The BEST

I ate the BEST CLEMENTINE EVER this afternoon.  I was inclined to think that my opinion was maybe a little influenced by just getting back from a run on a beautiful spring afternoon (so I was happy, feeling good, in need of water, and this juicy, perfectly sweet tiny orange fruit hit the spot), but then John (who hadn’t gone out yet and was NOT under the influence of endorphins) had a slice and agreed.  Best ever.  Sadly, that means every clementine I ever eat after this one will be a disappointment.  Unless the box we bought this morning is a special magical box of clementines.  Maybe someone picked out all the best ones and put them in the same box and we were the lucky shoppers (heh – just typed shoopers) who bought that box.  I’m a little afraid to have another one and find out.  I’m a coward.  A citrus coward.

If loving avocado is wrong, I don’t want to be right

I’m not writing an ode.  Not my thing.  But I do love avocado.  It makes just about everything better.  My sandwich today (because brace yourselves – I MADE MY LUNCH TODAY) would have been a little dry and boring were it not for the delicately green slices of avocado I added.  Perfectly ripe, perfectly wonderful.  I think a plain turkey and mayo sandwich can be pretty great (I need to get out more), but not so much when the bread is on its way out.  I think my bread is mutant bread.  I bought it in early-ish February (it’s sell-by date was Feb 17th), and it has lived in two pantries (we moved it from the house), and it has yet to go moldy or stale.  It’s getting a tiny bit dry and crumbly, but I wouldn’t call it stale yet.  And if it’s mutant bread, well, I haven’t noticed any mutant effects on me, so I’m not going to worry about it.  I’m already putting too much thought into this bread.

Avocado.  I love it on sandwiches, I love it in salads, I love it in all things Mexican.  I ask for extra if I’m ordering something that already comes with avocado (and if something on a menu comes with avocado, I’m almost guaranteed to order it), and I ask for it to be added if it doesn’t already come with it.  I’m terribly disappointed if a sandwich shop doesn’t carry it.  That’s just wrong.  I have no idea what season is avocado season (oh, hey, it’s year-round depending on where they come from – hooray!), but I foresee lots of avocado in my kitchen.

I am a pretty pretty princess, and I can have more avocado if I want it.

Declaration

It’s official.  I don’t like Greek yogurt.  I say this after having tried it TWICE (which I think is mighty big of me – I gave it a second chance because that’s how I roll).  I don’t remember the brand for the first one I tried, but this time I tried blueberry Chobani.  I am definitely not a fan.  If you like it, then you should be happy – more for you!

We boxed up our first room yesterday.  We took it easy on ourselves and started with the emptiest room (the guest bedroom), but that’s one down.  Yay for us!

Two things you need to know

1. The bread pudding at Ford’s Fish Shack is really really good.  White chocolate and blueberries and some sort of delicious sauce and vanilla ice cream and WOW.  We split one tonight, in honor of our delayed anniversary dinner.  Also, their crab cakes are good.  Also, they’re crazy popular.  The first reservation I could get for tonight (I called at 4pm) was at 9pm.  So instead of waiting, we ate early (like before 5) because we’re old married people.  But dude – it was good.

2. Friends is on Netflix now!  I mentioned it to my esthetician (I had a facial last night), and she got so excited.  We spent the last half-hour of my appointment quoting our favorite lines and giggling like idiots.  It was fun.

It’s the most bakingful time of the year

It’s that time again, kiddies.  Time to bake ALL the cookies.  138 of them, to be exact (although it’s 137  now – we ate one).  Not as many as last year, somehow.  Did I bake bigger cookies?  Or did John eat more batter?  Anyway, the cookies are cooling, and two more sweet potato pies are in the oven.  The toffee bark and peppermint bark get made tomorrow (they’re way easier – melt, mix, freeze, break into pieces).

We’ve determined that we are NOT going to the mall tomorrow.  It would have been just for fun, anyway, since we’re done with the shopping, but why make the trip if we really don’t have to?  No open house tomorrow (we’re taking the next couple of weeks off, although we’re available for showings, of course), so we don’t have to scramble to clean up or disappear.  It’ll be great.  We can sleep in, wrap some presents, leave the house if we feel like it…  That works for me.

We watched Knights of Badassdom last night.  Mom, you’ll hate it.  Don’t bother.  Same goes for you, Margaret.  Everyone else who hangs out around here would probably enjoy it (if you haven’t already seen it – I’m looking at you, Randy.  You’ve seen it, haven’t you?), silly as it is.  Full disclosure – it’s about LARPing.  And there go Mom and Margaret.  Bye, guys!  We still love you!

It was fun, and we liked it.  Great review, right?  That’s what they pay me for.  Except for the paying part.  And the “they” part.  There’s no “they”.

Eat right and exercise

I’ve been pretty good about the exercise part of “eat right and exercise”, but eating right has been difficult.  I’m sure it would get easier if I EVER went grocery shopping, but I don’t do that.  (Let’s not be crazy.)  Eating out for nearly every meal can be done in a relatively healthy way, though (and it can be done without spending THAT much money, too).  It’s not bad when I’m out already, like at work, or on the way home from work.  Panera is a staple of our diet – they have lots of healthy options and they make portion control pretty easy.  (We might be keeping them in business.)  We run into a problem when we’re home, we have no food in the house, and we don’t want to go anywhere to get it.  That’s when the bad choices get made.  Don’t want to leave the house?  Order a pizza!  Tired of pizza?  Order Chinese!  Don’t want either?  There’s a pasta place that delivers enormous portions of everything.  Really?  Sounds great!  So weekends kill me.  I wish Panera delivered.

I want to want to go to the grocery store.  I want to want to plan ahead and have healthy lunches and snacks.  That’s a good first step, right?  Step 1: Want to change.  Hey, that might be step 2.

Step 1: Recognize the problem.

I eat like crap.

Step 2: Want to change to fix the problem.

I don’t want to eat like crap anymore.  I want to eat healthy food like a healthy person.

Step 3: Make lists and plans for change to fix the problem.  (You thought Step 3 was going to be fixing the problem, didn’t you?  Ha ha!  You were wrong.)

Step 4: Fix the problem.

I’m at Step 2, contemplating Step 3.  I do have small victories here and there.  There’s a SuperTarget near my office, and twice in two weeks I’ve picked up a small package of veggies and dip for lunch.  It’s delicious and healthy!  Good for me and makes me feel good!  And then I’m hungry again by mid-afternoon, but this is an obstacle I can overcome with more healthy snacks.  That I will have to go to the store to get.  Drat! Foiled again.

Earning it

An early Thanksgiving report:

I’m trying to earn my Thanksgiving dinner.  Molly and I ran our own private 5K this morning.  I inadvertantly made it harder by suggesting we take that turn over there.  Yeah, so we went downhill.  A lot.  Steeply.  The only way back was to climb up.  So our thighs were burning, but maybe that means less stuffing will stick to them.  Then I helped Sean shovel a neighbor’s driveway (they’re out of town), so that counts as a good deed AND more calories burned (big driveway and wet snow).  I feel virtuous.  OH, and then I ran to the store for my mother-in-law to get bread and ice.  I would like to win Daughter-In-Law Of The Year again.

Bring on the turkey and stuffing and green bean casserole and sweet potatoes, please.  I’m ready.

Painful chocolatey goodness

We woke up Sunday morning with nothing in the house for breakfast (not unusual, as I’m sure you’re aware).  We debated the usual breakfast options (Panera vs. Starbucks, most of the time), and then one of us (can’t remember which one of us – might have been me) suggested Cocoa Puffs.  I love Cocoa Puffs.  Decision made.  We went to the store solely for milk and cereal.  (We were not about to be distracted by anything with any nutritional value.)

What I had forgotten about Cocoa Puffs, right up until the first spoonful, was that they kind of hurt.  They’re really rough on the roof of your mouth.  Totally worth it, though.  So good and chocolately and they turn the milk into chocolate milk!  It’s great.  So I hunkered down mentally and enjoyed my Cocoa Puffs.  The roof of my mouth had time the rest of the day to settle down.  Until the first crouton on the caesar salad I had for dinner that night.  Oops.  And ouch.

What does a healthy diet look like again?

I haven’t exactly been eating right lately.  Part of that is due to lack of groceries (maybe most of it), part of it is laziness (okay, that’s most of it).  We didn’t buy any candy for Halloween last week, but we DID pick some up Sunday afternoon.  We are now the proud owners of a giant bag of peanut butter cups and KitKats.  A half-empty giant back of chocolate and peanut butter candy.  That was dinner last night (for me – I think John might have eaten something more substantial), and it was most of my dinner the night before, too.  But hey, it’s not all chocolate all the time.  I had a salad Monday night, and another one for lunch Tuesday.  Oh, hell.  I know I need to go to the store.

 

Encouraging!

Today’s open house brought in more people, and three of the families that came through seemed pretty serious. We’re crossing our fingers for offers. We’re both so tired of this.

We’re off to Bonefish for seafood takeout, since we no longer cook in our kitchen.  Who am I kidding?  We hardly ever cooked in our kitchen.

LOVE

I have just fallen in love with a brand of yogurt.  OMG, you guys, seriously.  The company is Liberté, and wow, this stuff is good.  Creamy and delicious.  Yum.  I tried the Méditerranée Strawberry, and I would like some more please.

I’m okay.  Really.

Anyway, after I posted yesterday, we had an epiphany about the pipe problem and the vanity drawer.  Why shorten the pipe (which, it turns out, might require a blowtorch) when we can shorten the drawer instead?  Just not today.  For now, we can live with a drawer that doesn’t quite shut.  Haven’t hooked up the sink yet, anyway.

McDonald’s saved the day

Friday morning at work, I was havingaday.  Like, a DAY.  It was nuts, and not in a fun way.  So lunch was french fries and one of those little hot fudge sundaes from McDonald’s.  It helped.  John hates those commercials for chocolates that show a woman taking a break and savoring tiny bites as she gazes out a window onto a beautiful view and so do I, but I have to admit I took a moment for myself when I ate that first bit of ice cream and hot fudge.  Commercials don’t lie!

A discerning palate

Riley still isn’t eating enough, and because we’ve been giving him so much good stuff, he turns up his nose at plain old boring dog food now.  Seriously, I didn’t put anything interesting in his food and he didn’t eat anything for nearly two days.  Tonight, though, he got a very good meal.  I call it Salmon a la Riley.

He was quite happy with his dinner tonight.  And he’s been cruising the kitchen for more.

My birthday outing

(My post title sounds like a Scrubs episode.)

My birthday present from John (aside from a heart-shaped Boston cream donut and tickets to see Three Dog Night in May – that’s going to be very cool) was a day in DC doing tourist-y things, something that we’d been talking about doing for a very long time.  The main attraction (and what gave him the idea) was this traveling Puppetry in America exhibit on display in the American History Exhibit from now until mid-April.  Among other things, it has muppets, so we went to see Scooter, Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, and Cookie Monster.

I love the muppets.

From there, we headed for the National Gallery of Art, but our nasty habit of getting there shortly before it closes lives on.  We saw the Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections exhibit, a couple of American landscapes (Lake Lucerne, Spirit of War, The Voyage of Life paintings) and ran up against 5pm, so we headed for dinner.  Where, you ask?  Ethiopian, of course!  We went to Meskerem in Adams Morgan for the first time in years.  The food holds up, but the restaurant could use a facelift.  Then it was back to our car and home to rescue Riley (and more birthday cake for dessert).

The weather was perfect, and it was a beautiful day.

Public Service Announcement

I don’t recommend Campbell’s Spicy Chicken Quesadilla Soup. I’ve had it for lunch two days in a row now (yes, you heard right – I BROUGHT my lunch two days in a row, go me), and I’m completely over it. It tastes okay, but 1) it’s not thick enough, 2) it’s not chunky enough, and 3) I don’t feel so great after I eat it. I really wanted it to be good, but no. #3 there is very important. It hasn’t turned me off soup, though. I’m making chicken corn chowder tonight, and I’m making DOUBLE the recipe. Lots of really thick, creamy, cheesy soup for us. And I bought hot sauce today so I can spice mine up as much as I want. We’re going to need all that soup if the crazy amounts of snow they’re predicting actually arrive.

Actual recipe for Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder is here.

How I make it (no spicy stuff and way less prep):

Chicken Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

  • 1 rotisserie chicken

  • ½ cup chopped onion

  • 1 clove garlic, minced

  • 3 tbsp butter

  • 1 cup chicken broth

  • ¾ tsp ground cumin

  • 2 cups half and half

  • 2 cups shredded cheese (Monterey Jack or Mexican blend)

  • 2 cans creamed corn (14.75 oz each)

Directions:

  1. Tear apart the rotisserie chicken so you end up with heaps of shredded chicken.
  2. In pot, brown onion and garlic in butter.  Add chicken.

  3. Pour chicken broth in pot, season with cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.

  4. Stir in cream, cheese, and corn. Cook, stirring frequently, until the cheese is melted.

Goes with the territory

I don’t want to do the whole cliché “I hate Mondays” thing, like Garfield or that song by that one guy where the girl kills herself (I almost typed “where the girl girls herself” – I have no idea what that could mean), and NO, I don’t have a case of the Mondays, but ugh.  Mondays, you know?  (I really mean this, but I’m finding it hard not to smile at the ridiculousness of writing about it – ooh, solution!)  They wouldn’t be so bad if we had a day off in the middle of every week.  No work on Wednesdays!  That’s my battle-cry.  Or it will be.  My focus is entirely on lunch right now – more specifically, putting off lunch.  I’m hungry NOW, but I’m going grocery shopping after work today, which means dinner will be later, which means I’ll be hungry while I shop, which is bad.  So.  Eat lunch a little later, make it through grocery shopping without buying everything in sight because I’m the hungry hungry caterpillar.  I can do it.  I can make it to 1pm.  I can.

While I’m watching the clock, let’s talk about something completely different: it is fundamentally funny to overhear developers having serious conversations about clobs and blobs.  Yes, I work in IT, and yes, I know what they are (in the most general way – for the curious, they refer to different methods of storing data in a database.  Those of you who know better: how wrong am I?  No, wait – you don’t have to tell me), but that doesn’t make the words less silly.  The visuals are fun, though.  Maybe the world on the other side of my cube’s wall is animated.  It’s a childishly-drawn cartoon where clobs and blobs have faces and personalities and need to be readily identified by others.  You know, maybe.

Mm. Bacon.

Dinner tonight was going to be salad from Panera until I decided to go to the store on the way home.  Then, grilled cheese sandwiches.  With tomato (for John).  And bacon (for both of us).  Because yum.  So now bacon is cooking and the house smells delicious.  I probably won’t think so when I still smell bacon two days from now, but that’s Future Me’s problem.  For now, I can look forward to bacon on my grilled cheese sandwich, bacon on my turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow, and bacon for Riley as a treat.  If there’s any to spare.  Then I might take a break from bacon.  Despite what the internet has been saying for some time now, it is possible to overdo bacon.

Killin’ it in the kitchen

You all know I don’t like to cook.  Baking is one thing (and it’s one thing I don’t do all that often), but cooking – no.  I don’t like it.  But this week I decided to take control of our eating habits.  Yesterday, I made a list of dinner ideas, and from that I made a grocery shopping list, and then this morning – wait for it – I WENT TO THE STORE.  The actual store to buy actual groceries for planned-out meals and not just to pick up emergency items we ran out of.  (For instance, I did NOT have to buy toilet paper or milk or dog food.  We’re good at taking care of essentials.)  I had the day off, so once John went off to work, I went off to Wegmans.  A little over an hour later, I came back home, put away the groceries, and put a brisket in the oven.  The brisket had its complications, but Corey came through with a brilliant onion idea, and into the oven this giant brisket went.  After the gym and a late lunch with John, it was time to make soup (chicken corn chowder), and right now, at 5pm Monday afternoon, I have soup cooling in a pot on the stove, waiting to go into the fridge for later in the week (maybe Wednesday?), and a very large brisket cooling in a pan right next to it, waiting for John to get home so we can start in with the slicing and the eating.  Salmon tomorrow, ravioli at some point, and bean and cheese burritos later.  Five meals, all ready to go, because I PLANNED AHEAD.  Because sometimes I feel like it.  Most of the time, I do not.  But man, it’ll feel good not to have the dinner conversation at all this week.

Lucky Thirteen

You know what I missed this year?  My five-year blogoversary!  It was back in early November.  Oh, well.  You know what I didn’t miss (which is a good thing, as this one is much more important)?  Our 13th wedding anniversary!  We slept in a bit (sorely needed – Christmas week at the in-laws does not lend itself to much sleep), went out for a fancy (for us) brunch, came home and puttered a bit during the afternoon, went out to see a movie (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), and went out for a fancy (for us) dinner (which was delicious).  Better?  Our menus were printed specially with “Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Zannah” for us.  So cool.  They rolled them up, tied them with a ribbon, and sent them home with us (along with mugs full of candy).  Nice place.  Happy Anniversary to us!