The Girl with All the Gifts

I had two New Year's Resolutions this year, and despite recent musings about resetting and body weight, they didn't have much to do with restriction or loss.  Instead, I was focused on increasing this year.  In one way, by forcing myself to try new things (Resolution #1: Try 1 new recipe a week).  And secondly, by doing my best to avoid atrophy (Resolution #2: Read 20 novels by the end of the year).  Neither of these are particularly hard, but that wasn't my aim.  Rather, what they are, in their simplicity, is a reminder to try new things, to be adventurous and to learn.  And all of this is just to say, I just finished reading a really good book.  Or rather, listened to one (I love a good book on tape).  And you totally should too.

The Girl with All the Gifts

The Girl with All the Gifts is a post-apocalyptic novel (I mean, what isn't, nowadays?) set in England a few decades after zombies (again, are we really surprised?) are the downfall for the majority of human civilization.  The survives try to find the cure.  You think it's your run of the mill zombie apocalypse story, but it isn't.

When Ben and I were honeymooning in Hawaii, we headed out one morning and drove to the other side of the island to see the Volcano National Park.  With a few hours of driving ahead of us, we compromised on World War Z as the book on tape we would listen to (Ben likes historical non-fiction, I like fiction with a good story.  A zombie book told in the style of a documentary seemed like a good compromise).  We stayed past dark at the volcano (to see it emit beautiful red light at night) and drove home afterwards.  Here's the thing about the interstate of Hawaii: there are many, many long stretches with NO LIGHTS.  And no population.  So, besides the light from a million beautiful stars, it is PITCH BLACK.  We were usually the only car on the road.  And with World War Z playing on the car stereo, with it's haunting "dboom dboom" between each chapter and haunting depictions of zombie attacks, we were past the point of logically scared.  Every creak or unexpected bump in the road gave us both pounding hearts and nervous jitters.  We were scared more than we would ever admit to each other.  We had to turn off the book, and even then were on edge.  World War Z is a scary zombie book.  I won't even see the movie now.

The Girl with All the Gifts is not that kind of zombie novel.

Your normal zombie assumptions apply: they want to eat humans, you become a zombie if you are bitten by one, etc.  What ends up being different is that there are 2 classes of zombies: (1) Your typical, brainless, non-human brain muncher and (2) the a-typical zombie: they can think and speak, feel happy and feel fear, but even just a whiff of human pheromones will send them spiraling into a type (1) zombie feeding rage.

And... and... that's all I can really tell you without ruining the book.  Which I really don't want to do, because it is such a good book.   I downloaded it on Thursday.  I finished it today.  It accompanied me pretty much non-stop during Saturday and Sunday (it's a long book...)  I was hooked.  And one of the reasons I was is that the book is a true work of science fiction.  In other words, there is real science in the book (what makes the zombies isn't a passable virus.  It's a fungus.  A real fungus, that exists today.  In ants: Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.  And it mutates to infect humans.  And that seems almost real, which I suppose is a whole different kind of scary).  But you don't need a degree in organic biochemistry to understand when they speak about the science.  You understand how things happened, and it makes sense.  Although it does uses phrases like "Brownian cascades", which makes my little chemical engineering heart smile with happiness.  But that is the extent of nerdiness, and you will still understand everything, even if you don't understand Brownian motion.

Plus, the post-apocalyptic world the author has imagined seems genuine.  Events make sense and you have an intuit understanding that it is likely what the world would be like, should 98% of the world's population become zombies (unlike, say, the strangely safe and navigable world of Station Eleven, which managed to have a traveling Shakespeare company just a few years after their world fell apart).  There aren't very many stretches.  People have motives and emotions, they love and fear, and you understand why the whole time.

And then, many hours later, the ending comes.  And it smacks you that there was no other way for the book to end.  It had been leading up to that moment the entire time, even if you didn't realize it until the very last chapter.  And you don't know whether to cheer, or be sad, or just nod in understanding and... and... I've probably said to much already, so I will stop.  In summary: read The Girl with All the Gifts.  And then please, please come back here and tell me how you feel.  Because I'll probably still be unsure.

The Week Without Sugar

I was a bit of a glut over the Christmas holiday.  Truth be told, glut is probably an understatement.  I was the cookie monster reincarnated.  I was the person who had thirds on dessert.  I toured a chocolate factory and sampled almost every single one of their chocolates (including their fig, fennel and almond bar, which was fantastic).

I am not super-uber-overly conscience healthy, but I do try to keep all good things in moderation.  But then the holidays rolled around and I figured: hey, it's Christmas!  Take a break, eat the cookies!  Which, fits into the whole moderation scheme if you only let loose a day or two.  It absolutely does not fit if let loose your whole entire 17 day vacation.  Which is, more or less, what I did.  And I have been paying for it ever since.  Clothes are a little tighter, my face just a little pudgier, and I am incessantly reaching for snacks, especially of the sweet persuasion.  Weight-wise, pre-eat all the goodies in sight mode, I was at my healthy, could lose a few pounds, but in general I am happy with the number on the scale weight.  However, that weight has now creeped up a few pounds and I am flirting with the scary "DO NOT CROSS" weight line and I'm not happy about it (curiously, the range of weight between "content with my weight" and "holy moly, get off the scale now and eat nothing but broth for the next month" is about 6 pounds.  Not a ton of wiggle room there).

Anyways, all of this is to say that I need to pull back and reset my system, and get myself back to that generally healthy attitude I was before the ugly gluttony monster took over my life.  In other words - I need to get the voice in my head that has me constantly reaching for the peanut butter covered pretzels to shut the hell up.

Or, you know, I could simply stop BUYING the pretzels...

I talked with Ben.  I told him that I needed to stop making butterscotch pudding and brown buttered hazelnut cakes draped in dark chocolate ganache.  I said I wanted to try one week with no added sugar.  No maple syrup on my oatmeal in the morning, no cookies sneaked from the office communal table for dessert after lunch, no handful of dark chocolate covered almonds with my evening glass of tea (or, you know, red wine...).  Resetting my sugar intake for a whole week.  7 days, zero sugar (ending conveniently before Valentine's Day, of course).  He seemed to inherently understand that the upcoming week was likely going to be murderous for him, but he decided to support me nevertheless.  Good guy, that husband of mine.

This little experiment may kill me, or just as likely, kill my husband

 We set up a few ground rules for me, to help me keep my sanity.  It would be a no added sugar week, meaning that the Kashi bar I eat for a snack nearly every day was a no go, as well as most bread, and jam and all chocolate.  I would be allowed to compensate with "naturally occurring" sugar, aka fruit.  I personally decided, much to my own dismay, that maple syrup and honey would not fall into the naturally occurring sugar category.  Anything sweet would be entering my gullet only through grown plant matter.

And so the week without sugar starts.  On a Friday, cause that makes a whole bunch of sense.  Or at least it will make more sense when it ends on the Friday before Valentine's day - leaving my February 14th open for guilt-free (and hopefully, very moderate) consumption of chocolate goodies.

In other, somewhat related news, apparently these ads actually existed at one point in human history:

Apparently, sugar aids in your willpower.  It's science.

Fritsch Weekend Update: Snow, Superbowl and More Snow

Hint: it involved a shit-ton of snow.

Sorry about the cussing mom...

Starting Saturday night, while we were in the movies, all the way through the Superbowl on Sunday, it snowed.  And blew snow.  And then snowed some more.  According to weatherchannel.com, we got 16 inches.  I would not have guessed that much, but I know nothing about snow and usually enjoy my naivety.  The snow forced my hand (ha) and made me stay in day all of Sunday.  Ben too, except for when he was brave enough to go shovel the accumulations off the driveway.  Luckily, we had gone to mass on Saturday afternoon, not-so-luckily, the Superbowl party we had planned for the day feel through.  It ended up being an intimate party of 2, with many cheddar swirl buns enhaled and about 7 pounds of chalupa left over.

Ok, I went out once with the dog while Ben was shoveling.  That is our poor dog.  Don't feel bad, he loved it.

Side note:  what I grew up calling chalupa is more like the filling of a chalupa, since chalupa in Spanish apparently means "small boat", and refers to the shell which holds the yummy filling.  Either way, it is still delicious and what we will be eating all week as leftovers.

Saturday was a busy day for us, as we assumed we were having people over the next night for the big game.  We did a massive grocery shopping trip, as well as a good cleaning of the house.  We decided to go see American Sniper as a reward for a day of hard work.  The movie was good, sad and intense.  And I cried at the end.  It took a good several minutes for me to stop crying.  I told Ben that it wasn't a normal movie cry, but a sad cry.  Like in The Green Mile.  Where you feel the sadness all the way inside.  He agreed, although he's never seen The Green Mile (What?!?).  It was a quiet, bummed out ride home through the falling snow.  As I said, good movie, but sad and very intense.  Be ready to hide your eyes in your partner's armpit at least 2 times.

Those bushes are now unidentifiable under the mounds of snow

Sunday involved making the above mentioned 7 pounds of chalupa, cleaning and cutting veggies and making Smitten Kitchen's delectable cheddar swirl buns.  Then learning that no one could make it through the snow, putting on sweatpants and watching the game with the husband and eating more cheddar swirl buns than just two people should eat.  Got really excited about the game, and then really mad about a stupid play call.  Then miss the big fight at the end, because someone had shut off the TV before the end of the game.

In other news, don't ask Ben about the game.

Lastly, this is the only good thing about Monday morning:

12 buns, gone in less that 12 hours.  So delicious, I don't even care.

26 Going on 27

This adorable girl turns 27 tomorrow.  That's right, the big 2-7

Tomorrow I turn 27. I have only one task thought on this event, and it's not particularly insightful. My only real qualm is that 27 doesn't sound as sexy as 26. Not that the grand age of 26 is all that sexy, but it really beats out the sound of "I am 27 years old".

Maybe its because 26 is an even number. Or because 26 only has 3 syllables, and 27 breaks into the 4 syllable range. Or maybe it's because you are still in your mid 20's when your 26. And 27, well 27 is basically 30. That's right folks, we are on the slow march to 30.

Or is it more of a climb?  I am a good climber

Anyways, this will be my last post at the somewhat sexy, but definitely sexier than 27, age of 26. And the only reason I had to write was simply to say that my birthday is tomorrow, that I am getting old and that I don't particularly like the sound of "I'm 27".  At least not yet. We'll see where the year takes us.

Weekend Update: To-Do List Success

This is going to be a busy week, but before we got too far along, I wanted to check in with you guys with a quick weekend update, especially after boosting about my to-do list making skills on Thursday.  So, let's start there.

Surprise of all surprises, I completed 3 of the 4 items from Thursday (and, to be honest, sadly I had a feeling in my bones that that damn vacuum cleaner was not going to get fixed).  I found a way to successfully charge my DSLR camera.  While the actually camera charging cord is still MIA, I scoured all the miscellaneous cords in our house (of which there are SO MANY) and managed to find not one, but two cords that would work!  I joyfully crossed out the first item from my list.

Next, I scoured The Baking Bible to decide what I was going to make (we all had a pretty good feeling that my major kitchen project was going to be bread).  While I pretended to consider other options, I knew all along that the fragrance I wanted emanating out of my ovens was cinnamon raisin bread.  So I got started on that.

Finished product.  Look at those homemade beauties

The great thing about making bread is that while it is an all day task, there is plenty of downtime as well.  I managed to start the dough and then hit the gym and get a new library card at the Poplar Creek Library (on a side note, what a neat library!  But, I am a dork who appreciates a good library).  After giving a little more love to my bread, I managed to cut out the pattern for my pajama pants.

And this is where I stumbled (granted, I didn't realize it until Sunday).  I spent a considerable amount of time lining up the very cute stripes of my very cute fabric to make my pj pants as very cute (and professional) looking as I could.  There was much manipulating and studying of the fabric.  So much so, that I managed to completely overlook the very simple fact of how I folded the fabric.  So, as I was showing off my handiwork on Skype the next day to my mom and sister I realized that I could out one half of my pajamas upside down.  So, while the adorable stripes will line up front to back, left to right they will flip 180 degrees.  I have decided that this will be a cute quirk of my pants and will forge on.  Final pictures of this adorable mistake to come.

This was a heartbreaking realization on Sunday.  But at least the fabric is cute, right?

Besides ricking my to-do list, Ben and I also went to the movies on Saturday night.  We went to see Gone Girl, but decided to switch movies when the only 2 seats together where in the second row from the front.  So, we changed our tickets to Big Hero 6, which was much funnier and more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be.  On Sunday, we had a classic Target shopping trip.  Our list had 3 items to pick up at Target, and when we left there $150 later, only one of the items on our list had actually been purchased.  But we did pick up an awesomely large clock and several strings of Christmas lights.  I will be the first to admit that our weekends need a little more excitement to them.

Anyways, this week will be busy.  My 27th birthday is on Thursday, although it doesn't seem like it is late enough in the year for it, but the calendar doesn't lie.  I am at Northwestern Medical Center most of the week watching a SPECT/CT camera get installed and Ben has class on Friday, so I don't think there will be much celebrating anyways.  And that is about it.  I'll try to think of something more excited to check in with but it might be a few days.  Hope your Monday included much less Chicago traffic than mine did!

One more shot, because that swirl of cinnamon is a work of culinary art

Holding Me To It

I have a barrage of thoughts all vying for top blog billing this week. It’s been a few days since last writing, so I am anxious to get back to it (I feel like I get out of a groove whenever I stop for a few days), but have been struggling with what I should write about.

This week has consisted mostly of: work, food, complaining about the fact that it’s getting cold, and cuddling with dog (in no particular order), so idea for blogging material has been lacking. The three top ideas were as follows: 

• The fact that my 27th birthday is a week from today (ekk - and yet, I have nothing of any actual value to add to the I'm turning 27! conversation.  But I'm pretty sure Buzzfeed has a least one "27 things to do before your 27" list).
• Neighbors (I have them.  They interact with us.  It's new and weird.  I still may eventually write this post).
• Things I am planning on doing this weekend.

List and a cup of a coffee.  It was a hopeful Saturday morning

And even though it sounds like the least interesting in that list of 3, I am going with the last bullet point.  Last weekend, Ben and I made an extensive weekend to-do list. Surprising both of us, we made a very large dent in it. While there is a few items still left (fix vacuum. Ben’s haircut), I was proud of what we accomplished.  So, obviously I figured I should keep the to-do list thing going, to accomplish even more things.  And then I thought it was a good idea to proclaim it to the internet in hopes that you guys would hold me to it.  Total blog-worthy topic.

I love drawing lines through things

Last Weekend of Being 26 To-Do List:
(which is totally (sadly)  not what one may expect...)

• I made Ben cozy pajama pants last year for Christmas. I finally got around to completing them a few weeks ago (it was the hemming, I was strangely adverse to completing this one small step that would complete the total project). Back when I bought the fabric in November of 2013, I also bought myself some fabric to make myself pj pants. It’s sitting uncut in my office. I’d love to get to that.
• Figure out how to bring my nice DSL camera back to life. I lost the cord that connects the charger to the wall and my battery has been dead since, oh I don’t know, we got back from our honeymoon 9 8 months ago. And, the icing on the cake is that my camera phone is pitiful (in case you hadn’t figured that one out already…). This really needs to be rectified. Life pictures should be taken.
• Tackle a project in the kitchen. It’s Thursday night and I still haven’t decided what it should be, but I want to make something involved. Maybe a lasagna, or another pot pie to win favor with the husband. Or maybe I will bake some bread. I haven’t made bread in a while, and it makes a house feel so warm and smell so comforting. So, maybe I have decided what I will make. I will scour recipes tonight to finalize. (Side note, Martha Stewart’s lentil soup? Amazing. Easy. Give into the cold and make it, preferably a double batch. Maybe eat with homemade bread?)
• Fix that damn vacuum cleaner. I am out of excuses to avoid it. Boo. 

Alright, there it is.  Let's see how I do.

Who wouldn't want to cook from this beautiful tome?

Weekend Update: Introducting Mr. Bernoulli Fritsch

The big news this weekend (for those of you not paying attention), is that we finally brought home a little puppy, 3 months old and so far, seeming to be like his "forever home". We have named him Bernoulli (this is the sad sort of thing that happens when 2 engineers marry each other) and we both already love him to pieces.

In our defense, how do you not love this face?

I will admit that the first night was a rough one.  We had only known each other about 4 hours before we penned him up in our bathroom with a baby gate and attempted to sleep.  It was a night of whining and yips and 4 bathroom trips outside that I begrudgingly allowed.  There was no sleep for me that night, laying awake and wondering if this really was the best idea.  The next day was a little tough as well, with Ben having to be at school all day, me in a lack-of-any-real-sleep haze and Bernoulli simply being a non-house trained puppy.  The next two nights were much better, we planned the bathroom breaks and Bernoulli slept peacefully in his crate (in the living room).  Even though one of us has to be on diligent puppy watch anytime he is not confined to his crate to prevent any accidents (of which there have been too many in my opinion...), it was a fun weekend.  A fun weekend in which not much else got accomplished, but that was to be expected.

Major cuddles

Bernoulli is a cuddler, which I am absolutely loving.  He will climb right into your nap and settle in, usually sticking his snout tight in between your arm and torso.  And he is deadly adorable when he is sleeping.  He somewhat knows how to play "Go Get It", which is what Ben has decided to call the game of fetch.  And he gives lots of kisses, which sort of lose their appeal when you know that 15 minutes earlier you were forcing him to drop the poop from some other dog so he wouldn't eat it.  Even so, we are pretty much completely smitten (and can't wait to send out the family Christmas cards to prove it).

The least blurry picture I could get of crazy on our ride home

The rescue shelter where we got him was calling him a lab mix.  In person, at least to Ben and myself, he doesn't look lab at all.  Our most educated guess (i.e Google image searches...) is that he is mostly black mouth cur, with maybe some boxer in him.  We are thinking about getting him tested to find out what he is for sure.  He's a deep, red-tan color, with one white (and lucky) paw and some white at the tip of his tail and on his chest.  What you n really need to know is that he is completely adorable.

In other weekend news, not much else happened.  Saturday was completely shot, since I was a single-puppy-mom, sleep-deprived zombie.  But after better sleep Saturday night and a helping hand on Sunday, I did manage to clean the kitchen, do some grocery shopping, put away the Halloween decorations and clean both bathrooms (what can I say, I lead a wild and crazy life).  Although our precious Bernoulli easily takes home the prize of most exciting thing to happen this weekend, I am also pretty excited about finally hanging up the new shower curtain we bought some time ago.  It was a small change, but these small changes continue to make the house feel more home.  And it makes me smile every time I see our bathroom, so that's worth something, right? 

This shower curtain makes me smile without fail.  It is just so happy

Well, there you go, the first Fritsch Weekend Update of November, which just so happens to be the best month ever. Hope yours is off to a good start as well!