Finally making progress.

Today is September 30th.  It's now been almost 11 months that I have been in pain.  Tomorrow might be the day that I find out what's wrong.  With the tidbits I've been given and some comments made, my mind and the internet did some work and didn't come up with very good news.  Those 2 things together, the mind and the internet.  Sometimes makes us think the worst possible outcome might be possible.  On the flip side, I've got a pretty optimistic, positive side that says "no way, it's not that bad."  The pit of my stomach says it just might be.  No matter.  I am a firm believer that a positive attitude helps the body heal.  Truth is, I can think whatever I want at this point...before I get the results.  Who knows what will happen after.  Except for this.  I will have some decisions to make.  I will allow myself to cycle through all of the emotions.  I will...whatever that is...I just will.

Some back story.  Back in November my lower back started hurting and the pain started to radiate down my left leg.  In February I finally broke down and went to see my family doctor.  Sciatica and possible shingles was the diagnosis.  I was given an anti-biotic for the shingles and we discussed ways to help the sciatica.  The anti-biotic did nothing.  I started seeing a chiropractor for the sciatica.  It helped, but it wasn't going away the way I hoped it would.

Finally a few months later, I hired a personal trainer to get my body stronger.  That can only help things...and it has.  Has it "cured" the sciatica?  No.  I'm happy with my results regardless and absolutely love my trainer.

Three trips to my family doctor and finally blood tests are ordered, then more blood tests.  I am then sent to a rheumatologist.  She doesn't think I have RA, actually says no way I have it.  Orders more blood work, then sends me to a hematologist/oncologist.  This is when I start to worry a bit more.  She puts me at ease pretty quickly and says she doesn't really see anything too crazy.  Orders more blood work.  I try to get it done that day, but I haven't been drinking enough water and my blood won't flow, so I decide to come back after the weekend.  How many trips is this now to get blood work done?  6.  And how many times did I get stuck with a needle?  9.  I'll take responsibility for the one where she had to stick me twice since I hadn't drank enough water.  My first trip?  3 times.  Stuck. 3. times.  I told the girl I was a hard stick and I guess she took it as a challenge.  (can you tell this is one of my LEAST favorite things to do??)

So, now we're back to today.  I had an MRI done this morning.  Part way through, the tech stops the imaging and tells me he has to inject me with some contrast because he saw some abnormalities and had a radiologist take a look at the images.  Yes, ANOTHER needle stuck in my arm.  By the way, for those of you who have never had an MRI done...it's like a jackhammer is in your head.  I listened to music the whole time and that helped and I actually almost fell asleep as it's sort of hypnotic.  I knew when I left there that once the report was made on the images, the Rheumie would call me and want me in tomorrow to go over the results.  I already have an appointment scheduled for 2 weeks out, but I knew they would call to change it.  They're completely booked tomorrow, but want me to come in for a discussion with the Doc no matter what.  That doesn't usually mean good news.

So, while I have a pit in my stomach telling me something is wrong, I also have that peppy, optimistic voice telling me that no matter what she says, I'll get through it.

Our First Trip to MotoGP

What can I say other than this trip was AMAZING.  You wouldn't think that a girl would get into this sport that much, but I sure have.  It all kinda happened by accident too.  Although I played sports when I was younger and grew up in a football loving household with a Dad who could, and still can, spout off tons of stats on the fly, I just have never gotten into following sports in my adult life.  Now, I don't follow MotoGP in the sense that I can tell you who started riding where and when and stuff like that, but I do enough to be able to tell you who certain riders are, who they ride for (mostly), who the top points leaders are, and of course, who I think are nice to look at.  I am a girl after all.

This all started when I was thinking of what to get the hubs for Christmas.  This particular Christmas it morphed into a competition on who got who the better gift.  He even started polls on a few of our favorite motorcycle forums to see who the masses would vote for.  He won.  What. Ever.  :)

Here's what he got me.  Gotta admit.  I do think it's extremely cool.   

This is what he got to open Christmas morning.  I almost felt sorry for him after seeing the bike "under" the tree.

His reaction though, was fantastic.  I am a terrible secret keeper when it comes to really good gifts, but somehow I managed to keep this one on the down low.  I wanted to tell him so bad since I was so excited!

Over the course of the next few months, I book our flights and find a hotel.  Finding a hotel wasn't an easy task having never been to Indy before.  I wanted to find a nice place to stay since it was his Christmas gift.  No Roach Motel, please and thank you.  Lots of internet searching took place and this place kept popping up.  It looked SUPER nice, was less than 10 miles from the track, and in downtown Indy which would mean lots of great walking and places to eat and shop while we were there.  I do have to say though, I found it very odd that the track is right smack in the middle of town.  Living in Texas and having all of our tracks being out in the middle of nowhere for noise reasons, this was something I found interesting.  Well, let's just say, I did GOOD.  This hotel was FANTASTIC!  (sidebar...in case you haven't noticed yet...I will be ALL CAPPING a lot of words...it's a must)  The room was gorgeous, it is right in the middle of the best part of downtown Indy, has great service, a fantastic restaurant, super cool wine bar, and the concierge we talked to Thursday when we got there was super funky and a great help.

Here's the front of the hotel.

 Our room.

And my favorite part, the beautiful bathroom!

I arranged for a car to pick us up from the airport and the driver, who was way cool by the way, told us we picked the best hotel Indy had to offer.  Little shout out for the driver...he doesn't have a website, but it's called Rick's Sedan Service 317-339-7392 if you are ever in Indy and need a ride.  I only do this because the car was clean, he's super nice, service was prompt and courteous, he has drinks in the car if you want one, and it's not all gross and germy like cabs are. 

After getting checked in, we ventured out for some lunch and shopping.  Hubs decided on Hooters, go figure, and I must say it was the largest Hooters I've ever seen...no pun intended.  It was a bit difficult to find though because there is so much construction going on downtown right now as they are getting ready to host the Super Bowl.  It's gonna be fantastic when they get it all done too.  Then, it was off to the mall.  Hubs wanted some new tennis shoes and I was in desperate need of new sunglasses.  We walked a few blocks to the mall and had shopping success.  Especially since they also had a Cinnabon, which hubs loves, so he bought some to keep in our room for him to munch on during our stay.  Which I might add, he didn't finish and made me bring home in my carry on.

Our friend Mark was coming to spend the weekend with us and got into town Thursday evening.  We headed downstairs to have a drink and so Mark could get some dinner.  The wine was super yummy and we had great conversation.

Friday morning we meet downstairs to get some breakfast before heading off to the track.  The food was SO good.  So good in fact, I had the exact same breakfast again the next morning.  After breakfast we head to the track and all the fun begins.  I had no idea the access the VIP Village tickets were going to give us.  We could go just about anywhere we wanted, but it was the access to the riders that I was so amazed with.  We could get up close and personal with them!  You would never see that with typical American sports like football or basketball.  I was able to walk right up to the riders and take pictures and get autographs.  And not just during a photo op session or fan Q&A session.  ALL WEEKEND.  I couldn't believe it.

Speaking of autographs, that's never been my thing.  However, hubs decided he wanted his Prov Nov shirt signed by all the riders.  When you start racing with the CMRA, until you meet your Provisional Novice (prov nov) requirements, you have to wear a yellow shirt over your leathers during races.  Since Ben Spies and Colin Edwards both raced in the CMRA, he thought it would be cool to get them, and all the other riders, to sign his shirt.  I set out on a mission and mission accomplished...almost.  Got every signature but one.  Hector Barbera.  I don't think I ever even saw him the entire weekend other than when he was riding the track.  Oh well, we still consider it a success!

Friday and Saturday consisted of practices and qualifying for the big races which were to come on Sunday.  We spent the days walking around, taking pictures, cooling off in our suite (although compared to the Texas weather we have been having for so long we thought the weather was beautiful...I spent A LOT of time outside while we were there), checked out Ducati island, walked Vendor Marketplace some, and met up with another guy (Matt) off one of our forums we frequent.  One of the coolest things we got to do was a pit walk.  They took those of us with VIP Village tickets down to pit row and we got to walk around and peer inside the garages.  It made for some really great photos.  We got to see all the GP and Moto2 garages.

Saturday night was a lot of fun too.   Matt met us at our hotel and we all headed out to dinner.  After dinner we walked around downtown.  There were more bikes there than I had ever seen in my life.  ALL kinds too.  They were parked up and down several streets and it resulted in the biggest "bike night" I had ever seen.  Can you say squidfest?  Nary a helmet to be seen.  I also got to see my darling friend Jami who I haven't seen in over 10 years.  She lives in Indy now and I was SO happy she got to meet up with us.

Sunday...let the races begin...  First let me say, these bikes sound AMAZING in person.  I have never heard anything like it.  Pure, raw power.  The day starts off with the smaller class races and the big boys race at 2pm.  We searched out the perfect place to watch the race and headed up there around 1:30.  Truth?  You can't really watch the race when you are at the race.  However, you can feel it, smell it, hear it.  Our spot was inside turn 1 at the end of the front straight.  There was jumbo tron right behind us so we spent the 45 minutes watching them rip down the front straight and dive into the first turn on the circuit.  Then we would turn around and watch the rest on the tron.  It was...was...something I will never forget.  I tried my hand at some action shots, but I'm no photographer and my little point and shoot Kodak just isn't up to the job.  Mark got some great shots though. 


Sunday evening hubs and I head out for a nice dinner on our last night in Indy.  Jami recommended Harry and Izzy's and let me just say, I had the best filet I have ever had and hubs had a peppercorn encrusted NY strip.  Add in the sauteed veggies, their bread, and a glorious red wine and it was a perfect meal.  After dinner we walked around downtown for a while before heading back to our hotel to pack and get ready to leave the next day.


Monday we arrive at the airport a few hours before our flight and low and behold, Bautista is in line in front of us checking in to his flight.  Oh, I forgot to mention that we got to go into his garage for about 15 minutes on Saturday.  He was kinda dismissive and snotty, but still a cool experience to get to go inside one of the garages.  Then we see him again as he was boarding his plane at the gate next to us.  Seemed to pretend he was on the phone hoping no one would bother him.  No such luck as one couple went up to him for a photo and autograph.
 

It was a WONDERFUL experience, one we will ABSOLUTELY do again.  Another cool thing about the MotoGP?  They are coming to Texas in 2013!

Here are some of my photos.  Hope you enjoy.

Jorge Lorenzo

Karel Abraham...he was the most accessible rider all weekend.  He was out walking around a lot.

Dovi

The Kentucky Kid...Nicky Hayden

Riders leathers draped over chairs taking in the the sunshine.

Hubs being silly in the gift shop.

Colin Edwards

Simoncelli

Me getting Ben Spies autograph.

Me in front of the Pagoda.

Hubs getting Aoyama's atuograph.

Us on pit row.

Hubs, me, and Mark on what's left of the bricks.

Mark and Matt.

Our suite was right above the Repsol Honda garage so this was our view downward.  This is Stoner changing bikes during qualifying.

And they're off!

View of the track from the plane.

Our lanyards and wrist bands.

These were all up and down the street.

My new shades!

Me sitting in the BMW safety car.

A view of one of the streets on Saturday night.

After day 1 of getting autographs.

Us at dinner Saturday night and hubs reppin his favorite forum.

Me reppin WFO.

 

Easter dinner...in the most non-traditional way of course...

So, in my adult life I decided to do non-traditional dinners on holidays.  Sorry Mom!  I had given thought to making a ham and all the fixins.  And I do make a killer ham http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bourbon-Glazed-Ham-2/Detail.aspx, but then I thought...we don't really want that do we??  NO WAY!!  We want something else!  Chicken Parmesan it is.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

First things first...heat your oven to 450.

4 boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets (you can either buy them this way or make them out of 2 chicken breasts.  Just cut them in half and pound thin).
Whisk together 2 egg whites, 2 tsp cornstarch, and juice from half a lemon (trust me) in a shallow dish.
Combine 1 cup breadcrumbs, fresh or dried parsley, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, zest of one lemon (again, trust me), and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese in a second shallow dish.
Dip chicken in egg white mixture, then in breadcrumb mixture (I really press it on), then let rest on a rack for 20-30 minutes to set the crust.  I set a cooling rack in a cookie sheet for this.

While chicken is sitting, make sauce.

Dice a small onion and cook in saucepan with a couple tbs of olive oil.   In blender combine 2 15 oz cans stewed tomatoes and 1 6 oz can tomato paste.  Blend to desired consistency, we like ours really blended.  Once onions are soft, add tomato mixture.  Then add your herbs and spices.  I use salt, pepper, a pinch of red pepper flakes, basil, oregano, thyme, and sugar.  You can play with the herbs and the amounts of them that you like.  I used to measure everything, but this time I didn't and it turned out really well!  I pulled a Rachel Ray and just measured in my palm.  Let the sauce simmer while you cook everything else. 

After this step is about when you want to start to boil your water for your pasta.

Time to cook the chicken.

Heat up 3 tbs olive oil over med-high heat in an oven proof skillet.  When ready, carefully lay chicken in skillet and cook for about 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Flip chicken over and place pan in oven for 8-10 minutes.  I usually do 8 since the cutlets are so thin and cook really quickly.   

Now it's all done and ready to eat!  Sorry that I didn't list it out like a typical recipe is.  Just kinda made sense this way.  To me at least.  LOL!

Here are a few tips, ideas, whatever.  When it comes to the breadcrumbs I have tried a few different things.  I have made homemade bread, used store bought bread, and used ready made breadcrumbs.  With the homemade bread and store bought bread, I cut it up into cubes and run it through my food processor.  I then spread the crumbs out onto a large sheet pan and bake in a 200 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.  This dries them out so they make the most incredible crust on the chicken.  The one we all like the best is the homemade bread made into bread crumbs.  If you have the time, I HIGHLY recommend this.  The bread I like to make is from a cookbook that comes from a beautiful, quaint little restaurant in Fredricksburg Texas called The Peach Tree Tea Room.  The recipe is called Cynthia's Famous French Bread.  It is SO good.  As hard as I try, I will never be able to make it as good as they do but I give it my best shot!  Second in line is store bought bread to make your breadcrumbs with.  Choose a nice rustic type loaf with a chewy, but kinda soft crust like a ciabatta.  When you run them through the food processor, you don't want them all the same size.  A multitude of sizes is best.  What I like to do is process an entire loaf, dry them in the oven, then freeze them so they are all there ready to go next time I need them.  Last (and rightly so) my least favorite, and the one I will likely never do again, is use ready made breadcrumbs from the store.  Not even Panko.  It's just not as good.  Not even a little bit. 

On to the herbs and spices.  Use what you like.  There really isn't a science to it and you don't really need to measure it all.  I do suggest measuring the salt and pepper since there is nothing worse than an over salted dish.  I tend to use a tsp of salt and a 1/4 to a 1/2 tsp of pepper.  We really love black pepper.  Oh!  And yes, use both black and red pepper.  They hit different spots on the tongue and it's amazing.  We like the mix of parsley, basil, oregano, and thyme.  You could use Italian Seasoning if you like, but I'm not a huge fan of it for this.  You could play around with rosemary, marjoram, whatever you want really.  Have fun with it!  I don't usually have fresh on hand so dried it is.  I'm changing that soon though as I'm going to grow an herb garden.  Can't wait for that!  Another suggestion is smell all the herbs before you put them in.  It will help give you an idea of what you like and don't like.  I'm a HUGE smeller.  I smell everything.  lol   

I opted to put some basil pesto on mine tonight!  SO GOOD!

I hope you like it.  Let me know if you try it!

Breakfast from my childhood

It's WAY past time to get this blog thing going, so what better way to start it off.  By talking about food!  A couple of months ago I went to visit my darling mother and she made me a breakfast I hadn't had since I was a child.  Eggs in a Hole!  It's so simple and oh, so good.  I do mine just a touch different than her.  Here's what I do.

First, I cook up the yummy bacon.  Once that is done, I pour off most of the grease.  (You can always save this to use in other recipes.  I suggest in a metal container like a coffee can.)  While the bacon is frying, prep your bread.  Butter it up, I only do one side actually.  Then I simply take a cup or a biscuit cutter and press it into the bread and remove the circle from the middle.  Save these though!

Then, take your bread slices and place it in what is left of the bacon drippings butter side up.  Then carefully crack your egg and put it in the hole.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Let this cook for a bit then flip over carefully.  Let this side cook to your desired doneness...is that even a word?  lol  Don't forget to brown up your bread circles.

That's it!  Like I said, SO simple and it is so good!  

Who are you and why in the heck did you start this blog?

Hello everyone!  My name is Jennifer.  I grew up in Oklahoma City, but now live in Texas with my husband and daughter.  My most favorite things in life are, motorcycles, traveling, makeup, and cooking.  I love to cook.  It can get interesting figuring out what to cook in my house though since all 3 of us have distinctly different tastes.

Here are a few photos of us.

Me and my offspring at the movies.

Me and my street bike!

 The hubs (Brian) waiting to go out onto the track.

Brian hates to take pictures so the best ones are when he is caught off guard.  Here's us working the International Motorcycle Show.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Jennifer