Hello,  I hope you all had a great winter.  Surprisingly, it was the best winter I've had in so many years here in Massachusetts.  There were very few cold, cold, cold days (-below 20 degrees) here.  I am kind of used to at least a few (-negative) temperatures but there were no at all.  As for snow, it only dusted a few times.  Did I miss the snow storms we're used to getting?  Absolutely NOT!!! I have seen enough snow to last me for sooooooooo long.

The spring has been very promising and I am looking forward to the summer... How about you?

 Enough about that. 

The real issue at hand is my Affairs and how I have been totally slacking.  I have not blogged about anything since November 2011.  Boy do I have a lot of catching up to do.  Since I am so far behind I'm going to post the pics I have and give brief details about it.  Enjoy!

 I wish I remembered this grilled chicken salad.  It looks tasty and I'm sure if I put the right dressing on it, it was. However I don't have a clue about it.
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                                                     Homemade salad with homemade bbq ribs.
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In January 2012 I did a 12 week weight loss program at my gym called The Transformation Project.  The above was my transforming the way I shopped.  As you can see, I had frozen fruit for smoothies, Almond milk (I am not a fan. I prefer soy milk but its as good for us as we would think... Dang!), cottage cheese, Ezekiel bread (not a fan of that either. I would rather eat regular bread and work out longer to burn it off), green tea and a few other things.  The program ended March 31st and I had removed 15lbs from my body.  Fantastic!

 This salad I made at my local grocery store. I was doing The Transformation Project and needed to eat something wholesome.  I was really pleased with it.  Well of course, I made it.  I used oil and red wine vinegar for my dressing.  That was a tasty salad.

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 Do you enjoy Thai?  Well I do.  I love Pad Thai with extra beansprouts and scallions. And don't forget the Thai Iced Tea.  If you have not tried this, give it a shot.
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 Ok, I'm so behind that the above pics and the one to the right are from Christmas... Yes, I said Christmas. I didn't take pictures of the actual table, what a shame.

Pic 1 - that was my plate.
Pic 2 - White sangria I made. It was so tasty.  Let me know if you want the recipe.
Pic 3 - This was a little appetizer I made. If you like Granny smith apples, dried cranberries, bleu cheese and bleu cheese dressing then you would like this combo. That's all it is.  I had it at Au Bon Pain more times than I can remember.  I would cost me $4.00 so I made my own and it was just as good.

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 I have got to explain the above to you.  So my girlfriend and I went out for lunch one day at a Thai restaurant she recommended.  Now she does not like "Thai" food but she worked in the area and this restaurant had a dish she really liked.  I like Thai so it was a good idea to me.  We are seated, so I request Thai Iced Teas.  "Two please."  My girlfriend had never had one so I said, I'll take yours if you don't like it.  She takes a sip, does not like it.  I take it.  More for me, Yum!!!
We get our food.

Pic 1 - My Pad Thai (always chicken and shrimp with extra beansprouts & scallions. It came with spring rolls)
Pic 2 - My girlfriends meal
Pic 3 - My two Thai Ice Teas (happy me)
Pic 4 - What the hell is that in the glass?

So my girlfriend realizes that is not the dish she was hoping it to be. Since she had never order this meal herself (her staff normally ordered for her) she did not know what it was called but from the menu description thought this was it. Of course it was not.  She was not happy with it but it wasn't bad so she ate it.

My pad thai, was not bad.  However out of all the places I've had that dish at, it was definitely at the bottom.  So I guess it is safe to say it was the worst. 

So finish one (not sure if it was mine or hers) and go for the next one.  When I finish that there is something in it. YUCK!  What is it?  Hell if I know.  By now we have finished our food. We're sitting there talking and my mouth start to water.  You know that feeling you get when your stomach is saying "Thanks for coming through but you won't be staying here much longer."  Well that's what happened.  I went running to the restroom holding my mouth.  I was so glad to have made it to the bathroom and get that shit out of my system.  It was the best thing. When I tell you I have a cast iron stomach, I really do.  Not to mention I have never had to vomit at a restaurant and the few times I may have had food poisoning I can probably count on two fingers, seriously. For whatever reason, my body instantly rejected that mess.  My girlfriend knew that was unlike me but her food didn't cause her any problems.  Can you imagine the two of us in the restroom barfing?  That would have been a sight.  When I get back to our table, no one asked me if I was okay.  Was everything okay with the food or anything.  When I tell you I was running, I was running.
I informed the waitress that something was in my glass.  She said "oh" and walked back to where about three of them were chatting. 

When we were leaving do you know the waitress had the nerve to ask me if I wanted my Thai Iced Tea to go?  I told her no and if they offered me lifetime meals plus Thai Iced Tea I would not accept.  I had to let them know that was the worst Thai experience I have ever had.  I don't want another experience like that, believe me.
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 This is just a little homemade ham & cheese with pickles & red onion and my 22 oz cup of water.
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 My business partners and I went to AnnaBella's for a business meeting (I have an AnnaBella's review blog).  I had the chicken jalapeno soup.  I'm not a fan of hot food but it wasn't as hot as I thought it was going to be. However the chicken tasted and looked like it came out of a can.  I could be wrong but all of the pieces were exactly the same and they we not flavorful at all.
The salad was the apple cranberry walnut salad.  It was delish.
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 This is my version of Easy Jambalaya.  I use the Goya box yellow rice with two different sausages (the brown one is turkey kielbasa, the one in the back is chicken spinach and feta sauage) shrimp, frozen green peas and a little onion.  Talking about goooooooooooood. It is!  I took this picture before I mixed the sausage in.

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My subway Turkey and Cheese with a bag of chips and some water.  I don't really care for that flavor of Sun Chips. It did not taste like parmesan to me at all.  First and last time getting them.

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This was breakfast at Junior's at the MGM Foxwoods in February. 

Pic 1 - My girlfriend's meal.

Pic 2 - My extra crunchy french toast. It was nothing fabulous about it.

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Room service at MGM Foxwoods.  Yummy!!!
Pic 1 - Coleslaw
I am a coleslaw lover and when I have good coleslaw, I rarely ever leave any.  Even though the gentlemen who took my order over the phone claimed it was great who probably never tried it, he lied.  He does not know great coleslaw.
Pic 2 - Seafood platter
This was tasty and knocked a sista out.  It was after midnight when it arrived but it helped me get my sleep on.
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Birthday dinner at the Shrine in MGM Foxwoods.  When I tell you this was some fabulous food, I mean it.  If you have not been to the Shrine which is asian infused dishes, you have to go.  Be sure to make reservations.  Glad I did.  I can't wait to go back and I hope its just as good as it was the first time.

Pic 1 - Shrine wings
Pic 2 - Boneless spareribs
Pic 3 - Shrimp fried rice with a Lobster Rangoon
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The pics below are from the restroom.  If you have not read my blogg about restrooms, please do.  This was one of the fliest bathrooms I've ever been in. 
Pic 1. - The sinks are out in the open so you don't have to go into a bathroom if you just need to wash your hands or you can wash when you come out of the bathroom (men's room on the left, women's on the right). Unfortunately I deleted that picture and it was awesome.
Pic 2. - The toilet and as dark as the picture is, you do not see one speck of tissue on the floor.  The walls on the left and right went all the way to the ceiling. It was stone looking like the floor. This stall had a medieval feel to it.

This was the sink in the actual bathroom. It was lit with a pink light. The lighting you see is pretty much all there was. 

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MGM Hotel at Foxwoods - Our room for my birthday and to see Steve Harvey. 

Did you get to check out his Final StandUp show?
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