Murph+Chocolate Making 101

Date: May 27, 2020

Author: astottler

With another Memorial Day weekend come and gone, I completed my 7th annual Murph in honor of those who have bravely served our country.

I have completed Murph on Memorial Day every year since 2014, including with a broken foot in 2016, and while visiting DC for a wedding in 2018. This year was a little different in its own way. Quarantine Murph. Despite the circumstances, I was determined to complete the workout in whatever way I could. I haven’t run much since dealing with a nasty chronic ankle injury in December, but last week I finally worked up to running 2 miles for the first time. For my Murph this year, I did:

1 mile run

100 DB rows (in place of pull ups since I did not have a pull up bar)

200 push ups

300 squats

1 mile run

Murph is one of my favorite Crossfit workouts, and it has definitely evolved for me over the years. The first few times I did Murph, it was with banded pull ups and knee push ups. Last year, I did kipping pull ups and 100 push ups strict and 100 from my knees. This year, thanks to the 1000 push ups that have been programed for us in quarantine and all the work I’ve been doing on them the last year, I finally completed all 200 push ups from my toes. That was a big accomplishment for me! I have to say, it helps to not have the pull ups, but my post-Murph pain is definitely not as bad as it used to be. My shoulders are definitely super sore from the push ups though, but it’s crazy how much stronger I’ve gotten. Even when we feel like we aren’t making progress, there are metrics like this to remind us that we are. I believe I finished around 52 minutes.

The other reason I wanted to post today was that I finally completed my first batch of solo homemade chocolate! My sister makes the best chocolate, straight from the raw bean. After making it with my brother in law when I visited them in February, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at it. This ended up being the perfect quarantine hobby, although I’m not starting it until week 11 of quarantine. I’m going to go through my experience with the process here.

Because I don’t have quite the equipment or experience my sister does, I ordered bulk roasted cacao nibs from the supplier she uses for her raw beans. I used 2 1lb bags for this batch.

To make chocolate, a melanger is a piece of equipment that is absolutely necessary. I ordered one from Amazon and it came in a week!

The first step from the roasted nibs is to grind them up in a blender, and then slowly add them to the melanger.

I had to monitor it pretty closely for the first 30 minutes or so because it was still so thick that the wheels kept threatening to hurl it over the edge, so I had to tame them back into the machine. Once the chocolate progressed and became more liquidy, this was no longer an issue.

Then, the chocolate just hangs out in the melanger, and it grinds for 24-36 hours. I got really excited when my equipment arrived and started the chocolate immediately, so I opted for the 24 hour time because the 36 hour time would have involved me waking up at 4am to tend to the chocolate.

1.5-2 hours before it’s done, add the sugar. I added 8oz to my 2lbs of nibs, making this chocolate 80%. Next time, I think I’m going to add 10oz and make it closer to 76%. (My sweet spot for chocolate is 75-80%).

I added my sugar 2 hours before finishing (at the 22 hour mark). Once the time was up, I poured all the chocolate out into a chilled bowl and stirred. And stirred. The mixture needs to be an even 82 degrees. Once it reaches this point, it then needs to be heated up to 90 degrees, and then it can be poured into moulds. This is the tempering process. This is responsible for the crystal structure of the chocolate, and the texture. I accidentally heated by chocolate back up to 110 degrees instead of 90, which meant I had to cool it all the way back down to 82, and then heated back up to 90. The cool thing about this process is that if you mess it up, you can always remelt it or re-cool it and start again.

FINALLY I had it in the moulds.

Once it is in the moulds, shake out the bubbles and then immediately place it in the fridge until it is completely hardened. This took about 45 minutes for me.

So far, it looks like my tempering went well! The chocolate has a shine, and doesn’t have any discolorations. My kitchen and I may have ended up covered in chocolate, but it was all worth it!

DC Weekend: Wedding, Sweets, and Fitness

Date: June 6, 2018

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

So. I finished my first year of vet school. A week and a half ago.

^officially 1/4 of a vet!

In the past week and a half I: went to a wedding in DC. Spent time at home in the Bay Area. Moved to Nashville. Whaaat? It’s been a crazy couple of weeks to say the least. So before I start with the Nashville posts, I wanted to recap my DC trip! It was a whirlwind for sure, but so fun!

I basically went straight from my final to the airport. I was traveling alone, but my friend had a flight out around the same time as I did so we got celebratory beers.

I didn’t get to DC until midnight thanks to the time change. I slept in Saturday morning (does it count as sleeping in if you’re on the wrong time zone?) and then headed out for a few of my favorite DC things: monument run and Sweetgreen. Can you believe it’s been 4 years already since I lived there?

I mostly stayed at a hotel nearish the airport, on the blue line of the metro (which was under construction all weekend so the delays were crazyyy). For my run, I took the metro to Arlington Cemetery, and then ran from there.

^ducklings!

It was really crowded so I definitely had to walk in some sections because of all the people.

It was also quite warm and humid! I definitely missed these sights though! I ended my run at the Sweetgreen in Foggy Bottom (the area I lived). I got a beet and goat cheese salad with chicken and wild rice, and balsamic dressing. SO good.

When I got back, I picked up a rental car to drive to Maryland for the wedding. It was held about 30 minutes outside of DC, and the drive was terrifying. Look, I’m a good driver. I’ve driven in Southern California. I’ve driven in San Francisco. But this drive….not fun. The roads were confusing and the drivers were so unpredictable! I had a terrifying moment when another car swerved into my lane, nearly into me, out of nowhere. Thankfully, I arrived at the hotel safe and sound, and got myself ready to go to the black tie wedding!

It was held at a beautiful mansion. It was supposed to be outside, but minutes before we were supposed to be seated, the skies fell and it started POURING. They had a wonderful back up indoor area, and it was a beautiful, intimate ceremony!

Congratulations Jenni! We went to undergrad together and I knew this couple from the very start!

Sunday morning, I packed everything into my backpack (yes, including my floor length dress), checked out of my hotel, and dropped off my car. I decided that Sunday afternoon would be my Georgetown time (read: cupcake time), so I took the metro into Rosslyn and had a quick lunch at The Little Beet. It’s similar to Sweetgreen, but different flavors. I got a bowl with chicken, brussels sprouts with cranberries, pickled onions, avocado white bean spread, and chimichurri sauce. It was one of their suggested bowls, and while there were a lot of flavors going in, they worked together!

I then walked across the bridge into Georgetown, straight to Baked and Wired! The Georgetown Cupcake line wasn’t too long either, and I honestly probably should have stopped there too…

I got the one gluten free cupcake option, which was vanilla with chocolate chips!

So good!

Then, I walked along the waterfront and settled on some big steps to read my book for a little bit.

At this point, the sky was getting DARK and I thought for sure I would get poured on. Somehow though, it held out. I checked back into my original hotel and relaxed for a few hours before heading out into the drizzly weather to go to Alexandria. Old Town Alexandria is super cute, and wasn’t too long of a metro ride from where I was staying. I went to Le Pain Quotidien for dinner, another place on my “must gos” for my trip. I got a chicken and mozzarella tartine on their delicious seedy GF bread.

When i saw there was a Kilwin’s in Alexandria, I knew I needed to stop. I went to one in St Charles (near St. Louis) for ice cream and it left an impression! I got the salted caramel, which comes with chocolate covered pieces of caramel! I actually ate this outside in the rain because there wasn’t anywhere inside to sit. Worth it!

After dinner and dessert, I had a relaxing night in at the hotel. When planning this trip, it was tempting to try and fit in 101 things into the short 2.5 days, but I eventually decided that I was going to be exhausted post-finals so I decided to try and make it a little more relaxing.

Monday, my flight left in the afternoon so I didn’t have a ton of time to do things. Since it was Memorial Day and Murph is legitimately one of my favorite Crossfit workouts, I decided to drop back into Crossfit Foggy Bottom to do it. That was my box when I lived in DC, and although I don’t think any of the same people were there, it was good to be back! The interesting part of this Crossfit is that it’s in the basement of a fancy hotel! That made the running of Murph a little more interesting…we had to run through the locker room and then the hotel lobby, and up stairs to go outside! I wasn’t super concerned about my time, I just wanted to do the workout, so the time difference as a result was fine. This workout is a great reminder to remember those who have served and lost their lives.

The workout went well for me. it just doesn’t crush me in the same way it used to. Plus, my pull ups just get better every year. I maintained sets of 5 until the very last round. And my legs didn’t feel quite as heavy on the second run as they have in the past! I think one of the worst Murphs I had was when I did it with a semi-broken foot (the boot came off later that week)….I hadn’t squatted at all in a month or so, and 300 squats after all that time off….ouch.

Thanks to the humidity and 100 pull ups, I was a sweaty chalk monster at the end!

This Crossfit is part of a gym with fancy showers, so I was able to get cleaned up there before traveling!

I made a couple more stops before arriving at the airport. First off, Sweetgreen one more time! I got the Guacamole Greens and subbed sweet potatoes for the onions.

And the final stop? Shake Shack. Their frozen custard is SO good. When I was in Philadelphia in the middle of winter, I ventured into sub-freezing temperatures at night just to get some! I got the vanilla concrete with hot fudge.

Then, it was back home for 4 short days!

Nashville recap coming soon!

Boot Takes on Murph (Memorial Day Recap)

Date: June 1, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! Checking back in for a Memorial Day recap.

Memorial Day is a time to remember and honor those who have served. Thank you.

When we left off, I was getting ready for my freshman dorm reunion on Saturday evening.

I had a lot of fun at the reunion, but left with sort of strange feelings.

Dinner was delicious. I was trying to be careful with my stomach so I didn’t eat a lot, but would totally go back to the catering restaurant at a later date.

Make your own tacos! Mine with chicken and veggie filling.

It was great catching up with people. I actually saw the end of the Warriors game with a table of guys who were streaming it. I did find myself mostly talking to the people I’m still in touch with though.I guess there’s a reason we’ve stayed in touch! I actually think I’m still pretty close to all my good friends from freshman year.

freshman reunion

I left a bit early to hang out with another friend, and I feel like I missed out on a bit of fun, as everyone migrated back to visit our freshman dorm. I think it’s probably for the best because walking clear across campus in a boot wouldn’t have been a good idea, but I missed hanged out with those people.

After spending the evening being careful with my stomach, I actually had a really, really bad flare Saturday night after I got back. Our chef made GF chocolate cake, and my friend made me GFG snickerdoodle cupcakes, and I just had too much, and the fat in them sent me into a bad flare. On the one hand, I do feel like my stomach has healed a ton. But this is a reminder I have to be careful. Now, pretty much every flare or mini flare I have, there’s a clear cause, and in this case it was the fat in the cake/frosting. I had a pretty rough night. I had to stay up far later than planned because I was too nauseated to get in bed. Finally after a second dose of stomach meds, I started feeling better. Luckily, I woke up feeling much better, although tired.

Sunday morning, I went to another farmer’s market with a couple of friends. I’ve always heard that there were kittens there, but I never actually saw them until this week. How adorable!

I got a large quantity of fruit (after 2 days of farmer’s markets, I’m totally stocked), and my friends and I stopped at one of the stands for lunch. It was a sandwich place, but you could get it as a “paleo plate” over lettuce with an egg, instead of bread, so that’s what I did! I got the avocado, which was mashed avocado and fresh mozzarella. SUPER delicious.

After the farmer’s market, I stopped at a sorority alumnae brunch to celebrate my chapter’s birthday. We had bagels and died tea, and it was nice to catch up with those who have graduated, and hear about life in the real world.

Monday, I went home to clean out my closet. Both my home Crossfit and school Crossfit were doing Murph, which is one of my favorite Crossfit workouts. I had a tough decision as to which gym I should do it at, and ultimately decided to do it at home. I was happy with that choice; it feels like summer now, it was great to see everyone, and now I’m a bit more excited for summer (aka post-grad).

Since I have a stress fracture in my foot, I had to modify. I figured I could do push ups and pull ups, so I was at least half way there! For those of your unfamiliar with Murph, it is a hero WOD typically done every memorial day. It is:

1 mile run

100 pull ups

200 push ups

300 squats

1 mile run

The pull ups, push ups, and squats can be broken up however you want, but most people do 5-10-15.

I knew I would have to sub the assault bike for the runs, but wan’t sure about the squats. I can do deadlifts because the weight is entirely on my heels, but I’ve stayed away from squats. I decided to see how it felt. If I felt like it was at all unsafe for my foot, I planned to switch to sit ups in place of squats. As it turned out, the squats were fine, I just couldn’t rush them.

This was my fourth time doing Murph. (Just for fun, here, here, and here.)

So how did it go? Let’s just start by remembering that I haven’t done a single squat in 4 weeks. Moving on.

I did 3 miles on the bike for the mile run, which took about 9 minutes. I used a band for the pull ups and did strict, but it actually felt really easy, so about halfway through (round 10 of 20) I started doing kipping no-band pull ups for 3-5 of my sets of 5. I honestly probably could/should have ditched the band for the whole workout and just done kipping pull ups the whole way, but it really surprised me that I felt as good as I did. I’ve definitely gotten stronger since hurting my foot: before, I could only string together 3 kips, and now I can do 5, even in round 20! The push ups I scaled on my knees, and they actually felt much easier than expected as well. Next year, I hope to do the workout unscaled!

For the squats, they felt hdd but less awful than they could have been.

I finished Murph in about 51:00. One of my slower times, but I have no problem with that! I was so happy I was able to do what I did. Murph is one of my favorites, as I mentioned, and was really the only exercise thing I was sad about missing out on with my foot.

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Boot takes on Murph.

Afterwards, I went home, ready for some PROTEIN. We had grilled chicken and peach salad with goat cheese, plus some baked Lays on the side while watching the Giant’s game.

After cleaning myself up, I made a recipe I’ve had bookmarked for a while, Blueberry Zucchini bread.

It came out beautifully, and was delicious! Although its 1/2c of sugar is a little higher than I’m used to, so I think it would still be great with 1/3 of a cup!

My main task/reason for going home was to clean out my closet before I dump a whole bunch of stuff from school there. I’m entering a new stage of my life, so it’s out with the old! I think I made pretty decent progress. Someone decided to be oh so helpful. In denial that she is not a lap dog.

A few nights again, my friends and I had a little Pinterest party, and I learned they had entire boards devoted to soup. Um, YES. Soup was courtesy of my friend Kate’s pin. Sweet potato, kale, and corn chowder. Served with GF avocado toast.

I love that despite having soup more or less every week, I’m still finding new and different recipes!

I watched about an hour of the Warriors game, before rushing back to campus for my last sorority initiation.

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And now it’s back to reality. Sort of. I only have classes Tuesday and Wednesday this week before finals start Friday, and only have 1 class Tuesdays. Summer is so close! Not sure how I feel about impending graduation though….

Also, if you’re wondering whether or not you should do 300 squats after not doing them in a month, the answer is a solid no. I’m in a world of pain! Last night (Monday), I wasn’t feeling too bad, but throughout Tuesday I’m growing progressively more and more immobile. My quads are just LIT UP right now. Stairs are the mortal enemy. Both up and down. Between that and the boot, it’s rough walking! My arms/shoulders actually aren’t crazy sore, though the soreness is starting to come in a little stronger. Nothing compared to legs though. I basically don’t want to move at all. For a while.

(Want to see the aftermath of past memorial day Murphs? Here and here.)

Have you ever done Murph? What’s the hardest part for you?

The Aftermath of Murph

Date: May 27, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

So. I no longer have the ability to use my upper body. Every where from my elbows and ribs up to my shoulders is insanely sore. It’s weird because with arms, it’s easy to not move your arms too much while just sitting still, and I feel like the pain that will happen if I move makes me not move, which makes me stiffer. Ouch. I really wanted to try a new spin studio today but it’s one of the ones that involves weird moves on the bike. I went for a run this morning, and even that was death for my shoulders (…right??) I decided it was a no go.

I’m currently in the process of doing my stats homework and deleting pictures from my phone. It was brought to my attention a couple of times in the past week that it is not normal to have over 8000 pictures on your phone so I’m working on that. Also I have an embarrassing number of selfies, and that’s kind of obnoxious. I’ve only made it through like 1000-it’s going to take a while!

I haven’t done a very normal blog post lately. I feel like I’ve just sort of been a zombie, and to be honest nothing too exciting has been going on! I’m just in that end of quarter grind right now.

So…food pictures?

This is what I’ve been having for lunch. A salad with chicken (grilled from home this week!) and hummus which you can’t see. Plus a fruit bar for something sweet!

After lunch today I was craving cake. But I didn’t have cake so I went back to my room and ate a banana and a million blackberries.

At breakfast today I finally tried coffee for the first time since my stomach issues! “Try” is a bit of a generous term here. I had like 1/3 packet of instant decaf in a mug of soy milk. So not a lot of coffee, but it was nice to have a warm beverage that vaguely reminded me of coffee! And my stomach didn’t die which is always a plus.

Last night after spin I stopped at Safeway for a salad for dinner because it was on my way back. I had a BBQ ranch salad with chicken, and then I got froyo because it was next door and it’s the best froyo ever.

The last food picture I have is dinner tonight! Caesar salad, grilled chicken, roasted carrots.

The little cup is cheesy potatoes with corn but I wasn’t really feeling it.

So that’s what is up with me right now. Nothing fun or exciting unfortunately! 2 weeks until summer though!

Murph+Lesson Learned

Date: May 25, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I’m popping in SUPER fast because I desperately need sleep. I figured out I have about 120 hours of sleep debt from this quarter thus far? Cool. Casually dying over here.

So I went home this morning. I had planned to do Murph with home Crossfit. It’s actually my favorite Crossfit WOD. But then I thought they weren’t doing it so I signed up for a spin class. Turns out they were after all. Merp. It was a great spin class! Lots of push ups and arm stuff though. Then I went for a walk with my friend to catch up. She’s out of school and I’m jealous! We saw cats.

I then came home and ate a Grilled Chicken and Peach salad+sweet potato chips and s’mores.

And then I found out my regular Crossfit was ALSO doing Murph and despite killing my legs and arms that morning I couldn’t exactly pass that up. It ended up not feeling too bad despite the fact that I had done a lot that morning plus was sore from my run the previous day, but I was SLOW. I finished in 54:17. Which is significant given my best time is 44:xx. My running has gotten pretty slow lately as well which is fine for now. But I used a much smaller band for the pull ups so that was cool! The push ups were what killed me the most by far and I even did them on my knees….

The mistake I made was frantically scrambling around post-Murph stressing and rushing to an event that I didn’t really get to eat. When I finally got to the event, my body started freaking out and my blood sugar crashed and it was kind of scary. Luckily I had a Luna bar in my car and some chocolate soy milk that I threw in my bag post-workout which made me feel much better. I feel like normally this wouldn’t have been quite such a problem but with the sleep debt and stress and lingering illness it was just not good or smart.

And now it’s back to work. Or sleep. Just over 2 weeks left!