Squirrels

On Monday afternoons I work for a RD out of her home office. Her office is affectionately referred to as "the casita" because it has the feel of a small house even though it is a converted garage. So I was sitting on the floor this afternoon, next to the sliding glass door, going through nutrition resources when I heard a strange sound outside. I looked through the screen and saw two squirrels chasing each other down the tree. My first thought was, "Wow, I haven't seen squirrels chase each other since I was in Northern CA." So I continued to watch them as they ran down the tree, chased each other in circles across the grass and then, the squirrel being chased, ran straight into the screen door next to me. After shaking his head and recovering, the squirrels ran off around the casita. At which point I got up to close the front door, the door without the screen. As I did this I saw the squirrel walking slowly, stunned, down the driveway. He took a look at me as I was closing the door as if to say, "Boy am I glad it was a screen and not the glass door."

It was so funny I burst out laughing. If the screen door had been open I would have had a squirrel in my lap, then what would I have done?

On a completely unrelated tangent my name was the 17th most popular female name the year I was born. In 2005 it fell to 138th. Want to find out about your name? Click here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

What did one piece of string say to the other?
Be my Valen-twine!

If your aunt ran off to get married what would you call her?
Antelope

Spinach Artichoke Pie

This recipe is courtesy of the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, a blog that I absolutely love to read. If you've never checked it out before you absolutely must have a look if not for the gorgeous pictures then for the delicious vegan recipes.

I modified this recipe a little bit for my tastes. The most time consuming part of the recipe is the phyllo dough, but when you experience the crispness of the pastry when it's done you'll agree with me that it's worth the effort. Here's my modified recipe:

1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic
2 packages frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
1 pound firm tofu, drained
2 tsp. dried oregano
juice of 1 lemon plus lemon zest to taste
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 14-ounce can quartered artichokes, coarsely chopped
phyllo dough, thawed

Over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. When translucent stir in the defrosted spinach until combined; remove from heat and set aside. In a small bowl, mash the tofu. Stir in oregano, lemon, and cumin; mix well. Combine tofu mixture with spinach mixture; stir in chopped artichokes.

Turn oven on to preheat to 350F. While oven is heating, lightly spray a baking dish with nonstick spray. Place one sheet of phyllo dough in baking dish, spray with nonstick spray and repeat until 10 layers thick. Spread spinach/tofu mixture over phyllo. Repeat the phyllo process. Using a pastry brush, spread melted butter/margarine over the last layer of phyllo. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Daylight Saving Time

Earlier this week my boss informed me that the beginning of Daylight Saving Time was changing this year. After further investigation here is what I have found:

• Daylight Savings Time was originally standardized in 1966 with the Uniform Time Act. The purpose of this federal law was to standardize when and where states within the US started and ended DST. Originally written, the law started DST at 2:00am on the last Sunday of April and ended DST at 2:00am on the last Sunday of October. It was amended in 1986 (effective 1987) and the start date was moved to the first Sunday in April.


• In 2005 Congress passed and the president signed into law the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Amongst many other provisions the Act extends Daylight Savings Time by one month, effective 2007. DST will now start on the second Sunday of March (set your clocks forward one hour) and will end on the first Sunday of November (set your clocks back one hour).


• By extending daylight savings time it is proposed that we will shave 1% off of the United States' energy bill - or 3 billion kilowatt hours. Daylight Savings Time has also been correlated with a decrease in crime rates, the number of traffic accidents and an increased participation in outdoor activities. We'll find out if this is true when the Department of Energy conducts their required study on the impact of this change no more than 9 months after it takes effect.


• Interestingly enough individual states have the right to pass a law that states they will not take part in DST, such as Arizona.

Due to this change we can't rely on our electronics to automatically update themselves this year. I am assuming there will be a load of computer updates to download very soon (if they don't already exist), but just in case there aren't we'll have to do it the old fashioned way and remember to personally set our clocks forward an hour on March 11th.

You can find more interesting incidents and anecdotes relating to DST here.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made chocolate chip cookies today. I would share the recipe, but it's a top secret family recipe from my pal Jennifer. I think she would kill me if I posted it to the entire blog-o-sphere so instead I offer you my pictures. Enjoy!

My Next Great Adventure

I was talking to my friend A this week and she mentioned that she was thinking about doing a triathlon again. She wasn't 100% sure that she was going to do it and she was debating between another Tri For Fun or stepping it up for the Tri for Real. So . . . I decided that I would do the Tri for Fun with her.

I've never done a triathlon before, only 5K runs. But this seems like the perfect way to get into it. It's a 400 yard swim, 11 mile bike ride and 3.1 mile run. The only downside is that it is in August, one of the hotter months of the year. I'm excited that even though we are living in different parts of the state we can still train for the same thing and then compete together. And by compete I mean focus on completing. As the name says this event is just for fun, no official times or anything.

For now I guess I should focus on getting my bike out of the storage locker it is in and fixing the bent tire.

PS. In a sort of related note did you know that this year for the Bay to Breakers they are using chip timing. How cool is that?!