Menu Recap

Last week's meals were as follows: 

Monday Dinner: Taco Soup {Recipe from Ezra Pound Cake}. Daniel gave it 4.75/5 stars.

 

Tuesday Dinner: We had dinner with friends – Jeremy and Laura. Laura made us cheese dip to go with chips, corn on the cob and an enchilada-type dish. Afterward we ate Rice Krispy Treats while we played Monopoly. 5/5 stars for a fun evening with friends.

Wednesday Dinner: Mushroom and Provolone Turkey Burger with Sauteed Asparagus. 
Daniel gave it 4/5 stars. 

Thursday Dinner: Date Night at Geno's Pizza. We split an order of Bread Sticks and a Supreme Pizza.

Friday Dinner: Spaghetti and Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs with a Side Salad {Recipe from Picky Palate}. Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars. 

Saturday: We spent the day canoeing and then had a second lunch at Cantina Laredo. It was excellent. I tried the Chimichanga. It had a red sauce – I prefer a white sauce, but the dish was amazing. It had a side of grilled sugar snap peas that were fantastic. Daniel tried the enchiladas and loved them. The side of rice was a bit bland, but overall this restaurant was a hit. Our friends recommend the desserts here so we will have to come back another time and split a main course so we can try out the desserts.

Afterwards we went to Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt. Daniel and I were both stuffed, but we decided to split a cup of yogurt. We tried a combination of the cheesecake, coffee, peanut butter and cookies & cream flavors and topped it off with Heath Bar. It was amazing.

Sunday Lunch: Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatball Sandwiches using leftovers from Friday night with a side of Chips. Daniel gave this 4.4/5 stars

Sunday Dinner: Pepperoni Pizza. You really can't go wrong with a pizza... 
Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars.

Paddling the Flint River

Saturday we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and headed to Huntsville to paddle 7.5 miles on the Flint River.

This was not a "get thrown out of your boat" or a "we got shot at" kind of paddling trip. Nonetheless we had a lot of fun hanging out with our friends, enjoying the sunshine and being outside.

We opted to use NACK as our outfitter. I have to give this company props for providing great equipment. They were a bit pricey at $35 per person, but we really liked their Mad River Canoes – light and comfortable and definitely the nicest canoe we have ever rented. 

The water on Flint River was up, so what would normally be a 4-hour trip was around 2 hours. Two hours with a good current is much preferable to four hours of slow moving water.

Since we were off the river faster than anticipated, we decided to have a second lunch at Cantina Laredo, followed by dessert at Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt and finally a Dollar Movie at Carmike 10. Not too bad for a Saturday with friends.

ENTP

Over the last decade I have taken the Meyer's Brigg Personality test on several different occasions. When I was first out of college, I always scored extremely close in the Extrovert/ Introvert category. I also tended to be close in the Intuitive/Sensor and Thinker/Feeler sections. However I have always consistently scored higher as a Perceiver than a Judger.

I recently took this test again and was intrigued to learn that I have developed a more consistent personality. There was no room for crossover this time. It is as if I finally know who I am. My score revealed that I was definitely an ENTP.

Here is a sampling that describes the ENTP:

ENTPs are idea people. Their perceptive abilities cause them to see possibilities everywhere. They get excited and enthusiastic about their ideas, and are able to spread their enthusiasm to others.

ENTPs are less interested in developing plans of actions or making decisions than they are in generating possibilities and ideas. Following through on the implementation of an idea is usually a chore to the ENTP. For some ENTPs, this results in the habit of never finishing what they start.

 
ENTPs are fluent conversationalists, mentally quick, and enjoy verbal sparring with others. They love to debate issues, and may even switch sides sometimes just for the love of the debate. When they express their underlying principles, however, they may feel awkward and speak abruptly and intensely.  

In general, ENTPs are upbeat visionaries. They highly value knowledge, and spend much of their lives seeking a higher understanding. They live in the world of possibilities, and become excited about concepts, challenges and difficulties. When presented with a problem, they're good at improvising and quickly come up with a creative solution. Creative, clever, curious, and theoretical...

When I was in my early 20s, these descriptions would not have necessarily fit me. I was incredibly shy about my ideas and opening up to others. I am still sometimes shy, but the traits described above fit me to a tee. I believe that as we mature it is easier to identify with who we truly are.

The Subaru Fix

I am blessed to have a spouse who is very proficient at mechanical work. Unfortunately this sometimes leaves me as a "garage widow." I am grateful that he saves us money by fixing everything machine-related, but often this type of work can be very time consuming!

Over the course of the last month Daniel spent many hours in the garage working on our Subaru. The main thing to fix was a blown head gasket {a common problem in Subaru's}. While he had the engine pulled he also replaced belts and various other components.

Thankfully this project is FINISHED and we have two working vehicles again! With the help of a friend, he was able to get the motorcycle working as well. I am just glad that I don't have to get up at dawn to take him into work any more :)

Pulling the engine out of the Forrester with the help of the engine hoist... Daniel did this late one night all by himself. *Not recommended.

Close up of the engine.

We photographed each stage of the process as a precaution. This way Daniel could reference photos when he was putting everything back together again. This is just a sampling from the hundreds of pictures that we took.

Sometimes I get coerced into participating. This is me helping while Daniel puts the belts on the pulleys.

Getting ready to put the engine back into the car.

No picture of this, but Daniel guided the engine into the right spot while I lowered it using the engine hoist. He was underneath the vehicle for part of the time {meaning he put a lot of trust in me}. I am pleased to say that the process went fairly smoothly and we have had no problems with the car since he fixed it {specifically no oil leaks and no new leaks}.

Burned Out on Running

It is 4 weeks and some change until the half marathon and sadly I am starting to feel burned out with the long distance training. I ran 9 miles on Saturday but I am dreading my next run {short or long}. I should have run yesterday, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I am so close that there is no reason to quit now, but at the same time I need to find some motivation to keep training. Any advice from you long distance runners???

On a separate note, I am really intrigued by Merrel's new Barefoot Trail Glove.

{via}

Menu Recap

Last week's meals were as follows:

Monday Dinner: Chicken and Rice with a Side Salad {Recipe from Elizabeth's Edibles}. Daniel gave it 3.4/5 stars because it was made with dark meat. He said it would have been 4.3/5 if it had been made with white meat. This was major comfort food for me, so I gave it 4.5/5.

Tuesday Dinner: Daniel was fixing our car until late, so we ordered Papa John's Pizza.

Wednesday Dinner: Daniel finally finished fixing the Subaru {another late night}. I opted for a bowl of cereal and Daniel had leftover pizza.

Thursday Dinner: We went BuenaVistas and split the Mex Tex Fajitas – our fave.

Friday Dinner: Chicken Florentine Pizza. Daniel said that I tricked him since I forgot to add the feta. Also I left it in the oven a little too long so the crust was SUPER crunchy. Daniel gave it 4.2/5 stars.

Saturday Lunch: Chipotle Bean Burritos {Recipe from Pink Parsley}. 

Daniel gave it 4.4/5 stars.

Saturday Dinner:  We tried the burger and fries at Salt International Bistro. The burgers were good, the restaurant was ok.

Sunday Dinner:  Turkey Taco Burger with Side of Sweet Potato Fries {Recipe adapted from Elly Says Oopa!}. Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars.

Salt International Bistro

Last night after my 9-mile run, I had a huge calorie deficit and was craving protein. I told Daniel I wanted a burger and wished that there was a decent local eatery that served burgers {a la Big Daddy's style}. I thought we were going to have to settle on Ruby Tuesday, but our friend suggested we try a new restaurant called Salt.

I tried looking it up on the internet before we drove to town, but being that we are in rural Alabama, there was nothing online* that mentioned anything about this new little bistro. When we arrived we discovered that it was actually called "Salt International Bistro." I think "International" is a stretch, if not a misnomer.

Anyways, we arrived around 8:00 p.m. and it was pretty slow. The prices for the fare seemed high for Scottsboro and our server was completely inexperienced to the point of making us feel awkward.**

We opted to try the only burger on the menu {also the cheapest entree at $10.50}. It was a good burger and the fries were excellent, but it felt like they skimped on the amount of fries. Besides that, $10.50 for a burger... really???

Upon leaving Salt, the general consensus is that we would rather drive to Huntsville or Chattanooga for a gourmet dinner. However we would consider going back during lunch when the menu had more sandwich offerings and the prices were more reflective of a small town.

*With a bit more research today, I did discover a link to the Salt International Bistro blog... 

**To be fair, they just started their dinner service and I am sure they are still working out the kinks. 

--Update: A little over a year after writing this review, my husband and I decided to give this restaurant a second chance. The night we went, we learned that it had closed its doors the previous night. I guess I wasn't off target when I wrote my review. I hate to see local businesses close, but you have to do it right to succeed.--