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Let’s Eat

Oh yeah.

Appetizing

Pickled carrots and peppers, homemade by my dad.

A co-worker recommended this sparkling wine as a tasty value.  Cristalino Brut Rose.  Very tasty.

And now…

…the real deal…

…the meal!

Homegrown roasted beets.

Chard, pure and simple.

Whole wheat and homemade.

Green beans, steamed and topped with freshly shelled black walnuts.

Cranberry plum sauce.  I made this one!   I cut the sugar down.  WAY down.  It was nice and tart.  Into a saucepan went about a fourth a cup of sugar, two tablespoons of lavender honey, the peel from one orange, two bags of fresh cranberries, 2 cups of water, cardamom, and garam masala.  It all boiled away for about 10 minutes and that was that.

Wild salmon topped with grated ginger and preserved Meyer lemon.

The bird.

This was actually post-meal snacking and no, that’s not me digging into meat, that’s my sister!  (I KNOW I’m not actually a vegetarian but really, who says Pescatarian?)

My plate.

Yum, yum.

I slowly worked my way through about 2/3rds of this plateful then covered it up and set it aside for later.

The table.

After eatin’, 5 of us headed out to tramp through the woods.

This year was my first Thanksgiving in West Virginia since 2000!  It was a super lovely day filled with family, food, and activity.   Tate and I did indeed go out for a run this morning, 35 minutes of heart pumping did the body good. (Good choice!)  The dogs weren’t quite as vicious today, Tate claimed they could smell my fear yesterday.  And I wore a bright red shirt to keep the hunters for mistaking me for a graceful doe. 😉  After the run I did 15 minutes of strength training and stretching.  Lots of good choices.

I have been working on this post for hours!  Internet can be sucky here in the mountain state.  While the pictures load I have watched more than a few episodes of The Amazing Race with the fam and eaten the rest of my plate of food from “dinner”.  Time to unplug.

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving!


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Good Choices

This year I am giving thanks for the power of choice.

Last Spring I got really hooked on the mantra “make good choices”.  I would repeat this phrase to myself whenever I was making small daily decisions, like whether to exercise or not, eat something or take seconds, or say something snarky (and usually unnecessary) to my amazing husband.  It really helped me pause and take time to consider what was best for me in that moment (the “good” in the choice).

Lately I have been overeating. Often.  Over the last week I have wound up too full nearly daily.  I used to do this a lot but over the last year, through “making good choices”, I have been able to stop when I am 75% “full” more often than not.  And feel I feel a lot better when I do that (surprise, surprise).  Besides the obvious (excessive calories) it just feels gross to be truly full.

So, on this day of feasting I am going to celebrate my choice to eat or not eat, drink or not drink, every bite and every sip.  I love food and have always had a hearty and healthy appetite.  I have every intention of eating a nice full plate of food, or maybe two, but I will make every bite a conscious choice, taking my cues from inside rather than outside.

I woke up to the sound of my sister rubbing the turkey with butter.   Coffee, an apple, and a small banana later and it was yogatime.

What you can’t see in these pictures is my sister’s mother-in-law watching us from the couch and my sister’s nephew sleeping on the other couch!  He only roused briefly as we performed a very intense “breathe of fire” exercise.  If you’re not familiar with “breathe of fire”, he managed to mumble, “you sound like panting dogs”.  He’s 17.

We flowed along with Shiva Rea for just over an hour.

Breakfast number two.

Pumpkin and plain yogurt topped with cardamon, garam masala, and a kiwi.  This will hold me until 2pm “dinner” time.  It was delicious and satisfying and I enjoyed every bite.

There were 10 of us at my sister’s house last night and we expect the remaining 4 guests around noon (my parents, stepmom, and step sister).

The decorations are made

After yesterday’s run I was not planning on repeating that adventure today but the dark clouds have parted ways and I would love to get out in the sunshine for a while.  Hmmmm, make a good choice, what would be best for me right now?  Braving the dogs, hunters, and cars or pumping some (5 pound) iron with Jillian?

I’ll decide over another cup of coffee, now that is definitely a good choice. 😉

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy good food, good company, and good choices!

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