We did it!

On March 1st, I convinced John that we should go the entire month without eating any of our meals out in restaurants, drive-thru's, etc. All meals were to be taken in our home, or the homes of others. I knew it would be tough. I've never gone a month cooking every single meal at home. Have you?

At first I thought it was just a silly challenge with a few benefits, namely to our health and on our wallets. I'm pleased to say that since we have now reached March 31st, we succeeded!! While, I probably did benefit from avoiding fried foods, excess salt, butter, cream, full fat ingredients, sugar, etc. I don't think I lost any weight. Still working on that one. And also, contrary to what I first believed, eating all meals in was not necessarily cheaper. In fact, some weeks at the grocery store were way over our normal budget. You wouldn't think adding one meal (Saturday night in our case) would blow the receipt but it certainly did.

So, what did I really learn? The cheesy answer is that you can do anything you put your mind to. The more realistic answer is that we really missed eating out. We don't have a lot going on most weekends and going out to eat is often our main form of entertainment. This month off certainly didn't break the habit. We're already planning our return to restaurants this Saturday with a birthday meal observed at a new restaurant nearby for a big fatty burger. I think this challenge would really benefit folks who eat out more than 3 times a month (our norm). So, if you're one of those people, do you think you can hack it? I bet you can.....if you put your mind to it!

Cake and wine!

Well, not really. Just Layer Cake wine. I picked up a bottle of Cotes du Rhone by Layer Cake a couple weeks ago. I keep reading great things about Layer Cake and I decided it was time to see for myself. The fact that the bottle was on sale for $12.99 didn't hurt. I think it's normally $16 or $17. Besides being a new winery to me, I've also never tried a Cotes du Rhone before. It was similar, in my opinion, to a Cabernet Sauvignon. Now, those with a much more seasoned palate will probably laugh at this observation but I love a good cab sauv, so I'm sticking to it.

Aha. Upon further investigation, this is actually a Syrah from the Rhone Valley. And on the bottle: "My old grandfather told me the soils in which the vines lived were a layer cake. If properly made, the wine from these vines was like a delicious cake layered with fruit, mocha and chocolate, with hints of spice and rich, always rich. Never pass up a good Layer Cake.”

The tasting notes also reference blueberries, black currants and star anise. Mmm, spicy!

Don't you just love that? I love cake. I love wine. This is a new favorite for me. I definitely tasted the mocha and chocolate. It was fab. I will definitely slice up this Layer Cake again.

Columbine

I thought it was time for a little nonfiction so upon recommendation, I checked out Columbine by Dave Cullen from the library. The title says it all. Columbine is Cullen's report and the culmination of 10 years of research of what happened on April 20, 1999 in Columbine High School when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a killing rampage. Cullen was a newspaper reporter in Colorado at the time of the shootings and reported on them first-hand. In the years since, he has interviewed countless witnesses and family members of the 13 victims.

Cullen jumps between accounts of the actual attack and the lives of the victims, Harris and Klebold, trying to sort out what led to this horrible event. This book was intense. It was so compelling; I did not want to put it down. It was the first time in a long time that I didn't look at the page count and try to figure out how much I had left. I just kept reading. This is the most interesting nonfiction read I've swallowed in awhile. I highly recommend reading Columbine.

Six Hour Afghan

I started this 6 hour afghan from Lion Brand something like 3 months ago. No, I haven't been working on it for 3 months straight. In fact, I was nearly done with it and then I put it down for 6 weeks because I was bored and moved onto sewing. I was also discouraged that the pattern did not make this nearly as wide as I like in an afghan. (I am also not particularly fond of the word afghan but I'll use it a lot in this post.) I thought I could knit 2 and stitch them together. That really discouraged me, considering I was nearly done. Well, I've abandoned knitting a second blanket and will just use this as a smaller throw. It's a one person blanket. No cuddling on the couch. Except maybe with Sadie. She'll find herself a corner of blanket anywhere.

This pattern required the purchase of Speed Stix. Have I shown you these? It seems vaguely familiar. Well, here they are again! OK, scratch that. I haven't uploaded them from my camera yet. Just know that they're GIANT knitting needles. That's what was supposed to help make this a six hour project. Silly Lion Brand.

This pattern, while labeled Beginner, also allowed me to learn a new skill: sewing with multiple skeins of yarn at one time. In this case, it was four. I used Lion Brand's Homespun yarn (super soft!) in Cream (two skeins), Earth (which is brown, duh), and Sierra (kind of a marbling of the other two plus some burnt orange). I was going for muted tones since I plan on leaving this over the back of the chaise in my living room. Originally it was going to be all cream but I quickly decided against that thinking it might be a bit difficult.

Anyway, here it is! I really like how it turned out. It's very cozy, which is what I wanted. And just slightly narrow.



Mad Skillz Mastered: knitting with multiple strands

Yarn Used: Lion Brand Homespun

Cost: Speed stix $8.00 (with coupon)
Yarn $35.00 (normally $5.99/skein but it was on sale and I had coupons, 8 skeins total)
Pattern FREE!

Total: $43.00 - so those of you questioning whether knitting is cheaper than buying? No, sometimes it's not. But, this project wasn't really about saving money for me. And now I have the speed stix if I feel like making this one again.

Grade: A+ ...... even though it was narrower than I wanted, I followed the pattern to a T, didn't drop any stitches, and have a completely usable afghan. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Run Ashley Run

Guys! Yesterday I ran outside for the first time since Thanksgiving in Austin. It was awesome! I was a bit leery of how my foot would do. My podiatrist said to cut mileage by 25% for a few runs when you're easing back into outside running. He also said running on the sidewalk is the worst possible thing you could do for your feet. Nuts to that. I sure didn't feel like driving to a trail. Part of the allure of running outside is the fact that I can just tie my shoes, leash up Sadie and go. Driving to a trail defeats the purpose. Especially considering the trail is directly behind my gym. Sheesh!

Anyway, I was trying to hit 25 minutes to save my foot and also not to overdo it. My shins hurt almost immediately. Oh, so that's why you shouldn't run on sidewalks. Whoops! I pushed through the pain with Sadie pacing me. She drags me down the sidewalk because John runs up ahead of us and she likes to try to catch him. I'm sure she's thinking, "If only I didn't have this heifer lashed to my harness." I made it my full 25 minutes and my foot didn't hurt at all! It was a ped miracle. Actually, it was because I did my special stretches twice before running and have been pretty consistent about them for awhile.

It was 70 degrees while I was running. Awesome! And of course today it's rainy and 40 and it might snow tomorrow. Guess I forgot it was still spring in Ohio......

Wine Night!

John and I have decided to start having a wine night with some good friends of ours. We offered to host the inaugural event. I was in charge of choosing the wine theme. C'est vrai! I got lots of library books on wine for guidance. Eventually, I settled on wines from the Alsace region of France. This is a variety that I was unfamiliar with and since our wine night is all about exploration, learning, and fun, I thought this was a good fit. In hindsight, I should have gone to the wine store prior to selecting the theme. We had to go to 3 wine shops before we found any of the: Riesling, Pinot Gris, or Gewurtraminer from this region. Our guests had to go to 4. Whoops! Sorry, guys. What troopers! Don't you just love getting invited to someone's house and being sent on a wild goose chase?

Anyway, in all of my research, I found out that Asian foods pair well with these wines. I made Crab Rangoon from Spark People (low fat!) and John made Thai Chicken Pizza from Rachael Ray. I eschewed the "no new recipes for company rule" and it paid off. I'm not abiding by that rule anymore. These were both delicious. And my guests had seconds so I think they liked them too! I also had a cheese tray. Here it is. It's the only thing I remembered to take a picture of. Can you believe it? I was so mad at myself. The cheese plate says 'Le Fromage' but it's covered up.

Oh, and a veggie tray! I used this dip from Martha. Lemon thyme. Also low fat. Holler! I had every intention of making fondue but we had a little incident and the chocolate ended up with the consistency of dirt. Curses! Luckily, I had also assigned dessert to my guests. They brought yummy cherry and chocolate cheesecakes. And left us with the leftovers. Thanks, guys!

Now, onto the drinks..... All three wines were from 2007. Not sure if that was a good year or what but they all tasted good. And I think they all retailed for around $18-$20. There were others that were way more expensive but we were not on champagne budgets tonight. Hosting wine night is plus pricey!






This was the Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris. It was very mild tasting. Super citrusy. Lots of lemon and on the bottle, "A well structured, elegant wine with a dry character."











Here is our Riesling from Pierre Sparr. This was a crowd pleaser and it was dry as well. The bottle says "Floral with scents of lime and apple." A similar flavor palate to the Pinot but a completely different taste.









And finally, and my favorite, a Gewurztraminer from The Furst. This was the best label. It talked about the artist's painting of the girl/clown on the front and how she was despondent. We all got a big kick out of that. Gewurtzes have a very interesting taste you don't normally find in other whites.




So, we learned some lessons for this first wine night but overall, c'est si bon! Can't wait until the next one!

Club Dead

Club Dead is the 3rd Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris. If you're unfamiliar with this series, Sookie is a twenty-something telepath who dates Bill, a vampire. It's kind of trashy but it's all in good fun. The series takes place in Lousiana. In this installment, Sookie finds out Bill is going on a secret mission of sorts. Turns out Bill gets himself into a tough spot and Eric, one of the head vamps, tells Sookie she should try to save him. It also turns out Bill has been cheating on Sookie (see? kinda trashy). Anyway, Sookie travels to Jackson, Mississippi to find Bill, and some answers on his fidelity.

I liked Club Dead better than the last book, the name of which escapes me right now. Bill is not my favorite character and a semi-potential love interest is introduced by Harris in Club Dead. I'm looking forward to seeing if he reappears down the road since there are still 6 more books or something. I think I like the Sookie Stackhouse series because it's pretty mindless. It's a nice departure to break up the heavier books and boy have I got some heavy ones coming up. In fact, 4 of them came up on my hold list at the same time and when I went to pick them up at the library, the guy checking me out said, "Not the most uplifting selections, huh?" Well, it's not my fault all of the sad and depressing books happened to be available at the same time. Sheesh!