Teo Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, my faithful readers! Today has been one l-o-n-g day, mainly because I worked eight whole hours. Which I realize is a normal work day for many people, but I’m still easing my way into the whole working thing. It’s hard to complain about having some extra spending money, though, so I guess I’ll stop complaining about it! Plus, it’s a pretty sweet deal I’ve got going on, so even less reason to complain!

Te’o Tuesday

With less than two months left in Austin (yikes), Dylan told me to make a list of things I wanted to do before I am no longer a resident of the great city. One of the things on that list was Teo, a cute little coffee and gelato establishment that I passed at least once a day on my way to get to Mopac. I love Gelato, mainly because I can actually eat it without worrying about dairy, as there are almost always dairy-free options, so I added it to my list. On Tuesdays at Te’o, it’s $2 for any small gelato. So, Tuesday seemed as good a day as any to cross something off of my list.

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Teo just won the award for best gelato in America, and it is currently in the running for best gelato in Italy. Now, I have never had gelato from Italy, but I would bet that Teo is certainly in the running for that title. Normally the dairy-free flavor options are very limited (read: one), but there were at least four sorbetto choices. I went with a combination of Fruits of Forest and Raspberry, and Dylan went with a combination of Goat Cheese and Pistachio. I think both of our empty cups spoke for themselves. Mine was just delicious, and I tried a couple of bites of Dylan's, and I loved the pistachio flavor. For $4.33, I would say it was a job well done.

And for those of you who have always wondered about the difference between gelato and ice cream, I have a few facts for you straight from the Teo website –

• Gelato was invented before American-style ice cream, making its first appearance in the court of Medici in 1565
• Gelato, which is made with whole milk, has less fat than ice cream, which is made mainly with heavy cream. This means that gelato has a lot less butterfat – 4-6% – than ice cream, which has anywhere from 14-30%. So you don’t even have to feel guilty about this tasty treat!
• Gelato has less air than American-style ice cream – 20-35% versus about 50%. This allows a richer flavor to come through in the gelato, and even the smallest cup will satisfy the biggest sweet tooth.

So, to sum it all up, gelato is clearly the perfect after-work, pre-workout snack, and I certainly recommend Teo for your next gelato emergency!

Workout

With a stomach full of gelato, it was time to hit the gym for a workout! After much deliberation, I opted for a 6:30pm BodyPump class, preceded by a quick 20-minute warm-up on the treadmill. My warm-up was simply five minutes of running at 7.5mph alternated with five minutes of walking at 4.3mph on a 4.5 incline. It got me nice and warm for a tough strength training class.

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And I'm not sure what it was, but today's class wore me out more than a BodyPump class ever has before. The squats absolutely killed me - our combo today was two bottom halves followed by two full movements - and I was out of breath at the end of that track. Triceps were also pretty tough today, as we did both tricep dips and tricep pushups. Needless to say, I was struggling. But, after a long day of work and sitting behind a desk, though I was up and moving quite a bit, it felt good to push my muscles a little bit.

And another day is almost in the books. Talk to you guys tomorrow!