Eating Our Way Through Minor Holidays
Well, we made it through the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day! Let’s start with Super Bowl Sunday… I always get excited about the Super Bowl and plan a special meal to go with it. Here’s a picture from last night: In the middle are fries with this recipe for best vegan cheese sauce and caramelized onions, and on the ends are the toppings for our burgers. I had a Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger, because I like my burgers to be mushy and taste like beans and vegetables. My husband had an Impossible burger because he likes his burgers to taste meat-y. We enjoyed this meal, and the first quarter of the game, and then I remembered what I don’t like about the Super Bowl… It’s a major sporting event on a SUNDAY NIGHT, where there’s work and school the next day. I became aware of dirty dishes in the sink, water bottles to be washed, school clothes to get ready… I ended up semi-watching the rest of the game while doing dishes and laundry, knowing that Monday would be an early morning. THEREFORE, I propose we move the Super Bowl to Saturday! I mean, why not? We would all enjoy it much more. “Super Bowl Saturday” has a nice ring to it- we could get used to it. Moving on to Valentine’s Day…. honestly, I’m glad it’s over. Valentine’s Day is always slightly depressing to me. For a while I couldn’t figure out why- it’s not like I’m afraid I won’t get any Valentines. As a matter of fact, I’ve had some nice Valentine’s Days. So what’s the deal? I grew up in the midwest and suffered from SAD every winter, although I didn’t know what it was then. I just knew I had a problem with depression, which went in cycles. Anyway, after so many years of being depressed on February 14th (and every other day in February, and January, and March) I think it’s just ingrained in my mind that it’s a depressing day. I know… it doesn’t make any sense . Now that I live in Florida, February is one of our best months. But those mental patterns are strong. I rallied and mailed a care package to my son, and made a heart-shaped cake for my daughter and husband. My daughter likes vanilla and my husband likes chocolate, so I did a layer of each. This wasn’t a big deal, since I had to bake the layers separately anyway- I only have one heart-shaped cake pan (obviously- who would have more than one of those?) A couple weeks ago I picked this up from Trader Joe’s: It made a great, easy dinner. Heart-shaped pasta, sauce from a jar, and roasted vegetables. Valentine’s Day dinner! And in case you’re wondering, I didn’t eat the cake because I don’t eat sugar. But don’t worry! My husband got me these: Zero sugar, vegan, sweetened with erythritol and stevia. They are SO GOOD! So we all had a nice Valentine’s Day, and… phew. It’s over. Who’s with me on switching the Super Bowl to Saturday? Can we start a petition? Did you eat anything special for Valentine’s Day?
Weekly Rundown- Doing It All
Hi there! It’s Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day Eve! Two events I’m lukewarm about, but we have to make the most of any and all minor holidays in February. I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this weekly rundown. This week had three days of running, following my every-other-day schedule. In addition, my plans were to do three yoga classes, two glutes and legs strength classes, two core classes (all classes were Peloton), and pushups and/or pull-ups four times. Phew! That’s a lot, considering all I really want to do is run. But I’ve accepted the fact that in order to run, I need to do all the other things. It really wasn’t too hard to fit it all in on a week where I only ran three times. Here’s how it all went down. Monday I remember the old days, where I would run long on Sundays and then always take Mondays off. But now I’m starting to appreciate the “never miss a Monday” mentality. It was good to get a couple items checked off my “to-do” list: I did a 20 minute core class with Jess Sims, and pull-ups. Check, check! Tuesday Started the day with a four mile run. Later in the day I did Jess Sim’s 30 minute glutes and legs class, and then the ten minute hips stretch with Chase Tucker. I actually wasn’t crazy about the stretches he did, but I like the way he incorporated breathing. I plan to check out some of his other stretch classes. Wednesday Ah, everything’s going so well… but wait! I haven’t done any yoga classes yet. I did a 30 minute flow with Denis Morton, my fave, and followed it with pushups. Thursday Four mile run! I planned to do some strength after work, but Thursdays are my hardest days and well… I ended up taking a nap instead. Oh well! Friday Started the day with Jess’s 30 minutes glutes and legs class, followed by pull-ups. Later in the day I did Denis Morton’s “confidence” yoga flow, which apparently is part of Peloton’s “mood” class series. I didn’t see anything different about it than his usual classes, and that was fine- I picked it because the picture showed him in half moon, and I’m always seeking out that pose these days. Saturday For the first time since I started running again in January, I varied from my every-other-day schedule. Today should have been a running day, but my daughter had a band event where she was playing in several different ensembles at a contest. Luckily my husband was able to take her (since I had to work) but instead of being out running early, I felt like I should be home to get her breakfast, make sure she had everything she needed, and provide moral support. No matter how much I love running, my kids always come first. In between bagel toasting and water bottle filling, I did another 20 minute core class with Jess Sims. I’m surprised to say this one was a little easy for me. Not EASY, easy, but I wasn’t moaning, huffing and swearing my way though it- which makes me think I should look for a harder one next time. I also did pushups, and then later in the day did Denis’s glute focus yoga flow. A word about this class- it says it’s a beginner class, but that just means Denis gives a little more instruction. It’s really a great class to activate and work your glutes. I love coming back to these focus flows every once in a while. Sunday Let’s see! I finished all my strength workouts for the week, which left Sunday free to JUST RUN. Living the dream! As a bonus, new shoes arrived on Saturday: The Hoka Cliftons are the shoes that seem to accommodate my new orthotics the best right now. And, I really like these colors for a change! I’ve had some really ugly color combinations lately (my last shoes were black, navy, and orange) and while color isn’t that important, it’s nice to put on a pair of shoes that I actually like. This run was cool, windy, and very rainy! I thought about Darlene running her half marathon today up in Melbourne FL- I hope they had better weather! All running is good running though- six wet, happy miles. And now… I’m off to make red waffles! I’m going to use beetroot powder to make them red- we’ll see how that goes. I hope everyone had a great week! Are you watching the Super Bowl tonight? Do you make any special food for Valentine’s Day?
February Favorites
I think (too much), therefore I am (not there to live my life). -Thich Nhat Hanh Well, we’re not even halfway through February, and I already have some favorite things to share! Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and spiritual bigshot, and he recently died. I figured it was a good time to check out one of his many books from the library. The Art of Living explores seven Buddhist concentrations- seven “deep insights into reality”- but you don’t have to be a Zen Buddhist in order to understand it. It’s very read-able, and I’m enjoying it! I have been loving the Winter Olympics! I know this is crazy talk, but I’m possibly enjoying it as much or more than the Summer Olympics, WHAT??? But there’s no running in the winter games! Guess what else it doesn’t have- BEACH VOLLEYBALL. During the summer Olympics, it seemed like every time I turned on the TV I had to watch beach volleyball, and I just wasn’t into it. Even though I’ve never participated in any winter sport, I’ve been enjoying them all on TV! I always like figure skating, and the skiing and snowboarding events are exhilarating to watch- I can almost see how snow could be fun. And weirdly, I’m liking NBC’s coverage. I think it’s because I don’t have any expectations or knowledge about most of the sports or the athletes- I just turn it on and have fun watching whatever’s on. Our weather! I know… you’re tired of hearing about our great weather. But, remember that when everyone up north is enjoying a beautiful spring, we’ll be starting a very long, sweltering summer. It all evens out, and I have to appreciate our beautiful weather while we have it. For Tuesday’s run, it was in the low 60s, which I’ve decided is my official favorite running temperature. BREAD. This homemade bread, specifically. I’ve talked about it before, but I can’t stress enough how good it is, and how easy to make. This week I had a weird craving for some sort of stew, so I made a recipe I found on the internet. It turned out so-so, which is what you would expect when you randomly google “vegetable stew.” Luckily I made this bread to go with it, and my husband and I agreed that it elevated the mediocre stew to a delicious meal. Imagine my excitement when I saw a new Denis Morton yoga class! And look what pose Denis is in- half moon (my current favorite pose.) This was a classical flow set to classical music, and I loved it. So those are some things making me happy right now. Do you have a favorite book, class, TV show, or anything else right now? Please share!
I Have Questions…
Maybe I have a little too much time on my hands, but here are some random questions that are going through my mind lately. To start with… does anyone else think the Olympic biathlon is a strange event? It’s cross country skiing, but the contestants stop at various intervals to shoot at a target with an eight pound rifle they carry on their back. While I was watching today, the announcers explained (after someone skied well but missed a few of his shots) “it’s not a skiing race, it’s a shooting race.” Wait- why is “shooting” a winter sport? I did enjoy the race (as I’ve been enjoying all of the Olympics so far) but it just seems a little odd to me. Next question. Is anyone actually excited about Valentine’s Day? Since I like most holidays, I’ve tried to get into Valentine’s Day but I just can’t. As my sister said, “It’s hard to get excited about a holiday that’s happening on a Monday in February.” Having said that, I did make these cookies to put in a care package for my son. I vegan-ized them by using a flax egg, Miyoko’s vegan butter, and vegan white chocolate chips. Instead of using food coloring to make them red, I used beetroot powder. They don’t taste like beets, and I’m thinking of using the powder to make red heart pancakes on Sunday. I know- you might be thinking “Red heart pancakes? Maybe you do like Valentine’s Day a little, after all!” No… I really don’t. Okay, here’s a more serious question. When can we start saying that Covid is endemic rather than a pandemic? On this episode of The Dive podcast, they discuss all aspects of Covid, attempting to make sense out of all the confusion. One of the doctors said they believe we’re already at the endemic stage. Yes! Let’s call it endemic and move on. “Classifying a disease as endemic indicates a level of permanence, whereas a pandemic has a defined end.” It has to end sometime. Is anyone else wondering these things? Or maybe someone can explain why shooting a rifle is part of the winter Olympics, or why Valentine’s Day is actually amazing, or why we should stay in a pandemic a little longer? I’m all ears! Let me know the answers.