Detoxed

This week was kind of amazing. That's all. I just feel good. Like, really good. Light, again, finally.

A Kind Experiment

I checked Alicia Silverstone's vegan mission statement/cookbook The Kind Diet out of the library the other day, and I'm a little smitten. I mean, I've been a little smitten since Clueless. Who didn't love the "virgin who can't drive" (and if you didn't, please don't tell me, because I want us to be friends). I mean, seriously, it makes me wish that we were friends and could hang out eating non-dairy desserts and having wine and petting her dogs, 'cause she is kind of hilarious.

So, generally I think that vegans are crazy, and generally I'm kind of vocal about it. I mean, I am mostly vegetarian, but vegans are a little nuts, right? I love cheese. Love. I would marry a wheel of Brie and I think that boyfriend wouldn't even be jealous. And I love eating out.* Sometimes there is nothing better than having someone else prepare your food, serve it to you, and then clean up the dishes, all the while being very nice, even if it's only for tips. You can't really eat out if you're vegan. Unless it's a vegan restaurant, and how many of your friends do think are going to be excited about that?

Anyway, so I got this book and now I have a 3-page list of ingredients for vegan meals, and a menu that would last at least two weeks. Now, I'm going to pare down the list, because my budget does not include things like plums that cost $17 for 7 ounces and three different kinds of organic sweetener and $20 flake cereal (I am serious, y'all. Serious. Those flakes had better do your laundry and make out with you too). But, I do want to try it for a week. Just one week, and see how it feels. I imagine it'll feel like I'm cooking a lot, but if it makes me half as glowy and happy looking as Ms. Silverstone looks with her cute husband and her dogs, I am ALL for it. Or even if I'm just a little less tired, and a little more relaxed, and a little bit healthier. I promise to let you know how it goes.

*Heh. Hehehehe. I am a 12-year-old, apparently. I cannot type the phrase "eat out" without giggling just a little. I sigh deeply at my own behavior.

New Resolve

So it's the 19th of March. Whatever. I feel like now is the time to check in on the old New Year's Resolutions. In no particular order:

1. Get a four pack. I'm working on the two pack right now with the help of intervals and my new favorite workout DVD (One on One with Jackie Warner). I know some people don't find muscular women sexy, and I'm certainly not looking to end up like Madonna, but I think great abs are hot. And I will have my own, darn it.

2. Find a damn job. Yeah, this is basically going the way it's been going. I work on it, but it's hard right now. It'll happen though.

3. Finally quit smoking. I've smoked for a long time, and for the most part, I don't anymore. I'm fine for months or weeks or whatever and then my friend from downstairs calls me to come outside, or I go to a bar, or boyfriend and I get cranky with each other and I'm right back where we started. I run, dammit, and resolution #4 isn't going to happen if I don't woman up and knock it the heck off.

4. Run a half marathon. Running 13 miles is sort of unfathomable, but at the same time I know that I can do it. The only thing stopping me is just signing up, because then I can't back out. I am an expert backer-outer, but races are expensive, and I am also totally cheap.

5. Stop tanning myself into oblivion. I'm not saying I've ever been Jersey Shore tan or anything (not that I have ever watched the show, but those morons are unavoidable), but I'm mostly Scottish and Irish, thus fair and freckly, and I lay out wayyyyy too much. I need to stop. First step, finding a nice self tanner that doesn't turn me orange. This does not mean that I'll be passing up my lovely new pool; it just means that I'll be wearing sunscreen this time. And SPF 4 doesn't count, even if it does have antioxidants.

6. Stick up for myself. I've spent most of my life letting people walk all over me. Not all people, obviously. I have some amazing friends who are loyal and wonderful and don't make me take all of the blame when we have fights, and they're fantastic. But then there are the people to whom I consistently give too much leeway, be they friends or cranky customer service reps, and I will no longer allow people to stamp "Welcome" on my forehead and take whatever they want. It's not going awesomely so far, but at least I finally honk at people who cut me off in traffic. So there.

Welcome to the Dark Side

A few years back, I wrote a post on my previous blog about fashion trends that annoyed me. Topping the list were skinny jeans, leggings*, flowy tops that I felt resembled maternity wear, and in-between tops that are neither dress nor shirt.

As I write this post, two years later, I am wearing leggings with a flowy top that is too long to be a shirt and too short to be a dress. Earlier, I was wearing skinny jeans, as I do almost every day now.

I guess you could say this post is my way of eating my words.

*I still feel that leggings are not pants. They are pantlike, but please, ladies, cover your assets. If I see a butt cheek (or rather, the shape of a butt cheek under your stretchy bottoms) or even a hint of camel toe, you're out. Just use your best judgment.

Nice buns

I bake a lot when stressed. Bread, cookies, occasionally entire cakes - it's like my zen thing. So on Friday when I came home from a truly wretched day at work to find the internet out and boyfriend feeling sick I decided it was time for something sweet. After emptying and scrubbing out the pantry (stupid pantry moths. I hate you) I looked at my remaining ingredients and decided on cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning. All told they were pretty simple. I was sort of winging it from a couple of different recipes due to my lack of internet, and this is what I ended up with:

Cinnamon Buns with Sugar Glaze

Dough:
1 egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature, plus enough warm water to equal 1 cup
2 tsp dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1.5 tsp salt
3.5 cups bread flour
3 TBSP oil (you can use any. I ran out of veg oil so I used olive)

Filling:
Melted butter
Cinnamon
Sugar

Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2.5 TBSP milk
1/2 tsp vanilla (I used bourbon vanilla)

• Dissolve yeast into the water/egg mixture and let it stand for about five minutes until foamy
• In the meantime, mix together the dry ingredients in the bowl of your mixer.
  
• When the yeast mixture is foamy, pour it and the oil into the mixer where the dry ingredients are now hanging out, all mixed together) with a dough hook and knead until it forms a ball around the hook
• Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled. I let it rise for about an hour and a half, but you'll know it's done when you poke it and it doesn't bounce back.
• When your dough is ready, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 12 by 6 (mine was about 15 by 8, but whatever). If you want, stick the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes to make it firmer and thus easier to roll out.
• When you have your big rectangle, brush it all over with melted butter and sprinkle with liberal amounts of cinnamon and sugar. They'll sink into the butter as you go, so just use your best judgment as to how cinnamon-sugary you want your rolls. I was going to use brown sugar, but it was a giant brick, so I used white. It was fine. You could probably stick some chopped pecans in there too, but the pantry moths had gotten to mine. Assholes.
• When you've coated your rectangle, you're ready to roll it up. Do this lengthwise, rolling it like a jelly roll, or a ho ho, my favorite snack cake. I brushed each plain length as I was rolling with more melted butter, for added calories. Yum.
• Slice your roll up in one inch slices and put them into a generously greased muffin tin, or cake pan, or cookie sheet. Let them rise for another half hour or so. If you're making these at night like I was for the next morning, now is the point at which you can cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate them until they're ready to go the next morning.
  
• Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown, then glaze. The glaze amounts are approximate and to be used as a guide - all you need to do is put some powdered sugar into a bowl and add milk until it's a thickish liquid. Add vanilla a little a time and pour over buns.

• Eat. Try to restrain yourself, but know that I won't judge you if that's impossible, because I sure as hell didn't.
  

Grrr

Well, that was just pointless. I woke up this morning to warmer temperatures than we've had in months and thought to myself "why don't I go for a run outside?" So I had breakfast (too much, it turns out) and my car actually started (it's been having battery problems) and I drove myself to Swain's Lock on the C&O Canal. And I started running. And I realized after a minute and a half that it wasn't happening. I haven't run outside in a while and despite still managing to exercise five times a week, I feel out of shape. So my lungs start burning, because while it's not that cold, it's still cold. Then my nose starts running, and it's hard to blow your nose and run at the same time. Then I get a side cramp because I had a fried egg sandwich before I decided to go running. I am nothing if not intelligent in my preparations. So I walk. And run for two minutes, get frustrated, and walk some more. Rinse, repeat. And I go about a mile, and that's when I said "screw it" and turned around, because the whole time I'm also thinking about whether my car will start back up or whether I will have to hike a mile back up the road to call for a rescue, and that is not conducive to a relaxing run. So I just drove 40 minutes to run for 15 minutes. Awesome. I remember when I started running and two miles was a big accomplishment. Now it's just cause to be cranky. At least the car started.