Yours Truly

Valentine's Day really is all about the little things-- The little things that make you feel loved even if for just one day.  Here is 24 hours of hearts and hugs from people who love me.

Taryn-- my valentine that I've had a February 14th date with for 6 years running-- got me this. Best.Card.Ever. 

My precious gems are trying to fatten me up.

How sweet!

These showed up in my classroom as a surprise around 10am.  How sweet is he??!!  I blushed and everything.  One student asked who they were from and another responded, "Her fiance, duh."  Obviously they didn't see the card Taryn gave me.

Eat your heart out.  I surprised Giorgio with a homemade heart-shaped pizza for dinner.  YES,  it tasted as amazing as it looks.

Want a piece of this?? The recipe is posted below.

And finally... what's a Valentine's Day without a little wine, friends and bowling?

HOMEMADE PIZZA:

 (taken from my mother-in-law, Gilma.  Not to be mistaken with Giada though she should have her own cooking show.)

Ingredients:

1 container of homemade pizza dough (bought from Mariano's or Trader Joe's

1 container of peeled whole tomatoes

1 container of fresh mozzarella cheese

4 large cloves of garlic (or more if you are a garlic lover), minced

cornmeal

olive oil

fresh basil

salt & pepper

1. Let the dough sit out of the container for about 20 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
2. On a pizza pan or a baking sheet, drizzle olive oil and smear it around.  Shake cornmeal on top of that.  Lay down a good amount.  This is to keep the dough from sticking to the pan. 
3. Drain the tomatoes and cheese, chop the garlic and basil while you are waiting.
4. When the crust has been out for enough time, roll it into a ball and then spread the dough to the shape you want. 
5. When the dough is in the right shape, place it on your prepared pizza pan.
6. Lightly coat the dough with olive oil. 
7. Spread the cheese down first.  (Put it under the tomatoes so the cheese doesn't burn.)
8. Then add the minced garlic. 
9. With your hands, break apart the tomatoes and cover the pizza. 
10. Top with basil, salt and pepper.
11. Put into the oven for about 30-40 minutes.  The crust will start to brown on the outside and the cheese will be a little bubbly.  It will look like a cooked pizza =)

My ingredients:

Just add dough & indulge.

I'm supposed to have this hot Valentine's date tonight, but the only thing hot are my flashes.  This fevered girl will be spending her romantic date night in sweatpants with her sweetheart. 

Fat Tuesday!

It's interesting to think about things and people that you know of and have heard the names a 100 times, but you really couldn't tell anyone anything about it.  That's kind of how I feel about Fat Tuesday.  I know it is supposed to be some sort of feast.  For some reason I am linking Fat Tuesday to Mardi Gras, yet it also happens the day before lent.  I'm just not sure where I veered off track here, but I know this is not adding up. 

What I do know is that Lent starts tomorrow.  And while I haven't been to church since the last wedding I attended in November, I do understand enough about Lent.  The purpose is to sacrifice a luxury or indulgence for 40 days & 40 nights to represent Jesus's sacrifice for all of our sins and blah blah blah.  I'm close, right?  You're also supposed to not eat meat on Fridays (or at all really).  That just about wraps it up for the history of Lent. 

The best part about Lent is the people who partake.  I for one am not a practicing Catholic, but I give something up every year.  Aside from Christmas and Easter, its pretty much the only tradition in Catholicism that I follow.  And even better, it's for selfish reasons which I think is the exact opposite intention of the tradition.  Nonetheless, I am all for people taking this opportunity to better themselves (even if only for 40 days.)  It is a time to test your will power and for the common lent participants, attempt to kick start a diet. 

As I debate what to give up for lent this year, I reflect on my prior years success.  The first few years in high school when I started practicing lent I gave up pop.  By the third year, I had stopped drinking pop beyond lent so I had to come up with something new.  Then I think I moved on to candy. I remember anxiously anticipating my Easter candy basket to devour one of the top five candies of all time-- Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies Sweettarts.  (They are just more tasty than the regular ones. ) That accounts for another successful couple years of lent.  And then I went on to salt.  My most challenging endeavour.  Believe it or not, I gave up salt for 8 weeks.  (Yes, that is longer than lent! Great math skills!)  And then, I went right back to being the salt-aholic that I am.  Since that run in 2010, I do not think I have had any more successes to share.  Last year, I tried for the trifecta of abstaining from candy, sweets (cakes), and salt.  What a failure. 

So this year, I'm going with sweets and sweets only.  Recently, I have taken a strange liking to these delicious treats.  Wait, eating cookies and brownies and banana bread are not the key to losing weight? (:  Additionally, sweet treats are my only "bad habit" that I have never really kicked for this special season.    I have attempted before, but failed.  So here goes.  As God as my witness, and all of you, I am giving up sweets until Easter Sunday. 

As much as I'd love to indulge myself on this fatest of Tuesdays, I have, without thinking ahead, jump started my lent kick with a good old fashioned KH 3-day detox.  (I renamed it after myself though it originated from my ex-running pale R. Strandt.)  This is the most simple, mindless, detox without any weight loss goals.  The sole purpose is to reset my body from all the junk I'd been putting in it (aka brownies and buffalo chicken dip and chips and nastiness).  Basically, it involves eating fruits & veggies for 3 days.  The best part of this self-made "detox" is that since wine are fermented grapes, it is not a restricted item!  I know.. its amazeballs!! 

And just because I can only eat salad so many times in a row without hating myself, I whipped up this bad boy for lunch today: 

Avocado, Red Pepper, Red Onion, HB Egg, Roasted Corn, Tomato, Lettuce, Spinach, Garlic, Balsamic
 

Ain't nothing boring about that.