Weekend Flight

I'm sitting here in the airport waiting to board my flight to my hometown for my college friend's wedding this weekend. Just a few weekends ago I going the same place for the same reason. I guess I've reached the age where everyone I know is either married or getting married. :)

My "foodie" post missed the promised deadline. I fail.... again. I hope that I can make up for m y failure with enough fancy pictures and appropriate food indulgences to deceive you into believeing that I eat well balanced, creative, original and fresh ALL THE TIME. (HA!) Ok, bear with me folks, these meals go waaaaay back and I mean beginning of internship variety of "waaaay back". 

First up: 

Some sort of grilled egg and cheese sandwich with tomato and fresh persimmon on the side. (see what I mean by "bear with me"? I don't remember what I put in this or how I made it. But I DID take a picture of it. :)

This colorful concoction was thanks to Pinterest. Believe it or not, I actually do make a lot of the recipes I pin on my boards and for the most part I delete the ones that aren't worth making again. So far that's only been 1 or 2. This one was a success and made when I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. Arugula, pomegranate seeds, cashews and a homemade balsamic dressing (also pinterest). After I dug in I realized that the salad was supposed to be topped with fresh pear slices so I added them in after the fact but they didn't make the curtain call for food photo shoot.

This little beauty has become one of my go-to recipes for busy days. It's crockpot magic and guess what.... It's a pinterest find! I call it taco chili but you may christen it whatever you see fit. It is literally as easy as throwing everything in the crockpot and turning it on. By the time I get home from work, the house smells all yummy and I LOVE walking in and knowing dinner is ready. I top it will cheese, a dollop of sour cream and usually cilantro (all of which are optional of course). Add a few tortilla chips if it suits your fancy. This one is making it to the recipe page here on Short'n'Savory so look out for it!

Here's a veggie stir-fry that I was apparently too ravenous to plate before I took a picture and filled my growling stomach. I hope you'll excuse the wok featured as the serving dish. There's nothing like fresh veggies in a stirfry to add the necessary crunch!

Back to the basics. You know I love my sandwiches! This one I threw together for lunch when I was home for some reason... must have been a Saturday. I always like to toast or grill my sandwiches and it looks like an egg made it on the cast list here. 

OK... so this is most definitely not dietitian approved for many reasons. I would never admit to eating this to any of my cardiac, renal, or diabetic patients. Actually, I wouldn't admit it to anyone who asked so for the record, I made this for my room mate and just watched her eat it. Before baking the potato you make horizontal slices and fill them with cheese so that it gets all crispy and melty while the potato bakes! Then you top it with whatever you want or whatever you have in the fridge. Sources say it was yummy.

 This is a little more acceptable as a balanced meal. It's low on the protein side as most of mine are. What can I say, I'm a sucker for carbs. This is a very simple spinach salad with purple cabbage, bell peppers, and topped with a sliced pear. The rest of the pear served as dessert and my side dish was black bean hummus with toasted pita bread.

This obviously isn't a meal but it's making this post because I love this little tin. I picked it up as a give-away at our dietetic conference in April. I love to fill it with my own little version of trail mix and it's a perfect 1 oz container. Simply awesome! 

Above is my first attempt at a black bean burger.... While it wasn't bad, it doesn't look great. However, I felt the need to post it becausemy second attempt was such an improvement! I've been wanting to find a great black bean burger recipe for a while and I've done some experimenting. I finally found one that I thought was closest to what I wanted out of it. Then I tweaked it to my liking and the following resulted...

It was so awesome! I loved it despite the scoffs I received! Not only that but the leftovers were awesome too! Add to the fact that I was able to serve it on my mom's fresh baked bread rolls from home and it was a dinner to beat all dinners. But that's just my humble foodie opinion. 

 Alright, down to serious business. Brussel sprouts. Why do these tiny, cute little cabbage like veggies get such a bad wrap? Before making these particular ones, I had tasted brussel sprouts just once before. While at Sprout's Farmers Market one fine day, I spotted them on sale. So I got adventurous and grabbed a few to try out on my own. I pulled a recipe from my trusty pinterest board and wah la! Baked, basalmic glazed brussel sprouts. My PSA here is... give brussel sprouts a try, what did they ever do to you? Just, whatever you do, don't boil them! 

I seem to receive the most dissent in my meal choices when meat is lacking from the menu. Here is another example. A veggie sandwich featuring one egg, grilled bell pepper, sliced avocado, hummus as spread, and red leaf lettuce sandwiched between warm toasty whole wheat pita bread. How's that for scrumptious? No? Well, I thought it was. :)

 

Another meatless meal. Bear with me here meat-eaters and facebook friends (who have already seen a lot of these). Most of the time I'm too lazy to cook meat and rarely have any in the fridge that I can quickly make. It requires either making a special trip to the store or planning in advance enough to thaw the meat. Keep in mind I'm gone between 8 and 12 hours of the day and there's still work to be done when I finally return. Sometimes I take time to shower.... ;) So I made black bean tacos one night with the remainder of an avocado. The trick is to season the black beans so you aren't eating plain old canned beans. I threw some purple cabbage in a skillet and sauteed it up. Fresh salsa finished it off nicely!

Alright, we're already up to just a few days ago! I made this marinade for some chicken I had thawed because  it had been in the freezer for a lengthy period of time. Totally oblivious to the fact that Monday was a holiday and the first official day for summer barbecueing... I planned to grill up this marinaded chicken and sadly found the apartment barbecues well used and very unavailable. Thank goodness for my multiple use panini grill! 

I grilled the chicken and made chicken salad for the summery (aka HOT) Memorial Day.

Then I used the leftover chicken for a sandwich today which I didn't think about photographing because... I was running out of the house to the airport. 

Alright, I think I'm satisfied with this food update. It hits at least some of the highlights of my adventures in the kitchen over the last few months. 

Since my last post I've started my final clinical rotation and I'm really enjoying it. One of the nice things is that I have regular hours. Maybe I'll have more time for kitchen adventures and consequent blogging! If there's some "recipe" (and I'm using the term VERY lightly) that you would like to inspect, feel free to comment and I'll see what I can share! 

That's all folks!!

Delayed Update

Considering my last post was before I had actually started rotations for my internship year, I think it is safe to say that I officially failed at blogging through my year as a dietetic intern. For anyone who has been through a dietetic internship, you will understand why. For those of you who haven't and never plan to... suffice it to say that my reasons for not blogging are justified. 

I spent a few nights stuck to my work.... literally.

Maybe it would have sufficed for me to simply write quick posts here and there but what's done is done. (or in this case; not done)

So much has happened this year that I wouldn't even know where to begin explaining it all. I'm currently midway through my spring break which is a glorious week of no rotation. Unfortunately for me this means that I should be spending my time catching up on all the side-projects that I've let slide over the last several months. Instead I've been lounging in bed, taking naps and enjoying the blissful feelings of NOTHING! And that, dear friends, is why I'm blogging now. 

Let's do a very abbreviated recap of the major events since my last post (sadly in August)

Remainder of August: Foodservice rotation: tons of projects and little to no guidance, 120 mile commute every day.

September

 Upheaval of the internship due to a change in staffing which left us without a director. I just about went out of my mind trying to manage my foodservice projects. Got sick.

October

Finished food service and turned in the first of many humongous binders full of projects. I started my WIC rotation right here in sacramento. Only 20 minutes of driving. Yay! I got very familiar with making handouts and telling single moms the benefits of breastfeeding and not propping bottles up to feed their babies. Also had some great learning experience working with an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) in which I learned more about breastfeeding than I ever thought I would. 

Some of my WIC companions at our monthly potluck lunch

November

Back to French Camp for my first clinical rotation of 10 weeks. The 120 mile commute was old hat by then and I was resigned to becoming good friends with pump #4 at the gas station down the street. Got sick again, some form of the flu this time despite my required flu shot. On a non-internship related note but one that is very significant: I started dated the most fantastic guy that I was convinced couldn't exist in today's world. :) November was a good month.

December

 I was feeling very thankful for my experience as a diet tech because it set me up very well for my clinical rotation. This hospital was all paper charting which was new to me but I learned a lot and worked with some fantastic dietitians. Went home for Christmas and New Years and caught an awful stomach bug which laid me out flat for about 3 days and took weeks to fully recover from.

The awesome dietitians at San Joaquin General Hospital

January

Presented my first case study on diverticulitis and finished up my clinical rotation in French Camp. My preceptors took me out to dinner in Stockton to celebrate. I miss those people and I still keep in touch. It was such an excellent introduction into clinical dietetics for me. I started my rotation in dialysis which mainly took place in Elk Grove. Got hit in a pretty stupid accident on my way to a patient meeting for dialysis. I was out of my car for the next month and a half. It doesn't look that bad but if you look closely at that back tire.... yes, it isn't supposed to be at that angle. 

My poor car

February

 Finished my dialysis rotation where I never once passed out despite all the needles draining blood from peoples' arms... shivers. I learned a lot and realized that nutrition in dialysis is completely different than anything else and you should value your kidneys while you have them. Care for your kidneys people! I had a visit from my guy and a week later, from my mom. She came in time to celebrate my birthday. I've hit a quarter century everyone! Time for that life crisis I guess. Started a rotation in School Nutrition. 

Birthday Dinner with Mom!

March

FINALLY got my car back after it needed extensive body work and finally an axle replaced. Probably should have been totalled but.... 

I thoroughly enjoyed my rotation in school nutrition. I miss teaching little kids all about healthy eating and my preceptor very kindly told me that this is my niche and it's what I was meant to do. :)

April

Did 2 weeks in elderly nutrition which flew by and I mostly worked from home. It was a nice change of pace to be sure. Then I started the rotation for which I was most apprehensive: at a community health clinic that specializes in HIV treatment. For all of my anxiety, I learned a lot from this rotation and did enjoy my time. I did work some long days though and I was tired most of the time. It was nice to get back to electronic charting for a change. I went down to SoCal for the annual dietetic conference and mostly enjoyed the time I got to spend with the other interns. It was a true bonding experience. 

My preceptor and a coworker on my last day of rotation at the clinic.

My awesome co-interns at the annual dietetic conference.

May

Here we are in May. It's a busy month. I just finished 2 weeks in long term care from Napa to Stockton. I've been all over Northern California this year. After this week is over I'll be starting my final clinical rotation in Roseville. I can't believe I'm starting my last rotation (not including 2 weeks of an elective rotation at the end) aaaaa! I'm so so so anxious to be done. 

Ok! now that I've written the world's longest, most visually boring post, I can say that I'm caught up in my blogging. Surprisingly, despite my reprieve from writing anything, I have continued to take pictures of my adventures in the kitchen. I'll plan to provide PLENTY of food-tastic pictures of my creations in my next post. That's a promise!

Lazy Blog

Ok... I'm copying and pasting from my other blog. Yes, I'm being lazy but it's the same story for a different group of people. :)

Last week was orientation where we were given all of the information that we will need for the upcoming rotations and such. On day 2 of orientation I received my rotation schedule for the year and just about vomited on it. Yes, I actually felt nauseous. For those who don't know much about the internship I'll give you a quick run-down of how they generally work. All dietetic interns complete supervised practice rotations through (usually) 3 major categories of nutrition; Foodservice Management, Clinical Nutrition and Community Nutrition. Beyond that, each internship is a little to a lot different in how they break up those rotations, how many of each they require, where they send their interns to complete them and how quickly they are done. Some internship programs are paired with grad classes and some aren't. 

There! you've now received a very general overview of internships in the dietetics world. 

(Oh and most of them are 100% unpaid, very few offer a stipend but no wages.)

Now... My program is 12 months long, a very FULL 52 weeks long. I will be taking grad classes in succession with all of my rotations through Sac State but a lot of them, if not most of them, are shared with the dietetic interns at UC Davis. Kind of cool! Talk about networking.

So, back to my schedule and my nausea. My very first rotation as a dietetic intern will be my least favorite area of the field... Food Service, and I was placed at the facility that is the farthest away. What's "far" you say? Oh how does 60 miles one way sound? yup! 120+ miles to drive 4 days a week for 8 weeks.

When I started calculating my driving time and adding in and 8 hour (possibly 10-12) work day, the drive back, then whatever homework, studying and projects I need to work on, my stomach dropped and I felt a bit of a cold sweat.

But wait! There's more! After my Food Service rotation I get a nice 4 week community rotation in Sacramento (20ish minute drive) phew! Then .... my first clinical rotation is right back at the first hospital for another 9 weeks. All in all, I'm spending over a third of my internship year driving 120 miles everyday. Blech!

Needless to say, it has been a challenge accepting my schedule and what it means for my upcoming year. I'm really in for it. I just have to remember that this is done one day at a time. 

Also, that Haagen-Dazs makes gelato now and this one seems to make stress melt away...

I don't have any new meals to share. I haven't been making anything picture worthy and I've taken up eating like a bachelor, eating out of the container and over the sink. haha

I've rediscovered a pinterest find called Myfridgefood that I think might come in handy over this next year. you just select the ingredients you have in your fridge/pantry/kitchen and it gives you recipes that you can make with those items. Pretty cool! I'll be trying it out tomorrow hopefully. :)

Tomorrow is my first day of rotations and I'm kind of excited to just dive in but I'm really apprehensive for obvious reasons. I guess tomorrow I will see how the drive goes... Wish me luck!

Making Do

Hello all! 

I know (once again) it's been a while since I've blogged but trust me... there's been a lot going on! :)

I'm officially residing in Sacramento now, weird huh? It has been an adjustment for sure and I'm sure it will continue to be. Mom and Dad helped me move up here which I am ever so grateful for! I had a couple of weeks off after I finished at Loma Linda and they filled up so fast. I had a few dear dear friends to saw farewell to and a few small trips planned as well. 

First I spent a couple of days in Palm Springs with Mom which was excellent! Then my sister Kim and my nephews and I took a small roadtrip to my niece's birthday with a luxurious and fun one night stay in Lompoc. :)

One excited birthday girl and this is why....

 Cupcakes!

 

 We noshed on some excellent pizza, a fresh green salad and fresh summer fruit!

After the party weekend I had to head straight home to start the packing process. What a daunting task, let me tell you! After a couple of days I just starting packing stuff like a mad woman. My room was an absolute disaster but as the boxes got sealed and labeled Dad and Joe started loading them into one of the 2 cars that were heading North.

Fast forward to Friday and we were on our way. I wrote a little more about the move on the blog I'm co-authoring with fellow interns and good friends if you care to read the nitty gritty.

Now, I'm semi-settled in Sacramento and attempting to survive on my own. Since I'll be out of work and paying for tuition my meals may become very repetitive (oh wait they already have!) and look a whole lot like top ramen because it actually is. haha

I did some grocery shopping as soon as possible and tried to stock the fridge with the stuff I thought I could and would use up and not waste. That meant long lasting fruits and veggies, eggs, and various other staples. 

 The following meals resulted.

Ok, I didn't make In-N-Out but we ate it because... well because it's In-N-Out and it's pretty much awesome wherever you are. :)

Pasta, sauteed veggies and an egg. (by the way, I didn't have olive oil at this point which made for some disappointing pasta)

This loaf of artisan bread from Costco that you'll see I've been using just about every meal in some way.

Leftovers. 

Chicken that I made up a marinade for and grilled with some steamed veggies. (starting to seem some serious repeats?)

Quick scrambled egg breakfast with toast and a grapefruit quarter.

Our director took us out to lunch on our last day of orientation to a restaurant called "Noodles and Co." which was so nice of her and it was very tasty. I ordered a spicy Indonesian dish with chicken, sprouts, veggies, cilantro and lime.

More leftovers made into something else. I took the rest of the grilled chicken from the night before and made a pretty tasty salad if I do say so myself.

Simple breakfasts are best for me. Yogurt, granola, a sprinkle of chia seeds that I've had forever and need to use, and a banana on the side. 

I'm trying to decide how to divvy up the blogging info between this one and the Three Pea Stew. What I would like to do it keep all of my foodie stuff here and I'll leave the internship stuff for the other one. Who am I kidding... after everything I found out this week, I'm going to be doing good to have time to sleep and shower. I really am in for an intense year. I don't know how I'm going to do it but the interns from this last year are still alive and even smiling so apparently it's possible. 

I'm ever so grateful that I have some awesome people encouraging me and supporting me. I can't tell you how much it means to know that you exist and are cheering me on. Until next time...

Long Overdue Announcement

So.... I have news to share. Since most of my readers are close friends and or family, you probably already know but I'm sharing anyway.

If you read this post, you'll know that I submitted my applications for dietetic internships back in February. From that time until late March l I sat around waiting for a call from any of the EIGHT (yes eight) programs that I had applied to. While Ashley was fielding calls for interviews from all of the ones she applied to, I was becoming more grateful by the day that I hadn't gotten my hopes up too high. I had given up hope when the last day of the interviewing time frame came along. I went to visit Ashley at her desk during my break at work and casually opened my email on my phone. Up popped a tiny email letting me know I had been selected to interview for Sacramento State University's internship!!!!!!!! yay! but wait! that's just an interview...

Three days later, I was interviewing over the phone with the director. It went well but in my opinion, not as well as I would have hoped. Now all that was left was reordering/ranking the programs I had applied to (<-- more difficult than it seems), and more waiting. 

April 7th was the big day. I had taken a few days off to join my family in Tahoe for that weekend and I'm so, so glad that I did. I figured that if I got bad news on the 7th I could drown myself take solace in the beautiful lake, and if I got good news, I would be with family and on vacation. What better way to celebrate or drown your sorrows?

FINALLY April 7th came and I was watching the clock all day... come on 4pm!!!!

Right about 3:55, my family not so discretely left the cabin one by one and I was left alone to keep hitting the refresh button on the website. BAM! 4:00, hit refresh and...

"Congratulations! You have been matched to Sacramento State University's Dietetic Internship"

WHAT?! yes, brain you saw that correctly, you don't need to refresh the page again.

I sat on the bed and laugh-cried for a few minutes. I was grateful for the empty cabin where I could experience the news on my own for a few brief moments. 

Ashley and I had worked out a system for this day. It went something like this:

Text a period (.) if it's not good news

Text an exclamation (!) if it is good news.

This way if one of us had good news and the other didn't, we knew to give each other some space. If we both had good news, we could call and scream. If we both had bad news we could call and cry (or scream). I waited a while before I couldn't stand it anymore and I sent my "!" She broke code and replied with actual words! How dare she!? :) Unlike me, the poor girl had to be at work the whole day and was still trying to get onto the website to find out what kind of news she had. An HOUR later she found out REALLY good news too! Next... Stephanie. Good news too! Yay us!

Soon the family trickled in and gave me cautious looks... (happy tears? or no?) Mom cried with me, Laura grinned and hugged me, and Dad stood there in shock. :) It took a few days for it to settle in. Especially when I realized that I had been selected for one of 8 spots in a program that received between 75-110 applicants, maybe more. Talk about humbling odds eh?

Anyway, long story long, I will soon be moving to Sacramento to begin my internship. Crazy! That's really what I started this blog for in the first place. Now... it's really happening!

I have a few weeks left before that happens but so much to do before! One last thing before you go (if you haven't already), Since Ashley, Stephanie and I all got into our internships this year , Stephanie came up with the brilliant idea of co-blogging our internships as a way to keep in touch and share our experience with each other. It should be great fun to have the three of us writing about our difference adventures. It's not completely set up yet but you can find us HERE!

I'm so happy to be moving to the next chapter. Thank you to each one of you who have encouraged me to keep going and commiserated with me when it's been rough. I'm not there yet but it's great to know that the goal is getting closer!

A Plethora of Birthdays

Dear me, time flies by and here it's been nearly another week since I wrote anything. I had the great fortune of celebrating my birthday with my  family and later with friends last week. Mom and I spoiled ourselves at the amazing Burke Williams for the day. I got sneaky and took pictures where I probably wasn't supposed to, but I made sure I was alone.

They've made some changes since the last time I was there and now the place is even more full of cozy spots like this one than it was before. We sat here and chatted, 

We sat here in blissful silence, 

and we sat with this in utter delight. You do have the option to have lunch brought to you there in the spa but we decided to go out and get lunch before returning to the quiet oasis behind the Burke William's doors.

I had a panini (surprise, surprise!) and a salad of field greens topped with balsamic from Corner Bakery. They have a new panini that is definitely worth a taste. The Monterey Turkey: smoke turkey, fresh spinach, artichoke asiago spread and provolone on sourdough. =D

There are a lot of great things about this spa but on of them is that around just about every corner you will find a table like this one: 

Loaded with cool water, fresh fruit, and hot tea. 

Anyway, after Mom and I were pampered all day long, we spent some time walking around the outdoor mall and then it was time for dinner with some of the family. 

My sister, two brothers, two nephews and Mom and Dad took me out for dinner at a grill called Zitto's. We passed up a Mediterranean restaurant because of the size of our group but we were all very happy with our dinner. 

I added a side salad but was disappointed with their version of a "green" salad. It was all iceberg lettuce and very little flavor. I didn't finish it.

My pasta on the other hand was delightful. Angel hair, basil, feta and parmesan, sun dried tomato and pine nuts. This is a deceiving picture. There was quite a bit of pasta and I ended up taking a large portion home for leftovers.

My gift of the night: A handmade wand. Fashioned out of a straw by my multi-talented nephew. Thank you Derek! I'm keeping it safe here on my desk if the need for a wand ever arises, I have a strong feeling this one will serve me well!

The following night I went to dinner with a few friends to celebrate 2 birthdays! Stephanie and I share a birthday week and we need very little for an excuse to have a great night with friends. We went to BJ's again because it's just too hard to pass up free pizookie. :) Those of you who don't have a reference for the amazing-ness of pikzookie, I urge you to google it, order it, make it, indulge in it. It's amazing.

Anyway, I ordered this humongous salad without knowing just how humongous it was and proceeded to engulf myself (figuratively of course) in the tasty fried onions, grilled chicken, sweet corn and all the other amazing elements of this plate. 

I was through a good portion of it before someone mentioned pizookie and I quickly dropped my fork, appalled that I had forgotten about dessert.

Stephanie and I ordered our birthday pizookie plates and delightfully dug in. At this point in the night, I was already full and was more than willing to share with two of the guys that had refrained from dessert. Sneaky little thieves got the better end of the deal on that one didn't they?

I had such a great night. So many good hard laughs and stories we'll tell and continue to laugh about. Thanks to Ashley, Jason, Marven, Stephanie, George and Zaul for a great night! Can't wait to do it again!

I had a sort of shift initiation this weekend. I worked until 10 both nights and then had to be back at 5 the next morning. It's the most extreme back to back shift I've ever worked and I survived. I won't lie, I did doze at my desk a few times during the slow moments in the office. Not to be outdone, my partner in crime for the morning, Jon, expertly got in more shut eye than I did during those downtimes. 

I was very thankful for the day off today after that although it wasn't as bad as my imagination had chalked it up to be. I spent the day catching up on errands and of course, in the kitchen. I had some requests to write about my mom's homemade sourdough and how it all works so I spent some time baking and snapping pictures today. Can't wait to share because it was a learning experience for me too.

My favorite part about my days off : fresh lunches!

I threw together a sandwich with Havarti cheese, fresh Roma tomatoes, spinach, hummus, pepper, and a very small amount of cooked pastrami on Tandoori Naan. Blueberries on the side to encourage and feed what few brain cells I have left.

Not too shabby for a quick, thrown together lunch. :)

It's back to work tomorrow but not before I bake something sweet to take with me. Still not sure what it's going to be... 

Off I go, back to the kitchen!

Tricking Tulips

 What a week it has been so far! We'll start with last weekend. I went on a hike with Ashley and two guys from work, Marven and Zaúl  I started work at 4 that morning which meant I was up at 2 and 12 hours later I was starting out on an uphill hike. To say the very least, I was not in my peak performance mode. Ashley was way ahead of me half the time and Zaúl finally got tired of hanging back too. :) Something exciting happened on our hike though.... 

A spontaneous proposal from this girl!! Haha

Then we took a normal picture which is hard for us to do because... well, we aren't normal.

Marven met us halfway through the hike with his little dog Pepper and she impressed me by finished the entire 5 mile stretch on her own. Those short little legs of hers did better than my short little legs or at least better than my mind did. Fatigue is a nasty ailment.

It was a fun day despite my early morning.

Saturday I had made plans to catch up with Roger and unofficially celebrate our birthdays. He suggested "Portos" a cafe and bakery that he and his family really enjoy. 

Turns out... I do too now!

 Like any sane person would, we started with dessert. Mine: a scrumptious fruit tart

His: Guava Strudel

Then... sandwiches! His: Papa Preparada which features Portos' famous potato balls. 

I'm not going to lie, I was a little jealous when I saw Roger's sandwich. Then I took a bite of mine. 

Nope! I made the better choice!

Torta de Pollo!

grilled chicken breast, black bean spread, goat cheese, lettuce, tomato and red onion on french bread, freshly baked, oh-so-soft french bread.

Those yellow strips of heaven are plantain chips. They are really good and borderline addictive. Good thing they aren't bottomless. :)

After lunch we strolled through the Glendale Galleria which is well known although I had never heard of it. It's kind of a strange mall. Anyway, Roger ventured into an Apple store for the first time and decided to open this website on the biggest Mac screen we saw.... 

Yup! one of the leading websites on everything android. :)

On a spontaneous whim I decided to make my own peanut butter yogurt one morning. I used the last of my greek yogurt and just whipped in peanut butter until it seemed to be all mixed in. Then I topped it with granola and banana and enjoyed it with a mug of tea. 

It was pretty good but I think it would be better if you re-refrigerate it after whipping it. Working it that much kind of made  it room temperature and that's not a good temp for yogurt. 

As you can see, I've really been trying with breakfasts this week. I had a couple of later shifts so I had some time to do something other than nothing. Here is my omelette day. I think I threw in scallions, bell pepper, and tomato. On Sunday I made that awesome bean salad thingy and I threw a couple spoonfuls of the leftovers into the middle before folding it over and topping it with cheese. 

Grapes on the side and a half piece of toast with my favoritest ever apple butter which I recently learned was discontinued from Trader Joe's. I'm ready to revolt! I just found this gem of a fruit butter and it's not available anymore!!! WHAT?! Where do I sign the complaint/petition/political measure to bring it back?

Speaking of that bean salad thing, I also took the leftovers for lunch (2 days in a row). When I made it this time, I used red quinoa which was a new discovery to me. It seems very different than the common yellow grain quinoa. Different texture (more crunchy) and I think maybe a more nutty taste. 

Breakfast this morning was a fruit/granola parfait. Banana cream yogurt, trader Joe's apple granola, and a blood orange. I would like to say it kept me full until lunch, which it did, but that might have something to do with the fact that I ate my parfait breakfast closer to 10 than I care to admit.

 I had intended to do some cooking today but by the time I got back from the gym around 5, Mom already had a meatball dinner 75% done. I just didn't plan my day well enough. I volunteered to take veggie duty to semi-satisfy my cooking cravings. I didn't do anything special with them. Saute'd in OO, and garlic with some fresh rosemary.

I love these colors. They weren't so beautifully contrasted after I finished burning cooking them so I'm glad I have this picture.

I made some red quinoa too. I don't think I like it as much as the yellow but I'm still giving it some time.

The Tulips are blossoming beautifully and we have had such awesome weather the last week. We really are spoiled here in SoCal. We don't know what winter is. Luckily, we have freezers and we can trick our tulips into thinking that we do. 

:)