Thanksgiving Eve

Date: November 27, 2013

Author: astottler

If you’re reading this on Thanksgiving, then Happy Thanksgiving! I wanted to pop in quickly to share some eats from Thanksgiving Eve (it’s currently Wednesday night).

Today was our last day in Napa. We decided to go out for a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant. I ordered fruit with yogurt, which was of course delicious.

What really stole the show was the Belgian waffle. Can you believe I hadn’t had a waffle in months? I haven’t had one at school yet-it used to be a weekly thing! My closest dining hall doesn’t have frozen blueberries to top it with (so totally not worth it) and the lines at the other dining hall WITH the berries are insane, so that’s not happening. But this little guy was fantastic! My family ordered one for the table to share.

Topped with vanilla berry compote.

On our way into downtown, we made a stop at Whole Foods-the granola bar I wanted to eat before my Turkey Trot is no longer carried by my local Whole Foods-sadly we struck out in Napa as well so I’m going into the race on an untested breakfast (YOLO). However, we did see that this Whole Foods had a coffee bar, and decided it would probably be a good idea to test it out.

A cappuccino-of course. I also tried some of my mom’s Pumpkin Spice Caramel latte, and I actually really liked it! I normally can’t do sweet coffee, but this wasn’t too sweet (ok, or that coffee-y). Maybe next time!

After walking around downtown, we stopped in an interesting marketplace for lunch. We decided on a Venezuelan place, and each ordered an arepa.

It should be no surprise that mine had avocado! It also had tofu, plaintain, black bean, and garlic aioli, all on a sweet corn “bun.” Delish!

And since we were in a marketplace, there were plenty of dessert options. I had a pumpkin pie cupcake-it was filled with caramel! I probably could have done without the buttery icing though!

And on our way out, we stopped at an Italian bakery for what were more or less cream puffs-mine was milk and honey.

Dinner later was a new to me flavor of kombucha, plus broccoli and an omelet with mushrooms, spinach, and gouda.

And of course, I’m enjoying plenty of love from this guy.

Now, I’m off to hopefully fall asleep and dream of trotting turkeys! I have my playlist made (which may or may not be half Christmas music), my clothes laid out, and my alarm set! Now I just need to get sleepy…maybe I’ll go read my textbook for school-that should do the trick! Yayy finals in a week.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your Turkey Trots, but make sure to take in all the precious family time you can get!

The Best Ever WIAW

Date: November 26, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! One day away from the big day! Let’s get into the celebratory spirit by celebrating food with Jenn.

This is probably the best WIAW I’ve ever had. I’m on vacation in Napa right now, and to say I’ve been eating well is an understatement. I’ve really been embracing balance this trip-I’m not worrying about eating decadent foods, but I’m getting in enough of the good stuff at well that I still feel great, healthy, and happy.

This morning, I slept WAY later than planned. I somehow ended up with a king size bed to myself-I’ve never slept in one before, and I’ll probably never sleep in one again, but it was glorious. Anyways, a later morning meant a light breakfast was necessary before my run, so I had some cranberry bread and blueberries.

I also had a bit of pannetone. We get this every year around Christmas-we don’t exactly like it but we always end up eating it. We got a mini one this year, but it was a bit dry.

Then, it was time for a run! It’s interesting to run in a place I’ve run once every year-I used to think a 3-4 mile loop was crazy long!

I have to make a note about this picture-this is around the spot that I ate pavement a few years ago on a run (luckily I made it through this run in one piece!). The best part? I was running to a restaurant to meet my family for breakfast. My mom snapped this gem of me before she realized I had blood streaming down my leg. Oh, memories.

After cleaning myself up post run, we drove to a small town nearby, St. Helena.

My parents felt lunch was a priority, and after walking through downtown looking at menus, one place in particular place caught our eye. This was SUCH a good choice. My gosh, this was by far the best food I’ve had in a LONG time. We ordered some appetizers to start-grilled artichokes plus brussels sprouts.

These brussels sprouts were mouthwateringly amazing. I have no words. They were by far the best I’ve ever had. They were cooked to perfection, and so, so flavorful.

For my entree, of course I ordered the avocado salad.

The ingredients were so fresh-all this salad was was fresh mozzarella, tomato, avocado, lettuce, olive oil, and salt and pepper. All the flavors were perfect together.

Then, we stopped at one of our all time favorite places-Woodhouse Chocolate. These candies are amazing-the flavors are just so fresh and spot on. The mint tastes just like a mint leaf. And they’re beautiful as well!

Confession: this whole box is for me.

We also tasted some olive oil and picked some out to bring home with us. Then, we stopped in a coffeeshop so I could do some studying. My mom and I both ordered decaf cappuccinos.

The milk foam was good! Not like the amazing cappuccinos I get at school, but a close second, and definitely better than Starbucks!

Before dinner, we stopped in another small town to explore a bit-check out these adorable shops in old train cars!

Then, it was off to dinner at an Italian restaurant that we always go to. We started off with fresh bread and their signature dipping sauce, made with caramelized onions. I haven’t had this much quality olive oil in so long!

For my entree, I ordered the salmon, which came with polenta and steamed spinach. Everything was cooked to perfection. I have to confess, I’m a big salter. But the food this weekend has been just so good and perfectly seasoned that it just doesn’t need anything! It’s amazing to have well cooked flavorful food, a big contrast to dining hall food!

And since it’s vacation, dessert needed to happen. We shared bread pudding with maple rum sauce and a brownie a la mode.

This bread pudding was nearly as good as our family recipe, which is saying a ton! Definitely by far the best restaurant bread pudding I’ve ever had-hot, custardy, with plenty of delicious sauce.

That’s all I have for you today! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What do you eat on vacation?

Napa

Date: November 25, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I hope everyone is having a great, short week! I definitely am having an amazing time-I have all week off!

This morning, I woke up early for abs class and spinning on my own. I’m already sore from abs! For spin, i did the same class I did last Thursday, but on a different type of bike-on “real” spin bikes it was definitely harder! I left completely drenched.

Once home, I experienced one of the great lies of the world.

Flavored coffee. It smells amazingly delicious-this one was French vanilla-and then…it tastes like coffee. I mean it wasn’t bad coffee-just a disappointment.

I also had this bar-pretty good!

After more furry kitty time (and therefore sneezing and itchy eyes), it was time to make the drive to Napa!

We stopped at the Genova Delicatessen, one of our longtime favorites.

This local favorite features sandwiches, interesting packaged foods, and housemade pasta. I always order the egg salad-it’s amazingly rich, so my mom and I shared a sandwich, along with a side of Greek cucumber salad.

We also sampled some desserts-Bananas Foster and Caramel Apple pies.

Everything was delicious. I brought some kombucha that I bought yesterday as well-guava is a new to me flavor, and while not my favorite, it was still delicious, and more special than just water for a deli meal.

We have a tradition of going to Ross Dress for Less in Napa every year at Thanksgiving, so we spent a couple of hours combing the shelves there. I ended up leaving with a new shirt and some photo props for some Christmas-bloggy things.

We then checked in and took a walk around the grounds.

The lighting was perfect, and I was actually wearing real people clothes (well, jeans and a scarf-not workout clothes!), so we took advantage of the situation and took some artsy photos.

A nice snowy day!

HAH. If that was actually snow, I would be wearing about 10 more layers. It’s sand!

Then, we settled into our room for a cozy night and room service. I ordered a chicken Caesar salad, but the dressing was a little too anchovy-y for my taste.

For dessert, I had a slice of Cranberry bread and a chocolate shortbread cookie.

I’m feeling pretty confident about my ability to stay healthy and sane during the holidays this year. So far, I’m choosing foods that make me feel good, but also enjoying the treats in moderation and not stressing about it. I had a lot of stress going into the holidays last year (rowing, adjusting to college, being away from home for the holiday season, just finding out I was not longer trying to drop weight to row lightweight…), and I think it made me go a little crazy. I somehow managed to gain 6 pounds last year over the week of Thanksgiving. And I’m not talking about the “oh, too much turkey in my stomach, but it’s gone in a few days” pounds. I’m talking about lasting weight-do the math and think about how much I would have had to eat to accomplish that. I’m in SO much of a better place this year! It really is amazing how much I’ve grown and improved in the last year.

And, I’m getting really excited for my Turkey Trot! It’s weird because I basically haven’t trained for this particular race at all, so I feel really unprepared! I know I’m not though-I’ve still been running!

What are your holiday traditions?

Big Game

Date: November 24, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a terrific weekend! I was busy, busy!

Sunday morning, I went to Crossfit. The WOD was rough-it took me 46 minutes and involved lots of push ups, pull ups, and double unders. I actually did all 100 double unders! It was hard. And I have a bruised pinkie to show for it!

Immediately after Crossfit, I headed out to Big Game-the football game against our rivals.

It must have been my lucky day-I caught a free water bottle AND a free t-shirt!

Things started well when we scored a touchdown in the first 30 seconds or so.

I ended up leaving at halftime-we won 63-13! It was great. I actually ran into some of my high school friends who now go to my rival school while I was biking around after the game-how crazy is that? It was great to catch up-it had been way too long!

Then, it was time for a mass packing and room cleaning. I had to take home an insane amount of stuff, especially given I’ll only be back for a week! Since finals are coming up, I had to take every single textbook. The number of shoes I brought back is embarassing as well-like 7 or 8 pairs, and I am almost positive I’ll wear them all. When you have Spin shoes, Crossfit shoes, workout shoes, running shoes, old running shoes for if it rains…etc. It adds up quickly. Getting everything to my car was an adventure to say the least.

For my first meal home, we brought back food from a local restaurant, and I had huevos rancheros and a salad.

As well as a delicious pumpkin cookie with sticky toffee icing from my grandma.

The best part? I was reunited with this guy:

He sheds like crazy. I’m pretty much a ball of fur at this point. My dad picked up my turkey trot shirt from the expo, and it got all furry just from ME. Well worth it though. Want to know a lesser known about Aurora fact? I’m actually allergic to cats. I just put up with it because they are 100% worth it-but it’s amazing how fast allergies come back-it’s not something that ever even crosses my mind at school!

This morning I went to my home gym to go to one of my favorite spin classes. I did a bit of erging and ab work beforehand. The class was amazing. It’s so nice to have good bikes-it’s a completely different experience. I left the class feeling exhilarated. I have a new appreciation for spin classes now that I’ve been making my own!

After spin I spent way too long in Whole Foods, mostly buying granola bars and THIS. I could not resist.

Almond milk eggnog. Guys, this was seriously amazing. And so much less sugar than regular egg nog, but the flavor was still spot on.

I also picked up lunch-an Asian chicken salad wrap and Thai carrot ginger soup for my mom and me.

Then, we did a little shopping-some Christmas decorations, some workout clothes, and some real people clothes-so basically it was great.

This is going on my dorm door. My roommate and I may or may not be going crazy with the Christmas decorating this year.

The mall was so festive! Santa is ALREADY doing pictures with kids. It seems ridiculous that this all is happening before Christmas, but I guess Thanksgiving is really late this year.

For dinner, I had a teriyaki chicken bowl. I can’t remember the last time I had one of these!

We also may a trip to Starbucks for some berry coffeecake and a peppermint brownie cake pop. They’re good. Get one. They are more or less moist brownies with peppermint bark on the outside. Yum. And so pretty!

The rest of the evening has been spent planning 12 Days of Christmas. And cranberry bread is currently in the oven-we’re going to Napa tomorrow per our usual Thanksgiving tradition, so we’re baking it to take along.

Throwback to Napa trip 4 years ago!

And here’s a question: What do I wear for a rainy race??

We Made It!

Date: November 22, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Yayyy! Or at least I made it-it’s now Thanksgiving break, meaning I have entire week off school. It’s so weird to not technically have to be doing anything right now…go figure. Before I go any further, here’s the big question: what do I wear for my Turkey Trot?? I’m doing a 10k, so I don’t want anything to uncomfortable. Anyone know where I could get knee high turkey socks?

Let’s back up a bit and go over some workouts and eats. Yesterday morning, I took myself through a Spin class I spent two hours making. It was a good one!

I freaking love this. I cannot wait until I can share my classes with others! Speaking of which, I should get on that during break…

I’ve actually had the worst stomachaches this past week. I think it’s probably just granola bar overdose, but I’m thankfully feeling much better today! Does anyone else have trouble telling when they’re full when they have stomachaches? That kind of compounded the problem! Anyways, yesterday at lunch I biked across campus just for kombucha.

I also picked up some other things at the campus store, including more dried mango (in the bag).

I was trying to take it easy on my stomach, but around 3pm that day I was having major vegetable cravings. And I have no veggies in my room, so I went to the dining hall just for my produce fix.

Apparently, the dining hall is making a gingerbread model of our iconic church on campus. How cool is that??

Crossfit yesterday didn’t actually feel that bad at the time, but left me quite sore today. Strength was deadlifts that were slow on the way down. And for the WOD, there were lots of push presses, which my shoulders are definitely feeling today!

Yesterday evening was devoted to Chem (hence no post), but I did have time to squeeze in a guac break with my floor-mates-we had to eat the avocados from our CSA box before break!

There’s a 5k on Super Bowl sunday that I’m seriously considering signing up for because they give you a shirt that says “I earned my guacamole.” Totally worth it. I’m considering on signing up for a 5k a month until my next half in April. I’m really, really loving the speedwork and my workouts for this shorter distance, and I think I’ll have even more time to improve AFTER my December Santa Run.

On that note, I was up bright and early for a track workout-one of my favorite workouts of the week. Last week was 1000m repeats. This was wayyy too long for me! Today was 6x600m repeats. It was a chilly morning-lows in the high 30s! I needed to wear pants…and I’m no fashionista, but this is just embarrassing.

Yep. It’s time to do laundry. I have no normal socks, so I was rocking this chic look. On the plus side, I busted out my new shoes since there was no chance of rain!

My gosh, it’s amazing how much I didn’t realize I needed new shoes! These guys hugged the pavement-I think the soles of my old shoes must have been really worn down! I felt like when I was tired and wanting to slow down, my feet wouldn’t let me because the grip on the track was so amazing.

However, this would be the one day EVER I would actually see someone I know at 6:30am at the track. The track team was practicing, and a guy in my dorm last and this year is on the track team. He’s an Olympian, no big deal. He actually did super well too-final 8! Needless to say I can’t wait to watch the next Olympics!

After my workout, I had to get my last cappuccino before the break.

We had a casual afternoon in Bio:

My Professor is retiring (he’s been teaching this class since the 70s!), so we threw him a little going away party since this was his last lecture. The school band came in and surprised him (hence all the chaos), as well as all of the Bio faculty, sporting wigs of his signature white curls!

After a looong chem lab of separating pigments in spinach, I stopped by the library for a little light break reading:

SO excited!

I had every intention of working out this evening, but a nap was in order. And then dinner:

A salad with way too much dressing and hummus, rice, yams, and fish (with way too much tartar sauce-I shouldn’t have put any!). And a genius dessert:

Yams with chocolate chips, plus yogurt (I wasn’t sure if yogurt or cottage cheese would go better-yogurt was the winner).

My night is looking pretty low-key. I want to read my nutrition books. Maybe workout. CLEAN MY ROOM (oops). Maybe make an appearance at a birthday party. We shall see!

What are your weekend plans?