I want to be like grandma....

Look at that cute sewing machine. I had it sitting on our bedroom dresser as a reminder of a hobby still unknown, and now it sits downstairs on our coffee table (I got it out this past weekend to show Eric's grandma who's an avid sewer). It's cute and tame for a beginner like me and grandma approves. Sewing machine, you WILL get used!

Food tracking....

The number 10 (Food: Day 10) seems like a good day to end food posts on this blog, because I'm going to keep my boring goal to myself. The continual posts with just food listings were just boggin' up the bloggin' and I want to do some real bloggin', I do. I will post pics, and successful recipes whenever I cook! Which, to me, seems like better bloggin'. The end.

AVOCADOS RUINED!!!!

Ok, so this fire business is hitting home now. My favorite fruit has been destroyed and will be even more expensive to buy:

"Losses total at least $1 billion in San Diego County alone, and include a third of the state's avocado crop."

OK, ok so I feel bad for the people and their losses but darnit, when avocados are involved, that's what really pulls at my heartstrings!

Day 10! and the cooking begins..

Blueberry (Nature's Path) toaster pastry (healthier than poptarts, I hope?)
Banana
Water
Almonds
Chipotle burrito bowl w/o rice but WITH black beans, chicken, corn and tomato salsas, cheese, sour cream and lettuce.
Chips and guac
Water
Spinach and feta pizza (organic from Trader Joe's)
Rootbeer (made with sugar cane instead of high fructose corn syrup; it tastes lighter and better, but I don't know how much healthier it really is!)
Water

On Friday, I cooked up the cannelini bean stew and vinaigrette for Saturday's lunch: soup and salad. Man! The salad and homemade dressing were both killer good! The soup was good too, but I had already made it last fall and knew what to expect. Pics and recipes to come. Oh, and I'll throw in a few Kauai and grandparent pics while I'm at it!

Day 9: food, fa-food, food food...

Water
Almonds
Asiago roast beef sandwich, broccoli cheddar soup (this time with actually broccoli heads!) and whole grain baguette with butter (Panera)
Water
Almonds
Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares with mint filling (4) and 1 Dove raspberry caramel dark chocolate (tasted like medicine after Ghirardelli)
Portobello mushroom filled ravioli (Trader Joe's) with Prego sauce and the shake-it kind of parmesan. (bought before I discovered Bertolli pasta sauce - we have some Ragu in the cabinet to finish off too before I buy more Bertolli.)
Water

Eric and I grocery shopped last night and picked up just about everything for the weekend (besides special bread from a downtown bakery)! And the cooking with photos begins tonight! ;)

Day 8: Can't wait to get cookin'!

Water
Jersey Mike's mini turkey breast and provolone sub prepared "Mike's Way"*
Water
A Chips Ahoy cookie from my handy dandy co-worker
The last bit of pumpkin nut bread
Water
A bowl of pumpkin spice granola with milk
Water
A chunk of blueberry toaster pastry

I had every intention to finish off the toaster pastry this morning for breakfast but MAN! - old habits are SO hard to break. I haven't been eating anything for breakfast after I got sick of my almond routine. I just run out the door like usual realizing as I go out that "DOH! no breakfast again!" I also see that I need to get better at eating veggies still!!!

*Mike's Way Includes: Onions, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Vinegar, Oil and Spices (not boring Subway crap - Mike's Way is GOOOOOOD!)

Day 7: Blah...

Almonds
Water
Chicken pad thai
water
A chunk of pumpkin nut bread
Chicken quesadilla
Blue Moon beer
Water

Not an eventful food day at all! I was craving chicken pad thai from a favorite place by work, Lu Lu's Rice and Noodles, but it just didn't hit the spot like it usually does. It was just as good as usual too, fresh chicken and cilantro, crispy bean sprouts, tofu and whatever else they throw in there. Maybe I've finally OD'ed on this dish. Later, we met friends at a bar/restaurant in Mt. Lookout called Allyn's. Eric and I had only eaten there once before and enjoyed their popular Cajun fare. Our first go, I had the Mardi Gras pasta with shrimp and Eric had some kind of Cajun seafood platter. But this time around, we went lighter (price-wise and health-wise) but our choices were lackluster. Eric had the turkey chili which was much better (not as good though as the vegan chili at Melt in Northside) than my dried-out chicken quesadilla - I stole some of his jalapeno slices to make mine taste better. BLECH!

Day 6: Nothing special to report...

At Eric's request, I'm just going to start listing food in the very beginning of my entries, and I'll write any food assocations/reviews at the bottom. I can never just list anything without making a few comments though!

Almonds (raw)

Water

Chik-fil-a southwest chicken salad with ranch dressing (not the whole pouch)
Water

A small slice of pumpkin nut bread

A handful of Trader Joe's sweet pototato chips

A bowl of Trader Joe's pumpkin spice granola with Lactose free milk (doesn't taste any different than regular milk but is easier on Eric's stomach)

A few sliced marinated artichokes

A slice and a half of pepperjack cheese

A few more sweet potato chips

Water and some spiced cider

So far, although getting old already, journaling my food choices has helped me to not eat as crazily as I once did. For instance, I wanted pizza for dinner on Friday but decided against it as I already had some for lunch -what an unhealthy/crazy dinner I ended up having though! I blame that on Eric ;). As far as my cooking goal goes, I'm going to get our kitchen ready ASAP (this means cleaned, not finished - we may have a contractor finish the pesky drywall) for a cook-a-thon as we get ready for Eric's grandparents' visit this weekend! Pics and recipes to come!!! I plan to make soup and salad and a breakfast casserole. Can't wait!

Day 5: The kraut festival!

This place has the MOST food of any festival I’ve ever been to, and it’s all killer good. Just walking down the street smelling everything is a good time. That is, if you’re already full of festival food.

Since we got there at about 9:30, Eric wanted donuts and I couldn’t stop him, and I’m glad he persisted because those were THE BEST donuts I’ve ever had.

Breakfast: a few donut holes – warm and perfectly crispy on the outside with just the right amount of sugar, and they melted in my mouth. (I can’t stop thinking about these things!)

Lunch: a German sundae – potatoes and kraut topped with sour cream, cheese and a little green olive*

A fountain Pepsi

The BEST polish sausage I’ve ever had topped with what else? KRAUT!

A cup of warm spiced cider

A taste of Eric’s delicious iced lemonade

A taste of Jason and Michelle's pumpkin fudge (KILLER)

A few of Eric’s fried mushrooms

A fountain Diet Coke

At home: a couple of slices of yummy pumpkin nut bread that we bought at the festival

Trader Joe’s spiced cider and some more Trader Joe’s chips and a few sliced marinated artichokes from the jar - when these are on sale, they're one of my favorite snacks. Trader Joe’s are priced well but have a sweeter taste which I’m not sure I like as much but will still eat any chance I get.

After the festival, I was having a carb depression that only made me hungrier.

Luckily we had some freezer reserves for dinner: Trader Joe’s southwest chicken quesadillas with veggies. (Our first try – not the best but not bad)

More spiced cider and a little bit of some crappy red wine from where else? Trader Joe’s – it cost a little more than Two Buck Chuck but wasn’t better.

Day 4: Festival food galore!

This weekend consisted of perfect weather and two of my favorite festivals on the planet: the Yellow Springs Street Fair and the Waynesville Sauerkraut Festival.

Food consumed on Saturday at the Street Fair: (* denotes food that I always get at these events)

Breakfast: water (boo!)

Lunch: All pork shish kabobs*

Black bean nachos with jalapenos*

Pumpkin roll slice split with Eric (soooo GOOD!!!)

Water

Light microwave popcorn (the boyscout kind!) at mom and dad's

Dinner: Mom, Eric and I headed to downtown Fairborn for Giovanni’s pizza! We shared a jumbo deluxe with anchovies on the side - I’ll usually place one slippery guy on each slice – the flavor is delish. We had plenty left over for Sunday breakfast which I didn’t take advantage of since we left at 9 a.m. for the Sauerkraut festival.

Day 3 and the beginning of weekend cheating...

Breakfast: a small handful of Trader Joe's raw almonds.

Lunch: I didn't feel like leaving work, so I headed to the cafeteria which on the menu was the usual Friday special: pizza, but not just any pizza, this pizza brings back memories from my childhood summers at the Fairborn Rona Hills pool where they served similar rectangular slices with little cubed pepperonis. I'd hit up the snack bar starving after a day of pool shenanigans and inhale a slice in record time. Not much has changed. I inaled a slice of this pool-style pie for lunch after a morning workout at my computer. Then I dressed up the offered iceberg lettuce side salad at the bar with some spinach, carrots, tomatoes, egg, and a dabble of bleu cheese dressing. and then came the splurge: a 50 cent little slice of heaven, chocolate cheesecake with a cookie crumb crust.

water and water throughout the day....

Dinner: just like college kids - a crazy hodgepodge from a trip to Trader Joe's: a couple chocolate filled peanut/peanut butter clusters that were there for sampling, along with a little cup of three cheese pesto filled raviolis. For the car ride home, Eric and I devoured some garlic buttermilk mash potato chips. Once home, I ate a couple of Trader Joe's brand chopped marinated artichokes from the jar. Then, Eric and I ate a small bowl each of imported tiramisu gelato. Then, we split a pack of organic blueberry toaster pastries (Eric claims one of his biking mags said these were good for you - I didn't see hydrogenated or high fructose in the ingredients, so they seemed good enough for me!). And to finish it off, we split a Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale (not our favorite).

More water to wash down this crazy dinner.

I'm already thinking this food blogging is a ridiculous idea, and my perseverance is wavering.

Boss in costume

When PJ sported this tie and collar look, she looked like a little kid trying on dad's clothes (if her dad even had a white collar gig - most cats in our neighborhood work the streets, and pj and boss were found in a garage somewhere in cincy. i assume their parents were also street dwellers). As you can see, Boss is ready for his 9-5 gig, somewhat groggy though as most full-time folk are.

Boss also filled out the elephant hat better than PJ and just loves to be photographed in costume. We tried to get a good photo of PJ in the floppy ears, but she looked like a blurry elephant in flight, and you can't even see her big golden eyes.

food day two...

extra sleep was my breakfast today...i meant to grab a handful of almonds before i headed out the door but forgot!

lunch: leftover pasta with tuna from last night

water

water throughout the day

dinner: chipotle burrito bowl w/o the rice. I ordered black beans, chicken, green peppers with red onions; corn, green and tomato salsas, cheese, sour cream, and to top it all off, guacamole. I also squirted a lime on the very top (YUM).

water

First day of documentation..

Panera for lunch (I'm sick of this place):

sierra turkey sandwich
cheddar broccoli soup (consists mostly of cheddar with a few little broccoli sprouts interspersed for good measure)
chips
water

more water throughout the day

pantry reserves for dinner:

whole wheat rigatoni with canned tuna, parmesan (leftover from a lasagna recipe), and tomato sauce courtesy of RealSimple's recommendation:

Best Jarred Tomato Sauce Under $3

Barilla Marinara
While other sauces in this category tasted flat or cloyingly sweet, this one had a “distinct herb flavor” from the combination of thyme, parsley, and white pepper. The abundance of garlic and diced tomatoes also impressed tasters.
To Buy: $2.70 for a 26-ounce jar, available at supermarkets nationwide.
March 2006

Barilla is now my fave cheap jarred sauce hands down. Try it! oh, and i had more water, this time of the Amstel Light bottled variety, along with a green apple jolly rancher (eric had a few pieces of candy leftover from his work retreat today).


Breakfast for sure tomorrow, kids! and unfortunately the bagged lunches won't begin until next week when we'll have more time to plan meals and hit the grocery!

what i ate today....

mmmmm, hotdog... i haven't had a good dog for a while and intend on keeping these edible cancer sticks out of my fridge. when i ate hotdogs a little more regularly though, my faves were hebrew national kosher beef hotdogs. mmmmmm....hotdogs.... on to the real reason i'm bloggin' today! it must be good if i've started with hotdogs, right?!

in order to keep my (jill's) bloggin' up to date, and keep myself more accountable for everything i put into my mouth, i'm going to keep track of my eating habits on here - mostly for myself. you'll find out everything; i'm not going to leave out a crumb or morsel. and i'll include successful recipes! and try to photograph these dishes (is that a little too ambitious now?). probably, but my main goal is to write down my daily food intake - allll of it.

some bad habits:

skipping breakfast more often than not (excluding vacation - i ate breakfast like a good girl every morning!)

poppin' sweets wherever i find them

carbs, ca-carbs, carbs, CARBS! (i'm not going to totally cut them out, just try to avoid refined ones)

buying lunch when there's really no healthy options by my work (excluding the delicious, pricey ruby tuesday salad bar that my co-worker and i frequent about once a month or a little more)

definitely NOT eating the suggested daily servings of fruit and veggies (more like once or twice a week probably)

i want to:

cook at least 3 times a week

drink fresh brewed green tea daily, rather than just plain old water

pack my lunch more, which means packing enticing things that will get me to eat a packed lunch, like yummy leftovers

use my beautiful, wonderful cookbooks that i love to read and leaf through. on the rare occasion that i have cooked in the past year, i've taken the easy way out, finding recipes on realsimple.com or foodnetwork.com. but i love a lovely cookbook - there are some books that i've drooled over but haven't yet made a thing from. i want to try at least one recipe from every book i have. which is a totally reasonable way to start since i don't have THAT many cookbooks.

all of this is pretty much common sense stuff that i haven't tried to totally put into practice, but have been kicking myself for ages to start. here's to old year's resolutions!

halloween animals

boss and pj are not pictured, although we purchased a white dressy collar with tie and elephant hat for them at Target (go get yours now!) and have the pictures to prove it. a buddy sent me these animal pics today and here are my faves:

cat obsessed...

i'm an obsessed cat lady. i used to think i loved my old abyssinian, an exotic-looking, most-would-say-scary-as-hell-looking cat, chloe. i did love her, but it was a different kind of love because i really yearned for her to be nice to people, and well, she wasn't. and she'd try to kill me at times too. but pj and boss, well, they are sweethearts, and i mean so sweet, sometimes i feel my heart burst with love for these little cuties. (boss isn't so little anymore - updated big kitty pics to come) a while ago on this blog, i said i only had kitten pics, and this fact is still true. so a few nights ago, as i digitally leafed through these shots, i fell in love all over again with pj and boss. i love you guys more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow!

oh, and you know what i love best about these two? they are belly cats, meaning they'll let anyone pet their outstretched bellies. they won't surprise you with a back leg kick, and they'll never bite. just lovely- what's better than a warm, soft, furry belly?

sometimes a song hits you out of nowhere....

and right now, i just got struck (in my head, not the radio) by the line from an arrested development song: "take me home, take me home..." the singer's voice on that line just gets you in the gut. and i think i'm going to go play it right now and clean my home.

Oops, I did it again!

Now that I've gotten that annoying song in your head, let me share with you my (Jill's) mishap for the day. This incident happened at lunchtime while I was getting a sandwich at this little market/cafe by my work. After grabbing my usual "Honest Tea" bottle, which is kind of starting to become my "tea factor", I make my way to the counter to order my sandwich and pay. As I order from the "sandwich man", I start shaking up my bottle, and without thinking, twist the cap. The cashier then comes out to take my money and without realizing, breaks up my shake routine which is a dangerous thing to do. She totally made me forget that I had twisted the cap, so it was all her fault. I pay and proceed to shake again: shake it, whoosh, shake it, whoosh. Tea splatters everywhere, and in the cashier's face too!

"I don't know why I just did that," I say out of embarrassment. Thankfully, she is kind and doesn't laugh in my face, although I still remember her squinting eyes and dumbfounded expression quite clearly.

"It happens," she says. She hands me a towel and seems frazzled, not only by the sticky tea everywhere but also the customers that seem to come out of nowhere.

The last time I pulled a similar bottled tea shake-up disaster was at a California Pizza Kitchen while eating dinner with Eric and my parents. If you come in close contact while I have a bottle in hand, watch out. At least I come by it honestly.