Root Vegetable Nikujaga with Oyster Mushrooms

If you don't know by now, I'm constantly on the hunt for simple foods I can throw together quickly and easily.  While keeping up on the latest news one fine morning, I saw an easy recipe for a Japanese-style beef stew called "nikujaga" ("niku" means meat and "jaga" means "potato").  It really seemed like a no-brainer since I had been toying with the idea of making a beef stew for a while and this specific recipe really appealed to me because it didn't look or sound heavy at all.  It looked and sounded light and seemed like it could really fill you up without weighing you down.  However, I really wasn't all that thrilled with just having carrots and potatoes, given that there are other insanely awesome root vegetables (I mean, come ON... it's FALL!).  Plus, a couple of my really good friends (the main chefs for their families) had recently made their own beef stews and had completely omitted potatoes and instead used all the other root vegetables.  I quickly wondered if those root vegetables would also work for an Asian-style beef stew. The result of my particular experiment was a huge success!  The key to this dish comes from being able to make sure the ginger is minced enough that you get the flavor melded nicely through and through without getting a bite of "ginger!".  The flavors of the root vegetables blend very well with each other in this light "soup" adding their own particular sweetness while absorbing all that deliciousness.  This will easily feed our family of four (actually, there's 7 of us because there's our two Housemates and one of Housemate's girlfriend is staying with us temporarily until their apartment becomes available) for the night.  And I say "for the night" quite literally because even though there is technically enough to feed my entire house for three nights, everybody has stuffed themselves silly because this stew IS so good AND it's so light.  (Honestly, I'm a little PO'd because I originally made this with freezing in mind (we do still have a sh!t ton of leftovers from my birthday shindig) and there's nothing left for me to even bring for my lunch tomorrow!) Just an FYI:  This stew itself doesn't have a lot of liquid and whatever little is left will get reabsorbed into the root vegetables.  If you want more liquid, the taste will be more dilute but is still yummy nonetheless.  Anyhoo... try making this tonight for your family and bask in the glory of an insanely delicious beef stew that won't make you feel like a sack of bricks! What you'll need: -  2lbs ground beef

-  1 large yellow onion, diced

-  1 small celery root, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)

-  2 parsnips, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)

-  3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)

-  3 carrots, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)  

I know, these aren't peeled... I got lazy!

-  3 tbsp of chopped (finely minced is preferable) fresh ginger

-  2 cups of coarsely chopped oyster mushrooms

-  1.5 cups of low sodium chicken stock (or if you want more liquid, add 3 cups)

-  1/2 cup coconut aminos

-  Chopped green onion

-  Sea salt (for taste) 1.  In large Dutch oven, heat about 4 tbsp of lard (or whatever your cooking fat of choice is) over medium heat.  Add ground beef and brown.

Woohoo!

2.  Once beef is no longer pink, add ginger and mix thoroughly.  Let cook for about a minute.

3.  Add onions and mix everything together.  Stir occasionally until onions are softened, about 5 minutes.

4.  Add the root vegetables, chicken broth, and coconut aminos.  Don't worry if the vegetables aren't covered by the liquid.  Mix thoroughly.

5.  Cover and adjust heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, let simmer on LOW for at least 30 minutes.

6.  Add oyster mushrooms and mix.  Cover and let simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

7.  Adjust taste accordingly with some sea salt.

8.  Spoon into bowl, sprinkle on the chopped green onions, serve and enjoy!!!

Slow-Cooked Bulgogi Brisket (Crockpot)

Hooray for big cuts o' meat hiding in my freezer because holy cow, I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner to feed those hungry mouths!  The beauty of these huge hunks is that I can easily throw it into the oven to cook slowly or throw it into the crockpot.  And seriously, I loveloveLOVE my crockpot.  Anything that I can throw in there in the morning results in dinnertime awesomeness in the evenings.  While browsing through recipes on the Internets, I wasn't too keen on most of them, mainly because they were calling for rubs (some of the spices aren't in my pantry) or were calling for sauces that contained all kinds of awful things like HFCS and the dubious "natural flavorings" (seriously, what ARE "natural flavorings"???).  While getting demotivated with all the recipes, I finally remembered about my Bulgogi Marinade and wondered if I could use it in the crockpot. The smells that assaulted our noses when we all came home was intensely warm and inviting!  And it wasn't just my family who loved this brisket as quite a few of my foodie coworkers really enjoyed it as well.  In fact, one of them (my cubie) said that trying to finish the brisket off in the oven defeats the purpose of crockpot cooking so I'll leave it up to you if you want to give it a shot.  Otherwise, I hope you'll enjoy it too! What you'll need: -  Beef brisket

-  Korean Bul-Go-Gi Marinade (+1 tbsp of sea salt)

1.  Using a fork, stab brisket several times to make sure the marinade will penetrate thoroughly.  Put everything together into large Ziploc bag and let marinade in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Optional:  Line crockpot with some foil.  This will make the brisket easier to take out

2.  Place brisket into crockpot, fat side down.  Pour all remaining marinade into the crockpot.  Cover and cook on LOW for 1 - 1.5 hours per pound (since my brisket is about 3 pounds, I let my brisket cook for approximately 5 hours)

3.  Remove brisket and...

... optional: if you want to get a "burnt crust", broil brisket under HIGH for about 5 - 10 minutes.

4.  Let brisket rest for about 20 minutes.  Slice up brisket, serve, and enjoy!

Side Note: Wondering what to do with the leftover juice?  It's too sweet to turn into a gravy to drizzle onto the brisket on account of the honey BUT if you reduce it to about half the volume on a pan on your stovetop, this will turn into an easy glaze to glaze whatever meats you're thinking of barbecuing on your grill!

Waste not want not, amm-ai-riiight????

Lazy Seafood Stew

One of my most favorite dishes in the whole wide world (especially since I can eat all kinds of shellfish now) is cioppino.  There's something about the meld of the different kinds of seafood in a rich tomato-y broth that really hits the spot without weighing you down, especially when the weather's starting to become cooler.  But given my current schedule of work, class, and kids, I don't exactly have the kind of time to be picking out clams, mussels, and crabs (sorry, you should always go fresh with these or you're gonna be eating rubber).  Shoot, my cooking nowadays is throw-everything-into-the-(crock)pot-and-keep-your-fingers-crossed-that-the-end-result-is-palatable!  So when I came across this recipe for a Seafood Stew, I was super stoked because it looked incredibly easy and fit my criteria of throwing everything into the pot with very minimal prep time. I was able to get away with buying whatever fish and shrimp were available in the frozen section and it was unfortunate that there weren't any frozen scallops but c'est la vie.  I ended up substituting the scallops for an extra bag of frozen fish.  Last but not least, because even trying to peel, smash, and chop garlic is taking more time than I deem necessary, I've been using the Minced Garlic from Penzeys, which has been more than awesome for this time-strapped mom!  Even with my modifications, the end result is still one hearty and delicious stew that's sure to warm you up without weighing you down.  As for my family, they've pretty much eaten the entire batch in one sitting which is awesome news (because they loved it!) but also bad news (because what the eff am I going to eat for lunch tomorrow???).  Anyhoo, hope you enjoy it just as much as they did! What you'll need: -  2lbs of frozen fish (cod, sole, halibut, snapper) cut into 2-in chunks (I'm willing to bet salmon would be effing awesome too!)

-  2lbs of frozen raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

-  8 - 10 tomatoes, sliced into wedges

-  1 bottle of clam juice

-  3 - 5 garlic cloves, chopped (or use Penzeys!)

-  1/2 cup of fresh basil, finely sliced (use your kitchen shears, it's MUCH faster!)

-  White wine (I used a chardonnay from Cupcake) or sake/soju (or whatever rice wine)

1.  Heat fat of choice in Dutch oven over medium heat.  Once heated through, add garlic and saute until just-golden and super fragrant.

2.  Add tomatoes and clam juice to the garlic.  Fill empty clam juice bottle halfway with wine and pour that into the pot.  Give it a quick stir to mix, then cover and let simmer (about 5 minutes)

3.  Add fish and shrimp to the simmering liquid

4.  Add the basil.  Stir to mix everything thoroughly, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until fish and shrimp are cooked.

5.  Ladle into bowls, serve, and enjoy!

Attack of the Immune System!

Things have been pretty rough lately.  Lil T (a.k.a. Kettlebell) still isn't sleeping through the night.  Despite being pretty good about eating as cleanly whenever and wherever possible, I'm so metabolically deranged it's getting translated into the worst eczema flare-up I've had since I was 10.  So what's been going on, you ask?  Aside from the sleepless nights, I've been under some kerAZY stress lately.  In an effort to better myself as a means of helping be better providers for our kiddies, I've decided to take a Data Analytics class.  This meant that I'd be in class two weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons.  Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without Hubs, who was going to be single-parenting it while I'm slugging away at learning new and unfamiliar things.  And not just on those days I have class, but also on the other days of the week when I actually have to devote some time to studying said new things.  And this all in addition to the other tasks of running a household and being a parent.  I've let my nutrition slip a bit here and there, but I still prided myself on eating pretty well.  But nutrition isn't going to do a single thing if I'm not getting the rest I need and managing my stress levels.  Remember too, that my eczema is genetically inherited, and not likely to ever go away even if I were to spend the rest of my days living in perfect Paleo contentment in a beach house on Maui or something (but how awesome would that be?!?!).  In fact, it's gotten so bad that I've ended up having to take Benadryl before bedtime.  I worried that there might be residual effects on Lil T since I'm still nursing, but the only thing I was warned about was a sleepier-than-usual baby.  Since I'm only nursing him at night, I was A-OK with that (cue the stone-throwing for drugging my helpess child)! I'm including a bunch of pictures not because I feel that y'all need to be thoroughly grossed out but because I feel that this is just as important as any pictures of people going through their weight-loss goal.  Most people (usually women) brush me off when I tell them about Paleo (only because they ask!) because they don't see me as "needing" to lose any weight.  This is true.  I never got on the Paleo bandwagon because I "needed" to lose weight.  I wanted something that was truly healthy, something that made sense to my body metabolically and scientifically.  Because everything the medical establishment has ever told me about my body and its varying conditions has always been a Band-Aid, a means to relieve, to alleviate the symptoms rather than treating the root cause.  And because obesity is just one of the symptoms of metabolic derangement, so is dermatitis in just about any form (eczema, psoriasis, etc).  I didn't include pictures of every place on my body that has a rash or a really rough patch because that would be overkill.  However, if these things gross you out, definitely scroll past the pics and onto the prettier pictures I have below of FOOD (mmm... food...).  So here goes: My right thumb.

My right index and middle fingers...

My chest (it's a little hard to see the dark blotches but it's pretty apparent that the coloration is not normal and the skin is dry).

My left ribcage.

My right hip.

My left calf.

The back of my right thigh.

My right foot.

My left foot.

It's been very difficult, to say the least.  In between barely getting any rest and still having to slog it to work at the bright and early time of 5:30am, I feel like I'm practically at my wits' end.  But I just have to hang in there for another month, when the training program is officially over, and I can start to work on myself again.  But these days are tough, for sure.  When I'm at work, I'm thinking about what to make for dinner so that all Hubs has to do is pick up the kids and feed them.  When I'm at home, I'm thinking about all the things I need to get done for my training program and for work.  When I'm in training, I'm thinking about all the chores and errands I need to get run.  I'm constantly thinking about what needs to get done next and my immune system is loudly protesting in a very physical way.  Frankly, my immune system's just about had it with me and I can't blame it. In the meantime, I can only do what I can with food.  I need to REALLY dial it in, nutritionally.  And I also need to work on destressing here and there.  I finally found a great dermatologist who pretty much confirmed everything I already knew:  sleep is the most important, followed by destressing, followed by good nutrition (I should've asked her if she's Paleo).  In the meantime, she's getting me started with a powerful topical steroid ointment.  We're both hoping this will help with my skin because the next option, if this doesn't work, is prednisone.  And prednisone is something they give people whose immune systems are really haywire and I'm still in denial. In the meantime, my diet has included some home-made coconut milk yogurt with fresh strawberries...

... and bacon-wrapped sweet potatoes...

... pork broth (made from some super awesome meaty bones) with watercress...

... and once, a grilled cedar-wrapped sea bass and mango (just because I'm THAT lucky to have such an awesome and kickass coworker who made extra just for me!).

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me as I try to navigate through the next month with my immune system (and my SKIN!) intact!

Easy Peasy Tacos

There are days where I feel like I'm losing my mind.  After work, I need to go to the store to buy some more food pouches for the baby's daycare.  Don't forget to get gas so dropping the kids off in the morning won't leave me stranded.  Gotta get the laundry washed and dried so that we can all have clean (albeit extremely wrinkly because who the hell has the time to fold anything anymore???) clothes to wear come Monday!  It was on a day much like that where I didn't have much head space left to devote to tonight's dinner though that pang hit me like a freight train.  The oh-sh!t-what-are-we-going-to-eat-in-half-an-hour pang.  Yeah... THAT one. Thankfully, we had just hit the Farmers Market the day before and I incredibly had the foresight to pick up a random head of lettuce (it's not something we really pick up from the FM... like ever!).  Next thing I knew, I had informally made Monday night a Taco Night in 15 minutes.  And who ends up looking like she had her sh!t together?  THIS momma!  Can I get a "wha-what"??? What you'll need: -  2lbs of ground meat (I have here one pound each of beef and pork)

-  1 head of butter lettuce, washed

-  2 red onions, chopped -  4 tbsp chopped garlic (I love using Penzey's Minced Garlic!) -  2 tbsp ground onion powder -  2 tbsp ground garlic powder -  4 tbsp dried oregano -  6 tbsp chili powder -  6 tbsp ground cumin -  sea salt (for taste)

1.  Heat about 1tbsp of lard (or cooking fat of choice!) in skillet over medium-high heat.  Once skillet is nice and hot, toss in the onions and saute until just softened/translucent.

2.  Throw in minced garlic and saute until fragrant (about 30 seconds)

3.  Add in meat and brown

Brown!

4.  Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder and mix thoroughly.  Season with salt to your taste.  Saute until most of the liquid evaporates.

 5.  Spoon onto butter lettuce leaf and top with whatever suits your fancy, like guacamole and salsa...

... or if you want to make it a Korexican theme and love your gut by feeding it some fermented foods, top off with some kim chi and enjoy!

Chicken Liver Pâté

Many thanks to Lisa of Lisa's Counter Culture for this recipe! I've updated this post to include some pictures because I had originally put this one up in such a hurry.  This is, by far, my most favorite recipe for pâté and the fact that I'm now making this in my super fancy Blendtec means that my pâté is now light and creamy with a whipped texture.  But whether or not you have a Blendtec or a Vitamix shouldn't matter because up until recently, I was making everything that required blending in a 2-cup food processor (yes... think about how efficient I was with THAT). So why is this my favorite pâté recipe?  It really incorporates a lot of good foods that really nourishes the body, especially since offal is incredibly nutritious.  The fact that this recipe uses chicken liver makes for a great introduction for anyone (even the squeamish ones!) looking into incorporating offal into their menu because it is incredibly mild in flavor.  All combined and this also makes for an excellent first solid food for baby (like Kettlebell who, if possible, would like to just sit/lay in a giant vat of it).  Last but not least, you can quadruple the amounts (like what I did in the pictures) and freeze the pâté down in portions. The KEY thing to note here is:  it is very important that you let everything cool down (like it's been sitting-in-the-fridge-for-a-few-hours-cool) thoroughly before blending everything together.  Doing so prematurely results in mushy-watery pâté and that's definitely a no-bueno situation.  However, the patience is well worth the result!  Enjoy! What you'll need: - 1/2lb chicken liver, chopped

- 1/2 onion, diced

- handful brown or oyster mushrooms, sliced

- 3 cloves garlic

- sea salt (at least a tsp, prob more)

- white pepper to taste

- fresh parsley (abt 2 - 3 tbsp)

- dash of cooking sherry or white wine, apple cider vinegar in a pinch

Even THIS works well!

- pork lard - 2 - 3 pastured hard-boiled medium-sized eggs

Definitely not my finest moment in the world of hard-boiled pastured egg peeling...

1. Rinse chicken livers gently 2. Saute onion in pork lard until onions are brownish and mushrooms are fully cooked (is using mushrooms)

3. Set onions and mushrooms aside to cool

4. Saute remaining ingredients with pork lard (or butter) but be sure to leave chicken livers a little pink (don't overcook!)

5. Wait until ALL ingredients are cooled (this is important so that it doesn't become total mush when blending)   6. Add onion/mushroom mixture to food processor and blend well 7. Add eggs to food processor and pulse several times

8. Add rest of mixture from pan (chicken livers, garlic, parsley) 9. Pulse once or twice - taste - adjust seasoning with salt and pepper 10. Chill before serving with sliced carrots and English cucumbers!

Personally, I really enjoy this slathered on salame!

Banana Pancakes

I recently found myself the recipient of some overripe bananas.  This never happens.  In my household, two bunches of bananas will last us absolutely no longer than 5 days... and that's really pushing it.  But there they were:  two overripe bananas languishing on my counter plus another two we got from my SIL threatening to bring on the fruit flies (side note:  I worked with fruit flies while I was an intern at NASA and the only thing I absolutely hated about it was making their food which had to include an additive called β-mercaptoethanol (βMe), which is often used in foods in general as a preservative, because it was quite possibly the foulest thing I've ever smelled).  It was the addition of my SIL's bananas that got me wondering if Hubs was trying to tell me something... namely pancakes. These pancakes make for really great eats and will freeze well (skip to the bottom where I provide picture-by-picture tutorial on how to freeze these things properly) and can be easily reheated on a pan or in the oven or even in the microwave!  The banana-y-ness of the pancakes is totally up to you, but of course, that depends on how many bananas you find yourself left with.  Enjoy!

What you'll need: -  2 - 4 overripe bananas, pureed (or chunky, like mine)

The more overripe the bananas, the better it will be.  The sweetness will really come through and will be MUCH EASIER to mush and puree

-  4 eggs

-  2 tbsp vanilla extract

-  4 tbsp coconut oil

-  2 cups tapioca flour

-  1/2 tsp baking soda

-  1 tsp sea salt

1.  In large bowl, whisk together banana puree, eggs, vanilla extract, and coconut oil

2.  Add in salt, baking soda, and tapioca starch.  Whisk together until well mixed.

Ooh bubbles!

3.  Brush some coconut oil onto pan/griddle over medium heat

4.  Spoon batter onto pan/griddle (make them whatever size you want them to be)

5.  Once the  pancakes are set (or look like this), flip to cook the other side

6.  Enjoy with that mighty fine bacon and some coffee!

So you want to know how to freeze these suckers, eh?  That's pretty easy.  Cool your pancakes on a wire rack.  This is pretty important because you want to make sure that you don't get any excess moisture from freezing while even remotely warm.  Excess moisture during freezing = freezer burn = nobody likes you.  So don't do it.

On a baking sheet that will fit in your freezer...

Add one layer of parchment paper and arrange the pancakes.  Take care that the pancakes don't touch each other.

Cover those pancakes with a sheet of wax paper...

And add more pancakes (basically, you're making a lasagna).

When you've put all the pancakes on the sheet, stick it in the freezer.  When they're frozen solid, you can take the pancakes and stick them all in a large Ziploc bag (which then goes into the freezer).  Freezing it this way allows you to just get however many pancakes without thawing the whole bunch.  I think it's about time to give yourself a high-five!

Bulgogi (Korean Short-Rib) Marinade

Now that we're in the middle of barbecue season, it's hard to not take advantage of the beauty of the grill on one's patio.  I've always loved eating charred meats (um... satay cooked old-school, anyone???)...

A satay vendor in Southeast Asia (courtesy of Todd Lappin)

...but now that I'm a bonafide parent (or at least I think I am anyway), I'm fully appreciative of the fact that clean-up is a friggin' breeze.  Baby dropped food on the floor?  Well, if Jax doesn't get it, the hose will!  Did the four year old just spill his ENTIRE cup of milk AND his plate all over the dining table while trying to demonstrate the latest obstacle in "American Ninja Warrior"?  No problem.  We'll just hose the damn thing down after dinner.  The kids are getting food all over themselves (their hair, eyes, nose, neck, tummies, and legs)?  Guess what?  Bath time on the patio!  And after dinner?  There's only, like, five dishes to wash as opposed to those five dishes plus the two cutting boards, the pot, the skillet, and a gabajillion utensils.  Oops, I'm getting side-tracked here...  Anyway, the point is:  I'm starting to get tired of the dry rubs.  If y'all haven't noticed, my family and I are kinda Asian and one of the sucky things about being a Paleo Asian is that a lot of the marinades used typically in Asian barbecue tend to come with beans, sugar, MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, blah blah blah.  I really wanted to mix it up and started scouring the Internets for something that was quick and easy and would be insanely tasty after getting some time on the grill.  I came across this most excellent recipe courtesy of Food Network, made my substitutions, and here we are! I DO have to point out that this recipe contains sake/soju, which isn't going to fly in a lot of Paleo circles.  MY schtick is this:  it's a measly two tablespoons of fermented rice wine.  And rice wine is simply a younger version of rice vinegar, allowable under the Whole30 guidelines.  Two tablespoons isn't going to kill me, my husband, or my kids.  And no, this marinade is NOT Whole30-compliant (it wouldn't anyway... this recipe contains honey!).  If you're going to be a real stickler about it, I've heard of soju being made strictly from sweet potatoes or tapioca.  If you know of this, be sure to share in the comments below so we can all make a grab for it! This marinade was extremely quick and easy to throw together and has yet to find a disagreeable tastebud.  It's also incredibly versatile and will work just as well with chicken.  Why not make this for dinner tonight??? What you'll need: -  2 - 3lbs of short ribs (or chicken wings!)

-  4 green onions, chopped -  6 garlic cloves, chopped -  1 cup coconut aminos -  1/2 cup sesame seed oil -  4 tbsp raw honey -  2 tbsp sake/soju (I used Sho Chiku Bai, mainly because their rice is sourced from California, and has less arsenic than rice from elsewhere.  Check out Chris Kresser's post on white rice here) -  2 tsp sesame seeds -  1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1.  Whisk the green onions, garlic, coconut aminos, sesame seed oil, honey, sake, sesame seeds, and black pepper together in large bowl.

2.  If marinating short-ribs, score ribs every 1/2-inch along the entire length and width (but make sure the meat stays attached to the bone!).  Lay short ribs in a pan (in a large Ziploc bag is better!) and pour marinade all over meat.  Cover and let marinate overnight in the fridge (or if you're REALLY impatient, at least two hours).

Chicken wings getting their marinade on!

3.  Grill up short ribs, serve, and enjoy!

Sorry no pics of chicken wings... hunger obviously took precedence over taking pretty pictures! :/

My First Giveaway: Beyond Bacon!

Hey everyone! I guess it's one of those things that had to happen eventually.  It's a rite of passage, I suppose.  One day, I just thought that I'd just start writing about my new dietary lifestyle in conjunction with this ker-AZY exercise regimen I was doing (P90X, anyone?).  Honestly, I didn't think that anyone else was going to read my schtick because how interesting is eating and prancercising around the living room anyway???  But something happened:  I started to meet other like-minded people through my wonderful cousins on the internets!  And it just took off from there.  Since then, I've met so many awesome and insanely talented people, like Matt & Stacy of The Paleo Parents. I was lucky enough to have been one of the first to have received an advance copy of Eat Like A Dinosaur, their first... uh... non-limbed baby, and wrote up my review of it.  I was fortunate enough to once again be one of the first to receive an advance copy of Beyond Bacon which is truly a piece of work to behold.

Without going into the whole book again (read my review or what others have to say), let's just get down into the nitty-gritty of what the prize is:  ONE copy of Beyond Bacon as well as one pound of Philz Coffee's It'z The Best whole bean coffee (I'm a BIG supporter of our local businesses, if you haven't figured that out already!).  And guess what?  This giveaway is getting extended INTERNATIONALLY (except China... sorry!), many thanks to FedEx! So what do you need to do???  Here ya go, step-by-step:

Go to my Facebook page or find me on Twitter.

Send me a non-bacon-related PORK meme!

I know what you're saying... "no bacon memes?!?!".  Who doesn't love a good bacon meme, right?  I mean, there's this:

... and this...

... and of course, this.

But this book, remember, is about all the things that are BEYOND bacon (hello!!!).  So be creative and have fun!... like these people...

... and honestly, who doesn't love this guy???

Just try to get 'em in no later than Friday, 5th July at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time.

And yes, multiple entries = multiple chances at winning.  So ENTER!!!

Kettlebell Turns One!

It didn't seem like it was that long ago that I was waiting around for my little Kettlebell to make his appearance.  We all thought that, like his big brother, he'd be rarin' to make his debut into the world and come early.  But nope, the little guy was as snug as a bug in a rug.  When he finally decided to come, he came into the world naturally (though my midwife did have to break my water in the middle of my trying to push him out) at a mere 8 pounds.  But he was healthy and one super alert newborn!

Just like with Chubster, Hubs and I marveled at the miracle that is the beginning and new-ness of life.

Immediately, we all fell head over heels in love with the newbie.

Right from the get-go, we were in awe of how alert he was and of all his various expressions.  Like sitting in the car seat to go home for the very first time.

Or smiling because he seemed to be the only baby who actually enjoyed Tummy Time.

And by the time he was 3 months old, we saw how he was starting to hone his flirting skills.

We're so blessed to have such an easy-going baby who was able to delight in just about everything, like getting his hair brushed.  Because we never knew that brushing our hair was that funny.

We soon saw that he was becoming quite the ham, and really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the camera.

And unlike Chubster, he was always ready to pose for the camera with his smile.

Except for when it was time to wear his costume for Halloween.  I think he was just wondering why we were attempting to hide his cuteness with headgear.

And back to the subject of being a good baby, he'd let just about anybody hold him.

All in all, he's been a super good baby, letting us do what we wanted with him.

In the blink of an eye, he started crawling.  And boy was he fast!

My main complaints?  Though he naps really well, he's a terrible night sleeper.  We've tried Ferber.  He ain't having it.  The other thing?  He's also a terrible dishwasher.

Not to mention he's got no table manners.  At all.

I mean, seriously!  Who eats like this?!?!

But despite all that, we've fallen so hopelessly in love with him that when he had a high fever (102+ degrees Fahrenheit) for three days straight, our hearts broke because he wasn't feeling well at all and it showed.

It seems, though, that he sure does bounce back quickly.  He's already shown himself to be rather fun-loving and adventurous, like having the best time playing with the water features at the local park...

... and just loving the beach!

Though the jury's still out on biking since he passes out within a couple minutes of sitting in the bike seat.

All in all, it's been simply incredible to see my little baby grow and blossom and develop his personality.

We're also pretty sure that, just like his big brother, he's going to be the life of the party with his amiable nature and his sneaky mischievous ways.

Happy 1st birthday, little one!

Book Review: Beyond Bacon

Look what arrived in the mail for me???

I'm super stoked to be able to take a first peek at The Paleo Parents' new book Beyond Bacon.  Immediately, we were blown away by the aesthetics of this book.  You get the sense, just by holding this book and rifling through its pages, that Matt and Stacy really poured themselves into this book with the purpose of thoroughly educating the reader on all things swine.  They made an effort into explaining the differences between the pork one buys at the local grocery store (like Smithfield) and pastured pork (in this case, from Polyface Farms) and how besides the fact that pastured meats contain more vital nutrients than the ones coming from the industrialized farms, these farms are more ecologically friendly and place an emphasis on sustainable farming.

Knowing that ordering a whole pig is, at first, an extremely daunting task, Matt and Stacy help break down the whole process from picking the farmer to even going in on a meat share to help defray the cost (since it is cheaper to buy a whole hog).

And because it's still difficult to visualize what it is one wants to order, they include a lovely pictorial with a check sheet to help you decide what it is you want out of your hog.

However, the best thing about Beyond Bacon isn't the write-up about sustainable farming and how it affects the food that you eat, but the actual scientific data to dispel a lot of myths about pork consumption.  Unlike reading The Paleo Diet by Dr. Loren Cordain where the reader should already be somewhat well-versed in scientific jargon, Matt and Stacy have made an effort to simplify and address the points behind the studies in a way that's easy to understand.

And of course, the recipes for all parts swine are just incredible.  We use lard in our household (especially for seasoning my cast iron skillets) as our main cooking fat mainly because there isn't that overly sweet smell or taste that you typically get from cooking with coconut oil or even tallow.  This book has a really great recipe on how to make your own that's super simple and easy to follow.

My second most favorite part of this book are the wonderful recipes using offal which, unfortunately, turns a lot of Americans off.  Offal is honestly some of THE MOST nutritious foods that one can eat.  It's easy to understand why most would be turned off by it.  First, there's the fact that you're eating an animal's innards, something that's not commonly found in most traditional American foods.  And the closest one will find to seeing offal in a restaurant here in the U.S. is liver and onions.  There's honestly only so much liver one can take!  Secondly, they're tricky to prepare because they're much more finicky in regards to heat and preparation, like the cardboard you get from overcooking liver by just a couple of seconds.  Matt and Stacy did a pretty awesome job of being able to expand one's offal horizons with recipes that incorporate the other vital organs like brain...

...liver... heart...

... and sweetbreads.

There's even a usage for chitterling (intestines) to make your own noodles!

While I'm definitely in love with these recipes incorporating offal, I definitely wish there were more recipes.  Regardless, the fact that there are even recipes in this book that helps one to make use of the entire hog (organs and all!) is just super helpful! But fret not if offal really turns you off because there's also plenty of other recipes that most people are used to.  Recipes like the Perfect Pork Chop...

... and Cajun Rubbed Tenderloin.

But what meal is complete sometimes without something slightly sweet to tie everything together?  The creative geniuses that are Matt and Stacy came up with something that completely blew my mind away:  Prosciutto and Roasted Peach Ice Cream.  Seriously, who would've thought that the pairing would've been so amazingly and mind-blowingly awesome?

I'm super excited about having this great book as a resource, especially the recipes for offal.  There's such a great variety of recipes, each utilizing different cooking methods, from stir-frying, roasting, smoking, or even stewing.  There really is something for everybody, from the simple dishes that one can quickly whip up after a long day at work to the more involved and complex ones to really impress your diners.  At the end of the day, you'll feel great because you just supported your local farmer and his/her sustainable farming (and ecologically friendly!) practices AND made some fantastic porky goodness.

Look Who's Four?!?!

 Look who turns 4 today?

Born at 3:36am at an awesome 8lbs 5oz

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was in the delivery room trying to push this baby out of me (without pain meds, thankyouverymuch!).  That it was only just last week that I learned what true sleep deprivation was.  There were so many times when I seriously doubted myself.  That breastfeeding was hard, MUCH harder than I thought possible.  And even after getting into a routine, I doubted if I was producing enough milk.  I doubted myself and my ability to be even a semi-decent mother because I hadn't ever been this sleep-deprived and I always wondered why was this baby always ALWAYS crying.  Didn't I feed him?  Didn't I change him?  I saw other babies who would play happily by themselves or fall asleep by themselves and felt the intense frustration that I was doing something very wrong.  That I was a failure.  There were times where I would just scream, at the top of my lungs, right at my crying baby's face because I was so frustrated at all my failures as a mother (and a stay-at-home one to boot!) that I would oftentimes just start crying and sobbing because of all my self-doubt. But then something magical happened.  I saw how he would continually test himself with his motor skills.  He never learned to crawl first, just went straight to walking (he later learned how to crawl because he wanted to go up the stairs).  With this newfound ability, I saw how he would observe the world around him.  By looking at things.  Holding things in his tiny hands (and oftentimes, putting said things into his mouth).  Feeling the different surfaces of flooring on his bare feet.  Playing with pots and pans in the kitchen.  And before I knew it, he turned one.

First Birthday

And it kept getting better.  No longer was I wondering if I was doing anything right and feeling like a complete failure.  I saw how his personality progressed and he became this playful but cautious little toddler who really seemed to absorb everything in.  He wasn't prone to tantrums and played really well with others.  He actually enjoyed trying to help us out with all of our little hum-drum chores, like sweeping the driveway, or filling the washing machine, or even watering the plants in the backyard.  Of course, even though I felt that I was starting to get the hang of this parenting thing, I was filled with self-doubt and worry that his language skills wouldn't progress.  That we were speaking too many languages at home (English, Mandarin, and Cantonese) and that we were confusing him.  Regardless of his ability to speak even in three-word sentences, we marveled at how smart our little boy was because he understood all three languages.  By the time he turned two, I'd already forgotten about all my insecurities and self-doubt from his first year and just wanted to spend as much time as possible with this little baby who was quickly turning into a little boy.

Second birthday

Soon, we were trying to figure out how to do things like potty-training.  I must've read a gazillion articles on the best way as well as consulted with every single parent I could get through to via email, phone, and in-person.  I saw that my baby became this super social butterfly, just going up to other kids in the playground and start playing.  My heart broke that one day when he just bawled and bawled because an older boy he was following at the playground had locked him inside the baby playground so that he couldn't follow him anymore.  I saw that my little baby was at the age where I wouldn't be able to protect him from all the hurts in the world because sometimes, people are just mean.  Maybe because of that, I was hesitant to send him to preschool because those teachers at school OBVIOUSLY can't govern all those kids at once.  But there was no keeping this little guy from going.  Every day he would ask:  "can I go to school today?"  Soon enough, the sweetest and most caring little boy I've ever known turned three.  And shortly thereafter, he welcomed his little brother with open arms and an even bigger heart and all the anxiety, stress, frustration, self-doubt that came the minute he was born disappeared.

Third birthday

Since then, he started school and his language skills improved dramatically.

For Halloween, he wanted to be Superman.

He learned about arts and crafts at school and made his own hat for Thanksgiving.

All the while developing his own personality that's so infectious one can't help but want to laugh and hug him tightly at the same time.

He hasn't lost his love for always wanting to help out and be productive.

And to see him observe the little details of the world around him and know that he's actually learning has been one of the most intensely overwhelming experiences I could have ever possibly have known.

Whether it's learning the simple thing of how to make a wish by throwing a penny into the water fountain (make a wish and then throw the penny into the fountain, don't just throw the penny into the fountain, laugh, and run back to us for more pennies!)...

... or getting all caught up in the awesomeness that is "American Ninja Warrior" and trying to duplicate all obstacle courses in the confines of our living room and giving our furniture a good thrashing (oh my God... we only have 3 episodes saved on our DVR and we've been watching the very same three episodes EVERY. SINGLE. DAY)...

...or even learning about all the microenvironments at the beach on a beautiful day...

... I can't help but feel that all my worries and self-doubt were nothing.  Like why was I so worried about looking and feeling like I had it together?  Why was I so stressed out about his 30-minute naps?  Why was I crying over my perceived inability to do anything at all???  Those things really don't matter at all and I have him to thank.  For teaching me, above all else, patience.  That nothing worthwhile comes easily or quickly.  And the rewards, when they come, are so sweet.

Happy 4th birthday, baby!

Yeesh...

I got an email from a good friend the other day basically asking me if I was still alive.  Yep, I'm still alive.  But just barely.  I feel like life since MIL's diagnosis has been one whirlwind after another.  The good news is that she's responding really well to low-dose chemo and will soon be embarking on a cruise to Alaska with some friends.  Hubs and I were just like "GO!" because if you don't go now, then when?  It's just a sad fact of life that until we're faced with the frailty of our own life, we just keep saying "later, later".  Like when I went to watch "Up" when it came out in theaters, I was practically bawling when Ellie died, and the couple never got to have their great adventures.  Pregnancy hormones may have played a huge factor in my waterworks, but still.

The youthful couple

In the sunset of their lives

The other day (before someone in Florida won the Powerball jackpot), Hubs and I were trying to figure out what we'd do with the winnings if we ever won the lottery.  "Take Mom wherever the hell she wants to go.  First class.  And only via Singapore Airlines!" I quickly chirped out.  Honestly, I know I'm pretty biased with Singapore Air, but I've been to Asia and back a few times on other airlines and Singapore Air is by far and away THE BEST.  Sigh... if only they'd pay me to endorse them... c'est la vie! Anyway, the point is:  MIL is going on a vacation.  She's going to see the beautiful glaciers and have a great time.  We're trying to get other things going for her as well.  She's learned to love the iPad from when she was staying with us so we're getting her her very own.  Not the Mini because the screen's just too small.  She also loves spending some quality time at the slots but unless there's a completely smoke-free casino that's a no-go.  Needless to say, we're trying to cram as much stuff into her schedule as is humanly possible (while on a budget!) because NOW is the time to do these things, not later. Other than that, I feel like a total wreck of a person.  Kettlebell is still not sleeping through the night.  I was seriously contemplating jumping all over the new Crossfit box that opened up practically across the street from my house but realized that I would really only be doing myself more harm than good.  Kettlebell is now going to a terrific home-care run by our friend's mom and two sisters and from what I've been told, has been eating just about everything in sight and has, on more than... uh... several occasions, stolen food from the food trays of other children AND the mouths of the caregivers themselves.  Sometimes I wonder if they believe me when, while dropping him off, I tell them he's eaten a good breakfast (which can run from scrambled egg, pastured beef hot dog, smoked salmon to fruits and coconut milk yogurt).  Good thing I just renewed my Costco membership.  Sheesh!

"No food here!"

We now have Chubster going to the Chinese-English immersion preschool and he's doing wonderfully.  He just started a couple of weeks ago and we really couldn't be happier.  This new school is WAY more organized and the fact that we're going to be reinforcing Chinese with him is awesome.  Since his birthday's coming up (it's a Thursday), I couldn't wait to bring in the little cupcakes or whatever for him to share with his classmates.  Except that there's this LONG ASS list of things we're allowed to bring and an even LONGER list of what we're NOT.  For example, we're allowed to buy (not make ourselves in our own home) cupcakes (not cakes!) with NO frosting from a bakery so long as they don't contain nuts.  I was like "holy sh!et... are you kidding me???".  Lucky for me, one of my coworkers has a super talented wife who just opened up her own Paleo bakery and is going to baking her fantastic cupcakes which, besides being gluten-free, will be nut-free and dairy-free.  In fact, I was so over the moon about the fact that she was opening her own bakery that I asked her to bake some more for the boys' birthday party coming up (yes I'm totally combining their birthdays because they're only 11 days apart and it's just too much work to do separate parties).

nut & nectar, a Bay Area Paleo bakery

Now that THAT hurdle's out of the way, I can go back to my daily madness... The friend I mentioned earlier at the beginning of this post also asked me if I was still Paleo despite my crazy hectic schedule.  Granted, I haven't been even 80% Paleo but I've still managed to stay gluten-free.  Of course, when things are just super crazy in the lab, I'm downing chocolate and dried fruits (usually mangoes) like kerAZY.  However, as tired as I am when I get home, I can always quickly throw something in a pan for dinner.  I make it a point to prep the food as soon as I get home from the Farmers' Market on Sundays, and my weekly staples are always:  sweet potatoes, chopped kale, baby fingerling potatoes, carrots, and a huge bag of baby spinach.

It's pretty awesome when I can throw something in a pan or the oven while my sous-vided protein is warming up in the hot water bath (usually a ton of hot water in my sink) before getting seared and before the 30 minutes is over, dinner is hot, fresh, and waiting for us on the dinner table.  Sigh... if only I can get my laundry this streamlined. Honestly, how are other working parents managing this?  I seriously feel like there's not enough time during the weekdays, it's hectic trying to get the kids dropped off, work, and run errands.  I'm super lucky that Hubs is able to pick up the boys 98% of the time!  And the household chores feel ENDLESS!  If you guys have any tips for me, I'd greatly appreciate them. If you don't mind, I'm going to try to hide in a dark closet somewhere and make a feeble attempt at regaining my sanity.

Adventures in Stressland (Part II)

Sorry for the lack of regular posts, peeps.  As you can tell from my last post, things have been crazy busy lately.  In the last few weeks, we've managed to hire a great nanny to look after our boys while we settle into our new routine.  The family's been trying their hardest to emphasize the importance of good nutrition to my dear MIL and all of a sudden, I found myself to be the one to point out where to get which items where.  It would be completely unreasonable to think that MIL will be completely on board the Paleo train now but we're making bits of progress here and there.  After consulting a renowned chiropractor who knows just about all there is to know (and more!) about alternative therapies (by the way, it was because of him that I got cured of hyperthyroidism), he recommended that MIL abstain from (in addition to all things gluten and sugary) any red meat and all dairy (even grassfed).  MIL and the rest of the family were in total despair as to what she could eat.  So I quickly found myself trying to come up with a sample meal plan for her.

Before you start screaming at me about the rice, bear in mind that this meal plan IS for my MIL who is not going to just all of a sudden drop the way she's been eating for 60+ years.  I spent a good solid WEEK on this effing menu trying to come up with the items that I know she'll eat because she's familiar with it.  Of course, she's not familiar with other things like the Green Smoothie.  In fact, she downright made a face when my BIL made it and gave it to her and tried to get all us kids to drink hers.  Baby steps though, right? In other news, now that I'm one super busy momma, I don't have the friggin' time to actually cook.  By the time I get home, it's already 4 - 4:30.  The last thing I want to do is rummage through the fridge to get inspired by whatever items are in there and do whatever food prep.  After all, I'm not just cooking for me, Hubs, and Chubster.  I'm also cooking for our wonderful nanny.  As a full-time college student (she takes her classes online), the last thing she's going to want to do at the end of a long day with my kids is to fight traffic home and then figure out what she's going to eat.  With all this in mind, eating out every night is also not an option (even if it was just me and Chubster!) since that sh!t gets expensive.  That first week after MIL's diagnosis saw us eating out every night.  At about $40/night (that would be a conservative sum, mind you), you can see how that adds up!  And by the way, that totally doesn't even include lunch either! I'd been wanting to sous vide for some time now, especially since M does it a lot (and she reminded me of what a great time-saver it was too!).  Since I don't have exactly have the moolah to get a Sous Vide Supreme (or even a Sous Vide Demi!), I opted for a $99 Dorkfood temperature controller instead.

This thing is pretty handy.  It's nice and compact and it doesn't take up any counter space.  How awesome is it to be able to turn my handy-dandy crockpot into a sous vide???  I couldn't wait to give it a try so I seasoned some grassfed steaks and "vacuum-sealed" them using my Ziploc bags and the water-displacement method.

And voila!  My crockpot's totally working it with the whole "hack" sous vide thing!

And wouldn't you know it?  A good friend of mine and her husband gave me a super thoughtful present:  a water-immersion circulator!  This thing was built by her super-duper engineer husband:

Now I can turn ANY container into a water oven!  Of course, if you're not following my friend Jenn on Twitter, WE can't be friends anymore.  And no, I'm not kidding.  Besides, what kind of friends are willing to build you something that's actually (according to Linda) better than the Sous Vide Supreme???  The BEST kind, that's what!!! So of course, I've been dedicating Sundays (Farmers' Market day) to food buying and prepping.  I've been sous-vide-ing a sh!t TON, like the steaks in the above pic and these Cajun-rubbed chicken thighs...

... and shoot... I'm even going to try experimenting with beef osso bucco!

Besides having the sous vide crockpot going, I ended up being able to put the water-immersion circulator to good use!

Now THAT'S a full cooler!  But it's nice because there's several packets of seasoned chicken breasts along with a couple packets of seasoned beef osso bucco.  With the steaks cooking in the other one, that's a whole week's worth of lunches AND dinners all going at the same time! The beauty of being able to sous-vide food for the weeknights has been ah-MAZE-balls because when I get home, all I have to do is decide between chicken, pork, or steak for dinner.  When I've decided, I plop the meat into a bucket full of super hot water from the tap and let the meat warm up while I prep my veggie sides.

Because I'm so short on time on the weeknights, the only thing I can rustle up are quick stir-frys.  If I have a little more time, I'll dump some prepped root veggies (like carrots or parsnips) into the toaster oven to roast for a bit.  And when I'm done with the veggies, I get to sear the meat on a nice super-hot skillet...

... and pair it up with my quickly prepped veggies.

Sorry no steak picture.  Like I said, I've been very busy.  It'd be nice if I had a super cool kitchen torch like M so that I could give the outside of the meat a super nice char but I don't think Hubs will let me have that in the house, what with having a toddler and an infant in the house.  It's definitely something to look forward to though!  However, being able to sous-vide has seriously been THE MOST AWESOME thing to have happened in my household.  The fact that I'm no longer having to fork over $40+ a night for just dinner alone has been incredible.  From start to finish (from deciding what to eat to putting the plate together), putting together a super healthy meal for myself and my family is much faster (and cheaper!) than getting take-out.  In fact, I've been getting on my soapbox these last couple weeks to trying to get all my fellow mommy-friends to do it too. And yes, while I'm most likely getting the dubious looks from ALL of you about my usage of the plastic Ziploc bags, I have just ordered the vacuum-sealer with the bags.  I can't wait until those come in this week. Cue Happy Dance!

Adventures in Stressland (Part I)

The chaos of the last week and a half or so is finally dying down.  Thank God, because I don't know how much longer I was going to be able to cope with it.  Before I go any further though, I want to thank ALL of YOU for your kind thoughts and well wishes.  It never ceases to amaze me whenever I get comments and emails from people other than my friends (hi Jen!  hi Jess!), and it's even more touching when you guys reach out to me (and therefore my family!) with your words of comfort during our times of misery and despair.  Right now, we're looking into doing all that we can for my mother-in-law, from supplements to nutrition to the latest clinical trials.  In addition to the baking soda/maple syrup and the food grade hydrogen peroxide treatments (thanks Chelsea!), please let me know if you hear of something we should look into. MIL's diagnosis was definitely not an easy one to take.  Just earlier that morning, I found out from my ex-boyfriend (yes we're still friends) that his mom had just passed away from cancer on the 2nd after being diagnosed around Thanksgiving.  This bit of news was pretty hard to take, since I credit Linda with having helped me learn how to manage life as a bonafide independent person.  At a time where I was most vulnerable and not knowing where to go, she helped guide me and was my confidante on a lot of things.  The only thing she didn't like about me?  Leaving the fish head while cooking and serving.  I'm very sad to hear about her passing.  And as if two cancer patients in one day wasn't enough of a kick in the boobs (I'd say "crotch", but I'm a girl), my good friend (whom I've known since high school) and her husband had to say goodbye to their 6 month old son (who's only a couple weeks older than Kettlebell), who passed away the following Monday from complications arising from a respiratory infection.  7 days into the new year and that's already a lot more death than I can handle. After MIL's diagnosis, the family decided to move her to my BIL's house since she'll be much closer to the hospital.  Of course, this meant that Hubs and I would have to figure out childcare.  First thing Monday morning after dropping Kettlebell off with my incredibly awesome cousin (but y'all already knew how amazing she is anyway), I placed ads in both care.com and sittercity.com while calling around daycare, homecare, and preschools with attached daycare.  I also thought that I'd be able to work from home while trying to figure out what to do about childcare when word came down from the head honcho:  come in to work or take PTO. Well sh!t.  Granted, I really did just come back from practically a 6-month maternity leave but I really can't afford to take any more PTO.  With the situation with MIL being on the dire side, I really need to save the PTO for the times when I'll really need it.  So now that I have to go back in to work, what the heck was I going to do with the baby???  After calling around and figuring out schedules, we managed to wrangle my super duper awesome SIL in Morgan Hill to babysit for the remainder of the week.  Now that I've got childcare figured out for the rest of the week so I can focus on finding childcare for the long-term, is there anything else that can possibly happen to really torture my adrenals?  Yes.  Because now I had to compile and analyze my sh!t ton of data and have it ready by Monday. Kill me.  Now. The rest of the week went by in an incredibly intensive flurry of high stress and major anxiety.  I emailed/called about twelve nannies, five of whom replied.  Three emailed back saying that they had forgotten to update their availability on the site (grr...).  One said that she was currently unemployed and was available immediately but didn't respond to my emails/calls about setting up a time for me to interview (can we say "what the eff is WRONG with you???").  I answered a craigslist posting for someone who was looking to nanny-share but she only wanted to communicate with me via email instead of talking to me over the phone so that was a no (um... that was a pretty obvious no).  Calls placed to daycare centers from San Jose to San Carlos (that would be about 27 miles) yielded no availability for infants for most places.  Some of these daycare centers also had wait lists that were a year and a half long which led me to wonder what the hell was wrong with people to want to get on a wait list that's THAT long for an infant who's obviously not even been conceived yet.  The childcare places with immediate openings for infants were way out of our price range ($350/week) and the preschools with attached daycare where, presumably, we'd get a sibling discount was even MORE expensive, with the cheapest rate at $617/week. I couldn't eat.  I couldn't sleep.  My milk supply dropped five ounces in one day. The only thing that was helping me function was my thermos of regular coffee in the mornings.  And just for good measure, Kettlebell started teething and started to really sleep like crap.  A couple days later, he came down with a cold.  And maybe because he's so congested, he'd start coughing and coughing so much that he'd end up throwing up all the milk he just nursed. Quick:  someone hand me some shot glasses of some hard liquor.  Like Patron tequila or something. By Friday, the chaos looked like it was starting to subside.  I managed to find a nanny to help us out for the time being for four days a week (SIL will look after the boys one day a week).  When the whole childcare was figured out (at least temporarily), the most amazing thing happened:  I got hungry and was incredibly thirsty. I drank 3L of water.  In one sitting.  This does not include the thermos of regular coffee followed by the two thermos' full of hot green tea.  As if that wasn't enough, I drank a full bottle of cranberry kombucha followed by three large plastic cups full of cold water.  All that liquid in one 8-hour workday (and yeah, I peed a TON). I also ate one small container of chicken liver pate with a sh!t ton of tortilla chips (yeah... staying Paleo wasn't first and foremost on my mind but at least my eats were gluten-free).  In addition, I also ate about 6 avocados with prosciutto.  I also killed the remaining half of my roast beef (about half pound) with about a quart of kim chi, and a quart each of homemade pickled mustard greens and carrots and daikon (the pickles given to me by my awesome colleague). Looking back, I hadn't realized how much stress I'd been under.  Of course, I'd been under stressful situations in which I lost my appetite but this was by far and away THE MOST stressful situation I'd ever been in.  The stress of trying to find affordable childcare on such short notice (while at work and trying to NOT lose my job at the same time!), in my mind, ranks up there with the stress of a world leader trying to avoid an international conflict... like World War Three or something.  And now that I'm part of the society that now is dependent upon third-party childcare, I'm told that things like this (trying to find childcare on very short notice) happen quite frequently. Sigh.  Where's that shot glass? What was the most stressful thing to ever happen to you and how did you manage it?

Holidays

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone!  Hope your holidays were merry and bright and that the new year will bring you much health, wealth, and prosperity! Sorry for not having blogged much lately.  Lots of stuff was happening.  Things like work and trying to get my acts together before the onslaught of family for the holidays.  I didn't take any food pictures since that was definitely not my top priority but I did manage to take a picture of my lil guy wearing his Christmas outfit:

Just so you know, Hubs and I are already thinking of pimping out our kids for modeling.  I just recently looked at Chubster's 529(k) (which was started pretty much as soon as he was born) and even with our monthly contributions, the end result will probably only pay for one semester of college.  Besides, they're never too young to start earning their keep, right??? We headed on over to Santa Cruz to celebrate the coming of the new year with our good friends J and G and their two babes (our boys are only three days apart).  In addition to J becoming a business owner with her personal training, G took the leap and went to work for a start-up and is Employee #3 (go stock options!).  On top of that, they decided they'd had enough of their rental in Mountain View and bought their first house in Santa Cruz.  We couldn't be happier for them. Though this wasn't our first time to their new digs, it's always fun being able to hang out with them and have the kids playing with each other.  As you can see, here are the kids getting into the spirit:

We didn't make it to midnight here on the West Coast but Hubs and I toasted our friends to a better 2013. Alas, it was not meant to be. On Christmas Eve, MIL suddenly had difficulty breathing and had to be admitted into the emergency room where it was discovered that her lungs were filled with fluid.  Later, she had half of the fluid removed (about 1.25L) but couldn't remove the remainder since it was excruciatingly painful for her.  After waiting anxiously for the results, we were hoping that she had pneumonia. This past Friday, 4 January, she was told that she had Stage IV adenocarcinoma. Fuck you, cancer.

17 Dec '12: Monday's Eats

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and held their loved ones tightly because life is simply too short.  I'm lucky in that Chubster is still too young to understand what has happened but that certainly hasn't stopped me from just looking at him and trying to soak up every last bit of him (Kettlebell too).  While I'm sure most of us probably still feel incapacitated in trying to help the families who've lost someone, we can all do a little something.  That can be writing a letter to one of the families, donating money to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund,or even learning more about what we can do to curb gun violence.  Most importantly, what we can do is to remember the ones who were taken from us too soon and pray that their families will be able to find peace. To start my day, I opted to fry up a couple of pastured eggs and served it up with a few slices of wild smoked salmon, all washed down with a nice hot cup of decaf (contains Vitamin A, zinc, omega-3s, biotin, pantothenic acid, niacin, and Vitamin K2).

I totally forgot that we had a catered Holiday Lunch at work today and had brought all the leftovers from my fridge.  Ah well... leftovers are STILL leftovers!  I dug in rather heartily into some roast chicken, roasted potatoes, broccolini, and frittata (contains Vitamin A, biotin, sulfur, pantothenic acid, and niacin).  And I washed it down with a... gasp!... Sprite (contains sugar... LOTS of it)!

I was so full from lunch (hard to stop when the food's pretty good!) that I ended up skipping dinner.  I'm still feeling under the weather and am all kinds of congested so before bed, I downed a big bowl of super-hot bone broth (yay glycine!) (I didn't burn my mouth this time!) and a couple packets of EmergenC.  I'm officially over being sick.