Tag Archives: cold

March comes in like a Lion…

02 Sunday Mar 2014

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…so that old saying goes, right?  Last weekend was consumed by overnight work (which my team does on a regular basis)…so while the work shift itself wasn’t super long, it hung over my head all weekend and I couldn’t mentally relax and unwind.

THIS weekend was time to let loose. You could feel the energy at work on Friday.  The sun was out and it was pretty warm outside (mid 50s!).  Ohhhh, the promise of spring!  Many people took the afternoon off just to cut loose.  After last weekend’s work, we all were ready for REAL weekends!

So much for that warm Friday afternoon…yesterday Mother Nature slapped her big ol’ reminder on us that it’s WINTER.  Wet, biting cold.  And SNOW where I ended up later!

WP_000524See the “bald spot” on the top of the ridge in the background?  That’s where I hiked on Saturday with two women from the Lean Eating program I’ve been involved in since last July!

C, G and I met in the parking lot of Issaquah High School which you can see in the picture at right.  The trail head is just a short walk away!  And the top of that ridge is called…wait for it…Poo Poo Point!  More on that later.

We were originally planning to do an urban-style easy hike (more of a walk, really) at Carkeek Park in north Seattle. But one of the women was driving in from eastern Washington, and the last hop into Seattle would have added an extra hour to her drive.  So, Issaquah it was!  Not too far off of I-90 once you head westbound over the mountains.

I was grateful C and G were open to a somewhat-later start.  We met up at 11:00am and were on our way by 11:30.  This hike was 8 miles round trip with a near 1700′ elevation gain.  We even had C’s Boxer mix, Hank, along for the journey too!  Adorable.

The trail was in great condition – a little muddy in places but nothing a good pair of hiking boots can’t handle.  MAN oh man…those switchbacks!  I got a good, stiff wakeup call that the treadmill and doing intervals at the gym is NO comparison to some good, butt-kicking uphill switchbacks.  I had to stop and catch my breath a few more times than C and G needed to and felt bad, but they were very understanding.  There was NO way we weren’t going to make it to the top!

WP_000521And the top – WOW.  This is paragliding and hang gliding heaven right here!  Too cold for any of that action today but in the summer this place is hopping!  You just run and launch right off the ridge!  No railings down there at all.

I took in the views and watched the fog roll and swirl so rapidly – kept changing by the second!

And later, it started to snow.   So beautiful!

Now, you’re probably still wondering…why the heck is it called POO POO Point?  Kinda makes you giggle a little, right?

Well, I learned that the name comes from the sound the steam whistles would make when signaling the loggers.  Yeah I guess that could sound like a POO POO of sorts?

WP_000522Now seeing THIS kinda freaked me out a little. A few other girls were there, walking WAY down the slope of the ridge and laughing, taking pictures of each other.  Ummm…NO THANKS!  That kinds of stuff makes my heart pound and not in a good way.  What was hilarious was that they were decked out in San Francisco 49ers gear head to toe.  Including red backpacks.

Am I the only one who thinks it’s a little morbidly funny that girls in 49ers gear were standing on the edge of a cliff deep in Seahawks country?  Death wish much?  I was wearing my Super Bowl XLVIII champs knit hat and hoped they noticed!  Ha ha.

It only took an hour and a half to get back down to the high school parking lot.  What an adventure!  It’s definitely one I will do again!

Later that evening I went to a party at my dear friend P’s house.  She had recently returned from an incredible few month’s of travel in Belize, Australia and New Zealand!  She cooked us food from all 3 countries (ceviche!  Kangaroo sliders!  Pavlova for dessert!).  YUM.  And had her incredible pictures displayed in a slide show on her TV.

Check out Alaskagirlatheart.com to see them for yourself!

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Quarantine and Purge

17 Sunday Nov 2013

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Well yuck.  What’s that they say about colds…treat one and it goes away in a week – don’t treat it and it takes 7 days?  If that’s true we’re on day 3 here and it sucks.  I feel like a deflated balloon full of phlegm.

My friend T says it’s the stress of the past week that caught up with me.  I guess she’s right!  I’ve been staying strong, sticking with my workouts, finding some private time to cry a little and focusing on my work.  I haven’t been sick ALL YEAR and feel pretty damn good about that!  Normally 2 or 3 colds a year is typical.  I started to feel a little tingly and sneezy late Friday afternoon at work.  But I went to the gym as usual and did my weight training.  I was feeling a little weak but not super weak…I knew Aunt Flo was right around the corner so I chalked it up to that.

On Saturday I woke up feeling like my sinuses and throat were full of sandpaper.  Oh no, here we go…it’s a cold alright.  This weekend was one of those where my team works overnight and I was slated for the 1:30am – 10:00am shift on Sunday.  Yes, that’s AM on Sunday.  Thankfully I was able to get someone to back me up.

And I called my friend P sad and in tears…last night was her Bon Voyage party, as she gets ready for a trip of a lifetime…Belize, Australia and New Zealand!!  It’s a dream come true for her and I’m so excited!!  And so sad I couldn’t come to her party and see her.  But no way was I going to risk spreading cold germs around.

So it’s Quarantine time for fivenineteen.  Sometimes we need alone time to recharge the batteries, but too much of it makes me feel so isolated and lonely.  Thankfully I had enough stuff this past week to keep me connected and happy.

My youngest brother is up here on business quite a bit, and we met up at my house after our gym workouts one night to start putting my bedroom back together.  It was just over a month ago that J helped take my bed apart and get things temporarily set up in my 3rd bedroom so R could finish the popcorn ceiling scraping and finishing in my bedroom, master vanity and the walk-in closet.  Our plan once that was finished was to paint, shampoo the carpets and then put the room back together.  Love it!

How much things changed in a month.  How wrong I was about where our relationship stood. Now I have no idea when I’ll hear from J again.  I texted him last week to let him know I was doing alright.  We talked about getting together on Veterans Day to work on some more stuff here and he texted back sure, how about that afternoon? Sounded great to me.  But he went dark and I never heard boo and haven’t since.  So I can’t count on him right now and that makes me feel like I got punched in the stomach.  Breathe, breathe and give it space.  Lots of his tools are down in my garage, so at some point he’s going to want them back.

So my brother helped put my bed back together.  And I had a good talk and cry about everything with him too.  Ahhh…my beautiful bed, back in its frame and everything!  It won’t be hard to move it when it’s time to paint on that side of the room.  Yep, getting back in my bedroom trumped the carpet shampooing this time around.  Oh well…I can always have a carpet cleaning service do it.

Now I am blessed with a completely empty walk-in closet!  Which needs updating big time – it’s still got just one shelf and dowling for hangers in one row on three sides!  Ha ha 1980!  So where are all my clothes and shoes?  Downstairs in the living room on a railing and piled in huge garbage bags!  Oh, what a glorious mess!!

But as I like to say, there are no accidents.  Sure I’ve cleaned out that closet periodically over the years, but never like this.  Seeing all my clothes in a completely different setting was exactly what I needed to take a good, hard look at everything. So far I’ve filled 8 huge garbage bags and hauled them off to Goodwill!  YES!  Man it feels great to purge.  I found stuff I’d completely forgotten about.  And since I’ve lost weight I’ve been able to fit back into many things I couldn’t before!  It’s like shopping in my own closet!  Other stuff goes into the ‘no’ pile…stuff I’m sick of, stuff that’s out of style and stuff I haven’t worn in years.  They say we wear 10% of our wardrobe 90% of the time.  Do you think that’s true?  I try to NOT do that but I bet I probably do too.

So I’m going to pull the trigger and have the nice people at California Closets design a better solution for me.  Years ago they did a design and quote but I never got around to it…and if I remember correctly I’d planned to use part of my tax refund for it but changed my mind.  Now it’s time.

Weekend double shot bonus (and encore) recipe: Do or die with the ground beef…

06 Friday Apr 2012

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So to debunk my typical Sunday posting routine, I’m rebelling and re-surfacing (re-bumping, is that a word?) one of my favorite slow cooker recipes I posted last fall.  When you’ve got ground beef thawing in the fridge for the second time around after refreezing it, it’s got to move forward or risk losing its flavor… or maybe that’s just me. Thankfully it’s still sealed up like it was in the grocery store.

Polenta with Bolognese Sauce isn’t the traditional way to welcome Spring, but Spring has yet to officially boing and spring around here.  Cold, biting winds, a few snow flurries even into early April, rain (well, that’s typical) and some nasty flu bugs going around are making it tough to break free from the grips of Winter here in the Seattle area. 

So here’s a hearty meal to fight that off – a Bolognese sauce prepared in a slow cooker and later baked with sliced polenta and some parmesan.  This is glorious and well worth the time – trust me on this one.

Bolognese Sauce
Makes about 12 cups (3 quarts)

2 T olive oil
2 oz pancetta, chopped
2 small, finely chopped yellow onions
2 finely chopped carrots
1 stalk finely chopped celery
3 lbs ground beef
2 C beef broth
1 1/2 C dry red wine
1 can (28 oz) crushed or diced plum tomatoes
1/2 C milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Italian leaf parsley, minced for garnish (optional)   

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil.  Add the pancetta and saute until it begins to render its fat, about 1 minute.  Add the onions, carrots and celery and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until it is no longer red, about 7 minutes.

Transfer to the slow cooker.  Add the broth and wine to the pan and raise the heat to high.  Bring to a boil and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits on the pan bottom.  Pour the liquid into the slow cooker along with the tomatoes and stir to combine.

Cover and cook the sauce on the high heat setting for 4 hours, or the low heat setting for 8 hours.  Add the milk, stirring to combine.  Cover and continue cooking for 20 minutes longer.  Season with salt and pepper.

…now, how do you use this sauce?  Toss it with some fettucine and sprinkle in fresh-grated Parmesan cheese. 

Or try it with Polenta:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter a gratin baking dish (I actually just use a 9 x 13 glass casserole).  Take a tube of prepared Polenta (18 oz) and slice it crosswise into slices about 1/4″ thick.  Arrange the slices in the bottom of the baking dish, overlapping them.  Spoon the Bolognese sauce around the slices generously and sprinkle a 1/2 cup of fresh-grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake until the sauce is hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes.  Served with minced fresh Italian parsley for garnish.

Fivenineteen’s notes:  I added a small ‘blob’ of minced garlic for a little extra punch when sauteeing the onions, carrots and celery.  Guessing about 2 or 3 teaspoons.  I just spontaneously grabbed a small caviar-type spoon, scooped up some garlic and threw it into the pan. Love that aroma! Most of you who tune in regularly know I prefer minced garlic in a jar as it’s so much more convenient than peeling/pressing fresh garlic.  AND you won’t notice a difference – promise.

I also recommend adding the crushed tomatoes to the slow cooker BEFORE pouring in the broth and red wine mixture.  It will save you a lot of potential stains and splashes on your countertops and on yourself.  You can also reduce the amount of red wine and broth slightly – maybe a quarter cup total.  I boiled the mixture for quite a few minutes to reduce it down before adding to the slow cooker but there still is a fair amount of liquid remaining even after the slow cooking is finished. 

The flavors are incredible…enjoy!

From the Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Slow Cooker Recipes book.