Saturday Surprise

Mom and I went to Penzy's on Saturday and had a blast. We were going to go on Friday since I took that day off from work, but instead I got a new phone! I have had the same old cell phone for years and when they came out with the new iPhone, well, I decided to go for it. Of course, now I'm trying to figure out all the bells and whistles, but I love it! Anyway, back to Saturday.

Penzy's was great. I love that place and always leave feeling like I want to run home and cook. The smells are heavenly. And they have recipe cards for you to take home with you that make for total inspiration.

Here's our loot. I used some of the cinnamon in my coffee this morning. Delish!

After smelling all those great spices, we were hungry and didn't have to go far for a great meal. Just a few doors down from Penzy's is Collina's Italian Cafe. We'd never eaten there but were too hungry to go hunting for somewhere else, so we took a chance. Boy, were we glad we did. The place was friendly, clean, and best of all, the food was awesome.

I had the Mista Terra salad which is roma tomatoes, pepperoncini, red onion, roasted bell peppers, eggplant, feta, black olives with a nice, light, vinaigrette over lettuces. Delicioso! Our waitress told us the salads were really big and offered us the half size. Perfect! It was just enough and no left-overs. We also had an order of Foccacia bread which was to die for. I love surprises and this place was just that. We will be going there again!

When we got home, I went for a ride on Nellie (I finally named my bike) and burned up around 500 calories. Got on the scale this morning and was down another .8 of a pound. I'm officially weighing in tomorrow but had to see if yesterday's splurge on bread had left it's mark on me. Whew. I think I'm finally back on track. I didn't feel deprived this weekend at all and still I'm losing. That's the best surprise of all.

Stay cool and don't forget to drink your water!