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Biggggg yawn

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This post is titled big yawn because its how I feel right now. It has been an exhausting few days. Mostly I’ve been studying but I also went on a glorious 5.5 mile run yesterday. It felt so good to get out and on a run.

As you can tell, things have been hectic.

That is one destroyed kitchen, hence why there has been no truly blog worthy food.

Yesterday I finally got it together to cook something blog worthy: Potato Latkes! It is Hanukkah after all and while I am not Jewish, I can always get behind a fried potato. This is actually a recipe I made several times pre-blog. Its an oldie but a goody.

You start by grating russet potatoes with a cheese grater. I do it with the skin on because I’m lazy like that.

Oh, and you might want to be careful because if your not you will end up with a cooking injury.

Apply pressure and keep moving.

Once you grate your potato ( I used two medium potatoes, it made 6 pancakes) use a paper towel to absorb the moisture.

Then add 3 tablespoons of flour, 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder, two eggs, onion (half), thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. For the salt, pepper, garlic powder and thyme I just eyeballed it.

And then we mix, and I like to mix it with my hands. Dirty, dirty.

After mixing the egg/potato mixture you need to get your pan ready. I used canola oil to cook the latkes, but I imagine you could use something else. I heat the pan to medium heat (you don’t want to burn the potatoes) and let them go, checking occasionally until they are lightly golden on one side. Then flip.

Once they are done let them rest on a paper towel to absorb the oil.

Ah they turned out so pretty. Perfectly fried on either side.

I cooked the rest and then served myself up a plate!

I added apple sauce on the side. There had to be something semi healthy about this meal! I love latkes. There, I said it. These were crispy and warm. I kinda wish that I added more thyme but these were still freaking fantastic! After the latkes I made these. And yes, I ate half of the dough. And tomorrow you get to see where I brought the cookies!

Tomorrow I have a 6 hour long Critical Race Theory final which I cannot wait to get done. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Finals Day 5

Cookies consumed: I lost count

Bagels consumed: 3

YouTube videos watched: 7 (here, here)

Finals taken: 0

The Godmother

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Today and Yesterday have been busy days.

Yesterday I tried to go to yoga. Twice. It just wasn’t my day.

The first time I tried to go to yoga I drove around a parking lot that insisted it had 15 available spots. Yeah. It didn’t. So I went to Panera and studied until the next class.

I got to the second class but the teacher didn’t. At that point I surrendered and went home.

Today was much better though! Not only did I feel good about the studying I had a good day.

I meet up with Kelly for a study break lunch at Bay Cities in Santa Monica. Bay Cities has 1300 reviews on Yelp and 4.5 stars, does it get any more stellar?

Bay Cities is an Italian deli and shop. They have great sandwiches, bread, pastas, cheese, and olive oil selection. You place your order at the deli counter and then eat outside on the patio.

Check out the garlic in the bottom right corner! We wandered the aisles.. there were so many truffle oils, I will need to go back. The cheese selection was good (holy giant mozzarella) and not too pricey. Next time I need specialty items I know where I’m headed!

We both ordered the signature sandwich, the Godmother, with the works. I mean, the name of the sandwich is etched in the window of the store (see below). How could I not order it?

The counter was pretty busy but we got through pretty fast. We picked out sodas (diet A&W!) and headed outside to enjoy.

I’m not sure what all was on “the works” version of the Godmother, but I can tell you that the bread is freshly baked. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. There are tons of meats in this sandwich and provolone cheese.

Yep, it really was “the works”. I only ate half the sandwich for lunch and I ate the other half for dinner tonight. This was a good sandwich. I think it was the bread that really made it special. Also the meat to cheese to topping ratio was perfect. Sometimes you get a sandwich and there is too much meat but this was just right!

After dropping Kelly off I found a metered parking spot with 40 mins left two blocks from Huckleberry. It would be wrong not to drop in! Right? Right? I grabbed a lemon bar which I ate after dinner.

I love lemon bars and this one did not let me down. It was a little tart but more sweet. There was lemon zest in the bar which was actually pretty good.

The lemon part was light and sugary. So delicious. Huckleberry is always a win.

After lunch I studied more and got my hair cut! I really, really needed it. I am totally that girl who walks into the salon and says “do whatever you want”. I’ve had super long hair, to a pixie cut and tons of styles in between. However, I made an executive decision: time to grow out my bangs.  I have had bangs in one iteration or another since 2007. It was time for a change.

If kinda reminded me of someone I idolize hair…

Source

Yep, I’m a Jackie, not a Marilyn. Its true.

Day 3 of Finals

Cookies consumed: 1

YouTube Video’s watched: 5 (here, here, here, here)

Bagels consumed: 2

Finals taken: 0

Grilled Baby Artichokes

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When my Mom was in town we spent Saturday morning at the Santa Monica Organic Farmers Market. She was very impressed by all the amazing deals we have (like an entire bundle of thyme for $1) and the variety of items for sale. At one point we walked by a stand, the one I always get my broccoli from, her eyes landed on the baby artichokes I pass every week and she made an excited utterance. I always see them but have never been sure how exactly I would utilize them. This got my wheels turning.

Last week I passed them again and thought “what the hell, just buy the adorable artichoke”.

You would too, wouldn’t you?

There were a TON in the pack and I was able to enjoy them several times throughout the week.

These were sliced in half and positioned on my grill pan. I made sure to spray cooking spray on the pan and salt and pepper.

I love how GREEN they are!

All lined up. I used tongs to check them periodically.

Can I tell you how excited I was about the grill marks? Fantastic!

These were pretty good. The grill gave them a smokey flavor and the insides were moist. In the future I really want to try this roasted because adding EVO to anything always makes it better. This really is an ideal side dish or appetizer because it is so easy to cook and delicious to eat. I like challenging myself by picking up something I’ve never cooked before and experimenting with it and this was for sure a success!

Have you ever picked up a new ingredient on a whim and loved it?

Back at it

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How was everyone’s Thanksgiving?

Mine was awesome! I took Thursday and Friday 100% totally OFF. I didn’t read, I didn’t outline, and I didn’t blog. All I did was hang out with Catie and her family, ate good food, gave thanks, watched movies, shopped and put my feet up. It felt gooooooood. Sometimes you just want a day or two off. Saturday I got home and ran errands, organized my life, studied and crashed really early.

Good thing too, because guess what tomorrow is? The last day of classes. This is both good and bad. Its great because I will have a lot of very unstructured time, it means the semester is almost over and I’m almost half way done with law school (gah! I can’t even believe it). It also means I have finals. Boo.

Here is what we have to look forward to:

Yup, it all ends on the 16th. Can’t wait!

Tonight I made a very healthy recipe from the Skinny Bitch cookbook: Leek and Sweet Potato Casserole. Casseroles are great when it is chilly. Yes, it was only 55 degrees today. I realize there was a wind chill of 9 in Chicago on Thanksgiving, but I don’t want to hear it. My blood has officially thinned out and a high of 54 is cold. Casseroles reheat well, which is good when you anticipate being short of time. And I really love sweet potatoes. Any excuse, right?

3 leeks. 2 sweet potatoes.

Sliced.

Sauteed (with salt, pepper, rosemary, and garlic).

Arrange (potato, leek, potato). Top with panko. Add vegetable broth. Bake at 400 for 30 mins.

Yes, I added a thin layer of Swiss. I realize that this isn’t vegan or part of the skinny bitch recipe but I ran 8 miles today and I wanted some cheese. Deal with it.

This was a great, easy casserole. Another reason I like Skinny Bitch is that she lists all the nutritional information after all of her recipes. One serving of this is only 280 calories! It probably ended up being more per serving because I added a little bit of cheese. I ate slightly more than one serving because of the aforementioned run. This was a fantastic dinner and I am already looking forward to the leftovers! Definitely a dish worth repeating.

Hope everyone had an awesome holiday weekend!

Giving Thanks

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What are you thankful for this year?

I’m thankful for…

Delicious food.

Photogenic Food.

Family, their good health and love and support.

Small animals.

Larger animals.

Getting to study what I want to study….

Where I want to study.

For my friends both near…

and far…

and virtual…

For my good heath and the ability to run, walk and stretch.

For all of the small, beautiful things everyday.

I am thankful for you lovely reader, because I get to blog about something I love for fun.

I am thankful for all the good blessings in my life of which there are many. I am thankful to be secure,to have a roof over my head and the ability to help others less fortunate.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow I am going to Catie’s parents house in the Inland Empire. I am thankful to have a place to go this year. I’m a little surprised by how homesick I am. I only go home about twice a year for a week at a time max and rarely feel really homesick. Maybe its because its my first Thanksgiving away from home. I know tomorrow will be a wonderful day though and I have so much to be thankful for.

What are you thankful for this year?

Now What…

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Hey there gang!

Now that I am done wrapping up the meals from last weekend I thought I would update about what’s going on post half marathon.

Monday and Tuesday my legs were very sore, especially the front of my thighs. On Wednesday I didn’t feel sore at all and yesterday I went to yoga for the first time since August. I went to an easy beginners class and didn’t push it too hard. I ran 13.1 miles this week, I didn’t need to be a hero. The class was pretty challenging for me. My legs felt good but my hips were very tight and my arms were dying in down dog! I definitely have to go to yoga more.

I also just got back from a four mile run. I took it slow and it was pretty awesome. I think I’m back 🙂

I’ve also begun contemplating other races. For a second I thought about training for the LA marathon in March but I think I want more lead time if I’m going to run a full. But it will happen. Sooner than later.For now I will focus on Half Marathons.

Anyways, my eating this week wasn’t very remarkable but I did make a killer leek pizza. Last week at the Farmer’s Market I spied a glorious leek and had to have it.

For the pizza I used whole wheat Trader Joe’s dough. I cut an entire leek and sauteed it with EVO, salt and pepper until it cooked down. When it was almost cooked down I added chopped garlic and cooked until fragrant.

Then I rolled out my dough and arranged the leeks and garlic on the dough with a little bit more pepper.

I topped with cheddar and baked at 425 for 12 mins.


Yum!

Homemade pizza is hands down my favorite low effort dinner. I like to change it up and not use sauce. It skips a step and I think this pizza is actually better without sauce.

I have an exciting weekend planned. Today was my last Friday class for a long time. Tonight it’s my friends “21st birthday” (in quotes because it is soooo not his 21st birthday, but we can pretend) tonight and tomorrow I am seeing Harry Potter at the ArcLight with the Committee. Should be a fun and hopefully productive weekend. What are your weekend plans?

Malibu International Half Marathon

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Today has been an amazing day. If you had told me a year ago that on November 14th 2010 I would be running a very hilly half marathon I would have laughed in your face. But today I did what I never thought I would do… I ran a half marathon!

The morning started really early… like 5 am! I rolled out of bed. Waking up for races is like waking up to go to the airport. I just roll out of bed and am excited about what I get to go do.

This morning started like all race mornings… with peanut butter toast and coffee.

And a long drive out to Malibu. We stopped for gas where Sunset meets PCH and got a beautiful view of the sunrise.

The first of many beautiful views.

We got to the drop point. My Mom dropped me off (naturally she went to Starbucks) and I got on the bus for the drive to the start line. I got to the start line an hour and a half before the start and clearly had a photo shoot (and blogged!)

I saw dolphins, a sea lion, and a pelican!

Once Ela arrived at the start line we had a photo shoot!

We can all this “before”:

As you can tell… it was really sunny.

I was glad we got there super early. I went to the bathroom twice, drank a zico (official race sponsor!) and dropped my bag with minimal stress. We also ran into other law students! The wait didn’t seem as long as I thought it would be and before I knew it the gun went off and I started running. The first two miles felt great! After that things got a bit more challenging.

This race was truly the most beautiful thing ever. Monica ran it too and she took some great pictures so you should read HER post as well. There were sweeping views of the coast line and it was breath taking. It was also very sunny and warmer than expected. When I finished it was around 80 degrees which is much warmed than I like to run in. The first 8 miles of so had very little shade so the sun was beating down. The people who brought hats were smart!

There also weren’t many mile markers which was good. I just ran and didn’t think about timing and I tried not to think about how far I had left to go. I looked at the view, enjoyed my music and kept running. I didn’t really think about anything but I had thoughts going through my head. I thought about other bloggers, people that inspired me to run (ahem miss Carolyn), running mantras, and how awesome the human body is. I tried not to think about how hot I was or the imposing hills.

Around mile 6 the killer hills started. Ela had warned me that they were going to be hard and I had seen the elevation map so I thought I knew what I was in for but MAN were they intense. Around mile 8 there was a hill, barely any down hill and then it kept going uphill! It is intimidating to be running towards a huge uphill.

I stopped at every aid station, which were placed every two miles. I also had two shot bloks. I intended to have more but the second one stuck to my teeth and it wasn’t very comfortable. After that I couldn’t get them back in my shorts and I actually ditched them at an aid station around mile 10. Because the race was so hot I was very thirsty and my lips were chapped. I also have to say, next race, I am running with my own running bottle! Lesson learned: always listen to your Aunt Caroline.

Half way through mile 10 we started to reach the top of the hills. There was only one small uphill after that which was nice. Best to end on a flat to downhill! We were running by bushes which were shading the view and they had butterflies! So pretty. Around mile 10 I was getting excited because I knew it was almost over. Between mile 10 and 13 I took about three short walk breaks to re energize myself for the final sprint.

Crossing the finish line felt amazing. This is a goal that I’ve had for a while and to finally have completed it… there are no words. Shortly after Ela crossed the finish line. We downed SEVERAL Zico’s and had a photo shoot!

The finishers medals were great! Very heavy. The novelty of medals hasn’t worn off. The finishers also got beach towels which we immediately utilized. I’ve never wanted to go into the freezing cold ocean so badly!

So cold! My feet needed it. I have some serious battle scars. I won’t go into it. It’s gross.

Then we continued the photo shoot.

And now a nice one…

After the foot ice bath that was the ocean we went to check our times. There was no clock at the end and I knew I was close to my super secret time goal which I didn’t tell many people because I didn’t want to jinx it… well good news…

I did it! 2 hours 11 mins. Average pace: 10:04!

Also, notice that I am carrying an armload of FREEBIES! Best part of races.

We said goodbye to Ela and her family and went straight to The Larder at Tavern for an insane post race meal. Emily and Catie joined us for a long meal and delicious meal. I started with smoked fish on rye toast with goat cheese.

I’ve never had anything bad at Tavern. I firmly believe that the entire menu is fantastic. This continues to affirm my beliefs. I love the idea of goat cheese instead of cream cheese and the homemade toast was incredible.

Speaking of incredible… these potatoes. Of course I ordered potatoes. Breakfast potatoes are the best ever!

Seriously… thyme, rosemary, the best I’ve ever had.

Then it was time for dessert. I turned to Catie and said “is it piggish to order 10 macaroons for us?” and she responded, “it’s your race day”. Well, you don’t have to tell me twice.

The spread: pumpkin and salted caramel macaroons, ginger molasses cookie, gingerbread with eggnog icing, chocolate covered honey comb, homemade snickers, chocolate sante cookie, and thin mints. Phew. Oh and I forgot to mention the Monkey bread we split while we waited! What? I was calorie debited!

Overall this has been an amazing day. Definitely more distance running in my future. I’m going to give myself some recovery time and then I will plan another distance race soon! Thanks for all the tweets, texts and comments in support. It really motivated me and made me feel the love! Off to watch the Housewives and sleep. Hope you had a good weekend!

Couscous Stuffed Pepper

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Good evening blog world! How’s it going? Who has work or school off tomorrow? This girl does! I spent the afternoon chilling and cleaning. I did some serious cleaning! I’m not that messy but I did a deep clean including but not limited to dusting, moping, vacuuming, scrubbing, and organizing. I’m still not done but am excited about the results. I need to pass my Mom’s “white glove test”.

For dinner I was super healthy because, lets face it, I’m working HARD on that pint of pumpkin ice cream obviously served with mix ins. I had a couscous stuffed pepper with roasted veg. I made the quickie version.

The pepper at the farmers market for the last few weeks have been glorious. When I saw it I knew I needed to make something wonderful with it. I cored this puppy and roasted it (standing up) with other veggies on the same tray because this is the quick version. Normally I would sautee the veggies and then bake in the pepper. Tonight I roasted (at 400 degrees for 30 mins with EVO&S&P) bok choy, eggplant, squash (summer), and broccoli. While everything was roasting I prepared the couscous.

If there is a difference between regular couscous and whole wheat couscous I can’t taste it.

Then I took out the veggies. I was hoping the bok choy would turn out like kale chips…

Um, kinda? The white part was still moist but it was pretty tasty none the less! I actually liked these better than kale chips.

I combined all the veggies with the couscous and then stuffed the pepper…

Pretty good. For being a quick version it tastes a lot like the long version. The pepper was soft and flavorful. Farmers market for the win! This will be happening again soon. I liked the roasted veggies, especially the bok choy. I don’t cook with it often but I should cook with it more. This was a delish dinner.

Tomorrow is the kick off to a great weekend. There is talk of Clementine and dinner in Pasadena! Wahoo!

Orange-you Glad its Thursday?

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Cheesy title, I know but I couldn’t resist. I am so glad it’s finally Thursday. Wednesday is my busy day so having it past me is a relief.

Tonight instead of going out and doing something fun I stayed in to outline (taking all my notes and breaking them down into a short, valuable document which can make or break an exam). After working for a couple hours I decided it was time to eat. But what should I eat?

One moment I was looking at this:

What to make,  what to make…

Even Izzy was perplexed. Yes. I went there. Don’t blame me. Blame it on the hearsay exceptions.

Then I saw a giant orange and some beef and before you know it I was roasting veggies, making orange scented couscous and grilling beef and orange. I know. I have a sickness.

This was the final product.

Roasted parsnips, potato and broccoli, yes I had couscous and potatoes. It’s almost finals. I’m entitled.

Orange Scented Couscous which basically involves cooking couscous with orange zest and is fantastic!

Orange and Balsamic Grilled Beef. The flavor combo was inspired by this months Everyday Food. I took orange zest, balsamic vinegar, and juiced half of a giant orange and grilled the beef in the sauce. This was obviously an improv kinda thing with no recipe so I wasn’t sure if it would orange or balsamic enough but it turned out pretty good. The flavor came through and it was nicely complimented by the couscous. And yes, I grilled the orange slices.

Pretty delicious for having no clue what I was going to make for dinner. Yum!

Hope you had a happy Thursday!