Comments (5)

By Liz, January 25, 2010 1:36 pm

Hey guys! Well, it’s been forever and a day since I last posted now hasn’t it?! I’m alive and well, though, so it’s all good. Hopefully you guys didn’t miss me too much.

Anywho, I have two pretty fun things to blog about today!

First up, is the absolutely amazing dinner I shared with Jacob for our 5 year anniversary.

We got all dolled up…

Sorry, but I have no idea how to turn the picture, so y’all have to tilt your head to the left to see how super amazing we looked.

After our prom-esque photo shoot, we headed out to my favorite restaurant of all time…Villa Creek.

Warning: The lighting at the restaurant was sooo low, so my food shots are pretty bad, but I will share nonetheless.

First course: Cheese plate.

There was a blue cheese, aged cheddar and goat cheese accompanied with almonds, pecans, walnuts, dried cranberries, sliced apples and shortbread. Too die for. We paired a Rhone White wine with this.

Second course: Spring mix salad topped with walnut encrusted goat cheese and tossed in a cilantro vinaigrette. I totally forgot to snap a pic though…the salad was inhaled before I knew it!

Entree: Oaxacan short ribs with creamy polenta and steamed kale leaves.

The meat was cooked to perfection. The meat fell right off the bone and it was pure heaven taking a bite of short rib covered in the polenta. I don’t use this word often, but this entree was seriously foodgasmic! The wine I paired with it was a Grenache. Really good!

We decided to skip dessert and get a cocktail at a local bar down the street. I sipped on my new fave cocktail, a Vodka Press. Very refreshing!

(source)

It was a wonderful meal and a wonderful night shared with one of my favorite people in the world.

Okay, so the second fun thing to mention is that I have a juicerand I made my first juice today!! Sooooo exciting, no?

So, I went to a family Christmas gathering a few weekends ago and my aunt had a juicer she didn’t want anymore and just gave it to me! I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!

However, it took me forever to use it! Well, two weeks later, I made juice. This morning blend was ginger, lemon, celery, carrot, beet, pear, orange juice. I kinda went wild!

So, I think it’s safe to say I’m obsessed with juicing now. Sadly, it is expensive to make only 2 cups of juice, so I will have to save juicing for occasionally, maybe once or twice a week.

I drank my yummy juice with 2 scrambled eggs, salsa and 1/4 of an avocado.

Well there ya have it folks! I promise I will try not to have such a long hiatus like that for a while.

Catch ya later, track practice awaits me!

Comments (5)

By Liz, January 6, 2010 10:25 pm

Hello hello!! So it’s been a little while since I’ve posted and checked in with y’all. Truthfully, I just have not felt like I’ve had anything worthwhile or meaningful to say. But low and behold, I eventually got some nice ideas running through by ol’ noggin. It’s funny how sometimes you just have loads of ideas and interesting thoughts, and then sometimes you’re just blank. Writing is an art for sure!

So, first off, I saw I got tagged by the lovely Jen from Eat Move Love for a “10 Things that Make Me Smile” thing. Thanks!! And it’s actually really convenient, because I was already thinking of doing a “Things I’m Loving Right Now” kinda post….soooo it worked out perfectly! Now let’s get to it….

1) I’m completely and utterly in love with the french press my absolutely amazing boyfriend got me for Christmas.

I wake up every morning now craving the robust flavor of my french pressed coffee with a little half and half with cinnamon. Heaven!!

2) Roasted brussel sprouts!!!!

I have never been a big brussel sprouts gal. I actually never have eaten them much at all. But oooooh lordie! These roasted brussel sprouts rocked my world! The salmon and quinoa that accompanied them was good, but those little mini cabbages were sooo the star of the show. What is it about roasting food tossed in olive oil and spices that makes it taste so good?? It must be magic.

3) Running always makes me smile . I just started track practice again this week and I have to say, it feels so good to be back with my teammates and have that energy that accompanies it again.

4) Averie’s Creamy “Cesar” Tahini dressing. Seriously guys, this stuff is good. Today, I was on the elliptical at the gym right before dinner time and I was just dreaming about a huge salad tossed with this dressing. So, what did I do? Ate a huge salad tossed in the tahini dressing…of course! And, just gotta say, I didn’t eat all that…I shared it with my roomies. Which brings me to number 5…

5) Roommates who can cook (and are nice enough to share)!

My roommate Justin made pizza tonight. The crust was perfect, nice and crispy on the outside and doughy on the inside. He topped his crust with tomato sauce, mozzarella, chicken, olives, onions and artichoke hearts. Oh, and he stuffed the crust with cheese. Can you say amazing? Well I can…A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! With this amazing pizza and my yummy salad, tonight’s dinner pretty much completely rocked.

6) Wine always makes me smile!

Especially when it’s wine as good as this one! I wine tasted with my friend Kailee today and we went to this winery called Lone Madrone. The whites were eh, but OMG, the reds were amazing. So amazing I had to buy my fave one I tried, which was their ‘o7 Barbera (and I don’t usually buy pricier wine). TO DIE FOR. Now, Dad…I’m sure you’re reading this, so I gotta say, you must go to Lone Madrone and taste this. You will love it! Promise! It’s right next to Hunt Cellars.

Well, even though I was supposed to say 10 things that make me smile, I’m just going to stop at 6, because these are the best 6 things that have recently made me smile.

It’s about that time now for me to hit the sack. I have a gnarly hill workout with the team tomorrow morning. My coach sure is working us hard to the first week back. It’s a love/hate thing…I love the accomplishment of a hard workout but gosh darn I hate it at the same time. I am looking forward to it nonetheless.

Adios amigos! Halfway there to the end of the first week of 2010! Crazy!

Comments (3)

By Liz, December 26, 2009 9:52 pm

Hey all!! First off, I need to send out a serious apology for the lack of posting for over a week. I can promise you guys though, that I have thoroughly been enjoying my first week out of school. This will be a picture filled post, as I have been up to some fun stuff, which of course involves food and activity!! What else?

First off…the sandwich I had at New Frontiers after Bikram last Friday.This was a turkey sandwich with cuke, spinach, red onion, artichoke hearts, provolone, red pepper aioli all sandwiched between rosemary focaccia bread. I am not lying when I say this was heaven in a sandwich. And, I had some fresh veggie/fruit juice called the Perfect Blend.Next up is the glorious and truly epic hike Jacob and I did on Tuesday. We ventured to my favorite place on earth, aka Montana de Oro, and hiked 9 miles. This hike took up across ocean bluffs, riparian forests, brush, up a huge mountain and down through meadows. It was a challenge, but oh so worth it. Here is the hike in pictures:

After the epic hike, I was quite famished. I brought a homemade Larabar, and apple, carrot and some chicken to munch on during the hike, but that food energy was long gone by the time I got home. Lucky me, one of my roommates made homemade chili. It was her first time making chili and it turned out absolutely fabulous. I assisted my making some whole-wheat corn muffins to go along. Yum!

Wednesday night, all us roomies plus Justin’s girlfriend got together for a roomie Christmas night. All of us were parting ways on actual Christmas so we celebrated early.I made hawaiian pizza for the entree and one of the roomies made a fabulous salad for the side dish. A fabulous way to start the Christmas-y evening.And I finally got the lighting right for the tree!! It looked so cute with all our little gifts underneath. We did a secret Santa gift exchange. I got one of the boys, who is a real gadget-y guy, so I bought him a mini maglite flashlight. He really really liked it! I received a bottle of Pinot Grigio wine by Robert Hall (I think?) winery. It was a roommate Christmas success!

Christmas Eve was spend doing last minute errands and a bit of relaxing. I also wrapped presents and make Christmas cookies for Jacob’s family. No interesting eats were eaten that day as it was an “eat up the leftovers” kinda day.

And now, to the main event…..DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNN….CHRISTMAS!!!!

Jacob and I began the day opening presents. I got him a new pair of running shoes (Pearl Izumi Synchropace III’s, to be exact). Jacob got me a FRENCH PRESS….plus coffee, a coffee grinder and some Bailey’s! It was a really thoughtful gift, as I have been wanting a French press for a while now. I will share pic of the new French press soon!

Next on the agenda for Christmas morning was a quick sweat sesh. My legs still weren’t completely recovered from the hike, so I opted for a bike ride around town. I biked about 11 miles in 1 hour. It wasn’t the most intense workout ever, but it was something.

After shower and such it was breakfast time!

I made sticky buns, completely from scratch thank you very much, along with bacon and eggs. And you can’t forget the coffee!! I was so excited to make some french pressed coffee!Starbucks Christmas Blend with Bailey’s Irish Cream. A heavenly concoction!

All together now…After breakfast, it was rush rush out the door to enjoy some quality time with Jacob’s family.

A little hunting was had, squirrel hunting to be exact.

After hunting it was back to Jacob’s sister’s house for more quality time. It was so wonderful. I love his family and am so happy to be a part of it!

Off to my parent’s house we went, to what is most defenilty the best meal I have had all year.A nitrate-free ham without any “liquid” enhancement (sodium or sugar water solution companies inject into most turkey, chicken and hams).

Gravy made with ham juices, mushrooms and Madeira wine.

Organic green beans steamed and topped with buttered almonds.

Red potatoes sauteed in olive oil and butter and tossed with fresh parsley.

My dad sure knows how to cook, and this meal did not disappoint.

Some vino was enjoyed throughout the night: 1 glass Bianchi Pinot Grigio, 2 glasses Bianchi Trevino and 1 small glass Bianchi Late Harvest Sauvingo Blanc with dessert. What was dessert you ask? Apple tart topped with fresh whipped cream. Ah-mazing!

I left this dinner thoroughly stuffed and super satisfied. Thanks Mom and Dad for the amazing dinner and a wonderful Christmas evening!

So, Christmas is now over and it is back to reality. However, yesterday was an amazing day that I will remember forever. I spent time with the people I love and enjoyed their presence throughly. I feel so blessed to have these people in my life!

I hope all of you, my few,yet dear blog readers enjoyed your Christmas (if you celebrate) also.

Much love!

-Liz

Comments (8)

By Liz, November 30, 2009 11:36 am

Whew! Where has the weekend gone guys?! I can’t believe it’s Monday already. With all the baking and stuff of Wednesday, Thanksgiving on Thursday and working all weekend…this holiday weekend has flown by! I’m looking forward to a week of getting back into the swing of things…plus a little homework. Heelllo research paper and a speech. Should be fun, huh…;)

So, Thanksgiving must be discussed. I went running in the morning and completed a 9 mile run in 1 hr and 19 minutes…which is quite faster than my usual long run pace and I hadn’t ran since last Saturday, so it was definitely a great run. Also, running made me nice and hungry for my dinners. I went to two dinners…can you say food coma?

This Thanksgiving dinner was at Jacob’s sister’s house. The good: my squash-couscous dish, turkey…the bad: Pillsbury crescent rolls (really bad, like trans fat bad), canned cranberry sauce (or should I say high fructose corn syrup sauce), mash potatoes and sweet potatoes with marshmallow (not that bad) and green bean casserole (no that bad either). Gosh darn, I love those crescent rolls, although I know they were completely unhealthy and contain ingredients I avoid…but c’est la vie. I also had two slices of my pumpkin cheesecake.

I really liked how this cheesecake turned out. I used the recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I followed it almost to a T but I used less sugar and used some reduced fat cream cheese…oh and more pumpkin, cause pumpkin rocks!

The above dinner was at my parent’s house. However, their friend from Colorado, Donna, visited and she cooked the meal. The good: all of it… Donna can cook! This dinner included steamed green beans with almonds sauteed in butter, free-range roasted turkey, wild rice with oysters, roasted onion and gravy. Some Bianchi Zin was savored with dinner. Loved it!

And… I had a slice of my kabocha pie with fresh whipped cream!

Accompanied by the Bianchi Late Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon. Yum!

The amazingly delish slice:

I love Thanksgiving not only for all the delicious food, but also for the family. I truly enjoyed spending time with all my loved ones and that is what made Thanksgiving such a wonderful day. I was also quite full, with two dinners and what not, so comfy sweats were very much appreciated by the end of the night. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Friday was “How Many Meals Can You Eat of Turkey” day.Although breakfast was a slice of ezekiel with peanut butter, which did not include turkey, for lunch I had a turkey filled salad with lettuce and carrot…and woodtock dressing of course!Plus some perfectly thawed strawberries. This was seriously the perfect light lunch after such a food filled day on Thanksgiving.

Friday afternoon was very fun! Jacob and I went to an afternoon Bikram yoga class. It felt amazing to stretch and focus and sweat! It also made my body feel a lot more rejuvenated and light after food overdose…I felt pretty much back to normal.

After Bikram, we stopped in my favorite health food store, New Frontiers and I tried my first fresh veggie/fruit juice! It was called the Perfect Blend and had beets, carrot, apple, celery, ginger, and lemon in it. Soooo amazing!! It made me want to get a juicer even more. Also, I can now understand why Alison is big on the juice! I had a little something solid on the way home. too…which was a banana with almond butter. However, driving and picture taking are not conducive with each other, so no picture.

Dinner was turkey meal number two…

This meal included a wing, steamed veggies, my homemade cranberry sauce, leftover couscous, and some chocolate for good measure. Very satisfying.

Saturday was a whirlwind of work and the night was a whirlwind of tiredness…I think the past few days festivities really caught up with me and I called it a night quite early. However, the dinner I made was delish…and incorporated turkey!

I made a grilled cheese stuffed with turkey and steamed veggies on the side. However, I have a secret to amazing grilled cheese with more flavor…Worcestershire sauce! Actually, this is a trick my parents would use whenever they made grilled cheese. It adds so much more flavor and a little kick to an otherwise blah grilled sammie.

Oh, and I might have baked a batch of perfectly fudgy walnut brownies.I totally demolished two of those bad boys. Heaven!

Okay, we’re almost all caught up...Sunday was not too special. I worked and met up with a group of people in my English class in the evening to work on a presentation due next week. The highlight of the evening was getting drinks with a friend afterwards. It made studying much more worthwhile

Oh, on a side note, yesterday I was taking pics of my lunch (which was a turkey leg and couscous). However, I realized that there was just no way to make my drumstick look appetizing, actually it looked pretty gross. This side note really had no point, I just thought it was funny how the leg looked icky.

Anywho, we are here at Monday now…oh glorious Monday! Is everyone getting back in the swing of things alright?

I started my day off with, what may be, the best biscuits I ever made.These fluffy whole wheat biscuits look straight out of a restaurant. I think the whole tablespoon of baking powder may have been responsible for that! They tasted amazing, too.I topped mine with butter, pumpkin butter and cranberry apple butter. Two perfectly seasoned (salt and pepper) eggs accompanied my biscuits. What a way to start a Monday folks!

Well, I believe a run is in order today. I’ll be doing that right after work. And, mucho homework awaits me, too.

Some random ramblings: Now that the cross country season is over my training is going to be a bit more sporadic. I was thinking of either making a serious plan for myself, or just having fun with it. Well, fun took over and I have decided to just do workouts that sound fun to me in the moment. If that means yoga, then yoga it is. Or maybe I really want to pump some iron. Or maybe a good ol’ 5 miler is what the doctor ordered. I just going to play it by ear for the next few weeks until I have to get serious with my training again. However, my rest week is over (even though I only took 4 full days of rest, but eh) and I will be working out regularly, as in 6 days a week, like normal. On another note, I have to admit, my eating habits have been going a bit off the healthy path. I’ve been eating a few too many sweets, drinking a few to many drinks, eating whole plates of pizza and not getting enough veggies. I don’t think I’ve gained weight, but I don’t feel that great inside or out. Pretty much what I’m saying is that I am human, and I’m going through patch here where I’m not practicing what I preach. I’m not going to all of a sudden restrict myself, or diet or anything. I’m going to let this run it’s course but make sure I have healthy options available.  *end ramble*

Have a great Monday y’all!

Comments (3)

By Liz, November 24, 2009 8:53 pm

Haha, that’s probably what you are all thinking bout now! I am really sorry for completely dropping off the face of blog Earth. The weekend was kinda crazy and hectic and the weekend craziness ran into Monday. But here I am all ready to give y’all the full recap!

So let’s get down to business…STATE!!

First, the stats: I ran the 5k in 21:34 which is my best time all season. I sure went out with a bang! My team got 8th out of 32 teams competing. I was personally 155th out of 200 runners. So, I was kinda back in the pack but whatever. I mean, at least I was at State! Although I ran a great race for my last XC race at my school, I still feel like I could have done better. If y’all remember my race at Mt. Sac two weeks ago, I mentioned that I really dug and pushed my pain threshold. This race, I didn’t work as hard as I could have. It was hard and painful, sure, but it wasn’t as intense as it should have been. I credit all that to the fact I wasn’t sure what I was racing for. The past few races have had a lot of meaning to them. At WSC regionals, I was running to be at least the 7th girl on the team so I could go on to So Cals. At So Cals, it was all about going on to State. And then I was at State and I wasn’t really sure what my motive was for running the race of my life. It’s kinda like when you complete a goal, such as losing weight, and then you reach that goal and you don’t really know what to do with yourself. So, long story long , I just didn’t get my head in the game until about halfway through the race. Eh, I still set a PR so I can’t complain. Also, my aunt and uncle, grandma, mom and dad and Jacob all came to watch me run, so that was very special.

Some pictures of all the fun:

All the gals dressed up for dinner on Friday night. Aren’t we so perty!

Cougars cougars are the best! C-O-U-G-A-R-S…Goooooo Cuesta!!!

Just workin my butt of going up a hill

Me and my Grandma after the race.

I am actually really happy that the season is over. It was a ton of fun, I’ve made some amazing friends and I’ve gotten faster and faster as the season progressed. However, I am happy that for this whole week I am not supposed to run or do much of anything active. I am also looking forward to the short off-season I will be getting to focus on more strength building, yoga and other fun activities I do not get to enjoy as much when my focus is just running.

So, that was Saturday. There was a drive home, relaxing and such, dinner and a bit o partying included in the rest of the day and night. I do want to highlight the dinner I made Saturday night which was fab-u-lous!

I made a stuffed kabocha squash dish. I baked the kacocha at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. While the squash was baking, I cooked some quinoa (1 c. dry). After the quinoa was done I mixed in a chopped apple, dried cranberries and grated zuchinni(1 med sized). I seasoned it with cinnamon, nutmeg and about a tsp of maple syrup. I let this cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the kabocha squash was all baked and tender, I added chopped walnuts to the quinoa mixture, then stuff each kabocha half with the quinoa. I sprinkled more cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup on top and put the stuffed kabocha back in the oven for 5 min. I served it with green beans on the side. Super super yummy!! It was a sweeter dinner, but not overly sweet…I went light on the syrup. This dinner was also very satisfying. I recommend it for when you’re in a fall mood. While this was baking it filled the kitchen with fall-y smells. It made me happy.

Let’s see…what’d I do Sunday? Well, I worked…but then I saw New Moon. I’m just gonna say off the bat that I have not read the books (but I am going to). Also, I didn’t really like the first movie much. New Moon wasn’t half bad though. The acting was a wee bit better. The action scenes were cool. Jacob and Edward were hot (Jacob being a tad hotter ). However, there were some scenes that were waaaaayover acted and just too dramatic. The highlight of the movie though was the scene with Thom Yorke’s (from Radiohead) song “Hearing Damage.” Really cool song and cool scene.

Yesterday was pretty darn great. Another great Monday in the books. It’s funny, because last Monday was really good, too. Funny, eh?

I did the usual stuff…like working, yada yada…but the afternoon and evening were special. As you all very well know, it’s Thanksgiving in the US this Thursday. Since all the roomies and I are parting ways on Thursday to spend time with our families and stuff, we decided to do a roommate Thanksgiving last night. We did the whole shebang…turkey, green bean casserole, mashed taters, rolls, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce and stuffing. Yum-o!

I filled my plate with all the goodies. I almost finished it all too…ate about 3/4. Jacob did the turkey…which was pretty darn amazing for his first turkey ever. Kudos Jacob! I made the cranberry sauce using Jenna’s super simple recipe. It was waaay better than canned….I loved the chunks and tartness of the scratch version. My other contribution was pumpkin pie.

I was such as goof and almost forgot to take a picture until I ate half!! Silly me :p Not to toot my own horn or anything, but my pie turned out really good. I used the regular Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe for the filling. However, I cut the sugar down a bit (by about a 1/4 cup) and I added more spice than called for. I love my pumpkin pie spicy! For the crust I just coarsly ground 1 1/2 c. pecans in the food processor and mixed the nuts with 2 tbsp melted butter and 2 tbsp sugar. I pressed the but mixture in the bottom and sides of a 9″ pie plate and baked it for 15 minutes before filling it with the pumpkin mixture. Justin (my roommate) made real whipped cream to go on top. Sooo good! I also got a special treat to go along with the pie.

The Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Bianchi. I really liked it. I thought it was great along side the pie, and even good by itself. It was definitely sweet, almost too sweet at first sip. However, this was one of those wines that as you keep sipping it just gets better and better and you notice new flavors with every taste. Unfortunately, I don’t think my roommates liked it that much. I liked it though and would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Whew…today was not nearly as exciting as the last few have been. I had school…which almost no one was at by the way due to the holiday. I went hiking with a couple girls on the team after lunch, which was fun. It was the first “workout” I’ve done since State and it felt good to get the legs moving. Our hilly hike lasted about 2 hours. I love doing exercise with friends because the time just flys! I had a great time.

Nothing much else going on here now. Just some vegging out in front of the tv and hanging out with the boy (aka Jacob). Have a great night and I promise I won’t be m.i.a. tomorrow! Adios!