season passes to a playhouse!

Ever since I went to the cutest little theater (The Granite Theatre) in high school

                                

 in the prettiest town (Westerly, Rhode Island)

and saw that there was a such thing as a subscription to a theater, I've always dreamed of purchasing one and glamorously attending opening nights of every performance.

On Monday, that dream became a reality for me. A local theater, Centerstage, was selling subscriptions for this season for only $38 for anyone between the ages of 21-34. I suppose they're trying to encourage younger people to go, as opposed to the typical older crowd. Even though it's sort of age discrimination, I zapped up  2 subscriptions with no scruples.

Look at all the shows we can attend: http://www.centerstage.org/Calendar/Season-at-a-Glance.aspx

Not only can we see the main stage shows, but we have privileges to the Cabaret Series and Play Lab Series. A better deal cannot be found.

mustache swing

Today we went to the Baltimore Book Festival , which was pretty fun. Not only did I learn that there exists a Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, which is pretty swell, but we saw this cute little swing for the kiddos. The swing part is made to look like a mustache, and on top is a set of eyes. How unique.

Food Diary: week 2

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast: I actually ate breakfast today! Two scrambled eggs with mushrooms sautéd in balsamic vinegar.

Lunch: Pasta Fagioli, two pieces of homemade french bread, banana with a little bit of peanut butter.

Afternoon snack: some sour candies (similar to sour patch kids)

Dinner: this new recipe I found called Mediterranean Quinoa Salad and chocolate milk.

I'll probably break down and eat something else small like trail mix later tonight.

weekend: garden flowers and baking triumphs and defeats

On Saturday, we went to our garden plot. We had not been in over 3 weeks, and assumed everything was dead because we were not watering and weeding it, so we planned to dig everything up. We were quite surprised to see that nothing was decaying; we in fact  picked 7 bell peppers, a bunch of basil, a few small tomatoes and a bunch of lovely zinnias.

Look at this gorgeous bouquet of zinnias. It is very thrilling being able to see these everyday in our house.

In other news, I made these cottage cheese muffins from this recipe. I thought they sounded so wonderful and healthy (they're mostly made of eggs, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, and finely ground almonds--and I substituted sauted mushrooms for sundried tomatoes), but I hated them. Tim, of course, loves them because he loves all healthy/gross things. But I couldn't take more than one bite; I actually had to spit it out. So much for trying to eat healthy breakfasts. Alas, I will have to try to find some other method to eat a good Frühstück every morning. 


I did, however, have a triumph with this recipe. It's a quick and simple french bread. It's easy and uses very few ingredients, so anyone can make it with little effort. We've used in with soup for the past few days and Tim made little tomato-basil-olive oil crostinis with it. It would also be good for garlic bread or small paninis. I may even make a loaf every weekend to use.

Charles Village mural

This mural was painted by the guy who takes care of the house our apartment is in because our landlord lives in Sweden. He paints murals around Baltimore and this one depicts our neighborhood, Charles Village. It showcases the variety of beautiful architecture of the rowhomes here--the large, Victorian charmers, the more whimsical Painted Ladies. It also contains the Baltimore Museum of Art, Wyman Park, Johns Hopkins, which are just a few of the landmarks in our lovely neighborhood. It greets pedestrians and cars as they enter Charles Village from downtown, and I must say, it makes me feel privileged to live here.

Food Diary: Week 1

In an attempt to eat more healthily, I have begun to write down everything I eat in a journal. Once a week, I will post exactly what I eat on that particular day on this blog--every painstaking detail. I know this is pretty prosaic content, but hopefully it's interesting for some of you to read. It's mostly for my own accountability. Once my after-work schedule is confirmed, I will post on the same day each week so that I don't just pick the "healthy" days to post. For now, I'll just pick at random.

Anyway, my goals in this experiment are trifold:

1. Eat breakfast everyday (preferably a high-protein breakfast). Right now, I never eat breakfast.
2. Cut back on sugar. I have a sweetness addiction.
3. Wittle down the processed foods we eat to extremely minimal. We do a fair job of this now, but I want to be better.

Here's what I ate today. And yes, the amount of cookies I ate is embarrassing, but it is what it is. My justification is that I just made them yesterday and they're going to spoil soon and Tim eats like one cookie every other day, so I have to make up for his abstinence. psh. I know this is faulty reasoning.

Breakfast: 3 homemade chocolate chip cookies and a half glass of milk. I wouldn't really label this as breakfast, but I ate it in the morning.

Lunch: small hunk of sharp cheddar cheese, grapes and about 8 whole-grain crackers.

After-work snack: 4 homemade chocolate chip cookies and a small bit of milk.

Dinner: we split two individual leftover dinners-->  half a bowl of homemade pasta fagioli  (celery, onions, garlic, tomatoes, spinach, cannelini beans, ditalani pasta, ground italian sausage, homemade chicken broth) and half a plate of mustard-marinated pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes (no gravy), and green beans.

After-dinner snack: cup of hot decaf tea and one homemade coconut  biscotti.

Stay tuned for next week...

Ode to a tablecloth

Tim and I went to Williamsburg for a few days to make up for our Austrian dream vacation being cancelled. One night, we ate dinner in downtown Williamsburg outside on the terrace. It was a very pretty tablescape at which we sat, complete with a romantic, flickering candle, a roundness of shape, and best of all, it was draped in a gorgeous tablecloth.

The tablecloth was yellow in color, with whimsical floral figures fluttering about. It was not one of those stiff plastic-y tablecloths that are loathsome (yet practical, I suppose); rather, it was composed of a delicate, lithe linen. This tablecloth left quite an impression on me. I felt privileged to dine in its presence. Its fancifulness and grace became mine for the evening. 

Why write so amorously about a tablecloth? That's a fine question, friend. It was simply beautiful to me and I  find it good to dwell on beautiful things.