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 15, 2012 | Challenge
Weekends are a glorious thing. My perfect weekend I wake up, sip coffee in bed for hours reading, and do nothing. It doesn’t usually work out this way. After a year of fast-paced weekends, I’ve been taking things back slowly one weekend day at a time. Today, admittedly, I had planned to wake up and head to the track to meet up with folks to run. But when I woke it was raining, and I didn’t feel like driving the 20 minutes groggily avoiding angry drivers only to get soaked. I’m easing into running, I haven’t yet reached the run or die mentality. Will it come?
Instead, I made my coffee and curled up with the new issue of Edible Boston. Edible magazines are put out all over the country, and you can pick them up at fine food establishments for free!
Breakfast came in the form of this Andy Warhol-esque banana. Sweet goodness. Admittedly small, but I was planning a large brunch for myself, and this did the trick.
After leisure-ing as long as I could, I set to work on my resolution to make my house more of a home. Today I tackled a few boxes of clothes that were sitting in the corner of our room. I unpacked them, put away the ones I wanted to keep, and scheduled an appointment to consign some pieces that I don’t wear anymore.
Then I set to work clearing some clutter. The hardest thing to do was get rid of these guys: my trusty bird salt and pepper shakers, who had suffered through a few too many flight attempts off the stove. I’d been hanging on to these for some time, until I remembered one of the useful tricks from Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project – take a picture to remember the sentimental item, and then toss.
Lunch today was a simple Mexican pork stir-fry.
Devon had a burrito from Chipotle, but I decided to come home and make my own. I think it was a good choice. I did however pick up some of their guacamole, because it’s delicious, and saved me from having to pick up an avocado at the store.
I seasoned some of the freshly ground pork that I picked up at M.F. Dulock with some salt, pepper, cumin, and Rancho Gordo Chile powder. I then added some of the vegetables I had roasted yesterday, and a juicy-ripe chopped tomato. On the right there is the little piece of lamb liver I picked up, seasoned with some salt and pepper. A treat!
In the afternoon we did a bunch of errands, including two Target runs, and by the time we were home I was exhausted. I decided to put together a superbly easy dinner – Thai Red Curry Chicken Soup with Tomatoes.
This dish has four ingredients: Thai red curry paste, full fat coconut milk, homemade chicken stock, and chopped rotisserie chicken.
I cooked about two tablespoons of the curry paste in the coconut milk for just a few minutes over medium heat until well combined. I then added a few cups of chopped chicken, and about a cup and a half of chicken stock. I let the dish simmer for fifteen minutes, and then added three small chopped tomatoes and their juice. I seasoned with a bit more salt (although the curry paste is salty, so you don’t need much), and that was dinner.
Had I been slightly more prepared, I would have squeezed in some lime and added some chopped cilantro. Alas, I was out, so this is what we got.
