Heat n' Serve

This winter has brought new meaning to the term "heat n' serve" for us. No, I am not going to talk to you about the merits of prepared food, simply reheated at home for a quick dinner. No, this is a story about uncharacteristically cold weather and a mysterious air handler.

Things have been going along very well this year. We've had a long stretch of nice, cold weather, which many of us Floridians appreciate. It is a nice reprieve from the long, hot weather we have much of the year. And it makes it feel more like Christmas! Well, this past Monday morning I was up getting ready to start work when I heard this odd sound of stuff "raining down" out in the living room. I went out and switched on a light, only to see fragments of black debris blowing down out of the air vents. I'd never seen such a thing before and could only wonder what the heck was going on. As the day went along, this subsided. That evening, while I was happily doing some Christmas baking, all of the sudden I noticed a burning smell coming from the vents! And this was not the usual burning smell you might get when the heat kicks on, this was rather ominous, at least to me. As the evening went along, I kept noticing this burning smell every time the heat kicked on. So before I went to bed, I made the difficult decision to shut the heat off entirely. On the coldest night since I can remember. It was supposed to be in the teens here, even in Florida. I knew my husband would balk, but the decision was final, without a vote. I told him we would survive, after all, we'd gone without heat the first 4 years we lived in our home, till we could afford to have it fixed. If we could do it then, by all means we could do it now, however inconvenient it seemed. Though I did have to admit I could not recall it ever getting below the 20s here before now.

The next morning when I awoke, it was quite cold getting up for work, but I noticed the thermostat read "60", which was not bad at all. I think my long night of Christmas baking helped out a lot! And I remembered how we survived those 4, heat-free winters: We baked our dinner in the oven every night and wore pajamas and heavy socks, and we got along quite well! So I figured this would have to be the same approach now, until we could afford to have our heat looked at again. So when I got home that night, I baked chicken and scalloped-gratin potatoes for dinner. Not only did it smell delicious roasting away in the oven, but it helped heat the house even more!

Since then, I am happy to report that we have tenatively been using our heat (only while we are at home to keep an eye out), and so far the debris is no longer falling and that burning smell has gone away. My husband thinks it was just something on the coils that finally "burned off". I'm not sure about all that and I still am keeping an eye on it. But at least at this moment, we are able to use our heat again, and so far, so good!

Nevertheless, this blog is dedicated to those times when all of us have to "make do" somehow! Here's to the REAL "heat n' serve" meals! The kind where you heat your house and serve your family dinner at the same time. And it all turns out alright. On that note, Merry Christmas to All! May you enjoy many toasty, delicious dinners in your home!

*This meal was served with Smoking Loon Chardonnay. I love the funny stories they have sometimes put on their labels and their funny corks with the words all over them. Oh, and their wine is delicious, too!

Kathy

A Little Shiraz

Since this blog is about “Wine” and “Chat” I’ve been taking some liberties to get to know my wines a little better.  Anyway, I’m finding that at least for me, white wines aren’t my thing…but no worries, I keep trying. And of course, if you have a suggestion, I’m all ears.

Red wines, on the other hand, I really seem to take to…especially a good Merlot.  Anyway, as I’ve been “researching” wines, I realized that I had never tried a Shiraz or a Syrah.  And I also learned, that this particular red wine pairs well with heavier dinners, such as a nice juicy steak dinner, which happens to be my favorite!

Well…as you can probably guess…an opportunity presented itself!
A few weeks ago, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary at a local chain restaurant.  Probably not my first choice in restaurants in this area, however I had a $30 gift card, and well how could we pass it up?

So off we went to this restaurant.  In years past, I had considered this restaurant one of my favorites.  Specifically because the meals were good and the prices were low.  We had not been to this particular restaurant in some time, and when we arrived, we found the menu had been overhauled and it wasn’t necessarily for the better.

I, of course, had wanted to order steak that night and I did to my disappointment.  Not only had they changed the menu, their food has declined in value as well.  =(

When I came home, I realized the opportunity of putting together my own steak along with a glass of Shiraz.  It seemed like something even I could recreate…and that I did.  Only I waited two days and I changed it up a bit.

I took a small, thin New York strip steak and I seasoned it with a blend of pepper seasoning, salt and garlic.  Then I dabbled a few pieces of bleu cheese and feta on top and wrapped it in bacon.  I threw that baby right into the broiler until it had a warm pink center and then I popped it out and made a side of angel hair noodles in a parmesan sauce. 

The first time I made it…I accidentally grabbed a Pinot Noir from the shelf.  So that was a bit disappointing. But I am not one to give up easily.  So, I recreated the same meal two nights later and grabbed me a bottle of Shiraz.

I have to say, the Shiraz paired perfectly with my meal, where the Pinot Noir was a bit weak for the meal I made.  And the best part is that I got to have steak twice in one weekend!  Now that’s what I call an opportunity turned gold mine!!

Anyway, the Shiraz is a wine I am still getting to know. I’ve only tried one brand and I’d like to try a few others.  But I must say, I enjoyed it thoroughly!  I’m really liking the more medium-bodied red wines.

So do you have some wine-pairing suggestions?  I’d love to hear them!!

xxx

Christmas at Ash Cave

A perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of shopping and traffic, once a year you can sink yourself into the true Spirit of Christmas in Hocking Hills, Ohio.
The event is hosted each year on the second Saturday evening in December, at Ash Cave, an open mouthed cave about a 1/4 from the park entrance.  The event starts at dusk, so they light the walk way to the cave with candles inserted into recycled milk cartons.  If you are arrive early enough, there may be enough light for you to take in the sights of the steep cliffs on either side of the walkway, that are adorned with beautiful, tall trees and if lucky, enough snow covers the tops of them to add a nice contrasting color to the already picturesque view. 
A waterfall, frozen, sits off to one side of the path and it is a breath taking stopping point on the path to the cave.  From this point, you can hear the brass instruments playing familiar Christmas Carols and you continue your journey to see what awaits inside.
To escape the undeniable cold of the season, people gather around bon fires,  children stand in line to see Santa, families enjoy some free hot cocoa and cookies.  At one table you can learn how to make dipping candles and at another you can make some birdseed pinecones to take home and give back to nature.  The open-mouthed cave has markings where natives sharpened their tools and their weapons, and where more recent people left their affections for another on its wall.  A second waterfall sits off to the east.  Some years it is flowing, but this year it was frozen, with a huge pile of ice underneath, where the flowing water froze before the fall.
People of all ages come to enjoy this unique Christmas event.  When the brass band takes a break, Christmas Carolers take to singing beautiful Christmas tunes, and people all around you drop their conversations and join in their voices.  Resonating from with Ash Cave, the Spirit of Christmas rings out into the quiet still of the night.
It is a much more humble event than shopping malls and fighting traffic.  It isn’t a production event…like you see in churches or local pageants and plays.  It is simply a gathering of all who want to experience Christmas in a more informal, peaceful, beautiful, unique setting…where the Spirit of Christmas can be heard and where the magic of it all can touch your heart.

Merry Christmas to you…however you celebrate or get in the mood, may the true Spirit of Christmas find you well this holiday season.

xxx

A Leaner Christmas

With the economy still struggling, there is no doubt that many families are forced to have "leaner" Christmases this year. We are among those who have to stick to a smaller Christmas budget. Nevertheless, this in itself can be a blessing, allowing us to take a step back from the usual commercial hype of the Christmas season and focus more on what really matters.

Buying presents isn't the only kind of "scaling back" I am talking about, though. This will be the first year where we have actively been trying to eat smaller, sometimes slightly "leaner" meals for dinner each night. This is a first for us! Usually when the weather turns cold and there is an air of "celebration" with Christmas, we eat, eat, eat!!

I wasn't keen on the idea at first, but with our weight continuing to climb, I knew we needed to do something. I was worried that we'd feel deprived, even moreso at this time of year. I thought the "new plan" wouldn't last. But this is the second week in, and so far, it has been working out very well indeed! My secret is that I have been trying to make the BEST gourmet meals I can, just in the smaller, "recommended" portion sizes. This means that the food I am serving typically isn't "low fat", but I believe that smaller portions of really GOOD food can be more satisfying and get better results than trying to miserably force-feed ourselves bland, "low fat" meals...then end up eating what we really wanted in the first place later on the night. And so far, this new approach seems to be working!

Last night we enjoyed baked Tilapia with Sage-Butter sauce (yes, I did use some real butter) with steamed blue potatoes & carrots, and my hubby made some delectable spinach salads to go along. Delicious! And the steamed blue potatoes? Fantastic! I dribbled some of the Sage-Butter sauce over them as well as the fish. They had a really nice, nutty flavor. A suggested wine pairing for this dinner would be M'enage 'a Trois Chardonnay 2007.

Tonight we enjoyed "Moussaka stacks" with braised pork, modeled after a fantastic recipe in "How To Roast a Lamb" by Michael Psilakis. I highly recommend this cookbook! And the Faustino VII Rioja paired very well with the braised pork. Alongside this we had fresh steamed asparagus and I whipped up a batch of goat cheese biscuits. I'd never made them before and didn't have a recipe, but I thought I'd give it a try after watching a show about chef Art Smith and his famous goat cheese biscuits. I noticed they were "drop" biscuits, so I just experimented and they came out great! My husband loved them.

Another great recipe we had last week is one that I've attempted to sort of "duplicate" from Carrabbas Italian Restaurant, their "Chicken Bryan". Served with lemon-herb risotto and some sugar snap peas, it was sensational! And Meridian Chardonnay nicely complemented the meal.

The end result is that I have discovered that a "leaner" Christmas, in more ways than one, can actually be rather refreshing. You might give it a shot yourself and see how you like it. We were pleasantly suprised. Merry Christmas to All!

Shopping at Home for the Holidays!

This year we have done a lot more shopping online than we have in the past. We have found it to be quite enjoyable! We've gotten some good deals without having to go out and fight the crowds. While it essential to "get out" and have some meaningful contact with others, I think it is more important to place the emphasis on family gatherings or to get out to see a concert or two.

In years past, we have mostly gone out, hopping from store to store, to do our holiday shopping. Then we would stop and eat out a meal to celebrate. Shopping online at home can save you a lot of the hassle of trying to run store to store in all the traffic and crowds. In that way, I think it can be quite awesome! But I also think we need to still take a moment to step out and go see a show or go out to eat. At the very least, you can try to recreate the same "ambience" at home by making a special meal and atmosphere. Tonight I made a nice penne pasta with grilled vegetables and goat cheese. Paired with some soft, jazzy Christmas music, a nice Spanish Rioja wine and some candles, it still made the night seem pretty special, even if it was at home. Merry Christmas to All!

Working it Out through The Holidays…

**WARNING**  Really long post…be prepared to read and read and read…
Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday and if you’re one of the brave you were able to catch your early morning deals on Black Friday.
Shopping in crowds for bargain deals is not my thing. I guess I am the type that doesn’t mind paying a bit more for the convenience of not having to fight the crowds and the mad rush.

That said, I was looking forward to some great deals on Cyber Monday.  The day where online stores display they best of what they got price-wise online.  So I planned ahead and looked for the items I was interested in prior to Thanksgiving…and noted the prices they were going for at that time. I book marked my sites and returned to them this past week only to be a bit disappointed.

I really didn’t find “deals” at all.  Basically the prices were about the same.  I even looked to see if I was getting free shipping out of the deal on the ones that didn’t offer it prior to Thanksgiving, and only in one case was that the issue. So I had decided that either the stuff I was interested in wasn’t going on sale or Cyber Monday was a bust in my opinion.  I’ll give a concrete example:

   The Kindle.  I want the one that is $139.00 and so does my husband. Shipping is free if you purchase it from Amazon…so great!  I book marked Amazon.com for my return on Cyber Monday.  Hoping they’d at least knock ten dollars off the price.  I was sorry to find out that they didn’t mark it down at all, not even $10.00.  I’d sure like to see it under the tree for Christmas, and I am sure my husband would too, but I’d like the satisfaction of knowing that we at least got a discount!

Okay…so now let me move on to the real reason why I decided to create this post. (I have a point, and I WILL get to it!)

Working Out. 

Every year, I get in the mood…usually in the winter time to work out.  Every year, I invest in something…anything to try to pull the pounds off.  Then something happens.  I pull a muscle, twist my ankle, pop my knee, and my efforts come to a screeching halt.  And I never lose the weight I need to lose.

This year, I had to change something because I want it to work.  So that posed a question in my brain…what exactly was my favorite form of exercise?

And for me, hands down it is dancing.

Now mind you, 15 years of motherhood have not been pleasant to my body.  Granted…the 5 pregnancies did have something to do with me stretching out and gaining weight, it wasn’t the only factor.  I used to run before I married and had kids, everyday, about 5-7 miles…and then that went away.  I took on sedimentary jobs that were usually stressful.  My life style changed…and it wasn’t a very active change or a very healthy change.

So…I’ve gained a lot of weight.  And now I want the old me back.  I want to work off these pounds in the worst way possible…but I knew to do it…to really do it…I’d have to do something I love…which is of course, dancing.  I mean if I could find a way to drop pounds this way enough to get me in shape to start running again, then I am all for it.

Let me back up…I used to be a teleservices agent for a company that took infomercial calls and placed orders. One of the companies we took orders for was Beachbody.  So, in order to effectively sell Beachbody products, I got familiar with their product line: P90X, Hip Hop Abs, Turbo Jam, Slim in 6, etc.

Anyway, I know that P90X is probably the best and most effective way to lose the pounds, but I also know my big butt is in no way shape or form ready for that regimen, and let’s face it, that’s not dancing.  So, I ordered the complete line up for Hip Hop Abs.

At first, I was skeptical. Seriously, a bunch of videos are going to get me back in shape?  They gave me a 60-Day money back guarantee, so what the heck…I gave it a whirl.  I have been doing this for almost three weeks…and so far, I have to say…I’m impressed!

First of all, this Shaun T guy does a good job of explaining his tilt-tuck-tighten method…and it works.  The songs in the back ground are okay…but the lead guy here is motivating.  He has fun with it…so you end up having fun with it.

As of last night, I have lost 1.5 inches off my waist, 2 inches off my hips, an inch of both my arms and an inch off both my thighs.  I have also lost 9 lbs, (through the Thanksgiving Holiday no less), which is an average of 3lbs a week.  I’m happy with this pace.  I know I won’t keep that pace up for ever…but to start off with these results is highly motivating to keep going.

I think that is the most surprising is that I’m starting to love that burn.  I am actually looking forward to working out each day just so I can feel that in my core.  I usually warm up on the Wii with Yoga and some light aerobics (Wii Fit Plus) and weigh in and all that prior to working out on the Hip Hop Abs.  I am averaging 1 hour and 18 minutes right now on my workout routine (Wii included).  Everyone tells me that sounds so tiring…but it isn’t…it has been exhilarating to say the least.  And…my energy levels have been increasing.

My plan so far has been to do this for 60 days.  If I am where I think I can move on, I will do something a bit more intense, if not I’ll repeat this for another 60 days and then move on.  Perhaps I’ll try Shaun T’s Insanity next.   Anyway, I haven’t quite decided on that one yet.

I am journaling my progress everyday. I am using the journal feature in my Office program.  Each day I record what I did, how long, weigh in and BMI results, and basically a small blurb about what I was feeling or going through at the time.  I look forward to tracking my progress and my outlook as I move forward.

I warned you…this would be a really long post!!  I was right, wasn’t I?? 

So here is my chat for the day.  Thanks for reading!

Jenn
xxx