A week full of goodbyes

This was a hard week on my heart. While some of the things weren't as sad as others, it has certainly been a week!

• The Caps got soundly swept in the second round of the playoffs :-(
• Gary Williams announced his retirement from coaching Terps basketball :-(!
• I underwent ankle reconstruction surgery bidding adieu to my bum ankle :-|
• Osama my house mouse was trapped and killed :-)
• Osama bin Laden was trapped and killed :-)
• I canceled my sparingly-used gym membership :-)

The first two items still have me bitter, reeling, sad and angry. I think I also might be in shock/denial. How dare the Caps put us fans in through the same scenario as last year?! Hrmph....DC sports teams. Then there's Gary. Garrrry. GARY! He's the face of Maryland basketball! He's the reason most people come to watch the team. I will miss his croud-rousing fist pump, his profuse sweating, his angry rants, his pacing, and his knee-splitting squat. Oh, yeah, and of course I'll never forget how he resurrected the Maryland program into prominence. The 2001/2001 basketball season when we won the national championship was probably the sports highlight of my lifetime.

Now for my ankle. Here's what she looked like pre-surgery. Pretty normal-ish on the oustide. Beat up on the inside! This is my first experience with surgery, casts and immobility. As an extremely impatient person, the next two months as a gimp will be trying.

And this is me with my glorious splint. I won't get my hard cast for another ten days or so.

My poor leg won't see the light of day until the last week of June! So far, the nerve block they put in my leg to numb my sciatic nerve hasn't worn off yet (and might not till tomorrow) so I haven't felt a full course of pain yet. Here's to my soon-to-be-new best friends Oxycontin and Percocet!

So, goodbye Caps; goodbye Gary Williams; goodbye Osamas and good riddance; goodbye ankle and good riddance; goodbye Fitness First...sorry we didn't get to see each other much. And here's to some new beginnings!

HilaryEats...less?

Is it possible? Am I really on a "diet?" I don't know, but I am trying to be.

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved pigs--the animals. I've acquired every possible kind of pig item over the years as well. From pig trash can, to pig print socks, to stuffed animal pigs, to pig earrings, pig key chain, pig pot-holder, pig spatula, pig bank, pig pen, pig book mark, pig ornaments, pig mugs, pig EVERYTHING.

I am also fond of ham and pork products, but sometimes struggle with that since I think the animal, especially piglets, are beyond adorable. In fact, I want to own a pig someday. I saw once that mini-piglets were being bred in Britain as housepets and I half-considered moving there so I could partake in that love.

And for as long as I can remember, I have been called every iteration and variation of the word "pig." From being called "Miss Piggy" by my chubby neighbor, to my dad calling me a "little piglet," to my college friend Frank calling me "Carnitas" or "Porkita," it's been ingrained in my mind that I am a pig. My friend Sheri even tagged me in a photo on Facebook once that was just a picture of pigs she saw at some farm. I can never manage to eat a meal without having some of it appear on my clothing. Be it a crumbs down my shirt, or sauce and food stains on my pants and shirts, it's a disaster. I also snarf down large quantities of food in one sitting, much like my animal counterpart.

And as I now attempt to cut carbs out of one of my daily meals, I feel like I am disrespecting my very being. It's hard for me to stomach. (Ha.) I am finally trying to exert self-control when I make selections for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The good thing is, the eateries around my office do have good-tasting AND healthy salad options for me to choose.

I hope that I can stick with this, but for now, I should probably start a new blog called HilaryEatsLess.blogspot.com because I can't bear to bore people with talk about small portioned, healthy-food options.

Food truckin'

I'm in a Puerto Rico state of mind. This morning, upon seeing that the high temperature for today was to be 50 degrees, I thought, time to ditch the coat and the pants! This is skirt weather! Fifty degrees is kinda like 80, right? No. After also forgetting to put on deodorant, I hopped outside and thought, maybe it's still coat weather..and popped back inside to grab a thin coat. Then halfway down my walkway, I ran back inside to get my scarf. But my legs, my poor legs froze to death.

And they continued to freeze to death on my walk to Farragut Square this afternoon to indulge in some food truck action. There are dozens of food trucks in the DC area now and to my good fortune, my coworkers are as down with food truck adventures as I am. We've all but sampled the fare from every truck but PiTruck, Eat Wonky, DC Empanadas, District Taco and this new Latin truck. For a running list of the food truck frenzy, check out www.foodtruckfiesta.com.

Today I decided to go with the Sauca truck's Beef Shawarma. I couldn't have picked better! The meat was thinly sliced, well seasoned, tender and covered in Chimichurri and Tahini sauces. The whole bundle was enveloped in a fluffy, doughy pita.

I've also tried their Mumbai Butter Chicken and the Medi Veggie which were equally as good. Be sure to check the Sauca truck out when you can. They have three trucks roaming the area and I saw recently that they have recently introduced some sort of kababs.

Torrential...tears

I'm sad. It's Monday, so that's not surprising. But today, I'm especially sad. For one, I spat in the face of all things healthy by sustaining myself on trans fats and empty calories all weekend:

• McDonald's cheeseburgers, fries
• Cheetos
• Choco Tacos
• Beer
• Pizza
• Chocolate cake
• Quesadillas

I am filled with regret and sadness today as my pant waistline isn't agreeing with me at the moment. I am also upset at the forecast for my upcoming trip to Puerto Rico this week. Have a look for yourself.

Why?! How is that possible! I haven't gone on a "real" vacation in almost two years, if not more. And the one time I do, it's supposed to be raining the ENTIRE time. On top of that, today is filled with thunderstorms and heavy rain and I can't seem to find my umbrella anywhere. But what good does that do me now? None. I guess I should get used to it since I will soon be enjoying a rain-soaked vacation. Awesome.

Crack of the Month

There are soooooo many things that I love to eat and drink. But from time to time, I zero in on one particular item and become obsessed beyond obsessed. I like to refer to these items as my "Crack of the Month." Sometimes, the months get crazy and there's a different Crack of the Week, but for the most part, I am consistent.

The Crack of the Month for February comes in a liquid form. Starbucks, you kill me. I don't mind so much the empty calories of your sugary drinks, but the price? Come on! I could get a six inch sub for lunch for the same price as my Tall latte. That said, I am NOT a coffee drinker. At. All. I love the smell of coffee, I love coffee flavored things, but straight coffee? No, thanks.

Around the holidays, my opinion was slightly altered. Since there's a Starbucks next to my office, most of my coworkers hit it up multiple times a day. And the holiday season was even  more intense what with Starbuck's featured seasonal flavors.  Pumpkin spice latte...white chocolate peppermint mocha latte...gingerbread latte. Yes. I was easily hooked. What put an end to that party was the funds. I couldn't stomach the price for liquid crack.

But, now that the seasonal lattes are gone, I decided to try something new. The cinnamon dolce latte. Oh. My. Oh. Liquid crack, I tell you. I have no idea what's in it, but assume there's some cinnamony-caramelly syrup in there. To make myself feel better about this indulgence, I always ask for it with skim milk and no whipped cream. Then I ingest the liquid crack and dig out my smile.

I heart you, Kobe

I love me some Kobe. I could stare at Kobe's glistening glory for hours...if it weren't that Kobe would get cold. Kobe beef (not Kobe Bryant...I hate that kid), for those who haven't had the opportunity to experience it, is some of the tenderest meat on the planet. I first enjoyed it at BLT Steak in DC in the form of a burger. While the price was ridiculous for a lone burger, it was the only way I could fathom affording that cut of meat. The menu there charged $20 per ounce of Kobe if you were ordering a steak.

Hailing from Japan, these animals get some extra TLC that goes a long way. I've seen YouTube video of  Japanese farmers massaging the cows and feeding them beer to relax them. No wonder they're so tender.

Last night while dining at Wolfgang Puck's The Source in honor of my little brother's birthday, I got to experience the Kobe again. I ordered the Kobe Short Ribs for my main meal, and despite the fact I could've easily eaten two platefuls, I was taken away to a happy place. The ribs were de-boned and resting on top of pureed Indian-style lentis and a saffron raita. The sauce in which they slow-cooked was silky and layered with depth upon depth of flavor.

Although that happy place faded after the quick five minutes it took me to consume my humble portion, at least I snapped a picture of it to carry with me forever. Me thinks that after months of pondering, I have at last found the picture I will put in the locket I've started wearing again. Too weird? I think this shot would nicely complement the picture of Sebastian that's already in there.

Defeating dust and dirt

For a while now, I've wondered what to do about recurring dust and dirt on bathroom mats and rugs throughout my house. No matter how often I clean, dust and dirt remain the fourth roommate in my house. It irritates me how quickly my white bathroom mats look like they've taken a trip in a storm drain so soon after a wash.

When I lived in DC, my roommate and I had separate bathrooms and we both chose dark, solid colored bath mats to match our color schemes. Thinking that those mats would hide dust better proved wrong since the white dust was showcased even better on a dark background. Upon moving to Silver Spring into an old school black-and-white tiled bathroom floor, I chose white bath mats to match thinking that black would show the dust and dirt (DD) far worse.

Well, again, I was wrong. I know this is why offices and apartment complexes (and normal, intelligent humans) choose neutral colored or patterned rugs to hide DD best. But between white/light rugs and dark rugs, I guess I would choose dark.

And yesterday after deciding to wash the white bath mats, I solved this annoying situation for good. Everyone knows to wash whites and colors separately. I know that. But, for some reason, I believed that my Tide COLOR SAFE detergent meant that whites and colors could mingle freely without fear of marriage. Wrong again. Upon washing the white mats with the multi-green-colored runner rug from my living room, my pretty white bathmats instantly turned green.

At first I was horrified. But that soon faded. Since I happen to be in a "green" phase right now where I can't stop myself from buying anything with green in it, clothes wise and otherwise, this in my mind is a victory. I currently have a dark green coat, a dark green purse and several variations of green clothing. Obsessive, yes. But, I can't get enough of the green! And now I have pretty mint green bathmats that actually match the strange, old school green and white tiles in the bathroom. I'm also thinking that the dust won't show up as well since the light green will hide light and dark DD quite well.

Victory! Go green!