Mmm. Beefy.

Hello again! Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! It was absolutely gorgeous out today :) Warning - this might be a long, scattered post!

After I left you yesterday, I threw a quick salad together (surprise!) that I hoped would keep me full for the 6 hours of work at job numero dos:
I killed the rest of our bag of romaine, added a can of tuna, some slivered almonds, mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles and some freshly ground pepper. I topped it with some of that sesame ginger dressing I've used in the past. Not exactly my favorite salad, but it filled me up!

Since I've been super stressed between both jobs, running, blogging and cooking, Jamie offered to pick up some of the cooking/dinner responsibilities so I'm a little less crazed during the week. Chef Jamie came out in full force as he planned to make last night's burgers out of ground meat made from scratch. BOLD!

Jamie cut up and pulsed some chuck roast in a food processor and made some massive burger patties while I was at work and paid me a surprise visit as we were closing up shop (this is a big deal because I keep telling him he should stop by so he can get his shoes checked out). We took a leisurely walk back and the burger patties were ready to hit the grill pan!
I was a little concerned about all the white (FAT!) spots, but whatever, fat=flavor in red meat and most of it ends up draining off anyway. Jamie manned the grill pan (which I'm certain does nothing but leave grill marks on your food) while I prepped the toppings. I made some quick (lazy) guac
and sliced up some tomatoes and pepper jack cheese
B.o.B suggested doing a cucumber salad as a side dish and it would have been perfect - crisp, cool & light! Unfortunately, we didn't have any cucumber in the apartment and were trying to push off the grocery store trip to Sunday :( Ah well, next time! I scrambled for whatever veggies we had on hand. Frozen cauliflower won.
I nuked them for 2 minutes so they'd defrost and then popped them on the toaster oven tray, sprayed them with a little bit of olive oil (thank you to my almost dying Misto) and sprinkled them with some salt and pepper. Popped them into the toaster oven for about 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Super easy.

Ze burger in all it's glory on a potato roll with some romaine remains
Jamie's experiment with the making his own ground beef was pretty sweet. It was like eating a steak in burger form! Mine was cooked medium-ish and had great texture - it's hard to explain, but it was just a lot nicer than a regular ground beef patty. Kudos to the chef ;) I still think the cut might have been a little too fatty for my taste though. Fat does add flavor, but this was just a smidgen too oily for me.

I eat really random things the night before long runs and races so it's no surprise that I scarfed that down before this morning's scheduled 11 miler. No joke, I'll usually have sushi, Mexican, piles of meat...pretty much anything except for pasta. The one time I did pasta before a half marathon, I felt like complete doodie. Yes, I said doodie. My theory is that you should always stick with what works for you, even if it's weird. I also can't really eat that much pre-run. My typical pre-long run/race breakfast doesn't go beyond a handful of Triscuits. Half a bagel - forget it. My stomach will be rioting. Do you have any pre-race quirks or food habits?

This morning's run started super early (well, super early for me) since Jamie and I were meeting new running buddy out in Shirlington, VA. We left the apartment a little after 6:30 to make sure we'd be on the trail and running no later than 7am. New running buddy isn't really a new buddy, she's just new to our running group. Anyway, I was scrambling to get out of the apartment (as usual) and left without my Body Glide. I didn't want to waste time going back to the apartment, so I figured, eh, whatever. It's not that sticky out, I'll be fine. I will never go without Body Glide again. Totally got chafed on my left inner thigh...my new 'hot spot'. UGH.

I really need to justify spending the money on a Garmin (or at least price it out with my discount vs. on Ebay). We ended up running only 10.5 miles along the W&OD Trail since we had a space out moment where we couldn't remember if there were .5 mile markers or if there were only mile increments. I'm slightly bummed that we turned around too soon and ended up short .5 miles, but then I remember it's JUST .5 miles. We all felt good during and after the run AND I finally slowed down and we finished at just under 11:30 pace.

I highly recommend the W&OD Trail to anyone doing long runs in the DC Metro area. It's shaded, fairly flat, quiet and full of friendly bikers (not the grumpy ones that seem to frequent the Capital Crescent Trail). I've run it in a bunch of different spots and plan on doing our 17+ mile runs on it (probably starting all the way out in Reston - a good 45 minutes from our apartment)...it's great for zoning out :)

So I'm trying really really hard to pay attention to my training paces instead of just running everything at the same pace all the time (which I was guilty of doing in the past). I came across a nifty training calculator on Runner's World earlier this year and plugged in a half marathon time. I used 2:10 as my half marathon time (my average) instead of my PR and here's what it spit out:

Based on your half marathon race time of 02:10:00, the paces of your different training runs should be:

11:22 min/mile	Easy run training pace
9:31 min/mile	Tempo run training pace
8:36 min/mile	Maxmum oxygen training pace
7:58 min/mile	Speed form training pace
11:22 - 12:46 min/mile	Long run training pace
4:24 min/800	Yasso 800s training pace

These paces aren't too off from what I've been running (well, I take speed a tad slower because I'm a baby ;p) I know I've been running my long runs faster than I should be...they're the same as my weekday runs. Just a fun calculator I thought I'd share :)

After this morning's run, we stopped at the Teet for some sandwiches (at 9:30am, mind you) because I was absolutely STARVING. Jamie grabbed a sausage & pepper sub and I picked up a not so good turkey & brie sandwich that had an unexpected smear of cranberry sauce - GROSS! I also snagged a bottle of this:

Yes ladies and gents, I drank my first green drink
AND LIKED IT! haha. Not going to lie, the list of ingredients and color wasn't really appealing, but it was a bottle full of fruity deliciousness! A little richer/thicker than I expected when I picked it up, but not too bad! I'll never knock green drinks again :)

Ran off to job numero dos where it was surprisingly busy, talked to a ton of customers about water bottles for some reason and came back to a delicious smelling apartment. Chef Jamie was at it again! Since he picked up some ground beef yesterday (as backup in case his ground beef experiment didn't work), he whipped up some of his Gramma's Sloppy Joes. Now, I am partial to my mom's sloppy joes that involve a crap ton of ketchup, but these are pretty damn tasty too.

I walked into this cooking:
Jamie said he made a couple alterations to his gramma's recipe, so stay tuned for all the recipes.

Here it is served up on leftover potato rolls:
Sloppy? Check. Delicious? Check, check!

Phew! That was one monster of a post! I'm off to crash so I can get up early to chop some veggies at DC Central Kitchen and then helping Susan as she makes her triumphant return to the District tomorrow afternoon. I think tomorrow's dinner will make use of the mini paella kit Jamie's dad gave us...mmmm paella :)

Brief post - sweaty and tired.

Tonight we did a quick 3 mile loop that took us past our alma mater...good old American University. As we ran by, I took in some of the recent changes to the campus (like a random boat sitting outside of the Katzen Arts Center?) and thought about how little I ran during college. Funny how that works out... once I left AU, I finally started using all the facilities (track, tennis courts, etc.)! Good thing it's only 1.5 miles away ;p

Anyway, that was my random moment while running. We finished in 28:30...not too shabby for the first run back after a long, food-filled weekend! It was actually pretty nice out tonight - not too humid, though I did run with one of my Fuel Belt bottles.

Lately I've been trying to focus on my running form, like a huge nerd, paying attention to where my feet strike. The most efficient and natural way to run is with a mid to forefoot strike (it also causes the least amount of stress on your body). Think about when you run around the house barefoot (what? I totally run around barefoot!). What hits the ground first? Your heel or the balls of your feet? Unless you have heels of steel, I'm willing to bet the balls of your feet hit first. Don't run inside barefoot? Try jumping in place (shoes or no shoes). Ah HAAAAA! Balls of feet!

Why do I want to run efficiently? I dunno, it just seems like a good idea. Kidding! First of all, I don't want injuries. Injuries = BAD. You know all those not fun injuries that overpronators are well, prone to getting? You can't really overpronate if you don't run from heel to toe. There isn't enough time for that extra movement. Quickie info on overpronation - it's the rolling inward of your foot at the end of your gait cycle. Everyone's feet roll in a little bit (pronation), but overpronators roll in significantly. Rolling in is bad because it eff's up your ankles, knees, shins, you name it.

Another draw for me is the speed. I want to be a faster and stronger runner. I'm not talking about being a competitive racer or even trying to beat Jamie during a weekday run. I'm talking about improving my times and how I feel throughout the run. Have you ever gotten to that point during a long run where you start to feel your torso slumping a little? Maybe hunching your shoulders a bit? Fatigue! I want some good running posture! hehe. I guess one of the first steps is to stick to a core strengthening routine (yes, I slack with the strength training!). Please send suggestions my way! Any lower back strengtheners are welcome too...my butt and hip will thank you :)

By the time we got back to the apartment, there wasn't much sunlight so it was back to taking pictures under my dining room lamp. Tonight's salad was Brown Rice, Romaine, Avocado, Salsa, Spicy Monterrey Jack, Black Beans, Corn and Mom's Leftover Skirt Steak
Light and filling! No dressing needed for this...the salsa, spicy cheese and avocados all mixed together add tons of flavor! I also squeezed a little bit of lime juice over the top of the bowl. One thing that would have made this better? Cilantro :)

I'm off to shower and sleep so I can get my butt on the treadmill early tomorrow morning for my Wednesday 5 miler! Nites!

The scale said what?

I'm not a big scale person. I think the way I feel and the way my clothes fit are way more important than a number. However, I have been known to occasionally step onto a scale just for kicks. This weekend was one of those times.

For some reason there's a bathroom scale in my brother's room so I jumped on pre- and post-run Saturday morning. Holding steady at 130 pounds. That evening (after all the food, minimal swimming and some Wii), I jumped on again just to see the damage...135 pounds. For real? I weighed myself again the following morning and yep, I managed to gain FIVE WHOLE POUNDS in one day! Is that even possible?! Is that not normal??

I'm not typing this freaking out about the weight gain (I tend to fluctuate anywhere between 130 and 135 and am cool with it - anything less and I don't feel normal.), I'm just amazed at how quickly that came on! I mean, sure there have been times where I've exaggerated after I've eaten a lot saying 'OH, I've totally eaten like 10 pounds of food." I never thought it could actually happen! Ok. End weight-related part of post.

I must say, as funny as it was to see the drastic change, I also noticed how not right my stomach felt after eating all that food this weekend. I felt like I had a giant pit in my stomach almost all weekend and I found myself really tired. Ok, maybe that was due to running around with the high-energy nephews, but I think all the sweets and minimal ruffage consumption contributed to it as well.

To make up for the lack of ruffage this weekend, we're loading up on the crispy greens for dinner this week! I tried to think of ways to make the leftovers we brought home (oh boy were there a lot) a little more exciting. On tonight's menu: Asiany Salad with Ginger Teryiaki Salmon
Romaine, snap peas, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, chow mein noodles, baby corn and cucumbers topped with my mom's salmon. One leftover dish GONE! Success! Another random note - as I opened up the can of baby corn, I remembered that we saw FRESH baby corn while we were at Chelsea Market. Have you ever seen non-can baby corn? They were in husks and everything!
So tonight, I took photos of my salad bowl in two different lights around 7pm. I held it up near my window (picture 1) and then set it down on the radiator just below the window (picture 2). I kinda like both for different reasons. Which picture lighting do you like better?

Ok, sorry for the short, all over the place post. I gotta run and do some work (boo!) and then read up on our Labor Day vacation spot!! :) Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Wii sore?!

I woke up this morning feeling two things:

1) Still full from lunch/dinner last night and
2) Sore from playing the Wii! Agh!

Since Jamie and I got my nephews the Wii Outdoor Challenge for their birthdays, my nephews brought their Wii with them when they came over yesterday. I rocked out to a ton of tennis and I'm feeling it all in my right bicep now. Wow. haha. I only played a couple of games on the Wii Outdoor Challenge and oh my. That game is exhausting! It's essentially this generation's Power Pad. Three attempts at the Sprint Challenge and I was huffing and puffing! Meanwhile, my 6-yr old nephew is fine. I feel old :(

Might have been our run earlier that morning...at least that's what I'll tell myself ;) We ended up doing just over 6.5 miles (yes, that's not quite 9) in gorgeous weather. I forgot what it's like to run in not humid weather ;p I'm ok with just doing the 6.5 since my hip/butt was feeling super tight. I miss you foam roller!!!

When we got back from our run, we put in a few minutes of Wii action and then ran some errands. I got a bathing suit at the gap for a mere $12! Score! I love a good deal. We also stopped at White Castle so Jamie could get his burger fix. I conveniently live within 20 minutes from THREE White Castles. I think that's weird. Don't you? Anyway, the newest one opened up about a 4 minute drive from my parents' house so clearly we had to stop in.

That was Jamie's appetizer to my mom's grilled feast. My aunt and uncle came in from Long Island bringing the grand total of eaters to 8. Please note the quantity of food I'm about to post. Looks like we're taking a ton home!
BBQ Ribs! I usually like my ribs to fall off the bone, but these were pretty yummy. Good flavor and really, I'm not complaining about anything that is grilled.

Chicken Wings. I didn't taste these, but my mom said she used some Jack Daniels BBQ sauce for them. I like to refrain from eating wings unless they are deep fried and doused in some good hot sauce.

Eggplant Salad. My mom usually makes this crazy delicious Steak Salad (grilled london broil, red onions, cider vinegar, oyster sauce, red peppers). It's nice and tangy and oniony and the sauce is amazing over some white rice. I saw this bowl sitting on the counter when we got back from our errands thinking it was the steak salad so I snagged a piece, took a bite and NOT STEAK! haha. It was a nice surprise though. Instead of red peppers, there were tomatoes in this dish. YUM! I'm going to try this at home...without grilled eggplant :(

Also on the menu, the token Filipino dish - my mom's Pancit Palabok. Palabok is basically a noodle/gravy dish. You use fat rice noodles and the gravy is a shrimp based sauce. It's really rich (as most Filipino foods are) and time intensive so my mom usually makes it for special occasions or parties. We also get to take home frozen containers of the sauce ;)

My mom also made this really tender and juicy marinated skirt steak that I didn't catch a picture of because it took me awhile to realize there was a whole other meat dish on the table! She used some Mama Sita's BBQ marinade and lime juice. MMM.

All these heavy foods were supplemented with a few veggie dishes. Corn and a snap pea/red pepper salad.
On the dessert menu (oh my there was so much dessert):
Turons! (sorry, got this picture after everyone grabbed some) Turons are plantains (and usually jackfruit) wrapped with spring roll wrappers, deep fried and then immediately sprinkled with sugar when they come out so the outside gets all caramelized. HEAVEN. This batch was ok...the plantains were a little too hard and dry. Bummer.

Watermelon! MMM I could eat watermelon all day.

My mom's new dessert - Mangoes with Sticky Rice. If any of you have had this traditional Thai dessert, you know what a great combination it is. You have the sweetness and acidity of the mango with the rich, somewhat saltiness of the sticky rice (that is made with some coconut milk) and it's a great balance! Plus it didn't hurt my mom gets better champange mangoes than we do.

My aunt brought a Mango Splash Tart and it was DEEEELICIOUS. I was all over the crust which was really moist and held up well to the pudding-like texture of the filling. YUM! Dessert overload!!

After digesting some, we watched some fireworks on TV. I think it's funny that we watched A Capitol Fourth because my parents (that don't have cable) antenna/digital converter thing didn't have a strong enough signal to get NBC's broadcast of the NYC fireworks.

After the lame fireworks display in DC (I think I now know why we've never gone down to the Mall), we watched Bolt - super cute movie, btw.

Gotta run now. Bfast, family bonding and then off we go to catch our train back!

Atlantic Grill lunch and more NYC!

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone is enjoying the weather!

Thought I'd take a few minutes to fill you in on Atlantic Grill, a restaurant on the Upper East Side where we had lunch yesterday afternoon. We met up with a friend from college that had heard a bunch of good things about this restaurant so we decided to check it out.

Friend and I split two sushi rolls, a Crunch Spicy Tuna Roll (Crab, Avocado, Scallion) and a BBQ Eel Avocado Roll.
Both rolls were delicious! We obviously didn't read the description for the crunchy spicy tuna roll because neither of us expected the crab meat...but we didn't mind it at all! It was a great blend of flavors! The sauce on the bbq eel roll was a little tangy - didn't expect that either, but in the hot afternoon sun, I actually didn't mind it.

In addition to the rolls, we each got appetizer sized salads. I did the Atlantic Chopped Salad (Cucumber, Feta, Capers, Tomatoes, Olives, Roasted Peppers, Onions, Chick Peas, Fresh Basil, Croutons, Parmesan Cheese, Balsamic Vinaigrette), which was tasty, but not anything too exciting. I think it could have used some avocado ;p
Friend got the Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad (Frisée, Candied Walnuts, Champagne Vinaigrette). It looked excellent with the golden and red beets...plus, can't go wrong with goat cheese and greens!
Jamie got what might have been the big winner of the table - Crab Cake BLT (Avocado, Beef Steak Tomatoes, Applewood Bacon, Chipotle Remoulade, Toasted Brioche & Homemade Potato Chips). This looked AMAZING. I only tried the potato chips, which were cooked to crispy perfection, but Jamie said the sandwich was awesome.
How yummy does that look??? The roll was perfectly molded to the stuff inside!

Overall, it was a delicious lunch, but a little on the pricey side. The portions were pretty large considering I was pleasantly full from my appetizer salad and sushi roll. I'd say check it out if you're in the area, but don't make a special trip just to eat there.

After lunch we walked 20 blocks or so to digest and shop. I saw a couple cute bags and skirts at Pookie & Sebastian. Any time I go shopping with Friend, we manage to wander in this store and it's rare I ever find anything to try on because there are a ton of super girly, floofy shirts...not really my style. I was shocked at how much I wanted to try on this time around! I refrained from buying anything though.

We did dessert at...SURPRISE, Pinkberry. Man, this blog is turning into how many times can Karena eat frozen yogurt in a month! We stopped in and OH MY GOD there was something STANKY in that place. I don't know if it was the trash or what, but it smelled so wrong. We all really wanted yogurt so we stood there for a second and decided ok, if everyone else is still ordering yogurt, then whatever, we'll take it to go. So we did. Can you guess what I got? haha.
We walked a few more blocks with our yogurts when we decided to stop at Redemption Bar for a bathroom/sit down/drink break while we waited for college friend numero dos. I've been to Redemption a few times, but I never realize what it is until someone brings it to my attention. We sat down and Jamie and I each got a drink while waiting. I didn't realize that it wasn't happy hour and that I was staring at the specialty cocktail list so here's a picture of my TWELVE DOLLAR MOJITO. Ugh.

Ridiculous, right? It was a really tasty mojito, but I guess I had sticker shock for a second there. I secretly was hoping it was going to come in a pint glass :\
We hung out at friend numero dos's apartment for a little while as we waited for our train back to the jerz and then walked over to Buttercup Bake Shop to pick up some cupcakes for my nephews.
I was in a rush (since we had about 20 minutes to order, pay and get over to Penn Station - poor planning, I know) so I frantically picked out 6 different cupcakes to bring home. We got 2 Red Velvet, 2 Devil Dog, 1 Buttercup Golden with Vanilla Icing and 1 Buttercup Golden with Chocolate Icing.
I liked how they added the tissue paper so they wouldn't fly around. It's like they KNEW we were rushing to get somewhere and would probably jostle the cupcakes! Genius!

As soon as we got back to the house, my mom had a whole dinner spread ready for us. TONS of food! Jamie put in a special request for grilled sardines:
My mom made these one of the first times Jamie came up to visit and apparently they were so good, he was hooked on them. I tried them this time around and really liked them. They were just drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and thrown on the grill. My mom served them with a soy sauce/vinegar/lime sort of sauce. (I needed Jamie to cut the head off before I was willing to eat one of these).

Also on the menu - Teriyaki Ginger Glazed Salmon. My mom makes this all the time and it's a pretty safe bet. The sweetness of the teryiaki sauce is great with the ginger. This one had a ton of freshly grated ginger and was a nice surprise.
As if that wasn't enough food, my mom also made two of these:
She and my dad each ate one of those little sections on the left and Jamie and I split one of those long pieces on the right. Pardon my lack of steak cut knowledge! Needless to say, we had mountains of leftovers!

The eating continued this afternoon after a brief morning run. I'll get into the details later - gotta break away from the blogging and hang with the fam. Movie time with the nephews!! Hope everyone is eating well :)

Wacky Wednesday

Something must be off with me today. I started the day off super early and forgot my berry and lunch as I flew out the door. As you probably noticed, I'm not really a morning person...I just can't seem to pull it together during those early hours!

I managed to get into the office around 7:15 this morning which left me just enough time to finish up a presentation for a 9am pitch. Phew. Unfortunately breakfast was non-existent as I was only able to grab a Grande Red-Eye w/Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup from Starbucks. Totally needed that extra caffeine boost.

Around 10am I started to get the shakes (perhaps because I only had coffee and water?) so I grabbed my Donut/UFO peach and a 100 calorie pack of Crasins. I find these packs to have just the right amount of crasins for any occasion (salads, snacks, etc.)!
I've seen these peaches at a few grocery stores and finally decided to buy one this weekend. I must say, it's kinda weird eating it since it's short. Once I got past that, I enjoyed my super juicy, sweet peach :)

Like I said, I forgot lunch so I had to buy. I try really really hard not to spend any money during the day, but today seems to be the one exception to the rule. Since I've written about Daily Market in the past, I thought I should at least browse their lunch selection. I did not get the 'Summer Special', instead I browsed the rows of refrigerated goods they had. OH MY. There were 2 sizes of salads in a bunch of varieties, pre-made sandwiches, spaghetti & meatballs, korean bbq, sesame noodles, seaweed salad, chicken and noodles, fruit, EVERYTHING. It was sensory overload! I walked out with:

A small curry chicken salad salad
I thought this was a pretty good deal at $3.99. The bowl wasn't that big around, but boy did they stuff that container with lettuce! Curry chicken salad is one of the few savory dishes I permit raisins in. This chicken salad wasn't the best I've had, but it wasn't too bad. It was a subtle curry taste (needed some salt) and it definitely had a kick you felt in the back of your throat - woah! No salad dressing for me...the chicken salad was rich enough!

I know better than to just eat a small pile of lettuce with a few tablespoons of chicken salad for lunch, so I also grabbed a container of Sabra Hummus with Pretzel Crisps:
Yes, I'm a sucker for packaging ;p

Sometimes I really like this brand of hummus because they have fun flavors like roasted red pepper and this super spicy one (might be jalapeno?). Other times, like today, I'm really weirded out by how smooth it is. It was almost soupy today (well, compared to the stuff I'd normally get)! I liked that these came with pretzel crisps though. For those that haven't been introduced to pretzel crisps, they are these awesome and addictive flat pretzels that are super crunchy - think along the lines of a pretzel potato chip, just not fried. They are my new favorite snack! YUMYUMYUM!

After all that, I needed a little something sweet so I reached for:
MINI TOBLERONE! Again, I'm a sucker for cute packaging. I used to LOVE Toblerone when I was younger. My mom would buy the regular sized ones and I thought they were the best thing EVER. This was the perfect size - 3 itty bitty triangles of milk chocolate and nougat and almonds. I would have been in heaven if this came in dark chocolate.

I also grabbed a pack of pineapple just in case I got the shakes again in the afternoon or to tide me over for my late night at work. No shakes in the afternoon, but I did get hungry around 6 so I snacked on my perfectly ripe pineapple and was content :)

After another hour or so of work, I decided to call it quits and go home. I wasn't in the mood to cook, plus I was bringing home more work (ech!) so we decided to test out Paragon Thai for takeout. We've passed it a few times and we have a menu for some reason, so we figured why not give it a go? Thanks to perfect timing, Jamie called it in and I picked it up on my way home from work...AND it was still hot!

Jamie ordered the Pad Thai with Pork (sorry, no picture we were pretty hungry). It was a little too sweet for my taste and he thought it could use some citrus, but overall we thought the dish was pretty good!

I got the Pad Phed with Chicken (sauteed basil leaves, bamboo shoot, red and green bell pepper in hot chili garlic sauce). OH. MY. FIRE! I opened the container and saw these funky clusters of green balls and wondered what on earth is that??
They had the color of capers but were really firm. I have a feeling they were like fresh peppercorns or some sort of weird chili pepper I've never seen before? Whatever they were, they made my dish RIDICULOUSLY spicy. It was that kind of spicy that makes your eyes water because every tastebud burns on matter what you put on it.

We also split an appetizer of Kanom Jeep (crabmeat, shrimp, chicken & water chestnuts wrapped in wonton skin, steamed and served with fried garlic and sweet soy sauce).
They were like super spongy shumai. Good, but a really odd texture. I need to find me some of this sweet soy sauce. It had a hint of smokiness to it and wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be.

Ok, those were my food adventures for the day. Did you notice I photographed lunch at my desk?? hehe. That was during my 'me' time at my desk where I also found time to catch up on some blogs. FYI, Leslie Elizabeth over at Jackson's World is hosting an Envirosax Giveaway! The bags are adorable and durable! Be sure to check out the giveaway and her blog - she's got a super cute pup, fun reads, and she's from the DC area which means she must be awesome ;)

Ok. Time for me to stop procrastinating and get back to work :( Nitey!

Quickie post

because I'm exhausted.

Tonight's dinner was Shrimp and Tofu Stirfry:
Sorry it's kinda blurry - I can't seem to work my camera this week!

This is one of those dishes that my mom used to make and I adapted because I never knew the actual recipe (I must have gotten my no measuring in the kitchen thing from her). I was originally going to throw in soybeans, but opted for the peas instead after I realized tofu + soybeans might just be too much soy. Ha.

In the past, I've used tofu puffs for this dish b/c well, they are puffy and fried and soak up the sauce like no other. Considering deep fried tofu is not exactly figure or health friendly (plus they don't sell it in the regular grocery store), I figured I'd give pressed tofu a try. I've read about it on a few blogs so I googled directions.

Jamie pressed some firm tofu when he got home from work and I was amazed at how much water came out of the block! The paper towels were absolutely soaked. I let the tofu sit in some of the stirfry sauce (see below) to soak up some flavor, but I don't really think it did much.

Here's a picture of our rice cooker because it's one of my favorite kitchen appliances and I think it's about time I started using it more.
Dinner verdict? The dish is definitely more flavorful and fun with the fried tofu, but I think the pressed tofu held up a lot better than if I just used firm tofu. I altered the sauce recipe yet once again and I think we have a winner!

Shrimp and Tofu Stirfry
1/4 c oyster sauce
1/8 c tempura sauce
1/8 c low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp sherry
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp cornstarch
15-20 large shrimp, shelled
1/4 c frozen peas
1/4 c bamboo shoots, sliced (I forgot these)
1 block firm tofu, pressed and cut into cubes
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 c water or broth

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a tupperware and shake well, set aside. Heat 1 tbsp sesame oil in a pan, saute garlic, add tofu and about 1/2 of the sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Add shrimp and water or broth. Cook until shrimp starts to turn pink and add peas and bamboo shoots and cook until shrimp is pink. Serve over rice.

So the recipe only uses about 1/2 - 3/4 of the sauce...not because I want to waste sauce, but because I'm bad with measuring and those were the smallest, reasonable measurements I could use. Really, are you going to be able to measure anything less than 1/8 of a cup??

I needed a little sweet treat so I grabbed a Skinny Cow Low Fat Fudge Bar
After my tasty experience with the sandwiches, I grabbed a box of these on Caiparinha Saturday. Overall, the flavor is good, but I think I have an issue with the texture. I didn't expect it to be really airy and mushy like softserve, so the first bite was a little alarming. Plus, I don't know if it was just my bar, but it was like it was covered in a thin ice shell? meh?

Ok, I'm going to finish watching the last episode of Out of the Wild (yes, I know it's way late, but I love DVR!)

Grrr....Argh!

It's official. My computer hates me. It won't even let me burn pictures to a CD to clear space on it. ARRRGHHH! It's taken me at least an hour to get around to this post :(

Tonight's dinner was Lime-Honey Glazed Chicken with Mexican Rice and Arugula Salad. The chicken was courtesy of Eating Well and I popped open a box of Goya Mexican Style Rice Mix, threw in a few extra ingredients into the mix (onion, frozen mixed veggies and a handful of chopped cilantro), tossed some arugula with olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and honey, topped it with some avocado and coarse salt and voila! Dinner!

Jamie was in charge of pulling the marinade together since he got home before I did and the recipe says to marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours. He got frisky and used less honey than the recipe called for (shocking, since he's a strict recipe follower). I mentioned while we were eating that I thought it would have a thicker/barbeque-y sauce and that's when he spilled the beans.

Since we don't have a grill (sad!), I decided to bake the chicken instead. I originally planned to use the grill pan, but then I had scary visions of the sauce caramelizing on the pan, burning and then the whole apartment filling with smoke. Not exactly my idea of a fun Wednesday night so baking won. :)

Verdict? It obviously would have been better on the grill, but not bad baked. The chicken had a great hint of lime and sweetness. It also reminded me a little of this barbeque chicken my mom made a lot. I don't know the exact ingredients (I'll have to investigate further), but I'm pretty sure she used soy sauce, garlic and Sprite. Yes, Sprite.

This was my first time using the Goya Mexican Style Rice mix and I think I'll give it another go. It's quick and not too salty - always good in my book! I usually keep a few bags of yellow rice mix (the super cheap, metallic yellow bags...can't remember the name!) in the pantry for when I do Chicken with Yellow Rice and Black Beans (don't worry, I'll be making that soon enough). Also, because I love spice, I poured a tiny dab of this on my rice:
It's like fire sauce, so I try not to dump a ton on my food. I got hooked on this stuff while we were in Grenada last fall and we came back with 2 bottles (this one and a smaller one I keep in the office).

Sorry for the short post, I had a lot of stuff floating around my head this afternoon and for some reason it has completely escaped me. I blame my computer. Grr...