Tears of Joy

Tears of joy at being reunited with my husband? At being reunited with Bailey? Oh no, that was my reaction to my first real look-see of Wegman's.


But first, let me backtrack a little.....

We are finally in PA! Although it was sad and hard to leave Indiana, it's nice to have all of us together at last. We arrived on Saturday night - stayed in a hotel that night, but have been camping out with an air mattress and 2 sleeping bags since as we are still awaiting the arrival of our household goods due tomorrow. Hopefully.

It's actually been kind of nice to have a few days to explore without being tied down to unpacking boxes. It's also given me time to really sit and think where I want everything to go. I've been a bit grumpy at times, realizing how much smaller this kitchen is than the kitchen we just left (that kitchen had more room than we really needed - that's not something that happens often!), but I know with some creativity, we can make it work. And, after all, it is bigger than our first Indiana kitchen, thank goodness.

As part of our exploring, we went to visit the local YMCA which just so happens to also be close to Wegman's. Wegman's. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Wild mushrooms - not just crimini and portobello, but shiitake, oyster and button. Lentils - at least 6 different kinds. Many varieties of rice and many of them brown. Organic foods. Cheeses I've never heard of and more than I'll every try. 6 or 8 different types of olives. Pancetta. Proscuitto. Sharffenberger cocoa and baking chocolate. Baby bok choy. Pocky Sticks. Dark chocolate covered almonds. I could go on and on and on.

To fully understand my joy, you have to realize that I have lived in foodie hell for 9 years. We lived in the Bethlehem, PA area for quite a while - until about 1993 - and I honestly don't remember what grocery shopping was like there as I was just getting established as a cook. Then we moved to Texas and though our local groceries were nothing special, I was spoiled by my trips to Central Market and Whole Foods in Austin, Texas. Once you've been to Central Markets, nothing else compares! Then there was Indiana. In our town, anything out of the norm was a rarity. I could find some more unusual things within about a 40 minute drive, but the stores were not reliable in what they carried. Very frustrating. Not at all foodie-friendly. Pretty much all of the things I listed above were difficult if not impossible to find.

Wegman's has many of the things that I used to only be able to find at a place like Whole Foods - and the closest Whole Foods was over 2 hours away! Wegman's doesn't have the endless variety of organic and unusual foods that WF has, but what it does have is all the regular things that grocery stores carry so you can do all of your regular shopping there too - something I never could do at Whole Foods or Central Markets - they were better for the specialty items. Unlike Whole Foods, Wegman's is also reasonably priced. The big packs of chicken are $1.79 a pound - and that's their regular price, not a sale price. I used to have to wait for chicken to go on sale for that price at Meijer. Their shrimp was $6.99 a pound and their strip steaks were $8.49 a pound - both very reasonable. Meijer regularly charged $12.99 a pound for strip steak.

Wegman's is within a 15-minute drive. I don't even have to pack a cooler! That store alone could be well worth the move. Even the boys were amazed at the variety. But I think they were really more interested in the Tastykakes (certainly not unique to Wegman's but unique to the east coast or this general region).

Tonight we had our first dinner in our new house, out on our deck with a card table and a random assortment of chairs. On our new grill, we cooked up the reasonably priced strip steaks along with some grilled asparagus and roasted Dutch baby yellow potatoes (baby potatoes were not readily available in IN either). Along with this simple but tasty meal, we opened a bottle of 1999 Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz - a full-bodied shiraz that paired nicely with the steak.

Before I close, I just wanted to mention that Weigh-In Wednesday will not be happening this week as the scale is packed up and I have not been tracking calories. I have, however, been walking, so all is not lost. WIW will be back next week - hopefully with some good news. We managed dinner tonight even with a minimal amount of kitchen items, but I look forward to once again having a fully equipped kitchen.

Wednesday Weigh-In (6/14/06)

Well, not a great week here by any means.

Getting on the scale this week was like one big roller coaster ride! It went from down another 1.5 pounds to back to where I started in just a few days! Fortunately I know better than to put too much stock in what the scale says and am not bothered by it. And seeing how it is just about that TOM, I have to figure that's partly responsible.

To accentuate the positive, I AM still doing SOMETHING which is better than what I usually do when things get busy which is NOTHING. I'm also still tracking calories even when I'm having a bad day and that does a lot for keeping me accountable and not allowing me to gloss things over. Half the battle for me is to keep plugging along and trying, even if I'm not reaching my goals. Too often in the past, I start to perform poorly only to quit trying altogether. Not good!

On the other hand, I need to up the weight training and lower the calorie intake if I really wish to see a real improvement on the scale and in the fit of my clothing. I know my body and what I'm doing at the moment may keep me from gaining any more weight (a plus), but I don't think I'll be losing much if I don't watch it. While the scale may not be the most reliable means tracking of weight loss progress, the true indication to me that things aren't moving quite in the direction I'd like is that my clothes feel about the same.

I really need to be careful this next week. We begin the move on Thursday and with all the upheaval, traveling and unpacking, it will be really easy to blow off exercise and to eat poorly. I'll be away from the computer for probably only a day, so I should still be able to track my calories for the most part.




Wednesday Weigh-in, weight loss, diet, exercise, counting calories, health

Still Missing Bailey - WDB #38

We'll see him again soon, but until then, we can laugh at this post of him with my son's bat. It was funny enough to see him carry it around, prancing, tail wagging, but then to see him try to get up the stairs with it was just hilarious. He did manage to get it up the stairs once or twice, but mostly he just got stuck at the bottom.

Goldens MUST carry things in their mouths, no matter how frustrating or difficult a task!

Check out the rest of our furry friends over at Sweetnicks later on tonight..........

Wednesday Weigh-In (6/7/06)

(Click on chart for a larger view)

A very quick post tonight just to recap last week.

On the positive side, I walked every day and did better on my food intake. On the negative side, I did not get any weight workouts in and I went over the average for how many calories I'd like to consume. Ideally, 1500 is the average I'm shooting for - with <1500>

I don't think that my eating or exercise performance is totally responsible for the weight loss, at least not directly. I tend to see a big decrease during the first week or two that I start to watch what I eat. My theory is that when I overeat, I retain more water - once I get back to responsible eating, I drop the water weight. I formed my little theory after watching the scales go up over holiday weekends when I knew perfectly well it was impossible to REALLY gain 3 pounds over a weekend (you'd have to overeat by 9,000 calories). But the scale would go up, only to go down almost as quickly after my eating habits returned to normal.

In any case, it's a move in the right direction and I'll take it.

Since I don't have time tonight, I hope to chime in later this week with a more substantive post, but I wanted to stick to at least some form of weekly weigh-in. I hope that some of you out there might join me. If you would like to post a weekly weigh-in, just let me know and I can include your link on my weekly weigh-in post.

Wednesday Weigh-in, weight loss, diet, exercise, counting calories, health

Missing Bailey - WDB #37

Bailey keeping an eye out for chipmunks.

It's been a while since I've sent a link to WDB or even posted on my own blog for that matter, but this weekend I just had to send in a picture of Bailey.

Bailey is just fine, but he's headed to PA to live in the new house with DH until we move out in two weeks. He'll be traumatized by the 8-hour drive and then by the new house, but it will be good to have him out of here when the movers come and start packing up. Not only would he be in the way, but he'd be traumatized by all of that commotion too!

We'll miss him and I know he'll miss this house. He loved all of the big windows that went all the way to the floor. He could easily sit and watch the squirrels and chimpmunks, eventually whining to be let out so he could chase them. If he was really lucky, he'd get to see the deer running through the yard and bark at them, racing from window to window to get the best view.

Sadly, one of the times I let him out to give chase, the chipmunk didn't get away. For some reason, instead of running straight into the woods, it doubled back and Bailey was able to catch up to it. We couldn't tell if Bailey pawed it (if he did - it couldn't have been very hard) or if it simply died of shock. Poor Bailey would be devastated if he knew he had killed it. I'm sure he only wanted to play.

Our new house is out in a more rural area and we have just over an acre of land, so he'll have a great yard to play in, but not as many windows and no woods up close to provide him with much doggie TV.

I will miss him over the next 2 weeks! He was my walking buddy and just a general comfort and joy to have around. It won't be the same here without him. Fortunately he'll be with his wrestling partner, DH. I'm sure they'll have fun together and that DH will enjoy having another being with him in the empty house he's been rambling around alone in for weeks.

Don't forget to head over to Sweetnicks for the WDB roundup!

Success!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with Cream Cheese and Butterfinger Frosting

Well, my efforts to create a homemade cake met with success. Could it be that my cake curse has lifted?

I encountered two minor difficulties. First I had a little trouble getting the layers out of the pan, even with parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan. I think the cake was moist and dense enough that it didn't just pop right out like some cakes do. Still, I was more relaxed trying to get them out than I have been in the past because I now know that you can pretty easily hide a torn chunk or two. After some loosening and tapping, I managed to free the cakes pretty well unscathed. I have found that when I use shortening to grease the pans, the cakes seem to pop out more easily - this time I used butter and had more trouble, so next time it's back to shortening.


The only other problem I saw was that the icing was a little too runny for my tastes. I love a whipped cream topping, but I was seriously afraid to leave this cake out of the refrigerator for very long for fear the delicate icing would start to melt and run right off the cake! If I were to make this again, I would consider adding a little less whipped cream to see if I could get a firmer icing. I managed to do a little decorative piping around the bottom, but it was really a little too thin to do hold the form well.


The cake itself was quite moist - I didn't seem to have any of the dryness problems cited by several reviewers on Epicurious. I froze the layers overnight to make them easier to handle and easier to ice. I also didn't have any problems with the filling oozing, but I was careful to make the filling the night before and I did not spread it too close to the ends of the cake layers. After adding the filling, I froze the cake again for a couple of hours to allow the filling to set. I then frosted the cake and returned it to the refrigerator as quickly as possible to allow the icing to chill. I wonder if the icing would have been less runny if I had allowed it to chill overnight with the filling? I also chilled the Butterfingers after I chopped them to try to prevent any bleeding.

Everyone enjoyed the cake and it was very tasty. I have plenty of chocolate/PB filling leftover. I'd love to make some PB cookies and using this as a filling, but I'm not sure if I'll get around to it.........

I'll be back later today with a contribution to WDB.....

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake....

From Epicurious

...with Cream Cheese and Butterfinger Frosting. And it's healthy and low-fat too! Okay, not even close.

This cake just might bust my nutritional goals for the entire MONTH, but I'm going for it. After all, DS couldn't care less about my wanting to lose 20 pounds, it's his birthday! My baby is turning 12 - he's almost a teenager! Sniff. But, I'm happy to report, without the attitude......so far. My 8-year old has that covered. But he is showing signs in other ways - darker hair on the lip, his voice is cracking and he's almost as tall as me (which, admittedly, is not hard to achieve as I stand at a very modest 5'1").

Anyway, back to the cake.........

This cake is a monster and I'm intimidated by even the simplest homemade cakes. Cakes (and candy) are not my forté and I resorted to the Cake Mix Doctor a few years ago out of frustration (and heck, the kids didn't really care anyway). I'm determined to try again. When I showed DS my idea for his cake this year, he nearly wept. Yes, I've raised a foodie - albeit not a very discriminating foodie at this point, but definitely a foodie in the making.

Today I'll be making the layers and the filling. Tomorrow I attempt the icing and the decorating of the cake. Many reviewers on Epicurious say that they had problems with the filling oozing, so I'll definitely be chilling it overnight. It's been humid here lately, so I fear the humidity may work against me but I'll keep the A/C cranked up and cross my fingers.

Wish me luck. If all else fails, there's always DQ....................

Spotlight on Health - Ruby Tuesday

While I'm gearing up to start eating better and exercising more, I'd like to spotlight restaurants and eateries that make it easier to eat nutritiously.

It's so easy to bash restaurants for the things they get wrong, especially when it comes to offering healthier alternatives. Restaurants, and not just the fast food variety, often rely on fatty ingredients and large portions to satisfy their customers. I can deal with the large portions - I just take part of it home for leftovers - but trying to find something that won't clog your arteries by just reading about is much harder.

To be honest, there are times when I go out to eat where I don't care about healthful options - I want to treat myself to something that tastes fabulous and don't much care about how many calories or fat grams. There are other times, such as when we're traveling, where you need to eat out on a regular basis and really need some other options.

Anyway, instead of bashing restaurants for what they are doing wrong, I'd like to occasionally take time to point out those who are getting it right. Even if they are only getting it a little right.

Now Ruby Tuesday is certainly not the first thing (or even the last) that springs to mind when I think about eating better, but tonight I craved a salad with lots of veggies. It was an evening of baseball and Tae Kwon Do for the boys and I didn't have many fresh veggies on hand, so I decided to stop at Ruby Tuesday. I told the boys that we would be ordering water only - no sodas or other drinks. This was not only better for us, it was easier on the wallet too. That's where their healthful selections stopped - one got mac and cheese and the other got a huge, artery clogging burger. Ah well, you're only young once.

I went for the salad bar. I wish more restaurants had a good salad bar. I'm sure there are better salad bars out there, but for a chain restaurant, Ruby Tuesday's salad bar is pretty good. They offer the typical romaine lettuce, along with spinach and/or mixed greens. Today it was mixed greens. I was picking out the arugula - I love arugula. As for "add-ons", they have the usual - carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, cheese, egg, etc. What makes them stand out is the other things they offer like edamame, chick peas, black beans, corn, and green peas. I love a variety of vegetable"toppings" and their variety is quite decent - I had a hard time piling them all on! They also have blue cheese crumbles, olives, pepperoncinis, mixed seeds (I spied sesame and pumpkin seeds, there were others too) and the list goes on and on.

As long as you choose wisely (skip the croutons, fried noodles and mayonnaise-laden salads) and don't drown your salad in a full-fat dressing, you can create a very nutritious and tasty meal. The dressings could be more exciting, but they aren't bad. I tried the Asian/Sesame dressing today and it was decent. According to FitDay, my salad came to about 376 calories and 21 grams of fat (7 of which were from the edamame and seeds and very few of which were saturated). Not bad for a meal out - and that doesn't even take into account the other nutritional benefits, such as 8 grams of fiber.

Ruby Tuesday also offers a lighter fare, but I've not tried anything from this menu. As for the rest of their menu, eat at your own risk. Still, there aren't many restaurants that serve up a good salad, so I appreciate that they hang on to their salad bar as an option to their customers who want to eat a little healthier.