Back in October, Scott got us a pair of Fitbits. They’re high tech activity counter that monitors how many steps you take a day, how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed, approximately how many calories you’ve burned and how much ground you’ve covered in miles. You can even use it to track your sleep.

I find it incredibly motivating, because it forces me to be honest with myself about how much I actually move during the day. Working at home means that some days I can easily stay parked within our 1,100 square feet. However, thanks to the Fitbit, I know how much I’ve moved and so there’s no way to fool myself into thinking that standing in the kitchen all day has provided me with enough cardiovascular stimulation for a 24 hour period.

I’ve been running errands on foot more and have been hitting the gym with increasing regularity. My running mileage has ticked up considerably (I can do 3 miles without dying, which is the best I’ve achieved in nearly 6 years) and I’m sleeping better. I highly recommend it.

Just a few days after swearing off marmalade, I found myself slicing up a pound of blood oranges for a small batch.

Scott and I spent most of today rediscovering the many joys of playing with the Wii. We raced in Mario Kart (he won every time) and went head to head in Jeopardy. It was ridiculously fun.

My favorite bit of kitchen workspace, mid-project.

It might look like a basic silicone trivet, but really, it’s my new favorite canning rack.

I finished a project today that I’ve been working on for weeks now. I made an assortment of marmalades for a book my publisher is working on. It was an incredible amount of work and I’m so glad to be done with it. I learned a whole lot about the different techniques employed to make marmalade. It will inform my approach to marmalade for years to come. Still, I’m happy to be taking a short break from chopping citrus.

A long-cooked pork shoulder, cooling in the dining room. This was incredible.

The odds and ends leftover from pickling a pound of kumquats for my Serious Eats column. I’m so enjoying kumquats this year.

Scott got some new LEGO minifigs a couple of days ago and this is my favorite! A butcher, complete with freshly cut steak and cleaver.

I so wish this to be true.