I Walk In This World

Today is 1 day closer to the end of the week.

*does a cartwheel*

My work is slowly driving me insane.  Just this week though.  I cannot wait for Funday Friday to arrive.  And I don’t even really have plans.  Maybe just some sunning by the pool!

Din last night was simple but very good.

• Supreme grillers (turkey sausage with hot peppers) with mushrooms & onions from Pounds Turkey Farm outside Pittsburgh, PA
• baked yam
• steamed broccoli & peas in a soft cheese sauce (lite)
• water

I snuck in a 4K run between walking the Hilly dog and making dinner.  Felt good.  Actually, I am MEGA EXCITED I ran that far.  First time in many a year!!!! 

My ankle just sucks forever until infinity I’m guessing.  I don’t think it’s ever gonna heal.

[Work happened here, from 12:30pm-5pm.]  A little pretty from my walk in Nature for your enjoyment.

Lunch.

• crunchy natural PB & my mother-in-law’s fabulous strawberry jam on TJs 7-grain bread
• babied carrots
• melon balls and a few slivers of mango
• camera shy chocolate mini meringues (5)

[Work happened here, from 9am-12pm.]

Breks.

• Peachy Keen smoothie with peach slices + half a banana + fresh watermelon juice + ff vanilla yogurt + ice
• COFFEE!

And b/c my In-laws are cool and read my blog, I wanted to post 2 photos of Bed & Breakfast Breks from a recent road trip of their’s!!  Their Guest Photos…

• yogurt “banana split” topped with blueberries, rapsberries, granola, and fresh whip cream.
• seafood quiche (baked to perfection they note!)
• pork sausage links
• cinnamon raisin bagel
• kiwi + orange garnish

Total YUMZ right!

Does your family love B&Bs when traveling as much as ours does??

And in closing, a few fun bits from the blog world:

• Allison has just posted her Week 3 Results of her Clean Life Eating Challenge
• Ashley got a supa cool early bday prezzie from her ‘rents
• Julie is confused about what time of year it is!
• Kath appears to be in love with goat cheese as much as I am

Ciao!

Methinks our anniversary vacation coming up is going to be rife with stops at New England Brew Pubs!  And I cannot wait!

Hubz and I spent all of late morning planning our stops along our driving tour of New England. 

We found small farms that make local cheese and maple syrup in VT and NH and have plans to stop and see a few.  But most importantly, we found eleven billionty brew pubs to sample!!  They.Are.Everywhere up there.  It’s going to be so fun.    

The reason we spent LATE morning planning our trip is b/c Erin slept in til, oh, 10am.  Whhhaaaattt?  I’ll just thank Ambien and be on my way.  It was amazing.  I now think getting up early on weekends is over-rated.  I seriously haven’t slept in that late since the last time I had the flu.  Finally Hubz came in and asked if I was thinking I’d get up at any point today, lol.  It felt great!

I made  the loveliest of quick Breks since it was getting so late.

• whole wheat muffin + Nutella + banana
• peaches + red raspberries + blackberries
• COFFEE xs 2

Oh Nutella….how I love thee.

Last night, after Din, Hubz and I watched Changeling with Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich.  A very dark dark film.  Worth watching if you have 2hrs + though.  I had a beer and baked Kettle chips for a snack (no pic).  And in being totally honest, 1 of Mallorys butterscotch nut butter cups (the BEST flava).

Din was tandori chicken (homemade) using Penzey’s tandori spice + ff Fage yogurt.  It was good.  Not great though.  I gotta figure out a way to make this taste like REAL tandori.

• homemade tandori chicken + lentils
• half a piece of ww Naan
• steamed broccoli
• Smuttynose beer

Pre-Din I had a Smuttynose IPA, which is 1 of my absolute favs.  I think Matt at Brew and Bake would probably really like this beer, given his review of other beers!

And a little after-work yoga to unwind and stretch out some sore running muscles.  This totally did the trick.  I felt heaps better after.

Hillary helped with some Lazy Dogs.

Hubz helped by doing some Lazy Man Reading.

K, I gotta eat lunch and head out to pick up some items for our dinner tonight.  Having friends over for Din to sample one of my favorite recipes.  Should be fun!

Hi kids.

Today’s topic…Local Family Farms and Organic.

Hubz and I often chat about which path to take when buying food.

Organic vs. local vs. free range vs….

There is SO much love for the word Organic these days.  And I do buy certain organic fruits and a few organic vegs from the grocery store.  But mostly I try to support the local farmers around here, during the growing season.  Many of these farms practice organic farming, but they are not USDA certified as Organic. 

Want to know why? 

Because it costs too much money and requires far too much paperwork for small scale farmers.  Way too much time goes into certifying a farm as Organic, and that is time spent away from, ya know, farming.  And the cash flow that comes from labeling produce/meat/dairy as USDA Organic isn’t the boon for small farmers that you would think.  It’s often a wash.

The folks over at Civil Eats have shed light on an alternative process for family farmers to pursue called Certified Naturally Grown.

Certified Naturally Grown is a grassroots alternative to the USDA Organic process where farmers audit one another for sustainable practices.  This alternative is neither costly nor bogged down in paperwork.  You can read more about it on the CNG webpage.

 Support your local farmer!  If you don’t know where they are, check Local Harvest or Certified Naturally Grown.

Lunch was good, not great.

• leftover coconut pork on whole grains + lettuce + LC garlic/herb cheese
• pear
• carrot
• Musselman’s Raspberry Acai no sugar applesauce (good!)

It’s Friday.  I’m working.  More writing today than hugging trees, but that’s okay.  I am mucho looking forward to the weekend! 

Chocolate Covered Katie’s updated her recipes page, which looks fabulous!  Watermelon salsa anyone?

I shook things up with Breks!

• whole wheat muffin with eggwhites + veg sausage and peppers/spinach + cheese
• COFFEE
• eaten in the car (head hung with shame)

Time to wrappity wrapz up the work day.  C’mon 5PM.

P.S.  Everyone wish Amanda good luck with her race this weekend!

Hi Kids.

I just got back from grocery shopping and my wallet is a peep too lite for my liking.  A few too many impulse purchases in the healthy/organic section.  I mean, what sane person can pass up maple covered pecans?  Honestly.

Ahem…

Lunch today was had at a local street fair.  It was great.  There was a food vendor selling all local meats/breads, etc.  And look at this beast I got!

Spicy kielbasa with kraut and spicy mustard.  The bread it was on was divine and the entire sandwich was outstanding.  It kicked all the other Fair Foods’ asses.

Hillary might or might not have had a taste.

Hubz had a post-breks snack full of dairy, protein, and, um, cappacino chip beautifulness…

Breks was a bowl of grains and was loverly.

In the blue bowl…

• Treehugger Crunch + Cinnamon puffins + coconut + apricot + a few choco chips + skim milk
• COFFEE

This morning I sipped mugs of coffee whilst blogging and doing other random bits.  My friend Kate is coming up for a sleepover tonight (!) so I gotta run some errands and do house prep before she arrives.

Last night Hubz and I spent A Lot of time rearranging the guest bedroom, which is now very much to my liking.  Before it felt hurridly designed and now it feels proper. 

And here’s one of Hubz’ fav pieces of “art” for my Aussie blog friend Ashley’s enjoyment!

We also spent A Lot of time assembling our new nightstands, which I love.  Well.  I like them.  It’s hard to Love wood composite + nails + wood stain.  But they are nice and make our bedroom feel more Grown Up.

It’s hard to imagine just a few hours this was nothing more than parts.  We are Handy. 

I also got in 35 mins gym time, which was nice.  20mins on the elliptical + ab work and arm/dumbell stuff.

Din was my usual Friday night “healthy” pizza.  I deign it healthy because of the following:

• whole wheat crust
• the right amount of sauce
• less cheese than a pizza shop uses
• topped off with heaps of veggies
• served with salad

Oh, let’s talk salad.  This one was awesome!

• chopped spinach
• cukes
• cherry tomaters
• dried orange cranberries
• crumbled Cherry Semolina Dr. Krackers
• blob of outstanding goat cheese
• fresh red raspberries
• lf rasp/walnut dressing

If salad were to be loved, this mix tops the  meter.  Even Hubz commented on its loverliness.

The not healthy part comes from the Beer I Must have with my pizza.  It almost seems criminal not to.  Last night’s choice was Boston’s own Harpoon Brewery India Pale Ale (a goody).

Don’t be fooled by those 2 dainty slices of pizzaria.  I had 2 more (maybe 3) that same size, after finishing my salad. 

<—-has pizza portion issues

Ok kids.  Have great Saturdays.  I may or may not be back later with the rest of today’s pics.