Tag: books

The day I ate whatever I wanted: Part 2 B (the day of)

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, fitness, Life in the cube, local fun, Midlife Crisis, restaurants, yoga
Chocolate Croissant from Standard Baking Co.

My friend Susan told me to have a: “Happy Birthday!!! Enjoy the whole day and do what YOU want!!”

My response: “Well, since I’m working it will be hard to DO whatever I want, but instead I’m going to EAT whatever I want!”

🙂

So here goes: Day 2B of “The day I ate whatever I wanted”…I’m starting to fear that this is a slippery slope…better reign it in after today. This is what I did on the actual day.

I decided not to go to the gym so that I could sleep an extra hour. Good decision. I decided not to do any laundry and not to stop to gas up the car. Those things could wait. My mantra for the day: “If it’s not ‘all about me’, I’m not doing it.”

Breakfast: Decided to wait until I got to Portland then sprinted over to the Standard Baking Company (no website, unbelievably) to get a chocolate croissant. Monument Square was packed with dressed up, suited up people at 8am; usually it’s a ghost town on the weekend at that hour. I heard there was some sort of a convention going on which almost made me late for work (reference: “sprinted” to the bakery!).

Note: Around noon I started rethinking the whole shorts thing;  may not have been the best idea…it barely made it out of the 50’s in Portland.

I continued to go where the whim took me. I didn’t follow any plan at all. I had two days to celebrate: the day before my birthday with my husband (which was awesome), and the birthday itself, which was kind of the icing on the (cup)cake after Friday.

For lunch, Micucci’s Pizza was a no-brainer. I was in luck too; they were just putting out the slabs of pizza when I ran up the stairs and grabbed one out from under the noses of the slower people assembling boxes to my right. When I ran down to pay I got to say “Hi” to the baker, Stephen Lanzalotta (author of  The Diet Code), who was just putting out the fresh cannoli…I resisted, since I had a piece of tiramisu from my son and a chocolate coconut cupcake from Two Fat Cats waiting for me for later on. A colleague at work, Laurie, handed me a chocolate shortbread cookie chaser after lunch, which enabled me to save the cupcake for later.

🙂

Had to miss my regular yoga class (with Kristen of Windsong Yoga)  in the morning so I was thrilled when a colleague Mary Ann said “Hey, want to do this yoga dvd with me at 2:00PM?”  I just happened to have my mat in the trunk, so that’s what we did.

To balance it all out, I ate half the Micucci’s slab for lunch then had the other half with a salad (with greens from the garden) for supper, followed by the cupcake and my favorite  (which is unfortunately seasonal) Keurig coffee that I saved from Christmas: Spicy Eggnog.

When I got home from work at 8:30PM I had a surprise waiting for me: gifts from the kids:

  1. An adapter that allows me to play my MP3 in the car from my son Anthony that I’ve been wanting forever and
  2. A handmade card with 3 dark chocolate covered cherries from my daughter Izzy.

What can I say? My kids know what I like. 🙂 My husband gave me my gift The Day Prior, but actually started it last fall. He got all of the raised beds ready for my fruit and vegetable gardens (not to mention most of the actual planting and watering thereof), and he bought many more lilac bushes for me (my favorite flower) and scattered them around the yard.  He knows what I like too. :D.

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This was the best birthday week ever.

Write it down, make it happen

by Karen, posted in books, Date night, family, fitness, health, Life in the cube, Midlife Crisis, no fear, Someone's gotta say it, tweens, writing, yoga

Okay, it’s a book (not mine!) title. It occurred to me to apply the philosophy of: “If you build it, they will come” espoused by James Earl Jones and put into force by Kevin Costner in the Field of Dreams movie which coincidently (?!) contained a female lead character named “Karen” (not sure how she spelled it!) played by Amy Madigan.

I decided to build my perfect work day.

  1. Get up–not too early.
  2. Get some exercise. I like Stephen King’s idea from his book On Writing where he would take writing breaks and jump on the treadmill that was next to his writing desk (if memory serves). A little bit of yoga couldn’t hurt…
  3. Get some coffee–oh wait! That should be first!
  4. Get some breakfast (ABO…or “Anything But Oatmeal” :)).
  5. Write until noonish.
  6. Get some lunch.
  7. Check email, blogs, FB (you know, all the usual time-sucking suspects) etc.
  8. Read until 4pm. This is when I get to make a small dent in my pile of books, magazines that I am dying to read but have no time to.
  9. Get some more exercise…go for a walk? At the beach! Look for sea glass, sand dollars, unusual rocks and shells. Sigh. Life is Good.
  10. Watch DVD’s or preferred TV series of the moment (The Good Wife, Survivor, Breaking Bad) with my husband.

What does a perfect day for you look like? Quick! Go right it down; then maybe you can figure out a way to make it happen! 🙂

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, family, local fun, movies, tweens

Have you noticed that there has been a span of several weeks with no G-rated (or PG, for that matter) choices for movies? After a long hiatus, enter (finally!) something that my daughter and I both wanted to see: the Wimpy Kid sequel, based on the book by Jeff Kinney, which I thought I’d bought Izzy for Christmas and I also thought she’d read.

Wrong. And wrong.

I took her anyway to see  Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules this past Sunday at Wells Five Star Cinema. This is the movie where Greg (the aforementioned Wimpy Kid) and his older brother Rodrick (read: torturer) work on their relationship to try to make it civil. This is also the movie where Rodrick (much to my surprise) becomes a human. Briefly.

The potty humor for the kids (and–dare I say it?– the men) abounds, but, thankfully, it had more than that to offer. Rachel Harris plays Mom, and many of us (moms) will relate to her asking her kids the quintessential Mom question:  “Can’t we all just get along?”  The answer is: well, yes…eventually. Probably. Not!

This story is about the brothers’ struggle to coexist, but is also about the Mom’s efforts to guide and support them. With Dad in the background making faces.

For food: we had nachos, popcorn, and M+M’s (her) and Peanut M+M’s (mom) from the gumball-type vending machines they have at that theater. If you’re short the approximately $15 needed to purchase a snack or two at the concessions counter, these coin-op machines can be really a good bet. Of course, you only get about 8 Peanut M+M’s for your quarter, but that’s about all a serving size amounts to anyway (about 1/4 cup), so it’s good for your wallet and for your efforts to keep your current size pants fitting you this week!

YAY! 🙂

Writing class

by Karen, posted in books, education, local fun, writing

I signed up for a class through the local adult ed office: Writing Memoir taught by Katherine Mayfield. There were 8 of us registered for the class, which is held on two consecutive Monday nights. When one person did not show up on the first night it made us a group of 7.

The group started just about on time, but in fairness the instructor was waiting for the missing student (but only for five minutes). She began by having us sit in a circle and we went around and (briefly) introduced ourselves to the group. Then the agenda was presented: a short talk by Katherine about what memoir is (creative non-fiction) and is not (autobiography), followed by some questions and answers.
Then we got down to writing. A prompt was given but we didn’t have to use it. We wrote for 10 minutes (Katherine gave us a one minute warning so we could finish up) and then we took turns (by volunteering) reading aloud to the group the pieces that we wrote.

This is where Katherine’s class differs from one I took a few years ago. She offered suggestions for how to structure the feedback that we providing to each other in a safe, non-threatening way (for example, referring to the writer as ‘the narrator’ instead of ‘you’). She even went so far as to say that if the writer determined that the writing produced during the exercises was too personal, (s)he did not have to share it with the group. I found this to be tremendously freeing.

I knew that I would be reading aloud what I wrote because, after all, that was one of my objectives for signing up: to see what other people thought of my writing. Still, it was a gift to know that the decision about whether to share my writing ultimately, was (just as it always is) mine.

Katherine brought a couple of resources for us to look through but I forgot about that while I was there. This book: Writing the Memoir by Judith Barrington is one of them, which I have seen before and I may even have already; I’m embarrassed to admit that I can’t remember! (Please refer to prior blog posts about clutter).So, I will be checking my bookshelves first, and if I don’t find it then I’ll check the Library’s bookshelves next.

P.S. Everyone shared their work and their nice, motivating comments with one another. It could be that 7 is a lucky number. 🙂

My one word: March update

by Karen, posted in family, Life in the cube, my one word, Pantry Project, tweens, writing

This is how March went:

  1. Changed sheets on bed: threw out excess of two sets (one set for the wash, one set for the bed is really all I need).
  2. Brought one book or magazine a day (well, most days) out of the house and gave away.
  3. Brought clothing that my daughter has outgrown to give to others who have daughters that are wearing that size now.
  4. Pared down what is in my work space in the cube to less than half of what had been there prior. If only I could lose as many pounds as my cube did this month!
  5. Unsubscribed from many of the automatic emails I was getting. Tedious, time-consuming clutter eliminated from my inbox!
  6. Working my way through  editing my manuscript… almost half finished!!!!

I am also wondering if my one word should change, or better yet, maybe I could keep the word “EDIT” since it seems to be working beautifully but consider it my major, like in college. Then I can add a minor (word), which is “FOCUS” (actually, this word was suggested by my husband; ‘nuf said).

I actually have been trying out my minor (word) this month and am finding it also to be a very effective tool.

Does having two “one words” mean I’m cluttering up my New Year’s Resolution? Will have to consider this. I guess I’ll see how it goes in April.

Lunch on the lam

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, Life in the cube, quest for the best, restaurants

Sometimes life in the cube can get overwhelming. Have you ever been at work and just wanted to take a break? I mean, really, take a break. Change the scenery for a half an hour? Not make small talk? Not force positivity for just a little while?

This is when an audio book can come in handy; it’s particularly conducive to hands-free eating. Okay, so the price of gas is prohibitive, I know. You wouldn’t want to sit in your car with it running for 20+ minutes every day (especially in the winter when you need to have the heat on, but once in a while it can be very restorative).

If you brought your lunch you will gain extra precious minutes of solitude in  your car (read: oasis of calm); just grab your lunch bag and go. Otherwise, try to choose a place from which to buy that is not known for its lunch time crowds. Standing in line for 10 minutes can make a serious dent in your alone time.

If you have to purchase your meal and you have any control over the timing of your lunch break, that’s even better. Choose a time that is off-peak: perhaps 11:00am or 2:00pm. This ought to get you out of the store and into your car more quickly. Don’t forget extra napkins. Eating in the car can be fraught with peril, what with the gear shift and the steering wheel to navigate and all. Also your choice of meal can make things more tricky (hel-lo, meatball sub?).

On this day I chose soup from Kamasouptra in Portland. The curried Pumpkin Bisque Soup won out over the other five options (so okay, maybe it’s winter-almost-spring, but it feels like fall-almost-winter). The real draw for me (even though the soup is excellent) is the bread, still warm from the oven. What can I say? The value of comfort food cannot be overstated.

Especially during the work day.

🙂

My New Year’s Word: February update

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, education, family, my one word, Pantry Project, tweens

Okay, so it’s March, not February. I meant to post this last month and just realized that I never did. One weekend, thinking about my New Year’s word which, as you may recall is “Edit”, I helped my daughter edit her room. We purchased risers to lift her bed up high enough to allow and underbed storage container to fit underneath. We dismantled the bed, vacuumed it all out, changed all the bedding.

My husband started during the week, working their way around the periphery (like at the supermarket? The way you’re “supposed” to shop to get the healthy food, right?). They attacked the furniture surfaces (read: clutter magnets) first: bureau, nightstand, corner table, desk. They next moved on to the closet, completing the top shelf and the floor.
I took over on the weekend, finishing the contents of the closet and all of the (5!) bureau drawers. When we were finished, we had 4 stuffed trash bags of things she didn’t need/want/use/wear anymore!

I was so motivated by how great her room looked that I proceeded on to do my own closet (well, most of it) and my (6!) bureau drawers. I took out 2 1/2 bags of cast offs.

I read the book : 30 Days to a Simpler Life by Cris Evat about 10 years ago, and still have it. Okay, okay, I save things. It’s what I do. My mother threw away everything, including all of my childhood belongings, and I guess that I responded to this by never throwing away anything (at least, that’s what my  husband will tell you!) but sometimes I really do need something that I haven’t used in 10 years! So I have my book out, dusted off, and am consulting it as a tool to help me with my objective for 2011: editing!

One of the most effective suggestions in this book, and the one I still use to this day, is this: go around the house (or you can focus on just one room; it’s up to you) with an empty bag and fill it. With what? With anything that you don’t need/love/use/want anymore. Anything that you can part with that will give you the gift of this: empty space. Go ahead, try it. The book suggests that you do it every day, but even if you only do it once, that’s still one whole bag less of clutter in your home.

Try to resist the urge to fill it back up right away (you know you’ll want to). 🙂

Pantry Project

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, Karen's Kitchen, Pantry Project
Sauteed chicken cutlets, roasted fingerlings and baby carrots

Cooking from what’s on hand isn’t as hard as I thought it might be.

This time, I had the presence of mind to raid the freezer the night before, so that the meat would have time to thaw before I was going to cook it.
Thawing in the microwave never goes well for me. I invariably wind up with partially cooked meat that ultimately turns out dry and tough.  Note to self: It’s best avoid the microwave for thawing meats when at all possible.
In the pantry I found a half a bag of fingerling potatoes and some onions. In the fridge, I found some baby carrots that were no longer appealing to eat raw, but there was still some hope for them…I decided that roasting the veggies was the best way to go.
For the chicken…I came across a recipe years (and I mean years) ago in Pam Anderson’s book: How to Cook Without a Book (Check out Pam’s blog by the way, Three Many Cooks) for cooking cutlets (pork, chicken, whatever) and making a quick pan sauce to go with them that I’ve used over and over and over (the recipe, not the pan sauce)…definitely worth the price of the book just for that recipe.
Find Pam’s technique for cooking the cutlets without a recipe here.
To roast the (tired) vegetables, just put them on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive or canola oil, and roast at 400 degrees for half an hour, then check them, stir them around on the pan, then put them back for another 20 or so minutes, depending on how dark you like them. When done, sprinkle with sea salt and give them a few grinds of black pepper.
Dinner…it’s done!

Amy Wood at Kennebooks

by Karen, posted in books, education, local fun, writing

Amy Wood spoke at Kennebooks on Saturday, February 19. Her talk was part discussion and part reading (from her new book Life Your Way), followed by a question and answer period and then book signing.

Despite it being the beginning of a school vacation week, the little upstairs room filled with people eager to hear Amy tell us how to live “life your way”.

She tells us right off the bat that “I do everything according to my intuition, ” which generated many questions from the audience about the definition of “intuition” and how it shows up in one’s every day life.  Amy considered each question  thoughtfully and answered thoroughly.

Amy generously mentions books by other authors related to intuition and recommends them for further reading on the topic. Here are a few:

  1. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
  2. Compass of the Soul (and others) by Lynn Robinson
  3. How Not to Marry the Wrong Guy by Anne Milford (coauthored with Jennifer Gauvain)

As Amy began reading aloud the chapter on “Optimism” from her book, my tween daughter grabbed my copy, found the right chapter, and began reading along, suggesting that this book can appeal to any age group. She focused on optimism because it can become a tool in your life, an “enviable skill” that can make your life easier, just as listening to your intuition, which (unlike Mapquest directions or ads from the high fructose corn syrup mongers) will never steer you wrong.

There is so much more information to sift through at any given time now that it can be helpful to just know when to stop. Joan Rivers? She is an excellent example of a person who does not know when (or how?) to stop. Seinfeld? He did.

The book is formatted so that it’s easy to read, a boon for busy, overscheduled people. Each chapter includes an “Apply the Wisdom” section at the end with a few bulleted strategies for using the points made in your everyday life right now (very user-friendly). You can start at the beginning, or let your intuition guide you to the best chapter(s) for you. 🙂 Read more about Amy’s book on my raisingmaine.com bookblog  here.

Kennebooks offered the audience the option of purchasing a bag lunch from Cheri’s in Kennebunk. For $10 you got a sandwich (choose one of three), chips, a cookie, and a bottled water. My daughter and I took advantage of this offer and split the meal. It was plenty for the two of us (we had some left over!) and it was excellent. We (my daughter and I) highly recommend that you take advantage of this offer if you ever get the chance.

Amy gives talks at different sites in Kennebunk and Portland. She will be at the Kennebunk Free Library for her workshop (which she gives quarterly) next on Tuesday, April 12 from 12:00P-1:00Pm. The presentation is enticingly titled: “Your Way and How to Find it”.  No commitment of time or money is involved. Just show up!

She will also be at the Portland Public Library on Wednesday, February 23 from 12:00PM to 1:00PM. Consider going to this (also free) event. You’ll be so glad that you did!

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Whoopie!!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, books, family, quest for the best

Maybe you’ve heard this news already, but just in case you missed it: The Great State of Maine is considering making the Whoopie Pie its official state dessert.

It wasn’t already? There are lots of places to get a great wh0opie pie, including your very own kitchen. If you take this route, here are two excellent cookbooks to consult:

  1. Whoopie Pies By Sarah Billingsley, Amy Treadwell
  2. Making Whoopies by Nancy Griffin

Did you know that there’s a Maine Whoopie Pie Association? Me neither!(Although a Google search of this phrase got me zero hits). I read about it in a Portland Press Herald Article on 2/1/11.

Did you know that there’s a whoopie pie song? Me neither!  It’s by John Linscott (see link to above article, right side of the page for the lyrics).

Want to buy your whoopies?

  1. Cranberry Island Kitchen
  2. Two Fat Cats Bakery
  3. Wicked Whoopies

No decisions were made at the first meeting. They will reconvene on February 9th.

Here’s hoping the whoopies win!

🙂