Catch up time!

It's been awhile since I last blogged...it was a busy, unproductive weekend full of good food, good times and good friends ;p

Hm...let's start on Friday, shall we?

Um yeah, so I planned on getting a morning run/walk session in Friday morning, but woke up with some tenderness in my achilles and hobbled out of bed. :( I think I either a) didn't stretch enough post Thursday morning workout b) didn't stick enough post workout c) walked too much too fast throughout the day or d) all of the above. Not cool. Perhaps it's telling me I need to chill out a bit. What? It's really hard to not run :( :(

Between the office and running store I got a crazy craving for some banh mi.

I did some research and realized the only good banh mi place was all the way out in Falls Church! Dug around some more and found out that Pho 14 in Columbia Heights actually had a pretty decent selection and thought I'd give it a chance.

Met up with Sparky around 8:30 and we ended up waiting about 30 minutes for a table in the teeny restaurant. I was pretty shocked at the wait, especially since it's tucked away on a side street that doesn't get too much foot traffic. By the time we sat down I was STARVING. I could have easily eaten like 2 banh mi! Luckily Pho 14 offers a Banh Mi Platter where you can get a banh mi of your choice, an appetizer (choice of 6), and a cup of their beef broth...for $8.95. Hello, deal!

I started off with some Spring Rolls (two rolls wrapped in rice paper filled with tofu, lettuce, bean sprouts, and vermicelli noodles served with peanut hoisin sauce). These were perfect, tightly wrapped little rolls. My only complaint was the tofu. It wasn't what I was expecting...in fact, Sparky and I both thought it was chicken!

Next up was the actual banh mi and a cup of the beef broth. I went with the Banh Mi Pate Cha (pate & cured pork), which was good, but no Saigon Sandwich. It definitely satisfied my craving, but I wished it packed more flavor. My jalapenos were cut a little too thick so my mouth was on fire after chomping on the first one.

The broth was very aromatic...very star anise-y. In fact, star anise was pretty much all I could taste in my first couple of sips. I kept sipping, trying to decide whether or not I liked this very in your face taste and I remained pretty indifferent. Bottom line - I prefer my pho broth to be beefy. This didn't quite cut it.

After dinner I discovered the wonder that is Rock Band

and learned that large glasses of mimosas are not a good idea after 10pm.

I met up with an elementary school friend on Saturday night that made the trek from the Bmore area for dinner, drinks and catching up. We decided on sushi at Sakana in Dupont Circle for dinner.

An old coworker introduced me to Sakana a few years ago and I've been hooked ever since. It's a small place with a pretty basic menu and delicious sushi. Even better, it's not ridiculously expensive!

We split a variety of rolls and some vino before meeting up with a high school friend of hers that happened to be at Buffalo Billiards. Small world! This was when I realized I am no longer in my early 20s and I can no longer do 3 days in a row of staying out late and drinking. I could barely keep my eyes open past 10:30!!

We called it a night and I spent Sunday night INDOORS cooking and crashing early. On the menu: Noodle Salad with Tahini Ginger Dressing and Garlicky Shrimp

Noodle Salad

1 c cucumber, sliced

1 1/2 c bean sprouts

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/3 c cilantro, chopped

2 bunches glass noodles, soaked and cooled

Tahini Ginger Dressing (see recipe below)

Garlicky Shrimp (see recipe below)

Toss ingredients together in a bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes to let flavors soak in.

Garlicky Shrimp

10-12 large shrimp, shelled

1 tbsp lemongrass, chopped

1 tsp chili garlic paste

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp greek yogurt

pinch salt

juice of 1/2 lime

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let marinate for 5-10 minutes. Heat a pan over medium high heat and cook shrimp for about 2 minutes on each side.

Tahini Ginger Dressing

3 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp ginger, finely grated

1/2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp grated onion

1/2 tsp sesame oil

juice of one lime

Whisk ingredients together.

Pretty easy recipes, no? I ended up eating leftovers for dinner tonight since my run/walk ran late and my salmon didn't defrost enough. The bits at the bottom of the bowl that had soaked up the flavors from the shrimp and dressing - YUUUUM. I wanted to toss some carrots in too, but forgot I lost my bag of carrots last week hehe. It's such a light dish that reminds me of summertime. Exactly what I needed on this gloomy, rainy Monday :)

How do you beat the winter dinnertime blues?

Sticked it to me.

So you know how I mentioned my pain-free run/walk earlier today? I took The Stick to my calf not long after I finished writing and made it hurt so good. There was this crazy tight spot that I just couldn't get rid of and now it's pretty tender. Guess I showed it who's boss. Ha.

I got some more cleaning and organizing done before I got to work on prepping dinner, all to this soundtrack. On repeat. A lot. Because I love it:

Gravitas - Little People

Dundadeova - dZihan & Kamien

Alright - Jamiroquai

Dark Blue - Jack's Mannequin

1976 - RJD2

Esta Noche - Frederico Aubele

For You I Will (Confidence) - Teddy Geiger

Viejo Abasto - G-Spliff

Between Us and Them - Ulrich Schnauss

Sleeping to Dream - Jason Mraz

Super chill and perfect for my snowy day of cleaning :)

Not listed, but definitely part of the soundtrack - upstairs neighbor stomping around. WTF? It's been a little out of control the past couple of days. I swear, it's like they're either playing some serious DDR or doing some jumping jacks. No idea, but it's annoying.

Did some research for a project of mine before diving into the kitchen (to be honest, I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with that random leek). I wanted my meat to get some good marinating time in so I got it swimming in some Asian flavors around 4. On the menu - Beef and Leek Roulade with Sesame Citrus Noodles.

Beef and Leek Roulade

1 lb top round steak, pounded to about 1/4" thick

3 slices ginger, julienned

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 c soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp mirin

1 tbsp tempura sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1 leek, separated for roasting

1 shallot, quartered

salt

pepper

olive oil

1/2 tsp jalapeno, coarsely chopped

toothpicks

In a container large enough for your meat, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, tempura sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, mirin and salt. Coat meat with marinade and let sit for 30 minutes. Flip and let marinate for another 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place leek and shallot on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper and olive oil. Roast for 15 minutes or until leeks start to show some browning. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Coarsely chop leeks and place in a food processor with jalapeno. Pulse until a paste is formed. If your leeks got too dry during the roasting process, stream in a little bit of olive oil.

Trim steak so you have a fairly even sided rectangle (save scraps for stirfry). Smear leek mixture on top 3/4 of the rectangle and roll toward you. Secure with toothpicks.

Heat oven to 375.

Heat a pan large enough for your roll to medium high heat. Sear roll on all sides before transferring to a piece of foil. Form a loose foil wrap around the roll and place into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.

Sesame Citrus Noodles

Handful of rice noodles, cooked according to package

edamame

2 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp tahini

juice of one clementine

1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1/4 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp maple syrup

pinch salt

1 slice ginger, minced

Combine tahini, clementine juice, vinegar, soy sauce, oil, salt and ginger in a bowl. Whisk well. Toss noodles with dressing and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Scatter edamame and mushrooms on top.

So the inspiration for this dish came from the japanese dish Negimaki. I enjoy some negimaki here and there, but I'm not really cool with the whole pieces of scallion. Sometimes it's a bit much.

I started daydreaming (again) about making a beef roll with a pureed scallion-y filling awhile ago, but didn't really jump on the chance until I was at the Giant this morning. I was bummed there weren't any scallions, but I figured a leek plus a shallot might fit the bill. I also realized I didn't have any teriyaki sauce on hand so I just went with a random Asian-y marinade…and the roulade was born!

Mine ended up getting overcooked (ech! I need to pay more attention!), so the time on the recipe is what it should have been. The flavor from the leek mixture was definitely more subtle than the traditional scallion, but I really liked the slight kick from the jalapeno. Part of me thinks this would be good with a fattier cut of meat so the filling might get more flavor? I dunno. This might be one of those dishes I try multiple times…

The noodle dish also incorporates an edit after I finished dinner - I thought the noodles would be much better if they sat in the dressing for a little while (hence the 20 minute chilling time). Another variation would be the addition of cucumbers or carrots or any cool, crisp veggies. Since the Gigante was ransacked, I couldn't throw them in mine :\

Tomorrow I'm going with a less adventurous experiment...and maybe back to the tropical...can you tell I'm itching for some beach weather?? ha.

okinawan arrival

Hello all. I am going to help Karena out here since her little laptop has imploded. This is going to be all about my time in Okinawa over the New Year’s holiday. There will probably be two to three more posts about my trip.

My close friend (aka Tater) is currently working at Kadena Air Base. He really lucked out with his posting because he doesn’t have to work in the snow, wind, and frigid temperatures that I work in. His workload is about ten times mine…so I guess it evens out. Most of yall already know that we were both TDY Kadena last year. We had a great time and got to explore a bit of the island. I have been trying to figure out a way back ever since I returned to the States. The food is excellent (lots of pork and seafood), the people are very friendly and helpful, AND it is a nice tropical island with mountains and beaches.

PERFECT!!!!!

It has all of the necessities for the type of place I could see myself living. Ahhh….daydreams are nice :)

My trip from Gunsan to Inchon Airport was a little nerve-racking. I got on the airport bus (it is about a 3.5 hour ride to the airport) and within one hour we had hit the mountains and a nasty snow storm. We’re talking four-ways on, single lane, 25 mile-per-hour slog through snow and ice. It was very depressing as we continued on and on and thoughts crept into my head about how the airport would be shut down. I really thought I wouldn’t be able to leave Korea and visit Tater and his wife in sunny Okinawa. Luckily, about 45 minutes outside of the airport, the snow stopped and the sun came out. WHEW. Crisis one avoided. I got inside the terminal, walked around, ate some dolsot bibimbap, and took a two-hour nap since I was a bit hungover from my night out with the subs.By the way, Inchon Airport is absolutely beautiful inside and out…there is also tons of shopping and places to eat inside. It was easy to spend an hour just cruising around and window shopping. Once I woke up from my nap it was time to board my Asiana flight to Fukuoka, Japan.

We arrived at Fukuoka early, so I had an additional hour between my flights. This extra hour proved useful as I was about to be faced with crisis two. After I came out of Customs & Immigrations in Japan, I entered what I thought was the airport at Fukuoka. I had to check into ANA to continue on to Okinawa so I wandered over to the check-in terminals…all of them were down :( and there was nobody at the ANA desk. I thought “this could be normal. when flying abroad in other countries, they sometimes don’t open ticket counters until two hours before the flight.” So I decided to wander around the shops and see if I could find an information kiosk. Well, an hour went by and I decided to try the ANA counter again. Same deal as before, but at least there was a counter representative. So, I pushed aside the metal barrier meant to keep people like me away from the check-in counter and walked up to inquire about my flight. I pointed to the portion of itinerary that said FUK – OKA, 30-DEC-09, 2030. The ANA rep just gave me a confused look. I said “Check in?” Another confused look. I said “cancelled…delayed?” Nothing. Finally, he came around the counter and motioned for me to go with him. He took me over to a door where he had to swipe his ID and punch in an access code. I remembered now how I thought it was weird there were no flights listed for Naha on the Arrivals/Departures board. At this point, I started thinking that Okinawa was having some bad weather and my flight was cancelled…depression struck again.

A nice lady came out and asked to see my itinerary. I handed it over and she read through it and asked if I was going to Okinawa. There was a slight bit of disbelief in her voice, like “haha, this guy has another thing coming if he thinks he will be in Naha tonight.” She thought for a while and said “this is the international terminal, you need to go to the domestic terminal.” I felt like such a bonehead. I had no idea that there were two terminals. I had only seen one when we landed. Of course, that makes sense. That is why Okinawa was not listed on the Arrivals/Departures board and places like Seoul, Beijing, and Hong Kong were. She said that all I had to do was catch a bus to the Domestic terminal. They were on the first floor and outside of the door. So with time ticking down, I dashed out the door and managed to catch a bus that was loaded up with people. After about a 15 minute ride, we arrived at the Domestic Terminal. I hopped out and wandered off to find the ANA counter. Like anywhere else in Asia, there was a line to check in. I waited and waited and finally got up to the counter. Everything was smooth sailing after that. I made it to the gate about 15 minutes prior to boarding. This gave me time to chug a nice hot can of coffee and ponder downing a chu-hi. Ahhh chu-hi a vice of mine that, luckily, can not be found outside of Japan. Who else would think of mixing akahol and fruit juice into such a delicious can of happiness that you can buy anywhere…restaurants, gas stations, corner stores, etc. It is like drinking a Snapple that has an alcohol content of 5%.

I arrived into Naha Airport on time. It felt like I was coming home. There was a smile on my face from ear to ear. I reached the baggage claim and there was a gaggle of angry looking Marines that must have landed just before me. They were all waiting on their bags. The carousel wasn’t even moving. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait at the same baggage carousel and big red soon popped up on the conveyor belt. I was done and out the door and Tater was waiting in the lobby for me. Ah, there is almost nothing better than good friends being reunited. I was very happy to be in a place that I love with my good buddy. The weather was about 60 degrees and misty at about 1000pm. Better than 16 degrees and snow at 300pm! I was immediately reminded of the challenges of driving in Oki as I went to open the driver’s side door (on the right side of the car). Hahaha…I thought I was getting in the passenger’s side. Then we started driving on the wrong side of the road, up one-way streets, and towards oncoming traffic. We also had a nice cabbie start yelling at us in Japanese. We had no idea what he was saying as he made hand gestures for us to pull over. So we did just that and don’t you know, he sped right by us. We had to turn around to get our bearings set and head out of the airport.

It took about 45 minutes to reach “home, sweet, Hamagawa” the lodging facility where Tater and his wife are living. It took me 46 minutes to crack a chu-hi and ask about dinner. Let me tell you, that Tater, he is a lucky man. He has his wife living with him, is within a five minute walk to MOS Burger and has a steady supply of tasty foods at his disposal. I was very excited to return to MOS Burger, a place that will put any burger chain back home to shame (this Singapore site has some menu items in English). Just look at that menu; hamburgers, hot dogs, soups and stews. They also serve fresh milk and fresh, healthy juices (orange, mango, guava, etc) for the little ones. Trust me when I say it is all good! My personal favorites are the shrimp cutlet burger and the original MOS Burger. The shrimp cutlet is served piping hot and is a fried patty of diced whole shrimpies (you can actually see them) topped with shredded lettuce and tartar sauce.

It is about the size of a hamburger or cheeseburger at McDonalds. The MOS Burger is a purely decadent combination of a hamburger patty, cheese, diced onions, chili, and a thick slice of tomato. Oh. My. Goodness. Prepare your eyes!!!!

You need about five napkins to keep yourself clean but you will still find little bits of chili somewhere on you. You’ll also find yourself licking the wrapper to get the bits that may have fallen off the sandwich. Of course, I guess that is why you can also order fries or onion rings (good – but not MOSB’s strong suit). After that delicious dinner Tater and I headed back to the Hamagawa to catch up on old times and chu-hi. Around 300am we got another hankering for food and decided to wander around his neighborhood looking for dining options. Well, none were open. Actually, we did stumble into one spot and were told that it was for locals only. Okay. We got the message. Tater and I entertained the idea of catching a cab to Gate 2 Street, but decided against it (wisely). Walking home we decided to stop at the all night soba hut that is on the side of the street. These places sell up some good Okinawa Soba at all hours of the night. I decided on the soki soba and a side order of fried gyoza.

Of course we also had some Orion’s. It was very delicious and I had to add some splashes of awamori infused with hot chili peppers to clear my head from those flights. It was the perfect end to a long day.

P-nut Butter time.

I don't know why, but I always laugh whenever Jamie writes P-nut butter on the grocery list. Hm. Anyway, BSI time! We're doing an early early dinner since we won't be getting back until late tonight.

On hot summer days (or cool fall evenings or chilly winter nights...) I find myself craving Vietnamese Summer Rolls. They usually leave my belly pleasantly full and my tastebuds thrilled at the light, refreshing, somewhat salty/sweetI'm not too skilled at the summer roll rolling, I decided to make a summer roll my way...the messy way:

I present to you, a Summer Roll Explosion:
taste. Since I'm not just going to grab an order of summer rolls from a restaurant, and At the heart of this is meal is a spicy and sweet peanut butter dressing inspired by the typical sauce served with summer rolls and the nuoc cham served with my other favorite dish - Bun.

I used about 1/4 package of rice noodles:
And tossed them with some radishes, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, chopped lettuce and basil (for some reason I couldn't find Thai basil ANYWHERE - weird) before adding the peanut butter sauce. Verdict? Delicious. It has all the flavors I was looking for and minimal work! The hardest part was chopping up the veggies and remembering exactly what I put in the sauce!

Peanut Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
3 1/2 tbs hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp chili oil
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp grated ginger
2 tbsp salad oil
1/4 tsp sriracha sauce
4 tbsp water

Stir first 10 ingredients together in a bowl. Add water slowly until sauce thins out. Add to rice noodles and veggies.

I love dinners like this - ones that are crisp, refreshing and filling...and leave just a hint of spice in the back of your throat :)

Ok, I'm off to a staff meeting out in VA...ON A SUNDAY! At least I'm getting paid for it hehe. We've got one more errand to run and then I'm hoping to FINALLY catch up on all the posts in my Google Reader. Yikes! I feel so out of the loop!! Hope you're having fun Sunday meals :)

90th post!

I'm surprised I've blogged that much! Wooo! Yay, me :)

This is gonna be a quickie...long day at work followed by a run followed by MORE WORK. Yep, had more to do once I got back to the office.

I needed a break from the computer yesterday so here's a brief recap of last night's dinner:

Turkey and Spinach Casserole

3 c whole wheat egg noodles, cooked and drained
3/4 lb ground turkey

1 9oz package frozen creamed spinach, defrosted

1/3 c frozen peas, defrosted

2 tbsp sherry

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1/2 c mushrooms, diced

1 tbsp tarragon

1/2 c brie, chopped
pepper

Heat olive oil in a pan and saute onions until softened. Add ground turkey and brown. Add mushrooms and cook until soft before adding sherry.

Add tarragon, pepper and spinach and stir to combine. Add brie and stir over low heat making sure that the cheese has melted.

Pour mixture into an 8x8 baking pan, cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

So my dinner experiment wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly what I envisioned. I wanted it to be chunkier...so maybe I should have used chunks of chicken instead of ground turkey. Ah well. On to tonight!

Once again it was just Jamie and me on this downtown adventure. This time we took a break from Hains Point and did a portion of my 2nd favorite 10 mile route. This route took us through Georgetown, across the Key Bridge, along the Mount Vernon Trail, across the Memorial Bridge, along the Reflecting Pool, around the Washington Monument and the Mall. It ended up being a 7.19 mile route and despite a bunch of things going wrong (fuel belt kept hitching shorts up, shoes untied, tense shoulders, AGH!), we managed to run it at 10 min pace. Woo :)

During this crazy not right run I realized a few things. First of all, I must replace all my socks. I ran out of my trusty Balegas and had to run in my regular socks. My feet were sad. So sad, my pinky toe sprung a blister! Think I'm exaggerating? You should test these socks out...trust me, you'll never go back.

Second of all, I think I may have developed a love for my Nike Elites. Remember when I first got them and was so excited and then I decided they were giving me pains, well I've been switching back and forth between them and the Inspires. I'm sorry dear Inspires, you will not be my MCM sneaker, not if I can feel all the pebbles on the sidewalk when I try to adjust my form :(

I just purchased a pair of new Elites online because our store doesn't have them in my size. Hi, my name is Karena and I'm a running sneaker addict. I also purchased my other 'must have during training' item - a box of Mocha Clif Shot gels. Hell yes.

What is your 'must have' workout item (clothing/shoe/food)?

Since I was STARVING mid run last week, I paid a visit to the Daily Market around 4 and picked up some Sabra To Go Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Pretzel Crisps for my pre-run snack. Just enough food to keep my belly happy :)

Post run, Jamie helped me assemble some proposals that needed to go out first thing tomorrow and then we decided that some Naan and Beyond was in order! Um yes, apparently we like some Indian food post 7 mile weekday run...I believe this is the 2nd week in a row? I originally asked for some Chicken Biryani, and the guy scooped it and was like yeah, no. I can't serve this to you. I appreciate that. A lot. If you can be honest with me and tell me that there's something wrong with one of your dishes, you get a gold star in my book.

I went with the Veggie Combo Plate which was rice, saag, chickpeas, veggies and a side of naan.

That's a whole lotta food! I'm not quite sure what to do with all the leftovers since I plan on making my BSI entry tomorrow night. Ah well. My dinner was deeeeeeeeeeelicious, especially with a side of mango chutney. MMM.

I'm off to bed now that I'm all digested. Just some evening foam roller action and then it's off to wonderful WONDERFUL sleepyland. I think I might venture to the gym tomorrow night for some much needed strength training. Julia over at Chocolate Shoestrings had an awesome and motivating post about strength training the other day that made me remember that it is an absolute must...even though I always seem to forget about it. You should check it out!

Promise I'll have more fun stuff tomorrow! :)

Decided!

It’s Wednesday!! Only one more day in the office for me!!! Man, I might be getting used to this 4 day work week thing haha.

It’s been pleasantly quiet at work this week so I was browsing the Google Reader (might be the best thing ever!) and saw that Julia over at Chocolate Shoestrings passed the Honest Scrap award to me. YAY fun! :)

Here are the deets:

The rules are to link back to the presenter, share 10 things about yourself that your readers may not know that are true, and then pass it on and notify the people you pass the award on to!!

1. I'm picky about socks - like weird, fit-throwing, won't put the same pair on even if they were only on for a split second.
   
2. My guilty pleasure/I don't have to cook for anyone dish - Instant Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Cheese and Hot Sauce...all mixed up in a big bowl.
3. Cashews make me nauseous.
4. I'm convinced the girly gene got knocked out of me at some point - I can't accessorize or decorate to save my life. I dress for comfort and cuteness is an afterthought/perk.
5. I wear one piece of jewelry at all times - a Tiffany bean necklace I got in HS. I don't ever take it off...mostly because I'm too lazy and/or will promptly lose it.
6. Jamie cooks all the rice in the apartment because I'm terrible at making rice.
7. I talk a lot when I'm nervous, which is weird because I consider myself to be pretty introverted.
8. Condiments out number actual food products in our apartment.
9. I can only swim underwater and the backstroke. I look like a drowning child when I swim freestyle.
10. I think I'd like to eventually take on a 50k or (if I ever get that swimming thing down) a triathlon. We'll see...

While I’d like to pass this on to a bunch of fellow bloggers, I'll just keep it to a select few faves that haven't done something similar to this:

Mel at She Runs Brooklyn – her posts always make me chuckle in the morning!

Paige at Running Around Normal – she has great food and workout posts! Plus her pup, Niko, is ADORABLE ;)

Marathon Val & Rosey Rebecca - these girls are awesome! I love reading their blogs because they're fun, informative and sometimes I'm amazed at the random things we have in common!

You should definitely check these bloggers out ;)

While I was typing this, I saw a little comment email pop up from Special K over at The Special K Treatment. Her ME Meal post is AWESOME. I thought it was timely since I mention my guilty food pleasure above ;) What do you crave/make when no one else is watching?? C'mon. You know you want to say it...

In keeping with the list thing (because my brain is tired), I've made a few decisions:

1. New blog title has arrived - Run Beans, Run. I'll eventually explain where the 'Beans' came from. (There will be a few more blog changes in the future (mostly layout), but hopefully you don't freak out when you see a different title pop up!) I've asked my talented graphic designer friend to work on a header graphic for me, but she's pretty swamped with designing wedding invitations for friends...so it might be awhile til that gets updated!
   
2. Parks Half Marathon it is!
3. Running after I work both jobs on a weeknight is just not going to happen. It's about time I accepted this.
   

Since my belly was grumbly/hurting after job number 2 today (I really need to pack more food), I said no to the run and a much needed yes to food. Jamie prepared some peanut sauce per the recipe Monica posted yesterday so all I had to do was cook some soba noodles and blanch some veggies!

Jamie's bowl with just snap peas and cucumber
And mine with all the green veggies (snap peas, cucumber, broccoli) in our fridge!
Overall I thought it was a tasty sauce! It was a tad spicy (even for me!) so we threw in some more honey and peanut butter. Next time I'm thinking about eliminating the chili flakes or reducing the amount of chili sauce. I also had visions of maybe inviting some fish sauce to the party?? I know, I know, I like to add fish sauce to everything.

Is there a condiment that always finds its way into your dishes?

Weird science...

So you know how I was so excited this morning about how productive I was with the ab work, breakfast, blogging and getting stuff prepped for tonight's dinner? SQUASHED when I got back from the track to find this:
UMMM for real? Do you see the extra white parts and dark parts?? Totally not what it looked like when I cut it up this morning. I took a bite (before I saw the dark parts) and thought it was a little weird and then I looked closer and THERE WERE WHITE FUZZIES! EEEK! So I'm standing in the kitchen staring at this cube and I look closer at the dark parts - totally not edible. How in the world did my tempeh go bad in a day??? It was in a ziplock bag and in the fridge. Shouldn't it have been fine? Maybe this is why it was in an ultra vacuum packed bag? Ugh. Frustrating.

Thankfully we had some chicken tenderloins in the fridge waiting to get packed for the freezer. I subbed those in for the tempeh, boiled up some soba noodles and dinner was served in 15 minutes!

June Chicken Stirfry
4 chicken tenderloins, cut into bite sized pieces,
1/4 c onion, diced
1/4 c celery, diced
1 1/2 c snap peas
1 small green pepper, sliced
1 small red pepper, sliced
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp black bean garlic sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

In a large pan, heat sesame oil and add chicken. Cook for 3-4 minutes, add sauces and cook for another 3 minutes. Add vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

I have a TON of stir fry recipes - something is always different each time I make one so that's why this is the 'June' Chicken Stir Fry :) I had some leftover diced celery and onions so I threw those in. Typically I'd do onion slices and thin slices of celery, but I kinda liked having the little diced bits in with the sauce this time around!

I served this over soba noodles because I wasn't really feeling rice for dinner. Plus, that would have taken a lot longer and I didn't have any patience after tonight's workout...

Tonight was a gorgeous night for a track workout! No humidity, a slight breeze, AWESOME. I was feeling not so great when I left the office (I don't know how, but I still managed to get hunger pains after scattering my meals), but I made it to the track. We did a quick 1/2 mile jog and then jumped into this workout that I found on Runner's World:

PACE: Easy Jogging
1 mile w/5 strides

PACE: 5-K or Faster
1000 meters

PACE: Tempo
800 meters

PACE: 5-K or Faster
800 meters

PACE: Tempo
800 meters

PACE: 5-K or Faster
600 meters

PACE: Tempo
800 meters

PACE: All-out Blast
400 meters

To close out the workout we did a 1/2 mile jog followed by some stretching. Yes, we probably should have done a longer warm up and cool down, but I didn't want to tack on too many extra miles this week...this ended up being like 5.5!

I liked the workout even though it was a lot to remember (I even had it written down!). This might have to go my track workout 'to-do' list (I'm trying to keep a list of all the track workouts I like so I don't have to constantly look stuff up). Well, maybe it'll go on the 'do me once every other month' list ;)

Sorry for the short and scary picture post! I'm exhausted and have to be at work by 7am tomorrow to finish up stuff for a presentation. If I miraculously pop out of bed super early, you'll be the first to know ;)