My Weekly Indulgence: Sushi & Making it "Special"

Being a self-proclaimed "foodie" that is also losing weight can be challenging. So every week I try to fit in an indulgence or splurge if you will. It keeps me on track with being good all week when I can look forward to enjoying something I love come the weekend. Today I decided to delight in one of my favorite foods . . . SUSHI!! Because it's such a delicacy for me I treat my meal with great respect to make it seem really "special". I pop on over to my local Blue C Sushi and grab all of my favorites to go off of the sushi carousel that runs through the entire restaurant. Very metro.

Here's where I'll start sounding like a women with an obsession (and if I am obsessed, I'll take that moniker and wear it proudly). There's a process involved when preparing to dive head long into a plate full of decadent raw fishies. I "plate" my sushi in order to give it all a very elegant and gourmet feeling. **For those of you readers that LOVE sushi this will probably make you drool a little so grab a hanky. The rest of you that loath the idea of eating raw fish, you might want to turn away.** So I arrange everything like so (Yes, this is actually my dinner that I shot a picture of) :

What you're seeing here is as follows starting clockwise: Sesame noodles, Edamame, Philadelphia Roll, Salmon Nigiri, Seared Tuna (with sauce), my most favorite of all the Spider Roll with soft shell crab, and a side of soy sauce. Now when eating such flavorful seafood I must use a system so that each piece gives the most satisfaction. So I'll typically start with a Philly roll and alternate around the plate enjoying each piece as I enter into a magical sushi coma. LOL

The great thing about sushi is that it's all very lean and pretty darn healthy for you. Plus the fact that my guy HATES it with a passion, there's no worry of him wanting to bogart my salmon. When asked he said, "I would have to be starving on a deserted island before I'd eat that, and even then if I was alive enough I'd make a fire and cook it first!". I should mention he's never tried it, so I say he doesn't know what he's missing. =)

There you have it, my weekly indulgence and how I make it something special.

Catch ya on the flip side! (See what I did there? "Catch" and sushi? Get it? Never mind it must be late.)

-Gwen-

Three Words I Never Thought I'd Say

"Thank you Tyra!"

I was watching the newest "America's Next Top Model" (hereafter referred to as ANTM) and before I go any further let me just say I don't watch it for the drama, Tyra's latest pants suit from the future, or the J's. I watch it for, and typically fast forward to, the photo shoots to see the behind the scenes of hair, makeup, wardrobe, shoot locations, photography, and the finished product. It's always interesting to see who gets the boot, and in this first elimination I was actually pleasantly surprised at the judge's decision. Let me explain for those who do not what the show (namely you guys out there).

As the new housemate models were getting to know each other a couple of girls were discussing another girl's thin frame. I believe that this girl's name was AnnaMarie or something like that. So Anna says something about having been "thicker" before, and that her Mom is always encouraging her to gain a little weight. The other girls ask Anna "How much did you weight?", Anna replies, "When I was thick I was 130 pounds". The girls ask, "How much do you weight now?", Anna replies, "I'm about 110 pounds." To which MY reply was, "WTF!! Are you serious??"

Anna explained that she had to be on a strict low calorie diet in order to maintain the weight she liked (being 110 lbs.) and when she looked in the mirror she liked to be able to see her "abs". Girl I swear, you have to have toned abdominal muscles in order to actually SEE them. So at the photo shoot the girls had to wear bikinis and when Anna's turn came up, the photographer and creative director had issues with only seeing bones on her. When you turn your back to me and I can actually see your ribs from the BACK, I'm more likely to think you've been starving for awhile, not that you're model material. I'm sorry but any "model" that looks emaciated is just sad.

At the elimination Anna was the first to go, because of her unhealthy body image. Tyra told her that she and the judges thought Anna would be sending that unhealthy message to a lot of young girls, and that there are a LOT of thin models in the industry but that Anna was "thinner than thin". I had to applaud the panel on their decision because Anna clearly has some body image issues. It's sad to say that the biggest part on her was her ego.

So thank you ANTM, and yes, thank you Tyra for not allowing such destructive imagery of the stereotypical "thin high fashion model" to further influence our young women into wreaking havoc on their bodies just to "fit in".

-End of line . . -

I kicked my own ass and i'll do it again!

So here I am again, back to the blog. I'm writing this up as I sit here fast forwarding through an old "America's Got Talent" in order to catch my favorite act, "Fighting Gravity". I tell ya, if you haven't seen them they are WAY cooler than the Blue Man Group. So anyhow, I'm sitting here in bed after taking some Tylenol PM (we'll get to that in a second if I don't fall asleep before the end) in my panties and my Threadless t-shirt. Let's see if you can figure this one out:

No? Well don't worry I'll clue you in at the end. Today was the day I decided I HAD to get to the gym after putting if off for weeks in an effort to further define this pear shaped body of mine. So I threw on my jogging pants and a tight workout tee and headed down to the gym this afternoon. Once there (since my iPod is taking a dirt nap) I decided to put on the most mindless show I could find on the TV above the treadmill so I didn't have to pay attention  . . . "Maury". In particular I believe the episode was called "My son is blind but I can see that he's not the father!". See, I told ya . . . mindless.

**Side note: Fighting Gravity just came on and although I love what they do, this round wasn't as good as the previous ones I've seen. Maybe I need to rewind and watch again. One moment . . . . . . . . . . . meh, second time was about the same.**

So yeah, there I am at the gym ready to kick my own ass. It's what I set out to do and I'll be damned if that's not exactly what I did. To give you an idea of how I spent my hour there: Leg press, leg curl machine, free weights, push ups, seated row, lateral pull downs, bench press, overhead press, and finally the treadmill for a brisk walk/jog. I worked up a good sweat and by the time I got off the treadmill and back onto stationary ground I felt like I was STILL on the treadmill. lol By the time I got home I felt like someone had punched me square in the pecs. You'd think that after a beating like that I'd curl up in bed and never venture into the gym again. But I have to admit, it felt good afterward, and the more I do it the easier it will become. Back to the grind tomorrow!

I think I'll be passing out now . .
-Gwen-

P.S. Did you figure out my shirt yet, or did you peek ahead? The answer to my shirt is the "Best Mime Ever".

P.P.S. Oh and by the way, the blind guy WAS the father!

Worst Parents EVER! ~Pirahana *SPOILER ALERT*~

I took the opportunity yesterday to go see a completely brain dead movie, because I had a long day of work and really needed to have some "non-thinking" time. So the only logical choice was to go see Piranha in 3D. lol I love a good mindless gore fest, but this movie actually shocked me! When the movie started I thought I heard a little voice behind me, but I was in my "Shhhhh the movie is starting, shut the hell up" mode so I didn't pay it any attention.

So the movie starts . . . and I swear within the first 10 minutes I saw tits, there was cussing up the wazoo, and a guy got chewed to the bone. So, ok . . this is going to be a REAL gore fest! This movie had it ALL! There were lots and lots of of tits . . like a LOT! Not to mention all of the cussing, boozing, drug usage, underage drinking, blood, guts, severed body parts, assholes, bimbos, and the like. Seriously . . I consider a movie REALLY rated R when you get to see a floating severed penis that gets eaten, and then spit out half eaten. HELLO!

You'll know when a movie affects me because I'll either cry (dramatic romance) or slap your leg while waving my hand around because something is grossing me out. The leg slap happened a lot throughout this movie, it was just THAT disgusting. So after a lot of "Oh my God!" exclamations, we get to the end of this crazy horrific ride, the lights come up, I stand ready to leave, look behind me and see . . . a flippin' 3 or 4 year old! All joking aside, a set of parents decided to bring their toddler to a VERY "R" rated movie, chock full of everything a kid should NOT see! I was simply appalled at the lack of parenting skills these people had. It just didn't make any sense why someone would bring their toddler to this movie of all things when they could have seen "Despicable Me" which would have been so much more appropriate.

All I could think about after that was how traumatized this poor little boy was going to be for who knows how long. Geez, man . . I would imagine as a little boy seeing a severed penis floating around you'd never go in the water again. Much like Jaws was for us older folks. So yeah, my point being . . . please leave the kids at home with the babysitter if you really want to see an "R" rated movie, because someone may not be a nice as I was in keeping my mouth shut!

-Gwen-

P.S. Steven Moffat's "Sherlock" is BRILLIANT!

Can blind love be made real?

After watching another episode of "Dating in the Dark" tonight I got to thinking about how we make connections with people. In this case we're looking at (for those that haven't seen the show) three men and three women living in a house for what looks to be a weekend span, in completely separate wings of a large mansion. They all meet for a "group date" to start in the same room which is completely pitch black. They can talk and touch each other but can't see a thing. So they go on to have individual dates with whomever each other picks based on the initial "group date". Then they go on a date with whomever has been calculated to be their most compatible match.

Even though their first impression of each other is in the dark, they already form misconceptions of each other. It's up to the individual dates to help them decide whether or not they'd like to have that person "revealed" in the light. Once they make a choice they get to finally SEE each other. I love watching the reactions as their love interest is shown. Luckily they are each revealed one at a time, so they don't see the other's reaction. Most are positive, even if that other person doesn't fit in to the other's "type", because they've already made that "connection" by getting to know each other on a personal level first and not basing it all on that first look at the outer book cover if you will.

What I find really unfortunate about this whole show is that even if one of the guys/girls makes a real connection with the other, but then his/her appearance isn't that perfect vision they had built up in their mind, they can basically stand them up. It's not as if by showing up for the other person it means you're whisked off to your wedding. All it does is say, "Something about you intrigued me, and I'm interested in finding out more." Isn't that what a second date is all about?

I think the same idea applies to internet romance. Everyday people fall in love with someone they have never met. A lot of other people can't even imagine how that's possible. But when you peel back the curtain of having to physically appeal to the opposite sex FIRST and allow yourself the opportunity to get to know who that person is on a deeper level, so much is possible. The old saying of "You can't judge a book by it's cover" is very true and very wise. Not to mention that even if you don't feel lust at first sight, love is something pure and everlasting . . . looks are NOT. That perfect ideal woman or man in your mind doesn't exist, because I'll bet you never imagine your dream guy or dream woman as a senior citizen grabbing the early bird special down at Denny's. It's what is inside their soul that you should be idealizing, not what they look like. If you're fortunate enough to find that in someone, and you truly and honestly love them for who they are, not what they look like, count yourself very lucky. We all wear masks, but allowing those few people in existence to see beneath it is a rare and precious gift.

-Gwen

Male Girdles -Good Idea | Bad Idea?

The other night while watching late night TV I saw a commercial for something that had me laughing my butt off. The "Slim T's", Men's Body Shaping Tank. Really people? Do we really need our guys stuffing themselves into a male equivalent of the girdle, complete with a secret! Bring on Victor's Secret: (according to the product's website) "The secret is 12 uniquely designed firming panels that trim and tighten your problem areas." It looks like the guy is wearing a fake six pack! Trust me fellas if you're trying to look slimmer to impress a woman do it the hard way, because if I was putting my hands on a man's chest only to feel seams and pads . . LOL . . we're done. Soooo . . .

Good Idea: Working out at the gym to strengthen your muscles and tone your body in order to boost your self esteem and be more attractive to the ladies (or guys if that's your thing).

Bad Idea: Wearing a male girdle to make yourself appear in better shape only to watch your woman's "chick boner" deflate when you start disrobing.

Just say NO to man girdles, trust me!

-Gwen-

Sonic Booms, Man Girdles, & the "Ground Zero Mosque"

I know this sounds like it's going to be oddly random, but stick with me people. This will probably be a short post tonight as I'm suffering from a slight sushi induced coma. lol  . . .  So I was wondering what to post about tonight and it was a three way toss up between all of the items you see here in the title. The winner? Sonic Booms! As this is the one menu item that happened to me here locally and it scared the ever lovin' piss out of me. We'll touch on the other two topics at a later time.

So here I am at home today getting ready to go see "Inception" (my movie comment to follow) when all of a sudden I hear what sounds like some kind of explosion and my entire townhouse shook! Then about twenty seconds later, another equally as loud and earth shaking boom goes off. At first I swore it was my neighbors, thinking maybe they had dropped something really big and heavy, but for it to shake the whole building . . well let's just say they would have had to have dropped a grown elephant in their bedroom. I checked outside to see if anything was amiss and saw nothing. So off I went to the movie hoping that nothing had actually exploded next door and that I wasn't going to come home to two crispy fried kitty cats.

After returning home and checking my Facebook I found out what exactly had happened and it's pretty crazy. Apparently it was a "float plane" that had entered restricted presidential air space over Western Washington while President Barack Obama was in town. The big O was in town, only minutes away and I knew nothing of it! I swear I'm always the last to know about these things. So it was two F-15 fighter jets that had been scrambled out of the Portland airport that had triggered the sonic booms. Why they came from Portland is a mystery to me considering we have more than a few military bases here locally. So this poor pilot and passenger had no idea that they had entered restricted airspace and after landing in Lake Washington they were greeted by the Secret Service. Oops!

For those of you that don't know the Pac NW lingo, a "float plane" is a sea plane like this:

Now, I've met a President (Clinton) and I've also had the opportunity to actually work with the Secret Service for the protection of a former Vice President, (told you I was a Jill of all trades) and I can tell you . . . they don't fuck around! The LAST thing you want to see getting off of a plane is a group of men in black suits, sunglasses, and earpieces coming for you. Yeah, they really do look like the Men in Black. Eventually they let the pair go, but this incident not only scared the crap out of the majority of residents throughout the region but it also knocked out 911 emergency services for an hour. So the moral of the story here kids is if you're a pilot, make sure you have clearance to fly. Poor guy.

That's it for tonight!
-Gwen-

P.S. "Inception" BLEW MY MIND! Great movie but you better be prepared to exercise some of those neurons to keep up.

Cape Disappointment lives up to it's name.

Yesterday my man and I embarked on a weekend camping trip to Ilwaco, WA to stay at Cape Disappointment State Park on the southern most tip of Washington. For the record it was named by an English fur trader in 1788 because he was unable to find the Heceta river, which apparently was a big "disappointment". We reserved a Yurt (Year Round Tent) to stay in, hoping for some private time away. This is a Yurt:

 

In reading up on this area prior to leaving we found that the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale rated it at a #2, meaning it was next to being one of the darkest areas where you can see a majority of the stars in the night's sky. So we also brought our telescope to star gaze. After a long drive we finally arrived, found our site, and to our dismay found that the adjacent sites were much, MUCH closer to ours than the pictures made it seem. Our neighbors to the left looked as though they had been living there, and I can say that with some certainty because of the freezer chest they had set up outside of their camper. Seriously? Who brings a freezer chest camping? From the pictures above you can see that the Yurt is basically a round canvas dwelling with a bunk bed and it also had a futon couch, table and two chairs, heater, and indoor light. Kind of luxury camping compared to pitching a tent. 

So anyway, we get unpacked and I'm ready to build a fire in the pit (yes I'm in charge of building fires). I had a bunch of large pieces of hard wood, an ax, and a hatchet of which I fully intended on using to show off my womanly muscles. To my surprise, chopping wood wasn't as cool as I remembered. After my second whack of the wood against the concrete pad had resonated throughout the campground and I got a comment from my neighbor 10 feet away of "Ya know, you're not supposed to chop petrified wood" (hardy har har) I said to hell with it and started the fire anyway with the massive chunks of lumber. It was a great fire though, and even after extinguishing the flames the embers burned into the early morning hours. 

When we had first arrived we saw some clouds and fog rolling in, which being in Washington isn't too big of a shocker, but this was putting a damper on our star watching. It only got worse as the cold moved in and the foggy mist seemed to piss all over our campsite. So we hit the bunk pretty early and as we lay there we could literally hear the girl at the site next to us turning over on her air mattress. The idea of being intimate without the whole campground hearing (I'm a screamer) was out! At least we stayed warm in our sleeping bags as we shared the bottom bunk. Not the most comfortable of "beds" but it was a LOT better than an air mattress and no one could hear us turning over. 

My wake up call this morning? The neighbors diesel truck turning over for a fishing trip at 5 AM. Since sleep, comfort, star gazing and privacy were out the window we decided to bug out a day early and go home. So, in summary . . . Cape Disappointment definitely lived up to it's name!

-End Rant