Fitness

The clearance clothes shopper’s dilemma

I bought some clothes last month. Okay, I admit I went a little overboard with clothes shopping…but it’s something I do only around the end of year holidays. It’s really about the only time of year that I dress up for any stretch of time with the added value of bargain pricing.

My top shape rarely changes so I bought several tops, especially spring-colored blouses and shirts. With tanks and fitted camis, I still had to go with a size large, just because I like them hanging below my hips (and still allow some room around the shoulders and arms. Button-downs and blouses were a different matter; it seemed I was breaking back into medium size group with some room to spare.

So I got myself a bunch of skinny pants…more pairs than I’ve ever own in my entire life. I also went for a pair of new jeans in the Juniors department, one size smaller than my normal size. And I also bought two pairs of workout pants size large, coz the pair I currently owned had a hole worn into the crotch–signaling a dire need for replacement.

Today I have to say that my junior sized 9 jeans are fitting quite well, with very few areas pinching like they used to. Recent mornings find me weighing in at 143-144 on the scale, so I am guessing this is the upper weight range for jr 9. I am convinced that another 5 pounds means that the less-obvious muffin top will disappear completely.

My concern now is that my new wardrobe change will be shortlived. I have achieved a 5 lb weight loss in about 4 weeks when it took me 5 months last year to reach this stage. At this rate I may hit my ultimate goal weight of 125 by the time May rolls around.

My new workout pants tend to slip down on me during my cardio sessions, prompting me to consider purchasing medium size pants. (The new workout pants are barely 2 weeks old.) It was hard to imagine up till now that my fitted boot-leg workout pants will be too large in another few weeks. 

When I started up the clothes shopping, I told myself not to commit to any bottoms, because I anticipated losing the most inches in that area. The attraction of new and sparkly pants was too great to ignore. It was a big lack of foresight on my part. Little did I realize that my weight loss would be more rapid than I thought. Spring needs to come and go fast, or my wallet will be protesting the purchase of more clothes!

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Ye Olde Garden

2013 Gardening Notes

January and February has seen waves of warm weather alternating with cold. With temperatures rising into the 70s at times, winter landscape was tricked into showing some green. Even our weed lawn sprang into verdant purple bloom this month. However, there was also enough rainfall to entice some of the herbaceous plants to put out new growth, as seen in the pot of Oriental Limelight artemisia growing on our doorstep. I expect to see one or two more cold snaps before we permanently warm up for March and outdoor planting. As of this morning, I rescued a cutting from my old succulent planter to place into a tiny sake cup for planting. If it takes root, I’ll be able to resurrect one of the winter-killed plants.

Leeks are so robust! These are three roots I saved from the kitchen scraps and dunked in some water.

2/7/2013 Leek Bulbs 1 2/7/2013 Leek Bulbs 2 2/7/2013 Leek Bulbs 3

Spring is coming…the evidence in photos below.

2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (4) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (5) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (6) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (7) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (8) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (9) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (10) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (11) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (12) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (13) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (14) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (15) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (16) 2/7/2013 Garden Notes 2013 (17)

Wishlist plants: Golden Japanese Stone Crop (Sedum makinoi Ogon) and Bleeding Heart ‘Golden Heart (Dicentra spectabilis).

Fitness

2013 resolutions!

New year, new you! Isn’t that what the Weight Watcher ads all say?

Egads, I hate that word “resolution” especially when it’s not backed up by motivation or action. But here we go with another year…and renewed enthusiasm. I always enjoy working out when the weather cold, coz I don’t have as many problems with overheating, and I’m always able to push the envelope just a little farther.

I got a new coach to help me focus on my personal goals. She took one look at my macros and exclaimed at the fat %. So now I’ll be topping out at 31g fat for my daily allowance. (Goodbye butter, cheese, mayo.)

So my daily totals should come out to:

 

  • 158g Carbs
  • 122g Protein
  • 31g Fat
  • 20g Fiber

 

Per sitting (assuming mealtimes), I’m looking at 50g carbs, 30g protein and 9g fat. 

We did arrive at an RMR of 1282 and agreed on my daily caloric intake of 1400. However, she recommended that I stop logging my exercise cals burned so I would have a better picture of my food diary. (I am puzzled by this because it sounds like I’m not eating my exercise calories back.)

Oh yeah and I’m also supposed to be drinking 11-12 glasses of water. 

Based on these metrics, it sounds like I’ll be dropping the weight and body fat % significantly! Let’s see how it looks in 2 weeks and if I’ll be making some progress on my goal weight objectives.

Helpful calculators found at: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php 

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Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Finding the perfect cheese bread recipe

It’s been largely miss in my hit-or-miss attempt to perfect the pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) recipe.

I think I’ve nailed down the ingredients and nearly all the measurements, but I still can’t get my bread to contain all the air pockets and produce a “LIGHT” bread. Most of my attempts have resulted in dense or undercooked textures that make some of them unpalatable.

1 jumbo egg
1 cup tapioca starch (exact)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder (substitute for real minced garlic)
3/4 cup sharp cheddar, finely shredded
1/4 cup parmesan, finely shredded

Most recipes I’ve found have indicated to heat up butter and cream then add to starch/salt/garlic mixture. This results in a dry batter until the egg  is added…which turns into a wet (not drippy) batter with the consistency of oatmeal. Continue to stir until all ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Then add cheese and continue to knead, stir, mix until incorporated. The dough gains a little stiffness and dryness from the addition of the cheese, but is still wet enough to require molding before dropping into the muffin tin. Bake for 15-20 min at 400F degrees.

Some of the failure may come from the cheese taking up too much space and not allowing air pockets to form in the bread. One video called for grated cheese mixed with the egg to alleviate this issue. Another recipe indicates hand kneading for 15 minutes before using a stand mixer to knead the dough for another 5-10 minutes.

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Adobo Turkey Tails

Turkey tails! I spotted these in the frozen meat section of my local grocery store. Since I’m a big fan of tails, I thought I would do something with these tails. Originally I thought of smoking or frying them, but I stumbled on an idea on the internet that sounded really great. Adobo turkey tails!

1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
.5 cup medium sweet soy sauce (ABC Kecap Manis)
40 garlic cloves, crushed/chopped
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
2.5 lbs turkey tails (bone-in)

 Place the defrosted tails in a hot pan and cook until browned. No need to add oil to the pan, these tails ooze enough fat to brown themselves. Add peppercorns, garlic and cook until brown. Add 1 cup of vinegar and bring to a boil.  Bring heat down to medium heat and add the rest of the vinegar, sweet soy sauce, salt, and sugar. Mix thoroughly and continue to reduce sauce, taking care to coat each tail evenly.

1/8/2013 AdoboTurkeyTails 1

These were yummy. Regrettably, I had some gastrointestinal upset which I suspect came from the tails. My man also suffered some stomach pains after consuming the adobo. I discovered that the brand label Pride of the Farm and meat packer Cargill Turkey has a history of food recalls related to salmonella contamination. While I thought that the vinegar and high heat would have sufficiently killed off most of the microbes, it doesn’t any of the toxins produced by them. Of course, this also led me on a furious clean up with bleach of all the kitchen surfaces to ensure everything was sanitized.