Father’s Day; Let’s Talk Beer

Date: June 19, 2017

Author: astottler

Father’s Day weekend seems like a pretty appropriate time to discuss beer, right?

Friday night, we pulled out one of our big cans of passionfruit beer from Hawaii to share.

They were from March but still pretty good!

Saturday morning I had work, so I did a little full day of eating for you all!

Breakfast:

A chocolate banana smoothie with frozen banana, milk, cocoa, and Quest chocolate protein plus sunbutter of GF cinnamon raisin toast.

Lunch:

I have this lunch so frequently. Salad with nectarine, grilled chicken, and goat cheese, and a side of GF cheddar crackers.

Snack:

Dinner:

My parents met me with Chloe for an outdoor dinner downtown by work.

I started off with a Budweiser.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually had Budweiser outside of St. Louis. I actually liked it there!

…but I don’t think the Budweiser you get there is the same as you get here. This was way more watery. Definitely not as good. Upon analysis, this wasn’t even close to the same color. The beer in STL is much more amber:

Yeah. What the heck?

….and back to the food.

We got roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potato fries for the table.

For my meal, I had a beet and goat cheese salad with TRUFFLE honey. OMG <3

We stopped for froyo after. Chocolate+bananas flambé.

A little bit later in the night, I grabbed a dulce de leche cupcake with chocolate frosting from the freezer. The freezer went through some freezing/thawing issues so my cow looked a little bit sadder!

NOW, for Father’s Day!

We started out with a run for me and a walk for pups by the bay before it got hot. Spoiler alert: it got HOT later. It was over 100 at my house, which almost never happens!

For our main Father’s Day event, we all went to Dan Gordon’s, the restaurant associated with Gordon Biersch. Fun fact: my dad actually coached Dan Gordon’s daughter many years ago!

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I had never actually had Gordon Biersch beer before! We decided to get a flight to try a few different things.

I ended up deciding on the Hefeweizen. It was really interesting; it had more complex flavors (fruity?) than most wheat beers.

Naturally, we got the famous Gordon Biersch garlic fries to start (found at AT&T park!).

And roasted brussels sprouts. (SO good.)

For my meal, I went in the brunch direction and got a goat cheese and portabello scramble, although I have to admit, I didn’t make a dent in it after garlic fries!

After lunch, we braved the 100+ temperatures to walk to a nearby diner for ice cream. I had to rally my dessert stomach hard, but the peppermint fudge could not be passed up.

When we got home, we let Chloe out of her crate (inside, in the AC), and apparently the house was so well conditioned that she went out into 100+ degrees and plopped down flat in the sun (she looked up when I took the pic.)

….dogs.

Sunday afternoon’s task was bottling my home brewed beer! That called for a mini toast.

I think the bottling went well! The beer isn’t fizzy yet, but I tasted what we had so far and it was pretty good! Now we wait two weeks, and then it will be time to test out the final product! Again, I’ll do a full recap on the process at that time.

And that was Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day to my wonderful father (who will definitely read this <3 ); I wouldn’t be where I am today without you!

Feeling Blah

Date: June 21, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guys. Vet school apps. AUGH.

That’s about where I am right now.

I also feel like I’m in such a rut.

I have massive sleep debt from the end of school, plus eating different things on a different schedule has me feeling really BLAH. It’s honestly hard for me to function as a human being when I’m not eating normally. I feel like I have had no motivation to do anything lately. Including blogging.

I do, however, have some food to share, so let’s jump to that, shall we?

This was actually the best simple lunch. I had leftover chicken with ketchup (because ketchup is bomb), GF avocado toast, and super delicious sautéed grated zucchini. I just threw it in a pan with some olive oil, garlic powder, truffle salt, and pepper. Also key: squeeze out some of the excess water.

I made some of my healthy double chocolate banana bread for my college roommate. Her family had a graduation party, and graciously invited me to come. I made the 2 hour drive on Saturday afternoon, and had a fantastic time meeting her sweet family. We spent one last night together as well, before I drove up the next morning for father’s day festivities (more in a minute).

While baking that up, I made something for myself too. In the theme of trying tons of Pinterest recipes, I tried Healthy Pumpkin Zucchini Chocolate Chip bread. I was instantly drawn to this recipe thanks to the low sugar content-only 1/3 of a cup! I used GF flour, and subbed canned sweet potato for the pumpkin, since I had some on hand and thought it would make it a bit more summer-y.

I decided to leave out the chocolate chips, because I made this bread to eat pre-workout early in the morning. As you can see, however, the smell of double chocolate chip banana bread baking had me craving melty chocolate, so I threw in a few chocolate chunks on one end, halfway through baking.

This bread was delicious! It was so moist and fluffy, and I loved sneaking in some extra veggies!

This was YET ANOTHER Pinterest win. Chicken avocado soup. Because you can’t go wrong with fresh CA avocado, can you? On the side was Cooking Light Parmesan Corn Muffins. The muffins had parmesan and chives, and were delightful with a pat of butter.

My mom also made plum crisp, using our favorite blueberry crisp recipe. We were gifted mass quantities of plums, and this pretty much finished them off. It was quite tart, but delicious with a little frozen yogurt.

This dinner was a total wing job. I wanted something lighter than originally planned, so I used some things we had in the fridge to whip up miso soup and sautéed zucchini (made the same way as before). We had some extra miso paste that needed to be used, so I sautéed some mushrooms with garlic, and then added broth, miso paste, and spinach. Once that was ready to go, I tossed 3 beaten eggs in for some protein (egg drop soup style). It ended up being delicious!

Now-Father’s Day

First of all, I want to thank my dad for supporting me every step of the way. Through catching for my pitching in every location possible (dark gyms, Hawaiian vacations, paring garages, and most notably, Belgian schoolyards), flying across the country and waking up at 2am CA time to spectate my race in 30 degree weather, reading every blog post, and trying every random baking concoction I come up with. I know I wouldn’t have gotten this far, or be who I am today without you.

On Sunday morning, I drove home from visiting my friend. I left early and made CRAZY good time. It was supposed to be a warm one, so around 9:30am we headed out to the bay for a dog walk. My parents walked the dog, and I went for a bike ride.

In sunburn news, I tried really hard to even out my terrible tan line, but I don’t think it did much.

Literally every time I wear shorts, I get comments wherever I go.

Then, my sister and her fiancé arrived and we all went to the county fair.

First order of business: taro boba.

Then: food! I had roasted corn and a giant turkey leg.

My family also shared a giant brick of curly fries. The rest of them shared a cinnamon roll and funnel cake. the strawberry funnel cake looked and smelled SO good. I had some of the strawberry jam and whipped cream off the top and it was fabulous.

Next up: PIG RACING! If you’ve never witnessed baby pigs running around a track, you’re missing out. The Alaskan racing pigs come to the fair every year, and the crowd cheers them on while being treated to a plethora of pig-related puns from the emcee.

Then: ruminants!

I could honestly sit and watch cows for hours. They are such majestic creatures.

For our final fit of fair festivities, I wanted to “throw things and win things,” aka play fair games. We tried quite a few, and I won a little pig stuffed animal. Victory!

At this point, we started to feel the heat a bit and relaxed with a TV show before the Warriors game. Sadly, the game didn’t go as we had hoped.

In the middle of the game, we ordered Door Dash delivery for a restaurant of my dad’s choice. I had a teriyaki chicken bowl, with half brown rice, half greens. I requested it without teriyaki, and whipped up a quick GF version with tamari, honey, rice vinegar, garlic powder, and sesame oil.

It came out really well!

We drowned our sorrows of the game result in more Netflix. I hope my dad had a good day despite the outcome though!

How did you celebrate father’s day?

What I Did on Father’s Day

Date: June 17, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Since Sunday was my long run day, I thought it would be fun for the family to go on a picnic. My sister and I would get to run in a more interesting location, while my parents could walk around. I had the perfect place in mind-San Bruno Mountain, a wildlife preserve and park just outside of San Francisco. I did some volunteer work there a few years ago, and I ran on the trail once last year. The views are breathtaking-you can see the whole bay.

I decided to try a different pre-run breakfast-a Thinkthin bar and fruit, plus a small cup of kefir.

I’m not sure this is going to necessarily be enough to fuel for for 13.1 miles, but I think I’d rather hit a wall than have stomach issues. This breakfast ended up working out quite nicely for me.

After packing up the car and herding everyone out of the house, we drove up to the park. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we were greeted by this scene:

Now, while fog stinks and would obscure the amazing views, that wasn’t the main problem. The main problem was the 1000 mph winds. I have never seen fog and clouds move that fast before! It was absolutely crazy! Despite the long drive up, it was determined that it was not worth it to run and picnic there. My parents suggested another trail by the reservoir. This is one of my absolute favorite places-it is so pretty! I’ve always wanted to run there, but I had no idea there was a trail!

Sadly, we couldn’t find the trail because there was construction on one of the roads. However, I remembered that there was a road nearby that is closed off on Sundays for bikers (I’ve been wanting to bike there since I ran into the road closure last summer attempting to get someone nearby!). A closed off road right along the reservoir? Perfect!

The scenery was so beautiful! The run was hard. I was with my sister, and she started off much faster than I was comfortable giving I had to run 6 miles. It was also hilly, and I was well aware that the hills and wind were in our favor on the first half of the run (it was an out and back).

I was definitely playing mental games with myself during this run. I kept up with my sister for the first half, which was my goal because I’m the one with the GPS watch, and I wanted to make sure she turned in the right place. I sent her off pretty soon into the second half (right around where the hills started) because I could tell I was only holding her back. While running with someone faster is good to push yourself, when it is kind of demoralizing when you get to the point where you can’t keep up (hence, some of the mental games). And then I spent a good couple of miles reflecting on WHY I wasn’t faster. Finally I convinced myself that HEY, I was still running 6 miles, and in a still pretty decent time. Hills can really humble you!

Around miles 3-4, my feet started bothering me, like they usually do at that point. My index toe on my left foot was in a lot of pain…any idea why that would be? It kind of goes numb, but really hurts when I step on it…I think I’m going to try a new brand of running shoes. Towards the end, I also started to get a really painful blister. I pretty quickly realized it was from the slant of the road (the road was crowned) causing my foot to rub, so I took advantage of the fact that the road was closed.

Hey, why NOT run directly in the middle of the road?? It definitely helped!

The final stats?

Not too bad! I was happy with the run. And tired. 8 miles next week is getting out of my comfort zone. Specifically, I’m not sure how my feet will hold up. If I got a pretty bad blister doing 6 miles, how will 13.1 be? My feet will toughen up, right??

We decided to take our picnic home at that point since there was no where there to set up. It was the perfect day to eat on the patio though.

What’s sad is that you guys may not even know that I have a dog. This is Billy. The cats kind of take precedence in our household….

I wanted to try this new chai tea that we got at Whole Foods the other day, and after the run, it sounded absolutely fantastic.

I added a touch of honey, almond milk, and ice. So refreshing!

Our picnic lunch was a make-you-own Cobb salad. Mine included chicken, hard boiled egg, artichoke hearts, soy beans, onions, olives, and tomato, all tossed in garlic ranch.

For dessert, we had frozen eclairs, which thawed perfectly during our run. <a

So delicious! Everything was cool and refreshing-can you tell I was a tad thirsty? For my next long run, I need to take water, and start practicing with gu. Any recommendations?
The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent as a family watching Suits.

I swear, this is the only way she’ll actually sit on my lap! Silly cat. My family may or may not have watched the whole season of Suits in less than the past week…
Dinner was picked up from Fish Market, one of my Dad’s favorite restaurants. I had the mahi mahi with an artichoke, basil tomatoes, and mixed veggies. Plus some sourdough on the side!

Plus this guy-I got this at Whole Foods the other day and these are seriously the best things ever. I’ve gotten it twice before, but never really seen it at Whole Foods since. BUY THIS. Peanut butter+oatmeal. You can’t go wrong. This might be good for pre-race fuel too…<a

I hope everyone was able to spent time with their fathers on Father’s Day! This was the first year in 9 years that I wasn’t at a softball field on Father’s Day!
What did you do for Father’s Day?

Scenes from the Weekend

Date: June 16, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Father’s Day to the most amazing dad ever! (Since I know you will see this)- thanks for everything you have done for me-the hours spent at the softball field in catching in the backyard especially!

Since I’m a bit behind, let’s go through the weekend in pictures. Also- check out my guest post at Miranda Runs!

New shoes! I got them at the Nike outlet months ago and am finally breaking them out. I’m not sure how I feel about them yet-but I guess at this point it’s been almost a year since I got new running shoes…wow I was definitely not aware it was that long. The amazing shrinking power of spinach! I was mock Korean bowls for dinner the other night. I sauteed mushrooms and spinach with teriyaki sauce, then served that with garlic and herb quinoa-brown rice mixture and an egg.Obligatory cat photo. If you follow me on Instagram (which you should! fitnessissweet), you will be quite familiar with my cats. (But I swear that’s not ALL I post.)

I went back to Crossfit Saturday as well! We are still doing a ton of Intro stuff, but here’s a WOD for you all:

2′ on 1′ off

burpees

wall balls (ugh)

lunges

overhead squat (with pvc)

I got 166 reps total! So far I’ve only been going to Intro classes, but I intend on signing on for real, and hopefully doing more things. There is an on-ramp program where you go for a month and they teach you everything, in a more individualized way. I decided that even though I know the lifts, since it is individualized, it should be a good opportunity for me to work on my technique. Post-Crossfit Indian food buffet. I generally don’t do too well at buffets, so I tried to load my plate up with salad (it’s under the yogurt sauce).

After lunch, I FINALLY made it out to Whole Foods. I tried some new-to-me products:I have been out of my probiotic supplement for like 2 weeks now, and we haven’t been to stores that carry them. After reading about how awesome Kevita is on Lauren‘s blog, I decided to give it a try! It was good! I’m actually not a fan of things that are sparkly, but I enjoyed it! They also make coconut mango, but Whole Foods was out. I bet that flavor would be sooo good. I found this in the gluten free section, and I was pumped! I am kind of trying to avoid gluten, and I was looking for an alternative to put on yogurt to granola. Let me tell you-this stuff is delicious! It’s chocolatey, with the perfect amount of crunch! I can’t wait to try it in yogurt. I interpreted these to be a healthier version of Doritos, which they basically were. And another bonus-they weren’t neon orange! Haha.

Saturday night I also went to the fair with my best friends from high school!

Fair food:

In terms of healthiness, I certainly could have done worse!

My absolute favorite part of the fair is the pig races. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the pig races, basically, a whole bunch of miniature pigs or piglets run around a small track, while the crowd cheers them on.

We also went on the ferris wheel. I’m kind of afraid of heights, so I haven’t been on a ferris wheel in a really long time, and I had no idea what to expect. It was simultaneously awesome and terrifying. I may or may not have had a death grip on the pole in the middle the whole time though…The view from the top!

Since this is already pretty long, I’ll recap Sunday tomorrow. I have to go to bed-I have a big day planned! Early morning abs class plus some lifting on my own, and then my first Bikram class with a friend! I may go to spin in the evening with a different friend if I am still alive (doubtful). Any advice for surviving yoga in a 105 degree room? Hey, if I can play softball in that kind of heat, this should be fine, right??

Have you ever done hot yoga? Thoughts?