Victoria's Secret

Today I received an email notifying me that it's the last day for free shipping for VS. I haven't actually bought anything from there in a few years because despite VS's best attempts at making women feel like they'll look like models wearing barely there lacey undergarments, I would like to cover up more than less of my not so VS parts. I give those girls a lot of credit. At my thinnest, after much working out, I consider myself to look like a fit person, but not a freak of nature like these girls. I have to believe they engage in starving and purging. Granted, I'm sure several people actually have the natural genes, but I believe the majority nearly kill themselves to have those smokin' bods. Thus, I am not exactly jealous of their body, but more of their self control. As a self proclaimed food addict, most of my VS parts will never see the light of day. Oh well. Thanks for sending my "discount offer" VS, but my days of purchases are behind me.

Planning

I am an excessive planner. It gives me a high. I even like to plan to have free time. For example, planning to stay in DC and make plans the week of or better yet, the night of. I wasn't always like this. I can't remember exactly when it started, but I think I know why. Having been forced to miss Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, birthdays, and other seemingly momentous occasions in my teens and early 20s because of soccer commitments, I began to feverishly plan "fun" events that I could partake in. Last year I was mocked for my desire to plan New Year's Eve 2010-2011 before the end of October- the exact date was actually October 11th- the email "Ok, I know it's early, butttt I'm sure you are all booking flights for Thanksgiving- and then next up is Christmas...which goes into New Years!" I realize I sort of set myself up for the mocking responses.

This year I decided not to plan and other people have taken over for me, granted they sent out the email more than a month and half after I would have. I knew I'd have something to do no matter what since I knew some friends were staying local. I think I mostly didn't plan though because I conceded my power and told the boy I would do whatever he wanted. I do not so much care about New Year's, but I hate ending up with nothing to do and knowing I had the option of doing something much more fun.

Now, I am an "unimportant event" planner, but I am not a long term, "life changing" planner. What does that mean? I can plan a trip for next year, but without my mom nagging me to take the GREs and apply to grad school, I never would have gotten there. I'm facing a similar situation with my life now.  Perhaps I should have been a party planner or travel agent and then my life could have been all about "fun" planning. Eh, I'll save the "I'm bored in my first job" crisis talk for another day.

For now, I'll be busy planning my New Year's resolution...

Almost forgot- I can't wait to try this as soon as I figure out what Harissa is and where to get it..

Mixed Mushroom Ragout

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 pound shiitake mushrooms -- stems discarded, caps sliced 1/4 inch thick
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound mixed mushrooms such as cremini, sliced 1/8 inch thick, and oyster mushrooms, caps quartered
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon harissa
• 2 teaspoon white or blond miso
• 1 tablespoon golden raisins, optional
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions

• In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the shiitake and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until tender and starting to brown, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the skillet. Add the mixed mushrooms and cook over moderately high heat until any liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms start to brown, 5 minutes. Add the onion and remaining 1 tablespoon of oil; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cover and cook over low heat, stirring a few times, until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 4 minutes.
• In a bowl, whisk the coconut milk, mustard, harissa and miso. Add to the skillet with the shiitake, raisins, capers and stock. Simmer over low heat, stirring, until thickened, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Work at home Fridays..

Just reading the title of this post probably makes the majority of you jealous (if there were actual people reading this blog), and I can understand that. I feel very fortunate to be able to work from home on the best day of the week. I jam pack every one of my weekends- from visits to Atlanta to NYC, to day trips to Baltimore, etc. I really try to make sure I barely have a moment to breathe, but this is the only way for me to visit my friends who are dispersed around various parts of the country and the globe.

I have once again managed to do that this weekend. Last weekend I was in NYC and even extended the trip a bit and came back Monday morning. This weekend after a Saturday full of meeting friends, the boy's parents for a museum date, and a bar crawl, Sunday morning I'll get started with the 8k Jingle All the Way run and then head to Baltimore to meet a friend driving in from Delaware (and her fiance for the first time!) Exhausting, but awesome and I can't wait.

Today was supposed to be the beginning of the craziness. I was going to go for a run, get some work in, study a little (debating potentially furthering my education), spend the early evening with my youth (www.casadc.org), and then get ready for a friend's business debut (www.popularise.com). <---shameless plug.  Anyway, I called my youth's foster mother and apparently she doesn't want to see me (or anyone), and half of me is excited that I have more free time and half of me is sad because that means I'm either not connecting with her, she doesn't like me, or she really does want to be along. This girl has had a tough life. I hope we can help her figure it all out soon.

Oh well, off to drink some more tea and paint my nails to attempt to look a little more girlie before tonight...

Gluten Free in DC

I know I already posted today, but I also wanted to include an all gluten free friendly post.

Below is a list of restaurants both that I've been to and want to try- Gluten free (GF) of course:

GF pizza:

1) District of Pi in Gallery Place: http://www.pi-dc.com/

2) Open City in Woodley Park: http://opencitydc.com/

3) Mellow Mushroom in Adam's Morgan (haven't been here yet): http://www.mellowmushroom.com/adamsmorgan#/store/index/adamsmorgan

GF options available:

1) Raku in Dupont: http://www.rakuasiandining.com/

2) Busboys and Poets (several locations): http://www.busboysandpoets.com/

3) Zorba's in Dupont: http://www.zorbascafe.com/

4) Cafe Green in Dupont: http://www.javagreen.net/locations/ This place is all vegetarian and offers tons of gluten free, dairy free options. I know it sounds disgusting, but it's incredible.

5) Sweegreen (various locations): I love this place- far superior to Chop't

And of course Mexican restaurants: All corn tortilla chips; froyo places (but watch out for cake flavored yogurts- cake batter, cookies n cream, etc); salad places (sans bread); always ask if gluten free soy sauce is available at sushi places (it most often times is in DC)- avoid teriyaki sauce (including eel rolls), ginger dressing, seaweed salad, and crunch rolls because these often contains gluten; almost all grocery stores have GF options either in a separate aisle or mixed amongst various products, so look around!

Places I can't wait to try:

1) Tortilla Coast opening up in Logan Circle: http://www.tortillacoast.com/

2) Ted's Montana Grill in Ballston, VA: http://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/menu.html I know this is a chain, but how can you not want to go to a place with pickles on the table and Bison burgers and salads?!

3) Mala Tang in Courthouse, VA: www.mala-tang.com/ I went to a hot pot place while in Boston, MA called Shabu Zen and while I'm fairly certain nothing can top that place, I can't wait to try this one.

4) Big Bear Cafe in Bloomingdale: http://bigbearcafe-dc.com/ Looks awesome and in the new up and coming area- they don't do gluten free, but that's not imporant in a coffee.

Post #1

Happy Thursday!

Most of the blogs I read start of with people mentioning how blogs are shameless and narcissistic and then a few sentences about how they never thought they'd ever start one, blah blah blah. I always feel like saying, "the disclaimer is not needed- you're writing one. Enough said." 

Over the last few years I have become fond of randomly reading blogs: food blogs, acquaintances' blogs, and of course, stalking those "Facebook friends" who I can't recall exactly when or where I met them, but somehow they appear on my friends list and their blog links randomly display on my newsfeed. While my government salary is nothing to phone home about, job security is of utmost importance to me at the moment, but my job is not stimulating nor time consuming enough to dissuade me from eyeing up several blogs daily. Thus I have thoroughly enjoyed learning new recipes, reading stories of weight loss/attempted diets, watching videos of my "friends'" children taking their first steps, and reading about how my peers meander through their 20s and 30s. I know I'm not the only person creepily stalking "random" people's blogs.

I still feel like I'm 19. I look forward to summers because half of me (the better half) still thinks that entails a summer vacation. Basically, I feel like every time I see an engagement, a wedding, or baby announcement from people I went to high school or college with, I gasp. The better half of me still thinks, "don't these people know they're getting married too young? They will probably be divorced before they're 30." Oh wait, I am almost 30...

I don't have a particularly exciting life, but that's sort of the irony about blogging- the people that have exciting lives don't have time to blog, and the people that don't, well, like me, they blog to help fill the "need for excitement" void.

After this first entry, I will try to have themes and include recipes and/or funny stories. There is no theme for this one- only rambling, but I promise they WILL get better. I wish I was still in my blind date mode and then I could include stories from the 30+ blind dates I've been on. Fingers crossed, those days are over.

RECIPE SECTION
I recently discovered Gluten Free Rolled Oats (http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article.asp?article_id=251) from Trader Joe's (recipe below) and decided to try their recipe on the back. I only made a few adjustments and next time I think I'll also cut the sugar down by 1/3.  Anyway, I used a little less than the required butter, added in a few (2-3) tablespoons of applesauce, skipped the nuts, and cooked for only 9 minutes because I like mushy cookies (though I'm not sure that extra minute would have changed anything). I brought them to my work party, and they were a HUGE hit- for those that decided to try them at least. Everyone loves oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies- except for my boss apparantly.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1/4 cup butter (I used a little less)

1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar (I think 1/2 cup would be fine)

(OPTIONAL: 2-3 Tbsp applesauce)
3 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar (again, next time I'd only use 1/2 cup)
6 oz chocolate chips
2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans/walnuts (skipped these)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine sugar, brown sugar, and butter (and applesauce if you're using it) in a large bowl.  Beat until creamy.  Add eggs, vanilla, and baking soda: mix well.  Add peanut butter and mix.  Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and nuts.  Place dough by heaping teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until light gold on the edges.

Makes approximately 48 cookies.  Try not to eat them all in one day