Friday recipe swap

this is my first time participating, although I've been trying to come up with something good to contribute for a few weeks now. Breakfast over here is usually just some cereal or a carnation instant breakfast. B-o-r-i-n-g.

Yesterday, I grabbed some polenta, added some milk, brown sugar, and vanilla, and spooned it into a bowl! After the recipe, I'll tell you what I did with the leftovers for breakfast this morning:

1 cup polenta
3 cups cold water
2 cups milk
pinch or two of salt
1/3 cup or palm-full of brown sugar
2 or so dashes of vanilla (you can add as little or much as you like).
cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped pecans (add any you like (or don't) to taste).

In a small bowl, add 1 cup of polenta and 1 cup of cold water and stir. In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup of cold water and 2 cups of milk. Bring to a low boil, add salt and stir. Add the polenta and water mixture and whisk to stir out lumps. Turn the flame to low, and simmer, stirring frequnetly until polenta is thick.
Add sugar and vanilla, and other additions once thickened.

I put mine in a little bowl and ate it with a spoon, like ceral. You can sprinkle some brown sugar or cinnamon on top, add a dolop of whipped cream, a little evaporated milk, or regular milk on top too!

With the leftover polenta, I made polenta pancakes! I spooned out two heaping spoonfuls of polenta from the leftovers, and formed them into balls, adding a little bit of flower to help them stick together. I put them on the griddle pan with a little slice of butter and let them brown. As they brown, they get easier to turn, so try not to turn them too early. Turn them as they get golden brown and start to bubble on the edges (sort of like regular pancakes do!).

I topped mine with a little bit of butter and some apple preserves, and it was delicious! Add any jellies, jams, or syrup if you'd like! A sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon, or nothing at all. It is all up to your personal preferences!

so delicious.

Check out The Grocery Cart Challenge for more recipes.

i'll give you away if you aren't careful....

i'm good at giving clothes away. i don't mind giving them away. sometimes i buy them because i think i'll like them and it turns out i dont. sometimes i give them away because they don't fit, and i can't return them because 1. too much time has passed while i decide if it fits and/or i like it, and 2. because it was a final sale/no-return item. lots of people have profited from this. from my inability to control my online shopping. americus's husbands, little-sister is the most fortunate, and has been given at least three pairs of very nice denim, treasures from banana republic, jcrew, calvin klein, and even a few things picked up at neiman marcus. others have been given great things too, friends, co-workers, sisters, salvation army, churches... i even like to give away food. (which is what i did right before eating out of the pantry, emptying it of cans of beans, corn, anchovies (YUCK YUCK YUCK), and like fifteen different salad dressings and jellies/jams.)

(note to self: only buy it if fits, and if its black, white, or grey. everything else, KEEP MOVING.)

well people.

i've recently become a member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase chapter of Freecyle and i am obsessed. and it feels soooooo good. Yesterday, my second day as a member, I gave away a TIVO. A working tivo, with all its parts. It went so fast. 15 people wanted my tivo. I gave it to the guy who emailed me first. I figured that was fair. I also posted two coffee grinders. BROKEN coffee grinders. Neither of which work at all. 10 minutes after, a guy says, i'll take them. and he did. Later that afternoon. And, I gave away a bag of clothes. Things that don't fit, etc... and I'm ashamed to say that I didn't give them to the first person who emailed me. Why you ask? Because this was the first email:

"Want these." and I go, "Want subject?" how about, "I want these."

"Can take." you mean, "I can take." and then you really mean, "I can take them home."

i'm judging these people's emails, their pleas for my free things. I gave them to a nice lady who said, "Thank you so much for offering these. I can really use them, and will be able to pick them up any time this afternoon. Thanks, C." and not " I am a single mom, and I really could use these clothes for my new state job." That way plays a little on my heart strings, and makes me feel like its a little desperate.

Today I gave away 15 gallons of paint. Not full, not empty. In various colors. and some stain. Same guy who took my two broken coffee grinders. What a small world.

Also, I gave away two 5-gallon buckets of joint compound. He wanted the paint too, but I'd already given it away. Poor guy.

In other news, I ran 5 miles and had creamy brown sugar polenta for breakfast, and I feel good.

i can't wait to see what i find to give away tomorrow.

i'll try to keep the house.

figures

things i'm trying to find always show themselves after I've bought a new one. It always happens.

Sunday I returned home from a long, slow day at work to find a box sitting on my dining room table. It is a gold box, a gold Nikon D70s outfit box. I just new it would have magical things in it. And it did.

It has two lens caps I've been looking the world over for, but haven't purchased new.
a digital flash and a digital NK module. neither of which were being purchased or in my budget for that matter.
a few random instruction booklets.
a case for the lens on the D70s.

AND A UV filter. a UV filter. i just bought one of these on FRIDAY. WHY PEOPLE. I know it doesn't hurt to have two. But, you see, its just how things go for me. I figured all the treasures in my lovely home had been found. I was wrong. Needless to say, I now am the proud owner of two UV filters for my camera (as well as a polarizing filter, neutral density, and warming).

and now that I have all these things, I need a little camera god to explain this whole flash thing to me... not the mathematical equations to determine the appropriate distance, not the angels of illumination. I am a math genius people, ok? I can do complicated equations in my HEAD. I don't even own a calculator! (Total lie. I own one to help me do risk calculations, only because I don't crystal ball software, ok?). Point is, how do you make this damn thing fire its bright little light!!

Oh, and while I'm hoping and wishing there are more magical boxes like this one hidden, I'm hoping there is one with a 100mm macro lens as well. Ok? Ok.

whole foods is the devil

I bought cheese. i bought grueyre. I bought pecorino romano. It was an accident. Its all whole foods' fault. I went there to buy fresh vegetables, and fruit, and that is it. but. I was hungry. so I went over to the cheese. I just wanted a sample. and I know, this goes against my whole the people who go to barnes and noble and just read the magazines and put them back on the shelf without buying anything makes me crazy, and the whole watching PBS but not donating during the donation marathons. i know. this goes against all my angst of free-rider economics. but people. I was buying groceries. I was buying fruits and vegetables. I just wanted to TASTE the cheese.

today, whole foods didn't have any samples out. not in the cheese. not in the desserts. so. i bought cheese. but people, its CHEESE. i mean, seriously.

so, there you have it. I confess. I bought cheese. delicious, yummy, wonderful CHEESE. and i only feel a little bit bad about it because it was expensive. but all good things are expensive. and i love good things.

running blues

so thats what they call it... whoever "they" is. They call this the running blues. I've been officially diagnosed. I guess in some ways I have redeemed myself... with my few moments of running. one beautiful saturday about two weeks ago, I managed to pull out 4 miles from some where... yesterday, I ran two in the am and two later in the afternoon.... today, I did a swift 4.26 out on the canal. I could have made it under 40 minutes if it weren't for the 40 mph wind gusts we're having...

after 2.26, I found the source of my running blues. i can get through the first twenty minutes, the first two or so miles, and then it all starts in, and I want to go home. after fifteen minutes, i've released enough stress to stop thinking about how fast i'm going, how many miles I'm going to do, what I should be doing instead, what ive been slacking on. and then the real thinking comes. the sunshine starts feeling good, my legs start moving, and my mind starts drifting.... drifting to things i've lost, and that my friends is why i can make it through the first two miles and then want to turn home. i subconsciously know this run is going to hurt.... not always in a bad way, but just hurt.

so there you have it. needless to say, i'm trying to get over the running blues, and I think spring is going to really help me out there...

in other news, i still have managed to avoid the grocery store for the most part. i've purchased nothing but staples and fresh fruit and veggies.... its been over a month, and i'm still eating things from the kitchen....

my only complaint? I've eaten more eggs in the last month then I have in my entire life... unless you count the ones in un-cooked brownie or cake batter.... in that case, i'll have to re-assess my egg consumption over my lifetime.

southbound 95

i'm the worst. don't count on me to return your phone calls, your messages, your emails, or to post on my blog. clearly i'm a loner. checking voicemails gives me anxiety. i dont want to hear what they say. i don't know why that is, but it is. so, sorry. ok? for not returning your call from a month ago. i don't know whats wrong with me. maybe i talk to enough idiots at work 33 hours a week that on my off time, i want to hibernate. that i want to hide from people. i don't want to see them, talk to them, touch them, smile at them, or call them on the phone. i'm sorry. but i you did what i do for your cash, you would probably feel the same way some days.

which is why i'm happy to be here for a few days, despite poppy being laid up for a few days. i don't have to talk to anyone really. i just sit around, and smile, and i nod and i laugh and i keep up the conversation with TWO people only. i dunno, its kind of like I don't exist here. which is a good thing. i'm connected, but invisible all at once, and i don't feel bad about it.

i do feel bad about not running, considering its 70 degrees here. but i did run 3 times last week. thanks to nick and grace and one beautiful saturday out in the woods. that 4 mile run gave me a little pain in my knees, and it felt good. thats what i missed. i missed the pain i guess. i mean, the physical pain makes me feel like i'm doing something right, and it gets rid of the mental pain. so maybe its just transferring, but i don't mind the knee aches, the way the muscle feels like its pulling away from my bones. i'm anxious to give the pavement another pounding.

much like Life, Period i too am anxious to move to somewhere with some sunshine. but its coming. its coming to MD, and we're going to go get in Key West. Oh, by the way, speaking of key west. I heard through the grapevine at work, or from the horse's mouth that my newest not-friend is also going to key west. driving it seems, and flying home. who knows when that vacation was planned, as my newest not-friend has decided not to speak to me in the last couple weeks. all i have to say is HA, not-friend. HA HA HA! I already bought my plane tickets, my motel is patiently waiting arrival, and i might just splurge on a convertible for the drive i'm ready for. my photography class is giving me AWESOME skills to take INCREDIBLE pictures you couldn't even dream of. oh, and not-friend, I'm relieved you gave me back my curling iron. i'm relieved you have nothing to nice to say to me. I feel better. I'm tired of pretending to be your friend, and going out of my way, and being walked on by you. and how everything around me is just the same old stuff, and everything is so predictable, and all the same, and i feel like a character in a book i don't like and i hate the author that makes me do all these things that don't make me the least bit happy? well, you know what, not-friend, i'm not feeling like that anymore, and you're just another step. I hope that makes you feel as good as it makes me feel, not-friend. You are another step in editing this stupid book, with this stupid author, who forgot about exactly what things it is exactly that make me happy.

oh, and not-friend?

you aren't a step on the list of things i'm adding.

you are the step on the list of things i'm getting rid of.

take that, not-friend, and shove it.

iTrain kicked my butt

Last week i mentioned iTrain. Shortely after, I downloaded iTread Set 25 Top 40 workout. The work out is 40 minutes long and its an interval training workout on the treadmill. and it.kicked.my.butt. iTrain labels it as "Beginner/Not too Hard", but clearly thats all up for our own personal interpretation. I mean, if you think setting your treadmill at a pace of 5.0 is "Beginner/Not too Hard" then we should be labeling this workout as "HARD, VERY HARD".

I mean, I was all ok and stuff with starting the short run out at a 5.6 and going along for a few minutes. Heck, I was even ok with the 3% grade hill at a 5.4 for 3 minutes, or whatever. And to be honest, I was pretty ok at setting an 8% grade hill at a 5.0 for however long (no more than 2 or 3 minutes i dont think). I'm even ok with the coaching and gentle guidance given to you by the Grace (the voice over the earbuds). You know what i'm not ok with? The sprint (but not all-out sprint, mind you) for the final four minutes. Grace says, pick a number you can run at steadily for the final 4 minutes. I pick a nice, easy 5.4. Grace says, joggers, your number should between a 6.4 and 6.8. OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. my legs are JELLO. J-E-L-L-O. I've been running harder than I think I've ever run before for the last THIRTY SIX MINUTES on STEEP hills. and now you want me to run the final four minutes at LEAST a 6.4 PACE?! you've got to be kidding me.

but

i'm not a wuss. and i'm not going to be running up there on the treadmill at my little leisurly 5.4 when good ole Gracey says I need to be at a 6.4. So people, I pushed that speed up. I pushed it up to a 6.6 and I ran the last four minutes home.

it kicked my butt, i was exhausted, my legs were jello, and i ran faster for 40 minutes than I ever have before.

and i bought two more iTrain workouts today. must not have been so bad afterall.