"Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?"

Gear up for a food heavy post ya’ll. Lately it’s been all things diet and exercise related so if you’re not in the mood for that, I suggest switching over to a gossip blog now. Anywho, we’ve been plugging away at the healthy lifestyle and while it’s been paying off (10lbs down for me to date!), it sure is difficult to keep it interesting. There’s only so many ways you can - cost efficiently - make a chicken breast and salad more interesting. We’ve added in smoothies and that seems to break things up. Of course, I’m a fan of more fruity, ice-creamy like smoothies and Ed is content with water and protein powder essentially. Blech. Double blech.

It helps that we’ve started making more of our own things which is something we’ve always aspired to but been rather lazy about. Ed’s going gangbusters with his yogurt maker and I finished a new batch of strawberry jam. 

Oh canning, how I wish I had more space for you!

My least favorite part of canning.

Our current favorite dessert, homemade yogurt with my strawberry jam on top!

His wines are getting slightly less sugary and still retaining an appealing taste. It’s a fine line I tell ya. We’re hoping with our new digital thermometer we’ll have greater success in the cheese making department too but we haven’t broached that one yet. Cheese isn’t exactly super diet friendly.

I’m scouring Pinterest and Martha Stewart and all of my friends and family’s blogs for food ideas. I usually take what I see and sort of tweak it in the kitchen. I’m actually kind of awful at following recipes. Somewhere within me I must hold strong to the delusion of being a natural cook that is cool and confident. This is a major delusion. This week I also posted a link on facebook to Buzzfeed’s post on terrible home cooking fails: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/people-worse-at-cooking-than-you-food-fails 
 
I usually shout out #12 halfway through all of my attempts at making something ‘fun.’

This week we tried out the following recipes (links to be added later because blogger is freaking out today):
 Spicy Fish Tacos - but I replaced the fish with shrimp because it just looked fresher at the store


Arroz Con Pollo - came out a bit more like arroz con pollo sopa

 

Oven Chicken Fajitas -

Clearly, I am currently bell-peppered-out of my mind for a good while.

And! We finally got around to scheduling a cheat meal! Of course, it had to be pizza. We hit up Patxi's down the block from us and boy it was gooooood. The burrata bruschetta? Amazing.  
 

If it was appropriate to make out with this, I would have. Many times.

Mmmmm cheat meal!

This week will be a bit more challenging food wise. I am writing this blog post from the Mountain View Library - because Campbell Library doesn’t open until 1pm (ridiculously lame) - and I’ve been unceremoniously kicked out of our apartment so they can fix renovations they did to the place before we moved in. Namely, install a vent for over the stove. Yes, our above the oven microwave has no vent nor a light, so cooking fails can go extra spectacularly wrong. So, from 9-6 today, tomorrow and Wednesday I will be trying to stay out of the house so that they can install the up-to code necessities in our kitchen. Thank goodness for libraries. But as I mentioned, that leaves our meal plan up in the air. A lot of our cookware is shifted around and boxed up so they can demo parts of the kitchen. Maybe this week will be an adventure in eating out... I foresee a lot of Subway. :)

I bought myself a kettlebell that I am super excited about. I did my first (brief) routine with it this morning... talk about cramping in all my weak places. But it felt really good to add in some new movements to my routine. Running wise, I’m doing alright. Trying to keep it a little faster. Next week is my first 6mi run in ages. Every week after that I’ll be adding on a mile each Sunday. I haven’t run farther than 7.5 ish since Bay to Breakers last year. Hopefully the weight loss and training will help make pushing myself all the way to that 13mi mark slightly less painful.

I finished reading The Magicians and I LOVED it. I'm already started in on The Magician King. It's a bit like Harry Potter for adults but with far less silliness, way scarier imagery, drugs and sex. The imagery.... I've been having pretty terrible nightmares because of it but I don't regret it for one moment! High recommended. The third book isn't out yet so you all have plenty of time to get to reading...

My reading buddy!