Kitchen smells good

I didn't have time to write after work yesterday. I knew I needed to get a few things done after work and I never made it up to my workspace. It sometimes doesn't feel quite right when I seem to miss. But, like I said, there were some things I needed to do.

Since I knew I would be occupied after work I did my mile and a half during my lunch time. I am staying on track with my simplified work out schedule so far if you can count three days as sticking to it. I did Zumba class on Monday, mile and half on Tuesday and again mile and half on Wednesday. Not the longest work outs but consistent so far.

I had been asked to donate some cookies for a charity bake sale on Friday and knew I didn't want to wait until the last minute. I know they stay perfectly fresh in the tins I have so I was baking last night. Since they needed to be broken down into smaller (salable) portions I had to change up my packaging. I was able to find a small clear cello bag that fit three cookies just perfectly. I added my cookie label and tied it off with some silver raffia ribbon. It came out rather nice if I am allowed to say so myself. I don't have any concerns with the cookies themselves. It is the recipe I came up with for my Cinque Cicciolato...my five chocolate cookies and they have been proved to be a crowd pleaser. And I do actually use five different chocolates in the mix...cocoa powder, white chocolate chip, milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chips, and bittersweet chips. You would think it would just be too, too much, too rich but it doesn't turn out that way. Ask anyone that has tried them. Mmmm. So, the project with the cookies turned out nicely. Jay thought they looked good enough to take a picture and sell in any holiday catalog. The smaller packaging worked out very well.

By the time I got cookies baked and worked on dinner - sliced pan seared pork loin, mashed potatoes, sautéed zucchini with caramelized onion and a romaine and tomatoes salad with olive oil vinaigrette - it was late! The kitchen smelled really good though. And I realized the second episode of Top Chef was beginning. Of course! Perfect finish to all that real cooking is to watch even more on TV!

It turned out my Voltaggio guys did really, really well in this episode. Michael managed to win the quick fire challenge and Bryan, his older brother, came away with winning the elimination challenge. I have never rooted for anyone on any show before...but the name connection seems to have made a difference. I keep trying to see if there is any resemblance and I could see where they look like the third brother of the Voltaggio's I know. He happens to be a Chef also but...that's just too many coincidences.

So with all the things going on and not much writing, I still am feeling pretty charged about this week. So much better than last! And I think I can count these few words as something…

TT