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So it seems my blog title is A) no longer mine B)Never really was mine in the first place – he’s been there since 2003.  Even though I love the title Mulling It Over, I want something that is all mine.

I’m moving over to my new name, twice in a few months I know,  I know! But it has to be. Hopefully if I ever move again, it will be to a self-hosted spot.

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My new title, which I have Googled the crap out of to make sure no one else has it, comes from a Langston Hughes Poem “Luck.”

From The Oxford Book of American Poetry 2006.

Luck

Sometimes a crumb falls
from the tables of joy,
Sometimes a bone
Is flung.

To some people
Love is given,
To others
Only heaven.

I love how simply the imagery of this poem illustrates that a lot of life is chance, and you have to make of it what you will.

I was starving at this point, so I had breakfast at Wolfgang Puck’s Express. This was some of the best airport food I’ve ever had.  A spinach, mushroom omelet with remoluade on ciabatta bread with homefries is not your usual airport fare. I must learn to make remoulade!

The flight to Denver was long, so I’m really glad I had such a great breakfast. The flight was over four hours of turbulence filled fun. Ugh. . . at least I flew jetBlue, which means TV.

Once I landed in Denver, my friends already had the car, and we were on our way to see the sites and a Rockies game.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza which was in a great location. We were able to walk all over the downtown area.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures, as of yet, from the first night.Because there was a possibility of rain, I was too afraid to take my camera out. Denver day two will be a much better post with many more pictures.

Our itinerary looks a little like this:

Here we are in Maine a few years ago

And in the D.

So excited for more memories, pictures, and fun.

See you in the Centennial State ladies.

On Monday night, we had lettuce wraps. These are the only lettuce wraps I’ve ever had, but now I really want to order them at a restaurant. I basically just threw together a bunch of veggies (shoots, cabbage, carrots) and chicken. The cool, crisp lettuce was slowly wilted by the ginger and soy sauce flavored filling.

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Today, Jeremy and I went for a run when he got home. I think, for the first time today, I was actually able to regulate my breathing and really understand what it means to get in a stride. The weather was perfect – low 60’s and sunny.  We did pass a skunk and there were mosquitoes everywhere already, but that didn’t bring me down.

Last night, I tried to make pizza dough, but was not paying attention and added only half of the flour the recipe called for. Major disaster! Today Jeremy measured the flour, and I didn’t explain the process. You know spoon the flour in and level it off. So the dough we made today was firm to say the least. At first, I didn’t think it was going to work at all, which led me to beg Jeremy to go to our local pizza place and buy dough from them. While he was gone, I was able to work the dough into some sort of semblance of a pizza.  We ended up with a dinner pizza and a lunch pizza.

  Pizza one – green pepper, red onion and prosciutto(Geppetos Dough)

Pizza two – green pepper, red onion (homemade wheat dough)

Tomorrow is Thursday, my long day. I can’t wait to be in Denver with my friends living the mile-high life.

Time for bed and reading; Lolita has me hooked.

I looked at the ingredients and calories before deciding to give them a try.

From the Dominex site here are the Ingredients: Eggplant, Soybean Oil, Wheat Flour, Water, Corn Flour, Salt, Dextrose, Corn Starch, Spices, Garlic Powder, Dehydrated Parsley, Onion Powder, Extracts of Paprika and Annatto, and Natural Flavors.

Well, nutritionally speaking, these aren’t horrible. There is quite a bit of sugar and sodium, but for a “fast food” they aren’t that bad.

They tasted great – lots of flavor, crispy; they actually tasted like real eggplant not artificial at all. I baked two in the toaster oven one for me and one for Jeremy and then topped them with a slice of mozzarella during the last minute. These made for a really quick meal. Jeremy even agreed to have spinach on his. “I guess if I’m eating a burger that isn’t even meat, I might as well have spinach too.” Ha! his words obviously.

I really want to try to make my own version of eggplant cutlets soon.

I love chives in anything to do with potatoes, but I decided to try something different today.

On Saturday at the grocery store, I picked up some tahini . I was so excited to try this and create real hummus.  I tried making hummus once before, but it was a major flop without the tahini. Garlic, chives and chickpeas make such a great combination together. I served my hummus with some veggies to several friends who declared me the snackspert . The chives were a great addition to the hummus. I’m glad they are back in season.

Saturday I woke up with an insatiable craving for McDonald’s breakfast. Now my head new that this was a poor choice for numerous reasons. I also new that I could fry an egg for myself, which didn’t really sound like a great idea either. I really wanted an egg sandwich, and I really wanted potatoes. So I talked Jeremy into going  to the Big Bean, justifying it by the fact that I needed to get cash for the farmers’ market anyway. Ahh with in minutes, I had coffee in hand and my order placed. Bacon, egg and cheddar on a delicious homemade biscuit with a side of homefries.

Sorry for the crappy phone pic; I left my memory card in my computer.

This breakfast was so much better than Mickey D’s. First, they make everything fresh, everyday. The homefries never taste exactly the same, because someone different is always doing the seasoning; with that said, they are always delicious. I know there was plenty of fat in the meal because it tasted so good, but I’d much rather put this in my body than the other stuff. I got a smoothie with peach, strawberries, yogurt and cranberry juice to go.  C’est si bon.

After an awesome breakfast, Jeremy went home, and I went to the farmers’ market. All sorts of things have already started growing. I love our farmer’s market. It has been raining, and disgusting in New England the last few days, so I didn’t bring my camera. I have to start getting there earlier. Almost everyone was out of eggs. I did find a dozen though. I got some peppercorn goat cheese from Hickory Nut Farm and some green garlic (garlic scallions) and  chives. I see salad in my very near future.  I got Jeremy a new supply of grass fed burger from Little Brook Farm. I really have to start taking more cash with me.

Today has started off well, even if it is cold.  I made Jeremy S’more Oatmeal for breakfast. His remarks, “Mmm yeah, it’s really good.”

I had plain old oatmeal with pb on top.
Time to hit the gym.

I thought I could do it on my own, that I knew what an appropriate portion size was, that I didn’t need to count calories. I was wrong. I’ve gained maybe 5 or 6 pounds in the last two months. One thing that has really worked for me in the past is Spark People. One great thing about this site is that it’s more than just counting calories. You can track whatever nutrients you want. I  have main categories and then sub categories. You can also track water intake and fruit/veggie intake. Here is what my tracking looks like:

The other great thing (since I don’t have a BodyBugg) is that you can track the calories you exert. I like that it’s more than calories it’s the whole picture. For example, if I go over my calories but I hit my protein mark, which is usually hard for me, I don’t fret about it. However if I go over my calories and my carbs were way out of control, I try to do better the next day.

And the last thing, then I’ll stop professing my undying love, is the new Blackberry application.  When I first got my BB their app was pretty lame and basically just took you to the mobile website. But now it has everything in a nice compact application.

Let’s hope I see some success.

Then I took a nap. Honestly, I take a nap almost every afternoon. I am a child; I know.

After Jeremy got home we went to his first Body Pump class. I haven’t been in ages. It is such a tough workout. I think I did a pretty good job of choosing weight tonight, but I’m sure I’ll still be sore tomorrow. After the first time I went, I could hardly walk down stairs. My entire body hurt.  Here’s Jeremy after his butt kicking:

Once we got home, we were both starving. While Jeremy took a shower, I made dinner. I figured since we’d worked so hard we needed a protein packed dinner. I’ll warn you in advance that this meal is ugly, but it’s one of our favorites.

All of this plus black beans makes something not so pretty but oh so good. Cook the onions, pepper and beans first, then add the eggs. Scramble it all up.

Serve with a side of chips, a little shredded cheese, and a topping of guacamole.

Ahh. . .  now we’re kicking back watching How I Met Your Mother Season 2.