California Food Adventures

Date: November 1, 2016

Author: astottler

I’m currently in California. I may be 400 miles from home still, but there is something comforting about being back in my home state.

It’s always weird to me traveling and then coming back. I always imagine a ton of different realities for myself. What if I was living there? What would my life be like? This trip was definitely some of that—I was really close to a college I got recruited to for softball for undergrad. I even went on an overnight recruiting visit there! (Which I had totally forgotten I had gone on until my mom reminded me!)

My layover was in the Dallas Fort Worth airport, and I actually found some good options. I got a caprese salad with chicken, artichoke hearts, olives, and fresh mozzarella.

Dinner in SoCal was really exciting though. I was looking at nearby places and discovered one of my favorite East Coast chains was 10 minutes away! Le Pain Quotidien. I went there twice on my trip to DC for the Cherry Blossom race.

I got the grilled chicken and mozzarella tartine on gluten free bread. Their GF bread is really great and seedy. Lots of texture.

Man, I missed California food. And dessert? OMG. Best thing I’ve eaten in a REALLY long time. I have had essentially no non-packaged GF baked cookies since coming to St. Louis. But there was a pie place in SoCal, I Like Pie, that offers a daily GF option.

Honestly, I didn’t have very high expectations for this (I was expecting it to be dry) but it was insane. It was a mini cherry pie.

I brought it to the hotel to eat during baseball and was still really full from dinner, but couldn’t stop eating it. It was so buttery and moist, with delicious cherry filling. The crumb top was of course amazing as well.

I went to bed with a VERY full but satisfied belly!

Monday morning I went for a run first thing. Well, technically I waited around for it to get light out first. The neighborhood of my hotel was borderline sketchy, and safety first!

You know you’re in SoCal when…

Scenes from my run:

Afterwards I sat down for a hotel breakfast. For some reason egg sounded good, so I had some egg substance with a mini blueberry chobani and honey nut Cheerios. How much nut is actually honey nut Cheeries? It says it contains “natural almond flavor.” I guess we’ll find out haha.

For lunch, I picked up some chicken vegetable soup the previous night at Le Pain Quotidien, which came with more of their delicious GF bread.

You better believe I did my research for dinner as well, and it did not disappoint. I went to Last Drop Cafe in downtown Claremont. I got the vegan sandwich on GF bread. The sandwich had all kinds of delicious veggies and dressing, but of course what won me over was the avocado.

Even better? It came with a cookie, and they offer a daily GF cookie option. This was a pumpkin snickerdoodle (!!!) which was the perfect way to celebrate Halloween! OMG so freaking good.

To continue the Halloween celebration through food, since the cookie was small, I decided to get some froyo—pumpkin froyo!

With some white chocolate raspberry and chocolate. Topped with mini m&ms and some hot fudge.

I love cute little downtowns:

I was a little sad to spend my favorite holiday alone in a hotel room, so I tried to quell the feelings with some chocolate from the hotel. And then food network holiday cake competitions which made me want more chocolate, so a Luna bar would have to stand in for a chocolate gingerbread haunted house.

This was my Tuesday morning:

Yayyy for 6am flights! I actually woke up before my alarm. Go me? I guess 3:55am pacific time=5:55am central time which=late for Crossfit.

Apparently getting to my gate super early is becoming a habit for me…plenty of time for breakfast though! I had a bar that I brought, and supplanted with “fruit.”

Lunch in Dallas was also good. I found a Southwest salad (with avocado!) plus part of a GF brownie. Yum!

I made it back to St. Louis in time for Crossfit.

Sidenote: I don’t understand St. Louis weather. It was 85 degrees when I got back. How is it over 20 degrees colder in SoCal than Missouri in November?? And how can it be 40 one day and 80 the next??

At Crossfit we did 1 rep max sumo deadlifts, and I fit 220 pounds. It was probably the slowest deadlift I’ve ever done but I got it up! For the WOD we did Annie with some push ups added in. Annie is 50-40-30-20-10 of double unders and sit ups. My double unders have seriously gotten so much better over the past year.

And how I’m blogging with the kitties and baseball 🙂 I can’t believe I’m only in St. Louis for 2.5 more weeks though!

Where is your favorite area to eat?

Why I Like WIAW

Date: February 3, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! I have to say, my weeks are weird this quarter, but I’m embracing it. They’re very front heavy, which makes the week feel longer. I actually like it. I’m in a good place, and I’m trying to get more out of each day that I get to be here (this is the fear of being an upperclassman and realizing I only have just over a year left here). That being said, I’m still living in the ignorant bliss that is the period of time before any grades have actually been gotten back. Speaking of embracing this school, how about embracing this weather? While it’s supposed to rain this weekend, the weather here has been pretty much perfect lately. I can’t complain about this California sunshine! (Sorry to anyone on the East Coast right now with all those storms…)

Anyways, that was quite a long winded way of saying it’s Wednesday-yay! WIAW! Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting.

You want to know why I’m loving WIAW right now? Because when I’m posting less, or posting about specific things, I don’t get to share what I’ve been eating as much, so I get this accumulation of pictures that somehow seem silly to post if not on a Wednesday. WIAW is an excuse for a foodie photo dump, right?

Pancakes+eggs+mandarin oranges at breakfast. I think I’m officially no longer a syrup on pancakes person. Butter all the way-it may have something to do with the fact that I’m a syrup snob and really don’t like the dining hall corn syrup/maple syrup. Yuck. On another note, I just bought a vat of Grade B maple syrup at Whole Foods. More on that in a minute.

Pumpkin bread. This is from last Wednesday-my Wednesdays are long days so I needed a little pick me up between studying and my last class!

This dinner was 50/50. Tilapia with mango and cucumber was on point, as were the roasted carrots. I wasn’t a fan of the lentil puff pastry though.

More breakfast. I was across campus at the track and decided to stop somewhere different. While it may look very similar to the other breakfast, the pancakes there are far superior. They’re sort of vanilla-y.

Dining hall lunch-balsamic chicken salad, veggie flat bread, and broken rice with scallions. Plus roasted butternut squash.

This was dining hall chicken masala. And I have to say, they nailed it. The chicken was SO tender and flavorful. Well done.

Whole Foods dinner-hihglights were the mushroom polenta and various colors of roasted sweet potatoes.

So…I’m kind of over the whole “eat a specific diet” thing (like Paleo, 100% real food, no sugar). One thing I’ve learned over my 2+ years of blogging about food is that 1. I don’t have time or energy for that and 2. It makes me freaking crazy. That being said, I wanted to shake things up a little and get more creative so I decided to roughly follow a new plan (note the word roughly-it’s very low key)-whole foods + unlimited chocolate. So to start my new healthy eating endeavor I went to Whole Foods and stocked up on mass amounts of quality chocolate. And Grade B maple syrup for homemade chocolate. Spoiler alert-the “plan” is going well. I like chocolate.

This is one of my favorite soups-and it’s really good cold the next day too (or maybe I’m just used to eating cold food out of tupperware at this point in my life). The best part is it has chunks of sweet potato!

On Superbowl Sunday, my eating schedule was bizarre. Lunch at 10:30, pizza at 3:30 (what meal is that even? Dinner?). I was a little hungry towards the end of the game so I went to the dining hall for a chicken fajita salad. This was quality guac.

Dining hall dinner-salad, stir fry tofu, sweet potato fries. Plus a mini corn and potato casserole. The reason for no picture? It slid off my plate and exploded on the floor. It took my a little time to gain the courage to grab another one!

And finally-one last breakfast! I brought back the berry compote! This is just cherries+blueberries boiled down. Full fat yogurt+berries+sunbutter. I missed this!

Wow guys, that was quite the roundup. I should get on here a little more often, shouldn’t I? I feel like this has been an eventful week in terms of life stuff, so I really should do more updates! Also I’m realizing as I grow up (…and that makes me sound young again) I’m gotten so much more introspective so maybe we’ll have some more reflective posts. That being said, everything is going well over here right now!

What is your favorite kind of chocolate (and where can I buy it??)?

Apparently Good Spin Music is Good Stay Awake at 2am Music

Date: January 19, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Here is the official recap of my Disney trip!

We ended up leaving about 2 hours later than planned…which was actually in our favor. I5 shut down in the middle of nowhere (as in, no way out) due to a big diesel truck crash. Despite sitting on I5 for 2.5 hours, I really enjoyed the drive down. We blasted music-I DJed for 8.5 hours. I started off with the Spin playlist I taught on Thursday. It was a hit in the car, so here it is!

The problem with leaving late and getting stuck for 2.5 hours? We didn’t arrive until 3:30am. Around 1:30am everyone in the car was asleep (minus the driver) so I assumed the job of keeping the driver awake and navigating. The driver requested my spin playlist again…so apparently a spin playlist is good “keep the driver awake at 2am” music.

But we finally made it! We left for the park the next morning around 10:30. We had park hopper passes, meaning we could go both to Disneyland and California Adventure.

The first thing we did was run to Space Mountain to pick up a fast pass-which was good because the time to come back wasn’t until that night!

The first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, which I hadn’t been on before. After that, we waited in Indiana Jones line for an hour…only for the ride to shut down as we got close to the front. At that point, we cut out and got the famous Dole Whips, which are whipped pineapple soft serve. Those are definitely a must!

Then, we headed over to CA Adventure to go on California Screaming. That’s a pretty intense roller coaster in comparison to the ones in the Disney park! I walked out with my head spinning in circles, so I opted out of a second ride in favor of riding the merry-go-round.

Dinner was clam chowder in a bread bowl. Pretty much all that was eaten this past weekend was sugar and carbs…

Then it was back to Disneyland to meet up with the group and go on Space Mountain. This was definitely my favorite ride! I think the music adds a lot to the experience!

Then, we grabbed churros for the line at Indiana Jones. We played silly games to pass the time-I learned that one of my friends is apparently proficient in origami? Through 2 truths and a lie. The ride fortunately didn’t shut down, and I enjoyed the ride. I was pretty disappointed with the boulder though (if you’ve been on the ride, you know what I mean-if not, I won’t spoil it!). It didn’t really show up for some reason! Ah well.

Then we headed to the younger kids’ area, now that it was later and less crowded.

So pretty at night!

It’s a Small World was a must. It was still decked out for the holidays, which was really cool!

The last even of the night was Fantasmic, a water and lights show roughly based off of Fantasia. It was really cool-here’s a shot of the dragon from Sleeping Beauty-it seriously came out of nowhere!

And it was then time to call it a night. The next morning we cooked breakfast and hit the road. Road snacks? Coconut lemon macaroons-SO good!

I’ve never done this drive in the winter before, and everything was so pretty and green. I actually like driving through the center of CA a lot-you see things you’d never otherwise see! It was so much fun to be on a road trip with friends.

Towards the end of our journey, the song “Skyfall” came on right as we hit a big, dramatic patch of fog. The soundtrack was pretty perfect-the song ended right as we drove through the clouds.

Isn’t California pretty?

We made it back in under 6 hours this time. We did stop at Tin Pot though, where I got the Cookie Monster Ice Cream, which has cookie dough chunks and oreo!

It was such a fun trip-even with the 2.5 hour delay getting there! I haven’t been in over 7 years so it was nice to go back!

What is your favorite Disney ride?

Everything I Haven’t Blogged About

Date: December 16, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! With some busyness these past few days, I’ve definitely neglected to mention some things!

I think for this break, if I can stay up to date on blogging, I’m going to structure these posts as some type of tidbit to start-health, news, life, random, etc, and then go into meals and workouts. Sound ok?

Today’s tidbit: the storm of the decade. People not from CA may have seen on the news that we’ve gotten blasted with rain these past few days. I wanted to set the record straight, as a Northern Californian.

1. We are in a drought. We are STILL in a drought. We needed that rain, and we’ve already had the most December rain in 50 years, but we need another 2-3 storms of this caliber to no longer be in a drought.

2. Yes, this storm may seem like “nothing” in comparison to crazy central US/East coast storms, but the fact of the matter is that it caused a great deal of damage, just because of the sheer amount of water that came down so quickly. The winds weren’t crazy and it wasn’t an INSANE downpour, but it was a constant amount of water being dumped. Lots and lots of things flooded. Some people up north lost their houses in mudslides. Highways in the Bay Area closed due to feet of water flooding the freeways (including near SF). I was done with exams before the storm hit, but some exams had to be moved because the buildings they were supposed to take place in flooded.

3. The night before the storm of the decade….I was out duct taping my windshield wiper back together. Awesome. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but it was broken such that the rubber wiper wouldn’t stay in place so the arm of the wiper scraped across the glass, which made a deafening shriek. Duct tape worked like a charm. The drive home in torrential rain? Not so fun though. I couldn’t see 10 feet ahead of me.

Now that we’ve got that squared away, what did I fail to mention?

I’ve been doing lots of getting in the Christmas spirit! 2 Christmas movies have already been watched. My Christmas sweater has been worm.

The day I went home, my mom, my sister, and I had lunch. I had a delicious bowl that included brown rice, butternut squash, carrots, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower puree. It was delicious.

Followed by my favorite ice cream ever, Tin Pot. This is chocolate.

Thursday night I actually taught spin. Due to torrential rain, it was a small class but a good one! I love how the gym is decked out for the holidays!

Lunch on Friday was open faced turkey sandwiches, with an apple slice on top. Just place them under broil until the cheese is bubbly-they’re delicious!

Friday I also made my first batch of holiday cookies. I used my recipe for healthy polka dot cookies. They actually are really healthy. It was nice to have something sweet on hand that didn’t leave me feeling gross and sluggish. They were even approved by my grandma!

This batch is extra dark because I used dark chocolate cocoa powder.

Another fun weekend event involved seeing my 3rd grade teacher perform in the community production of A Christmas Carol. He was Jacob Marley’s ghost, and did a great job! The whole production was fantastic and so well done. They put it on every year, and every year it sells out. It’s free, but you are asked to bring toys to donate.

That’s all for today-expect more catch up food pictures tomorrow!

What is your favorite holiday dessert?

3-Day Weekend

Date: May 25, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I’m just going to pop in here quickly today! I think it may be nap time soon. Even if I stay up late, I cannot sleep in to save my life. Naps, however, are a completely different story.

Yesterday, I finally did another timed mile. It was 20 seconds faster than my last one, but still way slower than I need to be, or am used to being. It made me really realize that I need to work on speed work a ton. I also did some sprints of various distances, and then core. I’m actually kind of sore from that yesterday.

At breakfast, at first I couldn’t figure out why I was so hungry, until I realized that it was already 10 am. I love that classes don’t start until later for me on Fridays!Yogurt bowl, plus half a whole wheat bagel topped with cream cheese and egg whites.

It was such a beautiful day yesterday. WIndy, but very clear.

I stopped at a cafe to pick up lunch between classes. I grabbed a yogurt parfait and a packaged burrito. The burrito was a really strange choice for me; it is definitely not something I would normally buy. I’m not a big burrito eater, especially not pre-packaged ones, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to be underwhelmed. I decided to just eat the beans out of the middle. Classy, right?

And since I really don’t have that much to say, here are a few more pictures. One more note: I AM GETTING SPIN SHOES TODAY! SO PUMPED! Any advice?Guac. Guac. Guac.

Yeah. No one wakes up early.I was in the mood for a waffle this morning, and I decided to just go for it, instead of fight it. I would probably end up losing that battle anyways. I topped it with blueberries- delish!

Ok, two more notes: Only 2 weeks left of school! And then I swear the food part of my blog will be much healthier/more interesting. And, is anyone going to the Healthy Living Summit? I really want to go, and I am just trying to figure out if that would be at all feasible for me. It is before school starts, so it is a possibility! I’d love to meet some of you guys!

Have a GREAT 3-day weekend!

Any fun weekend plans?