Friday bake nights was an idea I came up with (one friday night of course!) after a long work week.Exhausted and too tired to muster the energy to go back out and enjoy a night out in town with my gal pals, I decided to stay in for a much needed bake sesh and some serious R&R.
With my comfy PJ's on, soft jazz music playing in the background, simple ingredients on hand, this fairly not-so-pro epicurean will tackle and in time overcome even the most difficult of baking recipes!
So have faith my friends and get ready to get a little dirty in the kitchen :) with yours truly of course.
Let's raise a toast to a communal blog made by and created for foodies just like yourselves.
United in our passion for food we can share, explore and part the waves for a new recipe exchange forum.
See above to submit recipes!
Here's to #fridaybakenights.
The weekend just got a lot better :D
Friday Bake Nights
Didn’t make my corrale time, but still proud of my time. First 10k high!
Dinner on the table for the family in under an hour. Damn, I’d make a good housewife if I don’t say so myself
Pork fried rice for tomorrow’s office Xmas potluck. When your low on time and need to cook something..
8 months in the making… and still counting:
First off, no I am not pregnant :/.
About 8 months ago I decided to take charge of my life again and by life, I mean my health and feeling good about myself again.
I was always a heavy teen in high school and started out at my heaviest when I hit first year of University. Between things going on personally and generally not feeling good about myself, the first year of college was the worst period of my life. But, I’m older now and understand that the not-so-good things we get handed in life are also what builds our character and for that, I am at peace now.
So I made the decision 8 years ago to take charge of my life and outlook. I’m never going to be able to largely change or influence the things that happen around me, but I can control how I feel about myself, how I react to bad situations and life in general.
So at the age of 19, I decided to join my first gym and it still is one of the smartest decisions I have ever made. I have no regrets.
I did all the cardio classes, started weight training, drastically changed how I ate and lost some serious weight because of it.
But, I can honestly say at this stage of my life, I probably didn’t do it the right way. Honestly, would you expect a 19 year old to seriously understand the health and emotional aspects that come along with a serious 360 in lifestyle? I didn’t have a trainer, no peer mentors or any health professional guiding me along the way. That goal was purely driven by drive and will power. I went by what I thought was right and what I thought I should look like.
I was happier and unfortunately much more self absorbed, but fell into the same trap as most people, the belief that being “skinny” would somehow solve all of my problems. Being skinny wasn’t going to get me better grades in school, make my friends like me more, it wasn’t going to effectively change the negative relationships I had with some people nor was it going to all of a sudden make everything peachy keen. It took me to my mid 20’s to realize that.
So I continued on this fitness road and wandered into intramural sports at school. That was a fun time and I can honestly say the early morning am drills and weekend practice sessions weren’t as bad as they sound :). It propelled me to be at what I think is still the fittest and strongest I have ever been.
Fast forward to graduation, getting new jobs and finally establishing a career for myself. With the distractions and stress of every day work life, I veered off and on again on my lifestyle road. My weight fluctuated up and down according to how stressful a job was and so did my mood.
So after 4 years of working at one place (I only ever do 3 lol) and all the weddings that I would be attending this summer, I decided to revisit that path again, but in a more honest way than before.
I left all numbers out. Measurements, lbs, kgs you name it. I got a specialist, a personal trainer and took a real deep look inside at what I truly wanted for myself. Most importantly, I took my time.
I was initially going to post the 2 diets that I’ve found to be the most effective out of everything I have ever tried, but changed my mind. Another time, another post :). I think I want to delve a little deeper today.
At the end of the day, I think a person needs to truly evaluate why they want to lose weight or why they want to change their lifestyle choices.
There is no such thing as an “ideal’ weight or a “ideal” magical dress size 4, despite the constant propaganda we get bombarded with every single day.
There is only your “ideal” weight and I hope that at the end of the day, that ideal you hold for yourself is one that is realistic, not entirely influenced by others and based more upon how you feel then just a number.
Feeling like a 10, despite not looking like one, is the only number I’m going to be working with and that is a standard that is gold in my books.
Be kind to one another :),
-Dinnerforoneplease
