Category Archives: Food

Food, Random thoughts, Teaching

How is it Monday already?

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Yes, creative post titles, that’s my forte. 

If you are wanting with bated breath for my 80s race recap, you’ll have to keep waiting.  I don’t have time now to write a good one and do it justice.  I’m planning to do so tonight, but after work I am going for a run and then I have to watch last night’s Mad Men…you’ll get it when you get it.  If you recall, this is what I wore:

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I will tell you about how awful and hot the race was soon though.  And how gross and sweaty a pair of skin tight orange shorts get.

But first: 

Yesterday was another busy day, with fun and work.  You know, the usual.  We started by taking care of a friend’s dog.  Chris loves this dog and wants one like it someday.

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That’s Buck.

Then we met Steve and Melissa for brunch at Vin de Set.  I follow them on facebook and every weekend they post these amazing sounding dishes of what they have for brunch.  It was finally a good day to go, and I’m glad we did.  I always love eating at Vin de Set, because it’s the building we got married in and it brings back all kinds of happy memories.

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Plate number one…you can tell this was a really healthy meal.  Bacon is the centerpiece of any healthy breakfast.

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The view…at night…from Vin de Set.

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The world’s coldest couple, on top of Vin de Set (we took pictures out there.)

Oh, wait, did I hijack this post with wedding photos?  Gosh, how DID that happen? 

Which brings us to my first afternoon activity—our Festival Concert with the St Louis School of Music at the Sheldon Concert Hall.  This is the annual concert for all the kids to perform in groups rather than by themselves, though this year we had a few kids play solos by audition. 

My wedding photographer (and friend) Sarah Crowder‘s daughter takes violin at the school, so Sarah was on hand snapping a million photos.  I had a hard time not just dropping everything I was doing and posing for her, but I reminded myself she wasn’t there to take pictures of ME this time.

She posted this gorgeous picture on facebook though—I’m onstage in the back left, somewhere…

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It was a wonderful experience for the students and they all did a wonderful job!

After that I had to meet for a photo shoot in Forest Park (which ended up being at Tower Grove Park due to a mixup) for a new strolling strings group I’m joining with my friend Elizabeth.  There are three violins and a guitar, and our next step is to put together some demo tracks, and the step after that is: profit!  I’m sure I’ll have some pictures to share—we took pictures at the Music Stand Pavilion and by the Ruins in Tower Grove Park.  It was about to rain the whole time but held off long enough for us to be holding our instruments. 

After all that Chris and I had dinner and then watched "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."  I do love that Daniel Craig.  The movie was very good too, though confusing in parts (and I’ve read the books). 

How was your weekend?  Are you happy it’s Monday?

Food, Random thoughts

Almost Summertime

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Most of my students are really excited about the end of school.  I am too, of course.  At City Academy I am in my last two weeks, and at the School of Music I just have three more weeks (we go past the end of school because we are more dedicated.)  One of my students yesterday complained that she gets really bored once school ends.  I told her that was a ridiculous complaint, and if nothing else she could practice more!  She seemed excited by that prospect so I think she may be my new favorite.

I do love summer.  Who doesn’t, right?  (Frosty the Snowman, I suppose?)  The weather is nice (well…arguable) and I’ve got tons more free time (well…less money).  In honor of summer Chris and I can’t manage to stay at home.  In the past week we’ve eaten out just about every night.  Here is just a sampling:

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33 with Vanessa—wine and that amazing platter.  Oh, and I love her purple cardigan!

Bar Italia for lunch after the Led Zeppelin rehearsal…

Bridge on Friday night after the Led Zeppelin Concert (my St Louis Symphony substitute debut…may it be the first of many concerts because I had a wonderful wonderful time!)

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PW Pizza for Carry Out…

Then Pomme Cafe and Wine Bar on Sunday night with Steve and Melissa.  (I thought I took a bread pudding picture, but I evidently lost it.) Modesto on Monday with Melissa.  And last night Chris and I met at Taste after work.

Let me talk about Taste for a paragraph.  We had never been, but it had been on our list (of places to go) for awhile.  I teach late on Tuesdays, and eat dinner afterwards, but Chris wanted to meet up somewhere in the CWE after he was at the golf range.  Often places do not serve food that late on Tuesday nights.  He learned Taste served food until after midnight (yes!) so that seemed perfect.  We split some amazing dishes: the pear walnut salad, the white bean and octopus salad (I loved this one), the pork scrapple w/fried egg, and (our favorite!) the lamb something which is not listed on the website menu—it was a shredded, almost stew like meat that you put over grilled toast…oh my goodness it was amazing.  We will be back (and better than ever?)

Eating at Taste reminded me of my trip to Chicago last summer.  On that trip, Karen and I went to a different “small plates” restaurant each night.  The third place, The Purple Pig (link goes to MY blog round up of that day), I recall the waitress asks, oh, have you eaten at a restaurant like this before?  We started laughing, because we hadn’t eaten at a restaurant that served individual portions in awhile.  Also because Karen and I have been playing the world’s longest game of phone tag.  I think we’ve been playing for about six weeks.  One of these days.  One of these days.

All that being said, we’ve blown threw a fair amount of cash on eating out, and I’m definitely not eating as well as I could be…tonight we are eating at home for sure, and I think we need to try to do a little better.  Maybe this weekend we don’t need to eat out every meal.  Or maybe we should eat at home more during the week.  I think the problem is (for me) after being around children all day, I want to go and be around adults in the evening.

Unrelated to food:

The other day I had a friend proofread my “Meet Hannah” post. She told me I don’t have to double space after periods anymore, in fact, I’m not technically supposed to. What do you guys think? I resisted at first, but I’m reconsidering. I figure it’s like Facebook Timeline, which many people are still afraid of, but I figured, hey, after a few days I won’t notice, and indeed I was correct. I like to stay with or ahead of the times, even as I’m all old and stuff. So the question is, does this paragraph look funny to everybody or just me? Should I stick with the single space from here on out? I won’t pretend it will be easy, but just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it.

Oh, and who’s running the 5k with me and Jen and Steve and some others this weekend? Benton Park, Remembering the 80’s!  I’m working on a pretty sweet costume (this is to make up for the fact that I’m not entirely sure I can run that far). Let me know in the comments or email me if you are going to be there! If not, consider buying a plane ticket and getting here, it’ll be awesomely fun. We’ll do brunch after (or you can just leave, either way, no pressure) and then I’ll be in a hurry to get to rehearsal and a wedding, but until then…

So, in conclusion, thoughts on double spacing?

Food

Trattoria Marcella

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Always a good idea.  Trattoria Marcella is one of our favorite restaurants in St Louis.  It’s just delicious Italian food.

I went the other night with my friends Vanessa and Carrie.  We split some appetizers.

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Mushrooms with Polenta Fries…so wonderful!

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Toasted Ravioli.  This is a St Louis specialty, like Gooey Butter Cake or Budweiser. 

Then I had the Brussels Sprouts Salad and a delicious Macaroni special that had carbonara sauce.  It contains egg so it’s very healthy.

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I needed some time alone with the food.  Luckily I didn’t eat it all, but still…there’s the real answer as to why I’ve gained a couple pounds this month.  Well, one of the reasons.

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Vanessa got the lasagna.  It’s a small portion…

It was a fantastic meal! 

Last night Chris and I went out for dinner.  We originally wanted to go to Frazer’s, but didn’t realize that it was closed.  We were planning to meet friends at 33 afterwards (which ended up being closed…I guess we’ve forgotten that stuff is closed on Sundays?) so we went to Square One.  Chris had been there a week or so ago and had some beer cocktail that he had become obsessed with—and then went again and the bartender had no knowledge of it and he was really disappointed.  Last night he was able to get it again.

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I told him to look as happy as he felt, but it took awhile to coax this much out of him.

Oh, and here’s another reason I’m fat.

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Shrimp and Grits.  SO GOOD.

I need to start writing my food down again.  But I’m having a lot of fun at least!  I just need to remember that I can have fun going out with friends and still manage to eat relatively healthily.  I can I can!

Oh, and I still feel really awful.  Worse than this morning, probably.  The headache is still present, the sore throat too, but now I’m starting to have some pretty bad congestion.  Progress, I think!  My eyes are puffy and swollen and I’m exhausted.  I’ve caught up on a fair amount of television though :)  And look at me, two blog posts in one day!  Page views will skyrocket!!

Food, Hope, Weight

Willpower and Self Control

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Guess what happens when you go from working out 6 to 9 hours a week to working out 1 to 3 hours a week, and instead of compensating by eating less or BETTER, you eat a little more and WORSE.  Yup.  Up 3 pounds in three weeks. 

This can be remedied.  I do have willpower and self control. I have just been giving myself permission to eat junk rather than eating healthy.  I’ve been telling myself that I’m having a rough month, I deserve it.  As Mike once said, we aren’t dogs.  We don’t need to reward ourselves with food. 

And honestly, gaining a few pounds certainly isn’t helping me feel any better.  I already feel bad enough that I can’t practice, that I can’t work out the way I want to, and what I really want is to LOSE pounds, not gain them.  So it’s adding insult to injury.  It might just be a scale blip though.  This can go away quickly—I ate out too much the past few days and I’m sure it’s mainly just from that.  A few days of good clean eating will make it go away.

I do have willpower and self control.  I would just rather be working out 6 to 9 hours a week.  Makes it easier.

And now I am also sick.  I had a sore throat last night and slept terribly because it hurt so much.  It’s a little better today but is now accompanied by a (sinus) headache.  Ugh.  I am going to teach a few classes and then coming home to lie on the couch and watch television the rest of the day. 

Every day is a new day, with new decisions and choices.  Then again…the cold medicine is making me blurry…I’ll probably end up getting Pho for dinner 🙂

Food

Frozen Wedding Cake

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For the record, the wedding cake was still good.  We’ve got the top tier left to tear up on January 2.  Are you supposed to eat the whole thing at once?  It’s a pretty rich cake…

My mother has a great love of freezing things and I occasionally have the same problem.  Not QUITE as bad, as she is the sort to take food out of your mouth and freeze it (only a slight exaggeration, I have a definition recollection of her freezing my birthday cake one year before I even had a second piece), but I do enjoy baking stuff, baking extra stuff, and sticking it in the freezer.  I’m also a big fan of frozen berries (well, thawed frozen berries) and of course there is chicken and beef and fish in the freezer. 

(I think my freezer one year in grad school resembled this, minus the food.)

The problem is the freezer was getting too full.  I had about five tins of cookies, the cake, the other cake, plus the ordinary stuff in the freezer.  So I had to start clearing it out.  This unfortunately makes my food diary look…well…less clean.  I have been trying to counteract by primarily eating only protein and veggies otherwise, but I find the real trick is seeing Mike only once a week and "forgetting" my diary.  (Yes, I did that the other week.  I’m not even sure why.)

Perhaps I need a cow suit like this?

Anyway, I’m getting used to teaching the classes.  I don’t like classes still, but knowing that a whole week is behind me, plus there is a finite end in sight already.  The kids are annoyed that I don’t know all their names yet, and I feel bad about that, but goodness, I’ve only seen them each twice.  And honestly I’m just bad with names…I suppose I should learn to deal with that problem, but how often does one need to learn about 50 to 60 names all at once?

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Aren’t I good at "photoshop?"

Happy Tuesday everybody!

Food

March Foodie Pen Pal

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I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from my Video Game post the other night.  We’ve still got the Super Nintendo hooked up to the television in the front, where I teach, and today all of my students seemed to want to weigh in on it.  One was delighted to see the “Gamecube” which made me feel really old…to him a Game cube is as ancient as a Super Nintendo.  But it seems that all men and boys like video games, and I’m told some women even do.

I’ve also gotten a lot of questions about oatmeal.  Well, just from Leslie.  But I’ll address some of those in my next OATMEAL MADNESS post.

So…I had to cancel my appointment with my trainer this morning because my shoulder is still a mess.  I was freaking out yesterday, about running, about the upcoming half marathon, about playing the violin.  Chris said something very wise.  “Calm down, and just focus on feeling better.  The rest will be fine.”  (He is the calm one in the relationship, fyi.)

So, today is Foodie Penpal Reveal day!

I received goodies from Kelly at Laughter, Strength, and Food.  Thanks Kelly!

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I’m going to be honest.  I have only had the chocolate.  I’m suffering from serious sugar problems.

And now it’s time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for April, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by April 4th as pairings will be emailed on April 5th!