by Sam Tackeff | Oct 5, 2012 | Challenge, Restaurants
Yesterday was free burrito day at Boloco. I didn’t partake, but I thought that I’d share this photo for folks who I went to college with. This is the line at the brand spankin’ new Boloco in the ‘ville. Yes, that’s right. There is now a burrito shop in the town of Wellesley, mere paces from the gates of the college. These kids have it so easy.
The other reason I thought I’d mention this, is in the wake of the scum-tweeter at KitchenAid mocking Obama’s dead grandmother, I remembered this (slightly less embarrassing) social media scuffle involving Boloco’s CEO, and a disgruntled employee making stupid comments on Twitter. The CEO read her tweet, fired her on Twitter, regretted his decision immediately, and then turns the situation around. I actually thought it was an interesting case for brand managers. (Read more on BostInno.)
But enough about that. After yesterday’s breakthrough at the gym, I was excited to go back to complete more handstand-pushups and help our team rack up points. I was also excited about this workout:
WOD (Workout of the day): “Survivor”
4 Rounds for time:
400m Run
500m Row
I was supposed to do a running workout anyway to prep for next week’s race, so because this was cardio-intensive, I went ahead and went to the gym two days in a row to participate in this round of fun. There were a lot of folks in class, so I actually did my rows first, and finished with runs. I tried to pace myself so that my rounds were pretty consistent. My splits were 2:22 (row), 3:26 (run), 2:46 (row), 3:17 (run), 2:51 (row), 3:22 (run), 2:32 (row), 3:17 (run). I finished in 23:57. A little slower than I would have liked – my splits included the transitions, and I always seem to have trouble getting in and out of the erg.
And after that monstrosity? I banged out 150 HSPU’s. Boo-YAH. (Sorry.)
* * *
In the afternoon, my mom came to meet me for lunch! We were supposed to pick up new phones today, but we were thwarted by the fact that it seems that no Sprint 16GB iPhone 5’s exist in the world. But we had planned the date in advance, so she ended up meeting me anyway.
We headed over to Legal C-Bar for lunch, because I was yet again craving seafood, and Legal is known to have a gluten-free menu and they are super accommodating. After checking out the menu, I opted for a version of what I usually get – the crab salad sandwich. They serve it without the bun, and with a side of your choice (broccoli!). While the crab was quite fresh, and the broccoli steamed well, my one gripe was how little food this was. If I can’t have the bun, wouldn’t you at least give a bigger portion of broccoli?
Realizing quickly that I would be starving if I only ate this for lunch, I opted to order a half dozen oysters. Three blue points, and three from Duxbury. Jewels of the sea!
After lunch, we headed over to the huge Whole Foods to pick up a pint of raspberries, which I then devoured. I also introduced my mom to LÄRABARs. We left with two Zyliss julienne peelers, and a Bialetti ceramic pan for my mom, who has heard me raving about mine.
After properly fueling ourselves, we determined that the best thing to do next would be to stop into Williams Sonoma for coffee samples. I started with a Nespresso ristretto from the Nespresso Pixie Espresso Machine. I usually go for this every time I walk into a kitchen store.
And then we went over to check out the new Starbucks Verismo. I had my doubts. My mom had a latte, which she conceded was quite good, and I had a cup of plain coffee. Also surprisingly decent.
After caffeinating, we made a stop at City Sports where I rewarded myself with a new foam roller, and a jump rope to practice my (non-existent) double-unders. I have a funny feeling that these are going to be part of the gym challenge in the coming weeks. Eek.
In the evening, I came home to make dinner: a rack of lamb, and roasted sweet potatoes. My mom and I both picked up these racks of lamb from the refrigerated section at Trader Joe’s. Unlike the frozen racks they have, these are from New Zealand, and don’t come with seasoning. You also don’t have to plan in advance like you do with the frozen ones… I seasoned it with Nom Nom Paleo’s Magic Mushroom Powder from her iPad app, and some rosemary.
The sweet potatoes were tossed in coconut oil, salt and pepper, and went in the oven at 425 for about 35 minutes. (I put them in before I put the lamb in, and then left them in for a few extra minutes as the lamb sat out resting.)
I started my dinner with some Trader Joe’s gazpacho to get in some extra vegetables.
And here’s the rest of my plate – a few lamb chops, sweet potato coins, and a chopped red bell pepper.
After dinner we vegged out watching DVR’d episodes of NB80’s. Think VH1’s I love the 80’s, but all about basketball. Highly recommended.
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 4, 2012 | Challenge
This is a photo of Don, one of the awesome folks at my gym killing it on handstand pushups in competition. Spending a weekend watching competitors from my own gym participate was thrilling. It’s one thing watching athletes on TV, it’s another thing entirely to see people you interact with on a weekly basis completing superhuman challenges you could only dream of participating in yourself. (And by dream I mean… these challenges fill me with terror and bad nightmares… I digress.)
So I will admit utter terror when I read this week’s skill challenge:
Week 3 Fitness Challenge: Handstand Pushups
Team Effort : Total Handstand Pushups performed throughout the week.
Must be performed at CRCF, using approved scaling. Each athlete’s scaling must be approved by a coach and then upheld for the week. Any reps which are further scaled will not be counted. These must be FULL INVERSION. No Wall Kicks or Wall Climbs allowed.
Here’s the thing. I don’t really do “tumbling towards a wall” well. I don’t do cartwheels, and I can’t see the wall let alone six inches in front of my face if I take off my glasses. So I spent the first half of the week assuming that I’d just be that jerk letting down my team mates.
I woke up in the morning, and I was sick for a second day in a row with a killer headache and a low fever. But I decided to go into the gym anyway. I wasn’t aching, it was a strength day at the gym (low cardio), and my plan was to take it easy. In the past, I’ve found that breaking a sweat tends to actually break my fever, so I crossed my fingers and prayed.
When I got into the gym, I was a hot mess. I didn’t feel weak but my headache was miserable.
Strength
A. Push Press – 8 min. to establish a 1 rep max (I took it easy, and only worked up to 70#)
Rest 5 min.
B. Deadlift – 8 min. to establish a heavy set of 3 (Good set @ 135. Not so good at 155. Won’t count it!)
Rest 5 min.
WOD: “The Legend”
21-15-9 reps of:
Unbroken Thruster 95/65 (I scaled to 35#)
Unbroken KBS 1.5/1 (I scaled to Russian Swings – only to eye level instead of over the head.)
*Rest as needed between sets. The sets MUST be unbroken, if you break a set you have to drop and do 10 burpees AND start the movement from scratch. Don’t break, this is a mental game and we don’t want to see massive underscaling to complete quickly. This should be your “usual” scaling.
Result: 13:36. Sweating, miserable… and fever broken! Never have I been so happy to finish!
And suddenly? Just as it came, the headache was gone. Except in it’s place? Insanity. In the next hour, I hung around with a patient group of folks, attempting to make it into a handstand. An hour… of just falling towards the wall. Over, and over and over again. An hour of slamming my palms down on the ground because I didn’t quite get that you could do this smoothly and efficiently. An hour of my glasses flinging themselves off enough times that I finally gave up and prayed that I’d be able to attempt this feat semi-blind. Until suddenly. I GOT IT. And I got it again. And dear sweet lord I was doing handstand pushups. And knocked out 50, because, for once in my life I had surprised myself so much that sheer ecstasy was fueling each rep. So now I pretty much have no excuses left in life… because I. can. do. handstand. pushups. I’m not really sure what is happening here, but I’m guessing that it’s a good thing.
* * *
Okay, enough about that. This is a food blog. I assure you that I’ve been doing some good eating. When I got home from my morning adventures, I set about making this lunch. In the middle of the night, I had filled my Crockpot with beef shanks, garlic, peppers, onions and spices and then let it go through mid morning. By lunch, I fished things out, and mixed my falling apart shanks and vegetables with some leftover Rao’s tomato sauce.
In the afternoon, I realized that I hadn’t had my coffee, and that I’d really like a small cup. I drank about half – for me, the act of making the cup of coffee, the aroma, and clutching the cup with warm hands is often more important than the coffee itself. This is probably an expensive habit given all of the overpriced coffee I drink, but I’m unapologetic.
At night, I met up with a high school friend for tea at Porter Square Books – a bookstore/cafe hybrid that is one of my favorite places in this city. This may have been the first time I’ve been there without leaving with half a dozen new things to read – but we were too busy catching up to browse.
By the time I headed home it was dark and too late to cook – so I headed to Super Fusion II to pick up Japanese food! After a month of craving our favorite takeout, I finally caved, and indulged in a big plate of sashimi – tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and scallops, over an extra portion of daikon. Instead of soy sauce, I used my own coconut aminos.
I wish I could end this here, but I have a blasphemous admission. After a few bites of some really excellent sashimi, I realized that what I really wanted was warm food. So I did the inconceivable – I took my fish into the kitchen, seasoned each piece with salt and pepper, and seared them off. And that’s my dinner plate – some mighty good fish.
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 2, 2012 | Challenge, Local stores, Running
October 1st. Before we go on, please click this excellent piece from McSweeney’s about decorative gourds, and read it when you are done with my rambling. Or you can just go ahead and read it now. Yes, go ahead, I’ll wait.
Today I took several quite excellent morning still life shots of my coffee, my banana and my morning reading. Without the memory card in my camera. The last time this happened was when I sat with my mother to divvy up the first installment of our Year of Beans from Rancho Gordo. Hundreds of beautiful shots that exist only in my own memory.
To console myself, I headed out on a morning run. My almost always trusty Garmin was having trouble with the overcast sky reading satellites, so I started the timer without the gps, and turned on my Runkeeper app on my phone. Almost as soon as I headed out, I got a call from my mom who was on the way to buy new sneakers at one of my favorite running shops. Having never actually run while talking on the phone, I was surprised to find out that this was a good way to pass the time, and that my Runkeeper app worked beautifully coaching me as I chatted away. Until, of course, my phone just shut off completely. Upgrading to a new phone is looking more and more exciting.
Fortunately, I had arrived at Heartbreak Hill Running Company, which was almost exactly 2 miles away. I stood outside drinking from their igloo cooler for runners, and then wandered in to pick out something to reward myself with when I complete my very first 10k on Monday! New shoes? A foam roller? Cold-weather gear? I haven’t decided.
Speaking of heartbreak, I noticed this on my way back. This is spray painted on someone’s driveway. Actually, I don’t even want to talk about it. I’ll say this – I may have never been so excited for the start of basketball season in my life.
My run ended up being 4 miles in just over 45 minutes, and an extra half mile of walking in order to get the 30 consecutive minutes on my Runkeeper to make my gym-pact.
Lunch ended up being extra good. I seasoned some fresh ham steak (from M.F. Dulock) with salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence, heated up some roasted butternut squash, and served it with a salad of mixed baby greens and lemon juice. It took 10 minutes to put together, and felt mighty fancy.
In the evening, Devon and I had a date night at Target. This is a close second to our other favorite date – IKEA. Except IKEA has Swedish meatballs, dollar cones, and sofas we can sit on and pretend we are relaxing in our own home on. There we were, milling about minding our own business… Romance! And then I saw this:
I mean, I thought I’d seen it all before. “Lose 20 by New Years!” , “Lose 10 pounds this month!” but 47 pounds by Thanksgiving? I feel like we all have to say a collective prayer for humanity.
For the record, after having a near tantrum of disgust in the store, I went home to look up this magazine, and I found this on their Facebook page. “FIRST for Women is a national consumer magazine that delivers positive info on everything from health and nutrition to beauty and fitness to home and family. Look for it at the grocery store checkout and in superstores like Walmart.” I call bull-shit.
Moving on to happier things. Like this dinner.
Ground beef with cumin, chile, a tomato, and some zucchini/garlic/tomato/onion from the Whole Foods salad bar again topped with some tomatillo salsa I picked up at Trader Joe’s. I ate mine with half an avocado, and Devon got his with some re-fried beans.
After dinner we lounged around watching Breaking Amish on TLC, and reading before bed. I won’t lie, after assuming that this series would be exploitative and cringe-worthy, I’ve found myself impressed by what seem to be a bunch of (mostly) thoughtful and likeable young men and women tackling big life questions. On that note, remember when the Real World used to be a good show on MTV? It’s been a while.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 30, 2012 | Challenge
This morning after CrossFit, I made myself a big breakfast of banana and nut butter, eggs with zucchini and pancetta, and a steaming mug of gingerbread coffee. And I sat down to read my gorgeous copy of Nigel Slater’s new Kitchen Diaries II. I’m in love!
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s talk about morning workouts.
After blowing off yesterday’s workout because of the weather, this morning my mission was to head out to CrossFit whether I wanted to or not. And when I woke up to yet another wet dreary day, I sure didn’t want to. But I went anyway.
Today’s workout was “Kelly” – 5 rounds for time: 400 meter run, 30 Box Jumps (literally just jumping on a box), and 30 Wall Balls (squatting and then throwing a weighted ball many feet above you into the air to hit a line on the wall). The prescribed workout for women was using a 20 inch box for box jumps, and a 14 pound ball for wall balls. I came to class today exhausted, so I decided to scale things. I did step-ups on an 18 inch box, and used a 10 pound wall ball. There was a 35 minute time cap, it was raining, and people were miserable. I made it through three rounds, a run and step ups.
My favorite moment of the workout was when I passed a fellow gym-mate in the rain as I was dying, and he yelled out, “This is terrible! Great job!!” Nothing like a little bit of commiseration to get through a hard workout. Although I didn’t get to five rounds, at the end, I managed to finish up my final set of wall balls after the clock finished, making it 4 rounds, done.
In the late afternoon, I had a snack of roasted carrots and parsnips, and headed out for a walk.
I’ve been taking many different routes in the past few months trying to explore new places. Today’s walk took me down to the Charles, walking through puddles in the street waiting for the sun to peek out at me. It was beautiful. Here are some of my favorite shots of the afternoon.
Puddle jumping.
New paint jobs.
Preparing for winter.
And this gorgeous pathway.
When I came home, I put together a quick dinner: pork stir fry with pineapple and cashews. I seasoned the pork with salt and pepper, added some chopped ginger, a stir fry sauce of five spice powder, chile flakes, coconut aminos, fish sauce, and some vinegar. Then I added a few cups of pineapple until they were warm, and tossed in some raw cashews. Simple and sweet!
I had mine over a big bowl of cauliflower. No dessert tonight, but we’ve been watching backlogged episodes of Doctor Who because I apparently missed the fact that the *new season* has been airing. Thank goodness for BBC America and On Demand.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 28, 2012 | Challenge, Running, Seafood
Lately this middle of the night thinking has been getting me into trouble. Last week, before running my very first 5k, my aunt suggested that I should run the Tufts 10k – she had run it a few years back, and loved the camaraderie (all women!) and the very flat course.
10k? 6.2 miles? Me? Ludicrous. Insane.
And then I woke up in the middle of the night yesterday and thought to myself… Can I do it? I bet I can do it. But… can I really do it? This went on for about two hours, until I had sufficiently sleep deprived myself by the morning to become irrational enough to attempt this feat.
I set myself a goal. I’d run it slowly and comfortably, with a target of 75 minutes, about a 12 minute mile pace, including regular walk breaks. If I finished in that amount of time, and didn’t feel like death at the end, I’d sign up immediately for the race. My idea was, if I can do it well, I can shave 8-10 or more minutes off my time on race day, based solely on the energy of the crowd, and I’d have a time I was happy with.
My second goal was to see if I could run without music or a podcast. I’d never done this before, and was half-convinced that I’d not be able to make it listening to the sound of my own footsteps.
So I set about running. The race course is beautiful – you start at the common, run down Beacon towards the Mass. Ave. bridge, head over the river, run down Mem. Drive one way, and then the other, come back over the bridge and then down Comm. Ave. back to the park. I altered the course slightly to avoid crossing too many major streets, but this is what it looks like on the map.
I ran, and ran, and ran. Slowly.
The first mile I could feel the banana and nut butter from breakfast. I breathed through the stitch, and slowed down some more.
My splits were 11:42, 12:20, 13:01, 13:56, 13:12, and 12:59, although each of these included a few minute long walk breaks, and a few stops at streetlights to avoid getting run over by a car. I made it to mile 5 without music, at which point I put on a podcast because I was a little bit bored with the “Can I do it?… I guess I can do it? … I’m doing it!” loop in my head. At the end I finished not in my goal of 75 minutes, but in 80.
So that was it I thought, I’ll just wait until I get faster. Maybe the end of the fall.
And then I thought about it.
I just ran 6.2 miles. That’s about 3.1 miles more than I was doing before.
My body isn’t distraught. My legs feel…fine.
Why the hell wouldn’t I run in this race? Because I don’t think I’ll run it fast enough?
Bad excuse, Sam.
This is how people miss out in life, assuring themselves that they’ll do it at some point in the future. Why not do it now, when I already know that I can do it?
So… the moral of the story is, I’m now registered to run my first official 10k race. In 9 days. It was nice knowing you.
After tackling my adventure, I grabbed myself an iced tea at Starbucks (right by the Make Way For Ducklings!) before heading back home. This tea might be the worst vice I have going on right now.
Lunch was a salad of my favorite Trader Joe’s product: sardines in olive oil! I made a huge plate of spinach, sardines, bell pepper, carrots, avocado and homemade mayo, with a good squeeze of lemon.
For dinner, a friend mentioned that I had eaten beef the past three meals in a row. I wouldn’t notice these things if not for the blog (I had to go back and check), so I went to the store and picked up some Dover Sole. I love fish but forget how easy it is to make. I cooked this simply in some olive oil, with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and some Turkish fish seasoning from Formaggio Kitchen, which as far as I know contains sumac, rosemary, peppercorns, and some other mystery spices. It goes great on pretty much everything.
Because it was late, sides came from the Whole Foods salad bar – mashed potatoes for Devon, and butternut squash and Italian zucchini for me. Here’s my dinner:
Because I was still hungry, I inhaled a spoonful of coconut butter as my “dessert”. Virtuous, I know. After dinner we watched the final episode of Top Chef Masters, where my very favorite contestant won the show. Well, well deserved! I was thrilled!
Have you done something ludicrous lately?
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 26, 2012 | Blogging, Books, Challenge, Lists
A few thoughts on list-making. When I read, I make lists. When I walk in the woods, I make lists. I think best in lists. God forbid I find myself without a pen, because I’ll get downright cranky. Perhaps that’s why I dislike long showers. I fear that I’ll forget those small flashes of thought that tend to flicker through my head as my eyes are shut and the water rushes down my face.
And then there is the joy of choosing what to write your list on. I have lists on my computer, on a whiteboard by the side of my bed, but physical tactile lists are undeniably the best. My uncle, who I should note has particularly fine taste, has his own monogrammed mini note pads that fit in his wallet and he carries around at all times. I have notebooks big and small. My favorite, usually, is my smallest moleskine, which has a pocket to keep the lists that didn’t make it in the book and were scribbled on the back of an old envelope, receipt, or library slip.
There is little I like better than writing my lists, except perhaps, reading other people’s lists. I have much to thank my friend Kassie for over the years, but I owe her the biggest debt of gratitude for introducing me to Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings, filled with the lists of creative people throughout history. If you’d like to procrastinate, click on that link.
This was the banana that I ate directly following my morning workout. I headed to CrossFit with trepidation. We’d be working on three things that I’m not good at: pull-ups, hang squat snatches, and toes to bar. One of my biggest challenges with CrossFit has been keeping a positive attitude when I’m not good at something. When you’ve lived your life competing with over-achievers, accepting that you are not good at something takes some effort.
But I’ve surprised myself at how quickly I’ve found joy from my progress at the gym, tackling new challenges that seem insurmountable. Each day I learn something new, I become both physically and mentally stronger, and this keeps me coming back week after week. These days I’ve been coming and going with a smile on my face.
Tuesday WOD 9/25/12
Strength
A. Back Squat – 6 Sets of 4 @ 80% of your 1 rep max, rest 2:30 between sets (20 min. cap total)
B. Strict Weighted Pull-up – 8 minutes to a heavy set of 3 reps (if you can’t do them, practice pull-ups and kipping for your TTB)
WOD (workout of the day): “Black Bart”
AMRAP 8 Ladder of 2,4,6,8, etc.
Hang Squat Snatch 95/65
Toe To Bar
This was not an easy day for me. My two rep max is 95, and although I hadn’t found my one rep max, Coach E determined that I’d work with 80 pounds for my back squat. I’ve been working on keeping my heels down, sticking my butt out, and squatting down low. I felt good at the end of my sets, gaining confidence that I’m building up muscle. I definitely can go heavier.
And then came the pullups. Up until now I’ve been doing jump-ups standing on a 24 inch box to jump up over the bar. Today, we pulled out the green band. Three pullups no problem. (I surprised myself here). And then the blue band (less resistance) – three more down (huh…) . The red? Okay, so I got one. But now I know that I can do this.
After our strength we had our WOD. My technique on my lifts could use some work, so I ended up dropping the weight down to 35#. Because I have to learn how to hang properly on the rig, I ended up with knee raises instead of toes to bar. Toes to bar is infinitely more difficult than when I was six and could do it easily. I think I need more time on the playground. Result? In eight minutes I got past the 8’s and 3 lifts in.
(Black Bart, for the record, is one of my favorite outlaws. He was a poet, and would leave verses at crime scenes!)
“I’ve labored long and hard for bread,
For honor, and for riches,
But on my corns too long you’ve tread,
You fine-haired sons of bitches.”
When I came home, I made myself this superbly good bowl of leftover beef stew. Having eaten all the meat off our marrow bones the night before, I cooked up some crumbled fresh sausage from the butcher shop and then heated up the leftover carrots and braise. I topped it all with some fresh parsley and lemon zest, and it was positively the best thing I’ve eaten in weeks. Recipe coming in the next day or so as soon as Yom Kippur is over and I can post my notes without this rumbling hunger. {Edited: recipe here!}
In the afternoon, I was craving something sweet, but decided that I’d make myself a treat for the evening – Chai Chia Pudding. I pulled out my favorite Masala Chai from Samovar, heated up a cup of coconut milk on the stove, and steeped a tablespoon of tea in the milk as it warmed.
After about 5 minutes, I took the creamy tea-milk off the stove, and stirred in about a quarter cup of chia seeds. The seeds expand in the milk and make a gelatinous pudding. Typically I’d add a spoonful of honey to sweeten it, but I’ve been strict about no added sweeteners this month, and the warm spices are enough to satisfy me lately. I put it in the fridge to cool down for later.
In the early evening I took my walk before Devon came home from work, just as the sun was setting. Just as I was coming home, I stumbled upon the IKEA drawer set I used to own (and loved) standing in someone’s front yard. I rushed home to get my car, drove over, and spent 15 minutes attempting to lift the thing by myself (not a problem now!), until I finally had to give up because there was no way it was going to fit in my tiny Volvo.
I headed to the store, silently praying it’d be there when Devon got back with the Tucson. It was not. You can’t win them all.
I did however win with dinner. I picked up a single packet of pre-cooked organic “love beets” at the store. Because I’m the only one around here who eats beets, this is the perfect convenience. I chopped my beets up and dressed them with cumin, coriander, salt and vinegar. I then set about cooking some grass fed beef with peppers and a tomato. Finally, I chopped up an avocado, heated up some spinach, and made myself this delightfully colorful plate:
Devon got his with refried beans, and we sat together and ate happily. For dessert, I ate my chia pudding, and we watched Bourdain’s Sydney episode before falling asleep way too early to admit.
