Last week's meals

I'm sure you already had this marked down on your calendars and have been celebrating accordingly, but the month of March is "National Nutrition Month". In honor of this, and to promote healthy eating, my boss, my intern and myself did some planning to provide activities and some healthy meals for employees and families who eat in the cafeteria. My intern planned the learning activities and I got the fun task of planning one healthy entree every day for the cafeteria (not to be confused with the meals we serve the patients - their meals are always well-balanced).

I really enjoyed poring over recipes I thought people would enjoy and it also insipred me to put a little more effort into meal planning for the last week and try a few new items, too. Here is a little summary: (Blogger has not been allowing me to link ... I apologize, but you should easily be able to google the recipes)

Saturday - My parents joined us for dinner and I made Low-fat Chicken Enchiladas from http://www.skinnytaste.com/ for the first time. My neighbor Cassie made these for us one evening and they are so, so tasty! And a little spicy. I had been looking for an excuse to make them, unfortunately there was only 1/2 of 1 enchilada leftover. I made them with Cilantro-lime rice and R made beans. R had 3, Dad had 2, I had 1 1/2 (but really only needed one to be full - I was just being greedy), and Mom had 1. (No, I don't usually keep tabs on how much other people eat, but thought it would be helpful for you to judge how many this would feed).

Sunday - R worked all day long so I got to experiment with a meal I felt sure I would enjoy but didn't know how excited he'd be about. I made QUINOA (pronounced keen-wah, I believe) for the first time! This grain-like food is promoted frequently for its health benefits. For one, it is significantly higher in protein than your typical grain (rice, pasta, etc). Also, unlike the protein in most vegetable sources, it is "complete" - meaning it contains all of the essential amino acids. In addition, quinoa is a good source of dietary fiber, phosphorous, magnesium, and iron - and gluten free. This little bag contains 1 1/2 cups, 3 servings according to the container and cost $2.99. I used 1 c. for my dish.

I was taken aback a bit when I looked at the nutrition facts. For 1/2 c dry, there are 290 kcal and 12 gm protein... That's a lot of calories compared to other grains - until you consider that 1/2 c. dry turns into 1 1/3 c. cooked. So I did some math: For 1/2 c. cooked quinoa (an average serving of a grain), there are 109 kcal, 4.5 gm protein, 2.25 gm fiber and 9% of the daily value for iron. So, not as bad as I thought at first. Here's what I made:

Butternut Squash with Quinoa, Spinach and Walnuts
(Bobby Deen http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/)

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 cups reduced sodium vegetable broth (I used chicken broth b/c I had it on hand)
2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
1 cup quinoa
1/3 cup golden raisins
2 cups baby spinach
2 Tbsp toasted chopped walnuts

Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat.
Add garlic and leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the broth, squash, quinoa, and raisins and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the liquid is absorbed and the squash and quinoa are tender, 15-20 minutes.
Gently stir in the spinach and cook until it just begins to wilt, 2-3 minutes.
Remove from heat. Sprinkle with walnuts.

It was quite tasty and filling! Richard turned his nose up when he got home so I made him something else, but he did taste it and agreed that it was good. He ate all of the leftovers for lunch the next day. I did notice that he picked around the raisins. I will classify this one as a winner.

Here are the nutrition facts:
For each of 4 servings: 345 kcal, 14 g protein, 8 g fat (3 g mono unsaturated fats), 60 g carbs, 9 g fiber, 7 mg iron, 147 mg sodium, 239 mg calcium

Monday - R worked late and I was having Bible study at the casa, so I made spaghetti - the easy way, with pre-made sauce. He ate when he got home, then ate leftovers a few times, and I was able to freeze 2 portions. (I used 1 # ground turkey, garlic, 1 sliced leek (leftover that I bought for the quinoa dish), 1 jar of sauce, plus 1 large can of diced tomatoes for the sauce and 1 box of whole grain thin spaghetti. I wish I had added some more tomato sauce, but it was still good.)

Tuesday - I made pork carnitas from http://www.skinnytaste.com/ in the crock pot, which I hadn't done in several months - and it was really good, as always! Like good Mexicans, we always use corn tortillas (ok, with the exception of the enchiladas I made on Saturday). I put diced tomatoes, avocado, a little shredded cheese and a smidge of sour cream in mine. R added tomatoes, avocado, onion, and cilantro. We ate it with R's beans. Later on in the week, he sauteed the leftover meat with tomato, onion, and cilantro and put it in tortillas - even better.

Wednesday - Once again, R was working late so I didn't feel like going to alot of trouble. I utilized a few individually frozen tilapia filets that I bought in an economy-sized bag from HEB I purchased to take advantage of a "meal deal" and borrowed Bobby Deen's super easy method (http://www.foodnetwork.com/ - Bobby's Baked Tilapia).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Simply spray a cast iron pan with cooking spray, throw in 4 filets, season with salt, pepper, lime zest and lime juice (I used lemon b/c that's what I had), add a small pat (about 1 tsp) of butter to each filet and cook in the oven for 8-12 minutes. Not super exciting, but good, easy and healthy. I sauteed some yellow squash to eat with it and I think I had some salad. I fixed R's plate with some leftover coucous that was sitting in the fridge (don't tell him!) and gave him 2 pieces of fish instead of 1.

Thursday - R worked a lot this week so I wanted to make a meal I thought he would really enjoy and I found a "healthy" recipe for - Old Fashioned Salisbury Steak with Shitake Mushroom Gravy, another Bobby Deen recipe. Do y'all know who he is? He's Paula Deen's son and he has a new show on the Food Network, "Not My Mama's Meals", cooking mostly healthier versions of comfort food. As you can see, I've tried out a few of his items recently, and all have been successful.

Ingredients:
1 # extra-lean ground beef (5% or less fat - I used the 93% lean, so mine had a couple more gm fat)
1/2 tsp salt
2 slices light whole wheat sandwich bread, torn into pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1-8oz pkg shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced (I just used whatever was easy to grab at the store)
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 c reduced-sodium beef broth
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Spray a broiler pan rack with cooking spray. (I don't think I have a broiler pan, maybe I do... but I used a cookie sheet with a cooling rack on top instead) Preheat the broiler.

Combine the beef, salt, bread and half of the onions in a large bowl until well mixed. Shape the meat mixture into four 4x3 inch oval patties. Place the patties on the broiler pan rach 6" from the heat. Broil until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 degrees for medium, about 12 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking time.


Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and the remaining chopped onions. Cook, stirring occassionally, until the mushrooms are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the broth and Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Add the patties to the skillet and bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce bubbles and thickens and the patties are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.


Nutrition facts for one serving: 316 kcal, 36 gm protein, 11 gm total fat, 19g carbs, 3 g fiber, 5 mg iron, 962 mg sodium.
I served with Ellie Krieger's "smashed" potatoes - steamed unpeeled yukon gold potatoes with 1/2 c. warm chicken broth, 1/4 c. light sour cream, 2 Tbsp chopped chives, salt and pepper to taste - and fresh broccoli. Was a great meal! Got a little hectic getting everything finished at the same time and I ended up making a lot of dirty pots and pans for R to clean!

I have a couple other posts in the works - one about a few diets that have been popping up in the media more lately and one a survey that I was tagged in (harder than I thought it would be!) Hopefully this time next week I'll be blogging about another week of successful meals. Here's what's on the menu:

Tonight: Peppercorn Pork with Wine Sauce (Ellie Krieger - EK); Green beans with Mushrooms and Shallots (EK); possibly roasted potatoes... still deciding
Monday: Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous (EK)
Tuesday: The class we're going to at church serves dinner! Whoot!
Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore (EK) and rice
Thursday: Fish Tacos with Chipotle Cream (EK) and probably R's beans
Friday: Turkey burgers and sweet potato fries (I usually just buy the frozen kind)

I better get to it or we'll never eat dinner!

Love, B

What's on my (mostly electronic) bookshelf

Almost 3 years ago, a friend of mine invited me to be in a book club that she wanted to start. I have loved to read since I was a kid, but once it became necessary for school, reading for fun went out the window for the most part and I never picked it back up consistently. So the idea of reading was fun, but socializing with people I didn't know? A little scary.

Fortunately, I accepted and it has been a lot of fun talking about books (and let's be honest - drinking wine, snacking, and mostly chatting) with people outside of my normal social circle. Plus, I have pretty good accountability to read at least 1 book a month - not that I get it read every month - I've been more inconsistent lately - but I have a date set on the calendar which motivates me... so my "read" list has grown considerably.

What amuses me is my mom is also in a book club, so we often read the same books she does (usually after they do) - but she gets a little frustrated at times when they only talk about the book for 20-30 minutes! Whoa, she would not enjoy this book club! Did I mention that it is all former or current high school English teachers? Enough said.
Any-hoo... I'm going to list 10 of my favorites that I think are worth a read, in no particular order. This list does not include The Help, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, or Hunger Games series, all of which I love but I think have gotten tons of attention lately and don't need to be highlighted. Most of them are from book club picks, but others I borrowed from my mom or friends. Unfortunately I don't have hard copies of most of these to lend - that's the downside of the Kindle. I didn't think I would like an e-reader - but I was so wrong! I love it - so portable, easy to read on the treadmill, and I can get any book I want any time!

1. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - About a young man whose parents are killed while he is in veterinary school and he has to drop out and joins the circus.

2. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - This is about a little Chinese boy growing up in America during the 1940s and his friendship with a Japenese American little girl... great love story and I learned some history, too! I actually read this on our honeymoon and R read it after me :)
3. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Set in Afghanistan, the story of a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant... I don't know what to say to draw you in, but great story. This is one R actually read before me - and he never reads.
4. Room by Emma Donoghue - The story of a little boy who is the son of a kidnappend woman and her kidnapper for 7 years... disturbing, but a page turner. Worth the read. 5. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - The story of a 10 year old French Jewish girl who is arrested and sent to a concentration camp during World War II intertwined 60 years later with an American journalist living in Paris. Great story.
6. Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese - The incredible story of twin brothers born of a secret union between an Indian nun and a brash Brittish surgeon. Not like anything I've read. It took a while to get into but when it got good, it was GOOD. I believe this is the book I was reading when R nicknamed my kindle my "Shhh Machine" because I couldn't put it down and didn't want to be interrupted.

7. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand - The true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner turned Air Force bomber/lieutenant who became a POW during World War II. Fascinating, brutal story. It's long and very detailed at certain times, but kept my attention easily because it was so action-packed... and war stories are not typically my thing. This is the same author who wrote Seabiscuit, which I know is supposed to be wonderful but I just couldn't get in to - too much horse talk. 8. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling - The author is the actress who plays Kelly on The Office (she is also a writer on the show). Freaking hilarious. Along the same lines as Bossy Pants by Tina Fey, but much more relatable to me. 9. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - A true story/memoir: The author's story of her life growing up with nomad parents... my details here are bad, check out the summary on Amazon. Really great story. The same author wrote Half Broke Horses about her grandmother's experiences growing up. 10. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - The love story between a woman as she grows up and a man who time travels spontaneously. Sounded a little too science fiction-ish for me, but I was totally absorbed in the book.

What else should I be reading? If you've read any of the above, do you agree? What's your favorite book of all time?

Love, B

New York, New York!

First of all, thanks for my welcome back to blog land! Apparently I have at least 3 readers, so I will do my best to stay on task... for now at least! Second of all, it was no thanks to blogger (or possibly my computer and/or internet connection) - I wrote this blog on Sunday but couldn't get any pictures to upload and I didn't want another vanilla blog post with no pics!

I have always wanted to visit NYC, and apparently so has R. There are many places we'd like to visit, actually, just not enough time or money... Anyway, NYC was on the top of our list and we especially wanted to see it at Christmas time, so we bit the bullet, used our recent first wedding anniversary as an excuse, and booked flights and a hotel room for an extended weekend before Christmas (Thursday - Monday). Interesting tip I learned when I was researching tickets: Flights are cheapest after 3pm on Tuesdays - they go up after that throughout the week. Well, at least according to a blog I read and fortunately I found this to be true. Our tickets were about $90 less PER PERSON! as compared to a couple days prior when I purchased them on a Tuesday evening.

We flew out Thursday morning and managed to phenagle the transportation system to get from the airport in New Jersey to our hotel in the Times Square area. We chose the hotel based on location - close to Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Theater District and a main terminal for subway/buses so we could get to the other places we wanted to visit easily. The hotel looked much more "plush" than what it turned out to be, but it was really nice considering the reasonable price and just the fact that we were in NYC. Hotel rooms are just small there, period, from what I can tell... unless, I'm sure, you're willing to spend an arm and a leg. But we need our arms and legs. A couple nice features were free breakfast every morning and "Happy Hour" on weeknights. So we were able to check in to the hotel and have a free glass of wine while we decided what to do our first night. I'm a high-strung traveller so this was especially nice :)

I'm also an inexperienced traveller and I worry that I'm not going to make the most of my time at a destination - and I sure don't want to waste the money I'm spending on the trip - so I do my best to plan ahead. When we went to Chicago, I bought a guide book and had a pretty good plan in place, which worked really well. I thought I'd do the same thing for NYC, and bought the book and talked to R about what we really wanted to do and asked friends for recommendations - but still didn't have a firm plan - there were just too many things we wanted to do! So, after consulting my guidebook and the internet for pizza places, we finally landed on going to Lombardi's that night in Soho/Little Italy (I never really figured that out), which claims to be the first pizzeria in NYC. We weren't super hungry so decided we'd try to walk - and realized pretty quickly it was farther than we thought, so we decided to do something else "New York" and tried to hail a taxi. Easier said than done - there are alot of people on the streets trying to do the same! When we finally snagged one, we realized taking a taxi in that area in the early evening is not productive but definitely expensive - traffic is just too thick to drive. The driver got us fairly close and we walked the rest of the way. At least we got the experience, right? Pizza was good... not much too say about it, but we were not disappointed. We headed back in the direction of the hotel and explored the shopping in Times Square. The store I was most impressed with was Toys R Us - really awesome ferris wheel with toy cars, Candy Land, Legoland, Barbie World... any kid would be in heaven, but you could not pay me enough to navigate a stroller or deal with a small child in that environment (the city, not the store itself)! Getting the two of us around was headache enough for me.

On Friday we started early on the typical touristy activities: watched the taping of the Today show, toured NBC studios, took pictures in front of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, watched ice skaters, stopped in at St. Patrick's Cathedral before taking the subway to Ground Zero. Here's a tip if you are planning a trip and want to go to the 911 Memorial: get your tickets ahead of time. You can actually get tickets on the day of, but it isn't guaranteed. We learned the hard way. So, instead of going to the memorial, I took my very disappointed husband to Battery Park, where we took a boat ride to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island close up (we stayed on the boat - we were pretty wiped out already and I wasn't feeling too hot). Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready to see the Lion King. We were running short on time, so grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor (on R's must-do list) as we walked to the show. I didn't know that most of the shows had an entire theater dedicated to them. Not quite like Houston's theater district! Also unlike seeing a show at the Hobby Center, you can take refreshments you purchase there to your seat... including adult beverages in SIPPY CUPS! with fun names like Hakuna Matata (my beverage of choice) and Scar's Revenge (R's) for only $17 each. I'm glad we didn't know how much they would be until the drinks were already poured and it was too late to be smart. The show was cool - great costumes, sets, music... at least I could appreciate where my money went, I suppose!

On Saturday, we slept in a bit - I still wasn't feeling great and R had caught my cold by this point. Our goal for the day was to check out Central Park so we headed up town and had brunch at this awesome spot called Good Enough to Eat. The guide books warned us not to fall into the trap of waiting in line for brunch... but we were there, hungry, and didn't know where else to go so we just went with it. Luckily, we got to pass up most of the line because a 2 person party is so much easier to seat. Hooray! We were happy campers smooshed in a corner, elbow to elbow enjoying our delicious meals. After that, we finally made it to Central Park. Nonetheless, we had a great time exploring and enjoying the beautiful scenery in the midst of the ginormous city. Then we (I) decided to go to Bloomingdale's to see what all the hype was about. It was not as close to Central Park as I realized, which was fine with me because I had thought ahead and worn sneakers, unlike my stylish husband who didn't and his feet paid the price. Any-hoo, Bloomingdale's was packed and I was surprised to find it to be kind of like a mall - the departments were more like smaller stores/boutiques. We didn't stay long - neither of us are into crowds. Then we thought we'd meander over to Serendipity for a frozen hot chocolate... just like every other tourist, apparently! I suspected it would be crowded because when I called on Friday to make a reservation I was informed they were booked until January (!) but did accept walk-ins. The wait was 3 hours. And people were actually waiting that long! Not us. So, note: If you want to go to Serendipity, make a reservation way in advance, especially if you go over Christmas! We settled for a cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery back at Bloomingdale's. Then we took the subway to Grand Central Station to cross that off our list. From there, we headed back to the hotel, cleaned up and then went to a very nice seafood restaurant Oceana near Rockefeller Center. The atmosphere was awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

On Sunday, we decided to make another attempt to see the 911 Memorial so we headed out to make the first opening at 8am. It was 23 degrees outside. I have never been so cold. We wandered around for quite a while trying to find the place to get tickets which ultimately was almost at the foot of the subway exit we emerged from initially... awesome. Luckily, we were able to get tickets so we had to walk over to the actual memorial... and continue to stand in line to wait to get in. And did I mention it was 23 degrees? We finally got to actually go in after going through airport-style security (which included taking off our coats!) and guess what? The only part of the memorial that is open is outside... so it was surreal to be at the site and the reflection pools are nice... I don't really know what to say about it, but I'm glad we went. Afterwards, we got inside as soon as possible to have breakfast at a great deli, George's. From there, we took the subway to the American Museum of Natural History, which was cool as far as museums go. Back to the hotel to clean up and then headed to Radio City Music Hall to see the Christmas Spectacular (the Rockettes' show) which was awesome!! I expected it to be good, but had no idea. I enjoyed it more than Lion King. Even R thought it was great, plus it is just such a historic, beautiful place. Afterward, we had dinner at Joe Allen, in the theater district, which was great food and a great atmosphere as well, but much different from Oceana, so I felt like we got a good spectrum. Then we headed back to the hotel to pack up and get a good night's sleep.

Monday we got up, had breakfast at the hotel and caught a bus to the airport and then flew back to H-town. We had a great trip and were really pleased with how much we were able to do in only a few days. If we go back, hopefully we can explore some other neighborhoods that are less touristy and maybe even take advantage of the half price tickets for shows. For our first trip, I wanted to be sure we would be able to go to the shows we (I) really wanted to see, so I got them ahead of time and paid full price (it was hard to do, I couldn't think about it too much!)

What is the best city you have ever visited? Where do we need to go next? Boston and Seattle are on the top of our lists. But we still need to make a trip to Nicaragua (my brother), Baltimore (his sisters, my uncle, and a cousin). Oh... and apparently we are going to Vegas in July with his high school friends + wives to celebrate a big wedding anniversary. How could I say no when he never sees them? Heaven help me.

Love, B

What's new

Crazy how much has happened in the last 5 months... I know, I know, I am a terrible blog slacker. I apologize to the 2 of you who happen to check ;) My pal Courtney suggested a "blog challenge" to blog 3x/week for the month of March, and I'm home alone on a Friday night so I'm thinking - why not at least attempt it?

I have fairly good reasons for not blogging - I feel like life has just been non-stop. Good, but not enough hours in the day or days in the weekend. Since my last post, where I announced my "changing season", I did indeed leave my employer of almost 5 years and started work at a competitor doing marketing. That lasted for about 3 weeks. I hated what I was doing. I took the clinical liaison job initially to change things up - I was tired of the headaches of my dietitian job with the building, but didn't really want to leave. So when I was ready to leave that company, I thought it was natural to do the same thing. Nope, bad idea. I just really didn't know what I was getting into... or maybe I just wasn't ready for a new mess and wanted to just go back to working in my field as a dietitian. I cried probably every day and after about a week into the new job started applying to other jobs! 2 weeks after I started the new job, the food and nutrition director from a hospital in the same proximity as my old/current job called because I had sent her my resume. I had sent it thinking the pay would not be adequate and hours would likely not be enough, but was desperate. She called me thinking they wouldn't be able to meet my salary requirements but thought I would be a good fit for the job... and she was desperate to find the right person. So, I went in to meet with her that day and everything fell into place. She offered me the job at the end of our meeting and the next day I accepted. Once paperwork was taken care of, I resigned from the very short-lived job and started the next day. I didn't want to be someone who quit a job so early but I realized it was probably better to get out early on than be miserable for a year. Even though I felt bad about it, I don't regret it for a minute.

I've been there now for about 3 months and I am still so happy to be there (even if I did stay way too late today for a Friday). The hospital is a long term acute care facility, which is for patients who need an extended hospital stay (usually 3+ weeks). The acuity is high so I get to do a good amount of nutrition support, which is my favorite area of nutrition. I'm the only clinical dietitian so I have a lot of ownership of the clinical piece and my boss is over food service so for the most part, that's not my headache! (Food service is my least favorite area of nutrition). I was familiar with several staff members and physicians because I used to assess patients from there to go to my old facility so it was a much easier transition than it would have been otherwise. My boss is wonderful. She is a great resource, extremely supportive, and just a nice person in general. Oh, and she's a Christian. Bonus. The only other Christian boss I've had that I can think of was when I worked on a church staff... and she has yet to make me cry, which is more than I can say for the other one (even though I liked him)! My schedule is flexible, I wear scrubs and sneakers to work, free breakfast and lunch... what more could I ask for?+ If you've known me for long, you know how long I tried to leave the old place... and then all of a sudden, God dropped this in my lap. It is such a testament to me to how much he is involved in my life and is in control. He has been perfectly capable of doing this all along, but for many reasons I can easily identify, it just wasn't the right time. This verse comes to mind when I consider how blessed I am:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

So, the job transitions really kept me busy, then we took a fantastic trip right before Christmas to New York for a belated celebration of our first wedding anniversary. Then came Christmas, including my brother being home for a nice extended visit, which was wonderful. We had various members of R's family staying with us for about 2 weeks after Christmas, which kept us busy but was a great time for me to get to know them better. We decided to start training for a half marathon and that went well for about a week - then R started back to school and reality set in. I've been trying to keep up with my running (but not training for anything) and some weeks it goes really well and some weeks there is just too much going on.

We started going to another new church... yes, we are church hoppers, apparently, and signed up to take the "Alpha" course, which is a non-denominational foundational class which we've really enjoyed on Tuesday evenings. It is really a challenge to juggle R's schedule but we are trying to make it work and hopefully find a more permanent church home. About a month ago, some friends started meeting at my house on Monday evenings for Bible study, which has been a great opportunity to have girl time while wrestling with spiritual issues and praying for each other. (Anyone is welcome to join us! Well, girls only, of course.) I was part of another ladies' Bible study and had really missed this time so it has been something I look forward to each week again. R graciously retreats to our bedroom when the girls are over and watches The Bachelor to unwind from his day before hitting the books... haha! We're so hooked on that dumb show. Thank goodness we have DVR so I can catch up.

Is that enough rambling for now? I have some future blogs brewing, so stay tuned! Our trip to NYC, great books I've read and want to share, and of course, I have got to get back on the ball with cooking/recipes!

Much love, B