Experiments in Healthy Baking

11.16.2009 by Kerrie


So here's the thing - I can't go to yoga by myself. I just want to start off saying that and get it out of the way. I just can't. Maybe soon. But in the meantime, to occupy myself...

The worst part of being home twice a week, especially without money to even go see a movie, is sitting around being hungry. I think that's been my major downfall. I've also sort of started becoming fascinated with baking. I enjoy it much more than making dinner type foods. It started with a blueberry oat cake one day when I had fresh blueberries. And then I made cakes and pies. Mike and I had always baked random desserts at odd hours in the past - but that was mostly me picking out a recipe and watching Mike cook it. Now that I've discovered that I can follow directions myself, things are different.

So in an effort to make my snacking more healthy and also satisfy this baked goods need, I'm going to tackle some healthier recipes on my days off. We will all gain from this. Watch out for boxes of cookies for Christmas presents....

So for my first recipe, I wanted to go for a cookie because I figured we had most of the ingredients here already. And I wanted to see different spins on a classic.


Each cookie with this recipe is only 80 calories. As compared to the standard Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe that is 110 calories per cookie. These cookies are also only 4 grams in fat and have 1 gram of fiber. Obviously these aren't health-tastic is excess, but for the occasional craving, they're going to be really helpful.

If anyone has any healthy dessert recipes to pass my way, that'd be awesome. This weekend I'm going to test out a Weight Watchers recipe for peach crumb pie for a work Thanksgiving get together. If it goes well, I'll probably make it for real Thanksgiving and bring it along to PA. :)

*K

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Here we go again!

11.12.2009 by Kerrie


Today I went to the doctor. They put me on a scale. My thought process? Something like this:

"MOTHERF****R! REALLY? REALLY NURSE LADY? IS THIS NECESSARY? OH FOR THE LOVE OF ************ING *****!!@#$@#%@$"

So, as you may recall, dear blog, what seems like an eon ago I got ambitious and did Weight Watchers for a few months. I lost around 10 lbs before stopping, due to financial constraints and feeling like I could keep it up on my own.

That was a lie. Because all 10 pounds of that weight is back.

Weight Watchers was good, because there was a whole website to track myself and make myself feel guilty when I went over the points. It worked. Well, without that (because it was costing me $20 a month), I don't really care. I'll eat a box of Nilla Wafers in 2 days, I'm not ashamed to say it. Well, I am. But that's not the point. Moving was tough, and being home 2 days a week with nothing to do is tough, and living with a boyfriend who eats enough for 5 people all the time is ESPECIALLY tough, because then what is there to stop me?

ENOUGH.

I don't have enough money to start Weight Watchers again. (Read: I have no money. Click on the ads after this entry). So I'm going to do a little experiment, just to see if it's effective at all.

THE SPECIAL K CHALLENGE.

(Which is also fitting because my name starts with the letter K).

These crazy cereal people claim that if you just replace 2 meals a day with Special K (be it the cereal, protein bars, waffles, etc). that you can lose "6 pounds in 2 weeks" (though the disclaimer at the bottom says the average weight loss is 4.8 pounds). So whatever. It'll sure as hell save me money on dinner.

Given that lunch is purchased for me at work, I'm not giving that up. So I'll eat Special K for breakfast and for dinner. Which will probably make Mike's life easier since I never know what I want to eat anyway. Now I only have one option. And that's really the best for me.

So I guess this means I have to start weighing myself again. (MOTHERF$#@%$ B#%#@ STUPID @#@***). So that'll be even more stuff that no one wants to read.

Oh and I'm going to (I am GOING TO) start going to yoga on Mondays and Fridays, so I don't spend my life wasting away on the couch watching the Food Network.

I'll watch the Food Network before and after yoga. (If I can force myself to go alone. Urrrggghhhhhhblleeehhhh).

That is all for now. Be on the look-out for a possibly exciting, but probably not very exciting, hopefully effective experiment.

*K

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LOLZ

11.11.2009 by Kerrie

Just two things I need to LOL and O_o at before I go to work.

1. I have 15 followers. 15. I didn't even know I knew 15 people. They all are, in fact, people I know. I know 15 people! O_o

2. Someone recently found my blog by searching for "Nutella expiration date". HAH! I'm not the only lost soul in a sea of expired Nutella! LOL


Carry on.

*K

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The Perfect Christmas Present

11.10.2009 by Kerrie

Because I'm electronically obsessed recently, and never really grew attached to my computer and would like to get a new one and sell this one, I present to you: WHAT YOU SHOULD GET ME FOR CHRISTMAS.


Dell Inspiron Mini 10v
COLORPassion Purple
PROCESSORIntel® Atom Processor® N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)
OPERATING SYSTEMGenuine Windows® 7 Starter for Small Notebook PCs, 32bit, English
OFFICE SOFTWAREMicrosoft Works 9 DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
WARRANTY AND SERVICE1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
HARD DRIVE250G, 2.5inch, 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
BATTERY OPTIONS24WHr Lithium-Ion Battery (3-cell)
EXTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVEDell External Multi-Format CD/DVD USB Writer
WIRELESS CARDSWireless 802.11g (1397) Mini Card
MOBILE BROADBAND

Just sayin'.

*K		No Mobile Broadband Selected

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Erm.

11.06.2009 by Kerrie

I don't fit into normal social groups easy. I think this almost goes without saying. I've never been able to pinpoint the reason. I'm friendly and easy to get along with for the most part. I think I'm relatively interesting and funny. But I don't fall into the groups I should be falling into. Maybe it's because I'm not willing to pretend to be something I'm not. I'm not going to pretend that you're not a bitch just to keep the friends that you have. I'm not going to worship the ground anyone walks on under false pretenses. And no, I've never been particularly outgoing. This probably sounds weird to my close friends, because with them - I am. But I can't be until I comfortable with the people I'm with, but I'm never going to be comfortable with people if they don't stop expecting me to laugh at their jokes even if I don't think they're funny, or compliment them incessantly.

What I'm trying to say is that being a musical theatre major was really hard for me. I think there's a lot of pretense that goes on that I could just not commit to. And whether or not the majority of the people I was surrounded by would have really liked me doesn't really matter. I wasn't given much of a chance with most of them because I wasn't like them. But who wants to be friends with people who are replicas of themselves? I really did genuinely like the people in my class. And it's not that anyone was mean, most of the time. And really, I think I just consistently had the paranoid feeling that when I left a room, people made fun of me. Even though I couldn't really think of what they would possibly make fun of me for.

Clearly I went back to Pace the other night. And the minute I walked down the stairs to Shimmel, that same old feeling of being constantly judged revisited me all over again. It's not that I was miserable the whole 4 years. Because I found my niche, and I found the people that I could get along with and get close to without feeling like they hated me. And one person who I got close to without meaning to, and then regretted the rest of my time at Pace. But that's the past, thankfully, and we move on. Until we visit our old stomping grounds and wonder what we could have done differently. Of course there are people I wished I could have been better friends with. But there are always reasons that these things don't happen.

As a school and a program, I was happy to be at Pace. I think I learned a lot, and was able to grow with the program. Pace is a completely different place now than it was when I started. Which is amazing, but frustrating at the same time. The students now have a lot more resources than we had when we were there. But we saw it all happen, which is neat. But do I feel that I was ignored a lot of the time, in the shadow of the students the teacher obviously thought were superior? Absolutely. I made the most out of my education there on my own time. With the help of talented individuals, we found our own ways to perform and grow. Performances that I am still extremely proud of. Performances that staff never saw. That was the hardest thing to deal with.

I don't know how this turned into a giant complaint. It's not what I intended. I wanted to tread on the subject lightly, but that's hard to do. It is what it is. And I'll continue to go back and see shows at Pace as long as I can, because I want to continue to support where I spent 4 years of my life. And there are still people there who I really like and respect and who I think are super talented. And I can only hope to see them on Pace's stage before they leave.

*K

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You don't need to be a heroin addict or a performance poet to experience extremity. You just have to love someone.

11.02.2009 by Kerrie

Last week I saw the movie An Education with Alison. I wanted to see it because 1. I like Peter Sarsgaard. 2. I like seeing little indie movies. Especially British ones. 3. NICK HORNBY IS GOD.

For those of you who didn't know Nick Hornby is God, you're welcome.

Do you not know who Nick Hornby is? (If this is true, you are clearly no friend of mine). He is a British author. A brilliant author. You may recognize some of his titles... High Fidelity, About A Boy, Fever Pitch... those ring any bells? Probably, since they've all been turned into high grossing, well received movies. (And one into a not so high grossing, very poorly received musical). Other books of his to check out? How to Be Good, Slam, and A Long Way Down. The latter is on it's way to becoming a movie - Johnny Depp purchased the rights to it right after it was released.

I've been a fan of his ever since my sophomore year of high school when I picked up his book High Fidelity at Sherman's Bookstore in Bar Harbor. I knew and liked the movie, and figured I might as well read the book. And then I read it 5 more times. And then I bought all the other books of his I could find.

Anyway, Nick Hornby penned the screenplay for An Education. His first screenplay, amazingly enough. I was curious not only because I love him, but to see how his style translated on screen. Given that almost all of his books have become movies, I figured this wouldn't be too big of a leap for him. And I was right. The movie is brilliant. And I highly recommend finding whatever little indie theater you have near you and watching it. Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard are picking up award nominations for this one, I can tell you that much. And hopefully so will Hornby.

But, here is my REAL point. There are a number of his books that I DO NOT OWN. Seriously.

And I now present to you The List. The List will be good to keep on hand if you ever need to purchase something for me for any gift giving holiday.



The List: Nick Hornby Publications I Do Not Own

Novels
Juliet, Naked (His latest novel)

Short Stories
Not a Star (Open Door) (For sure available on Amazon)
Faith (Not sure this is sold anywhere)
Otherwise Pandemonium (On Amazon through private sellers - wasn't sold in the US, I don't think)

Non-Fiction
Songbook (Collection of essays)
The Pollysyllabic Spree (Collection of columns)
Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt (Collection of columns)
Shakespeare Wrote for Money (Collection of columns)
31 Songs (Collection of essays)

Anthologies He Edited and Contributed To
Speaking with the Angel
My Favourite Year: A Collection of Football Writing
The Picador Book of Sportswriting
The United States of McSweeney's (I don't think is sold in the US)

Screenplays
An Education



...Yeah, I didn't say it was a short list. But it can provide you with gift ideas for YEARS to come! I will always be satisfied! Just... double check with other people who read this blog so I don't get 4 copies of Juliet, Naked. That would be weird.

*K

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