Ramblings

Yesterday I had an urge to go shipping at Old Navy and wound up spending $113!!!! In all I bought: black skinny jeans, 3 sweaters, 3 tank tops,a me sweatpants. Not bad, right??? I'm not so happy with the size of my pants. I was hoping WW would at least bring me back to an 8, if not a comfortable 10. I know sizes doesn't really matter, but let's be honest, it does. The good news is that a 12 is very comfortable, while a 10 is just a little too tight. They're also "super skinny" jeans so who knows! I looked good and felt good trying on all the clothes. 

Last night I made an excellent pasta dish just by combining some random ingredients in my kitchen.

Lean turkey sausage

Fresh red peppers

Fresh basil

Canned Crushed tomatoes

Tomato paste

Whole wheat pasta

First, I chopped the red peppers and sautéed them in olive oil with garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes. 

Then, I peeled the sausages out of their casing (I hate doing this but also HATE eating sausages with the casing on). I browned the sausage with the peppers and broke it up into chunks with a spoon.

As it was browning, I added some tomato paste and a little bit of crushed tomatoes. Once it seemed cooked through I drained the pot (Oil? Sausage juice? Who knows) and then added the rest of the crushed tomatoes.

While it was simmering, I boiled a box of whole wheat pasta. When it was done, I added the pasta to the sauce and... That's it! It made about 6-7 servings so I have lots left over for the week. No pics - but it looked something like this with less green and more red:

This morning I finished "The Lowland" by Jhumpa Lahiri. She may be my favorite author... As everytime I read one of her books I find myself stunned and unable to do anything but think. She does such an amazing job writing about loss, it's as if I could feel the sadness of the characters deep inside my bones. I must be a little over emotional though. When I finished this book this morning, I spent ten minutes crying in the bathroom thinking about what my life would be like without Marvin. I think he gets really scared when I get like this... But I can't help it. I haven't been able to escape that panicky feeling about losing someone I love since I was 5 years old.

To end in a more uplifting way, I'm about to finally go to Scottadito Toscano Osteria's bottomless brunch. For $19.95 you get an entree and unlimited champagne or mimosas. Supposedly they have an Italian twist on Eggs Benedict, served with prosciutto instead of ham. I can't wait to try it!