Howdy friends, In need of a quick drench? I have the perfect Tabata workout for you. Monday morning I was going to get up and run before work. My alarm went off and the thought of getting out of bed was heartbreaking, so I slept for the extra hour before work. I feel like everyone is all about making Monday their bitch, but I like to take it easy on Monday. What's the big rush? We have the whole week. If I can enjoy just a little more sleep right after the weekend, I'll totally take advantage. I'd rather start the week on a well-rested and caffeinated note than being bombarded by my alarm before 6 a.m. Okay enough ranting...

So I got home from work on Monday afternoon and I wanted to do SOMETHING, but I don't have a gym membership near my apartment yet. I took my jump rope to a park by my apartment and decided to do a quick, heart pumping Tabata workout!

I wasn't feeling it at first, but immediately got super energized after the first tabata set because I realized how quickly it flew by.

How this works is you set a timer for 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. Complete each exercise couple back-to-back as a superset, so that you perform both exercises in each set 4 times each. It goes QUICK and it's hard, but knowing that you literally only have 20 seconds of work at a time rocks. You can do anything for 20 seconds!! (For anyone who watched Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt...)

Here's a few of the weirdly named exercises demonstrated:

Windmill jumps (Just add in a hop before switching sides)

Decline plank knee-ins

Burpee box jumps 

Proof of how much you might sweat...hair was glued to my head (ew.)

ENJOY!!

-Rach

Tabata Workouts - love or hate it?

Do you know how certain flavors, tastes or smells can bring you back to a certain place or time in your life? Basil pesto does that for me. It kind of brings me right back to Italy, but only the homemade kind. There's just something about fresh basil blended with parmesan and olive oil. YUM it's so good. I whipped up a batch this morning to use for dinner. Michael and I picked up some salmon on Sunday and I couldn't wait to make it with fresh basil pesto. I've found that my favorite nuts to use in homemade pesto are walnuts. I've tried it with pistachios, pine nuts and even cashews, and walnuts seem to give it my favorite consistency.

Here's what you need: 

• Large handful of fresh basil
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• S & P to taste
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp plain greek yogurt (added for creaminess factor)
• Small squeeze fresh lemon juice
• Some sort of food processor or powerful blender

Here's what to do: 

• Blend!

All I did for dinner was topped the salmon with pesto and lemon slices and baked for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees! Super simple. Crazy delicious. I served ours with golden zucchini zoodles. Golden zoodles. Golden Doodle? And some roasted brussels sprouts.

Enjoy!

- Rach

Do you have a food that reminds you of a certain place?

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice relaxing weekend. My dad and sister were in town this weekend! My sister had a break between summer session at UF and Fall session, so they took a road trip through Charleston and West Virginia on the way up to Philadelphia to bring me my car. We definitely ate well this weekend...

Friday night I took my family around the Chestnut Hill area where I live and we ate dinner at Earth Bread & Brewery . It's a funky little place! They brew their own beer and specialize in flatbreads. It also reminds me of home (Gainesville) a little bit because their menus are placed in old quirky story books, like The Top (#1 favorite restaurant of all time.) We started with a cheese plate and I got the house wine.

Side note: the house wine is a blend and they call it 'draft wine,' meaning that it's kept in a bag inside of a big keg. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was delicious. Smooth and easy to drink. I don't think I could tell the difference between bagged wine and a $150 bottle. Unless of course it's Franzia.

The cheese plate was awesome! Honey, homemade jam, a brie and a goat cheese.

We also tried out an amazing black bean curry dip that I'm going to try to recreate at home. For my dinner, I ordered the Summer Smash flatbread because it sounded so interesting. It had pea pesto, yellow squash, mint, lemon, pine nuts, mozzarella and a honey balsamic glaze. It was incredible! The honey balsamic really made it.

After dinner, we took the train back into center city and realized that the Ben & Jerry's shop was right across the street from the hotel my dad and sister were staying at. The Tonight Dough all the way.

Saturday started on a sweaty note - Julia came to my Super Circuits class at Sweat Fitness! We worked up an appetite. To be quite honest, I felt like all we did for the rest of the day Saturday was eat! We had brunch at Continental Diner and then made our way down to the Italian Market after digesting in Rittenhouse Park. Couldn't go to the Italian Market without getting a cannoli!

Once we made our way back toward the hotel (Dad and sister had to catch the airport train at 5:30) we needed a cold beer and another snack. We ended up at Monk's Cafe. Such an AWESOME bar. They have more than 200 beers on their menu and beer battered chicken fingers. Super dark inside though so no pics, but such a great bar in Philly!

I live for the weekends full of good company and good food. There's nothing better!

- Rach

What was the high light of your weekend?