Lunches in the City + Father’s Day

I have three lunches worth highlighting from the last week!

First, I was in the city twice for lunch in the last few days so let’s discuss.

I had lunch at Upland and it was delicious. While I had yet to dine at the Upland location in the city, I did have dinner at the Upland in Miami a few years ago.

The margarita pizza was as good as I remembered it. We also shared a bunch of other sides and appetizers plus a salad.

Yesterday we had a work lunch at Tony Di Napoli.

I feel like this family-style Italian restaurant is famous but maybe it’s just my opinion since I’ve been going to the various locations of the restaurant in the city since I’m little. I last wrote about dinner at Tony’s in this post.

Since Tony’s is a family-style restaurant, we ordered the following for the table:

A house salad, caesar salad, fried zucchini, chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan, baked ziti, and rigatoni ala vodka.

I think most would argue that Tony’s is the best there is when it comes to these classic Italian dishes. In my opinion, the fried zucchini is definitely the best. I don’t normally eat fried food so I definitely felt it afterward but it was worth it.

While I was way too full for dessert, when the giant cake/ice cream combinations arrived at the table, I did have to try it.

On Father’s Day, we went to Gastronomy for lunch. Originally we wanted to have lunch at The Shed, but the wait was two hours and they don’t take reservations.

We started with the roasted Brussels sprouts as an appetizer even though it’s a side dish. I really wanted to try them — they were so good!

And I had the power bowl for lunch.

All in all, lots of good meals lately!

It’s The Thought That Counts

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend and a Happy Father’s Day.

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to gifts, I am all about the thought put into picking a present over the dollar amount spent.

I like to buy special gifts for the people in my life and for the most part, I never go into the present hunt searching for a specific dollar amount. It is all about the thought and what I know the person would truly appreciate.

I am not one for the “cookie cutter” gift. Father’s Day to me does not mean the routine shirt or a tie.

I am trying to raise my son to understand the thoughtful side to gifts rather to focusing on spending a certain amount to achieve gift success.

Which isn’t easy when gift cards are plastered everywhere for just about anything.

That being said, I suggested that he pick something from Williams Sonoma since his dad likes to cook. They have such a wide variety of sauces, marinades, spices etc. that we were bound to locate something.

He happily chose a Jalapeno Peach Barbeque Sauce.

Bonus: They wrap it up all nice and even include a card.

And as for my own father, I went the thoughtful route this year as well.

We all know I am on a major cherry kick right now for the powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

Click here for another fabulous article regarding the health benefits of cherries.

My father has TERRIBLE knees and is the pickiest eater alive. He certainly won’t eat a cherry so the juice is the next best thing.

Now he can get his daily dose of  anthocyanocides and I am convinced it will help him to walk pain free.

Am I a thoughtful daughter or what?

Let’s see now. The rest of the weekend is a bit of a blur.

Oh yes – fabulous sushi experience Friday night at a local place, Kumo.

We ate at the sushi bar and of course I forgot to take the pictures of the out of this world rolls we ordered.

But hey, doesn’t that mean I was having such a good time that the last thing on my mind was my camera?

I did manage to get a photo of what the waitress brought us with the check:

She must have known that I adore watermelon as well as needed the extra hydration for my run the next morning.

Talk about thoughtful.

Speaking of my run, I have great news. Well, great news in my little world.

The Asics Gel Nimbus 15’s and I are becoming very good friends.

If you recall, last week I slowly started hanging out with them and since I was enjoying their company, I wore them Saturday for my 12 mile run.  (I think I ran over 12 miles since my stupid MapMyRun app  at some point started calculating wrong).

I didn’t notice my feet the entire time which in my book signifies foot happiness.

One of my closest friends asked me this weekend to recommend a good pair of sneakers for her.

My response: “Do you read my blog? Do I seem like someone who can figure out the right pair for myself let alone tell you which you should wear?”

Good thing she understands my personality.

Anyway, the truth is, no one can advise you of the perfect shoe for your foot. What works for my feet may or may not be right for yours.

The best thing you can do find a good sneaker store, have your foot measured and have the employee watch how you walk to determine which models you should try on in order to make your decision.

And even then, it may take time to determine which style works best for you.

So, being the thoughtful person that I am, I googled to find her the best sneaker store in her area and sent her there for assistance.

I was happy to locate a Runner’s Edge for her in Florida since that is my go-to store here in New York. I am not sure if they are affiliated but she called me after to inform me that helped her to find a good sneaker for her foot.

She chose the Asics Gel Cumulus 15. The Cumulus is similar to the Nimbus model with some slight differences in construction.

I can absolutely discuss the specs in another post but in my mind, no matter how the shoe is constructed or how good it sounds, the true test is slipping a shoe on and feeling foot happiness.

Have a great Monday!

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I need to know:

Do you buy gifts with a specific price in mind?

What did you do this weekend? Eat anything good?

Run any races?

Have you worn the new Asics models yet? They just updated to the 15’s from the 14’s.