As originally posted by my friend Sarah and since I like the idea I'd like to participate as well.
The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what it will be is a surprise. There’s a small catch…You knew there would be one didn’t you? Post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you’re in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive a gift. Let’s see who looks at my blog!
Does anyone actually read this blog though? I generally assume I keep it for my own entertainment.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
My First 5K!
Saturday I completed my first 5K! (At least as far as I'm counting). Hooray!!!
It was the BE5K benefiting Kid One Transport and was part of the Mercedes Marathon weekend. I participated in the 5K Jingle Bell Run in December, but I walked 90% of that 5K. This 5K I was able to run (or very slowly jog) the entire 3.1 miles! I have to admit that all my success is due to Danny. He is truly the most amazing coach and I 100% recommend his program for anyone looking to start running. I didn't have a great finishing time, but I completed my goal of running the entire race and the 36 minutes and 54 seconds gives me something to work my way down from in the future. I was 66th out of 106 in my sex/age group (25-29), 302 out of all females, and 643rd of the entire race. As an added bonus, I think I might be losing weight. I don't actually own a scale so I'm not certain, but my clothes are starting to fit differently and I think my love handles are a little less obvious. Hooray for working on my goals for 2009! :o)
It was the BE5K benefiting Kid One Transport and was part of the Mercedes Marathon weekend. I participated in the 5K Jingle Bell Run in December, but I walked 90% of that 5K. This 5K I was able to run (or very slowly jog) the entire 3.1 miles! I have to admit that all my success is due to Danny. He is truly the most amazing coach and I 100% recommend his program for anyone looking to start running. I didn't have a great finishing time, but I completed my goal of running the entire race and the 36 minutes and 54 seconds gives me something to work my way down from in the future. I was 66th out of 106 in my sex/age group (25-29), 302 out of all females, and 643rd of the entire race. As an added bonus, I think I might be losing weight. I don't actually own a scale so I'm not certain, but my clothes are starting to fit differently and I think my love handles are a little less obvious. Hooray for working on my goals for 2009! :o)
Monday, February 9, 2009
Black Bean Soup
Sunday night I made a tasty black bean soup that was a hybrid of one I saw on Hey That Tastes Good and one out of Mr. Bittman's HTCE. It started off following Hey That Tastes Good directly, but as it was cooking it just didn't smell perfect to me so I referred to Mr. Bittman's book and started adding stuff here and there until (for me) it smelled how I thought it should.
Black Bean Soup
3 cups black beans, soaked in water for several hours
2 yellow onions, chopped
canola or vegetable oil
8 cloves of garlic minced
1 1/2 tsp oregano
3 tsp chili powder, medium
1 tbs plus 1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
6 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
salt
1 lime, juiced
cilantro and green onions, chopped for toppings
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
Heat dutch oven over medium heat. When pan is warm add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. Add the onions to the oil and cook until soften (but not caramelized). At this point add the garlic, oregano, chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes and continue cooking for another minute or so. At this point add the drained beans, stock, bay leaf, and a generous pinch of salt. Bring soup to a light boil, cover the pan and cook until beans have softened (for me it was about 45 minutes). Once the beans softened I took a medium whisk and used it to lightly crush the beans to help thicken the soup. Add the lime juice and mix in well. Ladle into bowls and serve with chopped cilantro, green onions, sour cream, and shredded cheese.
This soup is also very good when served over cilantro lime rice as I did tonight. I had made the rice as a side dish for dinner Saturday night and thought it would complement the soup rather well and make use of both leftovers. It was very tasty together!
Black Bean Soup
3 cups black beans, soaked in water for several hours
2 yellow onions, chopped
canola or vegetable oil
8 cloves of garlic minced
1 1/2 tsp oregano
3 tsp chili powder, medium
1 tbs plus 1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
6 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
salt
1 lime, juiced
cilantro and green onions, chopped for toppings
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
Heat dutch oven over medium heat. When pan is warm add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. Add the onions to the oil and cook until soften (but not caramelized). At this point add the garlic, oregano, chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes and continue cooking for another minute or so. At this point add the drained beans, stock, bay leaf, and a generous pinch of salt. Bring soup to a light boil, cover the pan and cook until beans have softened (for me it was about 45 minutes). Once the beans softened I took a medium whisk and used it to lightly crush the beans to help thicken the soup. Add the lime juice and mix in well. Ladle into bowls and serve with chopped cilantro, green onions, sour cream, and shredded cheese.
This soup is also very good when served over cilantro lime rice as I did tonight. I had made the rice as a side dish for dinner Saturday night and thought it would complement the soup rather well and make use of both leftovers. It was very tasty together!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Quick and Easy
My life recently has been all about what am I able to prepare quickly for dinner after my evening runs. Needless to say the stock of soups in my freezer have taken a hit. I've learned to love cooking in the past year, but by the time I get home (generally around 7) the last thing I want to do is prepare something that is going to take an hour before it's ready. This lead to a thrown together dinner Monday that turned out pretty well. I thawed out some turkey leftover from Thanksgiving (I'll probably pick up a rotisserie chicken to use when I run out of the turkey) and then threw in a can of diced tomatoes and half a bag of frozen green beans (the flat, wide kind). To season I used garlic flakes, Italian herb mix, salt and pepper - all to taste. For something that was thrown together on a whim of what was available, would be easy, and might turn out to be edible - it was a very good meal!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
I stumbled across this quote on Goodreads.com and thought it rather appropriate considering my goal of reading more new material this year. Especially #3 as I'm rather notorious (at least in my own mind) of putting a book down after a few chapters if I can't get into it.
"Reader's Bill of Rights
1. The right to not read
2. The right to skip pages
3. The right to not finish
4. The right to reread
5. The right to read anything
6. The right to escapism
7. The right to read anywhere
8. The right to browse
9. The right to read out loud
10. The right to not defend your tastes "
— Daniel Pennac
I made a visit to the library today to help me towards my reading goal. I picked out Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman; So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson; Ancient Highway by Bret Lott; and A Hollywood Ending by Robyn Sisman. For now I'm trying to read those books in the collection at the library I frequent rather than requesting books from a different branch just yet. I'm also going to try and break out of my usual mold of chicklit and scifi/fantasy a little (see #10). I've generally enjoyed most memoirs I've read so my reading my end up being bit heavy in that genre. Oh, and kids books, I love kids books (or YA or how ever you want to refer to them). :o) I guess I'll just have to see how the year goes. Feel free to suggest books you think I might like :o)
"Reader's Bill of Rights
1. The right to not read
2. The right to skip pages
3. The right to not finish
4. The right to reread
5. The right to read anything
6. The right to escapism
7. The right to read anywhere
8. The right to browse
9. The right to read out loud
10. The right to not defend your tastes "
— Daniel Pennac
I made a visit to the library today to help me towards my reading goal. I picked out Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman; So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson; Ancient Highway by Bret Lott; and A Hollywood Ending by Robyn Sisman. For now I'm trying to read those books in the collection at the library I frequent rather than requesting books from a different branch just yet. I'm also going to try and break out of my usual mold of chicklit and scifi/fantasy a little (see #10). I've generally enjoyed most memoirs I've read so my reading my end up being bit heavy in that genre. Oh, and kids books, I love kids books (or YA or how ever you want to refer to them). :o) I guess I'll just have to see how the year goes. Feel free to suggest books you think I might like :o)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Chicken Soup and Misery
I have officially caught 'the cold' that has been making it's way through my friends and coworkers and am home sick. I don't have a fever or achy body, just severe sinus congestion which is making my ears hurt something fierce. Really, if my ear canals weren't so sore this wouldn't be such a miserable experience. Since I'm feeling rather rotten, last night I decided to make some chicken soup so I can just hit up the soup pot any time I'm hungry rather than having to scrounge around for something to eat. I decided rather than an old fashioned chicken soup I'd try one from Cookstr.com, a chicken soup with coconut and lemongrass. It's also rather similiar to the Thai Coconut Soup with Chicken found in "How to Cook Everything" (which makes since since Mr. Bittman contributed to the recipe). It turned out quite well I thought considering my mental abilities are a bit...hindered...currently. I can't begin to tell you how many times I had to read the instructions before it made sense. So go check it out. It's gluten free and pretty easy to put together for something that's so tasty. It reminds me of the coconut soup from Surin which is super yummy.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Resolutions
Every year I have resolutions that I have the best of intentions of keeping, but I always seem to fail. Maybe by writing my resolutions down this year I'll follow through with them or maybe the writing it down will provide motivation to stick to the plan.
1. This resolution isn't really negotiable, it WILL happen: Pay off my debt to a point that I only owe my parents (Thank you, Parents!) and my student loans. Remember my previous statement about being dismal with my own finances, well, to that end my parents are being amazing and more than generous. They are paying off my larger credit card bill and I've worked out a reasonable budget (i.e. I'll still have a small social life) with my mom that will have my remaining small balance and my car paid off within 6 months. Then I'll begin putting that money into savings until I have 6 months pay in the bank for emergencies. Only at that point will I begin paying off my parents. I'm looking at 40 months to being almost debt free (I'll still have the student loans).
2. Lose Weight: I have this resolution every year, but this year I plan to stick with it. Seriously. I mean it :o) I've joined Running 101 and hopefully having this social obligation (as Danny likes to call it) will really help me meet my goal. Natty and LLG have joined this group with me and the mutual support will hopefully help as well. This was the first week and for me it got off to a bit of a rough start. We're supposed to run a minimum of 4 days a week and I'll have 3 days by the time we start Week 2 on Sunday. Work and weather were not with me this week, but Year End Close (or at least the part that requires my participation) finished today so no more late hours for a few weeks and then February Month End Close begins. Ah, the joys of being an accountant!
3. Reading Goals: I often see these people who can track the number of books they've read in a year and have numbers that seem crazy and I have to wonder to myself "does that include repeats?". I'm a big repeat reader. Ninety-nine percent of the time I read for at least 30 minutes before I go to bed, but it's almost always a book I've already read. My goal for this year is to read more new reads. I'm going to use Goodreads to help me track my reading and keep a list of books that have perked my interest. I'll be on that budget my mom set up and there is a book allowance included (does my mom know me or what), but I imagine my use of the library will increase dramatically over the next 12 months.
4. Quit Whining and Do Something About It: I am a creature of habit and someone who has no problems with being a hermit, but I'm not going to meet Mr. Right (or at least Mr. Right Now) by staying home or hanging out with the same people all the time. So, I'm going to stick with the running, lose some weight, become more confident in myself and go get me a guy. Sounds so simple as I write it down, but I actually have the least expectations for this resolution.
I have other minor resolutions (like keeping up with laundry or keeping my car cleaned out), but these I consider my biggies. Wish me luck!
1. This resolution isn't really negotiable, it WILL happen: Pay off my debt to a point that I only owe my parents (Thank you, Parents!) and my student loans. Remember my previous statement about being dismal with my own finances, well, to that end my parents are being amazing and more than generous. They are paying off my larger credit card bill and I've worked out a reasonable budget (i.e. I'll still have a small social life) with my mom that will have my remaining small balance and my car paid off within 6 months. Then I'll begin putting that money into savings until I have 6 months pay in the bank for emergencies. Only at that point will I begin paying off my parents. I'm looking at 40 months to being almost debt free (I'll still have the student loans).
2. Lose Weight: I have this resolution every year, but this year I plan to stick with it. Seriously. I mean it :o) I've joined Running 101 and hopefully having this social obligation (as Danny likes to call it) will really help me meet my goal. Natty and LLG have joined this group with me and the mutual support will hopefully help as well. This was the first week and for me it got off to a bit of a rough start. We're supposed to run a minimum of 4 days a week and I'll have 3 days by the time we start Week 2 on Sunday. Work and weather were not with me this week, but Year End Close (or at least the part that requires my participation) finished today so no more late hours for a few weeks and then February Month End Close begins. Ah, the joys of being an accountant!
3. Reading Goals: I often see these people who can track the number of books they've read in a year and have numbers that seem crazy and I have to wonder to myself "does that include repeats?". I'm a big repeat reader. Ninety-nine percent of the time I read for at least 30 minutes before I go to bed, but it's almost always a book I've already read. My goal for this year is to read more new reads. I'm going to use Goodreads to help me track my reading and keep a list of books that have perked my interest. I'll be on that budget my mom set up and there is a book allowance included (does my mom know me or what), but I imagine my use of the library will increase dramatically over the next 12 months.
4. Quit Whining and Do Something About It: I am a creature of habit and someone who has no problems with being a hermit, but I'm not going to meet Mr. Right (or at least Mr. Right Now) by staying home or hanging out with the same people all the time. So, I'm going to stick with the running, lose some weight, become more confident in myself and go get me a guy. Sounds so simple as I write it down, but I actually have the least expectations for this resolution.
I have other minor resolutions (like keeping up with laundry or keeping my car cleaned out), but these I consider my biggies. Wish me luck!
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