PB (take two)

 Another pizza bianca. Since when did I become Iron Chef of Italy? Gotta admit, though, as I'm munching on my master creation, I think I may have outdone the Cooking Light recipe. It's vegetarian, not cooked in bacon fat, and tastes better (adjectives were never my strong suite).

Changes:
1/2 cup ricotta cheese + 1tbsp garlic & herb goat cheese
toppings: sauteed onions, sauteed spinach, & roasted red peppers (plus 1/3 cup part skim shredded mozzarella)

Now I need my family come home to help me finish it because I am scary close to running into my room and wolfing it down (while watching season 2 of Portlandia).

Christmas break, all I have is free time, and I've successfully made two pizzas and a beet salad...

On a more productive note, I have started taking self defense classes and am proud to say I am officially a white belt. The "kee-ai"s never get any less awkward, and my half-moons are atrocious. The way I fold my belt, however, is pristine to say the least.

And to leave you in assurance that I am not without faults (although it's still hard to convince most people), I have eaten half the pizza while writing this post. 

Hope everyone had a fabulous New Year's Eve! Mine was laden with Moscow Mules and Almond Champagne

not pictured: myself

Links to Like, Love, and Listen To

Mary Walker's Lemondrop video. I have her CD on repeat, and you can listen to her new album on Spotify! (highly recommended)

Gal Meets Glam. I love her blog, but mostly I love her hair

The I Heart Food facebook page. If you're not a fan, you should be. Home to many instapics of food

Someone, make me this

Someone, take me here

Someone, buy me these

And finally, have a laugh

Pizza Bianca (And Some Tips on Portion Control)

I tried this fabuloso recipe almost a week ago. 4 stars (only because my execution wasn't spot on). It's from Cooking Light and was a family favorite (minus my brother who is allergic to mushrooms).

Click here for the recipe

And now for my words of wisdom:
1. Spend hours cooking for yourself and only make enough to eat one portion
2. (And/or) Make a pizza for your family (and only make one pizza) so that you can politely devour your portion, allowing everyone else to have their designated portion - everyone is not quite full but you have practiced portion control!
3. Drink water, and then drink water, and then drink more water. Then go to the bathroom and then drink more water.
4. Drink more water.
5. Full of water? Drink more water.

No, no. If you want real food and health tips click along to my health and food blog. Mentions of food on this, my personal blog, are mentions of fat, grease, and all that makes life worth living. This pizza is GOOD good good. The toppings are cooked in bacon fat BUT the cheeses are low-fat. Best of both worlds. And if you peak at the nutrition facts you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Make this to eat half  by yourself before January 1 rolls around and magically you're committed to being healthy and active (winks all around)

Winning.

What a great blogger I am, keeping everyone in eager anticipation for a week and a half waiting for another blog post about my life and all that happens after breakfast.

I have not yet discussed (1) my trip to San Diego, (2) Christmas... (3) Cutie Tesday #2, (4) pizza

San Diego:
Last.... some rando day of the week... my mom and I made the strenuous journey down south to Cardiff by the Sea to spend some quality time with my nephew/mom's grandson. Seeing my sister and brother-in-law were added bonuses.

above left: Luke still trying to figure out if he likes this "getting burped" business

above right: My scarfed self, Mary (big sister) + Luke (her offspring), Mom (the reason any of us exist at all)

family: click here to view the entire album

We enjoyed a not light lunch at Amaya at  The Grand hotel in Del Mar, and then went back to my sister's house to start making dinner. My kind of day. We were even graced with Jake's presence (Mary's husb, Luke's father), and I shared my collegiate wisdom by telling him to go to bed early and finish his work at 5 am.

boring stuff boring stuff boring stuff.... CHRISTMAS DAY!!!

mine was great, how was yours? I drank coffee

and posed for the camera

and got a food processor! First thought: "Now I can make pesto!" And really, who doesn't look at a new food processor and think "pesto"?

And then I made a pizza:

Twas good. Not made with the food processor. Will be mentioned in a post to come. 

Cutie Tuesday: Pico the Male Model

Yesterday was... pretty eventful. I tried a latte with real milk for breakfast. Not a fan. Then I found out who Gossip Girl is via Tumblr. Watched Sweet Home Alabama. Went for a run/walk back from LMU in the freezing cold. And suffered immensely from my allergies brought on by our Christmas tree.

Probably a solid 25% of my day was me wandering outside to go hang out with my puppies (my 7-year-old chihuahuas). Maddie sulks around while Pico runs up to me eager for affirmation that he 'is the best little dog everrrrrrr. Yes you are. Yes you are, Pico!' He knows praise doesn't come from nothing, so he does indeed work for it. As in, he works it.

oh is that you with a camera?

the sun is so bright I don't think I can pose today

haha just kidding, the light is perfect for my complexion

Maddie stays in the doghouse only to emerge for food. While Pico here runs straight for the sunlight, stand's up tall, and looks off into the distance. Winner of Cutie Tuesday

O Tannenbaum

First real morning back at home, and my mother so cunningly lured me into a game of Five Crowns. If you're unfamiliar, it is the ultimate game of wits, nothing like any other card game you've played before.

as you can see, the added suit makes a world of difference

We won't talk about the outcome, because that's not important. What is important is that I managed to down three cups of black coffee and a water bottle before my doctor's appointment with a doctor that I had never been to before. Pretty sure that first impression went swimmingly; they made me wait, and wait, and wait, and when the doctor finally walked in to see me, I had to ask to ... you know... 2nd grade style, "Dr. Chan... may I go to the bathroooooom?"

Alright, so doctor's appointment over, and I am thankful. After that it was straight to the gym for a great 14.5 minute run (that I guess couldn't just have been done in my neighborhood) and a 2 minute abdominal session. I did  feel the burn. 

And after that it's just waiting around for the next day to come so I can enjoy some more coffee and eggs and toast and blog some more.

How do I kill time from morning to morning? By taking pictures of the Christmas tree. Thank goodness it gets dark at 5 o'clock - I got a good 6-hour photo shoot in. No, but really, thank goodness there is a Pinterest post floating around that tells me "How to Take Awesome Picture of your Christmas Tree". I don't think turning up the ISO and make the shutter speed slower would have ever come to mind. So thanks Pinterest. Saving my night once again.

And now it's morning again! So I made an egg on toast again! (But got a little cheeky and added avocado and shaved parmesan) 

Hop, Skip, and a Jump

Woke up promptly at 5:30 this morning to finish packing and getting ready to head out the door on time, at a glorious 6:30 am. I could have just packed the night before but that's never fun, plus I was having a grand ol' time gabbing to my friend over a glass of wine (she drank; I passed on the potential of dealing with a wine hangover on a plane). To wrap up the evening, I watched the first half of Love Actually (how have I never seen that movie before?)

With some minor setbacks such as going to the wrong airport, I still managed to catch my plane and wake up to take this beaut of a picture and then fall back asleep with a little help from Dramamine.

And now I am back in California and cannot wait to drink coffee in the morning and go to the gym and take in all that is wonderful Los Angeles (minus the smog that gives me horrible horrible allergies)