Sundays with Stephanie: Sunday reflections

I should probably explain why I decided to call this blog Sundays with Stephanie. Part of it is self-explanatory I'm sure, being that my name is Stephanie, but what you might not know is that Sunday is my favorite day of the week.

I used to sleep late on Sunday, and then spend the rest of the day dreading work on Monday. But now I see Sunday as a bonus day, if you can manage it after your Saturday night. This time of year Sunday is perfect for exploring the city all day and then reading and trying new recipes while the fiance watches football at night.

There just seems to be less to worry about on Sundays, less to do, and more time to spend with the people you love. This Sunday was no different, but lets start with the beginning of this weekend shall we?

On Friday Geoff and I stopped by Tokyo Steakhouse, a Japanese restaurant in Braintree that we've been meaning to try out. The inside was big but nothing special. We decided to split a bunch of smaller plates instead of stuffing ourself silly with sushi rolls.

I heard somewhere that one roll of sushi is like eating 3 slices of white bread. So now I go for the sashimi, much better for you and just as tasty. I've made a lot of changes like that after overindulging this summer to no end. In just 2 weeks of cutting back on portions and dragging myself to the gym a couple more times a week, I've lost 10 lbs. 10 lbs that I plan on keeping off. Very proud of myself for that.

Geoff however did have one spicy tuna roll. We split miso soup, ginger salad, salmon sashimi and tuna tataki in this lovely light lemony sauce.

Dumplings: arguably my favorite food. Little steamed salty pillows full of veggies? Yum!

Beef negamaki...

On Saturday, after some tea and breakfast in bed with Max... who looks very confused about what all this flashing and shuttering business is.

The three of us went for a hike in the Blue Hills. It was the most perfect day. Leaves have already started to blanket the ground, and the trees have just the slightest tinge of yellow.

I tried to get an action shot of leaves falling, but ended up getting a lot of winding woodsy path shots...

Later on, after the obligatory Barnes and Noble stop (where I picked up The Dinner by Herman Koch- I will let you know how this is once I get started)...

For dinner we went to Turner's Seafood in Melrose. We've had a gift certificate here that we nabbed at the Boston Junior League ball auction ages ago, so we finally made the trek to check it out. Melrose Main St is actually really quaint, and the restaurant was hoppin. Apparently September is Oyster fest, so we kicked dinner off with some oysters rockefeller. Geoff had baked stuffed lobster, and I had the fisher's mixed grill platter which included grilled scallops, shrimp and tuna with veggies. Being a bad little blogger of course I dove in before taking any pictures!

Dessert was chocolate coconut cheesecake, which luckily I remembered to snap!

On Saturday my future wedding event management business co-owner Maura and I hit up the Boston Bridal Expo- for free! We ended up scoring loads of free stuff- including 2 FREE wedding bands! The men's ones are actually really quite nice, very classic titanium. The fiance is pleased.

We perused the various wedding vender booths, stopping to try a few little treats and pretty wedding things...

Afterwards we decided we needed some refreshment, and lunch! Maura had mussels, and I had an organic mixed green salad with fresh goat cheese. We both washed it down with some rose brut and some parmesan fries.