MY MORNING BUZZ

It's the first full week of school. As much as I love my breakfast, that means no more leisurely mornings baking veggie frittatas or lingering over coffee and the paper.
I wake up hungry. Perhaps it's because I don't eat many starchy carbs with staying power, but I am famished within one hour of hitting the snooze button for the last time.
I thought I had it all together last night - lunches packed, notebooks organized and clothes laid out, yet we barely made it out the door this morning.
I am not a good hungry person. As soon as the kids were on the curb, I was plotting where I could find a fast and healthy breakfast.
I passed Denny's, McDonald's and Burger King. Then I heard that all too familiar ding. Not the dinner, er, breakfast bell; the ding that tells me I am nearly out of gas.
I repeat I am not a good hungry person. I get very grumpy very fast. The detour to fill up my gas tank and not my tummy tank was making me grumpier by the minute.
I pulled in next to the pump and noticed a Subway was inside the station. Bingo baby!
I've heard about their FreshBuzz breakfast sandwiches with 4 grams of fat for around 250 calories. I ordered egg whites with Black Forest ham on the light wheat English muffin and skipped the cheese. I added tomato, onion, spinach and green pepper. For good measure, I removed the top bun.


I figure I reduced the calories to around 150 plus I had some serious crunch factor going on.
I rate this an 8 out of 10. Seriously folks, great bang and flavor for a few bucks.
I'm asked all the time how I lost my weight and how I keep it off.
It's the commitment to finding an option like this and not caving into the first morsel I could wrap my mouth around.
Please don't call me Holier Than Thou, call me dedicated, and whatever you do, don't call me late for breakfast.

http://www.subwayfreshbuzz.com/menu/breakfast/

WINE AND WORDS

I don't care for the term "cult wine."
For me, "cult" evokes images of Guyana and Kool-Aid or the space travelers snuggled in sleeping bags in San Diego.
Though I doth protest too much, I purchased a "cult wine" auction package that included a tour of the famed Eisele Vineyard and exclusive Araujo Estate winery with owner Bart Araujo.


We walked along his 38 acres of vineyards, planed over 120 years ago, and discussed his biodynamic farming practices. If you're curious, yes and yes. Yes to the lunar calendar and yes to burying cow heads.
We took a look see at the fermentation room and learned about small batch fermentation. Forty batches for one varietal to be precise. Exacting standards.
We ventured into the caves and tasted estate grown and vinified Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.


Then it was off to lunch at Solage in Calistoga, a resort whose restaurant Solbar recently earned a coveted Michelin star.
Bill Shea was our co-host and provided a few stellar starters from his extensive cellar.

I can't think of a better way to whet your whistle on a warm wine country afternoon than French bubbles with buddies.
That refreshment was followed by a a 1998 Masseto Merlot, a wine Robert Parker anointed with a score of 99 and the Wine Spectator named Wine of the Year.

And just when you thought it couldn't go down any better in Marcy Town, I ordered a double cheese burger with fried pickles for my lunch.

A burger you query? With such exquisite wines? Exactly. Back in the day I may have been intimidated with such a simple selection, but not anymore. Bart nodded his enthusiastic approval and that sealed the deal. We were pairing our food with the Main Event after all, a 1999 magnum of his Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.


Araujo wines are admired, coveted and worshiped - all synonyms for cult.
I just wish there was a better term.
To be continued...

http://www.araujoestate.com
http://www.solagecalistoga.com/dining/

ORDER UP!

“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”
I could rattle that off at McDonald’s when I was a kid. Backwards if I wanted to.
“Vente, decaf, non-fat, no whip, iced mocha” was my Starbuck’s rallying cry a decade ago.
Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi famously 86ed customers for lack of selection savvy.
Being prepared with a well-parsed order is the sport of the fast food culture.
Last week I had the distinct displeasure to follow a woman at Subway who clearly didn’t have the playbook.
With five sandwiches to order and despite a list, she couldn’t decide on a single ingredient.
She stared at the bread oven for a minute before pulling the trigger for sourdough.
She demanded olives before meat and tomatoes before cheese. Anyone that has ever seen the standard Subway layout knows this is not efficient.
She insisted that a sandwich be toasted even after it had been wrapped.
A mutiny was brewing in the line behind her. No amount of our toe tapping or sighing was moving her along.
When she was done ordering, er, ordering, we burst into a spontaneous round of applause as she exited.
Ding dong the witch was dead.
We high fived and vowed to be speedy when it was our turn.
Five minutes later I made it to the top of the cue and chirped, “Six inch wheat, turkey, no cheese, no mayo, Dijon, all the veggies, both peppers, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.”
Touchdown.

I LOVE LUCY!

After years of being a parent to a teenage son and daughter, I am now a mother to an eighteen month old Golden Retriever/Golden Labrador cross.
I adopted her from Canine Companions for Independence, an amazing non-profit that provides highly-trained assistance dogs for children and adults with disabilities.
She was released from the program because of fearful behavior, which seems to have ebbed now that we are home together as a family.
Having a new dog in the house isn't much different than having a new baby. There are way too many gadgets and toys. Schedules and routines are paramount. Deciding what to feed is a magilla!
Lucy was raised on a strict diet of a leading national vet-approved brand, but as I was perusing the dog food aisle today, I kept reaching for the meat and vegetable blends. The ones that have two textures, one crunchy and one moist and meaty. In other words, I was choosing food for my dog based on what I like to eat.
I giggled to myself as I replaced the monochromatic brown nuggets with the multi-colored ones. Who cares if she's color blind?
Variety is the spice of my epicurean life and it will be with Lucy, too.
www.caninecompanions.org

SOMEONE HAD TO SAY IT...

Dear Mothers of Chubby Teenage Daughters,
Your daughter may be smart, adorable and have a great personality, but what she really wants is to be thin.
She's jealous of friends that can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound. She watches movies with the skinny stars and promises herself she'll lose weight. She knows she's funny but would trade that in a heartbeat to be "normal." She watches naturally thin girls shopping at the mall and wonders what it would be like to try on anything and have it fit.
I know because I was the chubby teenager.
I was the one sitting at Denny's after school trying to understand why the cheerleaders could eat bottomless fries and I couldn't. All I ever wanted was to look good in 501 button fly jeans instead of hiding in long skirts.
What part to mothers play in all of this?
A lot.
You can help reverse your daughter's course and intervene before overeating becomes anorexia, bulimia or lifelong obesity.
I'm not a nutritionist, but I am a mom and a former fattie.
I starts from the top. We all know that mom is the alpha dog.
Are you spending more time choosing the right schools and extracurricular activities for your daughter than you are on helping her learn a healthy lifestyle?
Research has proven that mothers are the Gate Keepers of the family food. Stop stocking the house with unhealthy snacks for your high metabolic-rate son.
Please, no more excuses that because of late soccer practices, Burger King is the only dinner option. Subway has six sandwiches under six grams of fat.
Shop with your daughter and teach her how to cook. Engage her in meal planning and discuss the calories and fat in food.
Get moving! Show her by example and encourage her to play sports, regardless of her ability.
Bribes are okay. Lose a dress size and gain a new outfit.
Teach her the 80/20 rule. Eat well and exercise 80% of the time. Slack off 20% of the time. I bet that ratio is currently reversed.
No ridiculing or teasing and do not tolerate it from family members.
Shame has no place in this process so talk openly and often.
Your daughter may resist, but she'll thank you for it when the results are in.
Plus she'll still be smart, adorable and have a great personality.
NOTE: Mommies, please no cards or calls to the station. I am not advocating model thin, I mean a healthy body fat percentage, somewhere between 19 - 25%.

GETTING NAKED WITH CARL

I like going naked.
At Carl's.
Carl's Jr. - the fast food place.
I have a "clean and lean" option there.
I order the breakfast burrito without the meat or cheese.
It confuses the clerk every time, "You mean just the eggs? No bacon? No cheddar?"


That's right.
Naked.
Then I add several several servings of pico de gallo from the salsa bar.


Presto chango!
The meal went from 560 calories to less than 300 calories and most of the fat is eliminated.
It's possible to have fast food and eat it, too.

SOMEONE'S IN THE KITCHEN WITH DINAH - ME!

I'm not old enough to know Dinah Shore from television.
I know her from her LPGA championship, later renamed "Kraft Nabisco" for the sponsor, although to this day I still refer to it lovingly as "The Dinah."
Dinah had it all.
Wife, mother, friend, singer, cook, hostess, television personality, athlete and gourmand. Truly unique, no one has emerged as her successor.
A few months ago I was interviewing Carl Reiner for my book. He couldn't contain his admiration and respect for her. He praised her cookbook, originally published in 1971, and I made it my mission to acquire one for my collection.
It reads more like a memoir, catapulting me back to a more leisurely time. I can hear Dinah's southern drawl when she says, "I never got a standing ovation for a pot roast - but it feels like it when they go back for seconds."
I was bonding with Dinah from page one. In her introduction she shared that she and her pals would, "... play six to eight sets of tennis, race to the Farmer's Market in our tennis clothes, buy everything we needed, come home and start cooking a gourmet meal still in our tennis shorts under disapproving glances of spouses and kids."
I giggled about this today when I arrived at the Santa Rosa Farmer's market in my exercise togs (tight and cellulite revealing) and suffered the same disapproving looks. Fifty years ago Dinah was an icon living a healthy and athletic lifestyle and she remains a role model for me in the twenty first century.
In Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah, she shares anecdotes and recipes from her famous pals:
Bill Holden's specialty, Marinated Hawaiian Steak, which he created while on a family vacation with Dinah and George Montgomery. Frank Sinatra's Sausage and Peppers, a cooking lesson he gave Dinah while he was driving her to the airport. Super Chocolate Cake, contributed by Fanny Brice whom Dinah notes was not just a great comedienne, but also a spectacular cook and decorator. Benny's Roast Chicken, the dish that took Dinah years of begging to get the recipe from Mrs. King, Jack Benny's cook. (They called them cooks in those days, no matter how accomplished, not chefs.)
Also included are treasured family recipes from her son Jody, cousin Selma, her beloved mother, her sister Bessie, and best of all, Dinah's side-kick Pauline, "a lean, great cook," that shared her kitchen for twenty years.
I asked one of Dinah's close friends Susan Meredith, wife of NFL Hall of Famer Don, to reflect on what made her so special:
"Dinah was one of the most admirable people I have ever known. She never ever complained or blamed. She was most forgiving, especially after friendships or romances had begun, and loyal forever. I think one of her greatest assets was her interest in absolutely everything. If you were interested in how ants build hills, she was right there with you and would probably send you a book about the subject for your birthday. As an athlete and card player she was the most gracious competitor, wanting to win, but happy for those that did. Her homemaking was unbelievable. Even formal dinners with Dinah were warm and inviting. She made the world around her a better place, a welcoming place, and a loving place."
I feel all those sentiments in Dinah's cookbook. Her storytelling, the confessions, sharing of secret tips - all make me feel like I am a welcomed guest in her home.
You don't need to know her to love her.
That's the charm of Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah.