Back in the Saddle Again

Yep, I'm back in the saddle again. Counting those Weight Watchers points and following the Couch to 5K running plan.

Have you ever noticed that when you're dieting or trying to start a new exercise routine, you find yourself obsessing? Thinking about it all the time, and planning your meals and snacks meticulously? Or is that just me?

At any rate, I feel pretty good about the running. I was doing great last spring/summer, but fell off the wagon when we went on vacation in San Francisco. I can't wait to get back to full-on 3 mile runs!

The dieting? Not so much. I mean, I know the plan works - I lost 20+ pounds 2 years ago following it. I just don't like doing it - mostly because I obsess, as noted above. At any rate, I've only got about 10 pounds to lose (actually, closer to 5 after last week on plan) and I guess I just need to power through it and get it done. And get better about passing up the temptation to eat fast food all the time.

Maybe I need a personal chef - or hey - I never did get that housekeeper for Christmas. I totally need Alice from the Brady Bunch to come live with me.

'Tis the Season

For peppermint mochas from Starbucks. Having already consumed half of a grande non-fat Peppermint Mocha Twist, I discovered the following:




Looks like I need to get crackin'!

Food, Walking and More Food

San Francisco: Day 2

One thing we knew we wanted to do before leaving San Francisco was to have Chinese dim sum. If you've never had dim sum before (we hadn't), it's a really fun dining experience. Servers bring around trays of small portions of dumplings of every kind, pork buns, snow-pea shoots, and other yummy offerings while you sip hot tea and try not to gorge on any one type of food for fear you might miss something delicious.

So we got up bright and early on Wednesday morning and enjoyed coffee and a doughnut at a bakery in a nearby hotel, then made our way to a bus stop and caught the MUNI to Geary between 22nd and 23rd, where the guidebook said we could find great dim sum at Ton Kiang. We weren't sure how crowded it would be, or whether we would have to wait in line, but as we were fairly early, we were first in the door! We had our pick of dishes as a result (though the place filled up quickly) and enjoyed pork buns, garlic-sauteed snow pea shoots, shrimp balls (which CoasterGuy said he expected to be really, really tiny - har-de-har-har) and some kind of dumpling that I don't remember at this point. It was (nearly) all very tasty, and we were full to bursting when we finally put aside the chopsticks and told the server "no more, please!".

Our plan for the rest of the day was to spend the better part of the afternoon at Golden Gate Park, and then to go back to the hotel, change for dinner, and enjoy a nice meal followed by drinks at the Top of the Mark.

We ended up walking off the dim sum - a combination of misinformation and poor choices led us to hiking most of the way to Golden Gate park from Ton Kiang and through a good portion of the park while looking for some sort of shuttle or bus stop. Finally, though, we found the Dutch windmill, which was the main thing I wanted to see at the park. The gardens were beautiful, though I wish we could have seen it when the tulips were in bloom.

Near the windmill was the Beach Chalet restaurant, which has some spectacular views of the Pacific from the dining room. Though we were still full from our dim sum excursion, we decided to stop in for some liquid refreshment and to rest our now aching feet.

Once at the bar, however, we just had to try the "best crab cake in San Francisco" with our beverages. It was a fairly tasty crab cake to be sure, but CoasterGuy and I agree that it couldn't hold a candle to the crab cakes at Phillips Seafood in Baltimore. They were generous with their liquor, though - my amaretto sour was at least 80% amaretto, with merely a splash of sweet and sour mix and ice to break it up.

Afterwards, we watched the ocean for a bit, and were surprised to see some surfers on the beach, as chilly as it was.

We decided then to take a bus back to Japantown and kick around the hotel until dinner time. The much-needed downtime was nice!

We made reservations for dinner at John's Grill, the restaurant famous for being mentioned in The Maltese Falcon as a place where Sam Spade ate, and planned for heading to the Top of the Mark for drinks afterwards.

John's Grill was very nice - live jazz in the upstairs dining room, great martinis and good food. CoasterGuy had the cioppino, and I had a ribeye with a baked potato and some steamed veggies. Again, we must have arrived just in time, because the dining room was packed to the gills before we finished dinner.

After dinner, we made our way up to the Mark Hopkins hotel for drinks at the Top of the Mark. It was a foggy night (in San Francisco? Imagine that!), so the view wasn't nearly as spectacular as we'd hoped for, but the atmosphere was very nice nonetheless with live music and great service.

By the time we made it back down the hills to a bus stop (in heels, no less! Well, heels for me - not for CoasterGuy) we were exhausted! I don't feel a bit guilty for having dessert at both John's Grill and the Top of the Mark - we did enough walking that day to make up for it!

Next time: Day 3 - Napa Valley.

I Left My Heart...Well, You Know

I believe I promised a trip log (with pictures!)

The CoasterFamily set off early in the morning on Saturday, July 12th with 2 kids, 3 suitcases, a diaper bag and a duffel full of carry-on items for the flight. Nearly 12 hours, a car ride and 2 flights later, we arrived in Las Vegas and were greeted at the airport by CoasterGuy's sister. The first order of business: Slurpees! Since we don't have any 7-11s near us, CoasterGuy was excited about getting a real Slurpee, as opposed to that imposter, Icee.

Thus fortified, we made our way to the north end of Vegas to meet the newest addition to the family, Baby Bean. Bean is adorable - she looks just like her older sister. The cousins got reacquainted and blew through the house like a tornado as the adults sat, chatted and thanked the heavens that we didn't usually have 4 kids under age 6 in the house. Dinner: In-n-Out Burger - mmmmmmmmm.

The next day we took the older kids to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay and lunch at House of Blues. I highly recommend the garlic fries and the Soul Sensation - a lovely concotion of various rums with a splash of soda. Tasty! Afterwards, we walked through the Luxor to Excalibur, where we spent WAY too much money on carnival-style games for the kiddos. CoasterGuy's sister won a giant tiger at the ring toss booth, and the kids each got a few smaller toys.

That evening, CoasterGuy's sister and her husband kindly agreed to watch the CoasterKids while we went to see Love at the Mirage and then afterwards, to Caesar's Palace to eat dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. While the meal was very good (and the margaritas were excellent), I think we both enjoyed the Manju Buns (steamed barbecue pork buns) we had before the show at a bar in the Mirage more. Maybe because we were hungry? Maybe it was the martinis? I'm not sure, but boy, were those pork buns good.

The next day was a travel day - we arrived in Phoenix around noon and enjoyed a nice lunch with the in-laws at the Rainforest Cafe before saying goodbye to the CoasterKids for the rest of the week and flying on to San Francisco. Yes, that's right: in one day, we had breakfast in Las Vegas, lunch in Phoenix, and dinner in San Francisco. Whew!

San Francisco, Day 1: We slept in a bit and had coffee and pastries at a bakery in the Japantown Center. Then, we walked from our hotel in Japantown to Union Square, where we caught the Powell-Hyde cable car up to Lombard Street (the crooked one). I don't know if you can clearly see the kid in the dark gray shirt (next to the one in bright yellow) but I caught him in mid-yawn. How anyone can yawn looking down over Lombard Street when the hydrangeas are in full bloom is beyond me, but there you have it.

We walked part of the way down Lombard, taking the time to watch cars navigating the twists and turns, and admiring the hydrangeas and other blooms lining the street. We saw this brave couple riding a motorcycle down Lombard.

After meandering down Lombard for a little way, we made a beeline for CoasterGuy's old high school, Galileo, and then to Ghirardelli Square for the yummiest hot fudge sundae I believe I've ever had. I'd post the picture I took of it here, but you'd just be jealous.


Afterwards, it was on to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch at Boudin's (yes, we had dessert before lunch - ahh, the freedom of dining without kids!) CoasterGuy had clam chowder in a sourdough bowl, while I opted for a rustic tomato soup. From there, it was shopping, shopping and more shopping as we picked up souveneirs for friends and family, and of course, for ourselves, too!

We wandered from Fisherman's Wharf over to Pier 39, where we did more shopping and watched the sea lions sunning themselves on the floating platforms (docks?). This time of year, there aren't very many of them around, but we had a good time watching those that were. Later we had a delicious Nutella and banana crepe from one of the shops.


As the afternoon wore on, we started our trek back toward Union Square, laden with shopping bags and mostly full bellies. Though we were nearly exhausted and tired of walking by this time, we had reservations for dinner at the Stinking Rose, so we walked through the Chinatown gate and headed past the junk shops towards the restaurant (stopping to browse and to buy a fan and a Lucky Cat pillow for CoasterGirl).


We arrived for dinner early and were seated immediately. Alex, our server, was very nice - she gave us the rundown on the most popular dishes. We had the roasted garlic/anchovy concotion to spread on bread before dinner, and split a bottle of very nice pinot noir. For dinner, I had the 40-clove Garlic Chicken, while CoasterGuy opted for the Garlic-Rubbed Prime Rib. Both dishes were great, but the star of that particular meal (at least as far as I was concerned) was the giant martini glass full of tiramisu we had for dessert.


Exhausted and full to bursting, we decided to take the MUNI back to Japantown and crash back at the Hotel Kabuki. This was quite possibly the best decision we made all trip - we ended up using the buses to get around everywhere all week, and found it to be a convenient and inexpensive way to get where you need to go in the city (as long as you're not in a rush).


Well, as I've already practically written a novel, and I've only covered our first day in San Francisco, I think I'll leave off here for today. More to come, if you're not already bored to tears. Next time, San Francisco: Day 2.

The Obligatory "All About Me" Post

Hello, my name is ChelleBelle, and this is my blog. For an explanation of the name and why I'm blogging, see my previous post, "Riding the Life Coaster".

I'm a 30-something working mom living in the Southeastern United States. I telecommute full time for a large financial services firm. Mr. ChelleBelle is an auditor for a university. We have two children: CoasterGirl will be 6 years old later this month, and CoasterBoy will be 2. We also have 2 cats whom we rescued from an animal shelter - they've been with us through 9 years, 3 moves, multiple jobs and 2 kids. Mr. ChelleBelle often tells CoasterGirl that she must be nice to the cats because they were here first.

I am an avid reader, a newbie runner, a tentative gardener, a word game enthusiast and a terrible housekeeper. I love music, baseball, movies, and food.

No, seriously - I love food. Mr. ChelleBelle and I are self-proclaimed foodies. Over the years, we've learned to cook ever-more ambitious recipes, primarily in an effort to avoid crushing debt from our dining budget.

So that's the scoop on me. And as this is my second post, no one can call me a one-post wonder. Ha!