Teeth!

Little Man has two teeth. Trying to get a picture of them can be dicey...





He is officially a carnivore now, too. He has had turkey, chicken, and beef. LM is quite adventurous - he even tried Thai the other night!

Baby Food

I had my first adventure in making baby food last week. It was pretty easy and really truly took about 20 minutes. Granted, our nanny was here so I was able to focus solely on my task the entire time, but it was quick enough that I think I could manage to do it once LM is down for the night or even just napping.

We started with carrots. Frank brought home a bag of baby carrots and I got to work. I boiled the carrots (you can also steam them but that would require an additional trip down to the basement and back and another thing to clean...so I boiled them) for about 12 minutes, until they were soft. (gross)

Then I threw them into the food processor and....processed them. That is it! I added a little bit of the carrot water to the mix to help break things down while processing, then I used a spoon to divide the carrots into serving size containers for freezing.

Now I have 14 servings of carrots in the freezer, just waiting to be thawed and consumed. All for about $2.00.

Our next try will be sweet potato (we already know he likes them), then maybe something green...can't wait!

Sick

Little Man is sick for the first time. He's had low grade fevers and even some gastrointestinal issues, but this is our first virus.

It started with a little sniffle. Then he added a low grade fever. Then came the cough - it is awful hearing your baby cough!

The doctor said that he is weezing a little, so we're doing a albuteral treatment three times a day. It seems to be helping, a lot! LM isn't a huge fan, but he feels so much better afterward that it is worth the struggle.

Also, we've tried carrots. The first time didn't take too well, but he's coming around.

Truckeroo 4

Truckeroo 4 was not as awesome as the first 2 we attended. This was mostly due to three things:

1. It was cold. Even before the sun set, it was chilly and windy. When the sun went down, it was down right cold. I was not dressed for cold weather, and while LM was wearing extra layers he wasn't wearing enough warm layers to hang out for too long.

2. It was crowded. Truckeroo has been getting lots of press, positive press, and rightly so! It is a fun evening that does something I've never seen another DC event do - it crosses all social boundaries! Everyone loves food trucks, and so everyone comes to Truckeroo. I think we'll have to start attending during the day to make this a worthwhile event for us. That would require me to take time off of work, so maybe it will be a once a summer thing for us going forward.

3. My so-far-favorite truck didn't have my favorite dish available. I have been waiting for this dish (goat cheese mac n cheese with swiss chard and garlic chicken) for WEEEEEKS. Needless to say, I was bummed when they didn't have it listed on their menu for the day. I'll be writing a letter to management to voice my displeasure (actually, I'll just tweet at them, they'll get it faster).

All in all, the Truckeroo experience has been a fun one and I hope they will do it again next year! Maybe they'll start earlier in the spring, too. And maybe they'll do a Saturday offering for those of us working parents....something else to tweet, I'm full of tweets today.

Truckeroo

We went to Truckeroo last night! Turns out that during the summer, there is a monthly food truck gathering down by Nationals Park. A friend of ours posted something about it and we decided to check it out.

We originally planned to go for lunch, but the husbands decided that they wanted to come, too, so lunch became dinner. It worked out so well to do dinner! We managed to get there by about 6pm, thereby beating the crowds and getting seats at a table.

Frank and our two friends all got in line at the lobster truck and had lobster rolls. They all raved about them, so I suppose that is good. I, personally, am not a fan of lobster rolls - between the lobster being cold and the addition of mayonnaise, it just isn't my favorite. I had a buffalo chicken wrap (shocking, I know) that was tasty and not at all messy!

Then there was pie. Apple Caramel Crumb and Strawberry/Rhubarb - both tasty, but not entirely earth shattering. This lead my friend and I to decide to open our own pie business in Arlington. I think there is some major opportunity there, but I won't say more because I don't want to give away our awesome business plan. :)

Henry made the trip in the Ergo, sleeping about half of the time and just looking around the other half.

All in all, a very successful outing and one we hope to attempt again next month! Truckeroo!

Thankful Thursday

I order all of the office supplies for work, everything from paper clips to coffee.

Last week, as I was submitting an order for more coffee I decided to see if there was anything else that would spice up the morning routine.

Enter, hot cocoa.

For the last three days, my morning has begun with a steaming hot mug of half decaf/half hot cocoa - my very own mocha!

So today I am thankful for hot cocoa, and for deciding to explore the coffee ordering site a bit more than usual!

Nesting?

On top of all of my cleaning, purging, and priming this past weekend I also had the urge (and reason) to cook. I blame hormones. I usually hate cooking.

On Friday afternoon I realized that we had some apples that were ripening too quickly and were getting past the point of edible. I decided to bake something with them, but I didn't want to make an entire pie as I only needed to use 2-3 apples.

I had recently flipped through PW's cookbook and remembered seeing a recipe for French Breakfast Puffs that looked tasty. I found the recipe, decided that adding diced apples would be DEVINE, and set off to make them.

Of course, I first had to call Tina and see if she had eggs because I had none. She did, and there was much rejoicing! (Actually, I had to promise not to send any muffins home with her in order for her to bring me the eggs. Apparently cinnamon-sugar coated muffins are not part of her breakfast diet plan)

I didn't take pictures of the entire process, but here is what the table looked like, and then the finished product. They are as, if not more tasty than they look - and the addition of apples? Fantastic.




Then, as though that wasn't enough, I've made dinner twice in the last two days! Two for two!

Friday night's dinner was a less than stellar chicken, rice, and veggie adventure. I was SO hungry that I couldn't wait for Frank to get home and I started making dinner for us by myself. The veggies and rice were leftovers, so that was easy. I sauteed the chicken in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and rosemary - and per my usual MO, the chicken was overcooked and dryyyyyyy. Oh well, I tried! Frank dutifully downed his dinner and only spoke of the chicken's dryness after I did.

Saturday night was much more successful! I made another PW recipe, this time it was her chicken spaghetti. We both liked it, but decided that I played it too safe with the peppers. I used the low end suggestions for the quantity of green peppers, onions, and cayenne. Next time I'll be upping all three, and maybe finding a way to work in some Frank's Red Hot. The biggest deal of the evening was that I managed (with a little help from Frank) to break down a chicken! Like a whole chicken! It was kind of fun, though a little disconcerting to hear the bones and ligaments crack....whatever, chicken is tasty.

For now, I'm going to blame this kitchen flurry on hormones and hope that it keeps up for a little while longer. If I can get a few more successful dinners on the table (without crying), I might actually start to have a little confidence in the kitchen.

Here's hoping!

Disaster!

I attended a holiday reception last night for a group of PAC people, and while I had a lovely time chatting with friends and colleagues and meeting new ones, disaster struck.

It was almost unnoticeable to those around me, but there was some serious panic going on in my head (and my stomach).

I ate pumpkin.

It was hidden in a tiny, bite-sized pie. The woman offering it mumbled and I thought she said "apple," which happens to be my favorite kind of pie.

Disaster.

I nearly gagged right there in front of the DC PAC world.

For those who are unaware, I hate pumpkin. To the point where I tell people, "no thank you, I'm allergic." It is that bad. I don't know why I hate it, but I do, and that fact was reaffirmed last night as I literally choked down this tiny little disgusting pie and tried not to gag on my friends.

I'm going to stop writing now because just thinking about this tragic event is making me gag. Blech.

Lesson: If the server mumbles, ask them to speak up!

Where Have You Been?

Took a little holiday hiatus from the blog - sorry about that. Mom, Dad, and Patrick came up to VA for Thanksgiving so I was busy off having adventures with them.

On Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner with Tina and one of my friends from high school and her husband. It was fun to get to sit down with everyone and then hang out digesting for a while. There was a lot of football to be had, as well as plenty of food (even though we had one casualty - the green bean casserole didn't make it...moment of silence for the casserole dish that also didn't make it). We mostly lounged around after dinner and then everyone hit the hay.

Friday consisted of more football, this time of the college variety. We all watched as Alabama choked against Auburn, none of us really knowing what to do since we strongly dislike both teams. In the end, we were mostly rooting for Auburn to get knocked around enough that they might be a little slow next week against the Gamecocks in the SEC championship game.

We decided to venture into the city on Saturday to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery/National Gallery of Art (same building...two names). The Rockwell exhibit was really cool, and is made up of the two private collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The one question that was left unanswered for me is, do they have these pieces on display somewhere all of the time? Or do they live in storage?

We also got to see one of Dad's sisters and her family. Frank and I see them on occasion, but my parents only see them every other year or so, so it was a nice visit. The four of us went back to the gallery afterward, I wanted Dad to see the Presidential portrait exhibit. It is a permanent exhibit, and one of my favorites in DC. If you've never been, I highly recommend it! They have at least one portrait of every president as well as some other cool paintings and artifacts throughout the hall.

Saturday night was, of course, highlighted by the sound beating that the Gamecocks delivered to the Clemson Tiggers. Nothing says 'quality family time' like gathering to watch the sad faces of Clemson fans on a big tv. 29-7. Lovely.

Today was brief; church then departures. The SC crew hit the road around 11, hopefully beating a lot of the other traffic on I-95 S.

Things I'm thankful for, looking back on this weekend:

1. Dad kept on top of our dishes. With 5 adults in the house and no dishwasher, it was a life-saver to have such a vigilant dish washer among us. I think I thanked him 100 times, but I'm not sure it was enough!

2. Success in hosting the family. I know my family, and I generally can anticipate their needs, but there is always that nervous "what if we forgot something important" feeling just before the arrive. My parents and brother were great guests, helpful, happy, easy, and I'm glad Frank and I had the opportunity to host them for the holiday.

3. The Gamecocks pounded the Tiggers. 'Nuff Said.

4. The hounds behaved....mostly.

Ode to Potbelly

I don't know how I ever lived without you
I don't think I could live without ever again
Your Italian sandwich is enchanting
And your cookies are perfect to the end.

Your location is so convenient to my office
The pricing is so very hard to compete with
The online ordering is so simple
A happy life without you is now a myth

I loved you even before I was pregnant
And I promise to love you forever more
However, if I keep eating with you often
I may someday no longer fit through your door

(In case you don't have a Potbelly near you, or you do and have never gone inside - I highly highly recommend it! You can search for locations on their website, http://www.potbelly.com/)

A New Twist on "Leftovers"

We didn't have nearly as many Trick or Treaters as we thought we'd get, so we've been left with two very large bags of candy. I had heard of something a while ago and decided that I'd give it a try.

Halloween Candy Pie!


One pie crust, one pie pan (or small casserole dish if you are me), and a bunch of candy is all you need. I filled the pie crust with M&Ms, snickers, twix, etc and popped it into the oven for about 45 minutes on 350. Let the pie cool until the chocolate sets, then, go for it!


It is sweet, and a little bit chewy from all of the melted caramel.

Who knows how much of this we'll eat, and how many cavities we'll get in the process, but it was a fun experiment and I'm glad I did it!

Weightloss Update

The good news is I weighed myself yesterday and I'm down a little over 4lbs - the bad news is I have 6 more to go.

I could be exercising more, and that is something I'll try to do over the next 10 days. My meal routine is pretty solid, the hard part is dinner.

I'll keep working on it and hopefully stay in my current eating routine once I've shed the extra pounds. I'm also hoping to maintain a more regularized work out schedule, even just to keep toning up my arms and abs or working out some stress.

I'll check back in after the weekend, maybe do one more weigh in sometime early next week so I have time to sprint for the finish line.

Oh, and Theo & Tamsin - if y'all think I'm going running with you at the beach....don't hold your breath.

I'm Excited About: Weightloss Edition

So, in the last couple weeks something has happened to me. I gained weight. Like, a lot.

I always go through periods of craving sweets and salt, but for some reason it is lasting longer this time and my pants are getting tight. I think it has something to do with the fact that I keep "celebrating" things, and we all know what happens to 'eating well' when we're hanging with friends; burgers, fries, beers, biscuits, birthday cake, baby shower cupcakes, etc.

We're going to the Outer Banks for Memorial Day weekend in 5 weeks and it is my goal to lose the extra poundage I've acquired by then. My plan involves working out regularly (my gym at work finally got a bike, yay!), cut the sweets, decrease bread (that includes fries), and watch added sodium.

I have all of the tools, including good food for lunches at work, now lets see if I can pull (or work) it off!

In the Kitchen

I was in the kitchen last week! OK, it was two weeks ago but that isn't the important part - the important part is that I was in the kitchen.

I decided, after days of thinking about it, that I wanted to make oatmeal chocolate cookies. I went to Tasty Kitchen and found a recipe. Tasty Kitchen is a recipe sharing site started by The Pioneer Woman and I'm pretty excited about it. The recipes are from real live people who make this food, and if you register you can comment on and rate the recipes.

There is an entire section devoted to 'slow cooker' meals, and since we just got one, I'll be hitting that area up soon.

Back to the cookies. They were fantastic! So good that I have already shared the recipe with a friend and I intend to make another batch as soon as I can come up with a good enough excuse. So, Tuesday sounds good.

I highly recommend the site and the cookies! And if you are one of those people that has some awesome recipes to share, sign up and share away. The rest of us cooking-deficient peons will thank you if they are easy and tasty!

PW's Chicken Pot Pie

I made dinner last night (and cookies)! It was my first attempt at making something from the new Pioneer Woman Cookbook and it was a smashing success!

First I made the dough for the top crust, from scratch! It was easy and tasty in the end

Second, I chopped a lot of carrots and onions - Tina later pointed out that I could have used my food processor to do this, but these are the mistakes of those who don't spend much time in their own kitchens...

The recipe calls for carrots, onion, peas, and celery - we forgot the celery, but Frank was ok with that because he isn't a celery fan...next time I'll say I "left it out on purpose"

The chicken cooked alone as the veggies sauteed in a nice pan of butter. mmmmm

Having the pictures in PW's cookbook really helped; there were times when I thought "this can't be right" but the pictures in the cookbook were just like what I saw in front of me, so I kept going!

The above picture is of the thick inside goodness of the pie, and it is where I stopped and went to sewing. I just wrapped up the dough and the pie in plastic wrap and threw it in the fridge.

Frank says we needed proof that I really did make this dinner (from scratch), so here I am putting the pie in the oven!

This is the end product, and it is tasty, too! I had extra filling and extra pastry so I made mini-pot pies in a muffin tin.

Book Tours

On Monday night I went to sewing as usual, then when I got home I was super tired and ready to crash for the night.

Instead of crashing, Frank and I headed into DC to the ESPN Zone to stand in line for 2ish hours. At the end of the line was this

That is Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy! His book release was Tuesday, hence the midnight book signing and his first stop was DC. I was so excited to meet him, and we were even able to make him laugh while we were standing there!

You can see the big dumb grin on my face, I think that is what I look like when I meet famous people...I should work on that.

Sports Guys' buddies tend to attend his public appearances, this time it was House. We got him to sign the book, too!

I had so much fun staying up past my bedtime and meeting my favorite sports writer. Reading his book will take some work as it is 700 pages about the NBA....but I'm willing to give it the college try because his last book was so good.

I'm also now feeling motivated to go see The Pioneer Woman when she is on the east coast for her book tour in December - she is only going to be in the Philly area and then in NYC so it would be a bit of a road trip either way. Her book is a cook book, and I promised Frank that I would learn to cook if he bought it for me...he pre-ordered it the day I said that, looks like I'll be learning to cook starting later this week :)

Hooray for book tours and meeting your favorite authors/podcasters/bloggers!

The D word

I'm officially on a diet - blech. Tina and I decided that we both need to shed some weight and we've chosen the Crosby/Dziok wedding date as the finish line. That means I have 24 days to lose at least 8 lbs.

Honestly, it shouldn't be too difficult. Change my snack habits, eat more veggies and less empty carbs, and make use of the gym in my office building. I tried to give up diet coke but only made it for about 13 hours before the caffeine headache kicked in and I caved. Though my supportive husband was quick to point out that Diet Coke has zero calories, so I don't feel awful about it!

Yesterday was day 1 and I managed to choke down about 6 oz of V8 for breakfast (gross, never doing that again), eat an awful Health Choice lunch (disgusting), hit the gym for a solid 45 minutes midday, and then have a piece of grilled chicken over fresh lettuce and veggies for dinner (thanks, Frank!). Add in a diet coke with dinner, a handful of grape nuts for a snack, and a little bit of mint oreo custard (it was from the Dairy Godmother - don't judge me!) and that is how my first day went.

I'm staying strong so far today, drinking more water and planning to hit the gym after a lunch of leftover dinner.

My plan involves continuing to work out 3 times a week once I've lost my goal weight. I don't think that will be over kill since my work outs are restricted in length due to their occurrance over my lunch break.

I'd say my weekends will involve exercise too, but my basset doesn't really hit speeds above "stroll" all that often....

Girls' Weekend

I had a girls weekend at my apartment this past weekend - Frank was in Canada for a bachelor party so we decided to have an old fashioned sleepover! Tina was my main cohort and we got started on Friday.

We made a delicious apple pie from scratch:

And then on Saturday we cleaned out our closets (Anna, too) and held a Clothes Swap at my place. Look at all of the clothes! It was fun to get a few things, clean out a lot of things, and of course the left overs are on their way to Goodwill today.

We're thinking about making this an annual event because we had so much fun!

All in all a great way to spend the weekend