WCEC 2018 #1 - Spain

Spain is one of my favorite countries food wise. I've been there twice and I'm obsessed with the tapas and the wine and don't even get me started on Iberico ham. I've done Spain a couple of times now and I feel like I always do Paella. I LOVE Paella but the point of this challenge has always been to step outside the box and try something new.

My original plan was to try to make something completely different that I hadn't done before, but I ended up making empanadas. I have made these before but I was really compelled to do it again.

You see, my mom was an amazing cook. She also tried to make new things and experiment a lot. When I was at my dad's house a couple of weeks ago, my brother encouraged me to go through the freezer and see if anything was in there that I could use for my cooking.... and I found a few packages of empanada wrappers. It felt like a sign that is what I should make.

Like I said, I've made empanadas before, but usually I've just thrown together whatever I wanted for the filling. I decided to find a more authentic recipe this time. Empanadas are kind of a funny dish. Almost every country has some form of them from gyoza in Japan to potstickers in China, from empanadas in Latin countries to pastels in Brazil... they're all over the place (there are actually several dishes that are like this and I'm always more amazed by the country to country similarities rather than the differences when I do this project).

This means that in looking up authentic recipes, I found a lot from other countries as well. I finally landed on a recipe that felt more Spanish. I'm going to ignore that it's from notoriously famous English chef Gordon Ramsey and just trust that he's international enough to know a Spanish empanada from an Argentinian one.

Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it. 

I made a few changes though. First, I ground my own beef. I really wanted to add another level to this since I was using pre-made dough so... I made my own meat. I actually got an meat grinder as a wedding gift and it's something I haven't used enough. So when I had a big roast, I decided to cut off the end of it and grind it up for the filling. It ended up being 3x the amount of meat in the recipe so I tripled everything.

In the end, I found the filling as it was to be a little bland. I didn't put in as many onions or chili flakes as the recipe would have needed (because Dan doesn't like those things) which probably contributed that. I ended up adding some chili powder and paprika to bring up the flavor profile and it made a great difference. I don't know if that's authentic but I know how important seasoning is to food and I'd rather have something taste great than be 100% accurate.

I love that this recipe included chimichurri too. It's one of my favorite sauces and it's just perfect to add some brightness and acid to heavy things like meat and empanadas.

If you end up using this recipe, you may want to get a kitchen scale. They're not very expensive but they're the best for accurate baking or if you're using a recipe from all the enlightened countries that use the metric system. Grams just make sense in general though because measuring cups can be hard to read but the scale doesn't lie. It keeps the recipe spot on - just be sure to tare out any measuring devices.

And that's the start of the World Cup Eating Challenge! It wasn't very complicated but any sort of pastry is a labor of love and assembling these guys took longer than I expected. I still have more wrappers and filling so I plan on making another batch for the weekend. They're great for a quick lunch or easy protein snack.

The New World Cup Eating Challenge 2018

And so begins a series of blog posts! I've been bad at posting this year, mostly because I didn't have a lot to say. When things are good and I'm not chasing any specific blog series, it's hard to just write.

That is about to change. 4 years later, I'm revisiting one of my favorite projects.... the World Cup Eating Challenge! I started this for the 2014 World Cup and loved it. The idea was to eat or cook something from a country that was playing on any given day. It was challenging but fulfilling. I had a lot of failures and some successes and all in all I left the challenge with a few things: a bigger knowledge of global cuisine, a better idea of what works and doesn't in the kitchen, and a whole lot of content for my blog.

But Nikki the World Cup has already started and I've seen nothing from you! What's going on?

I know, I'm totally failing this year. 

I went into this year with the most ambitious plans. I created a crazy spreadsheet over a month ago and mapped out where I was going to focus on the countries that I was least familiar with or totally failed at last time around. I had a great plan... and then it all fell apart for a few reasons.

Life! 

Just after I got this plan all put together, I got a great surprise. I got a promotion at work! It was definitely some good news but with it, came more work. I got sidetracked by my new responsibilities and kept figuring that I still had a lot of time until the World Cup to organize my project.

Dan and I also went on an amazing vacation! I have no complaints there but we all know how vacations go - in addition to the time you're away, you're also getting work ready for your leave and then when you get back you have a lot to do to catch up. Throw in things like laundry and packing/unpacking and there's definitely extra to do. Once I was all settled in from this, I realized the games were starting the next day. That's definitely not enough time to plan out the variety of meals I wanted to do. 

On top of all that, I was turning right around to head out for a family/work combo trip that would keep me out of my kitchen for several days. There would be options to eat out of course but I really had wanted to cook the meals and going out of my way to find places that worked, didn't seem ideal.

Diversity 

You'd think that with all the countries in the World Cup, diversity would be a non-issue. However, my plan to start with the countries I was least familiar with, led to a list of African and Eastern European countries. In my initial searches for dishes, I started to notice a pattern. Many of the countries signature dishes were very similar to each other. While I'm sure there are noticeable differences in the seasonings and ingredients when you compare them all side by side, it would still have been a lot of stews, fried pastries, and rice dishes in a short amount of time.

I really wanted to focus on the really key dishes instead of picking something smaller just to change it up. I was trying to map out ways to change up the order I did the countries to space it out, but to keep with trying to eat the dishes on the day they played, it was hard to make it work.

Time, Money, and Waste

The last issue was just out of practicality. As much as I loved this project - I kept running into an issue in the past. If I'm cooking a different dish every day for 3 weeks, I'm going to be making more food than Dan and I can possibly eat.

I've dealt with this before by inviting people over for dinner but the reality is that I still end up with too much food. Add this in with the fact that some of these dishes are time intensive, and it all becomes really impractical.

While, in general, I have more time and money than I did four years ago - I still have the overall goal of wasting less, and I like to use my free time for other hobbies, particularly my fitness.

So... What Does This Mean for the Challenge?

After thinking about how to deal with these obstacles without just trashing the whole project, I came up with a good solution:

Cook a dish from each country, but remove the constraint of cooking it on the day they play.

Obviously, if I can plan it that way, it would be more fun to eat a dish while watching a game and I want to try for that as much as possible. However, I have no intention of cooking these dishes every day in a row. My new plan is to give myself the whole summer to try something from the 32 countries. That gives me 2-3 days in between each to each leftovers, buy groceries, and just spread out the project.

Making this change has given me new excitement for this challenge and I'm excited to get to it!


In the meantime, here are some of my favorite posts from past challenges:
http://nikkilinc.blogspot.com/2014/06/world-cup-eating-challenge-day-4.html
http://nikkilinc.blogspot.com/2014/06/day-12-spain-world-cup-eating-challenge.html
http://nikkilinc.blogspot.com/2014/07/semifinals-day-1-brazilian-feijoada-and.html
http://nikkilinc.blogspot.com/2015/06/day-9-australia-world-cup-eating.html

Outgoing Octopus October - 2017 Update #10

This month was about getting back on track. The migraines and neck pain I experienced in September really threw me off my goals and all the progress I'd made in August. Luckily, I was able to get those under control by improving my posture while working and recognizing my migraine triggers. Good thing too - October had A LOT going on... so let's get to it.

Designated Date Time/ Family Time

So much of this month was spent with family. Traveling home for a wedding for each of our families meant a lot of time spent with those we love. There's also just something about weddings that brings out so much magic and joy.

I had such a great time getting to know Dan's family better as well. It's the first time we've seen them since our own wedding and now, a year later, it's really sunk in that this is my family too. It was also really great to meet a lot of the extended family that had liked our big life event Facebook posts. 

Lastly, it was our one year wedding anniversary! I can and can't believe it's been a year. It's somehow managed to be long and fast at the same time. I've had some big life hurdles this year and I'm so lucky to have someone like Dan by my side to get through them. It definitely would have been a much harder year than it was. On a lighter note... obviously that was a date night for us! Otherwise, we have been so busy it's been hard to have time for just the two of us. It's definitely something to work on as we close out the year. 

It's also cool enough now to bring back the family walks! There are so many hikes we didn't do before it got too hot. I'm hoping to knock some of those out before we end this year. 

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

my outdoor gym!

This one really peaked in August and hasn't gotten back to that level. I was averaging 7-10 workouts a week that month. Now it's like 3. I really hit a wall after my migraine in September. It took me two weeks to really bounce back from the after effects. I felt a couple of other migraines coming on in October but now that I could read the symptoms I was able to take some medicine and hide in darkness which stopped them from getting really bad. The break from my fitness schedule did it's damage though and it was hard to get into the same rhythm (the cold Dan brought home didn't help either)...

But no excuses! November is all about fixing that (we'll get there later). I always have an idea of my next goal at the end of the month before and knowing that I wanted to tackle this again in November helped me end October strong. Even though we were on the other side of the country the last week of the month, we managed to get into the gym one day and go on a long hike another. We probably could have done more but it was already more of an effort that we usually make on trips.

Meal Planning

Crock pot Gourmet

It's funny how this has actually started to feel more natural as I've made myself busier. Part of the month goal involved me inviting friends over a little more. Generally it was an extension of meeting them at the gym or something. I didn't want to get home from a workout and then have to worry about cooking and not getting to socialize so I planned out slow cooker meals that I could set up ahead of time. It meant food was ready after our workout AND I got to talk to my friends instead of hiding in the kitchen. It's definitely made me want to use that strategy more. It will also be nice now that it's getting cooler and a lot of soups can be made easily in the slow cooker.

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

This month actually had us going on two mini trips - one to each of our families for weddings. While driving to LA is no big feat, going out to Ohio is something we really haven't done enough of. We've had a crazy couple of years since our last trip but part of the reason was also that the first trip wasn't great for me. I had been sick the whole week and paired with the 20 degree weather, I just always felt freezing and cooped up inside.

This past trip was much better. It was twice as warm and 40-50 degrees was something I could deal with a little better. We went on a long hike through some of the most gorgeous nature I'd ever seen. We were also there for his sister's wedding so I was able to meet a lot of the family members that weren't able to make the trip for our wedding. Lastly, it was just nice to spend more time with his family. With the loss of my mom, I ache for those connections more and getting to bond with them was something that felt really nice. I'm excited to have them come out to California again soon and it won't be another 3 years until we go out to Ohio again.

Read a Book a Week

I crushed it this month! While I did read 2 books just on the Ohio trip alone (so much airplane time!), I was already ahead for the month before that. It feels awesome to get a lead again. Focusing on fun, quick reads like I wanted to helped a lot. I also chipped away at an audiobook during my driving and I plan on continuing that habit. I was going to use this lead on my goal as an opportunity to start reading books that I've been interested in but were worried would take longer... and then I remembered it's my favorite book time of the year!

I use Goodreads to track all of my reading, make challenges, and create those cool little lists that I post here each month. One of my favorite things about the site though are their annual Goodreads awards. I always try to read as many of the books as possible which is pretty tough in the 4 weeks of voting. This year I tried keeping track of 2017 books as they were coming out. It means I've already read 5 of the books... which unfortunately is about how many I get anyways without trying.

Oh well! I've already made my library lists so now it's all about getting as many more read as possible so I can vote accurately! If I can hit 7 books again this month, I'll definitely feel good about my votes. 

Nominees!!!!! 

Me Time

Me time has always been an odd goal for me. I love being around people and working from home gets a little lonely sometimes but despite that I still feel like sometimes I just need me space. Even though I work from home, I'm still working so it's not it's time to just unwind from everything else I have going on.

This month was a lot about knowing when to push for the "Outgoing" goal and when to just say no because I need that break from everything. I think it went really well. I tried really hard to find a balance. I fit more friend time into week days so that I could save some weekend time for me. I tried to not book things on back to back days so that I could have a break if I needed.

I also used that free time a little more productively. Obviously I read a lot. I also worked on my Etsy shop so there are more listings. Lastly, I made some big strides on my cross stitch. I'd love to give it to Dan for our 2nd Anniversary (cotton) but it's FAR from done.

Outgoing Octopus October

My original plan was to make a list of 8 things I did to be more outgoing this month. I quickly realized that would be weird. I don't want people to think I'm doing things for a list or a little goal. The point was more about building habits that strengthen friendships and help me make new ones.

So instead, I'm going to generally talk about the types of things I did.

For starters, I made an effort to be there more. I think we've all been in situations where we're casually invited to things. Little things like "Who wants to grab a drink tonight?" I said yes more to those... and it made me realize how many times I don't show up. It feels little but it adds up to missing out on a lot. While it was only a couple more instances of saying yes... they were really fun times that I would have missed out on because it was too far of a drive or I wanted to stay in.

I also tried to make more of my communities. I'm in some group chats. I went to a big college and small high school that have a lot of alumni in San Diego. I'm a member of 3 gyms. I have a whole additional family in law that I acquired a year ago. I used these connections more to socialize whether it was going to alumni events, gym events, or just being friendlier and joking around more with all of the above.

Lastly, it was a lot about just deepening relationships I already have. Sometimes when I'm feeling sad or left out I think "maybe I just need to make new friends." That's a horrible attitude. Friendships go both ways and while I hate feeling like I'm always the one to instigate plans, I know I need to sometimes. I invited friends out and over more than I had been. It reminded me that this is something I used to do ALL THE TIME. And then I stopped. I forgot how much I liked doing it. It reminded me that it's important for me to make the effort to maintain my friendships as well.

This was all exactly what I needed this month. I think it was the perfect timing too. I had a lot of hurt and heartbreak in the past year and it really affected me. In hindsight, I was probably a little depressed about all of it. Because I'm generally really positive, it was hard to see that I wasn't being as friendly or making the same kind of effort to show up and make plans because I was hurt. I was afraid of rejection. I had all these walls up that are so unlike me. If I had tried this  6 months ago, it would have been hard to overcome all of that doubt. This timing was better though because I'd built up my confidence more through my exercise, my goals, my amazingly supportive husband, and those great friends that always reached out to me even if I wasn't making the effort.

It feels good to feel like I'm more myself and I'm happy I was in a place to even start this month's goal. The fact that it went so well puts me in a good spot to keep it up and stay in a great place.

No Excuses November

Part of the delay in posting this, was figuring out the best way to wrap my head around this goal. It's a combination of things and it's not entirely clear to me either.

So... I think the best way to sum it up is that this month is about doing things when you're able to instead of putting them off. It's kind of a combination of several of the past months goals. There's a few specific areas I want to focus on:

- Fitness! Of course. It's not a total coincidence that our new gym is called No Excuses PT. The last two months have been very excuse filled for me. I had migraines, a cold, and traveling. While I take my health seriously, I definitley milked those excuses for what they were worth. Not ok. Even if I'm not feeling great I still should do something small like take the dog for a walk or doing a home workout.

- Chores! I'm the worst at chores that aren't cooking. I want to get better at just doing them before they get worse and take longer.

- Real Estate and Etsy! Making more of an effort to do outreach and build my businesses.

- Friends! Keeping up with last month, I don't want to just make excuses for not doing things. I know I can't do everything but I want to try to be there when I can.

The point is... I can always find a reason to not do something so maybe it's time to find reasons TO do them instead. This week, for example, I've been feeling sluggish. While I still made time for climbing and walking the dog, I thought about not going to the bootcamp gym. My excuse was resting for a 10k I'm doing this weekend.... but that's not a great reason. It's not like I've been training for this race anyways and today's workout had very little leg in it. I decided to just go and in the end, it gave me that energy boost I'd been missing most of the week.

---

That's it for this month! November is looking to be as busy as October was but I'm not going to let that distract me from goals and getting things done. One week in, I've already managed to knock out a lot in terms of my fitness, cooking experiments, and making time for friends. Now if I can round out the business side of things, this will be an awesome month.

Steady September 2017 - Update #9

Wow, I feel like I totally lost track of this month. I was looking at my browser and saw the Blogger tab and thought, "I should probably start writing the September post even though the month ends in... 2 DAYS? Wait, really? How are there only two days left??" Crazy fast month.

Anyways, this post is a little late. I've been dealing with some neck issues that have really affected all the areas of my life below and blog writing. This post is going to be a little shorter because of it but hopefully I'll bounce back this month.

Designated Date Time/ Family Time

We luckily started the month with a long weekend out of town. We got to spend a lot of time eating out together (which is something we don't do much) and also got to see a lot of friends. It was awesome to spend the weekend on a relaxing note.

We've also been trying to go to the gym together more. Normally, I like to go when it's less busy but my schedule didn't allow that this week. The plus side was getting to go at the same time as Dan. I've heard that working out together is a great way to strengthen a relationship and I'm happy we get to do that.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

This started out so well - coming out of Athletic August into a new month, I had great habits set up. Even when I didn't really want to work out, I knew I'd feel good afterwards so went anyways. It was great!

Around the 3rd week of the month though, I hit a wall. Between work stress and other plans, I missed the gym a few days. All in all, I think I just needed the break. I started the following week with yoga. The next day, I went climbing and was just crushing it. I felt so much more confident and was trying harder climbs. The third day, I had a super busy day at work and was so excited to sweat it out at the gym and that workout was awesome too. I left feeling like my light week was the perfect way to rest my body and come back stronger... and then I got hit with a migraine. I honestly don't think I've ever had one before because I always thought they were just a bad headache. It's so much more than that. I was left with a stiff neck for several days after which also kept me from doing any more exercise.

It's hard when you miss the gym because you're busy or stressed.... it's even harder when you want to go and physically can't. It's crazy because I workout and eat healthy so that my body is always in tip top shape and going through something like a migraine where your body really turns against you - it's a little scary. I hope it's just something that was triggered by an especially stressful day and not a regular occurrence.

Meal Planning

Since this was a busy month for me, I was more dependent on organizing our meals for the week and also using the slow cooker. People also ask how I can manage working two jobs, exercise, and cooking. Meal planning is a huge part of that.

I have two other tricks that I've mentioned before. The first is the slow cooker/ instant pot. It's so nice to be able to prep a meal and have it cook while I'm working or running errands. The second is to just do really easy meals. One of my favorites is to make something that is 100% in the oven. That way I can take a shower or take care of other things while dinner is cooking instead of tending to something on the stove.

I really love this particular habit because it's a big "do it all" habit. I don't want to sacrifice eating well in order to work on other things. Just a little bit of prep goes a long way in making that possible. 

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

I loved having the time at the beginning of the month for our long weekend. With how busy work has been this month, it's got me itching for another trip. I definitely wouldn't mind starting to think about where we can go next year. As homeowners, we have some tax benefits that will hopefully lead to a good refund. That should pad our savings enough to help us meet this goal next year!

Read a Book a Week

Right on track here! It felt like I was on a roll at the beginning of the month and then I hit a book that was a slower but interesting read. I'm trying to avoid those for now but it's still hard when I come across something that looks good.

I'm also trying to listen to more audiobooks. I'm in my car a lot more now and audiobooks are such a great way to kill that time while getting some reading done as well. I'm always a little hesitant about them because some books work better than others for it. That's where learning how to put a book down comes in handy. I started one audiobook and could not follow it from the get go so I ended up turning it off and listening to This American Life instead.

Me Time

My neck injury had one upside - a lot of me time! I spent the last day of the month in bed with Netflix. Healing from a migraine or concussion or whatever happened means a lot of rest of darkness and quiet. So I messed up on the quiet but staying in and taking it easy was a great way to help that healing.

I also seem to keep having a day a month where Dan is busy - either working or with his own plans. I know I could take that time and catch up with my friends but I've been choosing to take that time to relax and read and catch up on my own projects... and it's been so nice. It's really been the definition of what I meant by this goal and I love it. I hope I keep being able to have a day or two just to take care of me. 

Steady September

This was a really tough one for me. It was about balance and bringing everything together. The month started really well... and then it fell apart. I don't want this to be about excuses so we'll avoid those. I think sometimes doing it all requires some things to fall into place more out of luck than anything. It was already piling on but then my migraine and subsequent head and neck ache really just blew it open. The last week of the month was just totally useless for me and I hate ending on a fail. I definitely want to keep this goal in front of me because it really is THE GOAL but it didn't happen this month because of forces out of my control. 

Outgoing Octopus October

This totally sounds weird. Early last month I said to Dan, "Hey - I thought of the goal for next month!" and he said "Octopus October????" so I gave him a "really???" face and never told him what it was because he didn't ask. When it came up later in another conversation he asked what happened to Octopus October. I told him that doesn't even make sense and he explained that I could try to do 8 new things. Ok, that's not so bad, but I still liked the Outgoing October idea... so why not combine them? Do 8 new things with the goal of lowering inhibitions and fears. 

If you know me, this might seem like a weird one. I'm not super shy. I don't have a hard time talking to strangers or public speaking or anything like that. I know how to be polite and friendly. However, it just hasn't all felt like it's clicked lately.

Honestly, I've felt a little not like myself for a while. I've had a tough year and I think it's really shaken the core of who I am. I lost my mom, I had troubles with close friendships, and frankly, Dan and I still are fairly new to San Diego which can be a lonely feeling all on it's own. At the end of the day, all of that has left me feeling like a more subdued and self conscious version of myself.

Pair that with real estate, a career that requires confidence and a huge personality, and it becomes a big issue. I go to all of the real estate training that I can and I come out of them with a list of ideas and plans to build my business - and then I freeze. 

So this goal is really two fold. The first, and most obvious is to make that real estate push. It's to connect with strangers and bring up real estate more. It's to call people and do things that are a little outside my comfort zone. The worst thing that can happen is that someone says no or doesn't want to talk to you but it's still a tough one.The second goal is to keep trying to build my San Diego community. I love being surrounded by many different types of people. I think I've made a lot of good friends so far and then stopped trying to keep building that community.

---

That's it for September! I'm happy to report that after a week+, my neck is finally feeling much better. I'm definitely still feeling cautious and plan on taking it easy for a few more days just to be sure but I'm really feeling antsy to get back to the gym and feeling normal.

Jigsaw July - 2017 Update #7

Wow - another month already? It's crazy how this year is flying, but I'm finding that as each month goes by, these habits are really becoming routine.

Designated Date Time

The weekly Saturday hikes just aren't going to happen for a while. In addition to having too much going on, it's just too hot. Sure - we could wake up at 6am and hike before it gets hot out. Frankly, we don't want to. Saturdays are the one day we really just get to sleep in, catch up on chores, and take it easy.


So we found a different solution. Whenever we can, we just take the dog on a nighttime walk through the neighborhood. We don't have to worry about her overheating, it doesn't take too long, and it's a nice time for us to just talk about our days and spend a little time together. The idea of weekly hikes was really cool and I hope we can get back to it in the Fall/Winter. However, big cool ideas just aren't always manageable. This was a great lesson in doing what you can and knowing that something is better than nothing.

We've also been good about getting out on more dates and spending time doing fun things around the city together. From beer events to Comicon events and everything in between, we were so good about spending time together and having fun this month.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

technique might have had help from new shoes!

I'll get to this again later, but sticking to a routine while a lot of events are going on, is really really difficult. July is a busy month. We had a very long 4th of July weekend, Comicon, and lots of birthdays. All of those events are fun but they throw a wrench in your schedule. Yes, I could have said no to all of those things... but I'm not a robot. I think they're all fun too, way more fun than working out... and that's generally what happened. These things aren't just disruptive when they happen, they take a few days to rest up from too. After both the 4th of July and Comicon, I had to take a couple of days off from exercising just to relax. 

TLDR: events are fun but really disruptive when you're trying to make a habit.

In all, I think I netted even. I worked hard and noticed some improvements in Body Pump. Climbing is a little different. I think my technique is getting better but I feel like I'm getting tired quicker. I think that has a lot to do with everything else I have going on. I'm looking forward to a milder August so I can focus more on my fitness... but more on that later.

One plus for fitness in July - fun and laid back exercise! Dan and I joined a kickball league and also got to try out stand up paddle boarding. The latter definitely grew on me quickly and I'm hoping we can get our own eventually!

Meal Planning

Last month, I discovered a trick to meal planning... freezing leftovers for future lunches! I have LOVED it. I don't have a lot of issues with cooking dinner each night but I do run out of time for making my lunches or just have a craving for a quick meal. This has worked out wonderfully.

My other issue has been with buying too many groceries. I love deals and also get excited about vegetables.. and tend to buy more than we can eat before it goes bad. Planning out meals was supposed to help me buy only what I needed for the week. Well, I went another way instead... I decided to start cooking dinner for the dog. Most of what we eat - meats and veggies - are good for her too. I did a lot of research on what dogs can have and what they need and have started making dinners for her. Usually, it works out that I can incorporate our extra veggies into her meals and we have less waste overall.

I'll give this it's own post eventually but if you're thinking about making food for your dog here are some basic guidelines:

Harley's Dinner for a few days:
 ground pork , veggies, and liver

- Dogs are omnivores but skewing toward carnivore. Meat should be more than 50% of their diet and the primary weight in their meal ( I weigh Harley's meals to make sure I'm not overfeeding).

- They need fat so dark meat is a little better than light when you can. Also make sure you are giving fish at least once a week and liver/offal about 5% of the time.

- Dogs can have some meats and bones raw. It seems like fish is the big exception here so make sure you cook that.

- Do a lot of research! Every time we want to give her a new vegetable, I look up and see if it's ok. I also read up a lot on how to find balance in a dog's diet. They really need to eat bones to get enough calcium but I was too worried about choking so instead we mix egg shells into her meals. We also still give her dry food for breakfast. 

I love that she's eating as well as us now and we're wasting less food!

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

Still no more big trips for a while but we are starting to plan our small trips for weddings! We're so excited to see our friends and Dan's family on our next few long weekend trips. And that's all I have to say about that...

Read a Book a Week

One. Book. Just one. Obviously, that's a little under my goal. I'm kind of impressed I even got this one though... and it doesn't even have anything to do with everything else I have going on.

Screw you, you intelligent man

No... it's all Alexander Hamilton's fault. Oh yes. I encouraged book club to read it this month. Even though I had months to read it, I started 4 weeks before the meetup date... to read a 720 page book with the smallest font I've ever seen. I didn't finished in time for book club and still have 200 pages to read. Since I didn't make the deadline, I've slowed down my pace and read The Glass Castle as a break. I'll keep chipping away at Alexander Hamilton, but I'd like to read a whole lot of fluff this month as well. I've read so many biographies and memoirs this year and I'm ready to read some really silly fiction and probably a couple of comic books. Hopefully that gets my numbers back up for August because I've destroyed my buffer.

Me Time

Great find while cleaning!

We had so much going on in July. I had my two jobs, my endless fitness goals, and all of the fun events we listed. Every weekend I was either working or we had some fun, exhausting thing going on... until the last weekend. I spent the last Sunday in July with a whole lot of me time.

Dan and I started the morning organizing the garage - a task that we've needed to do since the day we moved in. Then, he went to work pouring wine at the soccer game and I had the whole day to myself. I mostly took care of chores and errands and read... but it was nice to do it at my own pace. I didn't have any person or list telling me what to do for the day and I felt really accomplished while not being rushed. It just goes to show, that you don't need a whole lot of me time but maybe half day per month will be enough to totally refresh you.

And even had some time to find this bridge while out exploring!

Jigsaw July

I really loved this goal. There was a lot of wisdom in it that I didn't realize at the time. June was about making the leap from someone who had a normal job and a lot of hobbies.. to someone doing all that and trying to learn a whole additional career on the side. June was about making the push. July was about getting used to it. I could have easily tacked on some other goal for the month but I knew what I needed... and it wasn't one more project. I needed to master what I already had on my plate.

It takes about 2-3 months to master a habit, on average. That's the whole reason that most of these posts are about making progress. It's not a one off thing - I'm trying to build better habits for life. It's also why they're not resolutions. I plan on continuing this for perpetuity, as long as I can manage. Last month, I threw a wrench in my habits. I didn't manage to destroy them, and I knew it was manageable... but it would take some getting used to.

And that was the point of July. I wanted to give myself that extra month to turn my new lifestyle into a habit. Mostly, it worked. I will still need some time and a lot of outside forces pushed on me last month which made it hard to fully adapt. However, I can feel it getting easier. I've figured out ways and habits to make the real estate work load fit better into my schedule. I've made a habit of signing up for as much training as possible. I've taught myself a lot whenever I could. I know I can still do more but I have more time to fit more in. I have a safety net in my full time job and I will feel more comfortable taking the time to learn as much as possible while I move forward in real estate. 

Athletic August 

You're probably wondering why I need this when I already have a fitness goal that's one of my habits. Well, I always feel like I fall short of that. Even when I do well and go to my classes and gym dates, I still feel like I'm not hitting my goal. It's probably because I have a very firm goal - to be at the peak of my fitness. Going to the gym 3x a week isn't going to cut it.

August is the time for that and for a very good reason - I have nothing going on. Every month this year, I've had something going on. Comicon, holidays, trips, deaths, new jobs, tests. There have been so many excuses or things that took me away from routine. Was Comicon the most fun ever? Yes. Was it disruptive to my schedule and life? So much yes! It was one of the most disruptive because the time we were away from home was like being on vacation... but we still had to take care of our pets and were living here and making a mess without taking the time to clean up. It set us really behind.

So there is none of that this month. Well, no, I'm lying. There is one thing going on in August and it's my annual Spartan race. While we'll be out of town for a weekend, it's still athletically related so it's not going to throw off that fitness element. It embraces it.

Other than staying on schedule, I have some solid goals. Unlike other months that were more general, I want to get really specific so here we go:

• Do 30 burpees a day and try to increase this number - the burpee works out so much of your body and is key to excelling at obstacle course racing... and I hate them. 
• Pull-ups - I want to put the pull up bar back into the house and keep attempting to do them. I'm sure they've improved but I don't work on it. 
• No days off - as I write this, I skipped my workout today because I was "busy." Not okay next month. I know you need rest days but to me, that means a day off from the hard stuff. I'd still like to get in a casual walk, some stretching, or yoga on the days that I need to rest from harder work outs.
• Level up - most of my workouts are pretty quantifiable. I know what level I climb at. I know what weights I can lift in body pump. I know how fast I can run. I'm definitely plateauing and so this is the time to push through to get to the next level.
• Kick it! Dan and I joined a kickball league. The last time I played kickball, I could barely get on base. It was just fun for me. While it's still a good time, I'm actually good now. It's fun watching my other fitness flow through and seeing results on the field. I want to keep it going, make sure I don't miss a game, and kick some balls!
• And a last minute add... 31 days of fitness! A local gym that Dan loves is having a promotion. 31 day membership for $31 including a beginning and ending fitness evaluation and a practice obstacle race at the end. Another way to quantify my month!

So yea, I'm excited for this goal and excited to have a month to focus on bettering myself. I hope adding in the burpees, pull ups, and extra days will do what it takes to get me to the next level. This is my time and I'm excited to really get to peak fitness.

Review: Instant Pot and a Recipe for Instant Duck Confit!

There's a word going through the cooking world right now - Instant Pot!

So what is this device that everyone is so excited about? It's basically what you would get if a pressure cooker, slow cooker, and rice cooker all had a baby. Yes, it can do all of those things.

What most people are excited about though is the pressure cooking. Pressure cookers have historically been a little scary. I remember whenever my mom used hers and she told me that if I came into the kitchen, I would explode. Needless to say, I've never been excited about attempting to pressure cook anything.

...until the Instant Pot came along! I'm not going to lie, the first few times (and every time after) I still hold some residual pressure cooker fear but the Instant Pot feels so safe, that I'm slowly getting over my fear of pressure.

So what's the verdict???

Pros:

• SPEED - My biggest gripe about slow cooking has always been time. If something takes 8-10 hours to cook and I forget to put it in on time I'm either SOL or we are eating dinner at 10pm. Not fun. The Instant Pot does everything a slow cooker can do in a fraction of the time. Need to slow cook something for 8 hours? Put it in the Instant Pot for an hour. 
• Flavor - I'm pretty sure the pressure helps get more flavor out of the meals. This isn't an opinion - like I think there's some science behind it.
• Quick buttons - Every now and then I'll wing it but it's still hard to know how long something needs to be under pressure. Luckily there are some preset buttons like meat, poultry, beans/chili, etc so you can push one of those and the pot will set itself to the ideal time for what you're making.
• 7-in-1 - it's a pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, saute dish, yogurt maker, and warmer. While you probably won't use all of these functions at once, having a multi-use appliance is great because many slow/pressure cooked dishes are best when you brown the meat first. No one wants to dirty an extra pan but have no fear - you can saute right in the Instant Pot! Then you get your pressure on and afterwards it will keep it warm for you. BAM 3 of the uses right there.

Cons:

• BUTTONS - seriously, there are about 20 buttons on this thing. A very advanced slow cooker has about 4. There's a much steeper learning curve and you will need to read the instructions. Don't like instructions? Read above where I talk about pressure cookers historically exploding. Bet you're reading the instructions now!
• Sealing valve - The pressure cooker has a little valve that seals in the pressure. When your cooking time is up, you can either let the pressure decrease on it's own or you can release the pressure valve and a rush of steam will shoot out. Obviously, this is terrifying. I usually poke it from across the room with the longest spoon I have. Dan has frequently asked that I warn him when I do this because even though he doesn't know the worries about pressure cookers, releasing the valve sounds like an explosion. My other issue with the sealing valve - unless the recipe says, I'm not usually sure when to release it and when to let the pressure go down on its own. I think letting the pressure release has the benefit of longer cooking (more tender, more flavor) and being safer. However, it will lead to an extra build up of moisture since the steam is not escaping - for some recipes, this will not be ideal.
• Low heat sauteing - I've been using the saute function to brown meats before pressure cooking but it doesn't feel like the heat gets high enough to really get a good brown sear on there. If you really want a good hard sear, I would recommend using a frying pan first. It still works fine for pre-cooking things like onions or ground meat. 

All in all, it's an amazing small appliance. Yes, there is a learning curve but luckily a lot of people are paving the way. Most of the food bloggers that I follow have already been testing our recipes and there are a lot of cookbooks. I got Paleo Cooking with Your Instant Pot a couple of months ago and pre-ordered another Instant Pot cookbook for this summer. 

So my verdict - get one but do your research. Don't be afraid of your machine but use the internet, Pinterst, and cookbooks to get some guidance for your first few recipes. Once you get the hang of the buttons, don't be afraid to experiment! A few times, I've definitely thrown in some slow cooking meat and put it under pressure instead and it totally worked.

Like... that time I made Duck Confit! Duck confit is one of my favorite dishes but is notoriously very time consuming. I've made it in the slow cooker before but it misses the sear it needs and takes a long time to cook.... which makes it sound perfect for the instant pot.

The first step is break down your duck. You might be able to get one broken down from a butcher shop but in stores, I always see a whole duck for sale. Duck confit is usually just the thighs but I use the breasts as well as to not waste. 

The biggest thing here - SAVE ALL THE EXTRA SKIN AND FAT. Duck Confit has to be slow cooked in duck fat. You can buy some but it's really expensive and your duck comes with lots! I cut off all the extra skin and fat and cook it on low to make my own fat. 

Here are my little duck skin pieces frying. Just make sure your temperature doesn't get too high because it will crackle. Also be sure to watch them and make sure they're cooking evenly so you can get as much fat as possible. 

While you are rendering your fat, you can start to get a sear on your duck thighs and breast skin. To do this, set the Instant Pot to saute mode. I actually found that this didn't get them hot enough so it might be better to sear them off in a frying pan. You only need to do the skin side.

Once your duck is seared and the duck fat is ready, you can turn off the Instant Pot and strain your fat into it.

Once that's done, you're ready to pressure cook! Close off your Instant Pot and make sure the valve is on the sealing mode. I wasn't sure how long to cook it, so I just hit the poultry button. The default was 15 min but I increased it to 30 so it really would get tender.

I also wasn't sure if I should release the pressure at the end or let it naturally go down. I went for a mix of both and released the pressure after about 15 minutes. I think not releasing the pressure creates a lot of steam though and that doesn't work as well for duck confit.

When I took it out, the sear had lost it's crisp. I decided to heat them up on the stove (in the same pan I rendered the fat in). This re-crisped them up and added a lot of flavor.

In the end, it turned out really well and I saved all of my duck fat for further cooking as well as making a duck stock from the bones. 

The recipe worked out really well but it definitely wasn't quite a one-pot meal. I liked the way it turned out by re-searing the duck after the pressure cooking. 

February 2017 - Habit Check In #2

I'm really loving how this structure for my goals has given me more to write about! I've been trying to throw out some other posts in between as well but obviously that has to work around time and well, having something to write about. I have a few adventures next month that should give some more blog fodder and I also want to review more of the kitchen and wine gadgets that I use every day.

Anyways, here's how February went!

Family Time

This has easily become the highlight of my week. We've started really planning our weekends around when we can get our family walk in and this month, it wasn't easy. Each of the weeks, we had some big conflict trying to keep us from our walk but we made it anyways.

Week 1, we were out of town for my work. I have to work Superbowl every year and we usually make it into a little weekend getaway to LA. We usually walk on Saturdays but had gone to Universal Studios instead. While the quantity of walking would probably count it, the spirit wasn't there. Instead, we planned to go Sunday morning before work. It ended up being really hectic between eat breakfast, packing, and making sure I got to work on time - but we did it. It was a short mile-ish loop around the parcourse near my parent's house but it was something.

Weeks 2-3 we were dealing with busy weekends and bad weather. We had a hardcore workout one week and race the next and both weekends it was supposed to be rainy on the day we could do our hike. Hiking isn't quite as fun if it's super muddy, especially with a dog, so we timed our walks to breaks in the weather and just found paved trails - usually waterfront. While not a true hike, it gave us some awesome views and helped us find some new paths.

Week 4 should have just been a disaster. We went back and forth on where to go - the weather was finally nice enough for a real hike, but we had plans that we'd be late for if we did something too intensive. We'd been loving the water so we decided to do Torrey Pines - but when we parked we saw lots of "no dogs" signs. I didn't want to drive around looking for something else since we'd already lost so much time so we decided just to take the dog to a nearby dog beach. We had so much fun playing and splashing around and got the bonus of finding a new fun beach. We'll have to circle back to Torrey Pines another day but it always sucks to leave the dog at home when we go on an adventure.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

I don't really have much to say on this one. I've definitely been working out a lot and mostly sticking to the schedule I set myself but I'm not perfect and I missed a lot of days as well. For some reason, every Monday this month, something came up to keep my climbing partners and myself out of the gym. I also missed a lot of Body Pump classes either because I had another workout or just something fun came up... like free beer tasting. All these things totally happen but for March I'd like to pull it in and try to really hit my weekly schedule.

On the plus side - while I've missed a bunch of gym time, I've been walking a whole lot more with the dog. Usually, they're just little short walks around the block but they've been a nice way for both of us to get a little sunshine and exercise. We've also tried to do work around the garden whenever it's been sunny out and it's nice putting those muscles to some functional use.

The 2017 kilometer challenge is going well too! Extra walks mean extra chipping away at it, even if they're on the short side. At the end of last month, I had 64km and this month I had 119. That means I'm being consistent (giving myself a break on the 3 shorter days this month) which is great for me and great for the dog. Also, last year, I had 244 km for the whole year. That means that in 2 months, I've gone half as far as I did.. IN A YEAR. It's crazy and I'm so proud at how we've made something as simple as going on more walks, runs, and hikes into such a regular habit.

Meal Planning

This one continues to challenge me. I did add a section for planning out dinners in my daily planner but I'm still not being consistent. To help get on track though, I did a few stocking up dinners. What are those? That's when I cook something really big that I know will last a few nights and then we just have to find sides to go with them (usually making tacos). Examples are pulled pork, brisket, and chili. The added benefit is that they're made in the slow cooker or pressure cooker so I can prep them and let them cook while doing other things!

Brisket!!!!!

Slow cooked pork!!!!

Take an Annual Trip with my Husband

Not much progress here which is bad because our trip is coming up really fast. What I really need to do is get our taxes together so we can see if we have a bigger budget for excursions and things.... Obviously next month there needs to be a lot of work here, but I did try to get an idea of the budget and things.

Read a Book a Week

In January, I read way over the book/week goal which was awesome. For February, I was right on track, and that was ok too. I knew that some months would be harder to meet the goal and February was one of those - but I met it anyways! Just barely!

In addition to being pressed for time, I also read a couple of longer books - like over 500 pages. All four of my books this month were really fast reads that I hated putting down and that was probably the real driver behind finishing this month.

All in all, I read 4 books in 4 weeks coming in exactly at my goal.

Edit: these screenshots come from Goodreads. A book social media site I use to track my reading. I also usually write reviews of all the books I read in case you're interesting in the reasons behind my scores.

Me Time

This month I learned that me time can come in a lot of shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's just listening to my body or my needs. Earlier in the month, Dan and I went to a free bootcamp workout and it kicked our butts. The next day, I was so sore and instead of pushing myself, I just took a day off. I cancelled my gym plans, I made a really simple dinner, and then I just soaked in the tub for an hour. It felt so good, and the next day I felt better... but the next day was Valentine's Day and I had another dilemma. I could go to the gym, but then I'd be home late and be rushing to make dinner and get things done and wouldn't be able to just enjoy the night and spend time with Dan so I decided to take another day off from the gym. I love working out and I'm so happy with what's happening with my fitness but I think finding the balance and knowing when to take some time off so that I don't overdo it or stress myself out is important too.

I'm also learning that I don't want me time to be lazy time. I could totally veg out in front of the TV all day but I'm trying to make my free time work for me. Lately I've been doing a lot of gardening when I have down time or making more time to make sure I eat solid meals while I work from home. While I'm still moving - I feel a lot better in general when I'm being productive.

Fabulous February

but hey - this outfit was pretty cute
so not a total fail?

This was basically a fail. I mean, it's not like I dress terrible or anything. The few times I did go out, I styled my hair and picked a cute outfit. I just think that, in general, my style is fitness chic and I'm totally ok with that. I like dressing up when I get the chance but I'm still going to be rocking yoga pants and tank tops most of the time. I don't need to force cuteness or dress up to run errands - that's just not my thing.

This probably ended up being more of a "Feel Good February." I think I've come a long way from some of the things that caused me to be more self-conscious. All of the habits above are leading me to feel great, have more energy, and most importantly, have a sound mind. I've tried to treat myself better day to day including little things like eating a good breakfast each morning and trying to get some sunshine each day. Working out more has also coincided with drinking a lot less and getting better sleep. All of the habits together are having the effect of making me feel really good and that's awesome.

My monthly goal for next month was going to be Mo' Money March - in attempt to save more money. However, we're going to need to do a lot of spending in related to the last bit of planning for our trip so I think I might take this the other direction and work on ways to make mo' money. I still have an Etsy shop and despite awesome sales in January, February was really slow. I want to find ways to connect with potential buyers more and try to naturally grow interest in my shop.

I also will be wrapping up my class which means I have some open time to study for a certification that will open up some moonlighting possibilities for me. I should also try spending less money but I like the idea of focusing on ways I can make more money as well... it seems more sustainable long term.