Something Challenging This Way Comes

"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients." - Julia Child


Well...what if I want to do both?

I recently watched a YouTube video about a dad in England who made his 6-year old son an Angry Birds cake. Not only is it decorated and built like the structures in the games (with the pigs and birds) but...it's playable!! He added his own slingshot and the little boy could fire the birds!!

Oh yes...it's pretty awesome. I highly recommend it if 1) you are a fan of (or addicted to) the game and/or 2) you like cool baked goods.

Anyway, this led me to thinking about that Food Network Challenge show and Iron Chef and how I like challenges myself. So I enlisted the help of my partner-in-crime, Andy, to help me create a list of challenges for me to do. As it stands, here they are (in no particular order):

1) Baking - this could be a taste, decorating, designing, characters, structures, etc
2) Duplicate - this is to duplicate a restaurant dish as closely as possible
3) Secret Ingredient - basically Iron Chef baby!
4) Instruction - instructing someone else to cook a recipe (without helping - physically)
5) Edible - reconstructing someones least favorite foods into something they will eat
6) Throwdown - head to head competition with another person (minus Bobby Flay) :-(
7) Distraction - making a dish while someone tries to distract you (safely)
8) Cocktail - creating an original recipe (use to do this all the time..but I'm a bit rusty)
9) Pumpple - taken out of the Baking category for its own challenge (tune in for that one!)
10) Lobster - cook my own lobster and create a dish with it
11) Outdoor - bring all ingredients to a park to cook with a grill only
12) Inhibited - still working the details out on this one, but safety would be watched here!

There will new challenges added as we think of them, but each challenge will have its own set of rules, supervision and I'm sure judging criteria. We will post photos and maybe even videos to show the successes and failures of these challenges...

So be sure to tune in!!

Gnomeo vs Bieber

It all began with Super Bowl XLV last Sunday. As the Green Bay Packers were running down the clock to claim victory as the Super Bowl Champions against the Pittsburgh Steelers, I was doubly excited.

1) Green Bay was the team I was picking to win.

2) Green Bay winning meant I won a bet

Let me back up.

Once the teams were determined, I decided to ask my dear Andy to see if he would like to make a bet about the Super Bowl. We bet on a lot of other things, including this past season's World Series, so why not the SB?

I knew Andy would be cheering for the Steelers, since he had a connection with Pittsburgh, so I vowed to cheer for the Packers. In honesty, I am more of a fan of GB in comparison to the Steelers, but I would have cheered for either team.

The wager: the loser had to take the winner to a movie date of their choosing.

The stakes: Steelers win = me taking Andy to Justin Bieber's Never Say Never movie. Packers win = Andy taking me to Disney's Gnomeo & Juliet.

I can't tell you how happy I was that my boys Aaron Rogers, Clay Matthews and the rest of the Green Bay Packers pulled through in the end. I really didn't want to see Justin Bieber.



I collected on my bet today...and the movie was actually very funny (particularly for theatre/Shakespeare savvy people) and ..... bom bom BOM....

ANDY LIKED IT!!!

It was a good day!! :-)

Feel the Burn!

This morning was the first of many personal training sessions with my trainer Phil.

I have to admit...getting up at 4:30AM this morning was not high on my priority list. However, I did get a decent amount asleep...even with my anxiousness waking me every once and a while. You would think it was Christmas...not!

Anyway, I got up and got ready to head to the gym, after a quick breakfast. I didn't want to pass out from low blood sugar (totally happened before...ugh). I was concerned about this first session. I was intimidated by Phil.

I met Phil a week prior when I signed up for the personal training program. I was introduced to Phil and our meeting went like this:


Coordinator: Phil, do you have a second? (Phil, comes over) Phil, this is Lauren. She's going to be training with you at 5:30 in the morning on Mondays.

Phil: Oooh! Are you going to bring the coffee?

Me: I don't actually drink coffee.

Phil: Honey, don't worry. I'm better than Folgers...I'm the best part of waking up!!


He was funny, that was for sure...but I was concerned about having my butt kicked and being stressed so much while doing it. I didn't know how much he would push or prod or be a hard ass. I didn't need to worry.

We were reintroduced...and we did a quick breakdown and what I wanted out of the session and what he would be asking of me, etc...and got to work.

Core exercises and arm workouts were on the agenda today. In between sets, he was making me laugh and telling me stories. He is beyond nice and funny as hell. Sure, he's going to kick my butt...but at least I'll have a good time doing it.

I'm all ready for round two!! Bring it!

Insomnia = Discovery

Apparently, the SyFy Channel is my new obsession in 2011.

My mom keeps trying to get me into a bunch of shows that are on already, but I haven't quite caught up to them...but it's the new shows that are catching my eye...

Obviously, you have read about my enjoyment of BEING HUMAN. But there is an additional show that has now struck my fancy...and it comes from being up at midnight on a Friday night/Saturday morning...

FACE OFF is about makeup and special effects artists. Think Project Runway, but for movie magic!! I was a student in a stage makeup class and this is just beyond my level of comprehension, but damn! It's amazing!!

Each episode consists of a foundation challenge, which gives the artists a chance for an advantage going into the final round, which is known as the spotlight challenge.

The first spotlight challenge involved creating a half human - half animal hybrid in teams of two. They had to choose between three animals (a beetle, an ostrich or an elephant) and create a story for the creation of the creature.

Check out the first winner!

It's crazy awesome, right?!

The artists are interesting, eccentric, egocentric and creative...so it should make for an interesting few weeks as they compete against each other. I'm so excited!!

Take a gander...Wednesdays at 10pm on SyFy....(no, I'm not getting any pay for the free advertisement...too bad, right?)

Being Human

I don't know if anyone has seen BEING HUMAN on SYFY...but it's amazing! It's an American-ized version of a popular British television show and so far I'm impressed.

A vampire (who tries to stay on a blood bank diet) and a werewolf (who wants to be normal) move in together...and meet a recently deceased ghost who can't leave the house.

Aidan is a vampire who was changed 200-plus years ago during, I believe, the revolutionary war. He currently is a nurse at a hospital in Boston, trying to blend in. Once a true monster, feeding on humans, he now drinks from real blood bags.

Josh is a werewolf who began his transformations two years ago when he was "cursed". After meeting Aidan, he got a job as an orderly at the same hospital, which as close to the medical career he had been after...before the curse.

Sally is a ghost who has only been dead for six months. She and her fiance moved into this fixer-upper in the hopes of a happy life...which is where it ended, after she fell down the stairs. She's unable to leave but is grateful when Josh and Aidan move into the house...and can see her!

So now these three inhuman creatures live together...trying to help each other out...while trying to help themselves too.

It's very addicting. Check it out...SyFy on Monday nights at 9pm. Amazing!!

Commitment

"There are only two creatures of value on the face of this earth: those with a commitment, and those who require the commitment of others." - John Adams, in a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams


I have just made a HUGE commitment.

I have just signed up for 12 months of personal training. Oh yes...I said 12 months. Why, might you ask? Well, I'm great at starting to work out. I'm actually pretty fantastic at it. I have the urge to workout. I have the desire to get in shape. I start really strong and push myself. I feel great afterwards.

I have a great mentality at starting.... Finishing, on the other hand....well, its a different story. I fizzle out.

Injury and inconsistency are my biggest downfalls...one usually leads to the other (doesn't matter which, because they both are equally as damaging). So...the change begins now!

A personal trainer is going to help me not only become healthier and hopefully happier...but more accountable as well. I will meet with my trainer once a week every week, each month, for the next twelve months!! (Lord help this man or woman!)

I will have the commitment to continue...and I will need the commitment of my trainer to help me get to the finish line!

Now...if only my wallet could be in better shape...

Good Morning 2011

I was contemplating last night what I would write today. Today is the start of a new year....2011.

I was more thoughtful, more insightful last night...probably due to the bottle of champagne I was nursing in the late hours. But the same thought remains...

I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to in 2010. It was full of ups and down, but it was no means disappointing. Opposite in fact...but I hope to tick a few more goals of this year.

LOOKING BACK

2010 was supposed to be the year of running...and it started off really well. I began running and training for all of the races I was planning on participating in. My first race was supposed to be in February, but it got cancelled. Just after, I injured myself and had to take a month off of training. I came back just in time to run the next race (with no time to actually train) and did fairly well, which I was proud of.

Then injury after injury and busy schedule after stressing out....everything caught up with me. I was able to continue to run, but I wasn't really training or challenging myself. The breaking point happened when I had to go into the ER in early Fall. That was the point when I just threw in the towel.

But not all of 2010 was full of setbacks or disappointments. I moved forward in a lot of ways too. I made it through a full year in my current position. I didn't know if I would actually make it...but I did. I got through the extremely stressful times and I also strengthened relationships that have changed my life.

LOOKING FORWARD

I can only imagine was 2011 holds for me. I know that I will be heading back into the gym to try to get back into running. I have a few things that I will be changing to ensure that I don't get injured as often so I can have a better chance for success. I have ideas on how to be stressed at work and I want to continue keeping my relationships in the forefront of my life!

It's a new, fresh start.


Now...what's for breakfast ;-)