Tables, part I

A few years ago, maybe about 2 now, I fell in love. With a rustic wooden dining table. Maybe more so a large almost-bureau. The first few heart flutters came from magazine pictures. A messy but loved 15-foot table that served as the heart of all activities in the home. Another, more refined but still full of character wooden anchor for the kitchen-cum-dining room. These images have been in the back of my mind for awhile now. I found the table feeling at Repast's bakery in Inman Park too. A massive golden wood object of desire that quite nicely handles at least 8 people on bar stools, cozied up around it munching on their Saturday morning pastries, perusing the newspaper headlines and sipping their lattes. Almost makes me want to go back right now. I haven't been there in at least 2 years...

And almost a full year passed. Then I was recently perusing the Ikea Hacker blog (ikeahacker.blogspot.com), and came across this Danish inspiration (not Swedish, actually by a Dane):



And another inspirational photo. I don't love everything about the details of the table or even the exact seating, but I like taking it for the feeling I get when I look at it.



I will dig deeper into rustic wooden tables across the Internets, and will be back soon!

New directions

I feel like I have abandoned my blog. No, I actually HAVE abandoned my blog. It has been woefully neglected for almost 2 whole months, and I am trying to figure out why.

Part of it comes from realizing that the text editor is wholly uninspiring to me. I hate writing in it. I have ideas for what to write when I am not staring at this technical, boring text box. I would much rather have my happy picture to look at, and see text getting put directly onto my actual blog. You know, direct feedback on how it looks and feels in context.

Part of it also stems from feeling like whatever random ramblings I have merely clutter space on the Internets without providing any productive content. To address that insecurity on my part, I plan to take this blog in a more focused direction. Part home decorating, part "green" ideas, and maybe even part projects (so I have impetus to actually finish some of them!). Not that I won't have my random post days, but having a better vision of why I bother to write here should help my motivation to do so.

So, keep checking back and bugging me if I start slacking!

I feel better. Is that weird?

When J and I started our Lenten diet this year, it was no big deal. We had given up the same things last year: refined sugar, refined flour, red meat, and caffeine. Sounds like a lot? Yeah, it was rough last year. But this year wasn't so bad. I didn't miss the sugars or white bread as much as I thought I would, but I was really looking forward to Lent being over. Or so I thought.

Easter Sunday came, I grabbed a Chai Latte from Starbucks as a morning treat, and went to church. So far, no big deal. Then our friends had an Easter potluck, replete with glazed ham and chocolate fondue. Ok, I can handle that. And then I got home, and the boxes of candy called my name. I indulged - why not? I wasn't on our Lent diet any more - and then it happened. I crashed! All throughout this past week, I have allowed myself to eat sugar whenever I pleased, and my body has not like me for it! I literally felt bloated and sluggish all week - pretty darn terrible given how on top of the world I had felt the week before. I even seemed to gain a few of my lost pounds back!

What I did not experience last year, and what shocked me about it this year, was a complete change in my actual taste for sugar. For me - a lifelong sweet tooth - the ability and realization that my body (and therefore my self) no longer gets much pleasure from eating sugary things as I thought. There must have come some moment of mental switch in the last 40 days, realizing that I did not mentally need sugar, nor did I physically need it either, and that was it. This has been such a freeing feeling too, to not want or crave things that are ultimately bad for me. I feel better without sugar. Is that weird?

Starting today, I am back to the no refined sugar, no refined flour, with a little leeway built in for those occasions when I want a bite or two of something sweet. But this is a decision that is an obvious choice now because I have found out how good and strong and alert I can feel, and I don't want to give that feeling up for a box of jelly beans. It's just not worth it!

Beer me

...or not. For those of you who knew me in college, you are aware how much I despised the standard college parties with their cheap beer and mysterious punch. I had such a loathing for beer from those early experiences that there was little motivation to start drinking beer until I got to graduate school...and then it was the social lubricant of choice for all of my friends. So I tried, and tried, and found a few beers tolerable, but quite honestly, I still much prefer a glass of red wine (or white) to any beer you could hand me.

That is, until I discovered vodka. Vodka and I have made quick friends (no no, not like that!) so now when I reach our destination bar, I can quickly order a vodka soda, especially one of the flavored varieties, and be quite happy all night! Can I suggest a rootbeer vodka and soda? Or a sweet tea vodka and lemonade? Even Stoli raspberri is acceptable in these circumstances.

I miss out on all the bloated feelings that beer gives, the dreadful aftertaste, and the beer breath. Oh darn. I feel like I have finally reached adulthood now that I have come of age enough to have specific taste and opinions about the alcohol I ingest. Cheers to my favorite drink, and yours!

Slicing and dicing

I like fruit, really I do. But I have this bad habit of buying a few apples/bananas/pears/etc and letting them sit around till they become putrid, instead of enjoying them at their prime. As much as I am not proud to admit it, I realized this stems from sheer laziness. Or mental block, depending on how you look at it.

There is a certain activation energy for me to pick up a piece of fruit - especially an apple-type fruit - and want to eat it. There is this mental obstacle that comes from some inexplicable place that causes a wave of disgust to rise inside me when I think of eating an apple directly off the core. Maybe it stems from getting apple skin caught in my teeth when eating that way, or maybe it's the stream of apple juice and detritus that dribbles down my arm, but either way there it is - I can't bring myself to do it.

It has taken me this long to realize my obstacle, and finally do the obvious thing: cut the darn apples before you actually want to eat them! I devoured 2 whole shingo pears over the past few days because I took the time to prep them for easy eating. And I LOVE that fruit too!

Part of the motivation for all this fruit-eating pleasure is the crazy diet that J and I are on for Lent again this year. We gave up refined sugar and refined flour, as well as red meat and caffeine, which leaves this girl's sweet tooth unsatisfied. We are allowed honey and agave nectar, which have been lifesavers when that craving was too great, but so far it hasn't been nearly as bad as last year's experiment. Granted, last year we also tried giving up white rice - which meant no sushi, and that was pretty much unacceptable, so we modified the restrictions a bit this time!

Back to the point, though, fresh fruit has been a really nice dessert option for us during this season that may actually continue past Lent this year. Some frozen berries (thawed, with a drizzle of agave) and plain yogurt have also been a delicious, and healthy, substitute for those nights when we would otherwise have had some chocolate or ice cream. (That being said, I look forward to having chocolate again. I am a girl, after all)

Hot smoky valentine's

J requested something chocolate for our dinner, so I consulted my stack of yet-to-be-tried magazine recipes for inspiration. We agreed upon a mocha-chocolate cake with chocolate marscapone frosting. It sounded amazing (and the pictures were even more mouthwatering!), so we ventured out to the store for some esoteric ingredients - marscapone and instant espresso powder - that don't usually grace our shelves.

Everything was going well, albeit a little hectic since I was making the cake and frosting simultaneously, until the cream that was coming to a boil on the stove did just that. It boiled, and boiled over before I could catch it! Needless to say, the cream was quickly removed from the heat, and I went about finishing the rest of the cake and frosting. I popped the thick, gooey cake layers in the oven and proceeded to the park with J and the dog to enjoy a little fresh air while the cake baked for 30 min. We got home just in time for the first timer to go off, and luckily the cakes needed a few more minutes so I took my damp coat and muddy shoes off and went back to the kitchen. At the second timer, the layers looked perfect and out they came, onto the stovetop. I thought nothing of it while I left them to cool, and sat down on the couch with my sweetheart. A few minutes later, though, he looked at me and said, something is burning. I could have sworn everything was turned off, but something was definitely charring, so I ran to the kitchen only to find that I had left the burner that had been heating the cream earlier on and it was now in the process of heating my cake layer!

I was horrified! J ran to my aid, and we attempted to rescue or salvage what we could of the burnt layer, but it was no use. The burnt aroma from the parchment paper/cake crumbs/pan had penetrated the entire thickness. No amount of cutting (or frosting) was going to make it better. The saving grace was that he was perfectly happy having a one-layer Valentine's Day cake instead, and the mocha marscapone frosting made up for the lack of a second layer. Here is to love (and chocolate) making all things better.

Getting back up again

I have a terrible confession to make: I fell off the diet horse last week.

I could attribute it to the pre-surgery stress, or the accumulation of my thesis project failures - this whole grad school thing has been a rollercoaster of emotions regarding success or failure of these grand ideas my advisor has - but quite honestly, whatever the underlying distractions, it does not excuse the extreme lack of willpower or qualifications I gave myself these past few days!

Here is to (falling but having the courage to) get back up again and face this week in a stronger, more resolute manner with my self-control! Take that, Mondays!