Category: Food

Tell Me Thursday: Harvest Time

Cooking, Food, Gardening, NHL

Yesterday, I posted about “Harvest Time.” Back in the Spring, we did some plant shopping and decided to get a few potted vegetables to grow. We bought two tomato plants, one zucchini plant, and one cucumber plant. I bought one Jalepeno plant to be “mine.” While doing so, I joked that the spicy peppers would keep the local rabbit away from our plants. NHL, meanwhile, chose a peppermint plant because he liked the way it smelled. We decided not to plant all of these in the ground, but rather to pot them. Plants potted, we waited for the warm summer weather to help them grow.

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Our Week In Disney World – Part III – Mickey the Chef

Disney, Family, Food, Photos, Travel

After the Magic Kingdom, we headed over to the Contemporary Resort for our first Disney Dinner: Chef Mickey’s.  Since this was going to be not only an all-you-can-eat buffet, but a character dinner also, we planned ahead and bought NHL an autograph book and pen.  Once we got our table, NHL, B, and B’s parents left to get some food while I sat with JSL.  B and NHL quickly returned, however, as Donald was approaching our table.

We wondered beforehand how NHL would handle the characters.  Previously, he’s expressed fear over costumed characters, but we were hopeful that this Disney trip would cure him of that.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be.  At least not this first night.  NHL was willing to say hi to the characters, and have them sign his autograph book, but not to go close to them.  He always kept a wary eye down the aisle to where the characters would be coming from.

NHL, however, didn’t have the worst reaction that night.  That honor belonged to JSL.  The minute he saw Donald Duck, he freaked out.  He grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.  He didn’t care when Donald left, he still looked around for any other characters that might surface.  He refused to eat, even cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza and macaroni and cheese – four of his all-time favorite dishes.  He even refused the birthday cupcake that they brought out.  Eventually, JSL fell asleep.

The meal itself was phenomenal.  The Mickey-shaped raviolis were great as were the salmon and vegetables.  The desserts were spectacular as well.  After eating, we went window shopping in the stores there.  That’s when I found my first must-have.  A small Stitch figure dressed up like Yoda.  As a Star Wars buff as well as a Lilo & Stitch fan, I knew that I was just *going* to have to buy it.

We didn’t actually buy anything at that moment, but we got a few ideas for later.  As we were quite tired, we went back to our room.  The boys were extremely overtired and ran wild between the two rooms.  (We got connecting rooms to increase the space they could run in.)  As they ran wild, the stress of the day took its toll on us as well.  B searched for the phone charger cord and we got into an argument as to whether it was really packed or not.  Clearly, we were all in need of some sleep.  We got the boys to sleep then settled down ourselves for some much earned rest.

Weight Loss Progress

Disney, Fitness, Food, Travel

Back in December, I looked at the scale and didn’t like what I saw.  My weight had not only crept above the dreaded 200 mark, but was all but at 210.  I had worked very hard a few years back to lower my weight from 255 to 185.  Over the years, some weight would come back on and I would respond by tightening the reins on what I ate.  Not so much dieting (which can be bad for you) but watching what I was eating (sometimes by keeping a food journal) and making a conscious attempt to eat healthier.  I am determined to never again weigh as much as I used to.  When NHL gets tired, I’ll sometimes still carry him, but since he weighs over 47 pounds now, I can’t carry him for long.  Inevitably, as I put him down, I think to myself: "And I was carrying this (and more) around every single day?!!!"

So when I saw my weight creep back again, I became determined to return to 185.  My first attempt involved WiiFit.  At first, I liked the workouts and they seemed to be working, but the pounds weren’t dropping off too fast.  So I went back to my reliable "Weight Watchers-esque" method.  I kept a food journal and tracked how much of everything I ate.  I limited my intake of food and the pounds starting falling off.  I’m not going to hit my goal of 185, but I did end up at the not-too-shabby weight of 187.  I can live with those extra two pounds at Disney World.

At Disney World, I’ll be eating a lot of high calorie food including all-you-can-eat buffets which are like kryptonite to my weight loss efforts.  On the other hand, I’ll be walking.  A lot.  In high 80’s – low 90’s.  That should help shed some pounds.  It will be interesting to see whether the walking wins out (leading to weight loss), eating wins out (leading to weight gain), or whether they cancel each other out (leading to no change in weight).  Even if I gain some weight, I’m alright with it.  I’ll go back on my weight loss plan (adding in, perhaps EA SPORTS Active) once I get back.

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