Bartlett's

Happy Saturday! After two nights of less-than-enough sleep, I slept hard last night, and though I didn't necessarily sleep in very late, I felt as though I got some good sleep. A nap may be in the books for me later, though!

Workout

I went to bed fairly late last night, so I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to wake up in time to make it to a 10am spin class at the gym. I woke up around 8:45am, though, giving myself plenty of time to wake up, change, and head to the gym. I walked on the treadmill while reading for about 15 minutes before making my way upstairs to the cycle room. Today's spin class was great, and time just seemed to fly by (not something I normally say about a spin class). My favorite sequence that we did was the pyramid interval. I've mentioned something similar to this on the blog before, but basically it was a total of 20 minutes - work time and rest time combined. We started out with one minute of work, then had one minute of rest. We then repeated that first minute, and added on a second minute, again, with one minute of rest. This repeated until we were up to five minutes of work, and each minute looked like this.

• Minute one - fast flat
• Minute two - standing climb
• Minute three - jumps
• Minute four - 10 seconds sprint, 10 seconds rest (while standing)
• Minute five - downhill sprint

What was tough about this one was that once you added resistance for that second minute, we didn't take it back until minute five, when we were going downhill. It was tough, but it sure made the time go quickly!

Bartlett's

I said yesterday that I would be back with another item crossed off of my list. As you know, my entire week was consumed by the AP Summer Institute, and when I finished with that, Dylan would have work, so we weren't able to squeeze a nicer dinner into the week days. My sweet friend Chloe so kindly agreed to take my 6-10pm shift at SRD, and Dylan told me to make dinner reservations for Friday, the only stipulation being that it had to be a restaurant on the list. I picked Bartlett's in North Austin, and it did not disappoint.

Though nothing on the appetizer list really caught our eyes, we did each order a drink - I think after my long week, I more than deserved it! Dylan had the Blood and Sand, which was much too strong for my taste, and I had the Bartlett Pear Martini. I don't really care for pears, but pear-flavored drinks are some of my favorite.

I started drinking before my food came, so it didn't take long for me to feel it, but I felt much better once the food was delivered to our table.

So, onto the food. I had a hard time deciding between the pork chop and the salmon, but I (and I'm sure this comes as no surprise), went with the Hardwood Grilled Salmon that came with Brazilian collards on the side. I had never had collards before, but I really liked them. I'm not sure what to describe as their equivalent, but the way I ate them reminded me of spaghetti.

Anyway, my salmon was cooked to perfection, and I ate every bite (again, shocking). Dylan opted for one of the night's specials - Hand cut Filet, Crab Cake, and a loaded Baked Potato on the side. Judging by his empty plate, I'd say he thoroughly enjoyed it!

I was pretty full by that point, but Dylan couldn't resist the Key Lime Pie for dessert, and though key lime isn't really my flavor, it sure did look good!

Overall, we'd give Bartlett's two thumbs up - not only for the delicious food, but also for the friendly waiters as well as the warm atmosphere. If you're looking for a nicer restaurant in North Austin, look no further than Bartlett's - it won't disappoint!