5 posts tagged “food”
Well I was going to go to Basel. I even set my alarm. I hit snooze too many times though, and next thing I know it's 10:30. Oops. Guess I'm not going much of anywhere today. Oh well.
I made coffee, had the leftover almond croissant from yesterday and also some yogurt with the last of the strawberry and orange fruit salad sprinkled with some cinnamon and muesli.
I'm not sure what I'll do now. I popped downstairs to grab a loaf of bread. I had to think about what to throw on to look presentable though; the French do not just do t-shirts and sweatpants. Also, there is always a line at noon, so I was expecting to encounter others. Black All Blacks shirt my sis got me + black yoga pants was my choice. I didn't get any lifted eyebrows, so voila, I have my loaf of "rustique."
I'm trying to work my way through the various offerings since I'm not sure what the different kinds taste like, but I'm also trying to focus on trying the ones with more whole grains like wheat or spelt. I have now looked it up, and in France, a rustique loaf is a mixture of wheat and rye flours, and takes longer to go stale. Good choice! I also got a spelt loaf the other day; the word for spelt in French is épeautre.
Maybe I'll try to go for a hike today to get some fresh air and exercise. I need to look up some trails though.
So, I'm in France right now for work, trying to adjust to the big change in pretty much everything: work schedule, eating schedule, diet... I am still amazed at how people here eat the amount of butter and bacon that they do and not fall over dead in the middle of the street.
I decided that I need to try and get in as much exercise as I can so that I don't have to deprive myself of too much of the food that's available, so in that vein I finally went running on Sunday. The area where I am is not really a huge city, but definitely more urban than I'm using to running, so I headed for the path (randonnée) along the river that runs through town then cuts over to a park area. It was just a short out and back 5K, but I did it in 37 minutes without stopping to walk, except at road crossings. Pretty good for having essentially done no running since the marathon! I have still had some pain in my knee even without running, so I was a little worried. It was a short run though, and I didn't push the pace so my knee seemed to weather things just fine.
I've been trying to keep active by walking, going to some fitness classes with my coworkers, and practicing with a soccer team once a week. Since pretty much everything is closed on Sundays, doing outdoor things like walking, biking or running is about your only choice besides stay home. I don't have a scale, so I guess I'll know I need to cut back when my pants stop fitting!
Continuing my recent cooking kick, I made zucchini bread last night. It's from a recipe in Runner's World, and has wheat germ added.
It's good, but not as good as the banana bread I made earlier this month.
I really like this salad. It's a Weight Watchers recipe, and I've made it several times. It's a good way to use the mint I have growing in a pot outside.
POINTS® Value: 4
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 25 min
Cooking Time: 8 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin, or cumin seeds
- 1 pound lean leg of lamb, about 3 boneless lamb steaks cut 3/4- to 1-inch-thick each
- 1/2 cup mint leaves, fresh, cut into slivers
- 4 cup romaine lettuce, cut into shreds
- 1/2 large cucumber(s), English-variety, diced
- 1 medium tomato(es), diced
- 1/2 medium red onion(s), thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a small bowl, make dressing by combining yogurt, lemon juice,
garlic, salt and cumin. Pour 1/4 cup of dressing into a resealable food
storage bag for use as marinade; add lamb. Seal bag and turn to coat.
Cover remaining dressing. Refrigerate dressing and lamb at least 30
minutes or up to 8 hours.
- Preheat outdoor grill or broiler. If using broiler, line broiler
pan rack with foil for easy cleanup. Lift lamb from marinade and place
lamb on grill or broiler pan (discard marinade). Grill or broil lamb,
turning once for medium-rare, about 8 minutes, or longer until desired
doneness. Remove lamb to cutting board and thinly slice.
- Stir 1/4 cup of mint into refrigerated dressing. Place 1 cup of shredded lettuce on each of 4 plates; top each with a heaping 1/2 cup of lamb. Scatter each with 1/4 of remaining mint, cucumber, tomato and onion. Drizzle each serving with 2 1/2 tablespoons of dressing.
I had a good run on Saturday despite my healing contusion. It's looking especially good today now that a lot of the blood is settling to my ankle, which is disappearing. Even though I had some discomfort, it wasn't anything worse than the tight calf muscles I get sometimes, so I was able to do the 6 miles I had planned on in a nice evenly pace time of 1:02:47. The weather was good too. It had cooled down, but was still sunny.
Sunday was my birthday, and a good friend was in town from Wisconsin. She and I share the same birthday, so we went up to Saratoga Springs to walk around the town and have dinner at Hattie's. The food was great! I had red beans and rice with a piece of fried chicken. The biscuits and corn bread were delicious and the atmosphere was great. I will definitely be going back.
After dinner we stopped at the Ben & Jerry's cone shop for dessert. I got the 10th anniversary Phish Food, Surf and Turf Edition. It has chocolate fish and cows! So yummy.
