Cooking class last night was fantastic! My fears were totally unfounded. I got there about 5:45 and had like 45 minutes to wait until class started. It was just me and this old lady in there, sipping coffee and reading over the recipes we were going to make. I was getting nervous - until more people started to show. Most of them came in groups of two or three, but then there was this one girl, a UT student, who ended up sitting beside me. She works at Central Market and she gets a class for free every month, so tonight was gratis for her. We ended up being partners and cooking stuff together.


Oh yeah, the food. When we got in there they had a little appetizer for us - two sourdough rolls, some good gourmet ham and a mixture of nuts at every place setting. From there, the chef guy got up and started cooking. He'd cook each dish in front of us and then we'd have to get up and do it ourselves. First we made this other appetizer, which was basically butter (real butter) sprinkled with fresh ground pepper and fleur de sel (sea salt, very good). Then we made this really good salad with mesclun greens, Roquefort cheese, applesmoked bacon, onions and a honey-vinaigrette dressing. Then we did pan-seared flank steaks over penne pasta with egg cream. The pasta I could've lived without, but I did my steak rare and it was sooo good. Oh yeah, and the chef made some haricots verts for us (green beans). He sauteed them with little French potatoes, walnuts and sweet red pepper. Yum.


And the stuff isn't really that hard to make. I've got the recipes. If anyone wants them, just e-mail me.


Needless to say, I didn't go to the gym last night. After a couple of glasses of wine (yes, I had cabernet sauvignon) I was ready to lounge on the couch. But I will go tonight.


In other news ... I've got a problem. See, I bought these jeans at Lerner a few weeks ago, because I really needed jeans. All I wear are these great bootcut CKs, so I needed to expand. So I bought these "Flat-Iron Flares" (whatever that means) for $20. They're really dark blue with the bell-bottomish leg. Here's where the problem comes in: I bought a size 12. I was sitting in the dressing room with straight-leg, flare-leg, low-riders and every other type of jean in the universe piled around me. The main reason there were so many is that I felt the need to get each pair in both a size 10 and a size 12, just for comparison. I decided that I liked the darkest blue best, so I tossed all jeans except the flat-irons aside and started doing that "pants test" that we all know so well: Put on jeans. Turn around to see derriere in jeans. Sit. Squat. See how they look with your shoes. Grow depressed over your hips.


After these extensive trials, the size 12 seemed to be the best. The 10 was a little snug around the hips and waist, so I didn't want to take the chance that they would shrink and become part of my large "jeans-I-say-I'll-wear-when-I-get-skinny" collection. Conversely, the size 12 was a little loose in the legs, but I figured a few turns in the washer and dryer would draw 'em right up.


I totally overestimated the power of household appliances. Two washes and two dry cycles failed to shrink the jeans to any significant degree. The jeans fit OK in the stomach and hips area, but there was this odd gap between the small of my back and the back of the waistband. The thighs were too loose for my liking, and the inseam was a little long. And we're talking about petite length jeans.


So basically, I'm somewhere between a 10 and a 12. And right now I'm wearing my good old CKs (which are 10s, by the way). Maybe new jeans just aren't in the cards for me.

Jen from nowhere @ 9:19 AM

Why do I always get like this? I'm taking a cooking class at Central Market tonight, and I'm getting nervous. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because I'm going alone. But it's not like they're going to laugh me out of there or anything for not bringing a friend. I guess it's that seventh-grade mentality creeping in: What if nobody talks to me?


I guess if I don't like it, I can always sneak out the door never to return. But that would be wasting the $45 I spent on the damn class. I'm supposed to be learning French Bistro Cooking. Honestly, though, I'm not sure that I will ever actually recreate the recipes at home. Mostly because Mark is a heavy-on-the-sauce-and-cheese kinda guy. No subtle tastes or flavors for him. He puts about 2-3 tablespoonfuls of jam on his toast, and drowns his pizza slices in ranch dressing. Somehow I don't think he'd appreciate the delicateness of Penne Pasta with Dijon, Madrange Ham and Chives.


I need to get psyched up.

Jen from nowhere @ 2:45 PM

Thanks are in order for Stacy, who ever so kindly told me that I didn't need to lose weight. It's nice to hear that, but I respectfully disagree. No, I'm not obese or even overweight for my height, but every time I go to the mall and try on a pair of pants, there's this little inner voice of disapproval whispering from behind the mirror: "You used to be a size 6." And that bothers me, especially considering that I currently am a size 10 and for just a few more pounds I could be a (gasp) 12.


I never had a weight problem until I got out of college. Then I started a hectic job at a newspaper and ate all sorts of junk. I often didn't have time to go to lunch, so I'd run by a fast-food joint and pick up some cheeseburgers. Well, after a few months these habits really started to show up on my waistline. I distinctly remember buying a gorgeous shantung Anne Taylor dress at the mall and wearing it to work. I loved it. A few months later, I put the dress on again and managed to rip the seams around the hip area. I was devastated, but again my work schedule didn't allow me time to exercise.


Then my current job came along. It's a good job - well-paying, low workload, and REGULAR hours. I know for a fact that I'll be leaving at 5 today. I could leave earlier if I wanted to. Hell, I could go up to my boss in five minutes and say, "I'm working from home the rest of the day," and he wouldn't bat an eye. And I could go home right then and eat bon-bons the rest of the day, and I probably wouldn't get behind in my duties. Of course, my sense of responsibility keeps me from doing that. But the point is, I now have time. Time to lose that weight. Time to come home in the evenings and fix salads and baked fish. Time to spend an hour at the gym five days a week. And I am loving it.


But, so far, I have only seen a 5-pound drop in my weight. Now I'm probably down to about 130 (I should update my template to reflect that). I know why I'm not dropping more pounds. It's because of my eating. I try to be good during the day - granola bars, skim milk, nonfat lattes and Lean Cuisines for lunch - but dinner is where I screw up. Last night Mark and I made these disgusting grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon. On the side I had chicken noodle soup and salad with ranch dressing (not a lot, though; we ran out). Mark ate probably 7 strips of bacon and ended up getting sick at the gym. I just felt disgusting. With eating habits like this, no wonder I'm holding steady at 130.


But, to get back to my original point way back there --- I want to be my high-school weight again. I still have pants in the closet that I swear I'm going to fit into someday. I'm going for 115, baby. But my diet will have to get under control before anything happens.


Lean Cuisine, here I come.


Jen's Calorie Saver From Yesterday: No, I didn't post one yesterday. But here it is. Yesterday I was craving a Frappuccino from Starbucks, in all its fatty whipped-cream glory. But I held out. I sipped on my pathetic little Diet Coke and guess what? I lived through the day. Added bonus: I saved about $4.

Jen from nowhere @ 10:27 AM

Okay, so I didn't post yesterday. Shoot me. (That's really not funny anymore, is it, considering all the crap happening with that self-appointed marksman?)


Yesterday was fine. I finally convinced Mark to go to the gym with me last night. He hasn't been in, like, two months, because of all his classwork and stuff. I would have cancelled his membership (since it comes out of my paycheck), but it's cheaper just to keep paying for it, because of the $100 initiation fee. It's less than $20 a month anyway, so no big deal. But anyway ... He went kicking and screaming, but once we were out of there he said he wanted to come back tonight. Apparently it's a stress reliever for him. Good, I say. He needs something, what with all the junk he eats. Also, both of us have been going through some serious worrying over the past few days. I can't say right now what it's about, but just know it involves some major life changes. (It doesn't involve cancelling the engagement or anything like that.)


I have been an extremely tired woman since Monday morning. Every day this week I have had to leave my house early. On Monday it was for a doctor's appointment, on Tuesday it was to help Mark drop off his car at the mechanic's and today it was to take him to class (car's not ready yet). I was driving through campus this morning and I realized that Austin would be a really great place to do your undergraduate work. There's all kinds of funky shops and things to do around UT, and it's just so DIFFERENT from where I went to school - in Tuscaloosa, one of those smallish college towns. Don't get me wrong, it was nice, and I did my share of partying, but I think a big city would be more fun to a college student than to a working stiff like me, who comes home at 5 every day and falls asleep on the couch.


Things at work are pretty low-key right now: Nothing is pressing, just working leisurely on some upcoming stuff. I love this time, but boy do I pay for it a few weeks later when I'm swamped and worried to death.


Eats:

2 granola bars (PB & chocolate), 240 cals; 1 glass skim milk, 100 cals

Jen from nowhere @ 8:36 AM

You know your blog sucks when...


...you ask a simple question and nobody answers it. OK, either no one is reading this blog (and I will admit, it's not the greatest or fanciest blog) or people are reading it and no one cares. But whatever.


This weekend was good. I ended up renting Mulholland Drive, but I haven't watched it yet, because I also bought Mark a copy of A Beautiful Mind and we watched that instead. Our weekends, what with the gym, dinners out and studying, don't have time for more than one movie. Now it's a fairly low-stress Monday and I'm back in the office for another week. I need to call my hairdresser and my new dentist to schedule appointments. I swear, I hate moving because you have to find new everything: new grocery store, new post office, new doctors...it's exhausting. And I'm always nervous when I go to new doctors because I'm worried that they're going to be quacks. I've been to a few bad docs in my life and it's no fun. (They weren't bad bad, like murderers or anything, but I just didn't gel with them.)


I went to the gym Friday, Saturday AND Sunday, despite my efforts to talk myself out of it. However, my reward comes today, when I don't have to go! I absolutely HATE going on Mondays, so I'm trying to work it to where I don't go then, and maybe on another weekday, like Wednesday. Those are usually busier days and there's more competition for machines. I LOVE going on the weekends, when it's relatively deserted. Since my branch is 24/7, I ought to go at 3 a.m. or something.


I was also fairly good as far as food goes ... we did go to Chuy's this weekend with the $20 gift certificate my aunt gave me. And I did kind of pig out. But the rest of the weekend was diet-friendly; last night we ate salad, sweet potatoes and pigs in blankets (I had 2).


Jen's Calorie Saver of the Day: Today I went to a doctor's appointment early in the morning, around 8 a.m. But I overestimated how long it would take to get there, and I realized about halfway there that I was going to be early. I really wanted to go to Burger King or McDonald's and get a bacon, egg and cheese. I find myself getting fast-food breakfast cravings a lot at times like this - probably because when I was a kid, my mom would take me for a biscuit after many of my doctor's appointments. But to make a long story short, I didn't go, even though I passed a gazillion fast food joints on the way there and on the way back. I had already eaten 2 small granola bars and had a big glass of milk anyway. I probably saved 500 calories or so.

Jen from nowhere @ 10:26 AM