Workout wish list

Ah, working out...how I used to hate the idea of you, but now you are a friend rather than a foe (most days). Anyway, I am enjoying my workouts lately and it is starting to pay off for me. I don't want to get all mushy, and go into all my struggles/issues in the past, but I have decided that once I complete another goal I am going to totally splurge on something cool to aid in my workouts. I rarely splurge on myself. Wait, unless you consider the $5 Target slippers I bought the other day? :)

Here are some ideas:

An Ipod

I have a generic, no frills mp3 player. It is the third one I have acquired via gift or hand-me-down in the last year. Why the 3rd? Because the other two crapped out. I have bad luck with mp3's but would love to have an Ipod. And seriously, aren't I the last person on the earth that doesn't have one?

A Garmin or Garmin type thing:

I would love to be able to track my progress better and I think the Garmin would help. Plus, I just started Couch to 5k and hope to continue running. It's something I never thought I would be able to do but now I want to go for it!

A really good pair of shoes:

I actually need these regardless so maybe this option shouldn't count. My current shoes aren't going to make the cut very shortly. I am also going to have to get a few more workout clothing items because not only are my 6 year old sweats falling apart they are starting to get big.

So what does everybody think? Anything I missed that a die hard gym go-er should have?

The cookbook

In passing I kind of mentioned that I was working on a cookbook. Since a few people asked about it, I thought I would do a little Q and A:



*What is the cookbook about?

The cookbook is based upon cooking all kinds of different dishes with beer. If you have followed my blog for awhile you know I LOVE cooking with beer. It adds a ton of flavor that can be a great compliment for many dishes. Hopefully the cookbook will have over 30 recipes ranging from soup to dessert, all utilizing beer.



*Are you going to try and get it published, really?

Yes, I am really going to try and get it published, but it is going to be a lonnnggg process. I am imaging that if I have enough successful recipes that it will be at least a year until they can all be tried and up to my standards.



*Are you trying to be Rachael Ray or some other celebrity chef?

No, I am not trying to become famous. I would love to have local attention so that I can sell the book and potentially cook for some cool people, but in no way, shape, or form would I want to leave St. Louis and move to NYC or LA to have a cooking show. Besides, I don't see myself endorsing Triscuts or donuts.



*Then why are you writing it exactly?

I am writing it because I think it would be awesome to be published. For most of my life I have wanted to be a writer but never seemed to find my place in the writing world. I know that it is going to be a challenge and I may fail, but that isn't a big deal to me. I have failed before at things and I am still surviving just fine.

Well, I guess that about wraps it up! Anyone have any more questions?

P.S. Only 3 people asked to be interviewed...so if you are still interested let me know!

Interview me

I love this new tag that is going around called Interview me. When I saw Rhonda had offered to send out questions...I jumped at the chance. I knew they would be great, thought provoking questions. I was right.

1. High school or college? Which was more fun and why?
That is kind of tough actually, I am am very fortunate to have great experiences from both. Ultimately though, I would have to say college. I learned more about life and even though I was living off campus and working constantly, I still managed to make a lot of time to see friends and just relax. In high school I loved performing and participating in clubs, but I always had a lot of people that didn't like me. I dressed differently and loved it. Actually what I wore back then (very 60s and 70s) would make me totally cool now.

2. We know you love to cook. Why are you passionate about food?
As crazy as it sounds I have never really thought about the why behind it. At 14 I was working at my Mom's restaurant/catering business and I always really enjoyed myself. In college I started cooking for friends and applying what I was taught by my mom. It was fun, I was good at it so it made sense to keep it up. I sharped my skills further after quitting a restaurant management job and taking an assistant chef position. I just think food is fun and it is something everyone has in common, so why not try and be good at it. Everyone has to eat right?

3. When did you know you first loved the man that is now your husband?
I didn't have a defining moment where the sunlight crowned upon Nathan's face and I knew he was "the one." Nathan is like a fungus, he just grows on you.

4. Who would you most like to make dinner for and what would you make them?
I would love to make someones last meal, but that is a freaking lot of pressure. I think I would cook for Julie Powell. She spend a year cooking like Julia Child and I think she would understand if I messed up. I would make her soup and homemade bread because those are the two most comforting foods in the world.

5. What is your dream job?
I really have a ton of dream jobs. I would love to utilize my presentation skills as an Admissions rep (for a community college), public speaker or doing food demos. If I could figure out something non food to sell on Etsy that could allow me to work at home I would die of happiness. Or if I could build a sustainable kitchen on our side lot I would totally do an online gourmet food business. Working from home is really a dream of mine....I would just love to not have to drive to work (I hate driving) and be able to have all the conveniences of home one a daily basis, plus cute doggies to keep me company!

Thanks for the questions Rhonda!!

Now it's your turn! If you would like me to interview you, just post it on the comment section or email me at teresacooks @ gmail dot com

I'm refreshing like lemonade!

Pamela at My Life Through a Lens gave me the lemonade award. Thanks for thinking I am refreshing, Pamela.

But I am a huge wimp and worry about passing along the award and making someone feel left out. Sorry, I know I am no fun.

Random Thursday

It looks like Random Thursday is becoming a semi-regular feature!

*I've had the craziest, most messed up days EVER at work. I will spare you the details (seriously, you don't want to know), but rest assured that all 3 bosses can never, EVER question my dedication to this company. I also managed to get them to agree to me having a half day tomorrow (for mental angiush) and expensing a bottle of red wine and new pair of yoga pants. Ok, so I probably won't take them up on the latter, but still.

*I ordered some new clothes from NY&CO that came last night....I wear their career clothes all the time, but had never tired their jeans. I got a clearance pair for $15 and I am really happy with them. Best part? I had to get them because all of my jeans were too big. They are a size smaller!! Woohoo!

*I get to spend the whole weekend with family and I am pumped. I get to see my sister who lives out of state and spend sometime with my family.

*I am working on posts about the cookbook and my cool tag/award....stay tuned.

*Anyone else watching Real Housewives of New York? I am already loving this season, after a disappointing end of the OC.

Everyone have a great day!!!!

I'm officially behind...

I hate being behind on things so I rarely let it happen, but as it stands I have a tag, requests for a blog post with more info about the cookbook, and lots of blogs to catch up on via GR. In addition to what I REALLY hate to be behind on which is replying to emails. For those of you that are waiting for a reply from me, I hope to do some serious inbox cleaning out today!!

My miracle diet

I have found a super secret effective diet...keep busy all morning with work during which time you eat a handful of golden grams and drink 3 tall black coffees. Then, get some really good work related news that distracts you from anything relating to food, even the tasty Philly cheesesteak sandwiches that the grill cook is making.

I maybe shaking all day from the coffee, but oh well! :)

29 in 09 check in

We are almost 2 months into 09, so I thought I would check in with my 29 in 09.

Here is what I can marked checked:

8. Get another dog.
Well, I wasn't planning on this one happening so quick, but now we have Lila!!

9. Teach a friend how to cook.
Tonight I am giving a combined bread/cheese lesson so I consider this one accomplished. But anyone else needing a lesson let me know.

10. Reorganize and deep clean the kitchen.
I will need to deep clean again in a few months, but the reorganization is complete! I have a great new system for organization for all my bread and cheese supplies, as well as just general cooking. I even now have a cabinet for my most used cookbooks!

13. Buy a digital camera.
I am thankful I didn't even have to buy one! A friend gave me her old one. :) It isn't super fancy, but I just wanted a basic one to use for blog pics anyway.

20. Start composting.
I am so happy I am doing this. I am not using a traditional composting method, but it has really helped us cut back on our trash.

21. Finish the Twilight series.
I finally finished the series. Not my favorite books of all time, but I am still glad I read them.

That makes 6 so far...not to bad considering it is the end of February!! Only 23 more to go!

Open letter

Dear Chef,
Why, oh why did you have to make corn fritters and hush puppies today? They are both my weakness. I greatly enjoy them, but my waistline is a different story.

Dear person with a crap attitude,
GET OVER IT. You aren't perfect either, sir.

Dear Metro bus driver,
Last time I checked you aren't driving a Pinto, you are driving a huge ass bus. So maybe when you are making a hard right turn you should get off your cell phone and concentrate a little more on not hitting any cars.

Dear college students (yes, multiple!) that got arrested today,
You are idiots. After someone makes the statement, "I'm calling campus police." That is when you stop yelling at someone, harassing them, or doing stupid shit that is deserving of calling campus police, and you run.

Dear account that usually doesn't make any money,
THANK YOU for making money this month!!!! Can we maybe keep this up and try it in March too?

Dear husband,
Thank you for taking advantage of the nice weather and starting to clear off our eye sore of a hill in the back yard. I will reward you for that.

Dear Lila,
Please, dear, pee outside. That's really all I want.

Dear gym patrons,
I am all for everyone getting exercise, but if you are REALLY going to keep this New Year's resolution, please learn how to use the elliptical correctly. Going 2 miles an hour while talking on your cell phone isn't going to help you.

Dear spinning instructor,
I am a spinning virgin. On Saturday, please be kind.

I need some motivation to finish Breaking Dawn

No, that isn't a typo. I have roughly two hundred pages of Breaking Dawn left and I am struggling to finish it. If you haven't read the series this is where you need to stop reading this post......



don't say I didn't warn you.....



........




Today should have been the perfect day for me to finish the book, it is all rainy, I had a delicious cup of coffee, and I wasn't going to the gym. But I really am a little bored at this point. Ok, so if you aren't crazy familiar with the book, here is where I left off..... Bella saw Irina and now she is preparing to leave for Italy/South America.

Someone please tell me there are a couple more big surprises coming or something!?! While I have enjoyed this book, I am overall a little upset. I don't think I am going to say why out of respect for the hard core fans of the series that read my blog.....I am also scared that you all may form a mob and kill me.

On the other hand, my opinion could completely change in these last 200 pages....if I can get myself to read them.

Please tell me I am not the only one that finds this funny.

Maybe it's just because I am in the industry, but I loved the passive agressive notes post today:

if you’ve ever bought twizzlers from a vending machine, you probably know that there’s a good one-in-three chance that one tiny corner of the plastic packaging is gonna get stuck, and then (bang on the glass all you want) only yielding after an extra 75 cents is inserted. some folks, however, aren’t willing to condone that kind of stubbornness in their packaged sweets.

Junk food without all the junk

Nathan claims he can't cook, but I beg to differ. When Nathan puts his mind to it, he can totally hold his own in the kitchen. This week he proved this point even further. He whipped up a baked chicken tender that was very yummy.

I am a huge fan of baked chips versus most tradition fried ones, especially the BBQ Baked Lays. So Nathan took a handful or two and crushed them in a bag. He then took some IQF chicken tenders I had bought, dunked them in a little egg wash, and coated them with the crushed chips. he then baked them in a 350 degree oven while my healthy homemade fries baked.

Verdict? Not a gourmet meal, but for a chicken tender junkie like myself, a nice, much healthier alternative.

I really get interactive on this blog, but if anyone has any fun "Junk food without the Junk" recipes they feel like sharing, please post them in the comments.

25 things

I was tagged on the lovely Facebook to post 25 random things about myself. Since I am too lazy to follow directions on how to repost, and I really don’t like tagging people, I just decided to post here on my oh so lovely blog.

25 Random things about me:
1. While I wish I was more fashionable, I don’t really want to put in the energy or money to make myself that way.
2. If I could look like any celebrity it would be Katy Perry, I love her cute pin up girl style.
3. I make an effort to tell people when it looks they have lost weight because it bugs me when I shed a few pounds that I see obviously and no one says anything.
4. My aunt is getting married in May and my mother and I are catering the dinner and baking mini heart wedding cakes. I think catering her wedding is going to be one of the highlights of my summer.
5. I often take my extended family for granted, which is terrible because I seriously have the greatest family ever.
6. It makes me very happy when people subscribe to my blog and leave comments.
7. I am kind of a hypocrite because I rarely leave others blog comments, but I am trying to get better.
8. I could drink iced coffee all day even when it is freezing outside.
9. Waiting for Nathan to get home so we can go to the gym together is seriously what makes me lose my motivation.
10. I hate it when the gym is crowded.
11. I can always tell when I am stressed because I start inverting numbers.
12. I am not feeling the effects of the recession much at all. I know I am lucky for this.
13. My perfect day would be drinking wine with friends (and Nathan) on a porch with a gorgeous view and nice weather.
14. If I never had to drive my car ever again I wouldn’t be upset because I hate driving.
15. I eat yogurt and veggie burgers almost daily.
16. While baking bread relaxes me, making cheese tends to stress me out.
17. I like drinking apple juice and sweet vermouth. It sounds gross but don’t knock it until you try it!
18. I almost never use chap stick.
19. My office is always cold.
20. I love to cook for friends.
21. I am going on a girl’s trip this summer to a beach and I am so freaking excited.
22. I eat hot sauce on so much stuff I probably have destroyed all my insides.
23. I really need to do a blog makeover but am wondering if I have the patience for such a task.
24. I am more OCD then I let on.
25. I think I am slowly becoming a hippie.

Post #200 and 1 year blog anniversary!

Just like the title says, not only is this post 200 for me, it is also exactly one year since I started this blog! Yeah, I totally planned it this way. ;)

I know this isn't a big deal or anything but hitting the one year mark gave me a good excuse to look back at the last year and see everything that happened. The year was really packed with a ton of up and down moments for me, but the up moments surpassed the down moments by far. I think I have changed for the better because of the blog, because it has really caused me to do a lot of self reflection.

If you had told me last February that in one year I would be making cheese, seriously thinking about writing a cookbook (ah, you didn't know about that did you??), becoming a big advocate of sustainability, and writing to 100 GR subscribers I would have told you there is NO WAY. But here I am, in just that scenario.

So to you all of you that read the blog, thanks for sticking around. I have no idea what the next year will bring, but I can't wait to find out!!