What I Really Think

So this is the second year for the Paso Robles Slow Bowl. Unfortunately, Chris and I missed out last year but when we heard about the great time had by all, we knew we had to go this year. Shannon has worked out an incredible itinerary for us, check it out:

Friday: Gathering at the house - mac and cheese cook-off

I think everyone is scheduled to arrive around 6:00 for a mac and cheese cook-off (I'm making a vat of chili in case anyone wants some chili-mac - plus it's a little easier on the WW points than the mac and cheese). I imagine there will be much chilling, and socializing throughout the evening.

Saturday

10:30 coffee and pastries at the cottage
11:30 Trolley Pickup at the cottage
11:45 Trolley Pickup at the Melody Ranch
12:00 – 1:00 Castoro Cellars (rumor has it they make a fantastic tempranillo)

Trolley riders – the trolley will drop you off and pick you up at all of the next three stops. Drivers - I will bring some maps for you.

1:30 – 1:50 arrival at Tablas Creek more wine tasting - yum.
2:30 – 2:50 pickup at Tablas Creek
3:30 Trolley drop off at the cottage

4:30 - 5:30 book swap at the Melody Ranch (I think we're going to pass on this and veg)

6:00 party at the cottage

Sunday

10:00 brunch at Artisan
1:00 Wine tasting at Justin Winery
3:00 - ? Super Bowl/Veranda sitting at the Paso Robles Inn for whoever is interested. The veranda is a fairly football free zone, while the bar just inside has all your big screens and yelling. I was going to hang in the football free zone but now that the Giants are in....

Monday

Chris and I hit the road for the journey back to SFO and our flight home. Sounds pretty cool doesn't it?

Yes, that's right - that time of year when a rodent predicts the weather. Today, while I'm away from home, missing my little North Brunswick Ned prancing through the fields behind our house, I wonder if California has their own little critter, another Punxsatawny Phil perhaps?

On another note, before we left, I tried to track down a DVD of Groundhog's Day but couldn't find one. Nor could I find it on iTunes - so I guess I must wait until February 5th or so to watch one of my favorite movies.

In the mean time, hopefully this will do:

And remember folks, don't drive angry!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I joined a gym a while ago so that I could add weight training to my repertoire. Actually, my parents bought me sessions with a trainer as a birthday present. I'm also not sure if I mentioned it, but I put on 12 pounds since Paris last August, slipping and sliding through the fall. Today, finally, I got the holiday weight off, down four, eight more to go with this Paso trip here.

I'm really going to try to stay focused while I'm here. I'm not going to deny me things, but I am bringing oatmeal, one point bars, little snacks for traveling in the hopes of mitigating the damage. Another thing I'm doing is participating in IHRSA.

I saw these little pamphlets at the gym, that enable you to use thousands of gyms around the country when you travel from your home gym. Originally we found a gym in a town not too far from Paso, Kennedy Club Fitness, in Atascadero. However, when I checked their website, I noticed that they opened a facility in Paso in December. I called over there, and yes, they participate. Turns out I could use the facility as a guest for $15 without being a IHRSA member, but I get a 20% discount. I'm just psyched to have access to the fitness facility and intend to use it every day I'm away.

I'll report more when I return.

From Dictionary.com, Community: a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

For the most part, we all live in them. We seek out companionship, sometimes with similar people (similar age, similar ethnicity, similar religion). Some of us might really have more than one community to which we belong. For example, the town in which I live is one community to which I belong, my synagogue is another, shoot, one could even say the forums to which I belong (e.g., SlowTalk.com) are another, each has a "government" accepted by those being governed with the agreement that those being governed will adhere to the rules created by the government.

What I never get though, is people who feel the rules of their community don't apply to them.

About five years ago, give or take some, my parents moved to one of those age-restricted developments in Florida. Eighty percent of the people who live in this development must be over the age of 50 (don't even get me started on that concept). What I find increasingly ironic though and therefore, increasingly funny, are the stories my parents tell me of their fellow community members. You would think that the primarily over 60 crowd, would "know better." I mean we're not talking children here who may not yet understand the concept of right and wrong. Nor are we talking about teenagers whose job it is to "rebel against the man." We're talking grown adults, who have presumably lived, worked, raised families and obeyed the communal laws of their societies for their entire lives ... or are we?

For example, in the cafe, when you buy the sandwich special, you get the drink for free. They give you a nice styrofoam cup, in which you can pour your own soda, and while you're at the cafe, you may help yourself to free refills. So what's with the people, who take said styrofoam cup home, wash it out, and return the next day, and the next, and the next, helping themselves to soda as they see fit. How is this not stealing?

Or there's the couple that arrived at the pool house in order to pick up their lounge chairs from the pool deck. You see, they never use the communal pool but since their dues go to support the pool, they thought themselves entitled to two lounge chairs that they could bring home to use on their patio. They were stopped.

Let's not forget, the gentlemen who play water polo each week. One day they arrived at the pool to discover it was closed for 24 hours because it was being treated with chemicals (aka shocked or cleaned). These men though, felt they had the right to play their game, and snuck in to the pool area, through the sauna (I believe), and entered the pool. When asked to leave by the staff so the pool could be treated, they refused. Huh?

I won't even get into the reason why buffets are no longer served at member functions but you can imagine.

So here's my question? Why live in these places if you don't agree with the rules? If you don't want to pay dues? Why live in a community at all?

I have a lot to write about given the fantastic weekend we had. But I'm still a bit loopy from little sleep and crossing time zones twice in four days. So for now, I'd like to share with you some of my favorite ads from the Superbowl. I've always had an affinity for the ads, since that's what my Dad did for a living for over 40 years.

First the Honorable Mentions

Love the Cat Screeching - Bud Light

I love to read but I do so much of it with my job, that by the end of the day, usually the last thing I want to do is read. Not so lately though, as I've read two books (diametrically opposed) that I thought I'd share.

The first, Shadow of the Wind, was just an amazing tale of a boy coming of age and the mystery that he unravels surrounding his favorite author. I enjoyed this one so much, I didn't race through it but doled it out in small doses because I didn't want it to end. Well, that is until I got on the plane to California last Friday - then I raced through, finishing it with hours to spare that left me bored. I highly recommend this read and still can't believe it's a translated edition.

The second book, as I said is the total opposite. While the first definitely falls into the literature category, well, this next one can't be called anything but fluff. Geeky fluff at that (hey I warned you I was a geek a while ago). Think Stephanie Plum of Janet Evonovich fame gets turned into a vampire and you're almost there.

Undead and Unreturnable is just a bit of fluff that's good reading after a deep book. Finished it in a couple of hours on the flight home from California, leaving me plenty of time to watch a movie and annoy Chris.

Last night I started whizzing through the next in the series, Undead and Unpopular which I'll follow with I'm Not Scared.

Happy reading.

Sometimes at my Weight Watcher meeting, my leader, Amy, hangs recipes on the walls. Today there were two up there that sounded interesting, oven fried chicken (still to come) and Raisin Scones. I opted to try the raisin scones first, since I was looking for something sweet to make to have with some afternoon tea (I'm trying to kick the popcorn in the afternoon habit).

It took less time to assemble these than it took for my oven to preheat. Also, I soaked the raisins first in hot water (I like to do that to plump them a bit before baking). Lastly, I ran out of raisins so I did half raisins half currants. They're not bad - light and easy - and at one point each, who can complain. Next time, I may try cranberries with a little orange zest added in. Or the currants again with some lemon zest.

Wow, I didn't realize the time - I almost let today slip by without an entry. So what to write about? Hmm...

Okay - here's something,

On Wednesday night I met the Lehigh Girls for dinner. I'm not sure I mentioned the Lehigh Girls before but we're a group of girls (okay - I'll admit our age - woman) who went to college together some 20+ years ago. Since then, we still gather pretty regularly to celebrate birthdays, holidays, etc. On Wednesday night we gathered to celebrate Rain and Mare's birthday (you've heard me mention Rain before - we traveled to Florence together way back in 2001).

Anyway - we often meet in the City, but this time, we opted for Indian in Morristown and visited Caffe India on Washington. Now don't get me started on finding the restaurant (basically, from 287 you go around the green - yes that stupid park they make you go around, but if you could just go straight past it, you'd end up on Washington. Oh and yes, if you pass the Hyatt like me, you didn't go around enough), anyway where was I - oh yeah, finding the restaurant. Well, I guess I covered that anyway - it's basically on the other side of town from 287. Parking is on the street, but on a Wednesday night wasn't a problem.

There were six of us who managed to make it to dinner and after the assorted appetizers of meat and veggie samosa, and the naan (two kinds, garlic and spinach), we ended up sharing five entrees with plenty leftover. Let's see if I can remember - there was a lamb special, but the name escapes me, also a shrimp special, name fate is the same, then we had some lentils, Chicken Vindaloo and Bayngan Bhurta, which reminded me of caponata but more Asian spices (which of course, makes sense). Everything was tasty and good quality (e.g., the meat was tender).

We don't normally skip dessert but at first glance none of the typical Indian desserts appealed - however our sweet tooth won out and we opted for some mango ice cream (typical), and being adventurous, Chef's Special Kheer which is basmati rice pudding served with almond and pistachios - this was real tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to order it again.

So on the Kim and Chris scale (though Chris wasn't with us - it's a girls only event - well except for Larry but that's another story), I'd give this place one star (i.e., if you're in the area and looking for Indian, I don't hesitate to recommend this place). Oh, two other things to note, they do not have a liquor license, so remember your wine or beer and the cost for the six of us, including tip came to $152 - not too bad, for the four of us paying (birthday girls don't pay), $38 each - I'll take that any night of the week.

We have been trying to get together with Alan and Janet for months now. Today, finally, after coordinating our schedules weeks out, we finally met at Lupa for lunch. Lupa's one of the Batali restaurant empire, specializing in "Roman trattoria fare" and other than being located in the West Village of NYC, it came pretty darn close.

We started with two of the special antipasti, one a prosciutto role with cheese that was breaded and fried into a small croquette. They were mighty tasty though Chris thought they may have been left in the fryer a little too long. The other special appetizer, was a small salad of some greens - the name escapes me, but if Janet stops by, perhaps she'll remember; they're her favorite. We also had an assortment of their house-made meats, some coppa cotto, salumi, lingua (aka tongue), a house-cured pancetta - and hmm...the last one escapes me, to go along with this we had a Primitivo - the Majara perhaps.

For our primi (actually we only had primi - it was lunch after all), Chris had the Buccatini Amatriciana, Janet and Alan had the house special which was a tagliatelle with a braised pork shoulder and porcini mushroom ragu (with some wilted greens), and I had a buckwheat chitarra pasta with Cavolo Nero. To drink with all this we upped the strength a bit and went with a Barbera, the Moccagatta - yummy. The pastas were good with decent portion size - though I must say, if you have an aversion to salt, this may not be the place for you.

Dessert, Alan and Janet split the tartufo, which I'm assuming they liked; they cleaned the plate - Chris and I opted for an espresso and macchiato, respectively, since we're continuing the party tonight - we needed to save some room. Our bill came to about $137 per couple (if I recall correctly) including tip and tax, but considering the quality and quantity of the food and wine, I didn't think it too bad at all.

And of course, I forgot to snap pictures of the food but I did get this (Chris's empty bowl):

We're having some freaky weather today - sunny, cloudy, sunny, then snow showers all accompanied by some high winds. There's nothing accumulating but it's a good day to sit in front of the television and veg. The history channel is doing one of its weekend Band of Brothers marathon, so I'm plopped here, pigging out on popcorn (I feel sick from eating it), watching it while catching up on all the wonderful February blog entries.

I have to say, we watched Band of Brothers when it first appeared on HBO many years ago. It still remains, in my mind, one of the best, if not the best, mini-series ever. I have always had an interest in World War II but I think this series does some of the best work, telling the story of the American soldier in Europe during the War. If you haven't already seen it, I recommend renting it. If you have, maybe every so often, around Veteran's Day or Memorial Day, you might want to check it out again.

I still can't hear the music from the clip below without tears...

AnnieNC did an entry on a new bird she spotted on her window and listed all the ones she's seen. I don't keep a "list" per se, but se do keep a copy of Stokes Field Guide to Birds in our kitchen (with all the cookbooks), and everytime we see a new one, we date it's entry in the book. So I'm going to go through now and list all the ones we've seen.

I don't know where in my life I heard empty beer and wine bottles referred to as dead soldiers but that's what we call them. And many a brave "soldier" gave its life for us at Paso, 24 on Friday night and plenty more than that on Saturday night (we lost count because we kept discovering them around the house, all day Sunday). But at this point, I'd like to note, the "soldiers" that came home with us.

We started our tastings at Castoro Cellars on Saturday and I don't know if it was working out at the gym, or not eating enough breakfast, but halfway through that first round of tasting, I needed a break and my notes lost, remember very little. Yet, a package showed up yesterday, containing six bottles of Castoro wines, three Due Mila Sei 2004 and three Venti Quattro Anni. I'll trust to Chris's taste whether these were good or not because, unfortunately, I do not remember and can't find my notes.

Valentine's Day always holds lots of baggage for me, on several levels. So let me start off by saying, I don't really care to celebrate it.

Chris and I started dating 23 years ago (this past Saturday), when he invited me to his fraternity's Valentine's Day dance. I knew he finally was interested in me (I had been pursuing for a couple of months) because he had plans that weekend with a mutual friend, Todd, that he cancelled to take me to his fraternity's party on February 9th. I knew if he cancelled Todd for me, there was going to be some action. That was the day we started to date and that's the day we celebrate in February (though Chris sometimes argue we should celebrate the 10th because we didn't kiss until after midnight).

So this past Saturday, after having a great lunch with Janet and Alan at Lupa, we came home in the evening and celebrated with a light meal of prosecco and caviar. Chris made a playlist for his iPod, entitled Music to Grope By 2 (last year we had Music to Grope by 1 - a new tradition was born), and he gave me this fabulous card:

I think I mentioned somewhere that my CSA is experimenting with a winter share this year. They've never done one before but for $400 we get 16 weeks worth of crops from November through March (or so). It sounded like a good experiment, so I bought in. Though the quantity of crops has not been as rich as the summer, the quality is still good.

That said, last week, I received a cabbage head, that's, well, bigger than Becky's head.

(she's not happy up there because it's right after swim practice). Anyway...

At first, I thought I'd make Roasted Cabbage Rolls but then I saw this recipe in the March Bon Appetit, Cabbage and White Bean Soup with Sausage and it stuck in my head plus the Roasted Cabbage seemed too labor intensive and I didn't feel like it. So Wednesday, when I was at the farm market, and they had chicken apple sausage I decided to make the soup instead. Only problem, when I got home I realized I didn't have everything I needed. So this is what I came up with.

A few weeks ago, Jerry, posted a recipe for Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce that he originally got from Cooking Light. It looked so good, I knew I wanted to make it but always having the hardest time finding Red Curry Paste, I wasn't sure when. Then last weekend we popped into Dean and DeLuca and I saw the paste. I couldn't remember what I needed it for, but I knew I needed it, so I bought some. When I got home, and was planning our weekly menu, with fish for Friday because of Lent, I remembered, so ta da!

I know, I glopped on a lot more sauce than Jerry seemed to. Also, I didn't use Basmati rice but one of those Lundberg rice blends instead. All this along with some steamed sugar snap peas drizzled with a bit of sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds and that was one good dinner.

I'll post the recipe for those of you too lazy to check out Jerry's blog but you really ought to - lots of good stuff over there.

When Becky was in elementary school, she took this book out of the library, Round Robin which happened to be about the same time that my fascination with the Robin and its spring time return started. Now every year, I wait and watch, and wait and watch until I see the first Robin of the season. It's usually in the latter half of February but I find their return a much better harbinger of spring than good old Punxsutawney Phil (well, the robins plus the rabbits in the yard). Anyway, on Friday, I saw the first robins (a few of them) followed immediately by the rabbits Friday night (two in the backyard making Fala go bonkers) - can't ask for more indicators than that the spring is just around the corner!

Now if only I had a picture ...

Do you know the song, by the Bare Naked Ladies? It's a good song, fun sing-along. Anyway, I don't buy lottery tickets often, just when the jackpot is really big, and Angie's post, I Didn't Win the Lottery reminded me I need to get a ticket for NJ's Megamillion drawing tomorrow night which is $220 million!

It also reminds me of the game we often play, what would we do if we won.

Something extra - isn't my daughter talented?

Don't ever doubt that I have Chris right where I want him. :D

You've all heard the term, Going Postal, right? There's a great scene in Seinfeld when Newman talks about it:

George Costanza: Let me ask you something... What do you do for a living, Newman?
Newman: I'm a United States postal worker.
George Costanza: Aren't those the guys that always go crazy and come back with a gun and shoot everybody?
Newman: Sometimes.
Jerry: Why is that?
Newman: Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There's never a letup, It's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, but the more you get out, the more it keeps coming. And then the bar code reader breaks. And then it's Publisher's Clearinghouse day.

Well, the same thing happens with laundry. It never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There's never a letup. It's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, but the more you get out the more it keeps coming. And then the dryer breaks. And then it's the day to wash the sheets...

Two days worth:

Last Friday I took a ride down to Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck). I needed to pick up Tilapia for Friday's dinner and since Matt sold the fish store I used to patron, I'm not as crazy about the quality of the goods. Anyway, while I was there, I thought I'd find something for us to have Saturday night. Of course, when I asked Chris for requests, I got the usual response, "I don't know." When I pressed him, I got a bit more information, "Something meaty." Lots of help, thanks.

So while in WF, I checked out the butcher shop (what I wouldn't give for a local butcher). Anyway, as I walked back and forth in front of the case, one of the butchers asked me, "Can I help you?" I replied, that I was just looking for inspiration and I'd let them know when I was ready. Then I spotted them, lamb shanks. I had never prepared lamb shanks but figured they couldn't be much different than veal shanks. I also had vague recollections of some sort of braised lamb shanks with Moroccan spices that I thought might be good (crossing my fingers that Chris would be able to fill in on whatever other ingredients I needed when he did our regular shopping on Saturday).

So tilapia, lamb shanks (and assorted other goodies in hand), I checked out and headed home.

Upon arrival, I logged on to Cooking Light and did a search on lamb shanks where I found this recipe. It wasn't the Moroccan preparation I had envisioned but it was easy, slow-cooking, and mighty tasty. Chris said it rivaled my rendition of Osso Bucco and I have to say it was so much easier to prepare. The lamb was tender and delicious when done, the polenta and roasted Brussel sprouts were great accompaniments. Not to mention, the Due Mile Sei wine from Castoro that we drank with it. Nice wine - good to taste it when I'm totally sober - it was smooth with flavors that reminded me of chocolate and raspberry - yum.

Anyway, I will definitely make this dish again and definitely wouldn't have qualms for serving it to company. Added bonus, the lamb shanks were so much cheaper than veal shanks. Oh, for you Weight Watchers, this came in at 9 points (not too bad for a Saturday night meal and that included the polenta).

Last week I needed a quick easy weeknight meal. My friend, Lisa, gave me the Weight Watchers Turnaround book a few months ago (she ended up with two), so having just rediscovered it I decided to give it a try.

Using the already cooked chicken (Perdue short cuts) this came together pretty easily. It was tasty too. Becky had hers as indicated (i.e., in the taco shells), but I had mine over a big bowl of mixed greens which was good too.

Okay - we have another shot at this people! Remember, inside out and backwards. We need a snow day!

And who has heard about toothpaste on a nickel by the window?? Does it work?

Okay - I have to admit, the last time we had this opportunity for a snow day, I forgot to wear my pajamas inside out and backwards. And of course, nothing happened. But not last night, I remembered and look!

Well, it's 10:50pm and I just realized I didn't blog today. So of course, not to ruin the streak, I booted up the laptop do get this one in. Normally, by now, I'd be asleep, or at the very least, in bed watching TV but tonight Sammi is out. It stinks when your 11 year-old has more of a nightlife than you but there it is. She's at a dance. The dance ends at 11:00 and we will need to pick her up at the synagogue around 11:40 or. Needless to say though, we're sitting here watching a 48 Hours Mystery on Melanie McGuire, falling asleep.

So I'm going to sign off now - having fulfilled my obligation to blog today even if it's late night dribble. See you all tomorrow!

We had our first snow day on Friday and I promised Chris, if it snowed, I'd make him Cinnamon Biscotti. And I kept my promise. This recipe originally came from Cooking Light but I modified it with the addition of Cinnamon chips and because I don't use margarine and didn't feel like melting butter, I used canola oil.

Something about winter Sundays makes me want to eat stew. Well, at least something that's cooked slowly all afternoon while I slovenly sit on the couch, in this case, watching Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. So for yesterday's meal, I returned to the photocopies a friend made me from the Weight Watchers In One Pot cookbook.

But let me digress one moment. I have to say, there are two things that irk me about the Weight Watcher cookbooks. 1) They only offer them for a limited time and then they're gone. Unless you want to way overpay on E-bay, you snooze, you lose. 2) They repeat recipes. Well, yes, maybe they're not exactly the same but I don't call changing macaroni from regular to whole wheat and low fat cheese to fat free cheese in order to make something core, a new recipe. I guess because of these two bugaboos, I have no compunction about reprinting their recipes.

Anyway, so back to my lazy Sunday - for yesterday, I decided to make a Beef Burgundy, which while it wasn't entirely in one pot, came close enough. I assembled all the ingredients about 10:00am because the recipe said it needed 8 to 10 hours on low. It was easy peasy, and then it sat and cooked away all day, making the house smell pretty good.

There are no pictures though because I have this thing with slow cooker foods - I don't know if it's me, or if it's because the recipe cooked too long (as I said, the recipe said 8 - 10 hours, but my crockpot cooks hot and it probably was done in more like 5.5 to 6 hours) or if it's just a function of crock pot cookery, but other than the parsley sprinkled on at the end, all the colors just melt, into a sort of brown. It tasted good though and Becky and Chris both said I could make it again. There's a lot of extra gravy, so make sure you have an nice crusty loaf for mopping.

Another Weight Watcher recipe, this time from Turnaround Program Cookbook. I love Chinese food so anything that resembles that, and satisfies a craving, I'm in. This one did that and came together quick. I'm usually concerned that there's not enough sauce in these recipes but this one had enough to coat all the chicken and broccoli nicely. Becky doesn't like broccoli but picked out the chicken and gave it a thumbs up. I will make it again.

No ... not me, though I wish. It's Becky! Can you believe that? My daughter is going to Australia before me. All at once I'm excited, jealous, nervous and a bit scared. I'm excited at the prospect of traveling so far (until of course I remember, I'm not going). I'm jealous - well because she is. But nervous and scared because I'm her mom and that's just a natural reaction to the thought of your fifteen year-old travelling half-way around the world without you.

She's heading overseas with People to People, which I had been vaguely aware of before she received her invitation letter. Now, I've come to realize it's a huge organization. I can't believe how many kids I know that went on one of their trips and I just didn't realize it.

The process goes, first you get your invitation letter. Then you attend a 60-minute informational meeting. Then you must apply. As part of that, you have to submit three letters of recommendation, two from teachers, one from someone else. Finally, you have an interview (which turned out to be a group interview - with 9 other kids), and then you're in. It sounds more involved than it actually was.

Once you're accepted you have between four and six meetings where the kids learn about each other and about the country (or countries) of their destination. These meetings last from two to three hours each. Last night we had our first one and parents were encouraged to stay (we're not required to stay for the second or third but must return for the fourth). We didn't do much other than organize into committees (food - three hour meetings - there must be food, bon voyage party, reunion party, and then some research committees). The research committees need to get information on cell phone rentals and purchase, Visa buxx cards, and hiring a bus to get the kids to the airport on departure day. I didn't sign up for any of those, choosing reunion instead - hey what can I say it sounded like more fun. Though I will do some research on my own using SlowTrav into the cell phone thing. We're still not sure if she's taking one or not.

Since Becky was in the first round of interviews, I (along with the other parents at that interview), got snagged into bringing snacks for last night's meeting. I thought I'd go with the theme.

We served kangaroos, crocodiles and sheep. People got a kick out of them, but man they were a lot of work. Next time, maybe airplanes.

Don't you just love that word? I do. I love how it sounds like it means. I love how it feels when I say it. And I love that I can use it in a sentence, like, my weight loss attempts over the past few months have been lackadaisical at best.

Yep, that's true - I've been stalled for over six months now. Some weeks, worse than stalled, some weeks I gain. At least now though I when I gain one week I can usually get it off the next but still, I'm spinning my wheels. I'm pursuing weight loss "without interest, vigor or determination." I'm totally "listless" and "lethargic." (all good words by the way).

I like to tell the girls when they have a problem and they're upset, they have five (maybe 10 if it's a big problem) minutes to bitch and moan and then they have to figure out how they're going to fix it.

Given that, let's say I'm done bitching and moaning about this one. But, seriously, for the life of me, I'm stumbling around here and trying to figure out how to get back my drive and determination.

All suggestions welcome.

Okay - shhh...don't tell anyone, but I forgot to post this last night, so my last day of February entry will be post dated. Anyway though, I was in a minor baking frenzy yesterday and thought I would return to Dolce Italiano for inspiration for last night's dessert. I had found almond flour a while ago in a local market, so decided to make the Almond Fingers.

Almond Fingers photo by Becky