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Wedgie-worthy thought #1, while folded over in yoga class: “Squee! My toenail polish matches my yoga mat EXACTLY!”

Wedgie-worthy thought #2, while thinking about meals and groceries for the next few days: “Dammit, I’m out of quinoa.”

Wedgie-worthy thought #3, that I actually uttered out loud yesterday in the car: “I find lately that I’m only comfortable writing prose. Is that pretentious?”

Regarding the first two wedgies, in between episodes of morose navel-gazing, I’ve been working on my health a lot. I’ve become addicted to so-called “healthy living” blogs. I’ve been exercising at least a couple of times a week since March. And I think I’ve reached some sort of peace with food, which is a huge deal.

You’ll notice that a bulk of the links in the left sidebar are for food blogs. This tells you several things about me: that I like to cook and bake, and that food takes up a good portion of my thoughts and energy. This used to manifest itself in a number of bad ways. “Did I eat too much? Did that have too much fat in it? Should I just not eat at all today and tomorrow? To hell with it, I’m just going to eat everything in sight.”

It’s Eating Disorders 101 that people with food/body image issues who feel out of control of their lives tend to focus their control-freak energy on their bodies and this often has disastrous results. It has for me in the past. But this feels…healthier. For the first time that I can remember, I want to be healthy, not just skinny. I’m discovering a lot of joy in eating things that are good for me and it makes my occasional indulgences that much more enjoyable and way less guilt-inducing.

Some of the blogs that I’ve found really inspiring are fANNEtastic food, Kath Eats Real Food, (never home)maker, The Front Burner, and the edible perspective. Clicking on the blog rolls of any of those will take you down a rabbit hole of other, similarly awesome blogs, so check those out when you have a few hours that you can dedicate to reading (and drooling).

Inspired by these bloggers, I’ve been eating oatmeal nearly every day for breakfast for a few months and I’ve got to say that it’s been one of the best things I’ve done for myself. (never home)maker got me hooked on these Chai-Spiced Autumn Oats. I tweaked that formula a little by skipping the apple and peanut butter and replacing them with a banana. Eye-rollingly delicious. edible perspective has me making my own Maple-Roasted Cinnamon Almond Butter, which I put on my oatmeal in the morning. Unfortunately, my last batch didn’t turn out well. I used my smaller food processor which just wasn’t up for the job and ended up with a crumbly paste instead of a butter. Still tasty, though. I just have to be careful about making it when the baby is around since he’s allergic. And The Front Burner has me excited about making my own protein powder mix. I’m still assembling the ingredients, which are a somewhat heavy upfront investment. She also has a fantastic tofu tutorial.

All of those bloggers are also runners, which is also really inspiring to me. Also on my left sidebar, you’ll see my Daily Mile widget that shows what activity I’ve done that day. Yesterday, I got to show off my 3.42 mile run, which is the farthest that I’ve ever run (though there are some quick walking breaks in there, but I don’t claim to be a marathoner), and there’s usually a yoga class sprinkled in there.

I can’t make the economy better. I can’t make someone hire my totally awesome husband, who worked really hard to become an electrical engineer and is so bummed that he can’t break into that industry. I can’t wish away our student debt or our terrible kitchen. But I can take care of myself so that I’m better able to take care of my boys. So that’s what I’ll do.

As I mentioned to an exhaustive degree during the Sonoma Grille/Seviche giveaways, this blog is not heavily marketed. So you know that if I’m touting a product it’s purely because I bought it and had a good experience.

Endorsement #1: Neutrogena skiniD. Around the time that I turned 27 or 28, I suddenly had an acne problem. I had pimples fairly regularly as a teenager, but after I had kicked puberty to the curb, my skin was pretty normal with maybe a pimple or two here or there. The adult acne wasn’t severe, but it bothered me. I was especially not fond of the dozens of small pimples that covered my now greasy forehead.

I thought about trying Proactiv, but honestly something about their commercials was unsettling to me. I’m highly perturbed by the caliber of celebrities that endorse their products, though I did get to hear Puff Daddy utter the sentence, “It really moisturizes my situation.” skiniD seemed less…Amway-ish, so I did the online quiz and within, I think, a day and a half the products arrived on my doorstep.

Full disclaimer, I have been drinking more water and eating a little bit better, so that could contribute, but my skin is pretty effing clear now. The only downside is that something in one of the products that I use has some kind of mild reaction with my sunscreen that causes a stinging sensation in my face. Not fun.

About my sunscreen: also Neutrogena. Ultra Sheer Dry Touch, spf 85 (yes, 85). Expensive, but feels awesome and I don’t get all grumpy about having to reapply it. A few weeks ago I wrote to Neutrogena gushing about how much I loved it, hoping that they’d send me some coupons. A few days later, they emailed me back with a hearty, “Thanks, glad you like it.”

So…yeah.

Endorsement #2: Blueberry Boy Bait. I made this once last summer and the husband nearly died of ecstasy. It’s so delicious. It’s called “boy bait” for, I imagine, purely alliterative reasons but I’m fairly certain that it would work on either gender. All I’m saying is that I made this sucker again last night and, well, it’s a testament to restraint that I don’t have a hickey or twelve today.

Endorsement #3: Louie. I know I mention how much I adore Louis CK a lot, but the dude is seriously one of the best comedians ever. Please watch this show. His first series, Lucky Louie, which was brilliant, was canceled after just one season and I informed him of my great disappointment over this in a rather frightening manner. Don’t make me scare him again. Watch the show. Get his ratings high. Please.

Remember a few months ago, I wrote about how I was doing the Couch to 5K program? Well, I just finished the ninth week of the program yesterday.

It took me longer than 9 weeks to do the whole thing, there were a few times that I didn’t feel well and took a few days off and other times I just had trouble scheduling it into my day.

I’m also not yet able to run 5K. I’m somewhere around 2 and 1/4 to 2 and 1/2 miles in a 30-minute run. I would guess that I’m still about 2 or 3 weeks away from being able to run the full 5K.

But! I can now run for 30 minutes at a time, which is something I could NOT do back in March when I started. In fact, I could barely run for 1 minute at a time back then. I remember looking forward in the program and wondering how the hell I was ever going to run for several minutes at a time.

It’s still really hard. I don’t think it ever gets “easy” and I’m not sure that it’s supposed to, but I know that I’ve gotten much stronger and will continue to get stronger the longer I keep at it. And the pain that I was in at the beginning is gone now, which is a huge improvement.

I’m not going to lie and say that I love running now, but I like it a lot more than I thought I would. And I would really like for it to remain part of my life. I would also like to try running in a 5K at some point. Hopefully by the end of the summer I can attempt one.

I’ve also been throwing in a yoga class here and there, which I like because it’s similar to the muscle memory and flexibility that I already have from ballet. I’ve noticed that if I run the day after a yoga class, that run actually feels pretty good.

I’m able to devote more time to exercise right now because summer is less hectic at work, so I can be at the gym working out and then showering for an hour without things getting too out of hand in my absence. During the school year, I’ll have to figure something else out, which worries me.

Still not “dieting,” per se. Despite still battling with ballet-era demons, I have no interest in doing any kind of calorie restriction. Small changes that I’ve made include trying not to eat after 9 p.m. and just eating healthier (lots of veggies) overall.

That’s me at my desk. I’ve been in this position most of the day because I have this really annoying stomachache.

So what’s been going on with me? Eh, a lot and not much, know what I mean? I’ve been really busy at work, aside from being doubled over and groaning. The baby had his first Little League game last Saturday, which followed their annual parade down our main street to the ball field.
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Mornin’ everyone. I’m trying to pretend that yesterday never happened for Pittsburgh sports. The Brewers beat the Pirates, 20-0, which makes it the worst defeat in Pirates’ history, and if you know the Pirates, you know that that’s really saying something. The husband and the sister-in-law actually went to the game and they were all depressed afterward. Then the Penguins lost to the Senators in triple overtime. Thankfully, the playoffs aren’t over for the Pens, but extending them longer than necessary gets to be really nerve-wracking.

ANYWAY, let’s move on to more pleasant things, namely who the lucky winner is of the $50 gift certificate to Seviche. I went to random.org a few minutes and drew the number 18. Commenter #18 was…Katrina! Congratulations, Katrina! I’ll be emailing you in a few minutes.

Thanks, everyone, so much for entering. I think this was really fun and I hope we can do something similar again some time. And even if you didn’t win this time, I do sincerely recommend that you check out both the Sonoma Grille and Seviche. You won’t be sorry. Thank you, also, to Nakturnal for contacting me and arranging the whole thing.

I must say, I was nervous about this whole giveaway thing but it’s been a pretty fun and pleasant experience, especially now that I get to announce the first winner.

Just a few minutes ago, I went to random.org and drew the number 10. The tenth commenter on the Sonoma Grille post was Alaina! Congratulations, Alaina! I’ll be emailing you in a second.

To everyone that entered, thanks so much for trying! And, if you haven’t already, you can still enter to win a $50 gift certificate to Seviche over here.

This is just a quick reminder that today is the last day to enter to win a $50 gift certificate to the Sonoma Grille. If you’d like to enter, simply leave a comment yonder.

I’m also giving away a $50 gift certificate to Seviche and you should enter that one, too.

So, here is the second awesome giveaway of the week. (If you’re wondering what this is all about, you can read this post for a little explanation.)

This past Monday night, the husband and I headed back downtown to Seviche, Sonoma Grille’s sister restaurant. I have had seviche once before and thoroughly enjoyed it, while the husband remained somewhat skeptical.

Backing up a bit, if you’re not familiar with seviche, I’ll give you a quick rundown. It’s fresh fish that is marinated in citrus juice and the acid from the marinade kind of cooks the fish, but not in a way that turns the fish into the flaky white texture that you get when you, say, bake it or grill it. It’s delicious.

The husband and I settled at our table and ordered drinks. I got one of their Strawberry Mimosa Champagne Mojito, which is a little more froufy than I would normally order, but it was delicious and refreshing and not too sweet at all. I had three. The husband had a Caipirinha, which is distilled sugar cane juice with fresh lime and sugar. The lime gives it a kind of tequila taste. He only had one of those because they’re strong, but very tasty.

The chef, Jeff, came out to talk to us for a few minutes about what we would be sampling that night. We would get to try some of their signature seviche and some tapas, both of which would feature some of their dishes that have a local emphasis. Jeff has been working to purchase ingredients from local farms to keep money in the area and to foster a sense of community in the culinary scene. I like Jeff.

Our lovely server, Jackie, brought out our appetizer dish, which was their Asian Tartare. It’s kind of like your basic sushi roll but with lots of yummy stuff like white truffle oil. I totally missed what kind of fish they gave us with those but the husband and I gobbled those up and nodded wordlessly. Delightful.

Next was a chorizo-wrapped diver scallop on top of a bed of polenta, spinach and a Peruvian barbecue sauce. The husband has told me several times that he doesn’t like scallops and I keep telling him that he just hasn’t had a good scallop. This was a very, very good scallop. More wordless nodding.

Next was some of the Hamachi (Yellow Tail Snapper) in the Fire & Ice preparation. This seviche comes in those big spoons that you get at pho restaurants. The Hamachi sits on habanero peppers and onions and then is topped with a cool, prickly pear granita. You scoop the whole thing into your mouth, like a shot, so that you get the hot and then the cool. Amazing.

Then there was wild shrimp with avocado and corn salsa and milanga chips and THEN there was seared filet mignon with mushrooms (again, we devoured them even though neither of us likes mushrooms), tomatoes, and saffron aioli. Sometimes, I think of it and it makes me shiver.

Finally, we had a pulled chicken tostada. By this point, we were no longer speaking and I was no longer taking notes, because all we were doing was nodding, moaning in delight, and letting our eyes glaze over. It was sincerely some of the best food that either of us had ever had.

The atmosphere is cool but cheery and is more casual than Sonoma Grille, but would be really fun for a date or a night out and I hear that they have good happy hours and events like Salsa Night.

Just like with the Sonoma Grille giveaway, all you have to do to enter to win a $50 gift certificate is be in or around Pittsburgh and leave a comment on this post. You can enter both giveaways, but I won’t award the certificates to the same person. I’ll use random.org to select a winner on Friday, April 23rd. Good luck!

I’ve had a small handful of PR pitches to do product reviews and giveaways and/or to advertise on my site. I’ve turned them all down because the products have either been something I’m just not interested in or that are irrelevant to me or my readers (I don’t write here and you don’t read here to find out about my unstoppable cleaning techniques using X product…because my cleaning techniques are very stoppable). And I’m just not sure how I feel about advertising on blogs…or my blog, really. I’m not trying to start a debate, it’s just that I don’t think it’s for me. Not now, anyway.

However, a few weeks ago, I received an email from a woman who works for a local PR firm asking if I was interested in going to two local restaurants for tastings (full/legal disclosure: yes, our tastings were free) and then, if I liked the food, running a contest for gift certificates to both restaurants. I gave it some thought and decided that this was something that I felt was worthy of my pimpage and worthy of you, my most excellent readership, because it was non-cheesy and would benefit Pittsburgh businesses. And if you’ve hung around me for any length of time you know that I’m very pro-Pittsburgh.

I know, I know, you don’t care about my existential dilemma regarding capitalism, post-industrial flourishing, and my blog. I just can’t talk about this without over-explaining myself first. It’s just my way.

So, today I’m going to tell you about our lovely experience at the Sonoma Grille and give you a chance to enter for a $50 gift certificate. Tomorrow, I’m going to tell you about our lovely experience at Seviche and give you a chance to enter for a $50 gift certificate there.

If you’re new here, you picked a good day to stop by. Normally it’s just angst.

The husband and I headed downtown on a lovely Friday night. The original plan was to start at Sonoma Grille and then head over to Seviche. About two bites into our appetizer, I realized that we were going to need to reschedule our Seviche tasting: there was no way I was leaving a bite of this food on the table.

They started us off with the Stonehedge “Terroir” Malbec 2006, which was delicious and paired amazingly with our appetizer, Wild Mushroom Flatbread. Now, here’s something important to keep in mind: neither the husband nor I like mushrooms. When the appetizers landed in front of us, we both became very nervous, but figured now was as good a time as any to give mushrooms another chance. I was so glad that we did. The mushrooms were sooo savory and the combination of the bread, roasted tomato, chevre, olives, and cilantro pesto made us groan in delight.

To go with our entrees, we were presented with glasses of the Duckhorn “Golden Eye” 2006 Pinot Noir. I like wine a lot, but I’m no sommelier and I always wondered how people could pick up different notes and flavors. This wine laid it all out, bit by amazing bit. While I was still trying to compose myself, our entrees arrived. Before us sat a dish of sauteed veal strips with organic maitake mushrooms, spinach, an apple crisp, mashed parsnips and potatoes, and a black garlic sauce and a dish of Moroccan Braised Lamb Ravioli. Both dishes were out of this world and there were staring contests for the last bites of both.

As I polished off my wine, one of our lovely servers set a long, curved plank of wood in between. Eh? But then…they rested a sampler of their desserts on the plank and I thought I might cry. We had Cosmopolitan Sorbet, Lemon Meringue Cheesecake, Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee, Death by Chocolate Torte, and Peanut Butter Semifreddo.

The atmosphere of the Sonoma Grille is slightly fancy but definitely not uptight or stuffy. There were some folks there enjoying some post-game drinks in their Penguins gear, so while business casual dress would be most appropriate, you can go in your jeans and not feel gauche. (Though, really, this is Pittsburgh. You can wear your jeans and your Steelers jersey to the opera and be cool.) It is the perfect place for a date or celebratory dinner or for catching a good meal before or after a show at one of the theatres.

So, if you’re in or around Pittsburgh, I would love for you to try Sonoma Grille, too. To enter, just leave a comment on this post. You’ll have until next Wednesday, April 21 to enter, then I’ll select a winner using random.org and announce the lucky reader here on Thursday, April 22. Good luck!

This morning, I admitted something to myself: I’m neurotic about lunch.

And, like any good mother, I blame my son for this.

He’s a picky eater, though much MUCH better than he used to be. But at any given time, the list of things that he will eat for lunch is pretty short. So, I’m always trying to find some balance of actual calorie input and health for him. Currently, he will eat half of a sandwich, consisting of bread (wheat or rye) and lunch meat (we’re on a chicken breast kick right now), a cup of applesauce (no sugar added or high fructose corn syrup), sometimes a cheese stick (I go totally mainstream here and give him Kraft), sometimes a few baby carrots and/or some other fruit or veggie.

His old lunch box was one of those canvassy, zipper joints that was kind of small and useless. A few times, I let him use my Laptop Lunch and recently that company came out with some new bento lunch systems.
When our tax return came, I took a few bucks and ordered him one, along with some extra containers. Today was his second day using it. He had a sandwich, some carrots, some graham crackers, and some strawberries. He seemed a little indifferent about it yesterday. I hope he gets more enthusiastic about it.

I had a Laptop Lunch because I have been on a quest for the perfect lunch vessel for some years. I liked the Laptop Lunch, but I felt that it was just too small for me. I like to bring a pretty big salad, a “main” dish, dressing and croutons on the side, a snack, and my breakfast. And if I don’t have what I consider a good lunch, I get all anxious about it. I was explaining this to someone the other day as they eyed my tote bag of containers of various sizes. I needed a change.

Around the same time that I bought the baby his Laptop Lunch, I bought a tiffin from Happy Tiffin. I heard about tiffins last summer in my business class when we watched a movie about dabbawalas.

My tiffin arrived yesterday and I was so excited to pack it up today.

Here we have my salad and my bagel for breakfast…

This is my wrap sandwich that contains a layer of fresh spinach and a helping of my tweaked version this Curried Tofu Salad. (I need to take a little more time preparing that salad the next time that I make it. It’s too watery this time from the veggies and tofu. But very tasty.) The other container holds my croutons and dressing, plus a snack of sunflower seeds and dried cranberries in one of those silicone cupcake baking cups, which is a trick that I learned from watching blogs about bento-style lunches.

And here it is, all stacked up, latched, and ready to go. The only problem that I’ve had so far is finding a fork that will fit. Also, obviously, this isn’t microwave-safe, so I’m not sure what I’ll do if I ever want to bring leftovers to heat up. And if I were to bring something that was already warm, I would need to keep it away from things like my salad.

Like I said, I’m neurotic about lunch.

But so far, I’m pretty happy with it.

Speaking of food, I’m going to have some pretty big posts on the matter coming up in the next few days, so be sure to check back, especially if you’re in the Pittsburgh area.