Foodmomiac

Ready

Tomorrow, I leave for New Orleans. Sunday, I run my first half marathon. I know it's not the world's biggest feat. It's not 100 miles. It's not even 26.2 miles. It's not a triathalon. But... it's a half marathon, and I'm doing it. And I'm going to finish it.

I am a small person. When you are a small person, people automatically assume that you are really fit. This is not the case. I have never been really fit. I have never been really strong. I've just always been little. But now I'm getting stronger. I still have more to accomplish on that front, but I'm happy with where I am now, and I'm excited for whatever journey lies ahead.

A couple of weeks ago, I was running along Lake Shore Drive, and I started thinking about what it will be like to finish the half marathon. I'm not the fastest person in our group, so I am quite certain that there will be a bunch of people I know at the finish line. So I pictured them, standing there and cheering. And, I imagined the Zydeco music that will be playing, and how proud I'll feel at that moment. And I burst into tears. While running. On Lake Shore Drive.

This is going to be one hell of a weekend.

The Tao of Max

Max has always been an easy-going and goofy kind of guy, but his comedic side has been really coming out in full force lately. We created a Twitter account for him so that we could keep track of some of his zingers, and now that he knows he has an "audience," he seems to have ramped up his one-liners.

Feel free to subscribe to his zen brilliance, but in the meantime, a few of my favorites:

• We should watch the Super Bowl everyday!
• The man soap is helping my zit!!! (he had used some of Michael's body wash)
• If you don't get some sleep, you die.
• Infinity is the last number.
• (re: lasagne) "The gooey is the good."

Dinner Reality

As I mentioned a week or two ago, we instituted a new budget at the beginning of the year. My love affair with mint.com has not abated, and I am very pleased to report that we are still being really good. This is a total shock. This is absolutely unheard of in our household. Typically, our budgets last about a week.

One of the areas (not surprisingly) where we realized we were spending/wasting the most money was for food. Grocery shopping, takeout, and restaurants. Not to mention lunch at the office. It was kind of scary. However; in the past, I think our budgets have failed because we have gone the total opposite direction and created budgets that were totally unrealistic. "We'll cut our restaurant spending in half!" "We'll eat beans and rice every night for dinner!" It's just silly. So, we made a budget we could live with, and it is working.

That said, it's not always a total walk in the park. Last night, I had no desire to make dinner, Michael was working late, and we didn't have anything pre-made in the fridge. So, we kept it real, and ate a full-on Trader Joe's meal: chicken tenders, canned corn (theirs is the BEST) and garlic fries. Everyone ate it. Everyone was happy. And we didn't order delivery.

Our other meals this past week:

Sunday: Homemade pizza using Trader Joe's pizza dough (I was going to make Pastitsio, but I was sick, so Michael simplified)

Monday: Macaroni and cheese, peas, and kielbasa (I was at a work dinner, so Michael did his part to keep it real - the kids LOVED THIS DINNER)

Tuesday: This recipe, which took 10 minutes to prepare and was well-received by all. (Again, not what I had originally planned, but because I was sick Sunday, my usual pre-prepping did not happen)

Wednesday: Vegetarian stir fry (made with bok choy and broccoli), topped with peanuts and served over sushi rice

Thursday: The above fanciness

Tonight: Family dinner out at Sun Wah.

A New Family Favorite - Chicken Paprikash

My husband is a creature of habit when it comes to dinners. He FREAKS OUT when I change a recipe that he loves, and if he had his way, I'd make many of the same dishes over and over. So, when I made Chicken Paprikash for the first time this past weekend and he loved it, he made a declaration. He decided that we need to do a better job keeping track of our family favorites. The easiest way to do that is by just making that a category on the blog, so here it is. Family favorites.

The latest issue of Saveur is the annual 100 recipe, where they publish 100 fabulous things. This year, the issue was especially interesting because all of the articles were user submitted. It was kind of like reading eGullet or my food blogs but on paper. So enjoyable. And the recipes they included (not enough, by the way) were really enticing.

The Chicken Paprikash was written about towards the end of the issue in an article about a woman's mom and the delicious Paprikash she'd make for the family. This was so, so good. It was filling, and rich, and the chicken was moist. It was just amazing, and we all loved it. We ate this Sunday night, and it was much needed, as I had run 8.5 miles that morning. We will certainly be making this again.

A few notes: I cooked it a lot longer than they said, and it was fine (though I had it on extremely low heat). I also just added the whole pepper to the dish instead of reserving some as garnish. Finally, the dumplings were really yummy, but they were HUGE. I think next time I'll use my spaetzle maker so that they are smaller and more tender.

Never Enough

If you had asked me last year to list the things in my life that weren't as they should be, my list would have looked something like this:

• I don't exercise, and I should
• I don't have a budget and I should
• I need to write more

I have definitely made some progress:

• I have been running (training for my half marathon) since October and I absolutely love it. I feel strong, and fit, and very, very proud of myself. 
• Michael and I sat down two weeks ago and created an accurate, and do-able budget using mint.com. Thanks to my iPhone, I can categorize expenditures while I have down-time (waiting in lines, on the elevator, on the train or bus, etc.) and we get little pings when we go over budget on any category. Mint.com rocks.

Of course, I also still want to do more:

• I definitely need to expand my exercising beyond the running. I would love to build up my upper body strength and my flexibility. I just need to figure out what system/program is best for my schedule and then I'll start adding that all in.
• I would really like to figure out a way to make writing in the blog(s) part of my daily routine. I get in this situation where work is all-consuming, and when I get home, I just want to veg with my family and not even look at a computer. Not writing regularly in my blogs is absolutely the thing in my life that bothers me the most.

Going Gray

About 1/2 an hour ago, I popped into the restroom, and as I was washing my hands, I looked in the mirror. The rate at which I am going gray (quite suddenly) is astounding.

I don't think I'm that upset about going gray. My hair is so dark that I've never been able to dye it. (Well, never been able to dye it WELL. There were obviously many sun-in experiments back in the 80s, but let's try to forget those, shall we?) In my mind, going gray is my hair's way of finally letting me play around with hair color. I am a bit concerned with texture, as I realize that gray hairs are much more coarse, and if the ones showing up every day (hour) are any indication, mine truly will be quite insane. They are longer and more wild than my black hair. They're not mild mannered at all.

I like that about my new gray hairs. They might very well be in indication that I need to slow things down a bit, but I don't really have any intentions to do that. It would be fabulous to find more time to write and cook (and those are both goals for 2010), but I like that my job is high pressure and that my kids are crazy and that my life is filled with speed bumps. I don't do well with boredom, and my punky new gray hairs are kind of symbolic of that for me.

Revisiting an old favorite: Leftover Pot Roast Bolognese

I've now made this dish (and blogged it) twice; in 2005 and in 2006. And tonight I made it again, using leftover Brisket from our Sunday night Hanukkah dinner. I almost skipped it and wasted all of the leftovers. I didn't leave work until 6pm, which meant I didn't get home until 6:30 or so (after a stop at Walgreen's for Hanukkah candles, because we somehow ran out). But... I persevered. And wonder nanny Sammy gave the kids appetizers, so they weren't completely insane with hunger.

Each time I make this dish, I riff on it more and more. Tonight, I didn't use any wine or stock. I used a can of tomato sauce instead of chopped tomatoes. AND, I used sour cream instead of heavy cream, because that's what I had in the house. If you use sour cream as well, remember to temper it a bit so that it doesn't curdle and get all clumpy. To do that, spoon out some of the hot liquid into a small bowl. Add the sour cream and mix it well. Then, add that mixture to the pan.

Tonight we had the sauce over egg noodles instead of spaghetti. (the picture above is from 2006)