Viva Cuba

For the seventh time, my family has celebrated at the holidays with an ethnic-themed meal. This year was my choice, and I chose Cuban cuisine. My husband and I spent this year researching (i.e. eating at Havana Grill in Cary) different menu options, and I choice a little something for everyone. We bumped up our schedule to have the meal at Thanksgiving, when my entire family was present. Eight adults and two kids cooking Cuban food, with Cuban music in the background. Good times.

Our beverage was mojitos, now a popular drink, but Cuban in origin. As an appetizer, we had Cuban corn fritters and Cuban sandwiches. Making the Cuban sandwiches was challenging, and my ever-resourceful father came up with a great way to “press” them together. Placing the sandwiches on the electric griddle, he put a cookie sheet on top with four foil-covered bricks from the garden on top. It had the desired effect, and the sandwiches were fantastic.

Our salad course was an avocado and pineapple salad, which is added to iceberg lettuce and sliced onions. We had two main dishes, arroz con pollo cubano (chicken and rice), and ropa vieja (shredded beef in a tomato base). Ropa vieja is literally translated as “old clothes” and involves the boiling of a tougher cut of beef until tender and simmering in a sofrito (tomato-based) sauce. Muy bien!

We also had a couple of side dishes, including a Cuban bean salad and platillos moros y cristianos (black beans and white rice), which is the national dish of Cuba. It literally translates as “moors” and “Christians”. The moors refers to the black beans, and the Christians (the white rice) is a a reference to the early settlers of Cuba.

Our dessert, compliments of Sandra Sublett, was a chocolate rum cake with Cuban coffee. Many thanks to Sandra for her wonderful cake, and to Elizabeth Plata for all her help with the menu and the translation of the blessing.

Needless to say, we were stuffed. Next year’s choice was announced at dessert. Northern Italian is the cuisine, and we move from alimento bueno to buono cibo.

Ciao!

House Re-do

We are done with the renovations/redecorating of the house. The carpet has been replaced, and the bedrooms upstairs are completed. Here are a couple of pics.

Plan B

No, not the day-after thing. Plan B with the book!

The first publisher I sent it to finally got in touch to say they were not interested in taking my project any further in their process. No sweat here...getting to the third step with the first publisher I sent it to? Good sign. Now I am looking for the right one to send it to next. Because you can only send to one at a time and it takes sooooo long to hear back sometimes (took 11 months for the first one), I want to make the right choice. I am going to sit down this weekend and go through my Writers Guide and decide on one.

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs, Kids

It has certainly been awhile since I posted, but I promise you I have been busy. Eric and I have been preparing our house for the prospect of adopting a child(ren). Exciting time. Needless to say, our dogs don't know what to think.

As part of this process, we have remodeled and revamped much of our house. Because our dogs are such a critical part of the family, it was important that they benefit from the revamp too.

One of the best sites I have visited to help us with this is: www.petgadgets.com. Things that I never knew existed were available to assist dog (and other pet) owners with both special needs and day-to-day necessities. We were particularly interested in the furniture pieces so that our living room doesn't look like a kennel. In addition, at least two of our dogs are compromised by mobility issues, so ramps and special feeders were also very important. Some people think that you can go overboard for your pets, and sometimes I think that is true. Our dogs are our babies, and we want them to be as comfortable as possible. Product selection like that found at www.petgadgets.com opened up a world of possibilities for us so that our dogs can be comfortable and we have the design elements we are looking for in furniture and other household accessories.

Return from Door County

We are back from our week-long vacation in Door County, WI. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it. I cannot believe I grew up in WI and never went to Door County. We rented a beautiful house that faced west on Green Bay, so we saw some magnificent sunsets.

My whole family was there: Mom and Dad, my hubby Eric, Chris, Susan, Aiden and Emma, and Dan and Gillian. I really enjoyed cooking and eating with everyone, though Dan and my dad did most of the cooking! They are great cooks, and we were enthusiastic fans.

I am actually still on vacation. I got smart this year and took the first three days of the following week off. It is nice to ease back into work.

Vacation in WI

Our family vacation is approaching quickly! We are all headed to Door County, WI this year for a full week. Here's hoping for good weather and good times. We rented a 5 bedroom house for the week, right on Green Bay. At least we know the lake won't drain like it did last year. We rented a house on Lake Delton, just outside the Wis. Dells. About a month (I think) before we were scheduled to go, floods washed away the earthen dam that created the lake and caused it to drain. There are like 10,000 lakes in WI and we pick a) a man-made one; and b) one that drains. We had a great time nonetheless.

The Waiting is Killing Me!

I am almost at the six-month wait point with the publisher. This can only mean good news right? I am very anxious, but am trying to be patient. Murder in Town Hall is coming together conceptually, though I am still trying to work out a plot snag. Eric scored some OT and I bought myself a netbook, which is the coolest thing under 3 pounds I have seen lately. It does basic web surfing and allows me to write anywhere.

More Waiting!

I went ahead and emailed the publisher on Monday. They are waiting on one more reader to provide comment. Let's hope they are good comments. Fingers crossed everyone!

Haven't heard back yet!

I haven't heard back from the publisher about my novel, Murder in the Old Courthouse. I am trying not to be too antsy, but they have had the full manuscript for four months, and they said they would get back to me in two. Do I email them? Would that be too pushy?

Bathroom Done!

My bathroom is finally textured and painted, as well as the upstairs hallway. I was productive for the first three days of my vacation, then totally loafed around the last two. The bathroom is a robin egg-blue, and the hallway is a taupe color. We have a pastel explosion going on upstairs at the moment. I have one more bedroom to paint, and am not sure what color that one will be.

On to the kitchen!

Vacation!

I am on vacation until April 6th!! I am not going anywhere, but plan to work around the house quite a bit. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get the bathroom upstairs done. I painted the big bedroom last weekend and it looks great (I think).

Lazy Weekend

Our home projects got a break this weekend. It was cold (40s) and raining all weekend, and neither Eric nor I had much motivation to do anything! We did move furniture in the big bedroom, wash the baseboards, and tape off the windows, etc. in preparation for painting. Gotta get back on it!

Wallpaper Hell

So, Eric and I are working on the upstairs of our house, repainting, etc. Our house was built in the early 1990's, and came complete with mauve carpeting throughout the house and gaudy green with pink rose wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom. I borrowed a friend's steamer and set to work on my now 6' x 6' room of hell.

The genius that owned the house before us wallpapered over wallpaper in the bathroom. Amazingly, the print they put on top was no better than the original print! Still green, but this time had little pink flowers and the original had big pink flowers.

Anywho, removing two layers is a pain in the rear. The top layer came down pretty easily. The bottom layer, not so much. I finally finished this weekend, ripping off large chunks of the drywall paper in the process.

Now, I am the spackling queen. My bathtub is full of wallpaper, but I'm getting there. We are also painting both bedrooms. The smaller bedroom should be interesting. The same genius that papered over paper in the bathroom painted OVER the wallpaper in the bedroom. More on that room later.

Slacker!

Whew! Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. Things have been nuts around here, both at work and at home. Our administrative person is leaving at work, and we've been busy hiring a new person and getting ready for "training" mode.

I am very excited to head to Wake Forest University at the end of the month for a research trip for my next book, Murder in Town Hall. I am still waiting to hear back from the publisher about the first in the series, but I figure it can't hurt to get rolling on the next. Carving out time to write is hard, but necessary for my sanity! I won't be writing on this trip, but gathering research. And my dad said a history degree wouldn't be useful...I am a great researcher!

The weight loss is very slow, but steady. I am just trying to be smart about what goes in, knowing it will all wind up on my hips somewhere.

Cuban Cuisine Research

I think Eric and I are going to check out a Cuban restaurant in Cary tonight (he doesn't know this yet). I need to start on my research for the upcoming menu. This past May, Dan and Randee and their friends Jav and Maria were in NC for a visit. Being hardcore foodies that they are, they scoped out the Taste of Durham, an outdoor food festival. Of course, we were game.

While we were there, there were so many choices. I think it was Dan or Maria that got a Cuban sandwich from a stand run by a restaurant near the airport. When I took a bite, that had to be the best sandwich I have ever put in my mouth. Even Jav said that he was a great sandwich, and he certainly has the exposure to real Cuban food in NYC.

Week 2 Report

Well, after a gangbuster start on the weight loss, I have fatlined...I mean flatlined. No weight loss this week, but need to get it together and get back at it!

Murder in Town Hall

Murder in Town Hall is coming together conceptually, at least in my head. I thought I would take a nice writing trip somewhere, but think I may scale that back a bit and still go somewhere, but stay near home. I like to go to college towns, because I can camp out in the library at the college and do my research and writing. I love my husband and three doggies, but I can't get a thing done while I am here.

In the past, I have visited UNC and NC State, but my favorite was Belmont Abbey College just west of Charlotte. It is a very small Catholic college with an active monestary on site. Very small, very quiet. I may head there for my first research trip for Murder in Town Hall.

Happy Birthday Emma and Ryan!

It is my niece Emma's 2nd birthday, and my nephew Ryan's 8th birthday. Eric and I have two nephews and one niece, and two have the same birthday. Easy to keep track of!

I hope they both have wonderful days!

Inauguration

What a great day! That pesky work thing...I could have spent all day watching inauguration events. I thought it was a great day. I was actually at George W. Bush's first inauguration in 2001, and it was nothing like what I experienced yesterday.

My heart pounded during the inaugural address, and every time they panned to the crowd, I nearly cried. Yea for the U.S. of A.

President Obama

You didn't think this blog was strictly about weight loss and food did you?

I am very excited to see the inauguration on Tuesday, and for a new breath of fresh air in this country. I am kind of a junkie when it comes to this stuff anyway. I watched hours of footage about 9-11, all of Ronald Reagan's funeral, Pope John Paul's funeral, etc.

Unfortunately, I'll be at work on Tuesday. Fortunately, we have a 42" plasma TV mounted to the wall of our conference room/lunch room. I'll be tuning in as much as I can and still getting some work done.

Week 1 report

Well, week one is complete and I have lost 5.2 pounds so far. Although I doubt I can keep that pace up, it is at least a good start. Just to show how pathetic I am, I made a nice dinner last Thursday night: chicken parmesan bites, angel hair pasta, and a salad. Eric and I enjoyed it, but later on, we were hungry. Instead of grabbing something to eat, we went to bed. We laid there for the next 30 minutes talking about what we would eat if we could have anything at that moment. This led to a discussion about the best hamburger in town and who had the best french fries.

We still didn't get up and have anything to eat, so I guess that is good!

New Year, New Me

Well, as 2009 begins, so does yet another diet, or shall I say, "lifestyle change". I joined a weight loss challenge at work that runs for the next 16 weeks. The person with the highest percentage of weight loss wins. For me, that is a lot of weight!

I am going to give it my best shot. My reward, aside from the weight loss, is a share of the "pot" of money folks pay to join and pay if they gain weight. I have decided that if I in fact do win, I am going to take a writing trip somewhere as I develop my next book. Great incentive.

Wish me luck!