by Sam Tackeff | Aug 22, 2013 | Barbecue, Blogging, Food Travel, Meal Planning, Travel
It’s Thursday already, and I feel like the week is escaping me. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about writing and running – and how it helps to break up both into small increments, and it’s better if you only write a paragraph or run a single mile than none at all. On the running front, I’ve started a new 28 day streak to kick off the beginning of a long race season. At the beginning of summer I did a streak from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July, and I made it to the penultimate day, after which I pretty much sat on rear unapologetically. I find that it’s a heck of a lot easier to head out when I know that I “have to”. Before we discuss this week’s meal plan, here are some photos from a few weeks ago, from my trip out to North Conway. It was especially beautiful out there.
For nearly four days we were surrounded by mountains, rivers, and streams in Hale’s Location. (The smallest town in New Hampshire, and the first town to vote in the national election!) Alison and I hiked through the woods, headed up Cathedral Ledge, looked over to Echo Lake. We went on long drives, took photos of trains, visited popped into the wacky Zeb’s General Store, and browsed the shelves at White Birch Books. I had a great Cortado at Frontside Grind – a new coffee shop of note in the area. And we shopped at the outlets, which, I should let you know, includes a Brookstone outlet. I had to hold myself back from emptying my entire wallet. Those massage chairs at steep discounts? Mhmm? You know the ones. The men, on the other hand, were cooped up in the house recording all weekend. They did manage to accompany us one evening to the Ben & Jerry’s in North Conway, where we pulled up at the same time as a summer camp bus. The Coconut 7 Layer Bar Ice Cream was worth the annoyance. Also. Middle Schoolers these days. I think I’m old, because seriously the short length on those kids was scandalous.
And then, of course, there was food. Massive, massive amounts of food. I took very few photos of food, possibly because we were surrounded by it constantly, and health went out the window. At some point I became deeply ashamed at how many Trader Joe’s mushroom turnovers and mini pot pies I consumed. There was Sicilian pizza from Elvio’s, croissants for breakfast, and elaborate sandwich spreads for lunch. Saturday we made dinner on the grill – hamburgers, hot dogs, baby potatoes, asparagus and corn. We made s’mores in the fire pit, and then the next morning there was warm fresh cornbread, biscuits, bacon and eggs. Monday morning we had pancakes, waffles, more eggs, ham, and bacon. And then there were pounds of food left, and we ate leftovers for days.
Coming home, I was craving kale like nobody’s business, and I’ve been stuffing myself with nutrient-packed meals for the past few weeks to recover.
This week’s meal plan includes home cooked meals every day this week, in preparation for a weekend in New York for the wedding (including three separate events!). Of course, Monday, our “home cooked meal” ended up being takeout Vietnamese food from Pho So 1 Boston in Randolph, after having to make a late night trip to IKEA to purchase three ceiling lamps for the electrician to put in the kitchen. Wait, that’s right, I now have THREE lights in my kitchen. That, I swear, is momentous. Not only can I take photographs of food at night now that don’t look horrific… I can probably have guests. Before now, the table in the kitchen was pretty much in darkness past 6 p.m.
:: Turkey Kofte (Turkish meatballs), with a big green salad with tomato, cucumber and avocado. Usually Sunday night is my seafood night, but my planned crab salad went out the window when the grocery stores were seemingly out of everything.
:: Orange-Mustard Baked Chicken Thighs. Loosely adapted from ‘Dinner, a Love Story‘, by Jenny Rosenstrach. Chicken thighs baked with a sauce of marmalade and mustard. Served with steamed broccoli.
:: Cumin Lamb Chops with Carrot Salad and Stewed Zucchini. Well, it’ll be cumin if I feel like it. The other option will be just lightly seasoned with salt, and topped with a vibrant salsa verde.
:: Wednesday Beans and Greens. I like the idea of having stand-by theme nights such as “taco night”, or “fish night” (Sunday) to help take the stress out of constructing a meal.
:: Creamy Tomato Chicken with Basil. Another dinner adapted from ‘Dinner, a Love Story‘, by Jenny Rosenstrach.
:: Crab Salad with Avocado, Tomato, Basil and Lemon Vinaigrette. This was supposed to be Sunday’s dinner – I even got a perfectly ripe avocado for the occasion, but alas I was thwarted. We usually have Friday night dinner out, but we will be staying in this week.
And Fitness? This week I’m going to be kicking it up into gear. I have several fall races coming up, including a 200 mile relay in less than three weeks, and I haven’t been doing a lot of running in the past three weeks, so I’ll be adding back in my daily mile, at minimum. This is a good excuse to build on my running. [The three miles of walking on weekdays is my usual their and back commute walk.]
Monday: 3 mile walk + mile run
Tuesday: 3 mile walk + evening stroll/mile run
Wednesday: 3 mile walk, CrossFit Olympic Lifting Class + mile run
Thursday: 3 mile walk + mile run
Friday: 3 mile walk + running
Saturday: Off – Mike + Keren’s Wedding (although, I’ll be walking in New York)
Sunday: Off – Mike + Keren’s Wedding
by Sam Tackeff | Aug 12, 2013 | Books, Fitness, Meal Planning, Random
Meal planning again – I really do look so forward to this process. Usually, the beginning of my weekends are spent curled up with a new cookbook, reading it from cover to cover by Saturday afternoon, meal planning for the week, shopping and prep cooking on Sunday. This weekend I was totally swept up reading Naomi Duguid’s fabulous Burma: Rivers of Flavor – the ultimate armchair vacation cookbook.
On Saturday I set to work making a little list of what was left in my fridge that I wanted to use up: asparagus, baby spinach, ham, cucumbers, two zucchini, coconut milk, feta, bacon, beets, basil succotash, basil oil, brussels sprouts, Anson Mills rice, eggs, carrots, avocado and tomatoes. Of course there are plenty of bits and bobs, sauces, condiments, and probably things in the way back of the fridge that I just haven’t noticed for a while – all fair game too. And then my pantry is stocked for the apocalypse, so I like to build upon the fresh stuff, but sometimes pantry goods get the starring role in the meal.
When I went to the store, I tried to pick up some meat, some fruit for the week, things to round out my lunches, pantry staples I was running out of: sardines, Red Boat fish sauce, an extra avocado. And by store, well, that’s a lie, we all know that I have a problem. “Store” is more like, three or four or five stores. By choice. For pleasure. Sometimes I stop by Trader Joe’s just for the sample first, you know, to clear my mind. Then I’ll head to Russo’s in Watertown to see if they have Chip-In eggs (they didn’t), or interesting peak produce. Then to Whole Foods for Sunday night fish and an olive sample and a little cup of bionically filtered water, and Trader Joe’s again (to see if they have the free range organic chicken thighs that I eat a lot of (they did.) And another sample.
So here’s what I came up with, accounting for a few days that we’ll likely be eating out because of our super late schedule:
:: Grilled Blue Fish, Mashed Potatoes, and Asparagus with Mustard Vinaigrette. I try to do fish every Sunday if I can because I know that I’ll be able to cook it right when I get home, and usually it’s a quick bet after an afternoon of prep cooking.
:: Saucy Spiced Meat & Potato. This one is from the Burma cookbook. It’s sort of like a spiced stew with ground beef (actually, reminds me a lot of sloppy joe mix.) and I’m not quite sure what I’ll pair it with yet – a big mess of sautéed spinach, and likely a simple salad. I think it suggests an okra/shallot stir-fry in the book, which would be nice, but I don’t have okra.
:: B.L.A.T. Salad. Yep, bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato salad. The feta might go in here too. And beets on the side.
:: Burmese Grilled Chicken. Also from Burma – chicken with an exciting! marinade of ginger, turmeric, garlic, chile, and fish sauce. I’d bathe myself in Red Boat fish sauce… I’ll probably pair this with a quick pickled cucumber salad.
:: Ham & Cheese Omelette. I have leftover ham. And leftover cheddar with hatch chiles (sucker purchase after eating a sample). And eggs that are a little old, but not too old, that I really want to use up. And I like to channel my French side in the summer time. On the side some stewed zucchini, tomato, and garlic, and a side salad. Ooh la la!
:: Coconut Rice Pudding. I have rice, coconut milk, and some delicious Nielsen–Massey Organic Fairtrade Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract that was sent to me to try out for my blog. (Really good timing, P.R. folks – I usually make my own, and I’ve just run out of a large batch that had lasted for months.) I really love Thai mango sticky rice, so I might do some sort of play on that.
And fitness? There’s plenty of that too:
The three miles of walking on weekdays is my usual their and back commute walk. Our evening strolls are walks, although this week we’ve been adding in some running intervals. These aren’t always what I end up doing, but I find that if I schedule out my workouts, I’m more likely to commit to doing them.
Monday: 3 mile walk + 6 mile slow run
Tuesday: 3 mile walk + evening stroll
Wednesday: 3 mile walk, CrossFit Olympic Lifting Class
Thursday: 3 mile walk
Friday: 3 mile walk+ evening stroll
Saturday: CrossFit (or day off)
Sunday: CrossFit Class + Open Platform
What’s on your plate this week? Also, for those of you who have Burma, have you cooked from it? I have lots of notes, but I’m not sure what to tackle next…
by Sam Tackeff | Jun 16, 2013 | Meal Planning, Restaurants, Shopping
A Sunday night with no new Game of Thrones? What will we do? Oh, that’s right, the new season of True Blood starts tonight. Thank goodness for HBO. It’s been quite a long week, but this weekend I spent some time busying myself around the house, plenty of time out doors, and eating a few special meals out. On Friday night we had our usual Friday night dinner date at the Cottage. I went for the chicken tortilla soup, and a side of mashed potatoes. I don’t know. It was cold, a little rainy, and I just really wanted mashed potatoes. Potato police, just leave me alone.
Last night, we ended up at Gustazo in Belmont, for a Cuban dinner. We shared pork chicharrón with guacamole and mango salsa, Devon had the churrasco steak with chimichurri, and I went for the picadillo – ground beef with stuffed olives, tomato, topped with a fried egg, with buttery rice and sweet fried plantains. And then there was dessert. Gustazo has no liquor license (b.y.o.b.), but my goodness do they have good coffee. I went with the Cafe Bonbon – the Cuban equivalent of Vietnamese coffee, strong espresso with sweetened condensed milk – and the flan con coco. “That’s one hell of a flan!” Devon said to me, and I’d have to agree. Not too sweet, and the absolute perfect quivering creamy texture.
To balance these meals, I’ve been an active bee. Last week I mentioned my participation in the Runner’s World Summer Running Streak – I’ve really been enjoying the momentum that running a mile a day gives me – it eliminates the stress of choice, and I’m just so excited to get out and run. It’s also given me confidence to run longer distances – a few weeks ago I ran the Newton 10k and PR’d, and yesterday I ran the Heartbreak Hill Running Company’s Firehouse 10-miler. 10 miles – that’s a good 4 miles longer than I’ve ever run before. I wouldn’t say that I trained for it, but the goal was just to run and finish, and finish I did. (Actually 10.88 miles. We got a little bit lost.)
Here’s a snapshot of last week in fitness:
Sunday: Kayaking on Lake Waban, 1 mile run + 2 mile walk on the Charles
Monday: 3 miles of walking (to and from work), + mile run
Tuesday: Rest day (drove to work) + mile run (in rain boots!)
Wednesday: 4 miles of walking + mile run (in flip flops!)
Thursday: 2 miles of walking, mile run (in the pouring rain!)
Friday: Mile run, work meeting walk (with a work dog!)
Saturday: Firehouse 10 miler! (10.88 miles)
Sunday: 1 mile run, an hour of Open Platform at CrossFit
The Meal Plan: Meal planning! I still do that. Except when I don’t. Lots of comfort food for this week, because I set off to the store without actually planning out my meals or consulting any one of my million cookbooks. Today I ended up at four grocery stores to get everything I wanted. Well, actually, I wanted matcha and glutinous rice flour to make these, but I couldn’t find the rice flour at any of the four stores, and I didn’t really feel like spending $20 on sub-par matcha. First stop was Russo’s, then a brief pit-stop at Stop & Shop, specifically for some Goya Black Bean soup, because, while it isn’t particularly healthy, I crave it enough that I cave in once and a while. And man, the entire Goya aisle makes me tingly and excited. Then Trader Joes, because, even if I don’t need anything at Trader Joe’s, I always need a sample. And finally Whole Foods, because on Sunday night I like to get some good fish for dinner.
Sunday: Copper River Sockeye salmon, black bean soup, rice, and avocado.
Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs (i.e.: convenience food from Russo’s), and tomato basil salad.
Tuesday: Shakshuka (a.k.a. Eggs in Purgatory) with feta and salad
Wednesday: Pancetta, peas and orzo (from Nigelissima)
Thursday: Turkey chili with cheddar dogs and fried egg
Friday: Out to dinner
See that crispy salmon skin? Nobody ever wants to eat it except for me. What will you be eating this week?
Have a great Monday everyone!
