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The Ten Best Things I Ate in 2012

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As I reflect over the past year, important things start playing through my mind like a slideshow.  You know; important things like all the delicious things I’ve eaten throughout the last 12 months. Of course, it’s hard to narrow it down to just a dozen delights and I know I’m probably forgetting to give many dishes their due credit.  But, here is my list for “The 10 Best Things I Ate in 2012,” a random compilation of both to-die-for restaurant dishes and out-of-this-world recipes. You can tell by the list that I don’t get out to the fanciest places, but I do like to eat at unique and off-the-beaten path places when I can. Some of the foods are healthy and some not so much, but every mention is a winner in taste!

78704 Burger from Phil’s Ice House in Austin has become a go-to lunch after a long run. This bad boy is topped with Monterey Jack cheese, jalapeños, grilled onions, sliced avocado, and chipotle mayo on a toasted jalapeño cheese bun. Although served with sweet potato fries, I’m usually too stuffed to finish them off. The bun is seriously so tasty that my dad tried to recreate them at home, check out the recipe for Jalapeno Cheese Hamburger Buns.

Brown Sugar Bacon Appetizers made by my friend Angie for our book club Christmas party rank way up on the list for tasty tidbits sampled in 2012.  Credits go to the The Pioneer Woman who brought this popular 70s-era hors d’ouevres back to the buffet spreads everywhere this holiday season.   Basically, it’s a club cracker topped with brown sugar, wrapped in bacon, and baked into a little bubbling popper of pleasure.

via The Pioneer Woman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tai-Pan Salmon Salad from Zen Japanese Food in Austin is a delicious, quick and healthy lunch featuring grilled salmon atop a bed of salad greens, roasted corn & avocado pico, carrot, peanuts, red bell pepper, cranberries, shaved parmesan cheese, sesame seeds and sriracha with peanut dressing.  I hadn’t been to this place in like 10 years and my taste buds are so happy I decided to drop back in during 2012.

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Fig and Onion Confit prepared by Richard Chamberlain of Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House at a party in his lovely Dallas home. My favorite cut of lean beef tasted so much more delicious when prepared by a renowned chef and not me!

The recipe for Chocolate Truffle Pie by the Dean brothers (Paula’s boys) will make any chocoholic feel light-headed. In a twisted sort of way you can even call a slice of this chocolate pie “clean eating;” I made it for a couple of birthdays in the family and every plate was licked clean.  If you can’t splurge for a celebration, then when can you?

The Greek Salad from Doyle’s Café in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  Most people come to this venerable Irish Bar, famous for first serving Samuel Adams on tap, to take in the ambiance and snarf down pizza and beer (duh), I found the humungous, sized-to-share Greek salad to be one of the yummiest I’ve had in a long time.

Grilled Fish Tacos from Pier 23 Café in San Francisco. This casual place sits right out on the bay where I had a front-row view of the Pacific as I munched down on a pair of super fresh fish tacos loaded with tomato salsa and guacamole.  While I had my heart set on the Dungeness crab which wasn’t in season, these tasty tacos took my mind off the disappointment quite well. So good, in fact, I had to keep swatting away my husband’s fingers on my plate.

The Calamari Forno Panini with Lemon Aioli from Enoteca Vespaio in Austin is totally worth the splurge. Split this sandwich with a friend and order one of their delicious Italian-inspired salads, then you don’t have to feel so bad.  But right now, I’m having stress because I no longer see it on their lunch menu . . . . oh noooooooo!

The Apple Pork Sandwich from Food Heads in Austin near the UT campus makes for a fast, filling and fairly well-rounded lunch. Whatcha get is grilled pork tenderloin on toasted bolillo with smoked Gouda cheese, fresh spinach, spicy apple & tomato pico and honey Dijon aioli.  All served in a quaint and quirky house that is so NOT a Subway franchise.

The Pumpkin Protein Donuts recipe I created (hate to brag, but I will) is one of the best things I found for breakfast this year. I make a bunch of these mini baked pumpkin protein doughnuts at once and then stash them away in the freezer. On hectic school mornings, the kids and I can pop them out, heat up in the microwave and then head off to the day’s chaos fueled with a better-balanced start than something just carbohydrate laden.

 

My Favorite Running & Fitness Goodies Giveaway

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Just because the holidays are pretty much over doesn’t mean gift-giving has to come to an end.  I want to jump-start all your New Year fitness resolutions with a care package of some of my favorite things.  Whether you are planning to run your first 5k in 2013 or complete your 100th marathon, these little goodies will help you get to the finish line just a little easier.  It’s my New Year gift to one of you!   Enter below on the Rafflecopter form to win this assortment of sporty stuff.

  • Save Our Soles Performance Socks for the Enlightened Athlete: Size Medium branded with Competitor 25th Anniversary logo.  You can never have too many socks, especially SOS socks.
  •  Sun-Rype 100% All Natural Fruit Strips: A delicious and nutritious product made in Canada but found in the fresh produce section of your local grocery. Contains no preservatives, artificial colors, and is gluten-free and nut-free.  You get one dozen fruit strips in Strawberry.
  •  FuelBelt – Super-Stretch Waist Pack in Blue ready to hold your race-day necessities like a phone, keys, nutrition gels and girl stuff.
  •  Slacklaces – “The Flexible Shoe Lace” in Pink are an inventive way to tie up your sneakers.  Don’t just lace them up old-school though; check out my old post on special techniques to lace shoes that alleviates problems like heel slip, smushed big toes, and such.
  •  Nuun Active Hydration Tablets – Enjoy one tube of 12 tablets in the Tropical flavor. If you haven’t used Nuun before, you’ll love it.  Drop one tab into a bottle of water and it fizzes up without stirring to provide you an on-the-go electrolyte drink without any sugar.
  •  Sports Legs:  Supplements to reduce lactic acid build-up and minimize post-race soreness (5-tablet supply which is enough for one marathon). I have used these a few times with some success, definitely less sore the next day.  The company told me they would make my legs feel 15 years younger, now if only the rest of my body follow suit.
  •  Chia Surge Endurance Gel – Pinapple-Orange Flavor and Raspberry Flavor from Vitalyte Sports Nutrition.  You can find these gels retail at REI Outdoor.
  •  Handana: It might not be hot now, but come summer, you’re going to appreciate wiping your brow with this stylish and easy-to-wear high-performance sports band.  Made right here in Austin, Texas!
  • Jamba Juice: Run your errands or workout in this understated but oh-so-fashionable Jamba Juice cap and then treat your healthy self to a smoothie with the 3 one-dollar gift cards. It’s no secret that my favorite flavor is Razzamatazz® with a whey protein boost.

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How Did I Flippin’ Get Talked Into a CrossFit Gymnastics WOD!

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Yesterday I got schooled on sideshow tricks and such at a CrossFit Gymastics Seminar hosted at Fit and Fearless CrossFit in Austin.  Teaching us mere mortals these super-human skills was the intrepid and, might I add, impressively-strong-but-not-hulkishly-muscular, Matthew Willis from Texas Parkour.  Apparently he knows his stuff, even trained with the super agile Carl Paoli of Gymnastics WOD. I noticed that Matthew has this quote on his Facebook page, it’s a good one to keep in mind when you’re 45 like me and trying gymnastics again after 30 years —

“It’s not how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up that really matters.”

After warming up, our first challenge of the day was Diving Monkey Push Up (aka Parkour Pushup).  Seriously, when I heard the name, I wasn’t so sure this was for me and honestly, for my scrappy arms, it was one of the hardest moves of the day – my triceps were already killing me going into it.  The move is like a kipping push up and is supposed to be performed in a fluid manner, to the chopping start and stopping I found myself doing.  I’ll have to practice this all month until I have it down, but check out Valerie and Matthew working the progression:

Next, we took a little crash reminder course in the importance of keeping a Hollow Body position for many of the upcoming tricks. You have to master this “core” concept before you can move onto many of the more complex skills like kipping pull-ups and muscle-ups.  Watch how the demonstrator in the video below gets proper form by tucking head up slightly, rounding back so shoulder blades are off the ground, abs and glutes are engaged tightly, and legs are squeezed together all the way together down to the toes – now rock it!

 

We took this hollow body skill off the floor and practiced it on the bar in preparation for kipping pull-ups. Since I’ve already got this pull up skill down for the most part, I did appreciate the tips on releasing grip and re-catching grip on the upswing. Watch below I’m hanging on to my last few kipping pull-ups on quivering arms after a long morning of hard work. Video is sideways and I can’t figure out how to flip it, go figure.

On to handstands, my main takeaway was to remember to keep my hands pointed forward for better balance and to engage shoulders and core as much as possible.  Also, we practiced a front roll out as a graceful way to get out of the handstand pose if we kicked over too much.  Maybe not so graceful for me; I used to be able to flip around, walk on my hands, and all sorts of stuff – now I’m just freaked out about hurting my neck and back. But, I’m not saying I can’t do it; that would mean a 10 burpee punishment!

Finally, we showed off with our favorite tricks like one-armed handstands (holla), walking on hands, kipping handstand push-ups and more. The only thing we didn’t get to practice was a skill I’ve been trying to master for six months – the muscle up.

Jennifer and Linda rocking out the one-armed handstand!

Sparkle for Fun, Sparkle for Fast! Win a Sparkle Skirt for Running

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Confession: Before this summer, I would have bet you my last fun-sized bag of M&Ms that I would never be caught dead in a tutu, sequined skirt, or some other such nonsense.  But then it happened.  When out running the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon this summer, the peer-pressure got to this one-woman wolf pack and I put on a sparkle skirt just to get a van full of giddy, girly-girls off my back. But let me tell you, a few strides into my run, I felt completely altered, like a different runner altogether . . . I was off my game, but in a good way!

With each rebound from the asphalt, my sparkle skirt gave a sassy little sway, as if to say “you don’t have to take this so seriously.”   I listened to my heart even more as the sun’s glint off the sequins created a flattering, soft-halo effect around my body. In this warm, fuzzy state, my heart was telling me that I am allowed to run just for fun, I don’t have to be that super-racer girl that I seem to so sadistically project onto myself.  I did run for fun, and it was wonderful.

Fast forward a couple months to a local 5k that called for a superhero costume. Everyone and their dog (literally) would be in a costume, except for a dozen or so hard-core runners up front vying for the win. Well, I dusted off that sparkle skirt and gave it another chance to make me feel good. This time the mission was to run for fun AND to win – could it be done?  Sure, it’s one thing to pass a few guys wearing the sparkle skirt (awesome), but to flat out cross the finish line as the first woman in a sparkle skirt, that’s an entirely different kind of cool.

I slipped into the light-as-a-feather sparkle skirt and threw a cape over my shoulders – when the gun went off, I hauled my bedazzled buns faster than a buttered bullet and DID break through that winner’s ribbon. Was I thinking about rainbows and unicorns while I ran? No.  Honestly, the race hurt like heck, but sometimes running does that. Now my new mindset exclaims, “why not hurt in a cute sparkle skirt?” Blood, sweat and sparkles, it’s the best of both worlds.

I’d love for one of you guys to have your very own sparkle skirt and wear it for whatever crazy reasons you desire. The fun and feisty ladies at Team-Sparkle.com have generously offered to let me give a sparkle skirt away in the color of the winner’s choice.  Check out their website, not only do they have sparkle skirts but lots of other fun stuff including racing wings, sparkle sleeves, visors, and more!  To enter, fill out the rafflecopter information below by Monday, November 26th.

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A Tasty Giveaway Today – Sun-Rype 100% All-Natural Fruit Snacks

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This year I have been representing 100-percent fruity goodness on ambassador Team Sun-Rype, a group of 100 endurance athletes across the country sponsored by the brand Sun-Rype. As we run our races, ride our bikes, and suffer through our workouts, the team has been able to fuel and recover with the company’s line of delicious and completely natural products. As I’ve sampled my way through bushels of the stuff, I have to exclaim, one of my favorite products is the 100% All-Natural Fruit Strip.

Every single ingredient used in the Sun-Rype lineup of 100-percent fruit and veggie snacks, including the 100% All-Natural Fruit Strips, is of the highest quality containing only naturally occurring sugars and absolutely no artificial colors, fake flavors or preservatives. The sweetness of these wholesome products comes straight from fruit and vegetable juice concentrates and purees. Plus, with no artificial stuff or funky preservatives, you can feel confident that you’re giving your body the very best – putting premium gas in the tank, so to speak! Also, no nut or gluten ingredients if that’s an issue in your diet.

Me and Sun-Rype at Boston Marathon

I started replacing my gels, goos and gummies with the 100% All-Natural Fruit Stripsthis year for a couple reasons. First, obviously, the performance benefits of taking in 12 grams of fruit-based carbohydrates while on a long run. But, I found other reasons to love the stuff.  The individually wrapped ½ ounce bars are thin enough to stash in the fuel pocket of my running shorts. Helpful hint, I cut the bars in half so they fit in perfectly and I don’t have to fumble with opening the wrapper in the middle of a race.  Also, since these are “strips,” I can hang onto my fuel while I eat it rather than trying to clumsily squeeze it out into my mouth (like a goo product) or dropping little pieces all over the ground (like a gummie product).  Oh, and did I mention that the strips taste fantastic and my kids go crazy for them too?   It’s so hard to decide on my favorite flavor between Wildberry, Strawberry and Strawberry-Banana – I definitely recommend all!

Sample Nutrition Info

So, I’d love to treat one of my readers to a mixed case of 100% All-Natural Fruit Strip in Wildberry, Strawberry and Strawberry-Banana flavors. The case has 98 fruit strips in all, enough to share with your running buddies and /or family.

It’s easy to enter, see below:

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