Weekending

by | Nov 17, 2013 | Meal Planning, Races

Racing, healing, cooking, reading, adventuring… a weekend the way I like to do it.

Here’s some advice: you should choose your wellness professionals based on their canine office companions. This is dear sweet Momo. Her mom helped me today with my hip flexors, back, and posture. She helped me today with her wagging, licking, and kisses. Frenchie kisses!  Oh goodness, I really, really need a dog.

Yesterday, after the better part of four days spent sick in the house, I ventured out to run the Spartan Time Trial at Fenway with some adventurous members of the RunKeeper team. I knew that it was going to be rough given that I was feeling sick before we even started the race, but as a Sox fan, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to race through 20 obstacles at Fenway Park.

Here’s us, minus Bram, who was taking the picture.

In a nutshell: we burpee-d, climbed over (and under, and through) many walls, bear crawled, farmers-carried two very heavy water jugs down and up a set of stairs, jump roped with heavy ropes, did pushups in the Red Sox locker room!!, hopped on an erg for a sub 2:00 500, jumped up stairs, med ball tossed, climbed across walls, attempted rope climbs, climbed across monkey bars, hoisted a weight to the roof, attempted a javelin toss, ran through the entire stadium and the green monster seats, climbed a cargo net, box jumped, did many, many more burpees, and fought our way to the finish.

This may have been my slowest 5k, and I may have felt like death for most of it, but it certainly was one of the most fun! We finished in 1:14 – the mileage is off, because a good part of the course was indoors. (I started the timer a few minutes early so I could stick my phone…into a sock and into my spibelt to make sure that I didn’t accidentally destroy it on the course.) What I do for tracking!

A good part of the rest of the weekend was spent reading, and cooking. Here’s what I made this afternoon. (Not pictured – the Crescent Ridge Egg Nog I poured into my aeropress coffee.)

The Sunday Cook-up:

Three meals for the week, and some extra roasted vegetables. I’ll be out both Thursday and Friday, so there was less to cook! I still have a fourth meal to think about, but it’s likely going to be some quick fish. Or maybe some soup from the freezer.

:: Meatballs in mustard, beef broth and cream sauce, with a salad and crescent rolls.

:: Braised chicken with shallots, pancetta, cannelini beans, and parsnips. Finished with a swig of marsala.

:: Sausage with pancetta, baby potatoes, and brussels sprouts.

:: Roasted parsnips (coconut oil, salt, and pepper.)

Happy week, everyone!

Mmm… butter!

by | Nov 16, 2013 | Baking, Pantry Staples

I broke down and got this. Straus butter. Cost me an arm and a leg around here, but I had a serious hankering – nostalgia butter, is that a thing? Now what should I do with it?

The plague of no good delivery.

by | Nov 15, 2013 | Uncategorized

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This is what I really wanted for dinner: the Shack Burger from Shake Shack.

I’ve now been in the house since Tuesday night. I haven’t been shopping, I haven’t left for air, I’ve barely even cracked a window. And worse — I haven’t managed to make it out to Trader Joes for samples, which, I usually can muster the energy for in any situation. In fact, I haven’t been eating much at home in my sickly state, which is pretty much the opposite of my usual infirm behaviors.

Tonight I pined for Shake Shack, but it seemed much too much of an ordeal to head over there. And then there was the delivery options, or lack of them.

After ruling out Shake Shack, I started craving Chinese delivery, Americanized takeout box style – crab Rangoon and dumplings and roasted pork, and hot and sour soup and moo shi, and scallion pancakes and something sticky and sugary and meaty, which is to say, nothing like I’d actually order when I head to a Chinese restaurant – mostly I like piles of Chinese greens, soups, and things decidedly healthier than I was going for tonight.

But the options around here, are limited. The handful of places had Yelp reviews so awful that I couldn’t turn a blind eye.

And then it started getting closer and closer to the witching hour – 9:40, 9:50, 10:00 – and suddenly we’d made it past the hour of decent places, and onto the 10 thousand reviews of the place that closes at 2 am – a barely 2 star establishment on Yelp, which is to say – not quite what I had in mind.

And then the clock kept ticking, and I thought, desperately, one more time: Shake Shack? It’s not too late for Shake Shack? And then I remembered that the house was warm, and I haven’t left since Tuesday… And I might as well just go to bed. So tonight, that’s what I’m going to do.

We can’t win them all.