Our spread of food was amazing: buffalo chicken dip, guacamole, crab claws, baked brie with fig jam, shrimp cocktail…and that’s not even half of it. The hosts set up a bellini bar and we got to make fancy champagne cocktails with mango, blueberry, and raspberry purees. I made champagne cupcakes with toppers of the NYE ball dropping!

There were 4 couples in total and we had such a great night taking pictures, laughing about NYE parties past, and all of the exciting things happening for us in 2012. Lots to celebrate!

Sunday was our traditional New Year’s Day meal. Every single New Year growing up we had pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. This was the first year our parents were away, so we took matters into our own hands and made the meal ourselves

On the Menu:

Cheese and Crackers

Pork

Sauerkraut

Mashed Potatoes

Homemade Harvard Beets

It was different than our normal meal, but I’m so glad we kept the tradition alive! (And yes, midnight marked the end of my strict vegetarianism. I will still primarily eat veggie, but if I want a hot dog, I’m eating the damn hot dog)

We got some QT in with the cutie

And so another year ends. Some pretty amazing things happened in 2011, and I can honestly say starting 2012 at Whole Foods has completely changed my attitude. I am looking forward to everything the new year will bring

I know I know – it’s after New Years and I still haven’t blogged about Christmas. Since I started my new job, things have been insanely crazy with the holidays and working part time for my old company. I’m still trying to get things organized! I wasn’t going to blog about it, but since I write this blog mainly for me, it was important that I remembered all the fun we had this year!

We started the Christmas holiday on Friday night at our wonderful friends’ house. I didn’t take any pictures, but it was so much fun to hang with the Z’s like we do almost every Sunday. On Christmas Eve, we woke up early and make the 2 hour drive to my Aunt and Uncle’s house to spend the day with them. We all had such a blast and enjoyed our typical Italian Christmas Eve dinner, complete with 7 different fish dishes

Christmas morning was really the start of the festivities. My middle sister Lauren had to work the night before, so we were up pretty early to open presents before she had to go to sleep that morning. My oldest sister Jess was at her home for Christmas with her own little family, and I have to admit – it was weird!! I missed having all of us wake up at my parents’ house and open presents together, but I guess such is life. Then, while Lauren napped, the boys watched TV or played with their new gifts, Mom and I got everything ready for Christmas dinner, which was a French affair this year.

Table Settings!

On the Menu:

Assorted Appetizers

Nicoise Salad (from Jess and Nate)

Baked Brie en Croute

Foie Gras (gag me)

Lillet Aperitif with Orange Slices

I didn’t get photos of dinner, but there were three different dishes to choose from. I can’t even remember what they were, but everyone seemed to love them (Mom – maybe you can jump in with the names in the comment section?). I ate leftover crab cakes because I was still a veggie at the time (more on that later).

After dinner we enjoyed dessert, which consisted of Genoise (which is a traditional French sponge cake), Christmas cookies, and a log cabin! (courtesy of Lauren).

While we all sat around and enjoyed the night, my dad was ready to share his huge surprise that he has been working on for the past two weeks. As soon as he said he needed Addie, I had an idea of what it was:

But not just any wagon…my dad restored our old radio flyer from when the 3 of us were babies. The last time I saw that thing it was rusty and filled with crap in the garage. I couldn’t even believe it! It looks brand new! Addie loved it too

New Year’s recap to follow. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

Basically, my role will be the point of reference for anyone (team members and customers) who is interested in healthy living. The possibilities for what I can do are endless; it’s up to me to come up with creative solutions to get our team and patrons on the healthy bandwagon. I have a billion and one ideas swirling around in my head, but I have to complete an array of trainings and certifications before I can really dive into it.

I will be posting on the store’s blog, so as soon as that’s up and running, I’ll link to it here so you can follow along on all sorts of fun, healthy posts. I wrote one today but I’m not sure when it will be published. I’ll keep you posted!

Finally, I tweeted about this earlier, I am looking for Philly area bloggers who might be interested in some sort of exclusive blogger/media night (possibly after store hours) where we can showcase some new foods and recipes and let you guys sample them. Sort of a training session for bloggers – we want you guys to be involved first in all of the new things we have planned for 2012 in the Health Starts Here program. If you are interested, please send me an email (thesundayflog@gmail.com). We are still working out logistics, so feel free to suggest anything. Let me know what you think!

We’ve got mittens…

Santa hats and candy canes…

polka dot packages…

glittery stars…

light bulbs…

ornaments…

wreaths…

and Christmas trees…

All in all, it took me about 12 hours to ice them and I couldn’t be happier with the time spent. Did you make any cookies this year??

Back to Sunday Dinner…my dad’s birthday is actually tomorrow, but we wanted to get everyone together to celebrate on Sunday. We convened at our great family friends’ house and they put together quite the spread of food.

On the Menu:

Mini Crab Cakes with Remoulade

Assorted Cheeses, Meats, and Nuts

Beets and Goat Cheese Salad

Shepherd’s Pie

Blackened Catfish

Jumbo Carrot Cake Cupcake

Everything was so delicious, especially the crab cakes and the fish. My mom makes these crab cakes for every event and they are always a hit. I think I single-handedly devoured the entire tray of them at my sister’s wedding.

Dad had a wonderful time, but there was a small damper on the day: late Saturday night my mom’s car was stolen out of their driveway as they slept just feet away. There were a few tears and obvious frustrations, but at the end of the day, it’s only a car. It can be replaced, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s a total #firstworldproblem.

Happy birthday Daddy!! Love you to the moon and back and I’m so lucky you are my dad!

After two years here, I am leaving my marketing job with a box of things and some great friendships in search of something else. I will be starting a new position as the Healthy Eating Specialist at Whole Foods Market (!!!). Words cannot even describe my excitement about the impending change, but I’ll try.

My typical post-work routine was coming home, making dinner, and then standing in the kitchen for 5 hours preparing meals for the week, working on baking orders, and creating recipes. Steve always asked me if I ever got tired of doing that, and didn’t I just want to relax when I got home. To me, baking and cooking is relaxing. It’s what I truly love to do, and up until recently, was just a hobby of mine.

I found out I am just not cut out for a corporate lifestyle and career. I can’t be sedentary for that long, and I miss the constant interactions with people I had when I worked in a restaurant or in retail.

I know there are people out there who value success and happiness by your job title, bank account balance, or social status. I am not one of them. If you want to spend your life as a waitress, by all means – do it. If you want to walk dogs part-time and teach guitar lessons part-time – go for it. Do whatever makes you happy (and obviously pays the bills). No one ever said you need to work on the 22nd floor of the Comcast building to be successful in life. Who says you can’t do something that you love??

This isn’t just a job for me – this is the start of a brand new and exciting career. I am terrified. But I’m also thrilled, excited, and anxious to open this new door. Wish me luck!

*As it turns out, I will actually be staying on as a contractor to help see through some of the many marketing strategies we employed these past two years. Best of both worlds!

Saturday I cooked him a birthday dinner and we toasted to his birthday with our friends Matt and Bits (it was Matt’s birthday yesterday, too!). Steve got chicken fried steak and roasted rosemary potatoes:

I made chicken fried tofu…

We then dragged the boys out to the bar where all of our close friends were waiting to surprise them. It was a fabulous night of fun with people we don’t see nearly enough. I’d say our surprise was a success!

After a birthday breakfast at our favorite spot in Philly and a long nap while attempting to watch Home Alone 2, we headed to my parents’ house for Steve’s official birthday dinner. Winter makes for terrible food photos, so I’ll spare you, but the menu was Sauerbraten (kind of like brisket), buttered egg noodles, homemade Harvard beets, and red cabbage. Oh, and wine. Lots of wine.

Here is where I’m going to admit to the world that I ate a bite of meat last night. I can’t take this vegetarian thing anymore! I made it almost a year…

Dessert was hands-down the best part of dinner: make your own sundae bar! Vanilla ice cream, mini marshmallows, peanut butter chips, sprinkles, gummy bears, hot fudge, caramel sauce, whipped cream and a cherry. It’s what ice cream dreams are made of.

Happiest birthday to my best friend!! Hope you had a great weekend <3

I woke up slightly hungover to this shining face.

I got to entertain Addie while mom did most of the cooking and prep. Eventually my brother-in-law picked her up, and then it was time to get started on my dinner contributions: buttery cloverleaf rolls and sweet potato casserole. Normally we spend the holiday at my Uncle’s house with his family, but this year we kept it local. I missed seeing everyone, but it was nice to not have to drive anywhere. We also moved our standard 1pm eating time to a more reasonable dinner hour of 5pm.

On the Menu:

Appetizers
Cranberry Goat Cheese with Crackers

Brie with Cranberry Jalapeno Chutney

Cheese with Dried Cranberries

 Main Course
Turkey

Broccoli Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

Oyster Stuffing and Regular Stuffing

Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Corn

Cloverleaf Rolls

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Banana Cream Pie (that turned into pudding)

Seriously though, how perfect is that turkey??? My mom rocks. Everything was soooo good. I missed a photo of the mashed potatoes and corn, which were two of my favorite sides. I stuffed myself silly on brie, but still loaded up my plate and of course couldn’t finish it.

It was so nice to have everyone together for the holidays. As we get older and people get married/have babies or work obligations, the holidays change a bit, so it’s nice to have everyone in one place!

Ever since I can remember, our Thanksgiving meals have always been the same: turkey, stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, banana cranberry relish, and pumpkin pie. There were always years where additional things were thrown into the mix, but that was the standard meal. My mom once tried to fancy up the green bean casserole by using fresh French green beans and we basically all rallied against her and wanted to vote her out of Thanksgiving from then on. Please don’t touch the casserole with canned green beans, condensed Campbell’s mushroom soup, and crunchy fried onions. Just don’t. Our mashed potatoes have butter and heavy cream, the pumpkin pie is served in a crust made with white flour, and don’t even get me started on the calories in Emeril’s banana cream pie. (Go look at that recipe and then die. My uncle makes it every year)

No one complains that green vegetables are hard to find, or that dinner was too rich. We eat, we clean up, and then we all take a nap. Pretty standard if you ask me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. To me, there is a time and a place for celebration. Thanksgiving (and Christmas) is just that! Do I eat like this every day? Hell no. Is it going to kill me to indulge heavily for one afternoon a year? Likely not. This is all real food (ok, say what you will about Campbell’s soup…). If I ate pumpkin protein pudding instead of pie or mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes, I would probably still crave the original thing. To me that is not listening to your body. My body wants the real stuff and faking it just wont cut it. (If your body actually wants the cauliflower or the pudding, then by all means go for it!)

I am so over being bombarded with ways to lighten up the Holidays. Sure, my contribution to Thanksgiving is actually Jess’ Lightened-Up Sweet Potato Casserole, but that’s because it sounded so amazingly delicious that I didn’t need to search for a more fattening version. And, if you’ve ever read her website, you KNOW she is all about the real stuff. Have a bite, have a slice, or have the whole damn thing. Then move on.

I just came across a tweet from Amazing Grass that said they were adding Wheat Grass Powder to their stuffing. WHY FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS BUTTERY?! Whyyy would you do that to stuffing. I am not expecting my T-day meal to have good nutritional value, so I’m really not about to start sneaking dietary supplements into my food. That’s like hiding veggies in your kids mac and cheese instead of teaching them to like veggies, but that’s a post for another day…

Cause really, at the end of your life are you going to look back and say, “Damn, I’m so glad I created wanna-be recipes for all of life’s favorite foods. I feel so clean and trim on my deathbed.” ? Nope.

Happy full-fat, carby, buttery, whole milk Thanksgiving to you!

*This isn’t to say that healthy foods don’t have a place at the table. If some of your favorite holiday meals are healthy – that’s awesome! My point is that if you want the real thing, eat the real thing and be satisfied! Don’t fake it and then crave it later

On Sunday I completed my first half marathon and I couldn’t be more proud

My running buddy for the day was my friend Heera. We’ve known each other since freshman year of college but she lives in NYC and we only get to see each other about once a year (but when we do it’s like no time has passed!).

I was whining to her on gchat last week that I didn’t have anyone to run with and she said she wanted to do it. I thought she was joking but knew Heather (HangryPants!) wasn’t using her bib so I asked if Heera could have it. Within 20 minutes, Heera had a registration and a bolt bus ticket to Philly. I was so pumped!! (slash slightly jealous she’s in decent enough shape to decide to do a half marathon 2 days before the race…)

She puts up with my immature stories and we share the same anxiety levels about crowded expos and illegal parking spots. I loved having her here with me for my first race! (She has a few under her belt, including the ING Miami full where her longest run prior was 13 miles. Freak, seriously).

Anyway, back to last week – I had been fighting a small cold with emergen-C and lots and lots of fluids. It never got worse than a scratchy sore throat so I still wanted to run (and figure I’ll pay for it with a cold this week…). I made sure to hydrate and get plenty of rest in the week leading up to race day, and Heera and I got to bed at a semi-decent hour; we wanted enough time in the morning to become human again without feeling rushed. Heera didn’t have time paint her nails the night before, and obviously her time would have suffered without her neon-yellow polish, so we saved some time to do it the next morning.

I’m only about 5 blocks from the race start, so we leisurely strolled down there to stretch our legs and get ready to run. I ate half a bagel with pb and banana and drank some gatorade mixed with coconut water (freebie in the marathon bags). I can’t eat very much at all before I run, and normally supplement with shot blocks and gatorade during the race.

The course itself was awesome! So many fun things to see through the streets of Philly and definitely more entertaining than my standard “out-and-back” course I use along the river for all of my long runs. I lost Heera about 30 seconds in (little one likes to weave a lot), which was fine by me because I settled into my groove soon after the start. After only a mile and a half I experienced the worst cramp of my life. It was so bad I could barely breathe and walk, let alone run. I tried unsuccessfully to walk it out and finally just stood on the curb breathing slowly and massaging my side. My split for that mile was about 12:45

The course took us all over the city, along the Delaware River, into South Philly, up Chestnut street, and then past the Schuylkill River. There were plenty of sights to keep me entertained. Near the Delaware I saw a woman and immediately noticed she was missing part of her left leg. I also saw she had the website www.mylegstory.com printed on her running skirt so I caught up to her and told her I would check it out later. She handed me a bracelet and said thanks. Please go read her story. She was involved in a horrific accident and was told she may never walk again. Obviously she defied that and now runs races all over. That = inspiration!

On Chestnut Street I decided I was hot and attempted to remove my jacket. Unfortunately I pinned my bib to the jacket, so I had to unpin, unzip, repin, and then tie the jacket around my waist. Success! I felt so much better with my arms free and booked it up the hill.

Miles 1-7 flew by – the scenery was constantly changing and I was just excited to be running with so many other people. Mile 7-8 was a steady hill through University City. It wasn’t terrible but it also wasn’t enjoyable. Mile 10 was another huge hill. It was steep and wound around a couple times which sucked. Every time I would stop and walk I just kept repeating, “It’ll be over faster if you run it! It’ll be over faster if you run it!” The last few miles were a straight away down West River Drive (aka MLK Drive). This was always the most boring part of my training runs, so I was bummed when I found out it was part of the course. You can see the Art Museum the entire time but it feels like it takes forever to get there. I texted Steve when my Garmin hit 11 miles so they knew roughly when to expect me.

Finally I saw the split for marathoners and half-marathoners. There was a tiny incline which just seemed like a cruel joke, and then before I knew it I was running down the chute to the finish. I spotted my fam right before the end, threw my hands in the air, and gave it all I had. I crossed the finish line in 2:20:38. I’m so happy!

I walked through the water stops and took water and/or gatorade at each one. I also took two Gu’s which I definitely think helped keep my energy up. Overall I felt great – everyone commented I wasn’t sweaty or exhausted enough, which I guess means I didn’t try hard enough. Although during the race I felt plenty tired at times and like I couldn’t go any faster, so who knows. I was happy with my time and it was on par with what I expected based on my training. I’d love to get it down eventually, so that just gives me something to work toward. Honestly, if you asked me this time last year to run a half I would have laughed in your face. I couldn’t run for 5 minutes when I started the couch-to-5K program this past January, and I just ran over 13.1 miles. I am proud of myself no matter how long it took!

My knees are horribly sore today and I am walking pretty funny, so I’m going to give myself time to recuperate before attempting a run again. I think spinning and swimming will take the place of running this winter…

Overall, I loved the course and the experience and definitely have it on the agenda for next year. Thanks to my family for coming out to cheer me on, and to everyone for the supportive texts, tweets and facebook messages! It meant so much to me

*Side Note – as my family and I were walking away from the finish to go to breakfast, we saw a commotion and heard sirens. I looked over to see a paramedic kneeling on the ground doing chest compressions on someone. I burst into tears at what was happening and we left the scene quickly. Later I learned two people collapsed and died at the marathon (one only ran the half). It was a huge eye-opener to me and I immediately thought, “Who do I think I am to just get out here and run 13 miles after only running for less than a year? This could happen to anyone!” It was devastating to see and hear about, but these things can happen anywhere, at any time. I guess we can’t all live our lives in fear but it definitely makes me think twice about endurance events.