A Thank you to my Readers

Happy Holidays to all.  I hope the holiday is finding you well and in the company of people you enjoy or at a place in your life where you can be thankful for some, if not all, of the things that you have.


For me, I wanted to say a quick thank you to you, the reader, for supporting this blog and for the readers of my book, Living with B: A College Girl's Struggle with Bulimia and Everyday Life.  The book can be found on Amazon and Kindle, as well as Barnes and Noble.com and Lulu.  


Today, I received two different compliments about my book, one from a former boss who I ran into today at the bank, and one from the online posting (on Amazon) which I also read today.  The online summary is as follows:

A lot of people who read this book are likely struggling with bulimia or other eating issues themselves. If you are, this book is great. It gives the harsh reality of how much living with B sucks and enough humor to help us laugh at ourselves. It is not a "how to" book, nor a "look at how great I'm recovering" book. It gives hope and humor that life continues, and yes, just might get better.

So, dear reader, thank you.  Thank you for taking the time to not only read the novel but review it for others as well; I am glad to hear the content is finding you well and I truly hope it helped you either through something yourself or understand someone you know just a little better.  A warm Thanksgiving "THANKS!" to you and all of my other readers.  Happy holidays, and may your turkey (or to-furkey) be amazing.

Starbucks Still Working to be Fit

I found myself in a bit of a pickle this morning (and no, that is not a Snooki reference, sorry Jersey Shore).  I totally forgot to go to the store this weekend, so I had to buy breakfast on the go, and I really enjoy Starbucks, so I headed to the one close to work.  I'm a healthy kind of girl, and really can't stand super sugary things, so sometimes it can be tricky picking out food and drinks when Starbucks is known for, well, let's be honest, their pastries and seasonal lattes.  Granted, I did take them up on their BOGO (buy one get one free) holiday drink "happy hour" special this weekend, where you bought a holiday drink between the hours of 2 and 5 pm and got a second one free...but that's not what I wanted this morning.  I wanted something healthy that would keep me going all morning.

Again, granted, all Starbucks are different and due to their locations and sizes probably offer slightly different fares, but I ordered myself an unsweetened, half soy half water, hot, green tea latte.  :-)  I love them, although the woman working the bar looked at me like I was an alien.  Apparently this was a new drink to her.  But, I think it's wonderful.  You have to like the taste of matcha powder, but if you prefer regular milk over soy you can just as easily get it with milk, but you'll be lacking the slight hint of vanilla flavoring the soy option offers.  Nonetheless, it's still an excellent choice, providing a bit of protein in the soy without tons of calories, since it's half water too, and all the potency and wonderfulness that is matcha green tea.  

However, I knew I would be hungry.  Sadly a latte just doesn't fill me up for four hours, so I went to buy something to eat.  I didn't feel like spending a ton of money on a cheese and fruit platter, nor did I want the sugar-filled pastries, so I tried to find something else.  Oatmeal is an option, and it's standard instant oats based, so it's good, and there is also the choice of their yogurt and granola parfaits, but those can still be pretty sugary, and I just wasn't in the mood.  Instead, I found my attention taken by something called Two Moms in the Raw.  I grabbed the Gojiberry granola to have with my latte.  DELICIOUS!!  Started by a two moms in CO, their mission is to provide great tasting, delicious, nutricious and just down right honest raw foods to consumers.  Thie morning's granola was gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, and 100% organic and 100% raw.  Now, I will definitely admit that you have to have a palatte for healthy food, otherwise something like this may seem gritty and unsavory, but if you are a healthy-food lover, then this is totally up your alley.  It was packed with nuts and fiber, and had no other sweeteners outside the natural foods themselves, cinnamon and agave.  Yum Yum!! 

So, give it a shot.  Starbucks may not be the healthies cafe around, but then again, when you're looking for coffee and pastries, who wants healthy, right?  However, don't overlook their attempts at providing customers with healthier options.  And they do a pretty darn good job too. 

Petterinos

Tuesday night was reunion night for a college friend of mine and myself.  There were three of us that went out in all, and in trying to find reasonably priced places in the loop itself (think the financial / theater district) within walking distance of all of us, we decided on a restauarant called Petterinos.  It's on Dearborn and if you dine in after 7pm, they offer free valet service!

Overall, the atmosphere was excellent.  It likens itself closely to Maggianos, but then again, how could it not?  It, too, is a Lettuce Entertain Your Restaurant, and they all seem to have similarities amongst them, so another Italian style restaurant echoing Maggianos only seemed to be expected.  The booths, however, we very spacious, and it was never hard to hear each other talk. 

While we weren't going to the theater ourselves, the restaurant does offer "Theater" fair, or a $30, fixed-price meal option, for those patrons who find themselves heading to the theater after dinner.  The options seemed nice, although I do not know the specifics.  They can, however, be found on the restaurant's website.  My friends and I decided on the $20 menu option (available after 7pm), where you can choose an appetizer, main course and dessert from the options given on the menu.  My appetizer ceasar salad left something to be desired, as the dressing and flavor was lacking, but a friend had the corn chowder and said it was excellent.  My potato-crusted tilapia was outstanding.  Everyone at the table wanted bites!  Definitely highly recommended even if you don't choose the fixed menu option.  The blue-cheese steak was really fatty; I would probably pass.  Then my dessert was the chocolate ovation cake.  A-MAZING!!!  It was dense chocolate yumminess with a layer of raspberry goodness and raspberry drizzle.  It is intensely rich, but proved a wonderful end to the meal.  Walking a mile and half back to my car also helped, but we'll just say point goes to the tilapia and the chocolate cake.  :-) 

Wines of the night?  I had the Malbec, which was smooth, a little spicy and a great full-bodied wine.  Definitely worth the $9 a glass.  My friends said their Cab Sav and Reisling were equally delicious.  The service?  Ehhhhh, menza menz.  It could have been better, although the waitress definitely left us alone.

So, overall... probably a 3/5 for the restaurant and experience.  Try it for yourself, but get a good glass of wine and stay away from the NY strip steak!

A Quick Quote

I decided today's quote to live by is the following:

‎"To have a positive attitude is not to always be happy, but to always try to look on the bright side of things"

~Stephanie Caprini

Francesco's Forno

I visited a new restaurant in Chicago:  Francesco's Forno.  Located on the corner of Milwaukee Ave and North Ave in Wicker Park, the restaurant boasts an open and spacious dining room for the Wicker Park area with paneled windows lining the front of the restaurant.  The windows create an illusion of more space, which is aided by the high ceilings.  Additionally, they have a 6 person bar with two high-table for additional seating and a place to wait away from the door.  Reservations are taken, although not always necessary.  However, should you want a guaranteed table without too long of a wait, I highly recommend a recommendation.  


Although erring on the side of noisy, pending the table next to you isn't too close to your table, it is not so loud that you cannot hear the people with whom you are eating.  Our party thoroughly enjoyed our evening.  We sampled two wines before finally deciding, savored the table bread with what appeared to be garlic / chive butter, but I preferred the olive oil with herbs, which is conveniently placed on every table.  For dinner I had the Soppressata (thinly sliced, perfectly cured salami), and the Insalata con Uova (salad with lemon vinaigrette, white truffle oil, and a fried egg on top).  Delicious is an understatement.  It was excellent.  The others had the Linguini Frutti del Mare (seafood linguini).  It comes with a spicy marinara sauce, which lightly coats the pasta.  One person asked for it with a white sauce, which turned out to be more like a light parmesan alfredo.  I highly recommend both those options, depending on if you prefer a spicier flair or cheesier one.  


Overall, with wine and appetizers, a 4 person dinner was about $130, with tip.  It's reasonably priced, and, if you forgo the drinks, not outside of a typical budget.  For atmosphere, I give it a 3.5/5 because of the noise level, a 3/5 for priciness, and a 5/5 for quality of food and desire to return.  So, as I like to say, let's grab some friends and Mangia!

Do You Kiss and Tell?

Today Yahoo! featured an article regarding fun/ quirky facts about kissing.  Of course, I had to read it.  It was a simple, quick, 10 point article, but some of the facts were extremely interesting!  Like, for example, did you know passionate kissing using 34 (all) facial muscles, and it can help improve circulation, prevent tooth decay and just help with overall health?  Or, that men who kiss their significant other goodbye prior to leaving for work tend to make more money?  Cool!!  Honey!, Come kiss me before you leave!! :-)

The one thing I found interesting yet odd, was that women tend to kiss 29 different men, on average, before getting married.  Hmm...I know women keep track of a lot of things: how many sexual partners they've had, what they eat in a day, the last time you called her or took her out for dinner, but how many people they've kissed?  That's a new one to me.  But who knows, maybe it's just another statistic, like the one that says 70% of all statistics you read in magazines are made up.  Or maybe its 40%?  Either way, I won't keep you!  Get back to kissing already!

XBox Fans

So yes, I am . . . I never thought this day would come . . . but here I am, at last, discussing video games.  I can't seem to hide from the release of the newest XBox Game:  Call of Duty Black Ops.  I should probably preface, I know absolutely zippo about the game, the history of the game, or why this is such an important sequel.  I do, however, know that I cannot go out of earshot of at least one person who is talking about it:  A parent about the kid's latest craze, the kids talking about the game they played, other kids talking about other kids talking about the game, friends talking about the game for the same reasons previously listed, etc.  It's like Nitrogen in the air:  It's there.  It's inevitable.  You can't escape it, so you might as well just deal with it and figure out some way to know what the heck people are talking about.


So I did.  Yup, I did.  I actually typed the keys in the order required to look up Black Ops and see why this is such a craze.  The intro video however - AWESOME!!!  But, what can I say, I'm 4 and easily persuaded by celebrities, stuff blowing up, the subtle hints of humor, and just videos in general.    It did disturb me that a seemingly 14 year old girl was carrying a gun, but, um......yeah, she's probably 20 in real life and just looks 12.  Just saying.  A little concerning.  Otherwise, cool.  You get to blow shit up.  Also seemingly ironic it was released really close to Veteran's Day, and day a sad few people continue to celebrate considering, well, we're still a free country and that was after 2 really big world wars, a long Vietnam War, and a whole bunch of other wars today's History books forget to mention for more than a passing sentence, but, you know, it's cool.  They tried. (I guess).  


But yes, even after hearing it all, I'm still a little (or a lot) confused.  I guess I just won't ever be that gung-ho fanatic, but, if blowing things up while talking to others and working solo or in teams is your things, this is a good game for that.  (Fine print:  I am not a reliable source for the interworkings, play-mode, or content found in said game.)  And, on that note, have fun.  If you end up blowing stuff up next to Jimmy Kimmel, let me know.

Spice Up Your Health Life

I recently told my boyfriend I would happily cook all day long if I didn't have to do dishes.  I really hate doing dishes, but I absolutely love cooking.  Just like I am obsessed with Project Runway, I thoroughly enjoy watching Top Chef because I love seeing the different ways foods are used.  I've also discovered, in my own cooking endeavors, that I tend to lean towards certain types of cuisine - Italian, Asian, and just overall Healthy.  


I also love my spice rack.  Over the years I've collected different spices and tried to teach myself about how to use them correctly and experimentally, seeing if different combinations bring more pizzaz and life to different dishes.  I love spices so much I don't know what to do with myself when I find myself cooking blindly without them.  So, you can imagine my happiness when Yahoo! put out a news article about different spices and how they can help your health.  Such spices I already love?  GARLIC!  Cinnamon, Fennel seed, Cloves, and Ginger.  Also making the list are Cumin, Curry, Cardamom (think Chai tea!) and Star Anise.  These spices have links to health benefits, just like different vitamins are linked to different health benefits.  The more you use spices, the more likely you are to reap their benefits.


So, for all you cooking gurus out there, keep cooking!  If you're like me and just a fan of cooking, keep trying new spices and combinations, and your food and technique can only improve.  If you're still trying to get into cooking, remember it's like everything else:  the more you practice, the better you get.  However, become familiar with these and other spices.  It's amazing how much life they can bring to your food.  Eat up, and if anyone feels like helping me with the dishes, let me know!

Give Away?

What would you do with $100,000 if you had to spend it and couldn't spend it on yourself?


This question was posed to my sixth graders during their writing extension class.  Every day they are given ten minutes to explore a new prompt, working on enhancing their flow of consciousness and writing abilities.  Today's I found extremely interesting.  What would a sixth grader think to do with $100,000?  


Some of the most common responses included donating to favorite charities - global, local, pet – or giving the money to family members.  Some people even explicitly wrote out the percentages they would give to each family member based on how they perceive those family member's needs.  I found that logic impressive.  Otherwise some students went even further by wanting to donate to schools or universities, build parks and camps, and one person even said he'd give it all to the first random homeless he ran into.  Clearly, the minds of these ten and eleven year olds are hard and working and working in very different ways.


So, that got me thinking.  What would I do with $100,000 I couldn't spend on myself?  Maybe I would help family members pay off bills or put one of them through college.  Maybe I would help a friend start up a company he or she was trying to get off the ground, or, like so many of my other students, I would donate it to a worthy charity.  I would donate it, however, because I would get to write it off on my taxes and probably get some of it back in a refund?  Does that make me somehow less charitable or just more financially savvy?  Who knows.  All I know is one friend, when posed this question, responded with, "I would cry."  How true.  How very very true.  Sorry world, but $100,000 is a lot of money.

The Marriage Reality

There are a couple of things I love talking about:  traveling (Europe!!), food / cooking, movies and comedy, art/music/culture, and sex & relationships.  I love when Yahoo puts out articles relating to these topics too, especially the last one.  I find them fascinating, and I guess coming from a large, loud, loving, always-around-no-matter-what Italian family gives my perspective on relationships and such a slightly different twist, but I still enjoy learning more.  I always feel the more you know about something the better equipped you are to deal with situations you find yourself facing in the future.  


All that said, this article on yahoo highlighted 10 things couples can expect during that famous "first year" of marriage.  Am I married?  Nope.  But a lot of my friends are on that track and / or discussing it, looking down that road, in relationships, etc, so it's definitely pertinent.  I think the article makes a good point on certain topics.  You won't always be happy, ergo you will go to bed mad sometimes.  Your sex life will ebb and flow, but you'll probably be more in tune with each other and find it gets better over time because you know one another.  Couples still find themselves falling into "traditional" roles, even if it wasn't always set up that way in the beginning, and you do not magically become rich just because you're working with two incomes.  All of these are great points, and the article was fun in the way it laid it out for the reader.  I think sometimes today people just want the fairy tale and they're too quick to want to rid themselves of a situation the minute it gets challenging.  You can blame the fast-paced society, or the instant-gratification mentality, or the cultural phenomenon of divorce on a whim, or whatever else you want, but the truth is sometimes people just aren't adequately prepared for what comes down the road, especially in relationships.  Maybe part of it is because when it's happening to us it seems more monumental than when friends discuss what happened to them, but still, the more you know the better prepared you are to deal with life as it hits you.  And who knows, maybe you'll surprise yourself by your reaction to the article.  Happy reading!