Leisurely Day (100th post!)

J and I both had today off from work so we decided to have a nice, relaxing day. It started with sleeping in and enjoying our morning coffee together. Then we headed to Clary Sage, the local asthetic and spa college, for side-by-side massages. The masseuses are advanced students nearing completion of their training. J got a great guy, I, on the otherhand, was sort-of disappointed with mine. She was okay, but her touch was so light that I felt like I was getting tickled for an hour. The firmest pressure she used is what I would used to put sunscreen on someone's back. Anyway, I am very moisturized now, but my muscles are still tight and knotted. Next time, I will request a guy with lots of manpower! I am a fan of massages that are so good they hurt. Guess I am my mother's daughter!

Speaking of which, we anticipate her relocation to Tulsa in the near future. She will stay with us for a while as she settles here and we're looking forward to the company. It might feel crowded, at times, since we only have one bathroom, but considering I grew up with 5 people in a home with one bath until I was 13, it's not that big of a deal.

Anyway, back to today....after the massage we tried out D'Novo Lean Gourmet restaurant. It opened a couple of months ago, but today was the first chance we had to check it out. It's a bright, chic and modern eatery with a glass tiled fountain, white leather booths and modern crystal chandeliers. The food is ordered euro-cafe style...at a counter and they you get a number and they deliver the food to your table (where your number is posted on a little metal stand/holder). J ordered the seasame seared yellowfin tuna salad and I got the roastbeef and gorgonzola wrap with a side asian salad. All was extremely tasty and we could hardly believe that every meal in the restaurant is 500 calories or less. We will DEFINITELY be back!

After lunch we walked around the KingsPointe shopping center, exploring the wine shop and then making our way down to the florist, KaBloom, where we got a lovely, fresh fall centerpiece to bring to Aunt Rita's tomorrow. It has yellow roses, red hypericum berries, rust colored daisies, yellow mums and orange daylilies. She is hosting Thanksgiving dinner for us and Joseph's parents. She told us not to bring anything, but we never show up anywhere empty handed, so we decided that flowers would be our contribution.

From there we decided to run some errands and on our way, found ourselves stopping at Kupcakz, Tulsa's only cupcake bakery. We've been wanting to sample their made from scratch offerings. J had the My Peanut Buttercup which is a dark chocolate cake with creamy peanut butter frosting chocolate splitters and toasted peanuts (they roast the peanuts themselves to make homemade peanut butter) and I had the Lemon Drop which is zesty lemon cake with lemon curd and lemon cream cheese frosting. Of course we got two Sooner than Later (red velvet cake smothered with mascarpone cream cheese frosting) to go. All was tasty and you can just tell that all of the ingredients are fresh and made from scratch...a lost artform these days. We will definitely be back to sample the Cheeky Monkey (fresh banana cake with caramel cream cheese frosting candied pecans and caramel drizzle) and Boston Dreamer (yellow cake filled with French pastry cream and capped with bittersweet chocolate ganache).

We came home and it was so nice out that we decided to take the furbabies for a stroll. All THREE of them! Yep, the crazy cat likes to follow us on our neighborhood walks. So we leashed up the dogs and she followed along behind us. The dogs had a blast, as they always do on their walks.

Now we're home and gonna make dinner...brown rice penne pasta with turkey kielbasa, apples and spinach with a creamy gorgonzola sauce. Very autumnal and SO good! Here's recipe (made up by me of my favorite things):

INGREDIENTS:

--1 package of polska kielbasa or smoked sausage (I prefer turkey),sliced into "coins"
--Bag of washed baby spinach leaves
--1 large apple, skin on, quartered and sliced medium-thin
--1 tub of crumbled gorgonzola cheese (5 oz.)
--1/8 c. butter
--1/4 c. milk
--pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
--Prepare pasta as directed. I usually make half the package which yields two heaping portions plus leftovers for lunch the next day.
--While pasta boils, in a skillet brown the kielbasa or sausage slices, remove
--In same skillet (wipe out any grease from the sausage) wilt the spinach leaves and soften the apples over medium heat. Don't overcook, the spinach should still be bright green and the apples should retain their shape.
--Drain pasta and set aside. In the same pot that the pasta was cooked, melt 1/8 c. butter or margarine, add in the the gorgonzola crumbles and the 1/4 c. milk over low heat. Melt all ingredients together. As they start to combine, fold in the drained pasta into the butter-cheese-milk mixture until coated and warmed through. Add in the drained, browned sausage, wilted spinach and softened apples and combine until coated.
--Serve up with a little fresh pepper on top.