Holidays are great, but they really wear me out. So I'm not surprised to find myself fighting off a cold. I was unbelievably grumpy this morning, short with my kids, thinking up ways to blame it on my husband, churning through all the things that make me feel fairly miserable and all that fun internal, trapped-in-my-brain stuff. But I had promised to go to the new Muppet movie, and so I dragged myself there, thinking that I'd rather be in bed. 

I went in like Statler & Waldorf, and came out like Kermit (who is also left-handed and has a banjo, I'd like to point out). The Muppets are the embodiment of delight, they draw out your inner child, your sense of wonder and appreciation and every sappy thing you might not like to admit is bubbling up inside you. (Yes, I totally cried during "Rainbow Connection." AGAIN.)

Okay, okay, I'm a bit heavy-handed. But laughter IS scientifically proven to be good for the immune system. 

Though my experience was in no way a scientific study, I promise you that if you go see this movie, your blood pressure will go down, your endorphin levels will increase, your skin will glow a bit more, your teeth will self-whiten, your eyes will sparkle, and you'll feel lighter on your feet.*

*Not actually proven. But it could happen. Get thee to the Muppets! Now, I'm off to walk my dog in the sunshine. Happy Thanksgiving, indeed!

There are certain vegetables that I know are good for me, and yet I can’t seem to find ways to get them into my diet. (I’m looking at you, dinosaur kale.) That started my mission to lobby for a juicer for Christmas, and my extremely generous mom decided to spare herself the email begging, and bought me one early! 

I consulted the people in my life who know about such things, and the consensus was: Breville. So I looked at the one that Williams-Sonoma carries because it’s nice to see one in person, and then like the mercenary online shopper that I am, proceeded to save $100 by buying it on Amazon. 

It arrived. It sat in my hallway for a week. 

It’s huge! I was intimidated. 

Finally, I had a weekend night in, with no plans (weird!) and decided that I would give it a try. I ran to Whole Foods, and called one of my juicing buddies to figure out what I should throw in there. Kale, beet, apple, pear, ginger, cucumber, carrot. That sounds insanely healthy. I might eat one of those things in any given day, but all at once? This is reaching crazy new levels of good behavior for me. 

I hooked it all up, following the directions carefully, although it was fairly intuitive. Bzzzzzzz! Goodbye, cucumber. Bzzzzzzz! Goodbye kale, beet, apple. Bzzzzzzzz! Pear. Bzzzzzzz! Carrot, ginger. That was fast, and not nearly as loud as I feared. 

Of course, the beet made it dark red. And it tasted.... I’ll say it. It was okay. I should have used two apples, so that it would be a little more sweet. I was surprised that I tasted the cucumber over the beet; I had thought the beet would kill everything. I happen to be a HUGE fan of beets, but they take quite a bit of time to prepare, and stain your hands red, and are a rather huge imposition on one’s life in general. But bzzzzz! Goodbye beet, that is revolutionary for me. 

And clean-up was a breeze. I just rinsed the 3 soiled parts, and let them air dry. I can do this! Drinking my veggies is definitely a practical thing for me. My next goal is to make a juice that I can get my kids to like. There will be more posts about that, without a doubt. 

And now for the best part of the adventure. I had about 1/3 cup left of beet magic in my cup, and decided that I should explore the world of vodka + juice. I mixed it in a shaker with an equal part of vodka, and an ounce of limoncello, because my husband is a lemon junkie and we always seem to have that around. I call it a beet-tini. I liked the juice, but I LOVED the tini. Not too sweet, a little savory, the flirtatious notion that it might be vaguely healthy for me, the seductive red velvet color... I’m in love. 

I texted a dear friend a picture of it (see below), and she challenged me to find a recipe so full of nutrition that it cures its own hangover. I am so up for this challenge: a net-zero cocktail? Research required. More soon.