Eating Healthy (Again)

Like a lot of women, I'm unhappy with my current weight. Let me explain, last year for our wedding I worked so hard and got into the best shape of probably my life. I was at the gym all the time and careful with what I ate. Since our wedding, I've sadly put back on about 15 pounds, which is pretty much what I lost leading up to the wedding. It's def the never ending battle, the up and down fluctuation of those stubborn 10-15 pounds. Mike gets annoyed with me when I complain about it, as he nicely tells me I'm not fat, which I'm not saying I am, I just feel uncomfortable. I'm not happy with the way that I feel in my clothes and the way that I feel about my body.  It's also that a lot of the clothes I bought last year no longer fit again. I have three sizes of clothing, small, medium and large, and while I've been in the mediums for a while recently, I feel like I'm teetering on moving into the large section of my closet.

I also think a lot of it has to do with what you are putting in your body and the foods that you eat. Now, I have never been a bad eater, I do like to splurge here and there and indulge in foods that are not good for you, but I think my food habits have gotten off track (certainly lately). I had tried to count calories and do weight watchers on my own before our cruise but it wasn't working for me this time, and that got frustrating and I ultimately 'gave up'. I think another sad fact that I have to face is that, although I don't look it, I am getting older, and my metabolism isn't what it used to be. I think even weight watchers changes the age bracket on the points scale at 29, which just goes to further my point.

I do continue to work out although of course not with the same intensity of leading up to the wedding, there is no motivation like the motivation of wearing your wedding dress and the pictures of that day you'll have for the rest of your life. I'm glad that I haven't given that up. I love my step classes, and those I try not to miss but before the wedding I was also doing a lot of 'group power' classes which were weight training as well or going to two classes back to back, something I've gotten away from.

Now this is not any type of New Years resolution, all I'm saying is that for the new year I want to put the focus back on eating healthy and getting back into shape and losing those stubborn 10 pounds I put back on. I've decided to give the "17 Day Diet" a shot.  Although I'm not a fan of using the word diet, I think this is what I need to give me a kick start to get going. I believe that Weight Watchers works because it gives you a lifestyle to maintain, and is not a short term solution, it really is for the rest of your life, it teaches you healthy eating habits, including important things like portion control. From having done Weight Watchers, I know that it does work, this diet, I think really encompasses a lot of the principles of the things that weight watchers also does but in a different light. It is a little more restricting, at first, but it has different phases. And it also makes sure that you are not hungry or depriving your body of the nutrients it needs, nothing like those shake diets or anything. Plus the real motivation is seeing that my Mother-in-Law recently did it and let me tell you, she looks fantastic. Not that she had a lot of weight to lose, just those stubborn 10-20 pounds that any woman wants to lose. After doing the program for only 2 months she's lost 20 pounds. Seeing her in her cocktail dress at the wedding we went to Friday night, she looked really good, and felt good.

I'm looking forward to starting my diet, and being healthy. Mike has even agreed to do it with me, I'm hoping he can stick with it as well, I hope that he does follow it. I'm easing us into it today, I'll explain more about the specifics later..... But here is to starting off 2012, happy and healthy!

Rocky's First Christmas

Before we left for our 'Christmas Tour of Long Island and New Jersey' we had our own little family Christmas at our house. We celebrated together the three of us on Friday night, Christmas Eve-Eve, with the Christmas Carols playing in the background and I even got the fireplace to stay on, although it was really warm, I just like the atmosphere of it.

Just before we were ready to get started I put the toys I bought for Rocky in his stocking (his matching Pottery Barn stocking, no less) and hung it up on the mantle. It did not take Rocky for long to discover his stocking and saw the toys sticking out of it but he could not reach them. Then he started to get mad that they were up there and started barking at the stocking, so we took it down for him. Rocky worked hard to get all his new toys out of the stocking and began dragging the stocking across the floor in an effort to get them out. Once he had them he was quite a happy camper. After that he moved on to his next game which was trying to help us unwrap our presents as well, he liked the wrapping paper.

It was so much fun having him here with us to celebrate Christmas, I wouldn't want it any other way, even if he is completely spoiled and now has a gigantic pile of toys to play with, it's only a matter of time until they're missing limbs, but its worth it!

Hey, that's not fair, I can't reach that, give me those toys!

 SUCCESS! Going to help Daddy next

2011 Reflections

Looking back on the year, I'd def say the theme of 2011 was growing families. This year we were blessed with 5 beautiful, healthy, perfect nieces and nephews. Of course our little family also grew by one more as well, although ours has four legs and fur but he is the perfect addition to our family. We were so lucky this year to become an Aunt and Uncle to 5 beautiful children. First was Jayden in February, followed by Miss Olivia in April, and close behind was Isaac in May, and all three of them were 'technically' there for our wedding, in their Mommies tummies of course, but we couldn't have been more blessed to have them 'there' with us, we'll them one day that they were there when Aunt Rachel and Uncle Mike got married.

And if that weren't enough we found out not long after that I was going to be an Aunt to my beautiful little pumpkin, I was convinced all along that she was a girl and boy was she ever worth the wait to find out. One more surprise was that Joe and Gina were also expecting a little girl as well and we had no idea while we were away on our trip to San Francisco. And now all these beautiful children are making all our lives better, they make things so much more fun, to see how big they get every time we see them. I cannot believe that Jayden is practically a year old already, hard to believe all the rest of the kids will be right behind them, it's so much fun to see their little personalities develop. I don't want them to grow up too fast though!

2011 was a big year for us as well in the growing our family department. It's hard to believe how far we came in our family. When I first brought Rocky home, Mike wanted nothing to do with him. It was a rough couple of months in the beginning getting him trained, that was not a fun process, but it was absolutely worth it. It's truly amazing to see how much Mike loves the little guy and how much he is a part of our little family. Life is so much more fun with him here, he can really make you feel better when you've had a bad day, and he's constantly making us laugh, we're such proud parents of him. Now we couldn't imagine him not being here with us and we just love him to pieces. He really is the best dog we could have ever asked for. He has the sweetest personality, he's such a mush and gives us all the love in the world!

We had some fun trips this year as well. We managed to cover the happiest place in the world, Disney,  there was San Francisco (and Napa), and even a cruise around the caribbean to celebrate our first anniversary, Mike even spent a month in Africa (for work).  I still have a lot of places I want to cover, I'm optimistically hoping we can get to Ireland in the spring next year, and we have a big trip planned to North Carolina next year for Nick & Stephanie's wedding, I'm sure I'll come up with some other destinations for us as well.

It's been a bit of a trying year this year work-wise, working from home full time hasn't been the most exciting situation for me. I'm trying to stay optimistic though that 2012 will bring bigger and better things. But one of the things I was most proud of in 2011 was that I finally graduated with my Masters Degree. It was a very long road to get there but it was worth it. I actually miss school in a way, now that I have all this free time I've finally been able to do things I wasn't able to before, like read lots of books on my kindle and do lots of baking and cooking.

All in all, 2011 was a very good year, a happy one for us and all of our friends who have brought these beautiful babies into our lives. We have some more weddings to look forward to next year, and even the following. Next year we have Nick & Stephanie, Michelle & Chris and in 2013 Anna & Dennis, and we can't wait to see their families all grow too (well at least to 2 for the time being, no little pitter-patters for them, or us too, just yet). We're very lucky to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives that have given us so many wonderful blessings and memories, and I can't wait to see what 2012 will bring our way.

Bum Wheel

We got some disappointing news just before Christmas about Rocky's leg. When we last left off our family veterinarian recommended that we go see a specialist that could tell us more about what was going on with Rocky's irregular leg bone. We were referred to Oradell Animal Hospital, which is in Paramus, about 20 minutes away from our house. On their website alone you could see that they have veterinarian specialist for everything from general surgery to doggie cardiologist, to oncology, neurology and more. We knew that this was not going to be any small time facility. We scheduled the appointment so we could both go with him and meet with the surgeon together to find out what was going on.

When we got to the animal hospital we were not in the least bit surprised to see just how big this facility was. We were called in with Rocky to go talk with the surgeon. He went over the x-rays we had brought with us and immediately identified the cause of the irregularity and went over it with us. He diagnosed Rocky with Legg-Perthes Disease.

Avascular necrosis of the femoral head is a disease of the hip joints of miniature and toy breeds of dogs, most often in Poodles, Yorkies, Lakeland terriers, west Highland white terriers, Jack Russell terriers and miniature pinchers just to name a few. It develops between 4 and 12 months of age. The blood supply to the neck of the femur is inadequate, leading to bone destruction in the hip joint, resulting in a roughened, irregular joint surface. Moving the rear legs causes pain, and the leg muscles weaken and shrink from insufficient use. Occasionally the limbs actually shorten. One or both rear legs may be affected. If only one leg is involved, the dog usually refuses to bear any weight on that limb.

Avascular necrosis is hereditary and probably results from breeding for small body size. This selective breeding produces dogs that mature more rapidly, and the early effects of hormones on the developing hips may cause the disease. Some researchers also believe that injury to the developing hips may cause the condition. If the condition is not treated, the dog may develop severe arthritis in later life. Usually, lameness is so severe that treatment is mandatory.

Disintegration of Hip Joint in Dogs. Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease involves spontaneous degeneration of the head on the femur bone, located in the dog's hind leg. This results in disintegration of the hip joint (coxofemoral) and bone and joint inflammation (osteoarthritis). The exact cause of the condition is unknown, though blood supply issues to the femoral head are usually seen in dogs suffering from Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease. It is commonly seen in miniature, toy, and small-breed dogs, and has a genetic basis in Manchester terriers. Moreover, most dogs affected with Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease are five to eight months in age.

Symptoms:

Lameness (gradual onset over two to three months)

Carrying of affected limb(s)

Pain when moving hip joint

Wasting of thigh muscles on affected limb(s)

Apparently this is not all that uncommon and it is frequently see in small dogs like Rocky.  All of the symptoms fit Rocky exactly, although before we had not known what it was. It might have been a fluke thing that the week Mike brought him to the vet it was particularly bad. We had first started noticing that Rocky was limping on the leg back around the time I went to Disney World and my Mother-in-Law was babysitting him, which would have been around the time that he was 7 months of age which is the disease commonly sets in. We had just assumed that it was something with his knee and we were planning to ask the vet about it at our next scheduled visit, since he did not appear to be in any pain other than some skipping when he walked. However it does seem that the limping and skipping has gotten worse gradually over time. Now that we know what it is every time we see him limp on that leg it breaks my heart. We have noticed that he does not put any weight on that leg at all anymore. And the doctor showed us how much smaller his affected leg is than his other leg.

There was good news and bad news, the good news was that with surgery Rocky will make a full recovery. The surgery to correct this is extremely successful especially in the small dogs and when they are younger. The bad news is that it will be very painful for Rocky, they essentially have to remove the dead part of the bone, they are removing a significant part of his leg bone and there will be nothing put in its place. This is what an xray of a dog that has this disease looks like before and after the surgery.

After we got past the initial shock of the diagnosis, the doctor went over the details of the surgery with us, and also unfortunately the shocking cost of the surgery. Let's just say calling it a "small fortune" does not do it justice, it is way more than we could have expected. But we have no choice, this is what I signed us up for by getting a dog. If he doesn't have the surgery it will only get more painful for him down the road and the surgery may not be as successful and he can also get early onset arthritis, which we don't want.

Then came the conversation afterwards do we call other animal hospitals and see if they can perform the surgery for cheaper. In the end we decided not to, we felt very comfortable with this surgeon and the facility. The surgeon told us he has performed over 200 of these procedures, its not like we were shopping around for a better price on a car, we were talking about the welfare of our 'child,' and as much as we joke about it but we only want the best for him. I'm worried enough about the surgery. When we were scheduling the surgery and I was asking about who will be with him afterwards. He has to stay overnight the first night since he will be on very strong pain medication and the receptionist could tell I was already upset about leaving him.

I know I am going to be very upset about dropping him off the day of his surgery. I just feel so badly that he has to go through this and he obviously has no idea and I hate that he will be in so much pain afterwards, but we know it is for the best, and I know he will be fine. I just want him to be healed and  back to his old self. As of right now the surgery is scheduled for only a week away, I can't bear to think of him being away from us next Wednesday and in so much pain, but I know he'll be ok. We love our little boy so much!!!

Articles: Vet Surgery Central, Pet MD, Televets

Merry Christmas from Rocky

Rocky's 2011 Christmas Picture with Santa

Another Winner

I meant to post this one before the Holidays but we just got so busy I never got a chance to. Mike does help out in the kitchen occasionally, he's most known for making his sauce and meatballs, which I do enjoy, I always leave that one to him, and he seems pretty happy to be the one in the family that makes the sauce in meatballs. Sometimes he'll help get dinner started or throw in some simple things like chicken nuggets but he's not usually one for making an intricate recipes on a regular basis. Lucky for me he agreed to help make this recipe for dinner while I went to my step class at the gym. It was wonderful coming home to a delicious meal on the table after the gym.

This is another recipe from Skinny Taste, which is def my all time favorite cooking blog, all of her recipes are absolutely delicious and they are healthy too (even weight watchers friendly). I also recently made her Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana, which got rave reviews as well from both Mike and my brother. I can't take any credit for making this one but Mike said it was really simple. I loved the flavor of it, the feta cheese with the saltiness really complimented it well. We served it over some orso which went great. It was so easy to make that even Mike didn't seem to mind too much, which makes it a great addition to any quick, mealtime rotation.

Tuscan White Beans with Spinach, Shrimp and Feta
Source: Skinnytaste

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (weight after peeled)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup low sodium, fat-free chicken broth
15 oz can no-salt added cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (Eden)
5 cups baby spinach
1 1/2 oz crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

Heat 1 tsp oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp until just opaque, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Heat remaining oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat and add onion, garlic and sage; cook 4 minutes stirring occasionally until golden. Stir in vinegar and cook 30 seconds. Add broth, bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes. Stir in beans and spinach and cook until the spinach wilts, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in shrimp. Top with feta cheese and divide in 4 bowls.

Can't Miss Banana Cupcakes

I was looking for a quick and easy recipe to use up some of the banana's in the freezer and some banana chips I bought at Trader Joe's that I wanted to decorate cupcakes with (I really only bought the banana chips for the sole purpose of decorating cupcakes with them). This recipe was very easy to make and required minimal ingredients, nothing special or fancy required, all staples you would have in your pantry so that made it a winner right there. I was very happy with the way the cupcakes turned out, I say they were very similar to a banana bread, they were very moist. The frosting on top is what finished them off and made them an even sweeter treat.

One thing I will say is that I made the frosting with my hand mixer, what a mess, never again. I've now made these cupcakes twice. The first time I followed the recipe and made 12 cupcakes, I was too lazy to break out the other muffin tin, but they were HUGE, perhaps a little too big. The second time I stretched them out a little further and made about 16, which was much better, the size was much more appropriate, plus gives you a few more cupcakes, and a few less calories in each one, although not that you'd be counting with these. It's def a good recipe which I would surely make again if I were in the mood for a sweet banana treat.

Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
Source: Martha Stewart

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired. (I used Trader Joe banana chips on the top of mine with some crushed graham crackers)

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.

Rocky's Rough Week

Let's face it, Rocky has anything but a tough life, this little pooch has everything he could possibly need and then some. He leads a pretty nice life, but he did have a rough week this week. It started out on Tuesday morning when I was putting some presents underneath the Christmas tree. Rocky had already tried to eat the tree, mind you it's a FAKE tree, it's not real, and could not possibly taste good, and he's also tried to eat the tinsel on the tree, again not something I imagine could taste good. But this one took the cake for worst Christmas item he could try to eat. He was sitting right next to me and the next thing I heard was a crunching/cracking sound. It was Rocky taking a bite out of a LIT christmas tree bulb, could you imagine? He just took a bite out of a Christmas tree light. I immediately panicked and shoved my entire hand in his mouth to take out every piece I could. I'm pretty sure I got 99% of the pieces out of his mouth, I "pieced" the pieces (does that even sound right?) back in my head and you could tell I had gotten the majority of the light, but I still of course worried that I missed a piece and he could have internal bleeding. I called the vet's office and they said to give him some white bread, and just monitor him. Thankfully we seemed to have gotten past that incident without anything happening.

We had to make a second call to the vet this week. We'd noticed for a long time that Rocky has a "skip" in his step sometimes, being the "google-er" that I am I did some internet research and deduced that he likely had what's called a luxating patella, which is particularly common in small dogs and especially poodles. This isn't usually  big deal and the dog can live with it, if it's not severe. However on Wednesday and Thursday this week we noticed he was limping a lot more and barely putting any pressure on the leg. Mike was so concerned on Friday that he called the vet and wanted to bring him in.

I couldn't go with Mike for the appointment since I was on a call, but when he called to say they were taking x-rays I rescheduled my call so I could down there and wait with him to find out what was wrong. Unfortunately the x-rays didn't tell us much, nor did the vet, other than that there is a problem with his hip (separate from the knee issue, which she did say he had what I thought). Rocky had discomfort in his left hip when she did the exam, so it wasn't the knee. We certainly weren't expecting an issue with his hip when Mike brought him in. She couldn't tell us if this was something he was born with, if it developed as he was growing, or if it occurred as a result of a physical activity, like playing around or jumping off something. All we know right now is that his bone seems a bit rigged and it's irregular. We're waiting for the other vets in the practice to look at the x-ray this week, although she didn't expect them to know much more than she did. And that they were going to refer us to a specialist, yes there are doggy specialists, we have to go see a radiologist and an orthopedic specialist and that there's a possibility he could require surgery. His limp seems a bit better today, although could be since we've been giving him an anti-inflammatory medication at night. So we're just waiting to find out more, I suspect though that this will not be cheap, but he's worth it.

30x30 Check In

When I first started this post I was still only 28 and I had a full year to go, but my birthday's come and gone and now I have less than a year left to complete my 30x30 list, and so far I've only made minimal progress. I thought it would be a good checkpoint to see how it's going with my list and what I have planned. I broke the list down into 3 major categories


Classes/Learning/Activities

1. Graduate with my Masters Degree - Check
2. Take yoga classes more regularly - I've looked a whole bunch of times to find local yoga classes, of course like anything else in this world, yoga classes don't come cheap. They only offer 3 yoga classes a week at my gym and they're all at horrible times that don't work for my schedule. There is one class on Friday mornings at 8 that I have been saying I am going to try. Maybe after the new year I'll make a commitment to try and take that class at least twice a month. It's a start since I don't foresee myself buying a package of classes anywhere else at this point as much as I'd love to. 
3. Take cooking classes - I've seen a couple classes in the city that look like fun, unfortunately I always seem to get deterred by the cost of them. I keep looking into them, maybe this spring/summer I'll bite the bullet when it is warmer to go into the city and give it a shot.   
4. Learn to speak Italian (better) - I took Italian in high school and then was fortunate enough to spend a semester abroad in Italy, it was amazing, I was by no means conversational but I could understand some and get the basics down, unfortunately when you don't use it, you tend to lose it. I've always been interested in taking classes to relearn it again, I think that would be so much fun, now I just have to actually do it.  
5. Take dance classes (like tap or ballet) - I love taking classes at the gym, I feel like taking dance classes would be just as fun and also good for you. I've been looking into this for years as well but have never actually called any places to find out about it, all these classes I want to do certainly add up 
6. Take photography classes - (Hopefully) Spring 2012 I've potentially found a place I want to take classes at but it's in the city (I couldn't find anything like this locally). I really want to take a weekly class series, this way I could have assigned homework assignments and get feedback from the instructor. The other problem is the classes don't come cheap. I'm hoping I can take some classes next spring. 
7. Learn to use my camera in manual - I am def getting better and a little bit more comfortable with my camera. I've taken a couple of introductory classes that were a good foundation to at least get me started and play around with some of the functions on the camera, but I still have a long way to go. 
8. Join a tennis league - Summer 2012. Every summer for the past few years I also look at the websites and day dream about joining a tennis league but I never follow through on it. I'd like to commit to making this summer the year that I actually do it. 
9. Join a book club - Jan 2012. Since I have not been successful in finding a local book club to join I've decided to start my own book club. I used to post on a North Jersey Wedding Community Forum Board (through the knot), to ask questions or find out about local vendors since it's all people from the local area, so I decided to ask on there if anyone was interested in joining a book club and I got responses from at least 11 other girls! We decided to start this up in January after the Holidays and I couldn't be more excited about getting this off the ground. 
10. Take a sign language class - Again one of those things I have good intentions to do. When I first came up with the idea there was a guy in my department that is deaf and I enjoyed trying to sign with him, unfortunately he's now left the company and there's no one for me to even practice with, I think this might be one item that doesn't get done. 
11. Learn to swim (I'm not so good right now) TBD. Probably Summer 2012. I know that I need to learn to swim better. It's funny I took all these swimming lessons growing up but I guess I never liked to hold my breath under water, or I don't have the innate sense of swimming but I get so nervous in the deep end of pools. I really need to think about taking some lessons for adults next summer. 

Travel 

1. Go to Chicago, catch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field - Fall 2012. I hope I convince Mike that it would be fun to take a long weekend trip to Chicago next fall, maybe we could try and go for Labor Day weekend or something. 
2. Go on a double decker tour of NYC - Summer 2012. Who wants to go on an open tour bus around cold Manhattan, I'll wait for the nice weather to roll around next summer, I know some people have mentioned wanting to do this so hopefully I can get a group together next summer 
3. Travel to Napa Valley, California - Check 
4. Go to the Long Island Wineries  - Summer 2012. This one is easy since I'm from Long Island, I just need to plan a girls trip out there to see who wants to go. I know my Mom has also been wanting to go as well 
5. Go on weekend trips to places like New England, DC, Niagara Falls - I love taking short weekend trips to "local" places that we could drive to. Unfortunately Mike does not share this same sentiment towards traveling. I hope I can convince him to do some short weekend trips once the weather is nice again. 
6. Go to famous food places in new cities - TBD - I was thinking like a philly cheesesteak in Philadelphia or an original Boston Cream Pie in Boston, or deep dish pizza in Chicago, but so far we haven't really gone anywhere. There was that delicious, authentic beef patty in Jamaica, but I need some more places to go and try some new foods out.... 
7. Have a Guinness at the factory in Dublin (again)  - Spring 2012. I am pretty sure I have Mike convinced that we should take a trip to Ireland in the spring for a long weekend trip. He recently had to go for work and got to see Dublin for a few hours but I think he'd go back, if I can find it for the right price. Hopefully we'll go in the March/April timeframe when it's pretty cheap. 
8. Go back to Italy  - Fall 2012. My dream would be to go on a Mediterranean cruise for our second anniversary but I'm not sure how likely this will be, this might have to get moved to 31x31 when I don't make my 30x30 goal. 
9. Go away on vacation with our friends (/family) Check. Technically we've done this. We went to San Francisco this spring with Joe and Gina, and went on the cruise with my Brother and his girlfriend. Although when I wrote this one I was envisioning us renting a house with everyone down at the shore. We talked about doing this with Michelle & Chris, John & Amy, etc, the more the merrier, I hope maybe we could do this next summer but we'll have to see. 

Other 

1. Run a 5K race - Check 
2. Get a puppy - Check :-)
3. Spend a whole day at the spa - Dec 2012. Mike, I know you're not reading this but I'm sure someone will tell you, or I'll give you not so subtle hints. For my 30th birthday, I would like a full day package at the spa. I'm talking about the 5 hour packages and a day of total pampering. Bridget is coming too, so make sure you get with Johnny on this one and let him know too!  
4. Cook with/Eat more organic & unprocessed, natural foods - Check
5. Go on a romantic date night in the city  - Check (technically). We had an awesome anniversary date in the city, going to dinner and the show. Although ideally I would have loved to have 1) gone out somewhere nice after the show and 2) stayed at a hotel in the city so maybe next time! 
6. Make a cookbook of all the women in my life recipes - TBD. I finally found a website that has all the features I was looking for design-wise. I started working on the book this weekend, it's def a work in progress and I hope to collect some more recipes, but it is at least starting to come together. 
7. Learn to make a digital scrapbook - TBD. I thought I wanted to learn how to make a digital scrapbook using all the fancy tools like Adobe photoshop but I found this new website to make the cookbook with and it looks like it really has a lot of the same capabilities to design some really cool books. I think I'll look into that some more.  
8. Go out and stay overnight at my brother's in NYC - TBD. No immediate plans, I'll figure it out...
9. Get a "really killer sophisticated city outfit" - TBD. I need a wardrobe makeover, I wish someone could shop for me and pick out all new clothes for me. I feel like my wardrobe is so bland and boring, I'd love to look more put together and polished, if only I knew what to pick and it didn't cost a small fortune....
10. Host a wine tasting party at our house - Dec 2012. Mark your calendars people, I'll be hosting a wine and cheese party at our house for my 30th birthday next year. 

All because I bought...

A can of Cuban style black beans at Trader Joe's. I planned an entire meal around a can of beans! I love Cuban food, although I don't have it too often, it's def a treat I look forward to on occasion. My love of Cuban food all started with a place in Manhattan, Havana Central. They have the most amazing Cuban food, and drinks, and it's just a fun atmosphere. It's more fun with a group of people, I went a few times with a bunch of girls and we had a blast, you def need a few people to help you drink their delicious pitchers of sangria (or you could have a mojito if you prefer, but I'm a sangria girl all the way). Starting off with their delicious homemade empanada's to their Cuban corn on the cob, all of the appetizers are a fun way to start your meal. For me though, I love their ropa vieja for dinner. This is one of those places were why try something different when this one is so good.

Anyway, going back to my can of black beans, I wanted to try and make ropa vieja with it. I also knew it was something you could easily make in the crockpot. I thought this was the perfect excuse to break out the crockpot, and who doesn't love the smell of a delicious dinner permiating the house all day long, plus the crockpot was sure to make the beef extra tender and easy to shred which is essential to this meal.

I'm happy to report that it turned out delicious, and even reminded me of the one I have at Havana Central. Mike even commented without having to ask him how it was, that he really enjoyed it, which means a lot coming from him and he had seconds. I would absolutely make this recipe again. The key is def the flank steak, although it's a bit pricey it's def worth it.

Crockpot Cuban Ropa Vieja 
Source: All Recipes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds beef flank steak
1 cup beef broth
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 small onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Directions
Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat (I browned mine in my dutch oven). Brown the flank steak on each side, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer beef to a slow cooker. Pour in the beef broth and tomato sauce, then add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, tomato paste, cumin, cilantro, olive oil and vinegar. Stir until well blended. Cover, and cook on High for 4 hours, or on Low for up to 10 hours. When ready to serve, shred meat and serve with tortillas or rice... and your favorite can of Trader Joe's cuban style black beans ;-)

The Cookie Exchange

Once I had baked all 6 dozen (plus) cookies I was ready for the cookie exchange, but I had no idea what I was in store for. I knew the premise was we would each exchange cookies nicely wrapped over what I thought would be a light brunch. I should have known better, Michele is all Italian after all. To say that she prepared enough food for a small army would be an understatement, we were only 5 small girls all together. She must have been cooking for days, the food just kept coming, and when you didn't think you could eat any more, there was more food, everything more delicious than the last. All together she made:

• Broccoli/Spinach Quiche 
• Buffalo Chicken Stromboli 
• Hash Brown Potato Pancakes (served with a poached egg) 
• Michele's Signature Pasta with Roasted Vegetables 
• Pumpkin Bread Pudding 
• Shot Glass Apple Parfaits 
• (Italian) Stromboli

All that for 5 women, can you believe it? And she is a phenomenal cook, I would have kept eating everything. I must say I even tried some new things, or things that I normally don't like, like the pumpkin bread pudding, I'm not really a pumpkin person, but this tasted more like a delicious french toast than anything pumpkin and it was made from Challah bread. Or her hash brown potato pancakes that were made with pancetta, peppers and onions and served with a poached egg. I never saw how an egg was poached before, she made all of ours with the yolks hard since a few of us (myself included) don't like runny eggs, and it was great over the potatoes. I personally love her signature veggie pasta, it has roasted eggplant, zucchini and onions in it, three of my favorite vegetables served over pasta.

Then when we couldn't eat any more, she had Christmas games for us to play and even prizes to give out to everyone. And as a parting gift she packed us all up with a little bag which included a binder of all her recipes and all the cookie recipes from the exchange. It was such a fun morning, I was just sorry I had to leave early. I feel so lucky that she included me in this fun event and I already can't wait for next years!!!

My Travel Bucket List

I love to travel. Plain and simple. I also love to day dream about all the amazing places I'd love to go to. There's so many places I'd love to see in my lifetime. Now I'm not talking about doing any of these trips in the immediate future, but over the course of many, many years. I love traveling to new countries, seeing the sights, I especially love trying all the food, and of course taking lots of pictures. I already have a long list of places I know I want to see, these are mostly my big ticket item trips (minus the few in the US and Canada). I'm def going to need another job to pay for all these expensive trips, but I'm sure there's time to figure all of that out.

Here's a list so far of places I def want to see at some point. In no particular order (this excludes places that I've already been to that I want to go back to again, except Russia).

North America Travel 
Niagara Falls, Canada
Montreal, Canada
Chicago, Illinois, US
Seattle, Washington, US
Reykjavik, Iceland
Charleston, South Carolina
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Europe Travel
Budapest, Hungry
Zurich, Switzerland
Edinburgh, Scotland
Lisbon, Portugal
Warsaw & Krakow, Poland
Moscow & St Petersburg, Russia
Istanbul, Turkey
Cruise the Baltics: Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, and Tallinn

Asia & Pacific Travel 
Fiji Islands
Tokyo, Japan
Sydney, Australia
China

Africa 
Cairo, Egpyt (Pyramids)
Jerusalem, Israel
Marrakesh, Morocco

Grandma's Christmas Cookies

I never met Mike's Grandma Lucy, but everything I've heard about her is that she was an incredible cook. If she was half as good of a cook as my Mother-in-Law, I'd say she'd be pretty darn good, and everything that my Mother-in-Law says is that she was an even better cook. I'm sure everything she learned, she learned from her Mother. She's always talking about all the wonderful things she used to make, from her soups, to her elaborate Christmas dinners and her desserts. I was so excited when Mom said she had some of her recipes, I couldn't wait to try making some of them. Wouldn't it be fun when we have kids to make Christmas cookies, or other recipes, with them and tell them that this was their Great-Grandmothers recipe?  I think it's such a great way to keep the memories alive.

I was invited to participate in a Christmas Cookie exchange. At a Christmas cookie exchange each participant bakes about 6 dozen cookies and then everyone swaps, so you wind up with 6 dozen different cookies. I had been looking for a recipe I could make when I remembered I had Grandma Lucy's recipes. One of them was for her spritz cookies, which was perfect. For the exchange, the main ingredient has to be flour so this fit the bill perfectly. I'd never made spritz cookies before but I knew what they were, they're also fun and festive for the holidays. When I was telling Mom about my plans to make them she mentioned she had Grandma Lucy's cookie press that I could borrow!

I made my 6 dozen cookies last night and had a great time baking them. I do love to bake, probably because I have ADD and I'd rather be productive and doing something like baking than sitting around.  The dough itself is super simple to make and really didn't take long at all (although it would have been even easier if I'd had a kitchen aid mixer). Once I figured out how the cookie press actually worked (which took me a few tries) I was in business. It was fun to make all the different shapes, although I had the most luck with the trees and wreath shaped ones. I decorated them with sprinkles, and maraschino cherries on the wreaths. I even mixed in some green food coloring for some of the trees.

Grandma Lucy's Spritz Cookies 

1/2 cup butter (*soften at room temperature first)
1/4 vegetable shortening (like crisco)
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

With mixer beat butter and shortening thoroughly. Add sugar gradually continuing to beat. Add egg and vanilla, beat well. Lightly spoon flour, baking power & salt together. Add to butter mixture in 3 additions and mix well after each addition. Dough will be stiff. Use cookie press. Bake at 375 until lightly brown on edges (*I found about 12 minutes)

I def think I will make these as my signature Christmas cookies every year. I can't wait to make them with my kids one day and tell them it was their Great-Grandmother's recipe.

Ps.... Dear Santa, I'd really love it if you would bring me a Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas this year. I promise to leave you some really good cookies next Christmas Eve when you come. Thanks. Love, Rachel 

Celebrating at The Manor

It's funny growing up I was the only one in my immediate family that didn't have a birthday in July. My  Mom, Dad and Brother all have July birthdays. I can remember always having huge fourth of July parties growing up and it would be a combination birthday party for Matthew. I'll never forget when Mike told me his Dad had the exact same birthday as me, it was so strange, what are the chances? Now we get to have a big birthday celebration together every year. I remember the first time we did it, we had our parents meet us at our favorite restaurant in the city, Orso, and we celebrated both birthdays. This year we decided to celebrate all together by going to The Manor for dinner. Mike and I had been meaning to go there for our anniversary and with the cruise we never made it, it's such an elegant, special place to go for dinner, we thought it would be perfect to go with both families. After all, the last time we were all there was for our wedding, over one year ago.

Once we were all at The Manor, we were ready to enjoy a fantastic meal. Everything from the bread basket, which deserved it's own picture, their onion rolls are amazing, there was also little onion roll toast slices, I'm such a sucker for bread.  They first brought us out the chef's special course, which they always do, this time it was a potato leek soup, delicious, and some kind of I think it was shrimp, or maybe it was salmon in this little cone thing, also quite tasty.

This was only the beginning, then we moved on to our appetizer course. I am never one to pass up the chance to have ravioli's. I ordered the "Homemade imported burrata cheese ravioli in a red pepper sauce with shaved fennel." I'm not going to lie this was probably my least favorite course I've had at The Manor. Not that it was bad, but it was so heavy on the sauce I didn't really enjoy it. But the salad made up for it, and I loved the presentation, it was a iceberg lettuce with tomato and sliced avocado served with blue cheese and bacon bits.

For my main course I decided to venture out a bit and try the sauteed artic char. Our waiter described it as a fish similar to salmon, which I enjoy so I was game to try this one. It was served with baby leeks, carrots, petite zucchini in a lemon infused olive oil, although no carbs with this one. It was very good. The best course had to be dessert of course. I ordered the Apple & Mille Fueille, it was incredible. It was baked phyllo layered with sauteed apples and vanilla pastry cream. And they also brought out three other dessert plates for us, one for mine and dad's birthday and one for our first anniversary. Who could go wrong with all of those?

It was such a fantastic meal, I love everything about dining at The Manor, they really uphold the tradition of fine dining in a beautiful atmosphere with incredible food and fantastic service. It was a really nice treat to go there and celebrate with our whole family.

Some pictures of the gang, love the atmosphere at The Manor! 

NYC with the Girls

There is something about Christmas in Manhattan. It is a fun time to get together and celebrate and enjoy all that Manhattan has to offer while enjoying in the company of good friends. Last weekend was our first Holiday trip of the season. My Mom and I made plans to get together with my Aunt Liz and cousin Emily. We had planned to meet up at Emily's internship in the city and start our day in the city there. Emily was finishing up her internship with Heart Publishing Corporation, and since the head of security at the company is also a very good friend of my parents and my Aunt Liz, he offered to give us a tour of the building.

I have to say the building itself was quite impressive. I've seen other corporate buildings before but this one was particularly fun and had a lot of cool history to it. The shell of the building is actually an original building dating back to the early 1900s but since it had been deemed a historical site Hearst could not change it, so instead they worked with what they had an building inside of the shell. The first six floors of the building shell are the original old building but with a completely modern feel. The building has beautiful views of the city, including Central Park, which is only a block away, the Tower is located right near Columbus Circle. As part of the tour we got to see all the test rooms, and kitchens were they test all the products that have the Goodhouse Keeping Seal of Approval. As well as the private dining room which every first lady (since I believe he said the early 1900s) has eaten at, including Michelle Obama (just a few weeks prior). It was a lot of fun seeing the building, of course this made sitting in my basement every day seem even more dull than it already is, cause man did it make me jealous!

After our tour, we were starving and headed a block over to the Time Warner building to get some lunch. We ended up at the Landmarc restaurant inside. It wound up being a terrific lunch, the food, atmosphere, and view were all terrific. They had a very nice light lunch menu, affordably priced as well. For lunch Mom and I went halves on a delicious croque monsieur sandwich and a grilled chicken cabiatta sandwich. Both were delicious, I love a good croque monsieur (that was one of my favorite things to eat when visited Paris). I highly recommend checking out the landmarc if you're ever looking for a nice lunch in that area.

Of course I had to save room for dessert at bouchon bakery for one of their famous macaroons. Emily and I each ordered one, I got the pistachio one again and Emily indulged in one of their chocolate ones. I personally love the pistachio one, although my mom wasn't a fan and preferred the chocolate. I think any way you can't really go wrong and it's a great cookie to enjoy any time no matter what flavor you choose! 

Finally we made our way over to the tree, but not before we walked through the Columbus Circle Christmas market. Oh and one the way Aunt Liz wanted to take her picture with that statue and her touching his butt, oh Aunt Liz, LOL.....  The tree was beautiful as it always is, and we were lucky it wasn't too crowded or cold for that matter. Although we couldn't get a full shot of the tree, it was fun to stop by and see it. Overall not a bad way to start the Holiday season off in Manhattan.

And Aunt Liz made a new friend. We saw this adorable Pomeranian named Titou (he even has his own facebook page) and Aunt Liz got her picture taken with him. I will say, he was pretty cute, although not as cute as my Rocky of course.