Breaking up is hard to do

Our family has decided to pack our lunches on outings so we can save enough money for me to buy new shoes.  I've become quite talented at packing a lunchbag that will withstand the car, stroller, heat, children and other natural elements.  A brilliant idea is to put "White cheddar pirate's treasure" from Fresh and Easy in a Ziploc bag, push all the air out and zip up your bag of edible packing peanuts! It works...these porcornish, chipish thingies are impossible to break and the bag of "booty", if strategically placed, protects the sandwiches from smooshing. The best part: after the sandwiches are gobbled up, the family gets to eat the packing peanuts. Clever...

Can't buy me love...

...but food and drink can get you an "A" in my English class.

I'm choking on all my contradictions...

It has been brought to my attention that I'm no better than Giada the Devil because I push fattening food on people although I'm not fat myself. The good thing about loving food is that it makes one open minded to a variety if healthy options. Breakfast is often Greek, plain, non-fat yogurt (love it!) with almonds. Apples are the best snacks because they require some effort to eat AND digest. The perfect balance to all this healthy stuff is a Diet Coke to give me the kick in the pants I need to get through the tortuous job of a high school teacher.
...now Giada would lead us to believe that she eats pancetta and pasta three times a day, but does "yoga every morning." Spare me. No amount of downward dogs will burn that gluten off her glutes. Puke.

Put your back into it...

As I work to regain my credibility (and work to burn off my lemon bars) with my loyal followers (hi dad!) here's a shot of my treadmill. That's 322 calories I burned...but of course the treadmill thinks I weigh at least five pounds less than I really do so you can crank that number to 325.

Some girls are bigger than others...

I detest skinny chefs.
Giada IS the devil.
It's all a matter of trust...when Giada bites into a big ravioli, it stops there. She doesn't finish the bowl and she certainly doesn't use her bread to sop up any remaining sauce-yet this is what she wants us to believe! If you can't trust a TV chef, what's the point of watching the show? Now, when Paula Deen asks me to trust her and use an entire stick of butter, I trust she's eating her own recipes. And if Ina Garten calls for puff pastry, the confidence is there. Isn't that what it's all about?
Here's dinner: Ina's dinner spanakopita. I made some substitutions which led to a smoke out in the kitchen, but it still tasted like an Ina dish.
Long live (if their arteries don't clog soon) Paula, Ina and Mario!!!

Everybody's working for the weekend

"Build it and they will come."
....but in the education field it's more like, "Offer them free food after work and they will stay."
So, as we make history with the oldest high school in Fresno County unifying with two of our partner schools (American Union and West Fresno), we came together and grubbed at Elm Street Grill. The fusion of taquitos, salsa, pot stickers and meatballs is a fitting symbol of our schools fusing together this fall.

Baby I'ma need you...

Baby I'ma want you...

All I remember from high school are the field trips and movies. Twenty plus years later, as a high school teacher, all I want to do is show movies and chaperone field trips. Here's my lunch in Monterey after touring some local college or something...Isn't the best part of Fisherman's Wharf all the servers hustling their clam chowder, always voted #1 by some obscure restuarant reviewer? Today, the lady from Crabby Jim's won our hearts because she offered us free calamari. The obligatory clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl was DEELISH! Dena (high school counselor) deemed it better than Splash Cafe in Pismo and I deemed her sacrilege.

You make me sick...

Anyone who knows me, knows to what extent I detest pickles and anything pickle and/or dill related. Who chews this nastiness?

The cheese stands alone

You're the one for me Fatte

Shanan and I have decided that Fatte Albert's (in Hanford) garlic cheese bread is perfection...the crust is crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside and they made sure to let the cheese brown and bubble-which is the purpose of getting a cheese pizza...which is what this garlic bread basically is.

Let's get physical

After an intense Pilates session, I decided to have a cold one with my sister.

Just a small town girl...



About once a year my administrators humor me and we have a meeting where I tell them all the things I would do if I was in charge of the school. They are very kind about the whole matter and this year we even had a lunch meeting!!! This is a big deal for a girl who works in a small community out in the country where the local market is named after a root vegetable AND also serves as the directional compass (as in, "Turn right at the Big Potato or "If you see the Big Potato you've gone too far").  Imagine my delight when we went to the new-ish diner "Elm Street Grill," which incidentally is located somewhere on Elm between Washington Union and downtown Fresno. (I'm directionally challenged.) It was a tough fight between wanting to talk non-stop and inhaling my shrimp and avocado salad tossed in a creamy wine vinaigrette. 

Outside looks like an industrial building, but inside is a cozy diner with menu options ranging from Asian to Mexican. Maybe I'll be an administrator when I grow up so I can go to more lunch meetings...

Nothing Compares 2 U

The best thing about living in the valley is great Mexican food.  Sunday morning breakfast at Los Pepe's in Kingsburg: open faced cheese enchiladas topped with eggs over easy.  We rode our bikes dowtown and according to iMap my Ride, I burned 160 calories so that covers the cream in my coffee.  Of course, the folks down at iMap my Ride also think I weigh a good 5-10 pounds less than I really do, so the joke's on them.

Pour Some Sugar on Me

I can’t imagine anyone who loves food as much as, or more than, I do...Okay, maybe my sister, but we come from the same womb so that doesn’t count...Okay, maybe my son, but he comes from my womb and that also doesn’t count.

Evidence to support claim I love food more than any other:

1.       Often takes pictures of my food so as to savor the flavors days after the fact.

2.      Will wake up at 5 a.m. most mornings to work off aforementioned food consumed (I’m also vain).

3.      Am planning a food road trip en route to my cousin’s wedding in Oregon.

4.      Plan prep period and work meetings to accommodate lunch.

5.      Shamelessly self-promoted myself at work to get a classroom with a kitchenette.

6.      While planning vacations, restaurants are the first “Places to Visit” researched.

7.      My husband bribes me with food to go places I don’t want to go. (i.e. “If you climb to the top of the Iao Needle, there is a restaurant up there.”)

8.      Aforementioned husband refuses to share meals with me because he says I “eat like a vulture.”

9.      Am willing to sit through husband’s work related (translation: boring) conferences for free wine and appetizers (oh yeah, I REALLY LOVE free food and drink).

10.   At this very exact moment, am texting mother about food.