sleeping "in" as if i had an infant...

Today was my only day off in a while, so I decided it would be a good idea to: sleep in, drink coffee in bed, snuggle, go to the industry brunch at Trina's Starlite Lounge and then go grocery shopping. Followed by more snuggling/lounging.

Instead, I woke up at 7am. I trudged through the thick, heavy, wet snow to get some coffee. I made 7 pints of grapefruit marmalade. THEN I went to brunch, followed by the grocery store. It's 4:43pm and I am ready to go to sleep. Sad how "sleeping in" is now 'til 7.

What isn't sad is grapefruit marmalade, though. It's not hard to make and you can do it without canning if you want to eat it within a few weeks or use it for marinade or sauce for pork or chicken. If you have an abundance of red grapefruit, and I'm looking at you Arizona and Florida, try this out.

Grapefruit Marmalade

Stupidly easy, it makes people think you know how to make stuff that's hard. 

5 red grapefruit
2 cups water
3 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Wash, then cut the grapefruit into quarters. Remove the fruit from the rind, and save it in a bowl. Scrape or cut off as much of the pith (the white part of the rind) as you can. Thinly slice the rind and place it into a large pot.

Add the water, sugar, vanilla and baking soda to the pot. Put the heat onto medium-high and allow it to come to a simmer. Meanwhile, remove the seeds from the fruit and chop it into large chunks. Add the fruit and any juice to the pot.

Boil for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and either can it or place it into jars, uncovered, to cool off and set.

Viola. You will now make people jealous.

chowder

So far, so good. I lost way more than I would like to admit in my first week of WW (5#, which is too much in one week), but it's great. I stayed with it. Except...I work at Petsi's on the weekends and those freaking baby scones cry to me like little pieces of flaky, melty orphans that will never be sold due to ther small stature.

I know, I can't take responsibility for them. They are who they are: small, unsellable scones. That's how they came into the world through no fault of their own. But, much like my urge to choose the crooked and sparse Christmas tree or the pumpkin with weird bumps and gashes, I have to do something about them, something to make them feel included and part of society. The society of fat cells that are squatting on my thighs. So I eat them, telling myself "maybe just one...".

And because of my love for inclusion, scones and all, I am sure I will revisit some of those lost pounds. Maybe just one.

Here's a recipe for fish chowder I made up. It's pretty light, not stick to the spoon thick, so I assume I could call it a bouillabaisse if I wanted to.

There are no scones in it and 1.5 cups of soup is 6 points.

Fish Chowder

Serves 4

1 teaspoon canola oil
1 teaspoon butter
4 shallots, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)1 bay leaf
4 cups lobster, fish or vegetable stock
1 jar clam juice
1 cup fat free evaporated milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium potato, small dice
3/4 cup frozen corn
1 pound haddock, pollack or tilapia, cut into large chunks
1 pound steamer clams, cleaned (or 1 small can of chopped clams, with liquid)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

In a large pot, heat butter and oil over medium high heat. Add shallots and half of the garlic. Saute until the shallots are translucent, about 7 minutes.  Add the flour, paprika and cayenne, if using, stir to combine. Cook it for another minute or so. Add the bay leaf, stock, clam juice, evaporated milk and salt. Bring the liquid to a boil.

Add the potatoes and allow the liquid to return to a boil. Add the corn and fish, stir to combine. When the liquid begins to simmer, add the clams. Cover the pot and cook until the steamers open or, if using chopped clams, until the soup is heated through. Ladle the soup into 4 bowls and garnish each with parsley.

MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm. I like this with toasted sourdough bread to sop up the ocean goodness.

chunk

I have become that stereotypical overweight woman.

I saw my pictures of myself at a recent wedding, and ran, did not walk, to Weight Watchers. So, here I am in week one (a new week one, which follows several other week ones in years past, but I am not going to dwell on it). I am not going to meetings because I find meetings kind of annoying. They are great for so many people. For me, they are a bugaboo. Plus the leaders give out nutrition advice that I don't always agree with and I have a hard time staying quiet and not stepping on toes. So, in order to save some women from chronically bruised toes, I follow the program online. It isn't bad - I actually like it. I get 24 points a day, and that's plenty. I am toying with the idea of turning this blog into a weight loss blog. Who reads weight loss blogs? I don't. Not that there are a lot of people who read this blog in the first place, but when the hoards do arrive, I'd like it if the archives didn't splay out my numbers and wax poetic about struggle. I started. I will finish. I will also tell you about great recipes.

Two other items of note.
1. I broke my camera the week after I fixed it. I slipped on ice and landed on it. I was soooo upset, but as my girl Pequena Cocina said, at least I didn't break a wrist.
2. I quit drinking. The has been a long time coming and I won't regale you with the sordid(-ish) details. I remind myself of the calorie count on drinks whenever I feel like having one...I am really hoping it keeps me on track. And I know it will - I am determined to do this.

So that's that. A new year and new goals. Wooot! Next post: Resolutions for 2010 and the soup that made me decide them.