elyssa: dinner party madness

location: back and forth from toronto to hamilton

midweek check-in:

so i've mastered eating alone - but who wants to be a sad old spinster that eats alone with the cat? when i'm by myself, the urge to monitor and moderate comes naturally. i dont want to eat 50 grapes - i just want 10. i savor. i notice taste and texture. in a crowd, this skill pretty much disappears. in my experience, the best way to handle moments of weakness is to do what i told you i did at last week's party. go upstairs. take a moment. return to your center (like in yoga). i did this at the boy's house yesterday. his ever-gracious mom was of a mind to force feed my dad and i unlimited homemade crepes. while delicious, i stopped at half a crepe. i was able to resist her urges to eat more by taking a minute to excuse myself and recommit. sounds ridiculous? well, it works! did i experience guilt for just this half? yes, a little bit. while i try not to get caught up in a negative relationship with food (i take my inspiration here from your lovely positive relationship with the cupcake lol), honestly, it's probably because the crepe isn't my preferred indulgence of choice. nevertheless, the situation was handled quite nicely. good thing, because crepes, cinnamon buns, and strudel are a weekly occurrence in the boy's household :)

current challenges:

the exercise regime is on track (i still have lots of time on my hands as summer draws to an end). i am, however, starting to become aware of the rapidly approaching shift in pace that the new school year will bring. my current goal is to spend no longer than 2 hours at the gym. while that sounds like a long time, usually 1 hour is dedicated to a yoga class. so, that leaves only 1 for cardio and strength. on days when i don't do yoga, i like throwing in a bit of elliptical and weight machines before a class. on those days, i can do a quick yoga practice/stretch at home before bed. the point is not to spend my life at the gym. more goals to be posted on sunday!

tonight i'm hosting a dinner party! on the menu: lentil casserole (a la angela), maple glazed chicken legs, roasted vegetable salad (yes, i roasted those vegetables one by one), and pots de creme (aka dark chocolate creme brulee) with whipped cherry topping for dessert. i'm always nervous for dinner parties because it's easy to cook entirely 'my style' and have people wondering 'where was the meat?!' or 'what do you mean, NO sugar?' - so i try to achieve a happy balance all around. chicken is scary as well because when chicken is the star of the show, you want to make sure its not umm..boring. ergo, the maple glaze. i also tried a new technique: leaving it to brine overnight in a sugar/salt 'bath'. we'll see how it turns out!

current obsessions:

cinnamon (hello, fall!), pumpkin (thank you, angela), balsamic reductions (not the healthiest, but sugar + balsamic + slowly boiled = always amazing), getting pictures up on this blog (soon!)