Am I Insane? I think not.

So I may or may not have been guilted into working out this afternoon but not nearly enough to continue Insanity.  I'm not insane. Even though the person responsible for this guilt is also an Insanity challenger, I know after failing completely to perform at any decent level during the first 2 workouts, I'm no where near fit enough to even attempt such madness.  But I did recently purchase Zumba for our Kinect. 

I must say...minus botching the moves in my front picture window (note to self: put up drapes...) where everyone and their brother can see me in my sweaty glory, I really do enjoy this as an exercise.  Now that my review class is complete and I've got several months yet to study for the big exam, I will have to increase my work out to 3-4 times a week.  The past 3 weeks has been 1-2 times a week depending on whether or not I decided to go out in the middle of the week.

Now after about 45 minutes of offbeat, tripping over my own two feet, I feel accomplished since I finally managed a work out this week.  Despite my oddly joyful demeanor for the last 4 days, I've been quite unproductive in terms of managing my dieting and exercise.  Perhaps that may be the root cause of my misplaced contentment?  Most likely not, since I do feel refreshed even now after I broke down, got my heart rate up, and peed from my pores.  After a good long hot shower, I was even more relaxed and the joyous week continues.  Now its time for a pasta dinner.  Feed my belly!! nom nom

The Madness (and the non-diet) continues...

So, the heartbreak of Purdue losing to VCU has passed.  I really thought they'd at least get to see the Sweet 16.  Apparently not...and though my bracket has many many red lines, surprisingly I'm still in it. (at least, in the one bracket where I didn't have Purdue go all the way)  All of my Final 4 teams are still alive, all but one of my Elite 8 is still alive also.  However, obviously, that can change at any moment.

I wish the weekend wasn't over...

Friday night, the husband ditched me to watch Purdue play in Round "2" of March Madness. We had opera tickets for Carmen, so I took my friend Stephanie and we made a girl date out of it.  On a recommendation from a friend, we went to this fantastic Thai restaurant for dinner in the loop.  We splurged on dessert and got mango with sticky rice AND banana spring rolls with coconut ice cream.  This was the first time I'd ever watched Carmen and I was pleasantly entertained.  I loved it.  Although by the end, I started thinking about the Bugs Bunny opera episodes and wasn't quite as moved as a normal classy opera-faring individual should be.  Of course, it wasn't like Steph and I were being all that 'classy' to begin with.  At one of the intermissions our conversations drifted towards male ejaculations.  I certainly felt mature when I overheard the two gentlemen seated next to us talking about business models, and there we were talking about jizz. Yeah, we're real sophisticated..said in my snooty voice.

Saturday after being productive and finally getting my oil changed, and getting lectured by the auto specialists for the poor maintenance of our vehicles, I spent the rest of the day baking and cooking.  I tried these homemade funfetti cupcakes posted by Evan B on SwEEts by e.  They just looked so damn delicious and I had the opportunity to bake so I did.  It was also a beautiful day out so I had the dogs outside and the door open. 

Mmm..funfetti!

Yes, I have engraved spatulas. They were a wedding gift...came with an engraved cocktail shaker.  My Tita Judy knows what's gonna get used in my house! :-P

Pre-baked....

...and decorated with colored buttercream frosting

They are absolutely delicious!  I really should bake more often. I love to bake and cook...hubby is hardly allowed in my kitchen, although he is the grill master.  Here he goes prepping a rub for the pork butt he smoked yesterday:

"hmm, what do i need?"

There's not much room in the kitchen for the both of us, and then there's always the puppy who never leaves our sides even in a big roomy house...

i love to bask in the warm sun!

he used all my spices!

I did mention I let the dogs out to play right?

he's so photogenic..

mm breakfast...for lunch.

I was enjoying myself in my kitchen, so I continued the baking extravaganza...with the homemade thin mints I told myself I would attempt last month. 

I think maybe it's still worth it to buy the $4 box of crack thin mints every year.  This was much more complicated than I would normally be comfortable doing unless I was in a serious baking mood as I was over the weekend.

the hardest part...getting a thin coating of chocolate w/o breaking the cookie!

finally done.

OK...now I'm starving.  Time for left over pork butt. :-)  I haven't uploaded those pictures yet so I'll save that experience for a later post. That, and it was so delicious it deserves its own entry.  <3

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy #(@!

By name, I am catholic. By practice...I don't know what it is.  I'm a sucker for traditions however, and therefore still follow the 'no meat on Fridays' that somewhere along the line became some kind of homage to our fasting ancestors during Lent.  As lent approaches, I find I have no idea what I will "give up" for this period of 40 days and 40 nights. With exception to last year, I've not had any successful attempts at fasting from one of any number of my vices, which unsurprisingly have all been food related.  I routinely attempt to give up soda...and within a week, fail.  I once tried to give up dessert.  Again, fail. 

My only success has been giving up all meat save for seafood, just last year.  As I'm notoriously carnivorous, it seemed it would be a daunting 40 days only eating fish and shrimp. At the beginning, I struggled to find ways to make my meals interesting and flavorful.  By Easter, I found I had a surprisingly easy meat free month and a half.  In fact, I'd come to not crave meat at all, and although I did break my meat fast and partook in the Easter ham, I didn't have a "Hallelujah, AMEN" moment as the ham passed between my lips.  Not like the husband who gave up coffee last year and went straight back to multiple cups of the beverage the day after Easter was over. 

I still consider myself a carnivore.  I love meat.  Give me a nice juicy steak and I'm gonna eat it.  No regrets or sympathy for the bovine creature that gave its life to feed me.  However, I've been noticing an increased craving for fish the past year as well.  And I wasn't much of a fish person prior to last year's lent period.  True, my husband has gotten me to enjoy fish when we go to Florida, and I've always loved shellfish.  And true we finally had a place here smack dab in our neighborhood that sold good quality fish. (alas, our fish monger has had to close up shop due to the recession and relocated to Indianapolis so we no longer have him)  But, before last year, I would prefer to eat something with beef or chicken in it over fish.

...Now I'm craving me some steamed blue crab.  Oh man I'm hungry.

Back to the original dilemma...what to give up this year? If I was more of a 'devout' catholic I suppose I'd give up something really important.  However, since I'm not...I'll stick to my (unhealthy) food vices.  Actually I will probably give up meat again and add something else to try and reduce my intake of.  Perhaps I will finally succeed at giving up soda this year.  Maybe the 'fastfood' joints like McD's and Wendys won't be seeing me for the next 2 months.  All three? 

My girl scout cookie addiction...

Every year, it never fails, at least one mother brings in that glossy tri-fold order form offering the greatest treats ever invented....the girl scout cookie.  Continuing to perpetuate my unending addiction to the best of them all, the thin mint.  If left unattended, I will eat the entire box in one sitting.  The order form has changed many many times, names have changed, cookies dropped from the selection list, etc...but the one thing that has always been constant is the thin mint. But of course, its the best seller!

Last month, our resident girl scout mom brought in the order form and of course I had to order some.  At $4 a box though, I curbed my addiction and only ordered 4 boxes of thin mints, 1 box to leave at my desk for munchies and 3 boxes to go home and be devoured by the husband.  I also ordered a box of samoas, previously known as caramel delites.  The delectable combination of chocolate, caramel, and coconut adds a new layer of mind blowing sweetness that only makes my taste buds do a happy dance.  Yet, nothing the sweet samoa offers holds a candle to the minty crispness of the thin mint.  Every crunchy bite of peppermint flavored chocolate explodes in my mouth causing an eruption of endorphins to surge through my blood, creating blissful euphoria for the few seconds it takes to devour one cookie.  I cannot stop at just one little taste, I must have more!


There must be more to the cookie than a simple chocolate wafer covered in peppermint chocolate, yet as I examine it inside and out using all my senses I can find no such difference.  We have tried once to make homemade thin mints last year after the last of the seasonal cookies were ingested...it didn't turn out so well.  It is quite difficult to make such a small skinny cookie.  I will attempt to create this delicacy in my home kitchen again this year, keeping at least one sleeve available for taste testing.  But sooner or later, it will get eaten.  Hopefully I am able to find the best replica recipe somewhere in this world...that's what the internet is for is it not? Many people have come up with 'thin mint' knock-offs, but from what I can tell so far...none are the right consistency for the wafer cookie, or the right amount of peppermint, or light and flaky just as the original. 

I most recently found this recipe for "Homemade Thin Mints"  and I hope with everything in my belly it's close.  The picture looks awfully close to the real thing...doesn't it? <----------
Maybe this weekend I will vainly attempt to recreate it in my kitchen.  I know the husband would be all for it if I could concoct such tastiness with my own two hands and he wouldn't have to wait for girl scout cookie season.

My cookies have arrived, though I asked my co-worker to hold them hostage since I haven't paid for them yet.  And if I receive them and take them home I'm liable to forget to pay her.  I did snag a sleeve of thin mints, and have managed to refrain from eating it all...but now I have the taste in my mouth and it's bringing out my inner cookie monster....*roar*

I'm not sure I can hold out from eating the rest of them before the end of the day.  My hope is to bring the rest of the sleeve to my PE review class tonight so I can snack on them whilst sitting through a session with the most incredibly boring speaker/lecturer in this series thus far.  Just another hour to go and I should be good to take them to class with me.

COOOKIES!! NOM NOM NOM...

'Tis the Season to give thanks...for office closings and other things.

Cool thing about this office...we close for the holidays.  Bad thing about closing for the holidays...we're required to use PTO.  Oh, I suppose I could just not get paid for those days, but what's the point in that?  Good thing I get 15 PTO days every year.

Now, I've only been here for 3 holiday seasons so far, but it usually works out to only having to take 3-4 PTO between Thanksgiving and New Years.  Unfortunately, this year the way Christmas and New Years fall on the weekend, I get kind of screwed and have to take 5 PTO days.  I haven't been keeping diligent track of my PTO this year, but by rough estimate, I think I've used up my quota.  Between a few long weekends here and there, plus sick days, adding all that up on my fingers...eh, c'est la vie. I can't clock time regardless since business is closed for the whole week between Christmas and New Years. Might as well enjoy that time off, paid or no.

It's almost Thanksgiving, and I have bought a total of 2 presents for Christmas.  I'm falling behind here.  I fully intend to take advantage of any deals this weekend.  Now, I'm not one to partake in the frenzy that is Black Friday typically since it involves large murderous mobs of psycho soccer moms and thrifty old ladies, so I don't imagine I will be willing to change that this year.  But, luckily I've heard of a few online deals...plus there's always Cyber Monday. 

In keeping the spirit of the holidays, (and hell yes, I am and have been playing Christmas music for a couple weeks now) it's time to note all of the things I am alive and well enough to thank God for all the blessings in my life.

1.  Family and Friends.  Yes, this lumps everyone from my husband to my niece and even my closest friends.  Though I may be thoroughly annoyed at times, I think on times when each and every one of my close friends and family has brought smiles to my face, laughter to my heart, wisdom to my consciousness, acceptance to my failures, support to my weaknesses, and food to my belly, and I could not feel more loved than I do today.

2.  My job.  It sounds so cliche to be thankful for having my job, but considering too many of my peers have gone too long without work, I find it appropriate this year.  No matter how much I complain about working here, I have it better than most.  That is something to be thankful for.

3. My home.  Do not mistake this for a materialistic ideal.  A house is material, a home is a symbol.  I'm thankful to have a home of my own, the feeling of security and the love that surrounds those I care for within.

4. Dog parks.  For without these, I would have a raging 9 month old furniture eater.

5. The Old Fart and The Puppy.  Bless the old man's young heart that even in old age and arthritic bones will still come greet me with some doggy love and only bites me when he's too scared.  Bless the 9 month old furniture eater who follows me around the house like a baby duck and his soft ears and happy heart.  Bless both their cute adorable little faces.

6. Sunshine.  To remind me today only happens once.

7. Shoes.  One of my many vices.  One of the many accessories of function and fashion, and it comes in infinite varieties.  What is an accessory but functional fashion?

8. Iced Tea.  Because sometimes drinking water is too boring.

9. Thanksgiving/Christmas Night movies with the cousins.  One year we decided to go see whatever movie was opening on Christmas night, now we just go watch a movie together after we've had our fill of food and holiday cheer.  Hard to keep up with the tradition now that we share holidays, but a great tradition to keep to spend some quality time with family.

10.  Potlucks.  This goes without saying.  I love food, I'm thankful that I often have a bounty of food at my disposal.  I enjoy the company of friends and I enjoy cooking for my friends.  Thanksgiving has become a holiday of feasts for not just one day a year, but an entire weekend of feasting.  Potlucks bring together food and friends, sharing our favorite recipes and having fun with people you care about.  That's something to be thankful for.

There is so much to be thankful for this year, and always, and it's good to remember those things.  I may bitch and moan about a lot of things and I may have the most words to say when I'm in a bad mood, but to get out of a funk, the best way to do that is to lighten the heart by remembering and being grateful for the wonderful things in life.  Life being one of the greatest blessings of all. 

Thank you Lord for the happiness in my life, for the gift of love, and help me to share that love with those around me.

Body Wars Part 2 and Kitchen Disasters...or not.

It's the Revenge of the Virus: Do not Give Thanks.  I was completely shut down on Friday, as whatever new virus inhabiting my body wrecked havoc on my sinuses.  Unforgivingly battering the weaknesses in my immunal armor.  Even being drugged up and knocked out, I fought a losing battle.  Even today, I lack energy to fight though the enemy has subsided for the time being.  Looks as though it may have found a new host to attack, a more formidable enemy presenting more of a challenge than I obviously provided.  Though I still feel very damaged.  I just hope that I manage to keep under the radar for that psycho stomach flu that has ravaged through several of my peers. I'm just going to hide from the world until I manage to pull together my bleeding forces and regroup.  Unfortunately, I only have 3 days to do that because Thanksgiving is on Thursday.  Time to pump me full of vitamins and other herbal home remedies plus enough cold medicine to knock me out every night.  Hopefully that will finally blast what remains of this horrid virus down to the depths of hell where it belongs. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm excited that it's here.  This year we plan on frying the turkey.  It will be our first attempt at frying this baby up ourselves, so hopefully it all turns out.  Otherwise, that's 13 lbs of turkey down the drain.  All the research and planning and preparation in the world pales in comparison to actual experience when it comes to attempting a new manner of cooking.  Another first for this year will be my first attempt to make Mamang Taba's famous Leche Flan. Mmmm.  My favorite.  My family never fails to remind me of one holiday in my youth in which I disappeared, only to have them find me crouched in the corner with one entire pan of the sweet delicious creme custard.  Hoarding it all to myself and managing to eat it all myself.  And I wonder why I have huge thighs...

I attempted a trial run last night, having listened intently as my Ninang recited my great grandmother's recipe from heart.  Scribbling carefully detailed instructions across 2 note pad pages with the secrets of the most perfect leche flan known to man.  At least, to me.  So this attempt was important in order to hone my leche flan making skills.  Trial #1 started off well, preparing the ingredients for the caramelized syrup.  Separating the yolks from the whites for the custard...waiting for the syrup to thicken. Then it went to hell in a matter of seconds.  So I'm stirring the syrup, waiting for that tell tale sign it's ready, though from a verbal instruction, although very detailed, it is extremely difficult to determine what the hell I'm looking for.  I'm stirring and I'm stirring, and the syrup is boiling and bubbling and after a long while, I decide...screw it let's try to use this.  But the second I turn off the heat, ROCK HARD sugar.  Needless to say, I flipped my shit. Wide eyed, I told my husband I think I ruined a pan.  Thankfully his brains were still functioning and told me to throw it in the sink.  As he was calming me down and so lovingly helping me scrape out the sauce pan, we discussed how I inadvertently made rock candy and that I probably wasn't the first person do to so. 

Since I had already done the custard portion, I had to try the syrup again.  The second time, I used a candy thermometer as recommended by my husband to help me from totally screwing up a second batch.  If I had been using my brains I may have thought of it, but seeing as my brain was half functioning, I'm glad he was there to help.  This time, I stood at the pan the entire time watching and stirring to make sure I didn't miss that key point where the syrup teeters the edge of supersaturation, when it is thick enough for the recipe.  I stopped it probably well before I should have, but since my Ninang is vacationing in the Philippines and won't be returning until Weds, I left it at that and will have to ask her to show me the technique rather than describing it to me in words. 

In baking the custard, I tried to keep a close eye on the cooking process, to make sure I didn't do anything else wrong.  But, alas, in my haste I used the convection setting on my oven, and though I cut down the temperature by 25°F and set the timer to 2/3 the time of the recipe, I still almost burned it when I checked on it after 30 minutes.  I have yet to taste this creation but sent one off with the hubby to work as promised to a Filipino coworker of his.  I'm ecstatic to report that even with the mishaps I encountered, it still exceeded the expectations of a fellow Filipino, considering it was my first attempt ever to make it.  HOORAY!  The final test will be when I taste it and if I indeed managed to pull it off, only my own discerning tongue will be able to tell. 

The things I Eat...Chapter 1

So, what does one do at home during the afternoon when the television set is broken and a serious case of the munchies emerges from the depths of the stomach? We cook of course.....

"Noncooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet." ~ Julia Child

Sometimes, the mood just strikes me...though most times it's purely out of necessity.  This afternoon it was both. I'm no chef, or even a fantastic cook for that matter.   I hardly ever come up with my own recipes, continuously scanning the internet for other peoples ideas.  Most days I rather enjoy cooking...coming up with different meals, perfecting and experimenting with the ones that work. 

The husband purchased an ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer.  It was my birthday present this year, although like he says, its "the gift that keeps on giving". I've made an assortment of ice cream and sorbet so far and fully intend to keep on making more.  In fact, today I made more...

I keep my ice cream maker attachment in the freezer for days like this when I get in the mood to make some of this delicious homemade  sweet treat.  Time to pull it out.

"Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos."  ~Don Kardong

Everyone should have ice cream from time to time.  Lactose intolerance be damned.  Don't let that stand in your way.  Fresh, creamy ice cream.  Is there anything better?

So I've made triple chocolate chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, coffee chocolate chip (see a pattern?), raspberry sorbet, kiwi-strawberry sorbet, and raspberry-mint sorbet.  The booklet that came with the attachment has all of 3 ice cream recipes.  Vanilla, Chocolate chocolate chip, and Orange Creme?...  Here's where my endless online searching comes into play, ice cream recipes! Last night I found a recipe for Moose Tracks....who doesn't love vanilla ice cream with mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and fudge swirl?  

Laptop = Recipe :-)

Reese's!

Notice I also have Reese's Peanut Butter Chips and Chocolate chips as well.  I wasn't sure what I should use.  In the end, I used both.  I chopped up the Reese's...

Yum.... I may or may not have had a few bites prior to mixing them into the ice cream. I'll leave that up to your imagination.  

Vanilla is almost done

The final product....Moose Tracks!

Is it amazing you ask? Why, yes, yes it is! Time for me to chow down. Chapter 2 coming soon...Guacamole and Pork Chops.