2011 Christmas Vacation, Day 1: Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, WV

I haven't posted for the last few days because I was away from home. Jay and I like to take a short holiday-centered vacation at the end of the year. Two years ago, we went to Atlantic City for a Christmas show. Last year, we went to Hershey Park. This year, we went to the Winter Festival of Lights at Oglebay Resort and Conference Center in Wheeling, WV.

Pictured: view from our balcony at Oglebay

Pictured: decorated hallway on the way to lobby
The resort looked beautiful with all kinds of Christmas displays in almost every corner of the common areas. The rustic lodge is no doubt lovely in all of the other seasons, but I can't imagine it looking more festive at any other time of the year. My personal favorite area was the hallway we passed through to go from the guest rooms to the restaurants and main lobby.

Pictured: dining area before guests arrived
The room where we ate our first supper was made to look like a winter scene, with trees decorated in blue, silver and white. Our meal was served buffet style, with way too many delicious choices. I tried my best to limit myself, but I know I ate way more than I should have, especially given that supper was after 6pm.

Pictured: pot roast, dinner roll with butter, potatoes, baked pasta, green beans, carrots, potato salad

Pictured: brownie and peanut butter pie, cake with pineapple
After we finished eating, we were entertained by singer and piano player Ron Retzer. He was accompanied by his guitar player, Kelly.

The two musicians performed both Christmas music and a few of their favorite classic rock songs, much to the delight of their audience. After their show was over, Jay and I went back to our room for the evening. We decided to go to sleep early so we could spend time exploring before our tour started in the morning.

Talkin' Turkey After Thanksgiving

Jay and I spent Thanksgiving with his family at the home of his parents. As always, it was a wonderful evening filled with pleasant company and delicious food. The stars of the evening were the new baby of the family (Jay's nephew's son), who kept us all entertained, and Jay's mother, who cooked another tasty traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Pictured: the Thanksgiving table

Pictured: smoked turkey, green bean casserole, succotash, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a dinner roll
The only things I didn't eat were ham, gravy and cranberry sauce. Dessert was a choice of pies. I had small pieces of pumpkin pie, cherry custard pie and sugar free lemon chiffon pie. My three small pieces combined equaled about one eighth of a pie.

Earlier in the day, I'd read Top Swaps for Thanksgiving from Eat This, Not That. I ended up following almost all of their advice, other than swapping green bean casserole for stuffing. I rarely eat stuffing, except at Thanksgiving, so I had a small amount with my green bean casserole.

My weight this morning tells me that I ate a little too much, but I'm okay with that. I'll try to stick closer to my calorie budget today, and hope that my weight will go down in a couple days. Feeling guilty is counter-productive, so I'll be doing none of that!

Dirty Diet Secret #1: Lean Cuisine

I'm going to start another series of related posts. I'm calling it 'Dirty Diet Secrets.' There are things I do as a dieter that I know may not be the healthiest options, but they work for me. These are choices I probably wouldn't talk about on a diet forum because I know the negative reaction I'd get.

To begin, I'm going to confess that I like Lean Cuisine. I'm not a good cook. I don't enjoy cooking. (That's why I go to restaurants so often!) I prepare meals for myself, and my hubby prepares his own. We don't like the same foods, so it's better for both of us to prepare our own meals, especially since we don't often eat meals at the same time.

I like Lean Cuisine frozen entrees because they don't take long to heat, the calories are already counted for me and I can have a different meal every day. Most of the varieties I buy have calorie counts that range from 170-320 calories per package.

Pictured: cheese ravioli Lean Cuisine (220 calories), with broccoli and butternut squash
The main criticism I've seen of Lean Cuisine is that sodium content is too high. If I had problems with sodium, I'd probably eat fewer packaged dinners, but sodium doesn't seem to be affecting me in any bad way at the moment.

My big issue with these meals is that many of them don't contain any vegetables. That's why I always make sure to add vegetables for my sides. Adding vegetables is a healthy way to improve almost any meal. It also adds volume without a lot of calories, which is great for people like me who like to feel that they're getting a lot of food for their calories.

CJT Asian Cuisine, Easton PA

CJT Asian Cuisine is the newest restaurant in the Southmont shopping center in Easton. It replaces JJ Wong's, a restaurant that Jay and I visited several times.

The initials in the name stand for Chinese, Japanese and Thai, all of which are now represented on the menu. Naturally, I had none of those. I had my Asian favorite, Mongolian beef. My favorite version of Mongolian beef is the dish prepared at P F Chang's, but I'm always looking for something similar that I can get closer to home.

Pictured: restaurant interior, with sushi bar in the background

Pictured: Mongolian beef
It wasn't P F Chang's style, but it was still very good. Instead of being on the sweet side, the beef was very spicy. The scallions threatened to overwhelm it a bit because there were so many of them. I only ate about 1/3 of the meal (with a little white rice). The rest I brought home and had for supper on a different night. It was just as good reheated.

Pictured: chirashi
Jay wasn't as happy with his chirashi (chirashizushi). According to him, it was actually sashimi. The sushi wasn't served over rice the way chirashi usually is. He enjoyed it, but not as much as he does at other restaurants.

I'm hoping CJT survives at Southmont. There are three Chinese-Japanese buffets close by, so I can imagine how hard it is for a non-buffet restaurant to compete. I like the variety that I can get at a buffet (especially if I'm trying new foods), but I prefer the portion control of a regular restaurant. Maybe one of these days I'll even get adventurous enough to try some Thai dishes.

Christkindlmarkt, Bethlehem PA

I went to Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem for the first and only time a few years ago with my best friend. Unfortunately, it was held in an area that was prone to flooding from the nearby Monacacy Creek. When we were there, everything was damp and cold, and very dark inside the tents. I didn't feel at all inspired to return.

This year, the market was moved to the ArtsQuest campus, so Jay and I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad we did. Everything was better! The inside of the tents was warm, clean and well lit, and having a big inside area for eating and entertainment made it much more welcoming.

Pictured: outside of the tents

Pictured: decorated aisle within vendor tent

Pictured: vendor selling official Christmas City goods

Pictured: pastries for sale

Pictured: food vendors

Pictured: krainerwurst sandwich, German potato salad, sauerkraut

Pictured: performance by the Paula Scott Duo
Jay and I spent a couple hours at Christkindlmarkt. We walked through the two tents, ate lunch while listening to the Paula Scott Duo perform, walked outside to see the ice sculpting and glassblowing and finished up by buying a few items from various crafters. We now have an edible birdhouse, pumpkin bread, a small blueberry pie and a box of mulling spices.

It's beginning to feel a lot more like Christmas now!

Mama Nina's Foccacheria, Bethlehem PA

It's always sad when a restaurant you love closes. That happened to me with Pane e Vino in Bethlehem. They closed in 2004, and I thought that was the end for my favorite Italian restaurant. I was delighted to be proven wrong. The family that once owned Pane e Vino now owns a restaurant on historic Bethlehem's Main Street, called Moma Nina's Foccacheria.

Jay and I had lunch there yesterday. The restaurant is small and cozy, with pasta being prepared in the back kitchen and pizza being made in the area in front of the kitchen. The charming decor does a good job of creating an authentic Italian atmosphere, with the help of the smells of the delicious foods being prepared. Italian food equals comfort food for me!

Pictured: exterior of Mama Nina's Foccacheria

Pictured: interior of Mama Nina's Foccacheria

Pictured: Jay, with the pizza preparation area in the background

Pictured: leftovers

Pictured: closeup of Jay's Deluxe (bacon, sausage, pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms, green peppers, onions) pizza

Pictured: closeup of Sharon's Pesto pizza

Pictured: closeup of the best garlic bread in the Lehigh Valley
My absolute favorite item is the garlic bread. I love the huge pieces of garlic mixed in with the oil on the freshly baked bread. We both enjoyed out individual pizzas, too. We brought half of our meals home with us, so it was worth the money we spent to each get two meals out of it. I've missed their pesto pizza. I've never had any other pesto pizza that tastes so good.

It's no surprise that the first thing I did when I got home was email my best friend to tell her that we have to go to Mama Nina's together.

Possible Local Holiday Activities

I'm starting to think about activities that I'd like to do around the holidays. I'll be adding to this list as I find more celebrations in the Lehigh Valley.

A Christmas City Stroll: Nov. 25-Dec. 23 and Dec. 26-30
Bethlehem by Night Bus Tour: Nov. 25-Dec. 23 and Dec. 26-30
Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem: Nov. 17-20, Nov. 25-27, Dec. 1-4, Dec. 8-11, Dec. 15-18
Christmas City Village: Nov. 25-Dec. 24
Holiday Museum Tours: Nov. 25-Dec. 23 and Dec. 26-30
Jim Thorpe Olde Time Christmas: Dec. 2-4, 10-11, and 17-18
Peeps Fest: Dec. 28-31

Mitsuwa Marketplace, Edgewater NJ

One of my favorite supermarkets is a specialty market located in Edgewater, NJ. The store is Mitsuwa Marketplace, the largest Japanese supermarket in the United States. Because the drive there takes about an hour and a half, my husband and I don't go to Mitsuwa more than three or four times during the year, but it's worth it for the huge variety of Japanese food and kitchen items that the store sells.

Pictured: exterior of the supermarket

Pictured: pocky aisle

Pictured: candy aisle

Pictured: our grocery cart

Pictured: sake aisle

Pictured: gourmet sweets
Our typical shopping order includes a few frozen items (potstickers, fried rice, shrimp shumai), fresh sushi, tea, Japanese beer and lots of sweets. My favorite item is green tea cookies. They aren't super sweet, and having two cookies for 90 calories satisfies me without breaking my calorie budget.

We combine our visits to Mitsuwa with a trip to Trader Joe's, which is located nearby. Unfortunately, Bethlehem has yet to get its own Trader Joe's, but I keep hoping it'll happen someday. Until then, I'm going to enjoy being close enough to these specialty stores that I can visit them occasionally. I may actually appreciate them more because I can't go to them that often.

Minado, the Ultimate Sushi Buffet

One of my absolute favorite restaurants is Minado. It's a Japanese buffet that includes both sushi and a wide variety of cooked Japanese dishes made with fish, chicken, pork and beef. I'm not a fish eater, but I still find plenty to enjoy at the buffet.

My husband introduced me to Minado several years ago. He used to work near the location in Morris Plains, NJ. Our favorite location is the Minado in East Norriton, PA, and we've also been to the restaurant in Natick, MA. We've made it a goal to visit the locations in Little Ferry, NJ and Carle Place, NY (hopefully in 2012). It's fun comparing their differences and similarities.

At yesterday's visit to the Morris Plains Minado, I had a plate of my favorite foods: teriyaki beef and chicken, barbequed pork, breaded pork cutlet (tonkatsu), pork dumpling (gyoza), chicken wing, vegetable tempura and assorted cooked vegetables.

Dessert was a sampling of cakes (cut into 1 inch squares) and a couple coconut cookies. The desserts were small and not super sweet. It was such a satisfying meal that I didn't need to eat any supper later in the day. It was a good thing that I also did a lot of walking.

Minado isn't the kind of restaurant I could eat at every week (although I'm sure my husband could). The calories really add up quickly. I prefer visiting once every few months. That way, it feels more like a special treat.

Robata of Tokyo, Allentown PA

I'm not a fan of sushi, but my husband is. Last Christmas, his sister and family gave us a gift certificate for Robata of Tokyo, a Japanese restaurant in Allentown that has a good online reputation for their sushi. We realized the certificate was going to expire today, so we went there for supper with a friend.

I'm not sure what was in that bowl, but the sushi chef sent one to each of us at our table. Jay and our friend both ate theirs and mine. Apparently, it was very good.

I didn't want a super big meal, since I was eating later than usual, so I ordered two appetizers. The first was pork gyoza. I've had pork dumplings before, but these were easily the best I've ever tasted. They were very crispy, which adds more calories, but also more taste compared to the gyoza I usually find at buffets.

My second appetizer was chicken and vegetable tempura. This was another good tasting dish, but it was on par with tempura I've had elsewhere. I try not to eat fried foods often, but tempura batter is so light that I don't feel weighed down when I eat it.

According to my husband, the sushi was excellent. It was a much better grade of fish than what he usually gets at our favorite Japanese buffet. The meal was expensive, but he felt it was worth it. I don't want to think about the number of calories I ate. I just know that I wouldn't mind going back again sometime.

2011 Historic Bethlehem Partnership Reception

The Historic Bethlehem Partnership held their annual reception at St John's Windish Evangelical Lutheran Church on November 9. Jay and I bought a family membership this summer, so we thought it might be nice to attend. The church is located in south Bethlehem, and I've driven by it many times on my way into work.

Although the reception was celebrating the Historic Bethlehem Partnership, it was also open to non-members for a small fee. At least 200 people were at the event, filling the reception room to capacity. The activities of the evening started with a review of the current year for the Historic Bethlehem Partnership, as well as a preview of their upcoming events.

As we listened to a speaker discussing the history of the Windish people (from Slovenia, formerly part of Yugoslavia), we munched on hors d'oeuvres that included a slice of pickle, hardboiled egg, prosciutto wrapped around bread and a bowl of cabbage and noodles.

After everyone had eaten, we walked over to the church and heard a talk about the history of the church, which was founded in 1910, followed by some singing in Windish. The most interesting things about the church were the high altar (no longer used partly because it's too hard to climb up there) and the fact that the church contains art of both St John and John the Baptist. No one knows which John the church is named after.

We finished the evening by going back into the hall and having dessert. There were several dessert samples on each plate, but not all of the plates were exactly the same. Jay and I discovered that when he told me he had some delicious apple strudel. He pointed it out on my plate, so I took a bite. Mine was cabbage strudel! I don't think I'd try that again. I did like the poppyseed roll, known to the Windish as potica. I also ate a piece of gibanica, which is a layer cake containing poppy seeds, walnuts, apples, raisins and cottage cheese.

I'm not Windish, but my mother's family was from Slovakia. The desserts I had at the reception were very similar to pastries my mother bakes. The most interesting thing about them is that they aren't super sweet. It's a reminder how sugary American treats are.

I had a wonderful time celebrating the history of Bethlehem. I hope to attend more functions within my city in the coming year. Bethlehem may not be as big as Philadelphia, but it's a city that's rich in history and diversity. I'd like to discover more about it.

Restaurant Favorites: Panera Pick 2

Panera Bread is a good restaurant choice when you're watching calories. They have several soups that contain approximately 110 calories per one cup serving. The half salads range from 80 to 260 calories, and half sandwiches from 220 to 480 calories. I like the Pick 2 option, where I can combine any two of those three.

Pictured: 1/2 smoked turkey breast sandwich on country bread and garden vegetable with pesto soup
Today I had the soup and sandwich combination. I love the garden vegetable with pesto soup. That little bit of pesto adds a lot of flavor. I had my 1/2 sandwich made with mustard only. I also didn't have the side item that came with the dish. I'd already had an apple in the morning, and I didn't need chips or more bread.

According to the information on Panera's site, my meal was approximately 330 very delicious calories. Because it was so reasonable, I went to Starbucks after lunch and treated myself to a caramel macchiato made with skim milk and sugar free flavorings. A little bit of planning helped me keep well within my calorie goal for the day.

Back to Basics

When I started maintenance back in August, I weighed 199. This morning, I was up to 207. It's time to turn that around and get back to watching my calories and exercising regularly. I know it's not fair, but potential employers will see me as a fat woman, and I don't want that when I start job hunting in 2012.

I determined my calories based on the calculators at Fat2Fit Radio. For a sedentary lifestyle, my calorie goal is 1709. For a lightly active lifestyle, it's 1958. I've decided for November, I'm going to aim for somewhere between 1,800-2,000 calories every day. In December, I'll drop it down to 1,700-1,900.

My other non-calorie goals include:

• walking 30 minutes most days of the week
• drinking water instead of diet soda
• cutting back on bread and cereal
• limiting sweets to one a day (Weight Watchers ice cream bar)
• eating more chicken and less red meat
• eating more vegetables

I'm going to allow myself one meal a week (usually on the weekend) where I don't count the calories. There are some restaurants I go to where I can't count calories. I'm starting out a little less strict with myself, but I feel like that will help me ease back into my good habits and be successful.

Hungarian Nights at Starters Riverport

Starters Riverport, one of our restaurants in South Bethlehem, recently featured a specialty menu on Wednesday nights in October. Having some Slovak ancestry on mother's side, I felt compelled to sample some of the foods that were on the menu, since they were a little familiar to me. Here are a few pictures from when Jay and I attended 'Hungarian Night' at Starters.

That's the specialty menu. There were four entrees and an assortment of desserts.

Pictured: chicken paprikash

Pictured: stuffed peppers
I had chicken paprikash and Jay had stuffed peppers. I was tempted by the beef goulash, but figured the chicken might be slightly less fattening. I did sample Jay's meal, and it was good, but mine wasn't something I'd typically make at home.

The best part of the meal was knowing that some of the proceeds helped the South Bethlehem Historical Society. I hope Starters continues to do these specialty nights. I'd love to sample some other ethnic cuisines.

Having Fun in Fall

Jay took this picture of me through the big window in the front of our house. (That's why there are some weird reflections.) It was such a nice day yesterday that I wanted to spend some time outside.

I raked leaves in the front yard for about an hour. According to the information at LoseIt, that should have equaled about 320 calories burned. Hopefully, it offset the calories I ate at supper last night. Jay and I went to the Sands Casino because we wanted to see the new outlet shopping mall that opened yesterday. (It's connected to the casino and the hotel.) I regretted the hamburger I ordered as soon as I started eating it. It was way too big.

Most of the snow in our yard has melted, but the snow across the street is still there. Our side of the street gets better exposure to the sun, so our side of the street looks like fall, and the other side looks like winter.

This may sound strange, but I'm looking forward to shoveling snow, too. That and raking leaves are my two favorite types of yard work.

Pure Fruit and Nut Bars

When I was at Whole Foods this weekend, I picked up some fruit and nut bars made by a company called Pure. I'm always looking for this kind of food because it's a more healthy, all-natural way of snacking. Today, I tried the Cherry Cashew Pure bar. Yum!

image from the official website
The ingredients are: organic dates, organic cherries, organic walnuts, organic agave nectar, organic almonds, organic cashews and organic brown rice protein. There are 190 calories in the bar, which makes it comparable to a typical granola bar. Other flavors include Chocolate Brownie, Wild Blueberry, Apple Cinnamon and Cranberry Orange.

I'm looking forward to trying all of the varieties. Hopefully, they'll all taste as good as this one.

Dunderbak's German Restaurant, Whitehall PA

Variety is always nice, especially when it comes to food. That's why I recently asked my husband to take me to Dunderbak's for lunch at the Lehigh Valley Mall. I was craving German-style food, and we hadn't been to the restaurant at all so far this year.

I took a photo of the inside of the restaurant from where I was sitting, but there are much better views and a virtual tour of the inside at the official restaurant website. Everything is very bright and colorful, with paintings, flags and hanging baskets that give the restaurant an old world feel.

I had 'The Dunderbrat,' a grilled bratworst topped with sauerkraut and swiss cheese. I also had potato pancakes with sour cream, applesauce and a pickle. Although there are non-German inspired offerings on the menu, it would have been a shame not to enjoy some kind of worst. I was impressed with their sauerkraut. I'm used to the very acidic taste of the stuff that comes out of a can. It was nice to enjoy some sauerkraut that was much milder.

Maybe in 2012 I'll try to sample a different kind of cuisine every month.