Fitnessista’s Welcome Dinner at Season’s 52

What are a group of bloggers to do when they hear that a wonderful blogger is moving to the area?

Host a “Welcome to Orlando” dinner, naturally!

When I got word of Gina, aka The Fitnessista’s, plans to move to Orlando from Valdosta, I was immediately excited and knew it would be a great chance for area bloggers to get together and warmly welcome her to our wonderful city.

Luckily, a bunch of fantastic bloggers were more than happy to welcome Gina and we all decided to meet at Season’s 52 to enjoy dinner and drinks last night.

The gang included (from left to right above):

• Raya of Raya Runs
• Gina of The Fitnessista
• Jeanette of J’s Everyday Fashion
• Katy of Katy Widrick
• Katy of The Balanced Foodie
• Me!

Gina had the hook up at the restaurant and was able to snag us the chef’s table.

While we were waiting for our table, we enjoyed complimentary glasses of sparkling wine.

I’m always down for a little bit o’ bubbly! 😉

After we were seated, the chef greeted us and described the amuse-bouche he created for our table.

It was salmon served on a delicious pineapple mango salsa. Loved it! I would definitely order a much larger portion of this little sample as a meal if it was offered on the menu.

Following the amuse-bouche, our server brought out a bunch of appetizers for us to sample.

Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Flatbread

Edamame with Green Tea Salt

Housemade Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli

Grilled Artichoke Flatbread

Every single appetizer was fantastic, though my favorites were the goat cheese ravioli and the chipotle shrimp flatbread.

I had two pieces of the shrimp flatbread, one piece of the artichoke flatbread, a large spoonful of the goat cheese ravioli and lots and lots of edamame.

Delish!

Since our dinner wasn’t until 9 p.m. I ate a little something with Ryan before arriving, so I wasn’t too hungry after my pre-dinner snack and the appetizers. When it was time to order our entrees, I opted for the chipotle grilled prawns with tomatillo salsa verde and fresh guacamole appetizer as my main meal.

It was so, so good!

The shrimp were perfectly seasoned and the guacamole was a tasty relief from the heat of the dish.

Then it was time for the best part of any meal…

 

Dessert!

Season’s 52 offers a variety of mini dessert shots, and we decided it was best to taste them all and shared the whole spread… with one exception…

 

The fresh fruit!

And we call ourselves healthy living bloggers… 😉

Fresh fruit is fantastic, but when choosing between a dessert shot of fresh fruit or carrot cake, rocky road mousse or pecan pie, there’s no competition!

Possibly my favorite part about Season’s 52 is that the restaurant concentrates on creating fresh, healthy meals. Everything on their menu has 475 calories or less which is a neat concept when you think about all the restaurants that have 1,000 + calorie dishes hidden on their menu. It takes the guessing game out of the equation.

We all agreed that our meal was delicious!

I really enjoyed chatting with these wonderful bloggers. I had a great time talking about blogging, food, fashion, Orlando and more. These are some fun girls! 😀 I can’t wait to get together again soon.

Today

It’s about time for a good workout at the gym.

Ryan and I also have plans for a date later today, which I’m awfully excited about.

See ya later, friends!

There’s Only So Much Crafting I Can Handle

Though I typically enjoy being crafty, there is only so much crafting one person can handle.

That, my friends, is not even one quarter of our wedding invitations.

Ryan and I have been formatting, gluing, stickering and stamping for hours. We have a little more than half of our invitations stuffed and are calling it a night.

I am so grateful for Ryan’s help. He was the computer whiz and figured out the templates for our invites, and also helped me stuff all the envelopes with the actual invitation, reply card and wedding website card.

While working away on the invitations, we both enjoyed two big bowls of soup for dinner which went unphotographed in the invitation madness.

I also took a quick baking break and made us a coconut-scented vanilla loaf bread that included a cup of light coconut milk in the batter.

I’d share the recipe, but I basically winged it and it wasn’t overly amazing. Still, we both enjoyed a couple of slices smeared with a bit o’ buttah.

After plugging away at our initiations for another hour or so (and going through 2 bottles of super glue!), I declared it was time for dessert and ran to our local grocery store to nab some goodies.

Ryan is a huge fan of Oreos, so I decided to make a semi-homemade bowl of cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream.

I blended light vanilla bean ice cream with mini Oreo cookies in a food processor until I had a thick, somewhat soupy mixture, chock-full of Oreo chunks.

The above bowl is Ryan’s serving. I actually ate a lot of cookies and ice cream in the process of making the mixture that my portion was much smaller since I was already feeling a bit ill from eating so much of  the vanilla loaf before downing more sugar in this bowl. Ooof!

I’m off to clean up some of the crafting madness now because our apartment looks like wedding invitations just threw up all over the place. 

G’night, friends. 😀

Laughter is the Best Medicine

You know what they say? Laughter is the best medicine.

Nothing feels better than laughing until your abs are sore!

During last night’s performance by Sinbad, my family and I did just that.

Sinbad

Before heading to Hard Rock Live to see Sinbad’s stand up comedy routine, Ryan and I met up with my family at Emeril’s Orlando located in Universal’s City Walk.

Ryan 'n' Me

Since Emeril’s is a pretty pricey restaurant, my family and I ate dinner before meeting there and just ordered dessert (which is the best part of the meal anyway, right?).

The entire evening was organized by my mom, sister and I as a birthday present for my dad, so of course we had to have the restaurant staff sing happy birthday to the big guy! 😉

Birthday Boy

He was more than a little surprised. 😀

Ryan and my dad both ordered appetizers, and my mom, sister and I had a few bites and also enjoyed some  freshly baked corn and French bread before ordering our desserts.

For dessert we selected the strawberry shortcake and two slices of the banana cream pie, since Ryan and I loved it so much the last time we visited Emeril’s back in May.

Emeril's Strawberry Shortcake

Banana Cream Pit x 2

Check out those chocolate shavings!

I think it’s safe to say that between the five of us, we demolished these desserts!

Though I loved the banana cream pie in the past, strawberry shortcake took the cake (pun! 😉 ) for me. I’m a sucker for cold, creamy strawberry gelato, fluffy puff pastry and a plethora of whipped cream. Sign me up!

Once dessert was devoured, we walked to Hard Rock Live to head inside and laugh our little booties off all evening.

Me & Dad Outside Hardrock Live

The Ladies

We were really lucky to have amazing seats in the second row, so we actually made eye contact with Sinbad and were able to see his expressions and mannerisms.

He had the whole crowd cracking up as he talked about the insanity of amusement parks, the differences between men and women and his upbringing.

Stand up comedy is a wonderful way to sit back, relax and laugh until you cry! What an awesome night!

Today

My sister spent the night with us last night, so once she wakes up this morning we have plans to head to church after breakfast.

Also on the agenda:

• Church
• Dog park
• Outlet mall (?)
• Selecting the tuxes or suits Ryan and his groomsman will wear for our wedding
• Registering at Bed Bath and Beyond (?)

Time to get crackin’ in the kitchen! Lata! 😀

Arrived

A little after 8 p.m. this evening, Ryan and I arrived in beautiful Key Largo to spend the holiday weekend with my family.

Eats on the journey to the Keys included a cheese quesadilla with tabouleh from home, a Publix turkey sub with all the veggies and an apple.

Turkey Sub

Apple

I also split another half of a sub with Ryan a little later on.

After we arrived and explored the property where we’re staying, we headed up to our room to celebrate my sister’s birthday.

Birthday Cake

Birthday Girl

We enjoyed homemade red velvet cake with cream cheese icing while my sister opened all of her presents.

Slice o' Cake

I probably had four times the amount of cake pictured above. The cake was sitting right in front of me during the present opening, and I’m not one to resist fluffy cake and creamy icing located within arms reach.

Now it’s time for bed! We’re waking up at dawn tomorrow morning to get a jump start on a day full of scuba diving. Woohoo for vacation! 😀

2x

Fish two times in one day? Holy omega-3s!

I think the American Heart Association would be proud of me. They recommend eating fish at least two times a week to get the adequate amount of the essential fatty acid in your diet.

It’s only Monday and I’ve already done it. Say goodbye to heart disease! 😉

Tonight’s fish dish was salmon, which I dusted with lemon, basil and thyme seasonings before broiling it for approximately 10 minutes until the fish flaked with a fork.

Seasoned Salmon

I absolutely love the crisp crust that occurs on the top of fish when it’s broiled. To me, the most flavorful bites are the ones that include a bit of the charred top of the fish.

On the side, I enjoyed roasted yellow squash and zucchini which I tossed in olive oil and garlic salt before roasting at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (flipping halfway through).

Roasted Zuc + Squash

This was quite the colorful meal, huh?

Dessert

Dessert was portion-controlled ice cream.

The old favorite…

Oreo Klondike

“What would you doooo-oo-oo for a Klondike bar?”

How good are Klondike bars? They were buy-one-get-one-free at Publix yesterday and Ryan couldn’t resist, which means I cannot resist them sitting in the freezer.

Tonight

It’s about that time… The Bachelorette is on in five minutes!

I’m soooo ready for Ali to eliminate Justin. He’s beginning to bother me almost as much as Kasey did. Okay, that’s a blantant lie, but still. I’m off to guard and protect my heart and get sucked into girly television! 😀

See ya in the mornin’ pretty ladies (and maybe a couple o’ guys).