Hey Everyone –

Here’s a big TGIF to all Sugar & Spice readers 🙂  I had a good day today. I was able to convince myself to take the train this morning instead of driving to work.  Even though I love the train, in the morning I really think it is easier just to get in my car and drive to work – especially in the summer time. On Friday mornings there is no traffic and I could have gotten to work in “no time” (ie like forty minutes or something!).  So what is the problem, you might ask? It’s the commute home on Fridays that is soo horrible.  It could take up to two hours to get home with all of the traffic heading south to Cape Cod and the Islands… hence taking the train on Fridays is a brilliant idea.

The only problem with the train to work is that it takes a long time.  I got to work in an hour and a half this morning. (gah!) But I took the train with my friend Tim and we had a really fun time talking about food, cooking and new recipes. It made the train ride go by really quickly (the actual commuter rail ride is only 50 minutes or so… and then I take the subway, a bus and then walk to get to work)  We talked about some of our favorite chefs – Tim’s favorite chef of all time is Jacques Pépin and today I learned more about Thomas Keller.  I’m hoping to one day have my own copy of the Bouchon cookbook [these are two separate links – Bouchon will take you to the restaurant and cookbook to amazon to check out the cookbook!] and I cannot wait to try some of these French recipes…. one day I would love to eat at The French Laundry in Napa – but I doubt that will ever happen!

So the train was a great start to my Friday and it definitely inspired me to get into a culinary mood for the weekend.  😀 Which is a good thing because I am so excited to see Julie & Julia. I have been waiting for this movie to come out for more than a year – and I’m going to see it with my friend Katherine and my mom tomorrow night. I cannot wait!!

I had a late breakfast this morning – not until about 9:30 this morning. I toasted two pieces of whole wheat bread and enjoyed them with almond butter and blackberry preserves.  This has got to be one of my favorite combination for breakfast (or anytime, actually!)

(breakfast x2 today – this is a “file” photo, used in an earlier post!)

As you might recall, yesterday I was hungry most of the day.  I was also craving a dose of my favorite TJ’s almond butter. I was so happy to have it with breakfast this morning. It really hit the spot!

I did have a chance to walk at lunch today, and it was beautiful outside today! I love Boston in the summer on the rare days when there is zero humidity. Fantastic!

For lunch today I enjoyed a turkey sandwich with romaine lettuce, red onion, tomato and cucumber on a spinach wrap:

Along with a small bag of Baked Lays potato chips 😉

This afternoon we celebrated a colleague’s birthday which is actually tomorrow.  I had a fantastic piece of chocolate cake from Trader Joe’s – just perfect for a Friday afternoon at work!

This was a perfectly small piece of cake. I really enjoyed it!

I hope you all had a great day, too! I’ll be back to let you know about dinner – it was great!