My favorite kind of weekends are those that have a good balance of busyness and relaxation. These past few days were just the right mix of things. Highlights of the weekend include mountain biking, checking out the La Jolla Art & Wine Festival, house hunting (yes, we're looking!), hanging out at the beach for a couple hours and watching football. I also completely unplugged from my computer for a full 24 hours. Between working from home, blogging, and social media, I feel like I'm always on my laptop. It's nice to have a day every so often when I don't even turn my Mac on! Another fun part of my weekend was the NY Giants bandana I ordered for Harley arriving. She completely hates it and keeps biting it, but I can't stop cracking up at how funny she looks with it ... [Read More]
Archives for October 2012
Pasta Pomodoro Please
When it comes to cooking, tons of ingredients don't necessarily equate to deliciousness. Sometimes the simplest of recipes are the best. This is the case for my very favorite pasta sauce.... You might have caught on by now that I love tomatoes. My adoration for them began as a kid growing up in Jersey, eating the giant tomatoes my grandpa grew in his garden. My love for tomatoes only grew when I studied abroad in Italy. I talked about this when I did a post about classic tomato sauce awhile ago, but while in Sicily, I ate a ridiculous amount of tomatoes - a lot of the time in caprese salads or pasta pomodoro. I seriously never got sick of eating these dishes! If you ask different people, you'll get different answers, but to me, a pomodoro sauce and a marinara sauce differ in ... [Read More]
A Fall Feelin’
Happy 10/11/12 blog friends! It's starting to feel a bit like fall around San Diego (well, ya know, we do experience minor season changes!). We've had a few months of pretty hot weather, but today there was a bit of chill in the air and it was actually rainy. I felt strangely happy to wear a sweatshirt this morning while talking Harley for a walk. Even though I grew up in the Northeast, I'm not a person who loves to live in a place with 4 seasons. I definitely don't mind it being warm and sunny most of the time here (actually, I LOVE it!), but it is nice to have a bit of a change of pace! Before I get to my 'What This Vegetarian Ate Today' rundown, I wanted to note a blog update. I've had multiple people tell me that they've had issues with subscribing to my blog, and I've been ... [Read More]
Doing Xtend Barre at Home
A few months ago, I blogged about taking classes at a Bar Method studio. I did a bunch of them just as a trial, and while I liked the classes, didn't continue on to have a membership with the gym. Following my blog post about it, a reader suggested that I should do barre DVD workouts at home. I thought this was a great idea, and last week, I finally got around to picking out a barre style workout DVD off of Amazon: I do workouts at home fairly often, usually once or twice a week. I sometimes find them to be really convenient, especially when I'm in a time crunch and want to maximize the time I do have to exercise. I have a couple of favorites that I've done quite a few times, mainly Jillian Michaels' DVDs and Tae Bo workouts (which my hubby totally makes fun of me for, and I can't ... [Read More]
Asian Sesame Broccoli Slaw Salad
Out of all the nutrient-rich vegetables out there, broccoli is one of the best. The super food is high in vitamins and antioxidants, including Vitamin A & C, fiber, folic acid, potassium and calcium. My lunch concoction today revolved around broccoli slaw, which is a combo of shredded broccoli, carrots & red cabbage. Sesame was the other major component of the salad. I used both roasted sesame seeds and sesame oil to give the dish a nice strong sesame flavor. I love sesame! A bag of broccoli slaw caught my eye recently while food shopping, and I nabbed it with memories of a salad I've had in mine. My mom's friend used to make this broccoli slaw salad that I liked, and though I couldn't remember exactly what was in it, I knew that it involved crunchy Ramen Noodles. I've never ... [Read More]
Roasted Fennel with Parmesan Vinaigrette
A couple of weeks ago, I found an intriguing recipe on the Vegetarian Times website for roasted fennel. I began experimenting with fennel somewhat recently, and have been a bit surprised to find myself liking its licorice-like flavor. With this recipe in mind, I picked up some fennel bulbs with the intention of roasting them for the first time... and then totally forgot about them in the back of one of my produce drawers. Today I was digging around my fridge and found them, slightly browned but luckily still useable... And I turned them into this... To make the dish, I first sliced the fennel bulbs into wedges... Next I mixed olive oil, minced garlic, mustard, thyme, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then added grated parmesan cheese to the mix. I tossed the fennel with the dressing, ... [Read More]