Vacation

I can’t BELIEVE I haven’t posted since the end of July. In my defense, there was vacation and book reading and PLENTY of twitter and G+ posts. So while this is not a real post, there is soon to be a long post about vacation book reading and how I recently bought (*gasp*) two actual PHYSICAL books. Shocking!

It’s going to be a long week.

I’m traveling at the end of this week and it would be a lie to say I’m looking forward to airports, airplanes and rental cars.

Lately I’ve been on a mad Buffalo Chicken kick. Once upon a time I was a vegetarian for a couple of years and the thing that got me back in the meat wagon was the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich at Hooters. Ever since then, good buffalo sauce has been my Kryptonite.

This is my quick and dirty fix : (I’m partial to Frank’s Red Hot but you can use whatever you like in this recipe.)

1 boneless chicken breast, cut in pieces and cooked

Buffalo/hot sauce to taste

Palmful of precut cabbage mix

Diced tomatoes

Lt. Blue Cheese dressing to taste

Whole wheat tortillas

Heat the chicken and add hot sauce
Warm the tortilla and fill with all ingredients

Yoga Meltdown

Not THAT kind of Meltdown. The Jillian Michaels kind of Yoga Meltdown, which I do and review so you don’t have to (unless you really want).

Not that long ago (it seems like) I reviewed Bob Harper’s Yoga for the Warrior, for which the overall review was positive though not for beginners. Specifically there are a couple of transitions with twisting triangle where you can grievously fuck up your back if you don’t do it right and his verbal cues for how to do it right are… nonexistent. I liked the DVD, found most of the verbal cueing to be helpful and definitely felt challenged. Today I picked up Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown, mostly because it features two 30 minute workouts and of late I’ve been splitting my workout with running followed by yoga.

This DVD (vs. the hour long Yoga for Warriors) means I can run/jog for half an hour and then yoga for half an hour and feel like I’m hitting all the bases. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t watch The Biggest Loser. I’m not a fan of the show but I know who the ‘coaches’ are, obviously. The DVD is billed as “hard-core fitness techniques with the sculpting power of yoga, for an intense workout designed to melt away stubborn fat fast.” I’m down for power yoga, as evidenced by my fondness for the Yoga for Warriors (and the fact that I taught a power yoga class several days a week for more than a year) so I was interested in a shortened version and how effective it would feel.

First: this video is ABSOLUTELY NOT for beginners. If you’ve never done yoga, you need to get to an in-person yoga class before attempting this DVD.

Second: Even if you’re familiar with yoga, you need to watch this DVD AT LEAST once before attempting it. The reason(s) is that this is the worst verbal cueing I’ve ever experienced in any class or DVD. I couldn’t get through the DVD without having to watch the screen because half the time I couldn’t figure out where the fuck she was going AND I’M A YOGA TEACHER. I’m not sure if this is from a career of one-on-one coaching, but if Jillian Michaels has ever taught a group class it’s not evident by this disc. I was doing the Level 1 workout and the absolute lack of direction was shocking to me.

That said: even Level 1 is a fast paced workout that is plenty challenging. Unfortunately because so much goes unexplained and changes are poorly cued, I felt like I was playing catch-up for about half the video. Not great when it’s only 30 minutes long. Not only that, there are some moves that beginners should NOT be doing without quite a bit more explanation (the Camel series, for example). There are a lot of potential injuries in this thing. In point of fact, I wouldn’t recommend this video to anyone unless I was pretty confident in their strength and anatomical understanding of how to protect their joints. There’s a Warrior II flow which made me shudder thinking about how many people probably do it incorrectly.

End result? It was a solid workout that could have used a better cool down stretch. I think once I memorize the sequence it might even be a great workout, so I’m going to give this one a while before I move on to Level 2.

So. Yoga Meltdown. 3 out of 5 stars because it’s a great workout but hard to follow.

Why I love cooking

Unlike baking, recipes can be more of a guide than a ‘you must use these measurements’ step by step.

My latest favorite thing is the Hungry Girl books. Yes, they’ve got a fairly hideous name that was probably cute when she started the blog/website/email but now rather unfortunately pigeonholes her product. No chance my husband would even pick UP one of those cookbooks, let alone BUY THEM.

To be clear, that’s the only downside I’ve found with these cookbooks. The design is pretty great, kind of a fun retro font and my absolute favorite thing is the “pantry list” of frequently used items in the front of each book (200 under 200: 200 recipes under 200 calories & 300 under 300). They’re basically the same list, but the latest cookbook (300) has some updates with new brands available.

Here’s the story of why I bought the books:

The Spouse and I are just looking for healthier ways to eat things we already like, rather than dramatically changing our diets. We’re both active and neither of us have a TON of time to cook. I picked up the 200 book and the very first recipe was for Banana Wheat Mini Pancakes. If you remember my post about The Delectable Egg and their AMAZING Banana Wheat Pancakes, you can imagine that I was pretty intrigued. I picked the book up and put it down about a half dozen times. Then I picked up the 300 book and saw that it had an entire “International Favorites” section – including a Chicken Pad Thai recipe. SOLD. I did something I NEVER do; I bought both cookbooks at the same time.

I started with the Egg Mugs. Basically, egg substitute and a variety of vegetables/cheese/bacon added to a large mug and cooked. Takes less than 5 minutes and means I get a hot breakfast on my way to work (in a nearly non-spillable container). Spouse has also gotten on board with these in a big way.

The Banana Wheat Pancakes are just as awesome as I’d hoped – I made them Saturday AND Sunday morning. I double the recipe and it makes about 7  palm-sized pancakes, which is perfect for us (4 for Spouse, 3 for me) and instead of using the sugar-free maple syrup we have agave syrup. They’re delicious and VERY easy to make.

The Chicken Pad Thai was fantastic, but this entry is about tonight’s adventure with Fish Tacos.

I used the recipe for the marinade/rub and purchased vacuum-sealed frozen Mahi Mahi. After my workout, I made the marinade and threw it in with the thawed fish while I got the other stuff ready and heated the grill. Instead of making the Avocado Cream according to recipe, I used an entire avocado and a matching amount of fat free Greek yogurt (rather than sour cream). I was a bit more heavy handed with the chili powder and garlic powder, but it was DELICIOUS. Add chopped tomato, coleslaw mix cabbage and wheat taco-sized tortillas and it made a pretty excellent dinner.

The absolute best part of these cookbooks is that the recipes are designed for 1 or 2 servings: no having to shrink the recipe OR leftovers for a week. I suspect this is designed to help with portion control (smart) but if you don’t have kids, it’s wicked awesome to have MY family-sized recipes.

The author states pretty clearly that the recipes are not designed for extreme caloric limitation/dieting. They DO however make it easy to combine several dishes for a larger meal or to have several small meals throughout the day.

Everything has been very easy to prepare and the only really esoteric item (I live in a rural area) was pasta-shaped Tofu noodles that I found at Whole Foods. They’re kind of an awesome substitute for regular pasta, though pricey enough that I wouldn’t probably use them in place of all pasta recipes.

So that’s my latest  schedule addition and it’s been pretty good for the budget. Cooking this many meals at home has saved more money than I’d have expected.

In related news, I had a Coke Zero for the first time in over a week and it turns out I didn’t really miss it. I didn’t have any crazy caffeine withdrawal – in fact I haven’t ever since the first big caffeine boycott when I was in college (now THAT was miserable).

In thoroughly UNRELATED news, I’m kind of looking forward to SyFy’s new Legend Quest show.

Sons of Anarchy FTW

TV can save your life.

This morning I got an email from my mom. Leaving aside the unlikelihood that it’s REAL, I’m going to copy and paste some of it:

While driving on a rural end of the roadway on Thursday morning, I saw an infant car seat on the side of the road with a blanket draped over it. For whatever reason, I did not stop, even though I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head.  But when I got to my destination, I called the Canton PD and they were going to check it out.  But, this is what the Police advised even before they went out there to check….“There are several things to be aware of …. gangs and thieves are now plotting different ways to get a person (mostly women) to stop their vehicle and get out of the car. “There is a gang initiation reported by the local Police Department where gangs are placing a car seat by the road…with a fake baby in it…waiting for a woman, of course, to stop and check on the abandoned baby. “Note that the location of this car seat is usually beside a wooded or grassy (field) area and the person — woman — will be dragged into the woods, beaten and raped, and usually left for dead.  If it’s a man, they’re usually beaten and robbed and maybe left for dead, too.

Updates

New header photo for the blog.

Google +1ification buttons, among others.

Finished Dreadnought, back into Territory (still ahead of my 2011 goal of 55 decent books read).

20 miles logged walking this week.

Awesome internet part 2

I got another voicemail played on The 404 podcast this week, which means I am probably the only female caller they’ve had. And then today, someone sent a video voicemail mentioning my Leadville call (even though he thought I was a guy) and posted from Mount Massive.

Yay mountain towns!

If you like Piña Coladas…

I’ve got a half-assed recipe that turns out well and is even less terrible for you than the average piña colada.

WilderColada:

Fill blender 1/2 full with ice

small can (8 oz) of chunk pinapple (drain just enough juice that you can see the tops of the pineapple

1/2 cup light rum

3/4 cup lite coconut milk

1 Tablespoon agave syrup

Chuck it all in and blend to your desired consistency. Tastes like summer!

Mountain Views (large pics ahead)

During my talk-through with the Verizon rep, we somehow managed to recover the pictures from yesterday’s train ride.

There was a fundraiser for the local battered women’s shelter and it involved an afternoon/evening train ride through the mountains. I haven’t been on the train before as I see the views pretty regularly on my commute, though that didn’t stop people from being shocked that I hadn’t ridden the train. I have to say, the views from higher up the mountain are pretty impressive. Click on the photos for larger views.

Leaving town

It's possible you can see the highway in this picture...

Last one

In conclusion, I live in a beautiful place.

True Blood, Season 4

w00t!

So glad the show is back on, so glad Lafayette and Tara are chock full of awesome. Sookie was… Sookie-like. Most importantly, Pam kicks ass. The long ‘previously last season’ was warranted as GD it felt like it was a long time ago and it made for a great segue into Sookie’s fairyland adventure. As an HBOGo person, I also watched episode 2 last night and will probably watch it again next week. I saw a tweet that said Season 4 didn’t start with a bang. True. All the banging is in episode 2, fo sho.

I stopped reading the Southern Vampire series quite a while ago, mostly as the books began to be repetitive and mediocre. What I love about the HBO series is that they’ve deviated enough from the books to keep me hooked on where they’re going to go and made the characters interesting enough that I care.

Unrelated, except that it’s TV we got our Xbox hooked back up to Netflix and I watched the first episode of Sports Night again. I miss really good network TV. The basic cable networks are all doing things I love but I found Network disappointing pretty much all last season. Totally related: the interface for Netflix on the Xbox is so much better than on my Panasonic Blu-Ray player that I’m largely embarrassed for Panasonic.

Bears shit in the woods, and so do I

Last weekend, Spouse and I made a trip to Colorado Springs. The drive includes Wilkerson Pass, where there are incredible views from a visitor station. Given the dearth of nearly anything from Buena Vista to just outside the Springs, odds are if you’re making that drive you’re ALSO making that stop.

The visitor station has bathrooms of the enclosed fancy port-a-john type. I loathe these things. I actually detest port-a-johns as a whole but I hate these things especially because the tanks are so large and frankly just about any damn thing could be swimming around down there and ohmygod I don’t talk about this because it gives me the screaming heebie jeebies.

This is all apropos of 1. Having stopped at the Wilkerson Pass visitor center, having to use the john and being skeeved out about it. 2. Thinking I would maybe post about the inherent ick factor of those facilities. 3. Reading THIS STORY in the local paper TWO DAYS after this adventure.

I’m not sure that I can convey exactly HOW MUCH that story freaks me out except to tell you that there are now two emergency TP rolls in my car.

You and the Little Mermaid can both go f**k yourselves!

It should come as no surprise that listening to This American Life’s Father’s Day episode at work was probably not a great idea. Actually, it wasn’t that bad until they got to a story about a girl whose father was worried about her going to school in New York after the 9/11 attacks. He decided to build her an anti-terrorist attack kit. This grabbed me immediately because it is TOTALLY the kind of thing my dad would have done. She tells the story of him building the kit over a period of time and then having it at school for a couple of years (not opening it) and then – knowing there was $200 inside – she opened it for the cash because she was going overseas. I was crying before she even recited the letter her dad had left inside. Hell, I was choked up before SHE was choked up.

That story was the only story that really punched me in the gut and I felt like I needed to rebound with something funny, so I looked up an episode I’ve heard referenced a couple of times on TAL. The Greatest Phone Message in the World. Go to Buddy Picture and press play. Here’s a hint, it involves my blog post title. Ultimately what’s just as funny as the phone message is the story of the guy and his friend who actually TOLD him about the message and all their interplay during the story. Definitely worth the listen.

I also loved Simon Pegg on The Nerdist podcast this week. He completely bungles a funny Pippa Middleton joke but it’s so charming it stays funny. For laugh out louds, however, you CANNOT BEAT the latest Doug Loves Movies with Jon Hamm, Bill Simmons (sports writer) and Adam Scott (Community). I was laughing so hard at work that some of my colleagues thought I’d sustained brain damage. Note to self: you’re wearing EARBUDS. THEY can’t hear the voices in your head!

Right now I’m relaxing on my deck, enjoying a Pimm’s Cup and this gorgeous weather (photos in Twitter feed to the right). Summer here is absolutely the best summer I’ve ever experienced. Pimm’s Cups make it better. For those drinking along at home:

In a Collins glass about half filled with ice (pint glasses work too),

1 shot Pimm’s liquor (No.1 is what I’m using)

3 shots lemonade

float of 7Up on top

Delicious and super refreshing.

I got up at 3:30 this morning to go to work and let me just tell you that there is only one acceptable reason to be up at 3:30 a.m.- if you’re still up drinking from the night before. My new alarm app (Gentle Alarm, for those who care) is brilliant and doing the best job ever of waking me up (heavy sleeper) without waking the Spouse (very light sleeper). Also nice, Guster’s Bad World as my wake-up call.

While I didn’t love getting up early, it paid off in the amount of additional work I got done and not having to race to meet my deadline. Not only that, it makes Friday a coast day. w00t!

In reading news, I’m on to Little, Big. Chelsea Handler’s My Horizontal Life was good but not great. A few parts made me snort or laugh out loud but I’m mildly disappointed given how hilarious Shane said Are You There Vodka was. I suppose that will have to be my next effort of hers.

Shades of Milk and Honey was something I had on my wishlist and received as an anniversary gift. Great stuff. If you like Austen, I predict a thorough enjoyment of this novel. It’s set in a similar time with similar society but a couple of fantastical elements to set it apart, as well as some interesting characters. Thoroughly enjoyable read, especially for summertime. On a Buy, Rent or Steal rating, I’m going to go with Buy. It’s a book I see myself reading again (much like I do Austen’s work) and a nice comfort read.

Dogshit Tuesday

No really, that’s how I started the morning. We’re sitting for our friend’s dog who apparently had some intestinal distress. This morning, in the dark, I went to the basement and was going into the laundry room when I felt the unmistakable (even at 4:30am) squish of a relatively fresh pile under the ball of my right foot. It threw a bit of a wrench into my morning.

On the bright side, I laughed out loud with the Doug Loves Movies and Nerdist podcasts this morning to help me regain my cheer. I also left work an hour early in order to compensate for hour fuckery which will almost inevitably occur on Friday. When I arrived home, I found a smaller pile of dogshit on the rug in front of my kitchen sink. Awesome.

At any rate, I’m not in love with any single app for corralling my podcasts. Currently I’m using DoggCatcher, Isyncr and today I added Stitcher. My issue is that I haven’t found a single app capable of pulling up all the podcasts I want with the most recent eps. DoggCatcher refuses to pull The Bugle. Stitcher doesn’t pick up the most recent Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe or Hardcore History. Isyncr is currently pulling what I want but I have to sync it with iTunes. Thus far it’s not cumbersome but it doesn’t have the benefit of updating the 404 while I’m at work for my drive home.

I suppose I’ll test run them all this week and see which are worth keeping or whether or not I can get a single one to jump through all my hoops.

In unrelated news, Tuesday is one of my favorite summer TV nights thanks to White Collar and Covert Affairs.

What I say about WeinerGate

I promised Shane I’d post this.

1. He didn’t fuck a little kid. (Special nod to you, Catholic Church!)

2. He didn’t fuck a guy. (Or get blown by one in an airport)

3. He didn’t even fuck a woman.

This already makes him better than the entire Republican Party.

And for the Democrats who are all aghast about some bad texts?

4. He didn’t get blown by an intern in the White House. Take your smelling salts. Calm down.

How are we even still talking about this?

Bottom line: if his constituents want him to stay, he should stay. *I* certainly hope he does because at the very least, he’s one of the few elected officials who uses logical arguments in session.

Dear Dems-

When someone asks you about this guy’s underwear shots, how about you mention the refusal of Republicans to negotiate in good faith on goddamn near ANYTHING – including the debt ceiling  and paying millionaires to be millionaires – and talk about what we’re paying you to do?

No love,

Sarah

And while I’m at it- Hey Weiner, good looking out with your manscaping! Way to be considerate of the spouse!

Addendum

Because it’s Memorial Day -

My dad was a vet. I remember vividly the stories he told me about his time in Vietnam. I remember just as clearly the stories that I sought out from others when he wouldn’t tell them. I love our country and the awesome, terrible, fantastic things it’s capable of.

That said, I can’t read the stories of amazing widows or triumphant orphans today because I already feel the stirring sadness and joy that accompany a place of many freedoms bought by so many lives. I’m sad that we can’t see each other as equals, regardless of race/gender/love interest. I think we should be better than this – be ABOVE THIS if only because so many have sacrificed.

I don’t think a single soldier has given his or her life because they were supporting one American over another. I think we’re in this together – like it or not – and the LEAST we owe our veterans is an honest and civil dialogue that is worthy of their sacrifice.