Bon Anniversaire Sandra!

Last night we went out to celebrate my French girlfriend Sandra's birthday in Dublin city center. Here are my chicas from left to right: Cristiana (Brazil), Edwina (Ireland), me, and  the birthday girl Sandra (France).

Betsy and Dave (New York) also joined in the birthday fun as Sandra came to know them by coming with us for Thanksgiving dinner last November at their place.  A  good time was had by all!

Jacks Back!

Sunday night I nibbled a piece of dark chocolate as I ended my 2 week leg of the South Beach Diet phase 1.  It just so happened on this night that season 8 of my favorite TV show of all time, 24, premiered here in Europe.  We are behind the U.S.by two weeks but what a way to celebrate the end of phase 1 than to see Jack back in action!  If you have never watched 24 you are missing out and should immediately go to your local video store to rent season 1.  You will not be able to stop watching!

The first phase of SB went as expected.  It was difficult but worth it as I did shed some poundage.  I will now slowly reintroduce good carbs back into my life and begin working out again to lose the remaining unwanted pounds hanging around. Being that I love to cook and bake so much I will have to work at keeping my weight under control my whole life, but it could be worse- God could have made all food to taste like cooked cabbage and what a sad existence we would have!

Beachin'

Matt and I decided it was time again to treat ourselves to the South Beach Diet.  We did this diet about 5 years ago and both of lost some extra poundage.  We kept it off for a long time but over the past few years we slowly began to put weight back on.  Even though we are more physically active now that we live in Europe and have no car we have found that traveling frequently and partaking in international culinary delights is not conducive to staying thin.  Unfortunately neither is my cooking or baking as I am a serious foodie! 

We have just finished up our first week of phase 1 of the South Beach Diet.  This is the hardest phase of the diet and it is supposed to last for two weeks.  We did very well and did not cheat a bit.  What accounts for this great achievement (besides the grace of God)?  Well, the list of acceptable foods has widened since the diet first came out and on top of that our pallets have matured over the past few years so that we now enjoy many more foods than we used to, especially in the realm of vegetables.  I have hope that we will make it through week 2 of phase 1 and then I will weigh myself, rejoice over my success and reassess my plan for weight loss as needed.  The weight loss will be good but what also is good is that I am retraining myself on how to eat healthily.

Eating healthily can be quite a delight when one gets to partake in delicious foods like this salad above which we made last night with our dinner.  It is eggplants and tomatoes which I  first marinated in balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and then grilled over our charcoal grill.  I served these delicious vegetables on a bed of arugula and baby leaf salad mix with grated fresh mozzarella cheese (or try with feta) and dressed the salad in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Don't for get to add toasted pine nuts!

Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet never tasted so good!

Snowy Dublin

It has snowed three times in Dublin since New Year's Eve.  And I don't mean flurries and flakes fluttering about, I mean real, accumulated, sticking around, snow.  Though temperatures in the 30's are normal here during the winter season, snow is not. These last 10 days have brought about 4-5 inches and temperatures well below freezing. The roads are a wreck and the sidewalks are even worse as there seems to be a limited supply of salt and grit.  This weather has arrived just upon the heals of the recent Copenhagen climate meeting where world leaders met to discuss how to save the world from global warming.  I imagine God on his throne in heaven above, laughing...

Reforming Science Courses

My friend Ben gave a 12 week Sunday school course at my home church in Tucson last year on the subject of science and it's epistemological foundations.  I have just started listening to the class and it is so good that I wanted to share it with you.  The class, called Reforming Science, can be found here

Here is a quote from Ben himself on the course:

"For far too long, debates in the field of science and Christian faith have been dominated by Darwinism and the age of the earth. These are details. What absolutely must be settled first is of much more fundamental significance: science itself, as an intellectual discipline. Science is a branch of human knowledge, and as such is deeply implicated in philosophical questions, which are themselves deeply implicated in theological questions about the nature of and relationships between human beings, physical reality, and God. A careful look at the foundations of science will reveal that it is impossible to make sense of science except on the basis of a Christian theistic worldview. We do not mean that non-Christians cannot do science and be very successful at it. We are simply claiming that their worldview does not provide the intellectual resources to make science intelligible."

Feliz Ano!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year last night at a friend's house party in Dublin.  A bunch of my friends were there as well as my father-in-law who is in town visiting us.  The party was fun and not much different than how we would ring in the New Year in the U.S.  The only difference from an Arizona New Year's Eve was that here we received about 2 inches of snow!  It doesn't snow often in Dublin and if it does it never sticks around so to still have a good deal of snow today was surprising.

My favorite thing about New Year's is New Year's resolutions.  I am always asking people if they make them and most say no and the reason they give is because they can't keep them.  I am not the type of person who would get discouraged from making New Year's resolutions simply because they're hard to keep.  I mean anything worth doing is hard so suck it up and keep trying!  I look forward to a new year, taking stock of my life and making goals. I think its a good and worthy thing to do, not to mention fun! My resolutions are pretty similar each year.  I have spiritual growth type goals, goals having to do with my marriage, and some personal goals.  A personal goal I really hope to make some progress in this year is in the area of weight loss.  I am going back to the South Beach diet again but will have to wait for my father-in-law to leave before I can begin.  It is too fun having a guest to cook for to cut out all the fun cooking!  Plus he makes these amazing mushrooms that we are having for dinner tonight- how could I possibly pass these up when I probably won't see him again for months to come?!