So long, farewell!

To Natarajan uncle and Sumathi auntie! We went to their going away party last night with a bunch of mommy and daddy's temple people. They are moving to Alpharetta, GA - not too far from Atlanta. Jaya made a delicious spinach and artichoke dip (in the crock pot) and there was a good spread of Indian food (of course) (i even ate the paysam!) It was a nice evening, complete with a 2 hour photo shoot at the end of the night.

Irony?

In spite of our recently committed to health kick, dinner on Wed night was at a terrible sounding but actually pretty great restaurant called Cheddar's, located in the greatest place on earth: gulf coast town center. We had dinner here following the lovely Naples botanical garden light show. There was not one bite of bland or mediocre food! We had a variety of things - spinach artichoke dip, buffalo chicken wraps, chicken pot pie, grilled chicken sandwich. Dessert was a delicious bread pudding.

After counting points values for 95% of the food I ate (and needing to estimate things like dosa- and hopefully overestimating), I found that I had eaten 79 points today (my limit is 28, to give you perspective). Ugh. And oops.

Gotta get back on the health kick tmrw!'

Healthkick!

So we're on a health kick here in FL: we've been walking like crazy people, swimming, and ballroom dancing (courtesy of Julianne Hough and other DWTS dvds). Everyone - Kira, now too - is using Runkeeper to track individual goals as well as provide us with friendly competition. Jaya has set a goal of walking 500 miles in the next 6 months; Mommy has 2 goals: to lose 12 lbs (?) and to walk 300 miles in 6 months; and I have a goal to lose 46 lbs and walk 200 mi in 6 months. I'm glad we've started these habits before new years - wish us luck!!!

Henry and Bennie

I miss my meow meows!

Gluten free pasta with chicken sausage

See title. And delish!

Thursday night bites

Organic brown rice pasta, spicy italian chicken sausage (with basil and mozz), and red wine!

This week, so far

I don't think my meals have been very memorable this week. Mostly frozen meals. Exciting, I know. However, a few other more exciting things have been happening:

1. my xmas tree is up! i call it my "sparkly rainbow vomits on xmas" tree.
2. mommy has uploaded the runkeeper app on her phone to keep track of her walks! when i was in FL, she and i went on a 5.6 mile walk together and she was so pumped to keep it up. it was really cute! daddy, on the other hand, was a giant d-bag about it all.
3. mommy has a more updated phone than i do! she's sporting a iPhone 4S!
4. MOMMY HAS TAKEN THE LEAD ON OUR RUNKEEPER APP! She is beating me with the # of times she's worked out so far this week!
5. i have redecorated my living room. i LOVE my little book shelf area and the new corner that's opened up for my xmas tree.... or for my NEW KEYBOARD! (no, i haven't bought one, but now that i have identified a space for one, i will be saving my pennies! or stealing baby amy's. but, shhh don't tell her.
6. i realized that in 2013, i will be turning 35. FML. :-(

Nor have I forgotten!

Ye olde blogge!

I have posts and maybe some pictures and things - will try to update tonight - but a pressing question for the sisters. Do you guys think I could pull of a pixie haircut? Like Ginnifer Goodwin???

I have not forgotten!

Ye old b-log! I have not forgotten. Just haven't had a chance to update. But I do have something in the works... Stay tuned! Also, please know that I have been trying to post comments to the posts you guys have written but some of them (just some) don't post! So annoying. Hrmph. Anyway, a novel [of] collection of posts to follow. Maybe tomorrow. Ciao!

Week in Review: Week of 11/26/12

I have been so bad about posting notable meals! I've also been bad about taking pictures of my meals. Bah. So, here's a (somewhat lame) recap of the week:

Monday - don't remember. Leftovers probably (Mommy's chicken curry, probably?)
Tuesday - I went to Cirque De Soleil's Totem show. It was SO fun! I didn't expect it to be as "circus-y" as it was. The acrobatic tricks were AMAZING. If this show comes to a town near you guys, you should totally check it out. Oh, dinner was something not nearly as memorable. Chicken curry and rice, I think?
Wednesday - I bought the "ingredients" for the diaper cake I made for my supervisor, Dana's, baby shower (which was on Friday). Dinner: frozen pizza!
Thursday - Assembled the diaper cake. Dinner: some Lean Cuisine meal.
Friday - Dana's baby shower. Diaper cake was a success! Dinner: assorted apps from the shower. I contributed mini baked brie with craisin and walnut phyllo tarts. They were delish! Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/11/skinny-baked-brie-phyllo-cups-with.html
Saturday - my holiday xmas party. IT WAS SO FUN AND I DON'T HAVE ONE STINKING PICTURE FROM THE NIGHT :-( In one sense, my lack of pictures shows exactly how much fun I had...in other sense, how am I going to remember all the fun I had??! Hrmph.

Thanksgiving weekend leftovers

That's what was for dinner on Monday!  A whole assortment of unidentifiable stuff.  With the last couple of slices of pizza hut pizza.  Yumm.

Monday Eats

Not very exciting, and unfortunately no picture - just the end of the the mexican slow cooker pork carnitas and cilantro lime rice that I had in the fridge. Actually, it's probably better that there is no photographic evidence of my meal.

However, I do have a picture to share: check out the bling on my little love, Bennie. My big love ChooChoo also is sporting the same look. Sharp, no? :-) Oh, and M&D went to a sandcastle contest over the weekend - here a couple of pics from it. It was really cool - very talented artists!

Thanksgiving and thereabouts

Thanksgiving is over and I feel like it's now time to start bracing myself for Christmas commercial madness and inevitably 2013. But let me recap the weekend.
Enjoyed a massive plate of indian food leftovers on wednesday (warm up for thurs) and had a nice thanksgiving dinner with Tara and her friends in LA. For the occasion, Russ made mashed turnips (they were creamy and delicious) and i made a watercress, radiccio, and fennel salad along with two salad dressings. My first time making salad dressing - very easy and fast - might start doing more of them. Friday and Saturday nights russ and i camped at Joshua Tree national park and we enjoyed cheesey ground turkey burritos with roasted veggies and trader joes bourbon both nights. Under an amaaazing night sky full of megawatt stars. Guys we have to go camping sometime... Its fun! I taught russ how to play spit, it was pretty funny.
As a welcome back to civilization treat, we had pizza hut for dinner on sunday night. My first pizza in months! It was like fireworks in my belly.
Not a whole lot of dinner pics. Got one of the turnips. And here are a couple of joshua tree ones. Orientation might be funky.

Pics from Sunday night dinner

Pic of the buffalo chicken grilled cheese ... And of Boo, being super excited about cat grass haha.

Recap - Holiday Weekend

I don't even remember where I left off w this thing... Let's see:

Wednesday: dinner at the GaNun house with Kira and her fam and Will and his mom. We had some really delicious chicken, salad, brussell sprouts, and some other stuff I can't remember. Oh and wine, obvi.

Thursday: THANKSGIVING! With the Mercandetti clan. Pretty traditional meal with lots o food - turkey, mac n cheese (made by me - was quite the hit!), rice w sausage, sweet potato pie, stuffing, etc. Also, like a million desserts - pies and Jewish apple cake and other stuff.

Friday: dinner at Figs, a Moroccan restaurant in our neighborhood. Dinner was with Kira and her parents, Will and his mom, me and Nat. I had lamb shank - do amazing! And cannollis for dessert.

Saturday: sushi dinner with Kira, Will, Nat, and her friend Chris before Nat's bday festivities.

Tonight: plan is to make buffalo grilled cheeses once Kira and Will return from being out today.

OMG I CAN POST PICS FROM PEARL

pause for a moment of excitement!
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YAHOOOO!!!

(now, i don't know if Ruby's blogger app works, but who cares! As long as I can write using Pearl's app, WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!)

"Real" Thanksgiving

A. I'm typing this with a real keyboard using Pearl's new bluetooth keyboard folio! I LOVE THIS THING!

B. While I'm writing this *way* before dinnertime, I'm pretty sure that our Thanksgiving lunch will be the notable meal of the day. I did a repeat of the turkey I made for Friendsgiving, but THE DANG BIRD FELL APART! It literally fell off the bone, which I guess is a good thing? The gravy I made was AMAZING - I'm now convinced that I will always use wine with my turkey. It's my secret ingredient. Don't tell anyone. We also had sweet potato, Daddy's green bean casserole, and stuffing as well. No mashed pots or mac and cheese this year! Surprisingly, I didn't really miss those. But, if you guys were here, I'm sure we would've had it (or I would've at least noticed that it wasn't on the menu.)

C. We made an executive decision to nix the turkey for Xmas this year. Instead, we may have beef tenderloin or a lamb dish. Thoughts?

Ok, time to take a disco turkey nap before going to see Lincoln. I hope M&D don't start snoring/falling out of their chairs during the movie.

Thanksgiving...or not (yet)

Mommy's yummy Indian food! Daddy's ucky Chardonnay.

Wednesday Skyfall

I still can't post pictures so here is my boring post from dinner last night (Fri): salt and vinegar chips, buffalo chicken wrap and a Sweetwater 420 draft beer from an Irish pub called Meehan's in Atlantic Station. Suzanne, her new bf Mike, and I had to debrief after seeing Skyfall, and what better way to do than than at an Irish Pub? It was really cool b/c there was a table of 4 guys near us who periodically burst into 4 part r&b acapella harmonies! I sort of wish I had videotaped it to add here. (And Atlantic station is decorated for Xmas so that was really pretty too!!)

MANG I WISH I COULD POST PICS!!!!!

No-see-ums: indian food & sea bass

Forgot to take pictures! Had CTM and chole with rice on monday and roasted a sea bass fillet in one of those foil packet things with veggies and herbs on tuesday. Not a huge fan of the "en papillote" method. The fish was tender and juicy but the flavor was mild. Maybe i need to put more oomph in the packet next time.
On another note, i changed the blog settings so that its unlisted in blogger and it can't be found on a search engine. Maya is continuing investigating her blog app publishing problem! :-(

Puppurito!

Monday nibbles

Friendsgiving leftovers (that I had to fight my meow meows over!)

Saturday/Sunday/Monday

Saturday: Carbo-loaded with Kevin, his dad, and Kira at McCrossen's Tavern the night before Kevin's marathon... well I didn't carbo-load, since I had crab risotto and a piece of Mississippi mud pie.

Sunday: Pizza from Lazo's (which is definitely not as good as Angelino's, but Angelino's is closed on Sundays) - I ate so much and was such a slug on Sunday. I took a nap in the afternoon for an hour and then went to sleep at 9pm. You'd think *I* was the one who ran 26 miles that day!

Monday: Guac and chips at Landmark Grill with my coworker during a working happy hour, and then kale and pierogies when I got home (made by Kira). Also, I was so tired last night that I think I fell asleep while I was eating my dinner. (Will took the bowl of pierogies out of my hand haha.)

Some more goodness from the interwebs in addition to dinner blogging...

KITTEN CAM: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/398160/events/1594566

Goldieblox: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/16029337/goldieblox-the-engineering-toy-for-girls

And I think that's it for now.

Weekend digest

I saw skyfall fri night and had a gross little orc of a pizza at a bar afterwards. Sat was ikea swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and a beery sauce. Sun had lots of salsa verde and beers to erase the memory of the twilight movie i dragged russ to earlier in the day. Awful , just awful!

Weekend in Review: FriendsGiving 2012

I hosted my first FriendsGiving and you both would be proud (and surprised) that I didn't freak out and totally stress out over it!  I even had to maneuver a new location because our clubroom was otherwise occupied.  I did, of course, cook for like 25 people, when only 8 or so people were invited (and came) :-)  Oh well, lots of yummy leftovers (and potentially boring b-log posts)!

On the menu:

• Turkey, made by moi.  Free range, veggie fed bird that I brined overnight. I also roasted a garlic head to make garlic butter that I rubbed all over the inside and outside of the turkey.  I roasted carrots, celery, and onions with the bird - with almost a whole bottle of white wine!  The wine made the *best* gravy ever.  I think I've found the recipe that I will stick with for future Thanksgivings!  
• Spinach souffle, made by my friend Kristin
• Roasted brussels sprouts with grapes and walnuts, by moi
• Beef tenderloin, by Suzanne
• Cranberry sauce by Kristin
• Salad w/ apples, gorgonzola, and walnuts, by Emily and Greg
• Mashed potatoes, by Kim and Brad, 
• Sweet potato casserole, by Suzanne
• Stuffing, by Suzanne's mom, Mama Sharone
• Apple pie, by Suzanne's mom, Mama Sharone
• Mini pecan phyllo tarts, by moi
• Brandy apple cider, by Kim and Brad
• LOTS OF WINE 

I think that's the whole menu!  Despite the location change (we ended up having everyone go to Suzanne's apt), it was an evening of good food and great conversation. 

Tonight's dinner:  NOT LEFTOVERS! Nope.  I wanted an egg and turkey bacon sandwich on an english muffin.  I'll have some leftovers tomorrow.  

[PS, I tried writing and publishing this post using the blogger app on my phone and IT STILL DOESN'T WORK.  STUPID, STUPID APP.  I don't know what to do about it!]