I can’t believe how fast the weekends go.  Actually, I can’t really believe how fast life goes – that it is mid-November already.

After my productive appliance smorgasbord of a weekend, I was not yet ready to go back to work.  It didn’t help that my first meeting was 6:30am this morning, argh.  I had a quick and easy breakfast of a toasted cinnamon raisin bagel and a pear.

For lunch, I actually tried something new.  I didn’t feel like my usual salad – I wanted something warm.  I have a zillion apples to eat, so I decided to make a grilled cheese and apple sandwich.

with some chicken noodle soup on the side.

One of the greatest things about working from home is that I get the ability to make my lunch on the fly so I can really make what I feel like.  Although that is usually my monster salad… but still…

Work was too busy to hit the gym in the afternoon, plus I knew that I had my basketball game in the evening so I just went balls-to-the-wall at work.  I had a mid-afternoon snack of warm mixed nuts.

S got home around 5:30 (I love Mondays, when he drives in with a friend and comes home early!) and I made dinner.  I decided to roast up the acorn squash I had bought.  Since this was the first time I made it, I went the simple route – I just roasted it, and then added a little Smart Balance, maple syrup and cinnamon.  It was warm and perfect.

I was only going to eat half, but it was so good I went back for the whole thing.

Next time I am going to try a savory recipe.  If you have any good ones, keep them coming!

Before my basketball game, I snacked on a kiwi and a banana:

My game was at 9, which sucks.  The games are always at 7, 8 or 9.  I hate it when we get the 9pm slot, because it’s so late to get out in the cold and get revved up to play.  Also, you don’t want to eat a heavy dinner because then you have to go run around… but if I don’t eat something good, I have no energy and I am starving by the time I get home and overeat at 10:30.

When I got home, I had some fro yo with a kashi crunchy bar:

and a roll of smarties brought back from Switzerland.

Those are much better than m&ms because the shell is crunchier, thicker and tastier.  Plus the colors are prettier

Ok, off to bed.  G’night, ya’ll!

I’m happy to announce that although Operation don’t-eat-all-the-donuts was a major FAIL, the rest of my weekend was a success.  It was quite productive, and an overall appliance smorgasbord.  It seems that all of our appliances either break (with a little help from me… to be continued…) or they are just old and need replaced.  Or they don’t exist in the first place – but we need them.

Appliance #1:  Coffee machine

Yes, we had one already.  Actually, we had two.  And one I broke… I dropped the carafe and it shattered.  So then I went to the backup coffee maker we had.  But we hadn’t used that one in at least a year, and it smelled really mildew-ey even after I ran over 5 cleaning cycles of water through it.  X-nay on the old-coffee-machine-ay.

So we went to buy a new carafe for the first machine, which was about $16.  We bought a new one that said it was “universal” and would fit most coffee makers – but of course it didn’t fit mine.  Rather than searching all around for one that fit, we decided to just invest in a completely new one.  With a stainless steel carafe this time… so it doesn’t break when I drop it

We got a nice Mr. Coffee one.  Nothing special, we are not picky coffee drinkers, but it makes great coffee!  It also has a cool digital clock on it that I really like.

We had two days without a coffee machine… two of the worst days of my life.  Ha.  Never again.

Appliance #2:  Water Kettle

As it gets colder, I have been getting better and better about forcing myself to drink tea.  But when we got back from Switzerland, I found that my water kettle had this yucky buildup on the bottom of it, and it was flaking off into the water.  I tried to wash it out but I couldn’t… and unfortunately it was one of those older kettles where the lid does not come off for easy cleaning.  I think it was calcium buildup and I probably could have tried to clean it out with a vinegar rinse, but I wasn’t sure that it would work and it was a really old kettle.  It kind of grossed me out, too.  So… new kettle time!

Stainless steel, same brand I had before (Oster… because I really liked that one and it lasted a long time) and of course… the obligatory blue LED light.  That was S’s one requirement.

Yay for tea and hot chocolate and other hot-water deliciousness.

Appliance #3:  New freezer!

We finally decided to bite the bullet and get a second freezer.  We have a fridge/freezer that is a pretty good size – a bottom fridge, top freezer.  But I am a bit of a freezer maniac.  My freezer was already full when I lived here alone – but since S has moved in it is ridiculous.  We have had to stop buying anything because it is simply jam-packed and not one single additional thing could fit in there.  Things already fall out on my head whenever I open it, as it is.

Our idea for a second freezer started with a simple, chest freezer (cheaper than an upright) that we could put in a closet somewhere because there isn’t any extra space in our teeny townhouse.  It slowly evolved into an upright freezer (because it is much easier and more convenient, so worth the extra money) to a much larger size (from 5 cubic feet, to 7, to 12, etc.) to a black one (which S liked much more than the white one.  Why a black one costs so much more than a white one, I have no idea… but it does.  The same model is about $80-$100 more expensive in black than it is in white!)

Sooo… we ended up with this model from Sears.  A black, 13.7 cubic foot Kenmore upright.  It is being delivered on Tuesday.  Where will we put it?  Ha, we have yet to figure that out.  As of right now, our dining room seems like the only place, unfortunately.

Appliance #4:  Pot hanger

I guess this isn’t really an appliance, but it’s another big piece of equipment for our house (specifically our kitchen) so it can be included in the appliance smorgasbord.  I have a really nice set of pans that my grandmother bought for me as a house-warming gift when I bought my townhouse.  I bought a pothanger to hang on wall to hold them.  But I did not hang it up properly – it is a thin section of wall without any studs or security to hang something heavy.  So I ended up taking it down after a few months because I was afraid that the hanger with all the pots on it was so heavy that it was going to fall down and take half the wall with it.

But this weekend, S and I bought special screws and hooks made to hang heavy things on thin walls, and he hung it back up!  It worked like a charm.

Now I have the pots hanging, and a lot more room in my cupboards.  Yippee!

So now on to my eats for the weekend.  Saturday morning we did our Barnes and Nobles ritual.  I usually take something for my breakfast, but I felt like buying something and splurging.  So I got myself a big ole’ chocolate cupcake.

I don’t know why I was totally craving it when I saw it.  I usually prefer vanilla.  But man, it was good.

We went grocery shopping and I picked up a lot of fruit.  So in the afternoon, I snacked on a pear, a clementine, a kiwi and a banana.

I also finally bought a loaf of Nature’s Pride bread, with my free coupon from the folks at Foodbuzz.  S wanted to try the multi-grain:

I had a slice with peanut butter with my dinner.  Delicious!

I had an Edy’s ice cream cup that evening,

and a pack of m&ms.

Oh well, at least I’m honest.

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early (actually, it was still dark) to meet my friend Jana to run.  She was doing a 22 mile training run, and I just joined her for part of it at the Berkeley Marina.  S drove me there.   Before we left, I had some scrambled cheesy eggs.

I ran 7.5 miles with Jana.  It was beautiful and sunny, and I had a great time.  She also recently got engaged, so I got the full scoop on how it happened and what their plans were.  Congratulations, Jana!

The whole time that we were in Berkeley, there were police everywhere.  I have never seen anything like it.  Police in cars, on motorbikes, directing traffic, sitting in parking lots and on the side of the road.  It was crazy, and we had no idea what was going on.  Well… after we got home later that afternoon, my friend emailed me and told me that around the time we had been in Berkeley running, they found a dead baby in the marina.  Apparently the mother (23 years old) was found dead last Thurs/Friday and the police had been searching for her son since then. Some kayakers discovered the body of the baby floating yesterday morning.  So sad.

On the way home (we had to hurry to catch the second half of the Steeler’s game…) we stopped at Quizno’s to pick up some lunch.  I had never eaten there before, and I got a turkey pesto torpedo.  I opened it up when I got home:

I wasn’t really that impressed with it.  It was ok, but definitely did not compare to Subway.  There wasn’t enough meat or cheese on it, so I ended up taking the fillings out of one half and putting it in the other half so that I had double the fillings with half the bread.  I saved the other half of the bread and made my own sandwich for dinner by adding turkey, swiss cheese, lettuce, laughing cow cheese, and pickles.  I had carrots on the side too:

I liked my sandwich much better.

Watching football, we snacked on some pizza rolls:

some soy chips:

and some candy corn.

The bad news for the weekend?  The Steelers lost to the Bengals.  For the second time this season.  Unbelievable.

Ok.  I admit it.  Operation don’t-eat-all-the-donuts was a major FAIL.  The good news?  I ate all the remaining donuts (yes… all of them…) on Friday night so there were none left for me to salivate over, obsess about, and eventually cave into on Saturday and Sunday.  And see, it wasn’t even my fault.  I blame this guy:

And also his two twin brothers that I polished off with him.

But first things first.  I had a training course in SF for the day, so I rode there with S early in the morning.  Breakfast was a peanut butter and jelly larabar:

There is basically no education budget in my company right now, so the class was bare bones.  Just one day, no transportation covered, no food or drinks, nada.  Mid-morning I snacked on some roasted almonds.

I was the only person in the entire class to bring my lunch.  So while everybody else scrambled downstairs to go to Chipotle, I broke out my yummy salad.

I really love doing that.  It makes me feel smart, because I don’t have to spend money buying my lunch.  It makes me feel healthy, because I have packed something that is likely much healthier than something I could pick up at a fast (or relatively fast) food restaurant during our short lunch break.  And it makes me feel happy because I have packed something that I like eating.  Three cheers for packing my lunch!

Mid-afternoon I snacked on my last honeycrisp apple.

It was kind of loud, crunching on it during class, but I didn’t mind.  I got a few looks, though

He picked me up after it was done, at 5, and we headed back towards home.  First we stopped at BevMo and picked up a few drinks.  That’s where I got my boozin buddies for the night, Mikes Light Hard Lemonade.

And then……  we decided to have our sushi date that we missed out on last week.  We went to one of my favorite local sushi places, and I realized that I hadn’t been to sushi for over seven months.  Seven months with no sushi?!?!  How does this happen?  Well, mark my words ladies and gents.  It will not happen again.

Round 1:  Miso soup.

Round 2:  Salad

Round 3:  Sashimi, sashimi, sashimi!  Wasabe….  Sashimi!

Yum, yum, and more yum.

There was some swiss chocolate indulgence when we got home.

And that is where the real fun began and we broke out Mike and his brothers.

I don’t really drink alcohol very often.  So it doesn’t take too much to make me a little tipsy.  So… with Mike and Mike, and Mike, let’s just say I was feeling it.  Which of course led to…

THE MUNCHIES.

Duh Duh Duh…. (cue theme music).

And munchies and remaining box of krispy kremes do not mix.  Or maybe they mix a little too well and thus my ginormous FAIL.

And needless to say… I did not stop to take any pictures of the donuts before they leaped into my mouth.

So now, it is the morning after.  I am bloated and fairly hungover.  But the donuts are gone (until S brings home another box, of course) and I can move on with my life.  Saying goodbye is so hard to do…

Wednesdays are my least favorite days of the week.  I have a meeting at 6am in the morning, and a meeting at 9pm at night.  Oh yeah, and many meetings in between.  But it’s gotta be done.  Gotta make that money, pay those bills.

After yesterday’s heavy breakfast, I went for light and healthy this morning.  A hard boiled egg, a yogurt, and a honeycrisp apple.

The honeycrisp apples are growing on me.  They are actually really refreshing – moreso than regular apples that I eat because they are so juicy and crisp.  They are not quite as sweet, I think that is why I didn’t like them as much at first.  But they are good, especially first thing in the morning when I am really hungry.

I got these yogurts from Target.  They are Archers Farms fat free, and I got two flavors – cherry pomegranate, and honey almond.  So far I have only tried the cherry pomegranate, but I am really pleasantly surprised.  They are thick and delicious.  Not as good as greek yogurt, but I would definitely buy them again.

Mid-morning I munched on an orange that S had brought home from work the other day and never ate.  It wasn’t very flavorful, but I always like a good dose of vitamin C.

For lunch I had a salad with crab meat.  So far, so good!

I managed to make it into mid-afternoon avoiding the box of Krispy Kremes.  I hid them out of sight, munched on an apple to try to avoid them.  I even broke out the pickles to try to eat something salty so they wouldn’t seem as appealing.

But nope… they were still appealing.

So two went onto my plate, and into my belly.  Not one, but two.  Oh well… at least it wasn’t three.  Or four.  Or nine.

The past few days have just been crazy at work and I have been feeling exhausted.  I really wanted to go to the gym in the afternoon today, especially after eating those two krispy kremes, but I had told S I would wait for him to come home from work.  So at home I sat.

When he finally got home, we headed to the gym where I did 30 minutes on the stair stepper.  I wanted to do stepmill, but they were all taken.  We rushed home for my 9pm meeting, during which I made a quick dinner of an omelette with laughing cow cheese, sauteed shrimp and some baby carrots:

For dessert I had an Edy’s ice cream cup (I’m trying to go the single-serving route to help with my portion control problems) with a handful of pretzels crushed on top.  It was good, the mix of salty and sweet really hit the spot.

Finally, right before bed, I had a pure protein bar.

Tomorrow is my last “work day” of the week because on Friday I get to go in to San Francisco for a class.  At least it’s a break from the ordinary!

I only ate two krispy kremes today, so tomorrow will be day 2 of Operation don’t-eat-all-the-donuts.  Wish me luck with mission impossible.

I have an acorn squash and a butternut squash and am trying to think of what I will make with them this weekend.  What are your favorite squash recipes?

G’night, ya’ll!

I never understood why people complain so much about eating leftovers.  I looooove leftovers.  I love eating things the next day, when they often taste better because the flavors have gotten a chance to settle and the sauces have sunk in.  I also often like to eat things cold the next day – even more than reheating in the microwave or oven.  Pizza, spaghetti, pancakes and oatmeal… tons of things taste just as good (in a different way) the next day.

This morning for breakfast, I discovered that potato pancakes taste great as leftovers – cold, right out of the fridge.  As I’ve mentioned before, I am not a huge potato fan.  I ate these last night for dinner when they were freshly made… and they were fine.  But this morning for breakfast, with some apple – they were amazing.

They were a little heavy – I don’t eat much fried food to begin with, let alone to start my day first thing in the morning.  But the good thing about eating them in the morning is I have the rest of the day to be active and lighten up.

The breakfast kept me full until lunch, though.

S was nervous all throughout the morning because the layoffs were occurring until about noon.  I was happy when lunchtime came and he was safe and could calm down a little bit.

For lunch, I had my turkey salad.

After lunch, I went to the library to pick up a programming book that S wanted.  On the way back, I stopped at the grocery store where I picked up a few essentials.  While I was there, I saw these and had to get them.  Total impulse buy.

I really wanted eggplant for dinner and could have easily made it myself… but these frozen heat-and-eats were calling my name.  And they were on sale.

For an afternoon snack, I had some popcorn:

and some dried figs.  I love dried fruit so much!

Then I hit the gym.  I was still tired today, but I wanted to get in a good workout.  I did 30 min on the stepmill, and then 15 min on the stationary bike.  It was tough, but I was happy to hammer out 45 min since I have been slacking at 1/2 hour almost every day so far this week.

For the second night in a row, I made one dinner for S and I.  It really makes me happy to do that.  We had chicken noodle soup:

And makeshift eggplant parmesan using the eggplant cutlets I picked up this afternoon, on top of tomato sauce and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

For dessert, I had a big bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

But then……

Then………………..

Gotta love him, S brought home a dozen kreme-filled donuts from krispy kreme this evening.  Argh.  I managed to limit myself to one this evening.

S polished off 2, which means there are still 9 left for me to avoid tomorrow as I work at home the whole day.  ARGHHH!

And now I bid thee goodnight, for I have a 6am meeting tomorrow morning.  I hate Wednesdays.  G’night, ya’ll.

This morning I had my first honeycrisp apple.  I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed.

I really love apples, and I liked this one too.  But after ready about these and how great they are on the blogosphere, and looking at the price that I paid for them, I was expecting an incredible apple.  And it was just…. fine.  So will I eat the rest of them?  Absolutely.  But will I buy them again?  Not unless they are the same price as the apples that I usually get, which is whatever kind is on sale.

That being said… I managed to eat two of them for breakfast.

The morning was uneventful.  I’m realizing that it is kind of sad I seem to say that a lot.  But I guess work is work, right?

Mid-morning, I had a cucumber sprinkled with olive oil and garlic salt.  Delicious and simple.  I’m not the biggest cucumber fan, but with the olive oil it had a great flavor and made a quick, healthy snack.

For lunch I had a turkey salad. My oldie but goodie.

In the afternoon, S called me a little bit worked up.  He found out that they were going to be having layoffs at his company sometime between today and Wednesday, so is really on edge.  My company recently went through a huge round of layoffs, so I understand his concern.  However, there is absolutely nothing he can do about it so I spent the afternoon and evening just trying to calm him down and convince him that no matter what happens, he is (and we are) going to be fine.  I don’t really think it helped at all, though.

Before the gym, I had a slice of angel food cake and some pistachios as a mid-afternoon snack.

Yesterday, I found the pistachios when I was rearranging stuff in my kitchen cabinets and I was so happy!  It was a great surprise.  I love pistachios!

I took a mid-afternoon break and went to the gym, where I did 30 minutes on the stair stepper.  I really don’t know what has been going on with me, but I have been feeling so tired lately.  I think that it must be a combination of still not being totally recovered from the marathon, still not catching up from the jet lag, and simply not getting enough sleep both on the trip and since I’ve been home.  But my workouts have felt really tough, even though they are actually less than what I used to do.  It’s really frustrating.  This weekend I am going to the Berkeley Marina to help my friend Jana run some of her 22 mile training run she has scheduled.  She is doing CIM on December 6th and is really going to rock.  But I haven’t run since the marathon and am feeling really nervous since I have had such a tough time with my workouts lately.  The good thing is that I can run as much or as little as I want (and I promise you, it will be nowhere near 22 miles) and I will get to see my friends.  I think I am going to try to take a short run for my workout tomorrow to see how I feel and hopefully settle my mind for this weekend.

After my gym trip, I came home and had my snacky of cottage cheese cheesecake pudding with freeze-dried tropical fruit.

I was still hungry, so I had a clif bar too.

I actually don’t think I was still hungry.  I think it was an emotional-eating snack…  but oh well.  Better a semi-healthy emotional eating snack in the middle of the day than a crazy emotional eating binge at night.

When S came home from work, there was more drama and concern about the layoffs.  I tried to be as supportive as possible, but it’s hard to sit and listen to someone fret about something that they have absolutely no control over.  Plus, it scared me probably almost as much as it scared him.

The good news is that the Steelers were on MNF.  I waited patiently all day before breaking out the jersey, and we watched the game before and during dinner.

Since we have gotten back from Switzerland, I have been working on expanding my menus and going out of my comfort zone when it comes to eating.  I have gotten so used to eating the same, “safe” foods for so long.  And now I want to get rid of those fear foods.  I want to eat the same thing that everybody else is eating when I go out, and not be scared about it.  So we decided that I will work on making one meal for the both of us – and we will eat the same thing.  Before, I made us each a different meal.

So for dinner tonight, I made… breakfast!  That is a huge comfort meal for me.  When I was younger, we used to have breakfast for dinner when my dad made dinner and it was always a special treat.  To this day, breakfast foods are my favorite (besides dessert…) so I love having breakfast for dinner.  I made breakfast sandwiches:

made of a whole wheat english muffin, a slice of american cheese, a scrambled egg and two slices of turkey bacon!

and potato pancakes:

It was a feast fit for a king.  Not low calorie, but it was worth it.  Plus, I mentally felt great because I made one dinner for both of us!

After my dinner digested for a little while, I had my basketball game.  I missed the last four games because of my trip, so was happy to get back!  My team kicked butt while I was on vacation, winning 3 out of 4 games, so we are definitely going to be in the playoffs this year.  And as a new team in the league, too!  Woo hoo!!!

I celebrated when I got home with the rest of my pumpkin ice cream.  Yes, out of the container.

RIP, pumpkin ice cream.  I don’t think I can, in good conscience, buy you anymore because you leave too quickly.  Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I finished off my night watching the end of the football game.  I had to go to my basketball game at the beginning of the fourth quarter, so DVR’d it for my viewing pleasure when I got home.  Steelers won, 28-10.  Yay!  6 and 2, baby.  Now I’m off to drag my exhausted butt to bed.

Before you sign off, check out these happenings in the blogosphere:

• Katie’s Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness.  Katie, you are an inspiration!
• A Nutty Giveaway!  Get in it to win it…
• Plus a Chocolate Covered giveaway!

G’night, ya’ll.

It was a really productive weekend, which always makes me happy.  I love getting things done.

After Friday’s late night, I didn’t wake up until about noon on Saturday.  S was still sleeping (shocker..) so I left him in bed.  I went downstairs, had my coffee and breakfast – a Kashi waffle with peanut butter, blueberries, and dates:

I was going to make S breakfast for when he woke up, but was glad that I decided not to because he didn’t get up until almost 4pm!  Around 3, I went to the gym.  I took it easy this weekend, with easy workouts, because I have been feeling incredibly tired and have had trouble completing my normal workouts.  I did 30 min on the stationary bike and a little bit of ab work.  I am trying to incorporate ab work a few days a week because I haven’t done any since my surgery and really need to get back on the bandwagon now that my healing is done.

S woke up right while I was leaving the gym and called me when I was on my way home.  I got back to find that he had eaten some of my homemade turkey jerkey.  Guess he approves of the dehydrator

After a quick shower, I prepared dinner (breakfast for S.)  I stir-fried up some tofu:

with some olive oil and spices.  I haven’t had tofu in a while and forgot how much I loved it until I had the yummy tofu patties in Switzerland.  So I was totally psyched and the tofu did not disappoint.

As we got ready to go, S played with JB.  You have heard of the Cat in the Hat… have you heard about the Cat in the Box??

Aren’t they delicious???

Then we headed to the event at the California Academy of the Sciences.  The place was absolutely PACKED, I couldn’t believe it.  There were so many kids – screaming munchkins running around everywhere.  Five minutes after we arrived, S looked at me and said “Ok, we are NEVER having kids.”  Ha.  There were lots of cool animals and exhibits.  My favorite were the fish and the aquarium exhibits – in particular these teeny jellyfish.

They wouldn’t stop moving for a second, so it was hard to get a short that wasn’t blurry.  But they about the size of my fist, were all different colors – beautiful blues, pinks, etc, and they were just bopping all around the tank.

They had a DJ playing music and all of the exhibits were open, so it was a good time.  We started getting tired and left around 10, though – all the noise, kids and crowds were exhausting.

On our way out, we were walking to our car and we saw a fox!  I have never seen a fox outside before, it was amazing.  And it was right outside the Academy building!

Remember the last time I was in SF, I saw a skunk?  And now a fox!  Who needs the San Francisco zoo when you can just see these animals outside?!?!

When we got home, we had a few drinks.  S tried Smirnoff Ice for the first time and liked it.  He got a little tipsy drinking two of them and a beer.  While he was boozing it up, I cut up some bananas and kiwis for the Excalibur:

I had to set the alarm for 6 hours to wake up and turn it off.  That’s when I decided to go and buy a plug-in timer so I didn’t have to do that anymore.  But in the morning, I had this:

and this:

Sooooo good!  I was especially excited about the kiwis, because it’s really hard to find dried kiwis in the store and I think they are delicious.

Sunday morning we got a much earlier start than on Saturday.  We were out of bed at 10 (even though we went to sleep at 4 the night before!) and headed to Barnes and Nobles.  I had my cereal for breakfast, with a coffee and People magazine (no… I didn’t eat the magazine…)

The cereal was a mix of Fiber One, Banana Nut Cheerios (which I am trying to use up), Total Blueberry and Pomegranate, and Kashi Honey Sunshine. I have so many boxes of cereal in my house right now.  I am determined not to open any new ones until I finish up the old ones, and about half are “healthy” and half are “junk” cereals.  So I’m trying to mix them up to use them up.

After Barnes and Nobles we started running errands.  First we went to Fry’s to get a timer for the Excalibur.

It’s cool – I plug it into the wall, and then plug the Excalibur into the timer, and voila!  It will shut off the power.  No more waking up in the middle of the night to turn it off.  Woo hoo!  I looked for a battery for my Movado watch, but it takes some weird size that they don’t carry at Radio Shack or at Fry’s.  Grrr.  I will look for it online this week.

After Fry’s, we hit Home Depot.  We picked up some shelves for the kitchen, a bunch of wood, and…. an electric saw.  S is going to build a pothanger for the wall so that there is more room in the kitchen to store things because I won’t have to keep the pots and pans in the cabinet.  That’s the biggest complaint that I have about my house – the kitchen is too small and there isn’t enough storage space.  So I can’t wait for him to finish it!  And he was happy because he got a new toy – the saw.

After Home Depot, I snacked on some trail mix I bought in Switzerland.  I really like this kind because it has hazelnuts in it, which isn’t the easiest thing to find here in the US.

By then it was lunch time, and we went to my favorite.  SUBWAY!  I got a footlong turkey sub and ate half.

I also ate a Kefir bar that I got a free sample of in the mail.  It was chocolate flavor, and was really good!

We made a quick stop at Petco, to pick up some food (and a new toy!) for JB.  Then we went to the library.  I got two new novels, a book on German grammar (I am determined to learn German if it kills me…) and a book on Java programming (nerdy nerd nerd.)

After library was gym (30 min on the elliptical) and after gym was dinner.  Git er done.

Dinner was the other half of my Subway sub, and the leftover tofu from last night.  I put it on top of tomato sauce with some parmesan cheese:

For dessert?  Why, some swiss chocolate:

I ate the whole bar, nibbling on it throughout my meeting I had for work.

Ok, time for bed.  G’night, ya’ll.

My new Excalibur dehydrator rocks my socks off.  Today I made turkey jerkey.  It took just four hours, and it’s absolutely incredible.

I never knew that jerkey was made from ground meat.  When I went searching online and found something that said you make beef jerkey with ground beef, I thought “Yeah right!  This guy must be an idiot.”  But apparently, I am the idiot   So I took some Jennie-O lean ground turkey breast that I have had in my freezer for a while, I dumped it in a bowl, and I started adding spices.  I didn’t have any “jerkey cure” or special jerkey spices.  No liquid smoke either.  Plus I just wanted to make it as natural as possible.  I figured this was my first experience with the dehydrator so I would use it as a learning experience for next time.

I combined:

20 oz ground lean turkey breast
paprika
chili powder
garlic powder
salt
pepper
hot sauce

I would guess that I probably added a tablespoon and a half of each of the spices… but I wasn’t measuring.  Just kind of sprinkling and dumping   Then I rolled the turkey out into a flat sheet, cut it into strips, and laid them on the Excalibur trays:

I tend to like my jerkey a little thicker and chewier, rather than thinner and more brittle/crisp.  So I tried to make mine the maximum thickness that the Excalibur allows, which is about 1/4 inch.

Then into the dehydrator they went.  Very soon, my kitchen was smelling heavenly.  Just four short hours later…

It was done.

I took a bite and couldn’t believe how good, and how easy, it was.  I even made S try it when he got home from work.  He had never ever tried any kind of jerkey before, so was very apprehensive.  But he said it was delicious!

Two thumbs up for my Excalibur.  I bought some kiwis, and still have the bananas S brought me from work, to make.  But those take longer to dry so I have to schedule it a little more carefully since my dehydrator doesn’t have a timer   Probably either tomorrow night or monday during work!

So besides eating 3/4 of the turkey jerkey throughout the day, I had some other good eats.  Breakfast was, finally, pumpkin oats!

I picked up some pumpkin at the store the other day and made this with:

1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup oat bran
1/3 cup pumpkin
spoonful of almond butter
granola
sprinkle pumpkin seeds

Delicious!

Mid-morning, I had a snack of a golden delicious apple.

Before lunch, S and I made plans for a date night!  We decided to do dinner and a movie, which we have never done.  As we were talking and I realized that we had never done dinner and a movie, I was shocked.  I realized that we have never had a real date.  When I said that to him and asked him why, he told me that it wasn’t his fault – in Switzerland, they don’t do the typical dating scene like they do here in the US.  Quite honestly, I thought that he was feeding me some BS to defend the fact that he has never taken me out on a proper date.  After all, if they don’t “date”, how do they meet people and form relationships?

So I started looking.  And I found that… he was actually telling the truth.  The first site I found had a lot of comparisons between Europeans and Americans in pretty much all different areas.  It said:

In fact, even the way of dating tends to follow so well-defined rules in the USA. For instance, there are widely followed conventions about sleeping on the 3rd date. Men know they shouldn’t expect to see a woman again if she insists to split the bill (”check” in AmE) at the end of their first date. The way of proposing, or buying an expensive ring are more important for Americans too. In Europe, the way of doing things is more informal and spontaneous, and can varies a lot from one region to another, and even on a person to person basis. Sometimes, that makes Europeans envious of how easy and clear things look in the USA in comparison. The drawback is that it seems too stereotypical, especially if you don’t like the conventions.

And S is pretty much the definition of someone who “doesn’t like the conventions”.  Humph.

The second site I found was even more interesting.  It said:

Often one doesn’t meet one’s soon to be in-laws until the wedding day (which can be quite a shock when you realise your new mother in law is 600 pounds but looked just like your lovely bride at 20). Many Swiss couples I know would never even consider marriage and just decide to shack up together to save rent money. In America, moving in with your boy/girlfriend makes everyone assume you will be getting engaged soon.

Dating tends to follow well-defined rules in the USA. For instance, there are widely followed conventions about having sex with someone on the 3rd date. If you hop between the sheets on a first or second date in America, you can be fairly certain you both won’t be visiting Tiffanys anytime soon (unless you get knocked up by accident and he feels guilty enough to buy a silver baby rattle). Courting a woman until marriage and buying an expensive engagement ring are traditional acts of romance for Americans. In Switzerland, love and marriage are much more informal and spontaneous.

Humph again.  I guess on one hand, I have already met S’s parents (and grandparents, and aunts and uncles and pretty much every member of his extended family).  And they are all pretty terrific.  So I don’t have to worry about that one.  On the other hand, we have moved in together.  And basically… it sounds like I (as an American, of course) would expect that this means that we are “on the way” to getting engaged.  I’m not saying that I think we will get married tomorrow, or in a year, or anything like that.  I’m just saying that it does make me have some expectations.  He, however, has no such expectations.  I knew that about him before we actually moved in together, but I didn’t realize that it was a European mentality.  I thought it was just an S mentality.

Anyhow, back to our planned date night.  I was even more excited for dinner and a movie, knowing that S didn’t ordinarily do it and it was special.  We were even going to get sushi – my favorite – which we have never done before either.  We had it all planned out before my turkey salad at lunch time.

I was so excited that I thought I would buy a new outfit for the date.  I went and got a nice sweater, a pair of black leggings, and a nice pair of knee-high boots which I have been wanting.  I couldn’t wait.

While I was out, I also bought a snack that I couldn’t resist – a pumpkin shaped, chocolate-covered rice krispy treat!

I can’t resist a pretty rice krispy treat.

Check out that marshmallowy and chocolatey goodness.  Mmmmmmm!

So then I did a quick gym trip – 30 min on the stepmill.  I have been feeling really tired this week – I’m not sure exactly why.  It might be still a little bit of trip hangover, plus the fact that I have been getting up pretty early every day this week so far for early meetings, etc.

After the gym was a snacky of cottage cheese cheesecake pudding with freeze-dried mixed berries.

Then I took a shower and started to get ready.  I got my hurr did, put on pretty makeup and my new clothes.  I was sitting on the couch, waiting for S to come home… when the phone rang.  It was him.  I knew right away that was not a good sign – the only time he calls me at the end of the work day is if he is going to be late.  It was a little after 6 o clock when he called, and… you know it… he had taken the train in that morning, and the train was delayed due to an accident in Palo Alto.  Estimated up time – anywhere from 1/2 hour to 2 hours.

I got comfortable and waited for a status update.  A couple hours later he texted me saying that the train was going again.  So he would be home in an hour and a half.  But due to the delay, there was no way we would have time to go out for dinner before the movie.  So I had to cook dinner to be ready when he got home, like usual, and my date night went bye-bye. 

I made pasta for S and shirataki pasta for myself, with tomato sauce, mushrooms, edamame, parmesan cheese, shrimp and a laughing cow cheese wedge.

And dessert was a bowl of pumpkin ice cream, woo hoo!

We did go to the movie, though, and that was fun.  We saw “Couples Retreat” – a cute comedy that made for a good date movie.  Afterwards, we came home and had a relaxing beer on the couch.  Now, it is almost 3 am and I am hitting the sack.  G’night, ya’ll!

At work, whenever I finish a project I am required to do a “Lessons Learned” where I outline the lessons that my team and I learned throughout the project phases and lifecycle.  So now, I am taking a break from my paid work and doing my life work – lessons learned from my Switzerland trip.

First, my day so far.  Breakfast was an egg, cheese and mushroom omelette, some deli turkey, an apple and an orange:

Mid-morning I snacked on a Nature Valley Cherry and Pomegranate bar that I got as a free sample in the mail.  It tasted good, although the nutritional stats aren’t too stellar.  Too much sugar and not enough protein for my regular rotation.

Lunch was a turkey salad.  Although I am going to try to make my lunches more interesting, I really missed my monster lunch salads.

I also had a slice of angel food cake.

Now, I will share with you the most exciting part of my day yesterday.  Overall, my day yesterday wasn’t that great.  I had a 6am meeting, so my day started early.  I woke up and took the call from home, and then got dressed and headed into the office for the day because there was a woman selling discounted tickets for the social club at work for this weekend – they are having an event at the California Academy of the Sciences.  So I actually worked in the office for the day – even though it was a mobility center since I no longer have my own cubicle.  I also spent the whole day on the phone and didn’t actually interact with anyone in the office – thus confirming my (unfortunate) situation and proving that there is absolutely zero benefit to me driving a half hour to work in an office when none of my team or coworkers are actually there.  Every time I complain about working at home and how boring and isolating it is, people say, “well can’t you go into the office?”  And my answer is… yes, I can.  But I don’t have team members there either, so it will be just as lonely and isolated… but I will have to dress up and drive a half an hour for it.  Kind of a bad deal, in my opinion.

Anyways, I digress.  I came home in the late afternoon, and was going to head to the gym.  But S asked me to wait for him to come home from work so that we could go together, so I held off.  He was going to be home around 6:30-6:45 and would just change and we could go.  I had to be back home in time for a meeting for work at 9pm.  Argh, isn’t that great?  A 6am meeting and a 9pm meeting in the same day?  Yeah, I hate it when that happens.

So anyways, 6:30pm comes and goes.  6:45 comes, and I kind of have ants in my pants waiting for him to get home so we can leave.  Then my cell phone rings and… you guessed it, he’s stuck in traffic.  He said he would be home in 15 minutes.  7pm comes and goes.  7:15…  Finally, he gets home at 7:20.

Yeah, I’m pissed.  I don’t yell at him – I don’t really say anything at all.  I kind of do the silent-treatment thing.  The problem is, I feel like I have been doing that a lot lately.  And he feels like that too, that’s the problem.  Living together is hard – there are a lot more expectations on each of our sides.  And that often leads to a lot more disappointments, it seems.  I think we still need to adjust and get used to this.

So anyways, we go to the gym, finish and leave, and bicker a little in the process.  Then I get home and have to work.  All-in-all a less than stellar day.

But the stellar part…

Prepare yourself…

I got a new Excalibur dehydrator!  I have been wanting a food dehydrator for a long time, but was looking more at cheap ones.  After eating a TON of dried fruit in Switzerland, however, I decided to suck it up and get a good one.  I had a feeling that if I got a cheaper one, I would just want to get a better one later on down the line.  I have read really great things about the Excalibur on many blogs.  So it arrived yesterday with the Fed Ex man.

I almost plotzed when I answered the door.  I had read that it was somewhat big, but I didn’t expect the mammoth package sitting on my doorstep.  I thought for sure it must be mostly packaging to make sure it wasn’t damaged in the transport.  Until I opened it and realized, nope – it was 100% pure Excalibur hardware, baby.  Oy vey.

It looks awesome.  The one thing that I was a little disappointed about is the fact that it doesn’t have a timer… I thought this model did have one.  But oh well.

I got the 9-tray model too – this thing is no joke.

I asked S to bring me home a couple of bananas from work so that I can put this baby to work!  Tomorrow I will be making dried bananas and turkey jerkey, woo hoo!!

Afternoon snacks were cereal:

And some cottage cheese cheesecake pudding with freeze-dried strawberries.

After yesterday’s fiasco, S tried really hard to come home early today.  Well… actually what really happened was he drove in with a friend who had to leave around 4pm so he pretty much had to too.  But you know, I choose to think of it as him really making an effort   But anyways, we made it to the gym earlier today and I was happy.  I did 40 minutes on the elliptical.  It was super hot at the gym today, I was sweating like nobody’s business.  Love it.

For dinner, I had a Gardenburger veggie burger with cheese on an Oroweat sandwich thin.  Steamed broccoli and mushrooms accompanied.

And for dessert, I had two bowls (gulp) of ice cream.  First was Edy’s pumpkin, which I finally tried after reading everybody rave about it.  And now I understand.  I see the light!!!!

The second bowl was cookie dough.  And I must confess, it was not a bowl.  It was right out of the container, baby.

And I may or may not have had some swiss chocolate.

Ok, I’m headed to bed before I can possibly eat anything else made entirely of sugar.  I’m too tired to do my lessons learned tonight, which is basically why I started this whole post.  But it will come, I promise.

G’night, ya’ll.