Kitchen Fun

One of my goals for this year is to do more cooking, so I decided to try a new recipe from the cookbook 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains. I bought this cookbook in the spring of 2008, and I think this is the first recipe I've tried from it! I decided on the "Brown Rice and Lentils" recipe on p. 329, went to the grocery store, and came back with several goodies!

For starters, I didn't have a large skillet with a matching top! I was also missing the spices cumin and coriander in my spice rack, and I also picked up lentils, fresh cilantro, and fresh scallions.

Here, I sauteed the fresh carrot and small onion (in the first picture) in olive oil, and added the cumin and coriander. Yummy smell already at this point!

Here, I added the uncooked brown rice and lentils, and sauteed a little more. I added four cups of water, put the lid on and brought it to a boil. Then it simmered for 40 minutes.

The scallion and cilantro got mixed in at the end, and the whole enchilada had to sit under a paper towel for five minutes.







And voila! It tastes really good, and the recipe made several servings! Can't wait to have it for lunch this coming week!

125 Days and Counting!

I just checked the website for the Outer Banks Marathon, and it's only 125 days (plus some hours and seconds) away! Wowee! I'm both excited and nervous about it, to be honest. I'm excited because it'll be my first marathon, but I'm nervous because I've been kinda struggling with the long runs lately. I must be patient, and continue to prepare for it. Well rounded training includes good nutrition, hydration, and sleep, as well as exercise.

Happy New Year!

Today marks the end of the fiscal year at work, and I'm relieved and glad that things went really well. As with many "new year" transitions, it's made me pensive about things at work, and my life in general. What do I want to accomplish in the next year? 5 years? 10 years? I'm glad for the chance to think about these things in the middle of the calendar year, even if some of the decisions and challenges are tough.

I'm looking forward to taking the rest of the year, I mean WEEK, off, to power down, catch up on some housework, reading, and genealogy, and probably do some goal planning.

100 Day Challenge for Better Health

I'm now on Day 9 of the 100 Day Challenge I started for myself to work on healthy habits. I was inspired a bit by the book 100 Days of Weight Loss: The Secret to Being Successful on Any Diet Plan, a book I'm reading through in chunks. I decided not to follow the book, day by day, because I want to develop all-around good habits. Of course, I want to lose weight along the way too! :) The book has some pretty good ideas, but I'm glad I borrowed it from the library.

So, I'm tracking the following things, with the goal of doing them daily:

1) Weigh in
2) Take a multivitamin
3) Drink 64 oz of water
4) Sleep
5) Floss

I'm recording my weight, as well as hours of sleep, no matter what the numbers are. I've also got a comments section, where I put things like "ate at ____ Restaurant last night" or "meeting after work," in hopes that I can see patterns over time that will help me be healthier.

One of the motivators in this is that I'm training for my first marathon, and being ready means doing all I can to be healthier. The exercise is easy for me to do, and I'm already recording that in a paper log, as well as several online exercise logs. (Wierd, but there's a reason! The paper log goes with me to the gym. The various online exercise logs have different features I like a lot, whether it's tracking shoes, neat graphs, or social networking. I haven't been able to give up one of them yet!)

So far, I have a perfect score in every column for the first 8 days. I'm still working on going across the board for today. Things I've learned so far:

1) Something close to 7 hours of sleep is optimal for me, but I'm not good about getting it.
2) It's easier for me to drink more water during the work week.
3) Flossing any time of day is good. If I floss in the morning, sometimes I floss again at night. All the better, right? I think my dentist and dental hygienist will be pleased, come August, if I keep that up. I've gotten the flossing lecture during my last two visits to the dental hygienist. I haven't had a cavity in ages, but I don't want to tooth ache to interfere with my marathon training!

I'm keeping track of this on a spreadsheet, which I uploaded to Google Docs, so I can add to it wherever I am. I numbered Days 1-100 down the lefthand side, and have the five goals in column headers across the top, along with a comments column.

So far, so good.

Top facts about the name Lesley Looper

I googled my name recently, and came upon the site isthisyour.name. It's pretty amusing. I also learned that my "power animal" is the Satin Peruvian Guinea Pig, and my numerology number is 6 (which means I'm responsible, careful, and compassionate). Also, acccording to the US Census Bureau, 0.023% of US residents have the first name 'Lesley' and 0.0017% have the surname 'Looper'. The US has around 300 million residents, so we guesstimate there are 1 Americans who go by the name 'Lesley Looper'.

There's actually one other "Lesley Looper," and we're related (don't remember how, now), but have never met.

Did you know that Lesley Looper is...

1. Well envoweled
2. Yelsel Repool backwards
3. Esleylay Ooperlay in Pig Latin
4. 01001100 01100101 01110011 01101100 01100101 01111001 00100000 01001100 01101111 01101111 01110000 01100101 01110010 in binary code?

See more at www.IsThisYour.Name

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Fun with Picture Books!

I've been on a reading kick of late, and my current obsession is children's picture books! I'm finding them to be very relaxing and soothing, sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful. Some of the books have been pictures only, but most have had stories as well. Some of the books I've reread, as they were favorites when I taught school, but some I've enjoyed for the first time. Now, I'm on a kick to read all of the Caldecott Medal winners. It'll take me a little while longer, as I can only put 30 books at a time on hold at the public library, and I'm currently at my quota (again!). The staff must "love" me, but if circulation stats mean anything, perhaps I'm helping there! :>

Some favorite illustrators I'm enjoying revisiting are David Wiesner, Steven Kellogg, Tomie dePaola, Chris van Allsburg, and Uri Shulevitz.

I write reviews, however short, for a lot of the books I read, on book-tracking website Goodreads.com. Check out my profile here, and feel free to "friend" me visiting the website. I enjoy checking out what others read, and have gotten many good ideas. Once I finish the Caldecott winners, I'll think about what reading goal to tackle next. Any ideas? :)

Memorial Day Trip to Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area

This afternoon, George and I packed a lunch at drive one county over to Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, in Hillsborough, North Carolina. We had a nice lunch on one of the picnic tables at the bottom of the trails, which was very pleasant. Then we headed up the trail to the summit.









The trail is through a pretty, wooded area.














This is one of the overlooks.














Near the summit













This tower was at the top of Occoneechee Mountain. Not very scenic from the bottom of the top, but this towers are kinda fascinating to me, up close anyway.

It was a nice, relaxing way to spend an afternoon. The hike we took was not terribly long or strenuous, a good thing because it was very humid this afternoon!

You CAN Buy Imagination

Earlier today, I ordered this poster from allposters.com for my cubicle at work. I decided to have them laminate it as well. My cubicle walls are still pretty drab, though I've been in my new workspace for nearly 10 months! Can't wait to hang this poster up!