Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Shape Up Series: Taste Testing Tacos + More at Anna's Taqueria Boston

By: Finance Foodie

First off, so sorry for the delayed Shape Up Series post this week -- Team Finance Foodie thought meeting the VS Angels was more important than my weight loss update .  Anyways, some happy and sad news to report....
Happy: I've lost all 10 holiday pounds and hit my GOAL WEIGHT!

Sad: No more Shape Up series (at least for this year!)

Let's look at my progression, starting from Week 1 to this current week.

Height: 5'1''
Goal Weight: 130lbs
Week 1: 140lbs (Starting Point)
Week 2: 138lbs
Week 3: 137lbs
Week 4: 136lbs
Week 5: 137lbs (HORRORS!!)
Week 6: 134lbs
Week 7: 133lbs (v. surprised -- 3 LBS TO GO!)
Week 8: 132lbs (down down down!)
Week 9: 131lbs (Oh-em-gee! One more lbs left!!!)
Week 10: 130lbs (DONE!)

Goal Body Fat: 20.0%
Week 1: 25.0%
Week 2: 24.0%
Week 3: 24.0%
Week 4: 23.5%
Week 5: 24.2% (DOUBLE HORRORS!)
Week 6: 23.2%
Week 7: 23.0% (YAY-YAY!)
Week 8: 22.8%
Week 9: 21.5%
Week 10: 20.6% (ehh...close enough!)

So 10 pounds lost in 10 weeks... not too shabby I must say (although last year it only took me 7 weeks to lose my Holiday 10....increased age= lower metabolism)! Obviously, this doesn't mean I can go "hog wild" (well, until holiday season 2011), but it's nice to have my pants fit properly again! For those who just started reading Finance Foodie now, here's a historical recap of all previous 9 weeks in my Shape Up journey.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

So when I first moved to Boston three years ago, I asked a few of my Boston friends where I should go for affordable Mexican food. Their vote was unanimous --  Anna's Taqueria, a local "fast food" Mexican burrito and tacos joint. Being super skeptical of my buddies' East Coast-bred palates (translation: lack of good Mexican food experience) and aghast to the places I had actually ended up trying (read: the Casa Romero Episode), I decided not to heed their advice and continued to satisfy my Mexican cravings only when I went back home to Texas
Until....

A few weeks ago, I found myself around the Beacon Hill area during lunch time. Uninspired to have the usual Au Bon Pain sandwich, I remember the advice of my East Coast friends and decided to give it a shot.
WOW, was I surprised -- the grilled chicken burrito I had was super tasty!!! My friends were right (a fairly rare occurrence : ) -- the food was good and most importantly, tasted authentic! So when I was invited to attend a  tasting at Anna's Taqueria with the chain's founder Michael Kamio to try some of their new (and old) menu items, I happily obliged (I also viewed this as a mini celebration for losing all my holiday pounds)!

Below were some of the highlights:
The Lengua (beef tongue) taco was actually quite delish -- even though the thought of eating a cow's tongue makes me slightly nauseous, the tongue was actually very flavorful and had a smooth velvety texture. Seeing how many TV game shows make contestants eat beef tongue as part of their "extreme eating challenges" -- I now say "sign me up!"
So Anna's super large burritos are certainly not great for the waistline (especially if one lacks the willpower to eat them in moderation), so I was super glad to see that salads will soon be introduced to the menu line up. The avocado salad topped with a deliciously lightly and refreshing cilantro dressing is not only totally yummy (and I don't even like salads that much), but it's also a healthy option for veggie-tarians.
And of course, I had to wash everything down with some warm fresh-baked cinnamon sugar cookies (only available for catering orders, but hopefully getting added to the dine in menu in the future)!

During the tasting, Michael (also a Finance Foodie I might add, as he used to work in banking prior to opening the Anna's) shared a few tidbits about the chain.

*Anna's is dedicated to serving clean and delicious food. They would rather do a few items really well, rather than having a ton of random items on the menu, hence the limited selection of menu items.
*The restaurant typically goes through 30 cartons of cilantro in three days.
*Anna's is not named after anyone, though the name "Anna" is suppose to connote a nurturing mother figure (Hmmmm.....not really what I think, but I'll go with it : )

Many thanks to Michael for hosting us and for Marlo Marketing for setting this up!

Anna's Taqueria
(6 different locations, check website for all locations)
Anna's Taqueria (Davis Square) on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

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