A Kilt and a Cuppa

After having lunch with friends at Jumbars on Wednesday, I made a suggestion that we go to downtown Bethlehem to McCarthy's Tea Room, the restaurant on the top floor of Donegal Square, the shop for Celtic goods on Main Street. I'd been there once before, but hadn't been back for quite a few years.

McCarthy's is about more than just tea. They serve breakfast and lunch along with tea and a wide selection of delicious baked goods. Since we just had lunch, the four of us decided it would be best to split a dessert to have with our tea. Not being a tea drinker, I had coffee with my slice of Banoffee, a tart shell filled with dulce de leche, bananas and coffee flavored whipped cream.

Pictured: tables and performance area in restaurant

Pictured: selection of teas

Pictured: various baked goods including scones

Pictured: Banoffee

Pictured: 1/4 slice of Banoffee
The whole experience was wonderful. It was an off hour, so the tea room wasn't very crowded. One of the owners of the restaurant spoke with us about the place. She was very friendly and made the experience of being at the restaurant even nicer.

I'm looking forward to going back to McCarthy's Tea Room, hopefully for lunch or breakfast. It's great to have another restaurant in the Lehigh Valley that serves Celtic inspired dishes.

Celebrating at Jumbars: Happy Anniversary... and Goodbye!

Wednesday was my 30th anniversary of being hired at D&B. It was also my last day as an employee there. Even though I left with a positive attitude about the future, I was glad that I had some friends to spend time with for the rest of the day. It helped keep my mind off the fact that my life is going to be very different now.

I had a tasty lunch with three very lovely ladies. We went to a quaint little restaurant in Bethlehem called Jumbars. When you walk inside, you get the feeling that you're in someone's living room. The whole restaurant looks like a house that was changed into an eating place.

Pictured: Jumbars bakery counter and cashier area

Pictured: homey decor
I was able to talk my best friend (and now former coworker) into splitting a sandwich with me. I ordered the turkey and apple chutney on cinnamon raisin bread, and she ordered the Greenwich St Special, which was turkey with Granny Smith apple, cheddar cheese and honey dijon mayonnaise. We both gave each other half of our sandwiches.

Pictured: turkey with apple chutney and the Greenwich St Special, fried potatoes and pickle slices
I enjoyed both, but I liked the Greenwich St Special a little bit more. It didn't have the sweetness of the other sandwich, plus the cheddar cheese and dijon mayonnaise were both delicious.

Pictured: caramel apple cake
Since I wasn't keeping track of calories for the day, I ordered a slice of caramel apple cake. All of the desserts on the counter looked good (especially the pies), but I have a hard time resisting caramel and apple. Given that I had apple in both my sandwiches, this completed my trio of apple goodies for the day. The best part was the frosting.

I already want to go back to Jumbars. There are so many other meals on the menu that I'd like to try. I just hope I don't have to sit so close to the door next time. There were a lot of people going in and out of the restaurant, and I was getting a chill every time the door was opened.

Favorite Restaurant Meals: Olive Garden Capellini Pomodoro

I like to go Olive Garden. Most of Olive Garden's meals have a lot of calories, so I end up splitting my meals into several servings to make the calorie counts more reasonable. I typically go there for three things: a bowl of minestrone, capellini pomodoro and a single breadstick.

The last time I had my favorite meal, I ordered the capellini pomodoro with grilled chicken added (thereby combining the pasta with a lean protein).

Pictured: capellini pomodoro with chicken
The soup is 100 calories. The breadstick is 150 calories. Without chicken, the dinner portion of capellini pomodoro is 840 calories. That sounds terrible, but I usually only eat about 1/4 of the pasta at the restaurant. That comes to about 460 calories for the soup, pasta and bread, not including the chicken (which is fairly low in calories).

Pictured: Tour of Italy
My husband isn't counting calories, so he had the Tour of Italy for 1450 calories. Fortunately, he brought 2/3 of his meal home, too.

I divide my remaining pasta into three servings and pair them with vegetables or salad. The great thing about pasta is that it usually tastes better (at least to me) as leftovers.

Numbers Aren't As Fun to Crunch As Food

Right now, I'm working with four different websites to kick start my weight loss: LoseIt, Fitbit, BodyBugg and Fat2Fit Radio.

I currently weigh about 211. My goal is to lose 21 pounds and weigh 190. I'm almost 54 years old, 5'5" tall. I'd like to lose 1 pound per week. My calorie goals for each site are as follows:

Loseit: 1771
Fitbit: 1385 – 1531 (that range increases as my activity increases)
BodyBugg: 1775 (assuming that I burn 2275)
Fat2Fit Radio: 1840 (for sedentary activity level)

1385 to 1840 calories per day is a pretty wide range. As if that's not complicated enough, I'm finding that Fitbit and BodyBugg don't agree on the number of calories I burn during exercise (walking) or the number of steps I take. BodyBugg consistently gives me lower calorie burns and credit for steps than Fitbit. I put both devices on at the same time this morning. Right now, Fitbit says I walked 4790 steps; BodyBugg says I walked 4635.

For the next week, I'm going to try to earn a 500 calorie deficit on BodyBugg each day. I'm going to aim for 1650 calories and 12000 steps each day. After doing this for one week, I'll check and see how accurate it is.

Lehigh Valley Bloggers Night

I'm a little tempted to attend Lehigh Valley Bloggers Night on Monday. It would be fascinating to see what other bloggers in my area are like. The main reason I think I won't go is because I see my blog as being something personal. I'm sure most of the people who are going are what I consider "professional bloggers." They cover news stories or provide a service to their readers.

I'm not an aspiring writer, photographer or food critic. I just do my blog for fun. :-)

2011: Sharon Slimmed Slowly

I ended 2011 weighing less than I did in 2010, but not by as much as I'd hoped. I gained back 12 of the 36 pounds I'd lost between January and August, which still left me with a decent loss for 2011. My total loss is now 49 pounds over the last two years.

I also ended the old year/began the new year with two family celebrations. It's hard to resist food when it tastes so good, so I didn't. I tried not to overdo it too much, but I still enjoyed myself.

Pictured: end of year buffet with sister's family

Pictured: beginning of year buffet with Jay's family

Pictured: Sasha
My sister's cat Sasha made a tempting dessert, but I resisted her. By the time she crawled into the plastic lid, I was already feeling comfortably stuffed.

I'm mostly okay with the weight I gained back. I spent the last five months going to restaurants I wouldn't otherwise visit and having food I normally would have avoided. I especially enjoyed the ethnic food I tried. I regret more that I didn't stay active. I'm now working at getting 9,000+ steps in every day. I'm looking forward to going back to the community center and using their pool.

If I can lose 26 additional pounds in 2012, I'll be very happy!

Ushering in the New Year

Many cities in the United States have different customs for ringing in the new year. Dropping something from a great height to the sound of a countdown is one of the most popular traditions. In Bethlehem, we have the annual dropping of the Peep.

Peeps are a marshmallow confection made by Just Born, a family owned company located in Bethlehem. Although they make many different shapes and colors of this candy, the most popular is the yellow chick. It was a giant model of that particular Peep which was dropped from a crane at Steel Stacks on December 31, as part of Peeps Fest.

Pictured: blast furnaces lit up in holiday colors

Pictured: Peep in front of Levitt Pavilion, and Peep suspended from crane

Pictured: descending Peep

Pictured: fireworks display
Because Peeps Fest is a family-centric celebration, the dropping of the peep took place at 5:15pm, followed by a short fireworks display. It was a great reminder that people of all ages can have fun on New Year's Eve, even if they can't stay up to watch the dropping of the ball in Times Square.

Brew Works at Christmas

My first post for 2012 is actually made up of photographs taken on December 30. It was the last day at D&B for my best friend and coworker, so hubby and I took her out for lunch at the Bethlehem Brew Works.

Long time residents of Bethlehem will remember the building on the corner of Main and Broad Streets as being the home of Orrs, a department store that closed in 1993. The building is now divided up into many different stores, with Brew Works as its flagship restaurant. The restaurant style is industrial, paying homage to Bethlehem's steel industry past.

Pictured: mural in one of the dining rooms

Pictured: dining area decorated with Bethlehem Steel theme

Pictured: beer tanks

Pictured: dining room Christmas tree

Pictured: Bavarian pretzels with beer cheese soup (for dipping)

Pictured: lasagna soup with crackers
I was impressed with the menu at Brew Works. It's changed a bit since the last time I was there a few years ago. There are more Pennsylvania Dutch offerings on the menu, something the Lehigh Valley has been lacking since the closing of Walps restaurant in Allentown. I loved the Bavarian pretzel appetizer. Next time, I'm going to try pierogie casserole.