Very Busy Weekend

We had a whirlwind of a weekend. There was so much going on though I am not complaining since most of it was very good. :-)

Friday:

Dan called me late morning and said that he would like to have dinner on the patio since the weather was nice. NO, you aren’t going to make me eat Ian’s food again? LOL, you believe that right? ;-) Of course I wanted to go out to dinner. I send Jenn a message online and asked her to save us a seat in her section. What, you don’t ask for specific servers when you go to dinner?

We got to the restaurant early and the weather was gorgeous. It wasn’t too hot or too cold it was literally perfect. I left Dan at the table with Jenn and Janine and went to the kitchen to hug Ian and let him know we were there since I had not warned him that we were coming in for dinner. After the hug the first question he asked was “when are you coming in for dinner?” To which I replied “now”. He reminded me that I hadn’t told him we were coming in but I said it wasn’t a problem because we would wing it together which we did.

While I was chatting with Ian Dan was ordering a pot of tea and catching up with the ladies. My husband loves pretty ladies. ;-) When I got to the table they were having a great time. *shakes head* Good thing I am not the jealous type.

Dan decided to start with his favorite appetizer on the menu which is Ian’s version of a samosa. We both really enjoy this but Dan loves it.

I did manage to get one bite of the samosa before it vanished before my eyes. LOL

Here is Dan goofing off when I tried to take his picture.

For our next dish we talked to Jenn about what was being served under the fish special that night. I know from experience that what is under the fish is frequently interesting and easy to make vegan for us. Since Ian also has tofu in the kitchen now I knew we could replace the fish with tofu and that is what we did.

This dish includes: corn, snow peas, cabbage, green apple, red peppers, and herbs in a charred tomato vinaigrette. The vegetables were phenomenal under the crispy tofu. I love the way Ian includes savory and sweet together. The green apple was the perfect addition to this dish.

Needless to say Dan was still hungry so I made up a pizza for our final meal. This one included a base of the cilantro-lime sauce (that Ian serves with the samosa), glazed pineapple, pomegranate roasted tomatoes, snow peas, jalapenos, cubed sweet potatoes, and red onion. After the pizza came out of the oven it was topped with fresh spinach and sliced almonds. Also I asked for fresh lime wedges so we could squeeze the fresh juice over the top. Did we miss the cheese or meat? With all that flavor how could anyone possibly miss the cheese?

We hung out for a while and chatted with Jenn, Janine and Jonathan. Jenn grew up on the water like I did so she is looking forward to the boat and I am looking forward to teaching her how to sail. Janine and I are trying to coordinate lunch this week. Like I always tell you we are customers here, but not. ;-)

The one down side of the evening is that I seem to have a cyber stalker which freaked me out a little. At least I was “on my own turf” so I felt reasonably safe. Thank goodness I knew that everyone there would make sure I was safe. But still people need to learn that physically following people is not cool. If this continues I will be dropping out of Foursquare for safety reasons. Have any of you had problems like this on Foursquare?

Saturday:

We spent time at home doing a lot of what I call “life administration” which just means the things that need to happen at home. We had a somewhat productive day and then met our friend Louis for dinner at our usual place.

Dan and I intentionally got to the restaurant a little early so we had time to chat with Aimee before Louis got there. Aimee has been so busy this summer that we haven’t had as much time to see her as we would like. We still need to coordinate going to the DC before her last semester of college before the pharmacy program.

Like always I went immediately into the kitchen to hug Ian and Aimee. While I chatted with Ian Aimee and Michael were outside talking to Dan. Ian told me about the vegetarian special he had made with us in mind. He designed a vegan and vegetarian option because he knew we were coming in. Isn’t he sweet? :-)

I asked him about courses besides the entrée and he asked about saffron potatoes and veggies and I said that sounded delicious. He said he would do something with saffron potatoes for us as an appetizer.

Not long after I came out of the kitchen Louis showed up with a bag from Disney for me and announced he had “Disney crap” for me. LOL, only a guy would say that. Louis knows how much I like Italy so he picked me up a cute little stuffed Mickey in a gondoliers outfit. It is adorable, isn’t it?

Needless to say our friend Louis is not vegan, though he is eating a lot less meat these days which makes me very happy. I am going to show his dishes as well since I know many of you aren’t vegan either.

Here is our appetizer of saffron potatoes, green beans, Swiss chard, golden raisins, carrots, hot pepper flakes and green onions. Did you notice the sweet component in this dish, the golden raisins? Ian does this all the time and it really makes a difference in the overall composition of the dish. I always thought that savory and sweet foods should be separate until Ian taught me how much combining them added to a dish.

Louis ordered the special rockfish and salmon ceviche. Ian makes wonderful ceviche though I haven’t had it in a long time I still remember it very fondly. I always loved the acidity of the ceviche against the butteriness of the avocado and the crunch of the chips. Ian’s ceviche is one of the dishes that I miss the most about being vegan.

This is our dish of wine braised beets with lentils, shitakes, and finished with green apples, parsley and truffle oil. No exaggeration this may have been the best beets I ever ate. I know that I say this all the time but it amazing that I ever cook at home when I have food like this just a quick walk away. Ian really is extremely talented.

Louis ordered the watermelon and feta salad for his dinner. If you wanted to do something similar that was vegan you can add almond feta, or olives for the salty punch instead.

We also ordered a samosa, which Dan ate so quickly I didn’t even get a bite. He really loves them that much.

There were also some truffle and soy marinated mushrooms.

It was definitely a lovely dinner on the patio Saturday night.

Ian joined us at the table for a while before he headed out for the evening. I was glad that he took time to sit down since he was limping earlier in the evening. I suspect his IT band is too tight and asked if he had tried a foam roller which he had not. Needless to say I offered to drop one off for him to try which he said he would. Since Ian is all guy I knew he wasn’t likely to buy a foam roller on his own which is why I offered to bring him one.

Sunday:

We got up early for our usual trip to the farmers’ market and brought home a lot of food like always. I was really missing fresh peaches so we bought an entire basket of those along with eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, kale, ginger, oyster mushrooms, bell peppers, watermelon, corn and a new flavor of hummus.

On a sour note my cyber stalker also turned up at the farmers’ market. Seriously this is quickly becoming extremely annoying. What is wrong with people?

The version of hummus we brought home this time was Asian fire which is nice and spicy. If you are local and have time to get to the farmers’ market under the JFX please do and check out the hummus stand. This guy has a wonderful imagination. We have enjoyed each of the flavors which we have tried so far.

Next we stopped at the restaurant to drop off a foam roller for Ian. I hope he will give it a try since I think it might help him. *fingers crossed*

After the market and restaurant we went home and had smoothies for breakfast. My smoothie included: kale, frozen banana, homemade reduce-fat peanut butter, chia seeds, water/ice and a tiny bit of stevia.

Lunch was a very simple dish of cooked quinoa which I tossed with cilantro, dried cherries, diced zucchini and sliced almonds. I topped this with roasted portabellas which I marinated with balsamic and grainy Dijon mustard.

Dinner has completely slipped my mind already. Since I didn’t take a picture I have no idea what I made. Wow, getting old stinks. LOL

Happy thoughts:

There are days when I write this section of the blog and realize how fortunate I am. However I am not talking about my life so much as my attitude about my life. Sure I could whine and complain about life but that really doesn’t do anyone any good now does it? Here is what I am grateful for today:

• We had a very nice leisurely dinner out Friday night. It seems that Friday night is becoming date night for us. Perfect weather, good company and wonderful food. What more could you ask for?

• Saturday it was wonderful to see Louis for dinner. It is always great when you can spend time with a good friend isn’t it?

• We also got a few more things crossed off our to-do list this weekend which was very nice.

• Later this week we have another jazz concert coming up. *woo hoo* This is the summer of jazz for us in case you hadn’t noticed. There really is nothing like live jazz.

• Monday I had lunch with our friend Will. We went to Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley where I got Hunan “faux duck” and Will got sushi. Since Will hadn’t been to Jesse Wong’s I thought it would be a good idea and he seemed to enjoy it. We hadn’t seen Will since he left the restaurant so it was very nice to catch up with him.

Signing Out:

I hope you had a great weekend. I will talk to you again soon. :-)

Italian Rice and Why I Blog

Yesterday for some reason I was busy all day long, not that I can remember doing what mind you. Sometimes life just gets away from me and I busy all day doing who knows what. Do you ever had days like that?

When Dan texted me and said that he was going to be home earlier than normal I knew that I needed to scramble to make something for dinner. Fortunately Sofia had sent me a message asking what I was making for dinner and of course I hadn’t thought about it. She mentioned that she was making risotto and apparently rice was stuck in my head. At first I was going to make Mexican rice and then I thought of paella. In the end I made what can is best described as Italian paella with raw veggies. Here is what I did:

Italian Rice
8 good sized servings – but will depend on how many raw veggies you add to the dish

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups short grain brown rice
2 cups homemade canned diced tomatoes (no salt) or 14. 5 ounce can
2 ½ cups water
10 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the rice, tomatoes, water, garlic, onion and Italian seasoning and cook until all the water has been absorbed. Allow the rice to stand for 10 minutes (covered) so that it can finish steaming. Fluff the rice with a fork.

Now add any thinly sliced veggies that you want to add (I added raw shaved carrot, raw shaved zucchini, and marinated mushrooms). Artichoke quarters or shaved fennel would also be good in this. You could also add a few thinly olives or capers if you choose. This would also be a good place for freshly minced herbs like parsley, oregano, or thyme. You could finish this with pine nuts or walnut parmesan; either would be good to finish this dish.

I added the raw veggies at the end for a few reasons. First I wanted the preserve some of the heat soluble vitamins in the veggies and adding them after cooking was a good way to do that. Also I like the textural contrast of raw and cooked foods. Finally I was hoping that this would also be good cold as a leftover, making it good boat food.  :-)

Why I blog:

I had to share this comment  with you because it brought tears to my eyes. This is why I spend the time that I do blogging for moments when I get to read things like this:

I love your blog! I read it every day and there is always something new to inspire me. I am on a long journey of healing from chronic illness and the conventional treatments that were supposed to help me, but instead left me worse off. I used to eat the Standard American Diet and it shows. Now, thanks to your blog I'm a vegan and I can't believe I filled myself with poison for most of my life. Thanks for all you do.

I cannot imagine a comment that would have touched me more than this one. Since this came through Survey Monkey I have no idea who wrote it. I apologize for not getting your permission before posting it here but I had no idea how to get in touch with you. If you would like to chat please send me an email at veganepicurean@gmail.com. I would love to hear what about my blog inspired you to change your lifestyle. Also I would love to hear about your journey and to be available to assist you any way that I can. Thank you again for such a lovely comment. I was humbled by your comment and am still in shock.

Happy thoughts:

After reading that comment above as you can imagine I am in a fantastic mood. How could I be anything but happy after reading that?

• The boys (Massimo and Nicco) were wrestling in the bed last night. Since this is the first time that I have seen them do this in weeks I was thrilled. It is wonderful to have my fur children back to normal. If I had to choose between sleep and happy, healthy fur babies the sleep has to go. However I may change my mind if they start waking me up every night. We all want what we don’t have afterall. ;-)

• Thank you to everyone who has answered the survey so far. If you haven’t taken a look yet please consider doing so. I would love to know what you think about what you like about the blog and what you would like to see more of. It will help me to know what topics to focus on when I am writing. Thanks again!

• I finally made time to get the online book club started and I am very glad that I did. With all the activities going on around here I should have done this sooner but didn’t have time. I am looking for to this, particularly the first book. It should be a lot of fun. If you have any desire to read “The China Study” please consider joining us. Since I finished the e-Cornell certificate program on plant based nutrition last year I think this first book should be a great book for me to moderate. *fingers crossed*

• The weather was glorious on Friday so Dan decided that we should go out to dinner and I wasn’t going to argue with that. It seems like weeks since we saw everyone at the restaurant though I am sure that is mostly in my head. We had a wonderful dinner outside on the patio and loved catching up with everyone. I think everyone who works at the restaurant is looking forward to the boat arriving as much as we are. I can’t wait to teach them all how to sail. Clearly I am going to be busy while Dan is at work. Poor Dan I hope he gets to take a little time off to enjoy the boat once she arrives.

• I am also looking forward to dinner with Louis this weekend. It is too bad Louis doesn’t live around the corner like he used it. I was surprised when he mentioned that he has been in Delaware for 7 years already. Where did that time go? Oh well, I am just happy that we still talk every few days and see each other as frequently as we do.  You know someone is a good friend when distance isn't a problem in your relationship.

Signing out:

It is getting late here and it is time for me to wind down. It has been a long week but it definitely ended on a high note. Who wouldn’t like to spend Friday evening relaxing on the patio and dining al fresco surrounded by people they like?

Talk to you again soon. I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend.

Online Book Club – The China Study

I wanted to talk a little about the book club and what is next on that front which I think is very exciting. First there are more than 20 of you who have expressed the desire to take part in our first online book club discussing T. Colin Campbell’s landmark study and subsequent book “The China Study”. *woo hoo* Way to go guys! I am thrilled that so many of you want to discuss this book first because I think it is the pivotal book on nutrition of our time.

Since this book is a somewhat tough read I want to discuss it one chapter at a time so that everyone comes away with a complete understanding. Any of you who are interested in taking part in this book club please buy the book and be prepared to discuss chapter one beginning on Monday August 15. I will be sharing more about this as we get closer to the start date.

Here is the link to the book club blog. In order to take part in the online book club please become a member of the book club blog. Being a member of that blog is required in order to post comments. I have the comments set up to post automatically since I think that will facilitate discussion. Hopefully we don’t start getting spam on that blog like we do here. If that happens I may have to make the book club blog private which I am trying to avoid so that everyone can benefit from the conversation not just those who want to  actively take part.

I will be posting a few questions about chapter one prior to August 15 to help to get the conversation started. Let’s try to keep all the comments regarding each chapter to the post for that chapter. I think this will help us to all be on the same page. Hope to see you there.  :-)

Thank Goodness it is Thursday... or, How to Handle Stress:

I am so happy that this week is almost over. Typically I am a happy person but this week happiness has been a bit of a struggle though I did persevere. Do you have weeks where for some reason things don’t fall into place the way you are expecting? Seriously this would have been a good week to stay in bed curled in the fetal position and that might have been what I would have done in years past. However this week I pushed through and didn’t focus on what was going wrong.

Since I have been talking a lot about attitude recently I wanted to let you know what I do when life is giving me lemons and I just can't force myself to make lemonade. Here goes:

• In all honesty there were a few minutes of a pity party but I didn’t dwell on what was going wrong. I set a timer for 15 minutes and told myself that when the buzzer went off I had to get on with lifeand stop feeling sorry for myself, which I did.

• I allowed myself to do something that I knew would sooth me even though it wasn’t the healthiest thing that I could do. It was probably the endorphin rush but the Green and Black dark chocolate made me feel much better. ;-)

• I did not let myself dwell on what was not going well. In my case that meant no long phone calls complaining to friends. In fact I only fussed to my friend Louis and that lasted less than 5 minutes. We all need those friends we can tell our problems too don’t we? But don’t let yourself talk the your problems to death ... if you know what I mean. Too much negativity results in more negativity which is never good to anyone.

• When I was having a bad moment I listened to some upbeat music and watched an uplifting movie. I find that when I am not feeling the best a comedy always helps me to feel better. Personally “When Harry Met Sally” never gets old for me. ;-)  It should tell you something that I know every line by heart.

• I also took time to get in extra exercise to help work out my aggressions. It is tough for me to feel agitated when I am exhausted.

Does any of this make sense to you? I hope that you find one or two of these tips helpful.

Now I want to hear from you. What things do you do when you are having a tough week? Let’s all share so that we can learn from each other and make the world a healthier place.  :-)

Online Survey:

Recently I have been thinking a lot about what to focus on when writing the blog. Lately when I sit down to write a post I literally just wing it. That is why the posts have been all over the board recently in terms of topics.   It bothers me a little that I lack focus so I thought I would ask for your help.

In order to have some idea of what you are interested in reading I set up a short 5 question survey on Survey Monkey. Please take a few minutes to set up a free Survey Monkey account and respond to the questions. That would be a huge help to me in terms of guidance when I am writing future posts. Thank you in advance for your time.

Happy Thoughts:

Those days and weeks when life is not going the best are precisely the times when I think it is particularly important to find the silver lining to the dark cloud. Here are the things that I am grateful for today:

• The scale was my friend this morning and that made me very happy. I love to start the day with good news. I know that an inanimate object shouldn’t have an impact on my mood but today I will take any good news I can get.

• “Our ship has sailed” as my friend Louis so eloquently put it. *happy dance* Thanks for the good line Louis; I loved it and had to use it.

• I am excited about the online book club and am very much looking forward to discussing “The China Study” with you.

• We are having dinner this weekend with our friend Louis and that makes me very happy. There is nothing better than a good meal with a good friend to lift my spirits. :-)

• Dan is coming home early this. Okay it is only early for Dan but still that makes me happy. I love spending time with my sweetie.

• I took some time today to nurture myself and tried a different exercise DVD. When things aren’t making me happy I try to break out of my norm and shake things up to keep my mind busy.

• Today I listened to a new jazz DVD that I got out of the library this past weekend. I love having a library with a nice selection of music and books on CD to choose from.

• Massimo was running and playin today which made me extremely happy. Having happy and healthy fur children is a very good thing in deed.

Signing out:

It is time for me to log out and spend some time with my sweetie. He has been very busy at work this week and we haven’t had much time to spend together. Talk to you again soon.  I hope you have a great evening.

Kitchen Experiments and Recipe Thoughts

Yesterday was a day of experimenting in the kitchen. I decided to play around with making a “zucchini ball. That name really doesn’t sound right to me so I will need to come up with another one before I finalize the recipe. The zucchini ball (or dumpling) recipe isn’t ready to be published just yet but it is close. I will be making another batch this week and hope to have it finalized with that attempt so that I can publish it for you.

Vegetable and Potato Salad:

Today when I was in the kitchen I made a vegetable and potato salad. Instead of giving you the recipe I decided to explain it step by step and explain why I included certain items and methods. After all it is better that you know how to create recipes rather than just being able to follow them.

The salad today was inspired by standard all-American potato salad that we have all had. However I knew that I needed to add more veggies to make it a healthier dish. Also I wasn’t going to add mayonnaise because all that oil isn’t healthy. Here is what I did:

I used my stove-top halogen/convection/infra red oven to roast the potatoes. I cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks and doused them with wine vinegar, dried Italian seasoning, freshly ground black pepper and powdered garlic. The vinegar was added for two reasons. First the vinegar coated the potatoes so the seasonings would stick. Second the vinegar adds flavor to the potatoes. Use the tip of a paring knife to make certain they are thoroughly cooked. If you have any doubts eat one to be certain. Once the potatoes are cooked I spread them out on a sheet pan in the single layer so they would cool more quickly.

Next I cut zucchini into bite-sized chunks and roasted those in the stove-top oven. I coated the zucchini chunks with the same ingredients that I used for the potatoes (wine vinegar, Italian seasonings, black pepper and powdered garlic). The reason I roasted the zucchini was to reduce the water content of the squash and thereby concentrate the flavor. When the zucchini are tender crisp move them to a sheet pan to cool as well.

While the zucchini are cooking defrost some frozen artichokes thoroughly. You want to remove as much water as possible. If in doubt pat the artichokes dry with a clean lint free kitchen towel though a thorough draining should be enough.

Now make the dressing. I use cashew crème as a mayo stand it most of the time. To make the dressing combine raw cashews with a splash of water in your blender and process until completely smooth. I add a little wine vinegar to brighten the flavor. If you want you can add raw or caramelized garlic clove as well. Additionally you could add a touch of Dijon if you like.

Combine the cooled roasted potatoes, zucchini and artichokes with the dressing. You should have approximately equal parts potato and other veggies (zucchini and artichokes).

When I got this far I knew that I needed to add something to this salad for crunch. If I hadn’t used cashew crème for a dressing I would have used nuts. However with the fat in the cashews I knew that nuts weren’t a good choice. Instead I added some diced celery for crunch.

Now taste the salad and see what it needs. In this case I thought it was a little bland and added more freshly ground black pepper, some minced fresh parsley and just a little finely minced fresh rosemary. The fresh herbs add a punch of flavor, freshness and nutrition.

If you like potato salad this is a healthier version of an American classic. I hope this helps inspire you to make some of your favorite recipes healthier. If you have a recipe that needs a makeover and you don’t know where to start feel free to ask me. Either you can post your questions here or you can email me the recipe at veganepicurean@email.com and I will help you rework your recipe.

Happy thoughts:

• Massimo is feeling so much better today he was playing “mouse fetch” this evening with Dan. It is so good to see Masi playing again. You have no idea how much I love that sweet little fuzz ball.

• I was chatting with my girlfriend Deirdre today and she asked how often I go out for walks. The answer is every day. Deirdre wants to go with me some mornings now. I am really looking forward to a little girl time in the morning. It is very nice to have Deirdre close enough to see more often than when she lived in Annapolis.

• The gluten-free zucchini ball (dumpling) experiment went very well yesterday. I was stretching myself by making them gluten-free since I thought that would be more of a challenge. It is always nice when things work out better than you expect. The texture on the balls worked out well, now I just need to get the seasonings right and that recipe will be ready for sharing.

• Dan told me this evening that he is going to try to work a half day on Friday so we can spend more time together. Isn’t he just the sweetest husband? I am a very lucky lady to be married to someone who loves me as much as I love him.

Signing out:

It is time for me to start winding down and call it a night. I hope Wednesday treated you well. Talk to you again very soon.

Cinnamon Raisin Hummus with Peanut Butter

Sunday I made more hummus because I am totally on a hummus kick thanks entirely to the hummus stand at the farmers’ market. When I tried the “hummus guy’s” cinnamon raisin hummus I immediately thought it would be better with peanut butter in place of the tahini. When Dan tried it and said the same thing I knew it was a sign.

Like always cook the chickpeas until they are very soft, in other words too soft to be used whole. While the beans are still hot drain them and place them in the food processor and add a little of the bean cooking liquid and process until they are completely pulverized and smooth. Add additional bean cooking liquid until you like the texture (thickness) of the hummus. Now add some homemade reduced-fat peanut butter, cinnamon and a touch of stevia to make it lightly sweet. Once you like the hummus flavor and texture stir in some golden raisins and refrigerate. Remember the hummus will get thicker as it chills so it should be a little softer than you like when it goes into the refrigerator.

Errands and Dinner Out:

Dan decided we would run errands last night after he got home from work. I had a few things to return to the library and other things waiting for me that I had reserved on-line so we headed north to Baltimore County.

Since we knew that we didn’t have time to get back to the restaurant and see the gang we decided to have dinner at Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley and then stop at Wegman’s.

We started with the sweet and sour cabbage with sweet red peppers, dried hot peppers, and sesame seeds. This is a very nice salad. I think it is cooked briefly and then cooled. I will try to make something similar soon at home so that I can share it with you in more detail.

Next Dan wanted vegetable dumplings so we ordered those.

Our entrée was faux “shrimp” (made with white yam) and King Oyster mushrooms in a brown sauce. The shrimp are so real in both taste and texture that it is a bit creepy.

While we were there we order Hunan “faux” duck for Dan’s lunch tomorrow.   Dan loves this dish in case you hadn't noticed.  ;-)

After dinner we went to Wegman’s which is also in the same shopping center in Hunt Valley. I needed a variety of beans (garbanzo, great northern, black, and red lentil). Additionally I was also running low on golden raisins, organic cat nip and wanted some chopped peanuts for garnish. A few packages of bean thread noodles jumped into my cart as well. Don’t they do that with you? LOL

Since I am always raving about the great selection at Wegman’s and I was in the ethnic food area I took a few pictures of the variety to give you an idea of the fabulous selection. Please note these weren’t things I bought (thought the Muesli was tempting) just a random selection of items that I don’t typically see in other grocery stores.

This is just a tiny sample of the variety of products that you can find at Wegman’s. It really is a great store. If you have one near you and haven’t checked it out please do. I think you will be glad that you did.

How to Identify Guy Humor…I think:

We got to the restaurant late, after 8:30 and knew that we should order quickly so that we weren’t keeping the kitchen busy when they would rather be cleaning up and going home. Since we often forget to order brown rice and that means the servers ends up going back to the kitchen Dan mentioned it to the server right away in case we didn’t remember once we had decided on our entrée.

There was another couple, about our age, at the table next to us. After we ordered our salad and dumplings and said we would decide on our entrée in a few minutes the man next to us piped up and said “Don’t forget my friend’s brown rice.” Huh? Do I know you I thought? I looked again and realized I had no idea who this guy was. However since his comment annoyed me I figured it must have been guy humor. I asked Dan after we left and he said, yes that was guy humor. Now I know how to identify it. If something comes out a guy’s mouth that irritates me it must be guy humor. Got it. ;-) Men! *rolls eyes*

Happy thoughts:

• As Monday’s go it was a very good day. I wasn’t very productive but I enjoyed myself and we all need those days sometimes. Dan and I had a nice dinner out though it was much more rushed than we typically prefer. We had tasty Chinese food and talked all through dinner. Heck we talked all through our errands. It was a nice evening.

• Massimo continues to improve. He was popping around here earlier today and he even went for a ride on my shoulders around lunch time.

• The fur children are finally adjusting to being back on crunchy cat food (kibble as we call it). My youngest (Binky) may just be growing up …finally. LOL, too bad he had to be 10 years old before he started to mature.

• We got a little rain last night was we desperately needed because the ground is extremely dry. The storm put on a beautiful light show before the rain started falling. Since we did get caught in the rain going between the car and the restaurant it was a good day to be wearing jeans and T-shirt last night.

• Speaking of growing up Binky may not be the only one who can say that. I went out last night in jeans, my gray Hopkins Lacrosse T-shirt, hair in a pony tail and no makeup (yikes!). Who knows maybe I am growing up too. Nah! LOL

• Yesterday our temperatures were again over 100 and that made it a day to be very grateful for air conditioning and I was.

Signing out:

The day if flying by and I have a lot of things to do before Dan gets home from work. I hope your Tuesday is going well. Talk to you again soon. :-)

Pressure Cooked Congee

What is Congee? That was what I wanted to know the first time I had it. Basically it is a soup/stew whose base is overcooked rice. In spite of that description it is quite tasty. Here is how we were introduced to it the first time over 20 years ago.

Dan and I used to frequent a local Chinese restaurant. We initially went in because the clientele was largely Asian and we thought that was a good sign and we were right. We went in so often that we got to know everyone who worked at the restaurant. Gee that doesn’t sound familiar at all does it? ;-) After about a few months they told us about the second menu with traditional foods. The menu was also written in Asian characters (Chinese I think) so we couldn’t read any of it. We asked them to suggest dishes that they thought we would like and one of those was congee. We have both liked it ever since. Additionally it reminds us of long ago when we were first dating so it is now a traditional food for us.

Yesterday I was cooking chickpeas for hummus so I had the pressure cooker out. After I made two variations of hummus (lemon poppy seed and cinnamon raisin) I decided to make some congee for lunch early this week. Now I had never made congee in a pressure cooker before but I knew that is should work so I went for it. Here is what I did:

Pressure Cooked Congee
Makes 8 large servings

Ingredients:

2 cups short grain brown rice
10 cups water
approximately 2 cups more water, though you may need more depending on evaporation
1 very large onion, finely diced (about 3 cups)
½ head garlic, peeled and minced (about 10 cloves)
½ teaspoon wasabi powder (to give a subtle background flavor)
2 tablespoons mirin (to brighten the flavor)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine the rice and 10 cups of water and pressure cook (on high) for 25 minutes, allow pressure to release naturally. Do not overload your pressure cooker. I try to keep mine at about 50% of its capacity for a dish like this because of the starchy nature of the cooked rice.

Now add the remaining ingredients and cook until the onions and garlic are tender and the flavors have married, about 15 minutes. You are only trying to give the base a subtle flavor but nothing overpowering. However the congee base should be a blank canvas for toppings but that doesn’t mean bland in my opinion.

You can top the congee with many possible ingredients and here are some of the options.

Possible toppings:

cilantro
parsley
bok choy
bell pepper
sesame seeds
pickled ginger
low sodium soy sauce (or liquid aminos)
green onions
toasted sesame oil
mirin
sliced cucumber
diced avocado
sliced asparagus
shitake mushrooms (cooked in a little mirin and garlic)

Comments:

This is a dish that most western palates find to be very bland. I enjoy it a lot and love that the base is separate from the toppings which means each serving can be very different. What are some of your favorite congee toppings?

What Do You Believe?

Last night I got an email asking me what I thought of a movie entitled “Fat Head”. Since I had not seen the movie I watched it this morning on Netflix while I was exercising. The movie is basically a moving billboard for low-carb diets. There was enough truth in the movie to make it appear valid. The problem is that there was also a lot of misinformation. When I finished watching the movie I felt as though the film maker set up to prove his point and was going to do it no matter what. One part that really bothered me was that he increased his exercise from 2-3 days a week to 6 and then claimed fast food wasn’t unhealthy. Really? Either this guy is a idiot or he thinks we are. I am not sure which one it was but either way it was an annoying movie. I do NOT recommend it.

By the time I finished watching the movie I was sad. I wasn’t sad because of the movie itself but the impact I could see it having on people who hadn’t spent as much time studying nutrition as I have. Years ago I read somewhere that "people love to hear good news about their bad habits” and I think this is very true. All people want to believe that what they are doing is right, it is simply human nature. If Dan and I had been different people we would never have been open to the radical life shifts that we made after the cancer. We both believed that a happy healthy life was possible after the diagnosis. I would be lying if I said that I was scared because in truth I was terrified. However my reaction to the situation was to immerse myself in research and learn everything there was about how to help our bodies heal.

I wanted to share this because I sometimes feel like Dan and I are surrounded by people who focus on the wrong things. Not long ago when we were talking about the boat I actually had someone look at us completely perplexed as though they couldn’t image why we would buy one. I had the distinct impression that they were thinking someone with cancer shouldn’t be doing things like that. People tend to view cancer as a death sentence and assume those we have it should go home and die I suppose. Personally I can’t imagine why anyone would believe something like that, but then again I have always been a fighter.

I believe that when we focus on what we don’t want (like cancer, a horrible job, or an unhappy marriage) we are only making those negative things more prominent in our lives. With that in mind what do you believe? I believe that a healthy lifestyle can result in better health even when the starting point is far from health (like cancer). But I also believe that we had to be willing to make significant changes to make that happen. Please tell me what you believe, or maybe what you want to believe. Life can be wonderful if you are open to the positive things in the world.

Put differently in the words of Henry Ford, “Whether you believe you can, or you believe you can’t, you are probably right.”

Happy Thoughts:

I always include happy thoughts in my posts to remind myself and you that there are many things to be thankful for ever day or our lives. Not to mention there is no downside to focusing on the good things that happen each day. Here is what I am thankful for today:

• I love that I am married to my best friend. Every day that I get to spend with my wonderful husband is a joy. I only hope that everyone can say the same thing one day.

• I am grateful that cancer taught me to be happy and open to new ideas and that something urged me to share what I was learning with others. I get more joy from sharing healthy ideas with others than I ever expected.

• Masi was running through the house today with his little brother and I could almost feel my heart melt. It is beyond wonderful to have my little grey fuzzy angel returning to his old self.

• My husband made me so happy today, though that wasn’t his intention. Someone in his office came home from the ocean with taffy for the office. Dan read the ingredients and put a little sticky note on the box. You have no idea how happy I was when he told me about this. It is amazing to me that Dan really understands nutrition since he only gets the “cliff notes” from me. :-)

• Today I watched a short (less than an hour) piece on Netflix regarding the connection between stress and health. If you are interested check it out, it is called “The Science of Healing with Dr. Esther Sternberg”. I think you will find it very uplifting and encouraging.

• Today should have been a productive day for me because I have so many things on my to-do list. However instead I decided to take it easy for a while today. Some days it is better to relax and kick back than it is to be productive. I am happy that I have learned to listen to my body and do what feels right since I spent far too many years running myself into the ground.

Signing out:

I need to make something for dinner and right now I have no idea what that is. Hopefully I get inspired when I open the refrigerator. :-) Talk to you again soon.

Making Interesting and Healthy Salads

At first I wasn’t going to post this because I think making salad is something that everyone does, particularly in the summer. However once I thought about it realized that there are a few tricks to making an interesting and healthy salad. After I realized that I knew I should write something on the topic. Here are a few salads I made so far this weekend.

The first was a quinoa and veggie salad. This one contained cold cooked quinoa, diced cucumbers, julienned carrots, dried tart cherries, cilantro and green onions and pecans. I dressed this simply using only lemon zest, lemon juice and no salt seasoning.

The second salad was also a grain and veg salad. It was a simple salad which contained: cold cooked barley, shaved kohlrabi, artichokes, diced cucumber, tomato, and parsley. I wanted this one to have an Italian flavor and dressed it with red wine vinegar and nutritional yeast.

The third salad was all veg, no cooked grain. This one contained raw corn, shaved kohlrabi, diced cucumbers, artichokes, cilantro, tomato, and walnuts. I dressed this salad with fresh lemon juice and no-salt seasoning.

The first thing you will notice is that I don’t use oil on my salads. This isn’t a surprise to my long time readers since you know that I don’t use oil at home except for the occasional splurge with truffle oil or roasted sesame oil. This was a tough habit for me to break being part Italian. I was convinced that salad wouldn’t be any good without unfiltered extra virgin olive oil initially. However I have been away from oil so long now that salad which contains oil just tastes greasy to me. The other thing that I noticed is that oil mutes the flavor of the other ingredients in the salad. I never realized that until I gave it up. It does take a month or more to get used to food without oil, but once you get used to it you won’t go back. Plus your arteries will thank you.

I like to add nuts or seeds to my salad in lieu of oil. They add good fat to help your body absorb the fat soluble vitamins in the salad.

When I make salad I try to make sure that at least 50% of the ingredients in the salad are raw. I do this for both texture and nutrition.  You will notice that the kohlrabi is raw and that is because it is a member of the cruciferous veg family and is far more nutritious when it is raw or lightly cooked.

In addition I intentionally vary the texture of the vegetables. Some of them are cut into chunks, others julienned, and still others shaved. This adds interest to the salad.

I also love to add fresh herbs to salad because they add wonderful flavor intensity.  However herbs also add nutrition so add as many as you like.

Sometimes I add fresh or dried fruit to salad and that always adds a nice little variation to a straight veg or fruit salad. The dried fruit is particularly nice when you want pops of sweet intensity.

Salad dressings are something that I had to play around with for a while to get a feel for what we like. I always start with an acid base either: balsamic, wine vinegar, or citrus. To the acid base I add something that will help the dressing emulsify and this is either Dijon (which works great), miso or a nut cream (walnut and raw cashew are my favorites). Once you have the base done add any flavorings you like. These could be grated garlic or ginger, herbs or spice, poppy seeds, and maybe a little sweetener like stevia. After you start making no oil dressing you will find that they are simple to prepare it just takes a little time for your brain to adjust to the idea of no oil. If you want something really simple use straight balsamic glaze or pomegranate molasses. Both of these are thick as is and they add plenty of flavor.

Happy Thoughts:

• We had a lovely laid back Saturday. It was great to hang out at home and relax and recharge our batteries. We ate popcorn watched a movie and took it easy most of the day. In case you are interested I flavored the popcorn with nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, dill, no-salt seasoning and powdered garlic.  :-)

• Sunday morning we had a great trip to the farmers’ market. We picked up our usual enormous haul of produce. This week we brought home: zucchini, eggplant, kale, portabellas, red potatoes, cabbage, cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro, wheat germ, wheat bran, whole rye berries, steel cut oats, and mango curry hummus from the hummus stand. It was definitely a good haul this week. They have opened a “flea market” at Sonar next to the farmers’ market. This is where we picked up the organic whole grains. If you are downtown next Sunday check out the organic grains they have. I was very pleased with the variety and the prices.

• The fur children seem to have rebounded from their recent trips to the doctor. Luca is toddling around and smacking her brothers just like always. Masi is moving a little slower than usual but it might just be the season. My little ones seem to be less active in the summer even though they are in the air conditioning.

• I am enjoying reading “Younger Next Year”. If you want to understand the science behind why it is a good idea to exercise everyday this is the book for you. I checked this out from the library but will be buying this for my Kindle because I can see myself referring to it often.

• My laziness really paid off this morning. I was making a batch steel cuts oats to share with Dan today but I wanted savory oats and he wanted fruit and nut oats. I took some oats out for me and then put his breakfast together. Since I didn’t feel like running to the pantry to grab nutritional yeast I ended up making sushi oats for myself and loved it. I will share the details in the next post. While it sounds odd I promise you it was delicious. :-)

Signing Out:

We have other errands to run today so I need to get moving. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Talk with you again soon.

What Does Life Have to Teach You?

Have you ever wondered when and how your life became what it is today? All week I have been in an introspective mood, probably due to lack of sleep over the last three days. No matter what the reason I wanted to share some of what I have been thinking about. Those of you who have been reading for a while know a lot of this, though there is some new information, but I wanted to talk about it in a different way in the hope that something I write will resonate with more people.

I have always believed that ideas are what make everything happen. Without ideas where would any of us be? What do I mean by this? When the oncologist said there was nothing that we could do to keep the cancer under control I viewed that as a challenge. I knew in my gut that lifestyle mattered and I was not going to stop until I understood the science behind how it could make a difference. Additionally, I was determined to show the oncologist that lifestyle could impact cancer. I am not sure that I have gotten through to the MD, but everything for us is going great so that doesn’t matter as much to me now. It took me a while but I now realize that all people see what they are ready for and no more. Maybe one day more doctors will be open to treatments that include lifestyle change. I know many people listen to their doctor religiously but fortunately that doesn’t describe us. We are practical about treatment but are also open to ideas that most MDs think absurd, like lifestyle changes.

If there was one thing I knew early on during this journey it was that what I do (and what you do) matters in life. Every moment each of us has a choice to make. What are we going to do? How are we going to react to something that happened to us? We each make decisions all day long that we don’t give much thought to. Going back to the last post, if you hate your job and it makes you miserable that is a decision that you made. The job doesn’t create your misery you do.

Cancer happened to us, and it sucked, but that didn’t mean that we had to allow it to take control of our lives. Also it didn’t take me long to realize that I could learn from cancer and use what it taught me and share it with others. I have always believed that when you learn you are obligated to teach. Additionally I think that all of us are here for a reason. My reason at this time is to share what I have learned about nutrition and how it impacts health.

I can imagine some of you are reading this thinking, where the heck did this come from? I completely understand why you would have that reaction. If I had read this pre-cancer I might have had the same reaction. Cancer has a way of cutting through the noise, the garbage, and getting to the heart of what really matters most. While cancer is a horrible scourge it can also be the ultimate teacher if you are open to the lessons it brings. In my case cancer has taught me many things including:

• Life is short, don’t waste it whiny, complaining or hating
• Don’t bother to get upset about little things which don’t matter
• You don’t have control over anyone but yourself (this was really tough for me)
• When you make sense people will listen, though they may not change
• If you truly care about others you will reach them on some level

Once I started learning from cancer I knew that I needed to do something with my new knowledge but I didn’t actually know what that meant. In the beginning it was enough to share recipes and teach people that they could eat healthy food that also tasted terrific. Initially I thought that food was all that I had to share because it was something that I was comfortable writing about. However it didn’t take long before writing about cooking became boring for me. After all cooking isn’t exactly mentally stimulating stuff. That is why I share so many links to scientific studies on my Facebook page. At least that stuff makes you think and keeps your mind engaged. Not to mention I love learning since it helps me to put more pieces together. However I also thought that I should go beyond food and science since I know that attitude and mood make a big difference in terms of health.

Back to cancer, it has taught me that I cannot survive in this world relying on myself. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. Before cancer I thought that I was island and that as long as I took care of myself that was all that mattered. Of course that was short sighted and selfish. My excuse for that behavior is that I was young and immature then, okay younger not exactly young. ;-) As I have gotten older I have started to realize that what we all put out into the world really does make a difference. That is why I try to share things that go beyond food. I also believe that life is about growth and change. When you are no longer growing it is time to change. That is another reason that my blog continues to morph as time passes.  I will still be writing about food but also about other things as well.

Additionally good luck, or bad luck, is not really something that I believe in. In terms of good luck I think that what people call luck is actually better described as what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Everything that has happened in your life is preparing you for the moments that are to come in your life. Additionally I believe that everyone’s life has a pattern and those patterns leads all of us to our purpose. Where do you feel most at home? Knowing where you are comfortable will lead you to your purpose. I bet you already know what my purpose is; it just took me longer to figure it out because I am stubborn.

I also believe things show up in your life that you are supposed to notice. In my case what kept showing up in my life was health, nutrition, and caring for other people. For decades I have been interested in food and the impact of food on health though I had no idea what to do with that if anything. It took me a long time to figure out what I should do with the idea. However on some level I knew that I needed to stay true to what was important to me, what I now see as my purpose in life.

I also believe that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every thought that we think is going to create an action that will come back. In my case early actions resulted in “bad luck”. Of course it wasn’t luck at all it was my actions causing other actions which I didn’t like. Fortunately I figured this out before it was too late. I am pointing this out in case it causes you to think about your actions and whether they are leading you in the direction that you do not want your life to go. A perfect example of this would be hating your job and dreading going there each day. With an attitude like that is there any wonder why your day would be less than stellar?

For years I would joke and say that I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I must be a slow learner because it was in my 40’s before I had any inkling what I was passionate about other than cooking. In the process of teaching myself everything that I could learn about health and nutrition I started to understand what it was that I loved. A funny thing happens when you love what you are doing. When you are happy you tend to spend more time on things and you naturally do them better. Additionally when you do things well people tend to notice which is what continues to happen for me. I am constantly surprised by the number of people who ask me questions about nutrition and health. I also believe that whenever you work hard and do your best you are preparing yourself for opportunity.

During my path to learn about nutrition and realized this was something that I would love to turn into a career. After all since I was happy doing it for free getting paid to do it would be even better right? Are you starting to see where this is going? ;-) I have decided to put my nutrition knowledge to work and to see if I can turn it into a career. Exactly what that career will look like I am not 100% certain yet though I have some ideas. However I am working on that now and as soon as I have it completely worked out I will let you know. Assuming that I stick to my schedule I should have things worked out in the next month or so. Wish me luck as I think I am going to need it. If you have any suggestions or ideas please feel free to share I would love to know what you think.

Since I suspect some of you are wondering …. yes, I am planning to continue writing this blog. In addition to this blog I am planning to have a second blog for the business that I am working on. I will also be writing a newsletter that will be free and when I have that ready to go I will let you know how you can sign up. There is a lot going on in my life at the moment as you can see. Good thing I thrive on being busy huh? ;-)

Feline Update:

Like the last time the cats had to fast Nicco (Binky) is certain that he is going to starve overnight without any kibble to eat. I should lock the cats out of the bedroom but that seems so mean since they like to sleep in the bed with us and I can't do that to them. I am paying the price for that decidions in terms of lack of sleep exactly like the last time. Dan was sweet enough to drive Luca to the hospital and back Tuesday. Good thing because I was too tired to do it safely.

Luca Belle had two molars removed and she was not a happy girl Tuesday night. However she usually isn’t a happy cat so her behavior isn’t markedly different from normal. ;-) She is on two medications now, one for pain and an antibiotic. Let’s hope she continues to be more cooperative about taking these meds compared to how she behaves about her asthma meds.

Overall she seems to be doing well just a little sore from the operation. She is feeling good enough to swat at her brothers which she seems to love to do based on how often she does it. Since Tuesday night I have been trying to keep Luca out of the crunchy kibble. I am taking that a sign that she is feeling well. Clearly her appetite has not been impacted by the surgery based on her often I have been feeding her Wednesday and Thursday.

Food:

I have been remiss in my food photography duties lately. I guess this is what happens when you are operating on 4 hours of sleep or less for three days in a row. After I drive my father to the orthodontist today I am going to relax and maybe take a nap this afternoon. I can feel myself really starting to drag now.

I did photograph a snack of peaches and cinnamon raisin hummus. This hummus I bought at the farmers’ market but I will be making my version of this soon because it is really good. Who knew sweet hummus would be so good? I am usually more of a savory girl but I am enjoying sweet flavored hummus much more than I ever expected.

I also made an eggplant and shitake dish in curried tomato sauce. To this I added a few diced dried apricots for a little sweetness. I served this over quinoa and finished it with cilantro and cashews

There was also a “crème” of lentil soup with shitakes that was made similar to this split pea soup. I flavored the soup last night with Spanish seasonings including: sherry vinegar, smoked paprika, and lemon. I added some leftover bulgur to the soup just before serving. The soup was topped with fresh cilantro and sliced almonds.

Of course there was salad too.  This on was shaved zucchini, tomato, marinated mushrooms, roasted peppers, basil, nutritional yeast, red wine vinegar and fresh basil.  Since I like to finish my salad with nuts or seeds this one had pine nuts.

Happy thoughts:

• It was a huge relief to hear out little fuzz ball Luca Belle came through surgery fine. We were both concerned about her undergoing anesthesia because she is a little chubette. Thankfully there was nothing to worry about. In fact she seems to have bounced back faster than Massimo which I didn’t expect.

• Having a low key week is something that I am very thankful for. Three days with little sleep has been much easier to take when I can play things by ear.

• Things are going well in Grenada which also makes me very happy. We might have a small paperwork delay to contend with but that is not the end of the world. Our girl will be here soon and a potential short delay is certainly not worth getting upset about.

• We have another concert coming up in August which I am starting to look forward to…of course it is more jazz. :-) For my fellow jazz fans the next concert is Euge Groove. I love listening to live jazz in case you hadn’t noticed.

• I am looking forward to Saturday because all the cats will be eating the same food again and that means I will be able to leave the dry kibble down. Having kibble available for the fur children to free feed means I will get sleep again. *woo hoo* Sleep is definitely something to be thankful for.

• Additionally I am also extremely thankful to all of you who take the time to read. It makes me very happy that so many of you are interested in eating a better diet and that I can offer you ideas for what to feed your family.

Signing Out:

Now it is time for me to get a little rest before Dan gets home from work. We started watching “Wind” last night for the first time since it came out. I guess it isn’t a surprise that we would like movies about sailing.

Wish me luck getting some sleep tonight. I am doing my best to get back to daily posting but without sleep that hasn’t been possible this week. Talk with you again soon.

If you any thoughts about this post please let me know. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks! :-)

How Does Attitude Impact Your Health?

(Flowers make eveyone happy don't they?)

Today when I was running around I thought of a person I used to know who was one of the most unhappy people I have encountered. It won’t be a surprise that this person and I have drifted apart. I imagine it is tough to be around someone who can find the bright side to cancer when you can’t find anything good about your own life. However I think there are lessons we can all learn from this person so I wanted to share some of my observations.

This particular person ruminated about how much they disliked their job. They didn’t like the company they worked for. Their boss was useless. The job itself wasn’t fulfilling. Combine this with a bad job market and a husband who was underemployed and this person felt like they had no choice but stay in the job because they needed the money and health insurance.

(This is a picture I took of the Inner Harbor in downtown Baltimore)

Of course I asked many questions about the situation to try to help. However the answers didn’t really sound all that bad to me. The commute was easy, the pay was good, she had autonomy, and there was a lot of free time during the day when she could do things she was interested it. Yet this person was miserable and would talk about how unhappy she was every day or two.

After a while I felt my own happiness being pulled down by these stories of doom and gloom. However as much as this depressed me imagine what this did for the other person. I am sure it was much harder for her having these feelings than it was for me to hear about them. I think she was so stuck in this story in her head that she couldn’t step out of the situation and to see what it was doing to her health.

It is probably no surprise that this lady also wasn’t happy with how she looked and felt like she needed to lose weight. However she was so busy complaining about work, and medicating herself with food and alcohol at night that she didn’t do anything to resolve her excess pounds. I haven’t talked to her in a while but I imagine her life hasn’t changed.

You might be wondering why I am telling you this story and yes there is a point. I believe that unless we are happy with life it is very difficult to make the right food and lifestyle choices. Have you ever been under stress at work or at home and made bad food choices like eating ice cream for dinner because of a bad day? Emotional eating (or drinking) is something that has happened with most women that I know. If you someone who eats emotional how do you stop? Think about the story I just told you, is the food the problem or is it the underlying emotions? In my opinion you have to deal with emotions first and then the other things can be dealt with.

What would I do in her situation? I would focus on what is good in my life. Instead of complaining about what I didn’t like I would find things to like. In her case it would be the pay, the health insurance and the time during the day to look for another job. Of course I would also focus on the non-work things in my life that were also good.

(This is a crazy picture I know but doesn't it just make you smile?  That is what it does for me.)

I believe that attitude has more to do with health than most people realize. If you wake up in the morning with a love of life and being excited about your day than you are more likely to have a great day. However if you get up in the morning dreading your commute, dreading your day at the office or coming home to a spouse you don’t like you probably aren’t going to have a good day. Does any of this make sense to you? If any of this resonates with you or have a story similar to this please share. I would love to hear what you think about this and how you resolved a similar situation.

Nautical News:

The sea trial went well today. *woo hoo* All is well in our world today. There are a few minor items to deal with but nothing too time consuming. That means the delivery crew will be leaving this weekend at the latest. Both Dan and I are looking forward to the arrival or our new floating child. I am sure the cats will not be as happy as we are about this .... but they will adjust. Now I need to remember to talk to the vet tomorrow about how to deal with feline motion sickness which I have read recently can be a problem.  :-/

Today I have been busy working on boat things. However I have made a lot of progress so that is a very good thing. Since the boat will be here very soon I wanted to get as organized as possible before she arrives. Those of you who know me know that my organized former accountant self comes out when things need to get done. I immediately shift into to-do list mode and scheduling tasks to be done. Last night and today I have working on what we need to accomplish and when it needs to happen. I have scheduled tasks by day and who is responsible for those coordinating or accomplishing those tasks either myself or Dan. Now that we have a well thought out to-do list that I can work from I feel much better. Are you a list maker too is is it just me?

Feline News:

Luca Belle goes to the vet tomorrow to have her dental procedure. Please keep her in your thoughts. She is a little round butter ball so I am a little concerned about how she will handle anesthesia. However we need to get her teeth taken care of meaning surgery is required it is only a matter when. I am comforted by the knowledge that she will be in good hands tomorrow.

Happy Thoughts:

• We heard from Island Dreams and the sea trial went extremely well. There are some minor items to deal with but nothing that will take much time. That means the baby will be leaving Grenada very, very soon. *woo hoo* I am not happy about his in the slightest, can you tell? LOL

• Today I was very productive and that makes me happy. I didn’t get as much accomplished as I had on my list for today, but my list was aggressive. I find that it is better for me to have an aggressive list and that pushes me to get more accomplished.

• We had a nice cold front run through this afternoon. After our over 100+ days last week it was nice to be back in the low 80’s even if it is only for this afternoon. Every little bit helps right?  ;-)

• Massimo has been doing much better the last few days. He is no longer vomiting and has starting eat out of his food bowl (rather than my hand) again….thankfully. Additionally he is behaving more like his old self. He and his little brother (Nicco) have been running around the house playing today, which I love to see.

• Spending time today getting uber organized has been very good for me. I am one of those people who are comforted by organization. Not that I know why, but I love to cross items off my to-do as I complete them. I guess my inner nerd is coming out since I love my to-do lists and binders so much, LOL. ;-)

• It was nice today to spend a few hours studying nutrition. Since I enjoy learning and growing any time that I spend studying makes me very happy. Sorry I didn’t have much time on Facebook today. Tomorrow I have time set aside for Facebook while Luca is at the vet. As much as I like to study I also love connecting with those of you on Facebook and missed ou today.

Signing Out:

Now I need to spend some time with my hubby and fur children. I hope Monday was good for you too. Talk with you again soon, hopefully tomorrow with good news about how Luca Belle did at the vet. Have a great evening!