The Connection Runners

Take me to Espana...

As I briefly mentioned yesterday, we Groupon'd it up in Pittsburgh this weekend. The inspiration for last night's dinner excursion was this picture mail I got from my padre- who happens to be with my brother in Spain right now. (Jealous).

What's the next best thing to visiting Espana?

Hitting up a Spanish restaurant and pretending you're in Espana.

We went to Mallorca last night, and although we did have to wait forever (despite making a reservation), the food (and Sangria) did not disappoint.
We started with the illustrious bread basket (of course)

Along with some steamed veggies

And chilled gazpacho

And a little of this..

My dining partner for the evening

The ambiance was so-so, but the wait-staff was very friendly and prompt. The place was pretty loud, but maybe that's how it is in Spain (if I ever go... sigh).
My main course was outrageously delicious, I only managed to scarf half of it before my control-top tights began to r-r-ippp

Hubby got the Paella with lots of weird crustaceans I did not attempt to eat..

And then dessert was almond cake (which I thought was a bit too sweet and only had a few bites)

Why I didn't get the chocolate? It remains a mystery.

Overall hubs and I had a nice dinner out at Mallorca, and thanks to the Groupon his wallet is only tearing up today instead of bawling profusely...

This morning early afternoon I woke up with the original and fabulous idea to create a new flavor of belgian waffle. Because obviously my belly needed more fueling after the prior night's activities...
Chocolate Peanut Butter Waffles
Waffle house ain't got nothing on me.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
(I used 1 cup oat flour, 1 cup peanut flour, 1 cup brown rice flour)
1 cup rolled oats
3 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP splenda/sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP cocoa powder
2.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1.5 cups soymilk
1 TBSP vanilla agave
water to thin (~2-3 cups)
Mix-ins: 3 TBSP pecans, 2 TBSP raisins, 1/4 cup blueberries
Toppings: shredded coconut, nut butters
Directions:
1. Turn on your waffle maker (mines the flipover kind). Spray w/ non-stick spray.
2. Pour dry ingredients (flours, cocoa, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, oats) into a large bowl. Mix til combined.
3. Whisk wet ingredients (PB, milk, vanilla) in a small bowl. Pour wet into dry, mix well.
4. Add desired mix-ins (I did pecans, raisins, blueberries)
5. Add water to thin- 1/2 cup at a time.
6. Pour batter into waffle maker, cook according to waffle maker instructions.

And now the great debate of the morning...

Hubby made up an impromptu song in response to these babies:

"The most delicious waffles in the world... Ohhh the most delicious waffles in the world... "

How. embarrassing.


Good thing I fit in a baller 7.5 mile treadmill run today, ~58 mins. I certainly melted off every calorie I ate this weekend, right?


Well, I'm off to do Sunday night type things-- I start Ophthalmology tomorrow (and spellcheck just informed me I do not know how to spell opthalmology--not a good start... )

Have you ever been to Spain/Europa?

And the age old question... Nutella or Peanut Butter?