I wanted to bring something over to Momma Mo's for the tree trimming, even though she will have dinner and probably/maybe christmas cookies... I still wanted to contribute something! This week I got goat cheese and almonds at the store, so I figured what better way to use what I got!
yummo-
off we go
to momma mo
ho ho ho
Appetizer Hour:
My Glass #1 of Sonoma Merlot, Jeff's Glass of Bass
Oh My gosh... quite possible this was the best cheese I have ever had
Brie with Cranberries ( they were fresh softened deliciously cherry like), and Goat Cheese with Pesto
Here is mine: It was soooooooo satisfyingly delicious
I should have taken a picture of everyone at our table! I warned them when we sat down that I take pictures because I write a blog about food and nutrition. I was completely surprised that everyone was genuinely interested in knowing why and what it was like and they all want to get the link to the site- so whenever they stop by- Hi Michelle, Justin, Melissa,Woody, Christ, and Gretchen!
I am not a huge bread person but I like to try things. I ripped off a hunk but it was too chewy 
Salad: This was a very interesting way to do a Caesar Salad. A rib of romaine, anchovy slices on top, thin strips of parm cheese, that little wafer tasted like cardboard.
Entree:
Chicken on top of creamy mushroom risotto, zuchinni, steak. Last year they had a similar dish only with chicken and salmon. I mentioned everyone at our table being interested in my blog, well we had quite the discussion about this entree! My steak was medium-well. There was no pink at all. However, Melissa's was bright vibrant red, Justin's was a rose/blush, Jeff's was a mix of Melissa's and Justin's- It was incredibly odd how the same dish came to 8 people at the table but the steaks were cooked all different. Mine was so well-cooked that I could not even chew it. My chicken was very tasty, however, Michelle's chicken was very dry-
Congratulations Michelle ( she is having a baby girl!).
Dessert:
I ate the whip cream, the nuts, and that chocolate stick coming out towards you! I had a few bites ( again I like to try things) but I am not a huge fan of pudding AND I was full!
Overall Recap and Review:
I think the cheese was phenomenal and made my night! Everything was "tasty" otherwise so I hate to bring up the negative because it was "over-the-top"! It is definitely a fancy place and I love being able to attend. On top of that, to hang out with Jeff's co-workers because they are all about our age and really funny was fantastic! Last year, Jeff and a few others formed a secret band that played a great set of cover songs. They were outstanding, however, this year shortly after they began practice the drummer caught pneumonia. He had to be hospitalized and has some permanent damage but is overall fine now. Unfortunately, they couldn't do it without him. So we missed out on that but I got to spend more time with Jeff since he wasn't playing.
Jeff and I at the Tree
Initiation of the New Employees: Teams had to dress up one person like Frosty The snowman. We cheered for this guy because they were right next to our table- and one of the new employees sat with us. (They won, so they had to sing Frosty The Snowman)
I had so much fun chatting with Emily, Christy, Jennifer, Amy, Stacy, Michelle, and Melissa! Hi, Ladies if you stop in!!
Earlier Friday...
Lunch:
I know it is not as "spectacular" as the food above- Leftover pasta and chicken from the other night.
Mid-Afternoon Red-White-Green Snack( actually at about 4 because I did NOT want to go to the xmas party starving)
Red and Green Peppers, Mushrooms and a little blue cheese dressing (full fat deliciousness)
Chobani Strawberry with Pistachios
Body:
Cardio: A fantastic run. A wonderful run.
I "sprinted" 4 miles. I stretched for a few seconds at each mile but jogged in between all the sprinting so no walking for this lady!
My general treadmill pace: 6.5 mph (recovery/slow jog) 7.5-7.7 mph (usual, comfortable pace) 9.3-9.8 mph (sprint)
9.8 felt super sonic- I felt like I was going to fall off the treadmill, which made it even more exciting hahaha. I didn't keep track of much else aside from running for at least 2 minutes of each mile above 9 mph... So it was mostly at a 7.5 speed, I would sprint when a good song came on during each mile at 9.3 bump it up to 9.8 then recover at a 6.5 for no more than 2 minutes... back up to a 7 + then back up to a spring etc.
My goal was to run the entire time, sprint during each mile and I met my goal.
Mind:
I turned in my paper, I only studied a little. I felt a little burnt out from the three papers due total this week. I have this weekend to study so I wanted to pace myself.
Soul:
Fantastic evening. After the holiday party we went downtown to a bar - one of our friends' birthdays- so we danced with them and had a phenomenal evening!
Yes I took a picture of the bathroom- how cool is it though !?
My final exam for my fall Gastronomy course was at "Poole's Diner". Students actual €asked her for a regular exam instead of having our "culminating event" as dinner at a local, organic, fresh diner! After all, dance majors have their final exam as a dance performance, Gastronomes should have their final performance- eating a locally sustainable, fresh, organic dinner among 39 other gastronomes. This is how we got away with having "final" as a "culminating event" deemed necessary by the college.
Here we go, No writing involved, wine is welcome, and there are no right or wrong answers
Question One: Would you ever try chicken liver patte? How about local pimento cheese?
My answer: "ew to liver, but sure for the sake of trying it! "
( It was different. I really don't know how to describe it other than meat-flavored cream cheese. Not something I would choose to eat.)
Question Two: Should I have wine?
My answer: Yes, of course! A lovely "Chont De Rute" It tasted like a combination of a merlot, cab and syrah. Intense like a cabernet, sweeter like a merlot, but very very easy to drink like a syrah...Yummy
Question Three: Do you enjoy roasted beets?
My answer: Nope, but I loved the goat cheese and peppery organic arugula
Question Four: Care for organic white beans, roasted local organic tomatoes, and local fresh free range rotissere chicken ?
My answer: Yes please! I love protein!
Question Five: Do you enjoy panna cotta?
My answer: Not really but I was pleasantly surprised at the delicious shortbread cookie underneath made from FRESHLY GROUND PEANUTS! and "dulce de leche" sauce on top!
Final Exam #1 Done! I will take another exam like that ANYTIME! It was also a great night of conversation with classmates/friends Melanie, April, Jenny, Louisa! I cant believe I was the only one taking pictures!
How amazing is that? fyi: We weren't formally asked those questions, we actually weren't asked any at all. We had to write about our childhood experiences early on in this course ( I posted my response on the blog about mustard in septembe r). Well, our teacher took our responses and made them into ...
A FOODIE CALENDAR!!!
How awesome is that!? It was such a great surprise and each month has all the "foodie days"... My birthday is "white chocolate day".. "chocolate cake day" is in january... etc.! This was the start of a new tradition, as these calendars will be produced every fall and given to all current students AND all alumni!
I am updating my earlier Body Mind Soul post from today, and so excited the people at Foodbuzz ARE AWESOME! Thank you so much for being so attentive and helpful and wonderful! Thanks Shannon and Dorian!
then its relaxation time with Jeff!
I love whole wheat angel hair! In my bowl of angle hair is: chicken, chickpeas, sweet peas, snow peas ( wow I guess I can't get enough of peas today) , goat cheese and parmesean cheese. Salad on the side with goddess dressing = dinner for one ( Jeff had practice for his xmas rock band)
I spent SO much time shopping with KC this morning/afternoon that I got home and was really hungry for lunch. I heated up leftover pasta and sauce for Jeff and I before yardwork.
I started to pack for the beach, showered, laundry, then got ready and left for class- before I left I grabbed a balance bar and ate it on the way to class.
Manicure After Class!!
Note to self- iatria day spa did not do a very good job but it was later at night and the last appointment of the day so not sure if we should try this place again.... 
Dinner Finally!!!
Dinner:
Starving!! I had a salmon burger and toasted in the toaster oven. I had a whole wheat mini wrap with hummus and goat cheese and goddess dressing. I also had a big bowl of mixed veggies that was delicious!
Body: Rest day- sort of- I walked - a lot! and all the unpacking/laundry/run around/cleaning worked up a sweat! But no formal exercise today! See how heavy my mind section is!
Mind: Class was interesting! Adv. Nutrient Metabolism is always fun.
Today was glycolysis...
I will spill about high fructose metabolism ( only a tiny portion of what we went over) because it is such a buzz recently.
( you can refer back to my posts late september to refresh on saccharides)
Glucose, Galactose, Fructose all require ATP (adensosine tri-phosphate= energy!) to be broken down.
Glucose gets phosphorylated (using a phosphate from ATP) into Glucose 1-P, which uses either hexokinase or glucokinase ( gluco in the liver, hexo outside liver) to convert to Glucose-6-P.... which gets converted to Fructose-6-P ..
Fructose needs ATP to get phosphorylated as well and gets converted to Fructose 6- P via enzymes ( phosphofructokinase- PFK- the main regulator in the breakdown process) ...
From here...
Fructose 6-P breaks down to glyceraldehydes ( 2 of them since its a 3 carbon molecule and glucose is a 6 carbon molecule)..
Glyceraldehydes get further broken down into carbon intermediate chains, then into pyruvate (with the help of high ATP, High alanine levels, and the pyruvate kinase enzymes). Pyruvate is the end result of glycolysis along with 2 ATP
( pyruvate can then continue to break down in mitochondria- if no oxygen is present it will convert to lactic acid.... if oxygen is present it will convert to Acetyle CoA which is the building block for fat AND cholesterol)
Unfortunately, science has shown that high fructose intakes result in high amounts of glyceraldehydes. The problem with this is that triglycerides ( glyercol with three fatty acid chains attached) are made from this via the available glycerol in glyceraldehydes.
Thus ....high fructose intake results in higher fat production. If you regularly consume a healthy diet and exercise regularly- consuming a single product or maybe a few products with HFCS isn't really going to do anything that harmful except for potentially create a few extra triglycerides ( unless you exercise or output energy which will immediately breakdown everything to pyruvate b/c of energy demand). If your triglyceride levels are already high, you would want to stay away from HFCS. In general, you want to stay away from HCFS because the majority of products that contain it aren't healthy products anyway- pre-packages snacks/cakes/cookies etc. arent nutritious foods.
Hope you enjoyed that! It helped me recap my class too!
Soul:
Manicure! Shoe Shopping! ( I got fabulous shoes!!!!!), Makeup shopping, Laundry, Talked to my mom about my day and my knee issues, Greys Anatomy, Going to THE BEACH!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
wait, did i already say... WOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!
bringing the laptop and the camera stuff but not sure if our house has wireless!
see you later tomorrow!
