Not Dead Yet!

The cold that just would not go away is starting to finally break down and go away.  At least I hope it is.  Last night was pretty miserable (it seems to be 1000 times worse at night for the most part) but I think it may be finally passing.

  

Breakfast of Champions and/or Sick Women

This morning's meal was totally about comfort, since I was feeling so unwell and The Husband was pretty knocked out from an epic Arkham Horror game that lasted until 3AM.  Well, he could have gone to bed the night before at 8PM and still sleep until noon the next day.  Just saying.


My milk was heated up nicely with a touch of cinnamon, vanilla and sugar free sweetener.  I sliced up a banana and threw in some blackberries and a strawberry for both color and (hello!) yum.  The oatmeal is the same I've been noshing on for days (butternut squash and apple), but with some blueberries thrown on top because I suddenly felt that this would be the thing that would finally defeat this cold.

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There was knitting done this weekend!  My excitement of this is somewhat lessened by the fact that I finished a pattern repeat thinking I could move on to the ribbing (which would mean a significant change, and likely get exciting again), but as it turns out I'm tall and like my clothes long.  Great.  I will knit some more after I finish up this short post.

The last time I eat lunch at my desk... at home or work!

I picked up a magazine called Real Simple and I've been really enjoying it.  One thing I saw in there (really as a little side bar versus one of their big, fancy-article like meals) was a simple recipe for a roast beef and cheese wrap. Wrap, coleslaw mix that is mixed with sour cream and horseradish, titicular roast beef, cheese and Bob's your uncle, sandwich.


I was hell bent to on having this sandwich.  So hell bent was I that I failed to notice that (a) we had no coleslaw mix and (b) The Husband could not find a roast beef that would be friendly to my eating lifestyle.  I wound up replacing the roast beef with ham, and made my own slaw mix... which is just cabbage and carrot, both of which I had on hand.  Ultimately made the sandwich healthier, but by proportion I could not wrap that thing to save my life.  I gave up, and managed to eat it without getting a mess all over myself.


The one thing I wonder about is the wrap.  It is Ole Xtreme Wellness High Fiber Tortilla*.  It's tasty for sure, and got the job done.  It has 12 grams of fiber, and 5 carbohydrates.  Not net carbohydrates.  This lists simply 5 carbohydrates.


Can a food have more fiber than it does carbohydrates?  I can't seem to wrap my brain around the concept.  Is this a typo?  Do I dare trust a food that not only uses the term extreme in its title, but also spells it without the e?!  I'm still trying to find out if this is vaguely possible.  Otherwise it's my new wrap BFF.

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Cooking Light's Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta, almost as cheesy as me.

Tonight's dinner was a pretty tasty treat:  Cooking Light's Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta.  It was not too difficult to put together (especially with The Husband's help... thank you The Husband!  During prep, I also met my new prep knife BFF in this Crate and Barrel Mini Santoku Knife I picked up yesterday out of sheer frustration of not being able to find this Kuhn Rikon knife I wanted in purple.  I may still get that knife, but found the C&B knife to deliver what I was looking for... something I could chop my herbs and veg with and not fight with to get said chopped items off the blade.


The served up dish was fantastic and aromatic.  Shallots and bacon... is there anything they can't do?  I served it with a small side of julienned carrot and pepper because I wanted something a little extra on the dish.  A small drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.  There were minor (WW friendly of course) mods to the recipe (here I am again, making a "light" recipe lighter), the two biggest of which were making it serve 6 instead of 5 (serves 5?) and the addition of some spinach that would have otherwise gone bad but instead added little splashes of color and lovely spinach flavor.

Carrots for even more healthiness.  

Both The Husband and I enjoyed it... but I'm inclined to agree that the dish did not taste anything like butternut squash!  Pasta, cheese, bacon, scallions... all of those were there.  BNS... not so much.


I'd make this again, but I may tweak to reduce to pasta and increase the squash.  Not sure what else... it would have been nice to get more squash flavor, I think.

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And there's a day of me eating.  There were a couple of extra things, such as a salad of crunchy veg, tomatoes, and olive oil (yay healthy oil!) and desert was luscious zucchini bread and apple (thus ending the day almost how I started it), plus and hour of exercise.  I hope you enjoyed the trip, and now I must get a few rows done before bed.

Tomorrow I plan to go running, so you should plan for a foot of snow, ice on the streets, or some sort of natural disaster, unless [Insert Your Deity of Choice Here] decides I can actually go running tomorrow...

In any case.. have a great week out there! 

* Link is to http://www.livestrong.com/ as Ole's site isn't very helpful on the linking to that particular product information.

I Haven't Scared It Away Yet!

This morning I woke up and decided it was time to make the Zucchini Bread.  I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure how I would make the zucchini all shredded and (here's what I n00b I am) it turns out I have a machine that makes short work of it!


Done and done!


So, the bread was moist and ever delicious.  I did not use as much sugar as is called for (not that I cut it in half or anything) but I am not sure why I didn't realize this would be a sweet bread.  It was great, very delicious... just not quite what I was craving.

Slaw, Salmon and Bread... Yum!

When I re-heated my Crispy Skin Salmon with Fiery Asian Slaw, I decided I'd also pair this with the utterly-un-Asian Zucchini Bread, but with a twist!  I roasted some plum tomato slices (as well as some left-over zucchini) with a little drizzle of olive oil and salt.  When they were all nice and roasty, I reheated a serving of bread, then broiled the bread with tomato and sprinkles of Parmesan cheese on top (also topped remaining tomato and zucchini). A little drizzle of olive oil completed the delicious dish.


I should also note I re-seared the salmon, and did achieve the titicular* "crispy skin," so score!


I should also note that the modification of cheese and oil and zucchini and tomato would affect calories... but not too badly, I'm not crazy.  Much.


Result was utter deliciousness! Tomato and zucchini, sweet and salty of the cheese... perfection!  Un-Asian, but very delicious!


I still have a Thai stir fry to accomplish, and then a butternut squash pasta to bake!


Also... Day 19 of meeting all the WeightWatchers good health guidelines.  It may kill me, but I love that this is a winning streak.


* I don't know if this is a real word, but it was interesting what Windows thought I was trying to spell...

Happy Friday! Alt+0174. You're welcome.

TGIF, for real!


I guess many days of cooking and thinking about cooking wore me out from cooking... I did stir fry from a bag.  It was okay, and probably made so due to the nice boneless, skinless chicken breast we had on hand, as well as extra broccoli (thank you Hungry Girl for that suggestion!), some sliced green onions (green onions are awesome) and some of the husband's home-made garlic chili sauce.  I pretty much ate that without rice ... didn't feel like a starch.  Worked out nice and was very veggie.


After I threw together a frozen banana and some fat free milk and a tsp of vanilla.  YUM!  Made me look for other things to make with it, and I may try this recipe very soon.  I have all of the ingredients on hand currently... it looks awesome!


Been able to work in a little more exercise each day but I wish to get in even more.  I will need to get up 10 minutes after I go to bed at this rate.  I feel so very whiny about not losing any significant weight, but I can't say I'm displeased with here I'm at.  I still will not give up, it'll take as long as it takes.


Also... don't tell anyone, this is just between you and me.  And don't make any loud or sudden movements or you may scare it away but... today, as I was getting ready... (shhhh now...) I saw the teeniest, tiniest hint ... (of a tricep!)


(Squeeeeeeee!)

Why Everything®?

It's a phrase that, if you've met me in real life, you've heard me utter at least once.  The longer you've known me, the more you've heard me say it, write it... probably have expressed it not so much with words but with just the right glint in my eye.  If you are The Husband, it's probably one of the three phrases you think make up 70% of "things she says", along with Where's the measuring spoon? and I bought yarn today.

Perhaps you've laughed.  Perhaps you've thought I should go to an anger-management class.  Or, perhaps you're that friend who once purchased me this refrigerator magnet.

However, you may have also expressed a rather sarcastic Gee, thanks!  You may have pulled out your saddest of sad faces and said, Why?  Why do you hate me too?

So I feel like I should explain.  Except I won't.  I will, however, offer you these choices.  

1. I do.  I hate you, because I, in fact, hate everything®.
2. I round up.  It's easier to say than "I hate most things except these persons, places or things that I will now list in alphabetical order [alphabetical list of persons, places and things I don't hate], so obviously I don't mean you*."
3. It's just something I say, like "Where's the measuring spoon?" or "I bought yarn today."
4. Bacon.
5. I don't hate everything but, in fact, wished I hated everything because hate is an easy cop-out and absolute.  In fact, I deeply care about everything** and sometimes have varying levels of disappointment that I sometimes do not know how to deal with except to throw up my hands and spew utter nonsense.

So there you go.  You be the judge.

Ahem.

On some positive notes:

• Did not run again today (I hate everything®, just saying), but I'm a little glad since I would have likely repeat finding that random patch of ice and add further bruising.  So go me.
• With the assistance of The Husband made some lovely Cooking Light's Crispy Skin Salmon with Fiery Asian Slaw.  No real modifications except to reduce the salmon fillet size slightly, since I'm all WeightWatcher-y.  The skin did not become crispy (as I likely did not have my heat medium-high-enough), but it still came out very delicious.  The Husband approved, as it seems to be the first cooked salmon recipe he's liked and it's the first salmon recipe that I've liked enough that I'd make it again.  So go me s'more.
• Knit at least 2 rows of my sweater (Ravelry link to the pattern, you may need an account to see), so super yay me for actually trying today!
• Un-knit a row of my Autumn Leaves Stole, which may seem like negative progress... and, yes, it is... but it represents the growth of me not ripping back the entire project.  So go me, it's my birthday!*** 

Asia-inspired week will come to a close tomorrow with another WeightWatchers recipe.  After that... I'm getting some pizza, though next week may see an attempt at a more-different General Tso's recipe...

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* Can't really guarantee that based on whether I'm trying to be polite.  Just saying.  Re-read my entire list and relax... I probably really don't mean you.

** Then again, I may just be rounding up.

*** Depending on when you read this, it is likely not my actual birthday.  It certainly wasn't on the day I wrote this.****

**** You're returning the gift?  No wonder I hate everything®.

Sometimes, Things Can't Be Simple

• Did not get a chance to post yesterday (last night) due to lack of time.
• Have still been meeting my Healthy Guidelines every day.  Me exercising while sick was very comical except to the girl who lived it.
• Had our sushi night last night at Tokyo Sushi.  Soothes the soul.
• Ran out of OMG, Potato!  As a result, threw together another Oatmeal, back to the combination of butternut squash and apple.
• Fell in love with Pink Lady apples (and have now learned a little more about them thanks to that Wiki link.
• Weight loss still at a standstill, though I have lost 1/5th of a pound from last week.  Woo?
• Work is frustrating as things that should be simple and quick are anything but.
• Still have not knit, despite being given a couple of good opportunities.
• Running is now a continued issue.  I am wishing for spring to spring early, I do miss it and I hate running on a treadmill that much.  Especially if it is in Short Pump.
• Sorry Short Pump, I love your stuff but I cannot abide your traffic...
• Was a nice, warm day, and then I got to drive home in the dark and snow!
• In short... I hate everything®.

Tonight, Cooking Light's Crispy Skin Salmon with Fiery Asian Slaw...  Let's see how the streak goes.

Simple Sometimes is Best

Very brief as I am feeling very ill, but some things have to be said.

• Today, I woke up feeling dreadful.  It got worse for the large portion of the day, and is now finally subsiding (as in, my chest doesn't feel like it's going to implode and I drank enough tea to sooth the glass-swallowing throat, as well as enough tea to simply float away...).  The cold I started getting Saturday, it was like it paused to take a breath, and then yell out "YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT SICK IS!"  I hope it thinks I've learned my lesson, because I am done.

• WeightWatchers General Tso's Chicken is one of their most popular recipes.  I did mod it (because that's what I tend to do) by adding in some broccoli.  We ate, and The Husband ultimately did not approve (which is not to say he did not like it, but the name set up an expectation, and he did not find his expectation was met).  I, on the other hand, thought it was gorgeous, knowing full well from the picture it is not General Tso's Chicken.  It was, however, very tasty and flavorful.

• On the other hand, both The Husband and The Wife (hey, that's me) agree that all 3 people who read this blog and many others should go out now and make this Cooking Light Mongolian Beef.  Blog reading can wait.  This dish is not to be missed!  Unintentional mod of not having enough green onion (we only had about half on hand), which would have otherwise made the dish perfect.  The "over rice noodles" recommendation also spot-on.  Simply tasty and gorgeous and filling.  Almost didn't need the side salad which was largely based off of Cooking Light's Spinach Strawberry Salad, which served as a nice counterpart to the spicy beef and was in no way, shape or form Asian inspired.  Can't win them all... but The Husband did enjoy the flavor, so a win.

Yes.  That was a short post.  Going to go pass out again now.

Warm and Bakey

Unless it is summer (where I tend to go through cereal like a mad person), I like my breakfast hot and already prepared.  My first true attempts at make-ahead breakfast involved the WeightWatchers Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Oatmeal (which I've yet to make with pumpkin, but I have made with Butternut Squash, Apple, and a blend of those two things.


My newest attempt was a breakfast casserole.  Cooking Light's Hash Brown Casserole with Bacon, Onion and Cheese was very rich and creamy... and potato-ey, wow!  It is crazy that it serves six!  Very generous portions.


Intended mod: Used fat-free cheese.  It melted just fine based on recipe instructions, and shaved off a few calories.


Unintended mod: Realized I used up all my scallions, so no green onions in this one.  Also, I didn't have quite a cup of regular onion, so I subbed in some leftover red onion I had.


Verdict: will make again, but will maybe make it 8 portions and work on getting in more bacon flavor, which kind of got lost in the sea of onion and omg-potato.  I have to agree with The Husband on these things.

Sometimes, Mods Work... Sometimes, They Don't!

It's been a fun but tough weekend.  Still feeling the cold effects (and keep forgetting to down some Zicam) so there has been a lot of exhaustion and a lot of not getting certain things done (like the knitting).  


I did manage finally to get some cooking done today!


Last week, I wanted to have an Asian themed week of dinners , and that plan (for one reason or seven others) didn't quite work out.  This week, Asia week is on a roll!


Had the unofficial start yesterday when we hit Korean BBQ at Korean Garden.  Despite The Husband's intense desire to do Korean BBQ this entire time (many years lamenting there was no where near by to try), we weren't quite sure what to expect.  We went with a bunch of friends and, oddly enough, neither of us actually had BBQ!


He had Bibimbap as we'd seen Alton Brown extol it's virtues (at least a particular location's version) on The Best Thing I Ever Ate.  He was not entirely pleased, as he was thinking a lot of the stuff would be warmer, and served over the rice.  He had rice to mix in, but I think he was thinking one thing and got another, so he didn't enjoy it as much as he might have.


I was deeply into my cold and not feeling well, so after much (read barely any) debate I went for a dish I knew wasn't as healthy as it may seem:  Kimchi Jjigae.  Spicy kimchi, tofu and pork stew (which I know had a lot of oil) that came with sides of rice and poached egg (and here's the thing about eating Korean... there are a million little side dishes of veggies and things... you will not go hungry).  The soup was delicious, and there was no way I could finish the whole thing.  I gave the rest to The Husband who will likely eat it for lunch tomorrow... and I think he'll be much more pleased, it was hot in all senses of the word, and very delicious.  (And he knows this, because he had some before putting away the left overs).


Tonight, I did make the spicy soba noodle recipe (had no idea it was Smitten Kitchen until now!).  Made lots of mods to it:
- Less soba, that is way too much soba
- A little more mushroom
- Added julienned carrot and zucchini
- Used red cabbage, probably the biggest change here
- A few other things


What I was left with was utterly delicious!  Unfortunately I could have gone a little more on the sriracha, but that may be my cold not tasting it.  The Husband did approve the flavor, and I was pretty pleased.  My last mod was that while the recipe serves 4... even reducing the soba produced a lot of food, but it was perfect as a serves 6.


My adventures continued (again, a little Smitten Kitchen inspired) simply No Pudge brownies with some Chipotle Chili Powder, Cinnamon and Nutmeg thrown in (and a pinch of Cayenne).  I made them up cake-style, and into brownie pan they went.  Another winner!  At first, The Husband advised perhaps more chili could be added... but after his second brownie, he decided it could definitely taste the heat.  Even I could... and I enjoyed the texture of the brownie, I think this is my way to make them for the future!


So, those were things that worked.  I had a couple of failures today too (boo-hoo!)


- Philly Cheese 'Shroom - I tried out using the WW string cheese (to get more cheese) rather than the shredded fat free cheddar cheese.  I also added a small amount of heat (do you see a theme here) at The Husband's suggestion.  While the heat worked, the cheese did not.  Very tasty, but the string cheese, while it works for the Pizza-fied Chicken recipe, does not work here.


- Butternut Squash Fries - Again, delicious, but didn't quite work.  I saw an opportunity here to get a healthy oil in, so I did add some EVOO to the mix.  No, no... the fries did not turn out as advertised.  My oven may also be wonky... some of the "fries" were soggy, and others were burnt to a crisp.  Of course, this is because I did not follow the recipe as written.  Due to taste of those surviving fries, I will give this one another go and do it as written.  Because sometimes you don't really need to mod a good thing.


Well, I've babbled enough.  I have more recipes to try out this week, and perhaps I'll knit a bit.  Who knows?!  Now I'm... ha, off to cook before bed, need to think about breakfast for tomorrow! :)


Have a good week everyone!

Healthy Is Sick!

A couple of years (and over 150 pounds ago) I always felt sick.  I was either sick, or I was sicker.  It was the natural state of things, and likely because even though declared physically healthy by the doctor, I was obese.  Makes sense to me.

At the time, sickness held no real value.  It was just a constant state of being.  The Husband maintained that I always seemed sick after I ate.  I felt more like Arnold J. Rimmer, when told he constantly failed his astronavigation exam.  "Constantly fails the exam? I'd hardly call eleven times "constantly". I mean, if you eat roast beef eleven times in your life, one would hardly say that person constantly eats roast beef. No, it would be a rare, nay, freak occurrence."

So flash forward to today.  Most days, I feel great.  Genki even!  It's incredible to feel... incredible.  I usually want run and jump and skip and play.


Then are the days I get sick.  Being able to tell the difference between sick and sick... not quite so incredible.  Right now, I have a cold.  Not sure where I got it from, and I will not be thanking the person who gave it to me.  The bad thing is, I am pretty sure this is not as sick as one can be (it's just getting to me I guess because healthy is so darn healthy).  I fear that day.


Speaking of fear, I really hope it is warm (not too warm) and non-rainy on 10K this year.  I just realized that the weather could be anything.  Last year it was bitter cold, and I was pretty out of shape.  Not that I am the paragon of health (even when I feel healthy, thanks).


So finally, the dinner docket (either tonight or tomorrow) will be this:  nice Spicy Soba Noodles.  I've been obsessing over it since we'd been over a friend's house and smelled it... ah, so good!  That being said... I have also been obsessing over it because I'll be modding the living heck out of it!  Less noodles, more veggies and color and... ah, can't wait to see what kind of thing I make out of it!  Hope it is edible, wish me luck!


(Hopefully I don't sneeze all over it and make The Husband sick... but his illness is pretty inevitable, we've never been able to not share colds...)

Happy Friday! I Made a Philly Cheese 'Shroom Sandwich!

Thank goodness it is Friday (and, more importantly, after work on a Friday) because I was having a mad case of Friday-itis.  I really wanted to just go out and swing on a swing set or run around and skip and jump and play.  Every three hours after hard work I'd look and see that 4 minutes went by.  


Today took forever!


However it is done and then I finally got to scratch that itch I had.  I made myself a Philly Cheese 'Shroom Sandwich!  


It is not a recipe I've made all my own... I am going to work on that.  It is largely based on this Weight Watchers recipe for a renovated Cheese Steak Sandwich (which in of itself is good but...)

• There was a day I was in the mood for something slathered in onions, mushrooms and cheese, so I looked for a burger recipe.
• The recipe I linked looked good, but had no mushrooms.
• I made the recipe and ate it... but it didn't quite get the itch.  Why?
• I decided that if it only tasted more like mushrooms and onions, and less like steak...

Thus, the idea was born.  The mods include:

• Removed the steak.
• Replaced with huge portobello mushrooms.
• Replaced the onion and sugar with sweet onion (vidalia) for a natural sweet.
• Sautéd with extra-virgin olive oil (get that healthy oil in girl!)

... and that's about it.  Recipe as normal otherwise.  

The result... "deliciousnessness".  Itch well scratched, and I was over the moon. The Husband also gave it his seal of approval (and went so far as to say that he didn't miss the meat... and this boy loves his steak, so that's saying something!)

Of course, as I can never leave well enough alone, I will mod it a little more... play with the recipe a bit to make it well and truly my own, and then share with this blog and anyone who may care.  In any case, anyone can really try to do it based on what I have so far.  Making food my own really makes it so much more enjoyable!  I love to cook!

The Husband got his sandwich on a fancy, wheat-but-calorific kaiser roll.  I opted to try out using Arnold Bread Sandwich Thins Multi-grain bread.  With low cal bread, you can either get volume but no substance, or substance but ... a flat bread (construction-wise I mean!)  I opted for the latter for this since I figured the mushroom and onion would need something to stick to.  I am very pleased with this bread, it's very tasty and an excellent conveyance of sandwich contents!  Will use again (for this sandwich again... it will be made again!)

On this note, I say this.  Watch Bitchin' Kitchen.  It's just a fun and awesome show!

A Wii­™ Bit Overweight

Every now and again, The Husband and I go out to Buffalo Wild Wings with some friends.  I usually wind up getting the same thing every time:


Naked tenders
Buffalo chips
Salad (hold the cheese and croutons!) with smidge' of fat free ranch


Not the splurgiest of splurges one could have there, but I've found every time I'm satisfied with the meal... so I find it hard to break the habit.  I am a creature of habit sometimes.


Of course, my running habit is now broken as I have not run for almost a week (aside from my ill-fated attempt).  I will try again tomorrow morning, hopefully get back into pace with my week 3 of 8 weeks to 10K training.  My 10K will be here before I know it.  I won't be ready... but at least this time I do feel like I will make it through without cursing non-stop between miles 5 and 6, only to have immense relief drop to sheer horror when the realization hits that there is .2 miles to go... and then a mile or so walk to the car...


Ahem.


So I have been exercising at least.  Verizon On Demand has kept me "entertained" with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and CRUNCH Action Sports Chisel (I may end up purchasing both as I do tend to like them, for all the pain they cause...)  Both wind up kicking my patootie since I'd neglected any strength or toning up until recently.


Today I even checked in with Wii Fit, which I had not done in a while.  It chastised me for not checking in for a while (I tend to do other stuff for exercise is all) and, as I go through the body tests, the thing is telling me that my healthy weight is a weight I'll never be... because it is too small.  It wants me to be 10lbs lighter than my goal weight (which I find ambitious, and just small enough if I can get there), but seriously.  It makes me want not want to play for the sheer fact that while I'm finally not obese (and well beyond not being obese, so yay for that), I'll never be a normal weight.


Whereas my husband now is a normal Wii™ weight, but still 10lbs above where he wants to be.  Stupid, sexist silly video game.


Ahem.


On a high note, have been hitting my Good Health Guidelines (according to WW at least) since January 10th.  So yay me for getting in the silly healthy oils and 30 minutes of activity a day!


Yes, I'll toot my own horn.  TOOT, baby!  I've otherwise had a pretty crappy day, so at least I have some happy to think about.  


Tomorrow, I'll likely knit, and I'll finally make my mushroom sandwich I've been craving to make since last week... let the cooking experiments begin!

I Love That Movie!

The Good:

• I did not gain weight according to this week's weigh-in.
• Delicious sushi @ Tokyo Sushi.
• Supernatural with good friends (with bonus Chi and Tea!)
• Bananas!  They are zero PointsPlus after all... and go well with Chi and Tea!

The Bad:

• I did not lose weight according to this week's weigh-in.  (I know.  Shaddup.)
• Undeserved ache in my shoulder.
• Fully deserved ache in my thigh.
• Feeling of restlessness.

The Ugly:

• Me after a session with a Jillian Michaels video.
• The already mentioned thigh.
• No knitting accomplished again.
• Feeling super cold on the warmest day we've had in a while.

And... finally:

The Utterly Hilarious:
Me entering my weight into the online tools to be congratulated on my weight loss, followed by the announcement I lost 0 pounds!  I suppose a maintenance can be considered a loss of pounds I didn't gain... really?  In any case, when I saw the pop-up, I laughed for a good while.

No cooking tomorrow, but I have bread I think will work for my crazy low cal mushroom onion sandwich idea... hope to try this weekend, as well as this recipe our friends were making when we watched Supernatural that smelled heavenly.  'Cause they tend to do that, and it tends to be good. :)

Hours Earlier, or at least 30 Seconds...

Today's meal was a repeat of Smoky Pan-Grilled Pork Chops with the pictured side of Lemon Broccolini and the not-so-pictured side of Betty Crocker Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  I'd mentioned this meal on Facebook and here's a quick run-down:

• The pork was flavorful, juicy and delicious!  I did mod this by using twice the smoky paprika that was called for because... well, I'd never had smoky paprika before, and really never found paprika to be in any way, shape or form flavorful, but this stuff... oh!  Such wonderful aroma.  Still subtle (at least to my palette at this point), and simply gorgeous.  The other modification was using our Cuisinart Griddler (instead of a griddle pan which we so haven't owned in many a year).  The flavor was gorgeous and the device cooked the meat to perfection.
• The Broccolini was amazing.  I'd never had Broccolini before... it's shaped sort of like asparagus, and the flavor is like broccoli, but milder (to me).  A hint of sweet (very, very subtle).  This was a quick cook and with the lemon... heaven.  I will be having more of this stuff in the future, I'd be curious to see what I can do with it...
• The potatoes were lazy, yes! However, a calorie bargain at 80 a serving, the serving was plenty, and... come on people, it tasted like garlic potatoes!!!  For an instant, it was pretty damn tasty... and tasting of garlic.  I'm not hard to please in this respect! 

So today came one of life's valuable lessons, and my first real running injury.  When there is ice on the ground...  when there is the possibility of black ice being ... out there, hidden... one should not go running!


I poked my head out and saw that my neighborhood did not look icy at all on the ground (though as daylight started to reveal, very icy in the tree area).  I'd already spent the last 3 days not running, and I didn't feel like making it a 4th day.  Since there was... weather, I figured I'd limit my run to within my neighborhood and the one across the street, limiting my actual street running, as folks with cars cannot deal with cars, weather and crazy runners.


(Not that I run like crazy... I just happen to be crazy and run.)


So off I go, and as I'd surmised, my neighborhood was not icy.  Then I hit the neighboring neighborhood and... now get this, I'm still in my warm up walk, 4 minutes of the 5 I do... I feel tiny, tiny slips of the feet.  I get out of my normal tune-out-of-life-to-get-through-this-cold-run haze to see that there is ice in the neighborhood next door.  Does that even make sense?


I see a big patch of the old slippery stuff further down the block and decide I'll get down to the pavement to circumvent it.  The thought was occurring to me that perhaps I shouldn't have gone out to run when it happened.  Quite ungracefully, quite inelegantly, I hurtle off of the sidewalk.


I landed heavily on the palm of my right hand and manage to clip my right thigh painfully on the sidewalk as I fell.  I was able to pop up, and then hobbled back home (wasn't very far as I was only just finishing the warm up walk).  No broken bones, and I was able to verify at home that there were no abrasions.  Leg looked like it might bruise up nicely (it's doing a great job so far!)  So... like a crazy person, I pop on Jillian Michaels, have her beat me up a bit and later slosh off to work.


The palm of my hand still kind of feels on fire, though there are no visible abrasions (and only a small bit of redness).  Throughout the day, the thigh has hurt more and more... so now I worry about blood clots, bruising, not being able to run for several days, slipping backward in my 10K training... and many other dark thoughts.  Hopefully I can salvage some work, and soon, considering the 1st weekend of April already feels like it's right around the corner.  January's already nearly done.


So no knitting today at all.  Again.  Early day tomorrow, with weigh in. In what is also good news (for me) no cooking for the next two nights!  Tomorrow is sushi and Thursday is Buffalo Wild Wings... So wish me luck with the weigh in and then not gaining a bunch of weight before next week's!

New Blog Smell

Hello Internet.  We meet again...


I decided to start a new place to blog about Life, The Universe, And Everything (not necessarily the book... but please, do go read that book).  I figured that everyone was entitled to my opinion, no matter how strange or nonsensical it may be.


Here's a little bit about me:

• I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY (Ah-ha!  That explains the name!)
• I am in my mid-thirties (as of this post).
• I graduated from University of Richmond (in VA) with a degree in English Literature.
• I currently work in IT.
• My hobbies include cooking, knitting, taking the longest and laziest way to learn Japanese, occasionally painting something, amateur photography,  immature behavior, and fitting in napping and slacking in there somewhere.
• I've lost 153 pounds, with a goal of losing 171 pounds total.

You can expect to find me going on about weight loss, cooking, knitting, and my lack of time to do anything, including blogging.  I hope you'll enjoy your little glimpses into crazy!