Alternative Tuna Salad

We frequently have that last minute conversation of “What is for dinner tonight?”. We had that last night. We almost ended up walking to our local sushi place (I dream about their seaweed salad). Ultimately, I came up with the idea of a tuna salad.
I basically took a can of tuna, leftover lentils and added in whatever seemed appropriate from what we had in the refrigerator. What we got was a tasty and quick main dish that we served with (leftover) steamed yams with sprinkled cinnamon.

Here is a (hopefully) complete list of ingredients:

1 can white albacore tuna (or whatever tuna that has the lowest mercury levels)
1 cup (approximately) cooked leftover plain lentils
1 sliced roasted red pepper, organic from jar
1/2 cup black olives
1/2 key lime juice
some feta cheese

I didn’t add salt because the feta and olives add salty flavor but you may want to add pepper and other herb seasoning. Also, I would have added tomatoes to the salad if we had any in the house.

I am not a runner

I am not a runner. I do not like running. I don’t get the runners high.
These are the messages I hear myself repeating in my head and when I speak to others concerning running.
Earlier this year, I started a couch to 5k plan to help myself become more physically fit. Some health and family drama happened around that time and I quit my training. The dust has settled in my personal life so a couple of weeks ago I decided to try training for a 5k again. I decided to start a few weeks or so in the program because after all, I wasn’t a complete beginner, right?
It is a struggle at first but each run does get easier. I am now up to 5 minute running intervals (5 minute run, 1 minute walk). Every time I bump up my minutes, there is a temporary struggle but then it does get easier.
Today when I was walking home from my “run” with my latte reward, I walked by an older couple who saw my 5K shirt from 2005 and asked me about it. I told them it was a race from 2005. The lady then exclaims “Oh you are a professional”. I about dropped my latte. To this I replied with a giggle “not exactly…I walked the race”. Her response to that was “oh that is good too”.
While I certainly don’t think I am a professional, it is all about perspective. To this lady who probably has never done a race in her life, I was a professional. Maybe I am not yet a runner today, but I can be a runner. Something that I thought was out of my reach can be really easily achieved. I can keep training and run an entire 5K just like that lady could walk one (barring any major health issues).
Hopefully when you see in a month, I will have run my first 5k (completely by running). Perhaps someday I can do a distance race, who knows?

Coq au Vin

From Photo Challenge

I finally made that Coq au Vin I have been taking about for a while (and a reason why I bought that fancy pot with the rooster on the lid). The recipe from Williams Sonoma worked well. I only had to make a few substitutions. For one half of the chicken I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and for the other half I used the bone in thighs. I see button mushrooms in many french recipes but I can never find them in my grocery store so I substituted with baby bella mushrooms. In addition, I did not buy enough shallots for the recipe. Instead, I ended up adding colored boiler onions that we had at home. Finally, when it said skim the fat off the sauce, I didn’t need to – no visible fat could be found. It was very good, and even better as leftovers. It was a very successful cooking evening.

From Photo Challenge

We ate it on the patio with a glass of Beaujolais mixed with sparkling water and a side of persimmons. Carlos ate his with rice and a side salad.

From Photo Challenge

Epcot Food and Wine 2011

It is that time of year again. Every fall, Epcot hosts a Food and Wine Festival. There are many food and alcohol events during that time but most are a separate admission price. We usually go once or twice a year – once as a large group and another time to sample the goodies we missed while hanging out with the group. Our group event was on a Saturday this year. We had another one of those perfect Florida weather days. It appears that everyone in Orlando decided to visit the park on this day. I was able to sample a couple of dishes. Some of them included Feijoada (Brazilian dish), beef skewer with chimmichurri, cheese fondue, and pumpkin mousse. My favorites from the first day included the Argentinean Skewer and the pumpkin mousse. We also enjoyed many beverages, many in France, on this day.

Cosmo Slush

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

Grand Marnier Slushie – tastes like a Cream Cycle

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

Lydia enjoyed the lobster claw

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

Carlos had the coq a vin

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

And you can’t go wrong with some Rosa Regale

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

At some point during the day, we got an infused tequila sampler. The jalapeno tequila was the best.

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

On the second visit, I was able to try a few more dishes.
I enjoyed the pork sliders in Hawaii (with Mai Tai).

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

Finally the Greek Cheese.

From Epcot2011v2.0 2011-10-30

Random thoughts about weight loss

This post is a little off topic but it is the only forum I have to express the frustrations I have had with weight loss throughout my life. For about the tenth time in my life I am attempting weight loss once again. It started as a child. The first few years of my life I was a healthy weight for my body. Around the year of 1985 at the tender age of 10, I spent a summer eating in Ohio. I ate my grandma’s home cooking, I ate 3 of those fresh glazed doughnuts from the local bakery (daily), I ate my grandpa’s stash of candy bars, and I drank a lot of Pepsi. I gained around 10 lbs that summer. To adult it doesn’t seem insurmountable, but to a child, it is a life changer. I came back to school the next year faced with day in and day out of pure mental torture. Guys I had been friends with for years were ridiculing me. They sang songs about me. I went home crying most days of the week. The next couple of years I was able to shed some weight. Some in part due to a growth spurt, some because I switched from regular to diet soda (at age 12!), and some just because I had a little spark of motivation to lose weight so I would stop getting ridiculed. It took a few more years before I was actually at an ideal weight but I at least felt sort of normal for a while (I don’t know too many teenage girls that don’t have body issues). The summer of 1992 I got a job working at a theme park at an attraction. I spent long hours walking back and forth in the heat, and jumping on and off race cars. Occasionally I would have to run down the track to start a car that had stalled. I ate very little. That summer I dropped 15 lbs. I met so many new people, I felt like I was in the best shape of my life. The next couple of years I was able to sort of sustain a normal weight on and off. I did gain some weight (freshman 15) but I was able to shed it as easy as I gained it. I finished college and started my first job. My lifestyle consisted of working, partying, and eating. I joined a gym but still the weight slowly came back on. I dealt with adult ridicule at this point. I remember a situation where my ex-boyfriend (who I was for some reason still friends with at the time) tells me that his new love interest referred to me as the “fat one over there”. Another situation where a guy who I guess was trying to hit on me calls me “thick” when I don’t return his advances. I was angry. I escaped a negative environment and moved back to my hometown. There I find temporary weight loss, a new job, new friends, and a new life. I felt good about my body again. The partying and eating once again takes a toll on my body and the weight comes back on. And the story repeats a few more times. I have used weight watchers, south beach diet, personal trainers, 5k training….but it all ends in the same – the weight comes off, then back on again. Then I meet my life mate and introduce him to my world of always trying to lose that extra weight. He is supportive but gets frustrated at my seemingly desire to not be healthy. We work through it. I decide to seek hypnotic weight loss therapy. I decide it is crap and only attend two sessions. Then something happens, 15 lbs mysteriously disappears. Is it the hypnosis? Who knows? We get married and the honeymoon begins. I eat like I am on vacation, for two years. Working out happens in spurts. The weight comes back on. I am now my heaviest ever. So the journey begins once again. What can I do to make it different this time? How can I make it “stick”. I started hypnosis again. I have been going twice a month. It seems to have helped me with many of daily struggles I have with food. I am able to associate doughnuts with dog shit in my mind so I don’t desire them. I still struggle with social eating and drinking. Sometimes I can portion control, other times I cannot. 3 beers in an evening still has not turned into 1 beer like it should be on a weight loss plan. There are still things to work on. Workouts have slowly been increasing in number and intensity (with occasional “bad days” where I skip) and I am no longer gaining weight. But I am not losing weight either (except from the miraculous two pound loss in the past two weeks). I think some more honesty is needed with how much I am actually eating. I have been working on journaling everything; the good and the bad. Journaling gives me a realistic picture of if I really am putting the work in. Workouts definitely can be stepped up a notch. I might try running again. It sucks but I think it is an good way to burn lots of calories. Finally, the beer will have to be set aside for a while. It will be painful, but no weight loss is going to happen when beers sabotage it with their empty calories.
Skinny Kid Days