Connie and Sol's Wedding

Sunday night my friend Connie married her fiancee Sol in a GORGEOUS restored Victorian house on the bluffs overlooking downtown St. Paul.  Let me START by saying that Sunday night is an AWFUL, CRUEL time to get married (since WORK looms large and ugly for MOST of us the next morning), and let me continue by saying that this was the SHORTEST ceremony I have ever attended.  In total, with vows, and the exchange of rings, it lasted A TOTAL of NINETY SEVEN SECONDS!!!  Seriously.

LUCKILY, the rest of the evening was spent at a LAVISH dinner, prepared by the bride and groom, in the tent-draped attic of the house...TOTALLY cool!

Here are some photos of the adventure...

ready for the big event!!!

 

 

my buddy Lynn and me!!!

 

Lynn and her husband Rick

 

 

the ninety seven second ceremony (yes...he's wearing a kilt)!

 

the happy couple at the dinner in the attic!

 

me and Laura (one of my reading intervention counterparts at Lincoln Center) at dinner

 

Lynn and her VEGETARIAN lasagna!!

 

the chandelier in the attic!

 

one of the many GORGEOUS fireplaces in the house!

 

the cake

 

Connie and Sol cutting the cake

 

pouring the champage

 

me and the LOVELY bride!!!

 

Here's hoping YOU were able to help dear friends celebrate something lovely too!!!



I Did Not Win...

We held our SIXTH annual "Taste Off" at school a few weeks ago.  If you've been following my blog, you will remember that it's a yearly cooking competition, whose genesis was in a "discussion" at lunch a few years back as to WHO made the best tater tot casserole (or, here in the freezing northland, hotdish).

I didn't win that first contest, nor did I win it the next three years (which is REALLY stupid...since I was the one who tallied the votes, and could TOTALLY have rigged the contest EVERY year....stupid honesty...).

Anyway, each year a "special" ingredient is chosen as the "key ingredient" of the dish.  The year I DID win, not surprisingly, that ingredient was BACON!!!!

This year's ingredient was POTATOES.  I thought I had it in the bag with my "Hachis Parmentier" (French Shepherd's Pie), but, alas, is was not meant to be.  Perhaps, it was the fact that I converted an oven recipe to a crock pot recipe, and it just didn't have the KICK that it does when the mashed potatoes brown on the top, and the layer of cheese over that gets golden and crispy.

Whatever the reason, my co-worker Ryan's "Sausage Kale Potato Soup" won, and I got stuck putting someone else's photo in the frame that I Mod-Podged for the occasion, yet again.

No worries!  Next year's ingredient is PEANUT BUTTER, and I'm QUITE adept at using it as a cooking/baking/frying staple.  So...who knows,  maybe NEXT year's post and accompanying photo WILL be of "yours truly"...

Until then...here's the frame I created (with Ryan's photo)...

 

...and here's the recipe for "Hachis Parmentier"...which really is QUITE good!!!!!

Hachis Parmentier

Yields: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

2	lb. ground beef
3	T. parsley
1	Vidalia onion, chopped
½	c. sliced carrots
3	T. fatty bacon, crumbled
½	c. shiraz (or other sweet red wine)
2	T. breadcrumbs
¾	c. beef stock
⅛	tsp. nutmeg
1	c. bechamel sauce (see recipe within THIS recipe)(mix remaining 1 c. bechamel with pasta for another meal!)
1	tsp. garlic, minced
	salt and pepper to taste
1	c. grated Gruyere cheese
2	pkgs. Bob Evans Original Mashed Potatoes

Directions

Mix and mince the beef, parsley, garlic, nutmeg, and bacon. Season with salt and pepper.

Soften the onion and carrot slices in a little bit of butter. Add wine. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the beef broth and bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Add the meat mixture, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

After removing from oven, fold in the bechamel sauce (TO MAKE BECHAMEL SAUCE: Melt 3 T. butter. Add 3 T. flour and whisk until bubbly. Add 2 cups Half & Half. Stir until thickened and bubbly).

Place a layer of mashed potatoes in a glass baking dish. Alternate with layers of the meat mixture until you finish with a layer of mashed potatoes. Cover with breadcrumbs, and sprinkle with several bits of butter. Finish with layer of Gruyere cheese.

Cook at 425 degrees until the top of the Hachis Parmentier becomes golden brown.

Serve with a crisp salad, and dinner rolls.

 

Here's hoping YOU created something yummy recently too (and, if you entered it in a contest, you actually WON!!!)!!

Standby Travel...

...makes me crazy...I'll freely admit that.  I like to plan, and organize, and anticipate, and the "spur of the moment" frantic-ness of last minute standby travel is unsettling and frustrating.

Today, however, was a "game changer"!  Duane mentioned last weekend, as we were watching Lidia Bastianich cook another MOUTH WATERING Italian dish on "Lidia's Italy", that she has a restaurant in Kansas City.

We've been to Kansas City a couple of times, and we LOVE it there...it's a city, but kind of laid back, with a Southern/Midwestern vibe...good antiquing, great art museums, and a really cool World War I monument and museum.  Every time we go, we find great things to occupy our time.

Sooo....while watching the show, he suggested that we go to Lidia's restaurant for brunch, and...today we did!  We got up, checked seat availability, got ready, headed to the airport, caught a morning flight, went to the restaurant...and the restored train depot (gorgeous!)...and the antique mall...and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art...and even had a few minutes to walk around the grounds of the monument!  (We have learned to cover A LOT of ground in a very short amount of time!)

After "power sightseeing", we headed back to the airport (we were even able to get first class seats on the way back), and made it home by 6:30...a full day, but REALLY, REALLY fun, and spontaneous, and...fun!!

Here are some photos from our day...

Here's hoping YOU were able to enjoy a spontaneous journey recently too!!!!

I'm Not Falling for THAT One Again...!!!

I've learned a few things in my years of "off and on" dieting.  It's difficult, it's not fun, and people who provide tips on products or recipes that, they claim, are "just like the 'real thing'" are WRONG! 

Over the years, I've had my hopes raised and dashed for products that taste "just like peanut butter" (PB2, which is, basically, a disgusting powdered "peanut like" product that you mix with water to reconstitute, and "Better 'n Peanut Butter", which is a reduced fat "peanut-ish" paste, and probably one of the WORST things I've ever tasted...), "just like potato chips" (what IS reconstituted pulp?), "just like sugar" (Stevia is WRETCHED, and the new "all natural" Splenda leaves a filmy, sorghum-y aftertaste), etc. etc. etc.

I've also tried recipes that dieters have recommended which taste "just like the original", and time and time again, have been disappointed.  I think the problem is that, after so many bushel baskets of lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower, dieters are excited for ANYTHING that even SLIGHTLY reminds them of something they used to enjoy.

I tried a new "tastes just like" recipe today, and, I have to admit, I liked it.  I've only been on the new diet for a week, and AM missing my favorites, and COULD be going through the aforementioned "dieters delusion" (as I now call it), but the following DID actually, sort of, if you REALLY REALLY use your imagination, taste like a McDonald's Big Mac...

Big Mac Casserole

1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup dill pickles, chopped
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
10 slices Kraft 2% milk, reduced-fat cheddar singles
1 pkg. refrigerated, reduced-fat crescent rolls
8 tablespoons Light Thousand Island Dressing
Lettuce

Saute onion and pickles with ground turkey until browned, and onions are translucent (about 6 minutes at the top end of medium-high).  Drain excess liquid.

Pour turkey mixture into baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.

Layer cheese slices over top of meat mixture.

Unroll crescent roll dough and place in a single layer on top of cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees until crescent rolls are done, about 12 minutes.

Serve over a bed of lettuce and top with 1 tablespoon Thousand Island Dressing.

Makes 8 servings.  8 points per serving.

As I said, I'm at the end of week one of the new diet, and, during the middle of it, had the flu, so ended up losing 5.4 pounds!  I'm in a contest at work, based on "The Biggest Loser" (see previous entry), and thought I was this week's winner.

Turns out I came in THIRD!  The "winner" lost TEN pounds (there are shoes involved in the weekly weigh-in that were worn for the initial "starting weight", but weren't for the first "weight loss" weigh in, but I won't be snarky...), and the person who came in second lost SIX pounds.  TOUGH competition!!!!

Anyway...I'm hoping to AT LEAST maintain this week, but another loss would be good too.  Maybe this casserole will help!

Here's hoping YOU are attaining YOUR goals too!!!!!

BEFORE...

Okay...this is it...my LAST NIGHT of enjoying food, and calories, and fat, and stuff that's good.  NOT REALLY...but I AM starting "The Biggest Loser" at school tomorrow.  It's a yearly contest, that I've, thus far, managed NOT to participate in, but, as I get older and it gets harder and harder to get motivated to lose weight, and as my metabolism slows down to a WHEEZING CRAWL, I'm hoping CASH will motivate me to take it off.

TWENTY EIGHT of us are going to participate in weekly "weigh-ins".  Each "weigh in" costs a buck, and each week, the person who loses the most weight gets that week's earnings.  If you gain, you have to pay a buck for each pound, and whoever wins at the end of the nine weeks, gets that money.

Several staff members are going to lead aerobics and yoga sessions, and I MIGHT even get out and start walking again...provided the roads aren't snowy...or icy...or it's cold...or the day of the week has a "y" in it...............who am I kidding?!  I'm DOOMED!!!!  I might as well go to the bank now and get a bunch of singles to start paying the "weight gain" fees...

KIDDING...I'm motivated...I'm tired of not being able to button my pants, and I'm tired of looking like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. 

I'm also tired of being tired, and of huffing and puffing just going up a flight of stairs.  My back hurts, I grunt every time I get up from a chair, and sitting on the floor has become a practice of futility...

So...here's my OFFICIAL "before" photo.  Not the worst I could use for this, but bad enough that I cringe when I look at how puffy my face is.  We won't even go into the details of how I can barely ZIP this coat because there's already too much stuffing in the mid-section...

Nine weeks...Weight Watchers online to chart food and activity points...increased levels of exercise...and a New Year's resolution to lose weight.  Hopefully all of THIS will be the motivation I need to fit into this HOT leather jacket...which I bought the other day on eBay...

As for now...I have exactly 12 hours until the first "weigh in".  I think I'll go eat a cake....and a pound of bacon...and a pie..and cookies...and maybe a lasagna...!

Here's hoping YOU are working on your New Year's resolutions too!

Attack of the Plastic Snowmen!!!

I saw someone's yard a few years ago that was FILLED with vintage light up, plastic blowmold snowmen.  I LOVED how tacky and cool (both...at the same time!) they were, and vowed to do the same on my tiny deck.

Here's the result (so far)...

I think they are an absolute HOOT.  I have nine, but want about NINETEEN more, so that the entire deck is FULL of them.

A little creepy, but TOTALLY fun...!!!

Here's hoping YOU have decorations that make YOU grin too!!!!

New Year's Resolutions!!!

I LOVE New Year's Eve.  NOT the celebration in the evening ringing in the new year, because, with the exception of high school parties at my friend Dianne's, and one or two fun times since then, I think New Year's Eve is HIGHLY overrated.  I mean the day of new year's eve...a time for reflection, and excitement at the year ahead and all of the possibilities therein, and the "wiping the slate clean" bit....

Unfortunately, I believe in resolutions...even though I often give up on them by about...January 5th.  It seems that I have the same ones every year, and, looking back through my blog, the text below is actually a "cut and paste" from January 19th, 2009.  I'm reposting because, sad as it is to say, I need to work on the same things I always do.  Not sure it's going to "take" this year, but they are all worthy goals, and, with a new year on the horizon, maybe THIS year, I'll achieve them!

Addendum:  I DID delete #5...the one about completing debt management, because I did, and even though I need to start "tightening the belt" when it comes to the ONE credit card I do possess, I'm doing okay.  I replaced it with one about my job...which I'm not particularly enjoying these days...

Okay...here are my OFFICIAL resolutions for 2013...

1). Lower my cholesterol. Still high.  Still worrisome.  Still need to work on it.

2). Lose weight. Man...this one seems to be on my resolutions list EVERY YEAR. You'd think I'd have done it by now, but, I'm a little TOO FOND of fatty, salty, junky food. I've TRIED to lose weight, and have accomplished the goal, but then put it all back on when I get busy, or stressed, or bored. I started charting my points online again a few days ago, and even though I haven't lost AN OUNCE, I'm on the right path.  My REAL test is still the two or three hours before bed...the PERFECT snacking time...but, I'm working on it...ugh!

3). Get more exercise. Haven't done much with this one yet, but hope to get to the fitness center at the clubhouse after January 1 to do some time on the treadmill.  I've snipped cardio and free weight workouts from "Men's Health" magazine, so I'm "on the path" at least...

4. Drink less wine. Okay...I admit that I'm a little too fond of wine. Not slobbery, staggery, drunk fond of it, but DEFINITELY "it helps me relax" fond of it. I'm HOPING that the whole "lose weight/get more exercise" thing will assist with this resolution. Wine is HIGH in calories, and will TOTALLY defeat losing weight, which I think I REALLY AM now committed to doing...

5. Look for the positive in my job.  Apparently, "job satisfaction" is important to my psyche.  I've been unhappy with the way my job has evolved during the past couple of years, and am COMPLETELY overwhelmed with what's expected of me.  MANY people are in the same boat, and, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal.  So...I am going to start looking for the positive in what I do.  I DO still get to "peripherally" being a librarian, and I DO "marginally" get to work with kids, and I DO still enjoy SOME of the people with which I work (okay...this one is going to be harder than I thought...)...

6). Swear less. Okay...I admit it (although if you know me AT ALL, you already know this)...I get EXTREMELY "potty mouthed" when I drive around the cities. It doesn't HELP that 98% of the drivers up here are COMPLETE and UTTER morons, but, in an effort to "detoxify" my commute, I am stating here, for the world (or at least the three people who read my blog) that I am vowing to curtail the "blue stream of trucker talk" that seem to pop so freely from my mouth. Enough said.

7). Spend MORE time with family and friends. I don't really need to elaborate on this one. I get too busy, and too wrapped up in things, and my personal relationships end up taking the brunt of it. No more (I hope). Family and friends are what it's all about, right? Why cut time from that for all of the "crap" that fills our days??

Okay...that's where I'll stop. I don't want to become TOO PERFECT too quickly (okay...even I'M laughing at that one). Honestly, I think that's MORE than a good start...maybe a bit too grandiose, but, that's kind of what New Years resolutions are all about, right? The "stretch goals" that we make to become the person that we truly want to be??!!!

Wish me luck, and I hope that YOU are sticking to YOUR goals for 2009...AND 2013!!

Here's hoping YOU are working on those "stretch goals" too.  Self-improvement is a good thing...right??!!!