raw foods diet

not sure what i was thinking... as usual i'm from one extreme to the next. i got the bright idea to try a raw foods diet. i've been following in kristin's foot steps with the vegetarian thing for a while now. of course on the 4th i celebrated with a burger on the grill & kristin stuck true to her diet & went for the portabella mushroom. from time-to-time i do enjoy red meat & i couldn't imagine giving up seafood. i used to think i couldn't live without chicken, but since kristin became a vegetarian we just rarely buy it & i can't remember the last time i ate chicken (probably about 3 months ago).

anyhow, i'm back to working out (like a normal person, not an ironman) & with the working out my super healthy diet has returned too. while at the store this friday kristin grabbed some carrots & snap peas to enjoy as snacks. we also bought some red cabbage & after we got home & chopped things up i started nibbling on a bit of each raw vegetable. right then & there i told kristin i was going to try a raw foods diet for a week. only seven days, why not?

meal #1 (dinner) was easy & quite simple. in-fact it was just more of what i ate as a snack earlier that day. red cabbage, carrots, & snap peas. by 9PM last night my tummy was grumbling for more & something with a bit of substance. i had a glass of green tea & forced myself to bed early so i wouldn't give in to eating something cooked or processed.

meal #2 (breakfast) i actually felt good when i woke up this morning. probably even dropped a pound or two. kristin was well into her morning oatmeal when i headed to the kitchen to figure something out. oh BTW, no way i was giving up coffee (or tea) on this diet. i was well into my second cup of joe when i started making my breakfast. i pulled a pear, an apple, some blueberries from the fridge. i chopped up half of the pear & apple & tossed them on a plate. i grabbed a handful of blueberries & threw those on the plate too. it didn't seem like enough... i headed to the pantry & grabbed some dried prunes & some flax seed & added them to the morning treat. surprisingly i was full & feeling very good again.

meal #3 (snack) i enjoyed the other half of that pear & apple i chopped up for breakast. i also had an apple cinnamon lara bar on the drive to the gym. i had no idea that the lara bar was a raw food either. i knew it didn't contain anything that was processed, but i didn't realize it was a raw food. thankfully that little bar held me through my afternoon gym workout (25 minutes elliptical, 15 minutes treadmill, back & core workout).

meal #4 (lunch/post workout) by the time i got home from the gym, feeding trevor's cats (he's out of town), & picking up more raw veggies at the store so i could keep this silly diet up i was starving. i fixed a heaping bowl of salad to include spinach lettuce, 1/2 of a roma tomato, red cabbage, carrots, snap peas, & broccoli.

meal #5 (snack) the other 1/2 of that tomato :)

by dinner time i'd thrown in the towel. kristin & i fixed up vegetarian stir fry consisting of mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, & red cabbage all tossed over steamed brown rice. while i'd given into the "cooking foods god" it wasn't like i was eating another burger or something. the raw food thing was fun but not knowing how to eat beans or grains without some cooking or processing i would have been feeling some real hurt come tomorrow.

oh, for dinner i had a plum... a raw plum at that.

first sunday brunch at casa

this easter sunday kristin & i enjoyed brunch at casa de luz with our dear friend danielle. this was in fact the first time that any of us had made it to casa for a sunday brunch. we've enjoyed a many of dinners at casa & every so often we are fortunate enough to make it to casa for breakfast & lunch.

the BIG deal about casa’s sunday brunch, so we thought, is there pancakes with fresh fruit. while they were healthy pancakes, they didn’t have the yummy factor i was anticipating. i would have been completely OK with the lack of yummy tastes if it were to have been replaced with a super hearty/healthy taste. instead they were pretty dry & boring; even with the fresh berries draped on top.

if you do like the sunday pancakes you are in luck because just like everything else they are served “family style.” now this part about sunday brunch i thoroughly enjoyed! for dinner & lunch you serve your own soup & salad (as much or as little as you like & as many servings as you like too) & the staff make your plates. normally your first plate is prepared according to the menu & brought to your table prior to you finishing your soup/salad & then should you want more (like me) you can either ask for another plate “as-is” or you can ask for a little of this, a lot of that, & none of that for example – again, as many trips back as you like (i’m a 4 – 5 plate kind of guy). anyhow on sunday everything is yours for the picking from the beginning! today’s menu – see below – was pretty amazing. i was a big fan of the tempeh veggie stir-fry & the black beans with suncheese (my first time to have suncheese). i was also quite impressed with the jalapeño hot sauce – it was a nice compliment to everything on my plate minus the pancakes, soup, & salad. to note, today was a 5 plate meal for me :)

sunday brunch
march 23, 2008

specials: pancakes w/ fruit sauce (contains gluten)
specials: tempeh veggie stir-fry
specials: *jalapeño hot sauce*
soup: cauliflower & summer squash
salad: garden salad w/ ume flax veggie dressing
grain: short brown rice
greens: mixed blanched greens w/ mustard & basil tahini sauce
veggie: baked sweet potato, kabocha & butternut squash
bean: black beans w/ suncheese
pickle: radish & onion
made with infinite love by: timo, ada, ciara, ross, cory, & rosi

casa has spoiled me

casa de luz has quickly become the most frequented restaurant for kristin & i. what started out as an every now & then sunday night meal has turned into an every sunday night tradition. even better is that we have a few friends that are becoming regular “sunday nighters” with us. over the past couple of weeks we’ve even found ourselves enjoying both a breakfast & a dinner at casa during the week.

while casa is absolutely amazing & super healthy i’ve got to tone down what has turned into a “how many plates can brian eat” episode. the food is obviously all healthy for you. like anything though, to much of something can be bad for you. the “bad” parts for me is that i'm finding that it is taking much more food to fill me up when i eat & secondly i’ve got an addiction to veggies & you’ll be hard pressed to find another restaurant that serves up the type & most importantly the quantity of healthy veggies as casa.

tonight i suppose i lucked out. i had dinner at the hotel restaurant rather than driving around looking for somewhere to dine. while i do order meals with meat (mostly fish), i try my best to get as many veggies as possible with the dish i order.

i began my meal with a spinach, beet, & garlic salad. i asked to have it served dry as the beets & garlic where enough to flavor the spinach to my liking. for a main course i ordered the sea bass which was to be served over polenta, mushrooms, & cherry tomatoes. i quickly scanned the menu for other veggie offerings. the bok choy, kale, brussel sprouts, & asparagus all grabbed my attention (a number of restaurants in white plains, NY have had kale & things like swiss chard on their menu to my surprise). in an effort to keep the cost down i asked the waiter to 86 (given that i’ve never worked in a restaurant, it was just over a year ago that i learned the 86 restaurant term while out for lunch with the crew in ft. lauderdale, FL) the polenta & hook me up with a side of bok choy, kale, brussel sprouts, & asparagus. of course i requested that they all be steamed or just lightly sautéed with olive oil. the waiter with a confused/shocked look on his face nodded that he understood & said thank you & walked off.

when he returned with the meal he almost got it right. the polenta was 86’ed as requested & the sea bass looked amazing. however, the chef simply mixed in a few pieces of kale & bok choy with the mushrooms & cherry tomatoes that were already part of this meal. there also wasn't any sign of the asparagus or brussel sprouts. i went ahead & started eating the dish as it was prepared thinking that the waiter would just bring the asparagus & brussel sprouts on the side on his next trip out & i could live with the few pieces of bok choy & kale that were mixed with the meal.

when the waiter finally did return to my table my plate was clean. the meal was fantastic! the veggies mixed up really well & the sea bass tasted even better than it looked. the waiter, gary, asked how everything was & i told him that it was great & then asked about the missing asparagus & brussel sprouts. he apologized for missing them & then asked if he got everything else correct. i explained to him that i was actually requesting a side of kale, a side of bok choy, a side of asparagus, & a side of brussel sprouts (wow - that is a lot of veggies... maybe i got carried away) & that i was expecting the sea bass to simply be served with the mushrooms & tomatoes just like on the menu. he explained that he would take care of it.

i expected him to simply return with the veggies i ordered on the side. to my surprise & delight he returned with an entire full meal & went so far as serving the mushrooms & tomatoes on the side too. he said, “here you are sir & as your requested for no additional charge. i apologize for the prior confusion & i hope this meal meets your expectations.” talk about great service!

in the end i got my fill of healthy & tasty veggies along with two magnificently prepared sea bass fillets – all for the price of the original meal. if only the service & food at every restaurant could be this awesome. remember, you get what you pay for.

pictures tell stories too

while at dinner this past weekend i asked kristin why she no longer blogged. she said it just wasn’t on the top of her list of things to do right now due all the other things she’s involved with currently. totally understandable & while i am very busy too i use blogging as a type of relief in a way – it allows me to say & share so many things i do & think without having to call, e-mail, meet up with everyone i want to share those activities & thoughts with. i suppose you could look at it as a time saver for communicating. blogging is also a nice chronological history of what is happening in my life & the world around me.

the definition of a “blog” according to wiki is: (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

when responding to my question about her blogging habits kristin thought up a great idea in my opinion. she said, “what if i just post pictures from my day? maybe post one picture in the morning, one in the afternoon, & one in the evening. no words, just pictures… quite artistic i think.” we talked about this & we both agreed it was a cool & fun approach to blogging. i thought it such a good idea that i too wanted to follow this approach in a new blog separate from radarhill. kristin said that i couldn’t steal her idea. in fact, i’ve got a great pic of her sitting with arms crossed & a mean look on her face at kerbey lane (we went back on sunday to enjoy more vegan hummus & tabbouleh tacos prior to grocery shopping) the next day when i brought the subject back up :). i really do think the photo blog idea is a great one – i’d approach this type of blog with three, maybe more, random pics from each day. no words – just sequential pics from my day.

as i consider this type of blog more & more i did some quick googling & quickly realize that what we both thought was such an original idea already exists. in fact, wiki (& many others) call this type of blog a “photoblog.” the definition of “photoblog” according to wiki is: a “photoblog” (a.k.a. photolog or phlog) is a form of photo sharing & publishing in the format of a blog, but differentiated by the predominant use of & focus on photographs rather than text. photoblogging (the action of posting photos to a photoblog) gained momentum in the early 2000s with the advent of the moblog & camera phones.

there are other types of blogs too:

- artlog: blogging with the use of art
- MP3 blog: blogging with music or MP3s
- micro-blogging: quick text blog entries
- moblog: blogging from mobile devices
- podcasting: blogging with audio/voice
- vlog: blogging with the use of videos

so while a great idea & an original one for kristin; it isn’t a new idea. so if i photoblog or phlog from time-to-time kristin will be OK & uncross those arms & turn that frown upside down – right my love?

a great vegan find at kerbey lane cafe

a great new vegan find at kerbey lane. after blogging about kerbey lane cafe last week i couldn't stop thinking about eating there. while kristin was a bit hesitant & really pushing for going to manuel's (one of our favorite restaurants in austin) last night, i was able to convince her to give kerbey a try for dinner. about 6 years ago we found ourselves at kerbey a many of mornings for breakfast/brunch, however, even when we would go for dinner we always found ourselves order something from their breakfast menu (usually breakfast tacos) & never giving any of their dinner entrees a taste.

i was quite impressed with our meal & it helps that the folks working there are all really cool & laid bake & the atmosphere just has that austin feel. i really enjoyed my greek chicken entree & while kristin said the veggie enchiladas she ordered weren't as good as manuel's she was definitely cool with coming back for dinner more often.

the real find for both of us was their hummus & tabbouleh tacos - yum! they stuff two whole wheat tortillas with creamy garbanzo & red pepper hummus, tabbouleh, & sprouts. these two awesome tacos also come with a really nice side salad. all this healthy & tasty food for $5.95. with or without kristin, i'm sure to cruise into kerbey more often just for these vegan tacos!

vegan indian dinner

i really am enjoying all the new vegan/vegetarian meals i've been introduced too. i almost enjoy cooking them as much as i enjoy eating them. when it comes to a vegetarian meal it's all about the freshness of the ingredients & the flavors you can bring out with the spices that you mix in.

kristin has this vegetarian indian dinner down! it's so damn good & spicy! what the heck is it you are wondering? curried tofu with brown basmati rice, & red lentils.

not only does it taste wonderful; it also always fills us both up, there is always enough for lunch the next day, it is super healthy (minus the coconut milk for which we substitute in lite coconut milk to reduce some of the fat content), it is packed with protein, good carbohydrates, & vitamins - all things that we both love. it even presents well in my opinion.

never before have i been that stuffed

i've kicked back a many of plates of food before. my buddy jason (who i lived with for 4 years) & i used to always taunt one another to eat more whenever we were out for food. he was my weight lifting partner throughout my tenure in the marines & when we would go to eat the question, "is that all you got?" would come up often. i can remember a many nights eating 3 or 4 plates of pasta with this dude as well as overindulging (see unabridged dictionary - it is a word) on the weekend brunches at hickam air force base. as for my weight, while i may be more fit today - back then i weighed a solid 175 pounds with just over 5% body fat. i was also 19/20/21 years old :)

of course when we moved to austin to wrap our degrees at UT we both put on some weight. i remember the day that we moved to austin & our apartment wasn't ready so the complex put us up in a hotel for the night. jason was a real stickler with his cash (especially while in school) & that first night he was looking for the cheapest place to eat where he could get the most food for our buck. we ended up at a mr. gattis pizza (i've only been back to gatti's once since this horrific event & refuse to ever go back into one). if you don't know anything about mr. gatti's it's a *super* cheap (price & quality) all you can eat pizza place. between the two of us that night we kicked back some 70+ pieces of pizza. that's 35+ pieces for each of us. i think the final count was me 37 & him 34 or 35. granted, some of their slices aren't all the normal pizza slices (some squared). regardless those 35+ pieces easily equaled 3+ large pizzas for each of us. i had never felt worse. well, up until last night.

kristin & i visited casa de luz for dinner last night. they had sweet potatoes & walnuts on the menu & that's all that really mattered to me. if you have ever had their sweet potatoes, then you would understand why i was so excited to eat there. casa’s full menu last night was:

- soup: creamy kabocha squash
- salad:garden salad with citrus thyme vinaigrette
- grain: basmati brown rice & tempe sticks
- bean: “hoppin’ john” (black eyed peas)
- greens: southern style cabbage
- vegetable: baked sweet potatoes with walnuts
- pickle: garlic ume daikon and beets

obviously very healthy! but just as the saying goes, “too much of anything is a bad thing.” i started with a full bowl of soup as usual – it was awesome! then onto the salad – again, the vinaigrette was super tasty & the sliced apples on top were so good! then onto the main course – i always take the first plate "as is" & then i pick & choose what i really like when i go back for more. after that 1st plate i was feeling pretty full. the brown rice, the sweet potatoes, & the black eyed peas were doing the trick – a lot of sticky carbs. i went back for my 2nd plate & asked for a normal plate minus the rice & please double up on the sweet potatoes. after another glass of tea & i went back for my 3rd plate – same as the 2nd. kristin had eaten like ½ of her 1st plate but did get a 2nd helping of sweet potatoes that she couldn’t finish. so when i went back for my 4th plate (i know – very sick!) i went without the sweet potatoes because i could just finish off kristin’s :). after finishing my 4th plate, like an idiot i went back for one last helping of the blacked eyed peas. see, there was this hot sauce that they made that i’d never had before & you drizzle it over the blacked eyed peas – it was so amazing.

after that serving of black eyed peas i felt like i was going to explode. i of course was eating so quickly that the full effect of how much food i put into my body hadn’t hit me until the end. when things began to expand i was scared my stomach was going to burst – jason would be so proud…

i had a cup of hot tea before we left & when we got home i could barely stand up straight – i looked like i was pregnant & worse off felt like i was having contractions. have you ever seen the movie or read the book “cool hand luke?” if you haven’t, you should – best paul newman movie ever in my opinion. anyhow, in the movie he took a bet to eat 50 boiled eggs. well his belly & mine looked very similar last night & i was walking & feeling about as bad as he looked in the movie. lucky for him he was just acting; i was actually living through this horrible feeling that i brought onto myself

it’s now morning, almost 12 hours since dinner & i’m still full. i usually love this part of my morning - waking up to coffee & a big bowl of oatmeal with fruit. i can’t bear to think about eating right now though. of all days too, i scheduled lunch with my friend/real-estate broker today for lunch at manuels & all i really think i can bear to eat are veggies – no carbs or meats please!

seeing how much you can stuff in your belly really is a “guy thing” isn’t it? i suppose i really don’t want to know any women that taunt each other to eat more :)

i think last night makes up for any missed calories on the bike this weekend. let this blog post be a reminder to me to *never* eat that much again.

the world’s first!

it is now 4:00 pm & it has been a long day (both at work & training) & i’m sitting on another event call & i’m starving. while my desk drawers are full of protein bars, cliff bars, even healthy trail mix i wanted something else. i dived into my office fridge in the corner to find that i’ve eaten my stock pile of chicken breasts for the week & i wasn’t in the mood for the beets, the pear, or the protein shake.

instead i reached for the hemp bread, the homemade hummus, the raw “like tuna” spread, & the home grilled tofu. i spread the raw “like tuna” on ½ a slice of the hemp bread & the homemade hummus on the other ½ slice of hemp bread. i put a piece of the grilled tofu in the middle & just like that i had the world’s first “hemp bread with hummus, raw “like tuna”, & tofu sandwich.

i know what you are thinking… brian you are gross! not at all, the flavors in the raw “like tuna” spread are amazing & the spice from both the hummus & grilled tofu (the tofu was grilled in spices – we all know tofu by itself has zero taste) was amazing. not to mention how healthy this puppy was! it is full of protein, good carbs, high fiber, & other healthy nutrients.

i hope you all try this new sandwich creation & if you do let me know what you think. anyone else out there got any good homemade sandwich ideas? eryn, i bet you’ve got a sandwich idea that would include nutella :)

3M race goodies

all organized races (meaning you pay an entry fee) offer some time of race bag. the “race shirt” has become an expected item these days. depending on how big the race is (how much your entry fee is & how many sponsors are involved) depends on what else you can expect in that race bag. while i’ve yet to experience an ironman race bag (my first one is coming up in march) i suspect at a minimum you get a good quality shirt, a nice visor, a nice water bottle, & crap loads of gus, bite-size cliff bars, lara bars, etc. BTW, if you know how i can get some bite-size cliff bars or lara bars without entering a race please tell me – they are the perfect size to carry & eat while on the bike.

yesterday kristin picked up our race packets for the 3M ½ marathon. as expected we got the “race shirt.” it’s actually made of good cotton & is long sleeve – totally rocks! we also got a few flyers for other upcoming races, some discount coupons at local sport shops & physical therapy shops. what we didn’t get were any nutritional goodies – not a one!

so what else was in the bag? enough 3M products to amaze even the most senior of administrative assistants (aren’t i so PC?). each bag was filled with different items from 3M’s suite of products. we’ve got all types of post-its, tapes, ear plugs, adhesive strips, etc. the one item that kristin & i both laughed at was the “on-the-go” post-its. i didn’t know that post-its were to be used for anything other than quick notes that you can post anywhere or take with you. marketers have a special magic when they can label one set of post-its “on-the-go” & the other traditional post-its & charge folks more for the “on-the-go” ones.

anyhow, if you need any tape or post-its over the next year we have plenty to share. wish us a good time at 3M tomorrow. i swam this morning & rode the spin bike for 1.5 hours just to stay warm for the race. tonight, kristin & i are going to enjoy dinner at casa (vegan restaurant) & get to bed early!

comfort food

green bay lost BIG tonight (even NY times sent me a "news alert" about it) & now kristin is down in the dumps. i'm a bears fan remember & even i was pulling for green bay. i'm quite shocked that the giants upset green bay at home in the zero below temperatures. this could very well be favre's last game.

i recall some years ago when philadelphia knocked green bay out of the playoffs - kristin became a real football fan that day & she realized for the first time what a BIG loss feels like. unfortunately she revisited that feeling again today. we were going to have a super bowl party if green bay would have made it too.

oh well... maybe i can cheer kristin up with some comfort food. i think it's time for kale, edamame, tempeh, & mashed heart-shaped sweet potatoes! i recall that it brought a smile to kristin's face a couple months ago when i first put this treat together :)

i promise i’m not a vegan or vegetarian

due to kristin’s recent switch to vegetarianism some months ago (she will occasionally eat red meat & in the past two weeks she added fish to back to her diet – i think there is an official name for this, i just don’t know & haven’t bothered to look it up) & my ability to eat anything as long as i know it’s good for me (regardless of taste) has made eating nothing but veggies for many meals very easy for me. the best part about all this veggie eating is that i’ve discovered some really amazing new veggies that i knew nothing about to include: kale, brussel sprouts, & red swiss chard.

i used to think that brocolli was the best veggie for me – good carbs, vitamins, & even packed with a bit of protein. while i’m still a fan of brocolli, it doesn’t come close to touching well prepared brussel sprouts. we use a very simple recipe – pop them right off the stalk & on to a cookie pan, dust on some olive oil, fresh cracked black pepper, & some sea salt. stick ‘em in the oven for 400 degrees for 45 minutes (shake the pan ever 10 to 15 minutes to ensure the sprout is roasted on all sides (a little charred makes them oh so good!).

oh, & the things you can do with sweet potatoes! i may have mentioned this before but we eat sweet potatoes in a variety of ways. baked & eaten whole, baked & then mashed up (leave the skins on folks!, sliced & then baked, make them into sticks with olive oil, cracked black pepper & sea salt. i’ve even added them to waffle & pancake mixes!

some other great things to eat when meat isn’t around are nuts. almonds are my favorite – dry roasted with *no* salt added. we started buying this spread at the vegan counter at whole foods called “happy tuna” & another one called “like turkey” & they are awesome. basically they grind up almonds & then mix in some really awesome spices & tahini – spread that on some hemp bread & you’ve got a great healthy snacked packed with protein, fiber, & the right type of carbs.

the attached pic was my 2nd lunch (yes, i'm eating a lot during training) yesterday consisting of baked brussel sprouts, grilled tofu, & brown rice mushroom pilaf.

to reiterate, i’m not a vegan or vegetariain. during a normal week i eat on average 6 – 10 chicken breasts & fish as often as i can get it. i eat red meat very seldom – usually only when i’m at a fine steak house or if we decide to make buffalo burgers at home. however, i do love this new diet of eating way more veggies than i did before & i don’t mind one bit eating an entire plate of nothing but veggies as a meal.

brussel sprouts 101

my lesson learned the other day about brussel sprouts... kristin i went grocery shopping at whole foods where we buy 90% of our groceries. the other 9% come from central market & the remaining 1% come from HEB. anyhow, we headed over to central market on the way home & kristin dropped me off to run in & grab three things: chicken, sandwich buns, & brussel sprouts.

the chicken was easy; three ancho marinated breasts & one greek marinated breast. the sandwich buns were even easier, they are already packaged up. the brussel sprouts however were a bit more complicated.

i've never picked up brussel sprouts before. kristin & i share the grocery shopping chore & i don't recall us every buying brussel sprouts. a few weeks ago when we were having dinner at whole foods i grabbed some grilled brussels sprout & they were amazing. then this past weekend while at my parents house my mom made brussel sprouts for dinner. so kristin decided she wanted to make some brussel sprouts too.

the brussel sprouts were easy to find, however, the approach to getting them wasn't so straightforward. they were on this long stalk that i'd never seen before. so thinking that central market is all foodie & all i assume you just start picking the sprouts right off the stalk. so i started picking one sprout at a time - filling up my little baggy all happy & all. then i noticed a couple of ladies looking at me kind of funny, almost giggling. i stopped what i was doing immediately & dialed the girlfriend. "kristin, i think i might be doing something wrong. i'm picking these sprouts off the stalk & some ladies where kind of giggling at me." kristin chuckled & said, "sweetie, you are supposed to grab the entire stalk. when we get home we break off the sprouts - not at the store." well that answered the question about why these ladies were giggling. geez, they could have just helped me out ya know...

anyway, i grabbed the full stalk & made my way to the checkout line as quickly as i could - lesson learned!

2008 texas caviar

for 3 years now kristin has made up a big bowl of texas caviar on new years day. i love the stuff not only because it taste good but because it is also so good for you. i think i may go the entire day & eat nothing but texas caviar. i'll be a vegan for the day! i've already finished the bag of organic blue chips w/ flax seed (sounds great huh?) & moved on to the whole earth wheat chips (super healthy version of a triscuit). hopefully we'll have texas caviar more than once this year.

a different approach to grocery shopping

since kristin & i moved back into town we've done 99% of our grocery shopping at whole foods & central market. from time to time when we are looking at our checkbook we wonder if this is a smart move to be shopping at these stores all the time. well sometimes it isn't about money... did i just say that? maybe i've had one two many poppers (cute little healthy treats that kristin makes) today.

i recall our grocery shopping experiences in the past being mostly chaotic & they usually resulted in both of us being frustrated (even if only one of us went to the store the other would come home in such a bad mood that we'd cause the other to get frustrated). who would enjoy long lines, frustrating people, & buzzers & beepers from endless rows of checkout lines ringing in your ear from the moment you walk in until the moment you walk out? while i don’t consider grocery shopping fun, i do feel that both whole foods & central market try their best to make our experience as enjoyable as possible.

to begin with, the lines are usually never as long at these stores as they are at a traditional grocery store. the consumers, as well as the staff are much more personable too. we often find ourselves conversing with other folks in line & the staff is always eager to talk & help you out. parking… well parking is bad everyone in austin right?

we normally frequent the downtown location of whole foods & the central location of central market. whole foods is by far the best of the two stores in my opinion. both of us appreciate that whole foods tries to off the highest quality of real or “whole” foods. you’ll be hard pressed to find anything at whole foods containing high fructose corn syrup for example. central market is a bit lax on their ingredients & appears to me to be setup for more of the foodie & not as much towards the foodie who is also concerned about the ingredients of the food.

visiting whole foods usually turns into a full trip for us. we’ll often run at the lake & then head to whole foods. we’ll fill up on some goodies from the many choices they offer & then do our shopping. since kristin has been doing the veggie thing we’ve found some really cool & tasty items to satisfy both of our taste buds. stop by the vegan bar next time you are there & try their pumpkin mousse – it’s amazing & 100% vegan.

whole foods just did this very cool & environmentally conscience thing… they got rid of all plastic bags. if you visit the store, you’ll need to bring your own or purchase a re-usable bag of which is made of recycled plastics & paper. what a smart & responsible move on their part for setting a good example for other companies to follow. i’m sure central market will follow in their food steps soon & eventually all grocery stores should do the same. so much waste comes from the plastic grocery bag.

the only down side we have with whole foods is the cost of their produce & meat. we usually buy the majority of our produce & meat at central market just because of the cost savings.

oh, & big props to central market on something that just happened a few days ago. i was at central market on christmas eve their credit card machine (you could still use a check-card, cash, or check) was on the fritz & the lines were getting thicker than normal. in an effort to mitigate the situation while the machines were being looked at there were regular announcements on the overhead speakers informing everyone of what was going on & they even started serving champagne to those waiting in line. that’s top notch service in my book.

the sweet potato

the sweet potato has quickly become a staple in our diet. it was some years ago when i asked kristin to start cooking me sweet potatoes instead of the red potatoes she normally made. kristin thought she didn't like sweet potatoes & kept up the act of making two separate batches of potatoes for each of us - we normally had potatoes with our buffalo burgers. one night she tried the sweet potato & since she's never looked back.

given that we usually only ate sweet potatoes with our buffalo burgers, we didn't eat them all that often. things changed when kristin started this vegan thing though. she mashed up some sweet potatoes in preparation for the upcoming holidays. she mixed them with soy milk & they were amazing. after thanksgiving we probably had mashed sweet potatoes 3 or 4 times a week. the task of mashing up sweet potatoes took its toll though & it become just to much work.

before long we had a new sweet potato recipe (we have danielle to thank for this) that would make things easier for both of us --- sweet potato sticks (some call them sweet potato fries, but given that they aren't fried why would we call them that?). very simple & oh so good! cut up a sweet potato, drizzle olive oil & fresh ground pepper over them, & then bake them in the oven.

crazy as it may sound i stumbled upon an even simpler recipe that i would have never thought to do - baked sweet potatoes. one of the guys in my office, kearney, brought in a sweet potato this past week & baked it in the microwave. since this event i've made 6 baked sweet potatoes for the both of us. kristin likes a little sea salt & fresh ground pepper on hers, i just like my plain.

just when i thought it couldn't get any better we enjoyed the best dinner either of us have ever had at casa tonight. lentils, rice & quinoa mixed with beets, the best greens ever, & the best of all - sweet potatoes with toasted walnuts! we asked for their sweet potato recipe & like ever other recipe we now have it is amazingly simple. slice up the sweet potato (they leave the skin on), dribble on sesame oil, sea salt, & bake until ready. the entire meal was so good that i ate 3 & 1/2 plates - good thing today was my long run. i can't wait until i see sweet potatoes on casa's menu again.

just when you think you know someone

i had a rough day at work today & we also had plumbers in/out of the house all day (more to come on that story in a later blog). kristin got home a bit before 7:00 pm & i was still on the phone & making work calls. because of the additional hours, we both missed the spin classes we wanted to get to at the gym. since we couldn't cook tonight (no way to clean dishes since the sink is currently out of commission) we decided to race off to the gym for a quick (45-minute) workout & then eat at firebowl.

we sat down with cindy, the owner of firebowl, & talked about her business operations (kristin & i were entertaining a franchising opportunity with a new chain coming to austin called froots) & other small talk about thanksgiving plans. following a quick meal (kris got tofu tonight - she really is digging this vegetarian thing) we headed to the grocery store to pick up 3 things; we ended up leaving the store with a full shopping cart & we spent $100 plus bucks. on average we are spending $250 bucks a week at the grocery store. i blame it on the ironman :)

a few minutes into our grocery shopping i started to check out the peanut butter. we actually already have two jars of peanut butter at home, i just love the stuff & i'm always checking out the new brands. i made the switch to the natural peanut butter from my beloved jiff many years ago. the natural peanut butter was horrible to begin with, however, about 4 years ago the peanut butter making folks have gotten really good at making natural peanut butter that is capable of giving you that jiff swirl. regardless of my brand selection, i've also gone for the creamy peanut butter.

kristin walks over next to me & tells me to grab a jar of the central market organic CRUNCHY peanut butter. i was blown away... for a minute i thought i was going to need paramedics. as gasped for breath and asked, "since when did you like the CRUNCHY peanut butter?" she answered, "i've always liked the CRUNCHY peanut butter."

we've been together over 6 years now & not once have i seen kristin eat CRUNCHY peanut butter. in the past 6 years we've probably purchased 75 - 100 (we, mostly me, eat a lot of PB) jars of peanut butter & not once has she grabbed a jar of the CRUNCHY style. what gives i ask? how can she not even mention the fact that she liked the CRUNCHY?

i don't know if i am going to be able to sleep well tonight. if you understood how much i loved peanut butter, kristin too, you would understand why this puzzles me so much. i just don't get it. just when you think you know someone, they go & tell ya that they like the CRUNCHY & not the creamy peanut butter. i wonder if the vegetarian diet is making her go crazy... yeh, that's it - that's how i'll rationalize this one for now.

two for two

this is the second sunday in a row that kristin & i have enjoyed dinner at casa de luz (http://www.casadeluz.org/). while i'm excited about eating at casa, what's really awesome is that kristin & i are able to cash in on our weekends early now. in the past, almost every sunday night for 6+ years, we (especially me) have run around like crazy people finishing those last minute weekend chores that should have been taken care of saturday morning. you know what i'm talking about --- take out the trash, clean the cat's litter box, make BIG dinner & clean BIG dinner mess, vacuum, wrap up laundry, finish those proposals & e-mails for work, do the checkbook, mow the lawn (actually, i haven't had to do this one for 3 years now - lawn care, what a waste of time), pack your bags for monday, etc...

it's not like our weekends have turned from 48 - 72 hours & we sure don't have less to do. with me beginning to gear up for next year's triathlon season, kristin & i both preparing for the 1/2 marathon in january, both of us biking, & our expanded (for kristin new) job responsibilities we have anything but time to just sit around. did i mention it's football season too :) bears suck this year, nothing new i know, so i've given up on caring about the season.

so how have we've been able to enjoy a stress free sunday night? by both sharing the responsibilities, communicating more, & more importantly focusing on those "to-dos" that really matter vs. the ones that don't.

another two for two - each visit now to casa i've enjoyed 3 plates of food & each of us have enjoyed a dessert. maybe last week i didn't need that 3rd plate, but this week after running 13 miles i could have used a 4th plate. to note i've eaten vegan all day today. also, 13 miles is the most i've run since i did my first 1/2 marathon (the 3M) in january of '05. the afternoon & three days following the 3M race i could barely walk. today, i'm feeling great & expecting to have nothing more than "tired" legs tomorrow. given that i biked 49 miles yesterday & followed that up with a brick workout of 3 miles (of which i bonked on), & then got out there today & did a 1/2 marathon rocks for me mentally. now only 13.2 to go, 112 on the bike, & 2.4 in the water :) tomorrow i'm planning on some yoga, swimming, & maybe some upper body weights.

obviously something to be said about good training. back in '05 i didn't prepare in any way for the 3M. my buddy greg called me up in mid-november after i just returned from italy & was like hey you want to do a 1/2 marathon in january. i figured if greg could do it, then why not. by the end of november greg had twisted his ankle & bowed out of the race. i had already paid my entry fee & figured what the hell. i ran a max of two 7 miles runs during the next two months. no wonder why i could barely walk afterwards. seriously, i was pitiful. i recall kristin making me a bath after returning home & me just feeling like crap.

i will fill you all in following the upcoming 3M race for which i plan to rock. i finished just under (by like 3 seconds) 1 hour & 58 minutes in '05. next year, i hope to finish between one hour & 30 & 1 hour & 40 minutes. i am expecting kristin to do really well too. this will be her first 1/2 marathon & she's been putting in the training time which i failed to do for my first one. if she can manage those nasty shin splints that have been bothering her then she is going to totally rock too. i'm looking forward to drawing her a bath like she did for me after my first 1/2 marathon.

now the best thing about being able to take it easy on a sunday night - getting to bed early!

BK