Fourrager

French verb meaning to forage.

That is what Buggie and I are doing for two weeks to our kitchens.  As little grocery shopping as possible. As many new, tasty, and essentially free meals one can make in a two week span.

~Day 1~ Amount Spent: $0
Breakfast/Lunch: A lot of leftover quiche from my birthday brunch,
Snacks: Leftover fruit, an almost-gone  box of Wasa crackers, two-week old hummus and an aging yogurt and sorbet bar.
Dinner: Sausage with tomato mushroom gravy over whole wheat pasta. YUM!  I kind of put some random Rachel Ray stuffed mushroom recipe and some pork with tomato gravy recipe together to make this:

Foraged Ingredients:
~ 2 links of leftover sweet Italian turkey sausage that I had in my freezer from the Mother’s Day meal I had cooked for the family
~ A dollop of really old frozen tomato paste
~ Half a carton of sliced crimini mushrooms that are about to turn
~ 8 baby romas that I had bought to make quiche before I knew I was getting garden-fresh tomatoes from Bug’s brother
~ About half a bag of the perma bag of spinach I keep in the freezer
~ Some sprouted wheat pasta from Trader Joe’s that’s been sitting in my cupboard for a few months
~ Some of the 8-gallons of chicken stock that I keep buying forgetting that I already have some on hand

~Day 2~ Amount Spent: $0
Breakfast: Cereal, milk and walnuts that I had on hand
Lunch: Leftover pasta from Day 1
Snacks: Last tablespoon of hummus, three-week old cottage cheese (that I had to toss), applesauce, leftover clementines, and a handful of chocolate chips. Lots of green tea.
Dinner: Some Gruyere leftover from the quiche, garden tomatoes and leftover (but not moldy!) bread

~Day 3~ Amount Spent: $10
Breakfast: Cereal, milk and walnuts that I had on hand
Lunch: ESPN Zone lunch provided by work
Snacks: ESPN Zone munchies and beer provided by work
Dinner: $8.95 in Gazpacho from Tonic Restaurant (Hey, I needed something to eat with the beer so I would not get drunk!)

~Day 4~ Amount Spent: $0
Breakfast: Cereal, milk and walnuts that I had on hand
Lunch: Some soup I found in my cupboard that I probably bought in December. Garden tomatoes and a two-week old tortilla (that I toasted to hide any staleness)
Snacks: Leftover clementines, a green apple, string cheese and some chocolate chips
Dinner: The last quarter of an avocado, a garden tomato and more of the leftover (but not moldy!) bread

I’ve kind of blown my no-spend thing by ordering that gazpacho the other night, but I figure it was for health reasons. I think this weekend and no grocery shopping is going to be the big test though…

32.6

Ok, some crappiness for June.  Because thirty-two+ miles is, well, a big load of crap.  I checked my fitness log though and for being on 6 flights, traveling over 10,000 miles and still working out 14 out of 30 days, I am not overly sad about my lackluster mileage this month.

So the plan for July is to get that mileage number up near 50 and to keep lifting/interval training 2-3 times per week.  No travel plans, so it should be easy right?

Also I feel I should bake more and keep giving it away, I’ve done cupcakes and a lot of lemon…what should be next?

Travel and things

Freshly back from a work trip to London, I hopped on another plane less that 24-hours later and headed to Minnesota.  That’s where I am now–in some motel room off of 494, in between the airport and West St. Paul.

My grandma is ill. Or shall I say, more ill.  She’s been battling multiple myeloma for some years now, but it’s taken a turn for the worse as of late.  We had been afraid (from afar) that she was leaning towards some early stages of dementia. Seeing her now, in person, it’s obvious that she is just as quick-witted as ever but the overwhelming pain and the ensuing meds to battle it are what’s stopping her thought processes short and making her come across as confused. It’s a bittersweet revelation–good to know that she is lucid, sad to know that there is that much pain that shuts her down like that. She’s my last living grandparent.  She’s talking about her last days, trying to give things away so the “right” people get them, yet holding out hope to finally see a great grandbaby out of this side of the family.

Now that we know how’s she’s doing, that she is still “with it”, I think we will spend the next couple of days trying to spoil her a bit…bringing her favorite treats (bismarcks), stocking up on silly decor for her hospice room and visiting as much as we can between the naps and the pain.

66.5

So what happened in March that I was all Prefontaine and shit with that high mileage? Though sixty six miles on the month is a respectable increase over April–not too much and only a bit too little.

I got new shoes this month. Well, the same shoes as always, the Nike Air Pegasus, just not with hundreds of miles on them.  I am, however, having trouble with lacing. It’s like I’ve forgotten how to do it properly or something because at about the 7 or 8 mile mark (for any run lasting that long) my toes will go numb and my feet will start to ache tremendously. SoI stop, loosen the laces and it goes away. Then the next run my feet will roll all over the place becuase the laces are too loose. I am the Goldilocks of running shoes.  Nothing is ever just right. Maybe I should start looking at those alternative lacing techniques. Does anyone lace their shoes using a knot other than the one you learned in kindergarten?

Growing Pains

It’s time.

With the Stove’s arrival, it’s time.

It’s time to branch out and start a new blog.

Baby Banana isn’t going anywhere but now there is a new venue for all things Marci bakes.

Ready?

Mmm…BAKED! is the internet’s newest destination for all things oven-made.

Check it out.

Third time’s a charm

I think last I spoke about this, it was March and I was hell bent on buying a stove.  Well I did buy a stove that weekend in March…but it took nearly 12 weeks and two botched delivery attempts before it actually appeared in my kitchen.  But now I can finally say, I have a completely working kitchen…just 15 months after I began my kitchen renovation. Slow and steady wins the race?

Basically this is what happened:
~ Sears sales person #1 = idiot and sends my order through a distribution center that does not deliver to Arlington.
~ Distribution center #1 = asshole and cancels said order from the system completely.
~ Sears system = jacked because the above move means there is now no record that I actually paid nearly $1,000 for a major kitchen appliance.
~ I spend 4 hours on the phone with Sears. Joy.
~ Sears sales person #2 = nice, but inappropriate. He asks me out. I don’t think I sound that cute on the phone. I question whether I should really be spending this kind of money with a group of idiots.
~ Sears sales person #2 knocks the price down over $200. I am no longer seething.
~ Must wait six more weeks for the next available delivery date.
~ Wait patiently. Finally get the delivery confirmation call the day before delivery.
~ Installer #1 shows up! Joy! Real joy this time!
~ But then I see he has brought the wrong stove.
~ Joy dissipates.
~ Installer #1 argues that this is the stove! His papers match for gosh sakes!
~ Politely (no, really) explain papers don’t mean jack and that he doesn’t have my stove so he should probably just be on his way.
~ Installer #1 leaves. Blames fault on Distribution Center #2. I tend to agree.
~ I place a phone call to Sears to tell them about the black stove that showed up instead of the stainless one. They try to tell me that stainless steel appliances are a mix of black and steel. I politely (not really) inform them I am not an idiot.
~ Sears promises to call me back.
~ They don’t.
~ I get mad.
~ Sears manager = jerk and I am forced to call back the store several times over the course of a week to get an answer.
~ They try to give me $50 to appease me.
~ This does not work.
~ Many phone calls later, they add another $90 off to their offer.
~ I accept it with the promise of a delivery within the next two weeks. It’s been 10 weeks now since my initial purchase.
~ Installer #2 calls to confirm installation. I confirm but an off-hand question about the delivery leads me to realize that they are not actually bringing the stove, but rather just coming to install one that has already been delivered.
~ This is a problem seeing as how I do not currently have a stove waiting to be installed. Installer #2 places a call to Distribution Center #3 to see if they can work something out.
~ Installer #2 = awesome and Sears is still sucking.
~ The next day, Installer #2 shows up with my stove and all the appropriate hoses and valves. I almost cannot believe it.
~ But thar she is…

My love

58.2

How’d that happen? How did I drop 17+ miles?  Last month I was running along, all stellar-like averaging nearly 20 miles per week and then this month I drop to a measly sub-60.  I think it was a week in early April where I was only able to squeeze in one run that put me behind(although that was the same week I got to  spend a fabulous day in NYC with Buggie so it was worth it). I did up the cross-training this month — the Bikram pass has expired, but I’ve been back in the gym lifting and hitting spinning classes.  So maybe I can be all ridiculously in shape by summer time?

I did run a 10 mile race last weekend, the George Washington Parkway Classic.  I did it in 1:41:29 — which is surprisingly close to the last 10 mile race I did, the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, about four years ago.  So it’s nice to know that I am not growing into feebleness in my old age.  I think I could have run it faster had it not been so damned hot.  Wow. Not a good day for it to act like summer all of a sudden–I mean winterized blood and hot, sticky temps do not mesh well. Can you say sluggish?

So now I’ve got to stay the course for May and get my mileage back to respectable levels–like last month.  I’d like to hover around 80-90 this season. I’d also like to do a race every month. I’ve got nothing on the calendar right now…looking hard for something for May!

Teabagging and the like

C’mon. You know there is no way I could let this one pass by without comment. So I’ll keep it short because all the hilarity has been said (can I just say that I love Anderson Cooper), I just need to repeat and expand on some asides that you may not have heard just yet.

Seeing as how our lovely friends at Fox News have so cleverly dubbed this anti-tax movement “Teabagging” (you know, like after the Boston Tea Party where early Americans protested government taxing, see it’s funny and relevant!).  Some have wondered what other movements could come from the Republican Party in the coming years.

– Obama opponents will summon public outrage against the administration’s efforts to legalize unauthorized immigrant workers, aka The Dirty Sanchez Campaign.

– For the 2010 election cycle, where 36 seats in the Seneate will be contested, the GOP will call for Operation Donkey Punch.

– Citing burdens on American business, those who feel sustainability is bunk will invoke the Tossed Salad movement in protest to Michelle Obama’s Victory Garden.

– In a bid to push House Minority Leader,  John Boehner (R-OH) into a Majority roll the GOP will launch the Cleavland Steamer Offensive.

0-peing Day

0-7

It’s not the worst losing streak in the majors (I looked it up, that record belongs to the O’s, for now), but it’s the worst streak right now.  Only team in the league to be winless at this point.  Joy.

I didn’t mind too much when I purchased my tickets for Opening Day, a major benefit to having a crappy team is easy pickings for choice games.  I didn’t mind too much that they were coming into the home opener 0-6.  I did however mind three errors and three unearned runs.

I had written some witty material here about how much none of this mattered and why. But WordPress ate it so instead I will just give you the photos that explain why I don’t care that we are winless.

Game time beeyotches!

Rally!

A christening

There are just over two weeks before the new stove is delivered.  Outside of the obvious questions…will it fit (pertinent because not even the old stove fits properly)?, will it work?, or will it even arrive?…there is the glaring one of what flour & sugar confection will be chosen to christen the new appliance?

~Cookies? And if cookies, do I make am old stand-by or something new and fancy?

~Cake?

~Tart or pie? And then,  fruit or cream-based?

~Cheesecake?