Thankful for...the Weekend!

Man, now that I'm working again, can I just say how much I love the weekends?  Seriously.

Holiday spirit and thoughts of yummy food are in the air.  I love this time of year.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I love all the cozy sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, and delicious meals we all enjoy around this time.  And by the way, I still haven't given in and put on my winter coat...no way! :)  But that reminds me that either this week or next I'll have to make a switch-er-oo and bring up my winter clothing from the basement.  Booo!  But at least I'll be like, "Oh, yeah!  This shirt!" etc.

Yesterday I went to hot powerful flow with Claire and I sweated my face off!  Seriously, wow, it was great.  I like this class because it's very fast-paced.  It's not traditional Bikram, but rather, just a challenging vinyasa class in a heated room.  It was great for the (slight) hangover I had yesterday morning!  Washed it right out! :)

Derek and I walked over to Loop in the afternoon, had a cup of coffee and hung out with Rob and Claire, who just happened to be there too!  (Funny; I've never lived in a "small town" neighborhood like this where you could feasibly run into people you know all the time.)  Then I spent most of the day cooking.  Like I mentioned, we were invited to this party called "Drunken Thanksgiving" last night, hosted by our friends R and R.  I was going to do these pureed sweet potatoes with caramelized onions and then beets on the side, but then I decided to look up recipes featuring both ingredients, and found this one:

Roasted Beets 'n' Sweets

 Ingredients

• 6 medium beets, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

1. In a bowl, toss the beets with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to coat. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.
2. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large resealable plastic bag. Place the sweet potatoes and onion in the bag. Seal bag, and shake to coat vegetables with the oil mixture.
3. Bake beets 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Mix sweet potato mixture with the beets on the baking sheet. Continue baking 45 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes, until all vegetables are tender.

I did a few things differently.  First of all, I had to double the recipe, because there were going to be a lot of people at R and R's, and I didn't know how much food they were going to have.  Secondly, I have only ever roasted beets with the skin on, because it seals in the nutrients and keeps the color--plus, they're so much easier to peel when cooked; you just rub the skin and it pretty much falls off (wearing kitchen gloves of course!)  I also used fresh chopped garlic instead of powder.  Last of all, I needed to roast these veggies FAR longer than the recipe said.  After the beets cooled, I peeled and sliced them and then mixed them with the sweet potatoes & onions at the very end. This is how it turned out:

To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the results.  I don't know why, but it just didn't seem seasoned enough despite the proper doubling of all the spices.  I had to keep adding more kosher salt and pepper.  Derek even suggested adding maple syrup at one point, but I didn't want to chance making it too sweet.  The one thing I didn't double were the onions, because I am not a huge fan of things with overwhelming amount of onions--but maybe there was something to that, like they might caramelize and give off more flavor?  I don't know.  Plus the colors freaked me out.  Maybe that's why the recipe said to roast everything together and to peel the beets beforehand?  Oh well. 

The other thing was that we got to R and R's kinda after everyone else, so the food was already out and people had mostly eaten, so it really got untouched.  I know it wasn't because it was gross, but I felt bad.  I guess the upside is that it was fairly healthy.  But I will probably never make this again!

The rest of the party was really fun.  R's home-brewed beer was a big hit--especially the wheat one!  I also tried an Irish red.  We ended up playing Rock Band for about three hours and it was awesome!

Today, Claire and I met up for a longer run...about 6.5 miles!  Yay!  I feel back in the groove.  This was our route -- two bridges connecting Tremont to downtown.  I wore my Nike arm warmers for the first time and I was EXTREMELY pleased. 

They kept my arms warm but not too hot.  I could have rolled them down but they were fine the entire time, and that's saying a lot because I usually get really hot.

Now I'm sitting down with a cup of coffee relaxing.  Even though that darn ice pack is back on my foot, I would have never been able to do 6.5 miles a week ago!  Yay!  Tomorrow's off though.  Maybe I'll get the chance to catch up on all my dumb reality shows on DVR.

17 Again...Again?

So, few of you know this about me...but I love Zac Efron. This really started when I saw 17 Again in the theater a few months ago, but of course has reemerged today when I saw the commercial for the DVD. Aaaah, he is cute. So I hate to admit this, but I may have to buy it, or at least watch it again. I justify this by saying that the movie also has Matthew Perry (semi-funny) and Leslie Mann, who I really like even though she is a bit screechy.

Speaking of being (and acting) 17, I need to introduce you to a not-so-recent obsession of mine, the Gilmore Girls. These ladies got me through a lot of weird, lonely summer days and nights last year after I first moved to Madison and Derek was working at his internship in Minneapolis. Yup, as in "I don't have a couch yet so I'm sitting on the floor on pillows watching Luke and Lorelai flirt and argue over coffee and pie." Or, "I'm organizing the front closet and need Paris's bitchiness to distract me so I won't be annoyed I'm doing chores." Or, "Man, what I wouldn't give to just fall into a hot cheeseburger and steaming cup of coffee at the end of a really horrible day."

Not to mention that I love Carole King, who sings the theme song "Where You Lead." One of my old music students (well let's face it, she's more of a friend/"Lil' Sis" to me), who I'll just call K for privacy's sake, was also obsessed with the show and we would always talk about it. We even sang "Where You Lead" as a duet at the Spring Recital. Yeah, we're dorks.


Anyway, the show is on TV as I write this, and it's the one where Jess comes to town for the first time. (Would it be gross to mention that I also have a crush on him? But in actuality, Milo Ventimiglia does not qualify as a "baby," even though he did play a highschooler in the show -- he's like 33. So there. I'm not too gross.) Well, Lorelai has this great line in this episode, when she's out on the porch with Jess reprimanding him for mouthing off to her, that goes something like this:

Wow, there have only been a few times in my life when I have wished I had one of those cream pies to smash in someone's face, but this is definitely one of them.

Ha ha. This is what makes Gilmore Girls so amazing. Instead of saying something uber-pretentious and unrealistic back (a la Dawson's Creek) or getting all dumb and violent (a la Real World) or sarcastic and catty (a la Gossip Girl), it's goofy and classic, and just gets the point across. I love the writing on this show.

(So does Derek, by the way...all the DVDs are his, not mine. OUTED! And also...because Amy Sherman-Palladino did not continue on with the show in its seventh season, that is the one season Derek does not own -- a sort of strike of sorts. Personally, I liked the season and even thought it was one of my favorites, but the writing did seem a bit different with David Rosenthal.)

Well, on another note: I love the Fastwtich sneakers! They are great, with a snug but comfortable fit, and enough support for my overpronation/low arches. After this trial run (an abbreviated speedwork session: 4 miles with only 1 x a mile @ 5k-fast pace), I will definitely wear them for the Patrick Joyce Scholarship 5K this weekend! Maybe I'll break 30...well, anything can happen. I will definitely wear the new, inspirational necklace my mom sent me in the mail. It is a silver plate with "Fearlessness" etched in Sanskrit. Awesome!

So much for taking it easy

Hey! Well, a couple of exciting things to report.

First of all, I did my 14-miler on Sunday. Now, the great thing was that Claire agreed to run with me (she is training for the River Run half and had to do 8 miles that day- and ended up doing 10!), and that we went to the Rocky River Reservation (my favorite place to run now! So wonderful and serene, with an all-purpose trail that winds through the park for about 13 miles. At times, you feel like you're in an actual forest, and you even spot deer while running. Amazing, and so different from my other running experiences!). Another point of good news was that on Saturday I went to Target and got a Nalgene hydration backpack, which worked really well and had a big enough zippered pocket to hold ALL my essentials - phone, ipod, keys, ID, cash, gels - without needing extra pockets in my shorts or whatnot.

The bad news? The weather. It was already warm and muggy when Claire and I headed out at 8 am. By the time I finished, three hours later? It was brutally hot and humid and I can't believe I continued on like I did. If I were watching myself, I would have been like, "girl, STOP! It's not worth it!!" But at the end, as usual, it was. :) Then Derek, Rob, Claire and I went to Lucky's for brunch - YUMMMMMMMMY!

Monday was a rest day - thank god, because I could barely walk down the stairs. (In fact, I've heard that on a really hot and humid day, when your perceived exertion is so much greater than normal, it's the equivalent of more miles than you had actually run. So...maybe 16? Ha ha.) I returned that Amphipod fuel belt for a full refund, which was excellent. Then Monday night, had a great long chat with Kim, who I miss a lot! But right as I was winding down for the night I started to get a weird "twang" in my right lower calf (Soleus? Achilles? I dunno). It just came on all of a sudden. It wasn't just twitching, it was painful, almost like spasms of pain, even when I just lightly brushed my hand against my leg. Yuck.

So against my will, I took Tuesday off too, which made me feel like a lazy ass all day, BUT was all for the better. I iced it, spent a lot of time on the couch, and then went to Pilates with Claire for a good core workout. :) During the afternoon, spoke to Trish, which was also great because I miss her a lot too!!!! We talked about lack of jobs (me) and apartment hunting (her).

Today, I went back to Rocky River in the early morning (like 7:30) to run there again, and had such a great run. I just had a lot of energy. Maybe it's 'cause I had a crazy Powerbar this morning. I dunno. Also saw another family of deer! I feel like a deprived city girl breaking free. So, um, yeah, I should have maybe taken it easy today, being as my leg had JUST started to feel better and was not 100%...but then what's that? A huge hill? What? Well, just do it. Oh wait, what? I'm going much faster than I should be, but I can't help it because I'm loving it? Oh well. Everything was fine in the end, I stretched well and will keep a close watch of my leg to make sure it's not going to start spazzing out again.

Then I also found out how to sync my phone to my blog...so that's what the "Test" post below was about. Methinks I will be sending mobile photos and comments more often now!

Oh yeah, and Derek and I are SUCKAS when it comes to food this week. Even though I made a huge pot of ribollita and a huge bowl of potato salad yesterday...We went out to eat. Our new favorite restaurant (or at least mine) is Farenheit! So good. I had the Black Cherry salad (with black pepper balsamic dressing, roquefort cheese, and toasted pecans) and the Truffle pizza with pepperoni, olive oil and basil. Derek had a chilled soup and a smoked sushi-grade tuna with this amazing rice and micro greens. Of course we had to share two pitchers of Sangria too. Oh, and banana cheescake. (Are you kidding me?) So good.

Stuff to eat and stuff to wear

Well, I promised I'd show you pictures of the stuffed cabbage. Here it is!!!

Before I put it into the oven:



After I took it out (almost looks the same...)



And being enjoyed by Derek!!!

The entire reason I made this dish was because we got a head of cabbage in our Fresh Fork package this week (oh, and because sometimes I like to remember that I'm of Polish descent). It tasted awesome, although it took FOREVER to make - lots of prep involved and then an hour in the oven. Nonetheless, it was delicious and kind of fun to make, and now I have lots of leftovers - which reminds me, I should heat some up for lunch. (By the way, you can find the recipe I used here.)

In other news, my friggin' Camelbak hydration backpack was stolen off my steps yesterday, while it was "airing out," (haha) sooo I had to get a new one. Ended up going with an Amphipod Profile Lite 32 with two 16-oz bottles and a pouch to store keys, gels, etc. Will try it out on the long run (14 miles!) tomorrow morn.

What I won't be trying out on my long run are my new Saucony Fastwitch 3s that I picked up today for racing/speedwork. I know it's probably not NECESSARY, but I do love that extra "light, speedy" feeling that a lightweight shoe provides. Maybe it's all in my head, I don't know. For the past year I have been using the Brooks Trance 8 for 5Ks and intervals, which are AWESOME but now they have the 9s out and...well, like with the Asics 2140s, it's just not the same.

Part of the reason I went to Second Sole and got myself this stuff today is because I've been feeling a bit down lately...still jobless! So I'm a bit bummed. Nothing a little running/retail therapy (oh, and did I mention a mani/pedi?) can't fix. ;)