Seriously, where did the time go? I distinctly remember me and my sister looking at Hannah sleeping in her crib when she was about six weeks old. We were still living together when I had Hannah at the age of 23. We had every intention of continuing to live together until I lost my job the day I got back from maternity leave! Luckily we hadn’t renewed our lease on our apartment yet and my one year of moving back home turned into five years.
But I digress! I remember us wondering what Hannah was going to be like when she was three. You can have conversations with three year olds, and we just wondered what kind of person she would become. Well, tonight we went to the open house at our local community college. The first 250 applicants did not have to pay a registration fee (we were 10th in line!). They currently have a grant going on as long as you maintain a 2.0 GPA and agree to do 16 hours of community service a semester, your tuition if free for two years!
Since she’s not exactly sure what she wants to do yet, its a great way to get all her core classes out of the way. We got to walk around the school – they had tons of tables about activities, math department, music department, etc. You can bet my first choice was to see the culinary table! They had beef tenderloin with a horseradish sauce, pork wrapped in bacon with sage and dijon mustard, pan fried shrimp and a boat load of desserts! I had to be discreet with the camera so as not to embarrass her too much! 😀
So she’s all set. They’ll send out more information in the spring for her to pick her curriculum, but she plans on taking at least 12 hours. 😀
But let’s talk about breakfast! 2 ounce french bread, 1 ounce deli ham, 1 pam fried egg and 1/2 ounce swiss cheese with raspberry applesauce – I loved the applesauce! It was no sugar added and just slightly sweet – yum!
The other day when I was at The Fresh Market buying the shrimp for our shrimp cocktail and buying escargot, I saw this really white fish and noticed it was Chilean Sea Bass. In the course of over 14 months of blogging, I believe you have seen fish about 5 times! I don’t like tilapia because it has a weird after taste. I don’t like salmon. When I asked the lady at the counter if the sea bass was “fishy” she said no. So I asked for the smallest fillet – which happened to be 4 ounces. I wasn’t even paying attention to the price until I got up to the register – the sea bass was selling for $24 a pound! I silently hoped I liked this so I didn’t throw six dollars down the drain!
I ended up marinating it in 1 tsp. Thai peanut sauce and a splash of soy sauce and I planned on having stir-fry veggies and yaki soba noodles on the side. This is one of the reasons I love having a full kitchen at work! I heated up my pan with about 1 tsp. smart balance oil until it was really hot. I then put the fish in, put a top on until the bottom got nice and crispy and cooked half way through. I flipped it and cooked it about another 4 minutes – removed to a plate and made my veggies and noodles.
My friend Kim who likes this fish was in the kitchen with me – I had to ask her how to cook it! She said “make sure its white in the middle” and it was so I was good to go. OMG, it was SO GOOD! Not fishy at all and almost had a meaty feel to it. And it was flakey at the same time! Wouldn’t you know I would find the most expensive fish to like!
I found a new stir-fry sauce too! Panda Express Kung Pao Chicken – look at the stats!
Since I didn’t know how long Hannah and I were going to be at school I had nothing planned for dinner. And you know what happens then – fast food! I thought I made an okay choice – we went to Arby’s and I got their turkey bacon sandwich with extra lettuce and no mayo and a small curly fries. Heaven help me those are the best fries ever – crunchy on the outside = tender on the inside.
Imagine my surprise when I entered it into www.sparkpeople.com and my dinner came in at 788 calories, 88 carbs and 28 grams of fat! :( And the sandwich wasn’t even that great!
After dinner Hannah and I went to the library – for days I could not find a book I checked out and was searching high and low. Until I moved a stack of papers on my computer desk, the one I sit at EVERY night and there it was! I was reading some food blog the other day (can’t remember which one now) and she was talking about The Joy of Cooking. This is a cookbook I have never even opened! They had the 75th anniversary version so I checked it out.
And I think some of my friends at work (thanks Cassie and Kim!) know my addiction to magazines and both supplied my habit greatly the past couple days!
And thanks to my MIL for her homemade banana chips! She sent a whole container to Tony today – these bananas are from her back yard in Florida! They are sweet and wonderful! Knowing Tony these won’t last long in the house – he loves them. Thanks Bonnie!
Stats for the Day
- 1516 calories
- 48 fat
- 164 carbs
- 102 protein
- 11 fiber
- no exercise 🙁
Off to watch Modern Family – have you seen that show yet?? It’s our new favorite! :D See you tomorrow night!
I’m going to get all environmental here, but Chilean Sea Bass (which is not technically even a sea bass), is an endangered species, and not a sustainable seafood choice. I’m sure you didn’t know, but I wish stores and restaurants would stop offering it. You can read some more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_toothfish
On a lighter note, what a sweet deal for Hannah at college. Free tuition for 2 years? That’s insane!
Yayyy!!! I’m so glad that came through and that Hannah is going to college!!! I’m sure she’s super excited too, and WOW the scholarship is going to be BIG. 🙂 She sounds like such a sweet heart and a smartie at the same time, I just know sh’es going to succeed!! Hey, she’s got such a fabulous mom, of course it’s her destiny to do just that right? 🙂 Is there a celebration party soon Beth??
Awww, CONGRATS to Hannah! It must be so emotional for you to have your baby be all grown up! 🙂 How exciting for everyone. I’m sure you are so proud 🙂
Oh, and I love Modern Family – the kid who plays Manny is from our town!
I do not like fish, but dang, you made that piece of fish look appealing!
What a great grant program that JC has – wonderful opportunity for Hannah to check out classes and programs without having a huge financial commitment in case she decided to change her major.
congrats to hannah! what an amazing time in her life 🙂 so exciting!
and i’ve been dying to see modern family.. i think ill have to start watching it on hulu!
Congrats on your college student!! I’ll be in that same boat with my stepson in a year or so….
Don’t you hate when you *think* you made a good choice and then find out otherwise? ARG!
I love Modern Family and I know I shouldnt( because I’m in a same-sex marriage), but I laugh my arse off at those gay boys. Btw, when you enter food into spark people, you can check the button ” search foods shared by other members” . I’ve always found whatever I was looking for there. I wish they’d make that clearer because prior to figuring that out, I entered the food manually and then after I figured it out, I found what I was looking for. My name on SP is Poutine in case you find any foods that I’ve entered.
Seasons of Life? Don’t you love em? I do have to admit, I got a little teary thinking about my 12 year old going to college. Congrats to your daughter. My how time marches by!
Now, a request…
Could you put a Warning label at the top of your blog? Something like, “Do not read without a. a healthy snack at hand or b. a full stomach.”
I’m hungry…:)
Ha! I will take that as a compliment! 😀
Aw congrats to Hannah and your family – sounds like a wonderful opportunity! I LOVE modern family – I think it’s hilarious – last night was TOO funny. That breakfast sandwich looks yummy – that sauce sounds good!
I love modern family! It’s pretty funny 🙂
Wow, what a great deal for Hannah! You both are totally right – cc is an awesome way to get core classes out of the way!
That sounds great! 2 years free tuition is amazing and you are right, it is a great way to knock out those core classes. I wish both of you luck as you embark on this journey and new time in your lives.
Best of luck to Hannah and her up coming journey in life. Time does fly by really fast.
Love the discreet photos. Food bloggers have to be sneaky sneaky sometimes.
Awww I’m so proud of Hannah! That school sounds FANtastic, too! That is really great to offer all of that assistance. I went to community college for my Assoc. in Art to get general education out of the way. I also took more classes than I needed, just b/c I’m a dork and I enjoyed the learning. But it worked out for the better b/c I just went back for my BS in Aug. and I was only 2 credit hours short of being a senior! So, I’m really glad that I went the community college way b/c technically it saved me THREE years.
I might have had Chilean sea bass at a restaurant, but I don’t think at home. My dad fishes a lot and I’ve had striped and largemouth at home, fresh. Mmmmm! I think that’s the problem around here is the shortage on fresh fish. I bet if you lived by the shore you’d love it a lot more. I’ve had some really fishy tasting fish since living here.
I’m partial to the potato patties at Arby’s myself. That’s scary that the turkey sandiwch is that many calories!? Wtf? Do they soak it in lard???
Thanks for the praise on the ribs! 🙂 I saw that process on Pioneer Woman’s site a few weeks (months?) ago to cook directly on the rack and decided to give it a go. It was nice b/c any fat dripped down and it was able to cook low and slow, just how I like em!
I can not get over how tasty your low cal meals are… I so admire you for staying away from the rice cakes that ruin so many eating life style changes (diets).
And what a great deal on the tuition… that;s amazing… but wait til the morning after your baby gets married… that;s when you really wonder where the time went
Community college is THE BEST place to get the initial GE done. Many od them have transfer agreements with guaranteed admission to the college of her choice for her last two years (make sure she checks that out). Go Hannah!
Time goes by so fast!
Wow, good for Hannah! How exciting. The food sounds delicious too, and looks it. I love your food pictures!
And remember when Hannah was so tiny and I would tell her when she got older if you wouldn’t buy her fancy jeans that everyone was wearing, that her Aunt Jenn would come to the rescue!
I can’t believe she’s going to college next year either. So proud of you Han!
I can’t believe the stats on the Arby’s!! But, even so, you still were at a decent amount of calories.
Why is the chilean sea bass so expensive? It there gold in it? Ha!