Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Zombie Opera!

Hey everyone!

I have a ton of events that are Pittsburgh inspired this weekend. Last night my mom and I had a family bonding moment and went to go see "A Night in Quarantine" the Zombie Opera! We were so stoked to go see the show because it had gotten amazing reviews!


My mom bought us both devil horns haha


yay our tickets!
We decided to make a whole night out of this and so we parked at the Grey Box Theater in Lawrenceville and then started the mission for finding a place to eat dinner.

Unfortunately, we had a hard time finding a place that we liked and so we ended up venturing into Dozens bakeshop. While it didnt have the healthiest fair it was really all we could find and we were starving!



This is the dessert counter : )

I ended up getting a turkey pastry which was very delicious : ) It was very flaky and had stuffing and turkey with cranberries on the inside.


mmm tastey right?

My mom got  Gouda macaroni and cheese and she let me try some.



It was so delicous.. of course you cant go to a bake shop without getting some kind of dessert so I let my mom pick. She picked a peanut butter chewy which was soo good and unfortunately so filling that we couldnt even finish it.



We ventured into the theater and watched one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. The zombie opera was obviously something that the creators put a lot of work into and it was a great combination of live theater and cinematography. I would highly suggest going to see it. THey are actually adding additional shows because they are selling out!

I couldnt snap any pictures inside because they asked us not to so I guess you'll just have to go!

http://www.thezombieopera.com/

So if you ever wondered what it looks like to have Zombies take over oakland and downtown.. you have to go! Tonight is a girls night out to go to the Marilyn Monroe exhibit at the Andy Warhol Museum.. I cant wait!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Blog to Restore Sanity

Good Morning Folks,

(Dont worry this blog posting is about health and fitness and is not a political rant.. promise)

So if you are new to my blog I am sure you clicked on this particular posting because you noticed the title was similar to a very exciting event coming up in a few weeks. John Stewart, host of "The Daily Show with John Stewart" (duh) is hosting a rally in Washington Dc two weekends from now that will encourage Americans to use their common sense when it comes to politics and decision making. He wants to get rid of the red tape and the griping in order to realize that decisions have to be made and they have to do the greatest good. I think this is one of the most amazing things I have heard of in a long long time and I really hope it has some impact. Dwayne and I tried to go but unfortunately there isnt a single hotel room within 30 miles of the event! Seriously!

Want more info on what John Stewart is trying to do? Check it out here: Rally to Restore Sanity 10

I think we have lost a lot of common sense in todays world.. it has all gone down the drain with the invention of bribery, greed and power. I feel the same way about living a healthy lifestyle because it has gone the way of the fad diet, full body cleanse and stomach staple. So I thought I would use this forum to discuss the obvious facts about health and fitness that have recently become "not so obvious."

1. Diet and Exercise = Healthy .. For the longest time this was understood to be the basic equation for maintaining a healthy weight and body. Eat right, dont overindulge a lot and get moderate exercise everyday. While this equation seems simple and appears to be common sense.. it apparently isnt anymore since everyday has a new artificial sweetener, miracle diet pill or machine to buy for people to cut corners. Common sense note: Eat an apple instead of a cupcake.. bike to work instead of driving ..problem solved

2. School Lunch Controversy = this one really grinds my gears (yay Fam Guy reference!) Ok, so if you havent heard.. the controversy here is that people are trying to convince school districts and the government to create healthier school lunches and snack opportunities for children. Vending machines will carry 100% juice and water instead of soda.. and breaded chicken nuggets will turn into grilled chicken salads. Also, schools would hand out lists of foods that are acceptable for children to pack with them to help educate parents on proper nutrition and basically make it idiot proof. Now.. to a person with common sense.. this sounds like an amazing step towards preventing childhood obesity and a slew of medical problems in young kids/teens.. however, some parents are upset because they feel as though its their choice what their kids eat and how dare the school tell them what they can and cant feed their children. Common Sense Note: Its sad that a school even has to tell you what you should be feeding your children.. a parent should want proper nutrition for their children.. if youre feeding your kid nothing but processed foods, pizzas and junk you are setting them up for health issues and thats child abuse. It shouldnt be your 'right' to be a crappy parent.

3. Education is key! In the past year or so our first lady was criticized for sharing the weight of her daughter publically. Obama haters got up in arms about how obviously her sharing that information was going to cause her daughter to immediately have an eating disorder. C'mon people.. I understand that people are looking for any reason to jump on the current administration but thats just ridiculous. Michelle was actually talking about how important it is to educate your children on healthy decision making so that they can make healthy choice on their own later in life preventing them from diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. Common Sense Note: Making sure your children are educated about their own bodies and how to keep themselves healthy.. is good parenting. Every person should make sure their child knows that a carrot is a better choice to make for their future than a candy bar. I commend her for making this her plight because no one else is. They'd rather complain.

4. Nothing Worth Having is Easily Obtained or can be bought for 19.95. Plain and simple.. in life, if something is truly worth possessing than it is going to mean having to do some hard work. Health is no different.. you may have to be in the gym before work taking a walk, you might have to decide to eat a few more salads when you really want chocolate cake. It is common sense that simply putting on a pair of "balance ball inspired" sneakers is not going to make you have the butt of a super model. It is common sense that buying an ab roller and only doing that one exercise is not going to make you lose 20 inches of your waist. So please America, we are some economic turmiol here.. so stop spending your money on stupid exercise fads and equipment and just take a walk or a run. You will not get the results from the commercial.. spending 15 minutes a day with electrodes stuck to your stomach does not make abs. Spend the money on healthier foods or books to learn about healthy cooking. Common Sense Note: Nothing bought off of tv is going to replace the equation in note number 1. No matter how much you want it to.

I am sure that I could go on forever talking about some of the things in life that don't make sense when they are really quite simple.  I am sure that there are a few you can think of. I appreciate all comments and thoughts.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

Good Morning Everyone,

Sorry for the elongated blogging hiatus. I had a bit more tragedy occur in my life in this past week. Following the passing of my grandmother I got a phone call that one of my good friends had passed away. His name was Jeff Mudryk and it was such a horrible blow to hear about his passing. He would make you belly laugh every time you saw him no matter what. He was the person you wanted to talk to if you were having a rough day or needed to just get crazy and have some fun. He will be missed by so many.. and he was entirely to young to be taken. It was very sad and I had to take some time to deal with this.



This is Jeff on our random trip to get White Castle Burgers in Cleveland after work.
 So my friends and I got together this weekend to get through everything and my boyfriend also changed some things around in his schedule to come up to Pittsburgh. I am a very lucky person to be so loved and supported.

To thank him for coming up and staying with me (keep in mind this is a 7 hour drive for him to come hold my hand while I cry for 2 days) I decided to make him one of his favorite fall desserts: Sweet Potato Pie.

I have been toying around with this recipe for a little bit and its so delicious and super easy to make.

Heres what you will need:
Pie Crust
2 lbs of sweet potatos
1/3  cup butter (melted)
evaporated milk
1/2 cup unprocessed Cane Sugar
eggs
Vanilla Extract
Nutmeg and Cinnamon

Directions:
Cut lines/ strips into the uncooked sweet potatoes and place them in boiling water for 30 minutes or until they are mashable. The lines will ensure that the skins on the sweet potatoes fall right off after they are boiled.. it saves you pealing time.

Mix 1/3 cup evaporated milk, 2 eggs, butter, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla extract together. Mash your sweet potatoes and blend in with the other ingrediants using a hand mixer until smooth. Add cinnimon and nutmeg to taste and pour into your pie crust. Bake for 40-45 minutes at 375 until firm.

This pie is light and the best part is that the sweetness comes from the natural sugars in the sweet potatoes and so you could even cut down the sugar in this recipe.

Half of the pie was gone before he even left to go back to NC, so I am guessing that thats a pretty good sign that this pie is worth making.

Give it a try! Its a great fall recipe.