just a friendly reminder!

Wondering why you don't see any posts lately? I've started a new blog!

Come join me over here! I promise a good time and plenty of pictures of food! 

Yay!

hide and seek.

I'm over here!

changes!

Get excited! I'll be making some changes in the near future. At risk of either a) jinxing myself or b) pigeon-holing myself by telling you what I'm doing and then deciding not to and feeling guilty for lying, I'm not going to tell you what those changes are. 

I hope you love surprises as much as I do!

happy february!

It is February, right?

hello, cupcake.

blame it on the applesauce.

With the new addition of the lovely stand mixer to my arsenal of kitchen appliances, I've had the strong desire to bake every.single.day since it blessed our apartment with its presence. I don't think I've baked every day, but I'm pretty sure the number of things I've made could be spread out over the last week and a half to average one item per day. When I arrived at my parents' last night for dinner, armed with my latest creation (buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake), my mom thanked me and asked a very relevant question, the kind that she's so good at asking and typically make me shrink away and feel really guilty about whatever it is we're talking about, because generally when she's asking me a question like this she knows I'm probably not on the right track. This leads to a lot of back-peddling and defending myself and basically proving her right while trying to prove her wrong. 

Not today, mom!

 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The question: "And how does this fit into your diet?" 

Firstly, it's called a lifestyle, hello!*

Secondly, I don't plan on eating everything I make! Baking is only mostly partially about eating the fun things I make. That breakfast cake, as awesome as it would be eaten straight out of the pan and in its entirety, is just as tasty eaten in a small portion for breakfast. It's even better when you share it with other people!

Thirdly, I've learned a few tricks lately that I'm pretty excited about. Sure, I could sub out real sugar for fake sugar in a recipe and save a whole lot of points, but I just can't bring myself to do it. What's the point of baking something from scratch if I'm using overly processed ingredients? The latest trick I've learned is subbing out oil for applesauce. Applesauce? Yes! It actually works really well. I tried this last week with a cake I made for dessert one night, and last night I boldly added it to a quick bread recipe and came out unscathed. The recipe called for a little sugar, so I left out the sugar knowing the applesauce would make it a little sweet anyway. (sidenote: I realize store-bought applesauce - which I used this time - is processed too, but I make homemade from time to time, so I'll probably have some handy for the next recipe. Bonus - I don't add sugar to mine! Hello 0PP addition!)

 

Now that I know I can easily deduct 10-15PP from my recipes, I'm excited to try more things! I've been taking pictures and such, so stay tuned for recipes. I just need to plug the camera into the dang computer.

*love you, mom!

i am a baking machine.

What happens when your boyfriend buys you this:

You end up with these, all in the span of 48 hours:

30-minute parmesan rolls

blueberry cake

morning glory muffins

vanilla ice cream

lasagna...oh wait. that didn't involve the mixer. Whatevs, still awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

signs that the times might be a-changin'.

December 23rd, I made a goal to workout every day over my 10 days off. Yes, I realized at the time that this included half of Hanukkah and all of Christmas. Yes, I also realized this included a two day road trip to visit my grandparents. I figured if I set the goal, I would at least work out a few times and not be a lump the whole 10 days.

Today is the 19th day since I made that goal. So far I'm at 15/19. I made it all 10 days, and then some! That 15 also doesn't count tonight's probable workout (so that would make 16/19, in case you're lazy). 

 

Last night's workout almost didn't happen, though. I usually meet with my mom on Monday nights, but she's getting over a virus so we figured it'd be safer to take a rain check. When I got home around 7, I immediately changed and headed downstairs. MISTAKE. I think the combination of it being right after work (well, relatively) and it being the first couple weeks of January (not that I hate on everyone with resolutions, y'all are awesome! Keep at it!) made for a very cranky adie. every.single.machine was taken. I sat there for a couple minutes waiting, and then gave up and went back upstairs. The kicker? I actually went back at 10, after dinner was done and digested, for take two. The fitness room was empty! Score. I guess I know when I need to workout now...if someone could just teach me how to not fall asleep while doing cardio that late at night, that would be great.

I'm patting myself on the back for this. Majorly.

soup weekend.

I'm really creative with titles, as you can see. As you can also see, I made a veritable shitton of soup today.

I freaking love winter.

(and in case you were wondering, that's only half of the mushroom barley the rest is crying on the stove because I ran out of suitable Tupperware. Such issues I have...)

impulse buying at its best.

Limited edition Midnight color Le Creuset demi teakettle. Oh yeah.

om nom nom

Egg whites

Spinach

Tomatoes

Toast

Cheese

Nom.

hot chocolate 5k recap (aka why i may never again participate in a RAM race).

I've been considering for a few days now whether or not I even wanted to recap this race biggest cluster ever. 

I've also been seriously considering just linking to Bebe and piggybacking off of her recap. Because I'm lazy she did a pretty swell job of really capturing the complete and utter lack of awesomeness that was this race.

But then I thought, maybe, you all would like to read a long, angry, frustrated, sarcastic recount of the first nine hours of my Saturday morning (which ended at noon. How sad is that?).

It all started off well enough. I slept at my parents' the night before, because I was meeting up with my friend Stef to drive out to the National Harbor together. I was told that due to the parking location I selected, I had to carpool with another runner. Also, driving 30-40min at 5am just seemed as if it would be more fun with someone else. Meeting at my parents' house was much easier than making her drive alllllllllllll the way around the beltway to my place. Also, I'll take any excuse to play with the puppy for a few hours.
 

After getting a full face cleaning and playing a few choice games of tug-o-war, I went to bed at the totally appropriately early hour of 10:15 (I mean, that's still 6 hours...). If you can do simple math, you'll already know that this means I was up at 4:15 to get ready. I wasn't meeting Stef until 5, but the earlier I wake up, the more I look/feel like the troll that lived under a bridge in the story of the three billy goats. Exhibit A:

 

True story: my hair never actually recovered. This is what I get for using grippy headbands. The amount of wispy hair is directly proportional to how regularly I work out. I can always tell I've upped the activity lately because I have those stupid, annoying hairs flying all over my face. 

Fun side note: our race bibs have our names on them! Cool or creepy, depending on how you look at it.

So Stef arrived and we made our way over to the parking lot where we would then catch a shuttle to the race site (this is already a billion times more complicated than any other race I've participated in). We were told to be on a shuttle no later than 6:15 (for a 7:30 race, mind you). We arrived at 5:40, and were at the race area around 6. While texting Bebe what I was wearing (so she could find me! Get your mind out of the gutter), she found me. Yay! Hurrah! We did it! At last! We jumped around excitedly (as excitedly as one can at 6am when you've been awake for two hours already) for a couple minutes, and then settled down. Given the following events, we probably should have kept jumping. Maybe we wouldn't have gotten hypothermia. We managed to get one picture before the race. And by one picture, I mean one personal photo. There were probably 200 photographers running around, and I'm pretty sure each.and.every.one stopped us to take our picture. We were rock stars. Maybe they knew what was ahead in the next few hours, and wanted to try and distract us? Probable.

 

This is where the real fun begins.

Staging started at 7am, so we headed down to the staging area. The three of us all have different average paces, so we picked somewhere in the middle so as to at least begin the race together. We lost each other within the first minute, but I'll get to that in a bit. As we neared 7:30, we stretched a bit and got ready to run. As we passed 7:30, we heard an announcement telling us the race would begin 15 minutes late to allow for all the latecomers. They were stuck in the standstill traffic we could see from the starting point. Oh noes.

7:45 comes and goes, and still no race. We experience a brief glimmer of hope when people in the open corral began moving into the corralled start area, and thought that maybe we were getting started! Alas, no. After jumping and bending and stretching and doing whatever we could think of to keep us warm (I know Maryland is technically in the South, but it's still 35* on a typical December morning, y'all!), we finally got started. At 8:15. Which is a far cry from 7:30, or even 7:45. But we were running, and that was all that mattered.

Until roughly 8:15 and 30 seconds, when we came to a standstill again. Then, at 8:16, we were off! Until we were stopped again at 8:16 and 30 seconds. Why were we stopping? What the heck was going on? At this point we should be done with the race! As we slowly make our way down the two lane street, we see the problem: a tunnel, about four people wide, through which roughly 10k people were supposed to fit. Who did they think were running this race? Ants?

At this point, I had lost both Bebe and Stef to the crowds, hoping we would all find one another, alive and well, at the finish. Thank goodness we had the foresight to pick a meeting place!

Once through the tunnel, what I expected to be a wide road on the other side turned out to be a sand and gravel path roughly the same width as the tunnel. Combine this with all the people who completely ignored the corrals and common sense, and had lined up with the runners fully intending to walk the entire race, there was some massive backup on the path. Oh, and don't forget all the sub-10yr olds on the course! It was super important to turn back every 10 seconds to make sure mom and dad were still there, and possibly stop to wait for them. In the middle of all the runners, on a path along the water, with a five foot drop and no bar to hold people in. 

We finally hit pavement after the path, and all seemed well enough until the end of mile 1. At this point we turned up a hill. The hill that never ended. Literally, this thing had to be the entirety of mile 2. Cruel. I trudged along, looking everywhere for mile markers (alas, there was not a one until the last tenth of a mile. Way to be, guys). I finally made it around to the 3 mile mark, meaning there was just one measly tenth of a mile left! Easy peasy? Of course not. The thing was freaking uphill. WHAT THE EFF? They're trying to kill us, for serious. I refuse to walk over a finish line though, so I pushed through. Let me tell you, that was the toughest .1 mile ever. After a fairly anticlimactic finish, I made my way up the half mile hill (rude) to the post party area to meet up with the ladies. At least we were rewarded with chocolate, right? I mean, there's a reason it's the Hot Chocolate series. Melted Ghiradelli with apple slices, half a banana, a marshmallow, a pretzel rod and a small piece of Rice Krispies treat. They also had hot chocolate but we didn't feel like venturing to another tent. We just wanted to go home.

 

After a full 24 hours of stewing and bitching, I received a mass, clearly PR-written email from RAM Racing (the company that put on the race - did I mention that?). If you want to read it, they posted it on their FB page after receiving (literally) hundreds of angry comments (and apparently deleting some of them. Poor form.) here. If you will please note, there is no mention of an attempt to rectify other than a prayer for a second chance. In that entire "letter" (can we call it a letter if there's no signature?), there is not one attempt to incentivize the 20k-ish runners to participate in another RAM event. Not one. While this company may not rely solely on repeat business, this is possibly the biggest mistake they made all weekend. And that's just for those of us who actually participated. What about the hundreds (thousands?) who couldn't even participate because of the traffic? Those who sat on the highway for hours due to poor choice of location? An offer of a discount for another race, some of the photos taken, even donating the profits to a charity, would have done wonders. More than my frustration with the race itself, I am dumbfounded that a company who has been putting on races for 10 years (or any company, really) could be so negligent of its customers. Because that's all we really are. Customers who purchased entry to a race.

Anyway (she says as she steps off her box), I highly doubt I'll be signing up for any of their races in the future. The chocolate was good, and the company (as in my friends, not RAM, duh) was great, but I can have chocolate with friends whenever I want. We can even run 3 miles first if we so choose! Take that, RAM.

Update: It has been brought to my attention that there was a less-than-promised amount of sarcasm in my post, and for that I am completely, totally and deeply sorry.

what a way to spend a friday night!

This is the life.

what happens when you have a gift card to whole foods?

Steak dinner. More specifically, bone-in rib-eye served alongside broccoli and shredded carrots roasted with a ginger sriracha dressing. Nom.

not a bad thing to come home to.

After a few days of intense travel, it's really nice to come home to a fully furnished living room.

It's even nicer when you can enjoy the new furniture by staring at the pretty flowers your boyfriend bought.

mid-month thanks.

As I sit here wallowing in self pity over my slightly higher number on the scale this morning (yes, again. WTF), I come across countless posts in my Reader about what others are thankful for. It is, after all, the month of Thanksgiving (which you know unless you've been living under a rock), so it seems appropriate. So, I've decided to stop being a whiny brat and list the things I'm thankful for. I may not be at goal quite yet, and my hair looks something awful today, but that doesn't mean my life is over. So here are a few things I'm thankful for:

1. My parents. I moved out 3 weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure we're both pretending like it was some awesome decision while (not-so) secretly wishing we still saw each other every day and possibly still lived under one roof. My dad might try to deny this, but trust me - that email from him after not speaking for roughly 36 hours that says 'you never call anymore' would beg to differ. They've been so wonderful this past year (and really the past 26) while I've gotten back on my feet and into the adult world.

2. My boyfriend, who I yelled at this morning for not doing dishes even though there wasn't really time last night, thus projecting my frustrations about my weigh in onto the poor soul. I'm amazed he still loves me, but I'm oh-so-grateful.

3. My health. I know it may not be perfect, but all things considered it's pretty damn good. Sure I may be overweight, but I have normal blood pressure and cholesterol, no diseases or disorders (unless you count my compulsive need to have a dust-free screen on the radio in my car), and I rarely ever get sick. That's nothing to sneeze at (har har).

4. My LTE ladies. We're about to celebrate our two year (!!!) anniversary of the day we all came together as the most awesomely rad support system in the history of the WW message boards. I've met a few of these ladies in real life, and I have to say they're even cooler in person! It's so, so valuable having a support system of people who are going through/have been through the same struggles you're facing. It's equally valuable being able to help people who are where you were at one point, and helping them through based on your past experiences. 

5. My brother. He loves me so much he moved into an apartment in the same complex as me! Now I can continue to get my fix of talking for hours on end about the restaurant world. 

6. The doggies. For making me feel so happy and loves when I'm having even the crappiest of days. They're just bundles of love and fluff!

7. My travel opportunities. I feel like these (especially my year in London) have shaped my life in such a big way. I'm so thankful I've had the chances I have to travel all over the States and Europe (and a little Latin America), and been able to experience so many different cultures. 

8. My childhood. Ok, so maybe this could be lumped in with family, but whatever. My blog! I think how you grow up/are raised has a huge effect on who you turn out to be as an adult. I think my childhood has helped me become someone who appreciates the things they have, who spends (relatively) frugally even if there's money on the table, who has a very comfortable, relaxed relationship with their family but still has respect for them, and puts a high value on sticking to commitments (as much as I hated that one as a kid).

9. My job. Not something to be taken for granted.

10. My readers! Thanks for listening to my ramblings for the past year+ (wow, I'm old). You keep me from  having to talk to myself, and I'm ever so grateful for that.

a letter to mother nature.

Dear Mother Nature,

Who do you think we are, Upstate New York? It's too early for snow. Please come back in about a month, when the snow has a fighting chance of sticking to the ground and being pretty, as opposed to obnoxious.

Kisses and Hugs,

adie

winning!

The boyfriend *hates* it when I say that. But it's true. I'm totally winning. Like, not sarcastically, totally seriously, winning.

Who knew that only eating APs + like 5WP (or WP but no AP depending on how you like to look at it) would result in a loss? Anyone? No? Me either.

-1.6 today. I'll fist pump to that!

i'd rather be the tortoise.

This morning, I stepped on the scale for my weekly WI.

-.2.

Yes, there's a period in front of that 2.

I want to get mad at that number, but then I remember that I had Panera mac and cheese for dinner last night. I think the fact that I lost anything is a damn miracle.

I want to "woe is me" to everyone I talk to, but then I see the post-it taped to my desk in front of my computer (intentionally and strategically placed) where I'm recording each WI, starting from the Friday after I returned from Europe and recommitted myself to finishing this thing. I realize that not only have I either maintained or lost every week since (which is a feat in and of itself), but my average loss is right at .5lbs/week. Sure, it might be 2lbs one week and nothing the next, but overall I'm losing within the healthy range. I may not get to my goal tomorrow, or even next week, but I'm moving in the right direction, and I'll get there someday.

That's something to be proud of.

vacation is sexy, part 2b. london, in (far fewer) pictures.

fish and chips #1.

most.heavenly.coffee.ever. Standing in line for entry coffee (aka coffee #1 of borough trip)

my favorite pesto! too bad my favorite stall employee, Josie, wasn't there. She's traveling around Africa. Rough life.

little cup of heaven

food board for the best sandwiches ever. I go with the spiced lamb every single time. I dreamt about this sandwich for months. Literally.

grillin'!

lamb's close-up.

homemade sauces for the sandwiches. From left: harissa, salsa  verde, sweet chilli, and lemon garlic aioli. For the lamb we recommend the harissa and the salsa verde, if you like a kick (can you tell I eat here all the time?)

it may not look like much, but seriously. Go get yourself one of these.

Chillin' in the church garden behind the market, enjoying my sandwich. A common ritual at Borough.

walk *this* way.

tower o' carbs!

fruit and veg!

Brindisa, the Spanish market, aka where I get my fix of murcia al vino (drunken goat's cheese)

Did someone say "queso"?

spoils from the market.

view from the top.

skyping with your father always makes for a fun afternoon.

stopping to smell the fun-looking flowers in Oxford.

me and new mommy Lilach! I know, she totally doesn't look like she had a baby two months ago. Not fair.

Hampstead Heath

precious baby Ofek

me and Britt in Oxford!

I miss it already.