Really soft squash killed the blind pull

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My 5k race bib arrived!!!

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Left sunshine in SLO county this afternoon & ended up with rain bad enough to create 2 auto freeway accidents!

movie.mov Watch on Posterous

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Ippuku: Accidental Date Night

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It all started with empty bellies.

Le boyfriend and I were very hungry after a long day at work, so we decided not to go home before we had food. I was driving, he was using Yelp. We agreed that we hadn't had sushi in a while - and thus, Ippuku presented itself to us.

New place, no clue what's in store, highly spontaneous. Turns out... we went on a date by accident!

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We ordered hot green tea and started with a fresh salad. Vinegared daikon and carrots with pomelo. The acid in the pomelo went so perfectly with the sour daikon taste!

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We also ordered (simultaneously) bacon-wrapped asparagus. You heard me! Bacon! It was sliced so thin that the asparagus was crunchy enough, but you had this awesome smoky bacon aroma as well. Heaven.

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We had a little break and ordered two more dishes. Drank some tea while we were waiting & watched the chef at the grill work his magic. Whatever wood they use is amazing - it smelled so good!

These were little potatoes with some "mayo". Slightly sweet taste of the potato mixed so well with what came at the same time....

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Grilled pork belly! If we didn't get enough salty smoky flavor from the bacon in the previous dish, we got a WHOLE lot of it with this one. Pork belly is very fatty, so you've got ALL sorts of flavor going on here. Salty, smoky, meaty. And on top of that, they served it with a miso-based sauce with chili paste and some sort of nut in it. Brought out all sorts of tangy goodness in the meat - which was just the right side of chewy.

[[posterous-content:Aokfhsnjdvzxscmnsgjj]]To top of it all off, black sesame sundae with mochi and dark bean paste (read: chocolate)! The sesame flavor slams into you, it's as if they drizzled hot sesame oil on this thing. But of course, they didn't. It's just inherently bad-ass. I could barely keep my spoon (aren't they adorable BTW) away from the bean paste, mixing it with the sesame soft serve, and making sure I had some crunch from the topping.

Best date meal ever. And most things come in twos, so you're set for a comfy, delicious night of palatable date-ness. Enjoy.

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Training for a 5k!

Yep! I'm in training again. March 26th is the Carneros Vineyard 5k & I'm trying very hard to stay in training!

But we will see how long the training lasts... I haven't signed up yet. I'm still thinking about it.

I'm very proud of my very first workout though! Twenty minutes of walking&running through Golden Gate Park! Went 1.1 miles and listened to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs & Radiohead. Yay me!

It was a bit cold, so I started out by running. Didn't get very far though and slowed down to walk. I noticed that my pace was better when I was walking, not running. Probably because when I burn out and stop running, I slow too far down. Oops.

I got home and rewarded myself with homemade veggie curry! And a private viewing of My Big Fat Greek Wedding!

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Turkey, avo, chard & green tea w honey!

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Tanqueray tonic & some deep breaths!

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Hiking Poles!

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From the American Hiking Society!

Great timing too, gearing up for a hike at Sugarloaf this weekend & Montana del Oro next weekend!

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Hike #3

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Download now or watch on posterous

p95.mov (19518 KB)

Cull Canyon in Castro Valley was our hiking location for Dec 11, but with all the rain this week, it was too washed out. We changed hike locations to Muir Beach/Dias Ridge.

Beautiful fog. Soft mud. Lovely people.

Uphill at first, for a while, and me without my poles! I ordered a set from American Hiking Society for $60, hopefully they'll make it to me before the next hike! But so proud of myself for making it up to the top of the ridge!

This hike I mainly stuck with Joy!

Such a joyful and humorous lady, who might be my new carpool! Talking led to all sorts of topics: wicking undies, acupuncture, sesame snacks. It was a nice loop trail, in which we crossed Highway 1 twice. Full of other hikers and runners with doggies. One couple (wearing Cal sweaters!) had a Rhodesian Ridgeback! Totally reminded me of a friend of the family who had two Ridgebacks, who were the awesomest dogs!

Coming down from the nearly 1,000 feet of elevation was fun, especially since the fog was breaking up just enough to see the beach. Back where we started! The end in sight!

Lots of banana slugs along the trail, as you can see in the attached video. And lots of running water, puddles, mud. But not the mud that sticks to your boots, thank goodness!

Cherry cordial M&M's once we were back at the parking lot. I'm ready for next week! Rock on!

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Hike #3

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Click here to download:

p95.mov (19518 KB)

Cull Canyon in Castro Valley was our hiking location for Dec 11, but with all the rain this week, it was too washed out. We changed hike locations to Muir Beach/Dias Ridge.

Beautiful fog. Soft mud. Lovely people.

Uphill at first, for a while, and me without my poles! I ordered a set from American Hiking Society for $60, hopefully they'll make it to me before the next hike! But so proud of myself for making it up to the top of the ridge!

This hike I mainly stuck with Joy!

Such a joyful and humorous lady, who might be my new carpool! Talking led to all sorts of topics: wicking undies, acupuncture, sesame snacks. It was a nice loop trail, in which we crossed Highway 1 twice. Full of other hikers and runners with doggies. One couple (wearing Cal sweaters!) had a Rhodesian Ridgeback! Totally reminded me of a friend of the family who had two Ridgebacks, who were the awesomest dogs!

Coming down from the nearly 1,000 feet of elevation was fun, especially since the fog was breaking up just enough to see the beach. Back where we started! The end in sight!

Lots of banana slugs along the trail, as you can see in the attached video. And lots of running water, puddles, mud. But not the mud that sticks to your boots, thank goodness!

Cherry cordial M&M's once we were back at the parking lot. I'm ready for next week! Rock on!

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Hike #2

This was the view from the top...

Hiking from Fort Baker, underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on the Marin side, all the way to this zenith, was really not what I wanted to be doing on 9am Saturday. But I did it.

It started at 8am with the TNT group gathering to go over milestones (our team is nearly at $50,000 of fundraising!) and hear from an honoree. This hike Kurt Zimmerman talked. He didn't talk about how cancer has changed him personally. He talked about how cancer has changed his family. As soon as his daughter found out about his cancer, she signed up for a Team In Training marathon. And the whole family got behind her, and Kurt, in an effort to find a cure. In some ways, Kurt says "My cancer has really strengthened and helped my family grow." And he also says that when we're up there, struggling to reach the peak, with knees that hurt and thighs that burn, we're struggling beside him. We're in the fight just as much as he is.

Couldn't have said it better.

Uphill sucks. No doubt about it. But once you're up there (with some help from trekking poles!), your body goes into autopilot. Suddenly, you're not thinking about how your legs feel, you're simply putting one foot in front of the other. You're commenting on how beautiful the trees sound when the leaves get hit with raindrops.

Amelia was a joy to hike with - new friend FTW! - and she let me use her poles almost the entire hike. Then she told me about the American HIking Society and how they have poles for just $60! That's my next purchase. Boots, check. Fleece, check. Poles - time to go shopping!

Doesn't she look cute in her blue rainjacket!

Hike #3 is Saturday the 11th, in Cull Canyon (Castro Valley) - and then on the 12th I'm hosting a Bake Sale! So, hopefully some great fundraising news will come from that!

Time to get baking...

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Thanksgiving 2010

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Thanksgiving 2010

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Thanksgiving 2010

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Fr-fr-fridge Changes!

Re-evaluated fridge space = important & perishable stuff on top shelf. If it's visible, I'll eat it first. #food

I Tweeted this today. I've gradually seen that I react more positively to beautiful things. This is not rocket science, all humans like to look at beautiful things. So, why wasn't my fridge a beautiful thing? Why wasn't I happy cooking in my kitchen?

It wasn't pretty. The food itself doesn't have anything to do with it - I like cooking and eating it. I just wasn't doing a lot of it in my tiny kitchen.

I love buying food. Because the food is displayed really nicely. You can see the food really well, it's well-lit, it smells good, it's a variety of colors. It's stimulating! My fridge and cabinets? Not so much. The dark brown color of my cabinets makes me feel like I'm reaching into the darkest abyss when I'm reaching for the honey. And the shelves of my fridge started looking barer and barer. But they weren't, and I would forget the boutinful veggies I had bought earlier that week, letting them perish.

Now, I'm not only not eating the beautifully nutritious food, but I'm throwing away money! That made me take more notice - I live in a consumer society based on capitalism and as an American, I hate throwing away money!

So if you see the link to my photo above, you'll see my fridge looks a little different than previous (not that you might have seen my fridge previously). I'm not even using my drawer! Why would my drawer come in handy keeping veggies more fresh, if I forget about them after a few days and then I end up in Berkeley at my boyfriend's place for a couple of nights, only to come back to a fridge full of perished goods?

It's a small and inevitable change that just stepped me that much closer to a more healthy lifestyle and a veggie-filled, home-cooked diet. And I'm happy about it.

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Bacon Pretzels?! FTW!

Find the recipe here: http://mooflyfood.com/bacon-pretzels/

I must make this recipe and eat it with abandon... Photos and insights to come post-East Coast vacation!

 

On another note, here are some fun things on bacon:

http://bacontoday.com/

http://www.moerbacon.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon

http://www.iheartbacon.com/

http://www.baconfreak.com/

 

 

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Tuesday's Dinner

 

Two fried eggs. Carrot + green beans + red onion. Spiced up with some salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, cilantro. Yum.

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Making Spaetzle

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Farro Salad w Peas, Asparagus & Feta

1.5 cups semi-pearled farro -- 12 oz. asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1.5-inch lengths -- 1 8-oz. package sugar snap peas -- 12 oz. grape tomatoes, halved -- .5 cup chopped red onion -- 6 tbsp. chopped fresh dill -- .5 cup olive oil -- .25 cup Sherry wine vinegar -- 1 7-oz. package feta cheese, crumbled

Cook farro in large pan, boiling salted water. Until tender = 10 mins. Transfer to large bowl.

Cook asparagus ans sugar snap peas in another pan, boiling salted water. Until crispy tender = 3 mins. Add to farro with tomatoes, onions, dill.

Whisk oil and vinegar in small bowl. Add dressing and feta to salad. Toss and serve.

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Self-made Hashi holders @ Miyozen in Emeryville

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