First attempt

at the Fitnessista's breakfast cookie.
http://fitnessista.com/2008/11/something-worth-waking-up-for

I know it doesn't look pretty but I'm hoping it tastes better than it looks. The orange tint comes from the pumpkin.

My ingredients:

Unpictured: Raisins, Cinnamon, and 5 drops of liquid Stevia (I finally get to try Stevia!!)

Dinner:

More of my mom's awesome cooking. Zuchinni w. onions that were nicely carmelized. The star of the plate was the mackeral. She used kochujang, a korean chilli paste and also added ginger, garlic and rice wine vinegar that made this amazing sweet sauce that enveloped the fish. Mmmm... just thinking back on it makes my mouth start watering. I'm such a freak of nature.

I may or may not be coming up on that time when I crave everything sweet and start having those crazy mood swings. :-D Either way it gives me an excuse to indulge. Who needs Coldstone when I can make a fine sundae all by myself!

Ever see that movie What about Bob where they're all sitting at the dining room table and Bob keeps making those noises. Yep, that was me just now eating this. Can I have another puhlease?!

Bozu circuit

I went to the gym this morning and did a 45 minute bozu circuit. Me thinks that was a good idea. There were lots of squats, lunges, crunches, and bicep curls involved. My shirt was so soaked that my mom asked me if I had run this morning. Mission accomplished.

Lunch was eaten very early. I'm not sure it was even noon!

We Koreans like to eat heavy meals for lunch. That would be mapo tofu with a side of brown rice, kimchi, and spicy pork. Lovely!!

Something sweet before I get crackalackin w. my language studies:

Song of the day: Robin Thicke "Lost without you"

Yep I'm that girl..

who eats out of a carton. I liked it.

There was only a bit left (I swear I didn't finish it tonight!) so I sprinkled some pecans and slivered almonds on top. Ice cream always tastes better when there's something crunchy mixed in!

Dinner tonight:

My mom made miyeok guk, a korean soup that you eat on your birthday. We also had some leftover pajun and jap-chae (clear noodles with beef and vegetables tossed w. sesame oil and other lovely ingredients). Mmm. Home cookin!

My plate:

I definitely had a second helping of everything after this was taken. I know I deserve it :)

White rice expansion in my belly

As much as I love Chirashi, all that white rice underneath makes me feel bloated and uncomfortable. Why not sashimi you ask? Well I like rice with my fish. One day I'll strike a good balance of eating until I'm satisfied.

I should have taken a picture of my mother eating the shrimp heads. Gross. My brother and I both passed. They should be labeled garnishes.

Land of the huge MAKI's! The one closest is the Dragon Roll with unagi, avocado, and tamago. The further one is the Osaka roll with tuna, crab meat, cucumber, avocado, and shrimp tempura.

Unpictured: bowl of Ramen in a beef broth with mushrooms

Breakfast this morning before my 4+ mile run:

That would be pumpkin, greek yogurt, pecans, and sliced almonds. Holy moly. So sweet and delicious.

I'm going to try my first Zumba class here in Rockford. I signed up at an all women's gym for the month I'm here. So far, not bad. The gym has all the equipment I need and there is something refreshing about no oogling beef cakey men near you. I have this weird feeling though that Zumba is going to be a bunch of old ladies but I keep repeating to myself "open mind, have an open mind".

Mom- "let's take a picture!!"
Hanna- "FINE, HURRY!!" thinking to myself seriously? we're in a parking lot.

Song of the day: "Summer Girls"- LFO (RIP Rich Cronin, you defined a part of my teenage generation) :)

$40 for a Rib-eye?!?!

We're in Rockford people, not New York City. At least my bud light was $3. Now that's a steal.

We finally decided to eat this piece of meat after what seemed like eternity of my brother inspecting it to see if it was in fact "medium". Listen buddy, I'm hungry and don't make me stab you with my knife. It was tasty because this guy below can make even stale cardboard taste good.

Good to be back home.

So this salad is all about the iceberg "no nutritional value" lettuce and coleslawed fake lump crabmeat but it was delicious all the same. Sometimes a girls just gotta have her processed foods. At least the shrimp was real. I hope.

I forgot to look at what was on the pizza exactly because I was too busy wolfing down two slices. I know it had gorgonzola cheese and pears with some type of nut on it as well. Perhaps walnut? I knew it wasn't your average London pizza because it wasn't soggy. Yea, I said it. Wanna fight?

You know you're in America when people are paying more attention to the game than their food. If I didn't love to eat so much, I might be one of them. Either way, I love it! By the way, when did Brett Farve become such an oldie... but goodie?

Happy Birthday to my brother Joe. He's turning 29 tomorrow. You're getting so old. I feel like it was just yesterday you were teasing me.. wait you still are.  Nonetheless. Happy Birthday and quit playing golf because it's obviously made you too skinny. :-D

Bored

This has to be by far the most boring lunch I've had. At least it tasted somewhat good.

Sandwich made out of pita, hummus, spinach, and avocado. Carrots and ranch dressing sold separately.

Dessert:

I found these laying around the house. I'm sure they are a bazillion years old since my mom has chocolate out from the early 2000's.

Song of the day: Bruno Mars "Just the way you are"

Lions and Tigers and.. Deer?

I really couldn't believe my luck. I honestly didn't expect to see anything but birds and bugs! I must have squealed when I saw two deer appear slowly from the right corner of my eye. They didn't run off as fast as I thought they would. I swear the one kept looking back at me to see me watching her. Such a magical moment.

Dang. You can't really see them in this picture but I swear they are there.

Important to stay hydrated and well fed. Thank you Jimmy Johns. I heart you.

There were some stairs involved. I'm hoping my booty got a workout as well :)

Legend goes that a young man fell in love w. a woman from a rival tribe and rather than spend their lives apart, they jumped off the ledge together.

I hiked for a total of 3 1/2 hours. Most of the hike was spent alone as there weren't that many people. As I was leaving, more people decided to show up. It was really peaceful to have most of the trails to myself. Near the end, I ran into someone who said something like aren't you glad the the kids are in school? When I looked at her as if she was crazy, she informed me that the path is usually littered with pesky teenagers during the summer days off. Uhm no thanks. :)

I'm using my mom's slooooowww computer and it is driving me crazy. I can't seem to control any of the layout in this post. Needless to say, I am very excited about the UK to US outlets arriving soon. I went everywhere: Best Buy, Radio Shack, Batteries Plus looking for a damn outlet converter. No such luck! I had to order one from Amazon.