Hi folks, I'm back from Charleston. It was productive and beautiful...and tiring! I managed to stay up waaaay too late both nights and my diet consisted primarily of beer and french fries. Ack!
So, starting right now, I'm getting back on track. Thus far, I've made my menu for the week:
Beef stew
Fried rice
SLTs (shrimp, lettuce and tomato sandwiches)
Vegetable pot pie
Black beans and rice
The above are primarily for the benefit of the boys. I plan on packing my diet with fresh fruits, veggies and seafood for the next two-three weeks, abstaining from alcohol (I swear, I feel puffy all over) and most importantly, strictly enforcing a 5am wake-up time 7 days a week.
I have been completely self indulgent for the last couple of months and quite frankly, I'm starting to feel completely out of character. I've given myself plenty of time to transition to our new life and now, it's time to get back to business.
I'm also going to start posting new recipes again next week so if you want to give yourself a firm kick in the rear with me, feel free to join me in eating well, working out regularly and catching up on sleep! There is no time like the present to get it in gear.
Now, please excuse me while I go edit the beautiful pictures from Charleston!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
On The Road...Yet Again
So I have to say that one of the absolute best parts of being an academic is that I get to travel around the country to present at conferences...for free. Yup, if you are in a well funded department, you get a certain travel allowance to meet with other like-minded people to present your research.
Since keeping up with scholarship is so important, I usually go to the major conferences regardless of location. However, sometimes you get lucky and they're held in cities that you've always wanted to visit. I have the great fortune of heading down to Charleston, South Carolina tomorrow for three days of research, networking and soaking in the southern charm.
The conference is being held at a hotel in the historic district and I simply cannot wait to hop in a horse-drawn carriage and get a ride around town. It's the best way to get pictures short of hoofing it yourself. Of course, I'm not crazy about leaving the boys again so soon, but I'm actually coming back on Friday night, so it won't be too bad.
Since keeping up with scholarship is so important, I usually go to the major conferences regardless of location. However, sometimes you get lucky and they're held in cities that you've always wanted to visit. I have the great fortune of heading down to Charleston, South Carolina tomorrow for three days of research, networking and soaking in the southern charm.
The conference is being held at a hotel in the historic district and I simply cannot wait to hop in a horse-drawn carriage and get a ride around town. It's the best way to get pictures short of hoofing it yourself. Of course, I'm not crazy about leaving the boys again so soon, but I'm actually coming back on Friday night, so it won't be too bad.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Best Seats Ever.
So, Meg and I had purchased tickets to the Kenny Chesney concert months ago. They were decent seats as far as large venues go, but they certainly weren't great. Regardless, we were just happy to be going to the concert.
And then something awesome happened. One of Meg's coworkers, having recently relocated from Nashville, said that she had connections and could get us better seats.
Free seats.
Phenomenal seats.
How on earth will I ever sit in regular seats again? Kenny Chesney was literally about 20 feet away. He was close enough for me to tell that he is indeed only about 5'8" and that he could probably wear my size 29 jeans. He was close enough that I could see his stubble and his crow's feet from getting too much sun while drinking beers in Mexico.
The only way they could have been better would have been if we were sitting in his lap. In other words, it was a completely new concert going experience and I fear that I'll never be able to buy nosebleed seats again.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
This Weekend...
This weekend, I'm taking a trip down to Tallahassee. The explicit purpose of my trip is that I need to attend a couple of meetings.
Actually, my meetings will be rather fruitful. I just happen to like demotivational posters. Once my work is done on Friday, I'm on to the fun! Here is a visual outline of my planned activities.
As you can imagine, I'll be posting sporadically this weekend since I sincerely hope that I won't have enough free time to download pictures until I get back on Sunday night. I'm taking my telephoto lens to the FSU game, so hopefully I'll have some great pictures to share when I get back. Have a great weekend everyone!
Actually, my meetings will be rather fruitful. I just happen to like demotivational posters. Once my work is done on Friday, I'm on to the fun! Here is a visual outline of my planned activities.
As you can imagine, I'll be posting sporadically this weekend since I sincerely hope that I won't have enough free time to download pictures until I get back on Sunday night. I'm taking my telephoto lens to the FSU game, so hopefully I'll have some great pictures to share when I get back. Have a great weekend everyone!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Bath Time Revisited
Just over a year ago, this was my sweet Parker.
Look at his chubby little body and that sweet, gleeful expression! I had a flashback to this baby above when I supervising bath time last night. They just grow up so fast. Here's my sweet Parker now.
His eyes are so wise and so knowing. He is so incredibly beautiful to me that it's almost painful. His personality is becoming defined as well. He is a great conversationalist and tries to put his daddy in time-out at least twice a day.
Yup, he's a smart and serious little boy and I thank my lucky stars that I get to call him mine. And that he doesn't throw hellacious tantrums multiple times a day. Amen to that.
Look at his chubby little body and that sweet, gleeful expression! I had a flashback to this baby above when I supervising bath time last night. They just grow up so fast. Here's my sweet Parker now.
His eyes are so wise and so knowing. He is so incredibly beautiful to me that it's almost painful. His personality is becoming defined as well. He is a great conversationalist and tries to put his daddy in time-out at least twice a day.
Yup, he's a smart and serious little boy and I thank my lucky stars that I get to call him mine. And that he doesn't throw hellacious tantrums multiple times a day. Amen to that.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Waterfall
I am thrilled to report that we finally went exploring on Saturday. It was completely last minute. One second we were teaching Parker how to play UNO and the next, we had decided to head out since it was a gorgeous day.
I packed a small bag of goodies for us to snack on and the Irishman grabbed a book he picked up on scenic drives in North Carolina. We started heading south and about 10 miles into the trip, we decided to check out the tallest waterfall east of the Rockies. We're bordered on three sides by National Parks, so we have a ton of day trip options, but to be honest, our choices were kind of limited on this particular trip since we were both wearing shorts and flip flops - not exactly hiking attire. But, that's the price you pay for impulsivity.
We arrived about an hour later. The drive was incredibly curvy and it reminded me of driving around our island (except that we weren't overlooking the ocean). We parked and it turns out that it was only about a 10 minute walk on a wide, paved road to get to the viewing area.
But first, Parker had to stand on a rock (and look at the changing leaves!)
Then, we started up the walk through the dense, beautiful trees.
Finally, we got to the first viewing area.
It was breathtaking and the sound of the falls was so soothing. I had my telephoto lens on my camera because I didn't realize that we were going to be so close. The problem with this was that I couldn't get the entire expanse of the waterfall in a single frame. The benefit of this was that I could zoom in and see the details of the falls.
There was a sign pointing to another viewing area, so we decided to check it out. We just had to climb down 500 steps first.
(Notice that Parker's hand is held at all times. That's because he likes to run. Away from us. I'm hoping that he outgrows this shortly.) We finally reached the bottom and got to see the falls from a different vantage point.
From this point, you had the option of heading off onto some hiking trails to get closer, but we were deterred by the sign that said, "The Rocks Are Slippery, If You Fall, You Could DIE." Yup, that's a slight deterrent when you have a fleeing 2 year-old with you.
On the walk back, I saw a break in the trees that took my breath away.
North Carolina is full of views like this. The faint body of water that you see is Lake Toxaway.
Almost all of the lodging in the area was vacation homes and resort communities. Lake Toxaway is less than two hours from Atlanta (very close to the S. Carolina border) so a lot of Atlanta business-people head up to the mountains for some R&R.
Can't say that I blame them since we chose to live here and omit the chaotic part of our lives entirely.
I packed a small bag of goodies for us to snack on and the Irishman grabbed a book he picked up on scenic drives in North Carolina. We started heading south and about 10 miles into the trip, we decided to check out the tallest waterfall east of the Rockies. We're bordered on three sides by National Parks, so we have a ton of day trip options, but to be honest, our choices were kind of limited on this particular trip since we were both wearing shorts and flip flops - not exactly hiking attire. But, that's the price you pay for impulsivity.
We arrived about an hour later. The drive was incredibly curvy and it reminded me of driving around our island (except that we weren't overlooking the ocean). We parked and it turns out that it was only about a 10 minute walk on a wide, paved road to get to the viewing area.
But first, Parker had to stand on a rock (and look at the changing leaves!)
Then, we started up the walk through the dense, beautiful trees.
Finally, we got to the first viewing area.
It was breathtaking and the sound of the falls was so soothing. I had my telephoto lens on my camera because I didn't realize that we were going to be so close. The problem with this was that I couldn't get the entire expanse of the waterfall in a single frame. The benefit of this was that I could zoom in and see the details of the falls.
There was a sign pointing to another viewing area, so we decided to check it out. We just had to climb down 500 steps first.
(Notice that Parker's hand is held at all times. That's because he likes to run. Away from us. I'm hoping that he outgrows this shortly.) We finally reached the bottom and got to see the falls from a different vantage point.
From this point, you had the option of heading off onto some hiking trails to get closer, but we were deterred by the sign that said, "The Rocks Are Slippery, If You Fall, You Could DIE." Yup, that's a slight deterrent when you have a fleeing 2 year-old with you.
On the walk back, I saw a break in the trees that took my breath away.
North Carolina is full of views like this. The faint body of water that you see is Lake Toxaway.
Almost all of the lodging in the area was vacation homes and resort communities. Lake Toxaway is less than two hours from Atlanta (very close to the S. Carolina border) so a lot of Atlanta business-people head up to the mountains for some R&R.
Can't say that I blame them since we chose to live here and omit the chaotic part of our lives entirely.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese
I was a Florida girl for 28 years and I'm realizing that there's something that I definitely took for granted - a large variety of fresh fish. Sure, I can drive into Asheville to get the Ahi Tuna that was readily available in my previous local market, but the best local fish in my immediate area is catfish and trout. In fact, Parker has been asking to go fishing lately so I'm trying to get the Irishman to take him.
Once that happens, I'll figure out what the heck to do with trout, but in the meantime, I'm getting creative with one readily available seafood item - wild Alaskan smoked salmon. The primary reason why I tended to avoid smoked salmon before is that I didn't care for the smoky aftertaste, so I figured that if I could find a way to neutralize that, I'd be golden.
After trying a number of recipes, I ended up taking inspiration from an Emeril recipe. I liked his pairing of capers and dill with the smoked salmon so I tinkered with it a little bit and this is what I came up with.
Our ingredients: 1 teaspoon dill, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, 1/2 Tablespoon capers, 2 Tablespoons softened cream cheese, 1 Tablespoon finely chopped onion (I prefer red onions in this, but alas I didn't have any). Finally, we have the star of the show - 1/4 cup chopped smoked salmon.
Simply add all of the ingredients into your bowl with the smoked salmon and mix well. Then, pile on top of your favorite bagel and enjoy!
My favorite thing about this breakfast is that it's packed with protein and stays with me well into the afternoon. The acidity in the lemon cuts the smokey aftertaste that I hate and the capers and dill add a lovely fresh taste. By the way, this would be great even without the capers and I've eaten it that way a number of times when I was out. One package of smoked salmon usually runs about $7-9 and I usually get 4 bagel sandwiches out of the mix (you need to use the salmon within a week of opening the package).
So, if you're looking for a way to get some quality protein and omega 3s into your diet, but you aren't big on cooking fish, give this recipe a try. Now, if you'll please excuse me, there's a whole wheat bagel piled high with deliciousness calling my name.
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