Staying Healthy in Santa Barbara

Hey everyone! My last update was the newsletter than I sent out through email. I wanted to thank everyone for their comments about that because it made me happy to know that you all enjoyed reading it. I can't take credit for the design because it was a template on my new Mac Book Pro. I just filled in the blanks. But they sure do have some fun templates to choose from! :-) This update is full of pictures that I wanted to share with everyone. It has been a busy October so far, but every day brings new experiences, new challenges, and new reasons to smile. So check out this photo blog and thanks for taking the time to read through this. Hugs, Rose

As project coordinator at Sansum, I run the Ready2Move teen health group at Santa Barbara High School. We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays after-school, and we just finished week 5 of our 8 week fall challenge. I have 10 students thus far and they are so much fun to work with. Can't wait to see all that this school year will bring. The picture below is after one of last week's meetings when we made a Rainbow Salad together (romaine/spinach base with tomatoes, orange bell pepper, yellow squash, avocado, blueberries, and red onion--which is actually purple). Once we had cleaned everything up, I found that one of my students had made me a paper rose and left it on the desk for me. How nice. :-)

This is Jillian who helps me out on Thursdays with the teen group. She is great with the kids and I am really lucky to have her help. I helped Teri out with the group for about 6 months before I became project coordinator so it is cool to have a "me" helping me out now that I am running the group.

Melody, Kassy, and Fatima cutting up their portion of vegetables to add to the Rainbow Salad

Tobby and Jess hard at work to get their veggies cut up too!

These are two of my freshman members whose names are Jose Garcia...and Jose Garcia. They are so funny and they are always the first students to arrive after school. Hopefully you can see how goofy they are just from this picture. The Jose on the right was crying over the red onions he was cutting, but still managed a smile! :-)

Dad came to visit me on Thursday night and took me out to a great dinner at the Sojourner Cafe in Santa Barbara. He was coming down the coast after a vacation in Yosemite! Us vegetarians had so much fun choosing our dishes at the cafe because it has vegetarian and vegans dishes galore! We ended the night by walking State Street, telling funny stories, exploring Borders, and admiring the courthouse (as you can see below). Thanks for being such a supportive and loving dad to me, Dad! Love you so much.

A nice copa de vino...the Cabernet Sauvignon to be more specific...at the Sojourner Cafe! Nice choice, Dad. And now we know that those flowers on the menu apparently mean nothing. lol

Dad with his copa de vino, his Gingered Tofu Wonton Pillows (yum!),

and the beautiful Santa Barbara view at dusk!

Another one of my cooking adventures...this time it was the Salmon en Croute. The term "en croute" describes food that is wrapped up in pastry and baked. I used Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough for the recipe and it turned out great. If you want the recipe, just let me know and I can send it to you to try. Check out the evolution of this dish through my pictures so you can see how EASY it was to prepare this beautiful and healthy dish.

Salmon filet on pizza dough with cropped olives, tomatoes, soy cheese, and olive oil

I used the rest of the dough to make a healthy pizza topped with mushrooms & bell peppers

My first time painting egg onto a dish...it was fun!!

Always take a photo of yourself in the kitchen after prepping your dish! You can think of it as an evidence shot in case you need it...but I think about it more as a tool for encouraging others to get back to the kitchen and rediscover how to cook simple, affordable, nutritious dishes.

Taking my creation out of the oven after about 40 mins...

Such an action shot!! haha kidding...but isn't it pretty!?! It tasted as good as it looks!

Close up! :-)

Fresh from the oven

Those are the pictures that I wanted to share with you all. I am looking forward to the next coming weeks because there are a lot of exciting events coming up. This week will be a busy one with both of my jobs: one at Sansum and one at the PT clinic. Also, I am meeting with a woman from Santa Ynez who has been in the fitness industry for over 30 years! She spends her time and energy also running a program for at-risk teenage girls, teaching them about the importance of their physical health as well as their emotional health. She sounds like an amazing person and I am so excited to talk with her about her work with teenagers to get ideas for my own teen group. Then my best friend Megan will be in town hanging out with me for Wednesday and Thursday and she is going to give a presentation to my students about outdoor adventures and her hiking experiences and what not. On Thursdays I have my Spanish conversation group that she is going to join me for. And then on Saturday, Healthy Family Home (at the YMCA) has its 5th program meeting which I always look forward to. I did a presentation at this past Healthy Family Home meeting and the director told me that it was "amazing". He also said that "good teaching is more natural than nurtured". Basically, he told me what people have been telling me more and more these days...that I have a gift for teaching others and that my presentations are always effective, engaging, entertaining, and educational. Well...I love teaching. And I love hearing the positive feedback so it is a win-win. OK that is my life update. I love you all and I will be in touch again soon! Love, Rose