Monday was difficult. Work dragged on and I felt really unproductive and laggy. I had an easy breakfast to give me a boost: an apple, peanut butter, strawberries and a mini croissant. I felt better after eating. After work, I tried to rest. I'm a firm believer that if your body is telling you you're tired, you have to listen to your body's cues. In the past, I've tried to work through it or push through those feelings and I only ended up getting sick or burning myself out. For late lunch/early dinner, we had Laos-style Ka Piek, it's similar to pho and definitely an Asian chicken noodle soup (tapioca noodle soup) dressed with bean sprouts, hoisin sauce, sriracha and chili oil, fried garlic, and herbs. Asian comfort food was truly needed after feeling like crap all day.

This week, Drew and I had one date night planned for Wednesday and we originally were going to meet with friends for a business meeting and dinner on Tuesday but it was rescheduled. So we decided to turn it into an extra date night since we had the time dedicated anyways. This was our first time dining out since the beginning of quarantine in Wisconsin. We aren't totally comfortable dining indoors quite yet. We visited Cafe Hollander in Tosa Village and enjoyed some beer, a Bloody Mary with all the Milwaukee fixings, Drew got their meatloaf with mashed potatoes and BBQ carrots. I got the Bacon Avocado Chicken wrap with sweet potato fries. 

After dinner, we went for a walk around Tosa village to walk off the food and get some fresh air. We decided to stop at another local place for some frozen yogurt called Yo Mama! They've had to change their set up but we loved how they adapted. You can no longer make your own creation but they have you order what you want still and you pick it up and there's plenty of seating outside the shop. Your order is bagged up individually so when we opened our paper bags, we were pleasantly surprised to see that all of the toppings were separated so that you can still add them as you please. Drew likes to dump the whole thing into his frozen yogurt, but I like to add a little here and there. (We're not huge fans of all of the plastic but we appreciate that they're doing what they can to adapt to restrictions).

Drew got strawberries, brownie pieces, green apple popping boba, and strawberry syrup over cheesecake flavored frozen yogurt. I got vanilla with brownie pieces and Andes mint chocolate pieces. 

Wednesday was our official date night. We were really excited because the weather was beautiful and breezy and we had reservations for Le Reve in Wauwatosa. It's a French cafe and bakery. We've stopped here before to check out their patisserie case and grab macarons and desserts to go. We've never dined here so we were thinking that if their desserts were amazing, their food must be too. 

We ordered a Peach Bellini and Mule for drinks. We also shared a fromage & charcuterie board. They have a build-your-own sort of thing on the menu so we picked their fromage du jour (cheese of the day) which was a triple cream brie, and for the meats we got the Pate de Campagne and Angel Salumi. It was fantastic. For our main course, Drew got the Saumon Lyonnaise (salmon cooked medium rare with red potatoes, bacon, asparagus, artichokes, parmesan, truffle vinaigrette and soft boiled egg). I got the Moules Frites au Pernod (Pernod steamed mussels, with French fries). 

Then for dessert I got the Gateau de caramel sale and Drew got the Citron tart. Highly recommend any and all of their desserts. We've had almost all of them and they are fantastic and very beautiful. We made our reservation for 5pm on their patio and it was empty. We were the only ones which was a plus. Around 6pm was when it started to fill up and we were already finishing up dessert. We also made a point to wear our masks when speaking to the server out of respect for her as well and tipped more than usual. As a restaurant owner and former server of many years, it's personal for me when I dine out. Thus, dining out during a pandemic is a privilege and I hope that others share the same insights and treat their servers with the same respect. 

I loved this breakfast though. It makes us feel super healthy because it aligns with the philosophy behind the Rainbow Diet: a diet where you aim to eat foods in every color of the rainbow.  Including a colorful mix in your diet can help you make sure you're getting enough fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants. Thus boosting your health and helps to protect against illnesses, bone density loss, digestive problems, and improve weight management.

We spent the rest of the mid-morning and early afternoon running errands. When we got home, we did a little bit of yard work. It started to rain so that stunted our progress in the yard a bit. We decided use the rainy day opportunity to deep clean the house. All the roommates are gone for the weekend through Monday/Tuesday, so it was nice to tackle a much needed deep clean. We caught up on laundry, reorganized and decluttered, dusted, vacuumed, reorganized the kitchen, cleaned out the fridge, and cleaned out a lot of our drawers in the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and anywhere else we could dig up junk. It felt REALLY good to throw out expired stuff, old paperwork, and junk that's just been accumulating due to our busy schedules. 

By mid-afternoon, Drew and I were starving. We headed over to Outpost Foods' cafe. We both got Beyond Burgers with vegan cheese, greens, tomatoes, red onions, pickles, organic ketchup, and organic mustard (even with a burger, you can still trying to eat the rainbow). We are not vegans, but we absolutely love vegan food. Anytime we see vegan items on the menu, we definitely are open to trying it because we love the creativity behind vegan food. Also because vegan food is usually healthier than other fast-food-options. The vegan burgers at Outposts' cafe is 🔥🔥🔥.

While we were at Outpost, I picked up groceries and some of my favorite cookies from my favorite local cookie brand. The Naked Baker makes these amazing cookies with clean ingredients, all-natural stuff with none of the preservatives, chemicals, or artificial flavors. My favorite flavor is their Sea Salt Chocolate Chip cookie but this time, I spotted a flavor I hadn't tried before: Lemon Pop[py Seed]. 

 

It's SO good. Is it better than the OG sea salt choc chip? I CAN'T DECIDE. I might have to keep purchasing both flavors. For research purposes. 

During lunch, we knocked out one more episode of The Umbrella Academy. And then picked back up where we left off as far as deep cleaning the house. We were on a roll and next thing you know it was 7:30pm. We had baked Mac & Cheese and baked, rotisserie chicken for dinner along with some wine we picked up at Outpost. 

We hung out with Crouton some more in the living room and then started to wind down for bed. Our off day always just flies by sometimes, but I'm feeling great that we got so much done today. But who knows, I might wake up tomorrow morning and eat a cookie for breakfast. 🤷😅

Hope you all had a wonderful week last week and have a great week this week. Kick butt and eat good food. 

- Vicky