Phoodfotos is not dead.

Guess who’s back, phriends?!?

Did ya miss me, because I sure did- missed you, that is, ‘cuz I’ve been with myself this whole time.

I have a litany of arguably legitimate excuses. Pick your phavorite…

• I got a new job.  It’s a big, phancy one that requires a lot of effort and comes with impressive business cards.
• I moved.  Same town, new place… big enough for more than one person- and I’ve got an oven. 🙂
• I’ve been dieting and eating such boring phood nobody would probably want to see it anyway. But I bake like a madwoman and just pawn it all off on my coworkers.
• I was the sole victim of a long anticipated actual zombie apocalypse and have just recently rejoined the land of the living.
• I got engaged in August and my life has become a phrenzy of nothing but wedding mumbo jumbo.  Mumbo jumbo, in this context, refers to assigning high levels of importance to typically mundane items such as napkins, envelopes and such.

So here I am.  Let it be known that I have, indeed, continued to photograph every meal, every snack, every bite over my approximated 20 calorie threshold. As the months have passed, I’ve lost the desire to continue the blog, tried to get myself to stop snapping fotos, and then realizing my deep longing to write about it all, tried to get myself back in the blogging swing of things.  Then came the writer’s block of how to ease my way back into your hearts, in a charming, disarming and seemingly effortless way.  Once I kicked that goal to the curb, I finally got myself to sit down and be nothing but honest.

Hence, I’m back. And it pheels oh so good!

I’m not sure how I will approach my coming posts, but I want to say thanks to you weirdos who have stuck with me through my hiatus.  Y’all are phabulous.

My next post will be our proposal story (no this won’t become a wedding blog, other than to showcase the awesome phood we’ve selected for our reception!) but, shockingly, The Phella proposed at a restaurant (weird, right?  it’s not like I like phood or anything…) and the phood fotos that evening are equal parts beautiful, comical and bling-ified (if that’s a word… if not then translate to obnoxious pictures of my rock…)

So until next time, which I swear won’t be long, I will bid you adieu!

MARCHing to my own beat.

So what if it’s almost July and I’m just now posting March, right?  Right.

Here’s a hasty overview of the highlights:

• The Phella’s Birthday (someday I promise to do a special post on what we did to celebrate, as it was phreakish, phun and phood-related)

 

• A phew phabulous dinners at my new phavorite restaurant, Ficelle

 

• Eating my pheelings when excrement hit the phan at work

 

• An awesome trip to Portland (including some of my very, very phavoritest pholks and Tasty n Sons, Deschutes,  Red Star Tavern, St. Honore, Pok Pok and the phamed Hawthorne phood carts!)

 

• Dining out and about around Sacratomato with some wonderful visiting  phriends (Pizza Rock, Shady Lady Saloon, Capitol Garage, Ink Eats & Drinks and Magpie Cafe)

 

• A dog birthday party (on St. Patrick’s Day)

 

• A stop at home for a visit to Salinas City BBQ because I had missed it so much!

 

• Impromptu date weekend in Morro Bay (which included visiting The Republican and some amazing phood at Meze Wine Cafe & Market, Giancarlo’s and Frankie & Lola’s)

 

• Proof that Lucky Charms are similar to crack cocaine in my book…

Phebruary Phorgiveness?

Is bloggers rehab a thing, because based upon how severely I phell off the blogging wagon, I think I’m a prime candidate.

So until I phind myself a place to check in, I’m voluntarily leading myself through some of the steps… primarily admitting my wrongdoings and making amends to those of you who have continued to phollow me (amazingly despite my hiatus, I’ve gained phollowers and continue to have visitors to the site regularly, so thanks dudes!)  Moral of the story: now is the time if you ever wanted something of me… ask away!

Looking back to Phebruary, which seems like an eternity ago, is an intriguing juxtaposition of painful and positive.  I attempted to restart the ever so popular Bridesmaids Diet with marginal success.  Life threw some curve balls my way, and being the queen of eating my pheelings, I didn’t want to let my subjects down.  It’s phunny in a “I just laughed at something so inappropriate that I am certain I’ve just solidified my ticket to Hell” sort of a way, that when it rains, it truly does pour… and in this example, when I say “rain”, I’m talking about the piles of crap that rained down upon me- personally, professionally and whatever other -ally you can imagine.

That being said, it’s now May and I’m in one piece, so I should shut my mouth and appreciate what I am sure were some very “character-building” experiences.

Euphemistic statements aside, let’s talk phood!

There were some rather hefty indulgences around Valentine’s Day, a long weekend Monterey and when Dainty came to visit.  Lent came around and this year, I decided on giving up artificial sweetener.  That was painful yet positive, I must say!  We phrequented a phew restaurants in the Davis/Sacramento area that were exciting (Bistro Michel, Buckhorn Steakhouse, Magpie Cafe, Paesanos, DeVere’s Irish Pub, Our House and Osteria Fasulo) and phound a phew phailures (Ludy’s BBQ, City Tavern and a thrilling highly anticipated breakfast at Delta of Venus… that took an hour to acquire).  We went hog wild on our trip to Monterey, sharing meals at Carmel Valley Ranch, Bistro Moulin, Cannery Row Brewing Company, Happy Girl Kitchen, MYO, Cantinetta Luca, Jeffrey’s (needed my benny phix) and From Scratch, with a phabulous assortments of phriends (shout out to Work BFF, Sexy Mexican, Pops and Mommy Dearest and the whole pham damily all at the same table, RIT, Camelle and my phavorite ex-boss and her lovely husband).  That weekend was topped off with a trip to my phavorite chain restaurant indulgence- The Olive Garden.

Don’t judge me, we all have one.

In happy news, I am currently unemployed.  Ok, not really, but I am a temporary woman of leisure for the next two weeks as I regroup in between a job that was my equivalent of a square peg and an amazing new job that I’ll be telling you more about as the posts get up to datw.  Hence why blogger’s rehab starts today.  I’m hoping I’ll be cured in record time.

Do y’all phorgive me?

The Phood of January

The rumors are true.  I actually phell off the phace of the Earth.  It was quite an experience, but thanks to these new gravity boots, I’m doing quite well. (That was for you, Dainty…)

So it’s 2012, and the blogging will continue until morale improves…  but with a phew changes.

• #1- I plan to post weekly, because the whole every day concept was simply ludicrous.  Unless y’all want to pay me to blog.  If so, let’s talk.  I am MORE than willing to be as ludicrous as you’d like if there’s actual cash involved.  Or a book deal.  I could handle that, too.  Or phood.  Well, really just pizza and wings.

• #2- I am tired of carrying my big phancy camera around (not that I don’t absolutely adore my amazing camera- one of The Phella’s best gift ideas!) but it gets to be too much at times, epecially when pholks start to stare and become convinced I am a restaurant critic… (if I was, wouldn’t I be a bit more stealthy, I’d hope?).  So moral of that story- I am testing out an iPhone photo only approach.  I have downloaded the Camera+ app, which thus phar, I am rather pleased with, and we’ll see how it goes.

• #3- I have some major catching up to do, but now that I’ve got a phabulous new computer, the process should lack the trials and tribulations I grew accustomed to with the old (and now suicidal) dinosaur of a laptop that I had.

So here’s January.  It was a busy month…

We got back from a phabulous 10 day cruise, and coming back to reality was lame to say the least.

The Ducks won the Rose Bowl (The Phella was VERY excited about this, while I could not have cared less.  You see, as much as I love him, I am a Beaver… and anyone who knows anything about college sports and the state of Oregon, we are destined to hate one another for life.  Ah well, keeps it interesting!)

We both attempted the two week long Special K Challenge.  No real positive effects for either of us (not to mention I phound it pretty impossible to stick to, as I’m such a social eater.)

We gained a new pooch, Clover, a spirited and slobbery English Bulldog who will make her debut in phuture posts…

I went to San Francisco and then San Diego to celebrate Dainty’s 30th birthday.  Like the phirst ant at a picnic, we’re all taking the plunge this year… so I’ll say it right now.  Don’t judge me for what I eat in May when I start to eat my pheelings.

I learned that baking bread in a toaster oven was not the best idea I’d ever had.  I also learned that if you simply cut off the part of the loaf that caught on phire, nobody will complain.

Oh, and both of my parents came to visit on separate occasions, hence the justification for the ridiculously gluttonous meals at The Press Bistro and The Mustard Seed… and Monticello Seasonal Cuisine… twice.  So not my phault!

A December to Remember, Part Two… and thus, my resolution is made good!

When I click publish, my 2011 resolution will officially be complete!  Literally every morsel of phood I ate (well, every bite over 20 calories, that is… had to draw the line somewhere since I assumed nobody wanted to see pictures of gum) photo-documented for the world to see… What an experience.

I will never phorget the pheel of eyes boring holes in my back as I whipped out a massive camera to take shots of tortilla chips and pizza buffets, the endless barrage of questions from those who were convinced I was a super secret phood critic and the terrifying realization that I am wholeheartedly, undeniably, and quite possibly harmfully obsessed with pizza and chicken wings.  Coming to a close has a weird pheeling, but since I received a resounding response to continue the phood fotos madness, I am going nowhere.  Lucky you!

So with that being said (or typed), here’s the last of it…  The dates get a bit wonky somewhere around day three of The Phella and my cruise to Mexico, but the content is there.  I think we’ll survive.  Moral of the story- I ate my weight in pizza and phrozen yogurt and racked up quite a hefty tab at the specialty steakhouse onboard.  I’d expect nothing less from myself, of course!

What better way to end my year of phood ridiculousness, I say.

Tomorrow is day one of The Bridesmaid’s Diet, which won the polls for the phirst diet to try in 2012.  Wish me luck, as it is a diet I’ve made up… and while you might think that a masters degree would qualify me to create something like this, might I remind you that my degrees are in communication, African music and adult education.  So I’ve got that going for me… which is nice.

A December to Remember, Part One

I will make good on my commitment and phinish my documentation of 2011.

Just you watch.

Tonight.

Come Hell, high water or yet another technological barrier posed by one laptop with no memory left and the other with no iPhoto on it.

It’s a thrilling life I lead, I tell you.  Thrilling.

So here’s December 1 to December 15.  It included some dinners out in Davis (Ding How and Taste of Thai), a bit of pseudo-baking by yours truly (I included pictures even though I didn’t sample any of my efforts- I was personally most proud of the “Eggs & Bacon” inspired by Pinterest), a trip home to Carmel (my phirst visit back since I moved- including visits to Grasing’s, Will’s Phargo, Cantinetta Luca, Jeffrey’s, and Rio Grill… not bad for a two day visit, eh?) and some early holiday celebrating both home and away.

Again… thrilling, I know.  Try to contain yourselves…

November Ketchup

No, this is not a special seasonal artisanal ketchup recipe post… although I am sure many lovely posts that meet that description do exist somewhere out there.  This, however, is not one of them.  This is simply a lazy blogger making good on her commitments, despite her tardiness. So here’s the rest of November, pholks.  December coming soon!  I apologize for the delay but the new laptop lacks iPhoto at the moment, making it very non-helpful in regard to my blogging pursuits.  Such is life.  All will be well eventually.  That’s a deep thought.  I need sleep… or more caffeine.

P.S.  The poll is getting great responses, so thank you all!  Thus phar, the phront runners for my diet explorations this year are the Mediterranean Diet and the 100 Mile Radius, phollowed closely by Paleo.  There is still time to vote (the polls will close this Phriday) so please take a moment to give me your two cents… because Lord knows I am incapable of making decisions on my own.  Just ask The Phella… or maybe don’t.  It’s a bit of a sticking point between us, well, anytime we need to decide something.  So just save me the trouble and vote. Thank ya kindly!

P.P.S.  It’s been so bloody long since Thanksgiving (if they gave out lame blogger awards, do you think I’d be in the running?  Please say yes!) that it almost seems silly to mention, but I hosted this year, sans oven, and it was a great success!  Two turkeys- one deep phried and the other grilled on the BBQ amidst a sea of bubbling Crock Pots.  It was a beautiful thing for an oven-less girl like me.  Oven Schmoven, I say!  Thanks for listening.  Just needed to toot my own horn for a moment.  🙂

New Year, New Phocus!

Oh, my phaithful phollowers, how I have missed you!

It’s been a phull holiday season for this lazy blogger… complete with a bit of dieting, a lot of overindulgence, a cruise to the Mexican Riviera, a phamily death and a new phour-legger being added to the mix… but I digress.

Time for a  new year and a new phocus!

Y’all rocked it in regard to responses from my last post- that poll was really helpful!  While the overwhelming (and phabulous) majority of you voted to keep phoodfotos as it is, a phairly significant percentage asked for more recipes and such.  You guys actually want me to cook???

This would be me... if I had an oven.

Obviously, herein lies the benefit of experiencing what I eat virtually instead of physically (unless The Phella is reading this… if so, then my apologies my dear, sweet boy and God bless you for your strong stomach and seemingly unending appetite!) – my skills in the kitchen have REALLY deteriorated over the years.  But no more!  I am ready to take on the kitchen phull stop.  I will beat, whisk, chop and [not bake] it into my slave.

Here’s the new spin… wait for it, wait for it… (are you doing one of those annoying drum roll noises right now?)… I’m going to phocus on dropping the phat and becoming exponentially phabulous.  Now, I don’t mean phat as in cool, because clearly I will always be that (in my own mind if nowhere else)… but phat as in the thirty odd extra pounds of crapola I’m hauling around.

Enough is enough.

Less phat, more phab will be my 2012 mantra.

I can do this… with your help.

Inspired by this (and the phact that the Bridesmaid’s Diet is searched almost every day on my blog), the phollowing poll contains an assortment of popular diets.

Today, The Phella and I are starting the Special K Challenge together to get things started.  For the next two weeks, I will be documenting that process (after updating you (with help from my new laptop!) on the rest of November and December’s phood consumption… which, if I do say so myself… really went out with a bang thanks to the 24-hour pizza and phrozen yogurt bar on our cruise!)

Sadly, this is no longer considered a viable solution to cruise buffets. Pity...

By Phebruary, I will start with one of the diets you pick and try it for one month.  If I don’t absolutely phall in love with it, I will switch to a new one the next month, and so on.  I will read up on each one, teach you what I learn and pherret out delicious recipes, because I believe phirmly that with proper planning (and enough hot sauce), healthy phood CAN actually be enjoyable.  Part of me just wrote that so I could try to believe it… that whole goals are more successful when you write them down concept and all that jazz…

Looks like a balanced meal to me!

So my catch up posts are headed your way this evening, but speak now or phorever hold your peace!  Until then, I’ll be enjoying my cereal.

…and P.S.  Not a single person mentioned by PH abuse.  Thus, the phloggings will continue until morale improves!

October 29 to November 4 (commentary phree)

My laptop, probably due to pheeling overwhelmingly phull after almost an entire year of phood fotos, has decided to go through its death throes.  So the next phew posts will be spartan, at best… just the phood, none of my babble.

Not to worry, I will work this out.  I am a technological wizard.  Except the opposite.  But whatever…

WordPress Phreaking Hates Me

So, this would be attempt number phour to post this post.  WordPress has decided to delete my past three attempts over the last phew days.  So excuse me for my terseness and possible typos (and yes, I know not proofreading is an editor’s cardinal sin, and I am an editor, so this isn’t cool)… although I am so darn behind, I suppose it serves me right somehow.

Long, long ago in a phar away land called Davis (actually it was October 22), we had a Pham reunion.  Paper Bag was already in town, Boot drove in from SF and Dainty, a mere seven or so hours delayed, arrived via plane.  The day started with  more of my homemade tomatoe jam.

After breakfast, Paper Bag, Phooey and I took a long walk around the entire UC Davis campus.  It well justified my leftovers salad I made for lunch, potatoe salad topping and all!

It also justified us going to a bar in the middle of the day and eating pizza, right?  Right.  I knew you’d agree.

This particular bar, housed in one of the Best Westerns in Davis, boasts a phamed drink called the Wicky Wacky Woo.  They had to be ordered, right?  Right.  The 151 they pour into the straw was notable, as was the drink’s ability to magically transport me back to the pheeling of being 19 again.

Thank you, college town, thank you.

Once The Pham (minus Snow White) was reunited, we headed out for dinner at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, with Boot as our designated driver since she announced that she is preggers once we all got together!  Hooray for a new addition to The Pham!!!  I was too excited by the aforementioned phact to pay attention to what we ate…

Upon return from dining and drinking, we decided to watch UP, the incomparable Disney Pixar collaboration and one of the most beautiful love stories I know.  Paper Bag had never seen it, so we stocked up on tissues and hunkered down… I subbed potatoe salad for tissue.  It needed to be done, right?  Right.  I’m so glad we are on the same page!

Paper Bag did not shed a single tear during the movie, confirming previous suspicions that she may or may not have a soul.  Maybe I should change her nickname to Soulless Wonder?  Just kidding, phriend!  We know you have a soul, it’s just hidden behind layer upon layer of ice and stone, of course. 😉

The next morning, we tried out Delta of Venus, a delightfully odd vegetarian haven littered with grad students and those that embrace counter-culture as a phat kid does cake.  Loved everything about it, and the Adam’s Special (I think I have the name right) was serrano-tastic!

P.S.  If you visit deltaofvenus.com, you get an experience having very little to do with breakfast or vegetarians.  Just sayin’… I phound that out very accidentally.  Oh, the things you learn when you blog…

We met The Phella for post-breakfast phro yo at Sugar Plum.  I went with pumpkin this time (I must say, while I have only sampled three of the eleventy billion phrozen yogurt establishments in this tiny town, I think this place’s phlavors really kick ass… just like unicorns).  The stale marshmallows were not exceptionally enjoyable, but they can’t all be winners, kid.

After The Pham went its separate ways, The Phella and I made dinner at home.  It started with a potatoe salad appetizer, which was highly necessary.

We tried roasting a head of elephant garlic and eating that with an assortment of cheese and more of my tomatoe jam.  Note to self- while bigger is actually better in some situations, it is most certainly not when it comes to garlic.  Bad choice…

We grilled up some tasty steaks and smothered them in horseradish and A-1 Sauce.  Sometimes, I am classy like that.  Don’t even get me started on A-1 Bold & Spicy.  Can you tell when I begin to drool while typing?

I wasn’t ready for Monday to come, so phorgot to make breakfast.  I ate Phriday night’s leftovers for lunch.

My neighbors invited me over for a BBQ dinner.  Will I actually be successful in making some new phriends in this town?  Holy awesome, Batman!  …Especially because these ones can cook!

On Tuesday, I rode the wave of social non-ineptness and actually went out to lunch with a coworker (the one who’s the big Giants phan!)  We had salads at Pluto’s (a spot that had been recommended to me by multiple previous Davisites), and it did not disappoint.  Although, I was so excited to have made a phriend, I could have been eating cardboard and not minded a bit.  Wow, that sentence just sealed the phate on my phuture possible coolness, didn’t it.  Ok, who am I kidding?  Being cool was never in the cards for me.  I’ll cry about it later. 🙂

I attempted to serve up some young coconut as a pre-dinner snack, but that was an impulse buy I should have resisted.  So much work, so little (and so slimy) reward.

Romaine and radish salad…

…and chicken and spaghetti squash for dinner.

Wednesday started with pseudo-sausage.

… and a Reese’s peanut butter cup.

My coworkers invited me to Thai Canteen to celebrate one of their birthdays.  I enjoyed some spicy tofu (not bad but Taste of Thai is still my phavorite Thai spot so phar in the area).

I met the phellow I dined with the weekend before (Boot’s baby brother-in-law, actually) at Mikuni in Sacramento for a phish phiesta.  I let him do the ordering, so I don’t really know what we ate, other than it was all splendid (aside from the chocolate cake, which I phorced myself to eat one bite of to be polite- mind you, I am sure any normal person would tell you that cake was delicious, but we have established my lack of normalcy, have we not?)

On Thursday, I tried to keep the doctor away.

But in doing so, phorgot to eat lunch.  The Phella and I ordered take out from Ding How after I got home from work- won ton soup and pork buns to start (in my awesome new soup bowl/plate combo doohickeys that the kind staff of the Gilroy B&B brought me- have I mentioned lately how much I adore them?)

The soup was super, the pork buns were alright and the mushu was a mistake.  Do those look like mushu pancakes to you, or do they look like store-bought tortillas?  Exactly.

Asian burritos, anyone?  I think I’ll pass…

Phriday was a hectic day, as I spent the morning putting together phinal touches for our Halloween costumes (inspired by the movie, UP), so I ran out of time for breakfast and left my lunch sitting on my kitchen counter.  That made for one starving gal when I got home.

Pepper jack and crack to the rescue!

Another romaine and radish salad.  Thrilling, I know…

Homemade carrot ginger coconut soup (recipe courtesy of Joy the Baker, who just announced she’s coming out with a cookbook!).  Excellent and idiot-proof recipe.  We shall all be seeing more of this soup…

We then headed off into the night to attend our phirst of a phew Halloween parties, looking terrifyingly similar to the characters we wished to portray (and equally embarrassing).  If I allowed human phaces on my blog, I’d had to show you a picture, but I don’t, so I won’t.

Phew!  That was close.  I have a reputation to uphold!

Um, wait…