Jessica Simpson’s Dessert By Jessica Simpson For Women. Deliciously Kissable Banana Split Whipped Cream With Sprinkles 4 oz Review

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Jessica Simpson’s Dessert By Jessica Simpson For Women. Deliciously Kissable Banana Split Whipped Cream With Sprinkles 4 oz Feature

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Jessica Simpson’s Dessert By Jessica Simpson For Women. Deliciously Kissable Banana Split Whipped Cream With Sprinkles 4 oz Overview

Launched by the design house of Jessica Simpson in , JESSICA SIMPSON’S DESSERT by Jessica Simpson is classified as a fragrance. This feminine scent posesses a blend of: It is recommended for wear.

Jessica Simpson’s Dessert By Jessica Simpson For Women. Deliciously Kissable Banana Split Whipped Cream With Sprinkles 4 oz Specifications

Jessica Simpson 151938

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 27, 2009 15:30:03

32inch lcd hdtv

If you follow me on Twitter you may remember my tweets about bringing my lunch to work only to find a bruised banana when it came time to eat. Well you may also remember me going out and buying a banana guard, or as Kitchen Stuff Plus calls it, a “Silo Plastic Banana Container“, out of desperation.

I think I bought it sometime in late August and I haven’t had a bruised banana since!

As the title says: FRUIT + SAFETY = NUTRITION

If you’re a frequent transit taker who constantly experiences bruised fruit, then I highly recommend you picking this one up! If you’re not a banana fan, there’s this site that offers guards for the fruit of your choice.

P.S. Don’t think I didn’t notice all the “That’s what she said” jokes. I mean come on now…

Fiquei devendo mais algumas receitas além do Tuco Marinero nos posts sobre a comida equatoriana. Pois volto aqui para um prato que é tão presente por aqueles lados quanto nosso arroz com feijão: os patacones. Um dos alimentos de maior produtividade do país, responsável por boa parte das exportações, as bananas são muito bem aproveitadas pelos equatorianos. Acompanhando uma grande quantidade de pratos, inclusive o Tuco Marinero, os patacones são simplesmente fatias de banana-da-terra fritas – e também simplemente deliciosas! A versatilidade dessas rodelinhas impressiona, e podem também ser servidas como tira-gosto, para acompanhar uma cervejinha.

Como o camarão é outro alimento muito comum por lá, nada melhor do que unir ambos e fazer os patacones com camarões empanados. Para incrementar, uma dica: pegue sua Verdemar em revista #18 e veja a receita dos Tempura Prawns do Mr. Lam.

–

Patacones com camarões empanados

Patacones

Ingredientes
bananas-da-terra verdes
sal e pimenta-do-reino
óleo ou azeite

Modo de Fazer
1. Corte as bananas em fatias de 4 cm. Aqueça bem uma frigideira com óleo ou azeite e coloque as fatias. Frite até que fiquem amarelas, mas não douradas, por cerca de 1 minuto e meio. Retire e seque-as e, em seguida, amasse-as para que diminuam à metade da altura – faça isso com cuidado, na pedra de cozinha ou colocando papel alumínio entre as mãos. Tempere com sal e pimenta-do-reino a gosto (esse passo pode ser feito ao final também), volte com as fatias à frigideira e frite até que fiquem douradas e crocantes. Sirva com camarões empanados.

It’s true, the baking bug hit me again this evening. But you’ll just have to read through this post to see my latest kitchen creation. I`m such a tease

I started off my morning intent on featuring something I cooked up last night – Pumpkin Butter!

I used this recipe, only switching out the water for some unsweetened applesauce, and adding a glug of maple syrup, since I was a little short on the brown sugar needed. I cooked it on the stove top on medium-low heat, and it took FOREVER to cook to a nice, spreadable consistency.

What better way to feature this delight than on a bowl of piping hot oatmeal!

I whipped up a pretty basic oatmeal combination that I knew would compliment the pumpkin butter nicely.

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 1 banana, thinly sliced
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• peanut butter drizzle
• blob of homemade pumpkin butter
• end of a bag of chocolate chips

Gratuitous close-ups!

With a glass of refreshingly tart cranberry pomegranate juice.

Although it lacks the exact consistency of Trader Joe’s famous Pumpkin Butter, it was still delicious. I’m hoping it will keep, otherwise I’ll be eating it by the spoonful so it doesn’t go bad!

I had a little extra time to enjoy my morning, since I didn’t need to pack a lunch. I was participating in a focus group on the new common study area in our faculty building, to see what students like about it, and what could be improved. To bribe us poor students into giving up an hour of our time, we were fed lunch. Yay!

Of course, I usually eat lunch after my first class, around 11:30 am, so I knew I’d be eat my arm off hungry by the time the focus group rolled around at 1:00 pm. I was a thinker, and packed a snack.

One of my Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffins, and a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar (just in case the lunch was totally unacceptable – gotta be prepared). And somehow that bottle of caffeine gold made it into my bag. I have no idea how that could have happened.

Fortunately, I didn’t need the Larabar, as they served up some really nice pizza – it was on thin, whole wheat crust, and had some fun toppings, like the chipotle chicken with corn, peppers and onions (love! must put corn on pizza now), a vegetarian one, and a steak, pepper, onion one. I definitely had no fear of starving.

I met up with one of my group members during our normal class time, and we hammered out an outline for our group paper, and assigned sections to the rest of the group (who were out at their schools). Here’s hoping it all goes smooth – we have all been given extensions into the first week of exams, since so many groups were having troubles contacting their schools to do their surveys. No excuse now to not get it done, and done well.

I was able to make my way home early, which was excellent (who doesn’t like getting home early). I had the pleasure of listening to these two flamboyantly gay guys behind me on the bus, one of which I think either wanted to model, was a model, or was obsessed with models. They talked the entire time about how they didn’t want to get fat, and how one guy only ate salad, maybe with a piece of bread, but didn’t like to have too much protien, etc, etc, and then went on to talk about how they needed plastic surgery to have better cheekbones, yadda, yadda. I kid you not. It took all my willpower to not turn around and just go WTF? Seriously….I just…I had no words. And it made me sad – even these guys are completely obsessed with weight and thinness and appearance. Sigh.

I came home to the smells of homemade soup. Yum! It was split pea with ham.

Mom also baked up some cornbread muffins – they were buttery and slight sweet. Delicious.

I filled out my plate with a few carrot sticks and hummus.

I did some work on our group project (fun with Google Maps!), and then the baking bug bit again. This time, I knew exactly what I needed to make.

I made the ever popular…

It’s true, I finally got around to trying out these blog favourites. I don’t know what kept me from doing so for so long – it’s not like there is anything on the ingredient list I wouldn’t normally have in the house.

The results:

I must have made slightly smaller cookies than the recipe called for, since I got 18, and the recipe said 11 – 12 cookies. Bite sized are more fun! I probably could have gotten 19, but, ya know…I may have done some dough tasting. Tee hee.

Is there any doubt I needed to try one out for an evening snack?

I had one Super Charge Me Cookie, and another fantastic cornbread muffin, that I “iced” with some pumpkin butter.

These cookies are little bites of joy. I’m a big fan of the peanut butter/maple syrup flavour combination. Plus they have chocolate and coconut – two of my favourite things! I think if I made them again, I’ll have to double the recipe. With 4 people living in this house, they will be gone in no time.

Alrighty boys and girls – this blogger needs to get some shuteye. Night!

Since I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday, I’ve decided to call it “Thanksgiving Day Off” instead.  And as totally random proof of my genius, around 5.00 PM today I found myself wondering why the mail had not yet been delivered.  D’oh.

I am now going to be extremely egocentric and recount my fascinating day off!  :p

I woke up before 6.00 AM, just like I always do.  Just like I always do, I sleepwalked into the bathroom… and then I decided that there was no way that I was getting up then.  Uh-uh.  So I hopped back into bed and forced myself to go back to sleep… and I didn’t wake up again until 9.00!  It was, in a word, delicious.

Breakfast was delicious, too!  As I’ve mentioned in the past, I usually just have cold cereal / granola, because I am always rushing and I really don’t feel like waking up even earlier than I already do just so I can have the time to make breakfast… so, especially for someone who loves breakfast fare, it’s always a treat to have the opportunity to actually make breakfast.  I decided on whole wheat pumpkin pancakes.

Success!  I made these in the microwave, just like I always make pancakes, but this was the best yet.  And I think I’m starting to sound a little too egotistical here, so I’ll stop raving about that!  The very complex recipe involved 1/4 cup Aunt Jemima whole wheat pancake mix, 1/3 cup pumpkin, an egg white, 1/2 packet Truvia, a dash of nutmeg, and several dashes of cinnamon.  I remembered that Elise once added protein powder to pancakes, and she complained that they wouldn’t stop puffing up… which would actually suit my purposes quite well, so I added 1/4 scoop of that too.  I mixed it all up with some water (I didn’t measure… 1/2 cup, maybe?), and divided the batter among four sprayed microwave-safe plates.  I microwaved them for about five minutes, stopping to shift the plates around because my crazy microwave doesn’t seem to distribute heat evenly… and the pancakes are different sizes.  That didn’t affect the taste, though.

With sugar-free syrup.  Pretty.

As a side note, I always hated that once I opened a can of pumpkin, I had to use the entire thing before it went bad… pumpkin overdose, anyone?  Yet another example of my genius: I froze the rest of the can in individual portion baggies.  Why does it take me such a long time to reach the most obvious of conclusions?!

Then I was a sweetheart and did the supermarket shopping for my mom… total sacrifice, I know.    And then I braved my closet.  I didn’t do a real, full-blown cleaning… that’s just way too frightening.  Instead, I did some artful re-arranging.  This consisted of taking a bunch of shirts that should have been in drawers and not on hangers and moving them into drawers, thus making room on the rod for the shirts that should have been on hangers but were instead draped over the treadmill.  But since I had to empty out what was already in another drawer to fit these things in, I moved the original contents of the drawer to the bureau upstairs in the guest room.  And I moved a bunch of other things to the closet up there.  Have I mentioned that I have way too many clothes?!

Good old Hugh Jass… with romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, Lightlife Smart Dog, roasted turnip — not a rutabaga! — and honey dijon vinaigrette.  I liked the turnip just fine, but I think I prefer rutabagas.  It’s weird how they both smell kind of bitter, like horseradish, when they’re raw, but they’re sweet once roasted!  Can you eat raw turnips?!

This must be Hugh Jass’ cousin — it’s a blueberry muffin that I pulled out of my freezer.  I label these when I put them in the freezer so that I can identify them … apparently I am blind, or dumb, or both, because I thought this was a cranberry muffin when I took it out.  Then later I wondered when cranberries became purple.  Double d’oh!  Okay, blueberry works too.

But speaking of huge, here’s Hugh Jass’ other cousin … that .60 lb Honeycrisp apple I mentioned yesterday.  The picture doesn’t do it justice, trust me.

Last night, I bought this apple butter spread:

I had absolutely no idea what to do with it, but I wanted to try it… and apparently the bananas I bought didn’t get the memo not to ripen so quickly, so I spread some of this on half a banana.

I’m not sure how much I liked them together, but I did like the apple butter.  I just wound up licking most of it off and eating the banana separately. 

Sorry about the horrible lighting — I’ll figure it all out one day, really!  This is zucchini and yellow squash julienned into “spaghetti” strands, and my addiction… Sonny & Joe’s sauteed eggplant simmered in water and mixed with a diced mini “meat” loaf.  It looks like sludge… but it doesn’t taste like it.  (Not that I’ve ever eaten sludge, but I just assume it wouldn’t be very palatable!)  And as a bonus, I got to microwave the “skeleton” that was left of the squashes after peeling them!  Have I ever mentioned that I love squash?!  (That was a rhetorical question.  ;p)

Somewhere along the line today, I also vegged out and watched Made of Honor.  Or, um, sort of vegged out.  I was going so stir-crazy from being sedentary that I watched the first half of it with my butt planted on my recumbent bike.  I don’t count that as a workout at all, actually, so I think I can safely say I survived a day without real exercise.  I feel like a fat lazy lump, yes, but it didn’t kill me.  Woohoo?

It was really, really lovely to not have to go in to work today.  And the best part of this is that I don’t have to go to work tomorrow, either!  My sister asked me if I want to go to Target with her… my response was pretty much Are you crazy?!  I don’t go shopping between Thanksgiving and New Years, as a general rule.  Do you put up with the Black Friday madness?

I suppose I will have to spend some time working on my paper tomorrow… it’s due on Monday.  Along with a couple of presentations.  Joy of joys!  At least the gym is going to be open again so that I can attempt to salvage what little sanity I may have left. 

Hope you’ve all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, whether or not you celebrate it!  Happy Friday!

…doesn’t necessarily keep the “banana” away.

Let’s compare these two photos. One is of me doing Pincha Mayurasana, aka forearm balance, in October. The other is of an overripe piece of fruit that has since been devoured. Can you tell which is which? Both reeeeeeeeek of BANANA!

“We’ve talked before about the banana,” Richard Freeman said to me last weekend after I did Pincha in a mysore class. Sigh. Yes, Richard, we have. And I’m sure we’ll talk about it again.

Here’s what I’ve learned: you have to be careful with Pincha because it’s so easy to arch/sink into/crunch/compromise the lumbar spine, instead of using the forearm and shoulder strength to keep the body straight, as you would in headstand. Then Pincha becomes BANANASANA.

I found a few Pincha pix online that I think will give you an idea of just how gorgeous, or banana-rific, this posture can be. Click the links view:

IMAGE ONE – this Pincha is a banana-less work of art. Wow. Celebrate the virtuous, celebrate the virtuous…

IMAGE TWO – definitely some banana flavour here.

IMAGE THREE – Wowzers. This isn’t Pincha. This is BANANA BREAD! But then I guess one needs to be a banana to…check their e-mail from their mat?! Weirdness. Weirdness. And more weirdness.

Though I’m still working on this posture, my “Bananasana” has improved since I got to Boulder. I have already learned not to look so far ahead, because although this helps you ‘catch’ your legs in the pose, it also encourages the lower back to slump/scoop. Now, once I’m up, I try straighten out my neck and draw the top of my head down so I’m actually looking at the floor, or even behind me. It’s hugely helpful in reducing the arched back and softening the front ribs in to the body.

All in all, Pincha is a lovely pose with fabulous benefits….improved circulation, digestive aid, stress reliever, shoulder/arm strengthener. But it’s also a total pain to ‘get.’ It could take some time. It could take a lifetime. Several lifetimes. I spent AGES unsuccessfully trying to prevent the classic “elbows-splay-then-collapse-on-face” or “kick-legs-too-enthusiastically-and-do-back-flip” scenarios. Pincha was in my bad books for many many moons. But we’ve since reached a truce and are verging on a beautiful friendship.

Here’s a video of a woman demonstrating the pose…not the best video quality but her Pincha is gorgeous…and banana-free!

Welp, there’s not a whole lot I can add to AZNHeartthrob’s thorough post, and I’m pretty much in agreement with what he wrote. I’ll just add a few additional thoughts:

To get out of the way what has arguably turned into the most infamous aspect of the event: Yes, I was sitting close to MM during the panel and I would say he was a disruption, especially to those sitting next to him.  I certainly didn’t appreciate having my first comment interrupted –  in which I referenced an all-Asian American male podcast that considered interracial dating the primary concern of the Asian American gender divide — by MM yelling at me “C’mon, don’t throw us under the bus!” (MM, please don’t make assumptions about my sexual politics- you would probably be surprised). But I think that day was not a good representation of who MM is or his generally compelling perspectives and writing. And I do respect his heartfelt and honest apology (big ups to Lady Militant for taking a stand), as well as the other times we all hung out over the weekend.

We also have to keep in mind that we’re not all coming from the same place. Some of us work in the private sector, some of us have a background in academia, some work on social justice issues for a living. While the race, identity, and gender framework of the event may have fallen short of some’s expectations, we all need to meet each other where we are in order to progress together, otherwise we run the risk of appearing elitist and alienating because we don’t fulfill each other’s definitions of what a “good progressive” looks like.

And I do have to admit my hopes for the event were overly ambitious – that we might emerge with a loosely agreed upon set of goals or coordinated strategy, either to build our own online power or find a way to link up as a online community to an social/policy issue – as other progressive bloggers and bloggers of color, such as Pro-Migrant Blog Squad and Netroots, have done. Or that we might discuss how to diversify the online community and cultivate more varied voices in terms of ethnicity, class, age, education, etc.  But I realize a pre-requisite to all this is to just get in the same room to educate ourselves about each others’ presence and perspectives. This was, after all, a large panel/social gathering, not an advocacy work group.  Perhaps the next step will be figuring out if we (or who among us) even want to work together and what agenda we may want to push forward.

And I’m with AZN here on changing the name BANANA…I wanted to joke during the event that “yellow on the outide and white/off-white on the inside”  might be more appropriate for me, being half white (BA-DUM-CH!).  But while I understand the term’s interpretation by the organizers, I can’t separate it from the meaning many of us have grown up with — with “banana” used as a derogatory term — like oreo or coconut –  to challenge or invalidate our “authenticity” as Asian Americans, as well as reinforcing the fucked up notion that all of us want to/should aspire to be white.

Bottom line is, I commend Lac and Steve for having the initiative, vision, and sheer sweat to pull this together. BCB was honored to be invited, and the value of face time with other folks outweighed all the snafus that it’s fair to say would be expected from such a massive inaugural undertaking. I’m excited about what the next one will look like and who it will draw, and I’ll be priviliged to say I was there at the beginning.

I decided to save my banana for later.

Tesco Multi Grain crumb eyes with a Tesco Value Banana.

I didn’t feel that much pressure to get out and run yesterday. At the same time, I wasn’t sure how many opportunities I’d get today and tomorrow, so I decided to take the time and go out. It was a slightly slow 6.7 but felt good to be active for an hour(because I firmly planned on being lazy the other 23). When I got home, I challenged myself to make a lunch not with the microwave. It’s simple enough but there’s so many flavors and textures it just can’t achieve. After planning out a menu, I got to work with my fancy pan I won from some Hood milk promotion last month.

Brussels And Sausage In A Pan

First I scrambled 2 eggs and cooked those in the pan to the perfect doneness–so much easier than in a microwave! Then I steamed raw brussels for 3 minutes in the microwave and then pan-browned them for another 2 minutes. I also heated up a pre-cooked chicken sausage in the microwave(btw, all these uses of it don’t count ) and finished that in the pan.

Scrambled Eggs, Spicy Chicken Sausage, Brussels Sprouts

This deserves a Holy Yum award. Brussels sprouts are seriously my favorite green vegetable and by far the best thing here, even though they were a bit dry, with a touch of salt. The browning gave a good crispness to the outside. The sausage was also quite good. Note: It was real meat and not faux meat. I think I can love them equally. The fennel in it was really impressive. For dessert I had something that took neither pan nor microwave.

Oikos With Banana Pineapple Rum Jam

So perfect. Well, OK, it could have used more jam, but then again my ideal would be eating the jam from the jar with a spoon, which is a no-no when it costs as much as this one does. I had a lovely evening on the couch planned, but then my mom asked if I wanted to accompany her to Market Basket while she picked up some last minute food. My knee-jerk reaction was a big yes, and next thing I knew it I was in the car. Oops. At least I brought a little work with me. For those who don’t have a Market Basket, it’s a place full of interesting finds…

Christmas Decor

Oh, Canada. What are you doing up there? Jk, but Market Basket does have good finds. It’s right across the way from Whole Foods, and while it might only carry about 30% the same stuff, what it does have is very often cheaper. The only thing I could find on my list this trip was a 4-pack of deep chocolate vitatops for 3.69. they had faux meat, but unfortunately nothing all-natural and breakfasty It was pretty late when everyone was done, so I was happy to grab a snack in the car.

Banana Walnut Gnu Bar

Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. All you have to do is read my review to know I loved this. I don’t like bananas that much, but I swear anything that tastes like bananas I’m game with. And this was just like banana bread. There wasn’t a large presence of walnuts, but that was fine by me since I don’t care for the. And all the fiber filled me up and kept me calm when I realized I still had to make the pie! Yikes. By the time we got home it was dark and I was getting anxious about that, until I remembered this is the simplest recipe and I didn’t even need to check my computer to remember how to make it.

Unbaked Crustless Pumpkin Pie

There was a mini-issue with the pesky water bath, but otherwise crisis averted and sanity restored. I felt a little something was in order along with a pat on the back.

Chocolate Elan Frozen Yogurt

This snack ended up being a little littler than I expected; who knew we were almost out and there was hardly a serving left in the container! Too bad nobody realized this over the past 4 weeks we’ve been having freezer-space issues. Normally I’m happy to finish an ice cream but I love elan and this flavor so much I feel like I need to get an exact replacement for it. I watched 1 of the 2 SNL’s I slept through and then the pie was done.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

It had a couple bubbles but no cracks and definitely nice and firm so that it will stand on its own at the table. Amen And then there was dinner.

Haddock With Soyaki, Beets, Parsnips With Peach Salsa

Not quite my pan-licious lunch, but this was pretty good, too There was a little more beets taken after the photo and we finished it all! We didn’t want any leftovers going in to Thanksgiving. I swear this house empties of all vegetables when I’m not here so I made sure we got good ones at Market Basket. Parsnips are so good for a soft and white vegetable; I don’t like white potatoes because they always taste dry and starchy but I think I’ve found a new friend in parsnips.

I almost forgot about The Biggest Loser last night! I was so thankful my tivo reminded me of it. I brewed some coffee and had a naked dessert.

Deep Chocolate Vitatop

I kept racking my brain to try and figure out what to do with this vitatop. It finally occurred to me: If it wasn’t coming naturally, it wasn’t meant to be. And this vitatop tasted just delicious on its own. It was great to see where former contestants are and to know they’ve really changed their lives. I think finding and staying with that balance must be the toughest thing. There was another snack.

Oikos With Turbinado Sugar And Chocolate Chips

Turbinado sugar is good for you because it has the minerals crystalized in, right? And it’s from Trader Joe’s so it cures cancer, right? We’re just going to go with all of that because this hit my sweet tooth. It was so depressing seeing the winner who gained back so much weight. Clearly, though, he felt bad about it, too, so it’s hard to be upset with him.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple And Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter

Let’s just say, this bowl took a lot of work to figure out what to do with it, but I’m happy where I settled. I forgot how good and chocolatey(not to mention thick) the chocolate sunflower butter is. And probably a better choice at 10:30 than chocolate chips with my sugar tolerance(or lack thereof).

I set my alarm for 7 this morning. On a holiday–why’d I do that? To run, of course. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen but it was actually reasonably warm and I felt refreshed with only 8 hours of sleep. I grabbed a bar for the run.

Amazing Grass Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar

What a delicious way to start Thanksgiving I ate 3/5ths of it on the run and then never needing the last bit. I ended up doing 10.55 miles–my longest run outside! The course was completely new to me; they demolished a bridge near my house which pretty much eliminated as options all my longer runs but I figured out a new course that worked perfectly. I came home to a house already smelling of food–love that. I got a touch creative with breakfast:

Pumpkin Yogurt With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Nog Cream Cheese Frosting, Peanut Oikos

Ok, I’ll admit it, I used the microwave for the oats and I don’t regret it because this bowl was perfect. The frosting, which I dreamed up on the run, really made it; the recipe is 1oz greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon low fat cream cheese, and 1 tablespoon Silk Nog with 3 drops vanilla liquid stevia. I wouldn’t give such precise measurements if I weren’t convinced those are the measurements of the Greek Gods. It’s sweet but not so much that you lose the cream cheese, and it’s entirely seasonal.

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Now I’m kicking back, watching The Parade with Pikachu just having floated by. My relatives are coming in just 2 hours! I’m so excited, even though I realize the 2 little cousins will probably have me tearing my hair out of my head by the end of the day, haha.

NuNaturals giveaway! I think they’re stevia taste the purest(and this is coming from someone who, from time to time, nibbles on his plant).

Hiya

How was your Thursday? Mine was great! Headache faded away once I had a coffee, the day flew, I went out for lunch , I got in some exercise and made a yummy dinner!

I’m afraid I’m a little photo-less tonight, sorry guys! I didn’t take my camera to lunch as my co-workers don’t know about the blog and I just didn’t want to bring it up.

Snackies were another morning banana with a skinny cap around 9.30am and then 3 corn thins around 11am. Since I’ve been eating brekkie earlier I’ve been getting hungrier for my snacks earlier. Not surprising I suppose. Plus my 35 minute walk to work, works up an appetite.

For lunch we went to The Generous Squire a new pub/bar in Shafto Lane. It was great – the food was fast and tasty. I went with the Salmon Nicoise which I’ll describe in detail since I have no photo! It was tiny baked potatoes, just steamed green beans, kalamata olives, red onion, big capers, 1/2 a just boiled egg and a small fillet of crispy baked salmon. It was really delicious and came with a lemon wedge. Just enough to fill me up and I didn’t crave an afternoon snack at all.

Once home I was thrilled because some angel came and ripped out the stupid bougainvillea plant that has been possessing our house (thankyou thankyou thankyou whoever you are), and I was pretty hungry having gone without a snack, so I chomped down some cottage cheese and a pack of sultanas and apples. Then I chopped up the last of my veggies in the fridge – a small sweet potato, a carrot and the rest of that enormous zucchini. I put them on a baking tray with foil, tossed them in Cajun spice mix, sprayed a tiny spray of canola cooking spray and baked them at 250 degrees in my oven for 30 minutes. Then I turned the oven off but left the veggies in, and went to the gym.

Tonight’s workout consisted of:

• 15 minutes Elliptical – calorie burn setting level 15
• 10 minutes hill walking on treadmill – 5.5kph at incline 15% (SO HARD!!!)
• 10 minutes seated bike – calorie burn setting level 5
• 50 squats with 8 kg medicine ball
• 20 lunges each leg with 5kg hand weights each hand
• various crunches and abs
• stretching

The veggies were amazing when I got home and had filled the house with a gorgeous smell!

I ate the whole lot.

Then I had some nuked raspberries for dessert.  

I’m picking Adam up from the airport later – he didn’t have to catch the later flight after all, yip yip!

Just snacked on a handful of Digestive 1st cereal too. Oops.

Last day of work tomorrow, casual day, lunch at Country Road Cafe, drinks with friends after work, sounds like a great start to the holidays!!!

I’m not sure what folks were expecting before they attended BANANA, the Asian American blogger meet-up that Steve Nguyen and Lac Su, author of I Love Yous are for White People set up. Did we think we’d all get in a room with our bargain UC degrees from the 2000’s and hash out every gender, racial and class issue known to (wo)man? I was expecting two things, to meet up with like-minded Asian American bloggers and to be a part of the first of many videotaped panels that would be broadcast online.

Did I get to meet other bloggers? Check. I not only met the folks I knew beforehand like bigwowo and asianamericanmovement and The Antisocial Ladder, but I met new folks that I’ll start reading as soon as I’m done writing this spot up. Meeting these folks was 90% of why I drove through the Grapevine and skipped a few days of work (in addition to the Red Velvet Pancakes from the Buttermilk Dessert Truck, which I F’N MISSED OUT ON BTW). Finally putting a face to the emails, comments, and collabo-blog posts means we at BcB are one step closer to being a part of the meth induced, unicorn riding, dragon-hunting mythical hope of having Asian American bloggers united to push the movement from online to offline and to recreate the Civil Rights Movement for Asian Americans (via Twitter, WordPress, and Facebook). That’s very ambitious, and we weren’t about to do that at one panel at U$C on a saturday afternoon whilst Socialists are outside our door selling overpriced books about Democrats being part of the “establishment” (seriously, I really wanted to buy Democrats: A Critical History, but I ain’t about to pay cover price from a dude with a Che beard and Mao glasses). The point is I got to meet lots of folks I will continue to contact (whether they like it or not) and that’s what mattered the most for me.

The other reason I came was for the panel. It wasn’t great, and it could have been better. I know folks were critical of the questions asked (questions the panelists themselves wrote up). I sure know that one heckler in the audience thought it could have been better. But the panel makes sense if you consider this as an introduction to the very idea of annual offline blogger meet-ups. This year is the introduction, the next year will be focused on a specific topic, the year after that will be break out groups, and so on. Bottom line is that I came in EXPECTING the actual panel to not draw many folks in person. The actual goal was the video that will be put online and consumed by the people that read our stuff. Sure the questions can be better and the flow could have used some help. I’m just sayin the people that read our blogs don’t and won’t go to SC to see us talk, they’ll watch the video when its produced. So I wouldn’t jump into any conclusions until then.

The truth is I thought the drive was worth it. And I’m going to assume the folks who flew in from NY, CO, and OR thought it was worth it. And if you drove in from a neighboring SoCal city, all the better. 5 hours out of a Saturday morning to shoot the shit with like-minded Asian American folks would have been worth the 15 minute drive I hope. At the very least, if you didn’t feel it was worth it, let me tell you that I was glad every single one of you came out, and that I had a chance to talk to most of you. I can now put a face to the online communiques I’ll be sending to y’all from now on.

And now to this, what everyone is probably waiting for. Let me start by saying The Minority Militant is the only blogger I had actually met before the event. He’s my boy and will always be. I think it was unfortunate he didn’t get a chance to speak his mind, the mind that I know can be eloquent and thought-provoking. He made one mistake, and I’m thinking he’s regretting it and will eventually write an apology (wait, he just did). I’m not going to condone him for his action, but I’m also not going to slam him on his behavior. At most, he caused a distraction, but not a commotion. And his burps and belches and quizzical looks could easily be overlooked if you were really intent on making the panel work. If you decided to focus on the drama behind the camera, then I’m thinking you missed a few things, but I hope you come back next year where the panelists will be offered Odwalla Protein Dranks and Martinelli’s Apple Cider pre-recording, and Zimas post-recording. Trust me you, that alcohol induced spectacle was the second most alcohol induced drama I experienced that weekend…

So in conclusion (Ms. Lawler, this is a blog and not a 7th grade english paper), I wanted to say props to Steve Nguyen and Lac Su. Although there weren’t any PI’s on the panel, there were some Yiet-Nah-Meeh folks running around behind the scenes, before and during the panel that made it all happen. Drama or no drama, I think we all took 1 step back, 1 step sideways, but had a few hops and skips forward due to BANANA. I just implore you not to call it BANANA next year, cause I can’t spend my whole life railing on the term, only to defend it during year 29…

I considered for a while this morning, about 2a.m., that I may be thinking too much about food lately.

This is because I woke up from a dream in which Anthony Bourdain was making a serious pass at me. It was a bit unsettling, since we’re both happily married. Then I realized, of course, that he might dream about Cookbook Obsession, too, if his entire house smelled like hot, steamy, banana bread.

This week I found myself with one of “those” bunches of bananas. They were purchased green and went straight to brown, without ever hitting yellow on the way. Sort of like a traffic light gone bad. So, what does one do with SEVEN overripe bananas?

Banana Bread.

I turned to Grandma’s cookbook again, where I found an intriguing double recipe for Banana Nut Bread.

BANANA NUT BREAD

1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
7 ripe bananas
4 cups flour
2 t. soda
2 t. salt
1 cup pecan pieces (optional)

Mash bananas and set aside. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add sifted dry ingredients, alternately with mashed bananas. Add pecan pieces. Bake in 2 large greased tins at 350F. for 50 minutes.

–Grace Bluhm

This is an unusual recipe, in that it calls for shortening and all white sugar. Most quick (yeastless) bread recipes use vegetable oil. Grace chooses Death in a Can, a.k.a. vegetable shortening, for a very good reason: she wants fluffy banana bread. By creaming (beating at high speed) the shortening together with the sugar until they are fluffy, she introduces gazillions of air bubbles into her batter, way more than normally occurs in a quick bread batter. By sifting the dry ingredients, she ensures that the activators (salt and baking soda) are well mixed throughout the batter, so that it rises as well as it can.

It’s pretty awesome, actually. Grace’s bread is tender, moist, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. It’s also fluffy, like a really good cake.

On the other hand, if you prefer your quick breads to be more solid, you can easily get those results by substituting the shortening with 1 cup vegetable oil. This will result in the equally desirable heavier quick bread.

My pans were too small. Instead of stopping at a little under 2/3 full and using the rest for muffins (which totally works) I overfilled them, so I ended up with a not-quite-done area on top. This is not Grace’s fault. It’s mine. The recipe is perfectly fine. You just need to remember that your pans should not be overfilled, or your bread won’t be quite done. (There’s an inside family joke in there, but I won’t explain it…)

Over the next few days, I will let you know some not-so-vintage uses for this very vintage, Obsession-worthy recipe.

In the meantime, think about making your own, and you too may have dreams of somebody kissing the cook!

Excerpts from GLOBAL WARMING IS A MYTH

IS CARBON DI OXIDE THE VILLAIN?

Such terms as carbon credit find a place in newspapers almost daily. I don’t know what is all this about. To me CO₂ sustains life on earth. Has the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere gone up? Has it been proved experimentally?

 Before Industrialization

The whole of America and most of the old world were inhabited by a comparatively small population, a majority of whom depended upon meat and fish. Farming depended entirely on rain water as big dams were unknown. The grasslands of America and Australia didn’t produce food grains. Coal and other fossil fuels were not commercially exploited. In those days we may presume that a proper balance existed between CO₂ and other ingredients of the air like N₂ and O₂ in spite of forest fires, the like of which we witnessed in California recently.

After Industrialization

Commercial exploitation of coal began first followed by oil and natural gas, resulting in increase in the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Simultaneously two other developments followed: increase in population (both human and animal) and corresponding growth in food grains production. Big dams were constructed and more and more areas of land were brought under cultivation. Mechanization and the use of artificial fertilizers made leaps and bounds in production of food grains, fruits and other commercial crops. The Prairies of North America became the granary of the world. Compared to grass, food grains and sugar fix a large quantity of CO₂. The major items responsible for such CO₂ fixation are:

1. food grains like wheat, corn, rice, oats, soybean etc
2. underground vegetables like potato, tapioca, beetroot etc
3. fruits like apple, grapes, banana, dates, cherry, pineapple etc
4. sugarcane etc

Experts can calculate the total quantity of CO₂ produced by industry and that absorbed by vegetation as mentioned above and the marine vegetation in order to find out whether the net balance is favoring CO₂ concentration in the air. An easier way would be to experimentally ascertain the percentage of CO₂ in the atmospheric air (being heavier than air CO₂ is available near the surface of the earth). If CO₂ level increases O₂ level should decrease. In my childhood (I am 70+) O₂ level was 20% as mentioned in my text book. Has it changed? An atom of carbon combines with two atoms of oxygen to form CO₂ which is absorbed by the leaves of the plant to form starch. In the process two atoms of oxygen are released into the atmosphere. We may say that each carbon atom burnt ultimately results in the release of two atoms of oxygen, thus resulting in increase in the level of O₂. Level of CO₂ dissolved in the ocean water should also be checked. If this level increases, fishes would die en mass. Has this happened? If the level of CO₂ dissolved in ocean waters decreases, plant life in the ocean cannot produce enough starch by photosynthesis. This will be a hazard for fishes and other marine life.

The volume of animal and hence plant life in the oceans is much more than that on the continents. This is because the area of the oceans is seven times the area of the continents. Also, the oceans are deep. Hence the volume of water is very much more and can contain a large population of marine life. The necessary starch has to come from plant life. So, the total bio mass in the oceans is considerably higher than that in the continent. The carbon di oxideàPlant starchàAnimalsàCarbon di oxide cycle is there in the watery medium, just as in our atmosphere. All the gases, including nitrogen, will be present in dissolved state in the oceans too. Here industrialization has not affected the ‘atmosphere’ of the ocean. This fact has to be recognized in any discussion on Global Warming.

[The percentage of various components of atmospheric air as obtained from the websites is given below:

Nitrogen 78.1

Oxygen 20.9

Argon 0.9

Neon 0.002

Helium 0.0005

Krypton 0.0001

Hydrogen 0.00005

Carbon di oxide 0.035!!!!!!!! (Poor, innocent CO2 has been maligned unnecessarily)

Methane 0.0002

Ozone 0.000004

This would suggest that the percentage of oxygen has slightly increased. If this is true it augers ill, as forest fires may become uncontrollable with increase in the level of oxygen in the coming years. Therefore, this line should be investigated separately by experts. My guess is that with unchecked use of nitrogenous fertilizers, the total bio mass in the earth could have increased. The requisite extra nitrogen must have been drawn from the atmosphere along with CO₂ releasing extra oxygen into the atmosphere as pointed out above.]

The importance of proper scientific study cannot be over emphasized. Mother Nature maintains her balance, whatever her children may do!

As of 3 minutes ago, it’s officially Thanksgiving! I’m cozy at home in my bed, surrounded by my stuffed animals, Polaroids from high school, and hundreds of books, among other things. What was your childhood bedroom like?

Speaking of childhood, I got a fun e-mail from my friend Jenny at 8 this morning while I was sipping on my coffee. Jenny is hands-down my oldest friend; our mothers grew up together, and although Jenny and I have been separate by half a country for our entire lives and only get to see each other once a year, we’ve always been close. When my grandfather was still living, my parents and I visited him in Indianapolis every winter between Christmas and New Year’s; this photo is from the winter of 1988. (That’s me on the right, with the bowl cut.)

Here we are this past summer, in Lake Michigan.

I miss her so much during the year. We look forward to our week on the lake so much!

After my trip down memory lane, I made a quick breakfast: Ezekiel English muffin with almond butter and a banana, raspberry jam on one side and pumpkin butter on the other.

I went to the post office to mail something; it didn’t open until 10 (which seems a little later) but there was a machine that got the job done. Then to physical therapy I went! It as a particularly good appointment. I learned some new exercises to stretch my hips; I can easily do them from the hotel room in Russia. After PT I raced back home to eat lunch before I had to turn right back around and go to an interview. I made a quick salad:

In the mix:

• romaine
• celery
• tofu
• leftover roasted veggiesM

It was one of the rare occasions where I could not finish my meal. Usually, once I’ve dished a certain amount of food out, I will eat every last scrap even if I’ve long since reached capacity. (Last night’s pasta plate was an example of this.) However, today I started getting a stomachache about partway through, and just picked out what I wanted (roast vegetables, tofu, hummus), leaving a fair amount of spinach.

I felt guilty about throwing the rest out (I won’t be back at the house for two weeks), but it was better than making myself sick. As it was, my tum hurt for the next two hours. My eyes are bigger than my head sometimes, and I think the most important thing I need to remember to do is slow down while I’m eating. I’ve been so rushed these past few weeks that although I’ve been eating foods I love, I’ve barely tasted them as I’ve had to practically inhale them to get from appointment to appointment on time. It’ll be nice to have a little break

There’s always room for sweets, though! I had a couple of these strawberry gummy candies from the Japanese grocery store in our neighborhood. Not bad!

I was starving after my interview. Luckily I had about four different snacks in my bag, so I ate one of the apple-flavored Heart Thrive bars that I was sent to review. I’ll do a formal review once I’ve sampled all of the products, but I liked this a lot!

When I got home I folded laundry and did some preparatory packing for my trip to Russia. I am one of the worst packers ever. I always take too much and forget crucial items, like spare contact lenses or pajama pants. Do you have any fool-proof (or LVP proof!) packing tips?

I snacked on some Concord grapes that were about to go bad while I waited for my dad to help me pack some things up. These grapes are really addicting. There are seeds, which I thought I wouldn’t like, but are actually kind of fun to work through and take longer to eat. Plus, these are the kind of grapes used to make grape juice, so they’re the perfect combination of sweet + tart.

While my dad was at a holiday party, my mom and I had dinner at watched Hannah And Her Sisters. Not only is this a really good Woody Allen film, but it’s told between two years’ worth of Thanksgivings! I ordered a bento box for dinner, which came with a spicy tuna roll, tempura, sashimi & shrimp shumai. (It came with rice, salad & miso soup as well, but I’m saving those for tomorrow.)

I also had a glass of Black Box Wine’s Sauvignon Blanc.

My mom brought home dessert from Billy’s Bakery, the same shop she ordered my birthday cupcakes from.

She bought one pumpkin cupcake and one pumpkin bar; we split them three ways. De-lish.

I’m off to bed. There’s a lot on the agenda tomorrow! Have a great night, a happy holiday, and safe travels wherever your day takes you.

Time seems to fly when you buy a bunch of bananas.  It only seems like a couple of days ago that I brought home these ever-so-slightly green bananas.  Look at them now!  Perfect for banana bread!

I don’t know how many times I have made banana bread over the years, but for some reason, the ingredients and their proportions just never seem to stick in my head.  Thank goodness for having my cookbook handy!  I gathered everything up, then got to work.  First there were the dry ingredients into the first bowl — flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.

On to the bananas!  I was pleased to see that they looked much better on the inside than the outside.  Nary even a bruise!  Well, for the time being anyway.  They soon met with the flat side of a wooden spoon and became banana mush.

To the banana mush, I added some sugar, cooking oil, and an egg.  That got mixed together until well incorporated, and then in went the dry ingredients.

Now, the recipe says that you should add the wet to the dry, but for some reason, I always put the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl than the wet, which makes me think I would overflow the smaller bowl trying to put it all in there.  So, the dry goes into the wet.  Whatever.  So long as you get the wet and the dry mixed together, it’s all good in the end.  Just don’t over mix it or your banana bread will get tough.

I poured the batter into a greased loaf pan, dropped the baby ever-s0-gently a couple of times to make sure all the air bubbles were out of it, and popped it into the oven for 53 minutes.  (The recipe says 50-55 minutes, so I went for the middle of the road.)  When a toothpick comes out clean, it’s time to take it out of the oven!

I turned the bread out of the pan after a couple of minutes and let it cool on a wire rack.  I couldn’t wait for it to cool entirely before cutting into it and giving it a nice pat of butter.  I swear that my family can smell the aromas from my kitchen from clear across the valley.  My parents just so happened to call and stop by tonight and, of course, took home some banana bread.  I was smart enough to at least keep some of the fruits of my labor this time!

Banana Quick Bread

(Taken from Better Homes & Gardens Limited Edition 2000 New Cook Book)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I use more like 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed bananas (3 medium, but I usually add one extra, so I used 4)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel (optional, I omitted)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I omitted these too)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of an 8×4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside.  In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.  Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine the egg, bananas, sugar, cooking oil, and, if desired, lemon peel.  Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy.)  Fold in nuts.
4. Spoon batter into the prepared pan.  Bake in a 350F oven 50-55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove loaf from pan; cool on rack.  Wrap and store overnight before slicing (if you can.)

This morning I woke up around 8, and had an oat-y breakfast!

1/2 C oats

1/2 C soymilk

1 TBS Almond Butter

1 banana

When I was done with that, I was still hungry, so I helped myself to a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios w/ some 2% milk (not pictured…)

The rest of the morning was filled with a substantial amount of studying.  I’m 3/4 of the way done with my other take home test!  I also went around the kitchen taking pictures of all the food we have in our refridgerater and counter tops…

Guess how much that turkey weighs?  26 pounds! How perfect for the 26th of November…

Around 11:30 I left to go meet my sister and Jess for a 6 miler.  I took a Cliff Bar with me, and ate it on the way!

When I got to Steff’s place, I was STILL hungry.  I think that Cliff Bars are yummy, but they just don’t fill me up like a piece of bread and PB does.  And that’s exactly what I ate when I got to her place, along with a couple handfuls of PB filled pretzels!

The run around Lake Union went well, we averaged about a 9 minute mile, including about 3 minutes of stair climbing and stretching.  When we got back to her place, I finished my last bowl of turkey chili that I brought over, along with a scoop of her TJ’s gnocchi and chicken sausage!

This afternoon my sister and I went shopping at Pacific Place.  We walked around downtown and went to J Crew, Express, Nordstrom, and H&M, and  I ended up getting 2 zip-up sweatshirts from Express, along with a cool black and white top from H&M.  We both went with a budget in mind and never went above it, yay!

Since we walked from my sister’s place to the shopping center, we had to walk back (we didn’t want to pay for a cab…).   We passed by this crepe place and had to stop and get something…we split a “Ham”.  Herb butter, swiss cheese, ham, and spinach!

When get got back to Steff’s place, the power was out!  So, we went around lighting candles.  And as soon as they all were lit, the power came back on   We were sad that we had to blow them all out, but excited to have power back!

That’s what happens when you try to use your crappy camera to take pictures in the dark….

I had to pick up a few random things for thanksgiving lunch tomorrow (marshmallows, soda and evaporated milk).  When I got home I saw pizza that my mom made!  So, I helped myself to 2 slices…

And now i’m FULL.  Which sucks because I had big plans to eat lots tomorrow…but that won’t stop me from trying   AND, i’m doing push-ups tomorrow.  260 to be exact!  However, i’m going to spread them throughout the day, so my sister can do them with me.  YAY!  We’re doing a short run tomorrow morning, so we’ll do a few sets of push-ups before and after the run.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  And happy 4 year anniversary to me and Ezra.  Love you EZ!