Here we go!

Well, its official. I've taken the leap, launching tennis shoe (times two) first into the blogosphere. By some crazy miracle there are already a handful of subscribers to Fitness And The Foodie so the pressure is on!

Today's post is actually pretty perfect for a snapshot on what this blog is all about. After a day of hard manual labor building a deck in our back yard yesterday (not me, my husband and our friend Ken) we decided dinner out was an absolute necessity.  Normally I exercise pretty good restraint and take great pride in ordering healthy options when we eat out.   Last night that all flew out the window.  I guess this is where the whole balance thing comes into play.  As my husband says, its okay to take a day off once in a while.  He can so be the little devil on my shoulder sometimes.

With that, we headed to North Park, put our names in at The Smoking Goat and popped next door to Mosaic Wine Bar for a bit of vino while we waited on our table.

After a quick tour by the owner (the location also serves as an art gallery), we settled on our wine picks and surprisingly Ken, Michael and I all ordered the house's special blends crafted at nearby Fallbrook Winery.  Jolee, of course, departed from the pack with a Malbac.

Ken and I have worked with Fallbrook before creating a custom blend for the collector series of wine we distribute during our annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.

Our husbands deserved the vino after a day of construction.  Michael always hates it when I take his photo but supports me despite the protest.  Our table took a REALLY long time but we didn't seem to mind.  Maybe it was the cheese?

I managed restraint although I was really hungry.  I passed up the bread, nibbled on a little fruit and had a slice of cheese.  I did, however, go for the second glass of wine.

 
Mosaic has a great retail by the bottle program.  If you are in the neighborhood stop by.  If not, its still worth the drive for a visit.

At last we were seated at The Smoking Goat.  Jolee and I did a quick very quick count of tables.  Only 8 tabletops!  No wonder it took so long to get seated.

It was totally worth the wait though. Can you say duck fat truffle french fries?  Holy Yum.  Michael hates truffles.  I love my husband but something is seriously wrong with him.

I balanced out the duck fat with the Wild Arugula Salad with cherry tomato, white balsamic, ricotta salata and California olive oil.  I had no idea what ricotta salata is so I looked it up:

Ricotta Salata is one of Italy's most unusual and least understood sheep's milk cheeses. The milk curds and whey used to make this cheese are pressed and dried even before the cheese is aged, giving this pure white cheese a dense but slightly spongy texture and a salty, milky flavor -- like a dry Italian feta.

Both Jolee and I also had the Wild Alaskan Halibut with summer succotash, roasted new potatoes and lobster sauce.  I ate (inhaled) all the succotash and about half the halibut.

And yes, since tonight was about balance, there was dessert. 

Toasted banana bread with a caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.  This is pretty much the only bite Jolee got.  The guys ordered a peach cobbler to share which was equally delish but I was too busy wolfing down the banana bread to get a picture.

Thanks to Chef/Owner Fred Piehl The Smoking Goat will be on the list when we're looking for a decedant night out.

Mosaic Wine Bar
3422 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92104-4118
(619) 906-4747

The Smoking Goat
3408 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 955-5295

Fallbrook Winery
2554 Vía Rancheros
Fallbrook, CA 92028-8264
(760) 728-0156

After last night's total caloric sinkhole I've had to be on my game today with workouts and food.  This is usually pretty easy for me, I'm a workout nut and love eating healthy.

This morning Michael made me coffee (he does every morning), and I made my favorite breakfast of Fage, berries, Ezekiel Sprouted Grain cereal and Beveri flax with a tiny bit of agave.    It is fairly low in calories and a perfect balance of a protein, carbohydrate and fat:

It's easy, very satisfing and perfect for a pre-workout meal:

1/2 cup of 0% Fage
1/2 cup of berries
1/2 cup of Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Cereal
1 tablespoon Beveri flax
1 tsp of agave

Total calories = 345

24 Hour Kickboxing kicked my butt today with a new round and torturous turbo that our energizer bunny instructor played over and over and over again.  I'm really glad I got in some good carbs before this workout, this one was pass out worthy.  Feeling pretty guilty still about The Smoking Goat and that third glass of wine so I put in about another 20 minutes of Trainer Mike's ab routine.  I love it when muscle men in the weight room get impressed by the killer routine Mike has us do.  I look like an expert balancing on the Bosu doing flagpoles!

After an afternoon of meetings and prospecting at a tradeshow I am thrilled to come home to my husband's Turkey Tacos.

Of course, he has his with corn tortillas but I try to cut down on my carbs at night.  I'm really pretty happy to have them in lettuce wraps instead with a big side salad.

And Gaellos Miso Caesar dressing.  I'm addicted to this stuff and at only 14 calories a tablespoon I feel like I'm having something oh-so-bad when it oh-so-isnt.

Time to eat and hit the sack.  Evil training monster strikes early at 6:00 a.m. and I think it is leg day. Someone tell me why I signed up for torture so early in the morning....please?