Across the bridge

Last hurrah before heading home...

Hello NYC!

Day one: Central Park, FAO Schwartz, Little Italy for dinner, and first amazing food truck for a late night snack!

Oops!

So I was working in the file room today, bending over picking up a pile of folders, when I heard this zrpppp noise. Not a good sound! In my defense I wear these pants all the time, so they have been washed at least six times a month for the past year, and they were very thin material to start with... And I did turn down the birthday cake after lunch (albeit because I had just eaten at the mexican restaurant).

So, I got on the treadmill after my workout today. And signed up for a half marathon in April. So thanks to my wonderful sisters for posting about running, the gym, and losing weight... now I have been suckered in as well.

Tonight's Dinner

Chickpea Hot Pot

Yum

Why wait for a holiday to eat cheese ball?

Tonight's Dinner

Provencal Style Edamame Saute:

Much yummier than I expected - would eat this again. I had to look up how to core and slice the fennel since I had never actually cooked with it before (or for that matter, eaten it). Other than that the prep/cooking was actually really easy.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/provencal_style_edamame_saute.html

By popular demand

So to answer Just Jenn’s question, “Who are you?” I have been running (yes running) at least two to three times a week for the past month. I also lift weights with a trainer at least one day a week and do Zumba another day. After the Mud Run, I will be able to go back to my Body Pump class too that I really like. So with all of these exercising, I still have free time here. Working only 40 hours a week, plus my 5 minute commute really has changed my lifestyle! Since January, I have really tried to make an effort to eat at home for lunch and dinner as often as possible. For someone who used to only keep frozen dinners at home because everything else would go bad before I got around to eating it, this is a big change. I have really always like to cook, just not to do dishes, or eat the same thing four days in a row. I have found now that eating the same thing isn’t that bad as there are less dishes to do and prep time for lunch is easy. So I cook lunch and dinner on Sundays now. I also am trying to eat less cheese, meat, and bad carbs, but add more veggies. So if anyone has more recipes I would love to try them! (Oh, but without kale, I have tried to like it but just can’t do it). And yes I am even trying to eat new things... such as avocados and even tomatoes (well as long as they are very tiny and not fresh!) Some of my recipes are from magazines and a couple of books, but most are from the internet. I just search for an ingredient (such as edamame) that I am looking to make a meal with and try that. Or I search for vegetarian meals. Here are the recipes for the previous post...

Black Bean Burger: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/homemade-black-bean-veggie-burgers/Detail.aspx (I really like these for lunch, but I still haven’t found the exact consistency to keep them from crumbling too much) Today I used less egg (well I use egg whites anyways) and a little more whole wheat panko and that worked better.

Homemade Chipotle Mayo: 3 to 1 ratio of fat free sour cream to fat free mayo, add chopped/minced/food processed chipotle peppers in adobe sauce to taste (beware they are hot)

Egyptian Edamame Stew: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/egyptian_edamame_stew.html This recipe was okay, a little too tomatoey for my taste, but good flavor other than that. Also good over plain couscous.

Mayan Couscous: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/mayan-couscous/Detail.aspx (Really yummy, but I would only use 2/3c couscous)

Modern Succotash: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/edamame_succotash_with_shrimp.html (I ate this for dinner one week without the shrimp, really simple, reheats well. Did eat over salmon one night, also very good)

Peppered Pork Tenderloin: This was really easy, I just bought the pre-seasoned tenderloin and stuck it on the oven! Way too much meat for me though, ended up giving some to people at work.

Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas, & Olives: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001963972 (This was very good too, but mainly because I really like all three of those things. It was a little dry though so maybe a tad more oil than called for)

Turkey Chili: this was from a checkout aisle cooking light guide (bad impulse buy). Really basic chili, not enough flavor. I much prefer mom’s version with the mac n cheese!

Happy cooking...

Food in Pictures

My Valentine's Day present to myself...

Black Bean Burger w/Homemade Chipotle Mayo and Avocado

Egyptian Edamame Stew

Mayan Couscous

Modern Succotash

Peppered Pork Tenderloin w/ Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas, & Olives

Turkey Chili (Sorry about the view...)

More days off please...

Everyone on FB kept commenting on how bored they were after two snow days, but I found plenty to do... a little fitness (or just fun). Tried a new recipe: Chopped Veggie Salad with Lemon-Cumin Vinaigrette

Watched a movie (well this was just one of several we watched).

And what day at home would be complete without a puzzle.

I also made pickles Tuan style, but after eating some, decided to try frying the rest. Very good!

Too bad I had to go back to work today. There was so much more to do!

Catch up

Ok so I skipped some days, but I was trying to condense 13 days into 30 minutes… it’s the best I could do for my 5th blog of the year…….


December 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (Author: Gwen Bell)

2010: Uprooting
2011: Reformation

December 3 – Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)

How can you not feel alive after witnessing something so amazing as the birth of this little (or not so little) precious baby boy…

December 5 – Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? (Author: Alice Bradley)

I let go of a lot this year… a longtime work environment, my house, a lot of stuff in the house after a garage sale, donations, and the free storage in my old bedroom, a whole city, my friends, my home… sometimes I think I let go of a little too much...

December 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)

Santa brought a fancy new toy, so I made Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Drop and Butterscotch cookies yesterday. Even though the butterscotch batch happened by chance, they both were well liked at work today.

December 11 – 11 Things What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)

1. Monotony
2. 25 pounds (or 30 before I am 30)
3. Excuses
4. Crutches (the emotional kind)
5. Three closets full of clothes in sizes 2-6
6. Anger
7. Regret
8. Fear
9. Futility
10. Debt
11. Repetition
(And Jenn, to help you out, I will take those 299 books…)

December 13 – Action When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step? (Author: Scott Belsky)

One action at a time… today, finally emptied the last two boxes of books, then alphabetized… still not sure if I should have separated fiction from non-fiction, but then I started thinking about real literature vs contemporary fiction, memoirs vs true stories, textbooks vs anthologies etc. So basic alphabetizing was my solution. This by the way is the excitement that is my life :)

The action...

Peek inside

For a quick update on the usual – this is my fridge… guess what I’ll be eating this week! The sale at the grocery store was $1.99. So I stocked up. Plus another $5.00 off when you bought ten, plus a coupon for $1.50. So the math says – less than $1.00 a meal! But the fridge is pretty empty and I feel like cooking something good. Anyone have some easy and healthy recipes? Taking ideas! Now I am off to a Twilight release party. I hope I can fake it enough that the guests don’t kick me out for being an imposter. I never read the book or saw the movie – and not really interested. Hopefully the food will be good!

The Usual

So don't let the previous post fool you... this is what dinner normally looks like!
Not quite as exciting as the other, but still tastes pretty good. And Moxie likes to lick the dish!

Quick Food Blog

Yes I can cook! ... well I had a little help with the grill and the fish!

Field Greens w/Grilled Peaches and Balsamic Vinagrette

Parmesan Couscous and Smoked Paprika Tilapia

and the people who helped also got to eat!

Only Fifteen

So it has been too long, but I don’t have too much to tell. So taking my cue from the ubiquitous trend circling social network trends, here are my “25 Things” for now…well narrowed down to only fifteen because I have to go to bed. (see http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-02-04-facebook-25random_N.htm?csp=usat.me for more information).

1. Moxie likes tofu. So if I could figure out how to cook it maybe I would eat more at home. Any ideas?
2. I bought a treadmill, or as everyone else likes to refer to it – an expensive clothes hanger. So far it is perfect. Running in a climate controlled environment with the tv on is my kind of running!
3. We hired a new person in my office – with no experience. So hopefully she will be a blessing in the long run, but until I can get her somewhat trained, more work for me! Yay! (Please note sarcasm here).
4. I am looking forward to Swiss Days and seeing the whole family, but I have to decide this week what days to fly. My credit with a certain airline expires on Saturday. So I was thinking Wed to Tues?
5. I really hate getting up in the morning – can I pretend tomorrow isn’t Monday?!
6. When I fixed my tv, I had to renew my subscription and now get movie channels free for three months. I have so much stored on my dvr, I don’t know if I will ever catch up! Right now I am watching The Lake House, so far so good.
7. Today was nice – warm and sunny. Moxie and I say on the back porch for awhile – until I got bored reading of reading The Grapes of Wrath.
8. Related to #7, maybe my goal of reading books I should have read already needs to be narrowed to books that are actually interesting!
9. My favorite teacher is retiring this year. Some past and present students are putting together a memory book, so I am attempting to write a letter. That and the eminent ten year reunion this summer have me thinking a lot about the past. Some really funny memories! And maybe some not so good. But I guess that is how we get to the now…
10. I really am ready for summer. I hate cold weather, I love flip flops, and I hate never seeing the sun. I leave for work in the dark and get home in the dark. Maybe I need to live in southern California with the growing Burli family!
11. Lately, I have been hanging out with my friend that lives in the city. It makes me realize how isolated I am in suburbia. I don’t even know my neighbors’ names. I get home late and leave early. I don’t have anything to talk to them about, and when I want to go somewhere, it is usually in the city. So hopefully I can sell my house this year!
12. This week I am going to attempt to exercise in the morning before work – we’ll have to see how I actually do. The snooze button is my friend!
13. I have absolutely no food in my house - and I am not exaggerating. I am trying to make a list of healthy foods I can manage to cook, but than every night it is just easier to stop somewhere. Does anyone have some links to quick, healthy recipes?
14. This Saturday, I am not working! For the first Saturday in four weeks! I am thinking sleeping in and catching up on all those movies!
15. So that’s all I have for now – hopefully my computer stays in good shape and I can update more often!

Christmas Eve Eve

Moxie and I had company today! Mom & Dad came over to celebrate before their trip. I put up a few decorations and cooked a few things. Mom brought dessert and helped prep the appetizers. The food was good, the company excellent - and the B0ggle game intense! To keep up with family tradition -I brought out the antlers...

I cooked!

Yes I really made dinner. I found a recipe for stuffed pork tenderloin that looked really good. I changed it a little bit since I have to make do without some spices and no meat thermometer. It turned out pretty good though – surprised me since I never really eat pork! The potatoes were yummy too – Swiss Potatoes Au Gratin. Next on the list Parmesan Crusted Chicken…

Whirlwind

How to tell that you are eating a healthy breakfast... ... and yes that does say Grease Only! I guess that's how you make good southern biscuits.

So I am falling behind in my posts, but hopefully I still have some fans. A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks, and sometimes I feel like I am barely keeping my head up. Right before my car accident, my friend needed an emergency place to stay, so I helped her move all of her things into my house. She settled in and Moxie loved having the extra attention. She decided, however, that she wanted to have her own place, so two weeks later I helped her pack everything back up and move into her apartment. I am happy that she is figuring things out on her own, but I was actually excited to have the company so she will be missed. I did get to have a fun break in the midst of all that moving. “The triplets” went to the Beach for a long weekend and enjoyed some perfect weather. I got to work on my tan and relax.

Of course when I got back, my desk was piled with work and things were pretty hectic. I have been trying to exercise more on top of learning to adjust to the dog, working, traveling, cleaning, commuting, etc. Some weeks are better than others. This week Moxie and I managed to take four 1.5-2 miles walk/runs, so this week was a little better. We also went to the lake Friday night, and she had fun meeting new people and being the center of attention. Besides walking, I have to get back to the gym. I am tentatively scheduled for a sprint triathlon in May, so if anyone has any training tips that would be great! Today I spent the entire day cleaning the house top to bottom and it looks great – I only wish it could stay that way. Having a dog and trying to sell my house at the same time is a lot of work, but I guess that’s what I signed up for when I brought Moxie home. And tomorrow it’s back to work!

Rocks, Foundue, and Octupi

Last Saturday, I spent a couple of hours at an indoor rock climbing facility. It was challenging – my arms definitely are not that strong – but a lot of fun. It was nice to do something a bit out of the ordinary, and I got a chance to meet more people. I joined an outdoor group that does a lot of activities in and around the city. I signed up for caving in a couple of weeks, so that is next!

Later in the weekend, I visited with mom’s visitor, see the pics on her page for all the good food we ate. In honor of JT, we had a choo-choo train at the sushi restaurant and then fondue at my house. Moxie enjoyed having people over just as much as me – and she was pretty well-behaved, too.

It is raining and cold here, so tonight Moxie and I had to forgo our walk and we played our favorite game: fetch with the orange rubber octopus! She seems pretty tired, but so am I!!