Hello! Today was a quiet day, I dropped off Devon at work at 8, and headed over to Trader Joe’s to pick up some food so that I wasn’t lost without options. Newly armed with chicken thighs, broccoli, and several samples, I headed over to Formaggio Kitchen to pick up my cup of George Howell coffee, and an egg salad sandwich on caraway bread for lunch, and made it home in time for my first meeting.
I worked from home today, and it was largely full of meetings, calls, coordination, and follow up work. It was blissfully uneventful… except for a small period of panic as I waited patiently for the iOS 7 release. After several false starts: “Sorry, your phone is too damn full, this program needs 3.1 GB of storage!“, and “Sorry, you’ve waited two hours but Software Update is unavailable at this time, sucker!“, I can finally say that in my hands is the flat design and brand-spankin’ new features we’ve all been waiting for.
Actually, I’m having trouble adjusting. But I just don’t like change.
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If you are only around for the food, warning, fitness rambling ahead! Just go ahead and skip below the fold for my dinner notes.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been missing many weekday CrossFit classes because I haven’t been able to make the commuting work, so a few months ago I decided to commit to Wednesday afternoons to head in for the WOD, and for Olympic Lifting class. Despite my attempts, because of traffic, I was barely making it to the later classes, so a few weeks ago I decided to try working from home on Wednesdays so that I’d avoid the nearly two hour rush hour trip from Boston to Needham. Many folks in my office work from home a few days a week – and unlike at Yahoo, we get things done! – and I feel so fortunate to have such flexibility. Today’s workout was the scheduled Lurong Paleo Challenge workout, and although I’m not competing, I jumped right in with the group.
B. “The Triplet Tester”
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:
Wall Ball 20/14
Deadlift 115/75
Box Jump 24/20
For this workout, there was an 18 minute cap. I chose the prescribed weights, and the wall balls nearly killed me. I knew going in it would be hard work, but I assumed that I’d get closer to finishing – but… no dice. I made it through the 21 and 18 round with a rough time on the wall balls, and only made it through 12 wall balls of the 15 round. This was *not* my best work, and I kept missing the wall target. But, I do still feel quite sore from the weekend, and I’m not going to beat myself up about it. It felt so good just to be in there working hard.
After the workout, I stayed for Lifting class – we spent an hour warming up, doing drills, and practicing Squat Cleans. I’ve been trying to get back to heavier weights, but I know that I need to commit to the best form possible, even if that means a light bar. I spent most of the hour focusing intently on leaning back, pulling the bar close, and getting my elbows up. I know these classes pay off in the end, but man, is it an exercise in patience!
After the gym I headed back into the city to pick up Devon from work before heading home.
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And then we eat!
When I got home, I was keen on prepping dinner quickly – it was already past 8 when we walked in the door. After 10 minutes at the fish counter debating flounder (on sale) or scallops, the scallops won out. I think it was Adam Roberts’ instagram that got me hungry for them this week, and I knew I wanted to take them home and sear them in butter. Butttttttah.
I took out my stainless steel pan, added a few pats of Kerrygold butter, and let it heat up until it was just starting to foam and brown. The scallops, which were quite large, got seasoned with salt and pepper, and I popped them in the pan and let them sizzle in the bubbling butter. I gave them about three minutes on the first side without so much as poking them, flipped them over, and let them have another two. Afterwards I let them rest on a plate while I reheated some asparagus (leftovers from Devon’s dinner last night at Capitol Grille – I can’t complain, because yesterday I was eating lobster), heated up his small piece of leftover filet mignon, some potatoes, and cooked some pre-steamed fairytale eggplant and cherry tomatoes in the buttery dregs of the pan. After I plated, I sprinkled the eggplant and tomato with some sherry vinegar, and dinner was served!
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And now? Tonight’s episode of Broadchurch. Are you watching it? It’s the newest series to premiere on BBC America – a small seaside town crime series starring the former Doctor, David Tennant, and it’s completely captivating! Are you watching it? Do you have a favorite BBC series?
