Eat, Live, Run » musings

thankfulness

jenna — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:20:30 +0000

Three years ago today, I woke up at 4:30am, grabbed a thermos full of hot coffee and headed into work. At the time, I was working as an apprentice to the head pastry chef at a private yacht club in my hometown and Thanksgiving was our busiest day of the year. If you’ve been reading my blog for three years you certainly remember my pastry school days! When I got into work that day, the kitchen was already active and alive. Stock pots were bubbling on the stove, vats of stuffing were already in the oven and my boss was already there, sticking what would be one of sixty pies, in the oven. For the next ten hours, I piped buttercream into whoopie pie after whoopie pie, baked dozens of loaves of rustic bread and put the finishing touches on what felt like a million pumpkin pies.

I remember driving the two hours home to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family, little did I know it would be the last Thanksgiving dinner we would ever have all together. When my brother was alive.

I haven’t been back home for Thanksgiving since then. After he died and after I moved to California I just wanted to stay. Going home was too hard and everything was still too real and raw. I remember hiking to the top of a mountain here in Sonoma on my first Thanksgiving alone and breaking down sobbing at the top.

This year, I’m thankful to be home.

I’m thankful for everything I’ve gone through in the past three years that has brought me to the place where I am now.

Three years ago writing a book was a bucket list item, something I never thought to accomplish until I was at least thirty. Today, I’m eagerly awaiting my publication date of next Fall (finally!) after working on my manuscript for what felt like an eternity.

I’m thankful for you. For every one of you who read my words, make my recipes and encourage me with your comments every single day. You’re the reason why I blog and I hope you know how thankful I am for you.

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twenty things about me

jenna — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:50:38 +0000

1. I can’t sing to save my life and was the only one of out all my friends to get cut from 9th grade chorus.

2. I shattered all the bones in my wrist in a roller-skating accident when I was ten.

3. I haven’t set my foot in a roller-skate since that day.

4. I also haven’t sat my butt on a bike since this day.

5. I’m a “little” accident prone.

6. I try to read the bible every day.

7. I could eat French toast for every single meal.

8. I’m completely obsessed with the leaves changing color right now—we never had that in Florida!

9. The Boxcar Children’s Cookbook and The Little House on the Prairie Cookbook ignited a passion for food in me when I was seven. I’ve never wanted to do anything else but cook.

10. I wear slippers everywhere.

11. I’m about to start yoga teacher training in January.

12. I lived in five states before the age of ten.

13. My favorite place in the whole world is Miraval in Tucson, Arizona.

14. I would love to live abroad for a year.

15. I don’t have a garbage disposal, dishwasher or television in my house.

16. I hate beer.

17. I roasted my very first turkey a few days ago and fed all my friends!

18. My book officially has a title (!!)….but I’m keeping it a secret for now.

19. And yes, I’m still writing a book. It will be on a bookshelf near you come September.

20. I love flying on planes.

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the pause button

jenna — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:30:52 +0000

So…..I’m still on vacation and have been pretty bad about taking photos. Whoops. I’ve been too busy taking up the sport of paddleboarding (amazing core workout!), reapplying my sunscreen and reading my book by the water.

It’s been un-freakin-believable.

I hope y’all had a wonderful 4th of July! We’re actually headed home this morning…I’m kinda in denial. I wanted to share with you guys though the wonderful dinner I ate the other night here at Spindleshanks, a great restaurant that Adam and I have been to before. We both were waaaaay too exhausted to do anything but walk across the street (we stayed here and LOVED it!!) for dinner last night after a full day of white water rafting on the Truckee river in Nevada. The day was hot, the water was ice cold and we both had a blast.

All that paddling made me hungry! And thirsty. Very, very thirsty.

We both could barely wait to dig into the cajun BBQ beer prawns as soon as they were set down on the table. And you know what was even better than the prawns? Dipping huge chunks of bread in that sauce. Mmmmmmm

It’s what dreams are made of.

For dinner, I had the salmon special which was grilled salmon on top of sweet corn puree (yum) with a warm spinach salad, balsamic tomatoes and tempura green beans on top.

It reminded me of how much I love this fish. Note to self: make this soon. Like…tomorrow.

So lucky to share it all with my most handsome date…

Thanks everyone for being so patient while I’m on vacay. It’s been amazing to just hit the “pause” button and just soak everything up.

Happy (late) 4th of July! More recaps comin’ your way shortly…stay tuned.

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lately for lunch

jenna — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:27:02 +0000

I’ve been making these “green bowls”….or at least that’s what I call them. I know, ridiculously healthy, right? I don’t even know who I am anymore! But I’ll tell you what—ever since I started eating these green bowls a few times a week for lunch, my energy has totally increased ten-fold. For reals.

Basically, what I do is bake up some extra firm tofu….

I still use the exact same recipe/preparation method that I did back in 2008! It just can’t be beat.

While the tofu is baking, I bring some stock to a simmer and toss in some whole wheat cous-cous. And while that’s cooking, I start on my greens.

I’ve been getting a CSA bag every week from a local farm here and it has done amazing things in my veggie consumption. I’ve found that I really don’t go out of my way to BUY greens every week (it’s a nice thought though) but……if they’re already in my fridge I feel like I “have” to eat them. Plus, fresh greens from the farm are so incredibly fresh and taste much better than the wilty greens at the store.

So, I’ll throw a little olive oil in my skillet and saute up some squash (also from my CSA bag) and then once that’s tender, I’ll add my greens—-usually a big mix of kale and rainbow chard. I add a TON—probably four or five cups because it cooks down.

Then, I’ll put my cous-cous in the bowl, top with the greens and baked tofu and add a big squirt of both sriracha and goddess dressing. These bowls take me forever to eat and really do numbers for energy levels during the day. Plus, they’re way more fun than having a boring turkey sandwich or egg burrito every day.

Try it!

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baking in heels

jenna — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:21:11 +0000

My birthday is next weekend and I decided that these shoes are the only way to proper ring in my 26th year.

I have no idea what I will wear them with (or better yet, where I will wear them other than my kitchen and Whole Foods), but they are a shoe fit for a 26 year old…and that soon will be me.

A huge thank you to Susan for kindly emailing me this morning and telling me they went on clearance! Now these beauties, originally $228, can be yours for only $83.

Or $120 if you’re like me and ordered them to come on next day air.

Because I clearly need these shoes by tomorrow night or I will simply die.

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hits of the party

jenna — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:24:08 +0000

Like I was saying, last night we had a bunch of friends over from church for a barbecue. I made these watermelon mojitos and Ashley brought some berry margaritas that were to die for. At times, I felt like I was running a full bar out of the kitchen…that’s how us church folks roll.

Right.

Regardless, I totally thought I could do it all—cook, mingle and take photos for the blog but….that didn’t really happen. What really happened was I drank one of the above mojitos, stuffed sixteen jalapeno peppers with goat cheese and herbs, stuffed portobello mushrooms with more goat cheese and herbs, laughed with my friends, and failed at making sweet potato fries all while keeping an eye out the window at Adam to make sure he ate his veggie burger (he ate two and loved them!).

Ashley made cake pops!

And I surprised everyone by busting out Angela’s Chilled Double Chocolate Torte!

This torte was….ridiculous. Not only is it vegan, but it’s avocado based! And no one knew the better. It was gobbled up at a rapid rate, especially by Adam, who claimed it was “one of the best chocolate desserts ever”. The filling was, hands down, some of the creamiest mousse I’ve ever worked with and it rekindled my love for vegan baking.

Heh heh heh

I think at this point, I had either stuffed one to many jalapenos or there was a hunk of bread in my mouth. Please disregard my scary grandmother smile and observe the obvious bar in the kitchen.

I feel the need to tell you all that after everyone left, Adam and I settled in the couch to watch the last two episodes of Grey’s. That’s right—it took us three full months of obsessive tv watching, but we finally made it through all of season seven.

And then I cried.

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all about the sauce

jenna — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:05:50 +0000

Yesterday, a bottle of Bessinger’s Spicy Barbecue sauce opened in my favorite Orla Keily purse.

You might be wondering what in the world a bottle of barbecue sauce was doing in my purse to begin with, so let me share with you the whole story.

I had planned to make my mom’s saucy pulled pork yesterday, along with homemade cornbread and mac & cheese. Adam had bought me a five-pack of Bessinger’s sauce when we were in Charleston over New Years because he knew it was my very, very favorite sauce on the entire planet and something we can’t get back home. It’s a spicy vinegar-based sauce, much superior to anything found west of the Mississippi no matter how “down home” the barbecue joint seems to be. Please don’t even get me started on California barbecue restaurants. That’s a whole other post in itself.

Anyway, I ran home to retrieve my prized possession yesterday so I could use it for the pulled pork I was about to make. I stuck the bottle in my purse and headed to Whole Foods to buy some pork butt. And when I paid for said butt, I realized that the bottle had opened and completely doused everything inside with smoky vinegar goodness.

Of course I couldn’t let on that anything was wrong at the cash register, and held my tears and frustration until I came home to my injured boyfriend.

“Jenna? What in the world is wrong?!” Adam asked with concern as he lay propped up in bed.

“The…the…barbecue sauce opened in my puuuuuuuuurse,” I wailed, holding out my doused bag before his eyes.

I explained how I had taken the top off to taste it at my house but then screwed it back on very tightly before placing it in my bag.

“We can get you a new purse! Don’t cry..please don’t cry!” Adam said.

“It’s not about the purse. Now we can’t use the sauce!” I sniffed.

My priorities have always been in check.

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impulse buyer

jenna — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:27:43 +0000

I am an impulse buyer.

I like instant gratification and will often pay the extra twenty five dollars for next day shipping for no other reason other than the sheer fact that I want it now.

This can be a good thing, in that I make decisions quickly and know what I want. It can also be a bad thing, in terms of apartment hunting and pair after pair of boots in my closet.

(...)
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snow, pilgrim gowns and strawberry sauce

jenna — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:22:24 +0000

No, that’s not my back yard (I wish…sorta…not really). That would be Lake Tahoe last year. Remember the epic ten-hour-when-it-should-have-been-three-hour road trip that led to snowboarding bliss?

That was also when a certain large pepperoni pizza saved the future of my relationship.

Long story.

Anyways, none of any of that has anything to do with what I wanted to write about this morning; I just wanted to include that photo at the beginning because I think it’s pretty.

Now this photo is more representative of what I wanted to write about this morning, which is favorite holiday food memories.

It’s a pretty picture, too. I’m dressed in a typical homemade pilgrim gown while my brother resembles keebler the elf.

My mom says I’m special.

I say ruffles are in.

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ready to roll

jenna — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:31:45 +0000

I just pulled my first batch of holiday cookies out of the oven and I have a huge cheesy grin on my face.

December is my very favorite month for many reasons, cookies obviously being one of them. As a baker of sorts, I wait patiently (hah) all year for this month so I can let my cookie obsession loose.

Oh, it’s going to be crazy, friends. Get ready.

(...)
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