food

2019-05-02 The One About Food (and Parenting)

Yesterday was such a long day and I did not have a minute to spare. I spent most of the day at the Med Center parricipating in sessions and meetings and doing that work thing I sometimes do. I only had a break from that in the afternoon long enough to pick up the kids from school and get them home. Then it was back downtown for Happy Hour with my co-workers. That was the highlight of my day.

I got to meet two of my co-workers who drove up from KC and had a brief interaction with a former colleague from my last company who stopped in to say hi to the team. My boss is also in town and he’s connected with lots of folks in our little healthcare data sphere. It was a good evening.

It was such a mad-dash of a day that I didn’t have time to cook my kids dinner. We had what we call is a “fend for yourself” night. I try not to do this too much for a couple of reasons. First, I like to cook for my kids (despite how picky they are) and have a nice sit-down meal together talking about our day. Secondly, on our drive to school this morning I asked them what they ate. My son said “chips” and my daughter said “nothing”.

She said “I was going to make nachos but forgot” and followed that with “I don’t need to eat, it’s not like I’m going to die or anything”. I was like, wow.. ok. What was I supposed to say to that?!

How about “yeah, not for a few weeks anyway”. 😜 in that moment I felt like a parental failure (an oft felt thing in my world). She’s less than 2 years away from flying the nest and still hasn’t learned the value of a good, nutritional meal or how to “fend for herself”. Perhaps if she was left alone for a few days the story would be different, hunger would kick in, and she would be forced to “cook”. Cook is in quotes because their idea of making a meal for themselves is still microwaving nacho chips with cheese or eating an unpopped pop-tart.

My son wasn’t much better. To him I said, “chips are not dinner”. He knows that but is also lazy and flexing a minute of independence to do what he wants. Then I followed up with “tonight we are having a proper meal”. A declaration to alleviate my crappy feelings about the whole thing. It worked.. mostly.

I can’t feel too bad about the situation because I recognize that people, even one’s own children, have to figure things out for themselves. Hell, I was brought up with a mom who almost always cooked balanced meals, yet when I left home and went to college and then ran off to Vegas, I ate terrible for like almost 10 years. At Iowa Western my main go-to meal was French fries and dill pickles and I probably ate fast food or bowls of sugar cereal for most of my 20s. I don’t recall cooking much outside of spaghetti and enchiladas and hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Oh and my favorite meal of all time which was Original Kraft Mac and Cheese and Applesauce (still is high on my list of favorites, right below cheeseburgers)! 🍔 😉

I’m sure my kids will also go through this when they leave home. I just hope my voice gets some airtime in their minds as they start to make choices. “Eat some fruits and veg with each meal” and “breakfast is important”. I have my own nagging voice to deal with all day every day and have learned the importance of nutrition and taking care of one’s body. My inner voices are always arguing about it. What is needed is a nice balance, but it’s not always easy. I digress.

All this thinking about food is making me hungry. It’s not even 9am and I don’t typically eat breakfast until after 10 or 11 sometimes (so much for taking my own advice).

Today is a new day, and an opportunity to make better choices. I’m back to sitting at my computer at home to do my work and I’m very much looking forward to dinner with my people tonight which will be followed by a little writing time with my writing group which I feel I’ve abandoned for like a month. It’s time to get back into that, and more than just a few hours a week. Pretty soon now I’ll be registering for classes and that’s exciting!

It’s going to be a great day.

Happy Meal Planning,

~Miss SugarCookie

2018-07-27 Harvest in July

Yesterday I helped one of my sisters move out of her house and into an apartment. Three hours of hauling overfilled boxes and trash bags and furniture into and out of a I haul and up a flight of stairs. Aside from our mom being there with one carload of stuff that was at her house, it was just her and I. It was a total girl power day. Today, I’m experiencing what girl power does to the muscles. It was quite a workout and I’m feeling it.

I slept awesome last night (almost 8 hours) and have finally made it to the gym. I’ve got a full set of stuff I want to get done today and most of it is either Work or school related. I just need to get enough done to earn date night with my sweetie tonight. Yay for date night!

Yesterday when I saw my mom she handed me a plastic bag and inside were tomato’s, of which she already has enough to give away and it’s not even August yet. Those plants are going to keep producing through to frost, so like three more months. That equates to lots and lots of tomato’s. I should have taken the bag and just said “thank you”, but but I took the bag and “oh no” came out instead. I felt bad.

The fact is, the garden on the side of my house has turned into a jungle and when I came home Sunday I checked and I now have no less that a dozen tomato’s (good size ones), half dozen cucumbers well on their way and at least one sugar baby watermelon ready to go. The tomato’s that are in tall cages are now over 6 feet tall and those that came up from seeds dropped last fall are crawling across the ground and stretching up to 3 feet to get some sun.

The watermelon that came up on it’s own is now tangled in through the tomatos and it’s so dense I can’t even pick through it all. What on Earth am I going to do with all that produce. I wonder if a local food pantry will take some.

Oh sure, I will make pico and salsa and preserve some for the winter, but I know I’m going to end up with too much. I already have too much to eat. I really love to eat tomatos right off the vine, and an already having about one a day. I’ve also plucked some for tomato cucumber salad, but one plump tomato and 7 inch cucumber makes enough for me for two days. At this rate, I may be all tomatoed out by the end of August.

And the watermelon? I don’t even like watermelon. It’s mostly for Z and just the fun of planting it and watching it grow. Ayayaya!

I look at the garden and my first instinct is, like with my mom, to say “oh no”. But I recognize that I’m very fortunate to have this garden and get to enjoy fresh produce daily for the rest of the summer and into the fall so I’m just going to say “thank you” instead. 😊

☀️ 🍅 🥒 🍉 💯 ❤️

~Miss SugarCookie

2018-06-25 The Key West Garbos Cheeseburger.. 4.5! 🧡🍔

My Key West vacation might be over, but I’m not closing the book until I capitalize on the opportunity to do a review the two Cheeseburger experiences I had on my journey. All I have to say about this first one is “move over burger boys, you never stood a chance”. In all fairness, my score of 4.5 is somewhat biased due to the overall experience. This was truly a Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Mid-way through our trip I mentioned to JS that I’d like to find a delicious burger and like everything else in my life right now, it was “ask and you shall receive”. No sooner did the words slip from my lips, and he was hot in the case finding the perfect place. That place turned out to be the Blackfinn Bistro.

That afternoon we drove the familiar route from our condo to where all the hustle and bustle of the Island starts. The island is small, 2 miles by 4 miles. Lots of people get around on bikes and scooters and parking a car is a serious bitch, so once we found a spot and paid for it, we were committed. The bistro was a short two or three blocks away and when we arrived we were met at the door by a printed page that indicated the establishment was closed for an indeterminate amount of time for renovations. What??!! It would have been nice for them to put that on their web sight. Epic fail.

Not to worry, Jim was Johnny on the spot with a backup plan. Soon we were off on foot to find Garbos, which was number 2 on his list. We walked almost 2 miles, which if you are paying attention, is most of the distance across the island. When we arrived we found a dive bar and nestled in back of that lot was a tiny food truck. That’s Garbos.

The reviews of this place are great and they are known for their spectacular fish tacos, but that’s not my game. Nope.. for Miss SugarCookie it’s all about the Cheeseburgers. There’s only 1 on the menu.. the Umamiburger:

UMAMIBURGER

1/2 pound angus, topped with a heirloom tomato, applewood bacon, chipotle gouda then served on a brioche bun. If you are feeling a little adventures ask for the Landon Calrissian.

Since I don’t care for chipotle flavor, I had them substitute their smoked Gouda instead. It was a Gouda choice! 😜 After we ordered, we had a seat inside the bar and had them pour us a couple of cold ones while we waited. There was no AC and it was damn hot out. I was sweaty, hot, and hungry from our little walk across the island and so when they placed it in front of me, I dove right in (after getting a quick pic for posterity of course).

Can you say “amazing”? Say it with me… “Amazing”. Like the Universe was rewarding me for all my good deeds, this burger was perfect for me. The burger was cooked to my liking, medium rare and had just the right amount of juicyness. The Gouda cheese was melted on the patty and topped with bacon and tomato, also at just the right proportions. The brioche bun was delish. This burger was proof that if done right, no sauce is required. I would not have wanted it any other way. It’s also proof that a food truck can turn out food just as good or better than any fancy Bistro. Sorry Blackfinn, you loose.

My 4.5 rating out of 5 is a comprehensive score that takes the experience into account too. That’s why I’m saying there’s a little bit of bias in it. I mean, having something that you love with someone that you love in a wonderful place is tough to top.

Well done Garbos.. if I ever get back to the Keys, I’ll be paying you another visit. Maybe next time I’ll get the fish tacos instead. (Hahaha, fat chance).

Enjoying Every Bite,

~Miss SugarCookie

2018-06-04 List Of Ten Things…

… to do when you fall asleep at 9PM and wake up before the butt crack of dawn:

1. Open the curtains and windows cuz it’s a beautiful day.

2. Realize the sunrise is amazing and put on sweatpants to stand in your driveway to take some pics.

3. Decide better shots are waiting at the top of the hill and get in your car and drive.

4. Take some great snaps of a pink cloud filled sky from your car while stopped at stoplights.

5. Go to Wal-mart cuz you are out of oatmeal and cilantro and you’re in pajamas already so you’ll fit right in.

6. Get in your car and drive home cuz the sunrise is finished and you’re so over it.

7. Put your groceries away.

8. Change out the filter in your water pitcher.

9. Check Sunday stats in your AWS environment and update the customer metrics spreaadsheet.

10. Hit the Gym!

That’s been my day so far.. and it’s just now only 7:30am!

I’ve got other lists if you are interested. Just ask me. 😜

Getting to the gym early and some ass-hat is on my machine. Not only am I on a different machine, but I forgot my water and that bites. On the bright side, the tunes in my ear are brilliant so far. Right now it’s “The Fear” by Lily Allen. A classic. She was pretty much a one album Wonder, but I still dig when those tunes come up in the shuffle.

Sprinkle in a little Cake and some Imagine Dragons and “Walaa” … Magic!

And just about the time I think it can’t get better, I realize I’m playing one of my favorite gym mix playlists. No wonder. It’s not the Universe that’s magic, it’s just me and another one of my lists.

It’s Monday again and I’m on this kick where I choose some area to focus on and set a goal for the week. This week it’s got to be food and diet, and crossing not one, not two, but 5 things off my June list. Since I’m traveling about half of this month, I’ve got a limited amount of time to work with, and a seemingly never ending list of “stuff” that needs to get done.

On the food thing, I’m instituting a list of restrictions and a few other “rules”. I’m not going all cray-cray with it, like starting that Whole 30 nonsense again (yet). I’m going to see how I do with just a few steps in that general direction first.

1. Gluten free. Yeah… no bread. Bread makes you fat.

2. No added sugars (with a few realistic exceptions). Sugar makes you fat.

3. Minimize dairy.. just a reasonable amount of cheese.

4. Drinking at least 120 oz water every day.

5. Fasting from 8pm till 11am each day

I think that’s enough for now. We’ll see what turns out to be the hardest part.

On the monthly goals list I’m planning to check off the following:

1. Get my W4 changed.

2. Order my summer school books.

3. Get the recall maintenance on my car scheduled/done.

4. Use my Recyclebank points before they go away forever (hey that’s today).

5. Get tomato/pepper cages and get them put in.

Ok, I think that’s enough lists for one day/week. It’s time to stop planning and start crossing that shit off.

Making Monday My Bitch!

~Miss SugarCookie

2018-05-20 Long Lost Sunday Status Update

Let’s see.. its been a few weeks since I did a proper Sunday Status. It’s kind of a broken record thing anyway but here goes…

Exercise: Average 17k steps for the week. I’m hovering right around 14.5 k for the past month and 15k for the past 3 months and 16k so far this year. The count of Jazzercise classes continues to be low.. Only 2 this past week.

Food: Nothing ever changes. I’m still unhappy with things right now but apparently not unhappy enough to stick to any mods in the diet. The story is always the same. Ugh. I’m super pumped every day to make great choices and by the end of the day I’m on a slippery slide down a slope crashing into a pile of junk food at the bottom. My weight has also been a stupid number messing with my head even though my weight is fine, but the truer measure is how I feel when I look in the mirror. Right now I’m an unhappy camper. Clothes that don’t fit the same as they did last year and there’s me asking myself “does my butt look big”. It’s a trick question with no good answer. Damn. It’s time for setting concrete goals until I’m satisfied. As of today I’m about 7 lbs over my target 🎯 and so I’d like to loose 1 pound a week to get to that goal by July. Maybe I’ll try that Keto thing for a week and see how that goes. I dunno.

Sleep: Average of 7 hours and 5 minutes a night in the last week. Better than the previous weeks but I’d really like to hit 7.5 hours. See.. broken record.

Work: Still employed and trying to get those hours in so I can pay for that castle I live in and all my shiny red cars and trips to tropical destinations. 😜

School: Taking a break yo! No more to do until July.

And last but never least.. Relationship Status: Dating and happy and hopeful for the future. This week we both met each other’s kids and all that went perfectly. It’s a wonderful feeling being so doted over and treated like the most important thing in someone’s like. He’s so thoughtful and caring and everything a girl could ask for. At this point we are making plans for the Summer and going on our first vacation together. He wants to travel just as much as I do so that’s the bomb. I could go on and on, but I gotta cut and run.

Today I’m trying to get a good workout in because it’s “release” weekend at work so I’m on the hook for testing and documentation for that. Like I said.. gotta get those hours in when I can to pay for my life of luxury!

Happy Sushi Sunday,

~Miss SugarCookie

2018-02-18 Sunday Status Update – Ugly, Uglier, and Ugliest

Oh how I have missed you, my sweet, beautiful elliptical machine. I know I’ve been gone for a few days but I promise you there were no other machines involved.. just people, work, wine, and a successful visit to the Red Cross (not in that order of course).

The stat at the top of my Sunday lineup is my hemoglobin. 12.9 and over the threshold of the 12.4 required for donating blood. That was yesterday and now I can put that on the back of the shelf along with my iron supplements. At least for about 6 or 7 weeks.

(Ugly – The return of the daily headache)
Noteworthy in the supplement department is the fact that I ran out of Curcumin (a turmeric extract) which I’ve been taking daily for several months now. I’ve been on my soapbox on this topic several times so I won’t repeat myself. However, the supply ran out and as the consulate analyst and experimenter I decided to take the opportunity to see what effect not talking it would have.

I’m not kidding.. a couple days and my daily headaches returned. It could be other variables like hormones, too much or not enough caffeine, not enough sleep, alcohol, stress, but it is too much of a coincidence to dismiss. A few days of that and turning back to Tylenol and ibuprofen had me running my fingeres to that “one click” feature in Amazon to replenish my supply. I’m day 3 back on it and despite drinking too much wine last night, I woke up headache free. Huzzah. I’m a believer.

The quickest jump from that is to take inventory on my other analytics.

Steps are back up this week.. 20K average per day but jazzercise class counts are still down because of other commitments.

(Uglier – The human garbage disposal)
Healthy eating was literally not on the table this week. I over indulged in just about everything I fancy and I’m going to go ahead and blame the deprivation caused by that Whole 30. Cookies, chocolate, fried appetizers, cheeseburger and fries and onion rings dipped in ranch dressing, fried rice, fried potatoes, and bread. All that was in addition to my new found, high calorie, favorite breakfast. Eggs, guacamole, salsa, potatoes, with or without bacon. Oh and did I mention the alcohol? 🍷 🍸 🍹

I’m in need of a serous course correction… on that AND sleep. I had an average of 5 hours and 50 minutes a night. That’s terrible. I guess making bad decisions was a theme for the week. My time in on my studies was shit too.

I should be spending 20 hours a week minimum on writing, revisions, and reading and I bet I only spent 4 at the most. I currently have no way to gather official stats on that. I could record it like I have to for my job I guess. But manual time cards? Ewwww!

I worked 22 hours which is right around that sweet spot and I have no excuses for not reading more for school. I guess I spent too much time texting with my new crush. Can I really have spent that much time texting? Not possible.

Oh yeah.. relationship status. Still single. Surprise, surprise. I cancelled my meet-up with Simon Tuesday and met him Thursday instead and it felt very much like meeting with someone you just have no desire to talk to. I was nice and the conversation was very much one-sided as I expected. I followed up later that day with a book of an email I felt compelled to write so I could say (almost) everthing I’m too chicken shit to say in person.

I didn’t say “hey, I don’t want to be friends”.. but my hope is that a person who is as perceptive as he says he is, could read between the lines. I honestly didn’t care if he responded, but I underestimated his instincts to counter my observations in an attempt to maintain his superiority. Ooops. There I go again saying something not nice.

He wrote back quite a bit and his disappointment in me and what I wrote came through loud and clear. There were a few things I could not let go, so I did reply back standing my ground on two main points. I picked my battles and I will not back down on either of them.

One was about my daughter and just don’t even try to fuck with me about my teenage daughter and our relationship and my parenting. Just don’t. The second was about his inability to define our relationship and not owning up to the fact that he used it to release himself from any responsibility to another persons feelings.. MY feelings. That’s total crap and he needs to know it. I sent that back last night and as of right now have not yet received any response back. Perhaps I will have the last word on it. I really hope so, but we shall see.

(Ugliest – Negative Self Image)
Related to my status on all fronts.. I’m just feeling generally not great about the way I look right now. I’m feeling sort of unwell and tired and bloated and frumpy. I’m definitely in need of some positive reassurance. Valentines day alone doesn’t help. Seeing couples holding hands everywhere doesn’t help. Don’t get me started on the affect of media, social or otherwise. I just want to turn it all off. Add to that the fact that I’ve gained some weight recently and don’t like what I see when I look in the mirror. OK, I’m a thin person by nature, but that just means that any fluctuation at all and my clothes start to become too tight and uncomfortable. I suppose the binging on food this week did not help and the fact that I’m still thinking about loading up on ice cream before this day is through is also not going to be good. What is a girl to do? (first world rhetorical question).

I need to put some hours into the schoolwork today and snap out of my funk. I just have to.
Time to Be Like Lee Nails, and Press On,
~Miss SugarCookie

2018-02-01 Welcome to February.. Seriously

It’s one day closer to spring and I just can’t wait. I guess that’s why they say patience is a virtue. I have virtues when it comes to some things, but patience isn’t one of them.

I don’t like to wait. For anything. I’m all about instant gratification. If I get a craving for chocolate.. I just want to go for it. That’s part of what is making this Whole 30 so challenging. It’s also part of why I’m doing it. I’ll be curious to see if I slip back to all my old behaviors when it’s over and done with.

Now that I’m nearing the end, ive started thinking about how I might alter my permanent eating behaviors. Ive thought about staying gluten free or dairy free or sugar free. (Haha.. just kidding on that last one 😂)

Seriously though. One of my goals was to tame my sugar dragon. 🐉 I didn’t make that term up.. it’s actually what they call it on the official site and chat boards. If dragons were rated like earthquakes mine would probably pop off the Richter scale at a solid 5. If Charles had enough sense in 1935 he’d probably design a 10 point scale to try and curb some of that decimal nonsense. No self respecting rating system operates on a 5 point scale anymore. Well except maybe girls that evaluate Cheeseburgers on their anonymous blog. 😉

Seriously though. I guess lots of rating systems still operate on a 0 to 5 star selection. I just don’t find it easy when you’re the person who has to choose and you don’t have half stars to choose from. With 5 points, there’s a huge difference between 5 and 4.

Think about it. 5 is like saying something is 100% and let’s be real, there’s not a lot of things that are just THAT good. I almost never rate anything a 5 because there’s always room for improvement and I reserve that for some instance where I’ve been so blown away by whatever it is. Like “BAM – That’s a 5!”

Then, just one tiny little star away from that is a 4. That’s 80% which is arguably a C grade. In some peoples eyes, this is like a B, but then what happens when you get to 3 and that’s 60% which is a very low D.. almost an F and so then your left with 2 and 1 which are 40 and 20 and both clearly F’s. I know it’s not really comparable, but I think that is part of the problem with a 5 point scale. Theres just to wide of an interpretation. You might see 2 or 2.5 or 3 as average, but someone else might not.

Anyhow, I met this guy on Bumble recently and he actually does reviews of places (and specific food) around town and he’s got this rating system that judges the food on five categories and each category the top score is 10. What you end up with is a score from 0 to 50 and that’s pretty legit. Perhaps I should rethink my whole strategy for rating Cheeseburgers. Because I know that is of monumental importance to the universe. Ha!

But Seriously. I need it to be spring already and I need to get to February 7th already and I need to figure out what is going to happen after that. I know the whole point of this thing is a reset of the system, but since I don’t feel better or look better or weigh less or anything, my inclination is to say screw it. That would probably be a bad idea, I am sure. After depriving ones self of one of their favorite things for so long, it is hard not to think about that being the very first thing you go for again.

Failing at Being Serious,
~Miss SugarCookie