All day today I have been tasting bitterness in my mouth. I thought it was the allergy meds I took last night for a rash I randomly broke out with yesterday. I decided to google it. Don't you know I found abundant information about people who ate pine nuts and then had a bitter taste in their mouths for up to four weeks?!?!?
Sunday morning before work I made myself oatmeal for breakfast. The only nuts we had in the house were pine nuts so I figured what the heck, and threw some in. That was two days ago...let's hope this does not last four weeks! Everything I eat or drink tastes terrible. And now I'm wondering if the rash is also from the pine nuts?
Check it out for yourself, and beware if you decide to eat pine nuts!!!!
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/pine-mouth-pine-nuts-leave-bitter-taste-lingers/story?id=11097222
November 23, 2010
November 20, 2010
A Simple Thanksgiving Dessert
Looking for something quick, easy, and absolutely delicious to wow your guests this Thanksgiving? Try this recipe I just created!!
You will need:
2 Bartlett pears
One cup frozen cranberries
orange juice
red and white wine
balsamic vinegar
1 box of puff pastry shells (6)
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While preheating, take your puff pastry shells out of the freezer to thaw on the counter.
When the oven is heated, place the pastries on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. Let sit on a cooling rack for a few minutes until you can handle them without burning yourself.
Dice up two large, peeled Bartlett pears. Toss them into a nonstick pan (or coat a regular pan with cooking spray) on medium heat. Add a quarter cup of orange juice, a teaspoon balsamic vinegar, a quarter cup red wine, a tablespoon of white wine, and let cook for about two minutes.
Toss in one cup frozen cranberries, stir, and add 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Mix well and let simmer for about 5 minutes. If the sauce is not thick enough add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch until your gastrique thickens up nicely.
Take your slightly cooled shells apart by lifting the top part so the pastry can be filled with your delicious gastrique. When filled, top with the top part of the pastry and serve with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or on it's own. Very delicious, tart and sweet...sure to impress your guests!!
Please comment if you try the recipe!
You will need:
2 Bartlett pears
One cup frozen cranberries
orange juice
red and white wine
balsamic vinegar
1 box of puff pastry shells (6)
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While preheating, take your puff pastry shells out of the freezer to thaw on the counter.
When the oven is heated, place the pastries on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. Let sit on a cooling rack for a few minutes until you can handle them without burning yourself.
Dice up two large, peeled Bartlett pears. Toss them into a nonstick pan (or coat a regular pan with cooking spray) on medium heat. Add a quarter cup of orange juice, a teaspoon balsamic vinegar, a quarter cup red wine, a tablespoon of white wine, and let cook for about two minutes.
Toss in one cup frozen cranberries, stir, and add 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Mix well and let simmer for about 5 minutes. If the sauce is not thick enough add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch until your gastrique thickens up nicely.
Take your slightly cooled shells apart by lifting the top part so the pastry can be filled with your delicious gastrique. When filled, top with the top part of the pastry and serve with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or on it's own. Very delicious, tart and sweet...sure to impress your guests!!
Please comment if you try the recipe!
November 17, 2010
A Selfless Christmas Gift
In the words of my husband:
This year, I'm giving up my Christmas. I'm asking everyone that would've bought me gifts to instead donate that money to help me build a well. I'm also asking other of you to join me and give up your gifts. 100% of all funds raised go directly to the water projects.
Don't get me wrong - I love Christmas. It's time for family, for comfort, for love. And for Christians, it's a time to celebrate what's most important, the birth of Jesus Christ.
But there are a lot of things we get wrong about Christmas.
For one, we give each other so much stuff. Whether it's out of obligation or just to truly show someone we care, we're still essentially material-rich people giving other material-rich people more... materials. The purpose of our holiday, though, is Christ. And Jesus made his purpose clear to us - sacrifice. He died so that we could live. And we struggle to keep that the focus of Christmas while we're busy buying and unwrapping gifts.
Let's face it, we actually sacrifice very little. But what's small to us can be huge to someone who lacks basic health necessities. Just $20 is enough for one person to have clean water for two decades, for example.
Between now and Christmas, I aim to raise $5,000 in my charity: My Christmas Wish .
Jesus sacrificed himself for me. This is the least I can do.
Please join me on this milestone this Christmas season.
Thank you for your donations.
Happy Holidays!
Love you all
If you wish to donate specifically through the website my husband has set up, please comment after the blog and leave me an email address through which I can send you that information. Thank you and God bless!
Check out the Charity Water blog! http://www.charitywater.org/blog/
This year, I'm giving up my Christmas. I'm asking everyone that would've bought me gifts to instead donate that money to help me build a well. I'm also asking other of you to join me and give up your gifts. 100% of all funds raised go directly to the water projects.
Don't get me wrong - I love Christmas. It's time for family, for comfort, for love. And for Christians, it's a time to celebrate what's most important, the birth of Jesus Christ.
But there are a lot of things we get wrong about Christmas.
For one, we give each other so much stuff. Whether it's out of obligation or just to truly show someone we care, we're still essentially material-rich people giving other material-rich people more... materials. The purpose of our holiday, though, is Christ. And Jesus made his purpose clear to us - sacrifice. He died so that we could live. And we struggle to keep that the focus of Christmas while we're busy buying and unwrapping gifts.
Let's face it, we actually sacrifice very little. But what's small to us can be huge to someone who lacks basic health necessities. Just $20 is enough for one person to have clean water for two decades, for example.
Between now and Christmas, I aim to raise $5,000 in my charity: My Christmas Wish .
Jesus sacrificed himself for me. This is the least I can do.
Please join me on this milestone this Christmas season.
Thank you for your donations.
Happy Holidays!
Love you all
If you wish to donate specifically through the website my husband has set up, please comment after the blog and leave me an email address through which I can send you that information. Thank you and God bless!
Check out the Charity Water blog! http://www.charitywater.org/blog/
November 9, 2010
Running Journal: Couch to 5K week 5
Four weeks ago I started a couch to 5k running program. Having never been a runner or even an athlete, minus powderpuff football in high school, I was hoping I would not have too much trouble sticking with the program. What I was not expecting was to find myself enjoying running, enjoying getting up early, getting out of bed when it's still dark out, and going to the gym. But I do like it! And of yet, my workouts have been doable. I did my first workout for week 5 this morning. It entailed 5 minutes of brisk walking, followed by 5 minutes of jogging, 3 minutes of walking, 5 minutes of jogging, 3 minutes of walking, and 5 minutes of jogging. It feels great to know I can run for 5 minutes straight at a time- when I used to get on the treadmill I would be lucky if I wasn't panting like a dog by minute 2. Now my breathing is under control and my body holds up...let's hope this continues for the rest of the program. Fingers are crossed!
Saw an inspiring movie about marathons the other night...http://www.marathonmovie.com/
Highly recommend it for anyone who would like to get inspired to run, it's easier than you think! :)
Saw an inspiring movie about marathons the other night...http://www.marathonmovie.com/
Highly recommend it for anyone who would like to get inspired to run, it's easier than you think! :)
November 4, 2010
Connecticut Wine Trail
Connecticut has a wine trail? You can imagine my surprise when driving through Wallingford, CT, one bright sunny day, and seeing a blue sign on the side of the road pointing this way to the Connecticut Wine Trail. How good could Connecticut wine be? Well, actually quite good, depending on where you go.
Our first stop on the wine trail was at Stonington Vineyards, in Stonington. http://www.stoningtonvineyards.com/
Their Seaport White is our favorite white wine...it's light, refreshing, and slightly bubbly. I highly recommend it. When at The Hills in Waterbury CT for my bridal lunch we all drank Seaport White.
Next was Jonathon Edwards, also in Stonington. http://www.jedwardswinery.com/wines/ This vineyard felt like we were not in Connecticut. The acres were sprawling with grape vines and there was a wine cellar you could walk in to, filled with wine barrels. One disappointment after seeing the beauty of this place was that most of their grapes are imported from California due to poor growing conditions here in CT. However, Jonathon Edwards is worth the visit for the experience!
Next was McLaughlin Vineyards in Sandy Hook, CT. http://mclaughlinvineyards.com/ This place was adorable and very country-cozy. There is a wood stove inside which was fabulous because we went on a snowy day in January. The wine here was mediocre at best and even the labels on the bottles were not attractive. However, it was very cute here.
Digrazia Vineyards in Brookfield, CT: Now HERE is the place to be! http://www.digrazia.com/ A doctor makes the wines and he tries to create wines with high antioxidant levels. He has won awards for such wines. Our favorites included Paragran, a wine made strictly from California pomegranates and Connecticut pears, no grapes included. Another was their blueberry brandy which was thick, much sweeter than I usually like, but really delicious! The scenery at Digrazia is not as pretty BUT it is so worth it to go there for all of their fantastic wines. I highly recommend them.
Jones Winery in Shelton, CT: decent wines, very busy place. http://jonesfamilyfarms.com/ There is a farm, they have cooking classes, and the area in which they do wine tastings was packed when we went on a Saturday afternoon. Sort of defeated the purpose of a relaxing afternoon and wine tasting...there were too many people bumping into us! However, they did have some good wines, particularly their strawberry blush, which was a fruity sweet yet dry strawberry wine with a hint of carbonation. It was sparkly and delicious, a great dessert wine or wonderful for a celebration.
Our first stop on the wine trail was at Stonington Vineyards, in Stonington. http://www.stoningtonvineyards.com/
Their Seaport White is our favorite white wine...it's light, refreshing, and slightly bubbly. I highly recommend it. When at The Hills in Waterbury CT for my bridal lunch we all drank Seaport White.
Next was Jonathon Edwards, also in Stonington. http://www.jedwardswinery.com/wines/ This vineyard felt like we were not in Connecticut. The acres were sprawling with grape vines and there was a wine cellar you could walk in to, filled with wine barrels. One disappointment after seeing the beauty of this place was that most of their grapes are imported from California due to poor growing conditions here in CT. However, Jonathon Edwards is worth the visit for the experience!
Next was McLaughlin Vineyards in Sandy Hook, CT. http://mclaughlinvineyards.com/ This place was adorable and very country-cozy. There is a wood stove inside which was fabulous because we went on a snowy day in January. The wine here was mediocre at best and even the labels on the bottles were not attractive. However, it was very cute here.
Digrazia Vineyards in Brookfield, CT: Now HERE is the place to be! http://www.digrazia.com/ A doctor makes the wines and he tries to create wines with high antioxidant levels. He has won awards for such wines. Our favorites included Paragran, a wine made strictly from California pomegranates and Connecticut pears, no grapes included. Another was their blueberry brandy which was thick, much sweeter than I usually like, but really delicious! The scenery at Digrazia is not as pretty BUT it is so worth it to go there for all of their fantastic wines. I highly recommend them.
Jones Winery in Shelton, CT: decent wines, very busy place. http://jonesfamilyfarms.com/ There is a farm, they have cooking classes, and the area in which they do wine tastings was packed when we went on a Saturday afternoon. Sort of defeated the purpose of a relaxing afternoon and wine tasting...there were too many people bumping into us! However, they did have some good wines, particularly their strawberry blush, which was a fruity sweet yet dry strawberry wine with a hint of carbonation. It was sparkly and delicious, a great dessert wine or wonderful for a celebration.
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