Sissy Goes to The Vet
Posted: October 14, 2010 Filed under: Sicily | Tags: sissy, vet 2 Comments »Sissy had her annual vet check up today and all went well until they got to the subject of her weight…I even had to get her a bigger carrying case…
She weights about 3 lbs more than she did last time. No biggie for a human, but for a cat that is a lot of weight. There is a big sign on the vet exam table that say “A little added weight equals a huge problem.”
How did I let my baby get obese. Unlike humans she does not have a choice over her food and does not stop when she is full. It is actually really interesting to see the correlation between animal obesity and human weight gain. We are both on the up. Most likely because most cats are now indoor and sleep a lot while there are more treat brands on the market than ice cream. Does a Cheetah need a treat that is made of nasty by-product and in the shape of a little fish? No. So neither does my pants.
The plan is to reduce her food intake. She only gets 1/2 cup a day (soooo little) but the vet said to cut it back in the evening. It is tricky because we can’t just switch her to diet food, plus lite foods don’t really jive with me. I want her to be healthy and we shall do it safely. She is still the playful loving kitty she was the day I brought her home and I only want the best for her!
While Sissy ate her kibble, all I wanted was a hot bowl of soup because of this nasty weather we are having.
Annie’s veggie minestrone soup – really good! Toast with cheese and the other with more cheese of the ricotta kind, honey and almonds. This stuff is so delicious!
Time to watch a really hard ED special on E! People scare me.
Back to The Grind
Posted: October 12, 2010 Filed under: dinner | Tags: english muffin, lentils, salad 1 Comment »I hate getting back to work after a long weekend. Especially when I got to go home and spend time with my mom and Nick!
The only good thing about coming back to Maryland is Sissy cat. She is so happy to have me back to snuggle with.
I was also happy to have some pumpkin oats this morning!
I got to go to the farmers market as well, which is one of the only good things about week day markets. I will be so sad when it ends in a few weeks 
For dinner I wanted something simple that used ingredients I had on hand.
Enter lentil pizzas
2 english muffins toasted and topped with tomato paste, cooked lentils, fresh grated cheddar and tons of fresh herbs.
I love lentils!
To get my veggies in I added a lovely side salad with feta and garden tomatoes.
Time for Glee!!!
How do you recover from a long weekend??? I need some tricks!
P-A-R-T-Y
Posted: October 10, 2010 Filed under: birthday | Tags: birthday, Fall, flying, Kent, party 5 Comments »Birthday weekend well done!
Starting from last night…
The room was set with steamers and balloons.
My attempt at making lupines out of balloons. Pretty good, no?
Menus were printed.
Flowers were amazing!
Favors were assembled (Homemade maple, almond blueberry granola).
Then it was party time!
My mom’s friends are huge winos, but Nick and I just picked the ones that tasted best to us. I know nothing about mushroom and leather flavors???
My mom looks great for 60 – on the right.
Homemade cream puffs!
There was dancing.
And presents.
Plus lots of champagne!
Overall I think my mom had a blast with a bunch of good friends.
Not the best picture of us, but the only one.
Nick was even there!
—————————————————
SUNDAY
After walking up a bit later today we had a plan to head out to Kent for the day. The weather has been amazing and the leaves are just about to peak!
This was my favorite tree to watch change during the soccer season.
The old pitch. Pretty nice landscape to play against.
We did the usual round about town and visited the many fall decorations and some of the more permanent art.
Gourds and cheese wheel pumpkins and the Kent Garden Center
This screams fall!
For lunch we attempted to climb to numeral rock, but only made it about half way before calling it quits.
It was pretty steep.
Last stop on the tour was a send off for Andy on his plane.
The sky was amazingly blue today. Not a cloud out there.
I told him I would go up at some point but small planes can make me feel sick. I think Nick would hyperventilate just getting near a plane like this.
There was also a small helo doing practice maneuvers while were were on the tarmac.
And then he was off!
A perfect send off to a busy birthday weekend.
Nick, my mom and I spent the evening grilling and just relaxing with a movie. Now it is time to get some sleep!
Le Pain
Posted: October 9, 2010 Filed under: Connecticut, food | Tags: Le Pain Quitidien 3 Comments »Greeting from Connecticut!
I am up in my homeland for the weekend to celebrate my mom’s 60th birthday!
I have been busy putting the final touches on the decoration and finishing up some favors.
Yesterday we went shopping for party outfits and we stopped to have lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. French for Bothe on her birthday!!!!!! Happy Birthday PB!
This place is actually a chain with amazing bread, ingredients and a sense of community. The sandwiches are served open face without a side of fries and they focus on sustainable and organic. It is a chain from NYC, but I wish Baltimore could get its act together and create a market for a place like this. There are a few small cafe’s with this idea, but LPQ could have the market share of a Panera with a focus on good ingredients.
We sat at a communal table (they do have small personal talbes) that all come with amazing olive oil, balsamic and every type of coffee additive you could think of.
It was really hard for me to figure out what to order because everything looked so good and I was starving, but I went with a open sandwich with avocado, cucumber, chickpeas, sprouts and a spicy tahini sauce.
Just liked a salad on bread with mashed avocado!
The bread is amazing and fresh throughout the day. They also have a lovely assortment of French pastries sitting in the window calling everyone in.
I may not really enjoy the people of the Greenwich community, but the food in these parts is simply amazing!
Time to head to the farmer’s market with mom then to Whole Food and I am hoping to get to the Y for a little bike action to losen the legs. I ran 5.5miles yesterday and my right quad is feeling it (it has always been weaker).
Happy Weekend!
Food Equality
Posted: October 6, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: food desert, food equality, kmart 1 Comment »After work tonight I headed to the gym for a swim. It went great I did a little over a mile plus some leg strengthening. I was feeling good until I realized I need to pick some more oats up and the closest option was KMart.
I am not trying to bash the big box store even if I did support them I would still have a problem with the quality of food I found inside.
The rows were lined with totally processed food. I needed oats? All they had were quick cooking. My usual grocery store at least has the option of rolled, and the other cereals scared me.
I know that the products vary from store to store based on purchases, but that is what scared me. This store is not in the best area and is home to many low income families. One of the biggest issues with obesity in American is seen in the working class of the United States. It isn’t fair. Food equality and equity is a huge issue facing America. We blame people for being obese when all we provide is chips and soda. When I drive to work I go through one of the worst areas of Baltimore and see children eating potato chips for breakfast. The worst part about this issue is that when you can find things like bread and milk in a food desert it is more expensive in the burbs.
Do you see this issue where you live? Do you know of any programs that are working to change?
I worked with Real Food Baltimore at an inner city high school.
Chocolate Delivery
Posted: October 6, 2010 Filed under: dinner, foodbuuzz | Tags: acorn squash, Foodbuzz, ghiradelli, quinoa 3 Comments »Yesterday was a great day!
I finished 5 miles no sweat and no foot pain! Good thing because the Baltimore Running festival is in 10 days! I am so excited for Lindsay to get here with David!
After my run I made up a nice little vegetarian plate featuring a lovely acorn squash!
I baked this with COCONUT oil and s&p so delicious! I actually could taste the coconut unlike the last time I cooked with it. I will definitely be roasted for squash with it.
Along with my squash I made some interesting quinoa.
- 1 serving of quinoa
- 1/4 cup part skim ricotta
- large handful spinach
- S&P
- garlic powder
- handful of parsley
This was creamy and delicious! I love ricotta cheese!
Simple and easy. That is how I roll.
I didn’t go to the Farmer’s Market this week because I will be gone this weekend so no more squash sad.
Something to turn my frown upside down?
I received a package from FoodBuzz and Ghiradelli! As part of the tastemakers program I was sent some samples of their new Luxe Milk line.
We were asked to select our few so obviously I had to try all 3, right? Yep! And I loved the hazelnut the best. It reminded me of Baci chocolates.
Time to pack up for the day…lots to do before I leave tomorrow for CT!
Happy Wednesday!
Random but Delicious
Posted: October 4, 2010 Filed under: food | Tags: beans, eggs, meatballs, oatmeal Leave a comment »What have you been eating lately????
Back to posting a day of foods…well not really, just a few standouts from the past few days.
Lets start with breakfast
I typically eat some form of oats in the morning, especially because it is getting so cold!
This is steel cup oaks with 1 small apple deiced, small amount of pumpkin butter, cinnamon, 1 scoop hemp protein, vanilla and a dollop of homemade almond butter.
Lunch, it was pretty amazing!
Leftover tortillas, leftover homemade refried beans, avocado, salsa and a drippy egg.
I love dippy eggs!
Ding! Dinner time!
I had some leftover meat from my Taco Bell experience so I made 6 meatballs out of about 1/4lb of beef.
In the balls:
- 1/4 lb beef
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup oat bran – I did not have breadcrumbs
- bunch of fresh parsley
- S&P
- Worcestershire sauce
On top of Seeduction bread from Whole Food, spread with tomato paste and grated parm.
Worcestershire sauce is the key ingredient.
Between lunch and dinner I have been having a snack to fuel me through my workout.
I have been swimming a lot, but my head really starts to hurt after about 1000m. What is that about??? I know it is my sinuses, but I don’t know why it gets so bad when I am swimming?
I get to see Nick and my Mom on Thursday! Yay for 4 day work weeks!
I can’t wait!
Ole!
Posted: October 1, 2010 Filed under: dinner | Tags: beans, burrito, pumpkin beer 1 Comment »Nick is coming! Nick is coming! 2 hours until he gets here, late. In honor of him I am paying homage to his old favorite destination.
Taco Bell.
When I say MamaPea post a TB recipe I knew I had to de-veganize it (Sorry!) and let him enjoy.
I even made my beans from scratch!
In my grande bean burrito I had – MamaPea sauce, happy cow meat aka ground beef from the Farmer’s Market, “refried” beans, cheddar cheese and avocado. I had one with meat and one without.
Beefy!
No Beefy!
Soooooo good.
I must say I got these tortillas from TJs and they are the low carb kind and delicious. I hate tortillas where I can only eat one because they are 160cal+.
Along with my burritos I had a pumpkin beer!
I saw Kath (the pumpkin beer expert) rave about these so when I saw them I had to get a six pack.
Good thing I am a light weight, because these were the most expensive pumpkin in the joint!
Now time to wait…gruff.
