Happy birthday, Jon!!

Also do not scratch the inside of your nose while chopping jalapenos. This mistake led to me putting yogurt up my nose in an attempt to soothe the pain.

Happy Birthday Jon!

I just made soup, because I think I am getting a cold, and I was craving soup. It is sort of faux hot and sour soup- I did chicken broth, red cabbage, shredded carrots, tofu, garlic , chili flakes, and rice vinegar. I added the rice vinegar after taste testing because I felt it needed more sour.

I have also realized that the way I cook is really weird to the people I work with. When I bring something they always want the recipe, and are flabbergasted that I can't tell them how many teaspoons or tablespoons, or whatever. I feel like cooking is more of a ratio/formula kind of thing. Certain tastes complement other tastes and you just have to put them together. I think living alone and not being responsible for feeding other people has let me have a lot more freedom to make mistakes, but then I learned. Well, except for the chicken thighs, which I tried to put in this soup, but they just grossed me out to much.

Oh, and if you are a little girl who likes to pretend she is a witch and steal your neighbors vegetable garbage to make potions, make sure that you do not attempt to steam the jalapeno peppers. Not that I would know this from experience or anything!

Java, I like Bittman's more-veggie-than-egg frittata, but it's more a set of guidelines than an actual recipe.

My frittatas are generally a way to use up CSA zucchini. When asparagus is in season I do bacon, asparagus, and gruyere.

shrift, tell me everything! Are you liking it? How is it supporting your efforts?

Only had it for about a week, but I'm liking it. It gives me an estimate of how many calories I've burned, number of steps, miles walked, and an activity breakdown and score. You can also log food, activities, heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose. I haven't been using the food logging much, as it seems to have more data for restaurants and prepackaged meals than my mostly whole food diet.

It's definitely helping me understand what exercise I'm getting and when, and that I need to do more.

Have you tried it on sleep mode?

Yes, although I've learned that I need to make sure the Fitbit syncs after I've stopped the sleep mode so that it actually gets logged. Because I need those numbers to shame me into going to bed earlier.

What should I know to push me over the purchasing edge?

Why are you thinking about getting one? I've used mine every day so far, and I think it helps if you're motivated by guilt and/or immediate feedback on how close you are to achieving your goals for the day.

When I bring something they always want the recipe, and are flabbergasted that I can't tell them how many teaspoons or tablespoons, or whatever.

I'm totally willy-nilly when it comes to measurements with cooking. I wing it with whatever's available in my kitchen. Baking, however, requires precision.

msbelle, are they straw? Wide-brimmed straw? Can you hang one or more on your room door, or your ensuite door? Doors totally count as art display wall space in Bev world. You could use those stickum plastic hooks that peel off when you want to move or remove them.

DH and I are a mixed marriage - he's a measurer, I'm an eyeball-er. Somehow, we get along.

When I bring something they always want the recipe, and are flabbergasted that I can't tell them how many teaspoons or tablespoons, or whatever.

Heh. My brother is a big tall dude (6' 2"), and he has proportionately-sized hands. I am 5'6" and have little wee hands, probably not disproportionately small, but it seems like it sometimes.

So when I ask him for recipes, I don't expect exact measurements, but I learned the hard way that when he says "a handful," one of his handfuls equals 2 of mine.

Baking, however, requires precision.

Man, baking does NOT fuck around. (Also learned the hard way.)