My first run at golf for the year

I went golfing Saturday for the first time this year. And I went with a group of people I'd never met before – the women of the Northern Colorado chapter of the Executive Women's Golf Association. A nice step outside my comfort zone, and I was rewarded with a good time.

If I choose to join, I'm hoping my involvement with a group will help me play more regularly and improve so that I can play a decent game of golf consistently – part of my 40 by 40 goals.

Tomato and Almond Pesto in my wannabe food processor

I made this dish probably two weeks ago. I don't know why I haven't blogged about it until now, but it was a lovely dish that was an easy and quick meal and I plan to make it again.

Here's the link to the recipe I used for Pasta with Tomato and Almond Pesto.

I made this after finding it at America's Test Kitchen's website. However, I did not feel like registering to get the full recipe, so I found it in several other places on the web. Not sure if it was the exact recipe I would have got from America's Test Kitchen. But it was good.

Update on my "getting healthy" goals: Failure on all counts – or is it?

I'm looking out of the coffeehouse window, and dark clouds form the backdrop of my view, which means I should head home and get a run in before it rains or gets chilly. Already my motivation to exercise and eat well has waned.

In fact, since I posted in February that I would do a certain number of workouts a week and track my food intake via MyFitnessPal, I've not done well at all. I haven't gained any weight but I also have not got any closer to losing. I tracked just one full day of eating. I work out sporadically (though more consistently than I was) and it's so difficult to eat well when it's Girl Scout cookie time! And work trips always throw me off.

Of course, there's always an excuse waiting in the wings.

Success with steak, arugula and roasted pepper salad

Last night, I was bored, so I decided to find a fun recipe for dinner in one of the many cookbooks we have in our cupboards. I chose Seared Rib-Eye Steak with Arugula and Roasted Pepper Salad. Why? Well, I've never cooked with rib-eye steak, nor with arugula. And the last time I had a roasted red pepper was in Armenia, where it is part of the horavats tradition, aka barbecue; peppers are "roasted" in the horavats pit, and peeled and devoured along with any number of delicious bbq'ed meats and vegetables. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Anyway. This is the recipe, except I followed the nearly identical one in our under-used cookbook: Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes featuring Giada de Laurentis.

Writing: Sweet Shushik - A favorite Peace Corps memory

Going through my writing again from the Peace Corps, I ran across the following memory of Shushik, a sweet lady I got to know through a series of visits in Martuni, about an hour south of where I lived. My guess is that she has since passed. May God bless her. My visits with her were a highlight of my experience.

Shushik at home

79-year-old Shushik Avetisyan, by her decision, lives by herself. She has never married (says it was better that way) and has lived in her humble, one-room stone home in Martuni most of her adult life. A singer, dancer, storyteller and riddle-maker, she spent her adult life – most of which fell under Soviet rule – learning how to do odd jobs. Her favorite was a job in the state gas office.

Sliders: Part Deux - Trying out a little swiss mushroom goodness

Just a quick post to share my attempt at making swiss mushroom sliders. I made my other standards as well tonight (if two times can be considered enough to have standards). I have to say, I'm really enjoying having some new recipes to work into our regular menus at home.

The breakdown for tonight's meal …

Wine: 2008 Da Vinci Chianti, because I like it, but mostly because it was already open.

Revolutionary Road: Depressing, but still a great commentary on modern life

I read this on my Kindle -
purchased through Amazon.

I chose Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates as the first book to tackle in my 40-by-40 goal to read Time's 100 best English-language novels. I had already read 14 of the novels when I decided to embark on this list, so Revolutionary Road marks No. 15 complete.

The book focuses on Alice and Frank Wheeler's life on – where else – Revolutionary Road, in a new development filled with "great hulking split levels." It is, as Richard Lacayo says in his reasoning for choosing this book for the Time list, an "account of lethal disappointment in the Connecticut suburbs in 1955."

The author explained in a 1972 interview (as noted on Wikipedia): "I think I meant it more as an indictment of American life in the 1950s. Because during the Fifties there was a general lust for conformity all over this country, by no means only in the suburbs — a kind of blind, desperate clinging to safety and security at any price."