Happy Friday, all!
Hope you had a super sweet Valentine’s Day! Ben surprised me with hot pink roses. I nearly cried. I did not photoshop an inch of this photo either, that’s how brilliant and beautiful they are. What a stud!
For dinner we hopped over to Trostel’s Dish for tapas. Normally I don’t like to share food (Kristin doesn’t share food!) but I am always up for tapas where you get to have little nibbles of lots of different stuff. We started out with calamari strips, which was the best cooked calamari I have ever had, and pan seared brussels sprouts with pork belly lardons (WOAH!)
Ben and I always order arancini balls whenever we find them because they remind us of our time in Italy, and some super-tender lamb tacos rounded out the meal.
We finished off with vanilla bean creme brulee and berries for 2. PERFECT!
I’ll have to run several hundred miles to work off that meal, but it was totally worth it. Love splurging every once and awhile like this!
With that, I hope you have some fun plans for the weekend, and in the meantime please enjoy my favorite finds from around the web in this week’s Friday Favorites. See ya’!
Click on the light blue links to be taken to the original source.
Favorite accent: Argento Vivo “Love” Stud Earrings. Dyyyying over how adorable these studs are. Cute for Valentine’s Day, or any day, really!
Favorite healthy: Healthy Strawberry Orange Gummy Bears. WHAT?! Gummy bears are my faaave! You have to check out all the yummy combos of healthy gummy bears this blogger has come up with.
Favorite happy: Bad Hair Day Print. This sweet print makes me sublimely happy for some reason. :)
Favorite snack: Trader Joe’s Just Mango Strips. OBSESSION ALERT! I’ve had the dried mango strips that Starbucks sells, and they’re ok, but these are so. much. better. Softer and they taste just like fruit rollups. Gotta love the ingredient list too – MANGOES. I picked up a bag yesterday and they were half gone by the time I left the parking lot.
Favorite tablescape. I love this fun and festive tablescape, but especially those adorable plates. Believe it or not, they’re actually Diane Keaton’s line at Bed, Bath & Beyond! Click here to buy the plates >
Favorite find: How to Turn Cookie Dough into Frosting. MUST. TRY. Think I’ll swap the flour in the recipe for powdered sugar, as some commenters suggested.
Favorite furball. The labradoodle solves so many of Ben’s and my furball problems. It’s got poodle hair which doesn’t shed (we are both allergic to shedding dogs) and the cute factor of a lab. Squee!
Favorite dinner: Spicy Kale & Chevre Penne. Nothin’ wrong with this combo. Absolutely nothin’!
Favorite place: Cafe in Antwerp, Belgium. I can totally see myself sitting here on a crisp morning with a hot cup of coffee and fresh pastry. Perhaps with my labradoodle. Can you?
Favorite fresh: Spinach Shots. I’ve been juicing this combo of spinach, a green apple, and quarter lemon everyday this week – sometimes with some carrots or oranges thrown in. It is so fantastic, and I feel like my skin has been better this week, too (read: not breaking out like a hormonal teenager.)
Favorite homemade: Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix. You can never have too many homemade seasoning mix recipes, and this one for ranch looks absolutely stellar!
Favorite fitness: I Love My Arms. I did this workout on Tuesday, I think, and my arms are still sore today. True, I’m weak, but still, this is a great little routine.
Favorite indulge: Reeses Peanut Butter White Chocolate Bark. Want to know what I love even more than Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? WHITE CHOCOLATE Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. This looks fantastic!
Have a great weekend!
I want to ride my bike to Belgium and sit outside of that cafe. Just the photo itself feels like a vacation.
You don’t share?!!? We could NEVER be friends. I will always ask for a bite of whatever someone is eating.
I know, what’s even worse is that I am such a picker of everyone else’s plates! The shame. :/
Love the Friday Favorites!!!
Those flowers are gorgeous! You are a lucky lady. :) Tapas sounds like a romantic thing to do for Valentine’s Day…sharing food is kinda intimate. Those spinach shots are genius! Lots of healthy spinach in one quick gulp. I’ll definitely be trying that out. I imagine you could make them with kale, too.
I love TJ’s Mango slices, they are so good! Your valentines dinner looks so fun and delicious! I love getting to try lots of different foods. I have a goldendoodle and love him to pieces. He does shed a little but I get his haircut every 2-3 months which seems to help. All of my friends will dog allergies are just fine around him!
FIY. The dried mangos they sell at Costco are also wonderful. My high school aged kids gobble them up all the time!
There are WAY too many great things to comment on in this post!
First of all, what a sweet hubby you have! Those roses are gorgeous :).
I am also loving those earrings and that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup White Chocolate bark sounds AMAZING. I am definitely a peanut butter and chocolate lover :).
Oh, and just for the heads up, I have 2 doodles (a labradoodle and a golden doodle) and the labradoodle sheds quite a bit and actually sheds more than the golden doodle. But besides the shedding, they are BEYOND cute!
Major brownie points for the hubs on that one. What a beautiful bouquet :)
My fiance brought me home a little red velvet cake from the bakery down the street. I almost died when it was done. So, so good.
That sounds sooo yummy! What a sweet guy! :)
Yep – he’s the best <3
I am obsessed with the mango slices from Trader Joe’s! I seriously buy no less than 3 or 4 packages a month!
Great Friday Favorites post as usual!! Thanks, Kristin. Have a great weekend!
Well done, Ben! I’m slightly jealous!
My friend took me to Trostel’s Dish when I visited DSM – it was thebom.com. In particular, the mac & cheese was outstanding :)
Oooo, dang, I really wanted to get the Mac & Cheese, too. Next time!
I don’t share food very well either!! Good job on the roses Ben!
i think you need that labradoodle stat. i’m serious. i need more photos of cute dogs in my life until i can get one.