Hungry?

First let me tell you I never forget to eat. EVER.

I might not get around to eating - but I'm never someone who thinks "Oh look at that - it's 8:30. Did I have dinner yet?"

It's more like "Oh look at that. I haven't eaten. It's 8:30. I better get on it."

Just so you know.

Anyway I wasn't very hungry this afternoon. I had some pretzels and hummus when I came home from the office (which - turns out - was a complete waste of time today - the person who was scheduled to tape cancelled last minute).

I didn't want to cook. I had taken out a piece of tilapia but I just didn't wanna. So look for that tomorrow.

Quick, easy, one pot, some sort of vegetable (I know. This is pushing it but humor me) = TJ's Dumplings/Pot Stickers w/some teriyaki sauce.




(I really need to learn how to use this new camera when it's darker out. I read the manual but I can't get a handle on it. Grrr.)
And then - as a "I lost a pound!" treat I had this:



This is the peanut butter indulgence brownie my mom bought me at Sweet Melissa on Sunday.



I ate about a third of it.



It had peanut brittle in it - which was a little too much for me. Some people are turned off by things that have too much chocolate but for me there is no such thing. I'd like these more with just the chocolate and peanut butter and ganache I think.

Maybe I should try and make them sometime.

And bring them to work or give them away so I don't eat them all.

Two Ways

Happy Wednesday to you.

I'm home - until about 3:30 when I venture to the office. My neighborhood never ceases to amaze me. Today, the three times I ventured outside (1. to run an errand 2. to the gym 3. to M's to weigh in) there was heavy duty construction equipment littering my block. The street is blocked off - guys are dragging lengths of pipes and hoses - there is a 4 ft wide and 2 ft deep trench spanning almost the entire block right now.

And it's actually quiet. Go figure. :\

First things first. I weighed in and I'm down another pound. That puts me at 59 lbs lost now. I have another post I want to write about weight loss and how different life feels at this weight than when I was 59 lbs heavier.

Anyway - as much as I was looking for 2 lbs lost this week I can't help but feel pretty great. :)

Dinner was eaten last night prior to chorus rehearsal.



I rarely eat regular pasta anymore but my one biggest complaints is that there is just not enough variety in pasta shapes with whole wheat. You can get thin, rotini and penne for the most part.

Sometimes I just like fun curly pasta.

This morning I ran out to Trader Joe's to stock up a little. I got some nice Dover Sole that you'll see in the coming days for sure, some fresh veggies, chocolate edamame, cheese and English muffins.



Which is what I had for breakfast.

Wednesday lunches - as I think I've said before - I like to be warm and filling. I typically would not use meat sauce as pizza topping but I did today. I used 2 TJ's pitas and went to town. Added some fresh mozzarella, part skim ricotta and parmesan too.



These next two weeks are going to be an experiment of sorts - mostly because I am p-oo-r already and I just got paid. Next month my rent goes DOWN so I'll have a bit of a cushion. My bonus from last month got taxed like crazy and I got new clothes, new hair, and paid off a few debts so the start of October is going to be a little rocky. I think I can do it though. I've got plenty of food in the freezer and pantry, I've gotten my produce at TJs so it's less expensive. There won't be much going out - but I have tickets to the NY Food & Wine Festival already so I have that to look forward to next week.

We'll see if I can actually pull it off. Being financially responsible is a lot like losing weight. Going into debt and gaining weight stress me out to no end. Getting out of debt was a huge factor in my losing weight this time I'm completely convinced. I ate because I was stressed, I slept poorly, I felt bad about myself and my situation and used every excuse not to work out or eat well.

I'm so glad I'm not there anymore.

Not sure what I'm doing for dinner tonight. Maybe something on the lighter side.

Stay tuned.

Tuna Salad

I am pleased to report that I sucked it up and made it to the gym this morning. I barely made it to 2 miles but I ran for most of it on a 2.0 incline at 5.8 (10 min mile-ish). I felt really good after I did so yay me.

Standard breakfast today and some salad for lunch.




With some chips on the side.



In other news it seems some jackass stole my debit card number. Joke's on them since I had transferred the money in my checking account to my Money Market over the weekend and the charge was denied. SUCKERS! Bank of America was great though - first calling and emailing me and then giving me a temporary card on the spot.

Note to self: There are upsides to being perpetually broke.

Looong day ahead. Rehearsal tonight. I've got dinner here so I'll post about that later.

Weigh in and working from home tomorrow. Woo hoo!!

Later taters.

Purple Potatoes

No gym for me today. I guess I needed a day off. I'm going to try and go in the morning and then do my long walk to rehearsal to make up for it.

Weigh in is on Wednesday.

Eeeks.

I'm interested to see what adding yoga has done to my little routine here. If I need to step it up or if it's OK to use it as a substitute.

At TJs a week or so ago I bought a bag of "Confetti Potatoes" which were red, yellow and purple. I've been intrigued and wanted to make some purple mashed.

And so - tonight I did.

I roasted a split chicken breast with some red onion - on 375 for about 35 minutes.



I cubed some potatoes - 2 of the purple and one small yellow.



Put them in a pot of salted cold water and brought to a boil and simmered for about 6 minutes. I drained them and put them back in the pot. I added 2 tbsp of light sour cream and 1 tbsp of unsalted butter, S&P to taste. I whipped them with a hand mixer.



Dinner is served.



I ate half the chicken and I still have about a half cup of potatoes left.

I'm going to try and be asleep before 11 PM tonight so on that note - I bid you adieu.

Unfocused

I went to work today without my glasses.

I have like 20/30 vision maybe 20/40. Point is in itself it's not debilitating.

But I also have an astigmatism. Everything is blurry.

I had to leave work and go home in order to be able to function while staring at a computer - so that's where I'm working now.

Lemme backtrack to last evening and tell you what I made for dinner.

Pasta with Meat Sauce
(Made with ground turkey - mostly just because my supermarket was completely out of ground beef)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 large clove garlic minced
1 lb ground turkey
1.5 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1.5 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup red wine
1 tbsp parmesan (I added a chunk and then grated a bit more in later)
1/4 cup fresh basil - chopped

(I think that's it!)





Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil.


Add turkey....




Cook through till brown...er...gray. It tastes good. I promise!!






Add tomato sauce and paste. Clean out can with red wine.




Add spices.



And cheese.



And fresh basil.




Simmer for about an hour. Boil pasta based on package directions. Serve with more grated cheese and a tablespoon of part-skim ricotta. And I bought a loaf of bread - froze most of it and made a little wedge to a)test the sauce and b) eat on the side.



I have plenty left over and enough sauce to freeze for later.

And then there's today. I ate an English for breakfast - then I came home and ate the following:



Gym in a few hours then another yummy dinner since I am home in time to cook it.

Stay tuned!!

Birthdays and Brunch

Some weekends I have nothing to do. This weekend I was a busy bee.

I went to a birthday party last evening and had a most wonderful time.

Case in point - I got there at about 8 PM and this is what time I got home.



My friend Maddy is a lovely hostess and put out quite a spread. Take a gander.







I had some wine and a little bit of everything pictured above. Delicious.

My friend Carrie made the birthday cake a la Julia Child. It was chocolate almond rum deliciousness.







They we played a round of Celebrity which is always a good time.




I slept till almost 9 and then made a bacon and cheese omlette with roasted potatoes on the side.





I went to the gym and ran 2 miles. Then my mom and my Aunt Mary picked me up to take me to a belated birthday brunch at Sweet Melissa in Brooklyn.




It was amazing.

There's the bake shop and the restaurant. We had to wait for a table so we went to the shop first.



How cute is this cake?



My mom bought me this to bring home. Pricey - but I cannot wait to eat it. I intend to take a few bites at a time to make it last.



Then there was lunch.



Garden Vegetable Chowder
With a tomato and vegetable stock (vegetarian)
The Tuscan
Roasted chicken breast, fresh goat cheese, roasted red peppers, roasted eggplant and homemade basil pesto. Served with green salad.

And dessert (split 2.5 ways. My mom didn't eat much of it)



Valrhona chocolate Brownie Sundae
Sweet M's Valrhona chocolate brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, homemade Valrhona hot fudge & freshly whipped cream

I loved being in Brooklyn. It's so neighborhoody and chill. If I had to choose any other place to live in NYC I'd pick Cobble Hill or Carroll Gardens I think. I'm going to try and spend more time there.

Fall is definitely here. It's chilly and damp. Today is the kind of day you just want to stay inside. I'm going to run to the store really quick and then make some pasta sauce.

And the Yanks just clinched the AL East title. Not a bad day.

Carbo loading

Today's yoga instructor was more upbeat and fun - I definitely liked this class better than the one last week.

I also did an L shaped handstand!

Is that any sort of a big deal? It felt like one for me.

I'm still so curious as to how many calories I actually burn though. I was sweating and working pretty hard - but it's so different than cardio I can't tell.

Anyway - I walked home and was craving a bagel. In an effort to not become a puddle while drinking fermented grapes I am taking precautions.

I stopped at Pick-A-Bagel and got a whole wheat with light scallion cream cheese:



I ate the entire thing - with about a 1/4 cup of the cream cheese taken off in the end.

My pre-party dinner was going to be dumplings/pot stickers but I am totally out of soy sauce. I raided the freezer and came up with these:



These are tasty but a word of warning. The package has a whopping 20 grams of fat. I saved one, added some spinach and a tablespoon or so of light sour cream.

I also cooked them in the oven rather than the microwave. I don't like to actually cook things in the microwave much. Steaming...sure. But if it's something I can put in the oven I much prefer it.



I need to now straighten up both myself and this apartment and then head out to the party.

Happy Saturday to you all!

Stalker

It's Saturday. I'm dressed and ready to go to yoga in about a half hour. I'm trying this class with a different instructor today to see which one I like better. I've definitely decided yoga will be part of my weekend workouts.

And I do enjoy yoga. At this point I like that it's something different for me to do and challenging. It's making me think. I can do Zumba mostly on autopilot and running is as autopilot as you can be. I'm not sure though about the chanting and the more spiritual aspects of it. Maybe I just need to practice more. Maybe that would be good for me.

I was really busy yesterday so I have some stuff to catch up on.

Lunch was spinach with half a roasted chicken breast and the rest of my bruschetta.



Then I went to the 6:25 showing of the film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. I'm not going to pretend that I knew anything much about David Foster Wallace before. But I know a lot (probably too much) about that guy who plays Jim Halpert.

Who was there too - by the way.

Did I forget to mention that? :)

Overall I really enjoyed the movie. There were some great performances and I found the whole concept of the piece really interesting. Interesting enough to give the novel a read sometime soon. But there is really no use pretending that I was there for any other reason than to...as my friend Andrea put it...breathe the same air as him so I'm not going to even try.

Sometimes my inner 13 year old fangirl likes to go see independant movies directed by tall handsome TV stars. And because she lives in NYC - she can. :)

I walked home and oh! Here's another thing. I tend to look down when I walk. Always have. Not sure if it's because I like to hide or like to be sure I don't trip over my own feet (it absolutely happens - OFTEN) and for the second time in almost as many months I found a $10 bill on the sidewalk.

Sweet!

I mean not even like a quarter or a dollar. TEN DOLLARS. It's kind of like winning a very little lottery.

I used that $10 to buy two slices of pizza. I show you one here but I totally ate another that was fresh mozzarella and tomato.



And it was good.

Pre-yoga breakfast was a whole wheat English with extra sharp cheddar.




Not sure what the rest of today will bring. I might be meeting my mom and her friend later this afternoon. Tonight is a party for my dear friend Maddy's birthday.

Last year at this time I was in a little bit of an emotional state (read: I was a mess) about the (albeit completely expected and absolutely inevitable) end of a relationship and my lot in life. I pretended I was perfectly fine - then went to the San Gennaro Feast and drank wine and then Happy Hour with my friend Diane and drank more wine and then showed up at Maddy's woefully underdressed and incredibly overserved.

I'm gonna try and remedy that this evening. The fact that everyone at that party is still speaking to me speak volumes about what great friends I have.