hmm look who i found in my bed.
not to mention… she tucked herself in under the covers!!
she makes me smile 
Thank you all so much for your kind words It’s funny how when something great happens I want to write to tell of you as soon as possible!
Thanks also for sending along ways to use up my goat cheese. The other night I used it in a pasta dish. I added some sundried tomatoes, artichokes, and pesto to some spaghetti and then sprinkled some goat cheese on top.
I bought some bubbly for us, and we toasted to Chase’s new job
As for the 10 miler I went to www.runnersworld.com and used the smart coach application to create a training program completely customized to my needs. I compared this program to generic ones I found online and this one seems to be the one for me. 16 weeks of training until April 10th starts next Monday and I thought i’d get out there for a quick run to brave the cold. I haven’t run in quite a while so I have a feeling all endurance will be shot. But i’m going to get it back. I ran two cold miles but finished strong.
I think a main issue I have is I don’t have a very strong mental game. I tend to let my nervousness kick in and take over. I’ve been told time and time again that sports are 80% mental. The thing is, I’ve never been a distance runner. In college for pre-lims we used to have to run a timed mile and a half. I hated it more than anything. It seemed as if it was forever long and never ended. 1.5 miles. thats it. So in my head I never thought running long distances was possible for me. During training for my half that I didn’t end up running I kept thinking, I really don’t think I can ACTUALLY do this. It just baffled me thinking that I would be able to run for 13.1 miles. I’m changing my attitude starting today. Yesterday on my run only positive thoughts entered my head. I will finish this run and feel good! 10 miles can be done, and it will feel amazing. I’m doing this with my best friends in the world and I know that they can help push me to my greatest. In high school my field hockey coach read us a few chapters from the book Mind Gym: An athlete’s guide to inner excellence. It’s an amazing book and I bought it during college when I was going through some tough times on the field hockey team. It helps you with your mental game and tells you stories from professional athletes, their mentors, their coaches, of different situations where you can completely control your destiny mentally. I dug this book back up, and am going to read it. I think it will help me find my ground and I can build up from there. It’s an amazing book, and I highly recommend it to all those who are active.
Last night I took out Vegnomicon and dug through my cabinets and fridge to see what I had to make a complete meal. I ended up going with the Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stirfry. I made this once before and loved it, and this time it was great again. I had most of the ingredients, and ended up adding a mixture of frozen veggies instead of the standard frozen peas.
When it said to add 4 oz of cashews, I quickly remembered that i had a EatSmart food scale. I had been given the EatSmart Precision Pro food scale a while ago by William their vice president. I’ve never used a food scale before I got this one, and I have to say this is one handly little device. It’s small and compact so it can easily be stored and it displays oz/lbs/grams/kgs. I quickly was able to measure my cashews with no problem. I personally have no idea what 4 oz of nuts look like so it was good to figure it out. I can see myself using this much more in the future to help with my cooking/baking
William has been so generous as to give one of my readers a chance to win their own! In any color you love the most. I picked silver To learn more about EatSmart products please visit www.eatsmartproducts.com
To enter to win:
simply tell me in a comment on this post your favorite memory of 2009. This year is coming to an end, and it’s always a good thing to reflect on all your great moments.
For an extra entry to win, you can tweet @dailygoods is giving away an eatsmart food scale! http://wp.me/ppxGv-Fv
Good Luck! I’ll pick a winner at the end of the day on Friday!
Chase just found out he got a job in the Baltimore area!!!
so relieving and it feels so so good
So yesterday I got an e-mail confirming that I got into the DC Cherry Blossom 10 miler. The reaction I had was both really excited and also really nervous. The 10 mile race filled up so quickly last year that they decided to make it a lottery system. You could either sign up individually or as a group so that all or none would get in. I rounded up some of my bests and we all put our names in the lotto. It was me, Ali, Brittany, Lauren, and Megan.
I’m so excited that we are all doing this together! Every single one of us is scared but I know that this will will be such an incredible experience for us to do as a team. I found a training plan online for a 10 mile race and it looks pretty good so I will probably try to use that as a guideline. April 10th I will have completed 10 miles! My longest distance ever! This is a great way to help me with my 2010 goal of completing a half marathon. So excited for this journey!
Yesterday I made a quick and simple recipe from a new favorite cookbook Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros. The book is heavenly to read, its just absolutely beautiful. It’s categorized by color and thrives on delicious simple foods. I can’t wait to make more from it, it seriously has about 100 post its flagged on its pages. Plus I can’t get over the sweetness of the book cover.
I decided on the Eggs in Tomato recipe to make yesterday and my mouth thanked me as I took my first bites. I’d been eyeing this recipe for a while and it only calls for a few ingredients. I made it for lunch along with a slice of toast to dip in my egg yolk. The flavor was incredible. This will be a constant in my house now. I found the recipe online as well, so I can share it with you guys. Click Here to view
I followed the recipe exactly and then added some fresh goat cheese to the mix. Perfection.
This past weekend at Costco I tried some goat cheese that was being sampled. I’ve had goat cheese before but didn’t enjoy the taste and flavor. This however was light and not as strong and I picked up a log of it to bring home. Now I have this huge log of goat cheese and no idea how to make use of it? Do any of you have certain recipes that you love to use goat cheese in? I’m all ears for your opinions! I’m a goat cheese newbie.
Well I honestly can say that I can’t believe Christmas is next week. It doesn’t feel like it should be that soon! Tomorrow is my dad’s birthday and then next week Christmas? This end of the year has flown by so fast its unbelievable. Hope you make the most of whats left of 2009. It’s been a great year.
Good Morning! Hope you all had a fab-o weekend.
Friday night I went to mi parentals casa and instead of dumplings they made baozis. A baozi is a steamed filled bun. You can fill it with whatever you want really. I love how little they are. My grandma filled hers with pork cabbage carrots, and i’m not sure exactly what else.
She made a tonnnnn.
After dinner I relaxed a little with the family then went to the airport to pick up Chase. He got some leftover baozis and went to town. He loved them
The next morning we had to go and pick his car up where it had broken down. Eden had a photoshoot while he was inside talking. She jumped up to the front seat and graciously let me take pictures.
I think this look was a hint to stop 
Saturday night was a holiday party at my old house! It was my old roommate Ashley’s birthday too so it was a combined party. Love girls nights
At one point I tried to be funny and cross my eyes during a picture…. and this was the result.
Not exactly sure how that happened, but at least one eye ball looks like it tried to cross itself? The zoolander face ? No clue. haha
My grandmother and mom did make dumplings on Saturday and froze some extras for me to take home. They have a specific boiling technique which I find interesting. You boil your pot of water, add your dumplings, bring to boil, add cold water, bring to boil again, add cold water, bring to boil again and voila! They’re ready. I had a few with a soy sauce/sriracha sauce combo. Love the spice! these are the most amazing dumpings everrrrrrrr. no lie.
Sunday night was spent doing a little baking for work. It was my turn to bring in some goodies so I baked up some peanut butter cookies and some supercharge me cookies from eat, drink, and be vegan. This was my first time making the supercharge me cookies and they were delicious! Healthy and tasty, they were the perfect combo of oats, craisins, and chocolate I’ll be making another batch for myself very soon!
Have a wonderful day!
Yesterday was a little crazy. I got home for lunch and was excited to see Eden and soon realized that she couldn’t put any weight on her left back foot. She was limping around, and then when she jumped off the bed she fell and fell into the wall. Oh it was awful to see her in pain. I took her to the vet and they gave her some pain medication and told me that she probably hurt her knee when she jumped off the bed at some point. She slept like a baby all night thanks to the medicine and I gave her some more this morning. When I got back today for lunch I was crossing my fingers that she would look a little better. Thank goodness she did! She was putting weight on it, and walking SO much better. I think she needs to give it a little rest but she’ll be fine. Thanks to all those who comforted me when I was scared about her.
Last night I had to make due with what I had around the house for dinner. Chase’s mom had bought us a whole bunch of things from Omaha Steaks and we still had a couple boxes in the freezer. I decided to bake one of the sole filet’s that were stuffed with crab meat and scallops. This was the first time i’ve tried sole and it was a very light fish. Tasty. I also had a kabocha squash in the pantry so I baked up half of it with the fish and dinner was served! The filet was really good! It had some great flavor, and the squash was of course delicious as always. I actually picked up a few at the asian grocery store, and FYI they are much cheaper there.
It’s treat week at work on my floor from this past Monday until Christmas. We have a sign up list and I signed up for next Monday. Not sure yet what i’m going to bring. I’m thinking some cookies? This morning there were some mini goodies in the kitchen that looked divine. I picked a mini carrot cake cupcake and a mini black bottom. I swear anything mini I love. They’re just too cute.
This morning was hectic trying to make sure Eden was alright before I left so I had a quick breakfast on the go. I was in the mood for oats but didn’t have enough time. I decided to make them for lunch instead. I’ve been interested in Maca powder lately. They’ve been buzzed about in the blog world and when I saw that Miss Brittany had been using them in her oats I asked her about her opinion. She was so amazing to offer to send me some of hers so that I could try it before I went out and bought any. It came in the mail yesterday along with a sweet card, some raw cacao powder and a larabar! She’s an angel. Thank you Brittany! She gave me advice to use the maca powder in a smoothie or oatmeal first. I made my banana oats for lunch and then took a tbsp of maca and added it when it was done and off of the heat. It had a very strong smell to it and I can’t even really explain what it smelled like. I was a little nervous. I added a big spoon of almond butter, some agave and mixed it all up. I couldn’t tell whether I liked it or not. I’m going to have to try it again. I feel like it thickened up my oats? I’ll have to try it again.
Tonight after work i’m going to my parent’s for dinner! ah, can’t wait for some good food Then Chase will be home later tonight. His brother just graduated from the Marine’s bootcamp! He went to his graduation in South Carolina and said his brother loves it and is doing so well.
Tomorrow is a holiday party/birthday party at my old house! Can’t wait to party with my girls. Have a wonderful weekend!
am i right?? LOVEEEE danny!
Good Morning! I’m so happy it’s already Thursday! WOO.
I bet you’re wondering what i’ve been up to? Well since you asked…
I made a delicious zucchini bread from a Cookling Light cookbook that Britt gave me when I visited. It’s got some amazing looking recipes that I can’t wait to dig into. I had a zucchini laying in the fridge and it’s destiny was meant for bread. It’s a good recipe with some great flavor and I have been eating it for breakfast warmed up with some WF 365 smooth almond butter ( which I am in love with, and it’s only $4.99). It actually keeps me surprisingly full too and gets me through the morning.
The other day for lunch I combined a few ingredients that I found, and came up with a pretty tasty combo. I pan fried some tofu in some olive oil, placed them on a bed of shredded carrots and topped them off with some bbq sauce. Added a Japanese sweet potato on the side and it was delish. The perfect quick lunch that had lots of flavor. I love bbq and tofu together, it’s a combo that does no wrong.
Tuesday night Chase ended up driving back to NY. His brother just finished up bootcamp for the Marine’s so they were going to SC for his graduation. He was missing The Biggest Loser finale! My friends Laur and Meg came over to watch it and we decided on making it pancake night. In the cookbook Apples for Jam there is the most simple and delicious recipe for pancakes. It’s my favorite pancake recipe by far. Right before the show started I got 2 phone calls from an unknown number, and then a voicemail. It was Chase. His phone had died, and his car had broken down on 95 and he ran across the highway to a gas station to borrow someone’s phone. What awful luck right? I drove right away to go get him. He hadn’t gotten too far, about 40 mins away. His parent’s ended up switching his flight to leave from Baltimore instead of NY so he was ok. When we got back to the house I made it just in time to see the crowning of the Biggest Loser and to make our late pancake dinner. Does ANYONE else think that Danny now looks like Woody from Toy Story? Am I crazy?
The pancakes were divine, we had options for toppings. Strawberries, chocolate chips, syrup, nutella. yum. I went for the classic strawberry and syrup. 2 of these babies and my belly was happy.
My grandma flew into town yesterday from Florida. She is going to be staying at my parent’s house for about a month long vacation. I drove down after work and my mom had a chinese dinner ready for us to dig into. These noodles are amazing. They are so doughy. I swear I could eat them all by themselves with nothing added.
My mom had told my Aunt before that I had been wanting to get an Apron. Once she found out that I didn’t have a William’s Sonoma apron she decided to get me one! She sent with my grandma a beautiful yellow apron and some pretty striped yellow dishtowels They match the yellow fiesta ware she gave me too! I’m in love. I feel so official having an apron now haha.
My grandma brought me a chinese rolling pin also. I’ll have to show you guys a pic of that. It’s thin and is perfect for rolling out dumpling wrappers. Tomorrow night… it’s dumpling night! yessssssssssss. it’s everyone in my family’s favorite. They’re nothing like you would get in a restaurant, they’re 100 million times better. I’ll be dreaming of them tonight
Ooh this weekend was a whirlwind and am sad it’s over. I feel like I say this every Monday. Reoccurring theme here. Friday night after work Chase and I packed our things up and put Eden in the backseat of my Civic and drove to Hoboken NJ. My friend Britt had moved there a few months ago with her boyfriend Dave and I was due for a visit so up the NJ turnpike we went.
We got there in about 3 hours and we ended up relaxing, catching up and eating some baked brie Britt made. She always makes this brie with brown sugar, whiskey, and nuts. Amazing. It was inhaled by all.
The next morning we took the pups for a long walk around Hoboken. Brittany and Dave have a gorgeous Golden Retriever and him and Eden get along really well. bf/gf status right there.
After our morning walk we came back and got ready for lunch. We were having a grand blog meetup at a vegetarian restaurant in NYC. It was called Curly’s Lunch and had rave reviews. Britt and I met up with Megan in Hoboken and took the path to the city to meet the rest of the girls. We met up with Kailey, Lauryn, Missy and Kim. The place was a tiny hole in the wall restaurant and we were lucky enough to grab a table right away. We fit 7 of us at a 4 person table, but that just made us get to know each other even quicker We started gabbing the second we got in and eventually were told we needed to order. We hadn’t even opened our menus. I ended up getting a half california melt sandwich which had sprouts, tomatoes, avocado, and jack cheese, and a cup of butternut squash soup. A couple of us had our eyes set on the vegan cake menu so when the meal was done Britt, Kailey and I settled on the Peanut Butter Bomb. Have mercyyy this was amazing. Perfect pick.
After lunch I asked a man waiting for lunch to take a quick pic of all the girls. It was a dreary NYC day but these lovebugs made the day perfect
After lunch we parted with Missy and Kim and the rest of us headed to the subway to get some shopping in. When we were getting on the subway we ended up rushing in to make it and lost Megan 
She ended up getting a little shopping done on her own and the rest of us went to a few shops. After being shopped out with all the crazy crowds we headed on back to Hoboken. Chase and Dave were at one of the bars watching the football games so we met up with them and ordered some drinks for ourselves. I got a Blue Moon which I hadn’t had in forever. Mmm they’re good. We ordered some made-to-order guac and made the boys take a pic of us
After getting all gussied up for a night out we headed to one of Britt’s friends holiday party but were so beat from the day that we didn’t really stay for too long and then came back and crashed.
Sunday morning we got our tooshies up and out of bed and went to get brunch. The place we went to was called Turning Point and had an out of this world view of the city. Right on the river, it couldn’t be more gorgeous.
Turned out the wait was over an hour so we walked over to the other side to realize that they had a smaller coffee house connected with breakfast food as well so we relaxed there instead. I got the Florida fruit cocktail which was a mound of fresh amazing fruit then topped with some strawberry yogurt and granola. Sided with a soy latte it was the perfect brunch.
The rest of Sunday was spent walking around and shopping while the boys watched football again. We actually went and stood in line for Carlo’s Bake Shop. This Hoboken bake shop has a show called Cake Boss. Have any of you seen it? Well now their bakery is crazy popular and Britt said that the pastries are well worth the wait. We waited for a while then realized we were going to be standing there MUCH longer so we gave up and figured we’d try again another visit. Gotta get my hand on one of those baked goods though
Amazing weekend came to an end. Hope you all had a great weekend too <3
Happy Friday!! I’m happy to say that the weekend starts promptly at 4 PM
Yesterday I ventured on over to a restaurant right down the street from my work called Liquid Earth. It is supposed to be an amazing vegetarian/vegan restaurant that I really need to get my butt in there and eat soon. They also have their juice combos that i’ve been really interested to try. I’m a juice newbie so I walked in and asked the girl at the counter what she recommended for someone who didn’t really know what kind of combos they liked.
She said that their most popular juice was the Ginger Cold Snap Cure. It was a combination of organic carrots, granny smith apples, ginger, liquid vitamin C, ginseng, and bee pollen. I thought it all sounded pretty good except for the ginger. I despiseeeeeeeeeee ginger. It makes me cringe. That and cilantro but anyhoo, they said they could do it without it which kind of defeats the purpose of the drink but I got it anyways. It was BRIGHT orange and I couldn’t exactly tell whether I liked it or not. Maybe juices are something you get an aquired taste for? I’m glad I tried it though and wouldn’t mind trying other combinations. Any favorites?
After work I headed over to the yoga studio for my work study. I usually order takeout on Thursdays because I literally walk straight there as soon as I park my car in front of my house. I decided on pad thai from Thai Arroy. I’ve gotten it there once before and it was good, but last night it was out of this world. I ordered it with Tofu and it was heavenly!! My favorite part are all of the crushed peanuts on top So fresh and delicious. I have half left for todays lunch and I can’t wait to raid my fridge for the leftovers.
I ended up going to the 8:30 vinyasa class and left completely relaxed
Today I’m even more excited to get the work day done because I’m heading to Hoboken, NJ with Chase to visit my friend Britt! I am also getting together on Saturday with some amazing blog girls a la Kailey, Sarah, Megan, and Dori. Any other fellow NYC girls want to join us? Any NYC restaurant recommendations? The boys will prob be watching football all day so it gives us some quality girl time, and to finally meet! I’m about to burst im so excited!
Hoping you all have a great Friday and an amazing weekend <3
