Fraiche Yogurt.

This one is for Janna.

Fraiche Yogurt in PA...read all about my visit last nite here in my Yelp review. I wanted to like it better but the decor was the only fab thing about it. Wish you had been here to try it with us.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/fraiche-yogurt-palo-alto-2#hrid:-cGx-jIO80-56kiAQK08UQ

Back in the Swing of Things.

It's nice to be back home and settled in.

Scenes from everyday non-feverish life are fab.

A curly pony.


Bowl of berries in 0% Fage...my new fave 'dessert'


Vday bug love & a Schurra's Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Heart (Lent was postponed on Vday of course)


Protein pancakes with AnyWhey photo up above, our breakkie for this morning (thanks Mike!!)...recipe for anyone interested!!

3/4c whole wheat white flour
1 scoop AnyWhey protein powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp brown or turbinado sugar
1 egg white
3oz fat free natural plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
water

Mix flour, protein powder, cinnamon, sugar. Add egg white, yogurt, vanilla, blend to mix. Add water to reach desired consistency. I added frozen blueberries, used real butter for the griddle, and sugar free syrup. YUM. The above makes 2 servings of four 3-4" pancakes; 260 cals and 20g protein each serving. Protein packed punch.Woot.

Sweetless for Lent.

Lately I've been eating way too much of this...

(fab cinnamon roll in a cafe in Buffalo)

and this...

(the famous Stan's Donuts in Santa Clara..thanks Yelpers)

and this...

(fab cupcakes from Sara Lyn's in SF)

So when Lent came around, I hemmed and hawed for a few days...but then I committed. Mostly.

No sweets/desserts for Lent. I'm a Catholic but never really truly 'practiced'. To be honest...this is more about 'can I really do it for 35 days (it was supposed to be 40 but the hemming and hawing took a few extra days)' than the whole God will love me more if I don't eat as much sugar (probably not since I'm way more cranky!). But really I just needed to reign in the sugar intake. Since I got the evil flu when I started, it's been quite easy actually. Maybe I already went through my 'detox'. But ask me on day 25 how I feel.

I can however have natural tart yogurt...a justification because it's (a) natural and (b) yogurt and (c) the only garnishes are fresh fruit. So I figure it's not really a dessert. Plus it has protein. Bonus.

(yummy tartness from Cafe Delatti)

Scenes from Buffalo.

We haven't seen Greg's friends Mike and Molly and their kids in almost 4 years, since our wedding in Hawaii. A lifetime ago.

So it was fab to see them again..spend some time with them and their family and enjoy some fun hours in their beautiful house. Hanging out with their kids almost makes us want to have some of our own. Almost.

There was a lot of this going on for the boys...

And a whole lot of this for the girls....

And we all benefitted from a little of this. Wings are much better in Buffalo.

Super cute picture. I like this one because Alex is pouting and Abby looks delighted. HAH!

I don't even know what was happening here...only that I can see Greg's tonsils.

Two pretty ladies...

Silly boy! Tricks are for kids.

Mike and Molly's house was just beautiful and we felt right at home. Thanks for a fab visit!!!

Traveling Fool.

MIA=Missing in Action.

That's been me for oh...gosh the last month!! But I have such a good excuse. I think it's called Life?

Traveled to Minnesota for work. GAH...Minnesota you ask? WHY? Yeah I ask myself that sometimes too. -13 degree weather. Yes that's a negative sign in front of the 13. I impressed even myself with my lack of reaction to the blistering cold and snow. It was very pretty and bleak at the same time. So incredibly dry that it made California look like a wetland. I was happy to come home and my sinuses were happy to rehydrate.

Traveled to Buffalo for fun. Well the traveling part was not fun, but the visiting part was. One of Greg's friend's from college turned 40 and his lovely wife wanted us to fly in as a surprise. Since we are unfettered by those pesky attachments called children and my parents are only too happy to be pretend owners of a white rat for a few days, we said SURE. While sitting through hours of delays in the airport, I often wonder why that SURE came out, but in the end the visit we had with Greg's pal and his family was so wonderful that it was totally worth all the painful travel scenarios. Suffice it to say we got turned around midair once AND delayed a day on our return. At least we got to watch the Superbowl on a plush couch with pizza, thanks to the extra day delay.

Then gosh...I had all these great plans for updating the blog!! I have a ton of pictures too. But coming back after 2 weeks of traveling...stuff at work was piling up, the house was a mess. Life!!

Then fate intervened in the form of a nasty little germ called the flu. Moi...down for the count for 4.5 full days. 101.5 degree temperature. Body aches, muscles feeling like someone was forcibly ripping them out of my body. Delirium. Was definitely fun times. Forced rest. Another week of work missed. Greg got it but not nearly as bad as me and was only out of work a day. Jealous of those awesome genes that boy has got going on.

So now here I am...fever free and finally catching up on the blog, my email, housework, grocery shopping, whew. It's been a long month. Oh and Valentine's Day? Lobster rolls on the couch with my honey was all she wrote...so much for our awesome prix fixe dinner ressies at The Grill. But damn those lobster rolls were good, and the company was pretty sweet too.

A picture of my miniscule tray table in flight is up above...my life encapsulated on a small square of 8x6 for hours on one of the flights.

A Present! For Me??

Fun job perk. Every once in a while a vendor sends us something fun as a giftie to thank us for working with them. One of my affiliates has started doing this on what appears to be a monthly basis (I'm hoping).

Got this at work on Wednesday...so pretty. And even better is what was inside...fruity spring goodies. And the non-chocolate kind. Making it super easy for me not to eat them...my coworkers love them though. Love you special vendor.

Caught me a Tuna.

Trader Joe's being my favorite grocery store...we do about 99% of our shopping there and get the other stuff we can't maybe on 2 trips a month to the bigger stores. TJ's can be hit or miss sometimes re: fresh fish and all that. So imagine my surprise when I saw they had sashimi grade Ahi Tuna. 2 steaks, 1lb of Ahi for $14? Wow that's a bargain. At Whole Foods it would have been more like $30. Red and fleshy, it looked divine. So I took it home.

Decided to get creative with it on Tuesday night. Tuna doesn't keep very well in the fridge like this, esp sashimi grade. And I wanted to do a sear. So it had to be pretty fresh. Even Tues was pushing it. So even though I wasn't feeling like Tuna, I grilled it up.

I wanted a lazy man's version of a flavorful restaurant sear. So I put on some salt, thyme, soy sauce and dried ginger. A lot of fresh cracked black pepper. I love a blackened pepper seared at a posh restaurant.



Heated up the flat grill then dropped it on. Sizzle, crackle, pop. It's lookin' pretty good. Tasted even better. Served it with TJ's yummy little chicken dumpling potsticker things I can never remember the name of. Asian night at the Tylers' on Tuesday. Greg pronounced it fab. I was impressed too. Who knew I could be so good at searing Ahi. Pronounced a success, next time I might get even more creative. Wasabi ginger paste anyone? Owie!