I will be drawing and contacting one lucky winner Sept 27, so keep an eye out.

Can't wait to hear what you think about the final product. I hope you love it as much as I do!  I'm sure your budget will  :-)

If you're interested in buying an aeropress yourself, click here. Their product page is here, and their facebook page is here.

 

A day (or three) in the life...

So, I had quite the weekend last weekend! An eating disorder treatment facility offered to fly me out to see their outpatient facility in Santa Monica, California. When they asked if I would want to come visit it was a no brainer. Um, yasss!!! So Thursday morning I headed to the airport to start my adventure. During my first flight I started to get hungry so I ate 1/2 a quest bar I had bought for the trip. Are you guys a fan of quest bars? I must say, I am NOT. There is just a leettle too much fiber. I felt like I was chewing a sugar daddy. Which normally I would be all about, but not for my granola bar....

Once I landed I had to rush to a different terminal and grab lunch before loading on the plane. There was an eistein bagel close to my gate and no line, so a bagel sandwich it was. And you guys! I loved it! They have an option where you can get any flavor bagel as a "bagel thin," so they just cut out the center part. It was the perfect bagel to filling ratio...this one had egg white, mushrooms, asparagus, melted cheese, and some sort of delicious spread. 

Later on I got hungry and had a Mojo bar and brookie, but I didn't take a picture of it...my bad. I landed and Rosewood (the facility that flew me out) was wonderful enough to set up a shuttle for me. After a little bit of confusion, my driver and I found each other and I headed out to the hotel.

Have you guys ever stayed at a double tree hotel? Did you know they give you FREE cookies when you check in? Guys, I don't generally like cookies, But these. Wow. Thick, chewy, chocolatey, nutty. Perfect. I got to explore the hotel a bit, change, go for a short walk around the hotel, and then I met up with all the other professionals and Rosewood staff for some meet and greet at the hotel restaurant. 

I'm not used to fancy schmancy dinner or hotels, so I felt like total royalty as we were served delicious appetizers and drinks. After a while of connecting, we went into a private room to learn more about Rosewood and to eat dinner. I ordered a salad with quinoa, roasted veggies, avocado, and goat cheese. I added the salmon for some added protein. 

They were also thoughtful enough to get us all Sprinkles cupcakes. I had never had Sprinkles, and I'm generally not a cupcake person, but I gave mine a try the next night and it was totally on point. It was pumpkin and had cream cheese frosting. Enough said.

After dinner, I headed to my room to get ready for bed and watch tv. It was 2 hours behind my regular time, so it was a struggle to stay awake until a decent time. The next morning I got up and went for a short little walk because the weather was GLORIOUS!! I saw these succulents at a store I walked by. Aren't they perfect???

Breakfast was a continental breakfast at the hotel. The biscuit was better than it looked. The eggs were worse. I ended up mainly just eating the fruit and yogurt. 

We then visited Rosewood's main office to see their facilities and then got to see one of the houses they own for clients to live in if they are from out of town or need a little more accountability. This was the street that the house was located. Those trees....

When we got back to Rosewood, they catered in lunch. And it was my favorite--Mediterranean!! That falafel was absolutely perfect. The grilled veggies weren't my favorite so I actually ended up leaving those. It was kind of weird not eating the veggies, but why eat something you don't like??

At some point in the afternoon, all of the other professionals wanted to get coffee, so we went to this coffee shop nearby. Oh my word. I want a place like this SO bad where I live. Not only did they have a great coffee selection, their food looked SO fresh and delicious. Come on, Tulsa, get with the times...

After a few afternoon sessions, the tour ended and we headed back to the hotel. I had from around 4:30 until bedtime to do whatever I wanted. Our hotel was about 1.7 miles from the beach, so I put on some workout clothes and ran over to the beach. SUCH a good idea. The walk back didn't seem quite as good ;-) 

Once I got to the beach, I walked out to the pier, walked along the beach, ran a little further up to where there were vendors and street performers, and then headed back to my hotel. I stopped to pick up dinner at the Cow's end because I saw they served breakfast tacos all day. If you follow me on IG, you know how I feel about breakfast tacos...I got the tacos to go and then walked back to my hotel to eat it on the back porch. It was glorious. 

The rest of the night I tried the cupcake, read in bed, watched a little tv, and packed up because the shuttle was picking me up at 5:30. In the morning. Yeah, I know...Breakfast was a leftover taco, an iced latte (with WHOLE milk from duncan donuts, and some grapes. Funny story, as I was in line for the coffee the man behind me had a bag of grapes from the grocery store. He asked me if I wanted some and when I said no, he insisted that he couldn't eat them all and that he had just bought them and washed them. He was the sweetest man! So I had grapes with my breakfast...and I know that story sounds a little sketch, but it totally wasn't. 

On my over 3 hour flight I got hungry, so I had a banana I had snagged from the hotel. Once we landed, I got a falafel wrap with a side salad. The wrap was good because it had a liberal amount of feta and tzaziki sauce :-). To finish it off, I had another brookie I had brought.

I got to talk to a friend that moved out of state and then boarded the plane to fly home. I met a super sweet older lady who used to be an English teacher so we talked about reading for quite a while. We landed and my friend picked me up to go home. It was rough coming back to real life, but I'm super grateful for the experience to go to California and to connect with other eating disorder professionals and to see how a facility is helping people find healing from their eating disorder. I had a ton of fun along the way and got to meet some really interesting people along the way!