Monday, December 27, 2010

Merry Christmas!

I had a fantastic Christmas. I hope yours was great too. I am so sorry I haven't blogged in so long. Besides Christmas day I haven't had a day off in since last time I blogged. I will try to get back on track. Work has been crazy! I started at Serious Pie too. Crazy busy. I have to get ready for work now, but I will post laster!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Relax, just do it.

Well yesterday was my day off. It came and went so quickly. I did some Christmas shopping and finished up for my family. I had about a minute to relax but then got to the shopping. So much to do, so little time to do it, no time to relax!

For Lunch: Salmon Nicoise Salad from Nordstrom Cafe. It's so so good. I met Cassi there for lunch.

I called Josh later and asked him to come to this party with me. Linette and Matt, friends from work have that new game thing: Kinect. They had some people over to play! It was so cool. It uses no controllers just senses your body. What a workout.

For Dinner: Josh and I walked up to Pazzo's Pizza to have some dinner before we went to Linette's. I had a Caesar salad with no cheese and I watched Josh devour a Calzone.

I had one beer while I was at Linette's.

Today I woke up and got ready for another double at work. It was decent, not super busy not slow either. I wore my fit bit today for the first time in a long time, I had misplaced it. It tells me how many steps I took during the day, how many calories I have burned, the distance I have gone. Pretty amazing.

Today just being at work I walked:
25085 steps
10.33 miles
and burned 3112 calories. Pretty crazy huh?

I had a large meal in between my shifts but didn't get to eat much during the day.

For Lunch/Dinner: Grilled salmon with sauteed spinach and steamed broccoli. Yummy.

Now I am home and absolutely beat! Goodnight.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Shop Before I Drop.

Well I finished me string of 5 doubles today and I am now at home relaxing. I had a couple of hours off today in-between my lunch shift and my dinner shift. It was one of the first times I have been able to think about what I am going to get everybody. I have been so tired from working I literally felt like I had to shop before I was going to collapse. Speaking of collapsing, I will tell you now that my knee is doing great and I think all this work is just making my leg stronger.

I wanted to share some pictures of the last week that I haven't had time to post.

First, the pictures of Cassi and I with out Tree:

Loaded up on our car, big tree!


 What a beauty!
Every year we get these singing christmas animals from Aunt Lisa. It may sound silly but we LOVE them and we look forward to them every year!!!!

I love our tree this year!

I also took a couple pictures when Cassi found out she got into UW School of Nursing!

So Excited!!!!

Well I guess I'll wrap it up and report of food for the day . . .

For Breakfast: Well I got to work and Ziro made this awesome salad with mixed greens a balsamic vinaigrette with all kinds of berries and fruits.

I worked then did some shopping and then ate lunch with Cassi before we headed back to work.

For Lunch: Chicken Chop Chop Salad with romaine, chicken, garbanzo beans, onion, basil, cucumber with a vinaigrette. 

So glad to be home and done with work!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sunday, Sunday Sunday!

Cassi and I slept out in our living room last night because we wanted to be by out fantastic christmas tree. We got and on Wednesday and I haven't had a chance to write anything because I have been working non-stop. I am about to go in for another double today but I had to post real quick. As I said I have been working like a crazy person, so I am tired but the money has been pretty good, definitely paying some bills.

Last night Cassi and I got home and got the mail. Big, BIG news folks. Cassi got her acceptance letter to the School of Nursing at University of Washington!!!!! We literally jumped around our apartment! We are so excited and I am so proud of her!

We had a celebratory drink and I heated up some leftover roasted veggies for dinner. What a night!

I will write more later, gotta get to work!

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

What a day!

Today was action packed and good stuff all around. I got up and got ready for my 2nd Interview for the new Tom Douglas restaurant. I can't remember if I told you how well the 1st one went, well it went well and I got a call back for another interview!

So I went in for the next one today and was greeted by Barb, the lady who interviewed me last week. Before we even sat down she told me that she would love to have me and congrats on getting the job. Here I thought I was going to be interviewed by someone else and instead she just sat me down introduced me to the lead chef at the restaurant and gave me the "New Hire" paperwork. When Tony, the chef sat down Barb asked if I had a copy of my book, Life.Love.Food. because she was so impressed by it! Of course I had a copy, I whipped it out and scanned through it and asked if I had any cooking experience and I told him I was self taught but my goal was to go to Culinary school soon. He said if I ever wanted to work in the kitchen to just let him know! It was a great meetng and the timing works out perfectly, so when Il Fornaio dies down I can cut back on my shifts there and start full time at Serious Pie.

The other amazing thing that happened today is Nana ordered my sewing machine. After even more research I found the perfect machine! It is so great and very Heavy Duty! I think it looks pretty retro too, which I love. Just one more step closer to becoming the new Martha Stewart, my ultimate dream! (I truly wish I was kidding, but I don't think I am)

What a beauty, and a beast!


For Breakfast: Coffee and a few raw almonds.

For Lunch: Cassi and I went to grab some Pho, We both like the vegetarian kind because it comes with all sorts of veggies.

Later we went to see the new Harry Potter movie, awesome.

For Dinner: Chicken breast with a piccata sauce and sauteed spinach with garlic.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Sew Excited

I woke up yesterday nice and early, so I could make coffee and get ready work with enough time to not feel like I was running out the door. Work was good, not to busy and quite easy. I worked with Kay and Andy and Lisa, some of my favorites, I've got to tell ya. I got out of there around three and was so excited to go home and have more soup that I made last night.

For Lunch: 17 bean Soup. So, So good.

I literally spent the next three hours researching sewing machines. Nana is going to get me a sewing machine for christmas and I am truly trying to find the best one for me, but there are so many I get confused. It's a long process and I think I need help. I am so excited!

Kay came over and we hng out and played music. We love to improve songs and record them it's kind of our thing, we are both singers and both guitar players and so it's really fun to play and sing together.

For Dinner: I have another bowl of soup and later a scoop of non-fat plain frozen yogurt with dark chocolate chips.

It was a pretty early night, Kay left and Cassi and I went to bed.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Bow Down to Washington- Go Dawgs!!!

Cassi and I got backfrom the Apple Cup in Pullman last night, what a game!! Cassi and I both worked doubles on friday, here's the down low on what happened since then-

Friday lunch was pretty busy, not too bad, Cassi and I had just enough time to catch the bus, put our bags in the car, grab a quick bite and drive back into downtown.

For Lunch: We had leftover roasted vegatables, the butternut, onion, potato, and garlic. So, So good!

Dinner shift was crazy. I sold 1300 dollars worth of food in a couple hours and was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. We finally got done, ordered some food and hit the road to head over the pass at 10:30pm.

For Dinner: I had the dorato risotto: I order mine vegan, no butter no cheese, makes it a lot healthier. Rice simmered in a saffron stock with tomatoes mushrooms, garlic, asparagus, zucchini, butternut squash. Yum.

We stopped and stayed with Josh so we didn't have to do the whole 5 1/2 hour drive to Pullman. Josh was a fantastic host! We got up early the next morning and got on our way. We of course grabbed a latte on the way out of town.

Crimson and Purple on our way.


From just about 45 minutes out of Seattle all the way east to Idaho the entire state is blanketed in snow, it was beautiful, and a definite sign of how freezing the game was going to be. We got to Shay's parents house around 11am and they had prepared an awesome hot lunch for us before we took off for the game.

For Lunch: Fresh local ham, and home grown corn and potatoes from the Colson's garden. Really good!

We headed to the game in our car with Ally and Shay, and we got some more coffee on the way. Well it was freezing at the game and that's an understatement. We had great seats in the huskies section and got to see a lot of the action up close.




Final: UW 35- WSU 28, way closer than we thought, but a victory for the dawgs! Sorry Cass.

After the game we hobbled back to our car and went back to the Colson's to change. And headed to dinner.

For Dinner: We went to a mexican restaurant, it was great. I had shrimp tacos with mushrooms and a cabbage slaw with rice and whole beans. I also had my one celebratory drink, a Dos Equis beer, For the rest of the night I was a designated driver.

We went to The Coug, one of Cassi's favorite spots from college and then made it a pretty early night. We woke up in the morning to Coffee and homemade sourdough pancakes with fresh fruit. they were awesome!

Then we went to lunch at a place that Cassi worked all through college. Sella's Pizza and Calzone. It was very good.

For Lunch: A salad and a calzone combo. I removed the cheese from my calzone, I couldn't handle it but I really wanted to get one because Cassi said they were amazing. The calzone was actually fantastic, it's my fault I couldnt handle the cheese.

After lunch we drove Ally and Shay to the airport in Spokane and then headed back across the state. it was a could 5 hour drive.

It was amazing scenery.

We got back to Seattle and went to Trader Joe's. Then we came home, did laundry and I made soup.

For Dinner: Vegan 17 bean soup: 
16oz dry bean medley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium white onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 16oz can of diced tomatoes, with juice
32 oz hearty vegetable broth
Dried bay leaf
Thyme
Parsley
Salt
Pepper
I used the Gullah Seasoning to season the soup and it turned out amazing.

Sauté the onions, celery, carrots and garlic with a dash of olive oil in a large pot. I soaked the beans until soft and added them to the pot, along with the tomatoes, 24 oz of water and vegetable broth. I cooked it for a bit but got so hungry I ate it after an hour or so. I can't wait to try it the next day. I made a lot so we can have it through the week!

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Family Community Kitchen: More Cookie Pictures

Kala just emailed me some more pictures, there are some real good ones!




Vegan/Gluten Free Cookies!

Gluten Free/ Vegan Sugar Cookies

3/4 c Earth Balance. (make sure it’s room temperature)
1 c Sugar
1/4 c Applesauce
1 flaxseed egg substitute. (mix 1 tbsp of finely ground flaxseeds with 3 tbsp of warm water)
1 t Vanilla extract
1 1/2 c White rice flour
1/2 c Coconut flour
1/2 c Potato starch
1/2 c Tapioca flour
2 1/2 t  Xanthan gum
1 t Salt
1 T Baking powder
Powdered sugar for rolling

In a standing mixer cream together sugar and earth balance. Mix for a few minutes until fluffy. Add apple sauce, vanilla extract, and flaxseed egg. Mix until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients and then bit by bit add the dry mixture to the mix ingredients in the mixer. Should be  a nice firm , wrap it up and chill it for about an hour.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar down on a flat surface and roll out dough to about ¼ inch or a little less. Use cookie cutters.

Preheat oven to 325. Use parchment paper to bake the cookies on a cookie sheet, if not the cookies will burn. The cookies cook in about 8 minutes.

That’s it!

The Vegan Icing:

Earth Balance
Powdered sugar
Rice milk/ soy milk/ or water
Vanilla extract, or other flavoring
Food coloring if needed.

So important to make sure the earth balance is room temp. The ratio is 2 ½ to 1.

“butter”
sugar
1 Cup
2 ½ Cups
2 Cups
5 Cups
3
7 ½ Cups
And so on . . . .

Cream butter and sugar in mixer, beat well!  Add some liquid if needed. I used rice milk because that’s what I had, but really only a tsp or so. Add  Vanilla extract while mixing and food coloring if needed. Enjoy!

How Awesome Are These?!

This is Oxani, about to take his first bite.

Some serious artists in this bunch!

Yeah for a day off!

I haven't written since Monday . . . let's see what I have missed.

Tuesday I worked a double and didn't eat until I got to work.

For Breakfast/ Lunch: I had some rice and vegetables, family food. Coffee.

I worked straight through and Cassi came in to work with me during the evening shift. I feel like they are firing people left and right at Il Fornaio. Does no one consider that if you get rid of half of the employees the remaining half will suffer?

For Dinner: Spinach salad with onion, mushrooms, bacon, balsamic vinaigrette.

I didn't get home until after ten and we went straight to bed.

Wednesday I woke up early and went in to an interview for a new Tom Douglas restaurant. I think it went pretty well, but we will see.

For Lunch: rice with mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and shrimp with a saffron rice.

I came home and quickly made the icing because last night I had my volunteering at community kitchens. Monday I made the cookies and I needed to make the icing and put them into the piping bags I made out of parchment paper. The cookies are vegan and gluten free and the icing is too. I think I may have told you that but some of the kids I work with at the family kitchen have food allergies so the recipes I make have to be suitable so everyone can participate.

I will post the recipes next.

The kids went crazy for decorating the cookies, it turned out perfect and the parents were so thankful that my cookies kept the kids engaged and were safe for everyone.

It was an incredible night. Being in charge of the kids activities is a perfect job for me, and seeing how excited they got to help make the cookies, I just wish I had funding and could do it full time. :)

I slept in this morning, (Thursday) we finally got rolling and went to get some food, because I haven't been grocery shopping in forever!

For Breakfast: Two poached eggs atop an english muffin, spinach, roasted bell peppers and pesto, with a side of fruit and potatoes.

I just finished eating dinner, We stayed home and cooked. It was so nice to just chill, and we decorated for Christmas today, our apartment looks awesome!

For Dinner: Chicken breast sauteed in an awesome homemade piccata sauce. (Artichokes, capers, lemon, white wine, garlic, butter) roasted vegetables (Red potatoes, butternut squash, onion and garlic) So good, and so full.