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? 

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. 

Note to self...

...Don't stay up drinking with the neighbors until midnight on a school night.  Er, work night.  At least, not when I have to be awake by 5:30am.  Not good for staying awake through the rest of the day.  Good thing I like coffee now.

Still, it was a fantastic way to end the long weekend.  A long, laborious weekend.  So much for Labor Day weekend being 'labor' free.  We chopped down 4 trees in our yard, which we had been itching to do since we moved in to the house almost a year ago. And when I say "we" I mean my husband did the chopping while I stood around and took pictures of the mass destruction (I haven't uploaded the pictures yet, so I'll have to add that later). I helped move branches though...

The work is still not yet complete but at least we're making headway, and the front of the house is slowly becoming known to the world through the jungle that used to be the "arborist's dream".   What kind of person thinks an overgrown yard is even remotely attractive?  An actual arborist would probably be appalled at the bedraggled state of this yard considering it was so unkempt that things were starting to kill each other.

I finally went back to hot yoga on Saturday, after a 4 week hiatus.  They still remembered me, and I had to admit my failing to come to yoga for 4 weeks in a row.  Though, I have to believe they understand that most people in my position who only come to yoga once a week anyway, feel no shame in skipping multiple weeks.  It was fantastic, although I screwed up and fell asleep awkwardly on the couch the following morning with the puppy.  Now my back is all tight again.  Looks like I'll have to go again this weekend as well.  

The best part of the weekend is finding out I have lost 4 lbs since the beginning of August when I last weighed myself.  So maybe there is some hope still.  I have been assuming my family and friends have been going crazy when they tell me I lost weight and how good I look.  I still think they're crazy because 4 lbs is not noticeable by far since I've not lost any inches at all. My Lola even told me "You look good now, getting smaller.  Not fat anymore." It didn't faze me...old Filipino women are as blunt as they are dramatic.  But I did ask my Ninang..."I was fat?" as I'm taking pictures of the delicious smelling pancit she cooked.  "Oh you know what she means...I keep telling her she has to be careful who she says things like that to you know..."  Still, it's nice to hear they perceive that I'm losing weight. 

The next best part of the weekend is completely tiring out the puppy.  Hooray for a docile half asleep puppy for 2 days straight.  I'm sure after sleeping it off today while I'm at work, he'll be ready to go again tonight, but it was great while it lasted.  The key to a lazy hound is a combination of a large open field, a frisbee or some ball like retrievable object, and willing victims kids.  This morning he literally sat there on our bed sprawled across my husband, watching me get ready for work when usually he's in my face trying to get me to play/feed him. 


Overall a blessed weekend. Couldn't ask for more. :-D

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.