Tired Chatterbox

So much to say, so little time!

I feel like I’ve neglected my baby, a.k.a. “the blog”, but it’s not like I’ve completely given up on it.  I try to catch up on other people’s blog through my blog – does that count?  It seems like I’ve been incredibly busy, even though my life might sounds pretty boring. 

At this point in time, my life consists of work and working out…oh yeah, and on occasion, cooking!  Seriously, I feel like I’ve barely had any time to cook, which is such a shame because I love it; however if I don’t get my workout in right after work my “workout evening” is totally shot, I know it.  The gym is about 25 minutes away from home, so it really feels like I have to make the extra effort to go out once I come home from work; thus I make the trek directly from work to the gym.  Total driving time one way:  1 hour.  But it’s totally worth it, especially on yoga nights, like tonight.  Miguel and I have been going through some tough times lately, with him being recently laid off again (a little over a month now) and it seems like the bills continue to pile on!  Yesterday I was thinking, what would it be like to not have to pay bills for like 6 months?  Those thoughts reverted me back to Office Space.  Somewhere between the move from Central California and NorCal the movie’s been misplaced – I can’t seem to find it anywhere.  I think I may have let somebody borrow it, but I don’t know who that might have been.  For all I know it could be stuck in a box somewhere.

Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that yoga nights are awesome.  I was kind of laughing at myself tonight on the drive back home, thinking, the gym is probably one of the best things that’s ever happened to us.  It gives me time to get a good workout in, some time to myself where I get to relax and be in my “zone” and time away from home.  It also gives MigL time to himself; and when things are stressful everything seems so much better when I come home after a workout at the gym. 

Tonight was an especially stressful evening.  We somewhat argued about taking some time out to clean up the house a bit mire, but because we were both stressed out (mainly I was incredibly stressed out) about bills, finding a job for him and such, it felt like the world was slowly starting to crumble.  Thus I was definitely looking forward to yoga.  Gosh, it felt SO good during and afterward!  I was energized, and even had a spring to my step! OK, not really, but I did feel a happy aura.  There’s a static-y area on the drive from my house to the gym because of some small hills and the only station that gets the least static happens to be the classical station.  Sometimes that’s all I need to get through a long drive – to hear a really awesome piece.  It was indeed a relaxing drive back home.

I’m not sure why, but for some reason I was craving lentils and rice ALL DAY!  Granted, I haven’t made lentils in a couple of months, but something told me that’s what I needed to feel happy – probably because I was a bit hungry.  Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that bring the best comfort.  So after yoga, I made lentils and Spanish rice.  It was the BEST!  I mixed both all together and it was delish!  All I needed was a few bites of each (OK, more like a 1/4 cup of rice and some lentils) and I was totally happy.  On a side note, in Salvadoran culture when you combine beans and rice it’s called casamiento (meaning marriage);  what’s it called when you mix lentils and rice?  Would you consider calling it the same thing?

I was catching up on some blogging tonight and found out that one of my favorite Food Network chefs, Tyler Florence, is opening up a new restaurant right here in Napa!  I’m head over heels – not to mention he’s incredibly cute (second to Michael Vartan, who apparently is engaged?!  Ugh.)  Sorry Josh Groban, you’ve been bumped to third.  Tyler’s new restaurant, Rotisserie & Wine is supposed to be only a few blocks from my house! You had me at rotisserie.. Haha!  Seriously, that's how I feel right now. 

I know it’s getting late and I can feel the goofiness starting to come out.  BUT I am totally relaxed and it doesn’t hurt that I’m listening to Spa Radio on Pandora.  It definitely makes me want to snuggle up and relax.

On another side note I watched the third episode of Who Do You Think You Are? online on NBC.  I’ve really resonated with the show because for years my aunt and I have been trying to track down our family history.  I only wish I could travel and actually see where they’ve come from and talk to people who knew my great grandparents.  In any case, in this particular episode they featured Lisa Kudrow’s history and I literally felt shivers and actually reacted to her story deeper than I’ve ever reacted before.  She was trying to find out what happened to her great grandmother’s family, among other things, as her family’s background is Jewish.  I totally didn't know that.  Anyway, if you get a chance to watch it, definitely do.  I promise, it’s worth it.  It even finishes with a happy ending.

I’m out for now.  Happy sleeping thoughts!

Rain, you can’t stop me from enjoying my weekend…

I feel exhausted right now, so I’ll try to be brief.

This weekend was pretty amazing – tried a new restaurant, had delicious coffees, worked out, went for a walk in the rain, saw three rainbows in one day and had an amazing vespers experience.  The rain and wind this weekend didn’t bring me down – no siree!

Friday after work I met up with a friend to grab coffee and dinner, except that she’d apparently sent me an e-mail I never read, because I was so busy at work I didn’t have time to check my e-mail.  She was basically letting me know she was going to run a bit late.  I’m not high tech on my phone, and I wish I’d had an iphone of some sorts to be able to get important communication like that…oh well. 

As I sat in the Napa Valley Roasting Company while waiting around for about an hour and drank my nonfat vanilla latte, and thought to myself, “This is sooo good!”  Seriously, it’s the best coffee I’ve ever had and I consider that place one of the best places to get great coffee; and it was a perfect cup of joe for the start of a great weekend.

I decided to grab a book to continue killing time.  As I skimmed through book titles, one in particular caught my eye.  Bone in the Throat.  What the heck is that, I thought to myself.  I quickly glanced over to see who the author was and quickly picked up the book off of the bookshelf.  Considering myself a foodie, I thought this book would be a must-read.  Granted, I love me some medical thrillers; but this book mixed the medical thriller along with food thriller.  Who'da thunk?  Genius! I sat back down and took another sip of my latte.  I began reading Anthony Bourdain’s novel, “Bone in the Throat”.  According to Amazon’s booklist review, “Bourdain's tongue-in-cheek wiseguy novel features an up-and-coming young chef who owes his position in a New York restaurant to his uncle, a Mob collector-hit man who has loaned a considerable sum to the restaurant owner. Mobster Sal the Wig and Tommy, the sous-chef, are both unaware that state and federal agents have set up the owner, Harvey, as a plant to uncover extortion, murder, and whatever other criminal activities occur in Harvey's presence or the eaterie.”

It was really too bad that I had to stop reading it and eat dinner.  I’ll definitely have to borrow that book sometime from the library and finish it up.  While I was reading it, I couldn’t seem to put it down!

After coffee I finally met up with my friend for dinner and ate at Cooks, in St. Helena.  I ate their Handmade Mozzarella Caprese.  So good!  It includes hairloom tomatoes, basil and a balsamic vinegar reduction with extra virgin olive oil.  It also had dried tomatoes, which I normally don’t like, but these were delicious paired with the mozzarella.  I took a bite of my friend’s gnocchi in gorgonzola cream and that was really good too.  I’ve never had gnocchi like that before…so buttery and creamy and simply melt-in-your mouth.  Delish!  It was soon time to head up to PUC vespers.  Normally we wouldn’t go to vespers up there because, speaking for myself, I feel old and out of place.  But this time was the exception, seeing that a friend of ours, Godfrey, was speaking for vespers.  It was such an inspiring environment – with great reflective music followed by a thought-provoking talk.  Overall, our experience that night was definitely one of a kind.

Sabbath came along and the inspiration continued at church.  It seemed that the sermon was a continuation of last night’s talk, even though the speakers were totally different and I was at different churches.  It definitely fulfilled my soul and felt like it was exactly what I needed.  After church, I joined some friends for a potluck lunch and the food was simply homey and delicious.  On my way to lunch, I saw a rainbow.  Simply gorgeous!  It was just hanging out there right in front of me to enjoy.  After lunch, we all hung out afterwards chatting and catching up.  Soon after, three of us girls went for a walk.  It had been raining on and off throughout the day, so I took an umbrella, just in case.  And boy did we need it!  It was raining pretty steadily.  Nevertheless, we still walked in the rain.  Even though our pants were wet, we continued catching up, talking about what our blessing of the week was, and then the miracle came.  We saw a double rainbow, and one of them was actually a full rainbow.  THAT was super awesome.  Behind us it was sunny; where we were standing it was raining; and in front of us, there were rainbows.  It was an amazing Sabbath afternoon.

That night I relaxed with a friend and ate her cinnamon-infused popcorn while watching “He’s just not that into you”.  Such a funny movie.  Too true in so many ways.

This morning I slept in until 9:30!  Shared brunch with my hubby and made made the perfect looking pancakes on my new griddle!  No burnt pancakes involved!  With that, we paired the pancakes with bananas and accompanied it with some scrambled eggs.  I warmed up some Morningstar Veggie Bacon Strips for myself.  It was definitely a special breakfast like no other.  I hadn’t made pancakes in such a long time, and to have a yummy brunch like that, was definitely a special treat.   A typical breakfast includes cereal, most likely a banana and some milk.

Later today, I went to work out at the gym with my friend and had a great workout.  I really pushed myself to get a good workout for the hour that we were going to be there.  So I began with the elliptical (the one that goes up and down) and then rode a little over 5 miles in 21 minutes on the bicycle.  Boy was I pumped for that one!  I could definitely feel my body saying “I hate you”, but I know it’s thanking me afterward. :)  I did about 10 minutes of weights and it was definitely time to come home and relax.  I was pooped!  Came home and snacked on a raisin bread English muffins and added a tablespoon of peanut butter.  Fuel for my body!  The hubby was nice enough to pick up dinner, so I had a Veggie Delite sandwich from Subway.  Refreshingly filling.

OK, maybe not so brief tonight, but I am ready for bed.  G’nite!