Tomato Sauce makes me happy
Jan 29, 2010 What's Going On
Believe it or not, this isn’t a post about eating, or weight loss, or cravings. It’s a post about environment, and relaxation, and ritual.
I made sauce today, for the first time since before we moved into this house, over three-and-a-half years ago. My kitchen still isn’t done, but it’s almost there. And after years of using a kitchen so disgusting I hated going in there, then six months of using a thrown together, awkward, temporary kitchen, I’ve got a beautiful new space that was just begging to be cooked in.
Before we were married, back in North Carolina, The Ass and I would make these huge Italian dinners, with homemade pasta, sauce, meatballs (for him), salad, and garlic bread. After we had kids we skipped the homemade pasta – too much trouble when packaged Buitoni is so good – but I still made sauce regularly. It was like spending the day on the beach for me, a relaxing ritual that slowed me down and kept me in one place. The sauce simmers for hours as the smell creeps into every crevice.
But then we moved here, and I didn’t want to be in my kitchen for hours. I didn’t even want to be in my kitchen for minutes. I know people who can bake and cook in any circumstances. I used to watch my mother turn out hundreds of cookies in whatever kitchen was available to her. No matter how crappy the oven was, her cookies were perfect. It wasn’t about her comfort or her experience, it was about the final product. I admire that.
But for me, cooking and baking are about the journey. Sure, I want the end result to be tasty and beautiful, but even if the food doesn’t turn out exactly as I wanted it, I still got to spend hours cooking. And over the past few years I really missed that. I barely made any special meals, and I hated baking. I would turn out brownies and cupcakes for birthdays and bake sales but hated doing it.
Then today, finally, we had a working kitchen. I had been up until 2am washing dishes, and continued washing for most of today (almost every single thing had gotten covered in sawdust in the past week). Once I was done, once everything was clean, you’d think I’d want to get out of the kitchen. Instead, I got myself to the store on this frigid day and got my supplies. And spent the next few hours working on my sauce, relearning how to make it.
With a pot of sauce comes an automatic slow-down. Time to work on a project with Jake between stirs. Time to tell the kids stories about cooking with daddy before he was daddy. Then, later, after they’re in bed, time to sit down to the first thought-out, not thrown-together, meal the two of us have had with each other in a while.
The sauce isn’t even cool enough to put away yet, but I’ve already decided that chili is next. And after that, a hearty soup. And after that, something else that will give me an excuse to hang out in the kitchen for hours, and stir, and savor. It’s a real luxury to have the place and the time and the opportunity, and after missing it for so long, I’m going to try not to take it for granted.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: cooking
This Week’s Time Sucker: Times Square Cam
Jan 27, 2010 Time Sucker
It’s Wednesday, you’re dragging, you’re not paying any attention to work. You need a distraction, and I’m here to help.
There are few things more cliched than visiting Times Square. Plus it’s cold. It’s much more fun to go to the HD Times Square cam and watch other people walk around in the cold.
Or, if you’re one of those people who wants to see what the fuss is all about while you’re in NY, tell you’re friends you’re going, go to the top of the TKTS steps, and wave to them! Yes, even though I just insulted you for being a big old cliched tourist, you know you’re going to do it anyway. Don’t forget to have them take a screenshot!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Times Square
Jenny McCarthy is trying to kill me
Jan 27, 2010 Amy in the Morning
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: video
Renovation time warp
Jan 27, 2010 Uncategorized
I started posting again yesterday on brownstoner.com, an insanely popular Brooklyn website. When our house renovation was in full swing I had a regular blog on that site (Gates Reno) chronicling the ups and downs of renovating a 160-year-old Brooklyn brownstone. But when the renovation money ran out, I ran out of things to talk about since there was no renovating going on, and my last post was a year-and-a-half ago. But now that the reno is on again, so’s my reno blog.
If you read Selfish Mom regularly and follow me on Twitter you may notice a lag of a couple of months in what I’m posting about over on brownstoner. That’s because I started writing the posts a couple months ago, and will be posting them every few days until I catch up with “real time.” Make sense?
If you want the whole story you can dig into the archives and see how I first started blogging back in 2006. There was way too much personal info for a real estate website. I was crying out for my own blog.
My latest brownstoner post: How to Jinx a Reno
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Weight Loss Tuesday: A Little Better (and the scale winner)
Jan 26, 2010 Contest/Giveaway, Weight Loss
So I listed two goals in last week’s Weight Loss Tuesday post: drink more water, and do my Your Shape exercises three times in the second week of the Your Shape challenge. How did I do? Well, I did better than the first week, when I only exercised once. Last week I exercised twice. I’m really shooting for three this coming week. And since the special challenge for the participants this week is to add time to our workouts, I’m not only going to try to do three workouts, but three 30 minute workouts.
As for water, after drinking practically no water, at all, for a very long time, I had two days where I drank 64 ounces and one day where I drank 32 ounces. OK, it wasn’t water. It was watered-down Crystal Light (Fruit Punch flavor, if you’re interested – it’s the only one I like). But I hate water. Hate. And don’t try to tell me I would like it with a twist of lemon or a splash of juice. I would not. But I drank the watery Crystal Light and will continue to do so until I find a nutritionist who tells me that fizzy drinks filled with caffeine count as water.
So, improvement. I’m not going to beat myself up about not meeting last week’s goals, I’m just going to be happy that I did a little better.
My two-week weight loss is very encouraging. As of this morning I’ve lost seven pounds! Yay me! Yes, I know the first couple of weeks you always lose a lot, but still, it’s a nice way to start.
And as for my two Your Shape workouts? Yelling at Jenny McCarthy is fun. And helps keep me motivated. I’m experimenting with the sound features on the game. I don’t want to hear Jenny correct my form every five seconds, but I do want to hear the other things she says – when she names an exercise, for example, or says we’re almost done. But while there’s a volume control specific to her voice, there’s no way to turn off the critiques but keep the other chatter. So I’ve just turned her down most of the way. And that’s my big suggestion for Ubisoft if they do another version of the game: let players choose which parts of Jenny they want to hear.
Everything else with the game is going really well. Granted I’ve only done three workouts so far, but they’ve all been interesting. Yesterday I had done a core strengthening workout and woke up with sore abs, so today I added my 3lb hand weights and did an upper body strength workout. I like that I don’t know which exercise is going to come next. With DVDs I always knew what was coming and got bored easily. Jenny keeps me on my toes.
***
I just picked a winner for the EatSmart Digital Bathroom Scale, and it’s Lydia! Thanks so much for entering, and thank you to EatSmart for providing the great prize!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 1 & 10. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: EatSmart Digital Bathroom Scale, Jenny McCarthy, Your Shape
Fashion Monday: Workout Clothes
Jan 25, 2010 Weight Loss
Here’s what I do when I don’t want to do something: I convince myself I shouldn’t do that thing. Workout clothes are not something I want to spend money on right now. We’re redoing our kitchen, the kids keep stubbornly growing out of their clothes, our car is on its last legs (wheels?)…new workout clothes were pretty low on the list of potential purchases.
This morning I was doing my Your Shape workout, and I couldn’t help but notice how crappy I looked. You can’t hide from yourself with the Your Shape workout, because you’re right there on the TV, next to a buff, made-up, fashionably-dressed Jenny McCarthy avatar. And there I was, wearing black track pants that were too big six month ago, and now magically fitting again (sigh), and completely worn out. And I have a matching pair in gray, just as worn out.
On top I was wearing a green workout shirt that supposedly has a built-in “shelf” bra. I don’t know why I fall for that time and time again. I’m a 36D. There is no built-in shelf bra that will work for me. But I keep buying them anyway, and my boobs keep flopping around as I work out.
But, I had convinced myself that these things didn’t matter, that I was exercising privately so who cares what I look like?
Only, it does matter. Nobody needs to put on make-up and a $300 Juicy Couture track suit to work out, but when I look shlubby I feel shlubby. And when I feel shlubby I want to sit on the couch and eat potato chips and watch Cops.
This afternoon I received a very generous gift card to Lady Foot Locker for my participation in the Your Shape challenge, and I got myself two complete outfits – track pants, shirts, and sports bras (good ones, underwire). The pants are plain but the shirts are bright colors. I hate to admit that I’m affected by such silly things, it seems weak and shallow. But when I go to an event dressed in something I know I look good in, I feel more confident. Perhaps the first new work-out clothes I’ve bought in six or seven years will make me feel strong.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Your Shape
The one where nobody is trying to break into my house
Jan 25, 2010 Amy in the Morning
Had all sorts of problems loading my videos with Kaltura today, which is odd – I never had problems with Kaltura. So hopefully all of the people who go around calling people names on YouTube have been taking their meds. Or I might just close the comments on YouTube. Those people are crazy and I mean these videos for you guys anyway.
This second video is loading very slowly for me. I suggest you start loading it, pause it, and then go run some errands.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: video
Great Deals Every Day from Juice Box Jungle
Jan 22, 2010 Product Review
I’ve had a great relationship with Juice Box Jungle. Their videos are irreverent and snarky, the people running the site are a dream to work with, and they have a great ad network, the Jungle Ad Network (look on the right side of this page, it’s right there).
And now they’re launching another fantastic idea, the Deal of the Day! It’s in beta right now, but eventually it will be a hyper-local service where one incredible deal will be offered each day – spas, restaurants, gyms…the deals offered so far this week have all been AT LEAST 50% off. Each deal is offered for one day only, but then you have a long time to use the deal.
I’m very excited to announce that today’s deal is for a very cool Brooklyn gym, Body Reserve, which is in an old bank building in Park Slope. So, if you’re in Brooklyn and want to try out a great gym in an excellent location while saving a lot of money, check out today’s Deal of the Day. And stop back for other great deals!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 8 and 12. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Body Reserve Gym, Deal of the Day, Juice Box Jungle, Jungle Ad Network
