Dinner at MamaJuana Cafe (and other weekend happenings)

I had a nice and relaxing weekend--- a combination of family and friends quality time. Cant go wrong with that. Despite a overly-exaggerated snow warning for Saturday morning, I was pleasantly surprise when my Wall Street Journal paper still showed up at my front door. I received a gift card for Christmas from one of my aunts and I used part of it to get me a subscription to the WSJ (*nerd alert*).

I gotta' tell you, this newspaper makes my mornings just  a little brighter everyday. I am a fanatic of business and investing news (as you may or may not already be aware of from reading the blog) so, this paper definitely falls in to the list of "things that make me happy".

I spent half of Saturday doing massive amounts of laundry. I say massive because I pretty much washed everything I could find in my apartment, including clothes (obviously), heavy blankets and kitchen towels-- everything! I actually woke up pretty early so decided to take advantage of the semi-empty laundry room in my building. I also cleaned my entire apartment in the process. There is something very refreshing about a clean apartment and clean clothes.

As of a week ago, I declared Saturdays my "work-out video" day where instead of going to the gym, I work out to one of my DVDs. I bought this Jillian DVD about a year ago but just gave it a try for the first time on Saturday:

I loved it. As always, she is hard core. She ain't playing any games. Is do or die with this woman, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Both of my leg calfs are in pain today. I think is fair to assume she's responsible.

One of my very good friends was in town for the weekend. She recently moved to Staten Island but comes to the city to visit family from time to time. We decided on an impromptu dinner at MamaJuana cafe. Ive been to a couple of MamaJuana's in the past-- in Washington heights and the Upper West Side. This particular new location is in Bronx, NY (a brand new location). And here is my honest, no chaser opinion on this place. This review is specific for the Bronx location. 

Drinks were pretty affordable for a Saturday night dinner, my friend had a white-wine sangria which she loved for $7. I had a glass of Pinot Grigio (decent taste) for $8. 

We skipped appetizers and went straight for the main course.

I had the "Salmon con Salsa Latina" (salmon with Latin Salsa) over grilled veggies. The salmon was one of the best I've had in a long time. Price tag for this meal was $22.

My friend has the "Red Snapper with Mofongo" a delicious-looking fish stuffed with mofongo which is a Latin dish made up of mashed plantains. She raved about her meal as well. Price tag for this "masterpiece", however, was kind of steep at $28.

I have been on this "health kick" lately so I skipped dessert. I did watch my friend enjoy this Tres-leches, for which two thumbs up were given. Price: $7.

I have to be honest that we were a little disappointed with the menu options. The locations i've visited in the past have a lot to choose from, including a section for "lighter meals" and things of the sort. This particular location only provided us with one single page listing what was available. I dont know if its because the location is new and they are still getting things together but I would have liked to have seen more choices. I felt like they just narrowed down the main dish section to the most expensive dishes they could find. The branch is not yet online so I had to rely on the menu from other locations only to find out that I wouldn't find any of those dishes in the menu handed to me that night.

Our bill was over $72 not including tax and tip which I feel is a little high for two people. I ended up paying $38 and my friend $45. This place is amazing for someone not in a budget or for a hot date. I do have to admit that the food was delicious. All in all a great dinner and great conversation with a great friend. 

The rest of my weekend was spent running a few errands and visiting my parents where I ran in to this gem, perfect for a "throw back Thursday" on instagram:

I remember I used to love this movie! Sadly I have no VHS where to play it. I know I may be aging myself with this but I am an 80s baby, what can I say ;)

That's all folks. Stay warm and thank you for reading <3

TELL ME: Do you have a favorite Latin dish? Have you ever seen Pollyanna?

My Happy Places (Part 1)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a great Monday!

This weekend I spent a lot of time with my parents. I decided to pay them a visit on Saturday and pretty much stayed over at their place until this morning (my parents live about 15-20 minutes away-- driving distance-- from my apartment so it is kinda' nice to have them close). I have to admit that it just felt good to be in their presence and to feel the love that only parents can provide. I kinda' missed that. It's been a while since I spent an entire weekend with them. 

For some time now I have been trying to put together a list of my personal "happy places" and my parent's home is without a doubt on the list. This post will be part one of a series of post where I talk about places that bring me happiness-- and why. Sometimes the reason is irrelevant. As long as something lifts your spirits and makes you feel better, that's all that matters. Happiness needs no explanation. I encourage you to search for your own personal happy places. Being reminded of what brings you joy can be beneficial for the heart and soul in good times as well as not so good times. 

Anyways, while at my parent's place I got my hair done (Saturday), wen to mass and then got my nails done (Sunday). I also ate some good homemade food and indulged in a bit of apple pie and vanilla ice cream yesterday. My mom loves to bake random stuff so whenever I am over there I am almost guaranteed to be surrounded by some kind of dessert.

Mass was great and brought peace to my heart. It emphasized the subject of surrendering our troubles to the lord once we have done what we can. Sometimes we forget to let go and let God do what needs to be done. Felt good to be reminded of that.

Additional pics from the weekend:

Made Banana Bread on Friday night (had several bananas that were past the ripe stage and I mean super-duper passed. Perfect for some delicious baking):

A failed attempt at Kale Chips. I have a feeling I didn’t leave them in the oven long enough. Recipe called for 15-20 minutes but next time I may go for the 30. Needless to say I threw out almost the entire thing:

A visit to the library where I found this awesome book:

Didnt go to class today. Needed a mental health day!!! So i am here relaxing for a bit!

Cheers to a smooth week!

Weekend Happenings: Labor Day Edition

So I had this long list of plans to “tackle” during my long weekend and at the end of the day I simply went with the flow and while some things did get done others were postponed to be completed sometime this week (or next) and I’m perfectly okay with that. YOLO.

I spent a lot of time at my mom’s house just hanging out with my parents and my sister. Although I do love the time I spent by myself and with friends; quality time with the family was in order and that’s what happened. I don’t know if its because they miss me terribly when I’m not around (lets hope that’s the case) but my mom seriously spoils me when I spent time with them. Funny thing is, I live about 20 minutes away! But I am usually so busy with work, school, life in general that I rarely see them during the week and some weekends. So, basically, I was spoiled with great food, as it is the norm in Spanish families (well, probably every family). Good thing is that my mom is well aware of my eating preferences so she rarely preps anything overly unhealthy or “greasy” for lack of a better word. They are also trying to ear healthier, wholefoods so I enjoy her new found enthusiasm for health very much.

Not to say that when she preps traditional dishes I don’t indulge. Because I do.  And I enjoy every bite. Still working on this “guilt free” eating strategy so, im trying that with my mom’s “traditional” foods as well.

On Saturday I went shopping with mom which is something I hadn’t done in a while.  We tacked our favorite stores: Home Goods, TJMaxx and Marshalls. As usual, we found some amazing deals. I bought a work-out shirt, a mug for my mug collection (yeah I have one of those), a beautiful rug set for my bathroom and my absolute favorite piece, this gorgeous “Paris-themed” painting:

 

We found that at Home Goods.  My mom actually found it and she knows I am completely obsessed with everything from Paris. And I mean everything. I cant tell you how many frames, candles, throw pillows, mugs, etc.  I have in my apartment with the “Paris” name on it or pics of the Eiffel tower, etc. I actually went to Paris in 2011 during a week long Euro-trip and turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life to date. I actually never got around to posting the "Paris" post not sure why. Maybe I'll put some pics together for a belated post (like 2 years belated).

By the way, while browsing the clearance section at TJ Maxx I found this disgusting item:

So, basically a chicken patty from NutriSystem just sitting in clearance. Is it just me or does this sound disgusting?! Made me wonder--- is this real chicken or some chemical-based concoction. According to the ingredient list, it is chicken:

 

Disgusting anyways.

Moving on; Monday morning I drove back to my apartment to complete a training run (there are no running areas/tracks around my parent’s neighborhood). I think I ran about 3 miles (or 2.5) but not entirely sure as I realized my Nike+ app had disappeared from my phone. I actually finally  updated my IPhone to the latest operating system this past weekend (another labor day weekend “task” completed). So basically, random apps disappeared while some stayed. Not sure how apple picks and chooses what stays. In addition to no Nike App my Pandora (and general music apps) were not working. Either way, I managed to run with zero entertainment. Just listening to my heart beat and of course my rambling mind which I was trying to ignore/silence during the entire run.

Clue numero 1 that you have learned to enjoy running: You can run more than a mile with zero entertainment.

After my run, I had some breakfast and then tackled my DVR  for some Suze Orman shows I had missed during he past few weeks (yes I am a huge fan of her show!):

*Clarification: @teachmetoinvest is my twitter account which is geared to investment/personal finance tips and tricks. I also blog over at teachmetoinvest.blogspot.com on that same topic. The Dance, Love, Dine twitter name is @dolcemabelle.

I then took a trip to the hair salon to get my hair ‘did as I am in the process of renewing my passport and I am looking forward to taking some decent-looking passport photos. Scratch that: I wanna’ look good. Lets just say that my current pic was taken when I was about 13 or 14 years old and its pretty horrible. There’s no sugar coating it. So, my goal for this week is to take some nice pics and get my passport renewed. Cant wait for future travels! I think another Euro-trip is in order.

 When I got home that evening I had the urge for some banana muffins and that’s what went down in my kitchen.

 

I got inspired by a post on a blog I recently found and which I added to my blog-roll list: The Real Life RD. This blog really hit home on a personal level but I’ll explain more why on a future post. In the meantime, click here for the blog/recipe.

Confession: Although I wasn’t planning on it I ate about half a dozen (or maybe more) of those mini-muffins. I know that besides the fact they came out damn good, my triggers were also boredom, loneliness, something in my personal life that was bothering me and dreading going back to work the next day. Not to mention the fact that I was flipping channels of mindless Monday-night television. As I previously mentioned, I am not allowing guilt to affect me and I am just moving on and accepting those muffins came out good and I did enjoy my indulgence. However, I figured I shared this with you guys and not pretend like I simply ate one muffin and put away the rest because that’s not what happened.  Guilt-free eating is a work in progress. So, I figured I share every step of the way with you guys!

Ok well, that’s all folks! All in all I enjoyed my weekend. Looking forward to tackling some more stuff this week. Thank god is a short work- week!

Tell me, how did you spend your time this past weekend? Do you have a favorite blog or new-found blog that you feel is great?! Share below.