The evening following the Fitness Magazine Meet & Tweet took us out into the city for dinner!
Natasha, who works for Physique 57 and is just plain cool, made reservations for a large group to dine at Tortilla Flats.
Dinner began with chips and salsa and I just kept dipping away.
I was hungry and the salty, crunch chips hit the spot!
Since everything salty tastes a little better when accompanied by something sweet, I shared a pitcher of sangria with Jillian and Courtney.
For my entrée, I ordered the combo platter that included a hard shell chicken taco packed with shredded chicken, rice and refried beans.
There was maybe one bite left on my plate by the time I was finished.
After we were done eating, the group spent some time chatting before heading back out into the city. Some of the gang continued on to get some drinks, but since Courtney and I were both running on minimal sleep (less than five hours for me and she got up at 4 a.m. that day) and are nice and lame, we called it a night. We hung out back at the hotel for a while but both fell asleep the minute I flipped off the bedside light.
Today
This morning Courtney and I awoke at 7 a.m. because we wanted to work up a little sweat since we knew we’d be sitting on a train to Boston for nearly four hours today.
She and I hit up the hotel gym and ran into MizFit and the three of us worked up a ridiculous sweat (not so much because of a killer workout but because the gym was the size of a shoebox and hot)!
Courtney and I did a cardio and strength workout where we took turns running on the treadmill for two minutes and doing various strength exercises for two minutes for several rounds.
Food + Train
When we got back to the hotel room, I ate two of the Fiber One brownie bars bars from yesterday’s swag bag because I was hungry and knew we might not have a chance to grab anything to eat until a little after 9 a.m. at the train station since we were in a hurry to pack, shower and meet up with other bloggers to head to Boston.
Once Courtney, Tina, Anne and I arrived at the train station a little after 9:30 a.m., I initially thought I wanted breakfast, but when I saw Tina order a salad filled with fresh veggies, I changed my mind and ordered one as well from Chickpea, a fast-service restaurant located inside of Penn Station.
I got my salad topped with chicken, chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, cabbage and balsamic vinaigrette. It totally hit the spot! I haven’t had a salad in the longest time and really enjoy them when they’re well made and filled with lots of quality ingredients.
On the train, I spent some time talking with Sarah and Courtney, blogging and catching up on emails. (Love that the train has free wifi!)
Goodbye New York!
This was actually my first time on a high-speed train like the Acela and I was so impressed.
There was lots of room, outlets to plug in your electronics and a café car that served drinks, food and snacks. (I was waiting for a trolley to come by a nice man to offer me some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, but it never happened.)
I did some snacking on the train, selecting the big bag of Sun-Maid raisins from the Meet & Tweet swag bag.
I don’t think I’ve snacked on raisins since I was nine years old at summer camp and I forgot how addicting those little buggers can be once you start munching on them.
I thought about the Ellen Degeneres comedy sketch (<—Watch this if you haven’t seen it!) about how people somehow think it’s acceptable to shovel handfuls of popcorn into their mouths in the darkness of a movie theater because that was me with these dang raisins… but in the daylight. Git in mah belly!
Question of the Evening
- Are there any foods or snacks that you associate with a certain time in your childhood?
Raisins and graham crackers with peanut butter will forever remind me of summer camp snack time. I also remember that the counselors would serve Saltines with cheese once in a blue moon with and it felt like the best day in the entire world.
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Whew! You jet-setter, you. I’m exhausted just hearing about it 😉 glad you had a good time in New York! How much did you love those Fiber One brownies? I was randomly at my parents house with a chocolate craving a few weeks ago, and was very, very impressed. They’re good! And it’s nice they’re not so, so bad for you. I was never a big raisin fan but my go-to kiddie snacks were animal crackers. I still love ’em.
yes!!! i LOVE animal crackers. my parents always have them too and i looove dipping them i nutella. mmm.
Gosh, that sounds THE perfect combination. I’ll need to try it out sometime soon. Thanks for the rec 🙂
*like
(Haha, I wish I could actually correct myself.)
Nutella + pretzels….great combination
I second the comment above, I’m exhausted just hearing about your day, but it sounds like it was a lot of fun! Those raisins definitely remind me of childhood too 🙂
So many things I love about this post! I love Tortilla Flats – not so much for the food but more for the fun atmosphere and margaritas! i also love Boston – I just visited there this weekend, is it your first time??
You are going to love it! It’s such a cute city and beautiful in the Spring! It’s also where I met my boyfriend, so I am a little biased! 🙂
You are so right, raisins are the quintessential kiddie snack. My twins dig through their oatmeal in the morning to fish out all the raisins before eating the rest of the bowl! I was (and still am) a huge fan of Ants on a Log 🙂
Great to meet you yesterday at FitBlogNYC!
Ooh, great picture of NYC! I love traveling by train – I wish it were more practical for places other than the East coast! You’re so right – raisins really are addicting. I hadn’t snacked on them, either, until pretty recently, and I instantly thought about school lunches because my mom used to pack me those mini boxes of raisins. Yum! Have a great time in Boston!
I’ve always wanted to go on a high-speed train. It all started when I was like 15 and saw “French Kiss” w/ Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. “Lactose intolleerraaaaaance”…..anyone?
Sounds like a fantastic trip so far!
i want to go on one of those cool overnight trains! they always seem like so much fun!
I went on a high speed train from France to Germany. Unfortunately, for the first time I had to sit in the opposite direction which made things interesting….but they are so fun. Overall it took a few hours, but with all the stops it actually goes by quickly especially when you’re just looking out the window at everything you’ve never seen before!
Sounds like you had a fantastic time in NYC!
Have you had the Big Turk bites? I can pop those like crazy!
I don’t know what it is, but I do not like raisins just on their own! I love them in my oats and even cookies though!
A snack that takes me back to my childhood is homemade cinnamon toast – toast with butter, cinnamon and little sprinkle of sugar. Also, bananas with cream! (Yikes!) lol
I also really want to go on a train now – I’ve never been!
omg – i’m dying laughing at that ellen video hahahah. its amazing how you keep your blog entertaining every post!!!
she is so, so funny! have you seen the whole routine? if not, it is hysterical and i hiiiighly recommend it. your abs will hurt from laughing!
When I was young, I remember eating Goldfish crackers like there was no tomorrow. The giant Costco size containers were gone in a week.
Sounds like you had fun in NYC for the event! It’s awesome to meet those who you blog with!
Have you seen Sophia Grace and Rosie on Ellen!?! They are hysterical and so adorable. I think my quintessential childhood snacks were cheese toast, oreos, and vienna fingers! Yummmm
That salad looks so good! Wish I had a Chickpea near me!
I love trains! Have fun in Boston 🙂
And yes, graham crackers, animal crackers, and that fake cheese + crackers packages reminds me of my childhood too. Hah
Goldfish crackers and Hula Hoops (an English brand of chips) scream childhood to me :)!
Our wedding venue is an old school house, so we’re serving animal crackers and custom wrapped juice boxes as a pre-ceremony snack as guests arrive off the..wait for it… school busses from the hotel! Those are the only “schooly” details though! nothing too overboard!
I’m laughing because it seems that I’m not the only one who immediately thought of animal crackers! My mom tried to keep things in our household healthy (I wonder if that’s why I’m so obsessed with junk food?), but once in a while she’d buy me a box of animal crackers.
Oh, and fruit leathers… that was another one!
My mum used to make little skewers with cocktail sticks filled with grapes, cheese and chunks of apple as a night time snack! Me and my friend also had a favourite snack of chopped apple, had to be a granny smith, a scoop of nutella hazelnut chocolate spread, and sprinkles on the side. Dunk in nutella, followed by the sprinkles…yum!
Julie
Glad that you had a great time in NYC. I live in Upstate New York. Both you and Courtney are my favorites. I start my day out by reading both of your blogs…. You girls are so cute and keep me laughing. Love your dog Sadie…
Have a good weekend
that train looks sweet. I was only on a train once and it took FOREVER to get to my final destination.
Honey sandwiches and corn curls.
We lived in the country and if my brother and sister and I were going out to play in the woods, we would pack them in a coffee can so the bugs wouldn’t get to them before we did!
That Mexican restaurant looks delicious! I love Mexican food and could probably eat it every single day. 🙂 That rain looks awesome. I’ve never been on a high speed train before.
Whenever we went on road trips my mom would pack us a bag mixed with cheerios, mini marshmallows, m&m’s, and peanuts. I still love me some trail mix, just a healthier version!
I love raisins too! My dad works for Sunmaid, so we have TONS of dried fruit around the house! The vanilla or chocolate yogurt covered raisins are a nice, sweet treat too 🙂
I don’t get why some gyms are so hot?? The gym I work at is random with ac usage…
I JUST bought raisins last weekend after not having them since I was a kid! For some reason I just saw them on the shelf at the grocery store and remembered how yummy they are!! I may have had a spoonful of peanut butter from the jar last night and topped it with the raisins….so good!
I definitely associate cheez-its and grapes with my childhood, my older brother and I ate them together all the time!
My brother, sister and me used to get a box of animal crackers whenever we went food shopping. Then my mom had to pay for 3 empty boxes!
I love Tortilla Flats, sounds like you had a great time in NYC! Have fun in Boston! That’s where I’m from 🙂
Come back to NYC soon!! 🙂 Or I’ll have to come to Florida!
PS- It’s okay– I was nice and lame too and went home to bed by 9:30! 😉
My mom used to put peanut butter and a marshmallow on top of a saltine and put them in the toaster oven. That snack will always remind me of childhood. It’s probably where my love of salty & sweet combos started.
Fig Newtons! We always had them at snack time in kindergarten…BOY are they good!
haha that video is hilarious! SO true!!
Tina’s face in that first pic is hilarious….
oatmeal creme pies….