I am sorry to say, I have officially neglected this blog for far too long. Although, I am sure those of you who ever take the time frequent my page, have stopped checking for updates by now. I am whole-heartedly sorry, if there are any of you out there who do. I guess you could say I have had a lot on my mind. Moving on.

Crazy enough as it sounds, today is May 12th, and the weather outside easily screams Fall. Ironically, my last post from mid-march was supposedly the beginning of Spring, and yet, it still does not seem that it ever came. I think there were a mere couple weeks since my last post where it seemed that Spring may have in fact come (the flowers blooming, followed by severe allergy attacks soon after); however, mother nature continues to keep us guessing by making it rainy and freezing through mid May. If you can even believe it, right now I am sitting next to a blazing radiator (thank goodness the heat is actually on!) in the middle of May, and it’s all just, strange. Global warming and its odd reverse effects? Who really knows for sure.

All I know is that its almost Memorial Day weekend and its cold out. This weekend I am actually trekking down to the Delaware shore with the ladies in my family for a belated Mother’s Day weekend with Mom. We are staying in Bethany, where we used to go all the time as kids, and we are all excited for all beach related things like the Bethany Surf Shop, Big Fish Grill, Grotto pizza, and hopefully some Fisher’s popcorn, if they are open this early in the season. The weather report doesn’t look too bad, 70′s and partly cloudy with a 305 chance of isolated thunderstorms. With the way the weather has been lately, I’m not counting on getting a tan. But I will be bringing my bathing suit, just in case!

In other news, I have recently re-discovered my love of spinning. Its about time, since my long hiatus probably didn’t do my body any favors. But I took my first class at my gym last week of the season, and it felt great! I was even back the next day to take a surprisingly difficult Abs class. It wasn’t the usual teacher, but man, he killed us! Then I was back in the spinning studio last night for round 2 and I am already starting to feel comfortable on the saddle again. I am hoping to get in at least 2 spinning classes a week to start, with some added new classes on the side also. I figured my workout routine was in need of a makeover, and I think its working! There’s definitely something to be said for having someone take you through your workout rather than relying on yourself for motivation. Ideally I’d love a trainer, but wouldn’t we all. For now I am going to have to just stick with what comes with my already expensive Crunch monthly membership.

So, now that I have bored you with my recent weather related musings and re-found again love of spinning classes, I will leave it at that. Hopefully I will be back again soon with some more interesting things to muse about!

Spring in March.

The official first day of Spring comes this weekend, Sunday, March 21st. Although, we here in the Northeast very well know that Mother Nature is notorious for sending us one last snowstorm, somewhere in mid March. Well, today is March 18th, and so far, there is nothing in the forecast! Could it be true? Has Spring actually come a tad early this year, for once?

This week has been gorgeous, following a the 5 day rainy and stormy spell we had last week. Today, the weatherman even said it may even reach a balmy 70 degrees here in NYC. Unbelievable. Unfortunately, I will not be able to fully enjoy it until tomorrow evening, when my boyfriend and I are hitting the road southeast to Atlantic City! Today is his 30th birthday and we are heading down to the casino-laden shore to celebrate with a bunch of his closest friends. It’s gonna be a blast, and lucky for us the weather is supposed to be beautiful. What could be a better way to kick off the Spring season, right?! To top it all off, I’ve never been before, so it should be a very interesting experience! New Joizy, here we come!

Spring in the city is one of my favorite times of year, with the outdoor cafe seating and walks in Central Park, so I couldn’t be happier being able to wear sandals for the first time today. Bring it on sun!

A Post-Worthy Milestone

Last night, I officially broke my seafood cherry. Ok wait, that sounded a little gross, but it was the first thing that came to mind. For the first time in my life, I ordered two, not one, but TWO seafood dishes while dining out at a restaurant. For those of you who may not know me very well, this is a VERY BIG DEAL! For years, well more like my entire life previous to now, my family and friends have known me to abstain from all things ocean-related, simply because it was not my thing. I hated the smell, and it all honesty, who would want to eat something that could smell so horrid?!

However, lately with my increasing interest in trying new restaurants and cuisines, I have gradually started to taste a bite or two here and there from my fellow diner’s (usually my Dad’s) plate. He was actually the first to start really encouraging me to try, so with a lot of trust, I popped that mussel in my mouth or tasted a mere sliver of Chilean sea bass. And although some of it still tasted rather “fishy” to me, I started to think about maybe eventually coming to appreciate them some day.

A mussel or two, a clam pizza and a couple bites of seared tuna later, I have officially graduated and I am moving on from avoiding seafood on restaurant menus. I mean, I’m not about to order the fish at a gross hole in the wall tomorrow, but if I am at a nice establishment, I am past my days of simply skipping over the seafood.

The restaurant where I achieved this great milestone last night was ironically called…Extra Virgin. Yes, I have lost my seafood ordering virginity at Extra Virgin. How poetic, right? And boy was it yummy. While I sat at the bar for a bit waiting for my friend to join me, I looked on as a guy at the other end of the bar ordered the mussels appetizer. Ever since I tried one of my Dad’s a couple months ago, I have been meaning to try them again, and boy did these look good. I could smell the aroma of the white wine broth from across the bar! Right then I decided I would order them. One course down. Then I got to reading the rest of the menu. As I perused, I wondered which of the three non-seafood options looked best to me, as usual. None of them stuck out to me, so I thought to myself, I am already planning on ordering the mussels…maybe it wouldn’t hurt to at least look at the seafood entrees too…

A couple glasses of wine later, I decided just to go for it. After a quick question for the waitress, I ordered the lemon-crusted sea bass as my entree. It was very empowering! For some reason, I was feeling ridiculously proud over making a silly dinner order  In the end, I devoured and loved every bite. All I could think about was how proud my parents would be of their only non-seafood eating daughter.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of my new experiences with oceanic creatures. I can’t wait to see what I will try next. Somehow, though, I think oysters will be far off my list. It’s going to take a lot more pride for me to sucker up the cojones to slide that little sucker down my throat.

To Cook, or Not to Cook

With a new year, comes new ambition, right? On that note, I think I may be onto something. Although it may seem out of the blue, this idea has been in the back of mind for quite a while now. Only lately have I started to realize that maybe I should actually take action and explore the possibilities of….going to Culinary school.

Yes, I already know what you are thinking. People who are passionate enough go to Culinary school usually have disposable cash, and aren’t exactly worried about their financial future. Because lets be honest, its very expensive, and in the end, you may spend the rest of your life getting enough professional experience to actually make a decent income. In other words, a lot of people question wether throwing down the cash to learn how to cook professionally is worth the “investment.” This line of thinking is what has pushed this idea further away from my realm of reality in recent years. In financial terms, it was unthinkable. Would paying off loans for the rest of my life be worth it? Very recently, I have started to more seriously think about this question.

I don’t remember exactly what changed, but it was sometime a couple weeks ago, when someone asked me: “What are you passionate about? What is the one thing that gets you excited?” All I could think to say was, “food.” Not just simply eating it (which is obviously part of it), but besides that, I love reading about it, watching shows about it, creating it and talking about it.

When I really think about it, my entire life revolves around food, and it makes me happy. Food Network has become my favorite go to channel, and I even watch it every night at the gym. I read food blogs all the time (http://ny.eater.com/, and http://newyork.grubstreet.com/) and vigorously keep up with the restaurant business here in New York. I have become obsessed over what new restaurants are coming in, what chefs are working where, and when I will get a chance to try all the restaurants on my ongoing “Restaurants to Try” list I’ve created on my iPhone notepad. When a friend wants to get together to catch up, the first thing I think about is, where can we go so I can cross one off my list and review it online. I follow all my favorite chefs and food critics on Twitter, and the second new restaurant reviews are posted in the NYTimes, I am already there, ready to read Sam Sifton’s newest crash and burn experience (ok sometimes he gives a star or 2, but he’s difficult to impress!). Food has become my entire life.

I have also tried to start experimenting more in the kitchen, which is an overstatement considering the actual size of my “kitchen.” Using the virtually nonexistent counter space I have, I attempt to make due. My tiny studio with a kitchen IN my actual bedroom, is not the ideal place to try these experiments, but like I said, I am trying. I could probably write a book about how to use the smallest space possible to make a meal for 2. I am officially a pro: I can chop veggies on a small cutting board over my sink while the water is boiling on my mini stove, clean the dishes while I am cooking, and watch American Idol all at the same time. By the time my meal is ready, 95% of the dishes are already done, and I haven’t moved an inch.

My more recent triumphs have mainly involved desserts (which has made my boyfriend VERY happy). Recently for New Years Eve, I volunteered myself to make all the desserts for our weekend at camp in the Pocono mountains. After doing some research on both Epicurious and the FoodNework recipe databases I came up with some ideas. With my limited kitchen space, I have to scope out recipes that are even do-able with a tiny oven and no Kitchen-Aid electric mixer (I dream of having one someday, but lets work on the counter space first). These are the recipes I chose: Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip bread, Hazelnut/Nutella brownie bars, Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss cookies and the now famous, “Brickle.” The funny part is, even though the Brickle was the easiest recipe to make, it was by far the biggest hit. It was my first time making everything, but the reaction I got from my Brickle was not expected. Not to toot my own horn, but it was gone in a second, and everyone was raving, the entire weekend. I have never tested my baking skills on a group of people before, and it was extremely gratifying.

Since that weekend over a month ago, I have been asked to make it again, for a friend’s housewarming party. This time I chose to alter the recipe a bit to give it my own touch, and I made twice as much since last time it was gone so fast. Again it was a big hit, all 3 of my new variations. Maybe I am better at this stuff than I thought. My boyfriend keeps telling me that I should give myself more credit. The evidence shows that maybe I do in fact, have talent in the kitchen. Of the few times I’ve made full course meals for him in my tiny apartment for one occasion or another, he tells me time and time again that I have impressed him. I only wish I had more space and the funds to make these elaborate meals all the time for him. Hopefully someday, in the near future, when we move into a bigger place together. I am sure he is looking forward to this more than I am because of the obvious benefits of being my taste tester.

Anyway, in more recent days I have really started to take this Culinary school idea more seriously. Although it involves a lot more money than I can spend right now, its really something I am very passionate about. I have started to research all kinds of programs here in NY and beyond, and like what I see so far. The one that has really caught my attention the most is a program offered at the Italian Culinary Academy, dubbed the “Italian Experience.” After spending 6 weeks or so learning the basics here in NY, they take you to Parma, Italy, where you spend the next 9 weeks learning amongst Italian chefs, visiting vineyards, farms, cheese factories. It all ends with working in an actual Italian restaurant for a couple weeks. Wow. I am drooling just thinking about it. I have never been to Italy before, and since its a part of my heritage, it could be the most amazing experience of my life. For now, I am just doing the research. I have started reaching out to everyone I know who has gone to Culinary school. I want to know everything about their experiences, whether or not it was worth it to them, and if they could go back in time, would they still make the same decision to go. Just thinking about this possibility is exciting to me. I can’t even tell you how long its been since I have felt that fire inside.

After all is said and done, I think I have found something that could change my life, for the better. Now I just have to figure out how and what I am going to do about it. Baby steps, right? For now, I will continue dreaming of living and cooking in Parma…

You know you’re old when…

…you are still recovering from partying too hard on Monday from Saturday night. Granted I probably had at least 10 drinks throughout the course of the evening, but I was completely bedridden yesterday, for the first time in a while! Everyone is telling me that it means I had a good time, and I think they are absolutely right. I had an AMAZING time with lots of great friends! I really couldn’t have asked for more. Everything worked out perfectly from the delicious dinner at Macondo on the LES, to the festivities to follow at the Dove Parlour in the West Village. What a great place to have a party! Looking back I probably shouldn’t have drank as much, but I think it was totally worth it. (However, if you had asked me yesterday I may not have agreed with this statement). It’s already Monday afternoon, and I think I am finally re-hydrated, and I have my appetite back, yay!

I am still so grateful for everyone who came out to help me celebrate, especially a couple of kids from my Israel trip, which was certainly an unexpected treat! Here are a couple pictures from the party for your enjoyment!

Now what do I have to look forward to next…who knows, I’m sure I will figure something out. Until then, again, Thanks to everyone for the birthday love! xxoo

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am 26 today. I am officially past the point of when its acceptable to say that I am going through my “quarter life crisis,” and its depressing and exciting at the same time. For one thing, I have no (real) excuses anymore to move on with my life and get it together. At the same time, I am now moving on to another stage in my life, and am hopefully past the difficult times that came with turning 25. I know what you’re thinking…boo hoo for me, what could have possibly been so bad in 2009? And you’re absolutely right, but in my eyes, I went through my “crisis” in my own way, and hopefully that awkward stage has seen its last day.

With that said, I am starting to appreciate how great it is that my birthday falls just a few days after New Years Day. More and more I am starting to like that I can start off the next year in my life in a more uniform fashion. What a better time to set those goals for the oncoming year then on my birthday? I used to hate that it was so close to all the big holidays, because it just gets lost in the shuffle and both my Hannukah and Birthday presents were usually fused into one. Bullshit, right?! This year, I think I have finally gotten past it. Gifts don’t even matter to me anymore and my birthday is starting to become more of a day of reflection. Don’t get me wrong, getting gifts is certainly fun, but I am more excited to celebrate with friends this weekend and be with all the people I care about. Not to forget about most of my family who live far away in Maryland, so I will be missing them for sure.

So, I guess another year in the life of Raquel begins today. Onward to 26, I wonder what will transpire this year…only time will tell. I’ve heard from many sources that its a good age, so I am hoping for the best! Thanks everyone for all the Birthday wishes!

Hello, 2010.

Well everyone, it’s officially New Years Eve. What a year it’s been…but all I can think about is all the new and exciting things that will happen in the coming year. I am about to leave for the mountains, to spend my first New Years Eve away from the television, partying with good people, up at Camp Poyntelle. Although we are gonna freeze our asses off, I think its going to be a complete blast. It’s different from anything I have ever done before for NYE and I can’t wait. Now I am just waiting to get picked up…

Next week is my 26th birthday, not a very special birthday, but it should be fun nonetheless. I have still yet to pick a place to go have some drinks on Saturday night, I have such a hard time choosing! I can’t even begin to think about a restaurant that I would want to go for dinner, there are so many I would like to try these days. Living in NY gets difficult with all the great choices! No matter what I decide, I’m sure it will be a good time.

I’ve been thinking lately if I even have a New Year’s resolution this year…and what I have come up with is this: I am not going to resolve to lose more weight and get healthier, because I think that I already know what I have to do to keep that up. It’s simply a matter of sticking with it. Although I know I will have those bad days, I am sure I will have many more good days to make up for it. So, this year, I think I have decided that I am simply resolving to take care of me, do what’s best for me, and to hopefully make some new changes in my life to improve my mindset. Over the past few months I have started to figure out that I have been neglecting myself and my goals (whatever they may be). In 2010, I plan to get my life on track. I plan to set some short and long term goals, so that I have some sort of direction to head towards. Nothing specific just yet, but I know I will get there.

With that said, I hope you all have a GREAT New Year’s Eve celebration with friends and/or family. Enjoy yourself, and make sure you savor each moment and simply have a good time with the people you love. Be back to reflect in 2010…:-)

Inspiration

After listening to my dad rave and rave for months over this movie, I just finished watching Julie & Julia, finally. And of course, I LOVED it! All I could think about while watching the entire time, was… how could I do something unique like Julie did with her blog, and generate such a following…

I loved her idea, to create a goal for herself, to conquer Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”, all 524 recipes, in under 365 days. Soon after she began, it became her life, and she started to become alive again because for one, her readers were counting on her to push all the way through, and second, she created a purpose in her boring, and sad cubicle life. (She works in a lower Manhattan office that deals with the after effects of 9/11, since the movie takes place a year after in 2002).

She was a writer before she started this blog, although her book was never published. All she needed was a way to start writing again, and for people to hear her voice. The actual cooking became a sidenote, after all. In the end, she even found out that Julia Child herself disliked her blog and she still developed a new sense of self with her accomplishment and renewal on life, nonetheless. All because of a blog.

So, naturally, after watchig this movie tonight, I felt inspired. To write, like she did. Maybe someday I will come up with something novel to write about or explore, develop a following, and become famous. Only time will tell. Does anyone have any ideas for me?

Distractions.

This morning, out of nowhere, it occurred to me that I have been ignoring you. Whoever you are, I like to write my blog posts as if I am talking to someone, or anyone, if you are out there. It’s been almost 2 months now, and I am sorry you have been neglected. The only excuse that comes to mind is what I decided to title this post: Distractions.

Distractions have become the bane of my existence. There are actually many more important things in my life that I have also been ignoring in addition to this blog, but I think writing on here may be a good way for me to start dealing with them.

Don’t get me wrong, my life is far from being “too busy” to do this or that. In fact, I have more free time than I know what to do with. Ironically with all this free time, I still manage to neglect those important things that should be given top priority in my life; say, myself, or more specifically, my “mental state.”

Besides the fact that I went to a therapist at the age of 5 for “oppositional tendencies,” I have never made the conscious decision to seek out therapy on my own in my adult life. That is, until now. It’s nothing serious, don’t worry, but for once in my life, I have come to the conclusion that some problems do not fix themselves, and sometimes I just have to trust that talking to a professional could perhaps make me feel…better.

I’m not going to go into what’s going on in my life that has brought me to therapy, because 1) it would take hours, and 2) it would be a waste of cyberspace. But I will tell you this: For once in my life, I now realize that my personality has been my biggest asset while at the same time being my biggest flaw. How can that be, you say? Let’s just say that I am living inside one big dichotomy. Or maybe that’s not the right word…whatever. My point is, the things about my personality that I have always been proud to scream about, have now become the things that are holding me back from making any changes in my life. With that said, this is where my mind has been lately.

In other news, for the entire month of November (which I neglected to blog at all the entire month), I had the privilege of being a lab-rat for another new diet book coming out around Xmas time, called The O2 Diet, by registered dietician Keri Glassman. It was a nice change, and a great way to try and get my mind back on myself by eating better, exercising more and clearing my head, as much as possible. It also gave me a nice confidence boost with the loss of another 10 lbs give or take, along with loads of new knowledge why eating an antioxidant rich diet helps fight off all the bad things we don’t want : skin aging, disease, insomnia, tiredness, irregularity…the list goes on. You can pre-order it on Amazon to be delivered on its release date of December 22, 2009 here: http://www.amazon.com/O2-Diet-Cutting-Antioxidant-Based-Beautiful/dp/1605295183/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260390566&sr=1-1

Get your mind and body back in gear in 2010!

Then there was Thanksgiving. Oh, the dreaded Thanksgiving. Besides the fact that the amazing food was taunting me after a month of being sooo good, the family drama was inevitable. Lucky for me, my family likes to save up drama all year and let it loose on this one weekend, and this year, I was simply, afraid. With all things considered, I think I did a stellar job. I managed to only pig out one night, worked out almost every day (minus the day I had a tremendous hangover after my Dad’s party), and I did my best to steer clear from as much family drama as possible. Simply put, Thanksgiving this year was all about me and making sure that I took care of myself, had a good time with family and friends, with the least amount of drama as humanly possible. Mission accomplished.

Now, with only a couple weeks left until Xmas, I have to gear up for Drama Part 2, the Xmas holiday break. Yes, lucky for me, I get a week plus vacation from work from Xmas to New Years, just like students do! And just like Thanksgiving, this time of year is the second most drama-filled occasion. Wow, now that I think about it, the entire span of November-January is completely drama-filled! At least I’m not alone, we all know that its not exactly unusual for families to fight during the holiday season, right? I guess for me, this is a new trend since my parents were separated a couple years ago, and boy, I had no idea what I was in for!

So, with all that said, I wish you all luck in the next couple weeks, as long as you wish it back for me, because I am most certainly going to need it! If I get distracted and neglect you once again until after the season is over, I apologize. I will be back in due time, when my head is ready to unload, once again! Try and be on your best behavior and savor the good things, while not overindulging to the point of feeling guilty! And maybe while your at it, pick up Keri’s new book, its a great way to refresh your mind and body, if you need it as much as I do

BL Tuesday nights are backkkkk!

Horray! I have no idea how, but somehow I missed that the Biggest Loser premiere for the new season is tonight! For some reason it wasn’t as heavily promoted as usual, but what a great surprise! Besides the fact that I love the show and can’t wait to watch every week, it really gives me that extra boost in my workout and healthy eating routine. And that is exactly what I need right now!

I have to say, I have been great about going to the gym lately, though. The past few weeks I have gone 5 days a week! The problem is that I haven’t been eating as well as I should be. And in order to lose weight and get fit, you really need to have a balance of both exercise and diet. I know I have gained some weight, but with my weekly workouts, I have been feeling better. The thing is, I’m just not happy with the way my clothes are fitting, and I want to change that. What I need is a large kick in the ass to make me stop eating unnecessary calories that I know I shouldn’t be consuming. I am pretty good throughout the day during the week at work, its just dinner that usually gets me, and snacking afterwards while I’m watching TV…

Oh and those dreaded weekends, we can’t forget those. When I totally forego my healthy eating habits and eat whatever my boyfriend eats. I sort of treat the weekend as a treat for being good throughout the week, but in the end, its holding me back from seeing the results I should have achieved each week It’s a big problem, and I’m very well aware of it. Now its just a matter of me trying to achieve that magical balance of being healthy, while also being able to enjoy the things I like to enjoy every once in a while, in small doses of course. Looking back, it seems that once I start eating the bad stuff, I can’t stop. And that, my friend, is my weakness.

I can’t say that I am banking on the contestants of the Biggest Loser to motivate me, but while this show is on, I can’t help but refocus myself because every season, my mantra somehow resurfaces…”if they can do it, so can I.” If anything, I have a tremendous head start since I am far from as overweight as they are. However, this makes my goal seem all the more attainable for me, since I have a smaller way to go than they do. With goals as large as they have, their motivation must be 100 times stronger than mine, so there is no reason for me to slack off. This is my hope, at least. I need a big push right now, even though I don’t have a particular goal in mind. I just want to feel good, and have my clothes fit more loosely A girl can only hope…