I love food. I mean, I *really* love food.

I think it’s a Hawai’i thing because growing up, we had foods from so many different cultures and I’ve learned to appreciate the flavors and textures of most all kinds of foods (still can’t do Indian and Thai cuisines – it’s the curry thing). And although I am not the best cook in the world, I recently tried 2 new recipes:

Tex-Mex Beef Tacos from Health.com
I really didn’t make any modification to the recipe, except I used minced garlic seasoning instead of actually mincing garlic (I’m lazy that way). I also omitted the corn because it upsets my stomach.

The adobe chilis add a strong kick, but I liked it!

Slow Cooker New England Post Roast
I didn’t make any modifications to this recipe at all (other than the minced garlic). This was the first time I ate parsnip (confession: I didn’t know even know what it looked like and had to ask for help at the grocery store) but I really liked it too!

I have made several recipes from Can You Stay For Dinner and have loved them all – it’s a great blog to follow!

While I have been adventurous and making more of an attempt to cook, last night I did venture out to dinner at La Bodeguita del Medio in Palo Alto for Cuban-inspired cuisine!

I’d only been here once before, but absolutely fell in love with it!

As much as I wanted to try a new dish, I could pass up the chance to get the Tierra Y Mar – skirt steak with coconut-crusted shrimp, sweet mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, topped with a pesto sauce. I only ate half of it so I could have leftovers for dinner tonight…

…which I thoroughly enjoyed!

It’s January and my favorite time of year to make soup! So in spite of the almost-70 degree weather that we’ve been having, last night I made some Jambalaya! Contrary to popular belief, there are a few Paula Deen recipes that do not require a stick (or 2!) of butter, and this happens to be one of ‘em.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients
Jambalaya Mix (listed below)
2 1/2 cups water
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 pound fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 to 3/4 pound medium, fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined

Jambalaya Mix:
1 cup long-grain rice
3 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 tablespoon beef bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf

My Modifications:
1. I don’t like sausage so I replaced it with bay scallops.
2. I had some potatoes that I had to use so I added 5 diced Yukon potatoes
3. I used wild rice instead of long-grain rice.

Directions
1. In a Dutch oven, combine mix, water, tomatoes, tomato sauce and smoked sausage.
2. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add shrimp and cook for an additional 5 to 7 minutes, or until shrimp are pink.

It makes a huge pot so I plated the leftovers into Glad containers and put them in the fridge and freezer for future meals.

Here’s the video of her making this.

Once I decided to do this 12-Week Challenge, the obvious question I asked was, “So just how do I reduce my body fat?”

I found myself reflecting back to 2004-2006 (wish I blogged then), the formative years of my life change to a healthier, active lifestyle and the building a leaner, stronger me. I noted 2 key things that I focused on back then that I haven’t done much of recently:

1. Strength Training (I’ll talk about this tomorrow.)
2. Nutrition

Before I fully bought into the theories of this book, I consulted with Danielle, my nutritionist. She wasn’t familiar with the book so she did some research on it before our monthly session last Friday. She gave it a thumbs because it’s based on science, and now some fad or gimmick.

During our discussion, I found that her advice to me on how to drop body fat aligned with the fundamental principles advocated in the book.

Improve the Quality of My Diet

While I don’t have an awful diet, for the sake of this specific goal, there are some definite changes that I need to make.

I am a snacker, and chips and pretzels are my “go-to” snacks of choice. But as Danielle pointed out to me, while they may be low in calories, they are starchy and have very little nutritional value.

I should be eating high quality natural foods like fruits, vegetables, lean protein, healthy fats, etc. and avoiding low quality processed foods like sweets, fried/fatty foods and baked goods.

Makes sense, right?

Balance Energy Resources

There is no such thing as proper “low carb” or “low fat” diets. Our bodies, especially endurance athletes, need a balance of protein, carbs and healthy fats.

Many of my meals usually contain a main dish and a side of some kind of carb like brown rice, roasted potatoes, etc. I don’t always take the time to make a fresh salad or vegetable dish. The one thing she told me I *have* to do is to have vegetables at every. single. meal.

Time Your Nutrition

When you eat affects your body as much as what you eat.

It’s easy to get caught up in the workday and forget to have a snack, or even lunch. Sometimes weekends can get so crazy that I don’t have lunch until it’s almost dinnertime. Then it throws off what time we eat dinner. Not good for maintaining a good metabolism.

I actually have time blocked out on my calendar for a mid-morning, lunch and mid-afternoon snack. Then, 15 minutes before the scheduled time, a notification pops up in my Outlook reminding me that it’s time to eat.

Track Your Progress

I’ve always loosely audited my diet by keeping a food journal. Gauging my calories helps me with portion control, because my eyes are always bigger than my stomach.

A few weeks ago, I had a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) tested again (I get this test done every 6 months) to find out what calorie ranges I need to stay in for weight loss/management. Knowing this number and visually tracking my calories helps me make good decisions on the kinds of food I should eat.

From previous experience I’ve learned that once I’m in the habit of tracking my calories, I do a better job of planning and balancing my meals.

And these days, it’s a lot easier to do so. I use MyFitnessPal, which also has an iPhone app so I can add my meals at any time. I’ve made my profile public so feel free to check-in and keep me honest!

The one thing I’ve been laxed on is weekend eating. I almost always blow my diet on Saturdays and Sundays, and consequently all the hard work I did during the week. And I never record those meals because I don’t even want to see how much I’ve blown it. Reality check perhaps?

Additional Tips

Being that adding vegetables and snacks are my biggest challenges right now, Danielle offered me these tips:

Snack Ideas:
• Cherry Tomatoes (which I love)
• Cucumbers
• Fresh fruit (so many good things in season right now)
• Nuts (I love almonds)
• Greek Yogurt

Recipe Suggestion for adding vegetables:

Shrimp Fajitas
- Sautee onions and peppers, then add shrimp, mushrooms and spinach. Season with chili powder
- Eat with 3 corn tortillas
- Add half an avocado

It’s only 2 days into the week but I’ve already
• Packed a garden salad with cherry tomatoes and sprinkled slice almonds for lunch
• Replaced snacks with sliced apples, strawberries and blueberries
• Discovered Chobani Greek Yogurt and added sliced almonds to it.
• Made the shrimp fajitas – so easy and so good!

By making these simple changes and eliminating the chips and pretzels I’ve already saved myself an average of 400 calories each day, while still staying within the 1800-1900 calorie range, exactly where I want to be.

It is not easy. My first impulse coming home from work today was to grab the bag of tortilla chips and plop down on the couch with it. Instead, I drank water and realized I wasn’t even hungry; it was just a bad habit that needs to be broken.

I’ve been absent from blogging for much of the past week. I’ve had a lot going on and unfortunately, blogging was the one thing that I sacrificed. So here’s a recap of what went down:

~ Sunday: 19-mile run

~ Monday: Spin and Core Class + Yoga Class

~ Tuesday: Dailey Method Class + 8-mile run:

It was my first Dailey Method class in 2 weeks and it felt like I was starting all over again. As usual, the bar work was the most challenging for me, but it’s also my favorite because it’s the only place where I can do that kind of work. Going into the class my legs were still tight from Sunday’s run, but I think it helped to loosen them up because I felt pretty good going into the 8-miler that evening.

Since I ran all 19 miles on Sunday on pavement, I did the 8 miles at the track. Running on the softer surface does make a difference.

~ Wednesday: Spin Class:

I took a class from my favorite spin instructor who always pushes the class to our limits. However, knowing what workouts I had coming up later in the week, I elected to keep things at a moderate effort.

After Spin I had a 90-minute massage that was devoted entirely to my legs. Some serious knots were worked out in my quads, calves, IT band and hamstrings and I walked out feeling a thousand times better!

~ Thursday: 5-mile run + Dinner with friends visiting from out of town:

It was supposed to be an 8-mile run, but I only managed to run 5 of them. They were 5 more than I thought possible when I woke up that morning. I had a lot on my mind and I just couldn’t make myself get into it. Those 5 were a struggle, but I’m glad I did them.

That evening I got to meet up with The Chow’s, who were visiting from LA. We had dinner in the City at Butterfly.

Funny story about Butterfly –- I have been wanting to go there for my birthday dinner for the past FIVE years, and every year it is closed for a holiday party on my birthday weekend. I guess what’s what happens when your birthday is during the holidays.

We sat in a private booth that looked out to the Bay. The kids had a lot of room to move around and we had a huge table, which came in handy since we ordered practically everything on the menu!

I can attest to you that it was all very delish! The food was so tasty, the service was excellent and we had a wonderful time catching up. At the end of dinner Carter told them it was my birthday and I was treated to a crème brulee.

I’m not a crème brulee person, but damn, it was good!

~ Friday: Chiro Appt + SF Giants Home Opener

I deferred an early morning swim workout to see my chiropractor. I had a few achy areas that I wanted addressed before Saturday’s 21-miler. She worked (i.e., did ART) on my right hip, calves and left foot. It was painful (I was near tears) but as always, so very beneficial. This, along with the Wednesday massage, had me feeling almost like a new person.

After my drs appt I headed up to the City for the SF Giants home opener. I will have a whole post devoted to this that you can read shortly. If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know that I am a long-time, HUGE G’s fan, so it was a very emotional weekend for me.

~ Saturday: 21-Mile LSD + SF Giants Game

This was my “Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds” week, a term I’m borrowing from a Daily Mile friend, that refers to a “Long Slow Distance” run. I like it because it makes a LSD sound not so daunting.

All week I had planned to repeat Sunday’s 19-miler and add on the additional 2 miles by looping to AT&T Park and back. I had planned to start mid-morning, then clean up and recuperate at the 24-Hour Fitness in the Embarcadero, before heading back to the park for the ballgame.

But I tossed and turned about it on Friday night and when I woke up, I decided that trying to manage the logistics of it all was causing me unnecessary stress. So I scratched that plan and decided to stay close to home.

I instead ran a 5-mile lagoon loop near my house 4 times (+1 miles). I know, it sounds like a nightmare, but really, it wasn’t. It’s mostly a pedestrian and bike path, so I didn’t have to worry about oncoming traffic, and there’s water fountains at each end of the loop where I refilled my water bottles. The scenery wasn’t as nice as running along the Embarcadero and across the GGB, but it does run by a Little League Park so there were plenty of kids around to provide energy boosts. About an hour into the run the sun came out and the weather got really hot, so I ran home and quickly changed from a long-sleeved shirt to a short-sleeved one.

I forced myself to run a little slower than what my body normally feels like running, at least for the first half of the run. I picked up the pace a little after that. And while I was tired at the end, I didn’t feel like death, something I am very happy about.

Normally I would have parked myself on the couch for the rest of the day, but this time I only had a few hours to rest and recuperate before heading back up to the City for another SF Giants game, where the players received their World Series rings. I was stiff & slow moving, but it proved to be beneficial. Today I am not as sore as I expected I’d be, in fact, I feel quite normal, with the exception of my left foot which is, not surprisingly, still a little achy.

~ Sunday: Fat Dog Day

I was supposed to do the deferred swim workout this morning, and while I physically could have done it, I was just mentally fried after the long week, and I elected not to.

I ran a couple of errands in the morning, then did the deferred fat dogging by parking myself on the couch for the rest of the day. I normally would have felt guilty about being so lazy, but today I didn’t. At. All. I needed a day at home to rejuvenate myself so I can be ready for another busy week.

And hopefully, back to regular blogging!

The one thing I did manage to do was to make this Healthy Beef and Bean Enchiladas recipe. There’s really no need for me to add any notes, because I followed it exactly as directed. And as usual, it was so good and easy to make. Give it a try!

Workouts:

AM: Spin + Core Class
PM: Yoga

I got my usual Monday workouts in today. They were pretty uneventful. I actually woke up feeling pretty good post 19-miler. I was pleasantly surprised; okay more like I was ecstatic. Not good because I think I pushed myself too much during the Spin workout.

As the day progressed, the DOMS set in (delayed onsite muscle soreness). My hammys and quads let me know that they’re not happy with me.

I got to yoga early, about 30 minutes. I purposefully do this so I can have some 1:1 conversation time with Alex (instructor). We chat and I can tell him the areas that aren’t feeling so great and 99.9% of the time he addresses those things in class.

Tonight was no different. Not only did we work the legs (lots of uttanasa, dolphin pose, lunges, etc) and hips (modified pidgeon), we also worked on our shoulders – another area that has been bothering me lately. I left class feeling much better.

And of course, class would not be complete without a though question posed by Alex:

“Do you get in the way of your own success?”

Something to think about; i.e., topic for a future post! I definitely need to think this one through…

———————————-

30-Day Blogging Challenge

At the rate I’m going, it’s going to take me 3 months to finish this challenge!

Day 06 – A picture of a person you’d love to trade places with for a day

I’d trade places with 5-year old ‘Lil J.

* Pre-school (aka play school with no homework)
* No bills
* No work
* Not a care in the world!

I mean honestly, her biggest worry is wondering if the cactus is going to hurt her! To be young and that free again!

PS I failed to mention in yesterday’s post that before I left for the 19-miler, I threw some chicken in the slow cooker, using this recipe. I knew that after the run I would be in no mood to cook. When I got home, my house was filled with the heart aroma of the spices in the sauce. i baked some blue corn tortilla taco shells and have been having homemade chicken tacos! Another great recipe by Andrea!

AM: Workout: Swam 2800 meters
PM: Sunday Dinner: Honey Barbecue Meatloaf

I don’t know about you, but in this day and age, I don’t understand why we still have the time change. I went to bed at 9:30ish last night (yes on a Saturday). When I woke up I was quite excited to see that I had slept in till 7 am, until I remembered that it was really 6 am. However, that is still 8+ hours and much better than waking up at 4:30 am (which is what I’ll be doing tomorrow…).

I had a pretty low-key workout at the pool today. I swam 2800 meters in 1 hr and 15 minutes. I swam freestyle (the only stroke I know) and felt lazy so I used a pull buoy the entire time. My shoulders were feeling it by the end.

Luckily, I had my monthly massage this afternoon at Massage Envy. I swear, my Massage Envy membership is one of the best investments I have made. I had 90 minutes of bliss torture on my shoulders and quads. It hurt so good!

For tonight’s Sunday dinner I made a Honey Barbecue Meatloaf from Can You Stay for Dinner. Have I mentioned that it’s my favorite food blog?! I followed this recipe exactly as written and it did not disappoint. It was SO EASY to make and turned out very tasty! I made some brown rice and a bag salad with apples and strawberries to go with it.

Confessions

So I have a couple things to confess.

1. For the past 4 weeks or so my left foot has been hurting. I suspect it’s plantar fasciitis, as I’ve had it before, about 3 years ago, on the same foot. I’ve been doing my exercises, wearing the boot to bed and wearing only sneakers to work (I’m the anti-fashionista).

I figured if I didn’t say anything it’s not true, but it doesn’t seem to be getting better and I finally confessed this to my coach. So this week’s workouts will be lighter on the running and more on cross training to give the foot a rest. The timing is perfect as I’ll be in Scottsdale for more Spring Training in the latter part of the week where the temps are supposed to be in the 90′s and I have no desire to run in that misery.

2. Also for the past 4+ weeks, I’ve more or less loss my post-run appetite. This is VERY unusual as I am usually the person who is beyond famished after running just a few short miles.

At first I wasn’t hungry for a few hours after running, then I’d wake up at 3 am absolutely famished. Now it’s come to the point where sometimes the mere thought of eating food after a run kinda disgusts me. I find myself not eating for hours after a run (on Saturday I had finished my 10-miler at 9:30 am and didn’t eat anything until well after 2 pm), or having to force myself to eat.

Last Friday afternoon I had my monthly conference call with Danielle (my nutritionist) and we discussed this in depth. While she doesn’t know why this is happening (she’s researching this), she instructed me to combat this by drinking my calories; i.e., drinking an Ensure before and after a run to replace the calories I lose while working out.

Although, I don’t think I’ll need to drink one before a run. I usually eat oatmeal before a long run and oatmeal is the one food that I haven’t had an adverse reaction to post-run. In fact, I have even had it for dinner last week because it’s the only thing that didn’t make me gag.

She also wants me to pay attention; i.e., journal, my energy level and weight (in case you’re wondering, no I haven’t lost any lbs).

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Here’s a photo from last weekend’s race in Arizona:

I like that there’s a cactus in the background and I’m not looking at the camera, although my friends think I’m flashing signs or something…LOL

It’s Sunday dinner and yet again I’m trying new recipes from Can You Stay For Dinner. What can I say? Her recipes are SO GOOD and instructors so thorough, even *I* can follow them….sort of.

Tonight I made:

1. Homemade Marina Sauce: Yes, that’s right, homemade. I didn’t take the easy way out (at least not on this) – miracles do happen.

- I’m too lazy to mince garlic so I used 3 tbsps of the pre-minced garlic. I followed the rest of the recipe as written.

2. Chicken Parmesan Wraps: This is an appetizer, but I loved it so much I ate all of it for dinner. Yes, all 12 of them. Dipped in the aforementioned Homemade Marinara Sauce. Well, I had to, the won ton wrappers would have turned stale or soggy had I held them for leftovers.

- So…….I take out all of the ingredients and realize that i bought Monterey Jack cheese instead of Mozzarella. I wasn’t about to make a last minute trip to the store, so the MJC would have to do.

- This is where I took the easy way out and used an already roasted rotisserie chicken; I just deboned it.

- The won ton wrappers are pretty tiny and you can’t put much into them; i.e., don’t overfill them or else it won’t close.

- I don’t have the wire racks she recommends so I used a baking sheet and sprayed it with Pam. Once all 12 wraps were made I sprayed the whole thing with Pam.

- Baked for 12 minutes and it came out just the way I liked it – nice and crispy!

3. Three Cheese Baked Ziti: In one of my favorites episodes of “The Sopranos” AJ finds out that Olivia isn’t coming over for a family dinner. He asks, “What, no f’n ziti?” So of course, I had to try this!

- Again, MJC instead of Mozzarella.

- Since I couldn’t add very much to the wraps, I had a lot of chicken left over so I added it to this recipe.

- I ate so many of the wraps that I really couldn’t eat much of this. I just had a few bites, tasted great and will be having it for leftovers.

Overall, everything came out pretty darn good. I just need to work on my technique and presentation (hence no photos)!

Tonight’s Sunday Dinner:

This is a recipe that I found while perusing on Health.com. Its *VERY* easy to make – just like regular spaghetti but using shrimp. Since I’m not a good cook, nor am I a food blogger, I have spared all of you from photos. Instead, here’s the photo from the recipe’s Web site:

One of these day’s I’ll actually take a photo of my attempting to cook so you can really see how bad I am at it.

Here’s the recipe:

Lemon Basil Shrimp and Pasta

Ingredients:
* 3 quarts water
* 8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
* 1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
* 3 tablespoons drained capers
* 2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups baby spinach

Preparation:
1. Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a Dutch oven.

2. Add pasta; cook 8 minutes.
{Tonight I used linguini; worked just as well}

3. Add shrimp to pan; cook 3 minutes or until shrimp are done and pasta is al dente. Drain.

4. Place pasta mixture in a large bowl.

5. Stir in basil and next 4 ingredients (through salt).
{I don’t like capers and omitted it. Salt too}

6. Place 1/2 cup spinach on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 1/2 cups pasta mixture.
{I mixed the spinach in with the pasta and shrimp.}

Like most of the rest of America, I spent Sunday at a Super Bowl party. It was a potluck so I spent the morning making a few dishes. Yes, that’s right, I prepared almost an entire meal instead of doing what I usually do – ordering takeout.

Thankfully, a few of the foodie blogs that I follow had posted recipes for Superbowl Parties so I flipped through them to find a few things that looked manageable for my skills.

Appetizer
- Picked up the traditional chips, salsa and guac from Whole Foods. My personal preference is Blue Corn Tortilla chips and fresh pico de gallo

- Tried this Tuna Rangoon recipe. Normally I like to copy and paste the actual recipes onto my post; a pet peeve of mine is having to click to another site to see the actual recipe. But the original blogger did such a fine job of explaining the recipe with photos. Go ahead, see for yourself. Its one of the best blogs I’ve come across in terms of posting recipes to follow. The best part of her posts is that she posts the calorie and nutrient breakdown of each dish. I love this!

Main Dish
- I made Paula Deen’s Taco Soup. I know I’ve posted it on here before, and I’ll probably do it again because it’s an old favorite. It’s such an easy recipe to make; you honestly can’t screw it up. And it’s a hearty, delish dish – can’t beat that.

Dessert
- 100 calorie Chocolate cupcakes – another recipe from Can You Stay for Dinner. I used whole-wheat pastry flour and made regular sized cupcakes. I wasn’t sure how they would taste, you know, being the “healthy” version of chocolate cupcakes…but they were pretty good! I liked them! And they were easy enough that I’ll definitely be making them again. Oh, and I didn’t make any frosting – I’m not a frosting person.

In addition to what I made, we had a huge spread of hamburger sliders, pulled pork sliders, spinach salad, lots of fresh fruit (cherries, pineapples and strawberries) and tons of other stuff (like mini Drumstick ice cream cones…my weakness). If I was a food blogger, I would’ve taken photos of the spread, but sadly, I forgot.

Instead, I leave you with a random photo a tweet I posted shortly after the Superbowl game ended:

For tonight’s Sunday dinner, I used a recipe from Simply Recipes, one of the food blogs that I follow. Here’s the link to their post of the recipe, but you know how I hate having to click on another link to see the actual recipe, so I’ll copy it here too and add in my commentary:

Quick Beef Stew with Mushrooms and White Beans

Ingredients
4-5 ounces of cremini or button mushrooms, quartered
4-5 ounces some other fresh mushroom, shiitake, oyster, chanterelle, etc.
1 1/2 pounds boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 medium onion, cut lengthwise into thin wedges
2 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1/2 cup dry white or red wine (can sub beef or chicken broth)
16-ounce can small white beans (such as Great Northern, navy, or cannellini), rinsed, drained
14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion, undrained
Chopped parsley for garnish

Directions
1. Put a large skillet over high heat and add all the mushrooms. Shaking the pan from time to time to prevent the mushrooms from sticking, dry sauté them until they being to release their water. Keep cooking until the mushrooms begin to brown. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

I used cremini mushrooms, and regular white mushrooms that I purchased pre-sliced. This is the first time I dry sauteed something. The mushrooms were weird, they kept squeaking as I stirred them around lightly.

2. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet and turn the heat down to medium-high. Brown the beef cubes in batches, turning to brown at least two sides of the meat. Remove from skillet, add to the bowl with the mushrooms and sprinkle salt over them.

I didn’t salt them. I almost never add salt to anything that I cook.

3. Add the carrots and sauté 3-4 minutes. Add the onions and cook another 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute. Add wine, bring to a boil and return the cooked beef and mushrooms to the pan. Continue cooking 3 more minutes.

I followed the timings in this step precisely and it turned out perfectly. I also used beef broth.

4. Stir in the beans and tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes more. Add salt to taste. Serve, garnished with chopped parsley.

Again, didn’t add salt.

Summary
If you can’t already tell, I’m not a cook. At all. So of course, I didn’t have a skillet and just used my frying pan, which was way too small to hold all of the ingredients. Having too much mushrooms compounded the problem. I had to break up the ingredients and essentially cook 2 batches.

It turned out delish (although, this is a relative assessment since I’m usually the only one who can eat my own cooking). Although I would say its not like the kind of beef stew that I’m used to. It doesn’t matter though, I loved it anyway!

PS The thumbnail photo is from the source blog – my cooking does not turn out so pretty.