Boo!

I am off work today...

Making Mummy Hot Dogs for today's Halloween festivities.

Aren't you jealous? If you want to make your own, go here.

Back on Monday with a Halloween wrap-up post. Just in time for the post-Halloween sugar coma.

Happy Halloween!

Sweet as can be...

I love, love strawberries. In fact, I am eating them right now... topped with a little lite whipped cream. Soon (late May-June) I'll be able to pick my own from my local farm stand. I probably have at least 20 recipes that I use over and over, but always looking for something new.

My recent favorite is this strawberry pie which I received the recipe about a month ago. So far we've made it three times. It's great for those counting calories (or WW points) because you can make it almost fat-free.

David also loves strawberries. They are a close second to his other favorite fruit... blueberries. Yep, I'm lucky that he's a fruit lover. I count my blessings every day that he's always been good in that way. How in the world I created a child with a healthy appetite defies logic.

Do you have any favorite strawberry recipes? Share! I am looking for something new for an upcoming barbecue next month.

Purses don't have to be functional

Please add to my 40th Birthday wishlist...
Love, Shelli

The Dean & Deluca Pink Purse Cake
Sweet Couture*
A DEAN & DELUCA EXCLUSIVE. Created by a baker who worked at some of the most famous pastry shops in Paris, our large pink purse cake comes complete with handles, gold accents and zipper. It's a layered Tahitian vanilla bean cake, with chocolate fudge and white chocolate butter cream, covered in pink fondant. This is a sweet must have for those who simply can't have enough purses

I heart carbs

After I dropped off David at daycare for his field trip today (he's going to a gymnastics class) I promptly drove to Dunkin Donuts for my usual coffee. Today I got a bagel (I've been trying to lay off the morning bagel habit) and I was sad to discover it wasn't what I ordered.

Bleh.

It's certainly a message from above to STOP BUYING BAGELS.

I am in this constant state of war with carbs. They are my mortal enemy. But instead of going on some wacky low carb diet (which I would NEVER be good at since carbs are my life) I decided to just try to cut down on them. Have a yogurt instead of a bagel for breakfast. Skip the superfluous rolls and bread for lunch and dinner.

Sleeping with the enemy, that's really what it is.

Last night, I made dinner for the BagMomma house. Parmesan-crusted chicken with two veggies (neither of them potatoes). S. says... "where's the stuffing?" I say, "we are not having stuffing."

S. looked at me with the look of perplexed fear. "why?"

"Because carbs are killing us."

And you know what? After dinner I had a peach for a snack and when I woke up this morning my stomach was grumbling like it hadn't had a speck of food in days.

I was HUNGRY. Which led me to the state I am in this morning.

Annoyed because my bagel was cinnamon-raisin and I wanted Sesame, gosh darn it.

Offending bagel was 86'ed in the trash. I drank a yogurt smoothie and had another peach.

.....Till we meet again CARB......

probably at lunch.

food = office = entertainment

Some days I miss working in an office.

This comic strip reminded me of the days when I was easily entertained by the antics of my co-workers. Many of our office discussions revolved around food. Conference calls and meetings revolved around lunch. Nothing came between us and the lunch hour.

We were food whores.

I have such good memories of our impromptu office lunches. About 15 of us would gather daily in the conference room, and it was always a very social affair. Talking, Laughing, Eating. If we closed a big deal, we'd celebrate with a huge catered spread. If we hosted a seminar earlier in the day, you can bet we'd finish the leftovers before the caterers came back for cleanup.

I had a co-worker, Kevin, who was obsessed with food. He would travel into the city to get us THE BEST lunch items... everything from Thai to soul food. He never minded getting in his car to drive for food, so you can imagine he became the "office food biotch".
"you buy, I'll fly" was his mantra.
God bless you Kevin, you kept my tummy full for many years.

I think I spent a good portion of my salary back then on food. Back when I just got out of college I was a sales assistant, making a paltry salary compared to my co-workers. It wasn't a big deal to the people I worked with... most of them were software sales reps, and salaries were HUGE back then in the dawn of the tech age. My district manager covered my lunch more times than I could count, and for that I am always grateful.

But there were the "interesting" personalities. By interesting, I mean the co-workers that never joined us for lunch. The techno-geeks that sat in their cube all day running code like they were building a program to cure cancer (wouldn't that be nice?)

They were the co-workers that would sneak into the kitchen while we were laughing hysterically in the conference room... and nuke their day old tuna casserole in the microwave.

Or, whatever food that had the potential to reek for days in the office.

aaaah, the stories I remember.

Like when Marsha (name protected for her own good) had a habit of putting fish tacos in the micro on Fridays, and forgetting about them. Freakin' fish tacos would congeal in the micro over the whole weekend. Then after proper fumigation, we would put a sign on the micro alerting said offender.

Followed up by an office huddle at the receptionist's desk with my friends and cackling like witches about how Marsha's house must smell like dead, rotting fish.

Twice we threw out the microwave because of her.

aaaaaah, memories.

Misty water colored memories.

Now that I work from home, an office lunch is something that needs to be planned ahead, no longer "off the cuff" and trying to get people together is like trying to plan a wedding.

And the only person stinkin' up the micro is me when I make my Lean Cuisine.

So all you people who still have lunch buddies, I envy you.

I even wistfully miss the smell of spoiled fish tacos.

Toxic Thursday

I was hungry this morning. My bagel-fix from Dunkin Donuts just didn't do it for me. So, I stood in front of the refigerator with the door open, waiting for something to yell, "over heeeeere! eat me!"

and I decided that sharp cheddar cheese was the way to go. You know, those individually wrapped pieces of loveliness that is cheese.

I love cheese.

So anyway, I sit down at my desk and open up the wrapping, fully expecting my mouth to feel satisfied once I chowed down.

But no.

Something did not taste right. It was bad, very bad.

And then I did the most un-ladylike thing I've done in ages, I spit it out right on the set of reports I was reviewing for work. My gross profit reports, ruined.

My cheese was in a very bad state of moldly toxic yuckiness. Green and yellow crud....and fuzz! ewwwwwwwwwww!!!

After two teeth brushings and countless gargling of listerine, I checked out the rest of the package of cheese- in date, white, seemingly ok.

I guess there is always a bad apple in the bunch.

That's what I get for snacking in-between meals. Damn you diet fairies. I was not cheating, it was only 3 points!

The evil empire of chicken

I recently made my monthly (weekly, lol) pilgrimage to Target. You know, the one I LOVE with the Starbucks in it... and I almost drove off the road when I pulled into the shopping center.

There, positioned in front of the parking lot of perhaps the greatest department store conglomerate in the world with the heavenly scent of Lattes drifting out... was...

a Chick-Fil-A

OMG, now let me say this. I am not into fast food. I can appreciate McDonald's french fries, but I don't frequent fast food because the grease just tears up my stomach. So, as a rule I try to avoid them, except when the little guy wants his Happy Meal.

But holy, moly, a Chick-Fil-A!!!!!!

I had visions of chicken nuggets, waffle fries and yummy cole slaw.

I told my son we will never frequent McD's again.... a Happy Meal is good (to him) but a kids meal at Chick-Fil-A??? Heaven.

Since that day, hubby, David and I have driven by to see the progress of the store as it was being built.

OMG! The bricks are up!

OMG! They are starting on the inside of the restaurant!

OMG! It looks like they are almooooost open!

I know,

it's sad. but we all have our things, right?

So if you are looking for me, you better believe I will be in the shopping center on Cross Keys Road on a pretty regular basis.

Oh yeah........

I'll be the woman with the Target bags, Starbucks non-fat soy latte, and a chicken sandwich.

Don't worry, I won't wear my sweats. I might scare you.