This weeks weigh in was once again a happy event - down .8 lbs (8/10ths). This is a 7.6 lb weight loss since I have gone back and 35.4 lbs total. I am 13.6 lbs away from my goal!

 

The discussion today was Winter Foods and Comfort Foods and modifying recipes to be a bit more WW friendly. That is something I try to do already. They did talk about BAKING cauliflower, as opposed to steaming it. They said the flavors are very different.

 

Carl and I then headed to Starbucks and Best Buy for a Latte for me and Lady and the Tramp for Carl.

 

We had two bottles of wine this week.

 

Beaux Freres Belles Soeurs 2004 Pinot Noir Ana Vinyard

This is a local organic wine.

 

Poggio Valente
Morellino Di Scansano
Elisabetta Geppetti
Fattoria Le Pupille
Dry Red Wine 2001

I'm still not very good at deciphering Italian labels - so I put down anything that might mean something...

Mom discovered a new olive oil, which she shared yesterday. It is from a local company I have talked about before. Red Ridge Farms. The oil had a rich color and a fruity flavor to it. My brother thought he tasted green apples and plantains. I wasn't analyzing it that closely, I was too busy eating it on everything.

 

My teenage nephew (the scooter pro) LOVED it. On this recent visit he discovered that olive oil and good bread are a delicious combination and couldn't get enough of it. Mom went through several loaves of bread IN ONE DAY! My brother said this is very common with my nephew around. I have this to look forward to.

 

 

She bought it at New Seasons. They recently revamped their website - it is nice.

 

***Your Boobies' Names Are...***

Blouse bunnies

Boobie Name Generator
http://www.blogthings.com/boobienamegenerator/

 

Thanks to Cathollic Mom for the link!

 

The hospital where I had the 'gram has a new system - less squishing, but it took a little bit longer. Didn't mind it as much (still don't look forward to the process...)

 

Remember the monthlies!

 

This time it isn't about Carl, but it is about my nephew, David. He is in his early teens and is into scooters. Not the motorized Vespa things, but the Razor-style scooters. This is his big thing - he asked for specialized parts for Christmas this year, and everyone got really frustrated trying to find them or get them by the 25th.

 

Anyway, he won an amateur scooter competition, Cooter Con 2, at a large indoor skate park in the Seattle area called Skate Barn West. I don't know what this means in terms of size of the competition in the sport or how many competitors are out there in the sport, but hey he won and I am proud.

 

You have to scroll down on the lower right frame to see that he won.

 

Here is another results page:

Carl and I attended our Mommy and Me meeting. Carl is being very helpful - he got someone else's card out of the file and then started taking off his shoes for weigh in also.

 

I had a surprise - I was down 1.6 pounds! This was after the bad chocolate day and the bad peanut butter day. I guess sticking with the plan the majority of the time pays off. This brings my restart weight loss to 6.8 pounds and my total weight loss to 35.6 pounds.

 

I took something to eat to the meeting. I don't eat before the weigh in - maybe it makes a difference. Carl eats more at that meeting than I could ever get him to eat at home. Maybe I will try some foods he normally won't eat next week.

 

 

I just finished a book I received for Christmas. It is called "Murder by the Glass," by Michele Scott. It is second in her "Wine Lover's Mystery" line.

 

I really enjoy the books. They are light reading and still draw you in. The author also includes recipes and wine pairings. Some of the recipes are simple others complex.

 

I read her first book, "Murder Uncorked" last year (received it for Christmas also.)

 

What I really like about her heroine is that she is going through life the same way real people do. She shops at Target, she works out but the back fat is coming, and little lines are popping up on her face. I like that she is someone real.

 

 

 

 

I received this email today - so I thought I would share.

 

Difference between men and women, and..."The Last Word"

 

1. NAMES
If Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara go out for lunch, they will call each other Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara.

If Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.

 

2. EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom will each throw in a $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.
When the women get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

 

3. MONEY
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need, but it's on sale.

 

4. BATHROOMS
A man has five items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Marriott.
The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337.
A man would not be able to identify most of these items.

 

5. ARGUMENTS
A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that... is the beginning of a new argument.

 

6. CATS
Women love cats.
Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.

 

7. FUTURE
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

 

8. SUCCESS
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

 

9. MARRIAGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, and she does.

 

10. DRESSING UP
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answers the phone, read a book, and get the mail.
A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

 

11. NATURAL
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

 

12. OFFSPRING
Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.
A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

 

13. THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Any married man should forget his mistakes... There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

 

AND FINALLY
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, jack asses, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?" "Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."

This week we had an interesting change. A friend gave us a bottle of wine from a barrel purchase. The bad part is I have no idea what it was for sure. It was red and still young, but it was a change. I only tasted a little - I wanted to try some more after it breathed a little but someone drank it all. And it wasn't my three year old.

 

The other wines consumed were:

 

Shea Wine Cellars 2004 Pinot Noir Estate Vinyard

Love anything from this winery.

 

JK Carriere 2004 Pinot Noir Povacateur

 

 

I really have the last two days... It was chocolate truffles on Thursday. They were the ones that are from Costco, rich on the inside and covered with a powdered chocolate. My stepmother sent left them at the house for my husband. Arrgh! Then yesterday I overdid it on peanut butter. So it is time to pull myself back on the course.

 

------

 

Here is the goofy husband story of late. My son received a  really cute Thomas set, as I talked about in a past blog:

 

One drawback is that the legs come out very easily. So my husband decided to glue them in with the glue gun. The problem is he didn't look at the directions and guessed which leg goes where. The result is a lopsided toy. So we tried to remove the glue - NO LUCK! The legs are stuck. So we are having to prop up certain legs to get the toy balanced so the trains will run around the track. I have been teasing my husband about it and will continue until I am bored with the teasing or something more amusing happens.

 

 

I found a site that has recipes from the movies:

 

 

Other recipes on the site look good too.

I found two websites that are addictive:

 

The Official JP Patches website

I remember watching this show all through my childhood in Seattle.

 

Yesterday's KPTV

This history through 2002 of a station here in Portland.

We have had a few snow days so far this month.

 

On the 10th we had a light snow storm - I think we may have stayed in during the morning, but were out later in the day.

 

On Tuesday of this week there was a pretty good storm - 4 inches of snow here. This wouldn't cause too much problem in places that get regular snow, but there are a lot of people who freak here, plus lots of hills plus there is always ice under the snow. I really didn't need to go anywhere, so Carl and I stayed home and created snow sculptures of people and castles.

 

Our local school district was totally incompetent and irresponsible when it came to the snow day. Someone made a call at 5:30 to keep schools open and went back to bed. All the surrounding schools were closed, including all the privates schools in the district boundries. Buses were getting stuck and in accidents, then after some schools had started, they decided to cancel school for the day.

 

It is a good thing there are a number of excellent private schools nearby.

 

 

 

 

I found a great cheese lovers blog:

 

Pacific Northwest Cheese Project

 

It lists Northwest Cheesemakers and shops. I will have to explore this more.

Carl received a really cute toy from my step-sister, Amy and her family. It is a Thomas' Race on the Rails set by Tomy. It is a stand-alone set that races four tiny engines (Thomas, Percy, James and Salty) around and around. At first I thought I would take it back as we have the Learning Curve version of the wooden Thomas. We decided to keep it and set it up this weekend. It is so cute - it looks like one of the toys from the early Baby Einstein videos. The trains are pulled to the top on a little conveyor belt, then they roll to the bottom around the track. A tiny Harold the Helicopter circles the track.

 

I would really recommend this one.

 

 

 

 

Carl and I went to the Mommy and Me meeting at Weight Watchers again. I was down 1.8 lbs this week, down 5.2 lbs since returning from my miscarriage, and 34 lbs total. Woo Hoo.

 

This week was a little calmer with the leader requesting that all the kids be seated or near their parent during the meeting. The leader talked about long term versus immediate gratification - especially in weight loss.

 

A woman also brought her latest find - Uncle Sam Cereal.

 

Fettuccine al Gorganzola

 

Serves 2

 

4 teaspoons Olive Oil
2 shallots
4 mushrooms
2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup 1% milk
2 tablespoons crumbled gorganzola cheese
2 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon cream cheese (full fat)

black pepper

Chop shallots, slice mushrooms and press garlic. Saute in a pan with olive oil.

In a saucepan combine milk and cheeses. Stir over low heat until cheeses are melted and blended.

Combine vegetables and cheese sauce. Pour over pasta.

Points for sauce per serving: 4, 2 oils, 1 dairy - add a little bit more mushrooms to count a vegetable (that was all the mushrooms I had and I thought more shallots and garlic would be too strong.)

Rich loved this sauce and wanted more.

I used the following recipes for ideas:
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/26/Alfredo_Blue57589.shtml

I also had to read the Wikipedia article with a bit of history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fettuccine_alfredo

cool website
http://www.articlejournal.com/category/food-drink/page/1/

I made this last night. I hadn't tried Pierogies before, but had tried dishes that were similiar and liked them. I had heard of them, I received some Mrs. T's coupons at a National Jaycees convention. I just wasn't able to find them in the stores in Denver at the time.

 

I recently saw a box of Mrs T's Pierogies in the freezer section and bought them. I now of course can't remember in which store I bought them!

 

I baked the Pierogies per the directions on the box and made this mushroom sauce for them:

 

Serves 2

 

6 medium sized mushrooms

2 shallots

4 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1/8 cup water (guess)

salt

 

Slice mushrooms,  chop shallots and saute in olive oil. Add chicken broth. Mix flour and water in a cup to make a white sauce add to pan. Salt to taste.

 

Points: 2.5 per serving for sauce

 

I found ideas for this sauce on the Mrs. T's site and 3 Fat Chicks site.

 

 

I looked up information on Pierogies:

 

While on Wikipedia, I thought it would be fun to look up Weight Watchers:

It includes history, the points formula and some links.

This site has a list of Weight Watcher pro and cons:

This site has some analysis of the patented or patent-pending formula:

 

Here are the wines we drank this week:

 

Snoqualmie Vineyards 2001 Cabernet Merlot

This is a low cost table wine that we like.

 

White Rose Vineyard 2003 Pinot Noir Quiotee's Lair

Great wine - I have loved everything we have purchased from this winery

 

Rockblock Cellars 2004 Syrah Carpenter Hill Vineyard

Rockblock Syrahs are my favorite Syrahs and the Carpenter Hill is the best of their good Syrahs

 

Basel Cellars (didn't get the year) Merlot

 

 

We also decided to stop our wine club membership with Archery Summit. We were members for two years and received a number of very good wines. I really really like their Looney Estate Pinot Noir - It is an amazing Pinot Noir.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I started Weight Watchers I have been eating more fresh vegetables and getting fussier about them. My cousin, Lori, who works for a natural foods store chain (PCC) has a sign on her fridge - "If foods not fresh I won't eat it, ok I'll eat it but I won't like it."

 

I am looking into getting fresh vegetables through Community Supported Agriculture program. I had heard of them before but I started looking again after a Slate article and a trip to the grocery store.

 

I am still researching, so this is a work in progress entry.

 

Lori's stores:

 

Slate Article:

 

Program sites: