Mid-Year Resolutions

Now that school is out and I have a small (very small) break before the hecticness that is grad school and directing a summer camp start, I've decide to inject and revamp my exercise schedule (which has become non-existant) and my eating habits (which have become junk filled)

I drove a different way to Whole Foods and discovered that there's an L.A. Boxing Gym right across the street. It's been there since January! Boy, that tells me that I need to "shake up" the routine occassionally. Anyway, I joined and I've been taking boxing classes. The instructors Donte and Ricky are very cool. That said, this class has been kicking my ass! But I'm sticking with it. I dropped the Weight Watchers membership and applied it to the L.A. Boxing membership. I think I'll get more out of it. The gym has lots of equipment, good hours and lots of bags. There are three classes everyday from Monday-Friday that my membership allows me to take. Watch out, I'm gonna be one lean, tough B---aytch!

Since I'm doing all this body work, I decided to resume my Pescatarian (Pesco-Vegetarian efforts). I already had Mark Bitman's huge book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It was overwhelming trying to read this because it's HUGE and it has EVERYTHING VEGETARIAN (I guess that's why he chose that title). Anyway, I picked up that book again and I decided that I'm really going to try and use it.

I just finished making the Glazed Carrot Soup. I did the variation that includes orange zest and ginger. OMG! This soup is awesome. Plus it can be eaten hot or cold, which makes it the perfect summer travel soup. I really should cook more. I'm also reading Cooking Without Recipes by Cheryl Sindell which sparked the idea of making adjustments to the soup. I didn't have enough carrots, but that was okay. Next time I'll have at leat twice as many carrots. I think it will make the soup creamier. I also used a lot more ginger that the recipe calls for and a lot of black pepper. Thinking along Ms. Sindell lines, I think that I might make that soup again and mix in some tomato soup. I have a feeling that it would be really good; but it's got to be test!