Patriotic Eating
In honor of the DNC, I made another batch of Kamala Kookies!! And… Yep, several people guessed it- WALZ WAFFLES! The state muffin of Minnesota is the blueberry muffin, so I added blueberries. But I’m going to say that between now and November, any waffles can be Walz Waffles! As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure Tim Walz would not endorse these waffles. I used this recipe for vegan almond flour waffles. All things considered, they were pretty good, although not everyone would agree with me. The website has several other healthy waffle recipes, including “one ingredient flax waffles.” I’m intrigued- but also pretty sure those would taste horrible. I’m going to have to try them at some point though. In other eating news, I got some great suggestions on last week’s eating post. Everyone was sympathetic to my plight! I asked for advice on easy dinner bowls; several people suggested Trader Joe’s items, and Alice suggested veggie sushi bowls. LOTS of great ideas. Of course, Sunday rolled around and I didn’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. I did roast broccoli, squash and cauliflower, marinated tofu, and made Nora’s Buffalo Mac n Cheese for my daughter and husband. Definitely not a health food, but they love it. They had that for dinner on Sunday and Monday (while I had baked sweet potatoes with roasted veggies and chickpeas) and then tonight we had bowls! My husband and I had quinoa, and my daughter had white rice. We all had roasted vegetables and tofu with a peanut sauce. Everyone was happy! Tomorrow I’m going to Trader Joe’s to get more sauce options, and for dinner we’ll have something similar to tonight’s dinner, but with a different sauce (I’m also marinating some tempeh.). Thursday night neither my husband or daughter are eating dinner at home- that always helps- and Friday will be takeout again. Phew. I think I can do this! Does your state have an official muffin? – Ours doesn’t- Florida is so boring. Top photo by Luke Michael on Unsplash
Reading
I usually do a “Reading and Eating” post on Wednesdays. The problem is, I just finished Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants, and I can’t stop talking about it. The book follows multiple storylines, taking the characters from 1911-1918 during the Great War in Europe. Simultaneously, I listened to ten episodes of a history podcast about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the lead up to World War I. I’m obsessed with the question: if Gavrilo Princip had not murdered Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo- let’s imagine that he shot at him and missed- could World War I have been avoided? I think it’s possible! There might have been a smaller war in Europe, perhaps between Austria and Serbia, or possibly no war at all. And without Germany’s humiliation after World War I, there would have been no Nazi party and Hitler coming to power, and no World War II. It’s mind boggling to think of the catastrophe of those wars being avoided. On the other hand, if you change those events maybe something worse could have happened. Offhand it’s hard to think what could be worse than the atrocities committed during World War II, but you never know. Anyway- all this is to say, I highly recommend Fall of Giants. From listening to the history podcasts, I can attest to the fact that Follett kept very close to the facts, so reading these books is like a very, very fun history lesson. The story lines are all compelling, and while those of course are fiction, you feel like it all could have happened. After all, there were real people living through that time in Europe and the United States, and they suffered losses and triumphs just like the characters in this book. You can see how I can’t stop talking about it! And the best news is, Fall of Giants is the first book in a trilogy! I’ve already moved on to the “Rise of the Nazis” series in my history podcast, to get me ready for the next book, Winter of the World. While I’m waiting for that book to arrive, I’m tidying up some loose ends. First, I’m finishing our Cool Blogger’s Book Club book: I feel like I did this book a disservice, because I tried to read it while I was reading Fall of Giants. I kept reluctantly tearing myself away from the Ken Follett to read our book club chapters, and as a result I didn’t enjoy I Capture the Castle as much as I could have. I’m happy that I can just focus on the book for the final few chapters. (Side note: It was Engie who recommended Fall of Giants, and she also runs our book club. So even though it made no sense, I kept blaming her for my reading conundrum. Yes, Engie, this is all your fault for making me read two excellent books simultaneously!) Then, a library hold came in: I said I wasn’t going to read any more Japanese mysteries for a while, forgetting that I had already placed a hold on this one. Okay, I’ll read it! It should be quick, and then I’ll be ready to dive into book #2 of my trilogy. Coming up tomorrow- Eating! More Kamala Kookies and… a food dedicated to Tim Walz. It starts with a “W”- can you guess what it is? What are you reading now?
Weekly Rundown- IT’S STARTED!!!
By “it,” of course I mean school! We’ve made it through an entire week, and even had our first football game. Switching to an earlier wakeup was tough, which meant that workouts were slightly compromised. BUT THERE WAS RUNNING, so all is well. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting. Let’s get into it! Sunday I walked .5 mile and then ran 2.5 miles. NO pain in my calf! Woohoo. I’m feeling encouraged but also afraid, so I’m increasing my distance very, very slowly. Monday First day of school! I counted, and as a mom I’ve now experienced 16 first days of school. Over the years, I have LEARNED a few things! Mainly- the first day is hard so don’t plan anything else big, like complicated workouts. I did the Caroline Girvan Deadbug Workout and my four hip stability exercises, and called it good. Tuesday I repeated the same run from Sunday- a .5 mile walk and then 2.5 miles of running. Again, no pain, hooray! I had big plans to do a strength workout after work, but ended up taking a nap instead. When I got up, I discovered that my daughter had also napped. No, no, no! I felt like we were trying to recover from jetlag, but doing it all wrong. We just can’t get the hang of the early wakeups yet. Wednesday Leg day at the gym! There were people using the main squat racks, but luckily there’s another rack I can use- it just doesn’t have the larger plates, which I like because it looks like I’m using more weight than I really am, ha ha. While I squatted my puny little plates, I could watch the people on the other squat racks, one of whom was a woman who was squatting a mind boggling amount of weight. I did my usual thing of envying her, wishing I were that strong, feeling inferior about my own strength. I finished my workout, showered, dressed, and then as I was walking out of the gym I could see the woman- who was already working out when I got there- was still there working. And I realized- THAT’S why she’s stronger than I am. I reminded me of Kae’s post from this week about matching your expectations to the energy you’re willing to give. The truth is, I’m kind of dedicated to strength training, but not really that much. That’s why I’m kind of strong but not super strong. This is all the energy I’m willing to spend on it right now, and I have to accept the outcome. Thursday I may not have squatted heavy weights, but I was VERY sore today. I ran 3 miles (woohoo!) and then did some planks and my piriformis exercises. At night, I went to the first high school football game! It was the earliest first game ever- usually we have a few weeks, but this was on the fourth day of school. Was the band ready? Well, let’s just say what they lacked in precision, they made up for in unbridled enthusiasm. It was really fun to watch them- even in the stands, they have all sorts of choreographed moves. Oh and our team won- great way to kick off the season. Friday All right. WHOSE stupid idea was it to have a football game on THURSDAY NIGHT??? Isn’t this hard enough? It’s like there’s some conspiracy to keep us from getting enough sleep. My legs were STILL sore from Wednesday’s workout! I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout, and an upper body workout from Sally McRae’s app. Saturday Will this leg soreness ever go away? I got out for a run and went 3.3 miles. I was going for 3.5 but towards the end I thought I felt a twinge in my calf- okay universe, I’m listening! I was in my neighborhood anyway so I stopped running immediately. At night my husband and I went out for an “end of summer” date (his school starts back with students tomorrow.) We got some delicious beers! I love IPAs so much, but I hardly ever drink anymore (sadly.) We also got delicious veggie burgers- fun night! Sunday On tap for today- leg day at the gym? I use a question mark because as I’m writing this (on Saturday night) my legs are still sore from Wednesday. But my son assures me that it’s okay to work out again if you’re still just a little bit sore, so I guess that’s what I’ll do. The week had some challenges, but was overall good! And I’m glad it’s over. The first week back is hard. How was your week? Did school start where you are? Do you have any areas of your life where your expectations don’t match the energy you’re willing to give?
Back to School Coffee Date
Oof. What a week! Monday was so painful that I needed a “double tea day” at Starbucks (tea plus a free refill.) Yes, we started school! Obviously we live in an “early” part of the country, and school started August 12. Growing up in Illinois, we always went back to school after Labor Day. My parents were both teachers, and there was kind of a collective family scream of “NOOOOOOO!” as Labor Day drew near. Now, my husband is a teacher, so the start of school affects him as well as my daughter, which means there’s a big shift for the whole family. My daughter was the only one excited to go back- my husband and I had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the school year. At least that’s what it felt like when I set my alarm for 5:30 am on Sunday night. On the last day of school in May, I vowed that NO wakeups would start with a “5” for the entire summer, and I kept that vow. As the summer went on, I got up later and later, until by the end I was luxuriously sleeping until 7 or 7:30. This was only possible because, thanks to my calf, I wasn’t doing much running (sigh.) If you want to run in South Florida in the summer, you HAVE to get out early. But since I was either running very short distances, or not running at all, it didn’t really matter. I even went through a couple weeks where I saved my workout for after work. That was fine, because we didn’t have to worry about eating dinner at any special time. I realized that going to bed at midnight and getting up at 7:30 works much better for my body than going to bed at 10 and getting up at 5:30. Same hours of sleep, theoretically, but going to bed later and knowing I could get up later is more relaxing for me, and I slept much better. I love the IDEA of getting up super early, but the reality of it doesn’t work well for me. But, here we are. High school starts at 7:30, in spite of NUMEROUS studies showing that getting up that early is not good for teenager’s brains. A law has been passed in our area that high school has to start later, but it won’t go into effect until my daughter’s senior year (eye roll. Or, I guess better late than never?) The high school is only three miles away, but traffic is so horrendous the first couple weeks that we have to leave the house at 6:40. That gets her there pretty early, but if we leave ten minutes later we’ll sit in a gigantic car line for 20 minutes. Plus, after I drop her off, my daughter has to get in a long line to go through the metal detector. She gets VERY stressed out at the thought of being late, so 6:40 is our leave time. There is someone happy about the early mornings though: TGIF!!! What would you tell me over coffee? If you have kids, did they go back to school yet?