Renewed passion

For the last 5 weeks or so, I have been diligently logging my food and exercise in a little free app called My Fitness Pal.  I have often turned to Weight Watchers to loose weight when I felt motivated to, but this time, with my impending trip, I honestly didn't want to spend the money.  I figured that FREE was the right price, and I had spoken with my cousin, who had lost about 35 lbs over a year or so.

After entering some weight and height measurements, My Fitness Pal gives you a calorie goal each day and you just log every bite you put in your mouth.  This is made easier by a bar code scanner that is built in, and that automatically enters the values that I confirm.  Additionally, My Fitness Pal has over a million items in their data base to help you along.  So far, I have lost about 6 lbs, which is a bonus.

But the best thing to come out of this experiment is a renewed passion for cooking.  I come from a family of amazing cooks.  My father was a chef, and owned 2 restaurants.  My mother is equally as talented as my father was, and my sister is an Executive Chef.   Lastly, my brother can run circles around most folks in a kitchen, so cooking runs deep.  (I didn't even mention my Grandmothers, whose recipes are some of my greatest treasures).

When I met Greg, I was largely a vegetarian, but able to cook some of the tastiest recipes that he hardly missed the meat.  While we were dating and newly married, it wasn't uncommon for us to have a 3 or 4 course meal for the two of us.  I spent hours and hours looking for the right recipes, ingredients and wine pairings.

Then we had kids and it all went to hell in a hand basket.  We went from gourmet meals to getting something on the table that resembled nutritious food.  While we cooked very basic meals, they were hardly gourmet.  And until the last few weeks, I didn't realize how much I had missed being in the kitchen.  It is such an art, and I love creating tasty dishes.

I had hoped to work my way through my grandmother's recipe box, but that fell to the wayside.  So now, no promises or goals. Just good recipes, with pictures, when I am motivated.

First up was a aperitif that I had the other evening with a friend at Cotogna in San Francisco.  This restaurant is Italian through and through, and we enjoyed an incredible meal.  I highly recommend it.

Our dinner started with a delightful aperitif, an Aperol Fizz.  I had never tasted Aperol and I am hooked.  Luckily, I was able to find the recipe on-line and recreate it at home.  My honey was kind enough to go to Bev Mo and get me a bottle of Aperol, simple syrup and a new cocktail shaker with a strainer.  The recipe is below, including a picture of my concoction.

Cotogna's Aperol Fizz

• 4 ounces Aperol
• 2 ounces juice from about 2 lemons
• 1 ounce St. Martinique Cane Sugar Syrup (see note above)
• 1 egg white
• Seltzer
• Grapefruit twist

Add Aperol, lemon juice, cane syrup, and egg white to cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously without for 15 seconds to emulsify egg white.

Add ice and shake until very cold, about 15 seconds. Strain into two small juice glasses. Top each glass with seltzer and garnish each glass with a grapefruit twist.

I was pretty darn proud of how it came out, and have since enjoyed a few more.  Tasty!!!

Amen

It is interesting to think that somewhere in my garage I probably have 7-10 partially inflated soccer balls, many of which are hardly used.  That being said, as I plan my trip to Tanzania, I am trying to plan on the items I can take with me to the orphanage.  Sometimes ideas just come in strange ways.

Mom and I are volunteering at Glorious orphanage for a week before starting our safari.  I found Glorious on the web while looking for volunteer opportunities.  It seems like a good fit for my mom and I, as we will be able to do teaching and medical care together.  (more on this in a later post).

Last week, my husband brought up his latest edition of National Geographic, which had some of the most moving photographs of the "balls" kids in Africa create in order to play futbol.  They were taken by a photojournalist, Jessica Hilltout. She has an entire collection of photos about futbol and Africa that have provided my inspiration.  It is called Amen.

Images from Jessica Hilltout

Upon seeing those pictures, I knew that taking futbols and gear to Africa would be my goal.  And luckily, I have an amazing group of women who will help me achieve that goal.  First, my super cool women's soccer team, the Natural Disasters, are sponsoring me to purchase One World Futbols.  They are virtually indestructible, and never need a pump.  Additionally, the Natural Disasters and members from my Sunday pick up game of soccer (futbol) are giving me gently used jerseys, shin guards and cleats.

I am afraid (yet thrilled) that the biggest issue I will encounter will be weight limits on my suitcases.  Of course, as a nurse, I am also taking some medical supplies as well as some educational supplies from some very generous teachers at our local school.

Africa - Where, When and With Whom?

This coming May, I am lucky enough to be taking a trip of a lifetime with my mom to Tanzania.  Over the coming weeks, I will be writing more about this trip and my plans.

This trip is another one from my mom's bucket list and this year seemed the year for us to take it.  Greg has been super supportive and has really encouraged our trip.

The research started about six months ago with good old-fashioned travel books.  When I started looking, everywhere looked perfect and I wanted to visit - Kenya, the Masai Mara, South Africa and the Kalahari, Tanzania, Botswana, Victoria Falls.  It all looked wonderful.

Then logistics and time realities set in.  Africa is one huge continent.  All of the United States, China and Europe could fit into Africa, with some room left over.  Traveling across Africa would take us weeks and thousands of dollars beyond our budget.  So I started trying to narrow my focus.

South Africa was the first place I focused on, and my dear friend Maria is from South Africa, so I really picked her brain.  In the end, we would have to travel a lot to see all the places we wanted to see.

Next I started to look at Kenya and Tanzania, with the intent to of starting in Kenya and traveling to Tanzania.  I thought this could work but would mean a lot of time on questionable roads.  Finally, it seemed we could see the wildlife we wanted to see, and have the cultural experiences we were seeking.  Tanzania it is!!!

Joy is Round and my quest to get Soccer balls to Africa in May

Soccer Joy - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

I love this article and I love another company called One World Futbol.   I am hoping to purchase 4-8 soccer balls to take with me to Africa in May.  I have reached out to the most awesome women's team ever - my Natural Disasters, in hopes of getting some help.

Futbol breaks down barriers and brings joy.  I hope I can share some joy with the children of Glorious Orphanage in Arusha.  Stay tuned.

Who waits to vote

Thank you NYT for summarizing this and for drawing attention to another way our right to vote has been subverted.  While much of the world votes on Saturday or Sunday, we require workers to take time off from work, vote very early or late.  And the intentional restrictions to early voting, combined with states who don't allow any early voting will make the lines longer and longer.

It's really clear if you are of color, live in a city or are poor, you can expect to wait in line.  Doesn't seem too fair to me.

Chart: Who waits to vote

After Sandy Hook

To say I have always been an activist would be an understatement.  From a young age, I have been passionate about all things political. I have never owned a gun and have never shot anything bigger than a bb gun.  However, I did marry a hunter so we do have guns in our home.  Gun control and gun laws were not high on my list of wrongs to right.  

December 14, 2012 changed all that.


These brave and precious people changed all that:
- Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06
- Daniel Barden, 9/25/05
- Rachel Davino, 7/17/83
- Olivia Engel, 7/18/06
- Josephine Gay, 12/11/05
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06
- Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06
- Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65
- Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06
- Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06
- Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05
- Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06
- James Mattioli , 3/22/06
- Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05
- Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60
- Emilie Parker, 5/12/06
- Jack Pinto, 5/06/06
- Noah Pozner, 11/20/06
- Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06
- Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06
- Avielle Richman, 10/17/06
- Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982
- Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56
- Victoria Soto, 11/04/85
- Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06
- Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06

And I am embarrassed that it took this long.  It should have been Columbine that motivated me, or Aurora.  But sometimes the path you take is not straight.

The carnage from mass shootings from 2012:

February 22, 2012—Five people were killed in at a Korean health spa in Norcross, Georgia, when a man opened fire inside the facility in an act suspected to be related to domestic violence.

February 26, 2012—Multiple gunmen began firing into a nightclub crown in Jackson, Tennessee, killing one person and injuring 20 others.

February 27, 2012—Three students at Chardon High School in rural Ohio were killed when a classmate opened fire.

March 8, 2012—Two people were killed and seven wounded at a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when a gunman entered the hospital with two semiautomatic handguns and began firing.

March 31, 2012—A gunman opened fire on a crowd of mourners at a North Miami, Florida, funeral home, killing two people and injuring 12 others.

April 2, 2012—A 43-year-old former student at Oikos University in Oakland, California, walked into his former school and killed seven people, “execution-style.” Three people were wounded.

April 6, 2012—Two men went on a deadly shooting spree in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shooting black men at random in an apparently racially motivated attack. Three men died and two were wounded.

May 29, 2012—A man in Seattle, Washington, opened fire in a coffee shop and killed five people and then himself.

July 9, 2012—At a soccer tournament in Wilmington, Delaware, three people were killed, including a 16-year-old player and the event organizer, when multiple gunmen began firing shots, apparently targeting the organizer.

July 20, 2012—James Holmes enters a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises and opens fire with a semi-automatic weapon; twelve people are killed and fifty-eight are wounded.

August 5, 2012—A white supremacist and former Army veteran shot six people to death inside a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before killing himself.

August 14, 2012—Three people were killed at Texas A&M University when a 35-year-old man went on a shooting rampage; one of the dead was a police officer.

September 27, 2012—A 36-year-old man who had just been laid off from Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, Minnesota, entered his former workplace and shot five people to death, and wounded three others before killing himself.

October 21, 2012—45-year-old Radcliffe Frankin Haughton shot three women to death, including his wife, Zina Haughton, and injured four others at a spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin, before killing himself.

December 11, 2012—A 22-year-old began shooting at random at a mall near Portland, Oregon, killing two people and then himself.

December 14, 2012—One man, and possibly more, murders a reported twenty-six people at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, including twenty children, before killing himself. 

(Resource: The Nation Magazine)

Like many Americans, the age of the victims, and the number of victims at Sandy Hook has been overwhelming.  I have cried and cried.  And now, instead of crying, I am motivated to channel my energy into seeing the laws of this country change when it comes to guns, access to guns, and mental health services.

One of the first organizations I have joined is The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 

• The Brady Campaign and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has a long and rich history of working to save lives.
• Mark Borinsky, who had been robbed and nearly killed at gunpoint, founded the organization in 1974 as the National Council to Control Handguns. Pete Shields became Chairman in 1978 following the murder of his twenty-three-year-old son, Nick, in 1974. The organization was renamed Handgun Control, Inc (HCI) in 1980.
• In 1983, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence (CPHV) was founded as an education outreach organization dedicated to reducing gun violence. In 1989, CPHV establishes the Legal Action Project to take the fight against gun violence to the courts.
• In 2001, HCI was renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and CPHV was renamed Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in honor of Jim and Sarah Brady for their commitment and courage to make America safer. (The Brady Center website)

They are a sound and well established organization that has been making slow but steady strides in revising our gun laws for years.  I hope you will join me in supporting them.

The day after the night before

So last night ended in a little heartbreak here in the Bay Area when our beloved SF 49'ers lost to the Ravens in the Super Bowl.  A couple of questionable calls, and a final non-call could have made the difference but the Niners just didn't play their game.

This brings us to the only sport on TV now - hockey.  There may not be a sport I like less unless it is the pro bowling tour.  The NHL had a lock out for most of the season but it is back much to my chagrin.  I really think it is a terrible sport but Greg swears if I go to a game, I would really like it.  Yet to go and it is all we have now.  Of course, in a regular season, hockey goes on forever.  In a shortened season, still seems like an  eternity.  (Sharks Schedule)