Catching Up

Remember when I used to post more regularly?  I have good intentions, but little time.  Josh took some good pictures of the babe last week - which i hope to post this week.  In the meantime- I love NYC.

Saturday's are my favorite. It is rare that the three of of leave the house before 3 in the afternoon, but when we do leave- the adventures begin. Subway rides have gotten pretty easy with Sonny. He likes to sit in his own seat or hold the center poles (prefers to do this with no help) and this weekend, he started to practice pull-ups on the top hand rail. He can hang on by himself for a couple seconds which is pretty impressive for a not-quite-yet-year-and-a-half-year-old. He is very much a NYC Boy (cue Pet Shop Boys) - Strap Hanging, Pizza & Ice-cream Eating (he calls Pizza: "Peeta Peeta Peeta"), Pigeon & Squirrel Chasing, Dancing, People & Street Performer Watching NYC Boy - one man let him help him play the bongos this weekend  (i know all of the above can happen in any city, but especially NYC.)

Spring is here and Summer is just around the corner, I look forward to many many NYC adventures within the next few months.

 

Can I make it 12 steps?

an addiction. i have one. i know it's an addiction because i hide it. And my friend Shaniqua said that is how she knew of her sugar addiction. and i am no longer in denial. my other friend Miggy also has this problem. Is it a Mormon thing? Is it because we generally don't have other "toxins" we ingest? No Alcohol. No Tobacco. No Coffee. No Tea (herbal is ok). No drugs. So we take all the energy we would spend on those vices and throw it lightning fast at sugar? I think so. I've dabbled in all of the above and when I did, I sure didn't freak out on sweets like I do now.

I have to stop. Back up, I have to sloooow down. I try. Oh do I try. I see a cookie in the kitchen I walk past it in victory, then I literally walk backwards to the kitchen and eat the dang cookie. Cookie wins every time. Normally this would not be a problem. I think sweets are fine in moderation and as long as you are keeping active to balance out the intake then, cool. It's all good. Eat those cookies and candies and brownies and cakes and ice-creams and cream puffs to your hearts content. As long as it is balanced out. But NO, right now it's not. I am eating more then I am working off. And I am not ok with that.

I sneak my sweets now because I know I shouldn't be eating them. I say "Ok, one easter candy is ok." then I put the rest away and when no one is looking I eat another. NO ONE CARES. The fact that i hide it is bad news.

One time a few years ago, I really wanted a York Peppermint Patty. So I bought one and I thought "I'm going to eat this in the car on the way home and that way Josh won't know I ate it. I got home and this happened:
j: What did you eat that was chocolate?
c: Nothing.
j: Oh yeah?
c: Yeah. I didn't have any chocolate, why?
j: Well you have chocolate all over your face.

See? Busted. and you know what? Josh didn't care if I had that York or not. I didn't have to hide it.

I can't even tell you how many bags of chocolate chips we go through in this house. I can't tell you because I can't count that high. Every time I go to Trader Joe's I buy about 10. They don't last. Sometimes we will make a dessert every night and each time, we use a half bag of chocolate chips. Sometimes more. I LOVE CHOCOLATE CHIPS. I've been know to put them in my cereal for breakfast. Trail Mix- only if it has chocolate chips.

I'm going to go this WHOLE WEEK with no chocolate chip any thing - Make that NO special treat. I will allow myself baked goods and sweets only Friday-Sunday. I can do this. I will eat fruit. Starting now. I wish I didn't have those 4 cookies on the counter.


p.s. Fresh Direct Chocolate Chip Cookies are REALLY good.

Weekend Lessons +

I used to love grocery shopping. When I didn't live in NY I looked forward to driving to the store, taking my time going up and down every aisle and imagining what kind of food I could make with a new ingredient. Sample the cheese at the deli, dip some bread into the little dips they had out to try. Maybe get a free kids cookie. Then check out, wheel my cart filled with bagged groceries to the car, load up and head home. It was therapy. Now...Not so much. Now it's grab and go. Try not to huff and puff too much in line when I only have 3 items and the person in front of me decides to buy the store or are paying in pennies. Now, I can only buy what I can carry in one hand up 5 flights of stairs.
Take a look at the picture below. You see that grin? You see that empty HUGE clean aisle? You can sense the joy right? That was taken in December at a Harris Teeter in North Carolina. I was spinning in the aisle. SPINNING!!!! TWIRLING!! I miss you Harris Teeter.


I went off on an tangent just now, this wasn't supposed to be about that, the point here is: I am JUST now hopping on the Fresh Direct Train. I LOVE it. I ordered food last week and it was delivered- Fresh and Direct to me, even up the stairs. This happens! You order food online, in your living room (or wherever you prefer), you look at the produce ratings, check out the sales, imagine an ingredient, search for it and drop it in your cart. THEN you pay only $6 and they BRING IT TO YOU! Genius.
Anyway, these are the lessons I taught Sonny this weekend:

1) Spinach is deceitful -Don't let fresh spinach fool you when you cook it, it gets tiny
2) Melted chocolate is HOT- like lava if it touches your fingers - stay away from melted chocolate chips
3) Blow on grits and let them cool a few seconds before tasting them for salt content
4) Bed Bugs are scary - we do NOT have bedbugs. I am obsessed. Any fuzz ball in my house is a suspect. You can never be too safe.
5) Look to the left when crossing the street (and the right)

I made cookies for valentine's day tonight, if you work with me then you can have a cookie tomorrow (Apron = birthday gift from Manisha from Italy - It says "Carly, Queen of the Kitchen")