Random on a Saturday

This is going to be a post with unrelated bits added together without any clever transitions. It's late on Sunday night and I'm tired. Yet, I feel like it's time I make another post.

1. Out at Cheesecake Factory with my sisters. Baby boy's awesome stroller allows him to sit at the table without much trouble. He was well-behaved. I had fish tacos, hubby had a hamburger with blue cheese dressing.

Such a big boy

Healthy fish tacos for me

Not-so-healthy hamburger for hubby

2. Baby boy is enjoying his baths. He is such a joy.

Enjoying his bubble bath

There is that chin!

Mama's cute little puppy

3. Great family news! First we surprised hubby's grandmother by not telling her her son came up from Texas to see her. Then hubby's niece had a little surprise for all. She wore a t-shirt that said "I have a secret" on the front and... "I'm going to be a big sister" on the back! Jackers will have another cousin around his 1st birthday. We are all so excited!

Uncle Bob as special surprise

Maggie revealing her shirt to grandpa

Grandma's face is priceless

4. My lunch and snacks for tomorrow. Hard-boiled egg, 1 oz almonds, 5 prunes, almond creme Greek yogurt topped with flax seed, Babybel light cheese, and 2 oz whole wheat penne mixed with lemon-zest tuna, 3 kalamatta olives and a teaspoon of capers.  I'm determined to eat healthy and in right portions.

Yum

That's all, folks!

More about lunch/Cousins visit

I received my Bento tiffin today, as well as some silicone cups for dividing my food. I really like it.

And here is my lunch for tomorrow. No longer boring-looking, plain old midday meal. There is a salmon-bean-arugula toss, and for snacks, I have yogurt, blueberries, grapefruit and a hard-boiled egg. It all fits and looks fun.

And for dinner, I've got some simple garlic spinach with chicken and sweet potato. Yum!

I think I'm getting hang of clean eating. The challenge will be to maintain it. Making lunch-packing a creative outlet sure helps.
***
Tonight we also had some great company. Hubby's cousins came over for a little while to meet Jack. It was so nice to see them all.

It's nice to see them all together. We were missing a couple more, but it was still nice and rowdy.

Potluck and dishcloths

Gals from my book club at work planned a potluck on Monday. My goal was to make something simple and holiday-ish, so I gathered a couple of recipes: smoked salmon bites from a Rachel Ray book and cranberry raisin orange loaf from the internet.

The salmon bites consisted of pumpernickel bread onto which I spread cream cheese which I mixed with fresh chopped chives. These are then topped with smoked salmon, fresh dill and capers. While it looked and sounded good, it was a bit dry for my taste.

The loaf consisted of fresh cranberries, golden raisins, walnuts, orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice. To get it to cool, I removed the loaf from the pan and put it on some paper towels on the counter.

Unfortunately, our naughty dog was able to pull on one of the corners of the paper towel and get to it. When I returned to kitchen there was nothing left except some paper towels and crumbs on the floor. Of course, there was some scolding and tears involved. And dog did not get dinner that night (not that he would have cared). I was mostly concerned about what it would do to Wally - not sure dogs are supposed to eat raisins, walnuts and cranberries. Luckily, he survived. What a rascal!

I also finished some easy knits - traditional, 100% cotton dish cloths. These will be a gift for someone.

 

 Sometimes you just have to do some mindless knitting. And it was fun to use up some of my stash yarn. My goal for 2012 is to significantly reduce my yarn inventory. I have tons of it. There are also lots of knitting projects that need to be completed. Hopefully I can make a dent in my work in the upcoming year. However, I know it's going to be hard to resist new yarns and projects. What an all-consuming hobby!

Birthday wishes for my puppy

Today is Wally's birthday. We made him a muffin. He waited patiently while I sang him his happy birthday song. I also posed a candle for a festive ambiance (and for his birthday wish, of course).

As soon as I was done and gave him permission to have his cake, he ate it in one quick swoop. It was gone in a golden flurry.

Love you, puppy! Wish I could take you out for a long walk, but the heat is too much for both of us. But there were lots of cuddles and lazy naps in front of the fan today.

As for me, I had some raw gypsy peppers from my parents' garden. Yumm! Fresh & full of vitamin C.

Comfort

My ultimate comfort food is this Balkan bean soup, known as "grah". Ever since childhood I loved this thick, filling, hot, flavorful soup accompanied by home-made bread. There are many versions of it online, but the recipe closest to how my mom makes it is here. I don't add smoked meat, though.

My comfort food

I also got a surprise from my hubba today. He has gotten me a book on mastering color knitting. I've been doing a lot of that lately, and there are some unique techniques I would like to master. Well, my dear husband found my Amazon wish list and decided to surprise me. What a sweetie!

Drab winter makes me partial to bright colors

So I've been spending my evening eating grah, reading the book and knitting. Ultimate comfort on a foggy, icky day.

Waiting and knitting and eating

This is what we do at work while waiting for our release date...

And this is what my husband made for dinner. Peppercorn salmon with mango salsa and potatoes. Yum!

He needs to cook more often. He's good at this.

Catching up

I have so much to show you! Let's go back a few days:

1) I had a wonderful time at the cabin in Minnesota. I wish I could have stayed longer.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

My sister-in-law and I jet skiing. Fun!

2) I finished a baby vest for my friend B's baby boy. Can't wait to see him in it!

Front

Back

So tiny!

3) My vest is not as impressive as the blanket that my mom knitted for B. It is beautiful!

It only took her a few weeks!

B looks so cute pregnant. 

4) Some girls from work and I held B's baby shower. It was a hit!

The spread.

 

The girls

We played games, had treats, and showered B with gifts

5) We had a food-on-a-stick day at work, and I won the "healthiest" category.

Tutti Frutti

My ribbon

Ducks and veggies

On Tuesday I had to go get some knitting needles from a local yarn store, so I picked up my bff and we headed west. Afterward, we hung out by the Jordan Creek mall talking and watching the ducks and the fishes in the pond.

Big cheese

Life is ducky

On Wednesday I got to get some free organic veggies thanks to my friends the Foxes. They have left for the week, and asked me if I could pick up their weekly crop from the farm share they invested in. It was quite a treat.

Box of goodies

Cucumber, arugula and dill salad

Seasoned and crisped kale chips

My mom's potato salad recipe

What a treat!

Italy 2010 - Day 8

We had a busy day. First we went on an Alpinestars company tour.

The company was pretty impressive. We got to take a look at how their products were made and tested.

We got some hats out of this trip.

Following the company tour, we had an etiquette class. We got to apply our Continental etiquette skills at the gourmet multi-course dinner later that evening. There are all 15 of us. Great people.

Since I am a vegetarian, I had different meals than my classmates. But they were so tasty. Here is simple pasta with the richest pesto I have ever tasted.

And another one of my courses were grilled vegetables. Vegetables here taste better than what I am used to in the States. It definitely makes me want to get back to gardening my own veggies again.

This dinner was long, but my company was entertaining.

Here we all are - posing for a group photo together with the program director and his wife. What a smart and good-looking group of people. :)

And here are just the folks from Iowa. Our professor Ginny (I), Steve and Jean (O), myself and Jared (W) and Mike and Ted (A).

What does that spell? IOWA!! I love going places, but I love going home even more.