This Weekend...

...I did this!


And let me tell you...I am sore!!!!

My friend Bridget was kind enough to invite me along on her family's ski trip up to Sunday River this past weekend, and we had a blast! I hadn't been skiing in over 3 years so I was a little hesitant about what I would be able to do on such a large mountain like Sunday River, but they had a lot of Julie-friendly slopes and after a couple of terrifying bouts with a Blue Trail or two, I stuck to my comfort Green Zones.

Bridget's dad rented a condo for us to stay in that was literally 100 yards from a ski-lift, so we could just wake up in the morning, put on our gear, and walk to the slopes! It was amazing. I owe a big thanks Bridget for letting me tag along, and for staying with me skiing on the bunny slopes for half the day :)

My Calves hurt, I can barely lift my right arm, and I feel like I will never again have enough sleep to function properly...but it was a Great Weekend!!

Cooking...

I love to cook. I enjoy finding a recipe that sounds good, I enjoy shopping for the ingredients, and I enjoy eating it and sharing the finished product with friends and family. This week I discovered a salmon recipe that is so simple that I couldn't believe it came out so wonderful.

I found it in the FoodNetwork.com healthy eating section. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not on any kind of crazy "I need to lose weight" kick! However, if you don't filter FoodNetwork.com, you end up getting all the creamy recipes that have butter as a main ingredient.

So with that filter on I found this Salmon Recipe that I will definitely be using again and wanted to share with you:

Ingredients

* 1 1/4 pound wild salmon, skin removed, cut into 4 pieces

* 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

* 2 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup

* 1 clove garlic, minced

* Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400-degrees Fahrenheit. Place salmon pieces on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Season with salt and pepper; roast for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine mustard, maple syrup, garlic and lemon juice. After the 10 minutes of cooking, brush salmon with mixture and return to the oven for 5 minutes or until salmon is just cooked through.

I made this with slices of Zucchini and Squash that I seared in a pan and then baked in the oven, and a bit of white rice to even out the dish. It was one of the easiest dinners I've made, and one of the tastiest.

Tonight I'm having a friend over and planning to cook stuffed chicken breasts...
I do love food!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Back in October, I purchased a new car. I'm very glad to report that Nissan and I have gotten along very well thus-far. Nissan has a few new bells and whistles that Stratus did not have, and one of those features, is a thermometer!

Every morning I get in my car, put my foot on the brake, and push the "Start" button and the car hums to life usually telling me that it is 58 degrees in my amazing parking garage. As I pull out of the garage and head to work Nissan slowly adjusts to the temperature outside and I watch the numbers tick down to give me outside's reading. Well on this wonderfully frigid Monday morning in January, that thermometer ticked itself all the way down to ZERO Degrees!!

As Bryan aptly quotes Ron White this morning, "'Hey Ron, what's the temperature outside?' 'Um, There isn't one!'"

That's cold people!!

Full Weekend

This weekend was low key and easy going....kind of.

It included a hospital visit to a friend who fell 30 feet during an ice climbing exercise and broke both of his ankles. It included lots of cooking great food, and lots of watching football with good friends. And of course a great time with Bryan and I together for the weekend.

The Jets won an amazing NFL Football game against the Patriots today, and they are off to the AFC Championship game for the 2nd year in a row!! Mike DeVito played an amazing game, and I'm so incredibly happy for him!!

Meanwhile, our friends Jackie and Ian got married this past September, and for the favors at their wedding they gave out pre-measured, pre-packaged, oatmeal cookie recipes and ingredients in a jar. This weekend Bryan and I finally got around to baking them :) They came out wonderful. Here are a couple before-during-after pictures of the process.

Bryan made a very yummy breakfast while I was baking cookies.

Before:

During:

After:

And they were good!!

Snow Day

I didn't think Snow Days would happen in real life when there was like real life things to do. I was wrong.

Today I am home, sitting on my couch, being a total bum, because I can't get to work. The snow is over a foot high out my window, and the driveway for my building has not been plowed.


I should be bringing the Christmas boxes down to storage. I should be switching the loads of laundry in my washing machine. I should be cleaning the bathrooms and straightening around the house. I should be catching up on some reading. I should be writing in my journal, but instead I'm watching TV and doing this:

And while not doing all of the things that I should be doing, this is the view out of my window:

So I hope everyone is having a happy and safe warm snow day in their own place.

A New Beginning

2011 is in Full swing, and that means that weekends are filling up and time is being spent with family and friends. The first weekend of this year was spent on the cape with friends BBQ-ing on a frozen pond, and with family re-painting my brother's bedroom.

What's better than that?

I also bought a new coffee table that I'm super excited about!! Unfortunately I couldn't fit in my car so Bryan's truck will be delivering it to me on Friday, so you'll all have to wait to see pictures until it's actually in place here in Boston.

We are expecting yet another whale of a snow storm this week...Stay warm! :)

Happy New Year!

All around me life is busy. Friends are getting married and engaged, babies come next and parties ensue. I'm told this is the age with lots of changes and lots of life decisions. 2010 was a busy and fun year, with many milestones. I am very much looking forward to 2011 and what it has in store.

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's celebration and I wish you a Happy Healthy 2011!!

With Love,

Julie & Bryan