Ah, the sun. We have black curtains in our bedroom. It’s literally so dark in our room that it could be noon with the blazing sun and we would never know it. We love it that way.
So when my alarm goes off and I feel my way to it to turn it off without my glasses on (um, I am blind as a bat!) then feel for my glasses and my scrunchie that was taken off the night before (next to probably a dozen that lie on our bedroom floor) I carefully open the bedroom door so as not to wake Tony, and this morning, I was so happy to see the sun and blue skies!
I actually took this picture while I was driving, not looking, so I had no idea what I got – I kind of like the double image of the trees and sun.
I had the windows rolled down, and at 29 degrees, the brisk air and the sun just made me happy to be alive!
On tap was shoulders – this was intense but short – probably only took me about 23 minutes.
And I give you another camel toe shot of me at the gym – wtf is wrong with me and these kind of pants lately?
I ended up doing 7 miles on the bike in 33 minutes for cardio – still knocking away at my 125 miles of moving in November. So not in focus, but whatevs!
I was really looking forward to breakfast – I haven’t had breakfast pizza in a long time! I used my homemade pita bread, 1/3 cup marinara sauce, baby spinach, an ounce of rosemary ham, 1 scrambled egg with 1/4 cup of egg beaters, and an ounce of cheddar cheese. I scrambled the eggs at home, so when it was time to put breakfast together – I just put it all together and baked it in my office toaster oven for 10 minutes at 350. I don’t normally put tomato sauce on breakfast pizza, but I loved it.
Best.Blackberries.Ever. From ALDI of all places too – .99 cents a pint!
I ended up heading back to the gym at lunch for a leisurely 30 minute swim. Warm water, sun shining in. I try not to think of anything when I swim. No worries, stress about bills – just the sound of the water around my face. It’s glorious.
I won’t bore you with another bowl of lasagna soup, but I had the last of it. I have a stash of seasonings in the work kitchen, and as I was reaching to add some more crushed red pepper to my soup, I saw a bottle of light pancake syrup and checked it out. Um, it EXPIRED in 2008 – which makes me think someone bought it in 2005?? We’ve only been in this space for 2 years, so one of my projects today is to go through and throw out expired shit.
So I had some ground beef that I needed to use up and while tacos is always alright with me, I decided to see what else I could come up with. A quick google search of ground beef + rice + marinara sauce = ARANCINI!
Arancini are Italian rice balls that are typically filled with a beef/cheese filling. I had every intention of using cold brown rice that I had leftover, but one mention of that to Tony and I kind of got this look like “um, really?!” No worries! I could make white rice! So the rice cooked (shhhh …. I used Minute Rice – ready in less than 7 minutes!) I made the beef filling.
Now, I didn’t measure one ingredient. Not really anyway. After the white rice cooked, I did add about 1/2 a cup of the brown rice to chill the white rice down. MIxed the rice with one egg yolk to bind it together.
But the recipe linked to above – I couldn’t really follow without a visual. So I went to youtube and kind of followed this technique. Except, I didn’t want to wait 30 minutes for the balls to set, so I let them sit in the freezer for 10 minutes before frying.
But there was a series of events that went wrong:
- When I was pulling out the flour, the top fell off and I dropped about 1/2 a cup of flour on the ground.
- When I was scooping the beef mixture into the center of the rice, my fork got hit and about 1/4 cup of ground beef went flying through the kitchen
- When I reached for my Italian bread crumbs, um, some sort of little bug was in the there and I had to throw the whole thing out – ew!
- When I went to season my marinara sauce for the bottom of the plate – I opened the wrong side of the lid of crushed red pepper and about 4 tablespoons fell into about 1/3 of a cup of sauce
Surprisingly, I ONLY swore under my breath each and every time one of these things happened. It’s not unusual for me to spew MF when stuff goes wrong, and I was literally on the urge of screaming – with so many things against the dinner, I thought for sure it was doomed for failure.
So while the balls went into the freezer to set, I poured myself a glass of wine and went on Facebook to wait until it was time to drop the balls in the fryer. It was then that I saw my husbands cousin post this on facebook.
A man met and married his wife and five months later she got diagnosed with breast cancer. They went from drinking beers to saying goodbye a few years later – she was only 40 when she passed away.
So yeah – the shit that happened while I was making dinner? Doesn’t fucking matter. Like at all in comparison. I feel like an asshole even thinking about how worked up I got over making dinner!
And guess what? Dinner turned out delicious! I will, in the future, make these ahead of time and have them in the fridge so that they are ready to go from fridge to fryer. But these were crispy, the filling was flavorful, my spicy marinara sauce with baby spinach turned out really tasty. It’s All Good.
No stats for today – I haven’t figured out the “balls” recipe yet, and I think you all can live another day without knowing how many calories I had today.
My advice for you today? Go hug someone you love. You never know how long you’ll have with them.
Make it a great day!
this post is just another reason that i love reading your blog. thank you for letting us in on your life and the trivial things that we can all get bogged down with.
I’m trying to enjoy life everyday and am doing pretty good at that. I decided to do that when my Dad died in 2000, we both do actually. However, the little things in life that happen to us can be annoying from time to time but we usually laugh afterwards about it, because there are worse things in life.
As for the arancine, I had it once in Sicily if I’m correct but I didn’t like it. Probably we bought it in some kind of fast food restaurant there. R. did like it and now that I see it on your blog, it reminds me that I promised him back then that I would make them at home one time. Still haven’t 🙂
The world would be a happier place to live in if we could all only keep things in perspective all the time. Great post.
Great shots of your morning. After Crossfit my next passion is Aldi’s so I was laughing when you showed the berries from Aldi’s. I get those too and my kiddos eat them in one minute…..they have great fruit/produce. It’s my go to store for so many things.I am still in awe of you taking on line training/exercises and doing them. I still say THAT in itself is a GREAT accomplishment Biz! I know you’ll meet your goal…have a great weekend.
excellent advice my friend.
Your’e totally rockin’ it all! And I have to pretend to ignore the video since it’s made me way too sad every time I”ve seen it.
oh my goodness … 40 years old. I can’t imagine, what a sad sad story. And yes, focusing on what is important. Seems like it should be easier sometimes, doesn’t it?
We must have been thinking along the same lines today!! Thanks for the reminder that the little things aren’t worth getting upset over because life is still good!!!
I often need the “don’t sweat the small stuff” reminder. That story about the couple is sad. 🙁
It’s too easy to get wrapped up in the bullet lists of things we have to do – when I see stuff like that it definitely slows me down.
I saw that video before – it was so heartbreaking
Just makes you appreciate being alive, right?!
That really does put things in perspective…doesn’t it? Those balls sound delish. Why have I not made the lasagna soup yet? Ridiculous.
Get on that Erica! I know once you make the lasagna soup it will be in your regular rotation!
I saw those pictures on FB of that couple and it was so, so sad.
The pictures are just so bold – so sad!
Can’t. Stop. Crying.
I didn’t mean to make you cry Randi!
I saw that floating around facebook and it’s definitely a reminder of what really matters in life 🙂
I am going to keep my tabs on your through your weight loss journey Sam – I’ll be your biggest cheerleader!
What a good reminder to not sweat the small stuff!
Yep!
Yeah, those things always hit me in the gut. I am a CASA volunteer and whenever I visit the kids I work with, I remind myself that I may go through a lot of crap, but at least I am not being abused or starved or left alone or have druggies for parents. A lot to think about and we all need to count our blessings and be thankful we have someone that loves us.
I couldn’t agree more Abbe! 😀
I often forget to count my blessings, and a reminder is appreciated. I have two great daughters, and so far my husband and I are enjoying good health too. Those things alone are fabulous, and I need to be more thankful. Have a great day Biz. 🙂
Have a great weekend Caron!
You make the best stuff from whatever you have in the house. I need to learn how to do that. As for “go hug someone”, a good friend of mine suddenly lost her 23 y.o. son last week. We went to the visitation on Friday. I can’t stop thinking about it. I made sure to hug my kids extra hard last week and connect with them more and plan to make that a permanent thing.
I am so sorry for your friends loss – cannot imagine outliving my daughter! Hugs!
Arancini is my death row food. FAbulous stuff. Sorry you got mad 🙁
Ha – yep, these were death row food worthy! No worries, I got over it! 😀
I was having a terrible day at work yesterday then I saw a video of a woman about to have a double mastectomy dancing with her doctors just prior to the operation. I posted it to my own Facebook to remind myself that I need to learn to dance in the face of adversity (even if the adversity is work irritation or dropping ingredients on the floor!).
I saw that one too Helen – so inspiring and I hope that I too can dance in the face of adversity!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzodnwaQHmo
The second photo is incredible; what a lovely morning site!
And that FB posting got to me as well; put’s life and love in perspective…the rest are small in comparison.
Absolutely Suzi!
I had something similar happen to me last night; I was irritated about something (don’t even remember what), but after supper I sat down and opened school email, only to find out that one of my classmates had passed away unexpectedly. Talk about putting me in my place!
Those arancini balls looks amazing. They are on my list of things to try…someday! 🙂 Have a great day!
So sorry about your classmate – way too young! Hugs!
It really surprises me sometimes how little things can upset me. Trying really hard to focus on what matters! I need reminders again and again… 🙂
Happy Friday, Biz!
Hope you have a great weekend Andrea!
I absolutely LOVE your blog! Thank you for reminding me about the things in life that really matter. I read you regularly but today was the first time I was inspired to comment. Have a great weekend!
Thanks Heather! And thanks for coming out of the woodwork to say hello!