May 22nd 2013 05:15:49 pm

eating… broiled grapefruit. A delicious, but very healthy breakfast or dessert. I followed this recipe, but you can easily modify it and use whatever fruit or nuts you have on hand.

playing with… the A Beautiful Mess photography app. If you like Instagram, but want to add a bit more to your photos, you will love this app. It allows you to add text and doodles and novel borders and then share your creations via Instagram or other social networks. It is a lot of fun and totally worth the .99 cents!

prepping for… the Trail/Road Challenge next weekend. I’ll be running a 15k trail run on Saturday and a 5k road race on Sunday. In between, I’ll be partying with my Brooklyn Team in Training in the Berkshires!

trying something new… swimming! I am taking a weekly lesson with my friend Suzy. It is a beginner lesson geared toward triathlons. I have always known how to swim, but swimming competitively or for long distances is totally new. I think I am making progress…

::

What are you currently up to?

1 Comment » Categories: Currently, Exercise, Food, Friends, running, Team In Training

Mar 25th 2013 10:30:18 am

On Fridays I often share fun, crafty links on the Swap-bot blog. I compile them all week during my Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and blog browsing. They usually follow the craft and snail mail theme, but I always include some tasty recipes, too.

But what to do with links that don’t fit into those categories? Why not share them here?! Maybe once a month, I’ll gather up some of my favorite recent links… like these!

march 2013 links to love:

♥ Usually I recommend ignoring the Westboro Baptist Church completely, but the Planting Peace Equality House really touched my heart. The non-profit bought a house across the street from the Topeka church and painted it in rainbow colors. They will be supporting anti-bullying and equality initiatives. More info here. You can donate here and here.

♥ Read this interview about time travel and other cool topics with a very wise man (who also happens to be one of my favorite authors).

♥ If you like design, you must check out Stitch Design Co. Their work is too good.

♥ My health kick continues and I have been cooking dinner at home most nights. If you need a unique and healthy dinner option, try these Healthy Delicious Chicken & Spinach Flautas. I made them last week and they take a bit of prep, but are really tasty!

♥ Speaking of recipes, I made these Oatmeal S’more Cookies over the weekend. They are quite sweet (and don’t really fit into my low-sugar health plan) but the oatmeal cookie is very good and soft. I think they would be even better with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows mixed in and no topping.

♥ Vampire Weekend has two new singles out. You can listen to them here. I really like Step: “Wisdom’s a gift but you’d trade it for youth. Age is an honor – it’s still not the truth.” Their new cd comes out on May 6th.

♥ I’ve been accepted into Marathon Maniacs!! Check out my profile page.

What links have you been visiting and sharing this month?

No Comments » Categories: design, Food, links to love, music

Mar 19th 2013 09:12:16 am

The first day of spring is tomorrow… but you’d never know that in Brooklyn. It snowed yesterday! It is rainy, cold, and overcast today. The cloudy coldness is bringing me down, but I really can’t place all of the blame on the weather. I need to make some changes, to my life and to my attitude.

My spring cleaning goals:

• running – Running is discouraging. It is not fun, not energizing, not empowering. It is only discouraging. I know that it is my fault for over-doing it — three marathons in two months, plus the NYC Half on Sunday, was NOT smart — but my bad attitude is deeper than merely being burnt out. I have this unrelenting feeling that running is completely unfair and no one understands how difficult it is for me. Boohoo. I shouldn’t have such angry feelings about a freakin hobby. I am scaling back. I plan to only run two days a week (with Team in Training) and cross train a few days a week. I usually enjoy exercising, but I need to find a new activity that makes me feel fit and powerful, not sluggish and discouraged.
• food – I have already been on a bit of a health kick. (Flax seed oatmeal with raisins and bananas for breakfast this morning!) But I want to stay committed. I have not quite decided how I feel about Mayor Bloomberg’s “soda ban”, but I know that for myself, I will always limit my refined sugar intake. I’ll never say that I am cutting out any type of food completely because I want to be a flexible and adventurous eater, but I certainly don’t need sugary beverages or processed junk food. I plan to cook at home more. Healthy dinners and lots of fruits and veggies!
• swap-bot – Swap-bot is my constant companion and an unrelenting source of never-ending work. I don’t mind. I’ll keep working on it forever if users keep swapping… but I need to reframe my focus. I want to work harder on improving the site for ALL users, not just tread water trying to put out all the many tiny daily fires. I have said this before and I still believe it: art + community = a better world. I want to work more purposefully toward the goal of fostering creativity and friendship around the world via Swap-bot. And I want to make the site look and function better. There is a lot of work to do.
• self – I plan to focus more on my own feelings and desires. I want to stay home more. Work on projects that improve my quality of life. Watch some tv. Make a quilt. Take it easy. I love socializing (probably too much) and I know it sounds crazy for someone who works alone everyday at home to want more time to myself, but I do. I love going out with friends, but I love hanging out with my husband more. I need to rest and recharge and remind myself that my priorities and ambitions may be different than others, and that is totally ok.

Once the sun comes out, I am sure I will be feeling more upbeat. Until then, I am going to take it easy on myself and do my best to foster my own happiness. What changes do you have planned for spring?

4 Comments » Categories: Exercise, Feeling Sad, Food, running, Swap-bot, Thinking, Work

Feb 27th 2013 11:06:57 am

I love my birthday month, but this February seems to be dragging on. So cold and rainy and grey. I have lost my enthusiasm for a lot of things… except this stuff:

♥ watching… X-Files! Oh, how I love Mulder & Scully! I am working my way through the series. I just finished season three (Queequeg just got eaten by an alligator) and started season four (my favorite). Such a thoughtful, mysterious show! Definitely one of my all-time favorites.

♥ enjoying… spring pastels. Like this handbag, this rug, and this scarf.

♥ eating… grapefruit and pistachios. My two current healthy favorites. I believe that I eat pretty healthy in general — fruits & veggies, whole grain, low-fat dairy, etc — but I am on a renewed health kick since I read this article about junk food engineering.

♥ wishing that… my new iMac would arrive. It is back-ordered until March. My current desktop is broken — it crashes every 10 minutes — and it is difficult to do serious work on my tiny travel laptop.

♥ hosting… the Sweet Spring Time Matchbox Swap on Swap-bot. I am really looking forward to spring and thought I’d host one of my signature craft swaps to hurry it along. Join us!

//

what are you up to?

1 Comment » Categories: Currently, Food, Swap-bot, Television, Work

Jan 4th 2013 11:56:01 am

We are only four days into 2013 and I already feel like it is going by too fast. What is occupying my time and thoughts as this new year starts? This stuff…

♥ obsessing over… my new iphone app, Lumiè. It allows you to add bokeh light effects to your photos and share them via social media.

♥ watching… Homeland! Just finished the first season. It is a lot more about mental illness and EMOTIONS than I was expecting, but it is interesting.

♥ eating… South Brooklyn Pizza. With onions, mushrooms, and pepperoni.

♥ exercising with… the Brazil Butt Lift workout videos. My friend Brian got me the videos (at my request) for Christmas. They are basically aerobics workouts with a lot of lunges.

♥ getting pumped for… the Goofy Challenge in one week!!! And the Bermuda Challenge the week after that!! Wish me luck!

//

What are you doing right now? What do you have planned for 2013?

No Comments » Categories: Currently, Exercise, Food, Photos, running, Television

Nov 24th 2012 01:54:26 pm

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Travis and I save our trip back to Kansas City for Christmas, so Thanksgiving is usually not a grand affair. But I love turkey, so I was intent on making a meal this year.

In between all the marathon craziness of the last few weeks, I started planning my big meal. I made Pinterest board to bookmark recipes and got out all of my Thanksgiving Martha Stewart magazines. The only glitch in my prep plan was the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday. I was so sore from the race, it made shopping and carrying groceries up the three flights of stairs to our apartment slow and difficult. I also felt less than 100% at Thursday morning’s Turkey Trot, but Travis’ willingness to wear matching pajamas for the run helped motivate me.

I forced all of our sweet BK friends who didn’t have other plans to come over dinner. I ended up making this brined herb-crusted turkey recipe. The turkey turned out great – maybe my best yet – but the apple cider gravy was a little too tangy for me. We had mashed potatoes and cranberries and stuffing and apple pie. Our friends brought appetizers, pumpkin cheesecake, muffins, green bean casserole, cookies, and wine. We ate well. I had a relaxed, fun time. I am very thankful for kind friends who put up with my party planning antics. Life is good.

What did you do to celebrate Thanksgiving?

1 Comment » Categories: Food, Friends, holidays

Aug 20th 2012 09:23:20 pm

I run. A lot. I am training for marathons basically year-round and I have finally started feeling somewhat comfortable tackling a lot of mileage every week. And I am enjoying it. Weird.

Part of endurance training is figuring out how to best fuel yourself, both before and after runs, but also during them. Generally, an athlete should consume about 100 calories of carbohydrates every 30-45 minutes during runs over an hour in length. That is an approximation and everyone needs to figure out how much and what type of fuel works best for them.

I have a strong stomach, I don’t have any dietary restrictions, and I actually don’t mind eating processed, store-bought fuel, like Gu (my favorite flavors are Vanilla Bean and Roctane Island Nectar) and Shot Blocks. I trust the science that has led to modern sports nutrition… but I can only take so much sugar at one time.

I crave salt when I run. You lose a lot of salt when you sweat and your body needs salt to stay properly hydrated and continue functioning optimally. (Want some science? Joel has some electrolyte science for you.) I tried pretzels while half marathoning, but they were too dry. Then, I saw athletes eating baked potatoes during the Kona IronMan World Championships telecast (you already know that I am sort of obsessed with the IronMan) and I knew I’d found my solution.

Want to try potatoes on your long run? Here is my recipe:

• Buy the smallest red or fingerling potatoes you can find. Small potatoes are convenient to eat and provide about 25 calories per ounce. A very small red potato is about an ounce, so 4 potatoes = 100 calories. (4 potatoes also have about 2 grams each of fiber & protein and 600 mg of Potassium.)
• Rinse the potatoes and remove any eyes or bad spots.
• Steam the potatoes (I used a double boiler steamer pot) for about 20-22 minutes or until they are tender all the way through.
• Let the potatoes cool.
• Put the potatoes in individual zip lock bags for your runs and add salt. I added about 1/2 Tablespoon of sea salt to each bag of 8 potatoes (200 calories). That is a lot of salt — about 3600 mg — but I like it. Store the potatoes in the refrigerator until you need them.
• Eat the potatoes throughout your run with lots of water… or Gatorade or Nuun.

Easy, right?

I have been testing the potatoes out and have eaten them exclusively during my last four long runs. I have felt great. Really great. No stomach problems and I feel less brain dead and drained after my workouts. However, it is hard to say whether that is all due to the potatoes or to my training finally kicking in and making long runs a bit easier.

During my marathons I plan to eat both Gu and potatoes… and probably Twix and Shot Blocks and Luna Bars, too. I eat a lot.

Each person has to figure out what works best for them, but I definitely recommend giving potatoes a try. (Or even sweet potatoes.) Especially if you crave a salty fuel alternative.

Plus, they are IronMan approved!

7 Comments » Categories: Food, Health, running

Jul 25th 2012 01:49:24 pm

Seafood! I love it, but it can be intimidating… or at least too fancy and expensive. So, I was really excited to go try out Brooklyn Crab, a brand new, totally casual, giant, three-story crab shack in Red Hook. Reviewing the menu online had me craving crabs and oysters and lobster… yum!

Brooklyn Crab officially opened about two months ago, but I was a bit behind in my restaurant watching. I hadn’t had a chance to read many reviews before Travis and I went to check it out with four friends the Friday before last.

It is a good thing I hadn’t read many, because the reviews have been pretty harsh. The up side is that most of the complaints center around the long waits for tables and the disorganization of the staff, not necessarily the food.

After taking the Brooklyn Crab shuttle from Carroll Gardens, we did indeed have to wait for over an hour for our table, but it was actually for the best. We grabbed drinks and ordered the Cool Platter seen above (1/2 lb. Snow Crab Legs, 1/2 lb. Spicy Peel & Eat Gulf Shrimp, 4 Oysters & Creamy Mustard Sauce) which you can get at the bar.

Then, after chowing down on our fresh, delicious, chilled appetizer, we checked out the game yard. Brooklyn Crab has a full 18-hole mini golf course and cornhole (bean bag toss) games. The games were free to play when we were there, but apparently now it costs $5 for a round of mini-golf.

Travis got two putt putt holes-in-one and our friend Nate dominated the bean bag toss, so basically it was a very fun ninety minute wait.

I was pleased when we were seated in the upper area of the restaurant at one of the big picnic tables. The table was perfect for our big group and the views of the water and city were incredible. We could see both the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. I wish I had taken better photos…

The meat-eating side of our table ordered two Steam Pots: the Northeast (1 1/2 Lb. Lobster, 1 1/2 Lb. Jonah Crab, Mussels, Gulf Shrimp, Red Potatoes & Corn on the Cob) and the Southern (Blue Crabs, Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, Red Potatoes & Corn on the Cob in Old Bay). Our friend Casey (who took the photo above) is moving to North Carolina from NYC this summer, so the two Pots felt quite appropriate.

I was absolutely in LOVE with all of the seafood. Of course, it took a bit of work to eat all of the crabs and lobster, but cracking the shells is half the fun! The spicy, peel-and-eat shrimp and the sausage, with their Old Bay seasoning, were also delicious. The only item that I wasn’t thrilled with was the Jonah Crab… it had a strange flavor to me. Overall, I was extremely happy. Nothing was overcooked and I was satisfied, but not stuffed when we finally managed to finish up the very last bits of each Steam Pot.

Travis and our friend Amanda ordered the Vegetarian Steam Pot and Macaroni & Cheese. They were quite happy with their selection. You can tell your veggie friends that they don’t need to skip Brooklyn Crab.

We finished the meal with Brownie Sundaes and Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Tart – both received raves from everyone at the table.

Don’t be scared of the Yelp reviews of Brooklyn Crab. I had a great experience. As long as you aren’t in a hurry and are willing to spend $40+/person for a very casual, but delicious and fresh seafood meal, there is no reason not to go check it out. It is the perfect place for a fun & easy summer meal. Get there when they open at 2 pm on Saturday or Sunday and make a whole afternoon of it!

Check out Brooklyn Crab online or follow them on Twitter.

Have you been to Brooklyn Crab? What did you think? Which Brooklyn restaurant should I check out next?

No Comments » Categories: Brooklyn, Food, Friends, New York

May 22nd 2012 12:25:24 pm

I do not watch Top Chef, but if you do, you probably know that Dale Talde was a contestant on Season 4 and Season 8. And, if you are a fan, you probably also know that Dale (along with John Bush and David Massoni of Thistle Hill Tavern) opened his namesake restaurant, Talde, in Park Slope in January. The new Asian-American (i.e. asian fusion or pan-asian) restaurant has already received rave reviews, including “best dumplings” from New York magazine. It seems that Brooklyn truly is the place to be for hip, new, delicious restaurants!

I was interested in Talde, but had heard that the wait to get in was ridiculous. Luckily, my friend Becca organized a group outing for last Thursday. (You can only get a reservation for a party of six or more.)

We ordered just about everything on the family-style menu, including two orders of the pretzel pork and chive dumplings (seen above) and the crispy oyster and bacon pad thai (seen below), plus Hawaiian bread buns, chilled soba noodles, Korean fried chicken, grilled kale salad, Saigon fried crepes, fried rice, black pepper butter toast, and roasted corn. Between the seven of us (Travis was there, but not in the photos) we had no trouble finishing everything. There were plenty of vegetarian options for Travis and lots of seafood and meat options for the rest of us.

I don’t know what I can say that more eloquent food critics have not already said, but everything was delicious and interesting. The pad thai with its thick chunks of bacon and the dumplings with their salty pretzel exteriors were my favorite. The Hawaiian bread buns were fun, tasty, little sandwiches, and I could have easily eaten the full bowl of soba noodles. I loved passing the dishes around the table and trying a little of everything. It was the type of meal that makes me grin uncontrollably and continuously blurt out, “This is so good!”

Dale Talde is proud of his new restaurant and he is in the kitchen most nights. We saw him walking the floor early in the evening thanking a few customers. After our meal I thought a photo of the kitchen (and maybe Dale) would be an excellent edition to this blog post, so I ventured over to the kitchen with my friends Casey and Sarah. Somehow Dale came out and started to chat with us! He was kind, and funny, and very excited about Talde and his future restaurant plans. I learned that he will be opening Pork Slope, a roadhouse-style bar and barbecue place, on 5th Ave where Aunt Suzie’s used to be. I can’t wait since that is very near our apartment!

Mr. Talde was nice enough to pose for a few photos. It was awesome to meet such an enthusiastic and talented chef and restauranteur. I wish I could eat at Talde once a week, but its popularity will most certainly prevent that…

You can follow Dale Talde and Talde on Twitter, and check out the restaurant menu here.

In addition to Talde, I’ve visited PokPok Ny, Fort Reno, and Mile End Delicatessen. What should be the next stop on my trendy Brooklyn restaurant odyssey?

2 Comments » Categories: Brooklyn, Food, New York

May 15th 2012 02:14:12 pm

running… The Brooklyn Half Marathon on Saturday. We have been looking forward to this race for months. I hope it lives up to all the hype! If nothing else, we will have fun ending it in Coney Island and riding the Cyclone.

looking forward to… The Great GoogaMooga Festival this weekend in Prospect Park. It is a brand new food and music festival. I hope it also lives up to all the hype!

wishing for… Something ridiculous: A Proenza Schouler PS1 Large bag. The price is completely prohibitive and insane, but I can’t stop thinking about these bags! I’ll take any color.

eating… Ample Hills Creamery peppermint pattie ice cream. I’ve actually only had it once, but I want more, more, MORE!

also eating… Zito’s! This Park Slope sandwich shop is delicious and laid back. It is a great place to go for post-run food.

What are you up to these days?

1 Comment » Categories: Brooklyn, Currently, Fashion, Food, running