On May 1st, I will be one of thousands of people running down Yonge Street. This is my second time running in this event, because I loved it so much last time that I couldn't resist going back for more!
From my blog entries around this time last year, you may recall that I was having some trouble with training because I came down with the worst cold on the face of the earth and could barely breathe and live, let alone go outside and run. Despite this, I managed to finish the 10K in less time than my original goal!
This year, I haven't gotten sick *knock wood*, but I'm still having trouble with training. This time, it's the weather that seems to have the worst cold on earth! What is UP with this weather!?!?
For those reading who live in or near Toronto, you may recall that only a week ago it was actually looking like spring. I was able to go out in my light jacket and run around and happily soak in the sunshine that was actually visible.
And then it snowed.
And then it hailed.
And then it rained.
Today reached a high of five. Five! It's April the freaking nineteenth, and it is 5 degrees. REALLY?!?!?!
I hadn't been out to run very regularly for the last couple of weeks, as I was holding out in hopes that the weather would improve. Sooooo not a smart move. The weather is showing little sign of improvement. Today's long term forecast is predicting a high of about 12 on May 1st - but since the run is in the early morning, chances are good that it will be more like 6ish during the actual run. Awesome.
I decided to go to the Running Room for some chilly weather running advice. I had gone in thinking that maybe I'd just get a jacket or something. I have already a warm running jacket that's a bit fleecy inside, so when it is more than 8 degrees or so I cook inside of it. I also have an old-school RR windbreaker that folds up into a pouch (apparently they don't make these anymore!).
The RR guy was ridiculously helpful. I wandered in and started manhandling all of the jackets and longsleeve shirts, and he came up to offer his amazing advice. He suggested that instead of getting yet another jacket, to learn to layer my running clothing instead (something I have not been doing so much). I already own about a billion technical tees, so didn't need any of those, but I did need a long sleeved technical shirt that I could wear in between a tee and a jacket. He suggested wearing the windbreaker if it's a reasonable temperature but breezy (as is likely to happen, since it's Yonge St), and possibly wear both the fleecy jacket PLUS the windbreaker if it's anything like it was on Sunday (rain, then snow, then sleet, then fierce snow-hurricane-force winds).
I left $138 lighter (boo) with an amazing Adidas long sleeved tee that I love to pieces, warm socks, and a pair of pants (as I only have one pair of capris and one pair of long pants. Looks like I'll need to have extra pants to run outside for the next few weeks!).
This morning, at 5 degrees, I went out to try it out. Bundled up in my awesome new shirt and fleecy jacket, and armed with a headband to cover my ears, I went out to brave the CRAZY WIND that was still blowing around. Success! I only ran a short distance (2.5k) in the interest of time (as I'm also on exams and need to study today), but I felt like I could have run a lot farther. I was comfortable and warm, but not overheated, and feeling much better about my prospects in the 10K in only two weeks.
Please, Mother Nature, be nice to us!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Restaurant Review: O Noir
Thursday was my 3 year anniversary with boyfriend :) Hooray! In celebration of this feat, we went out for dinner at O Noir's Toronto location.
The premise: O Noir is a restaurant entirely in the dark. Serious dark, not like, candlelight or something. You can't see your table, your food, your waiter, or even your hand right in front of your face.
I've never experienced darkness so all-consuming before! You order your food and drinks in the lobby, which is lit, before being led conga-line style by a blind waiter into the pitch-black dining room. Somehow, without crashing into other diners, tables or obstacles, we were led to a table and given a verbal layout of our place setting: a fork on one side, knife (!) on the other, plate and napkin in front of you.
The food: Given that we are working on being vegetarian, unfortunately there weren't too many options. Luckily, we do still eat fish, so there were still options available :) The grilled herb-and-garlic shrimp on tomato risotto that I had was awesome, though I randomly had a mountain of green beans that I couldn't seem to get around (since I couldn't see what I was stabbing blindly at with my fork, I somehow kept coming up with beans!).
The only downside that I really noticed with the restaurant is that it is REALLY loud. For some reason, people tend to talk much louder when they can't see the people around them, as though they think that they are invisible or alone in the room. Really the people you are talking to are only a foot or two away from your face, but you have no idea. We found that our ability to visualize and perceive our surroundings was heightened enormously by taking away the sense of sight. By feeling around the table, I could visualize the approximate location of each of my utensils, my wine glass, and my plate. I somehow managed not to spill food all over the place as I had anticipated I would (especially since I'm normally pretty clumsy with food, even when I can see it).
We made the point of realizing that we really had no idea what was in front of us. What if it wasn't actually a mountain of green beans, but a pile of some other vegetable? What if the beans were actually yellow, or purple, or covered in a sauce? Using no visual cues forces you to really evaluate what you're tasting, using different cues like flavour and texture to try to understand the food in your mouth.
I highly recommend checking out O Noir at least once in your life to see what it's like to be blind for a couple of hours. It is a very unique experience, and a lesson in patience as you stab blindly at your plate, hoping to pick up even one grain of rice!
The premise: O Noir is a restaurant entirely in the dark. Serious dark, not like, candlelight or something. You can't see your table, your food, your waiter, or even your hand right in front of your face.
I've never experienced darkness so all-consuming before! You order your food and drinks in the lobby, which is lit, before being led conga-line style by a blind waiter into the pitch-black dining room. Somehow, without crashing into other diners, tables or obstacles, we were led to a table and given a verbal layout of our place setting: a fork on one side, knife (!) on the other, plate and napkin in front of you.
The food: Given that we are working on being vegetarian, unfortunately there weren't too many options. Luckily, we do still eat fish, so there were still options available :) The grilled herb-and-garlic shrimp on tomato risotto that I had was awesome, though I randomly had a mountain of green beans that I couldn't seem to get around (since I couldn't see what I was stabbing blindly at with my fork, I somehow kept coming up with beans!).
The only downside that I really noticed with the restaurant is that it is REALLY loud. For some reason, people tend to talk much louder when they can't see the people around them, as though they think that they are invisible or alone in the room. Really the people you are talking to are only a foot or two away from your face, but you have no idea. We found that our ability to visualize and perceive our surroundings was heightened enormously by taking away the sense of sight. By feeling around the table, I could visualize the approximate location of each of my utensils, my wine glass, and my plate. I somehow managed not to spill food all over the place as I had anticipated I would (especially since I'm normally pretty clumsy with food, even when I can see it).
We made the point of realizing that we really had no idea what was in front of us. What if it wasn't actually a mountain of green beans, but a pile of some other vegetable? What if the beans were actually yellow, or purple, or covered in a sauce? Using no visual cues forces you to really evaluate what you're tasting, using different cues like flavour and texture to try to understand the food in your mouth.
I highly recommend checking out O Noir at least once in your life to see what it's like to be blind for a couple of hours. It is a very unique experience, and a lesson in patience as you stab blindly at your plate, hoping to pick up even one grain of rice!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Food Fail = Win
Today's story: How two food fails turned into a massive win.
Food Fail Story 1: Veggie Stock and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
I decided to make roasted butternut squash soup this morning, and planned to have it for lunch. Mmm, delicious soup :) I got my squash all chopped up and roasted, onions sauteed, and went to go pour in the stock. Hmm.... stock.... Not in the cupboards... not in the fridge... NO STOCK?! It's true, there was not a drop to be found in the house! Dangit!! What's a girl to do?
I just happened to have a huge baggie full of veggie scraps that I'd been storing in the freezer for just such an occasion. I made my own veggie stock!
What you need: a big pot, a load of veggie scraps, and some water. I also put in about 1/3 of a fresh onion, and a sprig of rosemary for fun. My veggie scraps included the green part of leeks, carrot peels, celery chunks and broccoli stems.
Bring all of the above to a simmer (NOT A BOIL - boiling will cause the stock to taste bitter). Let it sit there for a while, I left it simmering for just over an hour for 4 cups of stock. I added the rosemary only in the last 15-20 minutes or so, and tasted a pretty good rosemary flavour in there with only that much cooking.
Now what?
RECIPE TIME!
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small chunks
- about 1/2-3/4tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe some brown sugar for fun
- drizzle of olive oil, plus another 1T for sauteeing later
- 1 onion
- 3 cups veggie or chicken stock (low sodium preferred)
Toss your butternut squash chunks with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and drizzle of olive oil. Place in a roasting pan and let 'em cook at 425 for about 30 minutes (I flipped mine around after about 15 minutes of cooking).
In a pot, sautee the onion in about 1T of olive oil till they are soft and golden. Add the stock and roasted butternut squash and bring to a boil. Once boiled, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes until the squash is really soft.
Put the soup into a blender or food processor, and pulverize till smooth. Ta-da! Tasty soup!
Food Fail Story #2:
Since the stock was going to take a while and I was hungry right then and there, I decided instead to have an egg salad sandwich for lunch. I hard-boiled up my 3 eggs, left them to cool and cracked 'em open.
Oh no! They didn't fully cook through!? I ended up somehow with soft-boiled eggs!
I have no idea what happened, I left them in the simmering water for like, 10 minutes!! Crap! What to do? I didn't want to have runny egg yolk in my egg salad, because really, that sounded like a really gross idea. Instead, I went for an egg-white-salad sandwich! And since I was missing the fat from the egg yolk in my sandwich, I decided to slice up some avocado into it.
Um, can we all say "DELICIOUS!!!"? Also pretty ridiculously low point for an egg salad sandwich for those of us following PointsPlus. Using my bread and mayo, I calculated that my whole sandwich was only 7 points, versus the estimated general calculation on the website for an egg salad sandwich at a whopping 12 :)! Hooray! Food win!
Have you ever had a food fail that turned out to be a total win?
Food Fail Story 1: Veggie Stock and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
I decided to make roasted butternut squash soup this morning, and planned to have it for lunch. Mmm, delicious soup :) I got my squash all chopped up and roasted, onions sauteed, and went to go pour in the stock. Hmm.... stock.... Not in the cupboards... not in the fridge... NO STOCK?! It's true, there was not a drop to be found in the house! Dangit!! What's a girl to do?
I just happened to have a huge baggie full of veggie scraps that I'd been storing in the freezer for just such an occasion. I made my own veggie stock!
What you need: a big pot, a load of veggie scraps, and some water. I also put in about 1/3 of a fresh onion, and a sprig of rosemary for fun. My veggie scraps included the green part of leeks, carrot peels, celery chunks and broccoli stems.
Bring all of the above to a simmer (NOT A BOIL - boiling will cause the stock to taste bitter). Let it sit there for a while, I left it simmering for just over an hour for 4 cups of stock. I added the rosemary only in the last 15-20 minutes or so, and tasted a pretty good rosemary flavour in there with only that much cooking.
Now what?
RECIPE TIME!
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small chunks
- about 1/2-3/4tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe some brown sugar for fun
- drizzle of olive oil, plus another 1T for sauteeing later
- 1 onion
- 3 cups veggie or chicken stock (low sodium preferred)
Toss your butternut squash chunks with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and drizzle of olive oil. Place in a roasting pan and let 'em cook at 425 for about 30 minutes (I flipped mine around after about 15 minutes of cooking).
In a pot, sautee the onion in about 1T of olive oil till they are soft and golden. Add the stock and roasted butternut squash and bring to a boil. Once boiled, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes until the squash is really soft.
Put the soup into a blender or food processor, and pulverize till smooth. Ta-da! Tasty soup!
Food Fail Story #2:
Since the stock was going to take a while and I was hungry right then and there, I decided instead to have an egg salad sandwich for lunch. I hard-boiled up my 3 eggs, left them to cool and cracked 'em open.
Oh no! They didn't fully cook through!? I ended up somehow with soft-boiled eggs!
I have no idea what happened, I left them in the simmering water for like, 10 minutes!! Crap! What to do? I didn't want to have runny egg yolk in my egg salad, because really, that sounded like a really gross idea. Instead, I went for an egg-white-salad sandwich! And since I was missing the fat from the egg yolk in my sandwich, I decided to slice up some avocado into it.
Um, can we all say "DELICIOUS!!!"? Also pretty ridiculously low point for an egg salad sandwich for those of us following PointsPlus. Using my bread and mayo, I calculated that my whole sandwich was only 7 points, versus the estimated general calculation on the website for an egg salad sandwich at a whopping 12 :)! Hooray! Food win!
Have you ever had a food fail that turned out to be a total win?
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