Exercise, food, yada yada Part 2

Just so you know what I was talking about in the last post...

Costate di Maiale con Capperi made from locally raised pork, pan roasted fingerling potatoes, fresh steamed green beans

Ready for my close up... Heaven on a plate!

This may have been the best thing I have ever eaten... and with a husband like mine around I have a wide range of great food experiences to judge on. Divine, just simply divine. And I have some left over for lunch!

Post exercise effects on a junk food addict

One of my self descriptions is that I have never found a cookie I could walk past. Fried chicken may be my absolute favorite food. Cheeseburgers, eggs, chocolate bars, even salads, all go better with bacon. Holiday meals are preludes to dessert and I buy into every chocolate candy commercial that shows a woman melting into an attitude of relaxed contentment with a single nibble of the latest offering.

So I've been extremely proud of myself this first week of January as I kept the junk to a minimum, ate salads and yogurt and whole grains and fruit. I've actually enjoyed the change in diet. It's a huge deal to me to pass by the chicken fingers and hit the salad bar instead, especially on a high-stress day.

But tonight, oh god tonight.... My husband who has religiously gone to the gym each day since we joined finally had the chance to drag me there. I just got off an hour on the treadmill and I'm sore but feeling good. Then we had to stop at the store. Suddenly I swear I can smell every fried chicken piece and nugget in a twenty mile radius. Seeing as I live right down the road from a fast food alley, there's plenty to be found. I'm craving salt, craving grease and craving sweets too. Pure torture I tell you!

I mean what the heck? Is my body so scared of exercise it's going into some post traumatic shock and is seeking out the greatest of comfort foods? I'm freaking starving here and can't do a thing about it!

Fast forward past the errands and back at home. My husband is cooking up some sort of pork chop dinner with garlic and lemon and capers and wine. It smells divine and drool is actually forming. So savory I don't even need to pretend it's not a healthy meal. Vincent James Pia just might be a god. If he hurries the heck up before I chew off my arm.

Who needs fried chicken?

Sunday Gravy, A Family Tradition

My husband does the cooking in this household. It’s just healthier for everyone. Trust me!

 I am capable of only the simplest meals. Vin is a phenomenal cook capable of creating complex meals in the time it takes me to cut up a chicken breast.  Oh yes, I much prefer eating what he dishes out than standing over the stove making a huge mess.

Lately our lives were turned upside down by a series of events and our meal and family time flew out the window. Dinner consisted of food picked up fast on the way home each night after 8pm. Unhealthy, disgusting, boring and expensive as heck. In defense, Vin reinstated a tradition we once followed, one passed down to him by his grandmother, and a tradition familiar to anyone who had a true Italian grandmother in their background. Sunday Gravy.

Early on Sunday, Vin starts cooking up a big pot of Sunday Gravy, also known as sauce. He processes the tomatoes, seasons, simmers, does everything from scratch. The house starts to fill up with the warm scent of goodness waiting to hit our plates. He mixes meats and molds meatballs, he makes bracciole or cuts small pieces of veal or beef steaks to cook in the sauce.  Sunday is all about magic in the kitchen.

When we sit down for an early Sunday meal, everyone must be at the table. There is no eating in the living room in front of the television on this day. The kids’ eyes grow large and you can almost see them drool as the pasta, sauce and meat are brought to the table.

Sunday dinners are a wonderful time. A peaceful time for family, and maybe someday a few friends. It’s a break in a hectic lifestyle and a chance to reconnect. As I stared out across our small kitchen table yesterday evening, I reflected how much like life the setting really was. People coming together over mismatched bowls and platters, mismatched events, mismatched circumstances. People finding joy in simple things, forgetting the need for perfection. Breaking bread, sopping up life’s goodness. People sharing love over the simplest of common ground- a good meal.

I love our Sunday tradition and I look forward to continuing it for a very long time.  

Sunday Gravy- snapshot taken from video by Vincent James Pia, cooked by Vincent James Pia, enjoyed by the Pia clan