Two book reviews

So this blog, although mostly a food blog (because I find food fun and exciting!) will also include bits of and about my life. Mainly music, as that is how I spend a huge amount of my time, but also hobbies including gymnastics (there hasn't yet been, but will be a ton about gymnastics, my ALL-TIME favorite sport to watch and to do--I am obsessed with gymnastics!), work outs, and reading. I want to start doing regular book reviews, as I tend to read about 4 books per month. So without further ado, I give you reviews of the two books I finished yesterday in bed. (I always have 2-4 books started at any given time, usually a combination of music, psychology, Christianity, memoirs, and some fiction. Many of the books I read combine two or three of these categories.)

First book review:


Stradivarius by Donald P. Ladev

This is a cute general fiction book about an old, precious violin that is passed through many hands in many generations. (Sort of like the premise of The Red Violin, which totally made me think of KathEats, as she just watched that movie! :) A young boy is born in rural West Virginia (close-ish to me, and I've driven through those parts of the state) and he acquires a cheap violin at first. He practices hard and is basically a prodigy, thus making exceptional progress. Eventually of course, he acquires the Stradivarius and falls in love with another musician at Julliard. It's a very predictable book, but it's still cute. :)

Second book review:


Carly Patterson: Olympic Idol by Susan Valentine

(I don't know why the picture is turned sideways. I couldn't get it to rotate! Sorry!)
I LOVE Carly Patterson (she's my all-time favorite gymnast!! You WILL be seeing more of her on this blog! :) but this was disappointing. Probably because it was quite sloppily written, with many errors in the information presented. Therefore, it was disappointing, and it was also a little too short, as it was written for kids (but I had to read it anyway. :)

Breakfast was a lovely bowl of strawberry oats plus half a grapefruit. (You've seen very similar bowls of oats in the past. But I finished the strawberries, so I'll have to do something more exciting tomorrow.


Up close:



I had a bunch of random snacks yesterday afternoon, which was good because all I had in between a 2 hour rehearsal and a 2 hour concert was about 3/4 of a PB sandwich (there was NO eating time! I didn't have any breaks because I played all 6 of the pieces).

But the concert went well yesterday. I don't think any of us played our best (we were probably tired from the too-long rehearsal!) but it went OK. Our conductor was having an off day (I like him, don't get me wrong!) but it was a little rough in some places. Regardless, we had a lot of positive feedback and the audience seemed to like it. So I'll consider it a sucessful concert. :)

The only random snacks I took pictures of were:

Bowl of broccoli and edamame:


BBQ tofu:


And this tea that was on sale:


There were several spoons of PB eaten because for some reason I always play better having consumed a large amount of (healthy) fat. I don't know why, but it works. *shrugs* Anyone know why this is? Like my fingers just seem to be more responsive. I Don't Know.

OK, the plan for today is to hit the post office, the bank and Whole Foods quickly, then go to the gym, and teach from 4-6:30, then play a church service from 6:30-8pm, then play racquetball from 9-10pm.

Have a great day!

Two identical breakfasts

Yesterday and today were nearly identical because they were delicious! It consisted of:

2 eggwhite + 1/2 yolk omelet with sauteed kale (added spicy Italian seasonings yesterday, garlic and oregano today)
1/2 grapefruit (each day--it was sweet and didn't need any added sugar! Delish!)
A fairly large amount of homemade banana bread topped with Greek yogurt! This was the star on the show! :)


I added some low sugar ketchup too:



And today's:


Yesterday I added some PB because I didn't have much fat. (Finished the jar of "natural" stuff that they added palm oil and sugar too. I had accidentally bought it and I don't even prefer it!) Today I just had some chocolate chips

while baking one more pan of the banana bread (I had 3 more frozen bananas in my freezer to use up and I'm enjoying it! YUM! Today I also had a carrot before breakfast:


Confession: I used the Hungry Girl banana bread recipe, but I also added 1/4 oat bran, 1/4 ground flax (GOOD FAT!) and some chocolate chips + raisins.

I used these and they're very good!

Sorry, I only thought to take the picture when I had already eaten a lot of it.

	Go Bananas! Banana bread recipe:
	Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1 C WW flour, plus the other two 1/4 cups of flax and oat bran) 3/4 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated) 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas) 1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters) 1/2 cup no-sugar-added applesauce 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt Optional Toppings: no-calorie spray butter, Cool Whip Free Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine both types of flour, Splenda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (in other words, all dry ingredients). In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, egg substitute, applesauce, and vanilla extract (all the wet ingredients). Add this mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir until just blended. Spoon batter into a large loaf pan (about 9" X 5") sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, and then cut into 8 slices. If you like, spritz with some spray butter or spread on some Cool Whip Free. MAKES 8 SERVINGS
	Serving Size: 1 (thick!) slice Calories: 140 Fat: 0.5g Sodium: 267mg Carbs: 31g Fiber: 3.75g Sugars: 7g Protein: 5g POINTS® value 2*

And some random earlier pictures of snacks and stuff. I don't have pictures of my dinners because they were eaten in the car before or after teaching or rehearsal. My evenings thend to get insane. Yesterday I taught from 4-5, got gas, stopped at Whole Foods just for Greek yogurt and a Kombucha, and then went to a 3 hour orchestra rehearsal (plus an hour drive each way). I got home around 11:30pm. On Tuesday afternoon I ran a bunch of errands from 1-4pm then I taught violin from 4:30-8:00 (normally I go to 9:15 but 3 of my students couldn't make it). (plus a 45 minute drive each way). So I apologize for the lack of dinner pictures. But here are a few snacks:


Sweet potato fries!