My current routine is this:

6:15 am – wake up, drink coffee, brush teeth, change into workout clothes, check email, watch the news.
7:15 am – run for 45-50 minutes, stretch for 20 minutes, check email again
8:45 am – shower, blow dry / style hair, get dressed, do makeup, check email again
9:45 am – make & eat breakfast

Then I eat lunch at noon. It seems early considering I’ve just eaten 2 hours ago, but I do get hungry.

Thoughts?

P.S. I know I check my email too much in the morning.  I’m working on it.

Sunday Oct 9, I departed from SFO to Frankfurt, Germany for a 4 day business trip.

I flew Lufthansa, which had GREAT accommodations for my gluten free diet.

Twelve hours later, about 9:30 am Germany time, I landed. I felt really excited to be in Europe for the first time!

Look! My own airline!

I got on the train, which I found to be very comfortable. I was so grateful that everyone there speaks English. Getting my ticket was easy breezy.

At the airport I met up with 3 colleagues, and together we made our way to the train station together. Here are some pics I took from the train. Destination: Gottingen. By the way, I don’t think the sun came out for more than 15 minutes my entire trip. The weather was in the 50s, and it was really rainy.

I really loved seeing all of the farms and little villages. Finally we arrived at the hotel. It was about 3:30 pm by then, and we were all exhausted. BUT, it was not the time for rest, as we had dinner plans at 8:00 pm. Yes, that is how the Europeans have dinner – LATE.

Here’s my room. Its no Hilton Garden Inn, but apparently this is standard in Europe. Sheesh, minimalists. If you’re going to travel for business you should at least get a decent hotel room!

Ew, someone left behind some candy and housekeeping didn’t catch it!

My first bidet! No, I didn’t use it but I was curious.

Huh?

I didn’t get any pictures of dinner that night but the hotel was really nice about recommending a gluten free meal. I was so tired that after dinner I completely zonked out. Little did I know it would be some of the only sleep I would get on the entire trip!

We got up early the next morning and I worked out at the weird hotel gym. They had the most space age treadmills I’ve ever seen. It made reading really tough.

Later, I went to the buffet breakfast and feasted. Lots of eggs and sausage and cheese. What can I say, I wasn’t sure where my next gluten free meal would come from. We hopped on a bus with a couple dozen colleagues and headed to Hannover. Very cute hotel.

Here is a picture of my hotel room. I liked the modern style. Just because a hotel room needs to be functional and utilitarian doesn’t mean it has to be to be without a bit of class.

Wait – there’s those candies again! Hm, maybe its the German equivalent to the American hotels putting chocolates on your bed…..?

Nice bathroom….

After the first day of meetings, we went on a little trip to an old brewery. I wish I had the name but I don’t. I took a few pics on the LONG busride over.

We arrived cold and hungry. We were ready to eat. But did we get to eat? No. We had activities planned. It would be over 2 hours in the pouring rain before we got to go inside. By then I was soaked to the bone and freezing. The restaurant had crappy wine (yes, I know I have a Napa Valley palette) but the food was good and they accommodated my request for gluten free food. Despite being cold and wet I really enjoyed myself. Drinking the wine helped me warm up a lot!!

I’m not sure what I was taking a picture of here, but it demonstrates how well bricks hold up in a building that is nearly 1000 years old. No joke.

The next day there was another breakfast buffet with cheese and other naughty foods. And of course there were more meetings. I was running on very little sleep and my insides were a wreck from all of the unusual food. By the time the meetings ended I didn’t even want to say goodbye to anyone, I just wanted to get out of there. So my colleagues and I grabbed the train back to Frankfurt to settle in for one last night. I needed some time alone so I got a 1st class ticket. The peace and quiet was awesome.

We checked in to the 3rd and final hotel of the trip. Here we could all just wake up and go home via our respective flights. I have to admit, again I was disappointed. Its a business traveler hotel and it was so drab and blah. And the evening we checked in, we went to dinner and I almost got glutened at their fancy restaurant.

Was that a Kandinsky print on the wall?

This was the only hotel I did not use the gym at because they did not open until 6:30. Who ever heard of that bull shit?! I would be leaving at about 7:45 to catch my flight so I simply did not have time to wait.

Finally it came time to catch my plane home!

I only wish I had gotten a picture upon touching down at SFO. I have to say, the BEST part of any trip, and more so on an international trip, is coming home to good old California!!!

I know I’m behind in my posts, but this is getting ridiculous.  Indulge me while I catch you up on the past year, starting in no particular order with Thanksgiving!

This year I cooked the entire turkey feast, complete with gluten free stuffing and a bunch of sides.  This was the first time I had made most of the dishes and I did it all by myself.  And I didn’t even make anyone sick!

I planned my menu well in advance, and I started cooking early.  All went well until my husband pointed out that the turkey was done.  Like an hour before schedule.  I was so behind on everything else by then that the turkey sat out until it was nearly cold and it had to be reheated before dinner.  In the end dinner was served over an hour behind schedule.  Note to self:  practice timing!

As always, I wish I had more pictures.  (As a side note, are there any tools out there that make posting pictures into a blog easy?  I find that is my single biggest barrier to doing posts – the task of uploading and inserting pictures is very manual for a non-techie like myself.  Suggestions are much appreciated!)

Here is my menu….

Munchies and appetizers (especially good for dinners that run 1+ hours behind schedule!)

Mean Chef’s Apple Brine Recipe (brined for about 30 hours prior to cooking)

Bacon and Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing (adapted to be gluten free)

Caramelized Onion with Bacon and Rosemary Stuffing (not gluten free)

Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Sweet Potato Casserole (my sister’s recipe, see below)

Pumpkin Pie (adapted to be gluten free)

Happy Thanksgiving from Kona (hiding under the table)!!!

No, I am not missing.  I’ve just been in a whirlwind of activity this summer.

Here is the short version:  I started the summer with a conference in Las Vegas in June, followed by a trip to Hotlanta (Atlanta) a week later for a wedding.  Starting in July, I had a gruelling quarter at school, coupled with a very busy schedule at work. When the quarter ended last month, I went to Maui for a week to celebrate my 10 year wedding anniversary.  School started up again last night and my workload is not letting up.  I’m heading to Germany for work on Sunday.

I’ve maintained my weight (no major gains or losses) and I have started running, which I really like because its a huge challenge. My focus lately has been to get most of my food from veggies and avoid making starches like corn the main event.  Somehow corn products have become a major staple in my gluten free diet and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Eating gluten free in Germany should be interesting. I am going to bring a little card that translates my request for gluten free food, but I have no idea how well they embrace all that over there.  Even in Maui I got glutened twice!!!  Pissed me off…..

So there it is!  I will try to post something more entertaining soon.

May has been a bit of a blur.  Its been rainy and cold.  Yes, thats right, in the SF bay area.  No, I did not say Canada or Ireland.

It feels like winter.  YES, I know 60 degrees and rainy hardly qualifies as winter, but it feels that way to me.

Last weekend I hosted a “retro housewife” themed bridal shower for my best friend.  It was a lot of fun. I meant to take pics of my food but in all the craziness of the day I completely FORGOT.  The food was delicious if I might say so myself.  We had strawberry salad, bbq chicken and beef sandwiches, green beans, and sweet potato casserole.  Then of course there were lots of munchies and alcoholic beverages.  It was a lot of fun, but it was exhausting and it took me all week plus this weekend to get rested and to get everything cleaned up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here were a few of my my favorites this month:

Ingredients for an amazing special taco salad

“Cheese” topping for my taco salad – YUM!! I like this better than real cheese!

Taco Salad Version 1

Taco Salad Version 2

New favorite wine – Wente Riva Ranch Chardonnay (I seriously need to pick up a case of this!)

Gluten Free Pizza (with Udi’s crust) + Wine

*This is one of numerous meals this month that had real cheese in it. I was trying to re-introduce dairy back into my diet.  I have a future post planned that will cover the results of how that turned out!

Whole Foods brand Dark Chocolate with coconut flakes. This might be one of my all time favorite foods to walk the planet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve been so bad about blogging lately.  So in the spirit of getting back in the saddle, today I decided to take a picture of every single food item that I ate. It really is tougher than I remember it. In some cases I plum forgot and had to re-create the circumstances (e.g., I staged the chocolate photo below AFTER I ate an equivalent amount of chocolate). So here is my best attempt for today.

Breakfast: this is a new thing for me, a 50-50 mix of plain kefir with fruity flavored kefir (both lactose free) plus a scoop of wheat grass powder. Then I pair it with some other little breakfast-y thing, like, in this case, gluten free pecan raisin toast with earth balance.

My vitamin routine (forgot the enzymes and probiotics)

Mid-day snacks (didn’t eat lunch, just munched all day)

(the tortilla above was a new personal favorite in my gluten free repertoire)

To me, memorial day symbolizes the official start of the summer season, so tonight I had to barbeque some thing.  We kept it simple – we cooked up some hot dogs, corn and beans.  It helped the day feel a bit more like summer (even though it was cloudy and only about 62 degrees).

While I cooked, I munched on some cherries and strawberries.

I meant for that to distract me from the last of the wine I had from the weekend but no such luck….  Yes, I measure my wine.

I soaked the corn to get it ready for the grill…

I put some baked beans and chili (for hubby) on the stovetop…..

I got the bacon cooking in the oven…

When it was done I couldn’t help but munch on it. By the time I took this picture I had eaten 2 pieces, hence the hand gesture so that I didn’t lose track of what I was eating.

Hubby cooked up the corn and hot dogs on the grill…

Final product… It doesn’t look too appetizing but, trust me, it was delicious. I sprinkled the bacon onto the baked beans, and then added some earth balance and salt to the corn. YUM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lately I’m really trying to keep my mind open to ways I can continue to improve my health and diet.  Something I have learned about myself: making decisions takes a lot out of me.  It doesn’t seem immediately connected to my health and diet, but – - I assure you – - it is.

Making decisions is exhausting!!  Do you ever burn out from making decisions? I do all the time. Pretty much whenever I am at home I avoid making major decisions about anything because I make so many heavy-duty decisions at work.

I know its not just me. People make hundreds of decisions each day. I don’t have a source for that statistic, that is just my best guess.

Think about it. There are simple things like deciding what outfit to wear or whether to wash the in the drive thru versus by hand.  Then there are more critical things (usually at work) like deciding to incur out of budget expenses for a project or deciding whether or not to fire someone.  Being in HR means I have to make critical decisions every day, sometimes multiple times each day.

So here is where I make a connection to health and diet.  The biggest drawback to all of this decision making is that I come home from work mentally taxed. I don’t want to make decisions like, whats for dinner? Or should I go to the gym?  So that means I push the easy button, microwave something from a can and eat it in front of the TV when I should be making a fresh, healthy dinner and eating it with music playing next to my husband.

I’m going to work on that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last but not least I wanted to share this picture with my little tomato plant.  My dad fashioned a hydroponic device to grow this little bugger into a flourishing tomato factory.  So far its been beaten pretty badly by the weather (wind, rain).  We’ll see how it turns out!

First up was Super Duper Burger in San Francisco. All I can say is YUM! I had a burger with lettuce as my alternative to a bun (plus jalapenos), french fries and a brown sugar lemonade.

After the house hunting we went to the Ferry Building so I could pick up some gluten free goods at Mariposa. We also stopped for gelato (I had sorbet) at Ciao Bella. They make the BEST sorbets ever. Most sorbets are too sweet and a bit boring, but Ciao Bella’s flavors are amazing.

Here are some pictures of my shopping spree at Mariposa….

These bagels are already gone. Mariposa’s bagels are the best.

I bought 3 of these amazing coconut lemon squares but by the time I got them home I had eaten one. There’s one left (for tonight)!!

I bought 2 of these cupcakes (kind of like twinkies, but gluten free and vegan). The first one I ate was stale but the second one was delicious.

I always keep a supply of gluten free focaccia in the house. My only complaint about Mariposa is that they don’t have labels with calories on all of their products (they do have it on some). BUT, its probably a good thing that I don’t know the calories in this bread or I might not eat it as often.

A muffin (poppyseed?)….

Loaf of bread

Crostini

After we were done walking around the Ferry Building area, we went to dinner at The Little Chihuahua. It was pretty darn good! I got pics of everything, except hubby’s (he says “no pictures” because of his food’s celebrity status, hehe….).

I had a shrimp tostada.

My brother had the flu so he got some kind of soup / stew that he LOVED. It looked amazing.

My sister-in-law had a burrito.

My brother also gave me a cute gift. There are five kids in my family, and I am smack dab in the middle. Clearly he gets me.

I’m excited for them to buy a house. I don’t think I could handle living in San Francisco, but I love having excuses to visit. I can’t wait until the weather warms up a bit and we can go back!

We’ve also had lots of junk food! (Or at least I have….) I try to resist, but its so hard! Here is a sample of the recent battles between the junk and the healthy in my life….

JUNK:  Justin’s maple almond butter (my favorite snack EVER) doesn’t count as junk food when eaten in moderation, but I eat about 350 calories a day of this stuff straight out of the container.

HEALTHY:  Trail mix and a pear

HEALTHY:  Contents of my lunch bag in late March

HEALTHY:  One of my favorite energy bars, which I eat often when I’m eating breakfast on the go

JUNK:  A snack at my desk (double bad since the chocolate has milk in it)

HEALTHY?:  A salad with avocado, dressing and bacon……

JUNK:  Candy binge at work

HEALTHY?:  Another high calorie salad for dinner….

HEALTHY JUNK:  This Fresh Choice salad has like 2000 calories! I ate it after a long, rigorous swim, so my appetite was bigger than a house. Hence the house-sized salad(s).

STARCHY JUNK:  OK, ok…. I admit it. That same trip to Fresh Choice I hit the potato bar too.

The jury is out on whether the junk or the healthy is winning.  We’ll see how I do this weekend!

Last night I tried something new – Indian food in a can.  It was OK, but I’d rather learn to make it fresh.

This weekend I need to do laundry, pick up my Finance textbook at the bookstore and start planning a bridal shower that is happening at my house in 4 weeks. What are you all up to?

This is the view down the hill from my backyard. This picture was taken the morning after the bay area was supposed to get snow. Those white roofs are just because there is frost, no snow. Boo!!

Time flies. What have I been up to lately? Of course the usual things – work, school, gym…

I have also been trying to tackle various home projects. The list includes: regular housecleaning, organization / projects, minor repairs (leaks, broken hinges), carpet cleaning, window cleaning, minor landscaping updates, and more….!! I’m thinking I will outsource much of this. I’ll keep you posted as I get through this list.

On the health front, after about 5 months of maintaining, I’ve decided to go after the last 13 pounds. I’m not in a major rush, but I want to see the number on the scale consistently going down, even if its only 1/2 or 1/4 pound a week. So I kicked myself into high gear this week. Lots of veggies, not a lot of snacking, and extra effort on the treadmill!!

Here is a sampling of what I’ve been eating recently.

3/1/2011 – A delicious salad for dinner

3/2/2011 – Quinoa Flake Cereal for breakfast

3/2/2011 – Soup and salad (with my most favorite and most simple vinaigrette) for dinner

3/3/2011 – Tasty Bite Aloo Palak for lunch

3/4/2011 – Green Monster smoothie for breakfast (with avocado instead of banana, which led to me adding in a couple tablespoons of maple syrup to counter the strong avocado flavor)

3/4/2011 – Kobe Japan for dinner (a.m.a.z.i.n.g.!!!!!!!!!!!!)

(**I bring my own tamari to avoid the wheat in the soy sauce)

3/5/2011 – Salad for lunch

3/5/2011 – rice crackers and jalapeno hummus for an afternoon snack while studying

3/5/2011 – Dinner = mahi, tri-color peppers, and oven fries over spinach leaves (made with clarified butter for flavor)

YUM!!!

This morning’s breakfast (my new favorite!!)

I noticed something super cool about my fitday software last night. I can group my entries by meal!! Love it. If you count calories on your computer, you should own fitday’s software (not the online version).

Check out that snow! Its not every day we get snow in Contra Costa County.

Maybe its the cold weather, but for some reason, I’ve been on a soup-cookin’ tear lately.  I found a couple recipes I LOVE and have been playing around with them.  One of my new fave’s is Fall Pinto Bean and Yam Soup from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook (out of the hundreds of cookbooks and cooking magazines I own, this is one of my absolute favorites).

I quick-soaked the beans, and then cooked them. I cooked them with a small peice of Kombu seaweed, which is supposed to help break down the starches.

I drained the beans and reserved the liquid to use as the stock for the soup.

I added the ingredients here and there, over the course of about an hour…..

It looks a little flat here, but wait until I add the kale and lime juice!!! There is nothing flat about this soup in flavor!!

Heaven! I’ve been eating this soup all week, and I still have a bunch in the freezer too!

I have Monday off for President’s Day. I think I’m going to make another batch of soup!!