Rock the Vote!

November 6, 2012 by 2 Comments

Happy Election Day Americans!

Before I start writing for real, let me just say I’m a bit tipsy. All typos are not my fault, blame it on the a a a a a a alcohol. On another note, let me just say that Whole Foods $3 merlot is quite excellent.

Glad we covered that.

Now…

Did you vote today?

While I admit to being a bit of a sour puss this past week, going to my polling location certainly put a smile on my face.

Never have I been so happy to wait on an hour-long line!

Voting may only take a few second, but it is a very big deal. My parents volunteer every Election Day, regardless of the size of the election, to hang out at the polls and help people vote. Voting is serious business in the Miller family. When I studied abroad my sophomore year of college I was one of the only students with mail waiting for me. What was that mail? My absentee ballot. Just because I was gallivanting across Europe didn’t mean my parents were about to let me off the hook for our local county legislature elections.

One of the many values my parents instilled me with was that voting was not only my right, but it was a privilege. Nothing drives that home more than living with someone who isn’t yet a citizen. Hopefully next year The Fella will move from Green Card holder to full-fledged American, for now I’m voting for the both of us.

Can you imagine living in a country without any say in what happens to you and what your rights are?

Well, I have to say that voting today was an absolute pleasure.

For starters, my polling place was at a local church and volunteers from the congregation organized seating in the pews so that people wouldn’t have to stand outside in the cold and so that no one would lose their place in line. While we waited, and waited we did, people were going down the aisles asking if anyone wanted coffee or hot chocolate, and offering homemade baked goods.

I’m forever amazed and thankful for how nice people are.

On the way out of the polling center the church was holding a fundraiser for the families in our community still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Obviously I donated.

People are awesome, I love people, and that’s not just the wine talking—people are pretty amazing in their capacity to care for one another. Okay, maybe that is the wine, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

I’m not one for talking politics. I really do believe that everyone is entitled to their beliefs without contention or mockery. I don’t care who you voted for, but I truly hope that you voted.

Post vote refreshments, anyone?

Now, where did I put that wine bottle…

Breakfast


Whole wheat wrap with scrambled egg whites, tomato, and sriracha sauce

Lunch


I met up with a couple of girlfriends for some Pho and bubble tea.

Dinner



The Fella made dinner tonight, I think he was protecting me from the fire…wine and fire don’t mix.
Veggie burger with egg, hot sauce, guacamole
Sides of chick pea salad and tabouli salad

Exercise: Typing counts as aerobic exercise, right?  I’m in the last week and a half of book edits and the gym is on the back burner for now.

Kim

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Weekend in Review: Wine and Ikea

July 23, 2012 by 2 Comments

In what will most likely be my last non-working weekend until the end of August, I decided to get sh-t done.  That includes drinking wine and touring the vineyards of Long Island’s Northfork.

I grew up on Long Island, and as a kid I couldn’t think of a darn nice thing to say about it. I was basically biding my time waiting for the first opportunity to leave the suburbs for city-living.  Now that I’m an adult I think I’m able to see a bit more of its charm.  For instance, it really is a beautiful bit of land, and no matter where you are you’re never more than 10-minutes from the water. In addition to beautiful beaches, the Island is home to farms of all varieties and in the summer is a great place to buy farmstand produce.     Oh yeah, and there are a bunch of vineyards.  Beautiful spances of grapes for as far as the eye can see.  

My aunt and I signed up for a Long Island Winery tour months ago, and even then I was a little anxious about the timing. But honestly, if there has ever been a time that I needed a drink, it’s now.  So, of we went to sip New York’s finest chardonnays and cabernets and we learned a bit about wine making in the process.

I was particularly impressed with one vineyard, Comtesse Thérèse.  The vineyard was started by Therese Dilworth, an attorney by trade, and two friends, making it Long Island’s first woman owned winery.  We were given a tour by her husband, Sammy Shimura, a former steel executive turned farmer who is also a certified sommelier.  He was really a delight to learn from and he took the time to tell us all about the animals that lived around the vineyard.  A fox he referred to as “his friend” and the birds that are “his enemy” except the “cute ones.”  The cute ones consisted of the birds that built little nests among the vineyards leaves.

It was so obvious that everyone involved in the Comtesse Thérèse vineyard really loved their wine and it was evident in every sip. 

I stocked up on bottles for my new apartment, and when Roy and I went to IKEA on Sunday to pick out furniture, I made sure we got a wine rack!

OH MY IKEA!  I have never loved and hated the same place so much.   The Fella and I bought IKEA, all of it.  There is none left for you.  Sorry.

It took SEVEN hours for us to negotiate our way through each room of our apartment (thank goodness it’s only a one-bedroom apartment, I don’t know what we’ll do if we ever have a house one day).

In between fighting about mattress firmness levels (I won), we debated the calorie burn involved in seven hours of shopping.  According to Livestrong.com, we burned about 1160 calories.  We both agreed that 1160 seemed like an awfully high number for strolling, standing, and sitting on model furniture.  I’m guessing it was more like 400.  Still, not a bad burn, and my wallet feels sooooo much lighter.

Afterward we rewarded ourselves with a romantic dinner on one of Long Island’s beautiful beaches.

I guess my hometown’s not so bad afterall ;)

 

Kim

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Wine and Butters

May 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Welcome to egg and nut-butter week on The Kim Challenge.

Methinks that other “health living” bloggers are probably a wee bit more responsible about grocery shopping than I am. I have the tendency to buy a lot of stuff at once, and then forget to shop for weeks at a time. Let’s just say I’m on the tail end of one of those cycles (I blame the non-stop rain, who wants to carry groceries in the rain?) and the contents of my fridge consist of eggs/egg whites, frozen bread, a little bit of produce, cheese, various nut butters, and jam. Therefore, this week I’m making do with what I have. It may not be a particularly well-balanced and creative week, but it’s a life.

 

Breakfast


Egg white omelet with low-fat mozzarella
Whole grain bread with Earth Balance
Mango

Lunch


Cinnamon raisin bread with cashew butter and apricot jam
Reduced fat cheese
Apple

Dinner

Lucky for me, a friend emailed me mid-day to invite me out to a wine tasting. Yay for food that’s not in cheese or nut butter form!



In between wines we shared some ‘tuna tacos’ which were really more like tortilla chips with tuna on it. Weird.
French fries

Yay for impromptu girls nights!

Kim

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Mother Knows Best

April 14, 2011 by 2 Comments

 

Happy birthday to my mom!
Thanks for always teaching me appropriate public behavior ;)

What is it they say about apples and trees?

Nose picking habits aside, I’ve learned a lot from my mom. She’s a pretty remarkable lady, and in honor of her birth I’m going to pass on some of the nuggets of wisdom she’s instilled in me since I was a wee little Kim.

  1. Never settle. If it’s not exactly what you want, it’s not worth your time or investment.
  2. Put red spices in the fridge, it keeps them fresh.
  3. You can only change yourself if you love yourself first.
  4. It never hurts to ask (…usually this is in relation to getting a discount).
  5. Actions are far more important than words.
  6. Breakfast; it’s important, you should eat it. Preferably with coffee.
  7. There are some things, no matter how full of fat and sugar they are, that are not worth giving up in exchange for a healthy life. For her this is Pepsi and salad dressing, for me it’s Buffalo wings and gummy bears. Everyone needs a vice!
  8. Talking while yawning prevents the hiccups.
  9. You teach people how to treat you.
  10. Most importantly, my mother’s motto for life, “F*#k ‘em if they can’t take a joke.”

As far as mothers go, I’m pretty psyched I ended up with mine. In some ways we’re very similar in others we’re so different you’d have no idea we were related at all. Regardless, there’s no one who knows me quite as well as she does. No one who can soothe me, or irritate me, or make me laugh when I’m crying quite like my mom. I love her like whoa, and I’m really excited that she was born.

What are the best words of advice your mom gave you?

Breakfast


Egg white omelet with spinach and goat cheese
Whole grain toast

Lunch


Leftover roasted vegetables and quinoa

Dinner

I met up with my friend Anna for a wine and food pairing. Anna and I met through the magic of the Interweb, she started out reading Elastic Waist, and then The Kim Challenge, and eventually we realized we both lived in New York and worked close to one another and became regular lunch buddies. Sadly, (for me anyway) Anna is leaving New York to rock out with the good folks of the Washington DC area. As far as farewell outings go, this was pretty tasty!

There was wine…


Chardonnay


and fried oysters

Then Pinot Grigio



with strawberry and fried chicken salad


and Chiantti


paired with lentil soup


then came bacon wrapped peppers stuffed with goat cheese
and another wine, but at this point I wasn’t quite as sharp with the listening skills


This one was some sort of mishmash of wines from a Long Island vineyard. It wasn’t as awesome as the rest, but it paired with some delicious


Lamb chops, kale and orzo in a sesame oil based sauce

Of course there was dessert. Apple crumb concoction with butter pecan ice cream and chocolate torte with raspberry sauce

It was an amazing dinner! Thank you Anna for inviting me, and for being my friend. I’m super excited for this next chapter of your life, and that I’ll have one more person to meet up with in DC.

 

I’m going to say something I very rarely say: I may need a diet. There has been a lot of super-rich foods in my life lately, and a lot of alcohol, and my pants are not fitting quite as nicely as before. I don’t really do diets anymore, but lately my moderate eating style has been slightly less moderate. My April resolution to eat cleanly hasn’t been quite as successful as I’d planned. I think step one in getting back to a working relationship with my jeans is to cut out alcohol (this is actually a pretty hard reality since I review bars a significant portion of my living). I think it’s time to acknowledge that this little metabolism of mine is not quite as fiery as it used to be. Kind of a bummer, but at least I have a gym membership again to absorb some of the damage.

Salad anyone?

 

Kim

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Pamperfest 2011: Budget Friendly Edition

March 24, 2011 by 1 Comment

For the record, I am planning on winning the $312 million Mega Millions tomorrow. That’s the plan, but if for some strange reason things don’t work out according to plan, I suppose I’ll continue in my efforts to live a budget friendly yet self-indulgent lifestyle.

The last two weeks have gone pretty well. As it turns out I don’t need much to be indulged. Here are some of my favorite ways to indulge my spoiled side without dipping into my severance package.

Spa Water

When official word of my layoff came down, my dear friend Sarah treated me to a night of manicures and pedicures to celebrate.   I felt totally pampered, and as we sat there gossiping while our nails dried I had an epiphany: WHY DON’T I MAKE MY LAYOFF ALL ABOUT PAMPERING? For serious people, I deserve it. I’m going to enjoy this layoff like no one has ever enjoyed a layoff before.

My first cost effective pamperesque idea was inspired by the spa we went to that night. While our toes soaked they offered us lemon or cucumber water. Since that night I have kept a pitcher of water in the refrigerator with sliced lemon or orange in it. What’s amazing is that you can totally use up the produce that’s on its way out—being immersed in water totally plumps those fruits back up. I usually use the same fruit, refilling the pitcher for two days, then sub in another near-death lemon or orange.

Being my own Barista


At rehearsal a few weeks ago the director welcomed us with fresh baked scones. That totally inspired me, and I followed suit, making my own scones using whatever I had in my pantry, freezing them for individual use. I also made that yumtastic low fat chocolate cake the other day and froze individual pieces of that. I like to couple these low fat baked goods with homemade lattes.

I always keep cheap bodega espresso in my freezer. I like to cook that up in my moka pot (from a dollar store). While the espresso is brewing I heat some almond milk (you could use regular, or soy, or hemp, or whatever milk like substance you prefer) in a sauce pan, add a dash of vanilla, and then use my immersion blender to foam. I combine the two and voila instant latte! Way cheaper than Starbucks!

Get YouTube Beautiful
For the record I do not know, and am not affiliated with, the people who created these videos. I just found them helpful. If you click on the YouTube logo on each video it will bring you to their video page.

I’ll admit that I’m terrible at prettification maintenance, but I am determined to keep things together lest I let the sweatpants and tussled hair takeover.

First project: Learn how to do my own nails.

Second project: Get pretty hair. (I’ve had hot curlers in my closet forever; it’s time to learn how to use them).

Third project: Homemade beauty products

Log some TV Time


I am notorious for not being able to watch television without my laptop open. It’s veritably impossible for me not to multi task. I’ve made it a mission to watch at least one movie a week without computer interruption. Just me, some stove popped popcorn, and my Netflix account.

Boxy Wino


I’m not a big home drinker, but I figured since I’m going to be spending more time at home than ever before, I might as well treat myself to a little wine. The problem with being single and opening a bottle of wine is that it generally goes bad before I can finish it. Enter cheap boxed wine. Boxed wine stays fresh longer because it doesn’t oxidize AND I bought 5-liters of this pretty pink White Zinfandel for under $15 (for the record, I’m not going to say this is good wine, but it’s not rubbing alcohol either). Now I can have a glass while my home scrub sits, I watch a movie, and my latte milk warms.

Do you have any budget friendly pampering rituals? I’d love to read about them in the comments, you know in the off chance I don’t win the lottery tomorrow.

No amount of pampering got me through today unscathed. If you saw a crazy woman running through the streets of Brooklyn at approximately 12:50pm, that was me. If today was a test in time management, I failed.

This is pretty much what I looked like all day:

I had my alarm set for 6am. I wanted to get some work done before I met up with my coffee shop writing date at 9am. My thoughts were that I could get the majority of my professional work out of the way, then focus my coffee shop time on personal projects. It didn’t quite work out like that. When my alarm went off at 6am I pressed snooze, I continued to press snooze until I accidentally sleep dialed my new boss (my alarm and my phone are one and the same). When I heard ringing coming from my phone it jarred me from my sleep long enough to hang up and hope that he doesn’t have caller ID.

Then I snoozed again until my phone again chimed, this time with a text message from my writing partner telling me she’d be late. That’s when I realized it was almost time to be there. I brushed my teeth, put on jeans and ran to the coffee shop.

Breakfast was a very large cup of coffee and a steaming pile of email…

Ugh.

At around 12:45 I realized I had an appointment to be 30 blocks away in 15 minutes. I had left my metrocard at home so my only option was to hoof it. I sprinted, laptop in hand, and actually got there relatively not late.

By the time I got home at 3pm I was overdue for a real meal.

Lunch


Whole wheat tortilla with refried beans, a fried egg, salsa and super spicy hot sauce that came out of the bottle too quickly.

A couple of hours later I realized I wasn’t hungry yet for dinner, but I had class at 7pm and needed to scarf down a second meal if I was going to get through my improv class without gnawing on my classmates.

Dinner


Brown rice pasta, broccoli, Trader Joe’s Meatless Meatballs (they’re so good, they’re better than meat meatballs!), tomato sauce and low fat mozzarella

Then I came home and collapsed. Perhaps I need to pick up on some of my pampering duties tomorrow.

Kim

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The new love of my life

January 24, 2011 by 2 Comments

I bought myself a little present:

A big ole man hand An iPhone

Hatred is not a strong enough word to describe the feelings I had toward my old phone.  After missing an important business call, and subsequent emails and text messages pertaining to said business call I decided enough was enough, it was time I indulge in some good old fashion tech gluttony.

I know I’m slow on the uptake on this one, but I never knew I could love anyone anything so much.  It has literally replaced the majority of  the contents of my purse.  No longer am I lugging around my filofax (formerly known as the love of my life), iPod, or camera.  It has even made my work day more enjoyable, as I sit behind my dreary cubicle walls vetting research, writing reports, and putting together proposals, I happily reserve a portion of my brain for podcastville!

You see, my work firewalls are oppressively strict (what did people do in the olden days when there wasn’t the internet to distract them?) so I don’t get to listen to music, waste time on Youtube, or even read blogs (for shame!).  Now, I’m listening to French podcasts, financial podcasts, grammar podcasts!

Oooh, and the Apps.

Life is good.

I think I’ve expanded my New Year’s resolution to place more emphasis on my personal life, to placing more importance on a happy life in general.  Self indulgent?  Probably, but who’s going to indulge me if not myself.

I took all my food pics today on my new phone, let me know if I should switch back to a standard issue camera.  I, for one, think the picture quality is pretty good.

Any app suggestions you tried and true iPhone and Droid users have is seriously welcomed in the comments!

Breakfast

Yogurt with banana and trail mix

Lunch

Salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, feta, grilled chicken
Crusty bread
Fresca

Dinner

Whole wheat pasta with spinach, shrimp, scallops, sauce

Sometimes it’s good to be an adult.
Wine.

Kim

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Wii Giveaway & Headstands

July 20, 2010 by 9 Comments

Let’s start this week off with a bang shall we?

I have a super awesome giveaway for all you Wii owners.  Sorry non-Wii owners, I will find something to tickle your fancy soon.

I have a copy of the new 10-Minutes Solutions DVD made for Wii.  I’m partial to this video, because I’m partial to Jessica Smith, the instructor.  Look, I never said I didn’t play favorites, and Jessica is definitely one of my favorite DVD instructors.

One lucky person will win a copy of 10-Minute Solutions Knockout Body, which can be used with or without the Wii Fit board.  In the comments tell me why you love your Wii and if you use it to workout.  I’ll choose a winner next Monday.

Now, onto life.  This weekend was full of food and more than a little fun.  I went out to the Hamptons on Saturday for my friend’s baby shower.  She’s the cutest/most-rational pregnant woman I have ever seen.  I can’t wait to babysit!

There was a ton of amazing food at the party, and I ate my weights worth in BBQ.  I burned a little off with hula hooping though:

and headstanding…


Please excuse the quasi-flashing action happening here.  Damn gravity.

I continued working off some of that BBQ at the gym Monday morning.  Then spent the rest of my day writing, writing, writing, with a little eating thrown in for good measure.

Breakfast

Shredded wheat with almond milk and banana

Lunch

Vegetable barley soup (I <3 my crockpot)

Grilled turkey breast

Snack

Apple sauce and almonds

Dinner

I didn’t take pictures of dinner because I was out and about and it would have been weird had I broken out my camera.  I did however have:

Wine, Cheese, Bread, Pizza (which is also basically cheese and bread)

Yup, I’m a beacon of health.

Kim

Filed Under: Daily Confessional, Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Friday is nice

February 6, 2010 by 1 Comment
Friday was perfect, just one of those really nice easy days.

It started of with work, because sadly I am a working adult, but I finished everything on my list for the week and left early (I have half day Fridays) to hit Whole Foods to prepare for my lunch with a friend.  We’ve had these little at-home wine and cheese parties before, and realized we were on to something kind of awesome.  Cheese, crusty French bread, cured meats and wine by the bottleful–what could be wrong?

I was in charge of cheese, and had some wine sitting around the house; she was in charge of bread and meet (and brought some unfinished bottles of wine from her house).  The conversation flowed from gitty to serious to sex, as it usually does.  While I certainly wouldn’t suggest having this sort of lunch everyday, a couple of times  a year it’s just plain good for the soul.

Now that my soul was successfully healed, I had to make dinner.  I didn’t quite calculate my drunkenness into the equation when I told Achilles I would make him a healthy lo-carb (his personal trainer is all about the protein) meal.  I decided to make comfort food healthier by roasting a chicken, mashing some cauliflower (I love that stuff), and steaming some zucchini in chopped thyme.

It was lovely, but the chicken was a little underdone.  The “juices” ran clear, but the bone was still bloody, and I was a bit too drunk to handle that appropriately so I just cut the meat off the bone and microwaved it for a minute.  The sides were the best part.  I have to admit that I was still so full from lunch that I basically just moved my food around and packed it up for another day.  The goal of the meal was really to feed Achilles something that wasn’t pre-frozen.

Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.  Happy weekend everyone.

Friday Breakfast
Whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese
Strawberries

Lunch
At Home Wine and Cheese Lunch: Brie, Blue Cheese, French Muenster, pate, sausage, baguette, wine

Dinner
Roast chicken, mashed cauliflower, zucchini
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10-Course Kinda Thursday

January 29, 2010 by 1 Comment

Okay, I’m going to make you a deal.  I’m going to not eat today, and you’re going to not think I have an eating disorder.

Chances are I will eat, I just can’t imagine that reality right now.

It’s restaurant week here in NYC.  For some reason I thought it would be a brilliant idea to schedule two three-course meals for one day.  Why?  Because if I’m going to indulge I may as well get it all over with in one fell swoop.

Hmm, now that I see it written that’s a pretty silly theory.  I will admit that I cannot always trust my own judgement…either way, yesterday was a delicious day.  A filling day, and based on my normal three-square-meals a day lifestyle I’ve eaten enough for 2 whole days (plus some).  Yes, I am an overachiever.

I spent my lunch hour (ahem, hour +) noshing with my aunt.  She took me to Brasserie 8 1/2, it was goodish.  I thought the ambiance was a bit “upscale airport lounge”-ish, not really the type of restaurant that makes you feel comfortable and at ease.  The dessert was a bit too sweet for my taste, but the lamb was lovely and the cauliflower soup that started the meal was good.  I’ve never been so thankful for small portions.

For dinner, I met up with Anna.  I met Anna through my blog!  Hi Anna! We work in the same area so we decided to meet up for dinner at Dawat, a “fine-dining” Indian restaurant.  Quotations because that’s what they call themselves, it was a nice restaurant but I hardly felt out of place which is how I usually feel at fine dining joints.

The company was lovely and so was the food.  By the end though, I was struggling to stay awake (no reflection on you Anna), and hailed a cab which I promptly napped all the way home in.

I ate sooooo much yesterday, and now I’m feeling more motivated than ever to get back to my happy weight.  I’ve gained quite a bit of weight this year, and honestly I think I’ve had enough indulging for a while.

Achilles lives in a building with a gym so I told him I may start using him for his treadmill.  Tomorrow morning we’re going on a joint indoor run.  Yeah, we’re romantic like that.

Here’s the food…all of it:

Breakfast

Oatmeal with reduced fat sour cream
Coffee with soy milk

Lunch

Passion fruit lemonade

Cauliflower soup

Morrocan lamb stew over quinoa

Pear tart, I didn’t eat most of it

Dinner

Happy hour Harp pre-dinner

Rioja with dinner

Saag Pakoras

Shrimp tikki masala with basmati rice

Golub jamon

Kim

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Excuses, excuses…

July 25, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Okay, so I only stayed for half of my 2-hour Friday night Spin/Strength/Abs class, but I have good reason.  Usually I’m sore for a couple of days afterward, and well, I’m shooting tomorrow (a film that is), and I think it would be inconvenient if I were unable to lift my arms on set.

Once upon a time, when I lived in Los Angeles, I decided to go to Manhattan Beach and got serious burnage. Such serious burnage that I was a very pretty shade of maroon, and I needed to go to the hospital. Of course that would be the night that I got a call to do a spot on Judging Amy, and it just happened to be a Fall episode, so I got my maroon-ass (and every other part of me) to the set the next day.  It was the kind of burn that requires about a week of naked time and lots of aloe.  Instead I was wearing a wool sweater in 80 degree weather.  I didn’t look maroon on camera, but I vowed never again to put myself  in a situation where I would be so physically uncomfortable when I was going to have to act not physically uncomfortable in front of a camera.  Thusly, I skipped the strength portion.  I’ll make up for it tomorrow post shooting.

Reminder: The drawing for the DVD Giveaway happens Monday.  So, if you want a Lower Body Burn, well get your comment in for the drawing!

Breakfast

IMG_0095

Smoothie w/ 1% milk, banana and black raspberries

Lunch

IMG_0098

Udon Noodle Soup w/bok choy, straw mushrooms and shrimp

Snack

IMG_0099

Plum
Lite Babybel Cheese

Dinner

IMG_0101

Stuffed zuccini (stuffed with sauteed onion, baby bella mushrooms, spinach), topped with swiss cheese
Brown rice with peas

IMG_0102

Wine.  Can’t let the bottle go to waste, can I?

Filed Under: Daily Confessional Tagged With: , ,
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