Carrot an Apple Juice

I started my 4th of July with an interval run and some carrot and apple juice. Maybe that will break my current phase of wanting to eat everything in sight (yesterday was anothet disastrous snacking at the office day).

I bought a juicer about 2 weeks ago after wanting one for a long time. My dad always made carrot and apple juice for our weekend breakfasts, and I’m going to continue that tradition with my own family. I will be just as insistant as he was that my kids should drink it right away to get all the nutrients and annoy them with talk about how good carrots are for your eyes.

One secret tip he taught me: add a little bit of olive oil to your glass for extra energy and to bind the nutrients!

I used a medium-sized bag of organic carrots and two small, organic apples.

Happy fourth!

A Case of the Summers

Woah, I’ve apparently been on a blogging hiatus for a whole week now. That’s mostly because our kitchen hasn’t been its usual self, as in a place of inspiration, but rather a battlefield of take-out boxes and dirty dishes. You know how it is – a trip out of town, an unpleasant stomach virus, and a crazy work schedule can do quite a bit of damage. Plus, it’s June, my absolute favorite month of the year, and I’m having a hard time following routines and pursuing long-term goals right now. I want to be outside, soaking up the sun, smelling the freshness everywhere, and living in the moment.

To add to all that, we’re going out of town again this Wednesday on a driving trip to the Carolinas. I’ve never been and am excited to add four new states to my list of currently 39 – Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. We’re meeting grad school friends in Wilmington for a conference and also just vacationing. I can’t wait to swim in the warm Atlantic. Also, I have some great vegan/vegetarian restaurants I’m eying up for eating, so the blog will thrive off this trip as well.

Right now, I’m sitting on our balcony enjoying this perfect, non-humid Monday night with a glass of red wine, not thinking about much of anything. So here are some pictures I did manage to take in the last week.

I made this quickie spinach salad to eat next to sick Dave last week. We watched “The Wave” on Netflix while I ate – seriously a movie you should watch, and I’m not just saying that because it’s German.

Quinoa spinach salad I made for our Memorial Day cook-out with friends. Here is the recipe. The dressing is amazing.

Memorial Day dinner. I’ve been eating meat again outside of home on occasion, which I have mixed feelings about. My desire to avoid it has taken ethical dimensions as well as health-related ones, so eating it doesn’t make me feel great. I think I need to get over the need to put a label on my diet and just be happy that I have very healthy habits 95% of the time. We shall see.

Dave and I roasting marshmallows for our Memorial Day s’mores.

Oh, and the best of all: our friend Mark makes the best cocktails – this one had rum, coke, crushed basil, and maybe other things.

Dave’s mid-week dinner creation: Barley soup. Really good and really well-spiced.

Thursday night, we had dinner at Gigi’s, a restaurant in our neighborhood that’s trying to be up-scale, but failing, while we still appreciate its tappas menu and outdoor seating. For desert, we split a pear crisp with vanilla ice cream. Quite delightful.

Friday night, Dave made green bean casserole. On the balcony, paired with a wheat ale, it made for the perfect weekend starter.

Saturday breakfast. I felt like I had to compensate Dave for coming on a 3-mile run with me. Poor guy, his allergies were really kicking in, and he was sneezing all the way through. Claritin to the rescue (at least until we find a more natural remedy)! I made coffee, scrambled eggs in almond milk, avo slices, and toasted whole wheat bread with Daiya Cheeze, tomato slices, and scallions.

After breakfast, Saturday was all about the lake, reading, and soaking up the sun. At nearly 90 degrees, we also needed some good sunblock. But regardless, the 3ish hours we spent here, swimming, playing Yahtzee, and relaxing were glorious.

Sunday breakfast: banana pancakes with Earth Balance and Pennsylvania maple syrup. I also made some crepes-like creations, which I rolled around Nutella and ate without prioritizing photography.

Today’s lunch (vegetarian wrap and sweet potato fries), courtesy of my co-worker, which we ate while working through lunch-hour during a 9-hour collaborative excel project in the conference room. Fun times!

I have been sticking to my summer work-out routine every day, which has been especially fun due to my new Asics.

Such great colors. I’m doing a 3-mile run one day and an interval run with weight lifting interspersed on the next. Friday is rest day. Dave has come to my last three work-outs. Yesterday, he challenged me to competitive interval sprints and I lost every time. How does this guy never exercise and still beat me like that?

Breakfast and a Book

It has happened – Dave has now contracted my flu and is down with a fever and stomach cramps. It’s been quite the week around here. I finally felt better on Saturday, and then Sunday he started. But we’re hoping to still make it to our friends’ house tonight for a Memorial Day BBQ, even if Dave won’t be able to eat anything.

So yesterday, while he slept, I was on my own enjoying my Sunday between some much-needed laundry-doing and working out. I started my day with some nice reading time and my favorite breakfast.

After four days of having no appetite whatsoever, I was delighted to wake up to a growling stomach. I made myself some toasted whole-wheat bread with avo and two fried eggs on top. I added almond milk and maple syrup to my coffee and enjoyed some organic strawberries on the side.

I picked the book I was reading up on Saturday – Heart of the Matter by Emily Griffin. I had read another one of her books before (Something Borrowed) and think her writing is perfect for some addicting, mindless leisure reading. I finished Heart of the Matter in less than 24 hours. It also reinitiated a desire in me to write fiction. That happens all the time though, so we shall see.

Poor Dave couldn’t eat anything other than apple sauce and some crackers, so I stuck to simple fare for the rest of the day – a smoothie and some sesame almonds for lunch, and a spinach salad for dinner.

In the afternoon, I did my first post-sickness work-out, which was great. I went for an interval run in the neighborhood in perfect 66-degree and sunny weather and then hit our apartment complex’ gym for some weight lifting. I want to focus on toning my upper arms a bit, so I came up with a simple routine. Yesterday was my second time doing it. In an ideal world, I would do intervals and weights every other day, and 3-mile-ish steady runs in between, with one six-mile run on the weekend. I just realized that should be my summer work-our regimen, now that Memorial Day has officially ushered in summer.

Today, I’m going to go to the mall to try and get some holiday deals. My knees are demanding a new pair of Asics.

Three-Course Turkish Dinner

After running 6 miles on Sunday morning (first time doing a longer run since my Half Marathon on April 13), I spent most of my day in the kitchen preparing an elaborate Turkish dinner.

Aren’t my head-band and flowery apron something? Dave was handling the food photography because he got excited to use the tripod and a nicer camera than my iPhone (which I usually use). Anyway, I didn’t know he would put me into 80% of the pictures or I would have chosen to look less ridiculous.

Now to the task at hand: Cook a three-course Turkish dinner for four people in three hours. All three recipes were new to me, but the cookbook Sultan’s Kitchen has been phenomenal so far, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

1. The Appetizer – Grape Leaves Stuffed with Pine Nuts, Currants, and Rice

Just looking at this has me wanting to make another batch of these beyond-delicious things. It was my first time making vegetarian grape leaves. In the past, I’ve stuffed them with rice and ground beef or lamb. But no longer. The combination of pine nuts and currants with cinnamon, dill, and parsley is out of this world. Sprinkled with lemon-juice, they’re a fresh, tangy summer treat. They could be their own meal and I definitely devoured the left-overs for lunch on Monday. Triple yum!

We served them with some fresh baguette and Raki – an anise flavored liquor that no Turkish meal should be without.

2. The Main Course – Flounder Fillets Stuffed with Pine Nuts, Spinach, and Scallions

Holy moly. Flounder fillets are expensive. The recipe called for 3 lbs., but that would have meant $45, so I decided to get four and divide all the other ingredients in half too. That was a good choice, since we had so much other food, too.

First, you cook the pine nuts in olive oil until they’re golden brown, then you add garlic, spinach, and scallions and saute the mixture until it has wilted. After letting it cool, you place the desired amount in the center of the fillet and then fold it over, holding it together with a tooth pick.

Number one and two.

Then, you steam the fillets in a mix of dry white wine, chopped tomato, lemon juice, spices, and dill for eight minutes. When it’s done, you sprinkle it with parsley.

We served this course with bread and a choice of red and white wine. Don’t you want to take that piece of baguette and make it soak up the delicious sauce? The dish was the perfect mixture of herbs, fish, and a tangy mix of wine, tomato, and a kick of spiciness due to paprika and red cayenne pepper. So good. So so good.

3. The Desert – Rose Water Pudding

This was a basic pudding made with whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, and cornstarch, but the rose water gave it a very unique flavor. We actually sprinkled these servings with cinnamon before putting them on the table, but were too absorbed into conversation by that time to remember taking pictures.

It was so much fun to try three new recipes and introduce our friends to Turkish cuisine. They seemed to really enjoy everything. Dave and I definitely loved all three dishes, so we’ll definitely make them again. The leftover grape leaves definitely were a special Monday lunch treat.

Tied for Best Breakfast

Saturday’s breakfast was sweet potato pancakes…

… which I later topped with almond butter and maple syrup. This has been a weekend favorite for a while now, but today it got serious competition.

Whole wheat baguette with avocado and poached eggs. This was a team effort between Dave and me – he was very excited to get the poached eggs just right after rejecting my idea to make this with eggs over easy.

Yummy yolky perfection.

I am also still high off my Settlers of Catan victory last night.

We had friends over for wine and ice cream, played this, and watched a movie.

Since my half marathon a month ago, my running resolve hasn’t been quite what it used to. I think it’s because I put so much pressure on myself right away to get faster and do a ton of intervals. But really, what I need to do is just keep running. So today, I’m going to do 6 miles with no pressure – just enjoying myself.

Of Dark Runs and Cemeteries

I’m a huge weirdo for many reasons, and one of them is that I like cemeteries. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t deliberately go to them just to, you know, creep around. Nor would I ever step on one by myself at night because that would be scary. But I like history and genealogy and thinking about all the individual lives that happened in the span of time (nerd alert).

So today I hung out on a cemetery. But more about that later.

Dave and I got up at 5 today to go to the gym and continue with his German lessons. When we got to our apartment gym, we couldn’t believe our eyes, but there were already two girls in there working out – at 5:15 am. I know that’s not even that shocking, but it was the first time this ever happened.

Two people kind of fill up the place, so we had a problem. Dave suggested we run outside. This was a bit of a crazy idea because it was pretty cold and also pitch black. We were only in shorts and t-shirts, but we just started running. After we warmed up and it got a bit lighter out, it was actually pretty enjoyable. I quizzed Dave on German declinations as we were going. Yes, you may judge.

Back at the apartment and happy to be warm again, we had some breakfast and went over more German grammar.

Omelette with goat cheese, salsa, and avocado slices. Oh, and the first of four cups of coffee I’ve had so far today (oops).

When lunch came around at work, I was too tired to think straight. That’s because we have been going to bed kind of late and today is the day it’s catching up with me. So I decided to go for a walk with my Spotify spring playlist.

This is where I ended up.

This is the Woolrich cemetery. I sat down in the shade, listened the music, and called my mom and a friend.

This is an especially intriguing cemetery because it’s really old. Woolrich was founded in 1830 by John Rich II, and many 19th century Rich family members are buried here. When I first got hired, I read the Woolrich history book and then later discovered the graves of many people mentioned in it here. Kind of cool, at least to weirdos like me.

“What in the World Are You Eating?”

I ventured into the world of quinoa for breakfast this morning. That was mainly because I had leftover quinoa from last night’s dinner, which was this:

Looks appetizing, right? It was quinoa, kale, and sauerkraut with a sauce made out of sunflower seed butter, red pepper, almond milk, and nutritional yeast. I liked it, but Dave thought it was absolutely disgusting due to the nutritional yeast. He hates nutritional yeast and I knew this, but chose to ignore it. He has now officially requested never to have to eat it again, so I will begrudgingly enjoy it by my lonesome in the future.

That said, the dish really must look disgusting because when I was eating it for lunch today, the VP in charge of our department walked by and asked “What in the world are you eating?” in bewilderment. “Ummmm, sauerkraut, kale and”… was my response, and then “it’s very healthy.” Not sure the man has ever heard of half of the ingredients, so I chose to spare him the details.

Anyways, back to today’s breakfast.

My usual oatmeal combo with quinoa instead: quinoa, a fried egg, avocado, and nutritional yeast. Got my brain going for our daily morning German lesson. I also love grapefruit for breakfast, but haven’t had it much at all recently. Today I did, obviously.

My lunch run was so fun because the weather was amazing and perfect and all the glorious adjectives you want to use for 60 degrees and sunny when it’s April and everything is blossoming. I did intervals and listened to Turkish music.

When I got home, I was starving, but we wanted to play tennis before it got dark out. There was not enough time to make the Daiya casserole I wanted to make, so Dave creatively saved us and made a citrus salad.

It had lettuce, avocado, grapefruit, and a dressing made from olive oil, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. It was perfect because it kept my stomach from eating itself but wasn’t to heavy to play tennis right after eating it.

The score of tonight’s game is so embarrassing, but I’ll share it anyway: 15:2 for Dave. There were a lot of sad spins around myself without actually hitting the ball, so Dave had plenty of opportunity to ridicule me. Now I am eager to start weekly Sunday volleyball with our friends because that’ll be his payback 🙂

Race Weekend – Part 3

First order of business when we left the hotel after my shower and Daiya pizza snack was to go back to the village for some free beer and exploring of the little shops.

Each runner got a coupon for a German beer at the beer hall. I traded mine in for a Bavarian wheat beer. I would say it was moderately to severely refreshing.

Dave went with Koelsch, a light beer from Cologne, which he later regretted because it gave him a headache. Serves him right – Duesseldorf, my hometown, and Cologne have a huge beer and everything-else rivalry.

We walked around the village….

And scoped out some Antique shops.

I found it interesting/disturbing that this shop sold swastikas as World War II memorabilia.

But anyway…

We headed back to State College in the afternoon because I was running out of steam a bit. Although I must say I felt much better than I expected after the race and stayed fit and alert all day. I think that has to do with all the water, gatorade, and Gu I consumed while running. A lesson to remember.

On our way home, we stopped at My Thai to get the red curry shrimp dish I’m obsessed with for carry-out.

And then several glorious hours of vegging out on the couch with trashy TV followed.

Dave’s headache was getting worse and worse, so we headed to bed around 6. I put a heating pad on his head and read The Dark Monk to him – a book his dad sent us. It is really good and we’ve been reading it together every day since.

Sunday, we did chores, went to the UUs, played some tennis, and enjoyed/prepped some good foodie treats:

After finishing off the Thai leftovers for lunch, we each had a bowl of Greek yogurt with honey and frozen berries. Freshness delight.

In an effort to use up leftovers, I made this veggie casserole. I just threw in whatever I had in the fridge. It had spinach, kale, carrots, cauliflower, vegetable broth, and Daiya cheese. I tried a little bit of it and then had it Monday for lunch. It was pretty damn awesome, if I do say so myself. I love when randomness tastes this good. Major credit goes to the Daiya cheeze, of course.

For our dinners, I made sweet potato wraps. In my effort to be low-carb, I used lettuce instead of actual wraps. The yogurt had tons of mint and lemon zest for a fresh, tangy twist. And I left the peel on the sweet potatoes, coated them in olive oil, and baked them in the oven for 20 minutes.

Other ingredients were onions seared in sumac and cumin as well as toasted almonds. We had to eat the “wraps” with a fork and knife, but that was the only disadvantage of this combo. Very delicious and a summer-appropriate. 

Finally, I must admit to a new obsession. These amazing vegetable chips tempted me at Wegman’s on Sunday and I have eaten my way through 90% of the bag since then. They have coconut oil, canola oil, tons of yummy spices, and vegetables, so they are pretty healthy as far as chips go. So currently I have them as an appetizer before dinner and then a few spoons of chocolate coconut milk ice cream for desert every night. Ooops.

Thinking of Boston

I exceeded my lunch break today by about 20 minutes because I went on a 4-mile run. Since I heard the news about the Boston Marathon bombing yesterday, I knew running was the thing I needed to do to feel a little less helpless.

I had been following the marathon all morning on Twitter and then went for a short run over lunch. My shins were still sore from Saturday, but I was so excited to have more flexibility in my workout schedule and to start working on my speed.

When I heard the news around 3:30 p.m., I was infuriated. I saw the pictures, looked at video footage, and watched the death and injuries toll rise.

But somehow, in my fury, helplessness, and lack of understanding, I felt a sense of comfort knowing that the running community has a simple and empowering tool that will keep uniting them and help them overcome.

I wanted to run more fiercely and improve my running more passionately than ever.

So I ran the 4 mile loop around Woolrich, ignoring the soreness and pain in my shins and thinking about the people who have lost their lives or legs and no longer can.

Race Weekend – Part 2

I started moving my legs and followed the swarm of runners out of the little village square, through the entrance gate (a little cluster formed here, which would have made me mad if I was a legit runner trying to beat a time), and into a neighborhood development. The road was flat to slightly hilly, and I felt my body heating up. In the mid-40 degree and sunny weather, I was a little worried that my training jacket would get too warm fast.

I found a pair of women relatively quickly who were running at a speed comfortable to me, so I decided to follow them. This allowed me to take my mind off worrying about the time early on.

I told Dave after reviewing the course elevation chart below the day before the race that I was really glad the first 6 miles were flat or downhill. Others may have preferred to deal with the hilliest miles early on, while strength is still in full supply, but I knew I needed the opening miles to gain momentum. My legs needed time to adjust to the movement, my lungs needed to establish a comfortable breathing pattern, and my brain needed some endorphins to ramp up for the pain.

The first water station was set-up at mile 2. Although I felt strong and didn’t necessarily need the fluid, I decided to drink water and gatorade at all five stations to stay as well-hydrated as I could. I didn’t train this way, only with Gu, so I figured this would give me a slight advantage over my long training runs.

The first package of Gu followed around mile three, shortly before the race started living up to its name.

At this point, there were three buggies in my sight. Traffic was a little backed-up because a runner had evidently fallen and hit his head. He was laying on the road with several race volunteers gathered around him, waiting for an ambulance. Beyond this point, many miles of green, pastoral landscape followed, with the occasional farmhouse and buggy passing by.

Miles 3 to 6 flew by. The course was still flat or going downhill, the air was fresh, and I felt stronger and stronger. I left the pair of runners I initially stuck to behind and passed a few more people who had started walking. Simultaneously, I was also passed by a good amount of people who had started behind me and were now catching up.

When the 6-mile marker showed up on the side of the road, the race really started. There were long uphill stretches and the wind really picked up. Instead of regretting my choide to wear my training jacket, I began feeling extremely grateful that I did. It acted as the perfect wind-breaker, but the wind still made it hard to keep up my speed, especially uphill.

But somehow, the hills didn’t phase me nearly as much as I thought they would. In fact, the hills were the stretches during which I was passing people. Many slowed down significantly or even started walking. It dawned on me that State College was the perfect training ground for this race. Hills cannot be avoided in Happy Valley, and I guess I just really got used to them. This realization made me very happy and proud, and I was able to increase my speed even more.

Miles 7 and 9 brought more water and Gatorade, and I was on my last package of Gu when I finally reached mile 10. Miles 8.5 until then were a nice break from the hills. Because I had been feeling so strong during the entire race, I thought I could really dig in and get more speed out of me on the home stretch between miles 10 and 13. But once I got there, my knees and legs felt less good, and my hips were beginning to feel a little sore too. Also, we were back to an uphill climb, which at times, was pretty significant. I thought I better focus on what I have been doing instead of trying to push for more speed.

Mile 11 came and I still felt reasonably good. There were many spectators on the side of the road because we were back in a developed area. At one point, a little boy, maybe 6 years old, ran alongside me. I took my headphones out to hear what he was saying, which was “Don’t give up, less than two miles left!” He high-fived me with a huge inflatable baseball glove and off he went to the next person.

Finally, there was mile 12. I was still determined to finish strong and really ramp up the speed, but my legs were heavy and even the shortest hill was making me work a lot harder. Again, I had to focus on just keeping it up rather than pushing beyond my current speed. I began to think in songs: less than three songs and I’m there. I also allowed myself to envision the sweet moment of crossing the finish line with Dave there and hugging him in relief to be done.

Sure enough, soon I was back at the village gate with the clock tower. Because the village is windy and the finish line was in the town center, I had to concentrate on arrows on the pavement and pointing arms from the volunteers to guide me. The song I picked to finish to was “One More Time” by Daft Punk, for the simple reason that I finished my 8-mile run to it last week and really liked the feel.

I turned around my last corner and there was the finish line. I think if I had been able to see it from farther away, I probably would have been able to pull off a more significant sprint. This way, I started sprinting about 30 seconds before the finish. The last stretch led across grass, back onto pavement, and through the finish gate.

Here I am! Dave took this photo before high-fiving me and greeting me with a big hug. I was so happy to be done. When I caught a glimpse of the time, I knew I broke my personal record, which was all I wanted. I decided my time was somewhere around 2:29 because I wasn’t able to start running right when they started due to the line, and I also took into consideration the cluster at the clock tower. My last half marathon two years ago was 2:31:45.

Side note: I know I’m a slow runner, but I really love the sport and I’m excited to work on my time. I’m going to focus on a 10k distance for the next few months and try to reach a solid 9 to 9.5 minute pace.

So anyway, I was thrilled about how the race went, especially considering the hills and the wind.

The medal featured a buggy and some runners running uphill. Very accurate.

I stretched and told Dave about all the details of the race before we headed over to the post-race buffet.

Not the greatest offering for a vegetarian, but Dave was happy to eat this at least. I had the orange slices and a small piece of Strudel. We stuck around a bit for the live music and ambiance, and then headed back to the hotel, so I could shower, eat, and stretch.

Around noon, feeling a little lightheaded, but clean, we headed back to the village because free beer was to be consumed and little shops to be explored!

To be continued…