Taste Test - Fruit from Thailand!

Another co-worker returned from vacation and brought some Thai fruit for us to try.

We took them home fully intending to eat them but in the end chickened out and brought them back to work.  We brought a cutting board and a knife and created our own version of the Costco sample table.    All in all the fruit was shared by 6 of us.  In the picture above the fruit are: LongKong, Rambutan and Mangosteen (although we called them the Potato, the Hairy Eyeball and the purple one.)

The Mangosteen was first.  This is what it looked like inside:

The part that you eat is the white part.  It had a pleasant taste that some described as plum like while others thought maybe like a pomegranate.

We then moved on to the Long Kong.  This one tasted the strangest having a very strange texture.  One taster, Mrs Smith almost spit hers out and another co-worker got a very strange look on his face.  The taste was actually pretty good but the texture was...odd. 

Finally we moved on to the hairy eyeball - the Rambutan.

I actually don't remember what this one tasted like but we all rated it as second best (with the purple one being the best)!

Weird Healthy Cookies Again

Mrs. Smith just put a cookie on my desk.  She made weird tree hugging healthy cookies again.  These ones have banana instead of egg, agave syrup, chia seeds (yet another chia pet murder), oats, 10 grain cereal oats and cashew butter.  Shudder of fear.

I slowly unwrapped the cookie and gave it an experimental sniff.  eek.  Nope - didn't enjoy the sniff.  On the other hand Mrs Smith told me that they remind her of Bear's Paw cookies and if my son Mr Picky likes those - I outta give it a try.

I just took a bite.  I still don't like murdered chia pet.  However- ignoring that- they do have a pleasant bear's paw taste.  I guess I should quit being frightened of Mrs.Smith's experiments.

Fingernail Update

How long has it been?  It's been a month since I declared the winner of my "stop-the-biting" competition.  It's now one month later.   I have 9 unbitten nails.  Of those 9 - 7 of them 'could' have a manicure and 2 are still growing out damage from before I started this whole journey.  The one bitten one is also a damaged one which will still need another 1-2 months to grow out all the damage done.

I had a conversation over the weekend with a friend who has recommended some products for me to try for the skin around the nails and the cuticles so I'm going to make an effort to head to Chatters this week and try to find some.  I'd tell you what that product is but i don't remember.  LOL  I do remember that it was by Opi.

In general though, I find that I have broken many of the chewing habits that I had.  I still have a lot of trouble with riding in cars AND watching movies.  I think I need gloves for those two situations.  ;)

Weird Healthy Cookies

Mrs. Smith  brought in some weird and healthy cookies today.  In an ongoing effort to make me healthier she forced me to eat one.  She says they are made of Carob chips, chia seeds (yes she murdered a chia pet for this), 10 grain cereal (plus oatmeal), banana and more.  She clearly refuses to listen to me about the fact that I am a picky eater and waited for me to eat one.  Their texture was more like a loaf than a cookie and despite my misgivings, I found the taste to be pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised by the carob chips but I wasn't a huge fan of the chia seed crunch.

I took a picture with my phone but it really just looked like a blurry blob so just imagine a tree hugging cookie and you'll have it just about right.

Cupcakes that Foam...

I went to a craft sale not so long ago.  While I was there I spent $20 to buy 4 cupcakes.  4 bath cupcakes.

I chose the divine looking and smelling flavors of Margarita, Strawberry Dacquiri, Lemon and Orange Vanilla.   They look and smell good enough to eat.  It was such a conflicting feeling.  Smelling the margarita cupcake made me drool and yet - it is for the bath!!

You peel off the plastic (not shown in the photo) and the paper cupcake holder.  Then you simply drop in into the running tub!  It was really bizarre to see a cupcake floating in the tub.

The resulting bath was foamy and great smelling.  These are fun too!  Highly recommended for the ultimate in pampering.  http://smellthesoap.com/

That last bite can really get to you....

Have I ever mentioned how much of a klutz I am? As I took the last bite of my yogurt, my bottom lip failed me and I ended up looking like this.  Sigh.   A vision of professionalism - that's me.

Luckily today is the first day of a work conference and I received a stain pen in my bag of goodies.  Thank you VMWare!!

HomeMade Granola

My co-worker Mrs.Smith made homemade granola last night and forced me to taste some (she's determined to make me healthier against my will).  It's made up of "quinoa, rolled oats, rolled friggin barley, rolled rye and rolled wheat" (yes, she said friggin' - she's profane that way)

Sorry for the blur - my blackberry photo skills are severly lacking.  I put the granola into my yogurt and let it soak there for a while.... then I tasted it....

Well actually first I smelled it.  It smelled like yogurt.  Have I mentioned that I am a....ahem...sheltered eater?

Ok...so then I tried it.  It was actually very tasty.  A fun crunch in my yougurt.  I asked her why I would want to eat granola when I thought my life was already complete without it.  She told me that this provides healthy grains in my diet, healthy fats and healthy protein.  Hmm...    Look at me all healthy like....

Vegas...the food

To continue….more about Vegas….




Places we’ve eaten:



Buffets – We tried out a few during our 3 trips and could rate all of the as either a “miss”, “awesome” and “just fine”. The Misses were breakfast at Mandalay Bay – blech and lunch at Caesar’s Palace. The “Just Fine” would be breakfast & supper at Treasure Island’s Buffet, breakfast at the Wynn, breakfast at the Paris & Dinner at the Aria. “Awesome” would be reserved for Planet Hollywood’s buffet (especially for breakfast) and the Rio buffet (for sheer size). On our trip in April 2010 – they had a great deal going. We went for breakfast at Planet Hollywood which would have cost about $27. For $30 we got a 24 hour buffet pass that was good for 7 hotel buffets. Since we typically skipped lunch it meant that we paid $3 each for supper. The pass was good for Caesar’s Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Imperial Palace, Paris, The Rio and Planet Hollywood.

Some of the Non-Buffet restaurants that we’ve tried in Vegas over the years…

Treasure Island’s “Canter’s Deli” – We ate here during our first trip. It is a modernized diner. I just had Grilled Cheese and Fries. My meal was very good. The fries were shoestring type and the meal came with a GIANT pickle! We ate here again during our most recent trip and it was still good!

Treasure Island’s “Phil’s Italian Steak House” – We ate here during our first trip and thought it was very tasty. Fries ordered here come in a tiny shopping cart.

Stratosphere’s “Top of the World” – Neither of us were impressed by this restaurant. The food was only ok but the view wasn’t worth the food and ambiance we experienced.

New York’s “Broadway Burger” – A fast food burger place. It was very tasty!!

New York’s “Joey Maroni’s Sausage Kingdom” – DH ate here and said it was good

New York’s “Time Square Hot Dogs” – we both thought this place was just so-so but our friend thinks its great.

MGM’s “Rainforest Café” – We loved this restaurant the first time we went to it. The food was great, the service was great and the atmosphere was unforgettable. On a subsequent visit we were not impressed at all. The menu had shrunk considerably and the food just didn’t taste as good. Service was still pretty good.

MSM’s Studio Café (we think this is the place that we ate) – The food here was casual but yummy. Portion size is just HUGE!! The burger was as big as a dinner plate!!! It was comically huge. LOL

Luxor’s “Tender” - This is by far the best service, food and experience we had eating in Vegas. Expect to pay separately for each entrée/side and it isn’t cheap but we could almost breathe on the steak to cut it – it was THAT tender. We have visited this restaurant twice in 3 years and it was just as good the second time as it was the first!! Highly recommended.

Aria’s “Sweet Chill” – Sorbet’s and ice creams. A lot of selection and a great late night treat!!

Aria’s “Café Vettro” (we think this is the name of the place we went to) – Service was terrible but the food was pretty tasty. We saw other’s getting good service with different waiters/waitresses so we think our visit was just bad luck.

Bellagio’s “Noodles” – The food was really good here. The tables are put very close together and the portion size is very large.

Let’s Talk About Vegas…Hotels

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Vegas. We’ve had the pleasure of visiting Vegas three times now so I hope to mind vomit for a while about the things we’ve seen in case it helps us in the future or others who are planning their own trips someday.


Hotels:

There are a ton of places to stay – both on the strip and off. Someone at work always stays off the strip in old Vegas at the Golden Nugget and he wouldn’t have it any other way. A great place to start when looking for hotels is to visit the website www.vegas.com Here you can see a great map of the strip and lots of summary information about each hotel. I actually know someone who booked their last trip on this site.

What we do is to sign up for email newsletters for a number of travel agencies. From these we can find out about last minute deals and then take those prices and compare them to other booking alternatives such as Travelocity, Expedia, Sears etc. If you have a particular hotel in mind, you can go to their personal website and sign up for their email newsletter. It’s a great way to find out about sales. Finally you can befriend hotels on both Facebook and Twitter to find out about deals or special offers.

We’ve stayed in 3 different hotels on the strip. Although we’ve walked through most of the hotels on the strip, I don’t feel at all qualified to give you an opinion of their rooms without having seen them. I do feel qualified to comment on their décor, their food or other amenities – more on that in another post. As always – this is my opinion only and others may have far different experiences.

Treasure Island – This is the first hotel that we stayed at. I believe my husband favored it because it advertised ages 18 and over and of course, the free Sirens of TI show each evening. (if you aren’t familiar – there is a pirate ship outside the hotel that features a 15 min show each evening. The female participants are scantily clad and plentiful.) The room was clean. The bed was comfortable. We had no problems with our room or the service. We were able to upgrade the room to a view of the strip and it was a nice view. It was a nice hotel. It didn’t wow us in any way but there was also not much to complain about either. One issue we did have is that we could hear our neighbors very well and they were loud. They had kids in their room and a baby along with what sounded like numerous adults. I don’t think they ever slept. The location was nice. It has a pedway to the Fashion Show Mall across the street. It also has a free tram across another street to the Mirage hotel. TI is the host to the long running cirque show Mystere. We never did visit the pool but from our bird’s eye view in our room – it did look nice.

Here is the view of the strip that we had from our room at Treasure Island.

MGM – This was the second hotel that we stayed at. This hotel is at the opposite end of the strip. It houses one of the Monorail stops which is handy for a quick ride to the opposite end of the strip. The Monorail does cost money to ride but it’s not very much. We requested the West Wing of the hotel after reading reviews about it. The West Wing has a very modern look with some funky upgrades to the room. There is a TV in the bathroom mirror, a telephone in the bathroom and very modern decorating touches. Once again, the room was nice although seemed a bit small to me. My husband was very taken with this hotel and would definitely stay here again. I thought it was nice but would have preferred something more central to the strip rather than hopping a monorail.  The view left something to be desired but we were on a lower floor - we stared at some mechanical equipment on the roof.

Our room in the West Wing of the MGM

The bathroom in our room - complete with phone

A Television in the mirror!

The Aria – This was where we stayed during our last trip to Vegas. This hotel just opened in Dec 2009 and is located across the street from Planet Hollywood hotel – near the MGM end of the strip. In a word – heaven. This is a 5 star hotel and I’m sure that if we hadn’t found the travel deal we did, we wouldn’t have stayed there. The hotel/room was simply amazing. As you walked into the room for the first time the room detected your presence. The lights turned on, the TV turned on and the curtains opened to show you the view. You could control all of these with a bedside panel as well. You could press a button to indicate that you were ready for maid service or another button to show that you wanted privacy. They did turn down service each night that found your room with dimmed lights, turned back covers and chocolate on your pillows. It was hard to leave that room and do anything in Vegas. There was a free tram there than ran between the Monte Carlo, The Aria, Crystals (high end shopping) and the Bellagio. There was also a pedway leading across the road to the Planet Hollywood Hotel area/M&M Store and Coke Store.

The bathroom at the Aria

Our room at the Aria - the touch panel control is on the left side

The reading corner (as I used it for) and the view

Another view from the Aria window

Lots of closet space here

Some dizzying decorating choices on the Promenade level

Organize It Wednesday

On Wednesdays I like to post stuff that is organized.  It is not always my stuff but it's stuff that I like.  :)  Yes, I know it's not Wednesday yet, but it's less than 2 hours from now.  Close enough...

This is a scrapbook embellishment holder that I have in my scrapbook room.

Green Monsters

From the archives....

April 7, 2010
The Dreaded Green Monster...

Right now, as I type, my co-worker Mrs. Smith is concocting a green monster in my office. She is not taking no for an answer. She is threatening to force it down my throat if I don't try it. She says I will love it.


What's a green monster?

http://greenmonstermovement.com/

Her gross looking creation this morning is made up of spinich, banana, protein powder and rice milk. Can you say...creepy?

Another co-worker Sven has been also hauled into the office - forced to try this weird invention. LOL

Sven's review was "what an interesting combination of flavors" which he followed up with a "not bad".

I thought it was...ok. I'm not a big banana fan in a smoothie but I think it would be vastly improved with some strawberries and some ice.

This whole tasting led to a debate about the Magic Bullet. Do you have one? Do you want one? What would you do with it?

Day 21 - And the Winner Is...

Famous Lady Jane - who suggested painting my nails daily as a way to stop chewing them!  Today is day 21!  I haven't painted my nails in about 3 days and I need to.  I have broken a lot of my chewing habits since beginning this journey but I am still growing out the damage that was done to them before I started.  I hope to paint them tonight and finally post a picture of how they were doing.  After that I want to post a pic weekly until they get into nice shape.  Of the 10 nails - I have 3 that are nice, 3 that are questionable and 4 that are badly damaged but slowly growing out.

This is one of 3 blogs that I keep.  I have one for cooking, this one - for chewing and one private blog.  I've decided to begin changing this one into a public blog where I can post things that I like to talk about that aren't private - things like trips, scrapbooking, crafts, weird food, random thoughts etc.  My private blog will be used only seldom and only to post things more private and personal to me - thoughts, kids, husband etc.  I guess you could say that my 3 blogs will now be: my Public Blog (this one), My Private Blog and my Cooking Blog. 

Stay tuned in the coming days for more posts and random thoughts.  I have some storage pics to post and some trip pictures - we got back from Vegas 2 nights ago!!

Method 5 - Day 13 - Paint your nails everyday.

I like this method.  All those polishes that I bought for my toes are getting good use on my fingers.

This method is working well. 
It only failed once when I neglected to top up the fingernail polish for a couple of days.  That was last night.
Strike 1?

Anyway...If I were to walk into a spa right now and get a manicure I could confidently offer up 5 of my fingernails.  This is a huge improvement from the zero that it was when I start this process.  There are 3 more pending - damage done well before I start this process that is growing up along the nail.  I can't wait for it to disappear.

This method has the potential to make the 21 days that I challenged.  :)  Not a cure but progress.

I find that I pick at or feel for rough spots which leads to the chewing.  The polish evens out any rough spots on the nails but not the surrounding area.  I need to find something for my hands to do - especially in the car and in front of the TV - the 2 worst offenders.  Any suggestions?

Method 5 - day 8

It's been a while once again but I haven't given up.  I gave the gum method a few days but I just didn't seem to have gum on me all the time and my jaw was starting to click from all the chewing.  LOL

I am now on Day 8 of painting my nails.   The polish makes them smooth so they feel foreign when I bring them to my lips so I become aware of what I am doing.  I've painted them  twice in the last week and it seems to be working pretty well for now.  If I wasn't about to go to sleep I'd be more clever in this post.  LOL  Just the same - I was well overdue for an update!


1. artificial nails for while. - FAIL

2. have teeth removed - FAIL

3. wear gloves/think about gross things - FAIL

4. chewing gum - FAIL

5. paint the nails - IN PROGRESS

6. blog about your nails every day

7. hypotherapy

8. nail clipper often

9.get a petri dish and culture under your nails

10.. stop 2 nails at a time every 2 weeks

11. get a manicure first

12. have a competition with your DH (admittedly this is DH's suggestion as he would like to quit too)

13. incentive prize for nails - $ per finger for scrapbook stuff

14. bandaids or thumb feeet at education station

15. Google a new method.

16. nail poison

Method 4 - Day 1

1. artificial nails for while. - FAIL


2. have teeth removed - FAIL

3. wear gloves/think about gross things - FAIL

4. chewing gum - IN PROGRESS

5. paint the nails

6. blog about your nails every day

7. hypotherapy

8. nail clipper often

9. hypnotherapy

10. get a petri dish and culture under your nails

11. stop 2 nails at a time every 2 weeks

12. get a manicure first

13. have a competition with your DH (admittedly this is DH's suggestion as he would like to quit too)

14. incentive prize for nails - $ per finger for scrapbook stuff

15. bandaids or thumb feeet at education station

16. Google a new method.

17. nail poison

 
Chewing Gum.  I do like gum.  I keep some on my desk all the time.  I guess I need to eat more often.  Taking 2 pieces now.... Chew chew chew.... I do like gum.