I haven’t seen a 4 in months! Woo Hoooo!
Random Thoughts & Election Day November 4, 2008
At the ungodly hour of 5:55 this morning, I rolled out of bed, pulled on some sweats and walked to my polling station. Sans coffee. I know! I was coherent enough to let the lovely election inspections (who could rattle off and spell some seriously long and convoluted Polish names) who I I was and spell out the 12 letters in my entire name. The lady in front of me had 16 in her last name alone! I pulled all my little levers and went home. Woot!
BTW, who is the canidate running on the platform that says the felines get more of the bed than the 2 humans who are 5′3″ and 6′? I mean really. I like snuggling as much as the next gal, but the 2 of us on half of a queen size bed?
I’m hoping the flax seeds in my Stonyfield Farm low fat blueberry yogurt will outweigh the poisen that is a Tim Horton’s Double Double.
Working at Wegman’s is chewing up my hand something fierce. I hope they toughen up. That job is too much fun some days.
The Turkey Trot is coming. 3 more weeks. Guess I might want to think about running again.
I am working on lined mitts for Mom, there was thumb drama, but the answer came to me when I was lying in bed.
Sleep deprivation and time chenges. Blech! Although my bathroom is super clean!
Gravity is no friend of mine October 29, 2008
So the weight oddessy continues. I have not been good this week. No excercise and there was cheesy pasta, chicken wings, beef on weck, lots of beer and that was just Monday! The scale this morning was acting a bit odd. Before my shower without a thing on I was 158. After showering and putting on clothes, 156. I do not understand how my personal gravitational field shifts about like that.
I’ve been knitting. Mr. Bunny’s We Call Them Pirates hat has been almost finished for sometime. This weekend I changed the bind off to a sewn one in an effort to make it fit his marble like head. All I need to do now is sew it up and reblock. We’ll see if that happens this week.
Weighing in Wednesday. October 22, 2008
Well, we are down 2.5 lbs. That makes my weight this morning 151. I’m hoping it is REALLY 2 lbs. and not the magic 2 than fall on and off and on again.
What have I been doing. Frankly, nothing. But, after some investigation I have decided that cashing at a grocery store burns somewhere around 175 calories per hour. So, last nights 4.5 hour shift burnt 787.5 calories. I consumed about 1500 calories yesterday (the four beers after work were a bit naughty). So I am well under my 1200 calorie goal.
I will be joining the gym in the next few weeks. My office building has a deal with the local Community College’s athletic center downtown. This place makes the Walker Center look like a closet. It is HUGE! I’m going to try to start going in the morning, since there is noooo parking near the gym I’ll have to park in my lot, walk up, work out, and walk to the office. Does this give me an excuse for a new bag?
The snow is coming, the snow is coming!!! October 21, 2008
The dirtiest word in the English language has been uttered in my presence. Once on this mornings NPR broadcast that I half listen to between 5-6 in the morning, and once witnessed by a co-worker’s hubby in the Southerntier. Blech! Is is grey outside and the lake is a pretty blue/green color in the harbor.
This week is going to be an endurance test. I have to work at Wegman’s every day through Sunday. Friday night, bless their hearts, I have a 4:30-midnight shift. Now mind you I work 7:15-3:45 during the day before that! This is going to suck! Sometime during the weekend I will also have to find time to grocery shop and cook for the next week.
So no excercise, but I truely hope working as a grocery checker I’m burning SOMETHING. I come off these shifts completely drained and sore.
I finished one of my Fuzzy Feet (that has been on the needles for a YEAR!). Did I cast on for the second? Wellllll, yes. I may have even completed a round of it before casting it aside to start a new pair of mittens. Pics soon, promise!
Sunday, Busy Sunday. October 19, 2008
Stain Deck – Check
Menu planning – Check
Grocery shopping – Check
Laundry – Check
Culinary Goddess – Check check check
Presenting Beef and Stout Pies with a Stilton Crust courtesy of Williams Sonoma
This hearty beef stew is slowly simmered on the stovetop, then topped with Stilton pastry and finished in a hot oven.
Ingredients:
7 Tbs. olive oil
1 lb. white button mushrooms, quartered
2 cups frozen pearl onions, thawed
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 1/2 lb. beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. tomato paste
2 1/2 cups Irish stout
1 cup beef broth
1 lb. carrots, cut into chunks
1 lb. red potatoes, cut into chunks
1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh thyme
One 16-inch round Stilton pastry (see related recipe at left)
1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp. water
Directions:
In a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm 1 Tbs. of the olive oil. Add the mushrooms, onions, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Season the beef with salt and pepper. Dredge the beef in the flour, shaking off the excess. In the Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm 2 Tbs. of the olive oil. Add one-third of the beef and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes total. Transfer to a separate bowl. Add 1/2 cup water to the pot, stirring to scrape up the browned bits. Pour the liquid into a separate bowl. Repeat the process 2 more times, using 2 Tbs. oil to brown each batch of beef and deglazing the pot with 1/2 cup water after each batch.
Return the pot to medium-high heat. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add the beef, stout, broth and reserved liquid, stirring to scrape up the browned bits. Add the mushrooms, onions, carrots, potatoes and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beef and vegetables are tender, about 3 hours.
Preheat an oven to 400°F.
Brush the rim of the pot with water. Lay the pastry round on top, allowing it to droop onto the filling. Trim the dough, leaving a 1-inch overhang, and crimp to seal. Brush the pastry with the egg mixture, then cut 4 slits in the top of the dough. Bake for 30 minutes. Let the potpie rest for 15 minutes before serving. Serves 8 to 10.
A sprinkling of creamy Stilton cheese sets this pastry dough apart. Use it to form the crust for our Beef and Stout Pie (see related recipe at left).
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. sugar
16 Tbs. (2 sticks/250g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water
4 oz. Stilton cheese, crumbled
Directions:
In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and sugar and pulse until blended, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 1/3 cup of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 Tbs. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with flour, place on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper and roll out into a 12-by-16-inch rectangle. Sprinkle the cheese over half of the dough, then fold the other half over the cheese. Roll out the dough into a 16 1/2-inch square. Using a paring knife, trim the dough into a 16-inch round.
Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 10 minutes, then lay the dough on top of the beef and stout pie and bake as directed in that recipe. Makes enough dough for a 16-inch round.
YUMMY
Weighing in on Wednesday October 16, 2008
Thoughts about this post have been rattling around in my wee brain for the last few weeks. Those of you that have known me for sometime are aware of the struggles with my weight I’ve been having the last 10 years or so. Some of the problems are medical based and the rest I can blame on becoming a grazing office monkey (well, piglet). Couple of years ago I went on Topamax for my migraines and proceeded to drop from an all time high of 190 to around 132. This was great! When I moved to Buffalo I was thin and pretty and full of optimism for what would happen here.
Then there was the break-up with Mr. Gadget and I wound up in a horrible, abusive relationship with a crazy person (Mr. Wonderful) who didn’t listen to me when I tried to control my portion sizes. I was traveling like crazy for my job and I worked in a office full of thin-challenged people that always have snacks floating around. A pound here, a pant size there. I got pregnant twice. This was NOT a great time in my life. Then something intervened. I was laid off. At the time it felt like the world was falling in on me. 4 days later (2 of them weekend) I was hired on as a temp-perm at my current location.
I had a great job, benefits, my co-worker’s helped me through ridding myself of the crazy person. This was a great period. I started my job at about 151 lbs and 6 months later had managed (somehow) to get back down to 139. I think I had started the Topamax back up but it was after I had lost the majority of the weight.
Then all of the sudden in March of this year my weight blew up. I gained almost 20 lbs in a month. My weight gain couldn’t be explained by my eating patterns, so I ran to the Dr. Lots and lots and LOTS of tests later…nothing. Theories but no answers. Perhaps auto-immune, perhaps endocrine, perhaps crazy.
So here I sit. I have managed to get about 5 lbs off in the last few months. Today I document my weight at 153.5. I will check in every Wednesday and talk about this issue and put that number out here. I need to have a journal and accountability. I can totally ignore a bad week and jump off the wagon. I’m hoping the rest of you will catch me and throw me back on.
I am planning to start a triathlon training program this winter. My goal is to participate in 3 sprint tri’s next summer. I also want to be able to run the 8k Shamrock Run this March and 1/2 the Buffalo Marathon this spring.
In addition to this I’m going to try to keep track of what I’m grazing on and limit my drinking far more than I have. I’ve had more than a few embarrassing episodes in the last few years and I really think I need to stop. Hopefully a glass of wine here and there will keep my from diving head on into a binge.
Now I have goal, I have a plan, I have incentive. Couple of years ago when I donated my kidney, I was told by the Dr.’s I should try to get my weight to 114-128 and keep it there. That will reduce the load on my kidney and prolong it’s lifespan.
Tuesday Blahs October 14, 2008
Winter is coming. There I said it. The warm weather is passing me by and I need to think about getting everything ready for the onslaught of my least favorite season. Woolies need to be pulled from storage and hung, summer clothes need to be put away, the front half of the house needs to be prepared to be shut down so I don’t have the pain of massive gas bills this winter. I need to work on scheduling my time a whole heck of a lot better. There are 71 knitting days between now and Hexmas and not a gift has been made.
I have also started a part-time job at Wegmans which could possibly be compounding my problem. No more lazy mornings in bed until 7:30 on the weekdays. I need to be in the office by 7am to make everything work. I’ll figure it out, I’ve just been in slacker mode for so long this summer that it is hard to get my butt back in gear.
