Easy Watermelon Feta and Cucumber Salad
4 years ago
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Back at it...for reals
I am really re-dedicated to running, because I love the feeling it gives me.
I started back at running pretty consistently and seriously about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Instead of going through the motions and watching the numbers turn on the treadmill I have really started to think about what will make me a better, fitter, faster, stronger runner!
Yesterday I went out for a long run. And going through the proper preparation was the most important thing that propelled me through all 6 miles even though I have not really set the best foundation yet.
View 10K Run Route in a larger map
1. I decided a distance that was definitely a stretch for me! (Sundays should always be my stretch day)
2. I got on the goggle maps and figured out a new route that would be interesting an challenging
3. I did a load of laundry so my magic pants were clean! Magic pants meaning stretch black pants that make running magical! They don't ride anywhere and I look pretty damn good for a pudgy girl in them. They give me that extra self confidence I need.
4. I made sure my ipod was plenty charged.
5. I woke up and decided---'yup it is time to go and conquer 6 miles again'
It has been a long time since I have actually gone out and done a truly long run. Maybe 4 months, and yes I paid for it a little. It was painful after about mile 4. I tried to stop and walk for just like 50 yards to recoup, but that was actually more painful than just going.
I had a couple of obstacles along the way.
1. My I pod sensor stopped working so I had to use the stop watch feature and my map to figure out my millage and average pace
2. I got lost in Alviso...not the best place to get lost because it is so strange.
3. I haven't ran outside in probably 3 months.
I overcame these small obstacles. I would not rank my Sunday November 22 run as a best in the history of Kate's runs, but it was a great starting point to build long runs from.
I started back at running pretty consistently and seriously about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Instead of going through the motions and watching the numbers turn on the treadmill I have really started to think about what will make me a better, fitter, faster, stronger runner!
Yesterday I went out for a long run. And going through the proper preparation was the most important thing that propelled me through all 6 miles even though I have not really set the best foundation yet.
View 10K Run Route in a larger map
1. I decided a distance that was definitely a stretch for me! (Sundays should always be my stretch day)
2. I got on the goggle maps and figured out a new route that would be interesting an challenging
3. I did a load of laundry so my magic pants were clean! Magic pants meaning stretch black pants that make running magical! They don't ride anywhere and I look pretty damn good for a pudgy girl in them. They give me that extra self confidence I need.
4. I made sure my ipod was plenty charged.
5. I woke up and decided---'yup it is time to go and conquer 6 miles again'
It has been a long time since I have actually gone out and done a truly long run. Maybe 4 months, and yes I paid for it a little. It was painful after about mile 4. I tried to stop and walk for just like 50 yards to recoup, but that was actually more painful than just going.
I had a couple of obstacles along the way.
1. My I pod sensor stopped working so I had to use the stop watch feature and my map to figure out my millage and average pace
2. I got lost in Alviso...not the best place to get lost because it is so strange.
3. I haven't ran outside in probably 3 months.
I overcame these small obstacles. I would not rank my Sunday November 22 run as a best in the history of Kate's runs, but it was a great starting point to build long runs from.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sampling and Stomping through NYC!
My husband, Dave, and I went on a wonderful long weekend visit to New York City! We visited our friend Katie who lives in Brooklyn's adorable Park Slope neighborhood as well as spent time with our friend Virinder who drove down from Albany to adventure through the city with us.
We had a great time! We sampled all the food we could find in New York! So I thought I should detail it so that I don't forget a single bite! I wrote it down in my food journal for just this reason and I will recant it here to share it with the world. I hope you enjoy it almost as much as I did. (Not quite as much because I had to consume the calories myself, and therefor work them off!).
We arrived Wednesday evening:
A street side bite: Dave got a street vendor Pretzel-I had a bite and was not impressed
Dinner: mmm mmm mmmm- Carnegie Deli I ordered Matzo Ball Soup with Matzo Balls and Noodles (DELICIOUS!) and a side order of French Fries-Only after I received my soup did I relies I did not need the fries because the soup came with 2 HUGE balls!! They were seriously the size of a tennis ball! And everything comes with New and Old pickles! Delish! I am feeling more like a Jew every day.
Dave ordered a Woody Allen sandwich- IE the most meat they could fit on one sandwich, seriously. It was corned beef and pastrami piled about 10 inches high! No Joke! I had a bite of the meat off of one half it was really really yummy! They had super tasty brown mustard and the meat resided on pretty good rye bread.
Dave at half the sandwich and we took the other half to go.
Later that night: The rest of the sandwich. I probably ate 1/4 of the second half so 1/8 of the entire sandwich and it was delicious!
Thursday
We met V for a fun filled days adventure! We started with the Statue of Liberty.
Breakfast: 6 peanut MandMs 3 Honey Wheat Pretzels from the bottom of my bag and a cup of coffee on the ferry to Liberty Island. (I could have planned a little better).
Ferry Ride Bite: Dave bought a street vendor pizza I had a bite it was SUPER yummy, but I couldn't ask for more because I knew he was hungry.
"Lunch": At 3:00 in the afternoon we had finally made it back to Time Square by way of Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Trinity Church....on and on and on...V had expressed his LOVE for pulled pork and when Dave hears PORK he answers the call with action--so Famous Dave's was the sight of PORK for lunch.
Except for me. I had a turkey burger! with Cheese 'Memphis Style' which means it had coleslaw on it. I enjoyed it, mostly I enjoyed trying all the different bbq sauces. I got it with a side of Wilbur Beans...then I figured out why they called them 'Wilbur' beans--Charlot's Web...needless to say I was sad about eating them after that.
O and it was happy hour by then so clearly we needed some Margaritas! mmm
Drinks: We had drinks at the top of the Marriott Marquis hotel in Time Square, because my cousin said that it is fun. So we went and sat at a giant window and enjoyed fun fancy*expensive* drinks! I had white Sangria- it was tasty with a floral taste-Katie met us and it was fun! V is trying to make me a better sharer so I had to share my drink, but luckily he shared his Red Sangria with me so I feel ok about it!!
Dinner: Little Italy! We decided to head towards China Town, but apparently we landed on the border between little Italy and China Town. So we decided Italian food sounded good. But we are really bad at making choices. So finally one of the promoter people outside was like you will like this, you have to have dinner here.
So, we did. And it was good!!
I had gnocchi in bolognese (that I cannot figure out how to spell). Now, I don't like potatoes and usually I don't order gnocchi, but in the interest of trying to eat less flour (I think I am allergic) I thought ok...people like it, and it sounds ok I will give it a go. It was delicious! But I was also able to recognize when I was full...and didn't eat it all!! This is possibly the largest breakthrough I could have had at an Italian restaurant ever! I let Dave finish it.
...And that was all for food in Day 2! We went to the Top of the Rock and checked out the view and it was beautiful and I was tired.
Friday:
Breakfast: Yummy pancakes! We went to the Majestic Dinner-some funny little dinner right in Time Square. I knew now that I would not miss breakfast and eat old pretzels from the bottom of my bag. I ordered the pancakes with sausage links, because usually me and bfast sausage are best friends. But actually I thought they were really gross so I tried 2 bites and I was over it! I didn't even eat a whole 1!!
who am I??
Lunch: Random Pizza place in Time Square-I had a Spinach Roll -spinach and cheese in a bread stick, which was pretty tasty! And a slice of 'lasagna' pizza-it was pretty good, but nothing to special.
Snack Time: Starbucks and street nuts! The nuts doubled as hand warmers until we found the Starbucks!
Dinner: Most Fun Dinner Ever! This was my 'pick' for the weekend. We went to a Chinese place in the Upper West Side that my former New Yorker friend suggested called 'The Silk Road Palace'--It was hilarious! We (Dave, V, and I) met Katie there at 5:30 and it is a good thing we did it got really busy.
Instead of a craft of water for the table they brought crafts of Franzia-boxed wine that just kept coming and coming!! I LOVED IT! You would love it to! I swear.
We clearly did not go for the food, but I ate it anyways. I got Sesame Chix and it was O.K. not exactly hot, but it was fine once I was about 4 glasses of Franzia deep!
Another Street Side Bite: Dave bought chix on a stick from a vendor outside the theater where we had just seen AveQ-which was Great!!
The chix was also great! I only had one bite I would have had more, but I could see the glee in Dave's eyes about his chicken on a stick from a street vendor so I wanted him to enjoy every remaining moment.
Drinks: We got some beers at an Irish Pub next to our seedy hotel. Well I had a beer-Blue Moon! and Dave and V had car bombs and black and tans.
A good idea: was to grab a tray of grocery store sushi from the liquor store next to the bar next to the hotel! Mmmmm it was a good way to tuck myself in. Dave and I shared. It was delicious.
Saturday:
Coffee: Starbucks-totally necessary. And they had Thanksgiving Blend-best kind for sure!
Breakfast: NYC Style Bagels I had Cinnamon raisin toasted with butter. It was good, but a little to buttery.
We were almost late because of the bagel stop over to meet our friends and walk the Brooklyn Bridge! Which was just beautiful!
Flee Market Food: Asian Inspired Hot Dog!! mmm I got the Vietnamese style one. It was an all beef hot dog with pickled dai-kon (an Asian root vegetable), shredded carrot, cilantro, and jalapenos on top. It was SUPER tasty! We shared it among the 3 of us (Dave, V, and I), so it is ok that I also had
Lunch: Famous Gurridos Pizza! It is this super famous New York Style Pizza place. The line was two hours long for reals! So we called in an order and ate it at a nearby park even though it was quite cold. We got 2 large pizzas for the 4 of us and we ate it all!!
1-Was vegetarian because Katie is a vegetarian and that is what I had the most of-Mushroom and Basil
2-MEAT-Sausage and Peperoni-Dave really liked this.
The funniest part of this experience is that I think in the end Virinder- who is a very small man ate the most. Or at least very close to it!
Seriously...I think the next thing we did was eat again
Warm-Up Drinks and Snack: Hot chocolate-the most hotchocolaltey hot chocolate ever and yummy cookies!
Shortly after our warm-up drinks we thought we would seek shelter in Katie's apartment. Unfortunately for us and for everyone in her building there is no heat currently.
Stay Warm Snack at Kate's Apartment while Playing Ucher:
Apple Bubbly Wine that V brought from Albany, Enchanted Carmel Chocolate Chai tea it was really enchanting. OMG it was so cold in her apartment...so after a while we had to go to
Dinner: El Bistro Peruvian restaurant with delicious chips and salsa! I had salmon with a black bean and plantain cake--YUM!
Dave ordered some mojitos so naturally I had a little of that also
Bar: And we finished the night off in Brooklyn with some beers at The Pacific Standard a little California themed bar near the subway. I had 2 delicious beers!
1- was a Russian River beer that had a berry flavor.
2-was a Pumpkin beer with the pumpkin of over 1000 pumpkins in each batch!! AMAZiNG! It really did taste like pumpkin!!
Upon actually writing down everything we did/ate on Saturday I cannot believe how much food we ate....really for real I ate that much in one day??
Sunday:
Breakfast: We met Virinder and Katie back at Carnegie Deli. Dave was obsessed with getting blintz and latke so we did. I ordered the Latke and OMG! They were HUGE!! I ate one whole one and felt soooo full...and I think my arteries actually started to clog.
I also sampled Dave's blintz' and they were tasty! Cherry and Cheese-Yum!
Pickles: The one stop that everyone or at least one of our friends said we had to make was The Pickle Guys! So we went to the Pickle Guy. And it was sort of gross in a way just huge barrels full of pickles in every way possible.
Dave was particularly excited that they allowed us to sample different kinds before making a purchase. We, (Dave, Katie, and I) ended up buying 6 pickles. I had a 'New Horseradish' pickle. It was actually really tasty and I think I needed it to help balance the breakfast grease in my stomach.
After that we walked for miles and miles trying t0 get rid of our heavy breakfast.
Eventually we made it to the airport barely in time to get some Panda Express for the flight home.
WOW we ate a lot of food for a short amount of time.
I have already lost 6 lbs from the night I got home until today...5 days later. That is what you call OUT OF CONTROL!
But I did it. I ate my way through NYC and now...I will be paying for it for weeks to come.
I just have to make the miles count. -- I will add pictures of some of the more amazing foods that we ate once I have them all downloaded!
We had a great time! We sampled all the food we could find in New York! So I thought I should detail it so that I don't forget a single bite! I wrote it down in my food journal for just this reason and I will recant it here to share it with the world. I hope you enjoy it almost as much as I did. (Not quite as much because I had to consume the calories myself, and therefor work them off!).
We arrived Wednesday evening:
A street side bite: Dave got a street vendor Pretzel-I had a bite and was not impressed
Dinner: mmm mmm mmmm- Carnegie Deli I ordered Matzo Ball Soup with Matzo Balls and Noodles (DELICIOUS!) and a side order of French Fries-Only after I received my soup did I relies I did not need the fries because the soup came with 2 HUGE balls!! They were seriously the size of a tennis ball! And everything comes with New and Old pickles! Delish! I am feeling more like a Jew every day.
Dave ordered a Woody Allen sandwich- IE the most meat they could fit on one sandwich, seriously. It was corned beef and pastrami piled about 10 inches high! No Joke! I had a bite of the meat off of one half it was really really yummy! They had super tasty brown mustard and the meat resided on pretty good rye bread.
Dave at half the sandwich and we took the other half to go.
Later that night: The rest of the sandwich. I probably ate 1/4 of the second half so 1/8 of the entire sandwich and it was delicious!
Thursday
We met V for a fun filled days adventure! We started with the Statue of Liberty.
Breakfast: 6 peanut MandMs 3 Honey Wheat Pretzels from the bottom of my bag and a cup of coffee on the ferry to Liberty Island. (I could have planned a little better).
Ferry Ride Bite: Dave bought a street vendor pizza I had a bite it was SUPER yummy, but I couldn't ask for more because I knew he was hungry.
"Lunch": At 3:00 in the afternoon we had finally made it back to Time Square by way of Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Trinity Church....on and on and on...V had expressed his LOVE for pulled pork and when Dave hears PORK he answers the call with action--so Famous Dave's was the sight of PORK for lunch.
Except for me. I had a turkey burger! with Cheese 'Memphis Style' which means it had coleslaw on it. I enjoyed it, mostly I enjoyed trying all the different bbq sauces. I got it with a side of Wilbur Beans...then I figured out why they called them 'Wilbur' beans--Charlot's Web...needless to say I was sad about eating them after that.
O and it was happy hour by then so clearly we needed some Margaritas! mmm
Drinks: We had drinks at the top of the Marriott Marquis hotel in Time Square, because my cousin said that it is fun. So we went and sat at a giant window and enjoyed fun fancy*expensive* drinks! I had white Sangria- it was tasty with a floral taste-Katie met us and it was fun! V is trying to make me a better sharer so I had to share my drink, but luckily he shared his Red Sangria with me so I feel ok about it!!
Dinner: Little Italy! We decided to head towards China Town, but apparently we landed on the border between little Italy and China Town. So we decided Italian food sounded good. But we are really bad at making choices. So finally one of the promoter people outside was like you will like this, you have to have dinner here.
So, we did. And it was good!!
I had gnocchi in bolognese (that I cannot figure out how to spell). Now, I don't like potatoes and usually I don't order gnocchi, but in the interest of trying to eat less flour (I think I am allergic) I thought ok...people like it, and it sounds ok I will give it a go. It was delicious! But I was also able to recognize when I was full...and didn't eat it all!! This is possibly the largest breakthrough I could have had at an Italian restaurant ever! I let Dave finish it.
...And that was all for food in Day 2! We went to the Top of the Rock and checked out the view and it was beautiful and I was tired.
Friday:
Breakfast: Yummy pancakes! We went to the Majestic Dinner-some funny little dinner right in Time Square. I knew now that I would not miss breakfast and eat old pretzels from the bottom of my bag. I ordered the pancakes with sausage links, because usually me and bfast sausage are best friends. But actually I thought they were really gross so I tried 2 bites and I was over it! I didn't even eat a whole 1!!
who am I??
Lunch: Random Pizza place in Time Square-I had a Spinach Roll -spinach and cheese in a bread stick, which was pretty tasty! And a slice of 'lasagna' pizza-it was pretty good, but nothing to special.
Snack Time: Starbucks and street nuts! The nuts doubled as hand warmers until we found the Starbucks!
Dinner: Most Fun Dinner Ever! This was my 'pick' for the weekend. We went to a Chinese place in the Upper West Side that my former New Yorker friend suggested called 'The Silk Road Palace'--It was hilarious! We (Dave, V, and I) met Katie there at 5:30 and it is a good thing we did it got really busy.
Instead of a craft of water for the table they brought crafts of Franzia-boxed wine that just kept coming and coming!! I LOVED IT! You would love it to! I swear.
We clearly did not go for the food, but I ate it anyways. I got Sesame Chix and it was O.K. not exactly hot, but it was fine once I was about 4 glasses of Franzia deep!
Another Street Side Bite: Dave bought chix on a stick from a vendor outside the theater where we had just seen AveQ-which was Great!!
The chix was also great! I only had one bite I would have had more, but I could see the glee in Dave's eyes about his chicken on a stick from a street vendor so I wanted him to enjoy every remaining moment.
Drinks: We got some beers at an Irish Pub next to our seedy hotel. Well I had a beer-Blue Moon! and Dave and V had car bombs and black and tans.
A good idea: was to grab a tray of grocery store sushi from the liquor store next to the bar next to the hotel! Mmmmm it was a good way to tuck myself in. Dave and I shared. It was delicious.
Saturday:
Coffee: Starbucks-totally necessary. And they had Thanksgiving Blend-best kind for sure!
Breakfast: NYC Style Bagels I had Cinnamon raisin toasted with butter. It was good, but a little to buttery.
We were almost late because of the bagel stop over to meet our friends and walk the Brooklyn Bridge! Which was just beautiful!
Flee Market Food: Asian Inspired Hot Dog!! mmm I got the Vietnamese style one. It was an all beef hot dog with pickled dai-kon (an Asian root vegetable), shredded carrot, cilantro, and jalapenos on top. It was SUPER tasty! We shared it among the 3 of us (Dave, V, and I), so it is ok that I also had
Lunch: Famous Gurridos Pizza! It is this super famous New York Style Pizza place. The line was two hours long for reals! So we called in an order and ate it at a nearby park even though it was quite cold. We got 2 large pizzas for the 4 of us and we ate it all!!
1-Was vegetarian because Katie is a vegetarian and that is what I had the most of-Mushroom and Basil
2-MEAT-Sausage and Peperoni-Dave really liked this.
The funniest part of this experience is that I think in the end Virinder- who is a very small man ate the most. Or at least very close to it!
Seriously...I think the next thing we did was eat again
Warm-Up Drinks and Snack: Hot chocolate-the most hotchocolaltey hot chocolate ever and yummy cookies!
Shortly after our warm-up drinks we thought we would seek shelter in Katie's apartment. Unfortunately for us and for everyone in her building there is no heat currently.
Stay Warm Snack at Kate's Apartment while Playing Ucher:
Apple Bubbly Wine that V brought from Albany, Enchanted Carmel Chocolate Chai tea it was really enchanting. OMG it was so cold in her apartment...so after a while we had to go to
Dinner: El Bistro Peruvian restaurant with delicious chips and salsa! I had salmon with a black bean and plantain cake--YUM!
Dave ordered some mojitos so naturally I had a little of that also
Bar: And we finished the night off in Brooklyn with some beers at The Pacific Standard a little California themed bar near the subway. I had 2 delicious beers!
1- was a Russian River beer that had a berry flavor.
2-was a Pumpkin beer with the pumpkin of over 1000 pumpkins in each batch!! AMAZiNG! It really did taste like pumpkin!!
Upon actually writing down everything we did/ate on Saturday I cannot believe how much food we ate....really for real I ate that much in one day??
Sunday:
Breakfast: We met Virinder and Katie back at Carnegie Deli. Dave was obsessed with getting blintz and latke so we did. I ordered the Latke and OMG! They were HUGE!! I ate one whole one and felt soooo full...and I think my arteries actually started to clog.
I also sampled Dave's blintz' and they were tasty! Cherry and Cheese-Yum!
Pickles: The one stop that everyone or at least one of our friends said we had to make was The Pickle Guys! So we went to the Pickle Guy. And it was sort of gross in a way just huge barrels full of pickles in every way possible.
Dave was particularly excited that they allowed us to sample different kinds before making a purchase. We, (Dave, Katie, and I) ended up buying 6 pickles. I had a 'New Horseradish' pickle. It was actually really tasty and I think I needed it to help balance the breakfast grease in my stomach.
After that we walked for miles and miles trying t0 get rid of our heavy breakfast.
Eventually we made it to the airport barely in time to get some Panda Express for the flight home.
WOW we ate a lot of food for a short amount of time.
I have already lost 6 lbs from the night I got home until today...5 days later. That is what you call OUT OF CONTROL!
But I did it. I ate my way through NYC and now...I will be paying for it for weeks to come.
I just have to make the miles count. -- I will add pictures of some of the more amazing foods that we ate once I have them all downloaded!
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