Getting Back to Routine

I have been all out of sorts lately - well, maybe not out of sorts, but out of my routine. For those of you who know me in real life, you know I like my schedules. I live for calendars, organization and routine. I like knowing what's going on, what's coming up and what I need to ready myself for. But these past few weeks definitely have not lended themselves to a normal sense of organization, hence why I haven't been posting.

Nothing serious has occurred, but things have just been so crazy busy that I didn't have a moment, or the motivation to post on here. However, now that Thanksgiving has passed (and it was wonderful, and I do have a post coming up about it, I promise!) I'm looking forward to getting back into some kind of routine. I know that probably sounds crazy with Christmas less than a month away, but I think Christmas is actually going to be pretty calm and stress-free for us this year.

So two weekends ago, we went to St. Louis for my guy's cousin's wedding, which was absolutely lovely. We had a great time at home with the family, just hanging out, catching up and celebrating a new marriage. When we got back, we picked up our dog from the camp we board him at and got back to our lives. The dog seems to have been sick - not keeping his food down, lethargic, not eating on schedule (yet another schedule upset!) - which has keep me busy trying to figure out how to make him better, get him to eat, following him around the house with Resolve and a roll of paper towels etc.

Then, last weekend was my birthday. The hubs was able to be away from work all weekend, and we had a great time. I spent the morning at the spa, we watched a bunch of college football, made "game day" food - wings, onion rings, fries (basically anything that can be fried and dipped into some kind of sauce) and then repeated the lazy, football-watching on Sunday. Great weekend overall, but I didn't get anything done. I'm all for the lazy weekends to just hang out together and relax, but I also look to the weekends to get things accomplished -running errands, cleaning the house, etc.

So we had a short week last week due to Thanksgiving, but that meant trying to cram 5 days of work into two and a half - crazy! Plus getting ready to host our Thanksgiving potluck with 10 people, making my first turkey, handling the other dishes I was responsible for and ensuring I had everything needed (because I was NOT going to the store on Wednesday or Thursday for anything last-minute.)

Long story short (sort of), the past few weeks have been nuts between work, home, the holidays, the dog, traveling and more. I'm working on getting back into MY routine over the next few days and weeks and more regularly posting on here as well.

I realized I actually miss blogging about the cooking I've been doing, the new recipes I've been trying and how they're turning out. So, keep an eye out and I'll be back more regularly, as I'm building blogging into my routine.

Cheers!
Maureen

Foodbuzz Coma/Hangover

I. Am. So. Full....seriously, so full. It's three days after I got back from my FABULOUS trip to San Francisco for the Foodbuzz blogger conference and I'm still full.

I plan on posting a great recap, complete with photos of the event and my side-trip to sightsee some of the attractions, but I just can't yet. I'm too full.

A quick recap - I arrived, ate lunch, worked a bit, had a cocktail, ate dinner (too many courses to count with too many wines to remember), had dessert, had a night cap that somehow turned into night capS and went to bed. Got up, eat, rinse, repeat. FOR THREE DAYS.

My saving grace was the fact that I packed only stretchy and loose clothing, otherwise, I would have had a seriously uncomfortable and, likely, unattractive trip.

I had a fabulous time though and would like to go back immediately. Instead, I've been fighting the urge to never eat again, and motivating myself to continue cooking (hey, a guy's gotta eat, right? Can't have him starving!)

So, I turned to what has become one of my default meals - Simple Stir-Fry. Seriously, you can make stir-fry with just about anything (or practically nothing!)

What you need:
- Rice (I like brown rice as "it's better for you" so I'm told)
- Veggies

• This time I went with what I had in the house: onions, garlic (two ingredients you'll find in pretty much everything I make), green and red peppers, water chestnuts, asparagus, peas and corn

- Spices (cumin and cayenne to give it a nice kick) plus salt and pepper
- Chicken (if you want. I went vegetarian this time because, did I mention? I'M FULL!)

Boil the rice while you stir-fry the veggies (do the chicken first and set it aside if you're using meat so it can cool and not get overcooked while you do the veggies) in a bit of olive oil, sprinkling the spices over the top to coat.

Plate rice, top with veggies/meat and voila! Simple Stir-Fry. Not too terribly filling and kind of makes you feel like you're eating healthy. Plus, there's usually leftovers, which makes a fab lunch the next day.

We're headed off to St. Louis this weekend for a wedding, and to see the hub's family, which means more eating :) Good think I like my food! (and good thing I planned to wear a stretchy dress!)

More to come when we return.
Cheers!
Maureen

Buzzin' about Food Buzz!

So, I am headed off to San Francisco this weekend for the second annual Food Buzz blogger conference. I was asked to go as a representative from my PR firm, and it's just coincidental that I recently started this food-oriented blog (ah, fate, how I love thee!)

So I'm going to San Francisco (...be sure to wear a flower in your hair! I've been singing that all week!) tomorrow to meet other food bloggers, make some new friends, develop some (hopefully!) mutually beneficial business partnerships and eat and drink all I possibly can. Seriously, I went shopping today to find as many loose-fitting, stretchy-yet-fashionable clothes as possible. If you're going to Food Buzz, I'll be the girl in leggings and loose tops EVERY.SINGLE.DAY :)

I'm really looking forward to chatting with other food bloggers - both those that are new to the space, like me, and those who have been in it for years. I think there's so much to learn, both professionally and personally, and everyone I've "spoken" to thus far via Twitter seem like the most open, nice, welcoming people ever. I'm giddy just thinking about it!

BONUS: Just found out my dear friend/former colleague/bridesmaid/newly engaged friend will be there for her client, so this just got even more exciting. We'll get a chance to catch up, hang out, discuss food, eat and drink together, eat some more, catch up some more, discuss her upcoming wedding, and probably have a few more items to eat and drink.

So, it's late here, and I've got an early morning of logistics - musical car trade-off with the doc, bringing the dog to camp, finishing packing (I'm sure just to repack a few times), conference calls for work before the airport, then hopping on a short flight to the fest!

I'll try to post at some point from the fest during the weekend, but I make no promises. But you're sure to get a good recap with lots of photos early next week.

Cheers!
Maureen

Brilliant! (An Ode to the Wine Vending Machine)

I am part of a Navy wives' club here in San Diego, which is a great resource for meeting new people, getting involved in a new city, and making connections for when you inevitably move away from the city you're in. One of the activities I got involved in was the book club, as I LOVE to read and read pretty much anythign I can get my hands on, regardless of if I plan to discuss it with someone or not (though I frequently share books with my mom and sister, so we're like a built-in book club, I suppose.)

Anyways, I hosted our first book club for the wives' group this past month and chose a wine bar downtown that had a very attractive installation...a wine vending machine.

(sorry the photo is so dark)

That's right, I said a wine vending machine. I actually chose this bar because I knew they had one of these glorious inventions and thought it would make a great venue for us to visit and toy for us to play with. As you probably can imagine (or have seen) the wine vending machine is exactly what it looks like - a machine that dispenses various varieties of wine, for a variety of prices. They have a machine for reds and one for whites, which keeps the whites cold (yum.) You preload a card with however much you want to spend, insert it into the machine and pick your poison. Your card is deducted the amount for the tasting and you are poured a delicious taste of wine.

It's a great idea for those who like a variety of wines when you go out, but don't want to shell out the cash (or sobriety) to have a full glass of each kind. It's also good even for those of us who are less adventurous (like me!) to try a small taste of something (unfortunately, for me, I tried a few reds and discovered I'm pretty much destined to drink only white for the rest of my life. But I'm ok with that.)

We had a great time trying the different kinds of wine and I definitely plan on going back and maybe giving a red another shot...maybe.

Cheers!

Maureen