Cooking!

I've successfully made french bread. It was relatively easy, and turned out really well.  Here's the recipe I used if you're interested.

I'm mid process of making coconut cream cupcakes - the cupcakes have turned out well, and I'll do the finishing touches tomorrow.

And it's all thanks to my kitchen aid :)

The Road From Over-Consumption

So awhile back, I started using this website to track my calories.

Tracking calories is not fun. It is very tedious work...especially since I cook most of our food from scratch...

I'm not even worrying about other health issues, like fat or what vitamins I'm getting...just the calories.

On myfitnesspal.com, I have it set to consume the calories that would allow me to lose 1 lb. a week..

Surprisingly, that's very doable.

not surprisingly, I like to eat large portions many times through the day. it's an adjustment...pasta and rice are figuring less in my daily diet than before, which has been kind of hard...

It's been an interesting journey - like, I can eat all the veggies I want until i feel like puking, or i can have one tiny reese's peanut butter cup :)

It's also more incentive for me to exercise - like, if i exercise, then i "earn" those extra calories (rather than the reverse of, i ate that dessert, now i "have" to exercise)

So far, I've lost about 7 pounds.

Which means that from 3 years ago, when I went to the rhuematologist, I've lost 15 pounds.  That's just crazy to me. Mainly because when i look in the mirror, I still see the same person.  I was happier with my Christmas picture this year though, so i must have lost the weight from my chin. hahaha.

Anyway, that's where I'm at.  I've gotten back into the exercise routine while R is at pre-K.  I of course injured my foot again while running - and even though i really loved it, i may have to accept for now that running is not for me.  Recumbent bicycle it is...

Yum

So I made popovers the other day - it was relatively easy, and tasted right.  Only difference was I made it in a muffin tin, not a popover tin...I think this played a part in the end result shape.

R took a bite and said "yum! these are like what we had at that fancy place with granny"

hooray! my 4 yr old thought they tasted like the popovers at nordstronm's :)  i take that as a success.

of course, i am now greatly inspired now to get a popover tin..but all in good time

Ta-Da!

I got a kitchen-aid stand mixer for Christmas!

Hooray!  Everything tastes better when it's mixed in such a glorious machine...i may have cuddled it upon opening...Thanks Paka and Grammy!!!

and now for a list (not exhaustive) of things i baked/made this Christmas season...

chocolate-hazlenut tart
coconut cream pie with merinque
pumpkin pie w/ whipped cream
chicken n' dumplings
roast turkey breast
mashed potatoes
cinnamon rolls
california rolls

yum yum yum

for our anniversary, we went to Kenny's wood fired grill - OMG. BEST FOOD EVER (and the kind of place where they fix your napkin when you get up to go to the bathroom).  We had a gift certificate, and you know, we didn't want it to go to waste...so...

popover (BEST ever by the way)
brie fondue w/ garlic bread toast points
grey goose martini w/ olives slightly dirty
surf n' turf special - filet mignon w/ giant shrimp and some sauces, with grilled asparagus w/ vinaigerette
creme brulee w/ coffee

they rolled me to the car.

I am now inspired to make popovers - seems easy, so we'll see...

Christmas!

We went to see the Prairie Lights again this year in Grand Prairies. So much fun...so much more fun this year in the mini-van versus last year when 6 of us were crammed in the Buick... the girls were so excited.

The highlight of our evening though was the final carousel ride - why not? it's free!  Oh, by the way, I hate riding carousels. They make me very dizzy and I always end up feeling nauseous.

This carousel was a real classic...meaning it's one of those carnie rides that you would never let your kids on because of how rickety it seems...

Also, there were no safety harness or seat belts on the horses...

And I jumped on there with the kids before Steve was around....

So I stood between each kid...telling them to hold on tight...when...

LURCH...

the ride sprang to life. i almost fell over...and then it went REALLY fast...

so i've got my arms around each kid, yelling at them over the wind of the fast ride to hold on tight...W obeys, but R keeps nonchalantly waving at her dad like it's no big deal...and i've got this psuedo-surfer stance going on to keep my balance...trying not to throw up b/c i'm getting so dizzy from how fast it's going. and i totally think the people directly behind us on the ride are laughing at me.

Yay! Fun!

R said it was her favorite part of the whole night. Of course.

Fun was had by all, and it's definitely a TX christmas tradition for us now. But I still miss Macy's and the pipe organ/lights display in philly :(

Tis The Season

And Advent begins. I really like this time of year. I do not like actually having to put up the decorations, but I do like having them up - so pretty.

We started the Advent calendars yesterday.

I'm even enjoying the Christmas present shopping that I've already done...who knew.

Weekly trips to Garland for Christmas concerts...

So yep...it's Christmas time. Yay!

Me Vs. The Can

Sounds like I battled a toilet...

specifically, it was a can of chicken...or as I shall now think of it....

 THE CAN OF DOOM.

the setting: my kitchen
the time: Saturday evening, about 5pm
the cast: myself

After a busy of day of visiting with family and running errands all over God's glorious creation, I decided we'd have leftovers for dinner.  The night before, I had prepared the tasty chicken and dumplings recipe, which makes a lot.

I dumped the contents of one of my leftover containers into the pot on the stove top. I added some chicken stock to it. Hmmm, I thought to myself, this needs a little something extra. I got out the frozen peas and tossed them in.  Hmmm, I thought to myself again, this could use a little something more... I know! I'll add some canned chicken. Yum!

I got the canned chicken out of the pantry, and tried to open it with the very nice electric can opener that Steve got me. No luck.  Ok...so I got out the very crappy manual can opener that is so crappy, I bent it the first time I used it...I got the can about half open.  No problem, I thought to myself. Clearly I am a super human, not made of mere flesh and bone, but rather steel...I'll use my bare hands to rip this can apart. This is a good idea!

*crickets chirping*

I know you'll be shocked by the twist in this story, but about 2 seconds after I tried to rip the lid off the can, my hand slipped, and I gave myself a good gash.

Immediately, I rinsed my hand off, grabbed a paper towel, applied hard pressure, and put my hand over my head.

This is essentially the position I was in for the next 30 minutes.

My grandmother was on the phone with my mom when this happened, so I went in and got the phone from her.  The following conversation was amusing in hindsight, and involved me suggesting I get a ruler out to measure the wound to see if I would need stitches, etc... but all agreed I should keep pressure on it until Steve got home and could look at it.

He got home, and said I'd probably need stitches. He may have griped at me. I may have retorted that I didn't need a lecture because I was acutely aware of how stupid I'd been, and was already suffering my consequence.  He called Care Now to make sure they did stitches (they did), masking taped the paper towel to my hand so I could drive myself over, and off I went.  The rest of the family stayed home because it was dinner time...and so they were able to enjoy the dinner that I had in fact bled over (but not on, thank goodness)

(as a side note, my grandmother, at whom I had spent most of the day griping at to stay out of bed, went into quite the tizzy when she saw how I'd hurt myself, and was most keen on trying to help. i assured her i would live, and while i appreciated her offer, really really did not need her to do anything)

At Care Now, everyone was super nice and good at their jobs. First, they made me soak my hand in an anti-bacterial solution. "It will sting at first, and then it will go away" they said. Lies! All lies!  Then, the lidocaine shot in my hand to numb it...EXCRUCIATING...finally, relief... I was able to watch the PA stitch me up with no problems. I got 6 stitches using the blue material - she thought it would look nicer than the black...Then, I got a tetanus shot. The fun continued!

I wasn't able to get any medicine last night, but today I started my antibiotic, and got my pain pills - which  don't seem to be doing much, so when it's time for the next dose, I'm going back to tylenol.

So...what a lovely way to spend an evening.

Things that are hard to do with my left hand...eat soup with a spoon, brush my hair, stir food in a pan...

Things I cannot do today...put my hair in a ponytail, chop anything with a knife...

I go back tonight to have them look it over, and then again in 10 days to have the stitches taken out.