Annoyed Kitty and Fabulous Fudge

Posted on December 15, 2009 | 8 comments

I woke up today thinking it was Wednesday – getting a little ahead of myself. Happy Tuesday! Inching through the week. Here’s a quick recap of yesterday.

For breakfast I was lazy and had some Kashi Heart to Heart with Almond Milk and orange juice. I am really feeling much better and think I may have headed off that cold its very start.

My morning snack was two clementines. I also stopped and picked up a coffee on my way into work. I was needing a pick-me-up after our late movie night on Sunday. I try to limit how much coffee I drink because I tend to get a little addicted and then if I go without I get a caffeine headache.

However, yesterday I was swayed a bit by the following article discussing the benefits of coffee and tea. I also realize that just about every other week there is a new study out either touting the benefits or warning of the dangers of various food and drink. So I am taking this one with a grain of salt.

More evidence coffee, tea could prevent diabetes

How often do you drink coffee?

Here Are A Few Other Health Articles That Caught My Eye…
City takes its anti-soda campaign online
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Video

Fat in diet won’t affect weight gain over time

Next, for lunch I had a mish-mash of veggies (carrots, cucumber and grape tomatoes) with some cheese and balsamic. I also had a Greek yogurt (honey flavored) with granola.

My afternoon snack before the gym was a Larabar – Apple Pie flavor.

After work I hit the gym reluctantly (because I had a bunch of other things I kind of wanted to get done). I managed an okay workout:

4 miles on the treadmill in 35:26
85 crunches
35 scissor crunches
20 leg lowers

I stopped at the store and picked up a few things on the way home and then I set to making a really quick dinner. I called this dinner a Burrito Bowl. It’s basically brown rice, peas, corn, salsa, cheddar cheese and shredded lettuce all thrown together. I made the Hubby’s with chicken, so his bowl was a little larger. Here’s mine:

And yes, my bowl has a giant chip in it. I think it may be time to revamp some of my bowls. They are looking a little sad.

I forgot – just before I started dinner, I had to have one of these little babies. I was really hungry after the gym.

After dinner, I set to work making some fudge to bring into work next week. This will also go in the freezer until Sunday. Here it is:

And here’s the recipe, courtesy of my mama:

Chocolate Fudge

1 lb. Confectioners sugar  (1 box)
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
 
In medium saucepan, heat butter and milk – add sugar, cocoa, salt and vanilla, stirring over medium heat until well blended and smooth.  Remove from heat, stir in nuts (optional).  Spread mixture quickly in a buttered 9×5 inch loaf pan or 7×7 square pan.  Cut into squares once it has cooled.   (I put parchment paper in the dish, bringing it up two sides, so once it has cooled, you can lift it out of pan to cut easier.)

I made mine without nuts. I had a few pieces once it cooled and it was yummy!

After dinner Bill and I decided to watch a movie. But not before I showed him the Surprised Kitty video on YouTube. This thing has been making the rounds and it makes me smile.

Surprised Kitty

I love it so much that I decided to try it with Murphy.

Murphy was not amused. The last is him basically attacking my hand. He does a great “Annoyed Kitty.” If you haven’t seen “Surprised Kitty” check it out. Hope my link above works okay. If not, just search YouTube by that title.

After annoying Murphy we settled in and watched “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” with Jack Nicholson. My father has been insisting that we watch this movie for years! It won a slew of awards back in the day and has co-stars including Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd. It was a pretty funny movie. I think Bill and I were both expecting way too much after the way my father built it up for us. We thought it was pretty good – not absolutely fabulous. Sorry Dad – but at least we finally watched it!

Have a great Tuesday!

P.S. – I will leave you with this Murphy lounging photo, just to show that he didn’t stay annoyed for too long…

8 Comments

Posted in Dessert, Running, Uncategorized

Movie Mania Continues

Posted on December 14, 2009 | 2 comments

Weekend Recap
Saturday: Cold Weather Weekend Warrior
Sunday: Not Such a Warrior

Happy Monday. I can’t believe it’s here already. My weekend didn’t fly by as fast as usual, but they are always too short to begin with anyway. I can’t believe it’s already mid-December!

As I mentioned, on Sunday morning I was supposed to go for a fun run with some local bloggers, but I wasn’t feeling great and didn’t want to chance making it worse. So I went back to bed and slept until about 9:30. Then I got up and had a breakfast of oatmeal with apples, pumpkin butter and cinnamon with a side of orange juice and cold medicine. Lovely.

After breakfast I popped out to the store and picked up some ingredients to make sugar cookies. I’ll be bringing these to our holiday potluck on the 21st, but I wanted to make them now and freeze them until the night before. I used my mom’s recipe:

Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter   (softened)
1/4 cup Crisco – regular or butter flavor (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together Crisco, butter, sugar and vanilla.  Add egg, beat till light and fluffy.  Add dry ingredients and blend into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half, wrap in glad wrap and chill for 1 hour.

On lightly floured surface, roll to 1/8 inch thickness, cut in desired shapes and bake on cookie sheet at 375 for approx. 6 to 8 minutes.  Cool slightly and remove.  Cool completely before frosting.

For frosting the cookies: confectioners sugar, a pinch of salt and milk.

I was so busy baking that I didn’t really stop for lunch. So when the baking was done, this was my “lunch.”

Dinner was much better than lunch. I was craving soup, so I tried Amy’s Tuscan Bean and Rice soup and it might just be my new favorite. It was so yummy. I also had a side salad with romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, goat cheese and walnuts with balsamic drizzled over it.

Finally, I needed something sweet to end my night, but I also wanted something that might help thwart an impending cold. I had half a grapefruit with one packet of Truvia sprinkled over it.

The best part of my Sunday was when Bill arrived home earlier than expected and we decided to watch another movie together. We’ve sort of been on a movie kick lately. I think we’re subconsciously trying to get the most out of our Netflix subscription.

Last night we ended up watching “Notorious.” I know what you’re thinking – it must have been awful. But actually, I was somewhat surprised with how decent this movie was. It was a solid 2 hours, but it didn’t feel like it was dragging and it never became too much about rap. I mean, it definitely was about rap, but I was never overwhelmed. I thought the actor who played Biggie was absolutely great and the little boy who played the child biggie was really good as well. Come to find out, he’s actually Biggie’s son! The resemblance was uncanny.

Anyway – I wouldn’t rank “Notorious” as a favorite by any means, but it certainly was a decent, different kind of movie. If you’re looking for something to mix up your movie line-up a bit, I would recommend it. 

My final comment: the guy who played Puffy looked nothing like the real Puffy. For the first few minutes he was in the movie I kept telling Bill there was no way that this “Puffy” character they were talking about was supposed to be Sean Combs.  The casting on that one was way off.

Have a good Monday everyone!

2 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Dessert, Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

Not Such a Warrior…

Posted on December 13, 2009 | 9 comments

I felt so tough and strong yesterday after running 9+ miles in some pretty frigid weather. But I think my hubris got the best of me because this morning I woke up feeling completely congested and tired. I was out of bed at 8 a.m. and started to get ready to meet a bunch of NYC bloggers for a fun run in Central Park. After about 5 minutes of movement, I decided the wisest decision would be to go back to bed and catch up on some much-needed to rest to ward off the looming cold. I sadly sent the girls my apology email and crawled back into bed.

I am feeling much better at this point, so hopefully I made a good decision. But I’m still sad that I missed the run. Hope it went well!

Now, to finish up yesterday’s eats and day/night. After my early-morning run with Katherine I had another mini-breakfast.

I was pretty busy doing laundry and some cleaning – meanwhile Murphy spent much of Saturday doing this:

I had a light lunch of veggies with some organic roasted garlic hummus that was delicious.

My afternoon was spent writing out a few of these:

And then dinner was couscous with apple, walnut, grape tomatoes and diced cheddar cheese. It was filling, simple and tasty.

And for dessert I finally made some homemade cranberry sauce (in the microwave) using Julie’s recipe from last week. It was tart and sweet and perfecto!

After dinner I hesitantly selected “Food, Inc.” from our online Netflix queue. The Hubby insisted I watch it when he is not around, so this seemed like the perfect time. I say “hesitantly” because I was expecting to be overwhelmed with slaughterhouse and chicken-farm imagery and those are things I absolutely hate seeing – although I know it goes on. I was really very surprised by the variety of food areas into which Food, Inc. delved. It was by no means all about meat – the documentary touched on a variety of food topics. I really enjoyed it and was swayed even further by the idea of buying cage-free meat and dairy items, and of course, organic products.

I’m still holding out hope that Hubby will decide to watch it at some point. He is a pretty healthy guy and I think it would definitely benefit him to know exactly where all his food is coming from.

Have you seen Food, Inc. – did it change how you eat or even just view your food?

Anyway – that’s all for today. Time to finish up some baking and cleaning, and then rest and recover. Have a good Sunday night.

9 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Cold Weather Weekend Warrior

Posted on December 12, 2009 | 11 comments

Happy Saturday! I’m going to try to make this a quick post because I have laundry to do and possibly some cookies to make. I was up early this morning to meet Katherine for a 7:30 a.m. run in Central Park. I’m a baby when it comes to running in the cold weather and usually find an excuse not to go when the thermometer dips below 30 degrees. Well, this morning I knew I had no choice since I was meeting someone. This was my outfit for the weather, but then at the last minute I threw on another long sleeve shirt instead of a short sleeve, so this isn’t 100% accurate.

Before I headed out I ate a granola bar and some triscuits with peanut butter.

And please note the temperature when I headed out: 27 degrees (okay, almost 28)! Cold weather warrior!

I think our run went really well. It was the first time we’d run together, so finding the right pace can take some time, but I think we hit our stride soon after we entered the park. And it was certainly COLD! It was a bit shocking for me for the first few minutes, but once we were moving constantly I began to heat up. Katherine is an established winter runner, having run in Pennsylvania and Boston, so she gave me some helpful tips along the way. Thanks for the great run and tips Katherine!! Here’s what we ran:

1 mile to the park
6 mile Central Park loop
1.6 mile reservoir loop
1 mile from the park back home
Estimated total: 9.5 – 9.6 miles

What are some of your favorite cold weather running tips? My face was really cold throughout the run. Does anyone wear a face covering?

I have no clue how fast we ran any of this because I’m pretty sure I left my running watch up at my parent’s house again. Oh how I wish I had a Garmin!

That was this morning and here’s a brief recap of yesterday.

The Hubby took some pics of the Gossip Girl trailer area right outside our apartment door on Friday. I also saw them taping last night when I got home around 8 p.m., but couldn’t see any of the characters.

Do you know who Desi and Lucy are? I’m assuming they are some GG characters right?

Breakfast yesterday morning was some Kashi Heart to Heart with almond milk and blackberries.

My mid-morning snack was tea and a Larabar. I was so cold, I wanted something comforting and this was perfect!

I had to venture out in the cold to get some lunch and I didn’t feel like thinking too much, so I grabbed my usual salad: romaine lettuce, carrots, walnuts, dried cranberries, peas and cheddar cheese.

My afternoon snack was Greek yogurt with granola and the leftover clementines from yesterday.

After work, I decided to meet up with my friend for happy hour. We went to a dive bar in the West Village and I had one beer. I knew I had to get up early to run and I very rarely go out on Friday nights.

When I got home I made a quick dinner of multi-grain pasta with marinara sauce to help fuel my early-morning run.

And my dessert was my new fave again:

I think I was in bed and asleep by about 10:45 last night. I did have to get up once in the middle of the night because I heard Murphy playing with a tree ornament. I managed to find the ornament and wire hook in my sleep walk and non-contact blindness and then went right back to bed.

I’ve got another fun blogger run tomorrow morning – yay! The rest of Saturday will be some housekeeping, relaxing and maybe a movie tonight. Enjoy your weekend!

11 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Running, Uncategorized

Freezing, Frigid, Friday

Posted on December 11, 2009 | 7 comments

Holy moly it’s cold outside! I left the house this morning and the temperature gauge was reading a chilly 23 degrees. Yikes. And I couldn’t find my hat, so it was not a very pleasant commute.

I also stepped out the door and found myself walking onto a t.v. set pretty much. There were Gossip Girl trailers everywhere! I didn’t have my point and shoot camera on me (left it at work), so I asked Hubby if he wouldn’t mind taking some shots before he left for work. I also saw the t.v. studio’s “snack caravan” set up just up the street. Must be nice!

As far as my snacks go, here are yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was rather boring – Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with Almond Milk. Yes, you read that right, I gave almond milk a whirl and have to say that I really liked it. I used it again today and it was so good. I’m not vegan or opposed to drinking cow’s milk, I would just like to cut back my dairy intake wherever I can. I don’t think it’s entirely necessary and my stomach tends to feel better with less of it.

What kind of “milk” drinker are you? Dairy, soy, rice, almond?

I’ve been eating Heart to Heart for a while. But after visiting Tina’s new NuVal blog and exploring the “Trading Up” section, I might try the Kashi 7 Whole Grain Cereal Puffs. It received such a high NuVal score!

Lunch yesterday was some Reduced Fat Triscuits, Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss Flavor cheese and carrots.

And my afternoon snacks were supposed to be Greek yogurt, a few Rice Works chips and two clementines. But it ended up that I ate two helpings of the chippers and then didn’t want the clementines later. Oops.

I came across this NY Times article yesterday and found it pretty interesting: 

Ready to Exercise? Check Your Watch

It talks about how the different times you workout (morning vs. evening) can affect how “good” your workout is. I always feel like I’m stronger and faster in the evening, which apparently is the norm for many people. Although I do also feel very proud after completing a morning workout – not so much because it was fast or hard, but just because I actually got through it!

When do you feel at your best as far as running or working out goes?

After work I had an appointment to go to, so I ended up skipping the gym. This week hasn’t been as great as I wanted as far as running and the gym are concerned, but I’m slowly getting back into it.

The past few days have been filled with lots of grains, so I was really craving some veggies for dinner. Bill was at a work happy hour, so I was solo. I made myself a nice big salad with romaine lettuce, asparagus shavings, cucumbers, grape tomatoes and goat cheese. 🙂 And I had some leftover couscous on the side.

I actually stopped and got cranberries to make the cranberry dessert, but then lost motivation and had this instead.

I might have had it times two actually.

I’m ashamed to say that I also watched a bit of Jersey Shore last night as well. It’s just so God awful that I couldn’t turn away. Thankfully, I got sidetracked and eventually moved on, but I’ve heard from a bunch of people that they find themselves watching in horror as well.

I was toying around with my Rebel camera settings a little later and caught this picture of Murphy with a  litter nose.

I read a little bit of my new book Ahab’s Wife and am getting into it. It’s historical fiction, which I typically really enjoy (like The Other Boleyn Girl). So far the main character “Una” has been through a lot and has grown up tremendously. You start out with her as an adult, married to Captain Ahab (yes, the one from Moby Dick) and she is giving birth to his child, and then the story flashes back to her childhood and we learn where she came from and how she ended up with Ahab. At least that’s where I’m assuming it’s going. Right now she’s only 16 years old at the point I’m at.

I swear, I’m going to write my David Copperfield review this weekend! I’m looking forward to tonight – Happy Hour with Rachael – and then a weekend of relaxation and running. Hope I don’t freeze!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

7 Comments

Posted in Books, Running, Uncategorized

Movie Date Debate

Posted on December 10, 2009 | 2 comments

It’s Thursday, which means tomorrow is FRIDAY!! Yipee! I am looking forward to a low-key weekend, hopefully with some good running involved.

So last night Hubby and I had a movie date night. We are Netflix members (best decision ever), but we had just returned two movies, so we checked our “online queue” where you can just download them straight from your t.v. There were a few on there to choose from. I really wanted to watch Food, Inc., but Hubby said I need to watch that one when he’s not around. No fun.

So we ended up going with “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” I had never heard of it before, but it had some big-name actors: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Marissa Tomei.

The premise of this movie and the characters’ actions ended up really affecting me. I was almost in tears and was feeling very stressed and anxious throughout the whole thing. Hubby hates watching movies with me because I constantly ask questions and make comments. I really try not to do it, but most times I don’t even realize I’m talking. And during this movie I was particularly out of control.

At the end, I turned to Hubby and said I really disliked the movie and thought it was awful. He then claimed that if a movie could get me so riled up and upset, then shouldn’t we classify it as good because it did its job. So that is our movie date debate.

Even if you dislike a movie’s premise, turn of events and general feel, if it affects you emotionally, would you then classify it as good?

In this case, I do not. I would NEVER want to see that movie again and don’t even particularly like thinking about it. Maybe to some that makes it good, but to me, it will always be a “bad movie” in my book.

Sorry for that little tangent. Here are yesterday’s eats. Breakfast was a multi-grain hot cereal with flaxseed and soy. It was on sale at the store, so I gave it a try. I added raisin and agave.

It was just okay. Nothing to write home about. I’ll use it all up though and then try something else.

Lunch yesterday was leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. I ate it cold and it was actually quite good.

Wow – I really hate florescent lights. This looks just awful.

Afternoon snacks were initially going to include just Chobani Pineapple yogurt with granola and two clementines. But then the 4:00 hunger monster struck and I ate some trail mix that I had leftover from my L.A. trip.

After work I hit the gym for a quick workout. I was feeling really tired (perhaps b/c our office was an inferno today and the heat really got to me).

Does your office have a temperature problem like mine? It’s either frigid or sweltering, no in between.

I felt very weak at the gym today, so I did the following.

3.1 miles in 27 minutes
85 crunches
20 leg lowers (abs)
15 squats
15 lunges

And yes, I need to do some arm stuff. But I was just so worn out.

I stopped at the store on my way home, with the intention of buying some cranberries to make a little dessert I read about on another blog. Well, when I got home, I realized I had bought a bunch of stuff, but completely forgot the cranberries.

For dinner I made some quick curry couscous and added in some chopped up vegetarian “sausage.” Doesn’t look spectacular, but I was happy. Hubby went his own way for dinner last night since he “needed meat.”

Afterwards I wanted something sweet. The cranberry light dessert was what I had planned, but that was obviously not an option. So I made this little concoction.

Warm Apple Mush

  • 1 apple chopped (with skin on)
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 packet of truvia
  • 1 tsp of agave nectar
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  • handful of granola

Directions

Place chopped apple in a microwave safe bowl with water. Microwave on high for 1 minute – remove and smush some of the apple. Microwave on high again for 1 minute. Remove and smush apples again as desired. Add all the other ingredients and mix.

It was sooo good! Just what I wanted. It’s almost like applesauce, but not as smooth. It was the right amount of sweet and tart.

Just before we started our movie I browsed my new issue of Runner’s World. I was excited to see a “Marathon Guide” in the issue and was even more pumped to see two of the marathons I was considering ranked as “the fastest” courses. The Wineglass Marathon and the Bay State Marathon were featured and they are both races that Runnerbelle suggested previously as well!

After the movie I read a bit and headed to bed. My new book is very good. I’ll try to post a David Copperfield recap soon and will talk about my new book more tomorrow.

P.S. – Hubby texted me to tell me they are filming Gossip Girl on our street and actually right in front of our building! I saw them coning it off when I left this morning, but had no clue for what. I don’t watch the show, but still think it’s pretty cool our building might make a special appearance.

Have a great Thursday!

2 Comments

Posted in Books, Dessert, Uncategorized

It’s Beginning to Look a Bit Like Christmas

Posted on December 9, 2009 | 4 comments

Hello Wednesday. I must say, after last week’s all-over-the-place schedule, this week’s “normal” routine is feeling sluggish. I’m ready for Friday already. Although I did just get a ton of work, which is sure to make the rest of the week fly by – I hope!

BTW – check out my latest Examiner article, inspired by my great run at the gym yesterday morning:

Taking it to the treadmill and thriving

So who watched The Biggest Loser finale last night?! I did, I did! It was amazing. Everyone looked soo different. I have to say that Danny, Rudy, Tracey and Rebecca all blew me out of the water. I’m almost inclined to say that Tracey and Rebecca might have gone a bit too far. I hope they reached that weight in a completely healthy and appropriate way.

Spoiler Alert: Stop reading if you don’t want to know who won.

I am THRILLED that Danny won! I was almost certain that Rudy was going to take the crown, but I’m really glad Danny walked away with it. For some reason, Rudy bothered me. He was always preaching the “anyone can do this, I want to inspire others” rhetoric. What I really wanted to hear was: “I am doing this for me, for my health and for what I’m going to gain from this experience.” It’s great to be a role model, but come on, we know why you’re there.

What was your reaction to the finale?

So onto yesterday’s food.

Breakfast after yesterday’s run at the gym was sort of pathetic: a banana and coffee. As well as a bottle of water (not shown).

It was the best I could do in my scramble to get out the door in the morning. Miraculously, it held me over until my 11:00 a.m. granola bar snack.

Lunch was a bit later than normal and consisted of a salad with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, carrots, chic peas, walnuts and dried cranberries. Yum!!

My snack later in the afternoon was Greek yogurt (honey flavored) with granola and an apple.

As the day came to a close, I began to look forward to dinner and the chance to prove myself after yesterday’s crock pot disaster. I chose to make this simple recipe, adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

  • 1/2 (16 ounce) package uncooked penne pasta
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 clove of chopped garlic
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1/8 cup of frozen spinach
  • 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 chopped roasted red pepper

 Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place penne pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
  2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the garlic until lightly browned. Mix in lemon juice, stir in the pine nuts and sun-dried tomatoes. Defrost spinach, drain, add and cook for 1 minute. Toss in the cooked pasta and feta cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

It was really good and light. The hubby seemed to like it as well.

My mini dessert:

And then after dinner – we decorated!! I feel bad, the Hubby had to do some digging in the basement to get out our big holiday container and he was none too pleased. But I think it was well worth it (although he may not). Here is our mini tree! Our apt is too small for a full-sized tree. I managed it our first year in the city, but quickly gave up the large tree idea the following year.

And here is our fireplace with our stockings! And Murphy’s!

And here is Murphy biting the tree. I’m sure I’ll find stuff on the floor when I get home this evening.

I was very satisfied with my minor decorations once everything was complete. I need to have a little something up. I then sat back and watched the end of the Biggest Loser while sipping on this tea.

And with that, my night was complete. I failed to mention that I was doing laundry will cooking and eating as well. So a night filled with laundry, delicious dinner, decorating and Danny winning The Biggest Loser. Awesome!

Until tomorrow – Happy Hump Day!

4 Comments

Posted in Holidays, Recipes, Uncategorized

Crock Pot Catastrophe

Posted on December 8, 2009 | 5 comments

Good morning! Before I get into the catastrophe I created last night, I’m going to focus on a positive thing I did today: I actually went to the gym this morning!! I know – I can’t believe I actually got up and went. It felt great. It’s so strange when you first try out a routine and you’re figuring out your timeframe and what works. Everything went well.

I left our apartment around 5:45 a.m. and was to the gym and getting on the treadmill by 6:00 a.m. Here’s what I did:

4 miles – 35:07
.5 miles – for a total finishing time of 39:57
75 crunches
25 alternating scissors
50 (25 each side) criss-cross crunches

That was actually a little more than I typically do at the gym after work. I was out of the gym and heading to the subway by 7:40 a.m. or so and even got to work a little bit early. I’m going to look into reserving one of the lockers and keeping some of my stuff there permanently. But it is kind annoying to lug all this stuff around all day.

If you workout at the gym in the morning and head to work straight from there, how do you minimize what you bring to the gym?

Now my eats from yesterday and the catastrophe.

Breakfast yesterday was oatmeal with 1 tsp of pumpkin butter, 1 tsp of almond butter, raisins and a swizzle of agave.

I never post it, but I ate my usual granola bar snack around 11:00 a.m. Since I hadn’t been in the office for a few days, my Monday was hectic and I had a ton of stuff to catch up on. The morning flew by.

Lunch was actually leftovers from last week when I made the rice and beans with grape tomatoes. It was still good and I pretty much devoured it.

Later in the afternoon, I had a Greek honey yogurt with granola (but it was camera-shy or I was just forgetful) and then I had two clementines.

After work, I was all set to go to the gym. I was heading that way, when all of a sudden I got a text from the Hubby saying. “Dinner burned.”

WHAT?! Now, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, on Sunday night I put a bunch of stuff in the crock pot for Monday night’s dinner. Before I left the house Monday morning, I asked Bill to turn it on LOW for 10 hours. I had adapted a recipe I found online and then asked for some tips from my mom before putting it together. This was to be my first crock potting experience. The darn thing has been sitting in our basement for about 3 years.

Here’s the before picture:

I threw together about 2 cups of chicken broth, 2 diced chicken breasts, 1/3 cup of balsamic, a dash of wine, 1/4 cup of chopped onion, one chopped garlic clove, carrots and spinach.

Being worried about my first crock pot dinner, I decided to skip the gym (bad I know!) and flew home to see what devastation awaited me. This was the scene in the kitchen when I arrived:

Sadness!! I was so upset. I made a valiant attempt to salvage the remains with some chicken broth and spices and the end result looked like this:

Hubby and I tried to eat it…but it was just awful. The chicken was dry and it sort of reminded me of cat food. I think if I ever try this one again, it needs a LOT more liquid. Alas, we gave up and I had this for dinner instead.

PB&J sandwich with carrots.

Then I had a little chocolate fix – hot cocoa – to make everything better.

We were so depressed about dinner that I decided to cheer Bill up by holding off on the Christmas decorating for one night and watching Bruno instead.

My take on this movie: it had some funny parts, but overall I wasn’t all that impressed. I definitely think Sascha Baron Cohen is an amazing actor for being able to pull off these incredulous characters, but watching his movies once is usually enough for me. And I liked Borat better than Bruno.

I went to bed shortly after we finished the movie, with my secret intent to get up early the next morning and hit the gym. I’ve stopped telling the Hubby that I’m going in the morning because then he just laughs when I snooze 18 times and never make it. This time I kept quiet about my plan and then confused the heck out of him when I left at 5:45 a.m.

And now I’m thrilled that tonight is free. My plan is to stop at the store, do a load of laundry, make dinner and decorate! It probably doesn’t sound very exciting to others, but to me it sounds divine.

Have a great Tuesday.

P.S. – I got a girl in the Secret Santa thing (we picked yesterday) and I kind of know her, so I’m less Grinch-like today.

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Posted in Running, Uncategorized

I Sound Like the Grinch

Posted on December 7, 2009 | 4 comments

Happy Monday? Yes, it’s a question. I’m having a rough day. I slept terribly last night (probably because my body’s schedule is all mixed up) and am dragging at work.

But, I think tonight the hubby and I are going to decorate the apartment for Christmas. Usually, I’m soo on top of this – I start decorating as soon as Thanksgiving ends. With my recent crazy schedule, our holiday decorating has been pushed to the wayside.

And in the spirit of the season, my company department is hosting a potluck holiday gathering later in the month. That’s all fine and good, but they are also asking requiring that everyone who attends participates in a secret santa! What?! Mandatory Secret Santa?!!

Not only that, but it’s not just the get a generic gift and throw it in a bag and we all pick deal, we actually get assigned a person. I’ve only been with the company for about 6 months and am nowhere close to knowing everyone in my department. I know that sounds weird, but it’s a large organization and we have multiple locations. So I’m kind of freaked out about having to buy a gift for a specific person. Worse yet, what if I get a guy?! Girls can be fairly simple: a nice candle, some lotion, a pretty decoration. But I have a hard enough time buying gifts for my husband and father, there’s no need to throw in a complete male stranger too! I hope I draw a girl.

Does your office do Secret Santa? What is the best Secret Santa gift you’ve received or given? Help I need some ideas!

So that’s my dilemma of the day. I know, I sound like the Grinch, but I like getting gifts for people who mean something to me and are a part of my life and getting a gift for someone I don’t know just feels fake and forced. Furthermore, I really don’t want a gift from someone I don’t know. Awkward.

Enough grinch-talk for today. Now on to yesterday’s eats!

I started breakfast out right. Katie and Kate stayed at my apartment and Kate’s husband Eli headed up our way for breakfast on Sunday morning. I took them to the Yorkville Creperie, right around the corner. This place is pretty new and I hope it sticks around. I made my own crepe and it included: banana, strawberry, nutella and granola!

Lunch in the afternoon was light because of my deliciously filling crepe. I just had an apple with peanut butter and some tea.

I spent my Sunday doing laundry and cleaning the apartment. I really wanted to meet my friend at the Craftacular event downtown, but I was just spent after my L.A. trip and night out with friends. Instead, I listened to the Holiday Sounds station on the t.v. while I did my housework. It put me in the holiday mood and I decided we need to get our decorations up asap. Tonight for sure!

EDIT: I have to edit this post because of the comment my friend Jess made about the t.v. in my photo, pointing out that the “fun fact” on top says that Barbie’s measurements in real life would be: 39 – 18 – 33. So funny that I snapped a pic of the t.v. with that on there. I agree with Jess – little girls should not be aspiring to be Barbie’s size. In real life, according to research by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, Barbie “would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to menstruate.” Many claim Barbie wouldn’t even be able to stand up in real life.

Here are some Barbie-related news stories and sites that I found after thinking about and researching Barbie a bit:

Ruth Handler, Whose Barbie Gave Dolls Curves, Dies at 85 
What Would a Real Life Barbie Look Like?
Editorial Observer; The Evolution of Women’s Roles, Chronicled in the Life of a Doll
Barbie – Wikipedia
Schoolgirl becomes unlikely feminist icon in Russia

Researching some of the Barbie details and arguments was interesting – I may have to look into it a little further later!

If you have a little girl, does she play with Barbie? I did.

For dinner, I was lazy tired yet again, and made some Campbell’s Homestyle soup and had two pickles.

My little dessert afterwards hit the spot:

I tried to go to bed early, but it was not happening. Before I went to bed, I threw some food into the crock pot which I finally brought up from the basement. It should be cooking all day today, so hopefully I’ll have a nice meal all ready later tonight.

What’s your favorite crock pot dish?

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Posted in Holidays, Restaurants, Uncategorized

There’s No Place Like Home

Posted on December 6, 2009 | 6 comments

I’m back in NY and I’m exhausted! The last 4-5 days have been c-r-a-z-y and I am ready for some downtime. I’m going to just give some highlights from the past couple of days, or else this post will get out of control. When I left off, we had just wrapped up our first day in L.A. (Wednesday). Thursday and Friday were full 8-hour days of training and then we went to dinner on Thursday night.

THURSDAY

Here’s an overview of Thursday’s eats:

Gingerbread latte with soy milk and an apple bran muffin from Starbucks for breakfast.

For lunch we went to a vegetarian Indian restaurant called Samosa House and I had their lunch plate. The only things I remember are the Soy Tikki Masala and the Curried Cauliflower. Everything was pretty decent and very filling.

My bad snacks during our training! Eeks. The training host had TONS of junk food available in the kitchen. I like to think that I did pretty well only having these.

For dinner we went to a tapas place in Venice Beach called Primitivo and it was delicious. We shared this salad, which was made up of spinach, goat cheese, apple, walnuts and dates. Amazing.

Next up was a dish with these little potato, egg and cheese morsels. The red sauce was salsa-esque and a bit spicy.

And lastly a steak dish with pommes frites! I was a meat-eater that night apparently. This was amazing. YUM!

We left the restaurant at a fairly decent hour – probably around 10pm (1 am EST) – and I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. Exhausted!

FRIDAY

We woke up bright and early on Friday to head into the office and check work email before training started. I must say that this was a lovely sight to see in the morning:

We headed into the office and picked up some breakfast along the way.

Organic blueberry yogurt with granola, a plain coffee and a banana. The granola was particularly yummy.

For our last lunch in L.A. we went to a place called Tender Greens. This “small” salad was filled with spinach, goat cheese and candied pecans. This lunch spot was insane – they churn out salads like a machine.

The rest of Friday was busy with finishing training and heading to the airport for my return flight. I grabbed a turkey sandwich from Starbucks for dinner, but it was  camera-shy. Then I hopped on the red-eye and promptly fell asleep for almost the entire flight.

On a sad note: We did not get a chance to run at all when we were in L.A. But, to be honest, I don’t feel all that bad about it. We were on such a hectic schedule, I literally don’t know where we could have squeezed it in. So I’m not beating myself up about it.

If you don’t get to workout during your travels, do you let it go or feel guilty?

SATURDAY

I got home around 5:45 a.m. and hopped in a cab, came home and went back to bed and slept for a few more hours. When I finally felt human again, I got up and had some breakfast.

Kashi cereal with granola and skim milk, a coffee and a water. I have been a coffee fiend lately!! But I really needed it.

For the rest of the day I cleaned up the apartment a bit and prepped for my two friends who were coming into town in the late afternoon. Kate and Eli and Katie arrived around 4pm. Eli headed out to meet one of his friends and us girls had some quality girly chat time. We made dinner reservations for 7:30, but we were all pretty hungry, so I threw together a little snack plate while we sipped on some wine.

Triscuits, cheddar cheese, grape tomatoes, apple and carrots. It was a great reviver. Then a little while later we headed out into the… SNOW!! The first snow in NYC.

For dinner, we went to Pangea on 2nd between 11th and 12th. They have a very eclectic menu and I ended up getting the Vegetarian Assaggio – it was a mix of grilled veggies, a quinoa pilaf, humus and a balsamic drizzle. I really loved it and ate it all.

Kate and Katie both liked their meals as well. We left Pangea and went to two other bars for a drink at each and headed home pretty early. Here we are:

I’m so glad they came to visit! We haven’t all hung out together in a while. Even though I was a tad bit tired from my L.A. trip and red-eye flight , I think I held it together pretty well.

I have to say that it’s so nice to be home and have some quiet down time. Although I do have to do lots of laundry and clean the apartment a bit, I’m still just so happy to be settled. There really is no place like home!!

Do you feel the same way when you return from a trip?

Have a great Sunday all – sorry for the crazy long post.

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Posted in Restaurants, Travel, Uncategorized