May the best you've ever seen, be the worst you'll ever see

Fall has definitely arrived in St Paul - actually I think winter is well on its way to arriving. The trees haven't quite figured out what's going on yet, so some of them have already dropped their leaves and some are still green. It's very odd.

Anyway, it has been a fun and super full week over here! We finally started rehearsals for our Christmas concert/service; this year we're singing the Bach Magnificat in D. I first sang this piece a few years ago, also for Christmas I think and it remains one of my favorites largely because it has a rockin Soprano II part. I am selfish :)

Thursday I did my usual early AM run followed by coffee - I usually go to Rustica because it is sort of on the way to the office and they have AMAZING coffee.  They also have yogurt/fruit/granola cups with greek yogurt and their homemade granola...they are super good and I basically dream about them. Since it is usually pre 7am when I swing by, they may or may not have the yogurts out yet, so whenever they do have them I get irrationally excited.

A little bit of heaven in a cup

That night we went to a Laphroig event at the St Paul Hotel!! I have been looking forward to this for SO LONG. In case you were not aware Ben and I are both huge fans of single malt scotch whisky. Ben actually gave me a bottle of scotch as a wedding gift. What can I say, the man knows me well. Laphroig is actually the scotch that started it all for me. I first tasted it my senior year of college - my friend offered me a sip of his, so I took one and proclaimed "huh. This tastes like a cigar". And then I immediately demanded to know where I could get more. Thus began a beautiful friendship. I would not say it's my favorite anymore but it was definitely my 'gateway scotch'... I do not mess around.

So anyway when Ben got a notice in the mail from St Paul Grill that there was a Laphroig EVENT taking place with a legit Laprhoig rep from Scotland, he asked if I wanted to go and I responded YES ARE YOU KIDDING. And he was like dude settle down. Sometimes I think I scare him with my exuberance.

(p.s. I really hope this doesn't make me sound like an alcoholic. I actually do not drink much at all, and when I drink whisky it is only in very small amounts...hence why Thursday night was...ineresting.)

Bounty of gift bags!

I was Ben's 'plus one' ...for some reason I found this deeply amusing

Starting the evening off right with a cocktail!
This would have probably been fine, had it not been followed by six pours of whisky

Bagpipers to usher us in to dinner and to...set the mood I guess?

After we had all finished our cocktails and appetizers, we were herded by bagpipers (I am not kidding) into the dining room, where we were given more food (bread, cheese and some preserved meats/sausages/etc) and five varieties of Laphroig to taste while we listened to the presentation Simon, the Laphroig rep, tell us about the history of the distillery and the island of Islay.

From left to right: 10 year, Quarter Cask, 18 year, Cask Strength, and Triple Wood

After a cocktail and five scotches, I was feelin pretty good when SURPRISE they brought out a sixth scotch for us to taste. The Cairdeas was aged in bourbon and finished in a port cask for 15 months. Port  aged or finished are my favorite - it imparts a deep flavor and sweetness to the whisky that I really like.

Love this photo

As it turns out, the appetizers and bread/cheese plate were not nearly enough food to soak up six scotches...plus fancy places make me somewhat uncomfortable so I demanded that we swing by Falafel King to even things out. Nothing rounds out a classy evening of appetizers and charcuterie quite like some fried chickpea deliciousness eaten on the couch while giggling uncontrollably.

The next morning I...did not feel awesome. Lucky for me, literally my entire team was on PTO (my entire team now being me, my manager and one other person and an open rec. Long story.) so I worked from home in my PJs for a couple of hours while drinking tons of water. At 9:30 or so, I decided I should probably wash my face and put on real clothes, and roll into the office for some afternoon meetings. P.S. how much do I love casual Friday...

Sorry corporate America, this is all you're getting from me today.

Don't worry, I put shoes on eventually

As I was heading out the door, I went to grab my favorite scarf only to find that it was already in use. This is what I get for leaving my hats and scarves on pretty much any flat surface in our house.

So, guess I am wearing a different scarf today.

After all meetings for the day had wrapped up I headed BACK home to finish a few things...it's kind of amazing how much you can get done when everyone you work with is out of the office. I heated up some leftover butternut squash soup for a late lunch (made from this recipe) and watched Pitch Perfect while I worked on a presentation.

Better than the office, fo sho

I still managed to make a hot yoga class in the evening, came home and quickly showered before heading to Overflow Cafe for a gig my friend Keith was playing with the band Flowerstalks. I had never been to Overflow before but I really like it! The space was big but still cozy, with a fireplace and tons of comfy couches, and a half second floor. They had great food and the coffee drinks looked delicious (I did not have one because if I drink coffee in the afternoon/evening I cannot sleep...).

Thai chicken wrap from Overflow

They also had board games so Ben and I played a round of Scrabble. I probably beat him ;)  

Anyway, moral of the story is don't drink on a Thursday. I will leave you with this lovely Scottish toast:

May the best you’ve ever seen

Be the worst you’ll ever see;

May a moose ne’er leave yer girnal

Wi’ a teardrop in his e’e.

May ye aye keep hale and hearty

Till ye’re auld enough tae dee,

May ye aye be just as happy

As I wish ye aye tae be.

Stripes 2: Revenge of the Stripes

So on Monday, I was planning on my normal routine of work --> latte and reading at Bull Run --> yoga --> sleeping. I blocked my free time during the day to finish up a presentation for Tuesday, so that I could easily get out of there by 5-5:30 with plenty of time to have a luxurious reading and coffee hour before class. As usual though, work had other plans and there was a dire emergency requiring me to write up several pages of training materials before 4pm. I whipped them together pretty quickly, but this still meant that the presentation I meant to start working on at 10am, was not started until 4:30.

I forced myself to stop working just in the nick of time, booked it out to my car only to remember that I was almost out of gas. But as we all know, Yoga > safe driving, so I rolled into Uptown 20 minutes later on fumes and the wings of angels, and miraculously made it to my 7pm class.

In other news, Lululemon keeps making stripey things. I saw this hoodie online and immediately knew I needed to have it. IT HAS STRIPES ON THE SLEEVES. AND THE HOOD. WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS.

This photo provides a better view of the hood

But this one has a great cameo by Mini in the bottom left, so I had to post it too
Also, I've decided that this phone case is totally an appropriate work accessory. If
people are going to judge me for having a phone case that looks like it
belongs to a 4-year old Japanese girl, they need to find better things
to do with their time.
End caption.

Stripes layered over EVEN MORE STRIPES
META STRIPES

Last night I subbed for my friend/teacher Laura's class, and thus have now taught my third class ever. I am still not certified.

[Sssshhhh.....]

So I sat down over the last couple of days to do some hardcore planning and sequencing, using YJ home practices, old notes, and an awesome book I'm borrowing from my teacher that includes basic cues for all of the major asanas.

Right now, I'm just working on sounding like I mean what I say. Also on not constantly mixing up left and right. Or 'leg' and 'arm'. It's a process.

Sequencing like a boss

Yesterday I discovered that Birthday Cake Oreos exist. Problem of how to fuel for 10 mile training runs = SOLVED.
OK I lied this was never a problem, but let's just pretend I have a deep and meaningful reason for eating these, because they taste like the laughter of baby unicorns and I am having a really hard time restraining myself from going to the pantry and inhaling the entire package.

BUY ME NOW AND EAT ME

And a final word for the day - Ben and I went to a free MNOrch concert on Saturday at the Lake Harriet Bandshell and it was very emotional. If you're not from Mpls or if you are not aware of the lockout and ensuing conflict that has developed between the musicians and management over the last year, go read up on it and then immediately donate to Save Our Symphony MN or Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra. They are planning to put on a fall concert series without the support of Orchestra Management and MNOrch and they need some financial help in order to do so. DO IT. We have a world class orchestra and I really hope we do not lose them.




That's all. It's Thursday and I have no plans after work other than dinner, cookies and binge watching season 2 of New Girl so I can start Season 3 ASAP. Have a wonderful day!!

Bootcamp Update: Week 1 Recap

Wrote this on Friday, publishing on Monday...such is my life.

Below is a brief summary of what I've been eating  to support my rigorous workout schedule:

Sideways cupcakes??!?

Kidding!  Actually I didn't even eat this... they were in the breakroom, they were free and had sprinkles on them so I was like "SCORE free sprinkles!" but then I took a bite and realized the frosting was that weird synthetic-tasting stuff and the cake itself was just not very good.  Sadly it looked much better than it tasted.  Not worth it.

What I have actually been eating looks more like the following:

Breakfast

•  LOTS of green smoothies
• -Homemade museli or oatmeal
• -Homemade oat bars

I realize my thermos looks like Shrek exploded inside of it but I promise it was tasty

Lunch

• Some sort of salad, with tons of spinach/kale/other greenery, and added protien in the form of lentils or tofu

Salad: spinach, arugala, fresh tofu, chopped nectarine, homemade miso/mustard/red wine vinegarette.
YUM.

Dinner

• Dinner varies because this is the one meal of the day where I cook and eat with another human being aka my husband.  This week he's been doing most of the cooking, so on Monday and Tuesday I had a potato/blue cheese tart, and last night we did whole wheat pasta using Heidi Swanson's Summer Squash Pasta recipe from Super Natural Everyday.

Here are some of my favorite Green Smoothie combos:

• 2 cups spinach with frozen banana, fresh peaches, almond milk and 1tb flaxseed meal
• 2 cups spinach with frozen mango, blueberries, almond milk and 1tb flaxseed meal
• 2 cups spinach with frozen banana, blueberries, almond butter or PB, and almond milk

I mix my smoothies before I leave in the morning and pour it into a thermos to keep the smoothie cold while I die slowly during bootcamp circuits.  When I get to work I enjoy my delicious smoothie while checking the one billion emails that have somehow managed to accrue in my inbox since the night before.

And my museli "recipe"

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 grated apple
• handfull of dried fruit (chopped dates, blueberries, cherries, whatever)
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• 3/4 to 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
• Fresh fruit of your choice

Mix the oats, grated apple and dried fruit in a bowl, jar, or tupperware (I use a jar - less chance of spillage when I throw it in my lunch bag in the am) and sprinkle cinnamon over the top.  Add almond milk and yogurt, stir to combine and leave it in your fridge overnight.  In the morning as you are frantically running out the door and trying to find your gym shoes, add as much fresh fruit as you want, throw the container in your bag and you're on your way!

Overall observations:

• I am apparently in better shape than I thought I was?  I expected to just suck at this bootcamp, but while it is definitely difficult it isn't as soul-crushing as I thought it would be
• Yoga feels very different when it's your second workout of the day and your muscles aren't "fresh."  As part of the bootcamp regimen we are supposed to do a second workout later in the day, and almost all of mine have been either 60 or 90 minute yoga classes, some hot and some unheated.  All I can say is on Tuesday night, Tadasana felt extreme.  I went to lift my arms over my head and they were all "bitch I hate you" and I was like "suck it up arms, we're doing this."  Wednesday was better, but last night I just felt drained.
•  Green smoothies are magic.  Every time I have one for breakfast I feel like I have way more energy throughout the day!  I need to make these all the damn time.

On a more serious note, it has just been a strange, sort of horrible week.  Two of my close friends/colleauges at work had some really tough things happen in their lives this week - completely unrelated, but in close succession.  I know there's nothing I can do but they are both such great people and my heart is just breaking for them right now.

Sorry, that was kind of a downer to end on.  But sometimes life just makes no sense...

Camping and Bootcamping

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you are a MN or WI resident, it is summer  and it is the weekend, you can probably be found at someone's cabin.  This probably isn't as true for me as it is for many others as my family does not own a cabin (my parents live in the woods already, they don't exactly need one), but whenever I get the chance it's fun to impose myself on someone else's cabin.

Luckily my awesome friend Katie has a cabin!  Whenever she is in town from Chicago, she usually invites a group of us up to Balsam Lake Wisconsin for a weekend of boating, cooking, campfiring and more cooking.  As cliche as this sounds, there is something so fantastic about leaving my laptop at home, shutting my phone off and just sitting around a fire by the lake.  Sometimes it's nice to disconnect.

Also, these weekends provide the opportunity to embark on many delicious cooking and baking adventures!  We tend to go off the rails a little bit, combining anything that sounds good together like dipping chocolate chip cookies in cake frosting, or creating the Bacon S'More (it's delicious).  This time around, Amanda arrived with a huge box of freshly-picked strawberries.  The berries were quickly put to good use in a pie and a cake, as well as some randomly improvised cocktails.

Introducing...the Strawberry Basil Mint Mojito!  Basically this happened because we didn't have enough mint and were looking for a similar herb to suppliment.  Enter mint's good friend basil. Surprisingly, this was quite a delicious combination.

Amanda and me, drinkin' up!

To make this, all you have to do is smash 3-4 mint leaves in a pint glass with 3-4 basil leaves, a lime wedge and a few small strawberries.  Muddle them with a muddler, or if you do not have such fancy equipment, the handle of a large plastic spoon.  Then add a couple tablespoons of sugar, 1.5 ounces of rum, and add soda water.  Ta da!  Mojito.

Amanda also made a delicious cake and pie - but for some reason my phone camera hacked the cake photo in half and I didn't get a photo of the pie.  Oh well.  My tastebuds will always remember them.

This next photo is a poached duck egg from Piccolo restaurant.  It has nothing to do with camping or strawberries, but it was pretty and I wanted to post it.

Good segue.  So bootcamping.  One of my friends from work is co-leading a Bootcamp program at Corepower Yoga and she somehow talked me into joining.  So for the next two weeks (well, two weeks minus two days now) I'll be bootcamping from 6-7am every day.  We are also supposed to fit in a second workout in the evening, and journal all of our meals during the program as well as set specific goals for what we hope to achieve.

I will definitely talk about the program as much as possible, but I'm not planning to blog specific workouts or meals since this blog is not a food journal and was never intended to be such...but I'll definitely post meal ideas, and I'll try to speak to which foods I've noticed negative/poistive effects from.

I've also joined Desiree Rumbaugh's 30 day Eat Green Challenge which encourages a mostly plant-based diet.  Fruits, veggies and a lot of raw food.  I think my main concern over the next couple of weeks is making sure I am getting enough calories given how much I'll be working out.  Lotsa fruits at work I guess.

I haven't set my goals for the program yet, and I'm pretty sure "not dying during Warrior Dash" isn't a real goal so I need to think about this some more.

So far, here's what we've done:
Day 1
- Workout 1: short jog, followed by a 60 minute cardio circuit (4 full rounds of the circuit)
- Workout 2: 90 min hatha class at The Om Collective

Day 2
- Workout 1: 60 minute strength training circuit alternated with 2 minute cardio
  "bursts" (this one just about killed me...)
- Workout 2 (planned): Hot Power Fusion class at CPY...although my boss just scheduled
  an urgent end-of-day meeting so it depends on how late I have to stay at work.  If I miss
  HPF I'll head home and do 60 minutes of yoga regardless.  I won't lie, I am a little
  nervous about this meeting...
So far I've been eating:  green smoothies, spinach salads (with tofu/tempeh and other vegetables mixed in), homemade museli and homemade oat bars.  Tonight we're making a potato tart with some roasted tomatoes. Mmmm... lots of cheese in the tart so I shouldn't need to worry about my daily calories ;)

I kind of maybe don't hate running anymore almost

I have always had a thing against running - I just find it kind of boring.  I know cardio is important etc, but the process of actually going running has just never been fun for me.  Yoga, on the other hand, I loved the second I stepped onto my mat.  I think we are just predisposed to different types of exercise and physical activity and you have to find what works for you.  For some people, running is it.  For me, it is not.

Other than a brief period last winter when I ran on the treadmill every day while traveling in Turkey, because our hotel room was too small to do yoga and the treadmill was literally the only way to any sort of physical activity, I have fastidiously avoided running for the better part of three years.

And then for some reason I signed up for the Warrior Dash.  My co-workers talked me into it, and I agreed.  Why?  I have no idea, but it probably has something to do with the fact that the WD involves fire, barbed wire and mud crawls, which seems way more fun (to me...) than the average 5K.  Shortly after I signed up I realized that oh, I haven't run in like a year.  I should probably do something about that.

So I started running, three times a week.  At first I couldn't even finish two miles without walking.  But soon, two was no big deal.  Then three.  Now I usually run a quick two miles two or three mornings during the week, and do a longer run (3.5 miles or so) on the weekends.  Now I just need to add in some inclines so the ski hills don't kill me.

Point being, I think I am actually starting to enjoy it.  Not as much as I love yoga, but I definitely don't hate it.  I've noticed that when I run in the morning, I just feel better - it changes my attitude for the whole morning.  And today it was actually kind of fun.  Who knew.

Moving on - running requires energy, and here's some of what I've been using to fuel my workouts:

~ Garden/Ktichen ~

Found these outside after choir - the best dessert :)

Arugala, egg whites and tomatoes on toast with a sprinkle of parmasean and fresh ground pepper



Summer Squash soup of the Heidi Swanson variety



~ Last Weekend at Mango Thai ~

Fresh Mango Spring Rolls

Green Curry w/ Tofu

Beer, part of a balanced meal ;)

BYOB!

Well, I hope I don't die in the Warrior Dash.  It's not for another 2.5 weeks but wish me luck anyways :)

In my kitchen, lately

Today I joined the frequent buyer club for a children's bookstore.  At age 29...for the purpose of buying books for...myself.  Thankfully I have a husband who loves me because I thought it would be a fun idea to re-read Madeline L'engle's Time Quintet, rather than in spite of it.  I am so damn lucky.

My book nerdiness has nothing to do with the rest of this blog.  I should tell you right up front that this entry is basically a bunch of food porn followed by a picture of my cat.  If you hate food and cats you might want to stop reading now.

*******

If you're still here it means you probably like food and cats.  Good for you! 

Despite appearances, I have actually been cooking recently.  There was a good period of um, several weeks after we moved where I pretty much subsited on eggs and toast, yogurt, and baked sweet potatoes with hummus.  Really anything you can cook in less than ten minutes was my bread and butter.

Finally last week I said screw that and broke out the Tagine my mother in law gave me for my birthday to make a spicy chicken tagine with apricots, rosemary and ginger.  The sweet potato and egg rut was officially broken.  Here's a little glimpse into what's been going on in my kitchen lately:

Mine did not look this pretty...

Turkish apricots and tomatoes - an unlikely, but tasty, combination

Eating on the porch...with wine ;)

I found these little siggi's bottles at Whole Foods last week - how cute!

The magic that is collard wraps and watermelon on a hot day

Collard wraps courtesy of Vegetarian Times website

 On Monday morning, I got up early and drove over to Minneapolis for a run around Lake Calhoun.  Sometimes I miss being so close to the lake, but it's really just a short drive and it is one of my favorite places to run.

After my run I checked the yoga schedule just to see what was going on, and saw that a class with one of my favorite teachers at the Uptown was starting in 20 minutes!  The fact that I had just run 3.5 miles was not going to stop me from...taking a 60 minute hot yoga class.  It was delightful. 



Chocloate Hazelnut Oat Bar - inhaled on my way home from yoga
Yes, I finally figured out how to use Instagram.  You may now applaud.



Unsurprisingly, the oat bar did not fill the void of hunger left by running + sweaty yoga.  Once I was showered and presentable, Ben and I zoomed over to Target Field for the Twins game, where I promptly inhaled a cuban sandwich and several forkfuls of Ben's buffalo mac and cheese.

Healthy?

Somehow, I even found time to get my bake on, and threw together a strawberry cake adapted from Eat, Live, Run (I basically just halved the recipe and put it in an 8x8 pan, and used coconut milk instead of regular milk for the cake portion because it was what I had on hand).  The original recipe comes from Back in the Day Bakery, one of my favorite places from my trip to Savannah.  Delicious!

...healthy?

And just because we all know who the real star of this blog is...

That's right.

Also, new car decision has been made... tomorrow I'm picking up my brand spaking new Honda Accord!  So excited...and also sad to say goodbye to my little VW :(  More on that later, hope you're all having a lovely week!

Beer + Banana Bread = Magic

... So this happened:

WHAT

But first, my day.  Unsurprisingly I came home to a flat tire....  This morning I got up early to email my boss and let him know I was working from home today, and then I took my car down two blocks to our neighborhood repair shop, and then came home and got set up at my home "office" aka the couch.

When I dropped my car off, I asked them to also give me an oil change, and to take a look and see if anything else was amiss.  Well.  That was obviously my first mistake, because they called me back a few hours later and quoted me almost $3,000 worth of work.  Lovely.

Obviously I'm taking it in for a second quote, but still...bleh.  I guess when your car gets to be 12 years old these things happen, but I always told myself that the next time I needed to pay more than $1,000 to fix my car I'd just start looking for another car.  I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that yet...so I have some decisions to make I guess :/

To top it all off, I went out over lunch and bought Mini a special treat of CANNED FOOD.  I was so excited to give it to her but apparently she was not as excited, because she totally refused to eat it.  I left her dish there for several hours, because I figured that when she got hungry she'd eat, but it went untouched until after 8pm at which point I threw it out and gave her her normal food.

Jerk.  See if I ever spend $1.29 on dinner for you again.

she eats plastic, but she will not eat cat food...

Anyways, after I finished up with work I ran a quick 2 miles, showered, walked Sid and then drove to Minneapolis for dinner and drinks at St. George and the Dragon!  This place just opened in Minneapolis and I've really been looking forward to checking it out. 

First up was the Banana Bread Beer, which...wow. Just about awesome.

I really loved just about everything about this place, especially the kids book corner.  I would have LOVED this when I was little...

custom built for nerds

DRAGON BURGER.  Made with 100% real dragon.

After dinner, we kinda wanted cookies.  But, I was too lazy to bake, so Sweet Martha's frozen cookie dough to the rescue!!  I also made several attempts at getting a photo with the cookie dough, all of which were epic fails



...yeeeah... no...




still no



Artsy?

Oh and just thought I'd share...last week I finally got around to decorating the porch!  The furniture and the string lights are from Target, the lantern is from Patina and the trunk I've had for at least 10 years.  It was my tack trunk when I used to ride horses but now I use it to store blankets...and as a table :)

Tomorrow I'm headed into work for what turned out to be my only day in the office!  Ben has a school event tomorrow night so I'll be bacheloretting it up with the pets - maybe some yoga and baking, who knows?  Happy almost Friday!