Pressing the reset button

Everyone once in a while it's really good to sit back and take a good look at the way your life works. Reflection (as some cheesier than me might call it) is really important when major life changes happen. Like you get a new job and your husband starts school full time. WHAT A GREAT TIME TO REFLECT. Clearly things have been different in my life since I started my new job.

Like the fact that I have a social life. I honestly can't remember the last time this was really true. Fall of 2005? That sounds about right. Since then I was inundated with overcommitment (not that I'm not overly committed now, because trust me, I am!) a brief stint at returning to school, working 2 jobs, starting a business, planning a wedding, getting married, buying a really old house and preventing the fixer-upper work that surrounds me everyday. But now I actually work normal hours (for the most part) and have more time to do things like edit during the week so that I can see people on the weekend.


Additionally, I have a normal sleeping and eating schedule. This has actually been the most difficult transition I've had to make. I have to plan my meals, and I actually have time to cook. When I was working at Trader Joe's, sometimes I would just eat one meal during the day, and stuff my face with sliced mango and candy cane Joe-joe's during my work hours. I would sometimes go to sleep hungry because I was just too tired to eat. I often had things people would consider dinner foods for breakfast because I had my lunch break at 9am.

Ultimately I think this has made my cooking extravaganzas less interesting, which is probably why this blog is suffering. I also work for a prepackaged food company so for product knowledge sake (and the 25% discount helps too) I was eating a lot of frozen foods.

Then something just switched in me and realized I felt like crap. My clothes didn't fit the right way anymore. I didn't like ANYTHING I owned. I KNEW I had gained weight, and even though training for a 10 mile run this fall, I really wasn't in very good shape. At Trader Joe's I was on my feel 10 hours a day and lifting 40 pound boxes fairly frequently. Now, the heaviest thing I lift is my messenger bag. Pathetic.

So I re-upped at the gym (I took off the summer months because I don't like to lie to myself and pretend I would go) and I'm purging my body of my sugar cravings. I know that I am very sensitive to sugar and it's nearly impossible to control unless I start from scratch. One of my least favorite words in the English language is "carbs" but yes, I am for all intents and purposes denying myself of SIMPLE carbohydrates for two weeks. That doesn't sound so bad, but then when you realize wine, all forms of bread, pasta and cookies fall into that category, well shit.

It's actually been remarkably easy this time around. I did have a bit of a "holiday" from my cleanse (as I like to call it) last Saturday. I also cheated last night because I attended the March of Dimes Signature Chef Auction last night thanks to the lovely Crystal of Café Cyan, and you just can't attend those things without a glass of wine and a bite of potato. But otherwise it's been great. I have more energy, I'm happier and I'm way more productive. Weird how eating healthy has more than just physical side affects. Now, to get back to my pre-married weight... hmm

For lunch today I thought I'd share. I pretty much ate entire bunch of rainbow chard. No, not JUST chard, but chard with butter and leeks, salt and pepper. Unlike spinach which can sometimes get chalky when sauteed, chard retains its crunch and is SO good for you not to mention delicious and gorgeous. According to the iPhone locavore app we have two more MONTHS of chard season in Minnesota (I'm pretty sure mine came from California... what's the deal Wedge? Where is my local chard supply when I want it?). I'm not sure where these leafy greens are going to be coming from in the middle of January, but I do know the Kale hanging out in my garden has survived quite a few frosts up until this point.




That's about all I have for today. I'll keep you posted on my healthy goals and think I just poured about a months worth of words into this post, so I'll conclude it by saying "Hi" to my newest connection, Summer from Summer Harsh Botanical Artistry. Check out the centerpieces she donated to the March of Dimes Dinner last night



I just love the whisk!

And make sure you check out Crystal's blog over at Café Cyan. She's always coming up with great ideas in her kitchen. And she's also very awesome... even if she lives in the suburbs.

Progressive Dinner

Kyle would tell me to "stop apologizing" but I can't help it. I suck at blogging this month. SUCK. And I'm sorry. But look, another blog post! I honestly feel like I am doing injustice to myself when I only blog once a week. But it matters to someone right? Mom? You care, right?

Okay, enough of that. In the interest of moving forward, and knowing that one snowy day in January I'll blog about New York City and 30 meals I've made between now and then, this post is about the progressive dinner we attended this past weekend in our neighborhood. Fun times with fabulous Minneapolis friends. Aside from a few slim pickin's, most people I spend social time with now live within walking distance of our house, which makes it easy to travel from house to house, enjoying numerous different courses and beverage accompaniments.

Things started at our place, and being busy (read: behind schedule) hosts, I didn't take any pictures at our house. Kyle made baguettes and gougères, and I made a terrine with veal, pork ricotta and ham as well as wild mushroom crostini, and alongside, champagne.

We then treked it one block north to Talia and Jay's apartment.




Jay didn't come to our place as he was at home making their baked mac and cheese prepared in individual baking pans and muffin tins. Amazing. Delicious.



Armed and Ready


Great detail by Jay. I love the scallions, and I really could never pass up extra cheese sauce




Talia gets excited


Making our way over to Danielle and Chuck's, we had to first load up our pockets (and a hand or two) with cold beer on the porch






First we had to cross the tracks


and then make the two block walk down 2nd


I got kind of involved in a conversation about video games (don't judge me) at Chuck and D's and didn't take any pictures there. I will also blame this on my leaving early to help Becky with her roasted chicken. Danielle made gorgeous rustic tartes and they were served with boozy homemade chai (courtesy of Criste). Where the hell was my camera? I think this is when I first had some brandy.

Becky had never roasted a chicken before and was roasting TWO leading to certain amounts of nervousness. They turned out better than you could ever imagine, juicy and tender with crispy skin and perfectly browned veggies, I could swear she was a seasoned chicken roaster... but she did need help carving.



Amanda had clearly shown up by this time, as I actually got to star in a few pictures here


Becky was the only gorgeous soul who adorned a Mad Men costume. It was really a great idea for the weekend before Halloween to all dress up, but alas my lack of Joan dress (god, I could SO pull that off), or spanks for that matter lead me to wear a simple red dress. Becky went all out and found the most amazing outfit at Via's. Check out this head piece.



MEAT!


In her vintage housewife glory


Amanda didn't dress up. She just rocks vintage day in and day out.




Next up was dessert at Katrinas. She made TWO, apple pie and pumpkin bars. There was definitely brandy in my coffee at this point.





Claudia's house was meant for after-dinner drinks and games. If you haven't experienced 3-D chalk before, to quote myself "it rulz". More brandy.



You do need to wear the magic 3-D chalk glasses to truly get it though


I'm sure Zach wrote something inappropriate




And then... we played "writey-drawy-foldy". Essentially the premise is to write out a sentence. Any sentence about anything. Then hand it to the person to your left (you're sitting in a circle). Everyone then receives a piece of paper with a sentence written on it and underneath make a drawing depicting the sentence they read above. Then they fold the sentence under before handing the paper to the person to your left so that the person they are handing it to cannot see the original sentence. They then write a sentence depicting the picture that you drew while you draw a picture depicting the picture the person to your right drew. Get it? It's like an alcohol induced game of telephone on paper. And it is amazing.





The game ends when someone realizes the piece of paper that is in their hands was the one they had originally. Very rarely is it remotely similar to the original sentence, but it is pretty awesome what people come up with.





The best part may be going through the train of thought of 10 or so people as you describe your sentence and its path to the whole group.













Happy Progressive Dinner Everyone! Leave the brandy at home next time.

Kate Takes California: Part II

After another full day of meetings, we all really needed some R&R. Wednesday night we hit up the traditional "Irish pub" of Petaluma (what?) and enjoyed sitting on the patio until the sun went down and the temp dropped to the 40s. It's true that I deal with temperatures this low 6 months out of the year, but in California in August? I had just about enough of that. I made everyone go inside so my poor flip-flop-cladden feet could warm up.






This looks like a scene from the birds, but it was really cool to watch these guys swoop around for 5 minutes, go back to their perch, and then back to the swooping thing. Strange creatures.





Thursday we had another long day ahead of us. That's right. It was beach day. A pretty heated east coast v west coast volleyball game ensued (I picked east coast as my team, as I hand spent time hanging out with them during the week, and they are a much smaller sales team. Good thing too, because the west coast was ALL talk. I think it ended up 3-0 East coast. Way to go my friends.














Finally the competition subsided and the relaxing part of beach day began. Some people kayaked (and got to see seals 10 feet away from them, awesome!) and my bosses daughter Madelyn got her first taste (literally) of the ocean sand.










seriously how cute is this?







After a fun trip back into SFO on hwy 1 (Read: not fun for the weak of stomach, including yours truly) we spent a short period of time in touristville USA, ate at McCormicks and Kulitos (and had what was truly the best Halibut of my life) in Ghiradelli square and bought some sourdough to throw in the freezer at home.





Of course I grabbed a quick shot of this bride and groom





The next morning, after the panic of an ammonia spill (and the possibility of being stranded at the Airport hotel) I finally got to SFO, bought a few pounds of Peet's and got a free cup to go (apparently when you spend $30 some dollars on coffee they'll give you a free cup). This was when I realized that I couldn't actually BRING my DAMN coffee with me to the terminal because Peet's was in ticketing. DAMN YOU TSA and your crazy 2oz bottle rule.

This gave me the opportunity to relax under what turned out to be a pretty cool sculpture hanging right outside of the terminal. Fine, I guess I'll forgive the TSA, but only this one time.