A Little Recipe For Ya

General attitude: whatever
Weight loss: I refuse to get on a scale.


I have a bit of a recipe I want to throw out into the world.....I have never made this but I am going to.....just got it from my b-in-l...and he said it is delicious and I tend to trust his judgement...somewhat.


I need a name for it...I am sure it has one but he didn't give me that sooooo...
I guess I will give the recipe and then name it whatever pops into my little brain, and I do mean little.


Fresh tuna (1 inch cubes)
roasted sesame seeds
soy sauce
green onions
olive oil


Toss all ingredients together and put into the fridge overnight.....the chemicals in this combo somehow "cook" the tuna. Serve however you like....he did not tell me how to serve it but I bet it wold be good in those rice paper rolls that Josette and I love....or even in a lettuce wrap with the cellophane noodle thingys......oooh or on a salad with a spicy asian dressing......mmmm now I am hungry again.

TTFN

Long time coming

Ok so, I have been a slacker in the blogging world. Sorry. You can......well I better not say that or else you will get the wrong idea about me. Snort.

So I started the new year off with a trip. Something I have not done in ten years. The last time I was away from home on New Year's was 2001, and I was on the other side of the world in Hong Kong. I had a wonderful time with friends in Banner Elk, NC, but I really think I like having a party at my house better....since it seems to be the only thing I do there anymore. Ah well....I will make that decision next Christmas.


Now on to resolutions.


My cousin, Josette & I have started this blog to help us be accountable to each other so that we will force ourselves to lose weight. Well that, and to journal our favorite travels we take together. We love, love, love to road trip, and we don't do it often enough.


Collectively we weigh somewhere around 800 pounds. Ok. Not really, but I feel better about myself when I grossly exaggerate. We have both struggled with our weight for as long as I can remember and now we are in phase 1 of the 12 step program. We realize that we are addicted to food. We cannot control this addiction by ourselves. We need help. Well, we knew that already, but now we are going for it. So..


Resolution #1: Lose weight. I know. It's the universal resolution...but dangit, I mean it this time.


Resolution #2: Have weight loss, will travel. Josette and I have made this promise..that if we lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date we will certainly buy the other certain person a certain ticket to a certain place where we will certainly enjoy ourselves.


Resolution #3: I will read the entire series of Anne of Green Gables again, in between bouts of vigorous exercise that is. I loved this series growing up and I have not read them in many years, but I will, oh yes, I will.


Resolution #4: I will learn a new craft. I love crafts. I love painting and knitting and creating things....therefore I will learn a new craft...not sure what yet....but I will.


Resolution #5: I will....well.....I don't know what this one is yet but....I'll do it.


Resolution #6: I will not procrastinate. Procrastination is the reason the resolutions have not made it to the blog yet.....so I am stopping now.


There....that should do it for now. I do hope you are having a great year so far and are as excited as the next 355 days as I am.....TTFN

The Time Has Come....

The time has come my little friends, to talk of other things, of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings. ~Lewis Carroll

So let's talk of other things. Let's talk of woozles and boozles and little curly ques. Not really sure what kind of curly ques but let's talk about them anyway. Happy ribbon curly ques. Hair that hangs in bouncy corkscrews.

I feel a bit of nonsense in the air today.

It has been fantastically dreary the last couple of days and it makes me want to read. Read. Read. I love anything in the shape of a book, but a book of nonsense will send me into the happy land of Phantasmorania where fairies live. If you have never read the book "The Ordinary Princess" you simply must. It is a wonderful story of a little princess born into a family of 7 fantastically beautiful princesses who is given the gift of ordinary by a fairy. Lovely rainy day read. I really do hope that it will be made into a movie one day, but the book is wonderful.

It's been a couple of days that makes me want to cook wintery food. Like ratatouille. I know that it is supposed to be a summer dish, but when I eat it I want it to be cold outside because it is such a comfort food for me. So here is the recipe for it. You can serve it with grilled chicken or fish.

Bon Appetit!

Ratatouille

5 oz diced bacon

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 large eggplant, cubed

2 red bell peppers, diced

2 small onions, diced

2 T garlic, minced

2 zucchini, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup red wine

cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Put the cubed eggplant in a colander with the 2 tsp. kosher salt. Toss and allow to drain in the sink. In a heavy Dutch oven, heat 3 T of the olive oil over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp. Add the red pepper, garlic and onion, cover and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. (I personally like to add 4-6 cubed potatoes here and let them cook for about 5-8 mins. It makes it a bit heartier. But you don't have to if you don't want to.....it's just a fabulous suggestion that makes this taste so much better because potatoes are such a wonderful vegetable and they make everything taste better.) Add zucchini, cook about ten more minutes. Rinse off eggplant, add to Dutch oven, also add tomatoes. Add remaining olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until eggplant is soft, about 20 more minutes. Set your colander over a large bowl, and drain the vegetables. Meanwhile, add the red wine to the Dutch oven, turning up the heat to boil and deglaze. Add the vegetable juices from the bowl back into the Dutch oven and boil on high heat until reduced and syrupy, ten minutes or so. Add the vegetables back into the pot and toss to combine, seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed. Enjoy. Today and for lunch tomorrow.

So sorry.....

I cannot apologize enough for turning my back on my blog for this long.

The insanity that is my life has taken over and I am trying to get back into the groove of writing.

I will be back soon with an honest to goodness post.....and maybe a recipe or 2.

Much love.

YAY!

IT'S FALL!!!!! HOORAY!

For us it means coolness in the morning, sweltering heat in the midday, and coolness in the evenings, but hey it's fall dangit. We may have to bring sandals to change into during the day but at least we get to wear boots in the morning and evening. So in honor of fall, I will give you a bit of the flavor I have been playing with this week....my Fall Pound Cake. A twist on the the Cream Cheese Pound Cake that is to die for.

Fall Pound Cake

3 cups sugar 3 sticks butter (the real thing)

3 cups cake flour 1 can of pumpkin

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

6 eggs

First melt the butter and blend with sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, and vanilla. Blend well. And I mean well. Then, alternate the eggs and flour beating well in between, like this: 1 cup four, 3 eggs, 1 cup flour, 3 eggs, and 1 cup flour. Don't ask me why but, this works. It makes it all light and fluffly. Now if you don't like pumpkin and you just want to make the cream cheese version, just get rid of the pumpkin and cinnamon and put 8 ounces of cream cheese and make it a whole teaspoon of vanilla.

So now you pour the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Now the most important part. Save some batter to eat while the cake is cooking, and don't tell anyone so you can have it all to yourself.

DO NOT PREHEAT THE OVEN. NO.NO.NO.NO.

Put the cake into the cold oven and turn it to 300 degrees and bake for 1hr and 15 mins if you like the cake really done, but if you are like me and you like the bottom 1/4 to be gooey and a bit like heaven cut it back to 1hr and 5 mins. Now go make one of these for everyone you know and you will be loved for eternity.

Enjoy!

Feels Like Today

Today. What does it feel like for you? For me it feels like a Rascal Flatts song. :) Well, not really but it does feel like a bit of gorgeousness outside and happiness inside where we all are happy about the outside yet have plans to be inside for the rest of the day. Unless we completely buck the system and take our desks outside. But until I can find someone to move my heavy desk, I will just give you a bit of how my today is going to go. Unless it doesn't.

Today. I am going to eat better........and less. Today. I am going to think better.....and less selfishly.

Today. I am going to do something that goes beyond the norm......I just don't know what yet. Today. I am going to challenge myself in some way......just not so it make me sore. :) Today. I am going to listen only to the positive things that make themselves known in my life and forget the negative things that place themselves in my path.....unless they lead to something positive, which I doubt. Today. I am going to Sam's. Once again, to buy lots of food for a lunch that I will cooking for on Thursday. Today. I will cook. Again. Which I love to do. Today. I am hungry. Today. Now.

Tomorrow. I will post a recipe of something to cook for fall.

I know better. You would think that I would have learned from my past experiences. I can't do it without causing myself great emotional pain. It causes tears and anguish and I lay awake at night wishing that things were different and that it could be in my life forever. I mean who would have thought that an online catalog would have this much of an effect on my ability to go on with my life. Go. Go now.

www.anthropologie.com

I cannot possibly begin to describe the joy that fills my heart when looking at this website, or the sadness of knowing that, No, I cannot have one of everything there.

....Sigh....

If you love me you will go now and order me something and have it shipped to my house. Call me and I will give you the address.